Happy New Year to the NFL, which opened for business at 4PM yesterday. It’s been a busy couple of days, as the Seahawks (Percy Harvin) and 49ers (Anquan Boldin) acquired veteran receivers a day before the floodgates opened. The Dolphins made the biggest waves yesterday by signing WR Mike Wallace and ILB Dannell Ellerbe from AFC North heavyweights, and then later released ILB Karlos Dansby and signed OLB Philip Wheeler from the Raiders. The Colts chose to go quantity over quality by signing four different players (G Donald Thomas from New England, OLB/Colin Kaepernick turnstile Erik Walden from Green Bay, T Gosder Cherilus from Detroit, and DE Lawrence Sidbury from Atlanta). The Ravens lost Paul Kruger to Cleveland but did sign former Giants DE Chris Canty.

Tennessee made some noise signing G Andy Levitre from Buffalo and TE Delanie Walker from San Francisco, while the Chiefs picked up 3-4 DE Mike DeVito and TE Anthony Fasano from the AFC East. Chicago helped out Jay Cutler by signing TE Martellus Bennett (Giants) and T Jermon Bushrod (New Orleans), while Sam Bradford will be happy to know that the Rams added TE Jared Cook from Tennessee. The Broncos added guard Louis Vasquez from division-rival San Diego to keep Peyton Manning upright, and are rumored to be after Steelers running back Rashard Mendenhall. The Eagles won’t win the headlines, but made a couple of interesting signings in NT Isaac Sopoaga (San Francisco) and TE/HB/WR/FB/Chip Kelly chess piece James Casey from Houston. About an hour later, the Eagles added CB Bradley Fletcher (Rams), S Patrick Chung (Patriots) and LB Jason Phillips (Panthers). And there were some releases, with Ryan Fitzpatrick (Buffalo), Nnamdi Asomugha (Philadelphia), Sione Pouha (Jets), and Darrius Heyward-Bey and Michael Huff (Oakland) among the more notable cuts. You can check out Pro-Football-Reference.com’s free agent tracker to stay up to date on the latest signings.

The first few days of the league year provide fans across the country with an opportunity to ring in the new year with a dash of optimism. But how often does adding a veteran or two via trade or free agency land a team in the Super Bowl? The table below lists every notable veteran acquisition ^[1]Here, notable means having an AV of 4 or greater in Year N. by the 40 teams to make the Super Bowl since 1993, the start of the Free Agency era in the NFL. The “W/L” column shows whether the team won or lost in the Super Bowl, while the AV column shows how much Approximate Value the player provided in his first season with the new team. The N-1 Tm and N-1 AV columns show where the player came from and how valuable he was in the prior year; the table is sorted by the average of the player’s AV in Years N and N-1.

