The Worst Free Agent Signings of 2022

With every team having played at least eight games I wanted to look back at free agency and look at how some of the signings have fared. For this post we will look at who, thus far, looks to be the worst signings of the year (don’t worry we will have a best of list soon enough). Many of these looked like good signings when made and illustrate how difficult free agency can be to project even when you have years and years of footage of the player. To qualify you had to switch teams this year in free agency, so a free agent opting to return to his former team would not count (i.e. Jameis Winston) nor would a contract extension (i.e. Aaron Rodgers).  The year is still young and some of these players will have plenty of time to turn things around.

10. C.J. Uzomah, Jets- 3 Years, $24M, $15M guaranteed

Most things have gone right for the Jets this year, but they missed on Uzomah who was targeted to be a receiver in the offense and has instead simply played the role of an expensive, average blocker. Uzomah had a career year with the Bengals in 2021, playing over 70% of the snaps and snagging 49 receptions. This year he is playing under 50% of the offensive snaps and may not reach 20 receptions. Uzomah has $7 million guaranteed next year and a cap hit of $10.3 million.

9. Russell Gage, Buccaneers- 3 Years, $30M, $20M guaranteed

I guess the Bucs envisioned Gage as the 3rd big weapon in a big passing attack, but instead he is the third target in a pretty anemic offense. Gage is on pace for under 500 yards on the year and seems like an afterthought on offense more often than not. His $10M 2023 salary is guaranteed for injury with $5 million of it already fully guaranteed. Gage’s cap charge next season is $12.16 million, a big number for a team with cap troubles and perhaps no QB.

8. Chase Edmonds, Dolphins- 2 Years, $12.1M, $6.1M guaranteed

How bad was this addition?  The Dolphins traded him away as part of the Bradley Chubb deal after paying out nearly $5 million of his $6.1 million salary. Prior to the trade Edmonds was averaging a paltry 2.9 yards per attempt and had just 120 yards for the season. The team just misjudged everything about this one from the contract total down to the fit with the offense. 

7. D.J. Chark, Lions- 1 Year, $10M, $10M guaranteed

Everyone understood this signing when it happened- it was a one year gamble on a player who had over 1,000 yards with the Jaguars a few years ago and an injury last season kept him from being a possible marquee free agent- but that doesn’t mean it wound up a good one. Chark has again nursed injuries, only appearing in 3 games this year. In those three games he has yet to reach the 100 yard mark for the entire season. He is currently on IR and will likely sign elsewhere for a fraction of this price in 2023.

6. Julio Jones, Buccaneers- 1 Year, $6M, $6M guaranteed

What the Buccaneers saw in Jones last year with the Titans that made them think signing him made sense is anyone’s guess, but Jones has again struggled with injuries and has largely been ineffective with a total of 8 receptions for 125 yards. Of those 125 yards, 69 came in week 1. Perhaps he can re-find the fountain of youth if they make the playoffs. Jones will have $3.5M in dead money next year when his contract voids.

5. Folorunso Fatukasi, Jaguars- 3 Years, $30M, $20M guaranteed

Fatukasi left the Jets to join the Jaguars in free agency, but it has been a rough change so far for the defensive lineman. Fatukasi is grading under 60 on the year by Pro Football Focus. He has been credited with 15 tackles, none for loss, a big drop from last year where he had 46 tackles, 5 for loss with the Jets. You would expect these numbers from a sub $3 million player. He has provided similar pass rush numbers to last season but the Jaguars are looking for more overall consistency. He has a $12.8M cap figure next season and his salary is guaranteed.

4. Allen Robinson, Rams- 3 Years, $46.5M, $32.1M guaranteed

The Rams took a shot on the talented Robinson and assumed his disappointing 2021 season was due to unhappiness with the Bears and the talent he was playing with Chicago. Unfortunately, things have not changed much this year. Robinson is on pace for just 530 yards and hasn’t shown much chemistry with Matt Stafford. His 31 YPG would be a career low for any season in which he appeared in more than 1 game. Finding a trade partner may be difficult but this has the feeling of one of those Rams contracts that they admit the mistake on and move on despite the cost associated with it.

