It has been a hectic few days in the NFL with the free agency signing period getting under way and the opening of the new league year.
With a flurry of signings, trades and high-profile releases now in the rear-view mirror, let’s have a look at my winners and losers from the past week.
The winners
Future quarterbacks and big-name players
With Kirk Cousins signing a three-year deal with the Minnesota Vikings that is worth $84m he becomes the highest-paid player in the league at an average of $28m per year. More importantly, every single dollar of that deal is fully guaranteed.
That could be a game-changer in terms of how elite players (only those with real leverage and strength are going to truly buck the system) negotiate future deals. Next to the negotiating table could be the quarterback quartet of Matt Ryan, Aaron Rodgers, Tom Brady and Ben Roethlisberger. If they can mirror the kind of deal signed by Cousins, this could be a genuine seed change and not just an aberration.
As for Cousins, by effectively backing himself and playing twice under the franchise tag, he is now in a position to have played five straight seasons with fully guaranteed money to the tune of $127.9m. Not bad for a fourth-round draft choice who earned less than $3m in his first four years in the NFL.
Tennessee Titans
The Titans have genuinely improved their team with the signings of running back Dion Lewis and cornerback Malcolm Butler, but they have also upgraded their locker room in the process. Both men come from the New England Patriots and can deliver the kind of messages that new head coach – and former Patriot – Mike Vrabel – will be looking for.
Lewis is a nice complement to the power running of Derrick Henry and can offer position flexibility as a receiving threat out of the backfield. Butler was benched for Super Bowl 52 but you can bet Vrabel did his homework on him and has not baulked at offering a $61m deal. The Titans now have a very good secondary.
Mitchell Trubisky
As he prepares for his second season in the NFL, Chicago Bears quarterback Mitchell Trubisky will be pleased to know he has more passing-game targets at his disposal. The Bears were sorely lacking at the wide receiver position last term but moved quickly to add Jacksonville’s Allen Robinson to the mix.
When healthy, Robinson can be a true No 1 receiver and a difference-maker, especially on deeper routes and down near the goal-line. Adding Taylor Gabriel (Atlanta) to work out of the slot and Trey Burton (Philadelphia) at tight end instantly upgrades the Chicago passing attack. That should help Trubisky grow in 2018.
Jacksonville Jaguars
While they lost Robinson at receiver, the Jags never really had him last year (he tore his ACL in Week 1) and still made it all the way to the AFC Championship Game. We know the defence is set in Jacksonville so upgrading the talent in front of and around Blake Bortles was key.
The addition of Carolina guard Andrew Norwell is huge and he becomes the focal point of their front. He will protect Bortles and pave the way for second-year rusher Leonard Fournette. And I like the signings of former Indianapolis wide receiver Donte Moncrief and New York Jets athletic tight end Austin Seferian-Jenkins. Much will depend on Bortles, but these Jags might be ready to make a Super Bowl run.
The losers
Expensive veterans
When you reach a certain level of play in the NFL, you also reach a level of pay that can sometimes be quite hard for your team to stomach, particularly if your team is hard up against the league-imposed salary cap.
And that is why this time of the year can be so difficult for some of the biggest names in the game. We’re not talking run-of-the-mill players here. All-Pro (best of the best) and Pro Bowl (NFL all-star game) players such as Seattle cornerback Richard Sherman, Miami defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh, Arizona defensive back Tyrann Mathieu and Green Bay wide receiver Jordy Nelson are among many stars to have been sent packing.
It’s just the business of the business and just one reason why there are not many one-club men in the NFL. Ironically, teams rid themselves of these stars in order to sign slightly younger free agents who will be kicked to the curb in a few years’ time. The circle of life, and all that!
New England Patriots
If any other NFL team had been robbed of key players like the Patriots have in the past couple of days, we would be sounding several alarms. But in Bill Belichick we trust, so everything must be all right. No? I don’t think so either.
Sure, I think the Patriots will always be there or thereabouts in the Super Bowl conversation with Belichick coaching and Tom Brady at quarterback. But you cannot tell me that losing offensive tackle Nate Solder, running back Dion Lewis, wide receiver Danny Amendola and cornerback Malcolm Butler doesn’t sting. Add in the uncertainty surrounding the future of star tight end Rob Gronkowski and the departure of defensive coordinator Matt Patricia to become head coach of Detroit and all is not well in New England.
Seattle Seahawks
Will the last one out of Seattle please turn off the lights! It is not quite that bad in the Pacific North-West but it is getting that way, and much of the exodus is of the Seahawks’ own making. Seattle released Sherman and traded away Pro Bowl defensive lineman Michael Bennett.
Add in free agency losses of wide receiver Paul Richardson (to Washington) and tight end Jimmy Graham (to Green Bay) and you get a sense that the winds of change are going to pick up pace and roar all the way through the Seattle locker room.
The Seahawks have thrived on internal competition during the Pete Carroll era and now they need to hope some young bucks who have been waiting in reserve are ready to take the lead. Oh, and make no mistake, the Legion Boom is now a thing of the past and this is most definitely Russell Wilson’s team.
Miami Dolphins
It’s amazing the financial mess that some teams get into and then it forces their hand when it comes to this time of the year. Miami traded wide receiver Jarvis Landry, released Suh, linebacker Lawrence Timmons, tight end Julius Thomas and center Mike Pouncey.
That is a lot of veteran experience gone. The Dolphins also had to restructure the contract of quarterback Ryan Tannehill to get under the salary cap and, without getting too technical, that makes it much harder to move on from him after 2018 if he doesn’t make it all the way back from two serious knee injuries.
Danny Amendola and Albert Wilson will attempt to replace Landry and Josh Sitton is a nice addition on the offensive line but, as much as the team hates this word, it feels like the Dolphins are embarking on a complete phase of rebuilding. It could be a long and painful season in South Florida.
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Sourse: skysports.com
