Free Agency We start with roughly $17M in cap space. Restructure Revis, Nicks, and McCoy. McCoy is in the final year of his rookie deal and is making over $13M. With a new deal in place that number should go down to $10M this year, saving us $3M. With Revis, his no guaranteed money/huge cap number contract was a prove it deal to make sure he was healthy. If we are keeping him then he needs a real deal with guaranteed money and a lower cap hit. Instead of $16M his cap hit drops to $13M, saving us an additional $3M in space. With Nicks it's tricky. There is a good chance he retires and doesn't even come back or we cut him because he still isn't healthy, but if he does show up and seems healthy...he has to realize he hasn't earned the $20M+ he has made over the last two years and that he is not the same player anymore. Dude has got to restructure and make it easier for us to keep him. Just move the money around so that it pays out big in 2015 and 2016 so that if he actually manages to come back and be great he can still get that money, but this year he can't count for more than $5M. That saves us $4M. Those three moves gain us an extra $10M in cap space so we are at $27M.Resign Jonathan Casillas, Dekoda Watson, Jamon Meredith, and Bobby Rainey. These are cheap depth and special team re-signings that will use up about $6M in cap space, leaving us about $21M Cut (or trade) Michael Koenen, Davin Joseph, Da'Quan Bowers, Derek Landri, Gabe Carimi, Luke Stocker, Michael Smith, Michael Hill, Chris Owusu, Russell Sheppard, Skye Dawson, Leonard Johnson, and Bradley McDougald. This frees up about $16M giving us about $37M to work with for the opening of Free Agency.Signing Targets O-line - After cutting Joseph, and knowing the odds are Nicks won't be back, we have to come up big at O-line in FA. Our number on target in Free Agency should be Center Alex Mack. Top centers aren't that expensive and for the money he will provide the most bang for the buck this FA period. After we get him signed Zuttah would move out to guard, but we should try to sign G Evan Dietrich-Smith or G Jon Asamoah if one can be had at a decent price. We should be able to get Mack and a solid guard for $10M, leaving us $27M is space.D-line - Jared Allen, Julius Peppers, Justin Tuck, or Michael Bennett. Bennett might actually be the better value because of the age factor, but anyone of these four guys will be great. Michael Johnson is a one year wonder that didn't look good this year and is too risky. Greg Hardy is going to be way too expensive. After we get our big d-line signing we should target another less expensive addition like Mike Neal, CJ Wilson, Arthur Jones, Corey Wooton, Lamarr Houston, or Linvel Joseph. For one top tier and one second tier defensive lineman, we should spend about $10M leaving us $17M *edit: Forgot to include Brian Orakpo and jason Worilds. They both most definitely should be included as a target for pass rushing DE.Secondary - Like D-line, I think we should try to sign a tier one guy and a tier two guy. Tier one guys I would target are CB Alterraun Verner, CB Charles Tillman, CB Sam Shields, CB Nolan Carroll. The tier two guys I like are CB AJ Jefferson, CB Walter Thurmond, S Major Wright, S Darrell Stuckey. This should leave us with about $9M in cap space. Now we have to save about $5M in cap room for rookie signings and emergency, so we still have about $4M left to improve our roster depth with smaller cheaper signings. Hard to say who we actually get, but I say we target WR Andre Roberts, WR Damian Williams, WR Dane Sanzenbacher, QB Pat Devlin, QB Rex Grossman, QB Chad Henne, TE Andrew Quarles, LB Josh Bynes, and LB Larry Grant.DraftIdeally I want a QB in the 1st round, but unless something crazy happens and somebodies stock takes a nose dive....we ain't getting one of the top three. So, as much as I hate it...my plan involves moving forward with Glennon and trying to be get better around him. 1st round - I would try really hard to trade back, but if we are stuck at #7 then I'm taking an OT. Matthews will likely be gone, but there are several highly rated OTs at the top of this draft. I prefer Greg Robinson.2nd round - This spot reserved for TE Austin Seferian-Jenkins.3rd round - NO PICK :(4th round - CB Aaron Colvin or CB Keith McGill5th round - WR Josh Huff......or Donte Moncrief, Brandon Coleman, Robert Herron, Cody Hoffman, Cody Latimer.6th round - Logan Thomas as a TE prospect. Could be the gem of the draft!7th round - WR Michael Campanaro, WR Devin Street, or WR Quincy Enunwa.
Into the trash it goes...
D-line - Jared Allen, Julius Peppers, Justin Tuck, or Michael Bennett. This is slim pickings. 3 guys on the wrong side of their career and Bennett who purposely signed a 1 year deal last year so he can sign a multi year large deal this year.
Rumor has it that the GM job is still open.
D-line - Jared Allen, Julius Peppers, Justin Tuck, or Michael Bennett. This is slim pickings. 3 guys on the wrong side of their career and Bennett who purposely signed a 1 year deal last year so he can sign a multi year large deal this year.
I wouldn't call this year's FA DE class slip pickins. It's quite good actually. Peppers, Tuck, and Allen all have 2 or 3 good years in them.....and that is an eternity in the NFL.
Rumor has it that the GM job is still open.
Shhhhhhhh...let the little fantasy micromanager do his thing...
I hope we target Jason Worilds at DE. He was at DE at Vtech but has been playing OLB for the steelers. He is a speed rusher and fits Lovie wanting athletes across the board. Also in the chat Mark cautioned we may see one splash signing and then depth signings
"With Revis, his no guaranteed money/huge cap number contract was a prove it deal to make sure he was healthy. If we are keeping him then he needs a real deal with guaranteed money and a lower cap hit"Guaranteed money counts against the cap too, you know. The only way his cap hit drops is if he takes less money.
