The Nfl

Free for All

In a league flush with new cap cash, David Givens's roller-coaster weekend typified the wild free-agent market

As the NFL's 2006 ATM season--also known as the free-agency period--opened at 12:01 a.m. last Saturday, teams were loaded with more spare cash than they'd ever had. Thanks to the collective bargaining agreement approved by the owners on March 8, the salary cap increased from $85.5 million in 2005 to $102 million. Last year the average team entered free agency $5.6 million under the cap; this year 31 of 32 teams had more than that available, including 11 teams with cap space exceeding $20 million. "It's like Christmas money, a gift," 49ers coach Mike Nolan said on Saturday night. "And you know how you spend Christmas money."

To gauge the effect of the spending spree on a mid-market free agent, SI tracked the 72-hour courtship of Patriots wide receiver David Givens, from Massachusetts to Miami on Saturday, Houston on Sunday and Nashville on Monday--where, as SI went to press, he was preparing to decide his future.

Saturday, 12:45 a.m. Working from his brownstone in Boston's Back Bay, Givens's agent, Brad Blank, has set up his client's first visit--to Miami, where Dolphins coach Nick Saban covets a good wideout to pair with star Chris Chambers. Blank's goal is a five-year, $25 million contract for Givens, a four-year veteran with two Super Bowl rings who had a career-high 59 receptions as a No. 2 receiver in 2005, when he earned $1.43 million. But now a storm brews. A report surfaces that Cleveland has signed Givens. Blank tries to reassure Dolphins G.M. Randy Mueller that the story is nonsense, that he hasn't even negotiated with the Browns. (Apparently Cleveland staffers had prepared several stories in advance of potential free-agent signings, and an enterprising Internet user got hold of the Givens story and made it public.) Still, teams begin to sense that Blank is using them. Blank fumes but doesn't change Givens's appointments: a Saturday trip to Miami, then a visit to Houston on Sunday.

Saturday, 1 p.m. Givens text-messages Blank, stunned after hearing reports that the Redskins are not only trading a third-round pick this year and a fourth-rounder in 2007 for 49ers wideout Brandon Lloyd (48 catches in '05) but also giving him $10 million in guaranteed money.

Saturday, 2 p.m. New England, which hopes to keep Givens while avoiding a bidding war, has $18 million in cap room. Coach Bill Belichick and vice president Scott Pioli call Blank on speakerphone to tell him that the Patriots want to be in the derby--at the right price. Maybe five years, $17.5 million.

Saturday, 4:20 p.m. Givens senses he's not going to get an offer from the Dolphins. "I'm not feeling the love," he tells Blank by cellphone. He's right. With only $7 million to spend in free agency this year, Saban is focusing on Chargers quarterback Drew Brees. Givens does, however, get a tasty piece of sea bass at his dinner with the Miami coach.

Saturday, 5 p.m. Thinking that Givens had signed with Cleveland, Titans G.M. Floyd Reese was not going to pursue him. When Reese learns that Givens is still on the market, he tells Blank, "We want to be in this." Blank gives him the price. A few hours later Reese counters with five years, $23 million. Blank knows it might be the best he and Givens can do. But Givens, a Houston-area native who went to Notre Dame, has never set foot in Nashville and would have to see the city.

Sunday, 8:45 a.m. Blank hears that the Houston Chronicle is reporting that Givens has canceled his trip to Texas and is re-signing with New England. He calls Givens, who has just boarded a nonstop flight from Fort Lauderdale to Houston. "Sir, please turn your cellphone off," a flight attendant tells him, then repeats it more firmly. "I thought they were going to kick me off the plane," Givens says later. He turns off the cell and proceeds to spend $300 on frantic Airfone calls to Texans negotiator Dan Ferens and G.M. Charley Casserly, to reassure them that he's nowhere close to a deal with the Patriots.