Durkin: The Building-Buying Dynamic Of Free Agency
By Dan Durkin-
(CBS) It happens every year. Mere moments after the feeding frenzy that has become NFL free agency, pundits deem winners and losers, an exercise as trivial as assigning grades to draft classes shortly after Mr. Irrelevant is named.
Need proof?
How about the 2014 Tampa Bay Bucs? Their spending spree put them all the way at the top -- of the 2015 draft, that is. Or the 2013 Miami Dolphins? They were .500. Who could forget the 2011 "Dream Team" Philadelphia Eagles and their ensuing 8-8 record?
That's not to say teams don't have success using free agency as a tool to build their roster -- the 2013 Seattle Seahawks and 2014 New England Patriots sure did. But there's a key word in there that can't be overlooked: build. There's a vast difference between building and buying in free agency. Smart teams operate on the former.
Bears general manager Ryan Pace came from a situation in New Orleans in which the team relied heavily upon free agency. Certainly it helped initially. Signing free agent Drew Brees in 2006 and marrying him with coach Sean Payton was arguably the best move in franchise history.
The Bears are clearly in a building phase. Former general manager Phil Emery inherited an aging roster short on young talent from Jerry Angelo and somehow made the situation worse. Consequently, Pace has to sift through the rubble and ashes to find what's salvageable.
The timeline for the rebuild in Chicago is at a minimum two seasons. Projecting ahead to when the Bears will likely be competitive again, how many players on the current roster would you consider part of the core? If it's more than a handful -- Kyle Long, Kyle Fuller, Alshon Jeffery and Martellus Bennett -- that may be wishful thinking.
Thus, this isn't a quick fix. Any angst over the Bears not rushing out on Tuesday's opening day of free agency to spend the $32 million they have in their pocket is misguided. The initial wave of free agents typically turns out to be fool's gold anyway.
Do the Bears have a laundry list of needs? Without a doubt. But Pace has maintained the team will use free agency to put the Bears in a position to draft the best player available this April, which is the correct way to approach the situation.
The fix for the Bears is a series of successful drafts. Not one, several. So resist the urge to ball up your fists or gnash your teeth as you see transactions stream through your Twitter timeline like something out of "The Matrix."
Make no mistake about it: Pace's prudence at the outset of free agency doesn't necessarily make him right. He still must deliver quality talent to the roster. Just let him do it his way and judge him later.
Dan Durkin covers the Bears for CBSChicago.com and is a frequent contributor to 670 The Score. Follow him on Twitter at @djdurkin.
