The NFL off-season is already in full swing. The hat-cutting season is upon us. The combine is this week. Teams can apply franchise tags.
It is included.
It does not matter that the official start of the league year is not in two weeks. The football business is already at the forefront. Teams have long decided what their free agent priorities are and which players will reduce and which will want to reduce pay. The fight for a potential quarterback franchise in the commercial market is underway. Budgets are set. Many of the most critical meetings – those that will dictate the timing and outcome of months of transactions – are a thing of the past, with the basis for these acquisitions reaching a new level with the entire league gathered in Indianapolis.
And even for the best teams in football, like Rams, who won the Super Bowl, there is a lot of work to do. For some franchisees, work alone is enough, while others are waiting to try to stay ahead of the market to throw mega-deals at unlimited free agents. With that in mind, here’s a look at a critical move that every organization needs to make as we move on to one of the most fertile periods for changing the list of the year (in order of completion from worst to first):
Restore the offensive line. A purge of veterans of the line is underway and this should be a priority. Incubate Trevor Lawrence. And since this isn’t a great PR class, it’s time to start invading agents this week. New coach Doug Pederson saw what a solid unit looked like in Philly … and also what happened to Carson Wentz when things started to fall apart in the front.
Finish clearing the bloated contracts (Trey Flowers, etc.) and continue the demolition. Extend TJ Hockenson and resist the urge to do something unexpected in the free agency, because the timeline doesn’t make sense of how far you are. Similarly, don’t force a choice of QB, as you’ve stayed with Jared Goff for another year anyway and next year’s class looks better.
Prepare as if Mehmy Becton is not the answer to a left-handed grip and that it can simply become an unaffordable price. I would love to see him at the peak of the rookie season, but there is an obvious cause for concern at the moment.
Switch from Saquon Barkley and throw away as many of the excessive recent contracts of the old regime (Blake Martinez, Kenny Gladay) as you can in the commercial market. And if there is a market for Daniel Jones, I would study that in depth.
Start holding weekly Zooms with Josh McCown to keep him up to date on list moves, philosophy and off-season priorities. He will be the long-time head coach of this team (unless someone beats them with a punch). Question of when.
Identify a coach who is waiting, or at least start a little re-channeling earlier, because this Matt Ruhl experiment has an expiration date around Thanksgiving. Resist the desire to trade for Deshaun Watson without complete and complete closure of its legal status.
Expand Roquan Smith and try as hell to prevent Akeim Hicks from entering the market. They need the front seven to be an impact unit to have a chance even in diluted NFC North.
Washington commanders
Assemble a huge recruitment package for Ciara. At a lower level, of course. No forgery. But if you have connections with celebrities who may know the artist, make them turn off all stops. Maybe create an exciting video that she could watch, praising all the virtues of the greater DC area. Amazing mansions in Mount Vernon. Funny terraced houses in Georgetown. Just a short train / flight from New York. World class shopping. A cosmopolitan international destination that entices her and her husband. Oh, and extend Scary Terry immediately.
Trade with Russell Wilson. The chances of winning another Super Bowl with him under his current contract are bleak at best. He will not make an extension. His franchising in the late 1930s was stupid. You have no choice and very little talent. It’s time to restart.
See the proposal for commanders and do the same, only for Aaron Rodgers. Tell him how many yoga studios per capita you have, suggest the new owner do a 12-day cleaning with him if he comes there. Do all your own research on how amazing the Rocky Mountains region is and get it in the right hands.
Try to get Matt Ryan to make a realistic short-term extension as a precursor to the deal. Promise to send him only to a winning team. Of course, he is used to being among the highest paid in his position, so he may not be inclined. And anyway, the best time for that was years ago.
Don’t triple Kirk Cousins. Even if you switch from guys like Daniel Hunter and Adam Tylen and Michael Pierce, there is still enough talent to win NFC North (especially if Rodgers doesn’t have one). Spend it another year, striving to continue to build on this offensive line. Either way, you’ll have to outdo people to win. Take the Cousins computer down the road.
Bring legal competition to Baker Mayfield. I don’t mean Case Keynam, who could keep him at this age for about a month. I’m talking about someone who can spend three months if necessary. I’m not sure if Gardner Minshu or Mitch Trubiski or Marcus Mariota is an upgrade, but I may be inclined to know.
