Free Agents Discussion
 

Throw your thoughts and opinions about possible free agents (our own or someone else's) in this thread.

First up.

Mario Williams was just cut by MIA.

OLB at BUF piling up 38.0 sacks and 126 tackles from 2012 - 2014 playing in 48 out of 48 games.

19 tackles and 5.0 sacks with BUF in 2015 in 15 games.

13 tackles and 1.5 sacks with MIA in 2016 in 13 games.

Is he the OLB that he was in BUF? Or is he washed up and mis-schemed as a 4-3 DE in MIA?

Thoughts? Go for him? How much? How long?

Cheers,

mario williams is washed up imo

I didn't know he was still playing. Sounds like somebody Grigson would sign, hopefully Ballard passes.

Mario Williams has been wholly unproductive the last two seasons and he's been trashed by his last two coaches publicly.

Sounds like Trent Cole 2.0; sounds like a Day One signing for Grigson.

Sounds like someone Pagano would love

Mario Addison maybe?

Micah Hyde could be a younger option than Butler at safety

Jay GlazerVerified account
‏@JayGlazer
Another strong tackle option appears headed to free agency as the broncos have informed Russell Okung they will not be picking up his option

I wouldn't be opposed to bringing in another proven, capable player to the right side of our OL. I'd probably prefer to go Guard, but I'd be happy with either.

I'd want to know why two teams at this point have essentially decided he wasn't worth keeping, especially in Denver's case at below market rates, before I signed him. He seems to be a quality LT, so I don't understand the issue.

hasn't he always played left tackle? i am pretty sure he has

He's brittle and overrated. Denver chose to avoid paying him $12 million per year going forward.

Panthers are keeping Addison:

Panthers re-signed DE Mario Addison to a three-year, $22.5 million contract.
He got $11.5 million guaranteed. Addison isn't a household name, but he is a big keep for Carolina. The 29-year-old rotational edge rusher led the Panthers in sacks (9.5) last season and has at least six quarterback takedowns in three straight years. Panthers GM Dave Gettleman's two biggest offseason priorities were retaining Addison and free agent DT Kawann Short. Short will almost certainly be franchise tagged by Wednesday's deadline.
Source: Ian Rapoport on Twitter Feb 26 - 5:04 PM

This is good news for the Colts as Poe would be a great NT to rotate with Parry. Or, he will at least let some other team take the "top" off the NT market.

I liked Parry's game in 2016 and felt like he was one of the few D-Linemen that played well (along with Ridgeway in a "not expecting much from him" way). I think Parry will be even more effective if he has a quality "partner in crime" at NT (better than Kerr) to share snaps with and know that he can stay fresh as the game goes on.

Poe is coming off his rookie contract and made $6.146m last year under the "5th year" clause on 1st round draft choices.

However, it would also be wise to kick the ties on the other NTs that are hitting the open market as many of them are fairly poorly paid, had 2016 performances that were better or nearly equal to Poe and will cost a WHOLE lot less money.

Current NT cap hits:

Cap Hit is 2017 cap hit if not a free agent or 2016 cap hit if he is a free agent. Stats are from 2016 season.

$04.657m = 68 tackles / 8 TFL / 7.0 sacks / Leonard Williams, NYJ
$02.925m = 59 tackles / 1 TFL / 1.5 sacks / Danny Shelton, CLE
$01.799m = 51 tackles / 3 TFL / 1.0 sacks / Brandon Williams, BAL (Free Agent)
$00.625m = 47 tackles / 1 TFL / 3.0 sacks / David Parry, IND
$16.085m = 39 tackles / 3 TFL / 3.5 sacks / Marcell Dareus, BUF
$00.905m = 33 tackles / 3 TFL / 1.0 sacks / Ziggy Hood, WAS (Free Agent)
$01.013m = 29 tackles / 3 TFL / 1.0 sacks / Sylvester Williams, DEN (Free Agent)
$00.733m = 27 tackles / 3 TFL / 2.0 sacks / Javon Hargrave, PIT
$06.146m = 27 tackles / 1 TFL / 1.5 sacks / Dontari Poe, KC (Free Agent)
$00.525m = 26 tackles / 1 TFL / 0.0 sacks / Mike Purcell, SF (RFA)
$02.765m = 24 tackles / 2 TFL / 1.0 sacks / Glenn Dorsey, SF (Free Agent)

Of interest are both Purcell and Dorsey as SF is moving from a 3-4 defense to a 4-3 defense and neither may fit into their D-Line plans.

With the exception of Dareus and Poe, most of these guys are pretty low paid. While I think Poe would be a good addition, perhaps targeting one of the "lesser names" who is playing above or as effectively as Poe might be a better strategy.

It is going to be an interesting month.

Cheers,

Not that there was ever any real chance, but it's officially impossible:

Albert Breer
‏@AlbertBreer
The Cardinals have officially placed the franchise tag on OLB/DE Chandler Jones.

