Who have been the winners and losers of free agency?

[43M]

On 3/27/2018 at 10:56 AM, ArthurPensky said:

Perhaps, we'll see. Burnett was starting to show decline some. You think the Packers poor secondary would let someone they thought was still in his prime walk for that modest price?

 

* waits for Hyde and Hayward to be pointed out.

Its certainly wait and see in terms of HOW good Burnett will be, but I have no real doubt that, if healthy, he will be a notable upgrade from Mike Mitchell.  Even if he plays below average...he would be an upgrade from what Mitchell has been the last two years.

[CWood21]

1 hour ago, FourThreeMafia said:

Its certainly wait and see in terms of HOW good Burnett will be, but I have no real doubt that, if healthy, he will be a notable upgrade from Mike Mitchell.  Even if he plays below average...he would be an upgrade from what Mitchell has been the last two years.

The Packers usually don't hand out 3rd contracts to any Packer-drafted players.  As far as I'm aware, only two-Packer drafted players have signed third contracts: Aaron Rodgers and Jordy Nelson.  The latter was recently released.  The fact that the Packers didn't even offer him another contract looms large.

[43M]

17 minutes ago, CWood21 said:

The Packers usually don't hand out 3rd contracts to any Packer-drafted players.  As far as I'm aware, only two-Packer drafted players have signed third contracts: Aaron Rodgers and Jordy Nelson.  The latter was recently released.  The fact that the Packers didn't even offer him another contract looms large.

If they rarely offer 3rd contracts outside of seemingly great/elite players, not sure why it looms large.

No Steelers fan is expecting Burnett to be elite or even great....just decent for a couple years.  Will he even be that?  Time will tell...but Im alot happier going into the season with him than I wouldve been with Mitchell.

[CWood21]

4 hours ago, FourThreeMafia said:

If they rarely offer 3rd contracts outside of seemingly great/elite players, not sure why it looms large.

No Steelers fan is expecting Burnett to be elite or even great....just decent for a couple years.  Will he even be that?  Time will tell...but Im alot happier going into the season with him than I wouldve been with Mitchell.

Because teams don't want to be straddled by players on the downside of their career, that's when you get stuck with those albatross of a contract.  Fortunately, Morgan Burnett is on the younger side for a 3rd contract, because I believe he declared as a junior and his second deal was a 3 year deal as opposed to a 4 or 5 year deal.  I'd anticipate they'll get a strong return this year, his second year will be average, and in Year 3 he's going to be a liability.

[JAF-N72EX]

On 3/28/2018 at 3:13 PM, Sugashane said:

I'll limit my views to the NFC North since that is what most interests me.

Bears fielded sub-SEC level WRs for much of 2017, so I love the added talent they threw in. They went into the offseason with no 1-2 WRs, their two starting CBs as free agents, and a lack of passrushers. They have added 3 solid targets (Robinson being a true number 1), retained both CBs on multiple year deals, and can focus on EDGE and OL in the draft. Keeping Fangio likely helped them want to remain in Chicago. Lynch looked like a rising star but fell off when Fangio left. I don't think he is anything to count on but bigtime potential on a minimal contract is a gamble I am almost always willing to take. He still isn't going to be the starter next year either though. Daniels is not someone I want starting of Trubisky goes down but he seems like he has been a solid mentor and sat behind some good (Smith) to elite HoF (Brees) QBs. 

Green Bay got Williams in a needed CB role, took a swing on Kizer that I feel they gave up too much (but I am not high on Kizer,  if he turns out to be Rodgers' heir then it was a borderline brilliant move). Nelson was aging but they added Graham who I expect Rodgers to REALLY get a lot out of. Wilkerson's signing was fantastic for them, I was hoping the Bears to offer more than that to try and lure him to us. While not a FA technically, they upgraded their DC with Pettine, who was my top choice if Fangio left. Looks like a damn good offseason overall.

Minny got the QB they have wanted since Favre dropped off, and got Richardson to add to an already dominant defense (him, Joseph, Griffen and Hunter might be the best front 4 in the league and the best MIN has had since Allen/Williams/Williams/Edwards were together). I hate both, bot both good moves for them. I don't think Cousins is ever going to be elite, but Shurmur seemed to know he got his magical stretch out of Keenum and wasn't hoping to have lightning strike twice. I was hoping for them to trade for Foles or think Keenum was a rising star, but they weren't stupid and got a very consistent productive QB. He should be someone I curse at for 2 weeks a season and with him, Theilan, Diggs, and Cook there is some serious potential to be coupled with that defense.

