Jene Bramel
Footballguy
Rumors surrounding the CBA discussions suggest that we could see the beginnings of free agency sometime in early July. Most leaks of the proposed agreement suggest that RFA will end, dumping players with four and five years of NFL service into the FA pool along with the six year and over veterans. Some of those players were already likely to be cut or are five year players not given a tender. Though it seems unlikely that the RFA tenders will be honored, it's expected that the franchise tag will be.
That's going to make for a wild and wooly July free agent window, especially since it's likely that training camp would start on time (or extremely close to it) with an early July settlement.
I've cobbled together a priority watch list below with some quick thoughts, but you can see a full list of the 6+ FA here and the prospective 4/5 Year FA here (with an error or two, e.g. D'Qwell Jackson was re-signed by CLE).
4/5 Year players in RED. Franchise tagged players in parentheses. Please let me know if I've got a player on the list that's already been signed for 2011 or if I've missed a player that deserves mention.
Defensive End
Jason Babin
Tim Crowder
Ray Edwards
Jacob Ford
Charles Johnson
Mathias Kiwanuka
Turk McBride
Stylez White
We knew Babin was on the market, but we'll now definitely see Edwards and Johnson and Kiwanuka approached by other teams. That foursome is as deep/good a FA class as we've seen in a long time. Babin may be the only one that changes teams, but the Johnson courtship will be fun to follow.
Defensive Tackle
Barry Cofield
Brandon Mebane
(Haloti Ngata)
Inside Linebackers
HB Blades
Stewart Bradley
Kevin Burnett
Bobby Carpenter
Stephen Cooper
(David Harris)
Dhani Jones
Rocky McIntosh
Marvin Mitchell
Kirk Morrison
Paul Posluszny
Barrett Ruud
Brandon Siler
Takeo Spikes
Stephen Tulloch
Outside Linebackers
James Anderson
Quincy Black
Keith Bulluck
Thomas Davis
Justin Durant
(Chad Greenway)
(Tamba Hali)
Tyjuan Hagler
Brandon Johnson
Will Herring
Thomas Howard
Manny Lawson
Ben Leber
Stephen Nicholas
Mike Peterson
Matt Roth
Clint Session
Scott Shanle
Ernie Sims
(Kamerion Wimbley)
(Lamarr Woodley)
The end of RFA will put Tulloch, Posluszny, Siler, Nicholas, McIntosh, Anderson, Bradley, Session and Black out there alongside Ruud, Morrison, Davis, Jones, Burnett and Cooper. There's an argument that it's too late in the year to bring on a new starter at MLB, but it'll only take one domino (or two) to fall before a huge depth chart shakeup happens across the league.
Cornerbacks
Nnamdi Asomugha
Antonio Cromartie
Drayton Florence
Ellis Hobbs
Johnathan Joseph
Richard Marshall
Dimitri Patterson
Carlos Rogers
Ike Taylor
Fabian Washington
Josh Wilson
Eric Wright
Safeties
Atari Bigby
Melvin Bullitt
Sean Considine
Abram Elam
Dashon Goldson
Roman Harper
Michael Huff
Dawan Landry
Danieal Manning
Quintin Mikell
Lawyer Milloy
Chinedum Ndukwe
Jarrad Page
Bernard Pollard
Brodney Pool
Gerald Sensabaugh
Darren Sharper
Eric Weddle
Donte Whitner
Roy Williams
We're now likely to see Weddle, Whitner, Mikell, Pollard, Landry, Huff, Harper and Goldson up for bidding along with some interesting second and third tier names. At least one of those guys will drop on draft boards. And it's likely there'll be a surprising signing/fit/draft value (or more) as well.
That's going to make for a wild and wooly July free agent window, especially since it's likely that training camp would start on time (or extremely close to it) with an early July settlement.
I've cobbled together a priority watch list below with some quick thoughts, but you can see a full list of the 6+ FA here and the prospective 4/5 Year FA here (with an error or two, e.g. D'Qwell Jackson was re-signed by CLE).
4/5 Year players in RED. Franchise tagged players in parentheses. Please let me know if I've got a player on the list that's already been signed for 2011 or if I've missed a player that deserves mention.
Defensive End
Jason Babin
Tim Crowder
Ray Edwards
Jacob Ford
Charles Johnson
Mathias Kiwanuka
Turk McBride
Stylez White
We knew Babin was on the market, but we'll now definitely see Edwards and Johnson and Kiwanuka approached by other teams. That foursome is as deep/good a FA class as we've seen in a long time. Babin may be the only one that changes teams, but the Johnson courtship will be fun to follow.
Defensive Tackle
Barry Cofield
Brandon Mebane
(Haloti Ngata)
Inside Linebackers
HB Blades
Stewart Bradley
Kevin Burnett
Bobby Carpenter
Stephen Cooper
(David Harris)
Dhani Jones
Rocky McIntosh
Marvin Mitchell
Kirk Morrison
Paul Posluszny
Barrett Ruud
Brandon Siler
Takeo Spikes
Stephen Tulloch
Outside Linebackers
James Anderson
Quincy Black
Keith Bulluck
Thomas Davis
Justin Durant
(Chad Greenway)
(Tamba Hali)
Tyjuan Hagler
Brandon Johnson
Will Herring
Thomas Howard
Manny Lawson
Ben Leber
Stephen Nicholas
Mike Peterson
Matt Roth
Clint Session
Scott Shanle
Ernie Sims
(Kamerion Wimbley)
(Lamarr Woodley)
The end of RFA will put Tulloch, Posluszny, Siler, Nicholas, McIntosh, Anderson, Bradley, Session and Black out there alongside Ruud, Morrison, Davis, Jones, Burnett and Cooper. There's an argument that it's too late in the year to bring on a new starter at MLB, but it'll only take one domino (or two) to fall before a huge depth chart shakeup happens across the league.
Cornerbacks
Nnamdi Asomugha
Antonio Cromartie
Drayton Florence
Ellis Hobbs
Johnathan Joseph
Richard Marshall
Dimitri Patterson
Carlos Rogers
Ike Taylor
Fabian Washington
Josh Wilson
Eric Wright
Safeties
Atari Bigby
Melvin Bullitt
Sean Considine
Abram Elam
Dashon Goldson
Roman Harper
Michael Huff
Dawan Landry
Danieal Manning
Quintin Mikell
Lawyer Milloy
Chinedum Ndukwe
Jarrad Page
Bernard Pollard
Brodney Pool
Gerald Sensabaugh
Darren Sharper
Eric Weddle
Donte Whitner
Roy Williams
We're now likely to see Weddle, Whitner, Mikell, Pollard, Landry, Huff, Harper and Goldson up for bidding along with some interesting second and third tier names. At least one of those guys will drop on draft boards. And it's likely there'll be a surprising signing/fit/draft value (or more) as well.
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