|
While the first few days of NFL free agency get all the headlines, what teams do after the legal tampering period can go a long way in determining which actually end up building their roster most effectively. Last year, the Chiefs added late signings such as Donovan Smith and under-the-radar additions Drue Tranquill and Mike Edwards to fill out their depth chart. The Ravens built meaningful chunks of an excellent defense with players signed over the summer, including Jadeveon Clowney, Ronald Darby and Arthur Maulet. Those players all came on much more team-friendly deals than the ones handed out to similarly or even less-talented players in the opening days of the market. Let's hit a range of those players who are still left on the market and who could end up making a significant difference in 2024. I'll hit on the players who, in my opinion, are the 10 best unsigned free agents. Then, to talk about some of the highest-profile free agents available, I'll also touch on the 10 most notable players still looking for a new deal. I'm not going to look at players who were franchise or transition-tagged, which leaves out Kyle Dugger from the Patriots. Subscribe: "The Bill Barnwell Show" Going in alphabetical order, let's start with the top players still looking for new deals. What has kept them from landing a new contract? Why should teams be targeting them? And where's a logical place for each of them to land between now and Week 1? Jump to an intriguing free agent:
Jamal Adams | Odell Beckham Jr.
Jadeveon Clowney | Ezekiel Elliott
Stephon Gilmore | Xavien Howard
Justin Simmons | Ryan Tannehill  The 10 best free agents left Julian Blackmon, S2023 team: Indianapolis Colts Why he's still available: The free agent safety market is loaded. The only guys to sign new deals with multiyear guarantees so far are Xavier McKinney, Brandon Jones and Darnell Savage. (The exact terms haven't been released for C.J. Gardner-Johnson's deal with the Eagles, but it wouldn't be a surprise if he was the fourth player in that grouping. He also could end up playing mostly as a slot corner in his return stint with Philadelphia.) The market has been rough. Jordan Whitehead, coming off a career year with the Jets in a market with a 13.6% cap increase, took a pay cut to re-join the Buccaneers on a two-year deal. Veterans such as Vonn Bell and Jordan Poyer left for one-year pacts. There are still plenty of well-known, talented players who are hunting for opportunities. If anything, the teams that signed Jones and Savage might be wishing they waited and bargain-hunted at the position.
The large number of safeties available has undoubtedly impacted the market for Blackmon. More often a box defender than a center fielder a year ago, the 25-year-old played in a Gus Bradley Seahawks-style scheme that is less popular leaguewide than it was a decade ago, when Pete Carroll disciples were taking the league by storm. The Colts played zone at the third-highest rate in the league and two-deep at the eighth-lowest rate, leaving their safeties on an island as a single-high zone defense in a league that has moved to more two-high. Injuries are also a concern for Blackmon, who is yet to play a full season as a pro. Over four seasons in Indy, he missed 17 of 67 games outright and been limited to less than 50% of the snaps by injuries in four more contests. He has had to battle a torn ACL and a torn Achilles over the past five years, then suffered a shoulder injury in December that ended his season prematurely. Why he should be signed: The safeties who did sign deals with multiyear guarantees were young. Jones is 25. McKinney is 24. Gardner-Johnson and Savage are 26. This has been a stagnant safety market for veteran safeties, especially players on the wrong side of 30, but there has been some traction for players who are at the end of their rookie deals and should have more good football ahead of them. Blackmon doesn't turn 26 until August. He's also coming off a career season. He stuffed the stat sheet in 2023, setting career highs in interceptions (four), passes defensed (eight) and tackles for loss (five). He has gone from playing strictly the deep half in Matt Eberflus' two-deep defense in 2020 and 2021 to serving as both a single-high safety and box defender for Bradley over the past two seasons. He had picks as both a single-high center-fielder and covering the deep half last season, including an impressive job of chasing down a Deshaun Watson throw for an interception on a throw toward the sideline. Blackmon's speed and quickness is still there after the injuries, and while safety coverage stats can be misleading, he allowed a 46.6 passer rating in coverage last season, which is good no matter how you slice the data. He also missed just 4.3% of his tackles after whiffing on double-digit rates in each of his prior three seasons. That looks like an outlier season, but there's plenty of middle ground between the player Blackmon was before 2023 and the guy we saw in Indy last season that would make for a valuable safety. Best fit: Colts. General manager Chris Ballard typically loves to draft, develop and re-sign homegrown talent, and we've already seen Indy give Michael Pittman Jr., Grover Stewart and Zaire Franklin new pacts this offseason. Blackmon is probably looking at a one-year prove-it deal in the $4 million range to show that 2023 wasn't a fluke.
 Calais Campbell, DL2023 team: Atlanta Falcons Why he's still available: The legendary defensive lineman is 37 years old, and teams are not going to prioritize players that age on the first day of free agency. Campbell turns 38 on Sept. 1, and there are only three players in history over 300 pounds who suited up for significant snaps in their age-38 campaigns. They're all nose tackles: Keith Traylor, Ted Washington and Pat Williams. It's unclear whether Campbell even intends to return to football in 2024, although he seemed optimistic about the possibility back in January. Why he should be signed: Campbell can still play! In his debut season with the Falcons, he racked up 6.5 sacks, 17 knockdowns, 10 tackles for loss and the third safety of his career. Those numbers are in line with what he did during his third season in Jacksonville in 2019, when Campbell was one of the league's highest-paid linemen. He made $7 million on his one-year deal with Atlanta in 2023. Unlike those nose tackles I mentioned earlier, Campbell is still a versatile lineman, capable of playing as a 3-technique or 5-technique defender up front. He played defensive end for the Falcons on early downs before mixing inside and outside on third downs. His snap rate has dropped from the high 80% rates he posted with the Cardinals early in his career to 63% with Atlanta, but spotted appropriately, the Miami product -- he was college teammates with long-retired vets Jon Beason and Devin Hester can still be a useful contributor. Best fit: Philadelphia Eagles. Campbell suggested he might want to see what happened with former Falcons defensive coordinator Ryan Nielsen. After the season, Nielsen caught on with the Jaguars, but Jacksonville stumped up the cash for former 49ers defensive lineman Arik Armstead, who might be considered a younger version of Campbell at this point of his career. The only thing Campbell hasn't done in his career is win a title. While his defensive line coach in Baltimore was Joe Cullen, who currently serves in that role for the Chiefs, he's not a great fit for what Kansas City wants to do on the defensive side of the ball and what it needs to add after re-signing Chris Jones. The Eagles, on the other hand, will play a fair amount of 3-4 under Vic Fangio and need to supplement their defensive line rotation after Fletcher Cox's retirement. You know general manager Howie Roseman doesn't need an invitation to sign a defensive lineman.
 Jadeveon Clowney, EDGE2023 team: Baltimore Ravens Why he's still available: A significant injury history and inconsistent play have kept Clowney from landing multiyear deals. After the 2014 No. 1 pick played out his rookie deal and fifth-year option with the Texans, Bill O'Brien franchised-tagged him before trading him to the Seahawks. Clowney has played out one-year deals with the Seahawks, Titans and Browns, where a productive 2021 season didn't produce the same effects after he inked another single-season pact in 2022. Why he should be signed: Last year, Clowney was a free agent until August, when the Ravens brought him in on a one-year, $2.5 million deal. He responded with an impressive season, with 9.5 sacks and 19 knockdowns as the lead edge rusher on one of the league's best defenses. He also produced his second full season as a pro and his first since 2017.  Best fit: Miami Dolphins. It's tough to imagine the 31-year-old landing a multiyear guarantee this late into free agency, but Clowney shouldn't be forced to wait until August for a new deal. Given his history of knee issues, he might be better off playing on a natural grass field; indeed, his past few deals have been with the Titans, Browns and Ravens, all of whom play on natural grass. Dolphins defensive coordinator Anthony Weaver was the defensive line coach in Baltimore a year ago, and Miami plays on natural grass. The Dolphins have added Shaquil Barrett in what might seem like a designated veteran pass-rush role this offseason, but Andrew Van Ginkel left for the Vikings, Emmanuel Ogbah was released and both Bradley Chubb (torn ACL) and Jaelan Phillips (torn Achilles) suffered serious injuries toward the end of the season, which brings their availability for the start of 2024 into question. Clowney could play a heavier role early in the season before helping to form a scary edge-rush rotation as the year progresses.