D-line - Jared Allen, Julius Peppers, Justin Tuck, or Michael Bennett. This is slim pickings. 3 guys on the wrong side of their career and Bennett who purposely signed a 1 year deal last year so he can sign a multi year large deal this year.
I wouldn't call this year's FA DE class slip pickins. It's quite good actually. Peppers, Tuck, and Allen all have 2 or 3 good years in them.....and that is an eternity in the NFL.
I agree that these guys still have a few good years left in them. I was more meaning that DE is a very coveted position in the NFL and it looks like talent in FA drops off after these 3 guys (I don't see Bennett giving us the time of day). So we need to make a power play for one of these guys or hope that someone is a cap casualty.
Why would we draft two tight ends when we only have six picks in the draft? I don't think we pick a te until the fifth or sixth round most likely a blocker. I don't really get the need to replace a te that had nearly 600 yards and 5 tds last year his first year ever playing te. Anything earlier then 4 th round on a te are luxury picks imo. We have other holes and other needs to fill. I like the de plan. I think we either pick up peppers or bennett wooton will most likely be a darkhorse he's like a Michael bennett ceiling type player. Tillman would be a good db spot starter nickelback he'd thrive in that role. Oline needs overhauled Joseph sounds like he's going to stay as much as I'd release him. I don't think zuttah has the strength to play fulltime guard imo. Asomah would be a good pick up. We really need to figure out what's going on with Carl nicks tho because he makes a lot of money but has a lot of injury concerns. Draft wise I would go garapollo in the second if we don't pickup a fa qb and best player available in the first. We have to come away with a slot receiver in this draft.
"With Revis, his no guaranteed money/huge cap number contract was a prove it deal to make sure he was healthy. If we are keeping him then he needs a real deal with guaranteed money and a lower cap hit"Guaranteed money counts against the cap too, you know. The only way his cap hit drops is if he takes less money.
The only valid excuse for giving Revis a ridiculous $16M per year, is to make up for the fact that there is zero guaranteed money in his deal. We didn't include guaranteed money because we wanted to make sure he was healthy and could return to form after the knee injury. If we are convinced he is back to form and are keeping him, then it is time to restructure to a contract that is actually sustainable. Once he has the safety of having half his contract guaranteed, his yearly number should go down from that ungodly $16M.
Whatever you guys are assuming McCoy's new deal is going to be.... double it. He's a 25 year old All-Pro with a $15.8M franchise tag number and everyone think he's going to take a paycut.
Why would we draft two tight ends when we only have six picks in the draft? I don't think we pick a te until the fifth or sixth round most likely a blocker. I don't really get the need to replace a te that had nearly 600 yards and 5 tds last year his first year ever playing te. Anything earlier then 4 th round on a te are luxury picks imo. We have other holes and other needs to fill.
To each his own. I don't think Tim Wright is an elite talent. I think he is a pretty solid pass catching TE that had decent numbers this year due to his large amount of opportunities. When Mike Will comes back I don't think Wright will be good enough to get a lot of touches. There are three elite TE prospects in this draft. I want one. With Logan Thomas, he's a big athletic guy that played TE in high school and should have never been made a QB. It's the 7th round and I think the late rounds should be used on high potential long shots.
I like the de plan. I think we either pick up peppers or bennett wooton will most likely be a darkhorse he's like a Michael bennett ceiling type player. Tillman would be a good db spot starter nickelback he'd thrive in that role. Oline needs overhauled Joseph sounds like he's going to stay as much as I'd release him. I don't think zuttah has the strength to play fulltime guard imo. Asomah would be a good pick up. We really need to figure out what's going on with Carl nicks tho because he makes a lot of money but has a lot of injury concerns. Draft wise I would go garapollo in the second if we don't pickup a fa qb and best player available in the first. We have to come away with a slot receiver in this draft.
To the bolded. I'm not a fan of Zuttah being anything more than a rotational back up either. He gets pushed around too much. Unfortunately it's hard to replace both guards and your center in one offseason....so I think Zuttah at guard has to be a likely option. That said, I'd be good with cutting/trading Zuttah if we could get Jon Asamoah or Evan Dietrich-Smith. The $4M we'd save from getting rid of Zuttah would probably completely pay for one of those two guys.
Could casillas play MLB in a lovie-leslie defense?
Pick up Paul Soliai, and try to land one of the DEs. Preferably someone like Hardy, but reeling in The Kraken is going to be a mind boggling task so I venture that won't happen. I would like to see the BUcs try to re-sign Bennett, who is a solid force at DE, and has about two, perhaps three effective seasons left. Then draft Kony, Clowney, a pass rush DE...get that pass rush in the Alpha Male Club. I doubt Lovie drafts a QB...too early to stake his career to a QB he may not be in love with.At tight end, they should draft one, but they should sign someone like Brandon Pettigrew. A cheaper priced vet tight end that can block, and while not a terror out there, is a serviceable tight end.Sign De La Puente from the Saints. Cheaper, and solid.Kick Zoot into the guard spot, and tell Davin to take a pay cut or hit the bricks. Keep an eye out on Nicks situation. If his situation green lights, we may have a shot at really improving this line. De La Soul at center, Zoot and Nicks, Dotson, and then draft Antonio Richardson in round 2 to play RT, perhaps LT. He did work against Clowney.
