Tag: nfl free agency 2021

Grading CB Troy Hill’s deal with the Browns: A

The Browns are improving their secondary by poaching ex-Rams defensive backs, and it’s working out well.

The Browns have done a lot to improve their secondary this week by poaching former Rams defenders. First, they signed safety John Johnson III to a three-year, $33.75 million deal with $24 million guaranteed, and now, they’ve signed cornerback Troy Hill to a four-year, $24 million contract. Hill adds to a cornerback group with Denzel Ward — one of the best players in the league at his position — and Greedy Williams, who’s dealing with nerve damage in his shoulder. If Hill is aligned in the slot in Cleveland’s defense, that’s a good thing. Last season, per Pro Football Focus, Hill allowed 41 catches on 55 targets for 373 yards, 181 yards after the catch, one touchdown, three interceptions, and an opponent passer rating of 75.8.

He’s also a fine addition to a defense that played some sort of zone coverage on 453 of 584 pass coverage snaps.

Hill has been one of the NFL’s better zone cornerbacks over the last two seasons, and he was especially effective in that role under defensive coordinator Brandon Staley in 2020. I had Hill as my eighth-best zone cornerback for the 2019 season after he allowed just seven receptions on 20 targets for 118 yards, no touchdowns, one interception, and a Positive Play Rate of 35% — the fifth-best rate in the NFL for cornerbacks targeted 20 or more times. That was under Wade Philips in a system where the Rams played zone on 57% of their defensive snaps. Under Staley, the Rams played some sort of zone coverage on 66% of their pass defense snaps, so Hill’s increased effectiveness was a boon.

Last season, Hill gave up 27 receptions on 47 zone targets for 307 yards, no touchdowns, three interceptions, a league-high 119 interception return yards and two touchdowns, and a Positive Play Rate of 48.9. More volume, but more interceptions, and more big plays the other way.

This interception and 35-yard touchdown return in Week 13 against the Cardinals has Hill jumping a Kyler Murray pass to Andy Isabella, and Hill’s awareness is a hallmark of his play as usual.

Hill was less effective in man coverage last season, allowing 12 receptions on 19 targets for 160 yards, two touchdowns, and no interceptions, but he’s an excellent fit for a Browns defense that is improving in all the right places.

The Touchdown Wire Free Agency Podcast with Doug Farrar and Mark Schofield

Doug Farrar and Mark Schofield break down free agency so far, and go over Mark’s post-free agency mock draft.

NFL free agency is underway in the 2021 league year, transactions are going fast and furious, and yet, there are still a ton of talented players left on the open market. It’s time for Touchdown Wire’s Doug Farrar and Mark Schofield to break it all down! Among the topics discussed:

Mark’s new post-free agency mock draft, which we dropped in the middle of free agency;

The 49ers’ Jimmy Garoppolo problem;

The best and worst free agency signings so far; and…

The best free agents still left on the open market.

There’s a lot to cover, so let’s get rolling!

Listen to the podcast on BlogTalkRadio:

And watch it on YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XkNmS5mwU2A

 

Grading RB Jamaal Williams’ deal with the Lions: A+

The Lions have had running back issues for years, but they’re starting to figure that out with D’Andre Swift and Jamaal Williams.

The Detroit Lions have struggled to find consistent production from their running backs since Barry Sanders retired after the 1998 season, which is why they selected Georgia back D’Andre Swift with the 35th overall pick in the 2020 draft. Swift had a valuable rookie season as a runner and as a receiver, scoring 10 touchdowns and amassing 878 total yards. But Adrian Peterson led the team with 156 carries and 604 rushing yards, which clearly points to the need for a younger “thunder” back to Swift’s “lightning.”

The Lions did just that when they agreed to terms with former Packers running back Jamaal Williams, who gained 1.985 yards on the ground and scored 10 rushing touchdowns on 500 carries over four seasons as Aaron Jones’ primary rotational buddy. He also caught 35 passes on 39 targets for 258 yards and two touchdowns.

Williams will be in another backfield with a similarly versatile option in Swift; the question is whether Williams can be the bellwether back the Lions need in crucial power situations. Detroit is taking a lowball risk on just that, as Williams will sign a two-year, $7.5 million deal when the new league year turns over on Wednesday at 4:00 p.m. ET.

Last season, on just 138 total attempts, Williams gained 593 yards and scored two rushing touchdowns. But when you peel it back past the basic stats, a more interesting picture emerges. Per Pro Football Focus, Williams had 13 runs of 10 or more yards, four runs of 15 or more yards, was responsible for 36 first downs, gained 375 yards after contact, and forced 16 missed tackles.

