Great Free Agent Signings

Free agency is a key period for many sports teams. It's their chance to get the interest of some of the best available players and bring them to their team. Some turn out to be busts, some turn out to be hidden gems, and some pan out to be just what they thought they would be. Here's a look at some great free agent signings by teams in sports history.

Drew Brees

In 2006 Drew Brees signed a six year, $60 million contract with the New Orleans Saints. His former team was the San Diego Chargers. Since his arrival to New Orleans he has been 87-56 as a starter. He led the team to a Super Bowl victory in 2009, their only Super Bowl in the team's history. During his tenure as a Saint he has also broke a few NFL records. Just recently he tied the record with most passing touchdowns in one single game (7). He has to most consecutive games while throwing at least one touchdown pass, which is 54 games. 2011 may have been his best season as a Saint so far.  During that year he broke the record for the highest completion percentage as a quarterback in one season at 71.2%. He also threw for 5,476 passing yards that year, which at the time broke the record for most passing yards in a season. Peyton Manning broke that record in 2013 by throwing just one more yard than Brees had. Drew Brees is currently 4th on the all time list for passing yards in a career as well.

In 2014 Cleveland got back their superstar athlete Lebron James back that they lost in 2010 to the Miami Heat in free agency. He signed a two-year, $42 million deal. Many believe that once Lebron retires, he will be the greatest basketball player to ever live. It was huge for Cleveland to get back Lebron, as they went 33-49 in the 2013-2014 season. Last year, Lebron's first year back, Cleveland went 53-29 and went on to play the Golden State Warriors in the NBA finals, but lost. He has put any team he has been on in contention for an NBA championship. He has won 4 Most Valuable Player awards since being in the league. He is an 11-time NBA all-star and a 9-time ALL-NBA First Team. His list of awards goes on and on and very few players compare to what he means to his team on any given night. Coming back to Cleveland meant a whole lot to both the city and himself.

Randy Johnson signed a 4-year, $53 million contract in 1998 at the age of 34 years old. A lot of people thought that was a lot of money at the time for a pitcher that age, but Randy delivered. In the 4 years of his contract he won 4 Cy Young awards. In the 2001 World Weries he won 3 games for the Diamonbacks, which happens to be the only World Series for Arizona. He also pitched 1 1/3 innings on relief during that World Series, which happened to be on zero days of rest, which makes it even more impressive. During that 2001 season he went 21-6 with a 2.49 ERA (Earned Run Average). He also struck out an outstanding 372 batter during the season as well.