Your team's best pre-draft moves?

[bksballer89]

We made so many great moves that it is hard to choose 1

 

[RegentDenali]

Acquiring one of the top3 TEs in the league in Graham. He's one of the best redzone targets in the NFL and having Wilson, Lynch, and Graham out there will be a nightmare for defensive coordinators to game plan for. Defenses can't just stack the box anymore.

Getting the Lynch extension done and perfect at 3 years. Plenty of motivation for him to stick around for all three years. The only thing the media can obsess about now is his treatment of them.

I absolutely love the signing of Ahtyba Rubin to a 1 year/3mil deal. What great value we got with that and provides us solid depth at the DT position with all the questions looming over Mebane.

And not overpaying for Maxwell. Let the Eagles pay a #2 CB with #1 salary. Would love to have kept him, but Seahawks made the right call with that.

The Seahawks did a nice job of getting things taken care of before the draft and not mortgaging the future to do it.

 

[Caliskinsfan]

I think I'll have to go with Knighton with a reasonable 1 year, prove it deal.

 

[LambeauLegs]

Signing 2 of the best free agents out there in Cobb and Buluga so the Packer offense is pretty much under contract now for the next 2 or 3 years. The Packers O line which finally played the whole season last year will be the same now for the next 2 years until Bahktarri has his rookie contract come up for extension. This means the best O line McCarthy has had which was last year will be around for at least 2 more years.

The defense cleaned out liabilities with Hawk and Brad Jones gone. Matthews and Barrington will play more inside like the second half of the season and Peppers, Neal, Nick Perry and Datone Jones on the outside

The draft will be spent looking for additional inside linebackers and corner backs to build needed depth

 

[CCF151]

The Cards didn't make any WOW moves but if I was forced to pick one I'd say resigning Fitz. It essentially locks him in to retire as a Card and he is the heart of that offense even if he's not making the big plays. Other than that I like the cost cutting they did for the most part. I don't like losing Dockett but his contract just wasn't feasible and the two sides couldn't agree.

 

[Southieinnc]

It appears ther are only great moves. See you at the playoffs...

 

[night]

Atlanta didn't make any big splashes. They went after a bunch of cheap players to add depth at TE, DE, and LB. The draft will have the first group players that I'll be excited about.

 

[cdumler7]

Extending Bennett (3rd best pass rusher in the league according to PFF in 2014, 7th in 2013) for < $10M per year. Hell it was less than 8... 4 years $28.5M, just a little over $7M.

Don't care that it was over a year ago. That is by far the most ridiculous screw over any franchise has pulled on a player salary/bonus wise in NFL history.

Well the Broncos just signed in December the guy who graded out as the BEST corner in the league this past year in Chris Harris for an average of $8.5 million compared to guys rated below him in Sherman and Peterson getting $14 million. I would say that is pretty darn close if not a better deal than that of Bennett.

 

[cdumler7]

It appears ther are only great moves. See you at the playoffs...

Well the heading does say "Best" so of course this one is going to be filled with positive posts from fans. I guess we could create a "bad" one if you like. I'm one I don't like all the moves the Broncos have made. I don't like that at least from an outside perspective they have made any move to dramatically improve the OL. The two moves they have made were for guys that last time starting received very negative grades. Throw in the OL they let walk in FA was considered one of the best LG's in football. Still have the draft and plenty of Off Season left but at this point the OL was the biggest question heading into the off season and right before the draft it remains the biggest question.

 

[Sharkonabicycle]

Well the Broncos just signed in December the guy who graded out as the BEST corner in the league this past year in Chris Harris for an average of $8.5 million compared to guys rated below him in Sherman and Peterson getting $14 million. I would say that is pretty darn close if not a better deal than that of Bennett.

Pretty darn good, I must admit. Still, the best pass rushers in the league are getting near $20M these days. That said, the Chris Harris contract was surprising to me, in that he signed that cheap.

