Hugepatsfan
In the Starting Line-Up
- Joined
- Jan 8, 2024
- Messages
- 2,268
- Reaction score
- 3,516
Not a comprehensive list, but here's a list of guys that really interest me looking at the free agent class. We'll have about $160M in cap space. Last year we re-signed Dugger, Onwenu, Stevenson, Henry, Bourne, Peppers, Godchaux, Barmore to sizable multi year deals. Three of those guys - Dugger, Barmore, Onwenu - were at the top of their positional market. And then even after those guys, they had room to give one-year flier and budget type of contracts to Uche, Okorafor, Osborn, Gibson, Takitaki. This year, they don't have much to worry about re-signing, so that spending power can be allocated towards free agents. Spending on 7-8 starting player types and then some depth signings seems like a lot, but really it's just be a repeat of last year. Obviously harder to pull off without an exclusive negotiating window, but we saw in 2021 they can make some fast moves if they want.
MIA FS Jevon Holland. We need a real FS on defense. They still haven't replaced McCourty in that role. Holland will be going into his age 25 season. I'd make him the top defensive priority. He's a guy who fits as a deep centerfielder type but can also play closer to the LOS as needed. He's a bit like McCourty in that he's not the biggest "playmaker" type, but he's a good safety. We have cap space to spend and he's a guy we should splurge on. This allows you to play Dugger and Peppers (and Mapu, I guess) in more natural roles.
NYJ RT Morgan Moses. Morgan Moses has not been great for the Jets this year at RT. He's middle of the pack per PFF in overall, run-blocking, and pass-blocking grades. That's ok. Middle of the pack is an improvement. And he's a proven vet. Someone that can lead in the locker room. He's been playing injured this year, even for a Jets team going nowhere that's seen many of their players have some childish reactions to a tough year. We need someone to be an adult in the locker room and a consummate professional that others can emulate. Especially for the OL group in particular if DAndrews retires or is let go (which I expect, tbh, so I'm kind of baking that in). I'm sure Moses probably prefers to go to a contender, but we have the cap space to make him a one year offer that he can't turn down. In very limited snaps, Cam Wallace has shown some encouraging traits. Moses could start over him for 2025 and potentially help groom him behind the scenes to take over in 2026 with some development.
LAR LT Alaric Jackson or PIT OT Dan Moore Jr. They both kind of fit the same category for me. They're both young enough to hit free agency again so they'd be motivated to sign a really strong 2-3 year deal that pays them a ton and gives them a chance to hit free agency again at or before 30. Neither are elite, but they're solid enough at LT that we don't have to keep fretting about practice squad types playing there. If we can get a "franchise LT" in the draft at some point, great. But if not, either of them give you a playable option here. We have to overpay most likely, but that's ok.
NYG WR Darius Slayton. I want Higgins, but bad feeling he'll either re-sign in CIN or get top dollar from a better team. Slayton isn't a sexy name. I'm sure people here will gripe about him being the top WR addition, but I just don't see it with the other guys. I see Higgins going elsewhere, not sure Godwin is the best fit, Dionte Johnson and Diggs seem like kind of head cases that might be risky. Marquise Brown is unknown. Slayton adds something we don't have much of at WR right now - speed. He takes over Polk's role next year, since he doesn't deserve to play as he is right now. Bourne hasn't been good, but he's picked it up a bit lately and it's pretty normal for guys to play better in year 2 from the type of injury he had so I'm optimistic that we see some improvement at WR just via him being better next year. Slayton adds a new element to the room. Him, Bourne, Douglas, Boutte still is a bad WR group relative to NFL-caliber talent, but it's somewhat better than this past year wasting playing time on Polk. They still need to search the draft and the trade market for higher end talent, but marginal improvement is still marginal improvement. Polk and Baker can learn behind the scenes and push for playing time if they earn it. In the meantime, Slayton at least gives us one guy with speed at the position. At age 27, Slayton seems like the type we could give a nice 2 year deal and the opportunity for a bigger role than most teams would offer him, setting him up for another payay later.
NO TE Juwan Johnson. Hooper has been really solid this year, but this is just about replacing him with a younger guy who has more upside. As a former WR, he's a pretty explosive player at the TE position. He can give Maye a young weapon to grow with as a threat downfield in the seems out of multi TE sets with Henry. No issues bringing Hooper back, but wouldn't mind moving on to a younger option.
PIT RB Najee Harris, MIN RB Aaron Jones or ARI RB James Connor. Three guys all kind of in the same mold as a 1st and 2nd down back that can also catch a bit to leave us less reliant on Stevenson. He fumbled too much to be trusted as our only workhorse type of back. Gibson can stay in the 3rd down role, but we need someone to co-lead the depth chart with Stevenson.
NO CB Paulson Adebo, BUF CB Rasul Douglas, SF CB Charvarius Ward, DET CB Carlton Davis, or CAR CB Mike Jackson. A bunch of starting caliber outside CBs who would easily claim the sport across from Gonzalez. They've tried some different guys there and no one has impressed. Gonzalez is good but if the rest of the coverage sucks he's fairly easy to avoid and just throw to someone else. We need more competence across from him on the outside.
NEP CB Jon Jones, NYJ CB DJ Reed, CIN CB Mike Hilton, LV CB Nate Hobbs. I like Marcus Jones on defense, but he struggles to stay healthy and depth is a good thing. These are a bunch of slot CB options to be the primary option there.
