2021 Free Agent Thread

[lavar703]

3 minutes ago, RSkinGM said:

I'm good with that . I thought they did a superlative job last year . ( hope it wasn't all Kyle ! ) Maybe one big signing would be good , a W R or LB .

Last season was more of an outlier. How often does a team go dumpster diving and have it work out? The team badly needs a player opposite Terry and they have nothing at LB.  You can’t bring KPL and the rest of the receiving corp back and expect things to improve while Dan pockets all the money. It’s just absurd and I’m blown away fans are okay with this approach. 

[turtle28]

17 minutes ago, lavar703 said:

Last season was more of an outlier. How often does a team go dumpster diving and have it work out? The team badly needs a player opposite Terry and they have nothing at LB.  You can’t bring KPL and the rest of the receiving corp back and expect things to improve while Dan pockets all the money. It’s just absurd and I’m blown away fans are okay with this approach. 

I’d actually say that the approach of bringing in more FAs that have a lot to prove on their 2nd contract that don’t break the bank rather than bringing in 4 or 5 FAs who are just looking for a huge payday has worked out more favorably for teams over the last 27 years of free agency.

I’d like to re-sign our own first - which we are working on - and sign 1 maybe 2 top of the market guys at most - if even that - and then sign guys more on Kendall Fuller’s FA level for our other positions of need.

Teams that go on huge spending sprees like us in 2000 and 2005, the Ravens mid last decade when they signed McNair, Mason & others, the Eagles in 2011 & the Raiders & Browns in 2019 generally doesn’t work.

Yes, we need to sign some good FAs and we need to target positions of need, NO we don’t need to sign one of the top FAs in each position.

Edited March 10, 2021 by turtle28

[RSkinGM]

I agree Turtle. Too many of the "Stars" get that second contract and ( I like to say ) "Retire on the Field". They got the money so they take less risk-don't want to get hurt. They just aren't the same players . It works out once in awhile but over the long term-not a winning strategy . 

[lavar703]

32 minutes ago, turtle28 said:

I’d actually say that the approach of bringing in more FAs that have a lot to prove on their 2nd contract that don’t break the bank rather than bringing in 4 or 5 FAs who are just looking for a huge payday has worked out more favorably for teams over the last 27 years of free agency.

I’d like to re-sign our own first - which we are working on - and sign 1 maybe 2 top of the market guys at most - if even that - and then sign guys more on Kendall Fuller’s FA level for our other positions of need.

Teams that go on huge spending sprees like us in 2000 and 2005, the Ravens mid last decade when they signed McNair, Mason & others, the Eagles in 2011 & the Raiders & Browns in 2019 generally doesn’t work.

Yes, we need to sign some good FAs and we need to target positions of need, NO we don’t need to sign one of the top FAs in each position.

Asking for a huge spending spree is one thing, ignoring all talent in free agency and hoping an off-season like last years plays out again is really wishful thinking. At some point you have to add great talent and keep great talent. They’ve had two years to work out a deal with Scherff and still can’t do it. Not only that but the guys they’re signing are here on one-year deals and then if they play well ala Ron Darby we’re stuck either paying them big bucks or losing them. I just don’t think you can be successful doing that over a long period of time. 
 

It’s like the whole Patriot way thing. Belichick was lauded for years for letting talented players leave and replacing them easily but once Brady left and the team crumbled that whole Patriot way thing went right out the window. You need to have talent. Rivera is playing for one of the leagues most impatient owners and if Dan stays on as owner there is no “building for the long haul”. You either start winning and keep winning or you’re gone after three seasons. 

[aceinthehouse]

Apparently, in Rivera's presser(which I have not seen), we are hot after 2 players & want to immediately "go after them".

We are also rumored to be involved in trade talks regarding G Andrew Norwell.

No idea if Norwell includes, or doesn't include the 2 unknown players we want badly.

He also apparently said we're still actively pursuing the QB market in saying "we're out there".

When answering questions.

[LoganF89]

after looking at some guards that should be available in FA and rumors around guards being on the trade block/expected to be cut does anyone else think we should just let Scherrf hit the market rather than paying 18 million this season for him?

i mean I wouldn’t mind Trai Turner to replace him to be honest

[RSkinGM]

2 minutes ago, LoganF89 said:

after looking at some guards that should be available in FA and rumors around guards being on the trade block/expected to be cut does anyone else think we should just let Scherrf hit the market rather than paying 18 million this season for him?

i mean I wouldn’t mind Trai Turner to replace him to be honest

Hell yeah !

