MichiganCardinal

The one I saw was from the unverified "NFL Free Agency Rumors" account on Twitter, with like 400 followers. Those ones typically throw shit at the wall and hope something sticks and they can run with it as "see my 'sources' had it first!" for more followers

Taylor Heinicke signed with Atlanta for $10MM a year. Not exactly backup money.

With the addition of Sutton, I think my target board is something like: 1.6 Will Anderson (EDGE - interest in trading up), CJ Stroud (QB), and Tyree Wilson (EDGE) 1.18: Bijan Robinson (RB), Brian Branch (DB), Paris Johnson (OL), Calijah Kancey (DT), and Jack Campbell (LB) 2nd and 3rd Rounds: Remainders of 1.18, Antonio Johnson (DB), O'Cyrus Torrence (OG), Cody Mauch (OG), Darnell Washington (TE), Bryan Bresee (DT), Mazi Smith (DT), Cam Mitchell (DB), Quan Martin (DB), Byron Young (DT), Trenton Simpson (LB), Daiyan Henley (LB), and Clark Phillips (CB)

If we get the Anzalone of the last five weeks or so of 2022 (sans Carolina) spread across a 17+ game NFL season, this is fine. A good-not-great player at market value. But color me skeptical that will be the case. The guy is not some up-and-comer. He is a six-year veteran who was statistically the 3rd worst linebacker in all of football in 2021, was outperformed by a 6th round rookie in training camp, and had games this year against Dallas and Seattle where he may have benefitted the team by not suiting up.

I'm just going to watch this on repeat until I can tell myself it's going to be okay.

Heard a listener on 97.1 say that Anzalone is the Brandon Inge of the Lions. I see it.

I'll take Sutton.

I agree with this, but I think it goes both ways. I think Detroit is by far the best place to be in 2023 if you're Alex Anzalone. This coaching staff turned him from a player on the brink of irrelevance, let walk by the Saints, and turned him into a (sometimes) okay starting linebacker. On better teams, he probably doesn't make the 53-man out of camp in 2021 and/or 22. Why triple his salary? He should want to be here just as much, if not more, than we want him here. I will say if they can easily get out after a year, I'll settle down considerably.

I will say that reading around on the signing is lowering my blood pressure to healthier levels. His season last year may have been better than I give him credit for. I'll be more sensible and calm down until the numbers are released.

Anzalone had a one-year / $1.75MM deal in 21 and a one-year / $2.25MM deal in 22. On what planet did he deserve three more years and a raise tripling his annual salary based off of his total performance over those two years? If there were other teams offering him that much, let him freaking walk. There is not much that could have annoyed me in free agency. Over-paying and over-extending for a guy who was out-performed by a 6th round rookie until very late in the season though? That'll do it.

Trash.

Bears are devoting a lot of money to (arguably) the least valuable position on the defense. They’ll be able to cover Hock and Josh Oliver. They’ll watch Justin Jefferson, ASB, and Jamo take them to the house.

FWIW, Rapoport has not announced this yet, and he and Rodgers have some connection I am pretty sure. -edit- Now saying that the original report from Dov and his source is incorrect.

Big fan of Sutton. Good price. Great player. I think this opens up your options in the draft quite a bit. If you're happy with Sutton as your outside CB1 and Okudah as your outside CB2, then you really just need a healthy Tracy Walker at Strong Safety and a 2nd or 3rd round nickel corner (Antonio Johnson, Quan Martin, and Cam Mitchell all fit the bill) and your secondary is head and shoulders above where they were last season.

This would make me lol if it came to fruition.

Bears are busy.

Can't speak for the TweetER, but the tweet is probably pretty accurate that Jackson will be owed a pretty hefty extension pretty soon.

Aren't players who have played four years included in a retirement plan that includes covered health care expenses for some amount of time?

Feels like Albert Haynesworth all over again

I’m going to withhold judgment until this summer, when we can really reflect back on the off-season plan, but I’ll go on the record with saying I will be disappointed if we don’t add at least one quality starting corner in free agency. I’m not going to say “Jamel Dean or bust” or anything, but I’ll see what they do and then (hopefully) judge that addition for whether I think it was a good pickup. When you draft how Holmes has, you can afford to trust the process a bit more, but at the same time, it would not be fair to throw two rookie corners onto the defense and expect them to start week one. I took the comments to mean more along the lines of “we can find starting talent in free agency that doesn’t make the talking heads at NFL Network lose their mind” than meaning “we aren’t interested in quality free agents because we are busy developing our own guys” … while Jacksonville’s free agent class from last year has worked out okay for them so far, I don’t think throwing money at the wall and seeing what sticks is a good long-term plan for success either. I also don’t think it really matters if he makes these comments. I don’t think there are players or agents who would be upset by them, if they get their money they get their money. It’s not like he is revealing draft strategy. And along the lines of what Hongbit said, I think it maybe discounts player A1, but not the entire A-class.