The moves have started for NFL free agents, who officially can start signing contracts today.
The deals and details started circulating Monday -- to the point that the NFL reminded all 32 teams not to leak details -- as the teams around the league position themselves to add a piece here or there, be it a monster addition or a minor retention, and manage the hard salary cap that governs almost every decision of every team.
This is arguably the most important week for the 2015 season, considering that the elite are trying to jam open that ever-closing championship window for one more run.
Franchises are built in the draft, but championship contenders are forged this week with the reworking rosters and management of the cap to retain quality pieces.
Sure, a star-studded signing like Ndamukong Suh -- for nine figures, $60 million of which is guaranteed -- turns heads, but are the Dolphins any closer to winning a Super Bowl with him? Maybe a step or three, but they are not on the short list of front-runners.
So the Fins make a splash, and Suh is certainly a difference-making defender who changes game plans and demands double-teams, but Miami was certainly more than one big piece from a title.
It also is worth remembering that the NFL has offered exactly four nine-figure contracts to players who were not quarterbacks. Two of those deals went to wide receivers Larry Fitzgerald and Calvin Johnson. The other two went to defensive linemen, Houston defensive end J.J. Watt certainly looking the part of a $100 million man and former Titans and Redskins bust Albert Haynesworth, who was far from worthy of the $100 million contract he got from Washington six years ago.
Haynesworth is the dangerous tale to which all GMs are painfully aware. A subtle addition could be the difference between a good season and a great one for a lot of teams, but the albatross that was Haynesworth's monster contract derails franchises for years and ends careers for the GMs and executives who fashion them.
Suh certainly does not come with the same questions about his work ethic or motivation that plagued Haynesworth, and Suh has been the top defensive tackle since he entered the league, as opposed to Haynesworth having one monster season in his final year before free agency.
And maybe Suh could be the type of difference-maker Reggie White was with the Green Bay Packers before their Super Bowl run in 1996.
It's unlikely, though, because the path to the Super Bowl must be navigated by a good-to-great quarterback, and not surprisingly, very few teams allow difference-making quarterbacks to hit the open market. When they do, it's because of extreme circumstances like injury or the presence of a superstar in the draft.
The periphery is where the biggest additions will come, and the subtractions -- such as potential retirements of future Hall of Famers Patrick Willis and Troy Polamalu -- that allow teams to reallocate resources are the key items to watch.
There are a slew of big names on the market, and where they land will make a huge difference in title expectations.
Early winners include Green Bay, which convinced Randall Cobb to take less money to stay with the Packers, and New England, which reportedly has agreed to terms with Devin McCourty and appears willing to spend the top-line dollars on Darrelle Revis.
Revis is the big question, and arguably the biggest name on the board since Suh is headed to South Beach.
Early questions for teams must be asked about the Seahawks, who reportedly have lost Byron Maxwell, a key member of their talented secondary, and gave a huge, short-term deal to Marshawn Lynch, and Houston, which is in the precarious spot of needing a quarterback in a market in which the best available names may be Bobby Hoyer and Ryan Mallett.
The lack of news from Atlanta and Nashville has various meaning. The Falcons and new coach Dan Quinn may have more holes than we know, and the transition to a new defensive look under Quinn, who coordinated those dynamite Seattle groups, may not be one player away. Plus, the news that Atlanta may lose injury-embattled linebacker Sean Weatherspoon does not generate smiles.
Two things to remember as teams fall all over themselves to make moves in an effort to get better: First, there is nothing free about free agents when it comes to the teams, and secondly, if your team has a multitude of question marks -- like the Titans -- then the money saved today could be well used in a year or two when a key anything-but-free agent signing could really make a difference.
Contact Jay Greeson at jgreeson@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6343. Follow him on Twitter at jgreeson@timesfreepress.com.
His "Right to the Point" column appears on A2 Monday, Thursday and Saturday, and his sports columns run Tuesday and Friday. Read his online column "The 5-at-10" Monday through Friday starting at 10 a.m. at timesfreepress.com.