After market settles, Reese will be ready

Ike Reese had a feeling. When he saw teams across the National Football League releasing big-name players - productive veterans such as Joey Porter, Jamal Lewis and Joe Horn - on the eve of free agency, Reese knew he was finished in Atlanta.

The Falcons had a new coach. With an $800,000 salary for next season, the 33-year-old Reese was expensive for a backup linebacker and special-teams player. And every team in the league was looking to clear salary-cap space.

It was simple business.

"I wasn't surprised at all," said Reese, who indeed got released by the Falcons on March 2, the first day of the free-agent signing period. "When I started seeing the ax fall on a lot of players around the league last Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, I knew it was just a matter of time. A lot more quality players got released by their respective teams."

Teams entered the signing period with a record amount of money to spend after the salary cap was set at $109 million for this season, and over the last nine days, there has been a lot of activity. There have been winners, and there have been losers. Here's a look:

Winner: Cornerback Nate Clements. The man got paid: Eight years, $80 million. That number is a bit misleading, because the final two years of the contract are worth a reported $27.25 million, money Clements unlikely will ever see. What is not misleading is the bonus money, $22.6 million guaranteed, a staggering amount.

Loser: Donté Stallworth. The 26-year-old wide receiver thought that this was his year to get paid but now has found that it's probably not going to happen. After a story last week by Bob Brookover of The Inquirer revealed that Stallworth was participating in the league's substance-abuse program, Stallworth went from possibly getting in the neighborhood of a $10 million signing bonus to now having to take just a one-year contract to once again prove himself.

Winner: San Francisco. The 49ers signed five unrestricted free agents, including four on defense, and all are projected to either be starters or compete for a starting position. Joining Clements on defense are former Eagles safety Michael Lewis, nose tackle Aubrayo Franklin and linebacker Tully Banta-Cain, who played at Cal. The Niners also picked up wide receiver Ashley Lelie from the Falcons.

San Francisco entered free agency with a league-high $38 million to spend, as well as the perception that the franchise is heading in a positive direction under third-year coach Mike Nolan. The Niners haven't had a winning season since Steve Mariucci left in 2002, but they are on the upswing, having finished 7-9 last year after winning just six games in the two previous seasons combined.

"We feel really good about all the players we've acquired," San Francisco vice president of player personnel Scot McCloughan told the San Jose Mercury News last week. "We feel like we've come away with players that not only are going to make an impact but embrace the concept of winning as a team."

But McCloughan knows the rule in the NFL: Successful teams build through the draft, and simply enhance their team through free agency.

"Free agency should be to solidify your team," McCloughan told the Mercury News. "We did more than that this time, but it should never happen like this again."

Loser: Jacksonville. Not only did the Jaguars admit last week that they lost money last season and that they still can't find a naming sponsor for their stadium, they spent big money on someone who definitely didn't deserve it. Former Cleveland wide receiver Dennis Northcutt, who caught 22 passes for 228 yards and zero touchdowns last season, deserved the league minimum. He got $17 million for five years and a $4.5 million signing bonus.

Winner: Offensive linemen. Last year, Steve Hutchinson set the proverbial bar for the workmen in the league, getting a seven-year, $49 million deal from the Vikings that included $16 million guaranteed and was the richest contract ever for an offensive guard.

Well, this year, three linemen either matched or exceeded Hutchinson's deal. Leonard Davis got a seven-year, $49.6 million contract from Dallas that includes an $18.75 million signing bonus. The Cowboys have not decided whether Davis will play tackle or guard.

Guard Derrick Dockery got a seven-year, $49 million contract from the Bills that reportedly included $18.5 million in guaranteed money. Former Cincinnati tackle Eric Steinbach stayed in state and signed a seven-year, $49.5 million contract with Cleveland that included $17 million in guaranteed money.

Loser: Seattle defensive end Grant Wistrom. Just three years ago, Wistrom was one of the heavily-courted free agents, viewed as the second-best defensive end on the market behind Jevon Kearse. On March 4, 2004, Wistrom signed a six-year contract worth $33 million, including a $14 million signing bonus that at the time was the largest in franchise history.

But last week, the Seahawks cut the 30-year-old Wistrom, in part because they spent $39.5 million (including nearly $20 million in guaranteed money) on former Atlanta defensive end Patrick Kerney.

Wistrom is but one example of a talented veteran getting, as Reese so eloquently put it, the "ax" from a team to save money. The Steelers did it to Porter, the Saints to Horn, the Falcons to Reese.

The top-tier players - such as Porter, Horn and, most likely, Wistrom - can find work quickly. The second-tier players, especially ones on the older side like Reese, likely will be unemployed at least until June and quite possibly until training camps start.

"Right now, I think I fall in that second-tier-player category, somebody that some team may need veteran leadership, somebody that's going to stabilize a locker room, help in the third phase of the game," Reese said. "During the free-agency period, there aren't a whole lot of teams clamoring for those guys. They want 'playmakers' who can make a difference."

Reese wants to play at least one more season and preferably for a contending team. He said his agent has contacted several teams on the East Coast and in the Midwest - he has not spoken to the Eagles - and they have been told "pretty much to sit back and let this first wave or second wave of free agency go through," Reese said. "I probably won't hear anything until after the draft, so I'm just trying to stay ready and stay in shape.

"I'm not sweating what's going on right now, just keeping an eye on what's going on from afar, but not stressing every phone call. I finally got my wife subdued. It's not like it was two or three years ago. We're going to sit back and wait. I want to play definitely one more year. I feel I've got one more year of good football, but at the same time I played nine years in this league, and nobody could've told me I'd last nine years in this league. I'm definitely satisfied with the career I've had."