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Offseason In Review

Offseason In Review: Cincinnati Bengals

July 20th, 2024 at 10:10pm CST by Adam La Rose

Joe Burrow’s health was a talking point leading into the 2023 campaign as he dealt with a calf strain. That ailment gave way to a season-ending elbow injury midway through the year, one which added to his missed time and hindered the Bengals’ playoff push.

Cincinnati still managed a 9-8 record, but it was insufficient for a wild-card berth. The team identified improvements in the secondary as a priority, although changes on the other side of the ball have proven to be a key factor in the past few months as well. Alterations along the offensive line and at the skill positions (more of which are likely on hand next offseason) have left the Bengals with several new faces to integrate as Burrow and Co. prepare to navigate another long list of AFC contenders.

Trades:

Mixon’s Bengals future was in question last offseason, with his cap figure being weighed against the prospect of a transition to a younger setup in the backfield. Team and player reached agreement on a restructure during which the 27-year-old took a notable pay cut. Before a 2024 roster bonus was due, Cincinnati elected to move forward with a Mixon release.

The team ended up reversing course, though, with Houston taking on the veteran as a new lead back. The Texans showed heavy interest in making a backfield addition representing an upgrade over Devin Singletary, including a lucrative Saquon Barkley offer. Tony Pollard and D’Andre Swift were also on the team’s radar, but Mixon will carry the load for at least the short-term future.

Mixon, who became the third-leading rusher in Bengals history last season, agreed to a two-year, $19.75MM extension upon arrival in Houston. As a result of that agreement (which includes $13MM in guarantees), the Oklahoma product is under contract through 2026 to begin the second phase of his career. The Texans’ offense features plenty of pass-catching options, but Mixon should be a factor in his new team’s bid to repeat the success of 2023.

For the Bengals, life after the former second-rounder will mark a notable change in the backfield. In each of his healthy seasons since 2018, Mixon logged no fewer than 210 carries, topping 1,200 scrimmage yards during each of those campaigns. Cincinnati will have a much more cost-efficient running back setup moving forward, but the team’s production in the ground game will face question marks.

Free agency additions:

With respect to PFR’s top 50 free agent list, the Bengals withstood many more losses than additions this spring. Rankins is nevertheless a notable new face along the defensive interior. The 30-year-old delivered a strong showing during his one-and-done Texans campaign, racking up six sacks. That figure represented his highest total since 2018 and included a three-sack performance against Cincinnati. He will be counted on to deliver an impact in the pass-rush department as a central member on the team’s new-look defensive line.

Rankins received an offer averaging $12MM per year from the Texans before deciding to join the Bengals. The former Saints first-rounder logged a consistent workload during his Jets stint (2021-22), and his uptick in production in Houston will lead to high expectations on his fourth career team. Pairing Trey Hendrickson with a dependable interior rush contributor could help a defense which ranked 17th in sacks last season. Cincinnati struggled against the run in 2023, though, and the team’s new faces up front will play a key role in determining if improvement takes place.

The Bengals finished mid-pack through the air in 2023 despite Burrow’s missed time. Their largest issue on offense was the ground game (90 rushing yards per contest, 31st in the league). With Mixon no longer in the picture, increased attention will be paid to Chase Brown in addition to Moss moving forward. The latter operated in a rotational capacity during the start of his career, but the midseason 2022 trade which moved him from the Bills to the Colts resulted in an uptick in playing time.

For two different stretches last season, Moss operated as Indianapolis’ lead back. The 26-year-old received double-digit carries eight times in 2023, and his 183 total attempts were comfortably the most of his career. Undersized at 5-9, the 205-pounder will be tasked with operating between the tackles for Cincinnati to complement Chase’s speed. Moss did not receive as lucrative of a deal as many other free agent backs this offseason, but his addition could prove to be a highly cost-effective one if he translates his Colts success to his new home.

Entering the offseason, Cincinnati planned to make a short-term addition at right tackle while also seeking out a more permanent solution at the position via the draft. That approach led to a Mekhi Becton visit prior to the Brown signing. Like he did during his first Patriots stint, Brown manned the blindside over the past two seasons upon returning to New England. The 31-year-old blocker struggled in 2022 but when healthy last season, he rebounded in terms of PFF evaluation (80.2 overall grade). He also has experience at the right tackle spot he will play with the Bengals.

Brown’s deal contains incentives (just as his Patriots pacts did), so his play in Cincinnati will carry financial implications. With Burrow’s health remaining a top organizational priority, pass protection at both tackle spots will continue to be an area of scrutiny for the Bengals. Brown’s long-term replacement may very well be in the organization, but the 10th-year veteran could provide an experienced option during at least the start of the campaign.

After breakdowns in the secondary became a consistent problem for the 2023 Bengals, it came as no surprise that additions at the safety spot were deemed a priority. Stone, 25, established himself as a strong special-teamer early in his Baltimore career, but he took on a much larger defensive workload this past season. The former seventh-rounder logged an 82% snap share and translated that into an AFC-leading seven interceptions and nine pass deflections. A repeat of that ball production would certainly be welcomed in a Jessie Bates-less defensive backfield.

Bell landed a three-year Panthers deal last offseason, but after a single campaign with the team he was released in a cost-shedding move. That paved the way for an inexpensive return to Cincinnati, one which could see him reprise his former starting role. With recent first-rounder Dax Hill transitioning from safety to corner, the play of Stone and Bell on the backend will go a long way in determining how much the Bengals rebound from 2023’s struggles against the pass.

Re-signings:

Taking a flier on Gesicki will give the Bengals a new look at tight end from a pass-catching standpoint, but the team will continue to depend on familiar faces at the position. Sample has not come close to matching his playing time or production from 2020, but he has remained a staple in Cincinnati’s offense in the years since. The 28-year-old also contributes on special teams, and third-phase responsibilities will no doubt continue moving forward as Hudson looks to once again serve as a complementary receiving target.

The same holds true for Irwin, who has spent his entire five-year career in Cincinnati. The former UDFA scored four touchdowns on only 15 receptions in 2022, and he followed that up with personal bests in receptions (25) and yards (316) last season. He could take another step forward in 2024 and in doing so provide the Bengals with cost-effective production in the passing game. Considering the team’s current (and future) financial situation at the receiver spot, effective depth will be critical.

Notable losses:

Once the Bengals added Orlando Brown Jr. in free agency last offseason, the writing seemed to be on the wall for Williams. The former first-rounder rescinded a trade request and accepted a right tackle assignment for 2023, once again serving as a full-time starter. Williams underwhelmed in terms of PFF evaluation (for the second year in a row), which no doubt hurt his market value and hindered his chances of finding a left tackle gig with a new team.

The 26-year-old nevertheless secured $30MM on a two-year Cardinals deal. Arizona will move Paris Johnson Jr. to the blind side in 2024, a transition which comes as little surprise considering his pedigree and college experience. That will leave Williams to continue handling right tackle responsibilities in his new home while the Bengals move in a different direction

Reader’s torn quad – the second of his career – ended his Bengals tenure and threatened to reduce his market value. Cincinnati hoped to keep its four-year DT starter in the fold, but it soon became clear he would at least explore other opportunities. The 30-year-old enjoyed a consistent spell in Cincinnati (when healthy), proving his $53MM Bengals pact to be a solid investment on the team’s part.

To little surprise, Reader was unable to match that figure on his third career contract. His Lions visit ultimately yielded a two-year deal, but its maximum value ($27.25MM) only includes $7.4MM guaranteed at signing. The former fifth-rounder’s health and performance in Detroit will determine whether or not he remains with the Lions for 2025. Likewise, uncertainty surrounds the veteran and rookie additions the Bengals brought in to replace him.

With Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins both in need of new deals, it became clear entering the 2023 season that Boyd’s next contract would likely come from a new team. Upon hitting the market, several teams were listed as suitors. One of those was his hometown Steelers, with which a mutual interest existed for working out an agreement. The Steelers were not willing to increase the value of the initial offer made to the Pittsburgh native, though, steering Boyd in a new direction.

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Offseason In Review: Indianapolis Colts

July 17th, 2024 at 9:55pm CST by Sam Robinson

The Colts nearly turned a seemingly lost season into a playoff berth, falling just short of an AFC South title despite Gardner Minshew needing to replace Anthony Richardson early. Indianapolis responded to its 9-8 showing by displaying tremendous confidence in Chris Ballard‘s homegrown core, one that has largely been around as the team has cycled through post-Andrew Luck quarterback options. A spree of extensions and re-signings defined Indy’s offseason; well, that and Richardson’s rehab effort.

While last season marked a surprise surge, it also still brought few answers on the gamble the team took at No. 4 overall. Richardson entered the NFL as a raw prospect with tantalizing tools; his run of injuries last year brought obvious concerns. More importantly, the Florida product threw 84 passes after a 393-pass Gators career. The Colts need the dual-threat QB to show signs he will be the long-awaited post-Luck long-term QB. Some of Luck’s teammates are still in the picture in Indy, illustrating how far back Ballard’s core goes. The team continued its build-from-within strategy this offseason.

Extensions and restructures:

As injuries caught up with T.Y. Hilton, Pittman quickly became the Colts’ lead wideout. The 2020 second-rounder had operated as such for most of his career, and while the Colts resolved the Jonathan Taylor matter before taking care of Pittman, the franchise tag made a rare appearance in Indianapolis to ensure the two-time 1,000-yard receiver could not test the market. Using the tag for the first time since cuffing Pat McAfee in 2013, the Colts slapped a $21.8MM tender on Pittman. Unlike the Bengals, who are renting Tee Higgins for at least one more season, Pittman — chosen one spot after Higgins in the 2020 second round — signed an extension just before the legal tampering period opened.

Pittman’s extension moved the $21.8MM number off the Colts’ books, freeing them up to execute a retention-heavy free agency strategy. The Colts also did well, as it turned out, by not letting negotiations drag near the July 15 deadline.

Indy extending Pittman on March 11 came just before Calvin Ridley scored a four-year, $92MM deal ($46.98MM fully guaranteed) and weeks before Amon-Ra St. Brown‘s extension confirmed another market boom was coming. Pittman, 26, was not a candidate to rival A.J. Brown and Justin Jefferson‘s $32MM- and $35MM-per-year extensions, but the fifth-year Colt would have benefited by the WR ceiling rising had those transactions occurred before his.

