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Here's all one needs to know about this year's pool of unrestricted free agents: Three of my top dozen available players, assessed with considerable input from several personnel directors and general managers, are guards.
Yeah, guards, for gosh sakes.
A decade and a half into a player-movement system that has witnessed franchises throwing big money at high-profile veterans has finally reached the point where a position that some have deemed the lowest on the NFL's evolutionary chain will finally be recognized.
Every wage scale in the past has indicated guards are essentially grunts, the consummate worker bees on any roster. In the next day or two, however, guards such as Cincinnati's Eric Steinbach, San Diego's Kris Dielman and Washington's Derrick Dockery are going to make the quantum leap from overlooked to dramatically overpaid. In-line blockers who were accustomed to carrying lunch pails to work will suddenly require bulky briefcases with which to tote home their newfound riches.
Yeah, guards, for gosh sakes.
A decade and a half into a player-movement system that has witnessed franchises throwing big money at high-profile veterans has finally reached the point where a position that some have deemed the lowest on the NFL's evolutionary chain will finally be recognized.
Every wage scale in the past has indicated guards are essentially grunts, the consummate worker bees on any roster. In the next day or two, however, guards such as Cincinnati's Eric Steinbach, San Diego's Kris Dielman and Washington's Derrick Dockery are going to make the quantum leap from overlooked to dramatically overpaid. In-line blockers who were accustomed to carrying lunch pails to work will suddenly require bulky briefcases with which to tote home their newfound riches.