Official Free Agency 2018

[meatface]

They should just get Calvin Johnson to come out of retirement and then clone Aaron Donald, Barry Sandera and Von Miller before signing them as UDFA.

 

[maineman209]

Possession receiver or not, Chicago wins that deal if they get landry for Jordan Howard.

Jordan Howard:
- 2016 .. 1313 yds rushing, 5.2 ypa .. 298 yds receiving .. 7 TDs
- 2017 .. 1122 yds rushing, 4.1 ypa .. 125 yds receiving .. 9 TDs
- Total 2858 yds from scrimmage, 16 TDs, 131 1st-downs, 2 fumbles.
- Solid in pass-pro.
- Has appeared on the injury report once in 2 seasons (shoulder). Bounced back the following game, rushing 12/140 yds and catching 5/5 for 26 yds .. 2 TDs .. against the Steelers.
- Under contract for 2018 & 2019 at $692k and $782k respectively.

Landry, 2016-2017:
- 2133 total yds from scrimmage, 13 TDs, 112 1st-downs, 4 fumbles.
- Cost?

I'm not seeing this as an unmitigated "win" for the Bears.

 

[luuked]

Possession receiver or not, Chicago wins that deal if they get landry for Jordan Howard.

16M for one year of a slot receiver plus the joy of trying to negotiate a longterm deal where the baseline will be skewed towards the tag number is not what I would call a win. If cap space was not transferable between years it would be a different situation but this is absurd.

 

[primetime]

Trading your 1,000 yard rusher for the privilege of paying a ton of money to Jarvis Landry seems like a really dumb move. Not because I think Jordan Howard is anything special, but because Jarvis Landry definitely isn't.

 

[Ras-IR Dowling]

16M for one year of a slot receiver plus the joy of trying to negotiate a longterm deal where the baseline will be skewed towards the tag number is not what I would call a win. If cap space was not transferable between years it would be a different situation but this is absurd.

I would hope that Chicago has confidence in working out a long term extension with Landry instead of paying him 16 mil for 1 season.

 

[Ras-IR Dowling]

Trading your 1,000 yard rusher for the privilege of paying a ton of money to Jarvis Landry seems like a really dumb move. Not because I think Jordan Howard is anything special, but because Jarvis Landry definitely isn't.

But for what Chicago needs I would take Landry over Howard. The bears need to get trubisky some reliable WRs. His best 2 are currently Kevin white (who can’t stay on the field) and Meredith (who looked promising before the knee injury last preseason). Shaheen should be ready to step in at TE, draft maybe a Royce freeman to pair with cohen and Chicago’s offense looks better for 2018.

 

[luuked]

I would hope that Chicago has confidence in working out a long term extension with Landry instead of paying him 16 mil for 1 season.

Landry has all the leverage. He is young, talented and on a 16M guaranteed contract. Not a good negotiating situation for any team...

 

[FreeTedWilliams]

Solder remains the #1 priority in free agency....

Expect the Pats to lose Butler, Lewis, Burkhead and at least one of maybe even both Fleming and Waddle. Butler will bring a 3rd round pick and the Pats might get the maximum 4 comp picks.

I don't see any UFAs that are worth going after. I think the Pats are better off waiting for the high priced veterans to get cut and go after them, and keep the comp picks.

Sign either Talib or Sherman once they are released. Find some linebackers!!

 

[Ras-IR Dowling]

Landry has all the leverage. He is young, talented and on a 16M guaranteed contract. Not a good negotiating situation for any team...

If Chicago were to offer 4 for 44 if your Landry you have to take that right? True it’s less for the 18 season but he would be getting an average of 11 multiple years with more guaranteed.

 

[luuked]

If Chicago were to offer 4 for 44 if your Landry you have to take that right? True it’s less for the 18 season but he would be getting an average of 11 multiple years with more guaranteed.

Depends on the structure but if he really sees himself as a No 1 receiver who knows what he will aim for. I would not be shocked if he wants 13M+..

 

[PatriotsNumero1Fan]

What's this crap about solder leaving? He should be the number 1 priority this offseason.

 

[Love The Drake]

What's this crap about solder leaving? He should be the number 1 priority this offseason.

