The sequel to “The Tortoise and the Hare” could be the story of the MLB and NFL free-agency cycles.
While baseball’s sweepstakes always start slow and finish strong, football free agency is all about the first-week frenzy, which is now complete. To finish the analogy, just like the original folktale, slow and steady wins the race because MLB contracts are fully guaranteed and NFL contracts are not.
A couple of big names remain available for NFL teams with salary-cap space to burn entering Monday, but most teams are ready to shift offseason focus to next month’s draft … unless a trade for a Hall of Fame quarterback remains in the works as it does for the Jets and Aaron Rodgers.
Putting Rodgers to the side, here is a report card for the first week of free agency, including the two biggest questions left facing the Giants and Jets and some league-wide winners and losers from the action thus far:
