Tee hires Ja'Marr's agent

[CJD]

(12-14-2024, 09:54 AM)Ell Prez Wrote: Great post. I’ve wanted to trade tee for assets (draft and cap). And I haven’t done the research but this is the main reason I would want to keep Tee. Are there any FA defensive players out there worth a $25M-30M year deal? If not, then my opinion shifts a little, a little closer to 50/50 on what to do. Idk I need to look at 2025 FA lists. And we also have to realize those players could still be retained by their team.

In my opinion, there are no defensive free agents that I would be willing to throw 25M to 30M at (I assume you meant per year, not total value of the contract).

There are some defensive free agents that I'd be interested in signing. I like Milton Williams of the Eagles and Osa Odighizuwa of the Cowboys who I think could provide a really good pass rush from the inside, but I don't think either are considered top 25 free agents. And they're both kind of 2 down players, cuz they aren't great against the run.


DE though is kind of a wasteland haha. Almost every free agent in the DE class this year has some kind of glaring red flag. Haason Reddick had the whole controversy where he sat out for over half the season, Khalil Mack, DeMarcus Lawrence and Matthew Judon are old and the Bengals don't typically go for those types of free agents, Chase Young has been one of the most disappointing players in recent memory relative to his ceiling, Josh Uche fell off the face of the earth after a fantastic 2022 season and Azeez Ojulari was benched by the Giants for a while before having a minor resurgence (mostly against us) before the trade deadline (he has now fallen back into mediocre status and got injured shortly thereafter). 


As an aside, now that I think about it Azeez Ojulari is exactly the kind of free agent the Bengals would sign. Has their best game against us, so we sign him, who would then go on to be a below average player for us (see: Sheldon Rankins, Geno Stone)


Among the defensive edge players, Josh Sweat is probably the best of the bunch. My only major concern with him is that the Eagles' defensive line is so good, how much did he benefit from being on an island because of their defensive line depth? I'd have a similar question about Milton Williams, honestly. 


I guess the bottom line is, it is very rare that a prime #1 player at their position hits free agency. Most of the time, the team locks those players up, so there's a degree of risk with every free agent currently out there.


In that same vein, why would we be one of the teams that lets a prime #1 player like Tee Higgins go?