Name	Year	Age	Team	W/L	Pos	AV	N-1 TM	N-1 AV	avgAV
Marshall Faulk	1999	26	ram	W	RB	25	clt	18	21.5
Deion Sanders	1994	27	sfo	W	RCB	14	atl	12	13
Adalius Thomas	2007	30	nwe	L	LB	8	rav	18	13
Rod Woodson	2002	37	rai	L	FS	14	rav	11	12.5
Aeneas Williams	2001	33	ram	L	LCB	18	crd	6	12
Sam Adams	2000	27	rav	W	LDT	17	sea	7	12
Terrell Owens	2004	31	phi	L	WR	12	sfo	12	12
Ken Norton	1994	28	sfo	W	RLB	8	dal	15	11.5
Randy Moss	2007	30	nwe	L	WR	20	rai	3	11.5
Wes Welker	2007	26	nwe	L	WR	16	mia	5	10.5
Darrien Gordon	1997	27	den	W	RCB	17	sdg	4	10.5
Corey Dillon	2004	30	nwe	W	RB	15	cin	5	10
Neil Smith	1997	31	den	W	LDE	12	kan	8	10
Brian Waters	2011	34	nwe	L	RG	11	kan	9	10
Darren Sharper	2009	34	nor	W	FS	13	min	7	10
Rickey Jackson	1994	36	sfo	W	RDE	7	nor	13	10
Bart Oates	1994	36	sfo	W	C	11	nyg	8	9.5
Tony E. Jones	1997	31	den	W	RT	10	rav	9	9.5
Rodney Harrison	2003	31	nwe	W	SS	14	sdg	5	9.5
Tony Martin	1998	33	atl	L	WR	13	sdg	6	9.5
Deion Sanders	1995	28	dal	W	LCB	4	sfo	14	9
Eugene Robinson	1998	35	atl	L	FS	10	gnb	7	8.5
Reuben Davis	1994	29	sdg	L	RDT	7	crd	9	8
Willie Clay	1996	26	nwe	L	FS	7	det	9	8
Keenan McCardell	2002	32	tam	W	WR	6	jax	10	8
Kawika Mitchell	2007	28	nyg	W	RLB	8	kan	8	8
Kim Herring	2001	26	ram	L	FS	6	rav	10	8
Sam Adams	2002	29	rai	L	LDT	6	rav	10	8
Eugene Robinson	1996	33	gnb	W	FS	9	sea	7	8
Chidi Ahanotu	2001	31	ram	L	LDE	8	tam	8	8
Chartric Darby	2005	30	sea	L	LDT	7	tam	9	8
Stephen Davis	2003	29	car	L	RB	11	was	5	8
Micheal Barrow	2000	30	nyg	L	MLB	8	car	7	7.5
Bill Romanowski	2002	36	rai	L	LLB	8	den	7	7.5
Adam Timmerman	1999	28	ram	W	RG	8	gnb	7	7.5
Dhani Jones	2004	26	phi	L	RLB	8	nyg	7	7.5
Roman Phifer	2001	33	nwe	W	RLB	10	nyj	5	7.5
Jevon Kearse	2004	28	phi	L	LDE	8	oti	7	7.5
Donte Stallworth	2007	27	nwe	L	WR	9	phi	6	7.5
Gary Plummer	1994	34	sfo	W	MLB	8	sdg	7	7.5
John Parrella	2002	33	rai	L	RDT	7	sdg	8	7.5
Anthony Pleasant	2001	33	nwe	W	RDT	10	sfo	5	7.5
Santana Dotson	1996	27	gnb	W	RDT	10	tam	5	7.5
Jeremiah Trotter	2004	27	phi	L	MLB	8	was	7	7.5
Antowain Smith	2001	29	nwe	W	RB	12	buf	2	7
Greg Spires	2002	28	tam	W	LDE	10	cle	4	7
Bryant McFadden	2010	29	pit	L	LCB	8	crd	6	7
Michael Pittman	2002	27	tam	W	RB	7	crd	7	7
Flozell Adams	2010	35	pit	L	RT	7	dal	7	7
Mark Fields	2001	29	ram	L	RLB	6	nor	8	7
Bryce Fisher	2005	28	sea	L	LDE	8	ram	6	7
Shawn Jefferson	1996	27	nwe	L	WR	9	sdg	5	7
Dusty Zeigler	2000	27	nyg	L	C	7	buf	6	6.5
Dennis Gibson	1994	30	sdg	L	MLB	6	det	7	6.5
Jacoby Jones	2012	28	rav	W	WR	7	htx	6	6.5
Bryan Cox	2001	33	nwe	W	LB	5	nyj	8	6.5
Shaun Ellis	2011	34	nwe	L	DE	4	nyj	9	6.5
Ray Donaldson	1995	37	dal	W	C	7	sea	6	6.5
Mark Wheeler	1996	26	nwe	L	LDT	8	tam	5	6.5
Justin Hartwig	2008	30	pit	W	C	7	car	5	6
Neil O'Donnell	1999	33	oti	L	QB	5	cin	7	6
David Patten	2001	27	nwe	W	WR	9	cle	3	6
Lomas Brown	2000	37	nyg	L	LT	8	cle	4	6
Shannon Sharpe	2000	32	rav	W	TE	9	den	3	6
Mike Compton	2001	31	nwe	W	LG	7	det	5	6
Jamie Sharper	2005	31	sea	L	LOLB	4	htx	8	6
Tony Martin	1994	29	sdg	L	WR	9	mia	3	6
Tom Newberry	1995	33	pit	L	LG	7	ram	5	6
Mike D. Jones	1999	30	oti	L	DE	4	ram	8	6
