Most of the top NFL free agents found new homes in the first six days of free agency. Looking at NFL.com's list of the top-31 remaining free agents shows just that. There's still some big names on that list. Just a few years ago, they would have been huge names. Teams would have gone nutty over the chance to sign Jared Allen, Michael Vick, Maurice Jones-Drew, Antonio Cromartie, Miles Austin, Kevin Williams, and Santonio Holmes. Those players should still find some work. Allen won't be finding work anytime soon if his expectations of $12 milllion/year are true. There are still some fine players that are still available.
Center Alex Mack is at the top of NFL.com's list of 31. The Cleveland Browns placed their transaction tag on Mack so he's not as available as the other players on the list. The Browns have the option to match any offer made to Mack. The transaction tag hasn't been used in a while as it's not much of a deterrence to other teams. The Browns are writing their own script on how to run an NFL organization.
Defensive tackle Henry Melton, tight end Jermichael Finley, and cornerback Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie can be impact football players. Despite still being available, they have drawn some significant interest. The Minnesota Vikings, Seattle Seahawks, and Dallas Cowboys have all had serious visits with Melton. All three teams seem to be involved in more than cursory negotiations with the defensive tackle. Rodgers-Cromartie has had at least a little contact with pretty much every cornerback-needy team in the league. That list includes just about every team in the league. Finley would have a new home if not for his back injury last season. He's been cleared to play. If he clears team physicals, he'll make a team real happy soon.
It's surprising that receiver James Jones hasn't gotten more attention. Maybe he's being very selective about possible visits. Maybe his agent is having "behind-the-scenes" talks with teams. The Carolina Panthers were receiver-needy before they lost Brandon LaFell, Ted Ginn Jr., and released Steve Smith. I could see Cam Newton loving the addition of James Jones. The availability of defensive tackle Pat Sims surprises me. He can be a dominant interior football player. I thought he'd be snapped up in the first few days.
Offensive linemen Donald Penn, Zach Strief, Davin Joseph, and Travelle Wharton can start for a lot of teams. Running backs Knowshon Moreno and LeGarrette Blount can help many teams. If someone can straighten out receiver Kenny Britt, they could have a star. The Houston Texans released tight end Owen Daniels after the start of free agency. He can still be an impact football player.
There were so many signings at the start of the 2014 edition of free agency that it felt like the available talent was pretty much picked clean. There's still more talent than I had expected. There's usually a second wave of free agency. I'm not so sure that there's enough talent, in quantity, out there to create a wave but there's enough quality to make an impact. There's certainly enough teams that aren't even close to being cap-strapped (Oakland!) that there could still be some bidding wars. We don't see second-week bidding wars too often since all of the money is usually spent in the first week.
No comments:
Post a Comment