Free Agency Thread

[cincygrad]

New thread to begin discussion as move past the initial day of free agency.

 

[cincygrad]

If Josh Oliver is pulling 7-8 million per year, I would have to assume Hurst is looking for a deal somewhere else.

 

[BurrowDeep2Chase]

I think there is a good shot we will be drafting a Tight End early this year.

 

[BurrowDeep2Chase]

We are expected to get a 3rd and 5th rounder in the 2024 Draft for the losses of Bates and Bell.

 

[BurrowDeep2Chase]

PFF projects Taylor Rapp 3 yrs/21.75 mill. 76.2 PFF grade last year.

Rapp was solid if unspectacular over his rookie contract after the Los Angeles Rams selected him in the second round in 2019, and he earned career-high grades against the run (82.3) and in coverage (72.9) in 2022. Los Angeles was comfortable lining him up all over, and he's one of those players who performs OK in various alignments but is not particularly great at any one thing. One thing that has been consistent: Rapp is a sure tackler, never missing more than 8.7% of potential tackles in a season. His 148 tackles over the past two seasons rank ninth among safeties.

25 years old, this looks like a good target to me.

 

[CrashDavisSports]

I

PFF projects Taylor Rapp 3 yrs/21.75 mill. 76.2 PFF grade last year.

Rapp was solid if unspectacular over his rookie contract after the Los Angeles Rams selected him in the second round in 2019, and he earned career-high grades against the run (82.3) and in coverage (72.9) in 2022. Los Angeles was comfortable lining him up all over, and he's one of those players who performs OK in various alignments but is not particularly great at any one thing. One thing that has been consistent: Rapp is a sure tackler, never missing more than 8.7% of potential tackles in a season. His 148 tackles over the past two seasons rank ninth among safeties.

25 years old, this looks like a good target to me.

I think that is a winner of an idea.

 

[DanBengalfan]

We are expected to get a 3rd and 5th rounder in the 2024 Draft for the losses of Bates and Bell.

good for at least one depth pick at DB, OL

 

[DanBengalfan]

If Josh Oliver is pulling 7-8 million per year, I would have to assume Hurst is looking for a deal somewhere else.

Joe Burrow makes ordinary TE look good.

heck, if Drew Sample has an entire year to work with Joe, he'll be highly regarded.

 

[DanBengalfan]

perine to broncos

love/hate on this. gives us opportunity to look at other running backs. depending on what kind of spots we fill in FA, we could end up drafting someone with a tool set that better suits us.

our OL made our RBs do better in spots the past few years. it wasn't always about raw rb talent. when we were on our 2nd/3rd stringers, we struggled as expected

 

[DanBengalfan]

and really, I don't think Traveon is that bad.

might surprise us, although I think we will add someone.

 

[DanBengalfan]

Cayenne Peppa to the Panthers

 

[DanBengalfan]

really wish the l'marr jackson thing would go away.

the ravens offered him 44 million a year guaranteed and he turned it down to go sit on the couch. I suppose someone is going to have to see their starting QB get hurt before investing that in him. too many mid tier QBs are making insane amounts.

 

[BurrowDeep2Chase]

really wish the l'marr jackson thing would go away.

the ravens offered him 44 million a year guaranteed and he turned it down to go sit on the couch. I suppose someone is going to have to see their starting QB get hurt before investing that in him. too many mid tier QBs are making insane amounts.

The more drama in Baltimore the better, I hope they give him a long term guaranteed contract, it would be disastrous for them. They know this and that is why they don't want to give it to him.

 

[Cincyfan78]

really wish the l'marr jackson thing would go away.

the ravens offered him 44 million a year guaranteed and he turned it down to go sit on the couch. I suppose someone is going to have to see their starting QB get hurt before investing that in him. too many mid tier QBs are making insane amounts.

