What a difference a year — more specifically, a 10-year labor agreement — makes.
The offseason the NFL entered, as soon as the Giants’ Super Bowl XLVI win over the Patriots was complete last Sunday night, is a world away from the one facing the sport just 12 months ago.
All-out labor strife back then has been replaced by an unprecedented
decade-long extension of the collective bargaining agreement, which paved the way for one of the most successful seasons in the league’s nearly 100-year history.
Tthough the concussion issue remains a black cloud hovering over the entire enterprise, passing and scoring records on the field in 2011 came nearly as fast and furiously for the NFL as TV viewership and revenue records off it.
As if another down-to-the-wire Super Bowl wasn’t intriguing enough, the league now faces an offseason in which one of its most celebrated players — four-time NFL MVP Peyton Manning — is expected to become a free agent hotly pursued by a half-dozen teams or more if he can prove he can throw harder than Jamie Moyer.
But let the Giants be a lesson to any teams thinking they can buy a championship by money-whipping free agents, because their improbable run to another Lombardi Trophy was another stark example that football isn’t baseball.
Just ask the “Dream Team,” as Vince Young infamously labeled the Eagles this past August after they outspent everyone in free agency for a crew highlighted by Nnamdi Asomugha and Jason Babin — and ended up with no playoffs and an 8-8 record to show for their trouble.
The Giants’ big free-agency acquisitions last summer? Punter Steve Weatherford and a center, David Baas, who struggled to stay on the field because of injury.
“I’m a big believer in growing your own,” Giants GM Jerry Reese said after his largely home-grown team outlasted the Patriots, 21-17, in Indianapolis. “You build your team primarily through the draft, then supplement it with free agency. To me, that’s the only way to do it.”
You also don’t panic when you lose a key free agent or two, as Reese and the Giants also showed last summer. While panic reigned all around after he let slot receiver Steve Smith and tight end Kevin Boss depart in free agency while at the same time NFC East rival Philadelphia was signing everyone in sight, Reese calmly guaranteed a playoff berth instead of breaking a sweat.
The result: Smith, Boss and the Eagles all flopped, while Reese discoveries Victor Cruz and Jake Ballard more than picked up the slack left by their predecessors.
“It would be great to look like you’re really smart in the offseason and go out and make a lot of splashy moves so you guys [in the media] can write nice things about our personnel staff, but our only goal is to make good football decisions,” Reese said this week.
The 2011 Giants weren’t an anomaly, either. You would have to go back to the 2004 Patriots to find a recent Super Bowl champion that prominently featured veteran acquisitions (Rodney Harrison, Mike Vrabel and Corey Dillon), and even that team was heavy on home-grown talent.
The reason is no mystery: Talented NFL free agents usually have much more tread on their tires when they hit the market than in other sports, thanks in large part to the franchise-player designation.
“And it’s a young man’s game,” Packers GM Ted Thompson said last month. “You always have to take into account how quickly players can age in this sport. It can happen overnight.”
The Jets certainly can relate, after GM Mike Tannenbaum made the dubious decision last summer to flout conventional wisdom by getting older and slower at receiver, replacing Braylon Edwards and Jerricho Cotchery with Plaxico Burress and Derrick Mason en route to an 8-8 finish that left Gang Green fans in despair.
That said, many within the league wouldn’t be surprised if huge free-agent contracts dominate the offseason once again this year.
Three factors would come into play if that happens: Manning (if healthy) and a surprising glut of pass rushers and wide receivers appearing likely to hit the market, at least a quarter of the teams having more than $10 million to spend under the projected $124 million salary cap, and every club no longer being burdened by big rookie contracts.
Don’t underestimate that last factor. Owners wisely freed themselves in the most recent labor agreement from rookie deals that got more insanely outlandish with each passing year — $50 million guaranteed for Sam Bradford, anyone? — and now can lavish that money on veterans instead.
It won’t be just on veteran from other teams, though. With more money and cap room at their disposal, teams are expected to be more aggressive in retaining their own talent, too, through the use of the franchise tag.
That designation means a host of stars — even more than usual, according to observers — who would have hit the jackpot with long-term deals in free agency will have to settle for being among the highest-paid players at their respective positions in the short term instead. That group this year is expected to include Drew Brees, Wes Welker,
Ray Rice, Matt Forte and Robert Mathis.
But the Giants and Jets are among a group of nearly a dozen teams that enter the offseason with little (if any) cap room to spare. That’s why such in-their-prime talent as pass rushers Mario Williams and Cliff Avril, running back Marshawn Lynch and an all-star cast of receivers headed by Vincent Jackson, Brandon Lloyd, Mario Manningham Stevie Johnson and Marques Colston have a good chance of hitting the open market — along with the centerpiece, Manning.
And as long as the NFL’s list of owners includes Dan Snyder, who never seems to learn his lesson, there will be desperate teams willing to ignore the trend of home-grown Super Bowl winners and shower free agents with cash.
“Some of us never learn, unfortunately,” an NFC GM said this week. “You feel like you’re just one or two players away, and they’re sitting right there [in free agency]. It’s easy to get drawn into thinking that way.”
bhubbuch@nypost.com
Free agency has been pushed back to March 13 at 4 p.m., so there still is plenty of time for players to be re-signed, cut or unexpectedly hit with the franchise-player designation. Post NFL writer Bart Hubbuch picks the players expected to be unrestricted free agents who will garner the most interest:
1. Peyton Manning, Colts QB: Arm strength (or lack thereof) remains the great unknown.
2. Mario Williams, Texans DE: Houston can’t afford to tag talented former No. 1 pick.
3. Matt Flynn, Packers QB: Better chance he’s the next Matt Cassel instead of the next Aaron Rodgers.
4. Cliff Avril, Lions DE: Detroit will do everything it can to re-sign this terrific young pass rusher.
5. Marshawn Lynch, Seahawks RB: Career year makes him a likely tag target, but nothing concrete yet.
6. Vincent Jackson, Chargers WR: Sure-handed veteran finally can get the big contract he has been seeking for years.
7. Sione Pouha, Jets DT: Anchor of the defense, but can cap-strapped Jets afford franchise tag?
8. Peyton Hillis, Brown RB: Poor attitude and sulking last year could scare off a lot of teams.
9. Brandon Lloyd, Rams WR: Willing to stay for new coach Jeff Fisher, but should have plenty of suitors.
10. Marques Colston, Saints WR: New Orleans wants him to stay, but he isn’t a priority.
11. Brent Grimes, Falcons CB: Atlanta going back and forth on franchising its best cornerback.
12. Stevie Johnson, Bills WR: Though he prefers to stay in Buffalo, his age (25) and big-play ability will draw interest.
13. Carl Nicks, Saints G: He is begging to stay in New Orleans, but Saints probably can’t afford him.
14. Mario Manningham, Giants WR: Super Bowl hero will get the chance to be a No. 1 receiver elsewhere.
15. Evan Mathis, Eagles G: Philadelphia likely will tag DeSean Jackson, but Mathis should be just as much of a priority.
16. Reggie Wayne, Colts WR: Looking to go elsewhere rather than play with a rookie QB for a cap-strapped team.
17. Jared Gaither, Chargers OT: Castaway who really made a name for himself late in the 2011 season.
18. Curtis Lofton, Falcons LB: Led Atlanta in tackles and wants to stay, but can they afford him?
19. Ben Grubbs, Ravens G: Sturdy young blocker probably will be too expensive for Baltimore’s blood.
20. LaRon Landry, Redskins S: Potential Achilles’ surgery is the great equalizer.