This 13-yard touchdown run against the Bears in Week 13 shows Williams’ overall style. Green Bay is up 34-10, and Chicago is in Cover-0 (no deep safeties) because they know the run is coming. Williams blasts through the open gap and makes things very difficult for the Bears’ second-level defenders.

Williams isn’t a superstar, but he’s proven to be a valuable cog in a multi-dimensional run game, and he’ll do so in Detroit as a fairly major bargain.

 

Grading Trent Williams’ re-signing with the 49ers: A

The 49ers’ made a serious commitment to left tackle Trent Williams, making him the highest-paid offensive lineman in NFL history.

Last season, 49ers left tackle Trent Williams allowed four sacks, four quarterback hurries, and 11 quarterback hits in 562 pass-blocking snaps. All four of those sacks allowed happened by Week 5, and Williams allowed just 10 total pressures from Week 6 through the end of the season. This in an offense in which starter Jimmy Garoppolo missed 10 games due to injury and was replaced primarily by Nick Mullens.

It made sense that Williams might need a few games to shed the rust; he had missed the entire 2019 season due to the discovery of a cancerous growth on his head which was diagnosed as dermatofibrosarcoma protuberans. Williams had issues with the then-Redskins’ medical staff, which led to larger issues with the team, and the former fourth overall pick in the 2010 draft was traded to San Francisco in April, 2020.

The 49ers were dealing with the retirement of Joe Staley, and Williams fit perfectly in Staley’s old spot. And now, the 49ers have rewarded Williams with a historic contract. Per ESPN’s Dianna Russini, Williams and the 49ers have agreed to terms on a new six-year, $138 million contract with $55.1 million guaranteed, making him the highest-paid offensive lineman in NFL history. It’s not the largest guarantee — Baltimore’s Ronnie Stanley has $70 million in total guarantees in his current five-year, $98.75 million contract extension — but it’s a major commitment. And at age 32, Williams has proven worthy of it.

“Anytime someone misses, no matter what your age is, when you take a year, more than a year off football, you’re always concerned about that,” 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan said of Williams in his January season-ending press conference. “At least knowing the person helped me that’s for sure (Shanahan was Washington’s offensive coordinator from 2010-2013). Being able to talk to him helped. Hearing what he had to say, hearing how hungry he was helped. Knowing how talented he was and everything, when you hear the hunger, you hear his passion about getting back and getting in a different situation and then it was cool for me to talk to guys like [RB Jerick McKinnon] Jet, [receiver] Deebo [Samuel], guys who were working out with him down in Houston who were calling me, telling me about this guy they’re working out with and how talented he is and how ready to go is.

“I told them I already knew who he was, but that definitely helped because I hadn’t seen him in a while. So, when you hear all those things and you know the guy and you talk to him, I wasn’t worried at all about it because of the information we got. I was a little worried not having much of the time to get him back into football shape just with not having OTAs and the training camp and stuff, but that’s why I was glad he was able to stay healthy in training camp because that got him some of the reps he needed and stuff. I think that’s what got him ready for the year.”

Williams remains a master at his craft, with technique to win in any situation and against any type of pass rusher. This play against Markus Golden of the Arizona Cardinals, who received his own two-year deal to stay in the Valley of the Sun, is a prime example:

Williams (No. 71) flashes his hands early, baiting Golden into trying to counter the move. When the edge rusher does just that he exposes his chest, allowing the offensive tackle to pull his arms back and then counter by getting into Golden’s chest to control him. The defender tries to cut to the inside, and Williams uses his footwork to mirror the move and finish the play.

And on this Mullens 49-yard pass to rookie receiver Brandon Aiyuk in Week 13 against the Bills, watch how Williams gives rookie edge-rusher A.J. Epenesa an expensive lesson in how pass protection is performed at the NFL level. Williams keeps Epenesa out of the gate as he’s working back through the arc by extending his hands, and when Epenesa gets into Williams’ chest, the veteran simply uses his strength to stonewall the edge-rusher. By the end of the rep, Epenesa looks completely gassed. “Problem” solved.

We don’t let know who will be the 49ers’ quarterback in 2021 and beyond, but whoever it is, he won’t have to worry about his blind side.

Grading CB William Jackson III’s deal with the Washington Football Team: A+

The Washington Football Team nabbed cornerback William Jackson III, a CB1, for CB2 money. You can’t do much better than that.

Last season, under head coach Ron Rivera and defensive coordinator Jack Del Rio, the Washington Football Team ranked third overall in Football Outsiders’ Defensive DVOA metric, and second only to the Steelers against the pass. Cornerbacks Kendall Fuller, Ronald Darby, Fabian Moreau, and Jimmy Moreland allowed a total of nine touchdowns and seven interceptions, and with Darby off to the Broncos on a three-year, $30 million deal, it was time for reinforcements.

