NFL free agency, Eagles moves lend air of normalcy during coronavirus crisis | Marcus Hayes

Byron Jones cashed, Tom Brady bailed, Big V got big bucks, and Chase Daniel fooled 'em again.

For a day or two, the world seemed normal. I loved it. I needed it.

At noon Monday, legal tampering between NFL teams and free agents commenced. From that moment, moves both big and small -- Amari Cooper stays in Dallas for $100 million, Jalen Mills stays in Philadelphia to get burned by him for $5 million -- distracted me from the very legitimate climate of fear that had descended upon America with an avalanche of confirmed COVID-19 cases.

Personally, I’ve been terrified for weeks. I haven’t been at a game or practice to which I wasn’t assigned since mid-February. My alarm is documented: Last Monday, I begged 76ers and Flyers fans to stay away from games in Philadelphia. Last Wednesday, I begged the NCAA and NHL to cease operations. For these, I received much ridicule.

Jazz center Rudy Gobert tested positive two days later, the first of seven players to test positive in the past week, which includes former MVP Kevin Durant, one of four Nets announced on Tuesday. Gobert’s positive test effectively ended all sports for the foreseeable future, thank God.

It did not end NFL free agency. Thank God.

Not everyone shares my view. Some of my most accomplished colleagues who enjoy hot-stove machinations more than I cannot escape the shadow.

I can’t blame anyone for criticizing the NFL for holding their millionaire marketplace. I didn’t have an opinion before Monday. Now, I’m glad they did it, even though the country is hurting. In fact, I’m glad they did it because the country is hurting.

Chase Daniel, a former Eagles backup, agreed to a three-year, $13.05 million deal with Detroit, which will be his sixth workplace change in his 11 seasons. Daniel has thrown 218 passes in the NFL total but will have made almost $40 million by the end of next season. This made me laugh.

Halapoulivaati Vaitai, a kindhearted and earnest offensive lineman, agreed to a five-year, $50 million deal with the Lions on Monday. That made me happy. On Tuesday, Malcolm Jenkins, the Eagles’ most durable, effective, accountable, and interesting player since he signed six years ago, was cut over a contract dispute. That made me sad.

I usually wouldn’t care about any of those deals. For a few hours Monday and Tuesday, though, those moves took my mind off America’s projected shortage of ventilators and its clear shortage of leadership.

Maybe you don’t share my relief at these respites. I bet many of you do. I understand if you don’t. It’s hard to rejoice the windfalls of a few as Marriott furloughs hotel workers and the U.S. workforce braces for mass layoffs. The Dolphins gave Jones, a ho-hum cornerback, almost $20 million more in guarantees alone ($57 million) than Deion Sanders and Aeneas Williams earned in their Hall of Fame careers ($38 million) ... but would the absence of free agency make you forget that Russell Wilson (who pledged Tuesday to donate 1 million meals to the suffering Seattle community) makes $35 million a year and goes home to Ciara every night?

Free agency is overhyped. Great players seldom move. I usually ignore it, but I understand why other folks think it’s NFL Christmas. Why Indianapolis fans are pumped the Colts are giving Philip Rivers $25 million at the age of 38 despite the fact that he’s won just one playoff game in the past 6 years. Why most editors believe this least important of news remains news.

It’s because fans need hope.

All humans need hope. And we can’t lose our hope. Not at a time like this.

So, if you can, take a moment and rejoice in this madness as you normally would.

Teddy Bridgewater to Carolina! TB12 to Tampa Bay! Cam Newton to ... Mars?

The pandemic is bad already; More than 7,000 infected and 97 dead in the U.S. as of Wednesday afternoon, according to the Centers for Disease Control, and it’s going to get much worse. I’ve been saying this for weeks. The NFL is a global league, and around the world, millions of people are going to get sick, hundreds of thousands will get very sick, and tens of thousands will die. COVID-19 will reveal cracks in our government, spotlight fissures in our society, and amplify flaws in our character.

It also will reveal the strength of the greatest country that ever was. It will spotlight our ingenuity, and our compassion, and our love. It will amplify the depth of our character the way only life and death can.

And, one day, it will end. Remember this.

In this moment it is free agency, of all things, that reminds us this, too, will pass. That one day we won’t be elbow-bumping and video-conferencing and toilet paper-hoarding. That “social distancing” once again will be the domain of gamers and golfers.

In the coming months our greatest enemy will be anger and ignorance, but also despair. Our greatest ally will be hope.

Coronavirus knocked the wind out of me.

Free agency helped me breathe.