NFL News 2026 General NFL News/Discussion/Non-Patriots free agents

DoubleDeluxe · Mar 8, 2026

Huckleberry1 said:
He's definitely going to set a new bar for centers.

For sure, I agree.
He's a great player, but if we signed him does that mean we stick with Wilson at LG and hope he gets stronger/better?
Does that mean Wilson is relegated to a backup and we draft a LG high?
Or do we really allot a ton of money to the line and sign someone like AVT at $13-15 a year?
I would like it a lot more if Linder was the same player but a LG, and we moved Wilson to his natural position.

Ross12 · Mar 8, 2026

DoubleDeluxe said:
It's been widely speculated that Linder will blow the top off the market.
$22M is in the ballpark.

I have not seen that number. That’s a lot.

DoubleDeluxe · Mar 8, 2026

Ross12 said:
I have not seen that number. That’s a lot.

One of the articles I saw

2026 NFL free agency: Projecting new contracts for 20 players

Dan Graziano made calls around the NFL to get a sense of how contracts might look for 20 free agents and then made predictions on exact terms.

www.espn.com

Tyler Linderbaum

Contract projection: Four years, $90 million with $60 million guaranteed

This would be an average salary of $22.5 million per year, which would blow the top off the center market. Kansas City's Creed Humphrey is currently the highest-paid center at $18 million per year. But by hitting unrestricted free agency at age 25 in an offseason with a ton of teams looking for starting centers and guards, Linderbaum should cash in big-time thanks to a bidding war between multiple teams -- one of which just had its 27-year-old center retire unexpectedly this week.

mgteich · Mar 8, 2026

There are two very separate issues

1) Will//should someone pay $20M or more?

2) Will/should the patriots pay $20M or more?
==================
I guess a lot depends on how highly the team values Wilson as a starter at C or at LG. He might just be a backup. That's OK.

DoubleDeluxe · Mar 8, 2026

DoubleDeluxe said:
One of the articles I saw

2026 NFL free agency: Projecting new contracts for 20 players

Dan Graziano made calls around the NFL to get a sense of how contracts might look for 20 free agents and then made predictions on exact terms.

www.espn.com

Tyler Linderbaum
Contract projection: Four years, $90 million with $60 million guaranteed

This would be an average salary of $22.5 million per year, which would blow the top off the center market. Kansas City's Creed Humphrey is currently the highest-paid center at $18 million per year. But by hitting unrestricted free agency at age 25 in an offseason with a ton of teams looking for starting centers and guards, Linderbaum should cash in big-time thanks to a bidding war between multiple teams -- one of which just had its 27-year-old center retire unexpectedly this week.

One more.

What Chargers signing Tyler Biadasz means for Tyler Linderbaum, Zion Johnson, draft

The Chargers did not waste time and signed their starting center. What his signing implies for other parts of the offseason.

www.si.com

As the offseason has progressed, so has Tyler Linderbaum's projected contract values. The NFL scouting combine was last week and the event generally serves as the biggest exchange of information across the league where markets are clarified and established. The rumor out of the combine was that Linderbaum's market would go well north of $20 million in average annual value.

mgteich · Mar 8, 2026

DoubleDeluxe said:
One more.

What Chargers signing Tyler Biadasz means for Tyler Linderbaum, Zion Johnson, draft

The Chargers did not waste time and signed their starting center. What his signing implies for other parts of the offseason.

www.si.com

As the offseason has progressed, so has Tyler Linderbaum's projected contract values. The NFL scouting combine was last week and the event generally serves as the biggest exchange of information across the league where markets are clarified and established. The rumor out of the combine was that Linderbaum's market would go well north of $20 million in average annual value.

The team didn't have to cut Bradbury. We could have waited a week.

There was not guarantee at all of getting a top starter in free agency.

It seems likely that Vrabel believes that Wilson is part of the picture, at LG or C. Brown and Wilson could both start if Vrabel cannot find better, although I think it likely that he signs a LG (for much less than $20M). Vrabel is also likely to draft a couple of OL's in the first 5 rounds.

DoubleDeluxe · Mar 8, 2026

mgteich said:
The team didn't have to cut Bradbury. We could have waited a week.

There was not guarantee at all of getting a top starter in free agency.