Instead of an average reinforcement, the Football Team agreed to terms with the best cornerback in the 2021 free agency class, and one of the five best man coverage cornerbacks in the NFL. Former Bengals defender William Jackson will become the Football Team’s newest cornerback when the league year turns over at 4:00 p.m. ET, and he could be the one guy to take Washington’s defense from No. 2 to No. 1. Per Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network, Washington nabs Jackson on a three-year, $42 million deal with $26 million guaranteed. That is CB2 money for a CB1, which is where the A+ grade comes in.

Last season in a Bengals defense that helped nobody from a schematic standpoint, Jackson allowed 36 receptions on 69 targets for 537 yards, 169 yards after the catch, three touchdowns, one interception, and an opponent passer rating of 86.4. But when Jackson is utilized in ways that best show his skill set, he’s a force to be reckoned with.

Last May, I ranked Jackson as the NFL’s ninth-best cornerback in man coverage, and here’s what I wrote about him back then:

Not much went right for Cincinnati’s bottom-feeding defense in 2019, but Jackson was a rare standout in a positive sense. Though he struggled with injuries in the second half of the season, An outstanding boundary cornerback who was negatively affected at times by some perplexing safety “help” looks, Jackson seemed more comfortable when he could just erase his target on his own. Last season, Jackson did allow one touchdown in man coverage (which the Bengals used on just 33% of their snaps), but aside from that, he gave up just 10 catches on 28 targets for 159 yards, and a Positive Play Rate of 32.1% — good for fourth-best in the league.

Well, at least Jackson was stalwart in this regard in 2020, though Cincinnati’s coverage was still a whole lot of sad trombone, as it has generally been under defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo. Unless you believe that going from 29th in pass defense DVOA in 2019 to 27th in 2020 is a Great Big Thing, which I do not.

In any event, Jackson was targeted 40 times in 227 man coverage snaps in 2020, allowing just 15 receptions for 187 yards, and a Positive Play Rate of 32.5%, which ranked fourth among cornerbacks with at least 25 targets in man coverage. Consistent? Admirably so at a position where you can quickly find yourself on the dark side pretty quickly. Jackson is also a pretty decent zone cornerback — he allowed 16 completions on 27 targets for 292 yards, two touchdowns, one interception, and a Positive Play Rate of  44.4%.

Jackson isn’t really a “bail-and-trail” boundary cornerback in the traditional sense — he’s more the guy you want pressed up against his receiver and following the route all the way though. Much better in man and match than spot-drop zone. If you play him off-coverage, you can wind up with things like this 50-yard completion from Deshaun Watson to Brandin Cooks against the Texans in Week 16.

(No, I’m not quite sure what the safety to Jackson’s side was doing here, either).

Here, from the same game, is how you want Jackson to operate: Matching receiver Chad Hansen step-for-step from the start of the route, and nearly coming up with the pick as he breaks off to the ball.

It’s not easy to find great man cornerbacks, and even more difficult to find man cornerbacks who have Jackson’s consistency from year to year. He will be highly paid for that reason alone, and don’t be surprised if the Football Team — who played man coverage on just 24% of their defensive snaps last season, but allowed an EPA per play of -0.26, third-best in the league — doesn’t avail itself of more Cover-0, Cover-1, and 2-Man in the 2021 season and beyond.

Grading CB Chidobe Awuzie’s deal with the Bengals: B

The Bengals keep signing average cornerbacks, while allowing their best cornerback to quite possibly walk right out the door.

Last season, the Bengals signed former Vikings cornerback Trae Waynes to a three-year, $42 million contract with $15 million guaranteed despite the fact that Waynes was one of the NFL’s worst cornerbacks in the league in 2019. We were not able to find out if Waynes was capable of a rebound year in Cincinnati, as he missed the entire season due to injury. Meanwhile, William Jackson, who is very much on the open market as I type this, retained his status as one of the NFL’s five best man cornerbacks in 2020.

So, as opposed to moving heaven and earth to lock Jackson up, the Bengals went out and agreed to terms with former Cowboys cornerback Chidobe Awuzie — a good player with above-average traits who hasn’t yet put it all together. Not that his situation helped his performance last season. The deal is for three years, $21,750 million in total, a $7,500,000 signing bonus, $7,500,000 guaranteed, and a 2021 cap hit of $4.05 million. So, CB2 money for a CB2 who could be better in a better system, not that the Bengals automatically present that.