I'm not sure why LJ posted what he did, but that wasn't the full details of that contract. The first 3 years were, but there were 2 additional years that were not...and that is why he didn't sign that contract. If it were just 3 years and fully guaranteed, he'd have been a fool not to consider that...hitting the market again in just 3 years when the QB market would have been even higher would have been a prime move on his part - especially if they agreed not to tag him after this next contract.

Bottom line - LJ isn't nearly the QB he thinks he is...his arm is sub-optimal value, and his legs have already shown wear and tear. A team isn't going to want to fully guarantee a contract of length to a RB who plays QB and has shown only a very, very small ability to grow his passing game without the use of his legs.

 

[CrashDavisSports]

I can't see any team wanting to offer a fully guaranteed contract. If you are a good QB, and your contract is structured properly for the team, you are likely to see 100% of your contract anyways. You still want some guaranteed just in case tragedy hits.

But lets say like with Burrow:

If he signs a 7 year contract extension for $336 million, takes 50% guaranteed along with trigger bonuses set into various years of the contract to insure he is gonna stick around until year 7, but most comes in the first 2 to 3 years. If the team decides to cut him due to injury or lack of production, then there is going to be a final bonus paid out in year 6 or 7 which will affect the cap, but not leave the player cut with no money upcoming.

There has got to be ways to game the system, almost guarantee you are going to get 100% of your money if you stay healthy and productive. If you get hurt or become unproductive, well, at least you are guaranteed $168 million. That is pretty damn good for a guy that can't play football anymore. But if the contract is structured right, it helps the team with the cap situation, doesn't force them to worry about back loading and restructuring 10 times to just get out of cap hell. Plus, the player is more than likely to see his full contract this way because he didn't hurt the team because they can afford him and keep adding talent around the player.

 

[CrashDavisSports]

I'm not sure why LJ posted what he did, but that wasn't the full details of that contract. The first 3 years were, but there were 2 additional years that were not...and that is why he didn't sign that contract. If it were just 3 years and fully guaranteed, he'd have been a fool not to consider that...hitting the market again in just 3 years when the QB market would have been even higher would have been a prime move on his part - especially if they agreed not to tag him after this next contract.

Bottom line - LJ isn't nearly the QB he thinks he is...his arm is sub-optimal value, and his legs have already shown wear and tear. A team isn't going to want to fully guarantee a contract of length to a RB who plays QB and has shown only a very, very small ability to grow his passing game without the use of his legs.

He knows that is not a prime move for him. He has been hurt the last two years and with his game he is more than likely to keep getting hurt, especially since he can only play one way.

 

[Cincyfan78]

perine to broncos

love/hate on this. gives us opportunity to look at other running backs. depending on what kind of spots we fill in FA, we could end up drafting someone with a tool set that better suits us.

our OL made our RBs do better in spots the past few years. it wasn't always about raw rb talent. when we were on our 2nd/3rd stringers, we struggled as expected

put some of this on the AFCN thread, but I don't get the love for Perine > Mixon. I get Mixon had a bad year running the ball - I'm not talking about that. Perine averaged 4.1 YPC. That's not much better than 3.9 from Mixon. He also had just 2 runs that were longer than 11 yards all year. 3 if you count it right at 11. That's not really all that good. He'll be 28 just as the season is underway.

I think he was a good backup, but he got 3.3 over 2 years on his last deal. That's just over 1.65 a year. Broncos paid him 7.5 over 2 years. He'll get more per year now than he did in both years in Cincy...no way that was going to happen here. Good for him, glad he's getting an opportunity (hopefully) to show off a bit, but I never saw the fit in him returning without agreeing to a similar deal he did 2 years ago.

 

[Cincyfan78]

This one hurts a bit...

 

[CrashDavisSports]

This one hurts a bit...

Damn it. That does hurt indeed.

 

[CrashDavisSports]

I really hope Higgins and Burrow are working hard to get deals done right now so we don't have to lose all our targets waiting to see what Burrow and Higgins do.