 Stephon Gilmore, CB2023 team: Dallas Cowboys Why he's still available: After winning Defensive Player of the Year in 2019, Gilmore has played for four different teams in four years, which reinforces both his value as a veteran cornerback and the reticence of teams to commit to him on a multiyear deal. He was traded to the Panthers in 2021, finished an anonymous season with Carolina and then signed a two-year, $20 million deal a month into 2022 free agency with the Colts. Indy traded him to the Cowboys last offseason, where he started all 17 games. Gilmore is still a capable man cornerback, but the Cowboys kept him on one side of the field, so he wasn't often traveling with the opposing team's best wide receiver. He allowed an 82.4 passer rating in coverage, which was solid, but he was one of many players who had a rough day in the season-ending blowout loss to the Packers. He conspicuously tried to gamble and cut a crossing route, leaving the man he had been defending -- Romeo Doubs -- open for a huge gain. Gilmore has great instincts, but it's never good when a corner guesses wrong on a huge stage. Why he should be signed: Gilmore has been consistent across multiple teams and defenses; he has produced a passer rating in coverage between 73 and 83 in five of the past six seasons, with the lone exception being his Defensive Player of the Year campaign with the Pats, when that mark fell to 44.1. He's not the receiver-eraser he was during his peak with Bill Belichick, but he's not getting paid to be that player. He also has only missed one game because of an injury over the past two seasons and played through a dislocated shoulder in the playoff loss. Best fit: Baltimore Ravens. Cornerback was a roller coaster for the Ravens last season because of injuries. Marlon Humphrey was in and out of the lineup with various ailments, and Rock Ya-Sin got hurt in the summer and never got back his full-time job. Baltimore turned to veterans such as Ronald Darby and Arthur Maulet with surprisingly impressive results, while the organization aborted the plan to move Brandon Stephens to safety and kept him at cornerback. Darby, Maulet and Ya-Sin are all free agents, leaving Humphrey and Stephens as the two top corners on the roster. Signing Gilmore would lock down one side of the field for the Ravens, giving them flexibility as they approach the rest of their offseason. The only problem is timing; they are very conscious of the league's compensation pick formula and would run the risk of losing one of their four compensatory picks if they sign Gilmore before June 1. 
 Xavien Howard, CB2023 team: Miami Dolphins Why he's still available: Cornerbacks on the wrong side of 30 who are healthy and coming off solid seasons can struggle to find a lot of interest. Howard turns 31 in July and is coming off a campaign marred by injuries, most notably a broken foot that ended his season on New Year's Eve before Miami's brief run into the playoffs. The Dolphins then cut him for cap reasons before signing Kendall Fuller as a cheaper replacement. Why he should be signed: Howard was running on the foot in February, although running in a workout isn't the same as competing in an NFL game. Before the injury, he was allowing an 81.3 passer rating in coverage, a solid mark in a season in which the ball hawk managed only one interception. Howard's ball skills haven't disappeared, but people have forgotten he once posted one of the most impressive takeaway seasons ever, with a 10-interception campaign in 2020. We know interception rates can be random from year to year, even for guys with Howard's sort of résumé, so this could be a chance to add a player who can turn games in his team's favor with an interception. With former coordinator Vic Fangio keeping his cornerbacks on one side of the field, teams were able to avoid Howard when Jalen Ramsey was sidelined. (The blowout loss to the Bills was an example, as Josh Allen & Co. mercilessly attacked Kader Kohou and the other weaker links in the Miami pass defense.) Howard is at his best in a scheme that both plays a lot of man and allows him to travel in coverage, although teams will want to see whether he keeps his quickness after recovering from the foot injury. Best fit: Kansas City Chiefs. I keep coming back to the Chiefs, who typically prefer younger cornerbacks but have a habit of signing overlooked playmakers in that spot. Howard's ability to hold up in man coverage and create takeaways are skills that should appeal to them. This is less of a fit if L'Jarius Sneed comes back for 2024, but if the Chiefs trade their franchise-tagged cornerback, Howard could be one of the additions general manager Brett Veach makes to replace his top coverage guy from last season.