There are times when a downgrade in performance can be attributed mostly to a player, and there are other times when you have to look at coaching and scheme. 2020 was Awuzie’s worst NFL season to date, but when you looked at the ways in which defensive coordinator Mike Nolan over-complicated Dallas’ coverage concepts and made them unilaterally worse, one tends not to blame Awuzie in this instance.

https://twitter.com/NFL_DougFarrar/status/1314706056874995715

Last season, Awuzie allowed 25 receptions on 38 targets for 396 yards, 145 yards after the catch, four touchdowns, one interception, and an opponent passer rating of 124.5 in an injury- and COVID-shortened season. But he’s a good player who can match and jump routes, and he deserves to be in a defense that isn’t blowing itself apart with alarming regularity. Sadly, the Bengals’ defense under Lou Anarumo has been just such a defense over the last two seasons. And if the Bengals let Jackson walk, thinking that Chidobe Awuzie is the replacement answer, the grade on this deal goes from B to something far less appealing.

Grading WR Marvin Jones’ deal with the Jaguars: A+

Receiver Marvin Jones isn’t a big name, but he’s shown big potential, and he should put up bigger numbers with the Jaguars.

Last season, the Jaguars finished 1-15, and their receiver corps was certainly part of the problem — targets with potential, but not a great deal of production. DJ Chark and Laviska Shenault Jr. are talents on the rise. But if the Jaguars are to present the most hospitable possible environment for Trevor Lawrence, they’ll need better.

The Jaguars got better at the position on the cheap on Tuesday when they agreed to terms with former Bengals and Lions receiver Marvin Jones. Jones will get $14.5 million with $9.2 million guaranteed over the next two years, and that’s a great deal for a guy who, in 2020, would have led the Jaguars in targets by 22 (115 to Chark’s 93), in receptions by 18 (76 to Shenault’s 58), and in touchdowns by four (nine to the five posted by Chark, Shenault, and Keelan Cole).

Jones has never been a WR1 in number — he has just one 1,000-yard season in his career — 2017 with the Lions, the same year he led the league in yards per reception at 18.0. The deep catch has always been a key component of Jones’ skill set. In 2020, he led the Lions with 11 catches of 20 or more air yards on 27 targets for 301 yards and three touchdowns. Pairing him with Chark in that regard gives Lawrence two vertical targets, and rounds out the Jacksonville receiver group quite nicely — for a relative pittance for a player of Jones’ abilities.

Grading CB Shaquill Griffin’s deal with the Jaguars: B-

The Jaguars continue to overhaul a terrible 2020 secondary with the addition of ex-Seahawks CB Shaquill Griffin. Was it the right move?

In 2020, Jacksonville’s cornerbacks combined to allow (gulp) 19 touchdowns, and that group picked off just three passes. Sub-optimal, to be sure. That entire Jaguars secondary was a disaster, which is why the team already pulled the trigger on Rayshawn Jenkins, the underrated former Chargers deep safety, and it’s also why they’ve agreed to terms with ex-Seahawks cornerback Shaquill Griffin.

Per Michael-Shawn Dugar of The Athletic, it’s a three-year deal worth up to $45 million with $29 million guaranteed. The guaranteed money puts Griffin in the Marcus Peters/Darius Slay/Denzel Ward region (it’s actually somewhat similar to Peters’ current three-year, $42 million deal with $31,468,118 guaranteed), and though Griffin has been a good player, he hasn’t been quite that. 

There was some thought that when the Seahawks selected Griffin in the third round of the 2017 draft out of Central Florida, he had all the tools to extend Seattle’s Legion of Boom defense as the first instigators started finding other homes or retiring. It didn’t quite work out that way; Griffin has generally been a solid cornerback with good technique and instincts who falls just short in the elite eraser sweepstakes. He did have three interceptions in 2020, and showed off a lot of the things that will have teams believing in him as a CB2 in 2021 and beyond….

And this deflection of a Matt Ryan pass to tight end Hayden Hurst against the Falcons in Week 1 is as acrobatic as any coverage play I saw all season.

The problem isn’t what Griffin does well, there’s enough of that to impress. The problem is that Griffin doesn’t have that extra closing click that sets the best cornerbacks apart. He’s a step slow at the end of routes to move in and take the ball in coverage, and he’s more vulnerable to the big play than you’d like — set the three picks aside, and Griffin also allowed 46 completions on 76 yards for 575 yards and five touchdowns, and an opposing QBR of 89.53.

