Grading the Saints’ signing of former 49ers DE Chase Young

We know the contract terms and 2024 salary cap hit. So how do you grade the Saints’ signing of Chase Young? Here’s our take:

It took a while for all the details to come to light, but now we know the structure, risks, and true costs of Chase Young’s contract with the New Orleans Saints. So now the fun part: evaluating it with a simple letter grade.

This is complicated, so stay with us. Young signed a one-year contract carrying $13 million in guarantees, and so long as he’s active and healthy for all 17 games, he’ll see every dollar. But his salary cap hit in 2024 is just over $3.4 million. How did the Saints do that? Why not pay it off all at once?

Young’s contract is structured to include $7.99 million in 17 per-game roster bonuses, of which 16 are treated as a signing bonus for accounting purposes. So they’re guaranteed now and spread out over the next five years to more easily fit on the books. The Saints will get a $470,000 cap credit next year for any games that Young misses in 2024.

So if this is a one-and-done deal the Saints will be paying $3.4 million for Young in 2024 and as much as $9.1 million in 2025 as dead money. If Young misses extensive time that 2025 dead money figure goes down significantly. It’s about as team-friendly a deal as it gets while also making concessions for the player. Young has a lot of incentive to recover quickly from offseason neck surgery and get back on the field in time for Week 1.

But Young is worth the risks. When he’s healthy, engaged, and firing on all cylinders he looks like the best pass rusher in the NFL. The Saints are hoping to get that version of him more than what the San Francisco 49ers saw after trading for Young last year: a slow-footed player who shied away from contact, and who they allowed to leave in free agency without a fight.

Grade: B

So with all this in mind, we’re grading this move with a B. Young looks like a good pickup, not a great one, and his availability is our greatest concern. It’s reassuring that the Saints protected themselves financially but fans have seen too many talented defensive ends go missing for weeks on end because of injuries in recent years. Hopefully Young can end that streak rather than continue it.

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Grading the Bucs’ 2024 free agent moves

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers entered the 2024 offseason with a number of potential roster holes to fill. Rather than take their chances on the open market, the Bucs focused on retaining their own players, many of whom where among the best at the …

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers entered the 2024 offseason with a number of potential roster holes to fill. Rather than take their chances on the open market, the Bucs focused on retaining their own players, many of whom where among the best at the position among this year’s free agent crop.

With a little more cap space this year than last now that Tom Brady’s contract is off the books, the Bucs are having to do a little less kicking the can down the road and, after securing key starters, are already adding depth pieces along the roster.

Here are the grades for the Bucs’ free agent moves so far in the 2024 offseason:

The biggest move of the Bucs’ offseason so far was retaining future Hall-of-Fame wide receiver Mike Evans. Tampa Bay signed Evans to a two-year, $41 million deal with $29 million fully guaranteed. Evans was one of the best wide receivers heading into free agency, a fact that neither escaped the Bucs or forced them to pay too high a price. Keeping Evans also likely played a major role in the Bucs’ ability to retain Baker Mayfield as well.

Grade: A

The franchise tag is little more than a placeholder for the Bucs’ best defensive player in 2023. A deal will get done, and Winfield Jr. will likely see a higher average annual salary than the $17.1 million he would make on the tag. Either way, Tampa Bay will have one of the best safeties in the NFL on its roster in 2024.

Grade: B+

Mayfield returns to Tampa Bay on a team-friendly three-year, $100 million contract that contains potential exits in the second and third year. Averaging $33 million per year, Mayfield got more than Seattle QB Geno Smith but fell under Giants QB Daniel Jones’ bloated $162 million deal. Mayfield is an above average to average NFL quarterback, which his paycheck now reflects. In exchange, the Bucs maintain continuity under center and remain a playoff contender.

Grade: A-

The Bucs locked up one of the best kickers in the NFL on a modest three-year, $12.8 million deal. Last year, McLaughlin was top-10 in field goal conversion rate and was one of eight kickers who were perfect on extra points. Yet, he only has the 13th-highest average annual contract value among all kickers. Tampa Bay can put fears of its kicking woes returning for the foreseeable future.

