Free Agency Winners and Losers

The first week of the free agent signing period is over and there are some definite winners and losers so far. Of course, it is still early, but there have been several teams hurt and a few that have improved themselves.

Winners:
Baltimore - With Derrick Mason and Samari Rolle, the Ravens have definitely gained more than they lost. Still need a QB, though.
Cincinnati - The Bengals gained by keeping their top guys in Cincy, Rudi Johnson and TJ Houshmandzadeh. They will enter the draft looking for improvement rather then replacing lost players.
Jacksonville - The addition of Reggie Hayward makes a good defense even better.
Arizona - The Cardinals got better just by getting Warner. If they get a good running back they could be the most improved team this off-season.
Dallas - They also improved at QB. Bledsoe may not be the long-term answer, but he is a huge improvement over Testaverde. The defense should also be improved, depending on whether they switch to the 3-4 or not.
Detroit - The Lions improved in a single day by adding Marcus Pollard and Kenoy Kennedy.
Philadelphia - Re-signing Douglas and Trotter will keep the Eagles at the top of the NFC next year.
St Louis - The Rams got better where they needed to, on defense. Coakley and Claiborne are a good fit and a big improvement to their linebacker corp.

Losers:
Denver - Did well to get Ian Gold and re-sign Hamilton, but losing Hayward and Kennedy on defense could be a setback.
New England - The Patriots lost a lot of those role players. Losing Law, Patten, and Phifer will hurt them.
Oakland - Adding Moss and Lamont Jordan will definitely help the offense, but the defense has suffered. And Kerry Collins is not a Manning or Culpepper.
Tennessee - The Titans' fire sale is complete, and they are now in rebuilding mode.
Green Bay - Getting older and less deep.
Seattle - Standing pat is a bad idea for this team.

For the rest of the teams it is just too early to tell. For example, Cleveland has changed coaches and looks like they are completely retooling. Change itself is improvement for the Browns.

And for some teams there is disappointment only because they had opportunities to improve and didn't take them. This leaves you wondering what their intentions might be. The two teams with the most to spend, Minnesota and San Francisco, have done nothing of note in free agency and are doing very little to improve. This leaves fans wondering if the penny-pinching will continue to take priority over winning.

The next couple of weeks should be even more interesting.