AFC East Free Agency Moves and Grades
(David Grotefend) The Bloodfest is over, the initial surge as the most coveted free agents are courted by their prospective new employers. Now teams glean over the remaining talent pool, adding an element here or there, but sort of in a holding ‘wait and see’ mode. Of course, as a Dolphin fan I wanted to grade them all ‘F’s, but that wouldn’t be true or fair.
Buffalo has not been a big player so far, with only the signing away from Oakland of OT Cornell Green (an 11th year veteran who has only started 46 games in ten seasons). They did resign Bryan Scott for 3-yr, 9M and kept TE Klopfenstein (their RFA). They lost Jonathon Scott, a 4th yr OT to Pittsburgh, to a 1-yr deal no less.
A couple semi-notable names dot their FA board, but there’s not a whole lot to pick through. Josh Reed, Ryan Denney…
Analysis: Ho-hum, really. Scott is a solid depth player when he’s in there, but he’s only been able to start 18 games…in the last three seasons combined. There’s more interest in if T.O. is going to Cincy than the rest of the Bills FA follies combined. Gailey is a decent enough coach, but he’s going to need more than FA backups and journeymen…The Jill’s offense was 30th in yards, 30th in passing, 16th in rushing and 28th in scoring. Their defense was better, but still 30th against the run. Their pass defense was an over-inflated 2nd because in part other teams simply pummelled them on the ground. Without a franchise QB who can get the job done, they are going to struggle; without the addition of better overall talent they are going to struggle mightily. D, because they got little, and lost some of what little they had.
New England, on the other hand, has been busy. They moved quickly with a number of their players, resigning Banta-Cain, Bodden, Faulk, Neal and slapped the franchise tag on Wilfork. They did lose Chris Baker to Seattle (TE), Jarvis Green to Denver (DE), and Ben Watson to Cleveland (TE). The team has obviously taken a stand against others raiding their depth, but the state of the Patriots is easily determined by looking at one thing…Junior Seau is still on their FA board, apparently available for hire. They have not, conversely, gone after other teams’ players, with only the backup DE Marques Murrell being garnered from the Jets, which probably has more ego chest-beating value in the Boston-NYC feud than it ever will on the field.
Analysis: Wilfork is a beast, and his Hurricane lineage had me salivating at the prospect of bringing him home to be our monster in the middle. However, the Dark Lord has apparently closed the doors of Citadel Pestilence, allowing no raiding of the cupboard. Derrick Burgess appears to be the best of the remaining pickings, unless you count Gostkowski and Hanson, their Placekicker and Punter. B, though I am loathe to admit it. They kept a lot of their depth, which will be critical for an aging team.
New York is a rare case: they will continue to do things over and over again as a franchise though it has failed in every attempt. They passed on Pennington last season, shipping him out in favor of an aging veteran who turned into Mr. Interception and kept them away from the playoffs. Pennington had his best season and beat them in their house to rub salt in the wound. They passed on Jonathan Vilma, sending him to New Orleans and bringing in Calvin Pace. Vilma in ‘08-’09, 242 Tackles, 3 Sacks, 14 PDs, 4 Ints, 2 FFs and 3 FRs. Yeah, he was washed up.
This time, the Jets cut Thomas Jones, who is coming off a career year and FIVE consecutive 1000 yd seasons. They bring in the aging veteran LT to replace him, coming off his worst year. They stand to lose Leon Washington, because there will be someone take a shot at him: he won’t be looking for premium top-dollar coming off an injury. They will be counting on a promising Rookie (Shon Greene), an erratic Rookie (Mark Sanchez) and an aging star near the end of the line (LT).
Their splash has been defensively, as they bring in disgruntled problem child AC, and Cromartie paired with Revis has the already-bandwagon Jet faithful frothing at the mouth.
Analysis: Tannenbaum will continue to convince Woody that he knows what he’s doing. With the circus clown act their new coach has already made that position, it seems somehow inevitable that this Keystone Kops aspect gets exposed. The switch from Jones to Tomlinson is an upgrade? The Jets, though they played well in the Postseason, were an afterthought that got gifted into the Playoffs by their final opponents resting their players. Now they send away their best offensive weapon. Braylon Edwards wasn’t immediately resigned, either…they’re letting him test the waters, apparently. C-; as erratic as Sanchez was, why on earth wouldn’t you keep the part of the machine that WAS functioning properly (#1 rushing game) alone???