Does that put Griffin in CB2 range? Certainly. Where is his best fit? Well, four of his touchdowns allowed and all three of his interceptions came in zone coverage last season, so it’s a bit of a mixed bag. But the defensive coach(es) who can teach Griffin to be more aggressive to the ball might have a top-10 cornerback on their hands. That is now the job of Jaguars defensive coordinator Joe Cullen, and secondary coaches Chris Ash and Joe Danna.

Grading EDGE Leonard Floyd’s re-signing with the Rams: B

The Rams won their bet on Leonard Floyd in 2020, and stacked the chips in 2021. Was that the right move for the former Bears bust?

Before the Rams re-signed pass-rusher Leonard Floyd to a four-year, $64 million contract on Monday, the Giants were reportedly all in. But it was the Rams that took a one-year gamble on Floyd before the 2020 season, and it was the Rams who were able to retain him. Floyd’s $16 million per year puts him just below Arizona’s Chandler Jones, and just above the deal Bud Dupree is getting from the Titans. So, it’s some pretty heavy money in theory.

One reason Brandon Staley landed the job as the Chargers’ head coach after just one season as the Rams’ defensive coordinator was a clear ability to take players and put them in positions to have their best seasons to date. That was certainly true for cornerback Darious Williams (who’s now one of the more underrated cornerbacks in the NFL), and it was also true for Floyd, who signed a one-year, $10 million contract with the Rams in 2020 after four decent seasons with the Bears. In Staley’s defense, Floyd posted career highs in sacks (10.5), quarterback hurries (34), and stops (31), and the stops are instructive. Out of nowhere, Floyd proved to be not only an excellent edge-rusher, but also a highly underrated run-stopper for the Rams.

Floyd had four stops in Week 6 against the 49ers, and this six-yard Deebo Samuel loss was a perfect example of how Floyd can use his speed, quickness off the snap, and grit (not to mention a towel Samuel should keep tucked in!) to limit one of the NFL’s most complex and effective run games.

But when you’re an edge-rusher, you’re paid for sacks and pressures, and Floyd was especially effective against Russell Wilson. This sack at the start of the second quarter in the wild-card round against the Seahawks, in which Floyd just demolished right tackle Brandon Shell, is but one example.

It took a little extra time for the light to come on for Leonard Floyd, but it certainly did in 2020, and the Rams clearly saw it. There might be a “one-year wonder” element given Floyd’s career arc and Staley’s absence, but it’s also possible that Floyd just needed the right home for his talents. But if not, it’s a lot of money to find out.

Grading EDGE Trey Hendrickson’s deal with the Bengals: B-

The Bengals let Carl Lawson walk to the Jets and agreed to terms with a lesser edge-rusher in Trey Hendrickson. Not ideal.

The Bengals had the NFL’s fewest sacks (17), the second-fewest pressures (111) ahead of only the Lions (105), and the NFL’s third-lowest pressure rate (19.0%), behind only the Lions and Titans. To try and alleviate these issues, Cincinnati agreed to terms with former Saints edge-rusher Trey Hendrickson on a four-year, $60 million deal worth $32 million in the first two years, per Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network.

Selected in the third round of the 2017 draft out of Florida Atlantic, Hendrickson amassed a total of 6.5 sacks in his first three NFL seasons, and didn’t start a game until Week 11 of the 2019 campaign. Then 2020 got going, and all hell broke loose. Hendrickson had 13.5 sacks, 11 quarterback hits, and 25 quarterback hurries, along with 23 stops.

Extremely fast through and to the pocket, Hendrickson put on perhaps his best performances of the season against both Super Bowl teams: The Buccaneers in Week 9, and the Chiefs in Week 15. He had two sacks in each game and a total of 13 pressures.On this sack of Tom Brady, Hendrickson times the snap perfectly, and puts on a serious speed-to-power clinic against Bucs left tackle Donovan Smith…

…and on this sack of Mahomes, Hendrickson comes off the snap so quickly from a wide alignment, left tackle Eric Fisher can’t catch him even though Fisher takes an especially deep pass set. Bonus points for the forced fumble.
Primarily a right end in New Orleans’ defense last season, Hendrickson became a serious player at exactly the right time in a contractual sense.
However… Hendrickson is great at what he does, but he doesn’t provide a ton of scheme or gap versatility — per Pro Football Focus, he played just 17 snaps inside the tackles last season, and if you don’t have a system in which he can eat all day as a speed-rusher, his overall impact could be severely negated. He’s not a one-year wonder as his sack totals might suggest — he had 30 pressures in 2019 to his 50 pressures in 2020 — but when you sign Hendrickson, you’d better be well aware of what he can and can’t do. It could easily be argued that Cincinnati had a better overall edge-rusher in Carl Lawson, and let him go to the Jets for similar money (three years, $45 million).