Grade: A

Gaines was a useful rotational defensive lineman for the Bucs last season, playing 42% of Tampa Bay’s defensive snaps. He is not a game-changer, but Gaines’ one-year, $5.4 million deal hardly pays him to be one. He provides solid depth in the trenches and a veteran presence on a young defense.

Grade: C+

Trading cornerback Carlton Davis III as well as two sixth-round picks to the Detroit Lions for a 2024 third-rounder was undoubtedly the biggest surprise of free agency in Tampa Bay. Davis has been the Bucs’ best cornerback since he was drafted in 2018 despite struggling with injuries throughout his NFL career. Those injuries and his 2024 cap hit apparently drove the Bucs to dealing Davis. Getting a pick just one round removed from Davis’ original draft position softens the blow, but questions remain regarding the future of Tampa Bay’s cornerback group.

Grade: B

The Bucs’ longest-tenured player returns to the team on a one-year deal worth up to $10 million. Even at 34 years-old, David is one of the best linebackers in the NFL. His price tag is a bit higher than last year, but the Bucs also have more money to spend. David is the leader of Tampa Bay’s defense and a pillar of the organization. There was no other move to make.

Grade: B

The Bucs’ first external free agent signing is not all that unfamiliar. A fourth-round draft pick for Tampa Bay in 2018, Whitehead returns after two years with the Jets on a two-year, $9 million contract. He is a marked upgrade from Ryan Neal and should drastically improve the Bucs’ run defense.

Grade: B+

Trading Carlton Davis III left a hole at cornerback, and though the Bucs will likely look to Zyon McCollum to step up, adding former Jets CB Bryce Hall on a one-year deal gives them flexibility. Hall has starting experience and the size that the Bucs prefer at cornerback.

Grade: B-

The Bucs added former Giants guard Ben Bredeson on a one-year deal worth up to $3.5 million. It’s a potential starter deal but likely is more of an insurance policy for Tampa Bay’s draft results. Bredeson started 24 games for New York over the past two seasons but was by no means a difference-maker.

Grade: C-

Opeta is another depth signing with a potential to start. Joining the Bucs on a one-year deal, Opeta started six games at guard for Philadelphia last season. He will do in a pinch but, like Bredenson, is not a long-term answer for Tampa Bay’s offensive line.

Trent McDuffie earned fourth-best PFF grade among CBs in 2023

#Chiefs star Trent McDuffie earned the fourth-best PFF grade among all cornerbacks in 2023.

Trent McDuffie’s rise to dominance was a welcome sign for Kansas City Chiefs fans in 2023, and his contributions are sure to be integral in his team’s effort to complete a Super Bowl three-peat next season.

While McDuffie’s outstanding play last year was a sight to behold, it can be difficult for fans to contextualize just how dominant he was, especially given that he didn’t manage to snag an interception during the Chiefs’ 2023 campaign.

Pro Football Focus player grades are handy for this application and serve as an easily digestible way for fans to wrap their heads around the performances of their favorite stars.

McDuffie earned an 85.8 PFF grade for his efforts last season, which ranked as the fourth-best mark of any player at the cornerback position.

Though he may not have graded out as the best cornerback in the NFL, his stellar play spoke for itself, and McDuffie seems primed to continue developing with the Chiefs next season as Kansas City chases its fourth ring of the Patrick Mahomes era.

NFL analyst says Saints’ 2023 draft class made a poor first impression

This NFL analyst graded the New Orleans Saints’ 2023 draft class a C+, saying that they made a poor first impression:

Looking back on it now, the biggest critique of the 2023 New Orleans Saints draft class was overall inactivity. Defensive tackle Bryan Bresee was the only draftee you can point to who played significant time, so it’s not difficult to see why NFL.com’s Eric Edholm gave the draft class a C+ grade. Jordan Howden also filled in at safety due to injuries, but he spent half of the season only coming in for specific packages. It’s just difficult to grade a class high when most of the players didn’t see the field often.