 Steven Nelson, CB2023 team: Houston Texans Why he's still available: I've already listed two other unsigned cornerbacks with more significant pedigrees, and that's without considering Adoree' Jackson, Avonte Maddox, Rock Ya-Sin and Eli Apple, all of whom might appeal to different teams needing very specific types of cornerbacks. Nelson is 31 and hasn't ever had a great season as a pro, so he's not going to stand out as a must-grab in the opening days of free agency. Why he should be signed: Consistency. .Nelson shows up week after week and delivers solid play. He has started 15 games or more in each of the past six seasons, spending time with the Chiefs, Steelers, Eagles and Texans, whom he played with for the past two years. He tied his career high with four interceptions in 2023 and posted a 73.3 passer rating allowed in coverage, his best mark since 2019. Teams looking for a cornerback in a zone-heavy scheme could do a lot worse. Best fit: Las Vegas Raiders. The only teams to play zone coverage more than 70% of the time last season were the Raiders and Texans. Vegas hopes it landed a potential difference-maker via waivers after adding Jack Jones from the Patriots last year, but Jones will need to stay on the straight and narrow after falling afoul of Bill Belichick in New England. With Amik Robertson leaving for the Lions, Nelson could compete with Jones and Jakorian Bennett for starting work in 2024.
 Justin Simmons, S2023 team: Denver Broncos Why he's still available: The safety market is flooded with talent. Simmons was a surprising cap casualty for the Broncos, but given the sheer number of safeties hitting free agency, Denver's desire to get younger as they transition from the Russell Wilson era and Simmons' $14.5 million salary for 2024, market forces ended up coinciding to lead to his departure. Given how stagnant the market has been for safeties in their 30s, he is yet to find a new home. Why he should be signed: Simmons is a legitimate Pro Bowl-caliber safety and was named to that team for the second time a year ago. Most of the improvement the Broncos made after their disastrous start to the season and their 70-point performance against the Dolphins was simply getting Simmons back in the lineup for overmatched second-year safety Delarrin Turner-Yell; the Broncos had a QBR nearly 24 points better with him on the field. Simmons leads all defenders with 19 interceptions over the past four seasons. He might not be quite as rangy as he once was, but the 30-year-old still has the physicality to play in the box and the speed to hold up in coverage. The Broncos also made way fewer mental mistakes with him in the lineup; simply having someone on the back end helping defenders line up in the right place (and having a safety who does that himself) goes a long way. Simmons is a great safety, and while the Vic Fangio defense isn't quite as trendy as it was this time last year, Simmons became a star under the man himself in 2019. Best fit: Buffalo Bills. As the Bills rebuild their secondary after breaking up the veteran Micah Hyde-Jordan Poyer duo, having an experienced safety who can still run would go a long way during the transition period. Buffalo brought back Taylor Rapp to start at one spot, but at the right price, Simmons would be a viable free safety and one way for Buffalo to try to build a defense that can keep it competing for a Super Bowl.
 Donovan Smith, OT2023 team: Kansas City Chiefs Why he's still available: Penalties. Smith has 29 over the last four season, which ties him for the third-most of any player. No. 1 is former Chiefs teammate and fellow tackle Jawaan Taylor, so that should be proof that penalties alone can't keep players from winning a Super Bowl. Smith is 30 and missed the final five games of the regular season with a neck injury before returning in the postseason, so there might be some medical concerns around him as well. Why he should be signed: Smith was a serviceable left tackle on a team that just won the Super Bowl. As I wrote before the big game, one of Patrick Mahomes' superpowers is avoiding sacks when pressured, but Smith posted a pass block win rate just under 91% during his lone season with Kansas City, suggesting he did a sound job of protecting Mahomes during the first 2.5 seconds of plays. That mark ranked 18th among all tackles. Best fit: Chicago Bears. As Ryan Poles and company prepare for the Caleb Williams era, the one thing they're clearly missing is an upgrade at left tackle, where Braxton Jones hasn't nailed down a tough job over his first two seasons in the league. Signing Smith would give the Bears a veteran on Williams' blindside while moving Jones into a swing role.
 Laken Tomlinson, G2023 team: New York Jets Why he's still available: Even by the standards of the new guard market, Tomlinson's deal with the Jets was untenable. He was due about $13 million in the final year of his deal, and that was too much for the Jets, who needed to rebuild their line by adding multiple starters. After the initial thirst for young, talented guards, the rest of the interior line market has mostly gone quiet. Why he should be signed: Pricing and expectations are everything. At a $13 million price tag and as the most expensive member of a wildly disappointing New York offensive line, Tomlinson was a problem. Viewed through a more realistic lens at age 32, though, he's a solid guard who offers more as a run-blocker than a pass-blocker. While his best work came with the 49ers when Kyle Shanahan was still leaning more toward zone concepts, he's probably best in a gap scheme where his size and power play up. Best fit: Dallas Cowboys. With Tyron Smith leaving Dallas for Tomlinson's old team to take over as Aaron Rodgers's left tackle, the Cowboys have a hole on their offensive line. If Dallas wants to move 2022 first-round pick Tyler Smith from left guard to left tackle, Tomlinson could step in at guard, where his size would be a plus for a team that failed to impress in short-yardage and goal-line situations a year ago.