It would be easy to say that he extended Lamar Jackson, but this may not be possible this off-season, as QB is willing to bet on himself with a fifth-year option. So I will rethink their contractual structures, their aversion to invalid years and the tendency to double up with an extension for injury-prone players who have already made serious compensation. When the new president of the team, Sasha Brown – a former CEO of Browns, immersed in lids / negotiations – takes office on April 1, much of it can take care of itself.
Sign Pat Ricard, NFL’s best H-back. Think of all the great things Kyle Shanahan and new Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel did with former Ravens defender Kyle Yushchick in San Francisco? Now get the latest hybrid weapon that the Ravens have created. The running game needs all the help it can get, and that’s McDaniel’s bread and butter.
Don’t trade Carson Wentz just to exchange it. He has significant flaws around the goal line (at both ends of the field) and these brain cramps can be brutal… But you gave up two high choices for him, don’t convince Rodgers or Wilson to go there, and the other options aren’t great. It also produces 27 TD to 7 INT, FWIW.
Franchise mark Mike Williams and be prepared to be one of the highest spending teams this offseason. You are already chasing rams and suffering in this market, and you only have one more year before Justin Herbert starts making the crazy money it costs. There is no time to be frugal. Let’s go!
Reprint of James Winston. AS QUICKLY AS POSSIBLE. Knowledge and comfort and understanding, if any. He was playing his best ball before the injury. Other options do not abound.
Connect with Jalen Hurts for another season. Build around it with this abundance of picks. Maybe get a flyer for Carson Strong somewhere on Day Two in the draft. But don’t impose QB selection with this blurry pass class.
Run to Winston. Mason Rudolph and Dwayne Haskins are not the answer and this team can still fight with enough QB play. Winston would unlock the game with passes down and make some room for Najee Harris in the field. However, you need a QB veteran who has won several league games. I would also advertise inside for GM.
Get something close to a wide-angle receiver № 1. Whatever it takes. Embrace him. McJones is not Tom Brady and will not turn journeymen into superstars.
Will Derek Carr be interested in Seahawks at all as part of Wilson’s package? I would definitely like to know. Pete Carroll is nearing the end and wants a winning veteran QB.
Throw away all the banal words you want to try to make Kyler Murray / social media look like nothing, but give the best deals to him and Cliff Kingsbury at your own risk. There is still a lot to be gained there. The team has the levers.
Switch from Zeke Elliott and tell Mike McCarthy to prepare, as if at some point he may have to take on the task of playing to save his job. Because things continue to sink with Kellen Moore at the helm. And I suspect that this will again be a topic of conversation in 2022.
Offensive line, offensive line, offensive line.
If there is a QB for Day Two development that you like in this draft, take it. At some point, all the impact will catch up with King Henry. Ryan Tanehil has his limitations and this could be a team that will move into an offensive identity in the next few years.
Stop him with the Blake Bortles advertising train. Please! We love Bruce Arians, but this team needs a real starting QB with the retirement of Tom Brady.
A year ago, you made a pact with a future player in the Hall of Fame, which included a bunch of provisions that were basically poison pills to allow him to come out in 2022, and you to continue with a different team building exercise, opening a new window with Jordan Love, who plays for peanuts. Whether he is a starting quarterback or not remains to be seen, but it’s time to start finding out. Because putting together a Frankenstein team this year, when you know it’s all or nothing after failing to win with a better squad in the last two years, is a risk that will only throw you deeper into the abyss. Putting that spirit back in the bottle will not work
Hold on to Jimmy G. Unless you get two choices in the second round of the recovery team (and therefore those choices are high), be careful here. Trey Lance is still a project at this stage. This team can win with an uneven QB game, but is Lance ready to give them what Garopolo gave them a year ago?
Franchise Orlando Brown, get rid of Frank Clark and focus on the defensive line and let the hunters beyond that.
Jesse Bates franchise, sign Brandon Sherf and set up nothing but offensive and defensive liners. I’m not kidding. For real.
Los Angeles Rams
Add a “no media until 2025” clause to Sean McVeigh’s contract? Okay, this isn’t going to fly. But landing a starting caliber on the left is a must, and I’m not against doubling Von Miller and OBJ. Stan Kronke has the money.