Lions sign WR Danny Amendola to a one-year, $5.75M deal, $4.5M guaranteed Amendola played through lackluster quarterback play in Miami last season and still finished the season with the 14th-highest catch rate from the slot at 79.6%. He’s a capable weapon over the middle and one the Lions will hope can help fill the void left by Golden Tate. Amendola’s presence in the locker room as a potential veteran leader as well as his prowess on the field should pay dividends and is well worth the cost of just $4.5 million guaranteed over the next season.
Jets sign RB Le’Veon Bell to a four-year, $52.5M deal, $35M guaranteed There are few teams in the NFL that Le’Veon Bell wouldn’t materially upgrade with his talents, but the question was always going to come down to money after he sat out the entirety of 2018 looking for a big contract. Bell’s peak year of 2015 saw him earn an overall PFF grade of 89.7, one of the best marks we’ve ever seen, and he can help in all facets of the game on offense.
Packers sign edge Za’Darius Smith to a four-year, $66M deal, $34.5M guaranteed The Packers are taking a little bit of a gamble here, given that Smith’s 2018 season was significantly better than his first three years in the league, but they are adding a player who was tied for the 14th-highest PFF pass-rushing grade among edge defenders in 2018. With 10 sacks, 17 hits and 34 pressures in his final year in Baltimore, he has the opportunity to provide a big improvement to the Packers defense if he can continue at that level and beyond.
Broncos sign CB Kareem Jackson to a three-year, $33M deal, $23M guaranteed Jackson was the 14th highest-graded cornerback in the NFL last year and produced a PFF coverage grade of 74.2 and a PFF run-defense grade of 90.5, both of which ranked in the top 25 among cornerbacks. If you’re looking for a shutdown corner, you’re going to be disappointed, but Jackson is solid value at $11M per year.
Broncos sign OT Ja’Wuan James to a four-year, $52M deal, $25M guaranteed James has been a solid but not great starter throughout his career while being plagued with injuries that kept him sidelined for several games in 2015 and 2017. He’s coming off just his third (almost) full season in 2018 and it coincides with a career low in pressures allowed at 26 but a career high in sacks allowed at seven. James’ 70.8 overall grade ranked 32nd at the offensive tackle position in 2018 but for a Broncos team that started Jared Veldheer at RT and failed to regain his early career form of having five seasons of at least a 77.5 overall grade, it was a needed improvement.
Colts sign WR Devin Funchess to a one-year, $10M deal, $7M guaranteed Devin Funchess finished 2018 with an overall grade of 68.0, which would be the second-highest on the Colts roster. Out of his 46 receptions, 35 went for a first down or touchdown, however, he averaged just 1.9 yards after catch per reception, which tied for 114th out of 116 qualified receivers. He also caught just 35.0% of his contested catch opportunities, which ranked 84th in the NFL and would have been last of Colts wide receivers. Similar to Bradley Roby, a one-year, prove-it deal makes sense for the Colts.
Bills sign C Mitch Morse to a four-year, $44M deal, $20.4M guaranteed The need at center (and throughout Buffalo’s offensive line for that matter) was significant, and when healthy, Morse represents an upgrade at the position, albeit an expensive one. Morse has gotten consistently better in pass protection during his four years in the league, as his season pass-blocking grade while with the Chiefs never fell below 70.0 but his run-blocking grades never reached that mark. On 534 pass-blocks in 2018, he gave up no sacks, just one quarterback hit and four hurries.
Saints sign RB Latavius Murray to a four-year, $14.4M deal, $7.2M guaranteed The Saints signing of their Mark Ingram placeholder in Latavius Murray isn’t a flashy one, as his missed tackles forced per attempt rate of 0.10 tied for just 37th out of 47 qualified running backs. Though, in Murray, they are getting a reliable player who did not have a fumble or drop a pass in 2018. Murray’s pass-block grade of 72.6 ranked tied for 15th among qualified running backs as well, rounding out his skill set.
Jets sign LB C.J. Mosley to a five-year, $85 million deal, $51M guaranteed On the surface, these numbers are eye-popping, and it might seem crazy that Mosley is earning over $4 million per year more than Carolina’s Luke Kuechly, but it’s important to remember that Kuechly’s deal was signed back in 2015. As soon as Kwon Alexander signed for $13.5million per year, Mosley was always going to come in significantly higher than that. Mosley ranked 22nd among linebackers with a 73.6 PFF grade in the regular season and playoffs and is an upgrade at the position for the Jets. Yes, they have overpaid at least a bit, but that’s often the nature of free agency. Bucs sign WR Breshad Perriman to a one-year, $4M deal The Bucs took advantage of the Odell Beckham Jr. trade by honoring the same offer the Browns had originally extended to Perriman. Perriman struggled to stay on the field with Baltimore, the team to originally draft him, but finally was able to show some flashes for the Browns last season. He caught all 16 catchable balls thrown his way last year, and Browns QB Baker Mayfield had a 134.2 rating when targeting Perriman. | Dolphins sign TE Dwayne Allen to a two-year, $7M deal, n/a guaranteed The Dolphins gave Allen a two-year deal worth $3.5 million a year after he hauled in all of just three passes a season ago with the Patriots. His overall grades have fallen off a cliff as of late and recorded a career-low 51.0 that saw him falter to just a 58.0 pass-blocking grade as well. There are seemingly other tight end options available on the board, so this seems as a bit of a reach in our book with his play falling off as of late.
