2015 FA thread

[FNQ]

Figure it deserves its own thread for speculation and eventually official signings.

Kicking it off with some potentially relevant news: Owed 8.2m this season, Jags TE and blocking specialist with decent hands Marcedes Lewis could be a FA sooner than not. Jags are rumored to be pursuing Julius Thomas hard. Lewis has a long injury history but considering our situation, a solid risk to take. Especially considering how weak the TE spot is via the draft this year.

[FNQ]

http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/writer/jas ... will-spend

The Jaguars, Raiders will be major players

Count me among those who believe Jacksonville makes a very strong play for Ndamukong Suh, who is prized to make more money than anyone else in this free agent class. The Jags will be looking for a high-end pass catcher as well. If they ended up with either Randall Cobb or Julius Thomas I would not be surprised in the least.

Ditto for Oakland. Expect the Raiders to be in the Suh derby as well, and they, too will be looking for assets to pair around young quarterback Derek Carr. These two teams will end up bidding on several of the same players. Besides the big-ticket guys they need to replenish depth as well and guys like Ed Dickson make sense in what is not a great class of tight ends.

Chiefs center Rodney Hudson will outpace some projections. He came this close to signing a four-year extension during the season that would have been worth $6M a season -- very good money. I bet he ends up with at least $7M a year in free agency, however, and I continue to hear the Raiders are looking hard at him.

[FNQ]

Tyvon Branch cut

[tweet]https://twitter.com/JasonLaCanfora/status/571134133138804736[/tweet]

Bill Williamson, ESPN Raiders beat writer, thinks we get Pot Roast if Denver doesn't lock him up quickly:

[tweet]https://twitter.com/BWilliamsonESPN/status/571100905157869570[/tweet]


Not a huge fan of cutting Branch. He was due a 1m roster bonus in 2 weeks, but we are not strapped for cash. He'd better be entirely done or this move has no real point. Like the addition of Pot Roast, if we get him, and price pending. He's likely not a 3-down DT, so hopefully he isn't paid like one.

[FNQ]

Barry Cofield released by Skins. Very solid, underated DT that can play some DE as well. Like a younger version of Antonio Smith

[FNQ]

Justin Blalock, a power blocker, released by ATL because of being a poor scheme fit. Would be a great scheme fit here. Only 31 y/o, ranked 25th of 78 by PFF Gs. Would be a terrific pickup.

Also Darnell Dockett released by Cards. Not an elite guy anymore, but a pretty good run stuffing end at this point in his career. A stopgap, but likely willing to take a one year deal.

[Quake Griffin]

FNQ, you brought up Pernell McPhee before.

that guy can put on many hats for our defense.
if he's not going to get tagged, he needs to be in the silver and black.


my interests:
McPhee
Cobb/ Bulaga (whichever isn't tagged)
Iupati
Rodney Hudson
Pot Roast
Julius Tommy

we'd still have money left over if we signed all those guys to the money they'll probably demand.

[FNQ]

He'd be best in a 3-4, but I can see him succeeding as a 4-3 DE too. Well worth the risk but he'll have a glut of suitors

Big no thanks on Orange Julius. Go to Jacksonville dude. I'd rather have Marcedes, Gresham, Kendricks, or Pettigrew at their respective prices

Would love adding Hudson/Cobb, would like adding Pot Roast. Leroy Guion (sp?) from GB also would be a nice pickup.

[Neddy]

Im not gonna pretend I know football better than others, because i don't. Im a baseball guy.

having said that, in my limited football knowledge, I like what the Raiders did with cutting Tyvon. he has been very limited in playing time with injuries of late, and when he was healthy, he seems to be a one dimensional player. yeah he hits hard, but man i see him getting beat on coverage all the time. he is an excellent safety when up close to the line of scrimmage and hitting hard on runners or screen pass receivers but out in the open field? damn.

correct me if my assessment is wrong. like i said, football is not my strong suit. but if we lost a guy who gets hurt all the time (which means he is a dead money) or when he is healthy, is a very one dimensional player (which means he is overpaid) I think we are gonna be okay re-allocating his salary elsewhere to actually help us.

[FNQ]

Gotta disagreed Ned. But I think once I explain why you'll be more on the 'wtf' side

NFL salary floor is a bit strange. If you care to look up the details, they'll be here. But basically, the Raiders have to do some spending to hit the cap floor. That's why Matt Schaub is still technically a Raider right now. To paraphrase the article though, the NFL grouped the 13-16 seasons and the 17-20 seasons together. And in those 4 year bunches, teams *must* spend 89% of the overall cap. So if the cap were an even 125m for those 4 seasons, the Raiders would need to spend 445m in team salary by the end of those 4 seasons, or wind up paying the difference + a penalty of some kind (I'm honestly not sure what it is).

