The NFL year is comprised of two seasons that really matter, the spending season in the offseason and the playing season that runs from training camp and the preseason through the regular season, playoffs and Super Bowl.
How wisely a team operates during the former quite often determines how much success it enjoys during the latter.
Occasional doses of good luck don’t hurt, either.
Practically every player signing during the offseason comes with the promise that good things are in store. Sometimes that works out as planned. Sometimes it doesn’t.
Emmanuel Sanders, WR, Broncos
On March 12, the second day of free agency, the Denver Broncos lost wide receiver Eric Decker when he agreed to a five-year, $36 million contract with the New York Jets that included $15 million in guaranteed money. Decker had been productive in his two seasons paired with quarterback Peyton Manning in Denver, averaging 86 catches for 1,176 yards and 12 touchdowns per year.
The Broncos reportedly never made Decker a formal contract offer in March, so clearly they were prepared to allow him to move on and replace him. They did so four days later when they agreed to a three-year deal with wideout Emmanuel Sanders, formerly of the Pittsburgh Steelers, worth about $15 million, including approximately $6 million in guaranteed money. Sanders can make an additional $3 million in incentives from the contract. The Kansas City Chiefs reportedly believed they had a verbal agreement with Sanders first, but he signed instead with the Broncos.
Decker is having a predictable drop-off in production with the Jets, with 43 catches for 450 yards and four touchdowns. Sanders, with his less expensive contract, has been everything the Broncos envisioned and perhaps more. He ranks seventh in the league with his 852 receiving yards. He has 62 catches and six touchdown receptions. He’s had five 100-yard receiving games, and he has brought added speed and big-play capabilities to the Denver receiving corps.
Yes, playing with Manning helps a receiver look good. But Sanders is doing his part as well.
Golden Tate, WR, Lions
Three spots ahead of Sanders this week on the NFL’s list of receiving-yardage leaders is wideout Golden Tate, who ranks fourth in the league with his 909 receiving yards.
The Detroit Lions signed Tate in free agency in March to a five-year, $31.25 million deal that included $13.25 million in guaranteed money. He is outperforming the expectations for him in Detroit so far.
He was to be a complementary receiver for the Lions after four seasons in Seattle in which he never reached 900 receiving yards in a year. Detroit, after all, has Calvin Johnson to be its top wideout. But Johnson has been slowed by an ankle injury and has a modest-for-him 29 catches for 461 yards and three touchdowns in six games.
Tate’s presence and production have allowed the Lions to overcome that. He’s a major reason that Detroit is 7-2, leading the NFC North and only a game behind the Arizona Cardinals in the race for the conference’s top playoff seed.
Mark Sanchez, QB, Eagles
There wasn’t reason to get too worked up in late March when the Philadelphia Eagles signed quarterback Mark Sanchez to a one-year contract. He’d been released by the New York Jets. He hadn’t been a starter since 2012. His efforts to help the Jets to reach two AFC title games in his first two years in the NFL in the 2009 and 2010 seasons were a fading memory. He’d thrown more career interceptions than touchdown passes.
But Sanchez was looking to revive his career under Eagles Coach Chip Kelly. And now, that might be on its way to happening.
He has taken over as the Eagles’ starter with Nick Foles sidelined by a broken collarbone. His first start came Monday night at home against the Carolina Panthers and threw for 332 yards and two touchdowns and no interceptions in a one-sided victory. He’d never had a 300-yard, zero-turnover passing performance with the Jets.
Sanchez probably won’t give the Eagles what they got last season from Foles, who threw 27 touchdown passes with only two interceptions in 2013. But he might give them more than they were getting this season from Foles, who has 10 interceptions to go with his 13 touchdown passes.
Maybe Kelly is an NFL quarterback whisperer, and maybe Sanchez is en route to becoming a more reliable passer than he ever was in New York.
Steve Smith, WR, Ravens
The Baltimore Ravens wasted no time getting veteran wide receiver Steve Smith to agree to a three-year contract worth as much as $12 million in March, the day after he’d been released by the Panthers.
There was room to wonder how much Smith had left. He was about to turn 35 in May. He was entering his 14th NFL season and he was coming off a 745-yard receiving year in Carolina. He was a seven-time 1,000-yard receiver with the Panthers, but perhaps those days were done.
And indeed, the Ravens probably would have been happy for Smith to be a secondary receiving threat capable of making a big play here and a timely catch there, while adding some intensity to the huddle and a veteran presence to the locker room.
Instead, the Ravens have gotten a still-explosive receiver. His 728 receiving yards are 282 more than fellow Ravens wide receiver Torrey Smith, and they put Smith 11th in the league in that category.
Kyle Orton, QB, Bills
The Buffalo Bills had a would-be franchise quarterback already in place (EJ Manuel) when they signed Kyle Orton in August to be a veteran backup and possible alternative if Manuel faltered. Orton had been released by the Dallas Cowboys in July after missing offseason activities and threatening to retire.
It took the Bills four games to bench Manuel, a first-round draft choice in 2013, and turn to Orton.
Orton has played well with 10 touchdown passes, three interceptions and a 98.4 passer rating. The Bills have won three of his five starts, and they’re in playoff contention with a record of 5-4 entering Thursday night’s game at Miami.
If the Bills, who haven’t reached the playoffs since the 1999 season, end the league’s longest postseason drought, the addition of Orton and the decision to make him the starter will be among the key reasons.