Pluses & Minuses of the 2020 NFL Free Agency

NFL Free Agency was good with a whole lot of moves, and that’s a whole lot.

The first half-big move was the Jets bringing CB Brian Poole. (Notice how I didn’t use the adjective “star” before CB, which he’s far from) I don’t like this move because Poole wasn’t the greatest player, actually far from it, he wasn’t good and the Jets shouldn’t have re-signed. If the Jets were more aggressive, they could’ve gotten James Bradburry or spent some cash to get Byron Jones, who actually went to the bottom of the barrel, the Dolphins. My grade for how this affects the team: C+. My grade for how this affects the Player: A

Flash-in-the-pan quarterback Nick Foles went to the Bears who have the legally blind quarterback in Mitchell Trubisky. Nick didn’t do well last season, playing second fiddle to Gardner Minshew. Foles was the Super Bowl MVP two years ago. The Bears couldn’t have really gotten anyone else except leaping on the idea of Phillip Rivers so they made a high offer. Team: A++++++++++++++ Player: B

The Saints went after Malcolm Jenkins and got him. Jenkins is 32 and isn’t a very good player anymore, one pick in the past two seasons with the Eagles. The Saints D is now pretty good, but Malcolm is a very minor upgrade, extremely minor. They could’ve picked up Eric Reid if they wanted a safety, but Reid isn’t extremely good either. Team: B-. Player: B+

The Titans D worsened by a lot over this free agent period. Their supreme run stopper in Jurrell Casey, who would’ve gotten reps in whatever scheme the Titans ran, 4-3, 3-4 (which means 4 D linemen or three D-linemen, the second numbers means how many linebackers, I personally like 3-4) because the other D tackle had only one sack. The Broncos just need to be extremely aggressive, like a hungry wolf on a little bunny. They have more than $40 mil in cap space, now that most of the free agents are off the market, they need to be aggressive with what they have or there goes another season. Titans: C+. Broncos: A. Player: B

The Texans got Vernon Hargreaves back, good move, especially when they made one of the most boneheaded moves in probably the history of the AFC, football in general, the 21^st century, the 21^st century and 20^th century combined and maybe even professional sports in general. No, I think the last three honors go to the Pistons trading Andre Drummond for a flyer about babysitting and half a gum wrapper; the Pistons should’ve pressed for at least the whole gum wrapper. They traded prime Deandre Hopkins and a fourth round pick. The Texans receive workhorse running back David Johnson but he’s also as old as time and he’s literally only going up the middle this year, if anything. The Cardinals receive a second and a fourth round pick. Texans: D. Cardinals: A+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++. David Johnson: B. Deandre Hopkins: B+. Hargreaves: B-

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers got a big upgrade at quarterback, 43-year-old Tom Brady. I mean, Jameis Winston has a serious and rare case of color blindness, he confuses his team’s colors with the colors of the opposing teams and throws to them. What’s Tom Brady going to do, in his 43^rd year of life? Play football. This is a shot in the dark for the Bucs. They just spent $30 million on a quarterback who, 1) couldn’t lead his team past the first round, throwing a pick-6 as his last throw as Pat and 2) got hard carried by his defense all through the season and straight into a first-round loss. Bucs: A-. Tommy: B

The Panthers got Tre Boston back, I love that guy. He’s a solid, bite-the-bullet, hustle-till-he-dies type player. The Panthers also got him at a bargain, $6 million a year, really not bad, really good actually. Panthers: A. Boston: B

The Rams declined the option on Nickell Robey-Coleman, yeesh, I don’t know about that one, kinda saved their Super Bowl hopes after physically assaulting that poor Saint WR. He’s actually good. Rams: C-. Coleman: B

The Colts picked up Philip Rivers, he’s not good at all, and they should’ve stayed with Jacoby Brissett or drafted a good QB. This is probably Rivers’ last season because he signed a one year contract. Rivers doesn’t know what scrambling is and he can’t throw accurately. Colts: B-. Rivers: A

The Raiders felt like picking up a really bad, old and slow TE in Jason Witten. Bro, Witten, respect, but stick to the booth. Raiders: F-. Witten: A+ because he’s never going to get an offer again.

