This offseason is make or break for Reese, so maybe he'll be aggressive in FA. They have cap room. Time to make something happen.
I don't know if I'm in the minority, or that my opinion matters much, but I think FA (not including UDFAs) is the most overrated part of team building.
Most important thing in the NFL is managing cap space, so you can get that breadth and depth of talent. It also allows you to resign the guys you do have; there's no talent you can evaluate (for both skillset and scheme fit) more effectively than your own, so keeping free cap space is paramount.
1. Therefore, hitting in the draft, and developing your own players is number one. That's how you get cost effective talent. eg, the Patriots aren't paying much for Chandler Jones, Donte Hightower, and Jamie Collins right now, 3 of their top five defenders and a large reason why they're well positioned to make a good run at a Super Bowl. Managing the draft includes collecting as many picks (assets) as possible, both by trading down (rarely trading up) and from compensatory picks, and taking the best player available. This allows for stockpiling young talent, having chips for the future, and having chips to trade for good mid level acquisitions early in the season from other teams (buy high sell low).
2. Next up is retaining your own talent. As I said before, there aren't any players you can evaluate and project better than your own. If you manage number 1 above, you should have available cap to do so.
2a. Corollary: Never, ever overpay for your own talent. Quickest way to sink a team. Much better to let them walk and collect those compensatory picks I mentioned above.
3. UDFAs. Hitting on draft picks is one thing, but as everyone knows, the draft is a very inexact science. So hard to project guys to the pro level. That's why you need to have a really strong scouting department to really lock down quality and quantity in the UDFA markets. The more young players (opportunities) you sign, the greater the chance you have of finding a player. A big part of this is spending time with guys who might not be drafted PRIOR to the draft. These guys remember this and are likely to sign with you afterwards.
4. Vet Free Agency: this is the least important thing imo, and one you do not want to waste too much money on. As I mentioned before, cap space is paramount, and free agency (except at lower levels) will kill your cap space, like none other. You almost always overpay for free agent talent. Listen, teams let guys go for a reason: they are not worth the money that they are asking. They are the best at evaluating their own talent, and they've determined this to be the case. So why would you want to overpay for one of these players. The one caveat would be a guy who's been grossly miscast in another position/scheme. You might want to take a shot that he'll fit yours better. It's like the stock market: buy low, sell high. Find a talented guy who has underperformed in other places for whatever reason, low ball it, and hope you hit. Low risk, high reward.
And even though you can evaluate veteran players skill at the NFL level, you can't necessarily evaluate how well they'll fit your scheme, unless their prior teams run something very similar to your own. So there's still risk there.
None of the rules apply to Quarterbacks though. Whole different topic. No idea if anyone is going to read this. lol
