Some Free Agency Thoughts

NFL Free agency is like Christmas morning. There's a build-up that can be excruciatingly long and then there's a frenzied, flurry of action (signings and colorful paper flying). And then it's all over. With the "legal" tampering window, the official start of free agency means little. The bulk of the signings were done before they were considered official. Here are some thoughts on NFL free agency.

The Minnesota Vikings entered free agency with so little cap room that not much was expected. Personally, all that I really wanted them do was keep their own free agents. Anthony Barr and Sheldon Richardson in particular. Initially, it looked like both were gone. Perhaps, the biggest drama of the "legal" tampering period was Barr's flip from the New York Jets back to the Vikings. He wanted to stay in Minnesota and the Vikings wanted him to stay. Cap maestro Rob Brzezinski waved his salary cap wand and made it happen.

Vikings free agency:

tender:
Anthony Harris, S
Matt Wile, P

re-sign:
Anthony Barr, LB

signed:
Shamar Stephen, DT

For nearly 24 hours it felt like the Vikings offseason was a disaster. If they had lost Barr, they would've just moved on. The NFL moves to fast to cry about players that aren't no longer with the team. It would've been tough to move on from Barr because he's such a big part of what they do on defense. Even if he's not filling up the stat sheets. There just aren't many football players with his talent and versatility. The top priority of this offseaon was and still is improving the offensive line. They still have to do that but keeping Barr was easily the highlight of the first week.

As for the rest of the league.

Work I Liked:

Cleveland Browns
re-signed:
Greg Robinson, OT

acquired in trade:
Odell Beckham Jr., WR
Olivier Vernon, DE

signed:
Sheldon Richardson, DT
Demetrius Harris, TE

Adding Odell Beckham Jr. to promising young playmakers like Baker Mayfield, Nick Chubb, Jarvis Landry, David Njoku, and Antonio Calloway gives the Browns one of the most entertaining offenses in the league. On paper. And I'm not even counting Kareem Hunt who may or may not join the team in Week 9. If Olivier Vernon can play opposite Myles Garrett like he played opposite Cameron Wake the Browns have a dynamite pass rush. The Browns' offseaon trading activity was such that it's easy to overlook the strong free agent signings of Sheldon Richardson and Demetrius Harris.

Baltimore Ravens
re-signed:
Nick Boyle, TE

signed:
Earl Thomas, S
Mark Ingram, RB
Justin Bethel, CB

It's easy to like the free agent signings of Earl Thomas and Mark Ingram. He's never been a high-profile starter but I've always liked Justin Bethel. I've liked him since I sat in Cal's Memorial Stadium one Saturday afternoon amazed that this player from itty-bitty Presbyterian was the best football player on the field. It was against Cal so it's not saying very much but it was Presbyterian so it's saying a lot. Cal won the game that day but Bethel won my heart.

San Francisco 49ers
re-signed:
Jimmie Ward, DB
Mike Person, OG
Antone Exum, S
Raheem Mostert, RB

franchise tagged:
Robbie Gould, K

acquired in trade:
Dee Ford, DE

signed:
Kwon Alexander, LB
Tevin Coleman. RB
Jason Verrett, CB
David Mayo, LB
Jordan Matthews, WR

There are some splashy signings here (Dee Ford and Kwon Alexander) but what I really like about the 49ers' work are the signings of Tevin Coleman and Jason Verrett. The addition of David Mayo has the feel of a steal even if it's only for his work on special teams.

New York Jets
re-signed:
Henry Anderson, DL

acquired in trade:
Kelechi Osemele, OG

signed:
C.J. Mosley, LB
Le'Veon Bell, RB
Jamison Crowder, WR
Josh Bellamy, WR
Brian Poole, CB
Chandler Catanzaro, K

It's easy to like the work of the teams that were very active. Unless they are crazy, stupid active like that silly 2011 Philadelphia Eagles team. I like what the Jets did mostly for the re-signing of Henry Anderson, the trade for Kelechi Osemele, and the addition on Jamison Crowder and Josh Bellamy. When a team has big plans for free agency sometimes it's easy to forget about a solid, in-house player like Anderson. The Jets were wise to keep him. Osemele's age is creeping up but he could become Le'Veon Bell's (and Sam Darnold's) best friend. Speaking of Darnold, he needed some targets. Crowder and Bellamy should be just that. I've felt for a few years that Crowder was on the verge of breaking out big. Maybe he can finally accomplish that with Darnold.

Work I Didn't Like

Cincinnati Bengals
re-signed:
Preston Brown, LB
Bobby Hart, OT
C.J. Uzomah, TE
Tyler Eifert, TE

signed:
B.W. Webb, CB

John Miller, OG

It felt like the Bengals were just giving every player the same 3-year, $21 million contract. Lack of planning, lack of creativity, who knows? The Bengals are a puzzle.

Oakland Raiders

re-signed:
Jonathan Hankins, DT

acquired in trade:
Antonio Brown, WR

signed:
Trent Brown, OT
Lamarcus Joyner, S
Tyrell Williams, WR
J.J. Nelson, WR

This probably isn't fair. I didn't like what the Raiders did for one simple reason. The Trent Brown deal. It's a stretch to put him among the ten best tackles in the league and they made him the league's highest paid lineman. Ridiculous. It just trashed the pay schedule for every lineman that comes after.

New York Giants

acquired in trade:
Kevin Zeitler, G
Jabrill Peppers, S

signed:
Antoine Bethea, S
Golden Tate, WR
Markus Golden, DE

If you ignore the fact that the Giants shipped Odell Beckham Jr. out of town for very little this work isn't bad. Unfortunately, the Giants shipped Odell Beckham Jr. out of town for very little.

And there's this:
The Miami Dolphins current QB room:
Ryan Fitzpatrick
Jake Rudock
Luke Falk

Should be fun.

***

I happened upon this little free agency nugget last week. Sports Illustrated's MMQB polled NFL players looking for the best and worst NFL cities to play football. Here's what they found.

Best Landing Spots:

1. Dallas, 11 votes
2. Seattle, 8
2. Miami, 8
4. L.A. Rams, 7
5. Atlanta, 5

Others receiving votes: Philadelphia (4), Houston (4), Indianapolis (3), New England (3), Arizona (2), Denver (2), Los Angeles Chargers (2), New Orleans (2), New York Giants (2), Pittsburgh (2), San Francisco (2), Tampa Bay (2), Tennessee (2), Baltimore, Green Bay, Jacksonville, Kansas City, Minnesota

Worst Landing Spots:

1. Buffalo, 12 votes
2. Oakland, 11
3. Cincinnati, 8
4. Detroit, 7
5. Cleveland, 6

Others receiving votes: Jacksonville (5), New York Jets (4), New York Giants (3), Green Bay (3), New England (3), San Francisco (3), Washington (3), Los Angeles Chargers (2), Arizona, Denver, Minnesota, New Orleans, Tampa Bay

Apparently Cleveland would've been by far the least desirable location as recently as two years ago. It's amazing the difference an itty-bitty quarterback makes.

***

The name-recognition of the remaining free agents may say differently but free agency has only just begun.