 Ahkello Witherspoon, CB2023 team: Los Angeles Rams Why he's still available: A year ago, Witherspoon was playing for the minimum after missing most of the 2022 season, so there might be some lag between identifying what he was in the past and what he did in 2023. Before last season, his reputation was as a tall cornerback who hadn't been able to turn that 6-foot-2 size into consistently solid play. The Seahawks gave up on him as a 2023 free agent signing before he ever played a game in Seattle, and he missed chunks of both his seasons with the Steelers to injury (2021 and 2022). Why he should be signed: Finally healthy and given a chance to play every week for the Rams, Witherspoon had his best season by a considerable margin. He allowed quarterbacks throwing in his direction to complete just 48.1% of their passes, which was the third-best mark among cornerbacks who were targeted 50 times or more. He was targeted at the fourth-highest rate in football, so quarterbacks weren't necessarily afraid of him, but he more than held his own. Best fit: Rams. While Los Angeles brought back former waiver wire success story Darious Williams this offseason, their depth chart doesn't have the sort of big cornerback they sought out when they signed Witherspoon last offseason. He could still follow former Rams coordinator Raheem Morris to Atlanta, but a reunion with the Rams (and a raise) would fit both parties. The 10 biggest names still left on the market Jamal Adams, S2023 team: Seattle Seahawks Why he's still available: A deep safety market and a brutal run of injuries. (Get ready to see that latter phrase a bunch.) Adams commanded two first-round picks when the Jets dealt him to the Seahawks in a 2020 deal that eventually landed them Garrett Wilson. Things didn't go as well as Pete Carroll & Co. planned, though. Adams had 9.5 sacks in his debut season with the team and zero over the ensuing three. Teams, most notably Kyle Shanahan's 49ers, exploited him in coverage. Adams struggled to stay healthy, missing 33 games over his four seasons with the Seahawks after suffering groin, shoulder, quadriceps, knee and brain injuries. Given that he played 34 games in a Seattle uniform and was forced out of four of those contests, he was unavailable more often than he was available. It just didn't work out.  Why he should be signed: In a league that is both relying more on "hybrid" players and getting more out of those talents than ever before, Adams' unique skill set makes him a useful player when healthy. He's really more of a sub-package linebacker than pure safety, but he is certainly better than most linebackers in coverage and can be an absolute nightmare to block when he gets speed going after the quarterback. He's one of the few players with the size and speed to spy against mobile quarterbacks, and at 28, he still isn't out of his quickness peak. There's a decent chance a team will sign him and get 100 snaps of injury-riddled football, but how many players at their position left in free agency have legitimate Pro Bowl potential if they stay healthy? Best fit: Atlanta Falcons. Jessie Bates has one safety spot locked down, but 2021 second-round pick Richie Grant regressed badly last season and is entering the final year of his contract. Adams could push second-year safety DeMarcco Hellams for a starting role and offer an oft-moribund Falcons pass rush some extra juice as a blitzer.
