Category: 2021 free agency

Mickey Loomis anticipates a busy free agency for Trey Hendrickson

New Orleans Saints general manager Mickey Loomis anticipates a busy free agency for breakout pass rusher Trey Hendrickson, a 2017 draft pick

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Trey Hendrickson was one of the breakout players of the year for the New Orleans Saints, finishing the regular season tied for second-best in the NFL for sacks (13.5) after logging just 7.5 sacks in his first 34 games. And it couldn’t arrive at a better time with his low-cost rookie contract set to expire in March.

That fact isn’t lost on Saints general manager Mickey Loomis, who set his expectations early on during a media availability session on Wednesday, saying: “He’ll be an attractive piece for everyone around the league.”

Loomis added that, certainly, the Saints want to keep Hendrickson in the building — he’s one of their biggest draft-and-develop success stories in recent years, and was clearly important to the team’s success in 2020. But he can’t say or do anything actionable until the NFL has set its 2021 salary cap, allowing his team to go through an obstacle course of restructures, releases, and maybe a trade or two before they can start re-signing anyone.

There aren’t many situations comparable to this in recent memory, but consider Shaquil Barrett as a similar talent. He had 14.0 career sacks going into his breakout 2019 season with 19.5 sacks, before falling back to earth in 2020 with just 8.0 takedowns. That might be a more realistic target for Hendrickson to hit rather than averaging double-digit sacks each year.

If the money isn’t there, the Saints could re-sign him. If it is, they can let Hendrickson walk away and return another compensatory draft pick in 2022. Issuing him the franchise tag feels like a long shot given how hard it is to work around a fully-guaranteed cap hit north of $15 million. It depends on where the Saints project Hendrickson going from here and whether they believe he can keep up this level of production.

So toss it onto the pile of story arcs and subplots to monitor in the weeks and months ahead. If Loomis’ early take is any indication, the Saints are just as curious to see how this plays out for Hendrickson as the rest of us.

2021 QB carousel could bring the Saints just what they need

The New Orleans Saints could find their new franchise quarterback in 2021, whether it’s Matthew Stafford, Deshaun Watson, or someone else.

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Who starts at quarterback for the New Orleans Saints in 2021? They have three passers under contract in Drew Brees, Taysom Hill, and Trevor Siemian (who finished the 2020 season on the practice squad), but Brees is expected to announce his retirement and begin a career in the NBC broadcast booth.

The Saints went 3-1 with Hill starting in Brees’ place. Jameis Winston showed the coaching staff plenty to like in a year of practice, but he’s an unrestricted free agent. And this year’s quarterbacks carousel is taking quite a spin.

It’s a solid free agent class in its own right, with quarterbacks like Dak Prescott (a franchise tag candidate returning from a serious ankle injury) and Cam Newton, and veteran backups like Ryan Fitzpatrick, Andy Dalton, Tyrod Taylor, Jacoby Brissett, and Mitchell Trubisky all joining Winston on the open market.

But the real interest lies in trade candidates. Deshaun Watson, the young face of the franchise for the Houston Texans, is the biggest name on the outs with his old team. Matthew Stafford isn’t interested in another Detroit Lions rebuild and has already agreed to part ways with them. It seems all but certain Sam Darnold will be shipped out of town by the New York Jets as they throw another highly-drafted rookie into the grinder. The San Francisco 49ers might be looking to upgrade from Jimmy Garoppolo. And Aaron Rodgers could request a trade after another frustrating postseason loss with the Green Bay Packers, who already picked his replacement in the 2020 NFL draft.

Some of those veterans on the trade block, like Watson and Garoppolo, have more agency than others. They can choose to waive the no-trade clause in their contracts after surveying the market and picking a destination. What effect that may have on trade compensation is uncertain, but it’s not nothing.

And it’s anyone’s guess how this year’s draft shakes out. Trevor Lawrence and Justin Fields are virtual locks to be picked first and second overall, but things aren’t as clear for Zach Wilson, Trey Lance, Mac Jones, and the other passers ranked behind them. If nothing else is clear about this, it’s that the Saints have plenty of options.

The most realistic path forwards is probably re-signing Winston and having him compete with Hill in training camp. Both quarterbacks know the system and are known by the coaching staff, which is in flux with so many assistants leaving for new opportunities (including quarterbacks coach Joe Lombardi). But with that said, it’s worth remembering that Saints coach Sean Payton is a big believer in hunting big game in the offseason.

