Devin
03-03-2004, 01:16 PM
Just a few clips from an article about FA on espn.com:
"Just mention to league talent scouts Buffalo Bills cornerback Antoine Winfield, a former first-round draft pick and four-year starter likely to have a new address in 2004, and then get out of the way. Just a few minutes into any discussion of Winfield, assuming you have a representative cross-section of scouts, and the most hackneyed but undeniable truism of free agency will become clear."
and later on.....
"What will be in abundance, at least at the outset of free agency, are cornerbacks. There are big, physical corners, small quick cover guys, players with great promise but whose careers have been detoured by injuries. Of the players evaluated by ESPN.com as the top 30 unrestricted veterans, 21 are on the defensive side of the football, and eight of those are cornerbacks.
And that's where Winfield comes in because he is a prime example of how teams will differ in their views at the cornerback position. The general managers who like Winfield a lot, and there are plenty of them, point to his aggressiveness and his ability to play bigger than his size. His detractors quickly note that he has just six interceptions in five seasons, doesn't jump in front of many balls, doesn't hold the ones on which he gets his hands.
Winfield figures to be a hot commodity when the flag comes down on free agency at one minute after midnight Wednesday, but there are also teams who needs cornerbacks and don't even have him on a short list of candidates. But such is free agency, where some good decisions can catapult a team toward the playoffs, and bad ones usually result in salary cap catastrophes."
ESPN has Plummer and Vincent ranked higher than Winfield, and has thier "projected team" other then Buffalo. ESPN.com has Shawn Springs and/or Mario Edwards as our likely FA signing at CB. Springs is a little to injury prone for my liking.
http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/columns/story?columnist=pasquarelli_len&id=1749175
"Just mention to league talent scouts Buffalo Bills cornerback Antoine Winfield, a former first-round draft pick and four-year starter likely to have a new address in 2004, and then get out of the way. Just a few minutes into any discussion of Winfield, assuming you have a representative cross-section of scouts, and the most hackneyed but undeniable truism of free agency will become clear."
and later on.....
"What will be in abundance, at least at the outset of free agency, are cornerbacks. There are big, physical corners, small quick cover guys, players with great promise but whose careers have been detoured by injuries. Of the players evaluated by ESPN.com as the top 30 unrestricted veterans, 21 are on the defensive side of the football, and eight of those are cornerbacks.
And that's where Winfield comes in because he is a prime example of how teams will differ in their views at the cornerback position. The general managers who like Winfield a lot, and there are plenty of them, point to his aggressiveness and his ability to play bigger than his size. His detractors quickly note that he has just six interceptions in five seasons, doesn't jump in front of many balls, doesn't hold the ones on which he gets his hands.
Winfield figures to be a hot commodity when the flag comes down on free agency at one minute after midnight Wednesday, but there are also teams who needs cornerbacks and don't even have him on a short list of candidates. But such is free agency, where some good decisions can catapult a team toward the playoffs, and bad ones usually result in salary cap catastrophes."
ESPN has Plummer and Vincent ranked higher than Winfield, and has thier "projected team" other then Buffalo. ESPN.com has Shawn Springs and/or Mario Edwards as our likely FA signing at CB. Springs is a little to injury prone for my liking.
http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/columns/story?columnist=pasquarelli_len&id=1749175