2021 Free Agent Thread

[ARTMONK HOF]

9 minutes ago, MKnight82 said:

Anyone else think we might go after RT Taylor Moton in free agency?  He check all of the boxes.  Used to play for Rivera, check.  He's only 27, check.  Plays at a high level for his position, check.  The only thing is we don't technically need a RT right?  Well I was pleasantly surprised with Morgan Moses' play at LT this past year.  You could bring in Moton at RT and flip Moses to LT full time.  That would solidify the oline and allow us to target some other positions early in the draft.  

Wouldn’t doubt anything who has a Carolina Connection. Like Moton and always love improving the O Line. Everything feeds off great Line play on both sides of the ball. 

[naptownskinsfan]

2 hours ago, Woz said:

If Rivera was smart he wouldn't worry about defending a division title in a season where the entire division was abysmal. Instead, he should be focused on building the team for the long haul.

Unfortunately, he's a head coach and went and got his own pet GM to focus on the short term so ...

I think you mean GMs plural. 

[naptownskinsfan]

2 hours ago, MKnight82 said:

Anyone else think we might go after RT Taylor Moton in free agency?  He check all of the boxes.  Used to play for Rivera, check.  He's only 27, check.  Plays at a high level for his position, check.  The only thing is we don't technically need a RT right?  Well I was pleasantly surprised with Morgan Moses' play at LT this past year.  You could bring in Moton at RT and flip Moses to LT full time.  That would solidify the oline and allow us to target some other positions early in the draft.  

Can we get him on an affordable 1-2 year deal?  Thats the only other box you need to check. 

[Woz]

45 minutes ago, naptownskinsfan said:

I think you mean GMs plural. 

Fair point. So he has his pack of barking poodles to run interference.

[MKnight82]

1 hour ago, naptownskinsfan said:

Can we get him on an affordable 1-2 year deal?  Thats the only other box you need to check. 

I would imagine he will get top dollar.

[LoganF89]

8 hours ago, MKnight82 said:

Anyone else think we might go after RT Taylor Moton in free agency?  He check all of the boxes.  Used to play for Rivera, check.  He's only 27, check.  Plays at a high level for his position, check.  The only thing is we don't technically need a RT right?  Well I was pleasantly surprised with Morgan Moses' play at LT this past year.  You could bring in Moton at RT and flip Moses to LT full time.  That would solidify the oline and allow us to target some other positions early in the draft.  

I had him in a couple of mocks a long time ago, I just have a feeling he’s gonna get paid!! While Moses did look good at LT that was a small sample size. 
 

I think a good question is can Moton play LT. I’m a fan of Lucas to be honest and his contract is cheap! And I also think Charles May be the future at RT. I know he played a little guard when he was healthy last year but I think he’s kinda like how Scherrf was, gonna try at LT but end up a Guard or RT

Edited February 22, 2021 by LoganF89

[turtle28]

9 hours ago, LoganF89 said:

I had him in a couple of mocks a long time ago, I just have a feeling he’s gonna get paid!! While Moses did look good at LT that was a small sample size. 
 

I think a good question is can Moton play LT. I’m a fan of Lucas to be honest and his contract is cheap! And I also think Charles May be the future at RT. I know he played a little guard when he was healthy last year but I think he’s kinda like how Scherrf was, gonna try at LT but end up a Guard or RT

Agree here. I don’t think it makes sense to add another OT to just add one in FA. Lucas is serviceable at LT - at the worst, I actually think he was good last year - and Moses lost weight last summer and rebounded to have a great year at RT and was even good at LT when forced to play it when Lucas went down vs the Lions.

I guess I would say I’m not sure what Charles’s future position is. He has the athletic ability to play LT but his measurements/arm length are that of a guard. I’ve believed since we drafted him that he could play LT bc he was a good to great LT in the SEC for the best offense arguably ever in college football history. 
 

I honestly don’t think we need to overspend  to upgrade the LT position. Now, if the BPA for us in round 1 is a LT we should take them for sure, I’m still not sure they beat out Lucas in year one but hopefully by year two they’d be ready to start at LT.

[ripsean21]

This teams FO especially with all the ( experience) needs to understand they give Brandon a deal at a number or they walk away you do not franchise this guy twice!!! But the last experienced FO we had did similar dumb moves. You either want a guy and you pay the market value or you walk don’t Franchise him and just keep raising the floor numbers to negotiate against yourself with on other players. Maybe they should just call this team the Washington Mismanagement. Catchy ring and completely accurate. If Brandon is a guy you value on this roster to get this team over the hump you pay him. If you think you can get closer to equal production for a bargain then you make that move. These franchise tag blunders for this team are getting chaotic. I like Brandon but this is why you have a really go OL coach. Personally I think you lose Brandon and this line is to void of talent to contend period. We don’t have young depth to feel excited about and we don’t have another top level player on the line outside of Moses who’s older and Chase I think is a really solid player who benefits from having Brandon beside him.

[e16bball]

2 hours ago, ripsean21 said:

This teams FO especially with all the ( experience) needs to understand they give Brandon a deal at a number or they walk away you do not franchise this guy twice!!! But the last experienced FO we had did similar dumb moves. You either want a guy and you pay the market value or you walk don’t Franchise him and just keep raising the floor numbers to negotiate against yourself with on other players. Maybe they should just call this team the Washington Mismanagement. Catchy ring and completely accurate. If Brandon is a guy you value on this roster to get this team over the hump you pay him. If you think you can get closer to equal production for a bargain then you make that move. These franchise tag blunders for this team are getting chaotic. I like Brandon but this is why you have a really go OL coach. Personally I think you lose Brandon and this line is to void of talent to contend period. We don’t have young depth to feel excited about and we don’t have another top level player on the line outside of Moses who’s older and Chase I think is a really solid player who benefits from having Brandon beside him.