The Colts convincing Pittman, shortly after news of the cap’s $30.6MM spike emerged, to do a deal south of where 2022 extension recipients Deebo Samuel and D.K. Metcalf reside proved a win for the team. Following the St. Brown and Jefferson pacts, along with Nico Collins‘ $24MM-per-year deal, Pittman sits as the NFL’s 14th-highest-paid wideout. CeeDee Lamb and Brandon Aiyuk figure to affect that placement soon, but via the short-term extension, Pittman should have a chance at another big payday in his late 20s.

Richardson’s injury probably helped Pittman contractually. The raw rookie likely would not have been able to set up Pittman for the season he had — 109 catches, 1,152 yards — but Minshew peppered the 6-foot-4 weapon with targets to help the Colts’ surprising run to the postseason precipice. The Colts strengthened their receiving corps in the draft, but Richardson will be looking Pittman’s way first as the team enters its second season under Shane Steichen.

After Indianapolis’ binge of agreements with homegrown talent, Ballard extended the D-line centerpiece he acquired via trade four years ago. Obtained for a 2020 first-round pick, Buckner has remained one of the NFL’s best defensive tackles. While the 49ers cut Arik Armstead four years after choosing his slightly cheaper extension over a Buckner re-up back in 2020, the latter is still going strong in Indiana.

Buckner, 30, scored a deal that comes nearly fully guaranteed. He moved from $21MM per year to $23MM on average, and while his current AAV sits seventh among DTs, the former top-10 pick traded a push for a top-market salary for security. Buckner’s 2024 and ’25 base salaries are fully guaranteed, and the Colts have the Oregon alum on the books through his age-32 season.

A two-time Pro Bowler as a Colt — in addition to receiving a 2020 first-team All-Pro nod — Buckner has missed one game since being traded. The Colts will hope to continue to rely on a player who has anchored their D-line during a period of edge rusher uncertainty. Buckner’s presence boosted the development of Kwity Paye and Dayo Odeyingbo, both of whom making progress en route to career-high sack totals last season. Buckner’s four-year Colts sack count (32.5) betters his four-season 49ers work (28.5), and his 87 QB hits with the AFC team outflank his San Francisco total as well.

Totaling between seven and 9.5 sacks during his Colts tenure, Buckner gives the team a high floor that will certainly be important as the team attempts to load up around Richardson. Pro Football Focus has slotted Buckner as a top-12 DT in three of his four Indy seasons, and ESPN’s pass rush win rate metric tabbed him fifth among interior D-linemen last season. This near-fully guaranteed contract shows one of the luxuries a rookie-scale QB provides for a franchise.

As Shaquille Leonard‘s injuries mounted to the point the perennial All-Pro became a late-season release last year, the Colts leaned on Franklin. The latter’s latest agreement came two years after the Colts had re-signed the former seventh-rounder to a three-year, $10MM deal. A Syracuse product, Franklin adds to Ballard’s breakthrough 2018 draft haul. The ’18 group played a key role in the Colts reigniting after a miserable Andrew Luck-less 2017, with Leonard, Quenton Nelson, Braden Smith, Nyheim Hines and Tyquan Lewis going off the board before Franklin.

Amid Leonard’s run of 2022 misfortune, Franklin moved into a full-time role and racked up 167 tackles alongside Bobby Okereke. The Colts depended on Franklin more last season, with Okereke defecting to the Giants. Franklin compiled 179 tackles in a three-down role. He has forced four fumbles over the past two seasons. Although PFF slotted Franklin 58th among off-ball LBs in each of those years, the Colts authorized a significant raise to continue as a regular in Gus Bradley‘s defense.

Re-signings:

Of the Colts’ 22 projected offensive and defensive starters, 19 are homegrown. Moore practically pushes that number to 20, having been a Colts waiver claim (from the Patriots) ahead of his 2017 rookie season. That doubled as Ballard’s first offseason. Despite the Colts having one playoff berth since Luck’s surprise 2019 retirement, the Moore and Stewart efforts quickly showed how Ballard planned to supplement Richardson’s contract.

The money largely went to in-house additions, with Moore being the most significant of the re-signed contingent. For the second time, a Moore agreement raised the ceiling for slot defenders. The Colts took care of Moore when he was first extension-eligible, back in 2019. Although the former UDFA played out the deal, he has remained in form good enough to prompt another investment. Considering the uncertainty surrounding the Colts’ boundary cornerback spots, Moore locking down the slot is paramount to the team’s defensive effectiveness.

Moore, who will turn 29 next month, made an effort to secure a new contract during the 2022 offseason. With two years remaining on the four-year, $33.3MM contract, Ballard and Co. did not hand out a new one following Moore’s 2021 Pro Bowl slate. Like Chris Harris before him, Moore has operated as a high-end slot stopper who wanted to be paid closer to perimeter standouts. After a down 2022, Moore bounced back with a three-INT season that included two pick-sixes. Indianapolis ranked third in defensive DVOA in the slot compared to 25th in outside coverage. Moore’s 13 INTs from the slot position are five more than any other player since 2017; PFF ranked the 5-9 cover man 18th among all corners last season.

Also included in the top 40 on PFR’s free agent list, Stewart joined Moore in securing better terms compared to his second Colts contract. The team gave the 2017 fourth-rounder a notable raise after his 2023 season brought a PED suspension. Stewart’s six-game absence showed against the run. The Colts allowed 107.9 rushing yards per game with Stewart suited up; during his six-game ban, Indianapolis yielded 153 on the ground. Stewart, 30, also registered a career-high four sacks in 2022. Other than the PED penalty, he has not missed a game since 2019.

This offseason brought the first test for Ballard regarding third-contract investments; the Moore and Stewart accords showed no hesitancy existed on this front. Ballard has long prioritized homegrown talent, and these contracts show the longtime GM is willing to reward pillars approaching the end of their primes. The Colts will deploy two 30-year-old DT starters, though their DE core is much younger.

It took some time for Blackmon to come back, and the former second-round pick was not too pleased with his market. The four-year Colts starter visited the Bills and 49ers before agreeing to re-sign — likely to bolster his value for a 2025 free agency redux. Blackmon, 26 in August, was part of a safety market that rewarded high-level young talent (Antoine Winfield Jr., Xavier McKinney, Kyle Dugger) but cast other proven players (Justin Simmons, Quandre Diggs, Eddie Jackson, Jamal Adams, Kevin Byard) aside. Kamren Curl also settled for a low-level Rams deal, and it is far from certain a solid Blackmon season will lead to a value spike as macro safety assessments fluctuate.

A middle tier did form in free agency, with C.J. Gardner-Johnson (three years, $27MM), Brandon Jones (3/20) and Geno Stone (2/12) cashing in this year. Blackmon could aim for this tier in 2025, though he was already coming off a decent contract year. The Utah alum intercepted four passes, deflected eight more and recovered two fumbles in 2023, as Bradley used the versatile safety across the formation. More of the same should be expected, as Blackmon has helped cover for 2022 third-rounder Nick Cross being unable — through two years, at least — to establish himself as a reliable starter.

During Blackmon’s time in free agency, the Colts hosted Kareem Jackson and showed interest in former Buccaneers and Chiefs option Mike Edwards. The duo having not previously played with the Colts clearly hurt his chances during one of the NFL’s most inward-focused offseasons in recent memory. Lewis also benefited from this approach, inking a fourth Indianapolis contract, with Sanchez also now tied to a third Colts accord. Sanchez, 29, recovered from a season-nullifying injury sustained just before the 2022 campaign. After a 17-game 2023, the former UDFA is back for an eighth season in Indianapolis.

Settling in as a rotational backup capable of playing inside and outside, Lewis matched his career-high with four sacks in 2023 and established a new mark for QB hits with 13. The Colts racked up 51 sacks last season, good enough for fifth in the NFL. While Buckner, Paye, Odeyingbo and Samson Ebukam led the effort by each collecting at least seven, Lewis managed to recover from a second patellar tendon tear in two years. The former second-round pick suited up for all 17 games and scored some guaranteed money as a result, keeping Indy’s D-line core together for 2024.

Free agency additions:

This is quite the run for Flacco, who has gone from receiving next to no interest as a 2023 free agent to the NFL’s Comeback Player of the Year to securing the most guaranteed money he has received since his final Ravens deal ended with a Broncos release. Flacco, who has banked $177MM over his career to make him a top-10 earner in NFL history, has not signed for more than $3.5MM since inking his second and final Ravens extension in 2016. Five regular-season Browns starts and a forgettable playoff outing generated interest, as the Colts needed a new backup after Minshew joined Flacco in boosting his market last season.

Joining the Browns after Deshaun Watson needed season-ending surgery, Flacco fared far better than he had as a Jet. The former Super Bowl MVP, who initially caught on with Cleveland via a practice squad deal, averaged 7.9 yards per attempt and threw 13 TD passes (and eight INTs) in five games — a stretch that included wins over the Texans, Jaguars and Jets. This came despite the Browns missing their starting tackles and Nick Chubb. Flacco posted four straight 300-yard showings in the Cleveland wins, driving the team to an 11-6 record and a postseason berth. Although Flacco topped 300 yards again in the wild-card round, his two pick-sixes ended the unexpected surge.

At 39, Flacco is the NFL’s second-oldest quarterback (behind Aaron Rodgers). He also expected the Browns to show interest, but Cleveland — as it shifts to a more Watson-friendly offense — preferred ex-Indianapolis FA target Jameis Winston. The Eagles also made Flacco an offer for what would have been a Philly return trip. This Colts move comes with clear risk, given Flacco’s struggles in the four seasons between his Baltimore stay and the Cleveland rebound, as Richardson came out of multiple games due to injury last season.

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Offseason In Review: Kansas City Chiefs

July 11th, 2024 at 9:51pm CST by Sam Robinson

Going 50 years in between Super Bowl appearances, the Chiefs have now trekked to four (and won three) in the past five seasons. Kansas City’s walk-off Super Bowl LVIII triumph marked the ninth instance of back-to-back Super Bowl wins. However, the Chiefs joined only the Broncos (1997-98) and Patriots (2003-04) as teams in the salary cap era to repeat.