49ers sign LB Kwon Alexander to a four-year deal, $54M deal, $14.25M guaranteed Alexander has showcased impressive athleticism on film and does a really good job finding ball carriers. The issue though is that his consistency hasn’t matched that athleticism on the field. He has missed 78 tackles over the past four seasons and is coming off an ACL injury. That’s a lot of money to commit to a player who hasn’t lived up to his athletic potential so far.
Vikings re-sign LB Anthony Barr to a five-year, $67.5M deal, $33M guaranteed Anthony’s Barr’s career in Minnesota has been a curious one, with his grade topping off in 2015, bottoming out in 2016 and ascending slowly the last two years. It’s likely good for him to stay as an off-the-ball linebacker who can be effective as a blitzer (best among linebackers in pass-rush productivity in 2018), but it’s a real question as to how much a player who has been roughly a win above replacement during his career can add relative to his contract moving forward.
Packers sign OG Billy Turner to a four-year, $28M deal, $11M guaranteed While the positional need was clear, this move is a bit puzzling in terms of Turner’s past production and the amount of money Green Bay is giving him. The Packers are clearly paying him to be a starter, but 2018 was just the second season of his five-year career he served his team as a full-time starter. For his career, he has played a total of 1,142 pass-block reps and has surrendered 16 sacks and 69 total pressures. However, he has shown promise as of late, and last year in Denver, he ended the season strong, as he yielded no sacks and just one quarterback hit in his final eight games.
Jaguars sign QB Nick Foles to a four-year, $88M deal, $50M guaranteed Nick Foles has the best-two single-game grades that we’ve seen for the Eagles over the past few seasons, and they came in the two most important games they have played – the NFC Championship and then the Super Bowl – but he also has the worst games and remains a tremendously volatile quarterback whose baseline performance is questionable. The Jaguars are betting on the upside, but it is a significant gamble.
Titans sign WR Adam Humphries to a four-year, $36M deal, $16M guaranteed Adam Humphries had a career year in 2018, posting an offensive grade of 75.2 and he is a reliable target out of the slot, catching 92.4% of catchable passes thrown his way for a 93.3 passer rating when targeted over his four-year career. However, this is a lot of money given to a player who’s average depth of target in 2018 was just 6.2 yards downfield and gained just 1.51 yards per route run.
Raiders sign OT Trent Brown to a four-year, $66M deal, $36.8M guaranteed The Raiders are paying Trent Brown elite tackle money (which he has yet to be during his four-year career with New England and San Francisco), likely in large part due to his excellent pass protection during New England’s latest Super Bowl run. In three playoff games last season, he surrendered just four total pressures, none of them resulting in sacks or hits on Tom Brady. He is expected to play left tackle in Oakland, and in his first year starting at the position last year he gave up a total of 39 pressures on 744 pass-blocking snaps.
Raiders sign DI Johnathan Hankins to a two-year, $8.5M deal, $5.4M guaranteed Johnathan Hankins, the Raiders’ high-snap player on the defensive interior a year ago, returns to Oakland on a modest two-year deal that reflects his value as a run-first player. Last season was a bit of a down year for Hankins, but he’s earned run-defense grades above 80.0 in four of his six NFL seasons, including an 88.1 run-defense grade in 2017 that ranked 10th among qualifying interior defensive lineman.
Browns sign LB Adarius Taylor to a two-year, $5M deal, $2.55M guaranteed It’s not a huge deal, but Taylor struggled on defense in 2018. He saw a career-high 634 snaps but produced a PFF run-defense grade of just 40.9 and a PFF coverage of 49.5. He was solid on special teams though, registering three tackles and missing none.
Falcons sign OG James Carpenter to a four-year, $21M deal, $9.25M guaranteed Carpenter is onto his third team and his ninth year in the league. While he appeared to peak in 2015 after posting an overall grade of 83.4, his grades have declined each of the past three seasons (his overall grade in 2018 with the Jets was 56.3). While run blocking was a struggle for him last season, in 10 appearances, he gave up just one sack in pass protection. | Bengals re-sign OT Bobby Hart to a three-year, $21M deal, $5.5M guaranteed Hart is clearly a high-effort player that the Bengals staff is high on but there were 85 tackles who took at least 232 snaps for their team last year and Hart ranked 73rd out of all of them. He struggled in pass protection, allowing 39 pressures on his 651 snaps in pass protection that included 10 sacks. His run-blocking wasn’t much better either as that hasn’t ever really been a strong suit for him. The Bengals will shell out a lot of cash to him at the right tackle spot when there were certainly other options available, including at the time of signing, Ty Nsekhe who signed in Buffalo for similar money. |