PIT LG James Daniels. He's been primarily a LG, but has played some C too. He's coming off an Achilles injury so he might not be ready to start the year, which would open up some playing time for Robinson at LG to start the year. Daniels' versatility to fill in at C gives you some contingency plans down the line too. I'm thinking they move on from Andrews and let Strange have the C spot. Combined with my moves above this gives you Jackson or Moore/Daniels/Strange/Onwenu/Moses. Robinson and Wallace can be the backups with some promise. Moses would be a stop gap and Onwenu is likely gone after next year with how his deal was structured, so the hope would be they would be ready to start in 2026 (year 3 for them), or at least compete for it and be better prepared to pay than they were as rookies.
I'd also like to see them make some signings at EDGE and on the DL, but I got tired so this is what I got so far.
MIA FS Jevon Holland. We need a real FS on defense. They still haven't replaced McCourty in that role. Holland will be going into his age 25 season. I'd make him the top defensive priority. He's a guy who fits as a deep centerfielder type but can also play closer to the LOS as needed. He's a bit like McCourty in that he's not the biggest "playmaker" type, but he's a good safety. We have cap space to spend and he's a guy we should splurge on. This allows you to play Dugger and Peppers (and Mapu, I guess) in more natural roles.
NYJ RT Morgan Moses. Morgan Moses has not been great for the Jets this year at RT. He's middle of the pack per PFF in overall, run-blocking, and pass-blocking grades. That's ok. Middle of the pack is an improvement. And he's a proven vet. Someone that can lead in the locker room. He's been playing injured this year, even for a Jets team going nowhere that's seen many of their players have some childish reactions to a tough year. We need someone to be an adult in the locker room and a consummate professional that others can emulate. Especially for the OL group in particular if DAndrews retires or is let go (which I expect, tbh, so I'm kind of baking that in). I'm sure Moses probably prefers to go to a contender, but we have the cap space to make him a one year offer that he can't turn down. In very limited snaps, Cam Wallace has shown some encouraging traits. Moses could start over him for 2025 and potentially help groom him behind the scenes to take over in 2026 with some development.
LAR LT Alaric Jackson or PIT OT Dan Moore Jr. They both kind of fit the same category for me. They're both young enough to hit free agency again so they'd be motivated to sign a really strong 2-3 year deal that pays them a ton and gives them a chance to hit free agency again at or before 30. Neither are elite, but they're solid enough at LT that we don't have to keep fretting about practice squad types playing there. If we can get a "franchise LT" in the draft at some point, great. But if not, either of them give you a playable option here. We have to overpay most likely, but that's ok.
NYG WR Darius Slayton. I want Higgins, but bad feeling he'll either re-sign in CIN or get top dollar from a better team. Slayton isn't a sexy name. I'm sure people here will gripe about him being the top WR addition, but I just don't see it with the other guys. I see Higgins going elsewhere, not sure Godwin is the best fit, Dionte Johnson and Diggs seem like kind of head cases that might be risky. Marquise Brown is unknown. Slayton adds something we don't have much of at WR right now - speed. He takes over Polk's role next year, since he doesn't deserve to play as he is right now. Bourne hasn't been good, but he's picked it up a bit lately and it's pretty normal for guys to play better in year 2 from the type of injury he had so I'm optimistic that we see some improvement at WR just via him being better next year. Slayton adds a new element to the room. Him, Bourne, Douglas, Boutte still is a bad WR group relative to NFL-caliber talent, but it's somewhat better than this past year wasting playing time on Polk. They still need to search the draft and the trade market for higher end talent, but marginal improvement is still marginal improvement. Polk and Baker can learn behind the scenes and push for playing time if they earn it. In the meantime, Slayton at least gives us one guy with speed at the position. At age 27, Slayton seems like the type we could give a nice 2 year deal and the opportunity for a bigger role than most teams would offer him, setting him up for another payay later.
NO TE Juwan Johnson. Hooper has been really solid this year, but this is just about replacing him with a younger guy who has more upside. As a former WR, he's a pretty explosive player at the TE position. He can give Maye a young weapon to grow with as a threat downfield in the seems out of multi TE sets with Henry. No issues bringing Hooper back, but wouldn't mind moving on to a younger option.
PIT RB Najee Harris, MIN RB Aaron Jones or ARI RB James Connor. Three guys all kind of in the same mold as a 1st and 2nd down back that can also catch a bit to leave us less reliant on Stevenson. He fumbled too much to be trusted as our only workhorse type of back. Gibson can stay in the 3rd down role, but we need someone to co-lead the depth chart with Stevenson.
NO CB Paulson Adebo, BUF CB Rasul Douglas, SF CB Charvarius Ward, DET CB Carlton Davis, or CAR CB Mike Jackson. A bunch of starting caliber outside CBs who would easily claim the sport across from Gonzalez. They've tried some different guys there and no one has impressed. Gonzalez is good but if the rest of the coverage sucks he's fairly easy to avoid and just throw to someone else. We need more competence across from him on the outside.
NEP CB Jon Jones, NYJ CB DJ Reed, CIN CB Mike Hilton, LV CB Nate Hobbs. I like Marcus Jones on defense, but he struggles to stay healthy and depth is a good thing. These are a bunch of slot CB options to be the primary option there.
PIT LG James Daniels. He's been primarily a LG, but has played some C too. He's coming off an Achilles injury so he might not be ready to start the year, which would open up some playing time for Robinson at LG to start the year. Daniels' versatility to fill in at C gives you some contingency plans down the line too. I'm thinking they move on from Andrews and let Strange have the C spot. Combined with my moves above this gives you Jackson or Moore/Daniels/Strange/Onwenu/Moses. Robinson and Wallace can be the backups with some promise. Moses would be a stop gap and Onwenu is likely gone after next year with how his deal was structured, so the hope would be they would be ready to start in 2026 (year 3 for them), or at least compete for it and be better prepared to pay than they were as rookies.
I'd also like to see them make some signings at EDGE and on the DL, but I got tired so this is what I got so far.
