Free agency market takes a slide in 2013

USA Today Sports

In a down year for free agents, defensive end Cliff Avril cost himself a few million by testing the market.

If you're a football fan, there's a good chance you were surprised by the somewhat bland week of free agency that commenced on Tuesday, March 12 at 4 PM ET. If you're not a football fan (Shame on you!), you may still find these numbers interesting.

Each year, there's always a team that overpays for typically one player. Every. Year. However, this year, the dollar amounts were down across the board and teams only seemed to be overpaying players by production standards.

Paul Kruger, who was arguably the crown jewel of the 2013 free agency class, was expected to ask for roughly $11-12 million annually in his new contract search – try $8 million. And this winning price came during a supposed "bidding war" between the Indianapolis Colts and Cleveland Browns to secure Kruger's services. I noted in last week's column that Kruger would choose the Browns if he wanted more money, and the Colts if he wanted a competitive advantage.

Was I right or was I right?

Cliff Avril, another stellar free agent pass rusher, ultimately bet on himself and lost.

Last year, the Detroit Lions reportedly offered the defensive end a three-year, $30 million contract. Instead of taking the deal, Avril chose to play in 2012 under the franchise tag, netting him $10.5 million for one year. Not a bad haul for 16 games, eh? If you're unfamiliar with the franchise tag, it's basically a one-year deal worth a lot of money, which guarantees the player can't test the market.

Anyway, rewind to last Thursday, and Avril signed a two-year, $15 million contract with the Seattle Seahawks. In his new deal, Avril will pocket $25.5 million over three years, or $4.5 million less than what he would have earned if he took the Lions initial offer.

For those of you keeping score – Seahawks 1. Cliff Avril 0.

USA Today Sports

"Why did I have to hire this guy!? WHY!?"

Elvis Dumervil, a pass rushing phenom who has racked up 20.5 sacks and six forced fumbles in two years (FYI, that's consistent production), was due to make $12 million in 2013. This, of course, was before Denver made it known that they were going to cut Dumervil and sign Dwight Freeney a replacement if he didn't take a considerable pay cut.

The Broncos ended up offering Dumervil a whopping $4 million less to stay with them and instead of taking the pay cut well before the Friday 2:00 PM deadline, Dumervil's former agent – he became unemployed after Dumervil fired him – declined the Broncos new offer of $8 million, stalled, accepted it, and then finally, failed to send the contract back to the Broncos for final approval. This little stunt then forced the Broncos to cut Dumervil, which could have potentially cost him another couple million.

Yes, free agency, especially for pass rushers, has not been very kind this year.

But why?

It's hard to say, really. The market could be suffering due to a high volume of solid pass rushing prospects in the upcoming 2013 NFL Draft, but that's never stopped teams from making that huge splash signing before. And that doesn't explain why contracts have been down for virtually every position.

USA Today Sports

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell speaks at a Super Bowl presser.

So what about collusion? Collusion is certainly an interesting thought.

Collusion, in a nut shell, would come in the form of an agreement between teams to drive the price of the market down, therefore, saving the owners and teams lots of moolah now, and in the future.

Oddly enough, the National Football League Players Association (NFLPA) currently has an appeal pending in a lawsuit against the NFL for allegations of collusion in 2010.

The allegations are just that – allegations. However, if they turned out to be facts, this year's market value could be a prime example of more collusion in the NFL world.