The franchise’s 2017 trade-up for Patrick Mahomes has become one of the most important acquisitions in NFL history, with the two-time MVP and three-time Super Bowl MVP already among the all-time quarterback greats. While Mahomes has ground to cover to match some of the game’s long-running legends, he has authored the best six-season stretch to open a career in the position’s history. The Chiefs continue to ride with their formidable Mahomes-Andy Reid partnership, and a retention-heavy offseason featured their defensive pillar re-signing and more weaponry coming after a choppy regular season through the air.

Re-signings:

Mahomes and Travis Kelce are tied to team-friendly contracts. After the Chiefs attempted to extend Jones at a below-market rate last year, he held out. But the dominant defensive tackle, following a season that may well have secured Hall of Fame credentials, displayed his value — for a Chiefs team suddenly unreliable on offense — and secured whopping terms just before free agency. Using Aaron Donald‘s Rams deal as a template, Jones reset the DT market on a deal well outside the ballpark of where the sides resided during their 2023 negotiations.

From Charvarius Ward to Tyrann Mathieu to Frank Clark to L’Jarius Sneed, the Chiefs have continually moved on from defensive pieces during the Mahomes era. Jones has been the exception, and while Donald’s presence may have left the 2016 second-round pick as perennially underrated, the Chiefs’ No. 2 defensive ranking last season left no doubt as to who is the NFL’s current DT kingpin. Jones, 30, now has the contract to prove it.

The Chiefs were hesitant about approaching Donald territory for Jones last year; they wanted to pay Jones in the $22-$25MM-per-year neighborhood — a second tier established by the Quinnen Williams, Jeffery Simmons, Dexter Lawrence and Daron Payne deals — while the All-Pro understandably wanted numbers closer to Donald’s. The Rams had given the all-time great a landmark three-year, $95MM deal that doubled as a straight raise. No team had come close to Donald’s $31.7MM AAV for a D-tackle; Jones capitalized on circumstances to become the NFL’s highest-paid DT.

Entering 2024, Williams’ $66MM guarantee number topped the DT market. The Chiefs’ interior dynamo upped that to $95MM. While Jones’ $60MM full guarantee also leads the way, he is almost certain to see the full $95MM number. If Jones is on Kansas City’s roster on Day 3 of the 2025 league year, his 2026 base salary ($19MM) and a $16MM roster bonus become guaranteed.

Headlines around the Chiefs have focused on their threepeat bid and off-field issues, but Jones scoring this contract after the team held firm on its price point last year represents a major win for the club’s defensive centerpiece. The cap’s record-setting spike and the Chiefs passing on a second franchise tag (after the team tagged him in 2020) due to the 120% rule pushing a 2024 tag’s cost past $31MM, the AFC West powerhouse caved two days before Jones would have hit free agency.

As the Chiefs gear up for the NFL’s first threepeat bid in nearly 20 years, retaining Jones is obviously a vital component. Jones ripped off a 10.5-sack season, which closed with the eight-year vet’s crucial pressure of Brock Purdy that forced the 49ers QB into a rushed throw near the Chiefs’ goal line. That led to a San Francisco field goal and Kansas City’s OT walk-off. Jones trailed only Donald (a familiar position) in pass rush win rate last season, and his 35 sacks over the past three years lead all DTs. He has followed Mahomes and Kelce in using this run of Super Bowl berths to craft a Hall of Fame-caliber resume.

Kansas City’s D-line will look similar this season, with the team also re-upping Nnadi, Pennel, Wharton and Danna. A 2020 fifth-round pick, Danna helped fill the Clark void last season. Showing an ability to operate inside and outside, Danna totaled a career-high 6.5 sacks. Despite the Chiefs having used consecutive first-round picks on defensive ends (George Karlaftis, Felix Anudike-Uzomah), the $13MM Danna guarantee shows their view of the versatile pass rusher. Plugged in as a regular starter opposite Karlaftis last season, Danna has 23 QB hits over the past two years. While Anudike-Uzomah will need to play more to justify the team’s draft investment, the Danna-Karlaftis combo remains in front of the local product.

Tranquill did not match Willie Gay‘s snap rate last season, but the Chiefs chose the ex-Charger over their longtime Nick Bolton sidekick. Tranquill cashed in after his one-year, $3MM Chiefs contract led to a regular role. With Bolton now extension-eligible, the Chiefs are making a commitment to a more experienced player. Considering the cost cuts the team has made in recent years, it will be interesting to see how Bolton talks — which figure to feature the three-down LB seeking an eight-figure-per-year price — shape up. Tranquill, who shined in his Chargers walk year, secured a bigger guarantee at signing compared to three-down cogs Quincy Williams and Logan Wilson.

Playing 57% of the Chiefs’ defensive snaps, Tranquill combined 78 tackles with 4.5 sacks and two forced fumbles. The Notre Dame alum made eight tackles in the Chiefs’ 17-10 AFC clincher in Baltimore. The Chiefs figure to deploy Tranquill, 29 in August, as a three-down player in 2024. Tranquill posted 146 tackles and five sacks in 2022) the last time he held that role (2022).

Edwards-Helaire represents a misstep for GM Brett Veach, who chose the 5-foot-7 running back 32nd overall in 2020. Seventh-rounder Isiah Pacheco supplanted Edwards-Helaire in 2022, ending an injury-plagued stay atop the depth chart. The LSU alum will vie to be Pacheco’s top backup this season, as the Chiefs have not reached their annual one-year agreement with Jerick McKinnon. The Chiefs hosted J.K. Dobbins on a visit the same day they recommitted to CEH; Dobbins soon joined the Chargers.

Trades:

Giving Jones a market-setting payday effectively ensured Sneed would need to find his second contract elsewhere, even though he expressed interest in staying. The Chiefs bet on a trade market forming upon applying a $19.8MM tag on the blossoming cornerback. Kansas City’s bet paid off, to a degree. The team only collected a 2025 third-rounder for a player who was one of last season’s best corners, illustrating the reduced compensation associated with the pricey extension to come. This will continue Kansas City’s CB assembly line under Steve Spagnuolo.

As Trent McDuffie‘s representation has surely noticed, the Chiefs have not made a notable CB payment in over a decade. They traded Marcus Peters in 2018, and after hiring Spagnuolo a year later, the team let Steven Nelson (2019), Kendall Fuller (2020) and Charvarius Ward (2022) walk in free agency. The Chiefs continue to generate solid play from rookie-contract performers.

With McDuffie, Joshua Williams and Jaylen Watson each 2022 draftees and Chamarri Conner — a fourth-rounder who appears set for a bigger role post-Sneed — arriving in 2023, the Chiefs do not have to worry about one of their expected regulars departing in 2025. This sets up some development time for McDuffie’s potential sidekicks, with more reps coming after Sneed logged 94%, 96% and 99% snap rates from 2021-23.

A fourth-round find out of Louisiana Tech, Sneed flashed as a slot defender early in his career but settled as a boundary stopper for the Chiefs’ back-to-back Super Bowl-winning teams. Last season, Sneed dominated by holding opposing QBs to a 56.2 passer rating (as the closest defender) and allowing only a 51% completion rate.

Some buyer-beware exists here, as Sneed’s 2023 coverage numbers are far better than his 2021 and ’22 stats. The Titans nevertheless paid up, adding both Sneed and Chidobe Awuzie. Sneed scored a cornerback-high $51.5MM guarantee at signing. That checks in $7.5MM above the next-highest CB deal, increasing expectations for a player the Chiefs counted on last year. While many teams looked into Sneed, a package centered around a 2025 third suggests a tepid market ultimately formed.

As the Chiefs’ Tyreek Hill trade reduced their offensive firepower, Spagnuolo’s defense stepped in — particularly last season — to keep the team on the NFL’s top tier. Sneed played a central role in this support effort, not allowing a touchdown in 781 regular-season coverage snaps. It will be a challenge for the Chiefs to stay on that level without Sneed, but their corner development should not be doubted at this point.

Free agency additions:

The Chiefs were among the teams preparing a Mike Evans pitch, but the dependable target re-signed with the Buccaneers before the market opened. Tyler Boyd also loomed on Kansas City’s radar. A surprisingly cheap Brown pact instead became the solution, and the diminutive target will transition from two run-oriented quarterbacks to the game’s current aerial ace.

Tied to the NFL’s most run-based QB1 and being traded to a team that rostered another dual threat, Brown may well have some untapped potential. The Ravens centering their offense around Lamar Jackson‘s skillset prompted Brown to seek a trade in 2022, and his reunion with Oklahoma teammate Kyler Murray featured both parties suffering injuries to limit time together.

After producing just one 800-yard season through five years, Brown will try his luck with Mahomes. While technically a dual threat, Mahomes is obviously better known for his passing prowess. This presents an interesting opportunity for Brown to re-establish his value and the Chiefs to upgrade a wildly inconsistent receiving corps.

Brown totaled 1,008 yards during his final Ravens season, despite Jackson missing time to close out the year, but the 5-foot-9 pass catcher has been inconsistent as a pro. The 2019 first-rounder did combine for 15 touchdown receptions over his first two seasons, even with Jackson not as reliable on throws outside the hashes. After a durable Baltimore run, Brown missed eight games in his two Arizona slates. Foot and heel injuries, respectively, limited the trade acquisition during that time.

Brown also spent much of last season tied to Josh Dobbs, as Murray rehabbed his ACL tear. After the Cardinals discussed an extension last year, they did not opt to match the Chiefs’ modest free agency offer. With Rashee Rice expected to miss a chunk of the season — assuming a suspension is not tabled to 2025 — Brown may move into a WR1 role for a two-time reigning Super Bowl champion.

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2024 Offseason In Review Series

July 11th, 2024 at 9:43pm CST by Sam Robinson

As training camps near, the NFL offseason is winding down. Many unresolved matters remain — much of them pertaining to quarterbacks and wide receivers — but teams’ rosters are mostly set. Leading up to Week 1, PFR will continue to add to its annual Offseason In Review series. Here is where our latest offseason examinations stand so far:

AFC East

  • Buffalo Bills
  • Miami Dolphins
  • New England Patriots
  • New York Jets

AFC North

AFC South

AFC West

NFC East

NFC North

NFC South

  • Atlanta Falcons
  • Carolina Panthers
  • New Orleans Saints
  • Tampa Bay Buccaneers

NFC West

Offseason In Review: Las Vegas Raiders

July 9th, 2024 at 9:47pm CST by Sam Robinson

Mark Davis expressed regret for not elevating Rich Bisaccia to the full-time head coach position in 2022. The owner, who remains tied to Jon Gruden‘s 10-year contract, signed off on paying three HCs last fall by firing Josh McDaniels. Antonio Pierce‘s better-than-expected showing as interim HC prompted Davis to take an unexplored route. The Raiders became the first team in seven years to bump an interim leader to the full-time post, and Pierce becomes one of the least experienced HCs in modern NFL history.

