My NFL TOp Free Agents Part Two.

Zach Baun, Linebacker, Philadelphia Eagles—

The Linebacker Position Remains In A Space Of Fluctuation Like Cryptocurrency, No One Knows Where The Market Value Falls Times. Linebackers have a harder time extending their impact Beyond the collective at times. Zach Baun Signed A One Year 3.5 Million 3.5-million-dollar deal With The Eagles And Flourished In Vic Fangio’s System, Racking Up 150 Tackles, 3.5 Sacks, Five Forced Fumbles, and one Pick. He Played His Ball Linebacker Role At Grand Heights And Earned A Pro For His efforts What Baun Achieved In Coverage, Number One Coverage Grade From PFF for Linebackers, 80.5 Passer Rating Allowed, And 50 Total Receptions. He’s A rangeless linebacker Able To Cover Deep zones With Speed, His Length Allows Him To Knock Passes Free And He’s Nimble Enough To spy and Keep Pace With A lot Of Athletic Quarterbacks and Running backs. While O Don’t See Baun Reseting The Market He’s Going To Leap Into The Range Of The Top Three At Around $17-$18 Million A Year Right Under Raquon Smith and Fred Warner And Around Tremaine Edmonds At 4 Years $75 Million. Baun As Presently Played Can Add The Missing Piece To A Contender But Looking At The Cap Space I Can’t See A Contending Team Outside Of The Commanders Willing To Pay A Linebacker That Much Money No Matter The Impact. Outside Of That A Team Like The Giants Or Raiders who Can Add To Their Defense And Have The Cap Space Could Add Baun. My Prediction is Four Years, $70-75 Million To The Giants who Play A 3-4 Like The Eagles. Any Team Signing a Ban Will Also Have To Isolate His Performance Away From What He Did As Piece In The Eagles Talent Structure. The Eagles have decent pass rushers and excellent Corners, which gave Baun the liberty to roam a bit more than someone else with a skill set in a less talented defense.

Update: The Eagles Signed Baun for three years, 51 million, with $ 36 Million guaranteed. After Moving On From Corner Darius Slay Who Became Redundant With The Rise Of Rookies Quinyon Mitchell And Cooper Dejean, The Eagles moved To Retain Baun, Who Flourished In His Role As A Rover Line Backer In Philly. The Deal Works For both Sides As Philly’s Defensive Infastrtcure Allows Baun To Play His Best GAme And The Deal Keeps A Key Cog To The Eagles’s Unit In PLace For Another A Couple Of Years. The Deal Launches BAun Into The Top Five Highest Paid At The Linebacker Position.

DJ Reed Cornerback, New York Jets—

The NFL’s Best Corners Have struggled in Terms Of Projecting Their Level Of Play Season To Season The Best Player At The Position One Year Could Play No Better Than The Replacement Level Guy The Following Year. Chardavius Ward and Sauce Gardner Both stand As Examples Of This Reality Of The Position. DJ Reed Enters Free Agency As The Top Corner As A “Slot Guy” Making Him An Ancillary Piece To A Team’s Defense. He’s Ranked The 47th Best Coverage Grade According To Pff, He Allowed 35 Catches and a 91.7 Passer Rating and At One Point Allowed A Sub 50 Completion Percentage Before Settling at 57%. He’s Notched 36 Pass Breaks Ups And Six Picks In His Career Has a Career Passer Rating Of 81.7 Over His Career And Hasn’t Allowed A Rating Better Than 100 Since 2019 And Before Sauce Gardner Fell Off Reed Served As The Weaker Link In The Defense. As More Of A Slot Corner, Reed Won’t Earn Where Near The Top Margins At The Corner Position But He’s An Impact Maker and Teams Always Need Cover Guys. Reed Earned 11 Million Last Year and That Stands As The Standard For His Position Where 3 Year 33 Million Dollars Spotrac Has Him At A 14 Million Dollar Market Value. The Bengals Defense Played Atrocious Against The Pass Last Season and Their Highest Paid Corner Mike Hilton Will Hit Free Agency After Giving Up A 105.6 Passer Rating And Earning Just An Above Average Grade(68.5). Reed Could Easily Replace Hilton For Only A Few Bumps In Price Somewhere Around 4 Years, 50 Million Dollars.

