What drives a NFL FA to choose a certain team?

Washington Post

The economic principle I’m exploring is Because of scarcity, people choose and All choices have an opportunity cost.

My research question to help me study the economic principle is Why players choose to leave and join different teams?

The article published in SBNation titled “Kirk Cousins is now a free agent. How will these 5 NFL teams try to convince him to sign?” demonstrates this economic principle because it shows how NFL teams pitch to free agents and what the free agents, specifically Kirk Cousins in this article, look for in potential new teams.
First, the team will assess the strong and weak points that a potential signee would look at. They use this to establish the kind of pitch they will make to the certain free agent. This example of Kirk Cousins has 5 different teams pursuing him all with different strong and weak selling points that will make them each have a unique pitch for Cousins. A few examples are the Minnesota Vikings pitch, the ¨ready to win now¨ pitch. Other teams pitch for Kirk is the ¨warm weather and dangerous weapons¨ pitch. These pitches outline what the team feels are the best reasons for Kirk Cousins to go to their team.

Second, the team will go into detail with their pitch. Like stated before, these have unique differences to them like the Minnesota Vikings can't pitch good weather like the Arizona Cardinals but they both could pitch they have good targets for Kirk Cousins. It goes the same way for different teams like how the Cleveland Browns can't pitch they are in a win now mode like the Vikings. Each team will highlight what they have on their team that would be appealing to the free agent: good coaches, good players to compliment player, good management, warm weather, close to home, team history, etc. With the example of Kirk Cousins, teams like the Vikings, Cardinals, and Broncos will highlight their talented targets for Kirk Cousins and maybe their success in the past few years to show they could be contenders with him. That goes with the next point teams make is why they need their player to come to their team and the role he would fill within the team. Sometimes teams want players who can be their new franchise QB for immediate success, or for a future rebuild.

Third, the player will most likely make some sort of pro and con list and rank what is the most important to them. Some players with uncertain futures might want to secure a payday and go after the money. A young player may want to go to a team where he thinks he could develop into a better player and be a part of a rebuild. Some players might want to go to a team with lots of history and cement their name as a legend their or go to a team he grew up watching. In Kirk Cousins case, because he is a pro bowl quarterback in his prime he will get paid big money wherever he goes. Being that he is a great talent at a position that could make or break a team it makes sense he chose to sign with the Vikings who made it to the NFC championship last year and could pitch that the addition of him would make them the best team in the NFC and possibly NFL.

In my next blog post, I will research: The relationship to success and money spent on a roster.