Category: 2022 NFL Free Agency

2022 Giants free agency: Contract details for new players

A breakdown of the contracts the New York Giants have handed out to free agents, as well as details of restructures and pay cuts.

The New York Giants and general manager Joe Schoen entered the new league year and free agency with very little money to spend. The idea was to clear upwards of $40 million in salary cap space while hunting for bargains on the open market.

Through a week and a half, the Giants have fared relatively well. They’ve been unable to trade either cornerback James Bradberry or running back Saquon Barkley, but they’ve found other ways to clear room.

New York has also added a number of new contracts, including multiple offensive linemen. But only one of them was a big-ish money signing.

Here’s a quick look at the basic contracts for all new signees, as well as some information on restructures and pay cuts.

Note: New details will be added as they become available.

Texans roster needs have clarity after first wave of free agency

The Houston Texans’ roster needs have actually gained some clarity through the team’s initial free agency moves.

The Houston Texans made the most they could with free agency. In fact, their biggest move wasn’t even a signing; it was the trading of quarterback Deshaun Watson to the Cleveland Browns.

After the first wave of free agency, where do the Texans stand? What holes do they need to fill throughout their roster?

According to Anthony Treash from Pro Football Focus, every position is fair game on Houston’s roster after free agency.

Let’s not sugarcoat it — this roster is not in good shape. Everyone associated with the organization would likely agree.

The Texans generated 1.7 WAR in 2021. Not only is that the lowest of the 32 teams, but it’s lower than half the starting quarterbacks in the NFL alone.

Davis Mills exceeded expectations in a couple of games during his rookie campaign, but the third-round pick still finished the year with a 58.3 PFF grade. Any thought of him being the long-term solution at signal-caller is premature.

Houston’s free-agency plan was reminiscent of last season when they shelled out short-term, mediocre deals. This regime is setting up to build up the franchise in the next offseason and beyond — don’t expect them to compete in 2022.

Both statements can be true: Houston’s roster is not in good shape, and they also don’t need help at every position.

Take quarterback. It may be premature to say Mills is the answer long-term at quarterback, but he is the 2022 answer, and it would be a waste of resources to just take a first-round quarterback when they could add a playmaker at another position.

Take the Texans’ tackles. Do the Texans need to address their bookends when Laremy Tunsil is coming back and former 2019 first-rounder Tytus Howard is entering the final year of his contract?

The Texans’ roster still needs work after the first wave of free agency, but not every position needs to be addressed going into the draft.

Texans work out RB Marlon Mack

The Houston Texans worked out former Indianapolis Colts running back Marlon Mack.

The Houston Texans may not be done adding veterans to their roster via free agency.

The Texans worked out former Indianapolis Colts running back Marlon Mack per source.

The former 2017 fourth-round pick from South Florida saw his role with the Colts decrease after a torn Achilles in Week 1 of the 2020 season. Along with Mack’s injury, the Colts started to benefit from running back Jonathan Taylor, who has generated 2,980 rushing yards over the past two seasons, including 1,811 in 2021, earning him the NFL rushing title.

Prior to Mack’s injury and Taylor taking his spot, the 6-0, 210-pound running back posted a 1,000-yard season in 2019 and came close in 2018 with 908 yards. In 2021, Mack carried 28 times for 101 yards.

The Texans’ running game in 2021 saw just one rusher go over 100 yards in a game with Rex Burkhead in Week 16 against the Los Angeles Chargers in a 41-29 win. The Texans had the fewest rushing yards in the NFL last year with 1,422.

Mack produced 148 yards and a touchdown on 24 carries in the 2018 AFC wild-card against the Texans, which the Colts won 21-7 at NRG Stadium. The rushing total was the second-most of Mack’s 49-game career.

4-Down Territory: Browns sell their souls, biggest trade, winning and botching free agency

In this week’s episode of 4-Down Territory, Doug Farrar and Luke Easterling get into the NFL’s major trades and free-agent signings.

Week 1 of free agency is in the books, but in this new league year, it’s trades that have ruled the news cycle. Touchdown Wire’s Doug Farrar, and Luke Easterling of Draft Wire and Bucs Wire, are back with yet another episode of “4-Down Territory,” in which our intrepid analysts throw a wide net over everything that’s happening in the NFL.

This week, Luke and Doug discuss why the Deshaun Watson trade is an ugly thing no matter how you look at it, which major trade benefits one team and sets the other back, and the teams that have won and botched the free-agency process.

As always, you can watch the “4-Down Territory” video right here!

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Jihad Ward intends to bring his aggression to Giants’ defense

Jihad Ward is excited to reunite with Wink Martindale and bring a little added aggression to the New York Giants defense.

