It's been about 13 hours since free agency began -- and about 13 hours and 15 minutes since Brett Favre said nothing on the Tonight Show -- but this is a blog and there's got to be non-stop Winners& Losers crowned repeately, over and over, or at least until people leave work for the weekend.
So here goes:
Winners:
1, Carolina Panthers: Yeah, I know GM Marty Hurney and coach John Fox cried when announcing that they had dumped QB Jake Delhomme. But I think it was tears of joy. They were able to cut the overpriced anchor dragging down the franchise without any salary cap ramifications whatsoever. You can throw the Washington Redskins in here at 1A. They took advantage of Day 1 with no salary cap to throw 10 has-beens overboard, including old Fred Smoot, the activities director on Love Boat '05.
2, Indianapolis Colts: They re-signed Gary Brackett, their middle linebacker and defensive leader. The Colts have a knack of being able to retain just enough good players for Peyton Manning to lead to Super Bowls.
Loser:
1, Detroit Lions: Yeah, I know. They're trying really hard in the opening hours of free agency, so it's kind of cruel to slap them down like this. But why do I get the feeling they'll keep right on failing? Except for that half a century of futility, of course. Sorry, but I can't get excited about signing Nate Burleson and Kyle Vanden Bosch right out of the gate.For the Lions to jump on them this quickly means these twowere their top priorities. Burleson strikes no fear in a defense. He's not bad. He's just a guy. And Vanden Bosch is 31 and coming off a down season. I'm not saying he can't regain his form from past seasons, but if he played poorly after Albert Haynesworth left Tennessee last season, how in the world is he going to play when he's thrown onto the worstdefense in the league?
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