2024 Free Agency and Free Agents Signings

[redseat]

 

[Yankee Traveler]

Ferentz retiring.

Unheralded Patriot Retires After Seven Seasons In New England

A longtime New England Patriots offensive lineman announced his NFL retirement Monday after a decade in the league.

nesn.com

 

[YankeeRebel]

Ferentz retiring.

Unheralded Patriot Retires After Seven Seasons In New England

A longtime New England Patriots offensive lineman announced his NFL retirement Monday after a decade in the league.

nesn.com

Glad we drafted O Line the last two years and I suspect we will this year as well. At least one OT

 

[BigKen]

Today through March 5 is the Franchise period.

The two most talked about players on the Patriots being franchised are Mike Owenu and Kyle Dugger.

IMO, Owenu would be the guy I would franchise if I couldn't get him to sign a new contract. It's going to cost about $20M because Owenu played tackle as well as guard and is generally considered to be a tackle. It might take as much as a three or four deal at an average annual salary of $22M.

Dugger is 28 years old and would cost $15M. He's more valuable to the Patriots than 95% of the rest of the NFL. The Patriots should be making a three year offer in the $30M range and see if he'll listen.

There are two other Patriots who are not free agents but must be attended. Matthew Judon is making $7.5M in 2024. The powers that be should be talking with him and his agent and getting a two year extension and offer him 3 years and $45M.

Right behind Judon is Jabril Peppers who is making $4.6M this year. Extend him out four years and offer him $60M.

The salary cap is reportedly going to be $242M in 2024. Some information somehow leaked that the league and the NFLPA have been talking and cap could be set at $250M. According to SPORTRAC, the Patriots are at $74.5. Add another $8M and they would be at $82.5M.

IF the Patriots would cut JC Jackson, Godchaux and Ju Ju, they would get another $36.2M Add that to the n$82.5 and the available cap space for spending on free agents and resigning a couple of critical players on the team to $118.7M. They could do a lot of restricting and rebuilding with that kind of cash.

 

[BigKen]

Next week is the Combine. 265 college grads and juniors will be in attendance.
Wolfe and Groh will be attending, as will Mayo, Covington, Van Pelt and Springer.
Wolfe indicated that most of the Patriots' scouts will also be attending to help keep an eye on any side workouts going on.

The next couple of weeks are going to create a ton of movement in Foxboro.

Quote half of the college scouts and experts about this years draft: "Day three of the 2024 Draft is garbage."

What does that say? Any player not taken in the first three rounds is garbage? That's pretty nasty. I hope the Patriots find starters in rounds 4-7. Or at least quality backups.

 

[YankeeRebel]

Next week is the Combine. 265 college grads and juniors will be in attendance.
Wolfe and Groh will be attending, as will Mayo, Covington, Van Pelt and Springer.
Wolfe indicated that most of the Patriots' scouts will also be attending to help keep an eye on any side workouts going on.

The next couple of weeks are going to create a ton of movement in Foxboro.

Quote half of the college scouts and experts about this years draft: "Day three of the 2024 Draft is garbage."

What does that say? Any player not taken in the first three rounds is garbage? That's pretty nasty. I hope the Patriots find starters in rounds 4-7. Or at least quality backups.

Day three has always been depth and ST picks, to say it's garbage is garbage.

 

[Southieinnc]

Day three has always been depth and ST picks, to say it's garbage is garbage.

Not to mention goat QB’s and top RT’s

 

[sharkymcwrath]

Not to mention goat QB’s and top RT’s

And Super Bowl MVP receivers that also throw touchdowns and return punts for TD's.

 

[Yankee Traveler]

And Super Bowl MVP receivers that also throw touchdowns and return punts for TD's.

Who ?

 

[sharkymcwrath]

Who ?

I don't remember.

 

[BigKen]

Good morning gents.

Thought that there would be more chatter in here. NFL announced that the 2024 salary cap will be $255M !!!!

Is that good or is it bad?

I think that something very bad has happened. That's a $30M jump or 13% over the 2023 cap. Unheard of in the history of the salary cap era.

IMO, there are teams that were going to have to cut a shitload of players and the only teams that would have been able to afford them were the top six teams with salary cap space. Now, with an extra $30M, a bunch of players will be staying home and several teams like the Bengals have franchised players like Tee Higgins and more will shrink the free agent market. What will that money do for available free agents? It's going to drive prices up.

If the Patriots could have re-signed Owenu for $15M, more teams will be bidding for him and more than likely his price will be $18M-$20M and the length will go from 3 years to 5 years.