The former Super Bowl-winning linebacker’s promotion defined the Raiders’ offseason, one that also featured the Tom Telesco GM hire and a splashy Christian Wilkins signing. How the Raiders proceeded at quarterback came a close second in terms of offseason storylines. Between choosing Pierce and not taking a big swing for a QB, the Raiders took the road less traveled this offseason.

Coaching/front office:

Player support for Pierce reached the point Maxx Crosby threatened a trade request had Davis not broken with recent NFL tradition and elevated his interim HC. Josh Jacobs and Davante Adams also stumped for Pierce, who received interview requests from the Falcons and Titans. The Raiders made an early decision to pass on a true coaching searching, only interviewing two other candidates (Leslie Frazier and Kris Richard). The search process that ended with Pierce reminded of the plan that produced Gruden, with the team only clearing the Rooney Rule bar before choosing a coach. Pierce being Black, of course, separates this Raiders search from a typical Rooney Rule issue. But this still represents one of the most daring HC hires in decades.

Of the 160 men hired to be head coaches this century, only eight have moved up without previous NFL HC experience, at least one season as a coordinator (or time as a de facto coordinator, in the cases of coaching candidates under the title-phobic Bill Belichick) in the league or time as a college HC. Here is that list:

  • Antonio Pierce, Raiders (2024)
  • Jerod Mayo, Patriots (2024)
  • Jim Tomsula, 49ers (2015)
  • Mike Munchak, Titans (2011)
  • Raheem Morris, Buccaneers (2009)
  • Tom Cable, Raiders (2008)
  • Mike Singletary, 49ers (2008)
  • Lane Kiffin, Raiders (2007)

The Raiders had swerved off this route after Al Davis Cable’s interim tag, hiring veterans like Gruden, McDaniels and Jack Del Rio. Pierce went 5-4 as an interim HC, with the Raiders’ one-sided road win over the Chiefs beginning his charge in earnest for the full-time gig. Still, Pierce’s only full-time coaching positions are Raiders linebackers coach, Arizona State defensive coordinator, Sun Devils LBs coach and Long Beach Poly High HC.

Although Pierce’s nine NFL seasons took up time, he did not enter full-time coaching for nearly five years after his retirement. He also resigned from Arizona State during an NCAA recruiting investigation, but the leadership the ex-Washington and New York linebacker displayed — along with his knowledge of the Raiders’ culture — impressed players and ownership.

Al Davis pulled the trigger on the Kiffin and Cable moves, but Mark Davis is still trying to make a successful hire. The Raiders have two playoff berths since Super Bowl XXXVII, with the franchise tumbling off the contender radar quickly after that blowout. Last season did bring signs of improvement, but teams generally steer clear of promoting interims. Mark Davis passing on a true HC search to keep Pierce based largely on his players’ wishes could represent another of the owner’s shortcomings, but this will be a fascinating experiment.

A report of mutual interest between the Raiders and Jim Harbaugh, who began his coaching career as Bill Callahan‘s QBs coach in 2002, surfaced but did not precede much else of note tying the team to a big-ticket candidate. The Raiders did reach out to Harbaugh’s agent, however, before the Pierce hire. Pierce, 45, and Harbaugh will soon be matching up twice a year. The Raiders did not pursue Mike Vrabel, and Belichick connections proved fleeting. They will hope to keep the Pierce-centered momentum going. The Jaguars (Doug Marrone) were the most recent team to take this route; Marrone lasted four seasons in the full-time chair.

Interim GM Kelly sat in on Raiders HC interviews, but the Raiders were not committed to keeping Dave Ziegler‘s former assistant GM atop the front office. Davis instead chose to pair Pierce with one of the NFL’s most experienced GMs. Telesco spent 11 seasons running the Chargers, and although the team’s underachievement reputation grew to define it during this span, Davis was sufficiently impressed with the Bolts’ roster strength to look beyond their 3-for-11 playoff rate under Telesco. Not counting the Eagles having reinstalled Howie Roseman atop their FO pyramid, Telesco is only the second current GM to be given a second chance, joining Trent Baalke (Jaguars).

Telesco, 51, spent more than a decade working under Hall of Fame GM Bill Polian, being present for the Colts’ Super Bowl XLI win and their Super Bowl berth four years later. As Chargers GM, Telesco hammered out a Philip Rivers extension and later showed an ability to locate a franchise quarterback by drafting Justin Herbert sixth overall in 2020. The Chargers extended their Pro Bowl passer in Telesco’s final months on the job, but an inability to turn franchise QBs and offseason hype into Super Bowl pushes have plagued the Chargers for years.

Pierce’s team walloping the Chargers 63-21 on national TV led to Telesco and Brandon Staley‘s ousters. It is, then, rather interesting Telesco resurfaced alongside Pierce in Las Vegas. The Raiders gave Telesco roster control, which he also held in California. Telesco brought former Chargers exec-turned-interim GM Wooden with him, but he is working primarily with two staffers — Pierce and Kelly — he did not hire. With Kelly having interviewed for the Raiders’ GM job in 2022 and ’24, this forced partnership will be a notable AFC West storyline.

The Telesco-Pierce partnership hit an early snag when its top OC choice reneged on his commitment to join the Commanders. Kingsbury, who re-emerged as a coveted staffer after a year as USC’s QBs coach, was believed to have sought a three-year contract whereas the Raiders only offered a two-year deal. A report soon indicated new Commanders minority owner Magic Johnson helped sway Kingsbury. The Raiders then pivoted to Getsy, whom the Bears had fired weeks earlier.

Getsy, 40, has followed up a run as Aaron Rodgers‘ position coach to two gigs with below-average passers. The young coordinator certainly runs the risk of seeing his play-calling opportunities dry up early, but with many NFL OC gigs not coming with play-calling duties, Getsy has also managed to secure that role twice already.

The Bears ranked 23rd and 18th in scoring offense during Getsy’s two seasons in Illinois, numbers that appear out of line when considering Justin Fields‘ minimal trade value. Getsy took criticism for Fields’ struggles as a passer, but the ex-first-rounder showed some improvement in 2023. This came after Getsy utilized his starter’s prodigious run-game skills en route to Lamar Jackson‘s single-season QB rushing mark nearly falling in 2022.

While Getsy will work with a different genre of QB in Las Vegas, Graham is staying after the Raiders finally showed promise defensively. Graham’s first Raiders defense continued an extended run of futility in 2022, but the unit ranked ninth in scoring last season. This was the first time a Raider defense has ranked in the top half in scoring defense since 2002. Ending that unfathomable streak boosted Graham’s stock, and while he drew more HC interest, the Raiders blocked their defensive play-caller from interviewing for other DC positions.

Pierce’s former Giants HC, Tom Coughlin, helped him prepare during his interim gig and assisted his former pupil in assembling his first Raiders staff. The staff includes Lewis, who returns to the NFL five years after his Bengals firing. Lewis, 65, worked as Arizona State’s co-DC with Pierce in 2020 and stayed on the Sun Devils’ staff as Pierce took on the full-time role in 2021.

The 16-year Bengals HC will work with Graham and Pierce on defense, while Philbin — and not ex-Raider HC Hue Jackson, a rumored target — is in place as a former NFL leader helping out on offense. These senior assistants could be more important on this particular staff due to Pierce’s inexperience.

Free agency additions:

Wilkins joined Chris Jones and Justin Madubuike as defensive tackles who scored market-changing deals this offseason, with the two more experienced players doing better due to unique circumstances. The Dolphins’ cap situation, which required multiple high-profile cuts and longtime starters departing in free agency, made a Wilkins franchise tag difficult. As a result, the five-year Miami starter followed Jones in scoring a monster guarantee.

After it became clear the Dolphins’ efforts to keep Wilkins off the market would fail, the Texans and Vikings surfaced as suitors. But the Raiders swooped in to add an impact piece to their Crosby-centric pass rush. Madubuike already raised the DT guarantee ceiling to $75.5MM upon being franchise-tagged and extended. Jones upped it to a staggering $95MM. Wilkins then secured $82.75MM in total guarantees ($57.5MM at signing).

To put these numbers in perspective, the top DT guarantee stood at $66MM (Quinnen Williams) entering 2024. Jones and Wilkins avoiding the tag, as the salary cap spiked by $30.6MM, keyed a market shift that will affect future teams’ negotiations with talented DTs.

Months-long Dolphins-Wilkins talks included an offer that would have made the 2019 first-rounder a top-10 highest-paid DT, with guarantees surpassing $40MM. Wilkins’ Raiders pact surpassing $80MM guaranteed highlights both favorable circumstances and the Clemson alum’s improvement as a pass rusher.

The Dolphins were hesitant to pay Wilkins on the level of the new DT market that formed — via the 2023 deals for first-rounders Williams, Daron Payne, Jeffery Simmons and Dexter Lawrence — due to his limited production as a pass rusher. After displaying top-notch skills against the run, Wilkins broke through with nine sacks and 23 QB hits (his previous career-highs stood at 4.5 and 13 in these categories) in 2023. Wilkins finished 13th in ESPN’s pass rush win rate metric last season. This came after he ranked first and second, respectively, in run stop win rate in 2021 and ’22.

PFR’s No. 4 free agent, Wilkins saw Nos. 2 and 3 on that list (Baker Mayfield and Jones) cash in before the legal tampering period. Jones’ deal took an elite option off the market, clearing the runway for Wilkins’ windfall. The Raiders, who have kept costs low on their D-line for a bit, changed course and will aim for the 28-year-old DT changing the equation up front.

A herd of bridge- or backup-level quarterbacks hit free agency. As the Raiders acknowledged their miss on Jimmy Garoppolo, they made the biggest investment via Minshew’s $15MM. This contract rewards the spot starter after he took a $3.5MM deal to become insurance for the QB the Colts would draft. Indianapolis’ Anthony Richardson decision translated to 13 Minshew starts. The Colts went 7-6 in those games, coming close to a surprise AFC South title.

