Bargain Time - Top 50 Unsigned Free Agents

[Love The Drake]

Sign Jordan Matthews and Niklas
Trade Cooks and Gronk?
Lmao

 

[SammyBlueCat]

I wonder which of the players listed can still pass a physical.

 

[luuked]

As long as the guy knows where to be, and has the ability to get there in a timely fashion, to stop the damn run on a regular basis, I'm good.

It goes back to the discussion about price. You said it yesterday. If he can be had closer to what the Raiders paid for him then sure. But since the 49ers were still paying some of his bills at this point I suppose he wants to be paid somewhat well.

 

[luuked]

Sign Jordan Matthews and Niklas
Trade Cooks and Gronk?
Lmao

Niklas serves two things in my opinion. Check someone out who on paper has a all the tools to play TE and maybe put a little bit on pressure on Allen to restructure.

Matthews is pretty interesting. If it weren't for the logjam we already have at WR.

 

[luuked]

5. I hadn't thought about Luke Jockel much before this thread, but I'm kind of warming to the idea. Given his draft position, his measurables HAD to have been great, yet his career has been so bad you just have to wonder where his head is at. Even the finest athlete won't succeed in this league if he doesn't love playing it. So THAT would be my biggest question in bringing him in for a look. Does he really want to succeed? So I guess the Pats need to find out why he failed. Was it attitude, coaching, injuries, etc? Whatever it was, once they figure it out, then the question becomes, "Can WE fix it?"

He could not be fixed by multiple teams. Scar might be among the GOAT OL coaches but there are enough examples of players that he could not coach up.

Also, I think you might be falling into the "highly drafted" and "great measurables" trap. At this point in his career his draft status and what he scored in various tests during his pro day and the combine mean nothing anymore. Keep in mind all of this were projections but now you have actual footage of him against NFL level players.

As with every signing in the offseason/preseason.. as long as it is for cheap bring the beast in and check him out but curb your expectations.

 

[luuked]

Bowman was quite good with the Raiders

He was good for the ~ 1.4m he got from them. Since they didn't resign him despite his performance it means to me that he wants more money than his role would be worth.

 

[primetime]

The safety market is pretty bleak for the players. Tre Boston's better than Reid or Vaccaro and hes still out there. Goes to show, drafting a safety in the first round isn't very smart when you can get decent ones for pennies late in free agency.

 

[maineman209]

The safety market is pretty bleak for the players. Tre Boston's better than Reid or Vaccaro and hes still out there. Goes to show, drafting a safety in the first round isn't very smart when you can get decent ones for pennies late in free agency.

It's difficult to understand what's happening in the FA safety market this year.

Rotoworld had 40 safeties listed, many of whom are primarily special-teamers - e.g., they included Ebner and Slater (??). About half of these original 40 "safeties" are 30 or older, and only four of those "30+" guys have been signed (including Slater).

Of the 40, a total of 16 have been signed/re-signed. Probably only five of those might be considered to be more than ST/#3-level players - and that includes Joyner, who was FT'd. The other four got contracts in the $3.5M - $5.5M APY range (making the top guy in that group the 23rd highest-paid safety in the league.

Vaccaro and Reid are both former 1st-rounders (2013) coming off 5th-year options at $5.676M. Boston, a 4th-rounder who was waived by the Panthers after three seasons, is coming off a 1-year, $900k deal with the Chargers (where his production was significantly better than in Carolina).

The average APY for the 25 highest-paid safeties for 2018 is $7.7M, which is roughly halfway between the 5th-year option rates for 2014 1st-rounders Clinton-Dix ($5.9M) and Jimmie Ward ($8.5M) . Those top 25 APYs range from Berry ($13M) to Burnett ($4.8M). An APY of $7.7M would be just inside the top-10.

I'd guess that either teams simply don't have the cap space to pay the freight for Reid/Vaccaro/Boston, or they're happy with their #1/#2 safety lineups. Looking at safety depth charts around the league, one might think that several teams might be in the market for a significant upgrade at safety, but who knows?