Josh Sweat, Edge Rusher, Philadelphia Eagles—The Eagles Have Watched Their Defensive Line Turn Into A Revolving Door Of Talent In Recent Year As The Team Lost Both Jordan Hargrave and Hasson Reddick In Back Yo Back Off-season and Now They Project To Lose Another Talent In Josh Sweat. Sweat enters Free Agency Fresh Off Of eight sacks and 33 pressures this season With a 14% Pass Rush Win rate giving 43 Sacks Over His Career. With A Sinewy Build and Quick Feet Sweat Thrived In One On One Pass Rush Situations Any Team That Signs Him Must Recognize He’s Best Used To Complete A Collective Rather Than Center Piece A Unit. The Cardinals Struggled Early In The Season In The Pass Rush Department and Sweat As a connection To The Team’s Head Coach Jonathan Gannon Who Coached Sweat In Philly Before Taking Over The Cardinals After The Eagles Super Bowl Run. The Eagles Gave Former Jets Pass Rusher Bryce Huff Three Years and 51 Million Dollars So Expect Sweat To Come In Around 55 Million Dollars.

Justin Fields, Quarterback, Pittsburgh Steelers— I Haven’t Seen Fields In The Top Ten Of Too Many Free Agency Lists And That’s Weird Considering He’s The Most Talented and Accomplished Quarterback On The Board. Before Landing In Pittsburgh Field Had a Star Written All Over Him Coming Off An Impressive season Where He Narrowly Broke The Single Season Quarterback Rushing Record Before The Bears Shut Him Down. Sure he never Played Like An MVP but He Impressed Even Ther Bears Enough In 2022 For The TEam To Invest More In Their receiver. Despite Fields Never Made The Next Leap In His Progression, By Tying All Of his Talents Together His Passer Rating Still Landed Beneath 90, Took Far Too Many Sacks, He Could Never Stay Ahead Of The Chains With A Sub 40% Success Rate For His Career. Fields Flashed Again This Season Throwing For 312 Passing Yards Against The Colts, And Completing 78% Of His Passes Against The Chargers Before Pittsburgh Decommitted From Fields. Fields Has The Talent To Takeover As A Franchise Guy. While The Steelers Remain Open To Bringing Fields Back Justin Could Bet On Himself By Seeking Out A Team With A Young Quarterback Intrenched As a Starter But The Job Remains Open Say Carolina Or Even Minnesota Where Fields Can get Coached Up By Canales Or O’Connell Before Taking Off For Another Team. The Giants and Raiders Also Have Quarterback Availabilities with New York Picking High In The Draft But Wanting To Sit The Guy. Fields Garnering A Two Year Deal With $18 Million With High Incentives Seems Plausible From a Team Like The Giants Where He Gets A Clear Opportunity To Compete and Start With The Jets Also Finding themselves In The Running At The Position If They Clear Up Their Cap Situation.

Stefon Diggs Wide Receiver, Houston Texans— Stefon Diggs Suffered A Season-Ending ACL Injury Before He Started To Acclimated To The Texans Offense And In His Role As Robin Behind Nico Collins. When Collins Went Down Diggs Started To Pick Up His Play, Recording Three Games Above 75+ Yards In the Final Four Games While Those Numbers Seem Minimal Compared To What Diggs Has Done In The Past. Even With The Injury and The Fall Off In Production, I Can Imagine Diggs Still Ranking Amongst The Top Of Many Teams Wish List. He’s An Established Force When Healthy And Engaged. The Packers Stand Out As A Team In Need Of A Top Receiver With Christian Watson Expected To Miss Time and The Team Generally Needing Better Weapons. The Packers Could Take A Year Waiver On Diggs To Witness What If Any Explosion He’s Lost but Diggs Has More Impact To Make In The League Especially With His Ability To Get Open Early In The Play Clock, Quick In breaking Routes. Most Of The Packers' Wide Receiver Operate As Deep Threats With Little Respect For Shallower Routes. Packers Give Diggs Maybe One Year, $16 Million With A Fair Amount Of Incentives In The Contract.