Alex Boone looked like Tarzan. Only bigger, stronger and mean enough to instill the desired dose of nastiness the Vikings were looking to inject into their offensive line.
The 6-7 behemoth swung into town three years ago as the prized acquisition on Day 1 of free agency. We all marveled at this gregarious left tackle-sized man who would no doubt dominate at left guard for years to come.
Eighteen months later, he was put on the next vine out of town. Released after 14 games and $10.1 million of compensation.
Boone became another good example of the kind of swing and miss one makes while sifting through other teams' castoffs this time of year. The kind of whiff that every team makes all too often when too many dollars chase too few worthy recipients in this annual seller's market.
That market opens again at 3 p.m. Wednesday. The "legal tampering" portion of the process begins Monday, so you can be assured that teams and fan bases will begin thumping their chests at the opening bell.
Good luck to all. You're going to need some of it.
"At the end of the day, free agency is very difficult," Cardinals General Manager Steve Keim said at this year's scouting combine. "We don't have access to the players essentially before we make these decisions. So a lot of times it can be fool's gold where you go and put a big number on a player and he has a lot of guaranteed money attached to him and you really don't know him."
Keim recommends a "very patient approach" that restrains the urge to dive into free agency's frantic first wave of transactions. He's not alone among his peers in that more conservative school of thought.
"There's so many different levels of free agency," Buccaneers General Manager Jason Licht said. "There's the first-day, high-priced, splashy guys. And then there's guys extending all the way into Week 3 and 4, where you can get some good value. Guys we've actually had more luck with in the past.