I agree with you, generally speaking, but here’s where I disagree from the standpoint of pure roster management strategy: even if I’m not going to pay Scherff what he wants, I’m still franchising him. Because I would use it as a way to be able to trade him.

You’re absolutely right in that they cannot franchise him with the intention of having him play for them for one more season and then again re-evaluate. All your leverage is gone after a second tag, and you find yourself in the dreaded “Cousins position” of being forced to let the guy hit UFA (with a lot of resentment toward you). You’re never keeping the guy then. So if you want to keep him long-term, just bite the bullet and do it now. 

If you don’t want to keep him long-term at the price point he’s insisting on, however, that’s when you drop the tag on him and send out a league-wide email with a *for sale* sticker on his team portrait. Imagine being able to get back even a 2nd rounder for him from a team in dire need of interior OL help. Or perhaps they could just swap franchised players with another team playing the same game, as could be the case with some of these top WRs.

Either way, I think we have to get more long-term impact out of him than just letting him walk for the (somewhat unlikely) possibility of a comp pick. 

[offbyone]

1 minute ago, e16bball said:

I agree with you, generally speaking, but here’s where I disagree from the standpoint of pure roster management strategy: even if I’m not going to pay Scherff what he wants, I’m still franchising him. Because I would use it as a way to be able to trade him.

It is hard for me to imagine anyone trades for him once you give him that much leverage.  Sure on franchise tag year 1 that makes sense, but at 18M, I just can't imagine anyone wanting to pay him.

[turtle28]

2 hours ago, ripsean21 said:

This teams FO especially with all the ( experience) needs to understand they give Brandon a deal at a number or they walk away you do not franchise this guy twice!!! But the last experienced FO we had did similar dumb moves. You either want a guy and you pay the market value or you walk don’t Franchise him and just keep raising the floor numbers to negotiate against yourself with on other players. Maybe they should just call this team the Washington Mismanagement. Catchy ring and completely accurate. If Brandon is a guy you value on this roster to get this team over the hump you pay him. If you think you can get closer to equal production for a bargain then you make that move. These franchise tag blunders for this team are getting chaotic. I like Brandon but this is why you have a really go OL coach. Personally I think you lose Brandon and this line is to void of talent to contend period. We don’t have young depth to feel excited about and we don’t have another top level player on the line outside of Moses who’s older and Chase I think is a really solid player who benefits from having Brandon beside him.

If they don’t want to pay to keep Brandon, they should tag & trade him even if that’s just for a 2nd round pick, like the last FO should’ve done with Cousins. 
 

@lavar703 was right in that for two years he said they should tag and trade Cousins. If Dan/Brice at some that at worst we wouldn’t gotten a 2nd round pick back for him from Arizona, Minny, San Fran, the NYJ etc back in 2017.  

[offbyone]

10 minutes ago, offbyone said:

It is hard for me to imagine anyone trades for him once you give him that much leverage.  Sure on franchise tag year 1 that makes sense, but at 18M, I just can't imagine anyone wanting to pay him.

Edit on this-

Does anyone know if this has ever happened with a Guard?  2nd franchise tag and trade?

[Skinsin2013]

Late to the party for some. But I'm officially all in on Curtis Samuel. 

[e16bball]

5 hours ago, offbyone said:

It is hard for me to imagine anyone trades for him once you give him that much leverage.  Sure on franchise tag year 1 that makes sense, but at 18M, I just can't imagine anyone wanting to pay him.

They can still negotiate with him on a new deal, though. They don’t have to — and almost assuredly wouldn’t — pay him $18M for next season. He doesn’t want that and presumably neither would they. 

Your point is well-taken, though, in that it’s probably not very reasonable to expect a team to pay a LOT for nothing but one (expensive) guaranteed season of control and the right to exclusively negotiate with Scherff on a long-term deal. 

Looking at the recent history of tag/trade deals, we’ve had 5 players traded on franchise tags in the past 3 offseasons. Incidentally, it sure looks like that number is going to move higher this season, with the number of teams that can afford to keep a guy on a bloated franchise tag salary likely lower than ever before. Anyway, interestingly, 4 of the 5 traded players are DEs (Frank Clark, Dee Ford, Jadeveon Clowney, and Yannick Ngakoue). The 5th was WR Jarvis Landry. Here’s what they brought back in trade:

Yannick Ngakoue: Future 2nd + future conditional 5th

Dee Ford: Future 2nd

Frank Clark: 1st (pick 29) + future 2nd

Jadeveon Clowney: Future 3rd + OLBs Jacob Martin and Barkevious Mingo

Jarvis Landry: 4th + future conditional 7th

Edited February 23, 2021 by e16bball

[e16bball]

2 hours ago, offbyone said:

Edit on this-

Does anyone know if this has ever happened with a Guard?  2nd franchise tag and trade?

I’m not sure a guard has ever been franchised and traded at all, though I’m looking into it now. 

It was a more frequently used tool in the 1993-2008 type range, and then it basically died out. The new CBA actually specifies that the franchise tag should not be used to facilitate trading the player (it demands a “good faith intention to employ” the player).

But then the Jarvis Landry trade happened in 2018, and that sort of got the ball rolling again. It makes sense — it kind of allows both parties (team and player) to get something out of a guy leaving if he can get a good contract elsewhere from a team that likes and needs him (but not enough to give up two 1sts). 

The farthest back reaching list of franchised and traded players I can find goes back to like 2008. I know these trades happened before then (I remember Peerless Price specifically), but there aren’t any good compilations. What does exist, however, are team-by-team histories of their franchise tag use compiled by local writers/blogs, so I’m trying to sort through those to find some more examples.