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Throwback Thursdays: The three biggest NFL free-agent signings ever

If we're going with the Mount Rushmore bit on judging NFL free-agency signings through history, we're one short.

There have been three earth-moving signings in the history of NFL veteran free agency, and just three. Others signings have worked out tremendously. Deion Sanders was a hired gun for two champions. Kurt Warner turned around his career and for a brief time the Arizona Cardinals franchise. Charles Woodson was great for the Green Bay Packers, as was Curtis Martin with the New York Jets.

But as we get ready for another free-agency period, there are a clear big three that everyone will be hopng to replicate. These three moves didn't just plug a hole for a year or two or make a great team even better. These three moves changed entire franchises and NFL history. Maybe someone like Ndamukong Suh can be the fourth Mount Rushmore face? Whoever signs him can only hope:

3. Peyton Manning, Denver Broncos

The flaw is that Manning didn't finish either of his first three Broncos seasons with a Super Bowl title. But he had as good of a second act in a career as any player has ever had.

In Manning's first three Broncos seasons he had 14,863 yards and 131 touchdowns with a 107.8 rating. The Broncos have gone 38-10 with him including three division titles and a trip to the Super Bowl. He won an MVP with perhaps the greatest single season in NFL history in 2013, and almost won an MVP in 2012 as well. From the time John Elway retired as a player to the time Manning arrived, the Broncos won two division titles and two playoff games in 13 seasons. Manning replaced Tim Tebow, who threw for 39 yards and no touchdowns for the rest of his NFL career. It was a game-changing upgrade.

Tebow and the incredible 2011 season the Broncos had was a nice bridge from the way the franchise crumbled at the end of the Mike Shanahan era and collapsed with Josh McDaniels. Then Manning came in and made the Broncos contenders again. There was a huge battle for Manning when he left the Indianapolis Colts, and Elway the general manager won that competition. Manning has exceeded the Broncos' wildest projections for him.

2. Reggie White, Green Bay Packers

People often forget where the Packers were in 1993. The joke around the league for many years before then was if a player kept screwing up, they'd send him to Green Bay. From 1968 to when White was making his free-agent tour in spring of 1993, the Packers had won one playoff game, and that was in the strike-shortened mess of 1982. It was the NFL's punch line.

Since White shocked the NFL world and picked the Packers, Green Bay has as many Super Bowl championships as losing seasons, with two each.

An unbelievable quarterback run, from Brett Favre to Aaron Rodgers, has obviously played a huge role in the Packers' success since then. But White legitimized Green Bay in the NFL world. He was crucial in luring players like Eugene Robinson and Keith Jackson to Green Bay, and they became big parts of a Super Bowl XXXI championship team. White was perhaps the biggest leader the Packers had in his years there. Not to mention that White was great on the field, with 68.5 sacks and six Pro Bowls in six Packers seasons.

It's hard to describe how unbelievable it was when White chose Green Bay. It would be like LeBron James choosing the Milwaukee Bucks when he was a free agent. That move changed the way the Packers franchise was perceived, the success with White laid a foundation for more success, and the Packers haven't looked back in more than two decades since.

1. Drew Brees, New Orleans Saints

At least the Packers had some success as a franchise before White showed up, no matter how ancient that success was. The Saints were a nightmare for almost four full decades.

New Orleans had one playoff win when Brees arrived. That's from 1967 to 2005. One. It was a wild-card round win in the 2000 season. Heck, the Saints had just five playoff appearances before Brees arrived. That would change.

Brees wasn't considered a White-level signing in 2006 because he was good but not great with the San Diego Chargers, and was coming off a shoulder injury suffered in his last Chargers game. He tore his labrum and had a slight tear in his rotator cuff. San Diego had Philip Rivers ready to take over. Brees wanted to go to the Miami Dolphins but Dolphins famously passed on signing him after a six-hour physical. Dolphins doctors told then-Miami coach Nick Saban that they felt Brees had a 25 percent chance of coming back and playing, Brees said in 2013, according to the Palm Beach Post.

In 2005, reports said the Saints were all but a done deal to move to San Antonio. If the Saints moved, the chances of New Orleans ever getting an NFL team again were remote. Hurricane Katrina had damaged much of New Orleans, including the Superdome, in 2005.

That's what Brees entered in the spring of 2006: A city trying to rebuild, a team with almost zero positive history and an owner that seemed excited to move out of Louisiana. And on the flip side, the Saints were betting on a quarterback who at least one team's medical staff was pretty sure would never play again.

But just look at the Saints now.

The Saints became Super Bowl champions at the end of the 2009 season. Brees has set multiple NFL records and will retire as a top 10 all-time quarterback and should be a clear first-ballot Hall of Famer. The Saints are 87-56 in games Brees has started. The Saints have been to the playoffs five times with six wins with Brees. In addition, Brees immediately became a huge part of the New Orleans community, all the way back to when it was rebuilding from Katrina. Brees is now synonymous with the New Orleans Saints, as much as any player and franchise in NFL history.

Maybe the Saints would have remained in New Orleans forever without Brees. It's possible, though unlikely, they'd have won a Super Bowl had he not signed with them in 2006. But look at how the Saints franchise is viewed now as one of the NFL's best, and how secure the team is there for at least the time being (the Superdome lease, signed in 2009, runs through 2025). It's in large part due to Brees. No other free-agent signing in NFL history has been more meaningful to a franchise.

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Frank Schwab is the editor of Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at shutdowncorner@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!