The Raiders also picked up Cory Littleton, he’s good. Went undrafted but he’s a god in the pass rush and tackling. Nice move, Raiders, if you didn’t spend money on Witten, you could’ve signed another free agent or saved, but no, why would you do that? Raiders: A. Littleton: B

The Panthers signed Teddy Bridgewater. This leaves me scratching my heads. What happens with Cam Newton? Nothing? Then what happens with Bridgewater, I don’t think he’s going to go to the backup role. Panthers: B: Teddy: B

The Dolphins got both Emanuel Ogbah and James Howard. Wow, both and Byron Jones, WOW. The Dolphins are showing aggression as they would never show protecting their quarterback. All definite upgrades over what they had. Dolphins: A++. Ogbah: C. Howard: B. Jones: B-.

Drew Brees is coming back to the Saints for the umpteenth time, is he going to deliver, no idea, he’s pretty old, but hey, Tom Brady won a Super Bowl a 40, and made it to a Super Bowl at 41, Brees is 41. Saints: B. Brees: A-.

The Giants picked up Blake Martinez. This definitely strengthens their linebacker corpse. Martinez can tackle anywhere, rush the quarterback occasionally and drop back to cover. Giants: A. Martinez. B+

Jimmie Ward is going back to the 49ers, he’s really good, a ball hawk that can pick anything near him and can tackle. 49ers: A-. Ward: A.

Randall Cobb is going to the Texans, that’s like replacing gold with rocks. Cobb is good, but Hopkins was top tier. Texans: A because they need all the help they can get. Cobb: B+.

Amari Cooper and Dak Prescott are both coming back to Dallas, the dynamic duo from Dallas had 79 receptions and 1,189 receiving yards together. Dallas: A+. Cooper: A. Prescott: A-.

Stefon Diggs is going over to the Bills, this move will help the Bills oh so much. Stefon is an elite receiver and he will help Josh Allen grow so much, Allen could be so much better than he already is. Bills: A+. Stefon Diggs: A-.

The Jets got a plethora of O Linemen which really benefits them. They brought three solid, not great, but solid O linemen in to protect Sam Darnold and let him get a throw off. All in all, they’re paying all three of them about $25.2 mil/per year, it’s in their budget and will help them. Connor McGovern, center: B+, George Fant, O Tackle: B. Alex Lewis, O Guard, who they had, but re-signed: B+. Jets: A+.

James Bradberry signed with the Giants, solid, athletic and muscular safety will benefit them greatly. Bradberry: A-. Giants: A.

The Niners lost Deforest Buckner, but they picked up a first-rounder, which isn’t a fair deal. The Colts got a better run-stuffing D after this one but will lose young talent. Niners: C+. Colts: A-. Buckner: B.

There are no good pass-rushers here, oof, everyone got franchise tagged, Chris Jones on the Chiefs, Shaquil Barrett on the Bucs and Bud Dupree on the Steelers. Not surprised, Derrick Henry AKA The MAC Truck that runs over humans for $10 mil a year. Underpaid in my opinion. This tagging wasn’t very hard to see.

Ryan Tannehill agrees to a four year deal with the Titans, not a fan of this one. They could’ve picked up someone so much better, oh, so much better. Tannehill, he can’t scramble, can throw far, he’s literally getting paid $118 million to hand it off to the MAC truck that runs over humans for $10 million.

The Jaguars traded Calais Cambell to the Ravens for a fifth-rounder. A real head-scratcher, not my usual cynicism, Calais is amazing, getting off the block at crazy speeds and sacking the quarterback, and what in return? A fifth-rounder? I mean Tom Brady went in the 12^th round, but a fifth-rounder, no. A good player and a second-rounder for Calais and a pick, that’s fair.