 David Bakhtiari, OT2023 team: Green Bay Packers Why he's still available: Like Adams, Bakhtiari is a cap casualty whose career was waylaid by a series of injuries. In Bakhtiari's case, the issues date to a torn ACL and cartilage injury he suffered in practice at the end of the 2020 season. Before that point, he had generally been healthy, playing 16 games in five of his first seven seasons as a pro. Since then, his career has been stop and start. He missed virtually all of 2021 except for 27 snaps in a meaningless Week 18 game against the Lions. He came back in Week 3 the following season, and while he was in and out of the lineup, the stalwart tackle looked like something close to his old self by the end of 2022. He was pronounced to be healthy heading into 2023, but after playing 92% of the snaps in the opener, he underwent another knee surgery and missed the remainder of the season. In all, he has missed 38 of 48 games over the past three years. Why he should be signed: As recently as 2022, Bakhtiari still rated out as a great left tackle. His 95% pass block win rate led the league, while his 79.3% run block win rate was the 11th-best mark among tackles. (No. 1 was then-Packers swing tackle Yosh Nijman, who just signed with the Panthers in free agency.) Doing that at something less than 100% suggests Bakhtiari could still help a team if he's healthy enough to play in 2024. And while his $20.2 million base salary and $40 million cap hit was never going to work for the Packers, there's probably a price tag where it's worth taking a shot, albeit with a defined backup plan. Best fit: Pittsburgh Steelers. While Bakhtiari was popularly linked to a reunion with friend and formers Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers, the Jets chose to sign Tyron Smith, which would leave Bakhtiari in a backup role as a swing tackle waiting for Smith (or right tackle Morgan Moses) to get hurt. Bakhtiari could also figure in Dallas as an option if the Cowboys don't want to move Tyler Smith off left guard, a move which would reunite him with Mike McCarthy, the coach who drafted him in Green Bay in 2013. In terms of starting left tackle opportunities, though, the Steelers seem like the obvious fit. Broderick Jones, a first-rounder in 2023, might not yet be seasoned enough to move to the left side, and while Dan Moore has improved at left tackle, the Steelers could stand to give him some competition. Russell Wilson and Justin Fields are going to need all the help they can get, and taking a shot on a potential franchise left tackle on a one-year deal with incentives is the sort of swing Pittsburgh should take given what it's saving on spending at quarterback.
 Odell Beckham Jr., WR2023 team: Baltimore Ravens Why he's still available: Would you believe a career-altering series of injuries? Beckham's dominant three-year run with the Giants from 2014 to 2016 ended after a high-ankle sprain that gave way to a fractured ankle. After being traded to the Browns and finding his way to the Rams in 2021, he seemed to be breaking out during the postseason, only to tear his ACL in the Super Bowl win over the Bengals. Beckham sat out 2022 before returning to the league on a one-year deal worth $15 million with the Ravens. It would be tough to say he delivered on that deal. After serving as an every-down player in the opener, he injured his ankle and missed two games. When he came back, the Ravens installed him in a part-time role the rest of the way, with him failing to top 60% of the offensive snaps in a single game from Week 2 onward. He was mostly anonymous short a pair of big games against the Rams and Bengals. Why he should be signed: While he didn't get steady volume, Beckham was efficient when on the field, averaging 2.2 yards per route run, which ranked 19th among receivers who ran 200 routes or more. His efficiency was in line with Tank Dell and Jayden Reed, but he only ran about 18 routes per game to Reed's 23 and Dell's 27. If a team thinks Beckham can expand his role and retain his efficiency, there's the potential for the 31-year-old to be more of a legitimate WR2 in 2024. Best fit: New Orleans Saints. Call me a romantic, but getting Beckham back home would be a natural way for the former LSU star to wind down his NFL career. The Saints have a need for a second wideout after releasing Michael Thomas. Rashid Shaheed will take more snaps as the team's designated deep threat and Cedrick Wilson is in town after disappointing over the last two years in Miami, but Beckham would fit in as part of the rotating cast behind third-year star Chris Olave, especially if the price tag is about half of what it was for the Ravens a year ago.
 Clyde Edwards-Helaire, RB2023 team: Kansas City Chiefs Why he's still available: Once hand-picked by Patrick Mahomes to add another dimension to the Chiefs' offense, the Edwards-Helaire era seemed to end before it even started. While he ran for 138 yards in his debut in 2020, the Chiefs gave their first-round pick six carries inside the 5-yard line and he failed to score on any of them. That carry seemed to cost the rookie Andy Reid's trust inside the goal line, and after Edwards-Helaire fumbled away a late opportunity to win against the Ravens the following season, he became a more a timid runner. The Chiefs wavered between Edwards-Helaire and other backs before eventually handing the lead role over to Isiah Pacheco. For a back who came into the league with a reputation as a dynamic receiver from his time at LSU, that part of Edwards-Helaire's game never really shone through. He averaged just 1.1 yards per route run with Mahomes on the field, well below other Chiefs' backs such as Kareem Hunt (1.6), Damien Williams (1.4), Jerick McKinnon (1.4) and Darrel Williams (1.3). Why he should be signed: We've seen backs eventually break through in the past after disappointing early in their career, with first-round picks such as Mark Ingram, Marshawn Lynch and Cedric Benson as examples. It would be naive to treat Edwards-Helaire like he's going to turn into a star, but perhaps he'll emerge as a useful contributor on the right roster. Best fit: Buffalo Bills. Edwards-Helaire's best college season came with Joe Brady as the offensive coordinator, and the former LSU assistant is now the offensive coordinator with the Bills. James Cook is the unquestioned lead back in Buffalo, but Edwards-Helaire could figure in a competition with Ty Johnson for reserve work.