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The New York Giants added a little depth to their defensive line on Monday, signing former second-round pick Jihad Ward.

Ward is a bit of a journeyman, having played for five different organizations prior to joining. One of those stops came in Baltimore where he played under current Giants defensive coordinator Wink Martindale.

“Wink is one of those coaches where basically he’s going to make me extend my career being the best that I can be. Wink is one of the coaches that did a hell of a job with me when I was a Raven so I’m here now and ready to win some games,” Ward told reporters.

Martindale is known as an aggressive, blitz-often play-caller and that fits Ward’s style of play.

“Just coming in with that aggression. Basically, just strong and really the aggression is just some blitzes and stuff. You don’t know when we’re going to come. That’s his type of style. That’s his type of deal. We’re going to come at you,” Ward said of his style of play and Martindale’s system.

But even beyond his aggression, Ward is bringing a high level of football intelligence into the fold. His goal is to make the Giants’ defensive line as savvy as it is dominant.

“I can bring a lot to the team. Basically, the most important thing I can bring to the table is bringing just trying to win games, dominating the edge and then dominating the d-line,” Ward said. “I believe that I can be one of the best and one of the top-tier d-lineman (on the) Giants. So, when you play the Giants, the d-line is going to be one that’s mentioned. So that’s what I can bring to the table.

“I can play all the positions. Everything is really simple. The only thing is with the rest of the d-line that’s here, we’ve just got to basically understand its different types of fronts. When we play a different type of team, we might go straight to base on this one, like a basic front and certain teams, it’s quite difficult for us and we’ll change the scheme up based on whatever the personnel is. It’s basically like a mixture of everything.”

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It was a ‘no brainer’ for Jamil Douglas to sign with Giants

Jamil Douglas says it was a “no brainer” to sign with the New York Giants, where he’ll reunite with Brian Daboll and Bobby Johnson.

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The New York Giants added another offensive lineman to their roster with the signing of offensive guard Jamil Douglas, which was made official on Monday.

Douglas projects to be a strong depth piece for the Giants as he enters his eighth season in the NFL. He, recently being in Buffalo during the 2021 season, will rejoin Joe Schoen and Brian Daboll as new members of the Giants.

Due to this connection with the general manager and head coach, Douglas joining Big Blue seemed like a perfect fit.

“Really, this is the best opportunity for myself and my family. I want to be a part of an organization that has a lot of pride and I know with this coaching staff they are looking to bring it to that point,” Douglas told reporters. “So, when an opportunity presented itself, for me, it was really a no brainer just looking at the guys that are in this building and the goals they are trying to accomplish.”

Douglas is now another member of this great migration of players from the Buffalo Bills to join the Giants. The Giants have signed his former teammates Jon Feliciano and Matt Breida, both whom he has a connection with as the former was a fellow member of the Bills’ offensive line and the latter is a running back he blocked for.

However, for Douglas, a big factor was the migration of offensive line coach Bobby Johnson from Buffalo to East Rutherford.

“Coach Johnson is a great coach, man. I’ve been fortunate enough over my career to have some really good o-line coaches, really good coaches in general, but the thing about him is he’s going to instill confidence in his guys and he’s also going to coach you hard. That’s all you can ask for, really, as a player is to be coached hard. That’s how you get better,” Douglas said.

New York will need Johnson to transfer his success with the Bills to the Giants as their offensive line has been the worst part of the roster for some time now. There has been an inability to get a push in the run game or protect the quarterback, resulting in the Giants rarely scoring touchdowns in 2021.

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NFL free agency, Week 2: Analyzing and grading all the signings

Free-agency is still in full bloom, and we’re analyzing and grading all the relevant NFL signings and re-signings.

The real story of the first week of free agency has generally not been free agency.

Its been the trades. Russell Wilson from Seattle to Denver, Davante Adams from Green Bay to Las Vegas, Matt Ryan from Atlanta to Indianapolis, and Deshaun Watson from Houston to Cleveland.

That said, there have been all kinds of signings and re-signings, from great to sneaky-good to terrible, and we analyzed and graded as many as possible in our Week 1 free-agency tracker.

2022 NFL free agency grades: Scoring the prominent signings (and re-signings)

But as there’s still all kinds of talent left on the open market — perhaps the trades delayed things this season — and with that in mind, it’s time to get rolling with analysis and grades of the signings and re-signings happening in Week 2 of the new league year.

Texans may have scored underrated free agent signing with DE Ogbonnia Okoronkwo

The Houston Texans may have added an under the radar free agent with defensive end Ogbonnia Okoronkwo.

The Houston Texans were active in free agency signing their own players and also dipping into the shallow end of the free agent pool to add veteran talent.