Defensive end Isaiah Foskey, offensive lineman Nick Saldiveri and quarterback Jake Haener were absolute non-factors in 2023. Haener was a third-string quarterback, as expected, so there’s no problem there. Foskey and Saldiveri, however, were disappointments this year. The Saints’ pass rush struggled so badly that defensive end is still looked at as a priority to many this offseason. Despite that, Foskey barely saw the field. The health of the offensive line was depleted, but there was still no Saldiveri, who ended the year with his own injury.

The grade is fair but still tough to swallow. New Orleans’ rookie draft class was disappointing in their debut season, but that doesn’t mean they can’t improve. Howden, wide receiver A.T. Perry and running back Kendre Miller all flashed the potential to be quality players with more snaps. Time will tell if Foskey or Saldiveri make an impact, but it feels as if they’ll be pushed down the depth chart this offseason. The only sure thing the Saints have from their draft class is Bresee. Hopefully he can continue to dodge the injury bug that trailed him in college and make plays for the defensive line.

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Grading Patriots’ 2024 coaching staff hires

Handing out grades to the Patriots’ coaching staff hires.

The New England Patriots have filled their four major coaching roles with head coach Jerod Mayo, offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt, defensive coordinator DeMarcus Covington and special teams coordinator Jeremy Springer.

There will always be skeptics refusing to let go of the old way of doing things and making room for the possibility of improvement with the new guard in place. Change clearly needed to happen for a Patriots team coming off a 4-13 season and finishing dead last in the AFC East.

No one knows what will come of the new coaching staff. This could be a case of the Patriots knocking it out of the park and creating a staff that leads the team back to prominence, or they might have doomed the team to even further irrelevance with the recent hirings.

Today, we’re passing out grades for the Patriots’ primary coaching hires for the 2024 season:

CBS Sports gives the Commanders a ‘D+’ for Dan Quinn hire

Yet, those inside the NFL — coaches, executives, players and former players — praised the hire.

The final grades are in. All eight NFL head coaching vacancies were filled after the Washington Commanders hired former Dallas Cowboys defensive coordinator Dan Quinn on Thursday.

Who received the highest grade? CBS Sports’ Cody Benjamin graded all eight hires. Like everyone, Benjamin was a big fan of the Chargers’ hiring Jim Harbaugh and gave them an “A” for the move.

However, Benjamin wasn’t a big fan of Washington hiring Quinn, giving them a “D+.”

Here are Benjamin’s thoughts:

Washington was right to part ways with Ron Rivera after four tough but ultimately middling seasons, but to go from one aging defensively minded retread to another is curious considering how forward-thinking the organization appeared to be, welcoming both new ownership and front-office leadership. Quinn oversaw an opportunistic “D” with the Cowboys, no doubt, and he’s approached the mountaintop before, taking the Falcons to the Super Bowl in 2016. He also went just 18-23 with zero playoff bids after that. Perhaps his experience will help ground a rebuilding team, but this hardly registers as an inspiring, innovative move.

Hey, at least it was a “D+” and not a “D.”

Here’s an interesting thought: Executives, coaches, players and former players around the NFL weighed in on Quinn’s hiring and loved the move for both sides. Quinn is much more respected than some realize. Is it recency bias due to Dallas’ blowout loss to Green Bay in the NFC wild-card round? Or is it because Washington hired him?

Also, Benjamin gave the Falcons a “B” for hiring Raheem Morris. Why the disparity? Quinn’s defenses in each of the past three seasons finished in the top five of defensive DVOA, per FTN. Morris, also hired in 2021 as the Rams’ defensive coordinator, oversaw units that finished third, 18th and 22nd in defensive DVOA during the same period.

Quinn is often called a retread. Morris is a retread, too, if we go by those terms. Quinn’s record in five-plus seasons as Atlanta’s head coach was 43-42. He also took his team to the Super Bowl. Morris was Tampa Bay’s head coach for three seasons and also had a stint as Atlanta’s interim coach in 2020 — replacing Quinn — and has a 21-38 record. Both have won Super Bowls as a defensive coordinator.