 

[RP-29]

Couldn't have asked for a better result from free agency... Re-signing Cobb, Bulaga, Barclay, Raji and Guion for what they're worth while letting other teams overpay for their UFA CBs. If Thompson snags a CB and LB within his first few picks in the draft I'll give him an A for the entire offseason.

 

[cdumler7]

Pretty darn good, I must admit. Still, the best pass rushers in the league are getting near $20M these days. That said, the Chris Harris contract was surprising to me, in that he signed that cheap.

The top contracts for pass rushers is 4-3 DE Mario Williams making $16 million and for the 3-4 OLB it is $13.2 million for Clay Matthews. It is the DT's that are getting paid right now. The nice thing about Bennett is he does kick down into the DT spot for you guys and gives you nice production from the spot so his versatility definitely makes that contract even better. Both our teams got pretty fortunate that these two guys were so willing to take millions below market value to stay with our teams. I think it shows just how good of culture our two franchises are right now that players are willing to do that.

 

[cdumler7]

Couldn't have asked for a better result from free agency... Re-signing Cobb, Bulaga, Barclay, Raji and Guion for what they're worth while letting other teams overpay for their UFA CBs. If Thompson snags a CB and LB within his first few picks in the draft I'll give him an A for the entire offseason.

I will say Green Bay has a plan in place and they stuck to it. Getting Cobb and Bulaga back was huge. I definitely would put Green BAy in the top-3 for off season moves.

 

[Sharkonabicycle]

The top contracts for pass rushers is 4-3 DE Mario Williams making $16 million and for the 3-4 OLB it is $13.2 million for Clay Matthews. It is the DT's that are getting paid right now. The nice thing about Bennett is he does kick down into the DT spot for you guys and gives you nice production from the spot so his versatility definitely makes that contract even better. Both our teams got pretty fortunate that these two guys were so willing to take millions below market value to stay with our teams. I think it shows just how good of culture our two franchises are right now that players are willing to do that.

For sure. Broncos have some good value in the contracts they gave out and I was completely wrong earlier this year stating they were in cap hell once Manning retired. I like what the Broncos have done. REALLY intrigued what they do draft wise this year. I feel the Broncos are one of those teams where no matter who they take draft wise will raise eyebrows and gather "interesting" remarks. And I'm talking rounds 1-4. Do they take another QB in the mid rounds? RB is solid... I like WR/TE/OL for them as they are not weak but could use help in those areas. Defensively the backfield makes sense... just about everything makes sense.

That's not because they are weak at all those areas... just that there can be some improvement in all those areas (outside of QB which is planning for the future).

Always liked Denver (Aunt/Uncle lived there) so like to follow that team. If I was going to play for a franchise I'd want Denver/Oakland/KC or Seattle. Classic West

 

[cdumler7]

For sure. Broncos have some good value in the contracts they gave out and I was completely wrong earlier this year stating they were in cap hell once Manning retired. I like what the Broncos have done. REALLY intrigued what they do draft wise this year. I feel the Broncos are one of those teams where no matter who they take draft wise will raise eyebrows and gather "interesting" remarks. And I'm talking rounds 1-4. Do they take another QB in the mid rounds? RB is solid... I like WR/TE/OL for them as they are not weak but could use help in those areas. Defensively the backfield makes sense... just about everything makes sense.

That's not because they are weak at all those areas... just that there can be some improvement in all those areas (outside of QB which is planning for the future).

Always liked Denver (Aunt/Uncle lived there) so like to follow that team. If I was going to play for a franchise I'd want Denver/Oakland/KC or Seattle. Classic West

Yeah the Broncos could go a lot of different ways this year. OL has some major question marks but they do have some players they drafted last year that have been getting high remarks by the new coaching staff. Whether that is them just blowing smoke or not we shall see. DL is the place I could see them go 1st round depending how everything plays out as they have quality starters in place but 4 of the 6 they have under contract for this upcoming season are FA's after this year. So definitely a position that they could look to find the future and a guy who can rotate first year. QB like you said is one that I have no clue what the Broncos are planning on for the position. Manning is most likely done after this year and Osweiler's contract is up after this year so finding Manning's replacement is probably priority #1 either this year or next. I would rather try and find it this year instead of having to put a rookie in and hope they succeed. Really the Broncos are pretty solid in most areas but like you said can use the draft to find upgrades or at least potential upgrades. Elway always likes to go into the draft not having to reach for a position so that he can truly take BPA.

And of course have to stay with the Classic West teams. No better classic football than that of the Old AFC West! I'm liking what the Seahawks are doing as well. They definitely are a franchise that marches to their own beat such as trading away 1st round picks the last few years but hey can't argue with a Super Bowl Ring and 2 NFC Championships over the last 2 years. Throw in Graham is a lot better situation than Harvin was. Going to be interesting to see though how they do with getting Wilson resigned. I keep reading that this contract is going to be one of the most unique the league has ever seen. We shall see. The nice thing for the Seahawks though is they have the defense set it looks like for at least the next few years. Obviously have a couple of players to get resigned but the core of that defense has at least 4 years together still. Still can't believe we traded our 1st round pick to you guys that netted you Earl Thomas. Man he would have looked good as a Bronco. He has quickly become one of my favorite players which is hard to say since well the Seahawks beat the Broncos badly in the biggest game of the year but the kid just plays with such passion, intelligence, and just making sure to leave it all on the field every single week. Always love to have players like that on your team.

 

[ducky]

For the Vikes I was disappointed with the FA period.

Our owner is obviously being a little tight with the cash as we didn't really spend any money. A little justifiable as we are playing in a college stadium and he is probably losing more money that he wants to. But with a new stadium and all the revenue that comes with it on it, I hoped they would still spend normally.

We basically did a mostly lateral move by cutting Jennings and trading for Wallace. It's a better fit but not really a significant upgrade.

In FA, we did nothing.

Hated the fact that they resigned themselves to another year of subpar LB play by basically guaranteeing that Greenway is our #2 LB by agreeing to a contract restructure with him. We did nothing to upgrade our OL situation and our DE depth is still poor.

The only need they really answered was resigning DT Tom Johnson (a really good year for us last year). So at least we don't need to target a rotation DT in the draft.

All in all a bust of an offseason so far. The only good thing about it is that they didn't do anything we can regret and limit us moving forward. And in truth sometimes those really are the best offseasons.

 

[PhightinIrish]

For the Buccaneers nothing has been too exciting. Melton was a nice little signing for cheap. Getting rid of bum Mccown and Goldson was a plus. Not sure how they let offensive line and defensive ends just get signed left and right. Hopefully can grab a veteren guard or two before the year. Draft looks pretty set in stone with qb, then de, then guard/tackle.

 

[DonMan]

For the Bills, things got off to a pretty rocky start with Marrone deciding to opt out of the remainder of his contract.

Some more positive news since then:
- hiring Ryan
- trading Alonzo for McCoy
- re-signing Hughes
- signing Harvin
- signing Charles Clay
- signing Cassel (& Taylor)

Out of all of those moves, Hughes might turn out to be the most beneficial. Mario isn't getting any younger, and it's no secret that a strong pass rush makes any defense much better.

 

[Southieinnc]

For the Bills, things got off to a pretty rocky start with Marrone deciding to opt out of the remainder of his contract.

Some more positive news since then:
- hiring Ryan
- trading Alonzo for McCoy
- re-signing Hughes
- signing Harvin
- signing Charles Clay
- signing Cassel (& Taylor)

Out of all of those moves, Hughes might turn out to be the most beneficial. Mario isn't getting any younger, and it's no secret that a strong pass rush makes any defense much better.

Are the Bills better than last year?

 

[cdumler7]

Are the Bills better than last year?

The issue that I question is that of the quarterback position. Kyle Orton wasn't some world beater but I think I would take him over any of the guys they have brought in or already have. So while all those other moves look very good on paper and make the team look better overall in my opinion I just question if they have downgraded at the most important position on the entire team.