This Is a tough one there is only so much cap to go around.
If we spread that money out and fix the pass rush and bolster the secondary I'd be ok with this.
I predicted earlier this off-season they don't come close to the highest offer.
If Solders Drs are important to him we will soon find out how this plays out.

 

[PatriotsNumero1Fan]

This Is a tough one there is only so much cap to go around.
If we spread that money out and fix the pass rush and bolster the secondary I'd be ok with this.
I predicted earlier this off-season they don't come close to the highest offer.
If Solders Drs are important to him we will soon find out how this plays out.

Can't we go up with over 30 million dollars worth of cap space if we release some contracts?

 

[maineman209]

But for what Chicago needs I would take Landry over Howard. The bears need to get trubisky some reliable WRs. His best 2 are currently Kevin white (who can’t stay on the field) and Meredith (who looked promising before the knee injury last preseason). Shaheen should be ready to step in at TE, draft maybe a Royce freeman to pair with cohen and Chicago’s offense looks better for 2018.

What Chicago needs?

What the Bears, Trubisky (and Howard) needs, is much better OL performance rather than some shiny, new expensive toy. The thing about Howard is that he's putting up those numbers in spite of running behind one of the worst run-blocking units (and pass-blocking) in the league. Keep the money you'd spend on Landry and spend it on the OL, instead.

Investing some of it in their DL to get some run-stops would be wise, too. Their DL was 3rd worst in the league in 2017, just a tick ahead of the Pats.

 

[maineman209]

If Chicago were to offer 4 for 44 if your Landry you have to take that right? True it’s less for the 18 season but he would be getting an average of 11 multiple years with more guaranteed.

Landry doesn't have to take anything. He can just bank the $16M guaranteed and be a UFA again in 2018.

 

[Jimke]

What's this crap about solder leaving? He should be the number 1 priority this offseason.

The instant Solder's replacement misses his block and Brady goes down with an
ACL, we can shut off the TV for the season.

 

[Love The Drake]

The instant Solder's replacement misses his block and Brady goes down with an
ACL, we can shut off the TV for the season.

This is pretty much true cept the fan in me will continue to watch as long as they are competitive

 

[maineman209]

Can't we go up with over 30 million dollars worth of cap space if we release some contracts?

The Pats can't really get a whole lot higher than $30M without another Brady restructure-extension. Even then, getting to $30M probably entails cutting both Allen and Bennett and leaving a major hole at TE - in a short-supply market for good, experienced TEs (especially those who can block well) - while Gronk is still contemplating his future in football.

Retaining Solder is likely to take about $10M of the $30M in 2018 cap space. So, now they're down to around $20M.

They need to have around $5M to cover the 2018 cap hits of the rookie class, and need to sock away between $5M - $10M for in-season injury emergency coverage (they spent over $12M in 2017).

IOW, they sign Solder, and they have about $5M-$10M left for re-signing:
Amendola
Fleming/Waddle
Lewis/Burkhead
Marquis Flowers
Ebner/Slater
.
.
.

 

[Love The Drake]

The Pats can't really get a whole lot higher than $30M without another Brady restructure-extension. Even then, getting to $30M probably entails cutting both Allen and Bennett and leaving a major hole at TE - in a short-supply market for good, experienced TEs (especially those who can block well) - while Gronk is still contemplating his future in football.

Retaining Solder is likely to take about $10M of the $30M in 2018 cap space. So, now they're down to around $20M.

They need to have around $5M to cover the 2018 cap hits of the rookie class, and need to sock away between $5M - $10M for in-season injury emergency coverage (they spent over $12M in 2017).

IOW, they sign Solder, and they have about $5M-$10M left for re-signing:
Amendola
Fleming/Waddle
Lewis/Burkhead
Marquis Flowers
Ebner/Slater
.
.
.

That is simple math
Solder is gone
Hopefully not Denver or Jets.

 

[luuked]

Deadlines spur action. No reason to overreact to there not being any news until shortly before FA opens. If the team values Solder at a level that he finds acceptable then I am sure they will work out a contract structure that will leave us with enough room to get it all done.

If he gets crazy overpaid by another team then there is a good chance we would have moved on even if we had 50M in cap space.

Point being I would not focus too much on how much cap space we have but hope that the team evaluation of his value is close to what other teams would be ready to pay him.