Breaking down the WR deals

The NFL free-agency window has been open for less than two days now, but there have already been a number of notable franchise-changing moves.

With the league's ever-increasing emphasis on the passing game, it's not surprising that many of these moves have involved wide receivers.

Not all of these transactions are created equal, however, so let's take a look at some of the better -- and worse -- wide receiver deals from a metric standpoint.

Randy Moss, San Francisco 49ers

In signing Moss, let's hope the 49ers learned a lesson from the Plaxico Burress debacle.

Last year, the New York Jets acquired Burress to be their vertical threat despite the fact he was 34 years old, had been out of football for two seasons and had posted subpar vertical numbers in his last full NFL campaign.

Moss is in much the same boat. He is 35 years old, has been out of football for a season and in his last full season posted a 6.6 mark in the vertical yards per attempt (VYPA) category, which ranked him tied for 84th out of 90 qualifying receivers. (Note: Vertical passes are those aerials thrown 11 or more yards downfield.)

To read more of KC's analysis on the biggest WR deals in free agengy, 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