[ovfd55]

51 minutes ago, LoganF89 said:

after looking at some guards that should be available in FA and rumors around guards being on the trade block/expected to be cut does anyone else think we should just let Scherrf hit the market rather than paying 18 million this season for him?

i mean I wouldn’t mind Trai Turner to replace him to be honest

If we sign one before Scherff signs the tag we could recind the tag like Ron did to Norman in carolina before he signed with us

[ARTMONK HOF]

 

[4209]

7 hours ago, turtle28 said:

The problem becomes the cost & the cap. If we give Galloday a Amari Cooper type deal & we keep Scherff, Darby & Jon Allen then are we going to be able to keep Terry by extending him next year or re-signing him as a FA in 2023? 
 

Are you prepared to lose both Payne & Ioannidis possibly in 2023 also?

There is a domino effect to giving a WR such a huge deal which means we are sure to lose several of our best core players that we’ve drafted and developed or players that played well here last year.

If we sign Galloday to a deal that’s going to pay him $22 million in 2023 & we lose Terry & Payne as a result I’m going to be really mad and I’d hope that everyone else would be as well.

Sure @turtle28 I will give you my explanation. Occasionally I visit other WFT forums. I thought the same way you and other here have. that is YOU CAN"T". But I saw a tweet that made me think about Golladay and any other high price FA. It compel me to say I am in on Golladay. When I get time I will hunt that tweet down and post it here. Be safe

[LoganF89]

some notable guards available in free agency

Joe Thuney

Gabe Jackson

Richie Incognito

Jon Feliciano 

Jon Miller

Forrest Lamp

Dan Feeny

Keleche Osemele

DJ Fluker

 

gaurds expected to be traded or cut

Andrew Norwell

Brandon Brooks

Trai Turner

 

 

some are just as good as Scherrf and some aren’t but are still very good and a heck of a lot cheaper. All in all I feel we should let Scherrf walk and use that 18 million he’s due this season on either a WR, CB, LB, or FS

 

[LoganF89]

2 minutes ago, 4209 said:

Sure @turtle28 I will give you my explanation. Occasionally I visit other WFT forums. I thought the same way you and other here have. that is YOU CAN"T". But I saw a tweet that made me think about Golladay and any other high price FA. It compel me to say I am in on Golladay. When I get time I will hunt that tweet down and post it here. Be safe

@turtle28you have to account for the cap that is surely expected to grow a lot bigger soon. So I do think that we can afford Terry while resigning our guys. Also another reason I think that is bc we don’t have a 40 million QB on our roster. When we eventually do get a QB you have to think a rookie contract is 5 cheap years.

but with Scherrf I’m not so sure he signs long term and to be honest after seeing some guards in FA or expected to be cut or traded. I wouldn’t mind going that route to replace him. Are they as good? Some are and some aren’t but they will all be cheaper that’s for sure

[turtle28]

53 minutes ago, lavar703 said:

Asking for a huge spending spree is one thing, ignoring all talent in free agency and hoping an off-season like last years plays out again is really wishful thinking. At some point you have to add great talent and keep great talent. They’ve had two years to work out a deal with Scherff and still can’t do it. Not only that but the guys they’re signing are here on one-year deals and then if they play well ala Ron Darby we’re stuck either paying them big bucks or losing them. I just don’t think you can be successful doing that over a long period of time. 
 

It’s like the whole Patriot way thing. Belichick was lauded for years for letting talented players leave and replacing them easily but once Brady left and the team crumbled that whole Patriot way thing went right out the window. You need to have talent. Rivera is playing for one of the leagues most impatient owners and if Dan stays on as owner there is no “building for the long haul”. You either start winning and keep winning or you’re gone after three seasons. 

Ok, so we all know that we swung and missed on Cooper & Hooper last year. Perhaps they should’ve beaten the Cowboys guaranteed $ on Copper but that may have not even been enough considering that I think Cooper’s team was just using us to drive up the Cowboys price on his deal. I don’t really know that he ever truly considered signing here given our QB job and I’d say the end the same was probably true for Hooper but perhaps we could’ve gotten them both if were willing to deal out more than $60 million in guarantees to Cooper & more than $23 mil in guarantees to Hooper. Their 2021 cap hits total $30.5 million.

