Official NFL Free Agency Thread

[Bartin]

Fernando Velasco to the Bills.

Not really newsworthy at all except that he's an ex-Panther. He could potentially factor into a comp pick, but it's highly unlikely we will get one since almost no one has left, there really aren't many more that will go anywhere and we have brought in a few UFAs.ourselves.

[top dawg]

D'Brickashaw Ferguson is retiring. 

I wonder if the jets will use some of the nine million dollar savings in cap space to pay Fitzmagic. The blind side just got a little more dangerous for whoever is back there.

[O-Ther]

1 hour ago, top dawg said:

D'Brickashaw Ferguson is a free agent no more, he is retiring. 

I wonder if the jets will use some of the nine million dollar savings in cap space to pay Fitzmagic. The blind side just got a little more dangerous for whoever is back there.

If I'm reading the New York papers right, he wasn't a free agent. He was under contract this year. Looked at Spotrac, and confirmed the Jets have a $5 million cap charge in dead space with D'Brickashaw's name on it. The rest is a valid point. The papers are reporting that the Jest approached D'B to take a pay cut to give them space to re-sign Fitzy. They only had $565k of space before D'B's retirement and now they have about $9 million.

Can't be sour to D'B about retiring. The Jest should have approached him before free agency started about re-doing his contract or releasing him, but they didn't, and now the big free agency money has dried up. D'B has no chance to make back the $10 million in base salary he was going to earn this year. Jest did their best and most reliable player dirty.

[Bartin]

27 minutes ago, O-Ther said:

If I'm reading the New York papers right, he wasn't a free agent. He was under contract this year. Looked at Spotrac, and confirmed the Jets have a $5 million cap charge in dead space with D'Brickashaw's name on it. The rest is a valid point. The papers are reporting that the Jest approached D'B to take a pay cut to give them space to re-sign Fitzy. They only had $565k of space before D'B's retirement and now they have about $9 million.

Can't be sour to D'B about retiring. The Jest should have approached him before free agency started about re-doing his contract or releasing him, but they didn't, and now the big free agency money has dried up. D'B has no chance to make back the $10 million in base salary he was going to earn this year. Jest did their best and most reliable player dirty.

I'm sure they did approach him before free agency and he refused. It's been rumored for a while that he was considering retirement because he didn't want to take a pay cut and that he's kept the Jets in the loop about it the whole time.

[O-Ther]

20 minutes ago, Bartin said:

I'm sure they did approach him before free agency and he refused. It's been rumored for a while that he was considering retirement because he didn't want to take a pay cut and that he's kept the Jets in the loop about it the whole time.

Here's my source, dated Wednesday April 6

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/football/jets/jets-brickashaw-pay-cut-ryan-fitzpatrick-article-1.2591162

The lead reads, "The Jets hope that D'Brickashaw Ferguson can do them a solid to bring back Ryan Fitzpatrick.

The Daily News has learned that the team has asked the three-time Pro Bowl left tackle to take a significant pay cut to free up money to help re-sign Ryan Fitzpatrick.

Ferguson, who has never missed a snap due to injury in his 10-year career, is scheduled to count $14.1 million against the 2016 salary cap, but the organization would like cap relief for plenty of reasons, including increasing their financial flexibility to get back their starting quarterback, according to sources.

In fact, the brain trust has made it clear to Ferguson that a pay reduction would help the team bring back Fitzpatrick, who has been at an impasse with the club for more than a month after receiving a low-ball offer.

The Jets discussed their plans with Ferguson last week at the team facility, according to sources. The exact amount of the pay cut remains unclear, but the team would almost certainly prefer to free up about $4-$5 million. Ferguson, who was working out at One Jets Drive when the team approached him, is scheduled to earn $10.375 million in cash (base salary and bonuses) this season."

 

[top dawg]

2 hours ago, O-Ther said:

If I'm reading the New York papers right, he wasn't a free agent. He was under contract this year. Looked at Spotrac, and confirmed the Jets have a $5 million cap charge in dead space with D'Brickashaw's name on it. The rest is a valid point. The papers are reporting that the Jest approached D'B to take a pay cut to give them space to re-sign Fitzy. They only had $565k of space before D'B's retirement and now they have about $9 million.

Can't be sour to D'B about retiring. The Jest should have approached him before free agency started about re-doing his contract or releasing him, but they didn't, and now the big free agency money has dried up. D'B has no chance to make back the $10 million in base salary he was going to earn this year. Jest did their best and most reliable player dirty.

My bad.

You know what's funny? I don't know who his backup was, but I kinda know that he is not going to be as good as D'Brickashaw, and I don't see anyone in the draft who is going to replace him right away. Perhaps Conklin (which may be a stretch, at least right away), but he may be better suited to the RT spot. What this means is that even if they do use their savings and reallocate most of it to Fitzpatrick, on some level, his demands will lead to him getting crushed. Oh, the irony.

[O-Ther]

2 minutes ago, top dawg said:

My bad.

