First of all, I think this thread is a very good one. It's nice to get away from some of the other more predictable subjects.
I think when looking at the list as a whole, it really stands out that we had one of the most successful free agency classes out of the entire NFL; which is not always the case here in N.England. The 2011 free agency class took care of BOTH re-signing our own (Light, Mankins, Warren--all pretty significant signings, even Warren has really held his own in my opinion), and also some very key signings from other teams (Waters, Anderson, Carter---all 3 enormous signings, just great...) and also Ellis, whose fate has been mediocre, but could still pay off with a big play or two in the SB.
Of course, like anything else, you'll have your 'meh' signings or weak additions also. Much like the draft, free agency is also hit or miss. We've seen this with the Haynesworth signing which didn't pan out, and also the Ocho signing, which didn't work out yet still provided some depth at a ridiculous cost.
The good thing is that both were not extremely bad acquisitions in terms of having to give that much up, so we don't have to re-live the Duane Starks or Derrick Burgess 3rd round losses like in year's past. Even including the high salary from #85, these 2 were both reletively low-risk and high-reward. Of course, it could still be argued that we have not seen the absolute end result with the #85 experiment, as unlikely as any production seems at this point. However, should he come up with a big catch (unikely, but not totally impossible) on the night of February 5th, many will be able to live with the signing in a better way...
Overall, I would count at least 6 of the 9 signings as "positive" ones, and that's a whopping 67% success rate. I do not think we see that again for a while, as this yr's crop of FA's has been pretty incredible as a whole.
Like I said though, even a guy like Ellis or (as unlikely as it seems) Ocho can still contribute on some level in our final and most important game. Even if either one shows up at all, it was an expensive depth move, but not the end of the world.
It should be noted that going out and getting a WR here, whether that's through the draft or FA is awfully tough....we've seen failures on every level now. The draft signings (Bethel Johnson, Chad Jackson, Taylor Price, Brandon Tate) and the FA's (David Terrell, Donald Hayes, Joey Galloway, Torry Holt, Ocho Cinco) have all failed miserably due to lack of chemistry with Brady and lack of understanding the offensive schemes and routes. It will be interesting to see what the future holds there.