2018 NFL Depth Charts By Position | Ourlads.com

Anyway, it seems doubtful that Reid, Vaccaro and Boston will be unemployed for 2018, or even for much beyond May 8th. Reid and Vaccaro may not see $7.7M, but it seems doubtful that they'll be working for "pennies", either.

 

[luuked]

The safety market is pretty bleak for the players. Tre Boston's better than Reid or Vaccaro and hes still out there. Goes to show, drafting a safety in the first round isn't very smart when you can get decent ones for pennies late in free agency.

It's difficult to understand what's happening in the FA safety market this year.

The league continuing to legislate tough hits out of the game does not help safeties at all. At some point you might as well just use exclusively CBs just not to deal with 15yd penalties.

 

[maineman209]

The league continuing to legislate tough hits out of the game does not help safeties at all. At some point you might as well just use exclusively CBs just not to deal with 15yd penalties.

Certainly could be a factor going forward, but it seems like it would devalue the safeties who are chronic "big hitters" more than guys who play good coverage and wrap up. I don't know which type Reid, Vaccaro and Boston have been or whether they have sufficient other skills to be successful changing their style of play. Meriweather woulda been screwed, for sure.

We'd probably need to identify the big-hitter types and track their careers for here over the next couple-three seasons to see how much of an effect, if any, the new rules may have.

In any case, I'm not particularly concerned about McCourty, Chung or Harmon. I can't remember the last time any of them leveled a guy with a Jenkins-style hit.

 

[primetime]

It's difficult to understand what's happening in the FA safety market this year.

Rotoworld had 40 safeties listed, many of whom are primarily special-teamers - e.g., they included Ebner and Slater (??). About half of these original 40 "safeties" are 30 or older, and only four of those "30+" guys have been signed (including Slater).

Of the 40, a total of 16 have been signed/re-signed. Probably only five of those might be considered to be more than ST/#3-level players - and that includes Joyner, who was FT'd. The other four got contracts in the $3.5M - $5.5M APY range (making the top guy in that group the 23rd highest-paid safety in the league.

Vaccaro and Reid are both former 1st-rounders (2013) coming off 5th-year options at $5.676M. Boston, a 4th-rounder who was waived by the Panthers after three seasons, is coming off a 1-year, $900k deal with the Chargers (where his production was significantly better than in Carolina).

The average APY for the 25 highest-paid safeties for 2018 is $7.7M, which is roughly halfway between the 5th-year option rates for 2014 1st-rounders Clinton-Dix ($5.9M) and Jimmie Ward ($8.5M) . Those top 25 APYs range from Berry ($13M) to Burnett ($4.8M). An APY of $7.7M would be just inside the top-10.

I'd guess that either teams simply don't have the cap space to pay the freight for Reid/Vaccaro/Boston, or they're happy with their #1/#2 safety lineups. Looking at safety depth charts around the league, one might think that several teams might be in the market for a significant upgrade at safety, but who knows?

2018 NFL Depth Charts By Position | Ourlads.com

Anyway, it seems doubtful that Reid, Vaccaro and Boston will be unemployed for 2018, or even for much beyond May 8th. Reid and Vaccaro may not see $7.7M, but it seems doubtful that they'll be working for "pennies", either.

The current trend is towards slot specialists and smaller coverage linebackers. I think the day of the traditional two safety defense is closing. Belichick's been on the cutting edge of that trend.

 

[mgteich]

bump

Niklas serves two things in my opinion. Check someone out who on paper has a all the tools to play TE and maybe put a little bit on pressure on Allen to restructure.

Matthews is pretty interesting. If it weren't for the logjam we already have at WR.

 

[ATippett56]

Sign Jordan Matthews and Niklas
Trade Cooks and Gronk?
Lmao

One down and the other to go?

 

[Love The Drake]

One down and the other to go?

We haven't signed Matthews yet though.
But the Cooks trade made to much sense hes not top 5 he was going to cost a fortune and he tried a silly play In tbe Superbowl that cost us a first down conversion then tried got himself taken out the game then we recouped the first no brainier for BB and co.