Comparing our 4 signings/extentions to 4 UFA departures

[Kyle Cactus]

UFAs signed elsewhere (so far)

Name	APY	'18 PFF Grade	NFLN Rank
Suggs	7	70	--
Mosley	17	73.6	98
Brown	9	64.7	--
Smith	16.5	71.7	--

Our signing and extensions (so far)

Name	APY	'18 PFF Grade	NFLN Rank
Thomas	13.75	91.3	42
Ingram	5	79.4	43
Boyle	6	68.5	--
Young	7	62.7	--

I know there are some fans that are upset about losing good players and seeing a top defense changing so much. I thought it would be interesting to look at free agent departures vs free agent additions and contract extensions to date to see how it all looks on balance. I threw in PFF grades and NFLN rankings as reference points. They are far from gospel, so please weigh in with any evaluation you have of the quality of these players.

The 4 UFAs that signed elsewhere so far total 49.5 APY. None of them are elite players. The 2 UFA signings and the 2 extensions total 31.75 APY (35% lower). Thomas is an elite level player. Ingram grades (and ranks) better than any of our departing players. The extended players are not graded as highly and didn't place in NFLN's top 100, but they are young with more potential to improve than most of the players we let walk.

If you offered me set A (Suggs, Mosley ...) vs Set B with those contracts, I'd take set B without much thought.

Personally I feel Boyle was an overpay. I also think that Ingram carries some risk as an older RB at a position where we were already highly productive. But on balance the strategy seems to be to let average (and in some cases even good) vets walk when the market is too rich while looking for higher caliber vets who can be had at a reasonable price. At the same time, we extend young developing talent in the hopes that they improve and exceed their contract value.

So far I really like it. I do hope that we make some attempt to strengthen WR and interior OL. I don't think we need to get top of the market players, but it would be bad to head into the draft with 2 positions groups on the offense feeling like big liabilities.


Caveats ...
This is not meant to be a comprehensive evaluation of our offseason. I'm not mentioning the Flacco trade because that action was effectively written in stone when we drafted QB in the 1st round last year, but props to EDC for getting decent draft capital. I didn't dig into cuts (Weddle, Crabtree ...) because those are contracts we committed to before this offseason and, mostly, just to simplify the discussion. All these moves are, to varying degrees, influenced by prior offseasons, but that's where I chose to draw the line to keep the comparison manageable.

[helloharv]

good post

[Shrubbs]

I don't think we're done yet. I think we could absolutely bring back Brent Urban and, if he gets no interest, Ty Montgomery at a very inexpensive deal. I think there will be cap casualties at WR.

This chart makes me much more confident in DeCosta.

[NjRavensFan]

Well done

[elland]

We are really only getting a hopefully upgrade at FS and RB, from something which were solid in 2018..

What we do miss is 3 starting LBs and 2 WRs.

[Breezy5220]

I'm a huge fan of the way it's gone so far. Losing Mosley stung and suggs going to arizona hurt for sure. But adding Earl Thomas is an absolute upgrade. We got Ingram and Thomas for the price of Mosleys contract just about. Smith isn't close to being worth 16m a year. I'm just hoping we continue the trend started with young and get deals done like that for Marlon and Stanley in the future. Overall after the initial punch to the face of losing good defensive players, i think EDC did great

[bmoreravenous]

We are really only getting a hopefully upgrade at FS and RB, from something which were solid in 2018..

What we do miss is 3 starting LBs and 2 WRs.

Sure, but one could also argue that a trash can could replace the production from Crabtree and Brown the last 7 weeks of the season.