NFL free agency can be a great way for teams to patch holes, fill in rosters or even add an occasional star. It's also a place to make mistakes and sink money into players who won't help for years to come.
The trick is knowing which players are which. Just like with the NFL draft, there's no perfect formula to calculate how each player's future will play out. But there are some indicators, which NFL teams are trying to identify as they plunge into the new league year and the madness of free agency.