So much so that Tom Brady could have landed in New Orleans last year, not Tampa Bay. Had Brees not returned for another title run, there was enough mutual interest between Brady and the Saints to get a deal done and go from one G.O.A.T. to another. But Brees came back for 2020, Brady settled in as a division rival, and the rest is history.

Sure, the Saints are in a tight spot where the salary cap is concerned. It isn’t an impossible scenario to get out of, even if they’ll have to make some tough decisions along the way (Nick Underhill of NewOrleans.Football broke it down thoroughly). Their accounting team knows more about how to make those numbers work than anyone reading this probably does. Don’t think of it as too big of an obstacle to overcome.

The end point of all of this: the Saints have the resources to go get a blue-chip quarterback, one way or another. They’re an attractive destination with a winning culture and popular head coach, and one of just two teams that can boast they’ve reached the postseason in each of the last four years (along with the Kansas City Chiefs). The Saints will have opportunities to steady the ship and find a franchise quarterback after Brees has retired, even if the transition isn’t as smooth as many fans might hope for.

And if nothing else, they’ve already proven they can win with both Winston and Hill. Maybe the best plan would be to put them against each other head-to-head this summer and see if the victor has what it takes to hold down the job for the next decade.

Cowboys 5 biggest offseason needs aren’t all on defense

Focusing on the defensive side of the ball will be the talk, but Dallas would be wise to take care of issues on the other side as well.

The Dallas Cowboys are not that far away from competing for a playoff berth, despite how horrible their 2020 season was. Injuries were catastrophic and the defense was led by an inept effort. I’m not saying Mike Nolan was inept as a defensive coordinator, though I was against the hire from the jump. But the effort that was put into the season, with all things considered was unacceptable. Trying to fit square pegs in round holes with no offseason made little sense and refusing to adjust was frustrating to say the least.

But that’s all in the past. What matters is improving for the 2021 season, and that will take improved personnel on both sides of the ball. Assuming the Cowboys will have Dak Prescott for at least one more season, we’ll keep quarterback off the table in this discussion. But where else will Dallas need to improve the roster? Here’s where.

Tense in Numbers: Cowboys’ Prescott has a lot of company in 2021 QB derby

Just when you thought it was safe to go in the water. Dak Prescott isn’t the only big fish on the 2021 QB market. What a weekend.

The Dallas Cowboys were thought to have the biggest name on the quarterback market this offseason. While that still is probably the case due to his age and upward trajectory, this past weekend made the room a lot more crowded for one Rayne Dakota Prescott. Two pedigreed signals callers made it clear over the last several days that there is going to be a complete reshuffling of the deck around the league.

Last week, it became crystal clear that the other star QB in the state of Texas, Houston’ Deshaun Watson, wants out of the dumpster fire that organization finds themselves in. Pissed off over being ignored in the search for a new head coach after being promised input, that relationship seems beyond repair at this point. Now, two more relationships that may be fractured have come to the surface. Detriot Lions’ longtime steward Matthew Stafford has demanded out, and after elimination in Sunday’s NFC Championship game, Green Bay’s Aaron Rodgers made it clear his future in Wisconsin is anything but.

For Stafford, things are pretty obvious. The Lions are undergoing yet another regime change, hiring former tight end Dan Campbell to be their man and agreeing to an unprecedented six-year deal for a guy who has never called plays. Campbell had a throwback, caveman introductory press conference where he referenced biting off kneecaps of opponents. 36 hours later, Stafford was requesting a trade and the front office was publicly acknowledging they’d acquiesce.

As for Rodgers, the failure to reach another Super Bowl since winning his first attempt in the confines of the Cowboys’ AT&T Stadium seem frustrating. Not just that, but after finishing 13-3 in 2019, the club went out and drafted a quarterback, Utah’s Jordan Love, with their first-round pick and a running back in AJ Dillion who barely saw the field.

They got no one to help an aging QB at the end of his prime, and drafted his heir apparent. After the game, he made it clear that he is not sure of his future with Green Bay.

This shouldn’t be a shocker, last offseason, Cowboys Wire floated the possibility that Rodgers could be having his last days with the Packers due to his contract hit and even imagined a scenario where he replaces Prescott if Dallas makes the seemingly unwise decision not to work out a long-term agreement with their franchise guy.