So fast forward to cutting Tyvon Branch. We knew Woodley would be cut. Add that to our already free capspace, and that = almost 59m in unused cap for us this year. And that's without factoring in Schaub likely being cut (an extra 5.5m). Cutting Branch means 7m in dead money and only really frees up 3m this season. He was a solid player when healthy. So the risk/reward here is a little confusing: if he can give you *anything* on the field in 2015, why cut him now? We are going to have trouble spending all the money we have available right now. It's not like we have a ton of talent signed at safety either: Ross is a FA, Usama Young is rehabbing, and Charles Woodson might be the oldest non QB/K/P in the league. On top of that, the draft class for S isn't especially deep, and the S market in FA is pretty weak as well. It's a head-scratcher to say the least. Branch must be 100% done for it to make sense. Which he could be. But we don't know, thus the skepticism.

But if Matt Schaub makes 5.5m to be a backup this year, we'll know why. Especially considering how much the Browns just paid for Josh McCown

[Neddy]

well Suh just became available. I can see us breaking the bank for this guy.

Antrel Rolle is available.

if we can get these two guys and pick up either Mckinney or Perryman, i can see us drafting Kevin White.

[FNQ]

Rolle has looked like a shell lately.. I'm not sure he's an upgrade, but he almost certainly will be overpaid.

I'm warming up to the idea of Suh..he wants buku bucks though. Give it to him. He wants to beat Watt's deal? I'm down with that, especially if we frontload it, and guarantee the first 3 years almost entirely. If he makes over 17m the first 3 years, he'd almost easily break Watt's record setting contract in both overall and guaranteed money.

Andre Johnson set to be released soon, because no one is paying him top coin to play for them. I'd happily bring him in at 6-7m though, he's a very solid WR and don't forget that he has a special connection with Derek Carr. He used to go to Carr's high school games. Used to catch a lot of passes from Derek too. Would not shock me at all if Andre chose us in free agency. We can't at all be considered a favorite though, because of teams like Baltimore and Carolina who are closer than we are to a Super Bowl and have big time needs at WR. But if Reggie is willing to pay Andre (who was severely underpaid as a 'star' in Houston due to hiring a relative as his agent), we have a legit shot at him. Make no mistake, he's still got tread on his tires too, and would be quality 1st to 2nd transitional option as we bring along the WR we draft in the top 2 rounds.

[Quake Griffin]

Can't believe the Packers didn't tag Cobb or Bulaga.

They're good and they have a good operation over there. But they're not that good.
I'd take both.

[FNQ]

Raiders rumored to be offering Cobb ~11m/yr. Preliminary rumors are a 3/32 deal with 20m gtd, which would make sense for both sides. Cobb would then be 27, looking for a massive payday in 3 years.

[FNQ]

Nick Roach and Usama Young waived with injury releases. Usama had shown some potential, but was still recovering from an October ACL tear. Roach is likely done for his career. And frankly, should be concerned with his health more than anything. Still experiencing concussion symptoms a year later is a big deal.

[FNQ]

[tweet]http://twitter.com/charlesrobinson/status/574602659954487296[/tweet]

Not good news, really. Unless Reggie is pulling a fast one and is going to use our FA dollars on a ton of solid talents. Not his MO though

[azncorruptedo17]

Suh to dolphins, $114m, $60m guaranteed

[tweet]https://twitter.com/BleacherReport/status/574620535948230657[/tweet]

[FNQ]

Yup. And to make matters worse...

[tweet]https://twitter.com/AlbertBreer/status/574621438906359809[/tweet]

Well at least we went after him. Florida state tax makes Fins money more appealing

[Neddy]

well, since all those articles about the state tax issues came about, i figured Suh was going elsewhere. him talking about wanting to go to Seattle was under the same pretense.

well, hope it works out for the fins. we now have the means to upgrade all over the roster in many places, spreading the available funds to every position we need.

now that the two big targets are off the table, who are the free agents that we can potentially lure in? and what positions?

the way I see, we still have needs starting from the most needed at DL-OL-MLB-WR-S-TE-RB-CB.

hoping we sign that guy from Denver to follow Jack, and draft DL/WR/MLB in the first three rounds.

[FNQ]

Orange Julius to sign with Jaguars

[tweet]https://twitter.com/JasonPhilCole/status/574626150783270913[/tweet]

It's bloody Sunday if you're a Raiders fan

[FNQ]

John Middlekauf says: Raiders havent admitted defeat on Suh, yet. Though it is bleak:

[tweet]https://twitter.com/JohnMiddlekauff/status/574627628868505600[/tweet]