Detroit had the least impactful FA period, but to me that doesn't equate to the worst. Keeping Ansah was their top priority and they secured him. That's a win. They also avoided any critically bad signings/overpayments, and already have a solid team in place. Wilson and Toilolo to me are about equal to Ebron, who  thought was a disappointment. I really like the signing of Freeny for them though. He isn't a great player but Matt Patricia is going to get a lot of value out of him while installing the defense and terminology there. Ngata left but Williams could be a good replacement. He isn't as good vs the run, but Ngata has zero passrush anymore so he improves the defense there most likely. Getting Blount gives them a dominant short yard back who wears down defenses. If DET gets an early lead he can become a pain in the *** for a lot of teams.  They added the Bears' former LB in Jones, who can play all over but is much, much better as a run stuffer than a passrusher. I think Patricia gets a lot of use out of him, even if he never is an above average starter.

 

All in all, all four teams had good signings IMO.

I'm not a big fan of the way the way Chicago handled the Fuller situation and I'm not getting my hopes up on about Robinson, long-term wise, but I keep trying to look at it in a positive way. They needed to get Trubisky some help....the FO have accomplished that. I didn't want to see Fuller go.....they accomplished that. If Pace would not have done either of those two things, I would be livid. So I certainly give the FO credit there. 

I still don't like the move GB made with Kizer and letting Randall walk. That defense needs all the help it can get in the secondary and letting him go only opened up another one. And one that 35 year old Tramon Williams can not fill. I do like the move for Graham though. Rodgers has missed having a TE target in the red zone and in the seam and Graham fills those of those voids perfectly. In the last 2 years he has 15 catches in the red-zone with 5 of them coming off the fade route(3 from the seam and 2 from the corner) and we all know how much Rodgers loves that route. Just to add to this, while I got time, barring injury, Rodgers is going into the season with a two headed monster in the back-field and a legit TE at the same time for the first time in his career and WITH a new OC. As much as I hate to say it, but from the looks of things I think they will have the best offense in the NFL next year and even before the draft.

 

 

 

[Sugashane]

1 hour ago, JustAnotherFan said:

I'm not a big fan of the way the way Chicago handled the Fuller situation and I'm not getting my hopes up on about Robinson, long-term wise, but I keep trying to look at it in a positive way. They needed to get Trubisky some help....the FO have accomplished that. I didn't want to see Fuller go.....they accomplished that. If Pace would not have done either of those two things, I would be livid. So I certainly give the FO credit there. 

I still don't like the move GB made with Kizer and letting Randall walk. That defense needs all the help it can get in the secondary and letting him go only opened up another one. And one that 35 year old Tramon Williams can not fill. I do like the move for Graham though. Rodgers has missed having a TE target in the red zone and in the seam and Graham fills those of those voids perfectly. In the last 2 years he has 15 catches in the red-zone with 5 of them coming off the fade route(3 from the seam and 2 from the corner) and we all know how much Rodgers loves that route. Just to add to this, while I got time, barring injury, Rodgers is going into the season with a two headed monster in the back-field and a legit TE at the same time for the first time in his career and WITH a new OC. As much as I hate to say it, but from the looks of things I think they will have the best offense in the NFL next year and even before the draft.

 

I think the Fuller situation went well. He likely wanted to be paid more, Pace wanted less, and this allowed a happy medium with little to no chance of anyone throwing Fuller a Norman-level deal. As far as Robinson, I hope we get the most out of him and he stays with Trubisky for the long haul, but I am just happy to have him here for the next 3 years. We had a pathetic WR corps, Trubisky should have much more success now. That is all this team is going to be about the next few years, Trubisky's growth.

I hear you. I like Randall and think he is a decent player, but I just look at it this way. If Kizer becomes even an average starter then he has more value than all but the best CBs. I think Ward and Jackson are at the top of their list right now, Williams is just a placeholder.Their offense is potent for sure, you have two CBs that can be used for multiple roles, a WR turned RB, a HoF red zone TE who will own the middle of the field, and Rodgers is going to be himself. Not excited about that, hoping the defense has some serious issues though, but I do really like Pettine so if healthy I don't see that happening.

I still think MIN will have an offense to worry about. Cousins is not elite but a stable, consistent performer who is a good QB. Cook is coming back, Diggs, Thielan, and Wright are a solid WR trio and Rudolph is not going to be Kelce but is definitely underrated. DeFilippo is a solid OC too, he had Manziel/McCown/Austin Davis throw for 4100 yards and 20/12 TD/INT ratio. Add in a dominant defense and you're going to have a fight on Sundays.

[43M]

18 hours ago, CWood21 said:

Because teams don't want to be straddled by players on the downside of their career, that's when you get stuck with those albatross of a contract.  Fortunately, Morgan Burnett is on the younger side for a 3rd contract, because I believe he declared as a junior and his second deal was a 3 year deal as opposed to a 4 or 5 year deal.  I'd anticipate they'll get a strong return this year, his second year will be average, and in Year 3 he's going to be a liability.

Well, again, time will tell.

Im just happy we moved on from Mike Mitchell, and even if Morgan Burnett is only a decent stop gap, it helps.