Best values in NFL free agency

Legendary Pittsburgh Steelers owner Art Rooney Sr. used to have a saying about paying his players. He said he never had a problem paying $20,000 to a player who performed at a $20,000 level. What he minded was paying that kind of money to a $10,000 player.

When it comes to NFL free agency, teams are working under that same premise, but they are also mindful of those situations in which they might get a player for a lower cost who will give them high-dollar on-field performance.

Here are 10 players who could fit that description:

Offense

RB BenJarvus Green-Ellis

Teams are always looking for a good bell cow running back, and Green-Ellis is by far the best candidate for that role in this year's free-agent crop. He is young (will be 27 years old in July), doesn't have much wear and tear (only 510 career carries), is durable (hasn't missed a game in the past two years) and has never fumbled the ball in his NFL career.

To read more about the top 10 NFL value free agents, plus to get access to all of Insider's NFL free agency coverage, you must be an ESPN Insider.

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KC Joyner

NFL Insider

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• NFL and CFB analyst for ESPN Insider
• Known as "The Football Scientist"
• Uses proprietary metrics from game tape study