Andre Carter	2011	32	nwe	L	DE	8	was	4	6
Ricky Manning	2006	26	chi	L	RCB	6	car	5	5.5
Roman Oben	2002	30	tam	W	LT	6	cle	5	5.5
Seth Joyner	1997	33	gnb	L	LLB	5	crd	6	5.5
Todd F. Collins	1999	29	ram	W	RLB	7	nwe	4	5.5
Kerry Jenkins	2002	29	tam	W	LG	5	nyj	6	5.5
Dwayne Harper	1994	28	sdg	L	RCB	6	sea	5	5.5
David Baas	2011	30	nyg	W	C	5	sfo	6	5.5
Joe Jurevicius	2005	31	sea	L	WR	8	tam	3	5.5
Trent Dilfer	2000	28	rav	W	QB	5	tam	6	5.5
Erric Pegram	1995	26	pit	L	RB	7	atl	3	5
Don Beebe	1996	32	gnb	W	wr	9	car	1	5
Bill Brooks	1993	29	buf	L	WR	7	clt	3	5
Ken Dilger	2002	31	tam	W	TE	4	clt	6	5
Kelly Herndon	2005	29	sea	L	LCB	4	den	6	5
Keith Traylor	1997	28	den	W	LDT	8	kan	2	5
Glenn Parker	2000	34	nyg	L	LG	6	kan	4	5
Jake Delhomme	2003	28	car	L	QB	10	nor	0	5
Andre Dyson	2005	26	sea	L	LCB	4	oti	6	5
Keith Traylor	2004	35	nwe	W	NT	5	chi	4	4.5
Tyrone Poole	2003	31	nwe	W	RCB	7	den	2	4.5
Dave Thomas	2000	32	nyg	L	LCB	7	jax	2	4.5
Jason Fisk	1999	27	oti	L	RDT	7	min	2	4.5
Mario Manningham	2012	26	sfo	L	WR	5	nyg	4	4.5
Joe Jurevicius	2002	28	tam	W	WR	4	nyg	5	4.5
Mike Vrabel	2001	26	nwe	W	LLB	7	pit	2	4.5
Cedrick Wilson	2005	27	pit	W	WR	5	sfo	4	4.5
Jonathan Scott	2010	27	pit	L	LT	5	buf	3	4
Corey Graham	2012	27	rav	W	CB	4	chi	4	4
David Griggs	1994	27	sdg	L	LLB	7	mia	1	4
Mewelde Moore	2008	26	pit	W	RB	7	min	1	4
David Thomas	2009	26	nor	W	TE	5	nwe	3	4
Oliver Barnett	1993	27	buf	L	LDE	4	atl	3	3.5
Ted Washington	2003	35	nwe	W	LDT	6	chi	1	3.5
Bryan Robinson	2008	34	crd	L	NT	5	cin	2	3.5
Marc Edwards	2001	27	nwe	W	FB	5	cle	2	3.5
Pio Sagapolutele	1996	27	nwe	L	RDT	5	cle	2	3.5
Sammy Morris	2007	30	nwe	L	RB	4	mia	3	3.5
Travis LaBoy	2008	27	crd	L	RDE	5	oti	2	3.5
Ricky Proehl	2003	35	car	L	WR	4	ram	3	3.5
Devin Bush	1999	26	ram	W	FS	5	atl	1	3
Greg Favors	2003	29	car	L	LLB	6	buf	0	3
Desmond Howard	1996	26	gnb	W	KR	4	jax	2	3
Terrance Shaw	2002	29	rai	L	LCB	4	nwe	2	3
Ma'ake Kemoeatu	2012	33	rav	W	NT	6	--	0	3
Charlie Peprah	2010	27	gnb	W	SS	5	atl	0	2.5
Dorsey Levens	2004	34	phi	L	RB	4	nyg	1	2.5
James Ihedigbo	2011	28	nwe	L	S	4	nyj	1	2.5
Don Davis	2001	29	ram	L	LLB	4	tam	1	2.5
Anthony Hargrove	2009	26	nor	W	DT	5	--	0	2.5
Mickey Washington	1993	25	buf	L	CB	4	was	0	2
Randy Moss	2012	35	sfo	L	WR	4	--	0	2

The Patriots built a dynasty by finding valuable free agents, but that hasn’t been the model in recent years. If you go down the list of the last eight Super Bowl champions, the biggest veteran acquisitions by them in the immediately preceding off-season were Jacoby Jones, David Baas, Charlie Peprah, Darren Sharper, Justin Hartwig, Kawika Mitchell, Anthony McFarland, and Cedrick Wilson.

It would be impressive if Harvin makes the Super Bowl with the Seahawks this year… but how’s this for a random trivia question: Tony Martin made the Super Bowl in his first year with a new team twice, first with San Diego and then with Atlanta. Ditto Randy Moss and Ricky Proehl (but not with the Rams), although Martin stands out because he was his team’s leading wide receiver in both seasons.