Big problem for Pats in FA, is taht so many teams have unprecedented $$$ to spend. Colts have 122 million, Jets 102, Bills 89, Browns 75, Raiders 75. Pats are 21st in cap room. League average is 37 million. The top 5 or 6 teams can basically grab multiple top tier free agents. I think the Pats will be left with slim pickings in free agency.
Imagine the Colts with 122 million, they can easily take on Leveon Bell and 4 or 5 other top tier FA's. The Jets with their draft picks nd cap space are also in extremely good position for a rams like turnaround.
Those gargantuan cap space numbers aren't all necessarily 100% FU money. The potential wheeling and dealing for those amounts is tempered by how many players are currently under contract, how many critical in-house free agents need to be re-signed, etc. Every team has its Trent Browns and Trey Flowers, and many teams may have 4, 5, or 6 of those types all coming due at the same time.
The Colt have only 40 players under contract (UC). They have 27 in-house free agents, including five regulars from their secondary, and a couple starting OL.
The Jete, with $100m in cap space, have only 31 players UC, and 38 in-house free agents. They need to hire, re-sign or draft 22 guys just to have a full 53-man roster, and 59 guys to fill out their 90-man off-season roster.
The Niners have $62m in cap space, but 56 players UC, and only 13 free agents on their in-house list (topped by Robbie Gould and Jimmie Ward).
I mean, it seems like a team like the Jete can just "buy" a whole new team with that kind of cap space, but that really doesn't work all that often. When it does make a team competitive, it might be for a season, maybe two, but then the spending free-for-all catches up. They're back in the cellar for a few years, starting the cycle all over again.
The other thing is that these "flush" teams may not target Flowers, but rather try to outbid the 'Boys for DeMarcus Lawrence.
Meanwhile, the Pats will be looking at who a team like the Eagles might need to
shed. They have 47 players UC, and 19 in-house free agents, several of them key players. But the Eagles are currently projected to start 2019 at $14m OVER the cap.
The real fun for
us Pats fans is looking at the rosters of the teams who are in relative Cap Hell.