Aaron Rodgers among 20 possibilities to be Cowboys QB by 2022

Don’t forget, the Atlanta Falcons could be looking to move on from Matt Ryan and the San Francisco 49ers have an easy out to escape from Jimmy Garoppolo’s deal. There’s a controversy in Philadelphia with Carson Wentz and Jalen Hurts, and the Rams’ Sean McVay is saying Jared Goff isn’t assured to be their starter.

So now a quarterback carousel already ripe with  draft possibilities of Trevor Lawrence, Zack Wilson, Justin Fields and Trey Lance, will have a plethora of established veteran QBs on the move. With Philip Rivers assuredly and possibly Ben Roesthlisberger and Drew Brees retiring, not to mention the possibility that Tom Brady might be one-and-done in Tampa Bay if they can pull off the Super Bowl victory in two weeks, things are about to get crazy in the NFL.

Dak Prescott might still be the biggest fish to catch and most still believe he’ll remain in Dallas, the market is about to be flooded with possibilities.

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Cowboys may hit FA market to improve DT position. Here’s who is available

The interior of the Cowboys defense needs work in 2021. Here’s a list of 10 free agents who could help.

For whatever reason, the Dallas Cowboys management has avoided investing substantial capital into the safety and defensive tackle positions over the last decade-plus. A year ago Dallas attempted to bandage their defensive interior issues with short-term contracts to veterans like Dontari Poe and Gerald McCoy, but for different reasons neither player was able to positively contribute on the field for the Cowboys.

The Cowboys were left with young, unproven, mid-round draft picks, or undrafted free agents to hold down the middle of their defense, and the results were, as previously mentioned, unacceptable.

The Dallas defense was toward the bottom of the league in many metrics in 2020, but against the run is where they were really exposed. The Cowboys gave up 2,541 rushing yards this year, which equates to a staggering 158.8 per game, second-worst in NFL ahead of only Houston.  The yards are nearly 1,000 more than Dallas has given up in any season over the last five years.

While Dallas’ end of season pass-rush numbers were adequate, it wasn’t because of the defensive tackles. The interior of the defensive line was never able to consistently generate a rush up the middle, and Cowboys tackles were only credited for 1.5 sacks in 2020 (Woods with 1.0, Gallimore with 0.5).

Obviously there are many contributing factors to the Cowboys poor defensive year, but improving the middle of the defensive line would also immediately make the jobs of the other nine defenders much easier.

Dallas will have to be extremely cap conscience with every signing they make this offseason. The Cowboys current cap situation, combined with their usual reluctance to sign high-profile free agents makes many of the names on this list seem like a pipe dream for Cowboys fans. However, if Dallas does choose to seriously address their defensive tackle needs, the following list contains potential players the Cowboys could consider.

The first five DT’s listed were pulled, in order, from PFF’s top 100 free agent rankings that were released earlier this year.

News: Cowboys players can’t get out divisional round until they leave Dallas

Cowboys players can’t get out their own way until they make their way out of Dallas. All the mocks circle the same draft wagons.

The Dallas Cowboys are moving quickly in filling out their coaching staff. Just this week, Aden Durde was hired to be the defensive line coach under Dan Quinn, and Dallas lost a defensive backs coach to Michigan. Former Cowboy players, like Miles Austin and Dan Campbell, are both thriving in their coaching ventures, as both were hired to new positions this week.

The Cowboys have many interesting offseason decisions remaining. With a bevy of unrestricted free agents, Dallas will be forced to fill in their roster with at least a handful of new faces. Learn what upcoming free agents you should be watching for in this week’s Conference Championship round. NFL mock draft season is in full swing. A compilation of the top Cowboys mocks, plus, would Cowboys fans hate drafting a TE in round 1 if he’s truly the best available player?

All Eyes on These 8 free agents for Championship Sunday as potential Cowboys targets

Picture them rollin’ with a more talented roster than in 2020. The draft will help, free agents will be needed to. The NFL’s Final Four features a playlist worthy of a team with Ambitionz of a Ridah in 2021.

Changes (coming). (2020 season caused) So Many Tears. (A return to the playoffs would be) Poetic Justice. OK, got those 2Pac references out the way.

And then there were four. The NFL tournament is down to its semifinal round and no, the Dallas Cowboys are still not involved. They’ll be watching though, just like the other 28 teams around the league, scouting future targets once the league year opens up in March.

