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I feel like a traitor. Not more than a few hours after I pen a piece as an alternative to free agency and draft speculation I'm right back at it. Today, Sports Illustrated's Peter King released his list of the Top 50 free agents who will be available once the curtain lifts on the 2012 NFL season.
Now, say what you want about Peter King and his ability to evaluate the game of football... and Lord knows we have... but he is definitely resourceful with "ins" all over the league. I give his Top 50 credence over some others simply because I believe he has polled a lot of the league to see where they have slotted the guys they intend to get into bidding wars for.
Then again, he could be just throwing darts at the wall and you might want to consider rolling with Pro Football Focus' 2012 Free Agent Tracker instead.
The first Cowboys player to check in on King's list is WR Laurent Robinson who checks in at #39 overall. Robinson is the 7th ranked wideout, behind Vincent Jackson, Brandon Lloyd, Pierre Garcon, Marques Colston, Reggie Wayne and Mario Manningham.
The next Dallas free agent mentioned is punter Mat McBriar, who checks in at #45. King's writeup seems to indicate he has no idea about McBriar's drop foot condition as he writes "He'll have to justify drop in punt average from 47.9 in 2010 to 43.8 in 2011." Oh boy, maybe I jumped the gun in thinking this was a surveyed listing.
Finally, safety Abe Elam rolls in as free agent #50. King thinks Elam is smart and active and in Dallas' best interest to keep him. I agree on the last part, but a replacement needs to be found ASAP.
More...
As for possible targets of Dallas, at least the ones discussed here on BTB, here's a rundown of their ranking's in King's eyes.
| Rank | Position | Player | 11 Team |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | OLB | Mario Williams | Texans |
| 3 | CB | Cortland Finnegan | Titans |
| 4 | OG | Carl Nicks | Saints |
| 6 | CB | Brandon Carr | Chiefs |
| 17 | C | Chris Myers | Texans |
| 18 | C | Scott Wells | Packers |
| 20 | DT | Sione Pouha | Jets |
| 21 | OG | Evan Mathis | Eagles |
| 22 | DT | Paul Soliai | Dolphins |
| 28 | CB | Tracy Porter | Saints |
| 32 | S | Dwight Lowery | Jets |
| 34 | OG | Ben Grubbs | Ravens |
| 49 | CB | Terrell Thomas | Giants |
So how do you think King did in his rankings? Do you expect Robinson to be a hotter commodity than a Garcon or Lloyd? Does Elam deserve to be in the top 50? Take to the comments folks.
Side Note: We were supposed to hear what the 2012 cap number was set to today, as reports from earlier in the week indicated. I haven't seen any reports that the numbers are out yet, and we just hit 5pm on the West Coast.