 Ezekiel Elliott, RB2023 team: New England Patriots Why he's still available: Worn down by three 300-plus carry seasons in four years to start his Cowboys career, Elliott no longer has the explosiveness that once made him a transcendent back. His longest run with the Patriots last season went for 17 yards. Before 2023, the last time a back racked up more than 150 carries without generating a run for more than 20 yards was Frank Gore in 2020. Why he should be signed: Elliott's skill set as a pass-blocker and interior runner is still valuable for teams in a reserve role. While the 2016 top-five pick has consistently posted miserable numbers running outside over the past few seasons, he still managed to be about league-average on his carries between the tackles last season in terms of rush yards over expectation. Best fit: New York Giants. General manager Joe Schoen has already signed Devin Singletary to take over as the team's lead back from Saquon Barkley, but there's little in the cupboard behind the former Bills and Texans back. Elliott is a more physical interior runner than Singletary and can help fill in as a pass-blocker, which is critical for a team that expects to play Daniel Jones under center in 2024.
 Michael Gallup, WR2023 team: Dallas Cowboys Why he's still available: Cut at the beginning of the league year for cap space, Gallup's second contract turned out to be a mistake from the Cowboys. Signed as he recovered from a torn ACL suffered in Jan. 2022, he never seemed to get back into the flow of the offense after the injury. It hurts doubly for the Cowboys that they re-signed Gallup and instead chose to trade away Amari Cooper to the Browns as a salary dump, only to see Cooper reemerge as a borderline WR1 in Cleveland. Why he should be signed: It's easy to look at the decline in Gallup's yards per catch and assume he has slowed down since the injury, but NFL Next Gen Stats tracking data suggests there has only been a slight decline. In 2021, his last season before the injury, his median speed on routes was 14.3 miles per hour, and he topped 20 miles per hour once on 318 pass routes. This past season, post-injury, Gallup's median speed was close to identical at 14.1 mph, and he topped 20 mph three times on 373 routes. That's a small step backward -- and it might not tell the whole story of what Gallup's speed and quickness looks like after suffering a traumatic knee injury -- but it also hints his speed hasn't fallen off quite as significantly as it seemed. Best fit: Los Angeles Chargers. Gallup doesn't play special teams, so he needs to be in a third wideout role where the players below him can contribute on returns and coverages. Even if the Chargers draft a wideout in the first round of April's draft for the second consecutive season, the guys behind that wideout would be Quentin Johnston, Josh Palmer and Derius Davis. I'd be willing to take a flier on him and see if the 28-year-old still has something left in the tank.
 Hunter Renfrow, WR2023 team: Las Vegas Raiders Why he's still available: He has basically spent two years in the Vegas wilderness. After a career year in 2021, the arrival of Josh McDaniels and a subsequent contract extension seemed to point toward loftier heights for Renfrow with the Raiders. Instead, he had just 585 receiving yards between 2022 and 2023 and had more fumbles (four) than touchdowns (two). The Raiders cut him to avoid paying him $11.8 million in 2024. Why he should be signed: As recently as 2021, Renfrow was a valuable receiver, including on third downs and in the red zone. He scored nine touchdowns that season and averaged an even 2.0 yards per route run, which ranked 19th among all wide receivers. His route-by-route performance that year was basically identical with that of Travis Kelce. At 28, Renfrow should still be able to serve as a productive slot receiver if he gets the right opportunity. Best fit: Pittsburgh Steelers. Diontae Johnson has been traded to the Panthers, and while the Steelers signed Van Jefferson, the former Rams wideout hasn't been effective for most of his pro career. Renfrow would compete with Calvin Austin for reps as the team's third receiver and return man. 
