The NFC East appears to have a lot of money to spend in free agency, outside of the reigning NFC Champion Philadelphia Eagles. Will the Giants use the tag on Daniel Jones? Word on the internet street is Jones wants upward of $45M per year while not being a fan of being tagged by the club. Dallas has some questions to address on offense and has some money to float around. The Commanders even have some money but will find a way to make the wrong decision(s) again. The only NFC East team with a negative cap number today is the aforementioned Eagles.
@BobbyLaMarco and @DonkeyTeeth87 will chat about these teams/names and their potential landing spots on Friday night on the Razzball YouTube channel. Tune in and be a part of the discussion with your questions and comments. Who do you think each team will pursue, and who will end up on the market awaiting the big bucks? As always, if you want to discuss anything in this article, feel free to drop notes at the bottom of this thread.
(Editor’s note: Daniel Jones has signed a four-year, $160 million contract to stay with the Giants)
New York Giants – The first domino to fall will be Daniel Jones. Dude is on the cusp of getting PAID! His contract (or tag) will drive the Giants’ ability to pay Saquon Barkley. The front office needs to tread lightly with the understanding both players are key to the success of the franchise, OR they need to move on from Jones and lock up Barkley long-term. I suspect both will be resigned, as this is a QB-driven league, and the Giants seem pleased with Jones’ progress. This is fantasy football, so ignore Jones being 10 games under .500 for his career as a starter. We do not care about wins and losses. We care about stats! The three stats that stick out to me are five interceptions (his career low), 708 rushing yards, and seven rushing TDs (both career highs, and it is not close). Another stat that caught my eye is his career-high in passing yards (3,205). Though not a massive number by NFL standards, it shows marked improvement, especially when paired with the smaller number of interceptions. With $40.1M available to spend in FA, I truly believe both Jones and Barkley will be back while the Giants also look to resign Jon Feliciano (LG) while making a splash at WR in free agency and the draft. The Darius Slayton experiment is over two years too late, in my humble opinion. They need some weapons on the outside to help Jones continue his ascent.
Dallas Cowboys – America’s Team that cannot get out of the first round of the playoffs or what I like to call ‘The Mike McCarthy Effect.’ Dallas checks in with $15.5M in cap space with some significant players to consider/address. Is it time to move on from Zeke Elliott by handing the RB1 duties to Tony Pollard? Considering the Cowboys tagged Pollard on Monday, it appears likely that Zeke will either be cut or asked to take a pay cut or have his current contract restructured to help the team financially. Pollard, who eclipsed the 1K yard mark in 2022, appears poised to be the lead back, but we will need to see it on the field. We will need to see him carry the full load. The talent is undeniable, and he is much more explosive than Zeke, so time will tell if he is lead dog material. After CeeDee Lamb, the WR corps gets a little shaky with Michael Gallup seemingly injured more times than not and the next two guys in line named Noah Brown and T.Y. Hilton. I would not be shocked to see both back on team-friendly deals with Gallup being cut or restructured. The main reason is Dallas needs to resign Dalton Schultz as they hope for the playoffs Schultz during the regular season. Dude was a beast in the 2022 playoffs, and Dak needs that consistent safety net during the regular season. Add in Conner McGovern (RG) as a must-resign, and the Cowboys’ cap space is quickly spent, which leads me to believe the team will not sign 137-year-old Jason Peters, who played less than 20% of snaps at LT.
Washington Commanders – What a mess this team seems to be year in and year out. They overpaid Carson Wentz, and that experiment failed as most of us assumed it would. The Commanders have since moved on from Wentz, savings $20M+. I still cannot believe we live in a world where Carson Wentz can command north of that number. I digress. Taylor Heinicke is not the answer, but I like him at his price more than I liked Wentz at his. The Commanders are slated to draft at #16 this year, which almost guarantees they are out of the top-flight rookie QB discussion unless they trade up. I hear the Bears are shopping the top pick. Is Washington willing to make such a big leap? I am not sure they have the draft capital to do so, but anything is possible. Just look at the Saints, who are $50M+ over the cap yet are working a deal for Derek Carr. Sometimes, math is fun, and NFL math seems to be newer than the new math some kids are learning in school these days. I digress again. The Commanders will need to address OL in free agency, and they have some ‘talent’ in-house they may look to resign in Trai Turner, Tyler Larsen, and Wes Schweitzer. From an offensive standpoint, the Commanders seem to have sufficient talent at RB and WR to be competitive only if they sign a true QB1 and OL to protect him.
Philadelphia Eagles – The E-A-G-L-E-S are coming off the heartbreaking Super Bowl loss where they lead by ten points and watched Mahomes do Mahomes things to squash their championship aspirations…for 2022. Heading into the 2023 season, the Iggles find themselves almost $10M over the cap. That means they will probably restructure some contracts and release some players as cap casualties. The big off-season discussion for the Eagles surrounds Miles Sanders. Dude put up his career-best stats during his final season under contract. Good Great timing if you ask me! Sure, Sanders faded a little down the stretch, but the stats are locked in and will be used by his agent to secure a big payday with Philadelphia or another team. Mark it down now, with Josh Jacobs receiving the franchise tag in Las Vegas, Sanders is poised to get paid. If the Titans trade Derrick Henry, Sanders’s market will shrink, but I do not see a viable trade partner for Henry at this point. The Eagles will also need to address Isaac Seumalo, their starting LG, who played almost 97% of the snaps in 2022. Other than those few names/positions, these Eagles have a solid foundation as they look to get back to the Super Bowl next season.
Thank you for coming back to read our stuff and be a part of the podcast by listening and commenting. We are here for you! We will come in the next few weeks to discuss other FAs.
-Mitch-
