Did I want to leave Green Bay in 2003? Heck, no. I loved playing for the Packers. Lambeau Field on Sundays? That's a magical place. And with
Brett Favre at quarterback, we were a real contender.
But I signed an offer sheet with the Redskins anyway.
Why? Because it was more money, and that's how free agency works.
I was three years into my
NFL career, a restricted free agent, and Steve Spurrier and Daniel Snyder were offering me a four-year deal that the Packers wouldn't match. I saw an opportunity to start at safety, gain some security in the league and put a couple of bucks in my pocket.
I know there will be negative opinions, talk about hometown discounts and questions of loyalty. But here's the reality of the NFL: The highest bidder in free agency almost always wins out.
It's simple logic, really. The highest bid is the one that creates the most opportunity and security, and a player doesn't get many chances at that during the prime of his pro career—a career that probably won't last more than a decade. It's a young man's game, and it doesn't take long for veterans to fade into retirement.
Forget
hometown discounts, ideal matches and such when you're looking at where impact players like Ndamukong Suh, Devin McCourty,
DeMarco Murray and
Randall Cobb are going to land when free agency opens Tuesday. Those guys are going to demand top dollar on the open market, and they'll be all business in making their decisions.
Don't get me wrong. All offers being equal, most players would re-sign with their current teams and continue working in a familiar environment.
Agent Jack Bechta, the founder and owner of JB Sports, who represented me during my playing career, said in his experience, "Nine times out of 10, players want to stay with their original team."
They just want to do it "while being paid free-agent, open-marketplace money."
It's easier not to leave when you're comfortable with the coaches, teammates, culture, playbooks and even huddle terminology. Forget selling a house, bringing in the moving truck and uprooting your family in the middle of the school year. A player doesn't
want to start over. He'll give his current team a chance to make the first offer to provide the security he's looking for.
But the other side's doing business, too, and often the right offer's just not there—whether it's because of the salary cap, the numbers at a specific position, a club just not seeing the money value in your skill set or a club thinking it can replace you with a younger (and cheaper) version through the draft.
If a player and his agent think he can get more elsewhere, they'll look for it, because that window to get paid market value cash is extremely small.
Winning games? Yeah, that matters when you visit teams as a free agent. Every guy would like to go to a team that is on the doorstep of competing for a Super Bowl title.
The coaching staff matters, too. Guys want to play for the best.
Location? Sure, players want to be close to their families, and the weather also has an impact. San Diego or Buffalo? There's a big difference there.
All of that can factor into a player's decision when he picks a new squad during free agency. But not before the money.
During the 2014 offseason, offensive guard Jeff Schwartz signed a four-year deal with the Giants as an unrestricted free agent that included over $5 million in guarantees. I asked him what the deciding factor was. The chance to win with the Giants? The coaches in New York? The money?
A combination of the three.
"When money is equal, those factors take over," he said. "I had equal offers, and it wasn't even close in my mind. I wanted to be a Giant."
And if the hadn't been equal?
"No free agent is ever turning down the money. We have relatively short careers, so when you've earned a chance at [free agency], you have to take it."
What Schwartz is saying holds true with the majority of free agents on the market. They want to play on the postseason stage and work in a structured football environment. They don't want fans to think they "abandoned" the team, even if we all know that's an unfair characterization. They don't want to leave town.
But the money has to be right when they test the open market. That's still the deciding factor when multiple offers are thrown down on the table during free agency.
Suh is going to break the bank. We know that. McCourty deserves a big contract. Murray will find a team that puts value into the running back position. And Cobb, well, he is going to get No. 1 wide receiver money.
They're top-level players; they've proven that through high-level production and consistent play. It's time for them to be rewarded for that.
And don't expect them, or anyone else, to turn down the reward.
Seven-year NFL veteran Matt Bowen is an NFL National Lead Writer for Bleacher Report.
That hurt man....that hurt.
Charles Robinson
