Team that is built rather than bought

Back in 2005 the season kind of caught me by surprise as I had made a pact with myself, don't get involved until the playoffs come around (after losses in 2003 and 2004 in first round). I look up at the end of 05 and they are 13 and 3. For some reason I latched onto this team right away (maybe it was the beast mode hangover). Last summer I sent an email to my brother (redskins fan - we went to Fed Ex playoff game last year) during the preseason of last year saying I really like RW (okay... I'll admit I used the word love).

Anyways, it got me thinking. It's much more satisfying that we developed and built a team vs. if the Broncos had won where they got Manning 2 years ago and that's how they developed into a solid contender. They kind of bought their way into the playoffs.

Living in the middle of Red Sox Nation and NYY world I deal day to day with franchises spending more than everyone else and virtually buying their chances at playoffs and championships.

Don't get me wrong, I would have taken a championship by any means...it's just that...this is much more satisfying.

Interesting enough, the term actually does fit this team....Earn everything. Leave no doubt. We all we got, We all we need.
Go Hawks

Bennett, Avril, and McDaniel were all free agents that were pivotal in winning. It isn't all homegrown talent. Though, technically Bennett should be.

This speaks to why the NFL is IMO the greatest sports league in the world. It's the ONLY pro league where you can't just out spend your opponents and win a title, you MUST draft well and develop your own talent or you will fail.

Sgt. Largent":1yumfk1q said:

This speaks to why the NFL is IMO the greatest sports league in the world. It's the ONLY pro league where you can't just out spend your opponents and win a title, you MUST draft well and develop your own talent or you will fail.

Click to expand...

Yeah it is impossible to just buy a team in the NFL. You just do not have enough cap room to buy up good players at every position. At some point you have to use your own guys.

But the teams that do go on huge spending sprees (Eagles a few years ago, Bucs a couple years ago, Dolphins last year) rarely succeed. The best teams are the ones who develop their own superstars and then bring in a few key free agents (see success of Colts, Packers, Steelers over the last decade). That's the way to go.

Technically Clemons isn't someone they groomed either but he's been here since 2010.

Certainly there's been dynasties in the NFL but nothing like the Celtics or Yankees. The NFL is one of the only sports where a defense can totally dominate with next to 0 offense and win a championship. There's so many strategies you can employ to dominate. You can have nobodies at every position and still win, I don't think any other sport can claim that.
Some of the greatest NFL players weren't even the fastest or 'greatest' athletes but very smart at football (largent ran amazing routes, even sherman admits he isn't the greatest athlete). The exception might be the '91 eagles.... you do need SOME kind of quarterback in football.

That's the most exciting part to me about this team. They're coached well, they're smart. They may not be the best at anything but as a group they come together and outsmart nearly every opponent.

Having a core that is home-grown makes it easier to selectively add Free agents, which I would think all NFL teams try to do. Some make big splurges like a Mario Williams, Julius Peppers, Mike Wallace or Albert Haynesworth. Still, all teams will have key members of their squad that weren't home grown.

Not counting players cut by their prior team, the Seahawks had some key contributors who were not home grown. Some with high priced contracts:

- Sydney Rice
- Zach Miller
- Cliff Avril
- Michael Bennett
- Tony McDaniel

Some traded for
- Percy Harvin
- Chris Clemons

John Schneider doesn't completely follow the Green Bay model he spent most of his time in. He/Pete will go after Free agents as well and not all are bargain bin type of contracts.

Baseball is a perfect example of teams buying their way to a championship. Yankees hit almost 500 Million in offseason spending in January. Likely more than that now. Someone being paid a quarter of a Billion for 10 years in baseball is insane.

I'm glad football has a reasonable cap.

Don't forget Charlie Whitehurst, Tarvaris Jackson and Matt Flynn. They find players anyway they can. 1005 transactions proves that. They are good at coaching and it doesn't matter how they acquire the player. With a salary cap and the "small window" of "flat cap" it helped the Hawks that they had such a low payroll. That only happens when you can hit on low picks like the Hawks have and last year the available free agent money league wide was rather low. There are a few teams with a lot of cap space this year. It will be interesting to see if any of these teams can buy themselves into contention. It also will be interesting to see if the rest of the league lusts after the Hawk roster.

T-jack, Lynch, Rice, Harvin, Miller, Giacomini, Mcquistan, M-rob, Clemons, Mcdaniels, Bennett, Avril, Hauschka, Ryan, were all players that weren't "built" here originally. (Bennett you can kind of count I guess....)

That's not the point. He isn't saying "built" = "no free agents". Out of those names you listed, only three of them can be considered big-money "buys". Everyone else came here by getting traded or claimed off waivers or signing modest deals.