NFL Free Agency

On March 14th, the NFL will see some major changes. This day marks the start of a new beginning for teams and players across the league. March 14th is the start of free agency. Free Agency is when players that have expired contracts are allowed to sign with 1 of 32 NFL teams. The ground rule is that you need to have cap space to try to get the big name free agents. Cap space is how much a team has in money to spend on players. Teams over the cap space will have to find a way to clear out some space for new players. This includes cutting a player, restructuring a player’s contract or trading them.

Players in the NFL are looking for two things— who pays the most and where can they see themselves playing. One player entering free agency is cornerback Micael Davis. You’re probably wondering why is this player being highlighted? Well, Davis played college football in Utah. Davis played for BYU. He is ranked in the NFL top 101 written by NFL editor Gregg Rosethal. Davis is ranked as the 62nd best player available.

You might also be wondering if there’s a way a team can keep their best players. And the truth is yes they can. Some contracts have a fifth year option where your player is under contract for another year. You can sign them to a long term deal, and if all else fails you have the least favorite option of the franchise tag. If you’re a player, you hate this option. The franchise tag will keep the player on the team for one more year and pay the player like he is one of the best players in the NFL. Some teams use this to get one on one time to get players to sign a long term deal, or just straight up trade them to another team and make it their problem to sign them. However, after you tag the same player twice, you can’t tag them again and they walk into free agency. So the smart thing to do is sign them to a long term contract. On the NFL website there is an article called Top 101 NFL free agents of 2021. There you can read all about the more of the NFL free agents.

There are also three big name players. The first one is Trent Williams, left tackle for the San Francisco 49ers. A few of the places he could land are with the Kansas City Chiefs, the Los Angeles Chargers, or the Indianapolis Colts. These three teams have either lost or don’t have a starting left tackle. Each team has enough money to go and spend big on Williams.

The second player is Tampa Bay Buccaneers edge rusher Shaquil Barrett. Barrett is coming off of a Super Bowl win and is looking to get paid. Last year he was franchised tagged and this year the Bucs are letting him walk. A couple of places he could land are with the New York Jets, the New England Patriots, or back with the Bucs. The Jets and the Pats are both coming off seasons where the pass rush rarely got to the quarterback. Plus the Jets head coach Robert Saleh was the defensive coordinator for the 49ers in 2019. He had the league’s best pass rush and he showed what he could do with high caliber players. Imagine what he could do with a player like Shaq Barrett.

The third and final player is Packers running back Aaron Jones. After 4 years in Green Bay, Jones showed he was the lead back. And while he would like to stay in Green Bay, that’s not going to happen. Two places Aaron Jones could land are with the New York Jets or the Miami Dolphins. When Robert Saleh became the new head coach of the New York Jets, he brought Mike Lafleur with him. Mike will most likely bring over the same plays they ran in San Francisco. With the Jets, Jones would most likely be getting around 20-30 touches a game. In Miami, it’s a different story. Rookie Quarterback Tua Tagovailoa played pretty well, but the next big step to help Tua is running the ball. Miami didn’t have a good run game and their best running back didn’t even crack 600 yards rushing. With a good running game, you can keep a quarterback clean and this addition to the team would help Tua out a lot.