If we had done that last year our cap space right now would be $8.5 million and we wouldn’t have the money currently to even retain Darby as a FA w/o trading or getting a long term deal done with Scherff and Jon Allen.

We don’t know enough of the details to know why Scherff & our front office haven’t come to a long term deal. Have any of us seen an example of a contract that we offered Scherff?
 

There may be good reason why he won’t sign it but there also may be good reason why Washington shouldn’t offer more than what they have. I think we all agree that Scherff shouldn’t be given a deal that will beat out Zach Martin’s and approach $90 million and if that’s what Scherff is looking for, I hope they can trade him for at least a 2nd.

The way you build long term is through the draft, we all know that. Then, you fill out your roster with the best FAs you can but you certainly don’t want to overpay bc that can hurt your team in the long run bc of the salary cap and especially if the player doesn’t work out.

I definitely think we should sign a great FA if we can, I don’t think we should just do it to do it. I also definitely think we should sign a few FAs that are the same talent level of Fuller if you sign guys like that and they take the next step such as Fuller did last year that can really help your team take the next step.
 

For example if we sign Curtis Samuel or Corey Davis to be our #2 WR and they have a 60-75 catch season w/ 800 to 1,000 yds & 5 TDs that will be a great signing for us.

And, instead of then costing $20 million a year on a contract like Galloday & Juju, they’ll cost $13 to $15 million per year.

[turtle28]

1 hour ago, LoganF89 said:looking at some guards that should be available in FA and rumors around guards being on the trade block/expected to be cut does anyone else think we should just let Scherrf hit the market rather than paying 18 million this season for him?

I mean I wouldn’t mind Trai Turner to replace him to be honest

I’d sign Trai Turner or someone like that and then look to trade Scherff for at worst a 2nd round pick. I would want to have Trai Turner or someone else signed first before I looked to move Scherff. I wouldn’t want us to open up a massive hole at our right guard position with no concrete fix already worked out before hand.

[turtle28]

25 minutes ago, 4209 said:

Sure @turtle28 I will give you my explanation. Occasionally I visit other WFT forums. I thought the same way you and other here have. that is YOU CAN"T". But I saw a tweet that made me think about Golladay and any other high price FA. It compel me to say I am in on Golladay. When I get time I will hunt that tweet down and post it here. Be safe

It’s true that we can give both Galloday & Terry contracts that pay them $100 million and $20 million a year on average but that’s going to affect our talent level at other positions. We will be sure to lose some talent off our DL if we spend that much on the WR spot.
 

We don’t have to have two super star pro bowl level WRs in order to have a great passing game or to win a lot of  games. We need a balanced team with the wealth spread around on both the offense and defense about evenly. Teams that do that are generally the best in the NFL. The last time we were spending 70% of our salary cap on our offense was when we had Cousins, DJax, Garcon, Reed & Trent in 2016 and while our passing game was one of the best in the league our defense was one of the worst in the league and we finished that season 8-7-1.

I would like to have our salaries spread more evenly than that and near 50/50 as we can be on offense and defense. If we do that we have a much better chance at winning double digit games and being a perennial playoff team.

@LoganF89 Yes I presume the salary cap will go up every year but, so will our players salaries on their deals. 
 

It’s certainly something we have to monitor and I expect they will. If we want to continue to have the best DL in the NFL - which I think we should want to retain them as much as we can & Terry - we shouldn’t overspend on the WR too much.

Also you mention the QB position and we aren’t paying for a franchise level QB right now but hopefully someday we will be w/in 5 years and then that’s going to affect players we have on contracts as well, we’d probably have to cut a player at that point to make that work which is fine. I just think the loading up on big contracts & want that does to our salary cap and the core drafted players of our team who are the ones who should be priorities in re-signing is something that people need to take into account more. Re-signing our own drafted  players seems like it’s a better idea than buying other teams discarded players 9 times out of 10.

There are so many examples of this over the last 27 years on why it’s better to retain you own rather than to overpay for other teams FAs to build your team.