TOP AVAILABLE FREE AGENTS

This is what I think our top needs are...

#1 ILB (David may be gone and White is not what he thinks he is)

#2 DT/DE (Logan Hall was awful... we have no one else other than Vea).

#3 SS (we ONLY have Winfield)

#4 OLB (Barrett and JTS leave much to be desired and Barrett is getting up in age and coming off major injury.

#5 CB (We have no quality depth behind Dean and Davis)

#6 T (We don't have a backup to Goedke and Wirfs for Tackle)

#7 RB (White and Vaughn are all we have)

#8 TE

#9 WR

 

TOP LINEBACKERS AVAILABLE (According to PFF)

1. Lavonte David
   1. PROJECTED CONTRACT: 2 yrs — $11m avg/yr ($15.25m guaranteed, $22m total)
   2. New Orleans Saints linebacker Demario Davis and Los Angeles Rams linebacker Bobby Wagner playing very good football well into their 30s on recently signed contracts of their own.
   3. David's 88.5 coverage grade this season ranked second among off-ball linebackers, and his elite 93.0 mark over the past four seasons is the top mark at the position.
2. David Long
   1. PROJECTED CONTRACT - 4 yrs — $10m avg/yr ($25m guaranteed, $40m total)
   2. 26 years old. Drafted 2019 in round 6. 2022 season was Long's first as a full-time starter at middle linebacker, 89.0 run-defense grade in 2022 ranked fourth at the position. Over the past three seasons, his 19.8% pass-rush win rate and 23.8% pressure rate are both the second-best marks among off-ball linebackers.

TOP DEFENSIVE LINEMEN AVAILABLE (According to PFF - who we can afford/fits)

1. Sheldon Rankins
   1. PROJECTED CONTRACT: 2 yrs — $6.5m avg/yr ($8.5m guaranteed, $13m total)
   2. 28 years old. 73.1 overall grade is the second-best mark of his career, with his 33 tackles a new high watermark.
   3. Solid both as a run defender and pass rusher but isn't special in either facet. Nevertheless, he's a solid target this offseason as a cheaper interior defender with the top of the market set to explode to new heights.
2. Matt Loannidis
   1. PROJECTED CONTRACT - 2 yrs — $6.5m avg/yr ($7.5m guaranteed, $13m total)
   2. 29 years old. lighter pass-rusher up the middle. Ioannidis has missed time here and there in recent seasons with injuries, but he's been a consistently strong pass-rusher from the interior, earning pass-rush grades of 69.1 or better in each of the last six seasons with a pressure rate around 10% in each of the last two. 
3. Morgan Fox
   1. PROJECTED CONTRACT: 3 yrs — $6.25m avg/yr ($11.5m guaranteed, $18.75m total)
   2. 28 years old. Fox set career-high marks across the board as an interior pass-rusher in 2022, earning a 70.6 pass-rush grade with 40 quarterback pressures on an 11.2% pressure rate. He fits the mold as a pure pass-rusher - he has failed to eclipse 600 snaps in any season of his career and has earned run-defense grades below 50.0 for four consecutive seasons. He's a late-down rotational player for obvious passing situations, but a lot of teams will covet that skill set come free agency.
4. A'Shawn Robinson
   1. PROJECTED CONTRACT: 1 yrs — $3m avg/yr ($2m guaranteed, $3m total)
   2. 28 years old. Robinson's 73.6 run-defense grade over the last two seasons ranks tied for 12th among interior defenders, with his 46 defensive stops ranking inside the top 20 even though he missed the second half of the 2022 season with a torn meniscus. Fortunately, the standard recovery timeline indicates that he'll be back in time for 2023 offseason activities.

TOP SAFETIES AVAILABLE (According to PFF - who we can afford/fits)

1. Donovan Wilson
   1. PROJECTED CONTRACT: 2 yrs — $5.75m avg/yr ($7m guaranteed, $11.5m total)
   2. 28 years old. Wilson is a physical, downhill safety who packs a serious punch once he gets a full head of steam, delivering a few crushing blows this season with his 6-foot, 204-pound frame. In 2022, Wilson became a full-time starter and logged a career-high 959 snaps, earning a 72.9 run-defense grade and racking up 77 tackles, which tied for ninth among safeties. Wilson can sometimes over-pursue and miss a tackle, but a prospective team will take that along with his tenacious desire to drop the hammer. He also contributed 13 quarterback pressures and five sacks on just 33 pass-rush snaps, displaying an innate ability to seemingly get shot out of a cannon on the occasional blitz. Last but certainly not least, while more of a box defender, Wilson isn't a liability in coverage when lined up deep, earning three straight grades above 64.0 in coverage.
2. Adrian Amos
   1. PROJECTED CONTRACT: 2 yrs — $6.25m avg/yr ($7m guaranteed, $12.5m total)
   2. 29 years old. Amos had long been one of the most consistent, reliable safeties across the NFL, allowing an explosive reception on just 1% of coverage snaps over five seasons from 2017-21 and forcing an incompletion on 17.3% of targets into his coverage over the span, which ranked tied for 21st. He took a step back in 2022, earning a 54.2 grade - a career-low mark by more than 15 grading points. That said, betting on a bounce-back 2023 campaign for a versatile defensive back who has logged roughly 1,000 snaps in five straight seasons could be worthwhile. While Amos may not have the highest ceiling, before 2022 his floor was very,
   3. very high. 
      1. 9 years old. lighter pass-rusher up the middle. Ioannidis has missed time here and there in recent seasons with injuries, but he's been a consistently strong pass-rusher from the interior, earning pass-rush grades of 69.1 or better in each of the last six seasons with a pressure rate around 10% in each of the last two.