Adam Schefter ‏@AdamSchefter
Other players expected to be tagged by Wednesday deadline include Kirk Cousins, Le'Veon Bell, Kawann Short, Melvin Ingram, Trumaine Johnson.


Melvin Ingram getting the tag is mildly surprising and disappointing in that I think he'd be a nice fit at pass rush.

Donta Hightower is a notable admission, getting him would obviously be a very nice addition.

Must ask Arthur Jones to take pay cut or get cut.

Must re-sign Jack Doyle to starter money.

Should re-sign Darius Butler to good depth money ($4m a year).

Exercise Exclusive Restricted Free Agent tag on Erik Swoope.

Let everyone else hit the open market and see what happens.


My list of free agent targets:

NT:
Brandon Williams, BAL
Dontari Poe, KC
Ziggy Hood, WAS

5-Tech DE:
Calais Campbell, ARI
Chris Baker, WAS

OLB:
Nick Perry, GB
Jabaal Sheard, NE
John Simon, HOU

ILB:
Dont'a Hightower, NE
Zach Brown, BUF
Gerald Hodges, SF

CB:
Stephon Gilmore, BUF
A.J. Bouye, HOU
Trumaine Johnson, LAR
Logan Ryan, NE

Safety:
Tony Jefferson, ARI
Barry Church, DAL
Jonathan Cyprien, JAX

Add pretty much any three guys from three different position groups in the above list and that really shapes our draft board for April.

My hope would be to find one at each level (D-Line, LB, Secondary) to add veteran experience and then reinforce with the draft taking at least one at each level with our 1st - 3th round picks and then using the two picks 4th round picks to reinforce the defense and then add RB or O-Line.

Other Free Agents I am Interested In:
RB Jacquizz Rodgers, TB
RB Latavius Murray, OAK
OG Kevin Zeitler, CIN
OG T.J. Lang, GB
OG Larry Warford, DET
OT Ricky Wagner, BAL
OT Marshall Newhouse, NYG
WR Robert Woods, BUF
WR Kenny Stills, MIA

In Ballard we trust?

Cheers,

Well we just signed T/G Fahn Cooper from San Fran's practice squad:
http://www.colts.com/news/article-1/...2?sf59001307=1

Surprised you dont have Micah Hyde listed at safety. He is younger than Butler and can play multiple positions

I don't dislike Hyde at all. I just dont think he is a "prize" in free agency.

He is Lowery part 2...solid but not great.

Butler is known. Hyde is not

Cheers,

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

KC is currently only $4m under the cap so Berry's new cap hit will mean they need to do some roster trimming or contract restructuring to have any more cap room for the future.

Cutting either Alex Smith or Nick Foles delivers about $9m in cap relief in either case paying for Berry's new contract.

WR Jeremy Maclin delivers $5m in relief.
OT Eric Fisher delivers $9m in relief.
DT Jaye Howard delivers $4m in relief.

No one else delivers more than about $2.5m in cap relief.

Now that Berry is signed, that theoretically means that they could tag Poe. However, the projected tag amount for DTs is $14.770m so, perhaps they might balk at doing so.

Still a good chance of Poe hitting free agency.

Cheers,

Around The NFL‏Verified account @AroundTheNFL 57s57 seconds ago
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BREAKING: Chiefs will release veteran RB Jamaal Charles today http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap300...gn=Twitter_atn …


I guess we'll find out soon if Ballard has a pro-KC bias.

2008 - 2013: 80 games played, 21 100 yard rushing games = 26.25% of games
2014 - 2016: 23 games played, 02 100 yard rushing games = 08.70% of games

He is not the RB that he once was. 2013 when he had 1,980 combined rush / receiving yards was a long time ago.

That said, I would kick the tires.

Gore, Charles and a 4th round draft pick with Turbin, Todman or Ferguson as the #4 would end up being an intriguing RB group for 2017.

Cheers,

Adam Schefter‏@AdamSchefter 1h1 hour ago
Just in: @_sportstrust informed that Patriots' LB @zeus30hightower will not be given franchise tag. Hightower now expected to test market.



Yeah yeah, Patriots bias.

No, he's not a pass-rusher by trade (though he'd arguably instantly become our best pass rushing threat, sadly), but we're also in dire need of ILB help, specifically in terms of coverage and run-stopping, where he's an absolute weapon.

We're not supposed to splurge in free agency, I realize, and he'll likely be given a fairly massive contract, but I do believe it'd be worth it to bring in a guy that'd be a leader for our defense and really shore up a position of desperate need.

We have to get some starting LB from free agency.

Going into 2017 with starting LBers of Edwin Jackson, Morrison and 2 rookie OLBers would be a disaster.

Cheers,

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

it pretty much never fails

why do you even post here

To remind everyone how much of a trainwreck your wet dream hero Grigson was.

