Sports blog information from USA TODAY.
You may want to bookmark this one, Panthers fans.
We know that Carolina Panthers quarterback Bryce Young can’t do it alone. So, the newly-constructed braintrust needs to find him some help—and that search could start on the open market.
Here are the top 12 free-agent wide receivers for the 2024 offseason:
One free agent each NFL team (including the #Bills) should want to sign in 2024:
We’re less than a month away from the start of NFL free agency, which begins at 4 p.m. ET on March 13. But the legal tampering window opens two days before that on March 11 at 12 p.m. ET, where teams will be able to negotiate with free agents before the official start of the new league year.
The 2024 salary cap hasn’t been set yet, but it’s expected to land north of $240 million, according to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport and Tom Pelissero. A number of NFL teams have some work to do over the next month when it comes to building their 2024 rosters.
Our NFL Wire editors identified one pending free agent (at the time of publication) that each team should sign to help improve their roster. And it seems like Chris Jones, Tee Higgins, Brian Burns and Danielle Hunter will be in high demand:
As the Browns look to improve their roster this offseason, here is one free agent from every team they could target
As the NFL season has concluded, the Cleveland Browns will once again look to retool an already talented roster in free agency and the 2024 NFL draft.
However, not every free agent is a realistic possibility for the Browns to land. Tee Higgins, wide receiver for the Cincinnati Bengals is a key example of this. The Bengals were never going to let him flat-out walk this offseason, nor were they ever going to trade him within the AFC North in a franchise tag-and-trade situation.
The Browns will likely need a wide receiver in free agency, but there are more realistic options. With needs at running back, offensive tackle depth, defensive tackle, and some other minor spots, they could use free agency to find key players on a budget. Last year, they signed defensive end Ogbo Okoronkwo to a deal worth just over $6 million per year and landed defensive tackle Maurice Hurst on a veteran minimum deal.
These are far more realistic, even if the Browns do take a big swing or two as well like they are expected to.
Here is one realistic free agent from every team the Browns could target when the new league year begins next month.
Note: all contract estimations come from Over the Cap.
Trevor Lawrence is hopeful he’ll have the chance to keep building his connection with Calvin Ridley.
In Calvin Ridley’s first season with the Jacksonville Jaguars, he caught 76 passes for 1,016 yards and eight touchdowns. That’s an impressive stat line until you consider that he was targeted 136 times, credited with a team-leading seven drops by PFF, and finished nine games with 40 receiving yards or fewer.
So now what?
Ridley is set to become a free agent next month and, while both the receiver and general manager Trent Baalke have expressed interest in a new contract in Jacksonville, the decision isn’t an easy one.
Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence is hopeful the team will find a way to keep Ridley, though.
“We’ve built a good relationship over the past year,” Lawrence told USA Today’s Tony Anderson last week. “We took some big strides this year and I know another year playing together, it’s only going to get better. And you got to think about it too, he’s been out for two years; this was his first year back and I thought he did some really great things. He got better every game as the season went on. Our chemistry grew.
“So many good things to build on. Just to know that we can be a lot better too is encouraging. I’m hoping that we can get him back and just keep building on what we were able to start this year.”
The Jaguars owe the Atlanta Falcons a 2024 third-round pick, at minimum, as part of the 2022 trade to acquire Ridley. If Jacksonville re-signs the receiver before free agency begins on March 13, it’ll instead be a second-rounder headed to Atlanta.
That complicates an already tricky situation for the Jaguars to navigate with pass rusher Josh Allen likely to receive the franchise tag, removing another avenue to keep Ridley.
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The speedy wide receiver could help open up the Browns offense in 2024
The wide receiver room in Cleveland was much improved in 2023 but there is still work to be done before the 2024 season. The team added Elijah Moore and Marquise Goodwin to help stretch the field vertically and due to injuries and inconsistent play things didn’t work out the way they planned.
The Browns have got to get more vertical in 2024 if they want to make a deep playoff run and signing Calvin Ridley could help solve these issues in free agency. Ridley has the elite-level speed the team needs and has lacked as a guy who runs in the low 4.4s. Ridley had his second 1,000-yard season this past year with the Jaguars after missing the previous season due to a suspension for gambling.