Unlike previous years, there will not be an open season of politicking at the NFL scouting combine, when agents and front office personnel work the preliminary-interest discussions to the bone. The combine is cancelled and it impacts more than just the draft process. Still, teams will find a way to gauge mutual interest and the Cowboys will be one of those clubs, rest assured. Who might they target? Players from winning organizations always go over well with a fanbase. Here’s a collection of players involved in Sunday’s contests who will be looking to cash in.

We’re using Pro Football Focus’ Top 100 free agent rankings and the associated writeups. Hey Cowboys, if you sign any of these guys, I Ain’t Mad Atcha.

3 Cowboys land in ESPN’s top 50 free agents of 2021

A look at Dallas’ top four free agents and where they are seen in the eyes of ESPN.

The Dallas Cowboys had an incredible free agency class of 2020; well at least the ones they lost. The ones they brought in? That’s an entirely different story. Dallas’ biggest three signings didn’t make it to the bye week before being let go by the organization. That, combined with a lackluster effort by the guys who were there before is probably the biggest reason Mike Nolan didn’t make it past the first week of January. Still, the Cowboys will reap the rewards of last year’s free agency in the form of several compensatory picks come April.

Will the free agents on the club be able to command a similar haul if they leave? Dallas has 24 free agents on their roster, but they are not as well regarded as last year’s crop. One player is, and that’s because he was a part of the 2020 class as well, just franchise tagged. Quarterback Dak Prescott is one of 3 members of this year’s class to make ESPN’s Top 50. They also had a fourth in the next group of 25.

Cowboys DE Tyrone Crawford has surgery on brink of free agency

The eight-year veteran gave an update last week from his hospital bed; he’s set to hit free agency but is said to be considering retirement.

Another member of the Cowboys has undergone a surgical procedure to begin their offseason. After wideout Amari Cooper went under the knife for a minor ankle procedure and linebacker Jaylon Smith had his wrist operated on, word comes now that defensive end Tyrone Crawford has had some sort of leg surgery.

The eight-year veteran gave an update last Thursday via his Instagram account which shows him in a hospital bed “straight after post-surgery,” the 31-year-old says. “Got it done,” Crawford reports as he shows a shot of his right foot propped up in a plastic boot.

The Boise State alum played sparingly for Dallas in 2020, taking just 40% of the Cowboys’ defensive snaps. He was placed briefly on the Reserve/COVID-19 list in November after spending the first half of the season coming back from hip injuries and surgery that prematurely derailed his 2019 campaign. One of the locker room’s leaders, he served as one of the team’s on-the-field captains as recently as Week 16 versus Philadelphia.

Crawford is on the cusp of becoming a free agent, having signed a lucrative five-year contract back in 2015. Thought to be a cut candidate this past offseason (mainly a salary cap consideration), Crawford might have solidified his stock with a strong 2020; the versatile Canadian can play either end or tackle, and the Cowboys’ defensive line was in desperate need of a hero for much of the season. But the former third-round draft pick was in on just 14 tackles and two sacks this year.

Crawford was said to be considering retirement before the season came to an end. Rehabbing his leg/foot will now give him plenty of time to mull that possibility over in full.

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Top 15 Free Agents to Watch in Sunday’s playoff games

The Tampa Bay Bucs have the majority of Top 20 free agents of Sunday’s competitors. The Browns? They only check in once. Still, Day 2 of the divisional round presents 50% more top free agents than Saturday’s tilts.

The NFL Divisional Round continues on Sunday with two more games on tap. After victories by No. 1 NFC seed Green Bay and No. 2 AFC seed Buffalo, home teams prevailed to restore order to a funky road-team-rules 2020 campaign and align half of the NFL’s Final Four bracket.

Squaring off to finalize the affair will be defending champion Kansas City looking to fend off the upstart Cleveland Browns, with the New Orleans Saints hosting their division rivals, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the nightcap. While fans of these four organizations watch with bated breath, the rest of the league’s followers are hoping for good, competitive games. They also should be watching to see the performances of players who could make their way to the fans’ favorite team. The free agent market will once again be on display.

Here’s a guide as to which higher-profile players who will be unrestricted free agents come March and the new league year, are playing in the two Sunday contests. We’re using Pro Football Focus’ Top 100 free agents list to compile this collection and for the writeups. Some of these targets may even be of interest to the Cowboys.