2012 free agency thread

http://www.profootballfocus.com/blog/2012/01/12/2012-free-agent-tracker/

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Granted, Abraham is more than a hair far fetched, but Mathis will be cheap, if we have to dump Wharton; any of the top three kickers at a decent price would be an upgrade, Juqua Parker would be an interesting low-cost change of pace for left end, our guys know him and he's played in this D.

 

pretty good list, other than the strongside linebacker bit, which is probably just a typo..should be the weakside that Davis plays on, right?

The kicker thing kills me, cause not only did Mare cost us a couple games, but also a compensatory pick. Cant remember where I saw this, but we are expected to get just one (6th rounder) for Jeff King. Had we kept Kasay & not signed Mare, we'd have one more.

 

correct, Davis is at WLB, when he is. There's no defending Mare.
At DT, you could argue Edwards is coming back, so you have three "starters" returning, but let's not argue that and try to rub together at least one good starter.

 

well I'm hoping & praying Davis makes it back and extends his career.

And speaking of the defense, other than Johnson, Anderson, Beason, & Gamble, who's starting spot is safe? Subsequently, who's roster spot is safe? For various reasons its probably safe to say that Godfrey, Fua, Hardy & McClain shouldnt worry, but who else? There arent many players on the defense that would start for another team, are there?

 

I dunno. Godfrey's safe because of his contract, Martin is too talented to not play doing something, and he had a better year (even with the Saints game) than Godfrey. Hardy's a good rusher, so it depends on what you mean by "starter" - I've argued a few times that end isn't the critical need, that we could get by with a roleplayer (a better backup rusher than Applewhite, who isn't bad, or a better run stopper) to give Hardy less snaps.

Fua, if things go right, won't be starting, he'll be backing Edwards. If they're smart they'll do something to ensure that McClain is penetrating at times, and not playing as many snaps as he did this year.

 

so basically our 2 starting DT's shouldnt start in 2012. If we can make that happen, cool. I'm even more on the Micheal Brockers bandwagon now, even if we have to wait on his development. Also, didnt Derek Landri used to be a Panther? Did we let him walk or did he just not want to resign?

Martin could switch to something else than safety, or no? Kirkpatrick seems to inhabit that same tweener position between safety and corner himself, so it might not be the best idea to double down on a guy like that, but what do i know. There are also a few decent safeties that might hit the market this year, ignoring for the moment our lack of cap space: Craig Steltz, Michael Griffin, Atari Bigby, Jim Leonard, LaRon Landry, among others.

 

You could argue, if you wanted Mark Barron and traded down, or picked up a FA, that Martin could play CB, and then you're hoping that he or Hogan could put Munnerlyn on the bench. I don't know that they bench him if he stays at S, but they might push him. Since he's a FA after the year anyway, it's probably smart to pick a safety who has some smarts and rely on that.

Then again, Pugh got tons of cred for smarts before this year, and it did him no good this year. That was out backup plan, and a good one, coming in. I felt OK about that . But Pugh was bad.

Robert Mathis probably hits the market, if that wasn't that expensive, that'd be great. But, who knows. Also, Andre Carter would be interesting. Any rush move would set us up for CB, DT, OL in the draft.

 

Hogan, forgot about him. Munnerlyn definitely has value, just not nearly as much as a starter on the perimeter as the nickel or a backup/ST contributor (I would think).

and I agree free agency is a much more viable avenue for DE help than the draft. Much more likely we supplement that position than infuse it with an expensive asset.

 

Actually DE tends to be the most expensive position on defense, so free agency isn't often the best way to go. Plus, rightly or wrongly, the team feels like it has more bodies at DT and therefore are less likely to add there than DE where it's currently pretty thin.

 

I don't know that he or I are suggesting replacement starter in FA (though I did bring up Mathis, etc), in that I'm more intrigued with a roleplayer vet like Parker for the money.