Minshew’s $15MM total guarantee topped the next-closest free agent QB (Sam Darnold) by more than $6MM, illustrating the market for the former Jaguars sixth-rounder. The Raiders gave Garoppolo $33.75MM guaranteed and dropped him after six starts. Minshew’s contract would generate a maximum of $7.6MM in dead money if dropped in 2025.

The Raiders agreeing to pay out Minshew’s 2025 base salary ($11.84MM) will depend on the competition between he and 2023 fourth-rounder Aidan O’Connell. With the Raiders’ primary 2023 starter believed to hold an early lead, Minshew will need to summon the moxie he showed in Jacksonville and Indianapolis.

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Offseason In Review: Minnesota Vikings

July 5th, 2024 at 10:39pm CST by Sam Robinson

Kwesi Adofo-Mensah had gone two seasons with the quarterback his predecessor signed, but after Kirk Cousins‘ fourth set of Vikings extension talks did not produce a deal in 2023, the current Minnesota GM finally cut the cord. Cousins’ departure headlined an eventful Vikings offseason, one that later included a market-setting wide receiver contract.

As the Vikings transition at quarterback, they will use some of the money freed up by Cousins’ departure — following a not insignificant dead money total stemming from void years — on one of their Rick Spielman-era acquisitions. While Minnesota’s offseason featured notable moves at several positions, the decisions made at quarterback and wideout defined it.

Extensions and restructures:

Negotiations between the Vikings and Jefferson ran up to Week 1 last year. At that point, no team in the fifth-year option era (2011-present) had extended a first-round wide receiver with two years of rookie-deal control remaining. Jefferson and CeeDee Lamb were in that boat last year, and while extension rumors surfaced, no deals came to pass. The Vikings submitted an offer worth more than $28MM per year before the 2023 season started. With that proposal not topping Tyreek Hill‘s position-record AAV number, Jefferson predictably declined to set the stage for a 2024 reconvening. The superstar wideout was proven right by waiting.

Even though Jefferson sustained a hamstring injury that sidelined him for seven games, he still managed a 1,000-yard season. Jefferson, 25, had already shattered Randy Moss‘ NFL record for receiving yardage through three seasons, accumulating 4,825. Jefferson’s age, his monster production, the Vikings moving off a proven QB’s contract and the receiver market shifting — following a record cap spike — beyond the $30MM place worked in the fifth-year pass catcher’s favor. Jefferson secured whopping terms and returned to work to begin establishing a rapport with Sam Darnold and J.J. McCarthy.

Skipping the start of Vikings OTAs in an effort to become the NFL’s highest-paid non-quarterback, Jefferson succeeded by passing Nick Bosa‘s $34MM-per-year contract. Also possessing leverage stemming from the Vikings’ natural interest in having their top player at workouts to begin training alongside its new QBs, the LSU alum pounced. Jefferson secured record-smashing guarantee figures, prevented the Vikings from backloading his deal the way Hill and Davante Adams‘ contracts are structured and managed this on a four-year agreement — one shorter than the Vikes initially sought.

The fifth wide receiver chosen in a memorable 2020 first round, Jefferson has set guarantee bars that are complicating the Cowboys and 49ers’ negotiations with their 2020 first-round wideouts. His total guarantees ($110MM) checked in $26MM north of A.J. Brown‘s new mark at the position. More importantly, the full guarantees ($88.7MM) are $36MM higher than the next-closest wideout. The WR investment business is booming, and the guarantees the Vikings authorized may give teams pause.

Rumblings about teams considering two-first-rounder trade offers for Jefferson emerged, with the Vikings loosely linked to a trade-up for LSU’s Malik Nabers. Little in terms of concrete info — unlike the Vikes and Giants’ Drake Maye trade-up offers — came out, however. No wide receiver has fetched two first-round picks in a trade since the 2000 offseason saw it happen twice — for Joey Galloway (Seahawks to Cowboys) and Keyshawn Johnson (Jets to Buccaneers) — but after Hill and Adams fetched first- and second-round picks in 2022 swaps, Jefferson’s age and the exploding WR market would have made him a clear candidate to end this drought.

The Vikings have a history of extending receivers and then trading them, having taken this route with Moss (2005) and Stefon Diggs (2020). Minnesota also unloaded Percy Harvin (2013) rather than extend him, but the Adofo-Mensah regime finished the Jefferson process with a commitment.

As it stands, the Vikings will pair Jefferson’s megadeal with McCarthy and Jordan Addison‘s rookie contracts. Although Minnesota now has the NFL’s highest-paid wide receiver and tight end (T.J. Hockenson), getting off Cousins’ contract will help the club afford the market-setting accords.

For a second straight year, the Vikings gave Smith a pay cut. The safety market’s inconsistency over the past two offseasons has impacted accomplished veterans. Smith signed two extensions that placed him atop the position’s market — in 2016 and 2021 — but Adofo-Mensah has led the way in back-to-back contract reworkings.

Smith, 35, is the Vikings’ longest-tenured player by a wide margin. He had agreed to a four-year, $64MM extension in August 2021, but after a 2022 restructure, the veteran Pro Bowler agreed to a $7MM pay cut in 2023 and again reduced his deal in March. Smith’s 2021 extension ran through 2025; it now expires a year early, via void years which have become a thorny subject during the Adofo-Mensah regime. Smith reduced a $15.3MM base salary to $9MM, with a $7MM signing bonus representing a solid guarantee for a 13th-year veteran at an unstable position.

Pro Football Focus ranked Smith, whose 176 career games are tied for fifth among defenders in Vikings history, 34th among safeties last season. If Smith is not re-signed before the 2025 league year, the Vikings will be tagged with $9.5MM in dead money. This would remind of Dalvin Tomlinson‘s 2023 exit.

Free agency additions:

Not traded for one another, Greenard and Danielle Hunter — PFR’s Nos. 5 and 6 free agents this year — will nevertheless move into each other’s 2023 roles. The Vikings added Greenard early in free agency, doing so before Hunter committed to the Texans. Minnesota showed interest in Bryce Huff but paid more for Greenard. The new Vikings edge rusher’s age (27) works in his favor; he is three years younger than Hunter. The latter has delivered better work, but the Vikings are betting on Greenard’s best NFL stretch being ahead.

Drafted in Round 3 before Nick Caserio took over as GM, Greenard excelled under both Lovie Smith and then DeMeco Ryans. Greenard had tallied an eight-sack season (in 2021) before an injury-plagued 2022 stalled his early-career momentum. Last season brought new production territory. Ranking 20th with 33 quarterback pressures, Greenard led the Texans in sacks (12.5) despite Will Anderson Jr. winning Defensive Rookie of the Year acclaim and smashed his career-high with 22 QB hits. Greenard ranked sixth among edge rushers in ESPN’s pass rush win rate metric in 2023.

Starting over at OLB, the Vikings need this pace to continue. They still managed to land a 27-year-old edge defender at an upper-mid-market rate. Greenard’s $19MM AAV ranks 15th among edges, though his $38MM guarantee at signing sits eighth. He could certainly reward the Vikings on this deal, especially as the pass rush market — likely via Micah Parsons and a third Myles Garrett contract — moves toward $40MM per year.

A year after moving off the Dalvin Cook contract, the Vikings made a short-term bet on another 2017 RB draftee. Jones does not have the rushing numbers Cook compiled in Minneapolis, but the seven-year Packer is a slightly better receiving option who certainly showed more gas in the tank last season. The Vikings are quite familiar with the versatile back, who closed last season with five straight 100-yard rushing games to propel the Pack to the divisional round, and their interest emerged soon after Green Bay cut bait.

The Packers added a younger back (Josh Jacobs) but one that has not shown what Jones has as an outlet option. After reducing Jones’ pay in 2023, the Packers aimed to cut his wages once again. The sides could not agree on common ground, and the team dropped Jones shortly after the Jacobs deal was finalized. Jones’ Vikings guarantee surpasses Alexander Mattison‘s 2023 number, though not by too much, as the Vikes have one of this era’s best RBs at a midlevel rate.

The team will bet on the aging (by RB standards) talent having juice left. The 1-A back in timeshares with Jamaal Williams and AJ Dillon in his career, Jones has logged 1,449 career touches. That ranks ninth among active RBs, though the number is close to where Cook’s count stood (1,503) when the Vikings dropped him.

Jones rounds out an impressive skill-position cadre that includes Jefferson, Addison and Hockenson. This array of weaponry will be available to McCarthy in the long term, but it also could represent (by far) the best options Darnold has worked with as a pro. Brock Purdy enjoyed the 49ers’ unmatched arsenal during Darnold’s San Francisco year; his Jets and Panthers arrays, with Christian McCaffrey largely injured, do not rival what the Vikings possess. Although Darnold has been given plenty of time (56 starts) to show he is a mediocre quarterback, the former No. 3 overall pick chose an interesting opportunity in Minnesota.

Also tied to the Broncos and Commanders, Darnold chose the Vikings. Denver did not make a firm offer, and it is unknown where Washington went. Regardless, Darnold is poised to enter training camp as Minnesota’s starter. Darnold has flashed at points, but for the most part, the USC alum has struggled as a pro. The 27-year-old QB has never ranked higher than 25th in QBR, but he did not have enough snaps to qualify during an intriguing 2022 season in which he helped lead the Panthers back into the playoff race. Granted, this was due to a terrible NFC South, but Darnold averaged 8.2 yards per attempt with a limited Carolina skill corps that season.

It would not surprise to see the Vikings slow-play McCarthy’s climb; this would give Darnold a window to show better form and create a potential starter market for himself in 2025.

In addition to rebooting on the edge, the Vikes spent midlevel cash to add linebacking help. Van Ginkel can be classified as a hybrid player, having experience on the edge and off the ball. He helped the Dolphins as a rotational rusher and emergency OLB starter last season, compiling six sacks and 19 QB hits.

The Dolphins drafted Van Ginkel during Brian Flores‘ time in Miami, and he reached 20 QB hits in the current Vikings DC’s South Florida finale (2021). This made the Vikings’ interest unsurprising, and the team’s Cashman move points Van Ginkel to the edge. A rumored Flores-Christian Wilkins reunion did not happen, but the Vikes did not leave free agency without adding one of their DC’s ex-charges.