Just like in years past the Browns offense seemed to be in the redzone all the time but Ridley had an average depth of target of 13.9 yards last year. In other words Ridley attacks and wins deeper down the field as compared to other wide receivers and that’s exactly what the doctor ordered for Cleveland.
Ridley is one of the most explosive wide receivers off the line of scrimmage that can attack opposing defenses at every single level. He can win the lineup both in the slot and out wide though he does most of his damage on the outside.
Andrew Berry will have to work some magic as Ridley is expected to demand over $10 million in free agency. The team was reportedly interested in trading for Ridley before his suspension in Atlanta and there isn’t any reason why they shouldn’t still be. Pairing him with Amari Cooper and David Njoku could create one of the league’s best pass-catching groups.
#Jaguars Completed/ Intended Air Yards:
Calvin Ridley- 807/ 1923
Christian Kirk- 526/ 896
Zay Jones- 249/ 854
Evan Engram- 427/ 732
pic.twitter.com/4D8tO8GGUw— Daniel Griffis (@DanDGriffis) February 6, 2024
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Each team’s leader in receiving yards from 2023
Look, we know the Carolina Panthers had a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad year—particularly on offense. But fair is fair, and we already gave you passing and rushing leaders.
So, let’s finish it out and run through each team’s leader in receiving yards from the 2023 regular season.
The Colts should target these WRs in free agency.
The Indianapolis Colts are looking to be more explosive on offense in 2024 and one way to make that happen is with an addition to the receiving corps.
The first matter of business, of course, is the Michael Pittman Jr. contract extension. Chris Ballard will have to either come to an agreement with him by March 5 or use the franchise tag on him.
Odds say that MPJ will be a Colt next season but regardless of whether he walks or stays in Indianapolis, we’re taking a look at 10 receivers who should be on the front office’s radar in free agency.
We should note that we understand a handful of these players won’t even hit the market, but we’re working under the hypothetical scenario that they hit they become available, regardless of how slim the chances are.
The Jaguars didn’t end up in the playoffs like they hoped, but they still made several impressive plays en route to a winning record.
The Jacksonville Jaguars didn’t end up in the playoffs as fans hoped and most expected.
Instead of defending their AFC South title from the season prior, the team lost five of its last six to stumble to a 9-8 finish. That wasn’t enough to beat out the Houston Texans for the division crown and didn’t earn them a wild card berth either.
While the ho-hum ending to the year left a sour taste, Jacksonville’s talented roster still turned out a few impressive plays en route to a winning record in the 2023 season.
Here are the Jaguars’ top 15 plays of the season:
Trent Baalke’s season-ending press conference had some revealing moments.
Jacksonville Jaguars general manager Trent Baalke took his time to hold it, but he finally addressed media Thursday for a season-wrap press conference.
It came 17 days after Jaguars head coach Doug Pederson held his season-ending presser one day after the team’s 2023 campaign ended on a sour note with a Week 18 loss against the Tennessee Titans.
While Baalke’s talk with reporters didn’t come until the end of January, the Jaguars executive spent more than a half hour answering questions about what went wrong for the team, what it needs to do to make things right, and the tough decisions it has to make in the coming weeks.
Here are five takeaways about the most interesting things Baalke had to say Thursday at his presser:
Could LSU wide receiver Brian Thomas Jr. be the tall deep threat the Jaguars are missing?
With the 2024 NFL draft about three weeks away, the Jaguars need to prepare for one of its biggest question marks of the offseason.
Depending on what happens with wide receiver Calvin Ridley, Jacksonville could be on the search for a new weapon for quarterback Trevor Lawrence. The Jaguars could either re-sign Ridley, go after a free agent pass catcher, or draft Ridley’s successor. The team may even go down two of those three routes.
If they opt to add a receiver via the draft, LSU wide receiver Brian Thomas Jr. will be among the top options for the team in the first round:
