The 2020 NFL Free Agency was highly anticipated due to the pervading cloud of the movement of Tom Brady will he or will he not leave the team he has won six Super Bowls with and head for pastures new in the ongoing twilight of his career.
Day One fell on the eve of St. Patrick's Day, 16th March, and judging by some of the movements you may have to test the GM's not for the Coronavirus but if they were just too merry on the Irish juice a day early turning it into a long weekend of frivolity.
The frivolity turned into a feeding frenzy as the barriers of hunting season were shorn down allowing unrestricted free agents to flirt openly with suitors who flashed a war chest in their direction.
Never was the frenzy more apparent than in Houston where Bill O'Brien the man who would be a better Bill if only he listened to that angel on his shoulder once in a while, decided to trade away his team's best offensive weapon to Arizona for next to nothing in terms of value and setting his team, a team that won a competitive division into a position of suspected mediocrity.
Talk is that O'Brien and DeAndre Hopkins did not get along and O'Brien was not willing to give Hopkins the money he felt he was due. Hopkins is at the peak of his powers, turning 28 in June and one of the top 3 receivers in the league and helped make Deshaun Watson one of the most highly coveted quarterbacks in his fledgling years of his career.
Hopkins was dealt to the Arizona Cardinals for David Johnson, a 2nd round pick this year and a fourth round pick next year. Arizona get Hopkins and a fourth round pick this year. It is one thing to give away a stud receiver such as Number 10 but to not get a first round pick minimum in return is mind-boggling. O'Brien has seemingly put his pride and need to look like the big man on campus and forsaken the immediate future of his franchise, the franchise he is charged with protecting.
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| Bill O'Brien - relearning the first song he learnt at kindergarten |
The Texans won the AFC South last year and for the most part it was a competitive division, and in the playoffs their rivals Tennessee put on the after-burners led by Derrick Henry to look like the more settled team. The Titans gave Ryan Tannehill a big contract as a reward for shepherding the team to the AFC Championship and Henry will get the franchise tag.
Now the Texans are going to rely upon a receiving core of perennially injured Will Fuller and Kenny Stills, tight end Darren Fells and running backs Carlos Hyde (who refused an offer from the team last week) and now David Johnson who since his breakout season of 2016 where he rushed for 1239 yards, has rushed for 1308 total yards in three seasons. Johnson is a step back for this offense and yet the real need is the requirement to garner protection for your elite quarterback who is under constant duress. The inability to get draft capital for the OL in the upcoming draft and still not addressed it in free agency - Jack Conklin was available for Tennessee but he signed for 3 years/$42m with Cleveland. The answer was in your division but again O'Brien took his eye off the ball and failed to see the bigger picture.
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| Jack Conklin - now with Cleveland Browns |
Speaking of Conklin's move to Cleveland, the Browns may well have found a big piece of the puzzle to help them over this hump and it starts with protecting Baker Mayfield who suffered from pressure all season. Conklin is rated as one of the best run blockers in the league, hence the gargantuan numbers Henry had in Nashville and you can expect more of the same for Nick Chubb. This idea fits well with the new scheme to be utilised by Kevin Stefanski akin to his time as offensive coordinator in Minnesota - run hard, open up for passing game, strong OL.
This will be helped as well by the Browns' purchase of Austin Hooper - 4yrs,$44m - big money for a safe pair of hands in a two tight end system with David Njoku, but Hooper will provide security for Mayfield with Jarvis Landry likely to miss the start of season due to hip surgery and he will keep the chains moving when they need to. For Baker he has a safety blanket now.
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| Big day for Miami on both sides of ball |
Miami Dolphins are big movers signing two big names on defence - Byron Jones - 5yrs/$82.5m - from Dallas gets his big payday following a stellar run in Texas, but Brian Flores is focusing on the secondary to make big strides this season albeit against an AFC East division with not many elite receivers and Shaw Lawson - 3 yrs/$30m - a good run blocker who has not reached the heights expected but the talent is there to source out. With Kyle Van Noy expected to go also, Miami is making strides to help out their woeful defence from last year. This has been added with some stability for OL with Ereck Flowers - 3yrs/$30m - for a man who has been up and down in his career, can he maintain decent numbers but firstly protection for Fitzpatrick before the rise of Tua to the mainstream.
Another team to strengthen an already good defence is the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who signed Jason Pierre-Paul to two years $27m, a man who despite his hand injury is still doing great numbers and will add experience to one of the best young units.
In a rare trade where it is win win for both sides, the Indianapolis Colts dealt their first round pick this year (No.13 overall) to the San Francisco 49ers for Defensive End DeForest Buckner, an elite defensive player who is a good purchase for a team that knows it has some offensive stars in their division and with the prospective signing of Philip Rivers to Indy, they need to make sure they give him the ball as much as possible. The 49ers have a pick to plug that gap with Buckner gone and have a young defence to still pick up pieces.
Big offensive move was Stefon Diggs leaving Minnesota to go to Buffalo and become the no.1 receiver on that team that needs a stand out presence and a downfield weapon for Josh Allen's big arm, while they did well with Cole Beasley and will be eager to overtake the Patriots as all windows are small but to win the AFC East is the target this year and with Diggs arriving you have a now happy wide receiver and a team ready to take its shot.
It is only Day One, more madness is sure to follow no doubt with TB12 still the standout free agent everyone is eager to see what he does next.
Follow me on Twitter @JamieGarwood or @NextToTheAisle
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