Cashman will join emerging UDFA Ivan Pace in the Twin Cities, and this payday marks the culmination of a journey that had the ex-Jet as a special-teamer not long ago. Strictly a special-teamer from 2020-21, Cashman still only played 14% of the Texans’ defensive snaps in 2022. But Ryans gave him steady work last year, using him at a 71% snap rate. Cashman notched 106 tackles to eclipse his career-best number by a cool 66, adding nine tackles for loss en route to PFF ranking him as a top-10 ILB regular. The Vikings are giving the Minnesota alum a chance to come home as well, as Cashman grew up in nearby Eden Prairie.

Mentioned as one of the many suitors for franchise-tagged Chiefs cornerback L’Jarius Sneed, the Vikings only exited free agency with Griffin. While Griffin has 79 starts on his resume, two teams — the Jaguars and Texans — cut the soon-to-be 29-year-old CB in 2023. PFF still rated Griffin as a top-50 corner last season, but the former Seahawks mainstay qualifies as more stopgap than difference-maker. As it stands, Griffin has a path to a starting role. The Vikings, as should be expected, are still being tied to seeking CB help.

Re-signings:

Even as the guard market produced five eight-figure-per-year UFA agreements this offseason, Risner is having a tough time convincing teams he is near that level. A Broncos starter for four seasons, the former second-round pick had not exactly received poor marks from the advanced metrics providers. But Risner has now struck out twice in free agency, waiting into the 2023 season before landing a gig and sitting on this year’s open market until May. Now heading into his age-29 season, the veteran guard is running out of time to cash in. He is sitting on 73 career starts, 11 coming with the Vikings last year.

Risner made his way into Minnesota’s starting lineup in October 2023, eventually replacing the traded Ezra Cleveland. PFF assigned Risner a mid-pack rating (46th), though ESPN’s pass block win rate metric slotted him ninth among all interior linemen. He will battle Brandel for the Vikes’ left guard gig. Despite having just five starts and just 503 offensive snaps on his NFL resume, Brandel commanded more money than Risner this offseason.

Notable losses:

The contracts Cousins and Hunter played out made the Vikings a historical outlier regarding an ability to retain top talent. Minnesota could not use its franchise tag on Hunter due to the parties’ August 2023 reworking, and Washington having tagged Cousins twice made a third tag — which no team has applied since the 2006 CBA made doing so prohibitive — a non-starter. This led to a nine-year Vikings sack ace and the team’s six-year quarterback heading south.

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Offseason In Review: Arizona Cardinals

July 4th, 2024 at 10:00pm CST by Ely Allen

The Cardinals knew the 2023 season would be a challenge with quarterback Kyler Murray coming back late from a 2022 torn ACL. First-year head coach Jonathan Gannon had an offense with a backup quarterback starting the year and inherited the 31st-ranked defense of 2022. Knowing that a turnaround was not likely last season, Arizona focused on implementing its new system under new leadership.

The past few months have seen the first full offseason under Gannon and new general manager Monti Ossenfort. After spending a year seeing what does and doesn’t work, the new brain trust went to work on how best to transform the roster to best fit their needs. Riding at the bottom of the NFC West for the past two years, the Cardinals had a lot to gain and not much to lose for the 2024 season.

Trades:

The 2023 season did not see the Cardinals generate much receiving success. Aside from the emergence of second-year tight end Trey McBride, not a single player on the offense eclipsed 600 yards receiving. Mainly, this was due to injuries at the quarterback and wide receiver positions, really all over the offense. In fact, Moore and McBride were the only skill players on the team to appear in all 17 games of the season last year.

Moore was a second-round pick for Arizona out of Purdue back in 2021. As a rookie role player, Moore thrived in the WR4 role behind Christian Kirk, A.J. Green, and DeAndre Hopkins. He recorded career highs in receptions (54) and receiving yards (435). In his sophomore season, Moore looked to be embracing a larger role on the offense, nearly matching his rookie stats in just eight starts. However, a groin injury landed him on injured reserve for the remainder of the season, putting an early end to what looked to be a promising campaign.

Although Moore stayed healthy in 2023, the diminutive slot presence only produced 352 receiving yards. A seeming effort to retool the top end of the wide receivers room led to Moore’s shipment to Atlanta. In a rare player-for-player exchange, the Falcons provided Ridder in return. A third-round pick out of Cincinnati two years ago, Ridder competed for the honor of replacing franchise passer Matt Ryan as the new sheriff in town as a rookie. He did not beat out Marcus Mariota but ended up starting the last four games of the 2022 season after Mariota landed on IR with a knee issue.

Ridder retained the starting job heading into 2023, with the Falcons centering their offseason around him (and not pursuing high-profile QBs). Atlanta’s plan fizzled when Ridder struggled to prove effective as a full-time starter. He was benched in Weeks 9 and 10 in favor of Taylor Heinicke, though Arthur Smith claimed the move had nothing to do with his performance. An injury to Heinicke would reinstate Ridder atop the depth chart once again, but his grasp on the starting job remained a feeble one. The Falcons have since overhauled their QB room, signing Kirk Cousins and making the surprising move to draft Michael Penix Jr. in Round 1. The team dealt Ridder between these moves, keeping Heinicke on a pay cut.

In Arizona, Ridder will not be asked to start; Murray has that job locked up quite securely. But with Murray missing 18 games in the past three years, a need for a strong backup quarterback exists. Options such as Colt McCoy (3-3), Trace McSorley (0-1), David Blough (0-2), Joshua Dobbs (1-7), and Clayton Tune (0-1) have delivered only four wins in those 18 starts without Murray. It is hard to say Ridder has the talent to consistently win in a replacement scenario, but rostering a quarterback with a near-full season of starting experience is a big enough upgrade over the five players listed above, especially when all it costs is a receiver who failed to blossom in his third year of NFL play.

Free agency additions:

The Cardinals sustained some decent losses this year (see below), some willingly, and made reasonable efforts to upgrade at those positions where possible. The team focused heavily on the offensive and defensive lines. While Arizona’s offseason featured the departure of longtime left tackle D.J. Humphries, Williams comes in to fill his place — though, really, he fills the space of Paris Johnson Jr., who will flip from right tackle to left tackle to replace Humphries in 2024.

Williams may seem like a lateral move from Humphries is terms of talent, but the former Bengals first-rounder is 26 and should have a bit more tread left on the tires than Humphries (30). He also comes at a slight discount to what Humphries was owed should he have been retained.

On the defensive front, Nichols and Jones do not look pretty as upgrades, grading out on Pro Football Focus (subscription required) as the 97th- and 107th-best defensive tackle regulars (out of 130) last year, but they look better than the departing Leki Fotu (117) and Jonathan Ledbetter (128) and are far more productive.

Jones proved disruptive on the Bears’ interior these past two years, totaling 7.5 sacks, 22 tackles for loss, and 24 quarterback hits over that span. Nichols hasn’t been that productive as of late, but in 2020, he also showed out as supplementary rusher for Chicago with five sacks, seven tackles for loss, and 13 quarterback hits. If both of these players can tap into their Bears versions, they can form a reasonably promising starting interior.

The Cardinals brought in Murphy-Bunting as a veteran addition to what is shaping up to be a young group of cornerbacks. The team upgrades in a big way at linebacker, as well, bringing in Wilson to replace part-time starters Josh Woods and Zeke Turner.

On offense, Jones comes in after an injury-riddled 2023 season with the Jaguars, hoping to recapture the magic of his 2022 campaign. Given a three-year, $24MM deal, Jones rewarded the Jaguars in his first Jacksonville season by smashing his career-high marks in an 82-catch, 823-yard showing. Last season, which featured PCL and femur injuries, was not as good. The former second-round pick was also arrested on a misdemeanor domestic battery charge in November, and the Jaguars cut bait as they retooled their WR room this offseason. Jones also visited the Cowboys, Chiefs and Titans. With the Cards, he should slot in as WR3 behind Marvin Harrison Jr. and Michael Wilson.

Brown joins the team after starting at center and guard for the Seahawks and Lions in the past three years. With Hjalte Froholdt taking care of business at center, the Cardinals seem to want to use Brown’s starting experience at left guard. Brown saw regular guard duty in 2022.

The addition of Dallas is an intriguing one. His contract includes rushing yards-based incentives, so it seems like the Cardinals expect him to work as a part of the offense. In Seattle, the former fourth-round pick out of Miami (Fla.) served mostly as a special teams asset, returning both kickoffs and punts, but $2.75MM per year seems like a lot for a return specialist. Dallas already had to compete with Michael Carter and Emari Demercado for running back snaps, but then the Cardinals used a third-round pick on a rusher, muddying the waters even further.

Re-signings:

Arizona’s re-signings this offseason were mostly ancillary. Gillikin and Brewer obviously stand as the players most likely to occupy steady roles. Gillikin returns for a second year as the team’s primary punter, while Brewer is back as the long snapper for his ninth season in Arizona.

Wilkinson, Colon, Ismael, and O’Donnell provide reliable depth and versatility along the offensive line as backups. Barnes returns after tallying the team’s fifth-most tackles last season, though he likely takes a backseat with the addition of Wilson at linebacker.

Notable losses:

The biggest losses for Arizona this year come on the offensive side of the ball, though the team has done plenty in the offseason to address each. Humphries is perhaps the biggest name on this list. The 30-year-old had been a staple on the team’s offensive line since being drafted in the 2015 first round. The Pro Bowl tackle was a full-time starter from 2016-23, though he often missed significant time due to injury. Out of a possible 131 regular-season games, Humphries has missed 33. He remains unsigned.

Humphries is not too far removed from playing great football, but with the injuries mounting, the financial burden of his contract was becoming too much to shoulder. Following his torn ACL to end the regular season, Humphries became an easy target for release due to his scheduled $22MM cap hit in 2024. By releasing Humphries, the team was able to gain back $15.95MM of cap savings.

The other big departure saw Brown sign with the Super Bowl champion Chiefs in free agency. Brown finished out his first-round rookie contract in Arizona after being traded from the Ravens during the 2022 draft. Brown never quite found the same success with the Cardinals that he had in Baltimore, mostly due to missed time with injuries.

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Offseason In Review: Los Angeles Chargers

June 30th, 2024 at 10:13pm CST by Sam Robinson

The AFC’s underachievement kingpins for much of this century, the Chargers saw their most recent mission hit a wall last season. After GM Tom Telesco gave Brandon Staley another year in the wake of the 2022 team’s historic collapse, both ended up gone less than a year later. In terms of pure GMs, no AFC front office boss had been in place longer than Telesco. The Bolts responded by changing their managerial structure; their decision-making hierarchy now runs through a head coach.

Jim Harbaugh will be tasked with maximizing Justin Herbert in a way Staley and Anthony Lynn could not, and the Chargers stripped away their quarterback’s long-running receiving corps. Harbaugh’s pedigree aside, many questions come out of this Bolts offseason. But the team, after years of adding first-time HCs on lower-cost contracts, veered in a different direction as the Telesco era failed to turn steady offseason hype into much of consequence.

Coaching/Front Office:

Weeks before the Chargers fired Staley, Harbaugh connections began. While the team was also tied to Lions OC Ben Johnson early in the process and later linked loosely to Bill Belichick, Harbaugh buzz persisted. Chargers ownership contacted Harbaugh’s camp upon firing Staley, laying the groundwork for a bolder Bolts hire.

The embattled yet successful Michigan leader, whom the Wolverines sought to extend following a two-suspension season that ended with the program’s first national championship in 26 years, maximized his leverage by negotiating with the Big Ten school and scheduling a second Falcons interview. Harbaugh never made it to Atlanta for that meeting, viewing the Los Angeles gig as enticing enough to make his long-rumored jump back to the NFL.

On paper, Harbaugh’s NFL exit qualified as odd. The former quarterback immediately turned around the 49ers upon arrival in 2011, guiding them to three straight NFC championship games. The 2011 and ’13 San Francisco squads fell just short of NFC championships while the ’12 team saw a still-debated non-whistle in the final seconds of Super Bowl XLVII cement a victory for Harbaugh’s older brother. Even after an 8-8 2014 season, Harbaugh enters the 2024 campaign in fifth place in all-time win percentage. For coaches who began their careers after the 1970 merger, no one outflanks Harbaugh’s .695 mark.

A power struggle with then-49ers GM Trent Baalke played the lead role in Harbaugh returning to his alma mater in 2015, but the early 2020s brought steady Harbaugh-to-NFL rumors. The fiery HC had said unfinished business remained in the pros, but interviews with the Vikings (2022) and Broncos (’23) did not provide a gateway back. Rumblings in front office circles pegged Harbaugh as difficult to work with, and while that may be accurate, the veteran leader has won everywhere he has camped.

Harbaugh, 60, guided Michigan to three straight CFP fields to continue a trend of turnarounds. The former Chargers starting QB rebuilt the Stanford program and then the 49ers. Nearly 15 years after his Andrew Luck partnership ended, Harbaugh made the jump to work with a comparable QB talent.

While the Chargers have not taken heat on a Bengals level for frugality, the perception they were not willing to go big for a high-profile head coach prompted an ownership message of reimagining the football operation upon canning Telesco and Staley. The Chargers had not hired anyone with prior HC experience since replacing Marty Schottenheimer with Norv Turner in 2007. In the years since, the Bolts paid first-timers Mike McCoy, Lynn and Staley lower salaries. Harbaugh will command a $16MM-per-year salary. While that fell short of his $18MM ask, it is believed — as HC salaries do not have to be disclosed — it places him near the top of the league.

Considering Harbaugh’s past with Baalke, it certainly made sense for the Chargers to pair him with a pre-approved GM. Interviewing Giants assistant GM Brandon Brown twice, the Chargers used a John Harbaugh connection to find their Telesco successor. Hortiz will not hold final say like Telesco did, but the longtime Ravens exec has worked with the elder Harbaugh throughout the HC’s time in Baltimore.

Hortiz, 48, served under Ozzie Newsome for 20 years and moved from the scouting level to college scouting director to director of player personnel with the Ravens. The team bumped Hortiz to the latter post in 2019, upon promoting Eric DeCosta to succeed Newsome. Hortiz has interviewed for GM jobs in the past, meeting about the Cardinals position last year and discussing the Giants and Steelers’ vacancies in 2022. Hortiz’s past with John Harbaugh, however, should give this partnership a better shot at succeeding in the long term compared to the Baalke-Jim Harbaugh pairing.

Although Alexander comes from the Jets, the former Joe Douglas lieutenant spent extensive time in Baltimore — alongside Douglas — leading up to his New York move. Hortiz hired a former coworker to be his second-in-command; Harbaugh did as well. Roman was Jim’s OC in all four years in San Francisco. The run-oriented OC — though, Roman has not spent much time with pass-first QBs — becomes a rare fourth-time NFL coordinator, having made stops in Buffalo and Baltimore since Harbaugh’s San Francisco exit.

The Ravens fired Roman after four seasons; he spent 2023 out of football. His Chargers fit will be fascinating, and it certainly appears — through the team’s actions in March and April — the Bolts will make the ground game a bigger part of their plan. It will be interesting to see how Roman tailors his style to Herbert, whose skills differ from the likes of Lamar Jackson, Tyrod Taylor and Colin Kaepernick. Roman last worked with a true pass-based signal-caller in 2012, when the 49ers made the midseason switch from Alex Smith to Kaepernick.

Harbaugh and Roman resurrected Smith’s career, and the future Chiefs starter carried a 70.2% completion rate at 8.0 yards per attempt when a concussion led to his 2012 benching. Roman was at the controls for Jackson’s dominant 2019 season, which brought a unanimous MVP, though his run-centric style wore thin as his Maryland stay progressed. Although Herbert is capable on the ground, Roman’s past will certainly make fantasy drafters uneasy about how he will proceed with one of the NFL’s most talented passers — especially given the team’s actions at wide receiver this offseason.

Minter, 41, checks both boxes when it comes to the Harbaughs. Like Mike Macdonald, the new Chargers DC worked under John Harbaugh (2017-20) and then Jim; Minter succeeded Macdonald as the Wolverines’ defensive play-caller in 2022. Minter made a significant jump, moving from Vanderbilt safeties coach to Michigan DC. The Big Ten power led Division I-FBS in scoring defense last season (10.4 points per game), and the Wolverines’ 268 yards allowed per game from 2022-23 ranked second.

Previously serving as Ravens DBs coach in the NFL, Minter will see his rise continue with this L.A. gig.

Trades:

Shortly after Harbaugh’s hire, Allen said he expected to remain with the Chargers. The team released Mike Williams to reach cap compliance by the March 13 deadline, but a day later, it bid farewell to one of the best players in franchise history. Given where WR prices have gone this offseason, Chicago having Allen tied to a mid-second-tier contract — he is due $18.1MM in 2024, the final season of a $20MM-AAV deal. The 11-year Charger’s departure may be difficult for the Bolts in the short term, as they depended on the high-end route runner for years.

A 2013 third-round pick, Allen had been the team’s longest-tenured player for years. While unlikely to join Lance Alworth in the Hall of Fame and landing a bit south of where John Jefferson was at his early-career peak, Allen is probably the best Bolts receiver of the past 35 years. His 904 receptions and 10,530 yards rank second — by a wide margin — in Bolts history.

As Antonio Gates declined, the Chargers centered their aerial attacks around Allen. The Cal alum delivered six 1,000-yard seasons, including a 1,243-yard showing in just 13 games last season. With Allen poised to help Caleb Williams‘ NFL transition, no comparable option remains on the Chargers’ roster.

The Chargers restructured Allen’s contract to create cap space last year, leading to an $11.6MM dead money charge for 2024. The team offered Allen an extension, but it appeared — per Allen’s camp — it came at a reduced rate, with the 32-year-old receiver’s agent indicating the Bolts’ one proposal included pay cuts in 2025 and 2026. As could be expected given his 2023 season and the exploding wideout market, Allen emphatically refused a pay cut.

Extensions and restructures:

The restructures from Telesco’s final offseason in charge left Bosa, Mack, Allen and Williams all with cap hits of at least $32MM. The Chargers cut ties with their longtime receiving tandem but held onto their standout edge rushers, who accepted pay cuts to stay in Harbaugh’s first season. Assembled in 2022 upon the Chargers acquiring Mack from the Bears, this pair may well be going into its final season together. Mack’s Bears-built contract expires after the 2024 season.

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Offseason In Review: New York Giants

June 26th, 2024 at 10:19pm CST by Sam Robinson

The 2023 Giants offseason brought significant investments from the Joe Schoen regime in Dave Gettleman-era acquisitions. One of those moves has come to define Schoen’s regime. The team’s decision to give Daniel Jones a four-year, $160MM deal with two fully guaranteed seasons, while franchise-tagging Saquon Barkley, ended one long-running partnership and has another on shaky ground. Months after Jones’ ACL tear wrapped a woeful season from the now-well-paid quarterback, Barkley signed with the Eagles.

Following a surprise playoff showing in the Schoen-Brian Daboll partnership’s first season, the Giants tumbled off that tier in 2023. Jones is back in “prove it” territory, while Daboll — his 2022 Coach of the Year accolade notwithstanding — may join his QB in a make-or-break year. This Giants offseason involved key decisions, though it largely boiled down to one call in late April.

Trades:

The Giants look to have benefited from both the Panthers’ regime change and the fallout from the now-infamous rejected Rams trade proposal at the 2022 deadline. It took only a package headlined by a second-round pick for the Giants to pry Burns from the Panthers, who had franchise-tagged the disgruntled edge rusher. Burns, 26, will now team with Kayvon Thibodeaux to give the Giants their best-looking OLB duo since at least Jason Pierre-Paul and Olivier Vernon.

A complex route formed to deliver Burns to New York; a fork in that road emerged in October 2022. As the Panthers regrouped following Matt Rhule‘s firing, they dealt Christian McCaffrey to the 49ers for four picks. None of those was a first-rounder. Other Carolina cogs drew extensive interest, with Burns at the front of that pack. Shortly after the Rams missed out on McCaffrey, the team — at the end of its “eff them picks” period — attempted to add a reinforcement to a sinking Super Bowl title defense by offering two first-rounders and a third for Burns.

Still owing the Lions their 2023 first-rounder from the Matthew Stafford trade, the Rams could not offer their 2023 first. That turned out to matter, as then-GM Scott Fitterer — whose job security was unstable after David Tepper axed Rhule — viewed the opportunity to discuss an extension with Burns as more valuable than 2024 and ’25 firsts. Denying Burns a chance to land in Los Angeles with a likely extension awaiting reframed the Panthers’ re-up talks with their top pass rusher.