It seems likely that Vrabel believes that Wilson is part of the picture, at LG or C. Brown and Wilson could both start if Vrabel cannot find better, although I think it likely that he signs a LG (for much less than $20M). Vrabel is also likely to draft a couple of OL's in the first 5 rounds.

I don't like Linder for 20M+ here.
I would like it if he was the same player but a LG.
He would certainly strengthen our line, but we would still have a starting need at LG imo.
Maybe Vrabs believes Wilson can be the full time starter at LG, but I don't see it, and doubt he does.
Unless we sign Linder and AVT or Bitonio and Brown and Wilson are the backups.
Or Ioane drops and we have a chance to draft him.
I just can't see a scenario where we go into next year with Wilson and Brown as our 2 top options at LG.

Ross12 · Mar 8, 2026

DoubleDeluxe said:
One more.

What Chargers signing Tyler Biadasz means for Tyler Linderbaum, Zion Johnson, draft

The Chargers did not waste time and signed their starting center. What his signing implies for other parts of the offseason.

www.si.com

As the offseason has progressed, so has Tyler Linderbaum's projected contract values. The NFL scouting combine was last week and the event generally serves as the biggest exchange of information across the league where markets are clarified and established. The rumor out of the combine was that Linderbaum's market would go well north of $20 million in average annual value.

I have a hard time believing that a team will pay Linderbaum "well north of $20M" APY when the highest paid C in the league right now makes $18M APY. I could definitely end up wrong, of course, but it seems unlikely. Just because Linderbaum wants to be paid that much doesn't mean teams will offer it.

If the bidding starts at $16M and his best offer is $19M, I doubt he's simply not going to sign anywhere because it didn't hit the huge market-shattering number he wanted. The idea that he thinks he's so much better than any other player at his position that he wants to blow the market out by a factor of >30% would be eyebrow-raising unto itself.

DoubleDeluxe · Mar 8, 2026

Ross12 said:
I have a hard time believing that a team will pay Linderbaum "well north of $20M" APY when the highest paid C in the league right now makes $18M APY. I could definitely end up wrong, of course, but it seems unlikely. Just because Linderbaum wants to be paid that much doesn't mean teams will offer it.

If the bidding starts at $16M and his best offer is $19M, I doubt he's simply not going to sign anywhere because it didn't hit the huge market-shattering number he wanted. The idea that he thinks he's so much better than any other player at his position that he wants to blow the market out by a factor of >30% would be eyebrow-raising unto itself.

Humphrey is the top paid OC at $18/per and he signed his 2 deal 2 off-seasons ago.
Salary cap has gone up $46M in that time, an 18% increase.
Apply that same % increase and that would put Humphreys contract at $21.24/per today.
Unfortunately that's how it works. Really has nothing to do with thinking he's so much better than anyone else.
Linder is getting over $20M, just a matter of who is paying it.

Zuma · Mar 8, 2026

mgteich said:
It seems likely that Vrabel believes that Wilson is part of the picture, at LG or C. Brown and Wilson could both start if Vrabel cannot find better, although I think it likely that he signs a LG (for much less than $20M). Vrabel is also likely to draft a couple of OL's in the first 5 rounds.

I think Brown will get a chance to compete to be the starter at LG and Wilson at C along with FA's and draft picks. Currently Brown is the best LG on the team. He's about average IMO but he's deffo better at run-blocking then Wilson was / is. Same for Bradbury.

Ross12 · Mar 8, 2026

mgteich said:
The team didn't have to cut Bradbury. We could have waited a week.

There was not guarantee at all of getting a top starter in free agency.

It seems likely that Vrabel believes that Wilson is part of the picture, at LG or C. Brown and Wilson could both start if Vrabel cannot find better, although I think it likely that he signs a LG (for much less than $20M). Vrabel is also likely to draft a couple of OL's in the first 5 rounds.

If I had to guess - Vrabel believes Wilson will be the starting C but he doesn't want to simply give him the job outright. He will have Wilson and Brown compete but assume Wilson wins that job. At LG, he will sign a solid free agent and make Brown the top backup LG assuming Wilson is the starting C, or Wilson the top backup LG if for some reason Brown wins the starting C job. That veteran LG will help Wilson and Campbell grow on either side of him and will be a worthwhile investment. I also think they will spend a couple draft picks on line depth.

scott99 · Mar 8, 2026

I hope the Pats are super busy on day 1 of free agency. Go after who you want hard, and hopefully we walk out of day 1 with a WR (hopefully Pierce), an edge, and at least 1 olineman.

I don’t want the Pats waiting for scraps. I know they don’t have as much as last year, but concentrate who you want and try your best to get them early.

mgteich · Mar 8, 2026

scott99 said:
I hope the Pats are super busy on day 1 of free agency. Go after who you want hard, and hopefully we walk out of day 1 with a WR (hopefully Pierce), an edge, and at least 1 olineman.

I don’t want the Pats waiting for scraps. I know they don’t have as much as last year, but concentrate who you want and try your best to get them early.

Understand that many deals will be made MON-WED and not announced until they are official after 4PM on WED.

mgteich · Mar 8, 2026

Ross12 said:
If I had to guess - Vrabel believes Wilson will be the starting C but he doesn't want to simply give him the job outright. He will have Wilson and Brown compete but assume Wilson wins that job. At LG, he will sign a solid free agent and make Brown the top backup LG assuming Wilson is the starting C, or Wilson the top backup LG if for some reason Brown wins the starting C job. That veteran LG will help Wilson and Campbell grow on either side of him and will be a worthwhile investment. I also think they will spend a couple draft picks on line depth.

This is certainly a low-cost approach, the only cost being a solid LG starter.

Of course, we also need to sign backup OT's and draft a couple of OL.

TommyD4207 · Mar 8, 2026

DoubleDeluxe said:
Humphrey is the top paid OC at $18/per and he signed his 2 deal 2 off-seasons ago.
Salary cap has gone up $46M in that time, an 18% increase.
Apply that same % increase and that would put Humphreys contract at $21.24/per today.
Unfortunately that's how it works. Really has nothing to do with thinking he's so much better than anyone else.
Linder is getting over $20M, just a matter of who is paying it.

Yeah, but McGovern just got 4/52. That sets the *current* market.

Sean Pa Patriot · Mar 8, 2026

My choice is a j brown a good edge rush a te a og and the off season is solid but im not expecting much till the draft …hey last season was great and we have a foundation let’s hope the pats get theirs needs and lot over pay

DoubleDeluxe · Mar 8, 2026

TommyD4207 said:
Yeah, but McGovern just got 4/52. That sets the *current* market.

I don't know what impact that makes.
I would bet a lot of money Linder and his agent will be using Creed's deal, plus the increase in salary cap in their negotiations.
McG took a team friendly deal to stay in Buff, he left money on the table to stay put.
We will know soon enough.

TommyD4207 · Mar 8, 2026

DoubleDeluxe said:
I don't know what impact that makes.
I would bet a lot of money Linder and his agent will be using Creed's deal, plus the increase in salary cap in their negotiations.
McG took a team friendly deal to stay in Buff, he left money on the table to stay put.
We will know soon enough.

It makes a big difference. No running back is getting what Adrian Peterson did even a few years ago, for example. AAV on safeties has come down as well. Box linebackers are also making less than they were even 5 years ago. IOL seems logical for the next place for that to happen.

Cree Humphrey is top of the market at 18 mil per. McGovern, who isn't *as* good as Humphrey, but pretty close, took a hometown discount for 13 mil per. I think Humphrey's worth 20 mil/yr, but don't be surprised if he gets the Cree Humphrey contract at best.

DoubleDeluxe · Mar 8, 2026

TommyD4207 said:
It makes a big difference. No running back is getting what Adrian Peterson did even a few years ago, for example. AAV on safeties has come down as well. Box linebackers are also making less than they were even 5 years ago. IOL seems logical for the next place for that to happen.

Cree Humphrey is top of the market at 18 mil per. McGovern, who isn't *as* good as Humphrey, but pretty close, took a hometown discount for 13 mil per. I think Humphrey's worth 20 mil/yr, but don't be surprised if he gets the Cree Humphrey contract at best.

I think he gets 20m+.
But like always, if I'm wrong I will gladly come back and say so.

TheRainMaker · Mar 8, 2026

I don't think they released Diggs for no reason. They are gearing up to make a splash.

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