Looks like Free Agency will officially kick off on St. Patrick's Day, March 17.
Players can start the "legal tampering" period as early as March 15, but cannot sign until 4:00 PM EST on March 17.

(02-03-2021, 06:24 PM)ochocincos Wrote: Looks like Free Agency will officially kick off on St. Patrick's Day, March 17.
Players can start the "legal tampering" period as early as March 15, but cannot sign until 4:00 PM EST on March 17.

jon gruden has already started.

1 month away!

I miss the days of FA being right at end of Feb or first week of March. Hate waiting so long for FA to happen.

2 weeks away from "legal tampering" start!

With no Combine, this lead up to FA is taking verrrry long.

Fingers crossed we get at least one good upgrade in FA!

Well at least we are into March, makes me feel better. It has been a long Offseason already, damn!

Yes, FA begins soon. I also see some action starting as roster decisions (bonus) have to made very soon. I see a ton of cuts or restructuring happening prior to the roster bonus deadline. Teams are locked in if they pay the roster bonus and lose a lot of their negotiation power.

Since cap is declining (not just 2021, but it appears 2022 also since 2021 is robbing Peter cap money to pay Paul cap money) lots of team in cap hell.

I still see us making 3 significant cuts: to gain @ 22 million more cap space.

1) Geno Atkins- I think because of the cap being lower, will be a post june 1 cut to spread out over 2 years freeing up an additional 2.6 this year.

2) Bobby Hart-5.9

3) BJ Finney-3.75

- Hart/Finney no longer warrant the $$ and we have to get better at at least 2 positions in FA.

Anxious to see it play out myself.

(03-01-2021, 06:56 PM)schroomytunes Wrote: - Hart/Finney no longer warrant the $$ and we have to get better at at least 2 positions in FA.

Hart was 40th ranked OT by PFF  (I don't trust their individual ranking system, but just using it for comparison sake)
Hart will be 32nd highest paid OT in 2021.

It will be hard to upgrade him at the same price.  By the time free agency is over he will probably be ranked even lower in salary for OTs next year.

(03-01-2021, 06:56 PM)schroomytunes Wrote: I still see us making 3 significant cuts: to gain @ 22 million more cap space.

1) Geno Atkins- I think because of the cap being lower, will be a post june 1 cut to spread out over 2 years freeing up an additional 2.6 this year.

2) Bobby Hart-5.9

3) BJ Finney-3.75

- Hart/Finney no longer warrant the $$ and we have to get better at at least 2 positions in FA.

Finney is due a $175K roster bonus, so I see him gone very soon.
 I agree about Geno, no need to cut him as only due $100K roster bonus, so can check him out further and put his cap savings over 2 years versus 1. Hart, I am not so sure he gets cut, but if he does would be prior to start of FA, due $438 in a roster bonus in my humble opinion.

I would add Gio, he is due $200K roster bonus, so I would ask him to restructure first, if he says no, cut him.

(03-01-2021, 06:56 PM)schroomytunes Wrote: I still see us making 3 significant cuts: to gain @ 22 million more cap space.

1) Geno Atkins- I think because of the cap being lower, will be a post june 1 cut to spread out over 2 years freeing up an additional 2.6 this year.

2) Bobby Hart-5.9

3) BJ Finney-3.75

- Hart/Finney no longer warrant the $$ and we have to get better at at least 2 positions in FA.

Finney really is a head-scratcher to me. Dude played 0 offensive snaps and just 2 ST snaps. No idea why they even bothered having him included in the Dunlap trade.

As for Atkins, I'm not sure the post June 1 cut makes sense. He's either going to get all his remaining guaranteed money for 2021 or half of it will count toward 2022. If the team isn't expecting to compete for playoffs in 2021, it may make more sense to take all the hit for 2021 so they have more to spend in 2022.

Bobby Hart has to go. He's overstayed his welcome.

I wonder if Uzomah is more of a cut candidate than Hart. Since 2015 he is averaging about 183 yards and 1.3 TDs per year. It looks like cutting him would save ~5 mil against the cap. They could sign the guy from the Rams or pay for ~1/3 of what Sherff or Thuney are likely to get per year. 
He's a good player and had some good catches from Burrow before getting hurt, but I could see him being asked to restructure(more guaranteed/less cap hit) or being cut outright. 

(03-01-2021, 07:26 PM)Luvnit2 Wrote: Finney is due a $175K roster bonus, so I see him gone very soon.
 I agree about Geno, no need to cut him as only due $100K roster bonus, so can check him out further and put his cap savings over 2 years versus 1. Hart, I am not so sure he gets cut, but if he does would be prior to start of FA, due $438 in a roster bonus in my humble opinion.

I would add Gio, he is due $200K roster bonus, so I would ask him to restructure first, if he says no, cut him.

Good plan, yes I would add Gio unless he agrees to restructure. We are paying our RB's too much, we aren't cutting Mixon.

(03-01-2021, 08:44 PM)ochocincos Wrote: Finney really is a head-scratcher to me. Dude played 0 offensive snaps and just 2 ST snaps. No idea why they even bothered having him included in the Dunlap trade.

As for Atkins, I'm not sure the post June 1 cut makes sense. He's either going to get all his remaining guaranteed money for 2021 or half of it will count toward 2022. If the team isn't expecting to compete for playoffs in 2021, it may make more sense to take all the hit for 2021 so they have more to spend in 2022.

Bobby Hart has to go. He's overstayed his welcome.

Agree.

(03-01-2021, 09:12 PM)Bilbo Saggins Wrote: I wonder if Uzomah is more of a cut candidate than Hart. Since 2015 he is averaging about 183 yards and 1.3 TDs per year. It looks like cutting him would save ~5 mil against the cap. They could sign the guy from the Rams or pay for ~1/3 of what Sherff or Thuney are likely to get per year. 
He's a good player and had some good catches from Burrow before getting hurt, but I could see him being asked to restructure(more guaranteed/less cap hit) or being cut outright. 

Good points on Uzo as well. Anyway we can free up money to get O-line and D-line help I am for.

If we do this in FA it opens up the Draft and we can take Kyle Pitts who should be a major upgrade at TE for us in the 
passing game. This would be cheaper than bringing in Hunter Henry and we could add Thuney and one of the RT's in 
FA in either Daryl Williams, Wagner or Scherff.

Monday can't come soon enough for legal tampering to start!!!!

(03-11-2021, 04:47 PM)ochocincos Wrote: Monday can't come soon enough for legal tampering to start!!!!