NFL free agency leaves me scratching head

It is always fun to see just how much many players can get through free agency in the NFL. Every year there is someone like Asante Samuel who is worth the nearly $60 million contract he signed.

But then there is always the head scratchers:

Tatum Bell, RB, Detroit Lions, 1 year @ $1.6 million - Why in the world Bell would want to come back to the Lions is beyond me. He sat the majority of the year and wasn't really effective when he was in anyway. Without Mike Martz the Lions may run more, but Bell will be unlikely to carry over the success he had in Denver -- especially behind Detroit's porous offensive line.

Trent Green, QB, St. Louis Rams, 3 years @ 8.9 million - Green will make a good backup quarterback to Marc Bulger in St. Louis, but is he really worth almost $9 million over 3 years? Green is injury prone and old. Seems to me St. Louis could have spent the money improving other positions because Green probably isn't a much better option than other backup quarterbacks.

T.J. Duckett and Julius Jones, RBs, Seattle Seahawks, 5 years @ $14 million and 4 years @ ~$12 million, respectively - Shaun Alexander is washed up, and I blame the Madden Curse. Regardless, I doubt Duckett is worth half of his contract. Jones was good for a while but has been stuck behind Marion Barber in Dallas for the last couple of years. Duckett was pretty worthless in Detroit last year, so I have to wonder how he managed to convince the Seahawks that he was worthy of a 5 year deal. However, these deals do have the potential to help Seattle's anemic running game.

Time will only tell if these moves make sense for the teams involved. Until then, I'm labeling these as the boneheaded acquisitions of the 2008 offseason.