You know what's funny? I don't know who his backup was, but I kinda know that he is not going to be as D'Brickashaw, and I don't see anyone in the draft who is going to replace him right away. Perhaps Conklin (which may be a stretch, at least right away), but he may be better suited to the RT spot. What this means is that even if they do use their savings and reallocate most of it to Fitzpatrick, on some level, his demands will lead to him getting crushed. Oh, the irony.

Certainly a possibility. There may be some method to the Jest madness. I stress may be. Tennessee has been saying they've been getting offers for the #1 pick, and there are rumblings on Twitter that the Jest are a dark horse team for it. I'd imagine the Jest are targeting either a QB or OT Tunsil with the #1 pick.

[Bartin]

7 minutes ago, O-Ther said:

Certainly a possibility. There may be some method to the Jest madness. I stress may be. Tennessee has been saying they've been getting offers for the #1 pick, and there are rumblings on Twitter that the Jest are a dark horse team for it. I'd imagine the Jest are targeting either a QB or OT Tunsil with the #1 pick.

Is Wilkerson enough for #1? Wilkerson and #20 for #1?

[O-Ther]

2 minutes ago, Bartin said:

Is Wilkerson enough for #1? Wilkerson and #20 for #1?

(shoulder shrug)

Not the Titans GM, but sounds like a good offer, putting Wilkerson and Casey on the field with Orakpo and Morgan would be lethal. Question is, are the Titans willing to go all the way down to #20 in that offer?

[top dawg]

There are still some interesting free agents available. I believe this b/r slideshow is worth the look.

 

http://m.bleacherreport.com/articles/2630838-setting-the-market-for-unsigned-nfl-free-agents

As Donte Whitner is the one I'm most interested in, here is most of his write-up.

 

"Whitner has a right to be upset about the timing of his release. Most teams have already spent the majority of what they're going to spend this offseason on free-agent additions. Since a lot of teams are now looking at less cap space, the market for Whitner is more limited than what it might have been a month ago.

However, there will still be teams willing to give the man a contract. Pro Bowl-caliber players are rarely still available this late into free agency. Whitner made the Pro Bowl each year from 2012 to 2014, and though he had a down year in 2015, he was still rated 28th overall among safeties by Pro Football Focus.

Whitner is also only 30 years old and should have several strong campaigns ahead of him. This is why he could be in line for a contract lengthier than what most free agents see this time of the offseason. Contenders in need of safety help, like the Pittsburgh Steelers and Carolina Panthers, could bring him in for a visit. However, Whitner could easily also help a rebuilding team for the next few years.

Whitner probably won't get something close to the four-year, $28 million dealthe Browns gave him two years ago. However, his deal should be a bit bigger than the two-year, $8 million deal the Arizona Cardinals gave 29-year-old strong safety Tyvon Branch this offseason. A three-year deal with front-loaded guarantees feels about right.

Suggested Market Price: Three years, $15.5 million, with $6.5 million guaranteed"

[t96]

6 hours ago, top dawg said:

There are still some interesting free agents available. I believe this b/r slideshow is worth the look.

 

http://m.bleacherreport.com/articles/2630838-setting-the-market-for-unsigned-nfl-free-agents

As Donte Whitner is the one I'm most interested in, here is most of his write-up.

 

"Whitner has a right to be upset about the timing of his release. Most teams have already spent the majority of what they're going to spend this offseason on free-agent additions. Since a lot of teams are now looking at less cap space, the market for Whitner is more limited than what it might have been a month ago.

However, there will still be teams willing to give the man a contract. Pro Bowl-caliber players are rarely still available this late into free agency. Whitner made the Pro Bowl each year from 2012 to 2014, and though he had a down year in 2015, he was still rated 28th overall among safeties by Pro Football Focus.

Whitner is also only 30 years old and should have several strong campaigns ahead of him. This is why he could be in line for a contract lengthier than what most free agents see this time of the offseason. Contenders in need of safety help, like the Pittsburgh Steelers and Carolina Panthers, could bring him in for a visit. However, Whitner could easily also help a rebuilding team for the next few years.

Whitner probably won't get something close to the four-year, $28 million dealthe Browns gave him two years ago. However, his deal should be a bit bigger than the two-year, $8 million deal the Arizona Cardinals gave 29-year-old strong safety Tyvon Branch this offseason. A three-year deal with front-loaded guarantees feels about right.

Suggested Market Price: Three years, $15.5 million, with $6.5 million guaranteed"

Too much $ for him. Don't know how close that suggestion is to what he'll actually get, but we wouldn't be offering him even close to that.

[Mr. Scot]

Being reported that the Broncos have traded Ryan Clady to the Jets.

He'll replace D'Brickshaw Ferguson.

[top dawg]

The Rams will be hosting Hitner this week. 

[davos]

1 hour ago, top dawg said:

The Rams will be hosting Hitner this week. 

He'd actually be quite a strong fit to replace McLeod next to TJ McDonald.