Official Free Agency/Offseason/Non-Draft Thread

[RashanGary]

No need to do all of this. Preston? Yes. Amos? No. Turner? Unlikely. You have to consider the cap savings compared to how much it would cost to find a replacement. They could probably get a third OLB for Preston’s savings of $8m. They aren’t going to find a decent starting RT for the $3.9m they’d save on Turner and a decent starting S for the little over 4m they’d save on Amos. Amos was good last year. Both guys are candidates for restructures though. If they cut P. Smith, restructure Rodgers and Z. Smith, cut Lowry, and extend Adams, they’ll be in good shape.

They have higher needs (OT, CB, DL) in the draft, so you can’t say just draft somebody.

This

[Tony Oday]

Rumor out of KFAN that Kyle Rudolph might be moving to GB and be his golf buddy's Red Zone target along with Big Bob.

[bobblehead]

No need to do all of this. Preston? Yes. Amos? No. Turner? Unlikely. You have to consider the cap savings compared to how much it would cost to find a replacement. They could probably get a third OLB for Preston’s savings of $8m. They aren’t going to find a decent starting RT for the $3.9m they’d save on Turner and a decent starting S for the little over 4m they’d save on Amos. Amos was good last year. Both guys are candidates for restructures though. If they cut P. Smith, restructure Rodgers and Z. Smith, cut Lowry, and extend Adams, they’ll be in good shape.

They have higher needs (OT, CB, DL) in the draft, so you can’t say just draft somebody.

I think you are going to be shocked at the number of guys who are looking for work in July. Guys who you don't dream will sign a 1 year for $4 million right now. And maybe pride will keep them on the sidelines for a season and then I'm wrong, but end of the day I think they sign 1 year deals and play prove it. I think replacing Amos for cheap is easy. Signing Bak to a huge deal was mistake 1. Compounded by his injury. Bottom line though, the cap has gone down. A lot of teams HAVE to cut good players. We are trying to kick it down the road because Rodgers is still here and getting older. I'm not sure it gives us any better chance to win in the now than getting under the cap and bargain hunting.

[Guiness]

Some people have been reporting that the franchise tag numbers will be lower due to the salary cap being lower. If it's the case, the franchise tag for RB's would be just over 8 million. I don't know which is right.

https://www.patspulpit.com/2021/2/2/...e-tag-patriots

Learned something new today, I didn't know some tags were affected by the salary cap.

Following your link, it appears only the non-exclusive tag is impacted by the salary cap

the number for each position is determined by taking the sum of the non-exclusive franchise tags as determined by the original methodology for the previous five seasons and dividing by the sum of the actual NFL salary cap amount for the previous five seasons. The resulting percentage, which is known as the Cap Percentage Average in the CBA, is then multiplied by the actual salary cap for the upcoming league year.

The 'original methodology' is the average of the top 5 highest salary caps numbers at that position or 120% of the player's previous year's salary. The transition tag is similar, except the top 10 salaries are used.

It appears the exclusive tag is not affected by the current year's salary cap though:

Under the exclusive franchise tag, a player will receive a one year offer from his team that is the greater of the average of the top five salaries at his position once the restricted free agent signing period of the current league year has ended (April 23 for 2021) or 120 percent of his prior year's salary.

No mention of the salary cap.

This has some interesting implications. Teams against the cap might be more likely to use the non-exclusive tag, where in the past they would've opted for the exclusive tag since there wasn't previously much difference. This year there could be 10% or more of a difference so there could be premiere players available (albeit for the cost of 2 first round picks).

[Upnorth]

If we can restructures enough intelligently and create cap room I think nelson algahor(sp?) Could be a great compliment. Imagine him and mvs streaking down field with Adams and Lazard staying in. I also think he will be affordable this year. Then we can sink every draft pick into d except a late rd rb or two.

[texaspackerbacker]

Rudolph is a good player, but probably expensive. He's almost as good a blocker as Marcedes Lewis, and probably a little better receiver. The problem is he would cost a lot more. I'd rather have Marcedes and the money. We absolutely don't need both along with all our other TEs.

[Upnorth]

Don't know if this has been posted already

https://packerswire.usatoday.com/2021/03/05/report-packers-approached-qb-aaron-rodgers-about-contract-restructure-in-january/

We have discussed this here quite a bit. Nice to see gute and his team are in front of things.

