Every team enters the offseason full of hope that it can make the right moves to become a Super Bowl contending franchise. While much attention is given to the draft, NFL Free Agency can be just as great a tool to build a winner, as long as it’s used correctly.
While there’s always a lot of talent out there to grab, there’s also a ton of risk involved. Oftentimes, clubs must overpay for the talent they’re looking for, as other teams start bidding wars.
There’s also a risk that those players, who may already be slightly overpaid even if they do pan out, will be busts in their new roles.
Whether it’s a bad fit with the scheme, a team grossly overpaying as they try to take a shortcut, or maybe a case where a player just cashes in and checks out, there have been countless free agent deals that have blown up on the clubs who dish out the free agency dollars.
With all that being said, we’ll take a (painful for some) trip down memory lane as we look at the 30 biggest free agency failures since 2000.
30. Worst NFL free agency signings this century: Bobby Layne
Selected at No. 28 overall by the Buffalo Bills in 1993, Thomas Smith was a really good defensive back for seven seasons. He started 95 games in that span and had six career picks. He was even part of an AFC Championship run that saw the Bills come up short against the Dallas Cowboys in Super Bowl XXVIII.
Then in 2000, he cashed in with the Chicago Bears on a five-year deal worth roughly $22 million. While that’s not as huge of a contract as we see today, that was big money nearly two decades ago.
Smith never made good on that contract, as he lasted only one season with Chicago. He started 16 games, but was rather ineffective and released after the season. He landed with the Indianapolis Colts the following offseason, but that wound up being his final year in the NFL.