Irked at Carolina turning down a big trade offer that doubled as a path for an L.A. extension, Burns did not come to terms with the team that drafted him. As Burns’ asking price soared, Fitterer balked at extending him in 2023. After Fitterer’s firing, the Panthers took what they could get — after pausing extension talks in early March — and finally cut bait.

Burns and the Panthers were not believed to be close on terms, as the five-year veteran pushed for a deal in the $30MM-per-year range before Nick Bosa became the NFL’s first $30MM-AAV edge rusher. Burns asking for terms bettering T.J. Watt‘s Steelers extension understandably spooked the Panthers, who did receive trade offers for the Ron Rivera-era draftee at last year’s deadline. Of course, those proposals are not believed to have come in near where the Rams went.

The Giants gave Burns a five-year, $141MM extension upon completing the trade. Not seeing Azeez Ojulari deliver consistency alongside Thibodeaux, the Giants greenlit a big-ticket deal that should pair well — for the time being, at least — with their top-10 pick’s rookie contract. Although the Jaguars’ Josh Allen passed Burns this spring, the new Giants OLB still ranks third among edges in AAV ($28.2MM) and fourth in total guarantees ($87.5MM) and fully guaranteed money ($76MM). Much will be expected from a player who has proven reliable while settling in outside the top tier, production-wise, at his position.

While Jones’ AAV checks in beyond Burns’, the latter received the most guaranteed money in Giants history. Burns is 1-for-5 in 10-plus-sack seasons, totaling 12.5 in 2022, and he ranks just 12th in sacks since 2019 (46). In terms of QB hits since Burns entered the league, he ranks 14th (95). The Florida State alum has certainly done well for himself despite solid but unspectacular work in Charlotte, though he was asked to deliver high-end production despite his team playing from behind more often than not.

Thibodeaux registered 11.5 sacks on a bad team last season. He certainly stands to benefit from Burns’ presence, and it will be interesting to see how the Giants proceed when their younger OLB becomes extension-eligible. That point comes in January, though with a fifth-year option in place to extend Thibodeaux’s rookie deal through 2025, the Giants have some time with their current arrangement. Burns’ 2024 and ’25 salaries are guaranteed at signing. If he is on the Giants’ roster on Day 5 of the 2025 league year, his full 2026 salary is guaranteed.

This is a big commitment for the Giants, who also looked into Bryce Huff. The team presumably inquired about Huff before Burns talks accelerated, though the trade negotiations with Carolina — which featured extensive familiarity considering Schoen worked with the Panthers for nearly 20 years and worked with Morgan in Buffalo — began well before the trade came to pass.

 Free agency additions:

Daboll brought in multiple former Bills pieces this offseason, the Singletary move being the most notable. After producing on a near-veteran-minimum contract with the Texans, the sixth-year RB will be tasked with replacing Saquon Barkley in New York. Barkley and Singletary are on different talent planes, as their respective contracts illustrated in March; the Giants believe they will be able to get by with the latter, who still quadrupled his guarantee figure from 2023.

Singletary, 26, operated in Daboll’s offense over his first three seasons. During that span, the Bills used the 5-foot-7 back as their primary option behind Josh Allen. Despite drafting Zack Moss in the 2020 second round, Buffalo kept Singletary in the lead role. The ex-Florida Atlantic standout — a 2019 third-round pick — missed just one game over his final three Bills seasons and has offered reliable production. From 2021-23, Singletary totaled between 1,091 and 1,099 scrimmage yards. He has not offered too much as a receiver, never eclipsing 280 yards in a season. Receiving production from backs — a Barkley strong suit at points — will be an area to monitor within the Giants’ offense this season.

Next Gen Stats gave Singletary a mid-pack ranking in rush yards over expected, but he outplayed the one-year, $1.77MM Houston contract. The Texans turned to Singletary over Dameon Pierce to help their C.J. Stroud-piloted operation to the playoffs. Singletary also ran behind a makeshift offensive line for much of the season, as the Texans dealt with injuries basically everywhere Shaq Mason was not playing up front. Singletary notched a career-high 898 rushing yards, though the Texans did not offer him as much as they ended up paying Joe Mixon (three years, $19.75MM; $13MM guaranteed at signing).

Big Blue did not offer Barkley much blocking aid, and last year involved a spate of injuries. The team tried a low-cost approach at guard last season; the effort failing prompted more spending in 2024. Enter Runyan and Eluemunor, who are in place at left and right guard.

Having given Elgton Jenkins a top-market contract, the Packers predictably let Runyan walk. The latter will play his home games in the stadium where his father, a longtime Eagles right tackle, frequently tussled with Michael Strahan. One of five UFA guards to draw an eight-figure-per-year contract this offseason, Runyan brings three years of starter experience to New York. PFR’s No. 32 overall free agent, Runyan should be a big upgrade from recent Giants guard offerings.

The $10MM-per-year blocker logged full seasons at both guard positions, shifting to RG to accommodate Jenkins’ move back inside during the 2022 season. A 50-game starter, the former sixth-round pick ranked 17th among interior O-linemen in pass block win rate last season. Pro Football Focus slotted Runyan 47th among guards.

This year marks a new position and foreign contractual territory for Eluemunor, who had played on three straight one-year deals (none eclipsing $3MM) with the Raiders. The low-cost starter parlayed his work at right tackle and right guard into a midlevel contract. Eluemunor, 29, started 31 games — mostly at RT — for the Raiders over the past two seasons. PFF rated the former Ravens fifth-rounder 36th among tackles in 2023.

The Giants’ decision to give Evan Neal another shot at right tackle will kick Eluemunor inside, where has not played regularly since 2021. Even in his 2021 Raiders debut, Eluemunor only logged 266 snaps at guard. He did not see any time there last season. PFF has rated Neal as a bottom-two tackle regular in each of the past two seasons, and he is coming off a midseason foot fracture — an injury initially misdiagnosed as a sprained ankle — that sidelined him throughout the Giants’ offseason program.

Eluemunor looms as an emergency fix for the Giants, who have some interior insurance in Stinnie — who started in Super Bowl LV and made 11 starts last season — and Schlottmann (14 career starts in Denver and Minnesota). The Giants have converted guard Joshua Ezeudu tentatively in place as their swing tackle, but the 2022 third-rounder allowed five sacks despite playing just 266 snaps in place of Andrew Thomas last season.

The offseason additions aside, Neal’s development remains paramount in New York, as the Schoen regime drafted him seventh overall. Neal continuing down this road would remind of Ereck Flowers‘ underwhelming (in New York, that is) career path.

Before the Giants came to terms with Lock, they were on the Jameis Winston radar. The latter ended up in Cleveland, helping lead Lock to the Big Apple. A run of rumors has emerged regarding Lock’s role, and while the ex-Broncos and Seahawks QB has not been a team’s preferred starter since Teddy Bridgewater‘s second 2021 concussion forced Vic Fangio to move Lock back into his lineup, the former second-round pick has been mentioned as a possible Jones competitor at multiple points this offseason.

Seahawks GM John Schneider said the prospect of a competition with Jones helped lure Lock away from Seattle, and NFL.com’s Daniel Jeremiah noted shortly after the draft the Missouri alum carries a legitimate shot at wresting the job from Jones. Lock has said he expects his role to be a Jones backup, and Daboll pushed back on the notion this will be a competition. Lock seeing starts may not remind of the ignominious Mike Glennon stretch, but if the Giants are starting the inconsistent ex-Broncos option without Jones having suffered an injury, the team’s big-picture plan will have veered well off course.

Lock’s only full season as a starter (2020) featured him leading the NFL in INTs (15) despite only finishing 12 games. The Broncos traded for Bridgewater to demote the John Elway-era draftee and then included him in 2022’s blockbuster Russell Wilson trade. Despite Lock initially being viewed as more likely to succeed Wilson in Seattle, he lost a battle with Geno Smith and never threatened the eventual Comeback Player of the Year’s job security again.

Lock, 27, is a career 59.7% passer who holds a 6.7 yards-per-attempt figure. The Giants could look to park Jones late in the season — similar to the Raiders and Broncos’ actions with their starters over the past two years — in a bubble-wrap scenario that prevents $12MM in injury guarantees from entering the equation, but that would seemingly only come up if the team is well out of the playoff mix. Still, Lock represents an interesting wild card whose usage could be telling about the franchise’s immediate future.

Wilson’s short free agency tour stopped through New York, though this “what if” involving a Giants QB investment did not rival the one that came in April. Wilson, who ended up with the Steelers on a vet-minimum deal, would have likely held the upper hand on Jones in a competition. As of now, Lock is intriguing insurance.

Re-signings:

Notable losses:

In terms of accomplishments, Frank Gifford is the best running back in Giants history. Production-wise, it is Tiki Barber, who still sits in the top 30 on the NFL’s rushing yardage list. For sheer talent, it is difficult to beat Barkley, whom the Giants hoped would make a Canton case someday. If Barkley is to launch a Hall of Fame case, he will need to make significant contributions in Philadelphia.

The Giants closed a six-year Barkley partnership by determining they did not want to pay what it required — or even close to it — to employ the two-time Pro Bowler in 2024. That will mean, barring injury, two games against Barkley this season.

The team made it clear in 2023 Jones would be its priority and Barkley the secondary concern. Positional value supported this stance, despite Barkley being a far superior player. Barkley played the season on a $10.1MM franchise tag. Barkley suffered a high ankle sprain early in the season, but he exited 2023 a safer bet following Jones’ ACL tear. As the Giants launched a serious research effort to consider adding a Jones replacement, Barkley said they were not among the four teams to make an offer (though, Barkley and Schoen’s accounts may differ here, as a recent Hard Knocks trailer dangled). This led to a three-year, $37.75MM Eagles agreement.

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2023 Offseason In Review Series

September 9th, 2023 at 10:59pm CST by Sam Robinson

Quarterback acquisitions generated top headlines this offseason, while the slew of developments affecting the running back market moved that position’s value to a precarious point. On that note, our latest Offseason In Review series is in the books. Here are the PFR staff’s looks at how teams assembled their 2023 rosters:

AFC East

AFC North

AFC South

AFC West

NFC East

NFC North

NFC South

NFC West

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