Morris deserved another opportunity. So did Quinn.

So, what’s the bias? There’s clearly a bias.

Grading every rookie from the Saints 2023 draft class

Grading every rookie from the New Orleans Saints 2023 NFL draft class: How did Bryan Bresee, Kendre Miller, Blake Grupe stack up?

The New Orleans Saints are going to be relying on their young players heavily as other parts of the roster begin to show their age, but how did each of their rookies from the 2023 NFL draft class grade out? Who is off to a good start, and who needs to make up for lost time?

Here’s how we evaluated each Saints rookie now that the 2023 season is behind them:

Trent McDuffie is the highest-graded CB left in playoffs, per PFF

According to Pro Football Focus, #Chiefs star Trent McDuffie is the highest-graded cornerback remaining in the NFL playoffs.

The Kansas City Chiefs will have a huge advantage against the Buffalo Bills this weekend with cornerbacks Trent McDuffie and L’Jarius Sneed in their defensive secondary.

While Sneed has turned heads this season with his lockdown coverage against opposing receivers, Pro Football Focus highlighted McDuffie’s accomplishments on Friday, pointing out that the second-year defender is their highest-graded cornerback among remaining playoff teams.

McDuffie’s excellence in 2023 earned him first-team All-Pro honors, and his outstanding ability to keep opponents in check should serve Kansas City well in the Divisional round of the AFC playoffs.

PFF grades may not be infallible, but the prestige of having a top-rated player at a premium position shouldn’t be discounted. The Chiefs will have their hands full against Buffalo’s high-octane offense, but with Sneed McDuffie in the defensive backfield, Bills quarterback Josh Allen will have to make a serious effort to keep his team ahead of the sticks on passing downs.

Florida football earns failing grade from USA TODAY Sports for 2023

If the Gators were taking a course at UF they would have had a failing grade for the 2023 season.

The 2023 season was a disappointing one for Florida football, finishing under .500 for the third straight year while failing to earn a bowl bid for the first time since 2017.

Sure, expectations were tempered coming into the fall given the brutal schedule Billy Napier and Co. had, but the Gator Nation was not prepared for some of the blunders witnessed on the field. That team could have been 7-5 in the regular season — or even better — if not for some key mistakes and overall bad mojo.

Nonetheless, results are results and the product Florida put out on the field was simply insufficient to keep up with the modern game — especially in the Southeastern Conference. As such, USA TODAY Sports’ Paul Myerberg gave the Gators the lowest mark in his final letter grades for all 133 college football teams: a D-minus.

Florida was the only team in its tier with more than three wins.

The grades were assigned on a relative curve based on preseason expectations weighed against in-season performance, with attention to special circumstances such as injuries or marquee wins. With that in mind, it is pretty easy to see how the Orange and Blue fell to the bottom of this list.

The next-lowest SEC school was the Texas A&M Aggies, who received a D grade after their immensely disappointing 7-6 campaign in 2023.

Follow us @GatorsWire on Twitter and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Florida Gators news, notes and opinions.

Chiefs DL Malik Herring led Kansas City in PFF grade vs. Chargers

#Chiefs DL Malik Herring earned Kansas City’s best PFF grade for his performance against the Chargers in Week 18.

The Kansas City Chiefs’ remarkable win over the Los Angeles Chargers in Week 18 presented an opportunity for many of the team’s lesser-known players to get meaningful snaps against a bitter divisional rival.

Kansas City elected to rest many of its starters for the game after cementing their spot as the No. 3 seed in the AFC playoffs in Week 17. One defensive lineman, Malik Herring, made the most of his chance to see the field against Los Angeles.

He was given an 84.8 grade from Pro Football Focus for his effort against the Chargers, which was the best mark of any Chiefs player in the win.

While Herring is unlikely to see significant action in the playoffs, his stellar performance in Week 18 may make him a candidate to get more playing time next season.

It isn’t often that a relatively unknown player leads a championship-caliber roster in any category, so Herring’s accomplishment against Los Angeles shouldn’t go unnoticed by fans or his coaches.