@RapSheet
Source: The #Saints will release big-money safety Jairus Byrd on first day of FA. Another top DB available.


An FA darling of Dam (and others) three years ago...

I wanted him.

I have no idea if I want him in 2017, however.

Cheers,

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

Haha another example of dam being wrong

With Ingram off the market, not too many pass-rush guys I can really get excited about. Better to build through the draft, even if it takes a few drafts. Although if you can get Nick Perry at a decent price (and that's a long-term context price), I think you might take a look there.

I'd be curious to see what Bouye's pricetag is, but almost guarantee he's priced out of Colts' range (seriously, look at the cap space of all these other teams...)

So I'm mainly all for re-signing Darius Butler, kicking around a few Tony Jefferson/Dre Kirkpatrick types, and then moving on to the draft with some cap space intact for a better use of it next year.

According to Draft Analyst's Tony Pauline, free agent RG Kevin Zeitler is expected to sign a deal "close to $10 million per year, if not slightly over that amount."
Steelers RG David DeCastro and Bears RG Kyle Long both make $10 million per year as the league's two highest-paid right guards. With the inflation of the salary cap and Zeitler already one of the best guards in the game, he could easily top $10 million per year. Pauline hears the Bengals aren't prepared to go that high for Zeitler. Zeitler is arguably the top offensive lineman available.


Yes, that would be a lot. It would be a metric fuckton. However, as I've said before, if the Colts want to go truly crazy in investing in the OL, I'll never complain.

I'd use resources to that degree personally elsewhere, but I couldn't fault them if they decided to over-correct.

@RapSheet
#Chiefs are not expected to franchise tag Dontari Poe. The #Ravens are not expected to tag Brandon Williams. Big DTs hitting the FA market

I'll take both!

Nope. Zeilter is a solid run and pass blocker, but he would command too much money.

Bring in Warford. Currently, the oline is a decent pass blocking unit. We need a run mauler to give it more balance.

Plus, he'd be considerably cheaper.

Would love to get one of the two for sure. :D:D:D

Longtime Texans beat writer John McClain believes there's an "80 percent" chance Houston re-signs free agent CB A.J. Bouye.
The Texans won't tag Bouye, but it sounds like they're open to meeting Bouye's lofty demands. Still just 25, Bouye is expected to net at least $12 million annually. The Texans have a ton of money tied up in cornerbacks, including Johnathan Joseph, Kareem Jackson, and former first-rounder Kevin Johnson, but if they re-sign Bouye, aging vet Joseph could become expendable. Bouye looked like a true shutdown cover man in 2016.
Source: Mike Meltser on Twitter Mar 1 - 11:00 AM


Talk about a guy that's not coming here, but that has been talked about.

Bottom line is, with Vontae already on the roster and with Patrick Robinson making a salary that isn't insignificant, too many resources are already being dedicated for the Colts to pay the big ticket, highest paid CB in the NFL, good as he may be.

Warford would be preferable, particularly at his price tag. Ronald Leary probably won't command $10M per year either.

Like I said though, if the Colts want to go insane and give Luck an insanely great OL, I'm not gonna complain. If they go big ticket at Guard and then draft Cam Robinson at RT, I'm still not gonna bitch. I won't agree with it, but after seeing Luck get pummeled, that's that.

I know it's not gonna happen, however. Ballard is defense first. Ballard hasn't been with the Colts the past five years, he hasn't experienced seeing his franchise QB get destroyed. He's not emotionally invested in the past.

Any GM who makes personnel decisions based on emotional investment in the past isn't going to be a GM for very long.

Cam Robinson is an intriguing prospect. He doesn't have quick feet, but he was pretty solid against Myles Garrett.

I imagine a lot of teams see him as a RT or guard. He could play LT as well if need be, but that wouldn't be ideal.

Grigson making decisions based off his emotional investment instead of his own retarded intuition might've been an improvement.

And sadly, he was a GM for far, far too long.

Ballard was just on Dakich.

He emphasized that he's not just defense first, that he's trenches first. He's all about being strong up front, offensively and defensively. He said that you never want to pass up a future Hall of Famer at a non position of need (mentioned Reggie Wayne), but if it's close, then he's gonna go with the guy that's strong up front (with that attitude, we likely end up with Malcolm Brown/Eddie Goldman).

I'm guessing this means no 1st round RB (probably for the best), but who knows if any of this is a smokescreen and we admittedly have no access to Ballard's board, so we have no idea if Ballard sees Cook/Fournette as being world's better and a future HOFer, I suppose.

There are so many holes on this defense that I would rather Ballard upgrade a bunch of positions with "better" guys than blow is wad on one or two superstars

Back to my case for Micah Hyde. I would take the lesser of the contracts between he and Butler. I just hope Pags hasnt filled Ballard FOS saying he can make Butler or Robinson into a shutdown corner. BECAUSE HE CANT!!