Even though the Texan didn’t make any big waves, they had a splash that may turn out to be a quality signing.

According to Ben Linsey from Pro Football Focus, the Texans found decent value in the signing of former Los Angeles Rams linebacker Ogbonnia Okoronkwo.

Okoronkwo is another high-efficiency, low-volume pass rusher getting an opportunity to show what he can do in an expanded role. Okoronkwo’s 314 defensive snaps in 2021 marked a career high, as did his 75.3 PFF pass-rushing grade. He’s a versatile edge defender who has graded well against both the run and pass whenever he has been on the field. The only issue is that we’ve only seen it in a part-time role.

Okoronkwo is expected to convert from outside linebacker to defensive end — much the same way Jordan Jenkins went from a stand-up edge rusher with the New York Jets to a down lineman in Lovie Smith’s Tampa 2 scheme.

Okoronkwo saw the most snaps of his career in 2021 as he played 255 compared to 158 in 2020 and 115 in 2019. The 6-1, 253-pound edge rusher contributed with 15 combined tackles, three tackles for loss, six quarterback hits, 2.0 sacks, and two forced fumbles through 13 games.

The Texans lost Jacob Martin in free agency to the Jets. Adding Okoronkwo allows the Texans to have a veteran off the edge to be a part of a rotation to generate a pass rush.

Smith told reporters on March 2 at the NFL Scouting Combine that the Texans are a defensive lineman friendly system.

“If I’m a defensive lineman, I would like to come to a place like the Houston Texans,” Smith said. “We start up front. Again, it’s about, as I said, about the defensive line. We kind of read on the run, athletes getting up the field, making sacks and things like that. I think it’s a defensive line friendly system.”

Okoronkwo seems to agree as evidenced by his choice with Houston.

Did Deshaun Watson cause the Falcons to trade Matt Ryan to the Colts?

The Atlanta Falcons were in the Deshaun Watson sweepstakes. Although they lost out, it appears they were compelled to move on from Matt Ryan.

The Atlanta Falcons were in the running for former Houston Texans quarterback Deshaun Watson. The NFC South club was going to give the three-time Pro Bowler and Gainesville High School product the weekend to think over returning to Atlanta to continue his NFL career.

Allowing Watson to have the weekend meant the Falcons had to find a way to push back starting quarterback Matt Ryan’s roster bonus from March 18 to March 22. In doing so, it also gave the Falcons an opportunity to find a trade partner for Ryan.

Although Watson ending up going to the Cleveland Browns, the Falcons appear to have moved on from Ryan nevertheless and strengthened one of the Texans’ rivals in the process.

According to Tom Pelissero from the NFL Network, the Indianapolis Colts are trading a 2022 third-round pick to the Falcons for Ryan. For the third straight season, Indianapolis has a proven commodity under center.

The Colts were poised to go with younger signal callers in Jacob Eason and Sam Ehlinger, which would bring the offense down a notch as coach Frank Reich would have to evaluate a quarterback battle throughout offseason workouts and training camp. Adding Ryan allows the Colts to settle that roster problem and improve upon their 9-8 record from a year ago.

Indianapolis would have still had the same handicap at quarterback had Watson not entertained the notion of going to Atlanta. With the former 2017 first-round pick talking with Atlanta, and the Falcons believing they had a legitimate shot at Watson, it caused Atlanta to look at moving on from Ryan — kind of like how the Browns’ exploration of acquiring Watson led incumbent starting quarterback Baker Mayfield to take the hint that the franchise wanted to move on from him.

The Falcons pick No. 8 overall in the 2022 NFL draft, and quarterback figures to be one of their top needs.

Ex-Giant Lorenzo Carter expected to sign with Falcons

Less than 24 hours after saying goodbye to the New York Giants, LB Lorenzo Carter has agreed to terms with the Atlanta Falcons.

This past weekend, New York Giants free agent outside linebacker Lorenzo Carter said goodbye to the team and their fans on a social media post.

On Monday morning, we learned how and why the former third-round pick out of Georgia was saying goodbye. He’s apparently signed a one-year deal with his hometown team, the Atlanta Falcons.

Carter was considered a steal when the Giants selected him 66th overall in the 2018 NFL draft. He flashed at times but was overall a disappointment in four seasons in New York. He started just 14 games over first two seasons, amassing 8.5 sacks, and earned a starting position in 2020 but blew out his Achilles in Week 5.

Last season, Carter appeared to be on his way to another forgettable year until the final four games when he came alive with five sacks, four passes defensed and two forced fumbles.

The Giants are prepared to go in another direction at outside linebacker under new defensive coordinator Wink Martindale. Second-year players Azeez Ojulari, Quincy Roche and Elerson Smith will all get opportunities on the outside this summer at camp.

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