 Ryan Tannehill, QB2023 team: Tennessee Titans Why he's still available: Things ended ignominiously for Tannehill in Tennessee, as the former college wideout struggled before suffering an ankle injury and being benched for rookie Will Levis. Tannehill returned to the lineup late in the season when Levis went down himself, but the 35-year-old finished the season taking sacks more than 12% of the time and posting more interceptions (seven) than touchdown passes (four) for the first time since his rookie season in 2012. At his best, Tannehill's mobility as a play-action passer helped produce sparkling efficiency in an offense built around Derrick Henry. I'm not sure many teams see him as a quarterback they want as the driver of the offense, and having made nearly $200 million as an NFL quarterback, it's unclear whether he wants to continue his career as a backup. Why he should be signed: I'm not sure anybody was going to thrive behind a porous offensive line in Tennessee last season. The 2022 version of Tannehill averaged 7.8 yards per attempt with Robert Woods as his top wideout, and it's telling that the Titans fell apart after their starting quarterback went down with another ankle injury. That version of Tannehill would be overqualified as a backup. Best fit: Chicago Bears. The depth chart in Chicago consists of Tyson Bagent and Brett Rypien. Tannehill's not going to push likely No. 1 overall pick Caleb Williams for the starting job, but a little bit of veteran experience in the quarterback room wouldn't hurt.
 Michael Thomas, WR2023 team: New Orleans Saints Why he's still available: After winning Offensive Player of the Year with a 1,725-yard receiving season in 2019, a high-ankle sprain suffered in Week 1 of the 2020 campaign sent Thomas' career down a totally different trajectory. He has suited up for 20 of a possible 67 games over that stretch, missed all of 2021 and was on injured reserve by the second half in each of the past two campaigns. Thomas is coming off his most complete season since 2019, but he wasn't his old self. The guy who averaged 3.0 yards per route run and a whopping 32% target share in 2019 saw those numbers drop to 1.4 yards per route run and a 20% target share. He then blamed his season-ending knee injury on a bad pass from Derek Carr, suggesting the throw cost him a 1,000-yard campaign. (He was on pace for 762 yards before the injury.) Whether he is right or wrong, publicly throwing teammates under the bus won't have endeared him to NFL front offices. Why he should be signed: Thomas is still a big body who can work the middle of the field, and that's a useful player at the right price. He posted astronomical catch rates with Drew Brees at the helm, including an 85% catch rate on 147 targets in 2018, but that mark fell below 61% a year ago. Even allowing for the difference between Brees and Carr, it's tough to believe Thomas wouldn't run a higher catch rate in 2024 than he did in 2023. Best fit: Denver Broncos. Denver's roster is in flux as it rebuilds post-Russell Wilson, but after trading Jerry Jeudy, it looks like it will run with Courtland Sutton and Marvin Mims as its top two wideouts. Tim Patrick took a pay cut to return, but he has missed each of the last two seasons with injuries. Thomas could reunite with former coach Sean Payton and compete with Patrick for that third wideout role.
 Tre'Davious White, CB2023 team: Buffalo Bills Why he's still available: More injuries. White was an All-Pro in 2019 and a Pro Bowler in 2020, but a torn ACL suffered in November 2021 has proved difficult to overcome. He missed the remainder of 2021 and most of 2022, only returning to a full-time role in mid-December. Just as he appeared to be set to return to form in 2023, he tore his Achilles in September and missed the rest of the season. The Bills made White a cap casualty after the season. Teams are going to be nervous about his recent injury history, and at 29, there might even be concerns about paying him significant money even if he's healthy. Remember how limited Jalen Ramsey's market was via trade last offseason? Why he should be signed: Even given the injuries, White's performance still generally held up by the numbers. While he allowed sub-60 passer ratings during the 2019 and 2021 campaigns, he held opposing quarterbacks to a 75.6 passer rating on throws in his direction in 2022 and a 70.6 mark in the four-game stint before the Achilles tear last season. He will nearly be a full season removed from the injury by the start of the year, so there's a chance he'll be able to play something resembling a full season in 2024. Best fit: San Francisco 49ers. San Francisco is set with its top two corners Deommodore Lenoir and Charvarius Ward, but the third spot is a bit of a question mark. We saw teams pick on Ambry Thomas throughout the 2023 season, leading the Niners to bench him in the Super Bowl and play Logan Ryan in the slot. A miscommunication between Ryan and Ward helped free up Mecole Hardman on the touchdown that won the Super Bowl. With Lenoir moving into the slot in San Francisco's sub-packages, White could step in as the outside corner while building up his legs after the Achilles injury.
|