[HarveyWallbangers]

Not sure where this belongs, but I was looking at the stats of Brandin Cooks. The guy has already played for four teams. He has 1,000 yard seasons with all four. Different QBs, different systems. Doesn't matter. Every year that he's played at least 15 games he has had a 1,000 yard season. Not sure why he keeps bouncing around. Maybe a victim of circumstance. He has benefitted from some good QBs (Brees, Brady, Goff, and Watson), but that isn't easy to do. Going on his 8th year in the league and he'll still only be 27 at the start of the season.

[Upnorth]

Not sure where this belongs, but I was looking at the stats of Brandin Cooks. The guy has already played for four teams. He has 1,000 yard seasons with all four. Different QBs, different systems. Doesn't matter. Every year that he's played at least 15 games he has had a 1,000 yard season. Not sure why he keeps bouncing around. Maybe a victim of circumstance. He has benefitted from some good QBs (Brees, Brady, Goff, and Watson), but that isn't easy to do. Going on his 8th year in the league and he'll still only be 27 at the start of the season.

Good catch. His ypc is trending down. Maybe a function of brees arm or the system. Also he is still under contract so are you just impressed?

[Joemailman]

Tweet
See new Tweets
Tweet
Ian Rapoport
@RapSheet
·
52m
A storyline to follow going forward: If the official salary cap number doesn’t come today and soon, NFL will have to move back the deadline to franchise tag players from Tuesday. It’s a situation several GMs are bracing for and would further stall business for a bit.

https://www.acmepackingcompany.com/2...rs-aaron-jones

Ultimately, it’s more the cap space question than the tag number question that will be vexing teams, the Packers included. According to projections from Sports Illustrated, the running back franchise tag amount differs by less than a quarter-million dollars if the cap ends up at $180 million vs. $185 million:

$180 million cap: $8.54 million tag
$183 million cap: $8.68 million tag
$185 million cap: $8.78 million tag
It’s that cap space question that is the much bigger factor. The Packers would be $11.93 million over a $180 million cap, but if the number comes in at $185 million, Green Bay would only be $6.93 million over. That difference would be notable in terms of how much cap money the Packers would need to free up via cuts or roster extensions. In other words, the Packers would need to clear the following minimum amount of cap space in each of the three cap scenarios above to be able to keep Jones around on the tag (and note that this does not account for any other signings):

$180M cap: $20.5 million
$183M cap: $17.6 million
$185M cap: $15.7 million

[HarveyWallbangers]

Good catch. His ypc is trending down. Maybe a function of brees arm or the system. Also he is still under contract so are you just impressed?

Yes. I think he'd be a good fit, but he's not coming here.

Nothing to do with Cooks, but if we go FA WR, I've settled on thinking Curtis Samuel is the perfect fit for this team. Not sure how much money he'll get though.

[HarveyWallbangers]

Good catch. His ypc is trending down. Maybe a function of brees arm or the system. Also he is still under contract so are you just impressed?

Not sure it's trending down. His ypc last year was the same as his career ypc. It's more the function of the QB. His ypc was highest with Tom Brady (good deep ball passer), lowest with Drew Brees (noodle arm), and close to career average with Watson and Goff.

[Joemailman]

https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.co...noris-jenkins/

The Saints’ push to get under the salary cap will continue with the departure of cornerback Janoris Jenkins.

According to multiple reports, the Saints will release Jenkins. The move comes a day after word of their plans to release wide receiver Emmanuel Sanders and linebacker Kwon Alexander came to light.

Jenkins was set to make a $10 million salary in 2021 with a cap number of $14.2 million. The Saints will see $7 million in cap savings as a result of the move.

Jenkins had 55 tackles and three interceptions last season. He returned one of the interceptions for the ninth touchdown of his NFL career.

Played just 1 year of a 2 year contract after being waived by Giants in December 2019.

[Fritz]

https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.co...noris-jenkins/


Played just 1 year of a 2 year contract after being waived by Giants in December 2019.

Maybe the Saints will sign Kevin King as a replacement. Two years, $475 per game.

[Joemailman]

Chiefs releasing starting OT's Eric Fisher and Mitchell Schwartz. https://www.nfl.com/news/chiefs-rele...chell-schwartz

Both players missed the Superb Owl with injuries. Schwartz recently had back surgery. Chiefs saved about 18M on the cap with the 2 moves. They're still 4.4M over the cap.