 

[BigKen]

NFL salary cap skyrockets to $255.4 million for 2024 season, up record $30.6 million from 2023

NFL teams will have more to spend than expected in 2024

www.cbssports.com

 

[BigKen]

Patriots have the third highest amount of salary cap space.

1. Commanders = $79.61M
2. Titans = $78.65M
3. Patriots = $78.55M
4. Bears = $78.33
5. Colts = $72.33M

All 32 teams listed below

Ranking every NFL team's salary cap space from 1-32 with the Commanders at the top

The Commanders are in excellent shape, while the Bills and Saints have some work to do.

commanderswire.usatoday.com

 

[BigKen]

As previously stated, if the Patriots part ways with JC, Godchaux and Ju JU, they can free up another $36.2M which would give them $114.75M to go after free agents. Setting aside the money that they will need for the draft, they still have over $100M.

IMO, they can resign Owenu, out pay anyone for OT Williams and even make Trent Brown a well paid performing LT again if they think he's mentally stable enough. With kind of money they can try to resign Dugger and Uche and extend Judon and Peppers and have more than enough to attempt to sign Henry and Shultz. At the same time over pay for a Calvin Ridley and/or Mike Williams. Set aside enough to be competitive trying to sign Mayfield or even Tannehill and use the #3 to draft the QB of the future, be it Daniels or Maye.

If they spend correctly, the draft will be a huge bonus.

 

[NWPATSFAN]

As previously stated, if the Patriots part ways with JC, Godchaux and Ju JU, they can free up another $36.2M which would give them $114.75M to go after free agents. Setting aside the money that they will need for the draft, they still have over $100M.

IMO, they can resign Owenu, out pay anyone for OT Williams and even make Trent Brown a well paid performing LT again if they think he's mentally stable enough. With kind of money they can try to resign Dugger and Uche and extend Judon and Peppers and have more than enough to attempt to sign Henry and Shultz. At the same time over pay for a Calvin Ridley and/or Mike Williams. Set aside enough to be competitive trying to sign Mayfield or even Tannehill and use the #3 to draft the QB of the future, be it Daniels or Maye.

If they spend correctly, the draft will be a huge bonus.

If they draft a QB at #3 he better be the day 1 starter. Otherwise trade the pick and stockpile other picks.

Sign a QB in FA and see if Nix falls to the 2nd round and grab him. Or find someone in those "garbage rounds" and hope to find that gem.

 

[BigKen]

Just found this. It's the most complete list I've seen.

2024 NFL Free Agent List By Position

NFL Trade Rumor's list of 2024 NFL Free Agents broken down by position. This list will be updated throughout the year as players are signed and released.

nfltraderumors.co

 

[BigKen]

How about signing RB Devin Singletary? Probably wouldn't cost more than $5M and is only 26 years old.

 

[BigKen]

If they draft a QB at #3 he better be the day 1 starter. Otherwise trade the pick and stockpile other picks.

If they have a vet QB on a short contract, it could allow the new QB to slowly work his way into the starting role by Thanksgiving and not put him immediately under pressure. It would also give the rest of the offense time to settle in and get used to playing with each other.

 

[molsaniceman]

KPRC2’s Aaron Wilson reports Patriots WR Kendrick Bourne is expected to test the free agent market this offseason.
Bourne is recovering from a torn ACL he suffered in Week 8 against the Dolphins. He was off to a good start to the year before going down, posting 37 receptions for 406 yards and four touchdowns, and is expected to have decent interest on the open market. Bourne will be 29 at the start of next season, but it’s hard to envision him walking into a significant role next season — even if fully healthy.

 

[molsaniceman]

NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport reports the Bengals informed Tee Higgins they will franchise tag him.
It was reported earlier in the month by The Athletic’s Paul Dehner that “all expectations” were that the Bengals would tag Higgins, who was set to be an unrestricted free agent. Higgins is expected to net about $21.8 million on the franchise tag as he and the Bengals will now look to run things back for at least one more season. It’s possible Higgins and the Bengals eventually come to an agreement on a long-term extension, but this extension buys the two sides extra time to figure things out — assuming Higgins is willing to play on the tag. Higgins has been a highly productive receiver through his first four years in the league, totaling 257 receptions for 3,684 yards and 24 touchdowns. Injuries plagued his 2023 campaign, but Higgins still managed to find the end zone five times and averaged a career-high 15.6 YPR on the season. He’ll be a high-end WR2 for fantasy next season.