3. Cedrick Wilson, Dolphins- 3 Years, $22M, $12.8M guaranteed

Wilson had the few breakout games in the second half of last season which caused the Dolphins to aggressively go after Wilson in free agency. Unfortunately for Miami, Wilson has more or less gone back to matching his earlier years in Dallas with just 6 receptions for 63 yards on the year. He is only logging 20% playing time in Miami and it is looking less and less likely that this changes. Miami’s passing attack has been on fire with the addition of Tyreek Hill so they aren’t sweating this miss too much, but it was a clear miss. $5 million of Wilson’s salary in 2023 is guaranteed which probably makes him a strong “pay and trade” candidate next offseason.

2. Chandler Jones, Raiders- 3 Years, $51M, $32M guaranteed

The Raiders expected big production from Jones and it hasn’t happened so far. In 8 games Jones has just 0.5 sacks and 1 tackle for loss while his 17 pressures rank just 57th among edge defenders. In contrast Von Miller, who was the other available veteran pass rusher, has 7 sacks, 9 tackles for loss and 29 pressures. Jones’ cap number jumps to $19.4 million in 2023 so the disappointing Raiders are going to need him to recapture some of that Arizona magic over the next year and a half to justify this decision.

1. J.C. Jackson, Chargers- 5 Years, $82.5M, $40M guaranteed

While many questioned how Jackson would perform outside of New England, I don’t think anyone expected the drop off that occurred this year. Jackson was graded by PFF at a lowly 28.7 on the season and our valuation of Jackson is under the minimum for the year, basically putting him in the category of players fighting to stick it out on the roster each week.  Jackson, whose big claim to fame was big interception totals with the Patriots, failed to snag one this year and was pulled midway through a game this season before suffering an injury that will force him to miss the rest of the year. The Chargers frontloaded his contract this year ($28M as a first year salary) in hopes that he would be a big part of the defense but they will have to wait until next season to see if he can make the contract look like a better decision.   

Looking Ahead to the Saints 2023 Salary Cap

Every year we discuss the Saints future salary cap and every year it is met with a response that the “cap doesn’t matter and it is easy to find a way”, but that excuse holds more merit when the team is a playoff team and you are living for today rather than tomorrow. This year it is different for the Saints. Last year the team won 9 games and nearly made the playoffs but now the team is staring at a 2-5 record and is on pace to be one of the worst teams in the NFL.

The Saints typical strategy to manage the salary cap is to “kick the can” on all of their players. This year it was an absurd amount of can kicking. As of last week the Saints had committed to $190.8 million in prorated money for the 2022 season. That is $21.2 million more than the next closest team (Rams) and $86.5 million more than the NFL average.

Of that $190 million, $122.3 million was in the form of restructure bonuses- salary conversions of existing player contracts for salary cap relief. That was $66 million more than the Buccaneers who ranked number two in the NFL. The average conversion for the other 31 teams in the NFL was just $17.2 million with a median of about $16 million.

The Saints have 21 veteran players at or near the minimum salary this year who also have prorated money in their contract, three more than any other team and much more than the NFL average of 9. All but three eligible players on the roster have a base salary under $2 million. The players over the $2 million number include PJ Williams, who had a contract that for cap purposes had a salary that was treated as if it was the minimum for cap purposes and the other was kicker Wil Lutz.  The team was in such a tight cap position that they recently converted the remaining salary of RFA WR Deonte Hardy but since they waited five weeks his prorated salary may be over $2 million for the year. Everyone else has a salary about as low as allowed by NFL rules. Overall the Saints 2022 roster has 56% of their cap commitments tied up in prorated money, tops in the NFL with the Packers a close second. This is about 20% points more than the league average.

Looking ahead to the 2023 season the Saints situation looks bleak. The team currently has 34 players under contract who currently account for $258.9M in salary cap charges. They have four player contracts that will void, leaving the team with $21.2M in salary cap charges if not extended. They have about $4.5 million in dead money on the books as well. While they do not have to bring the roster to 51 players in the offseason that will cost at least $12.75 million on the cap if they do. 

If you add that all up it would bring the team’s top 51 to about $297M in cap commitments. While the salary cap is an unknown next year that number is, by far, the worst in the NFL. It would put them around $70 million over a $225 million salary cap and $60 million over if they just leave the roster with the existing players.  At an average age next year of 27.6 it is also the oldest group of players in the NFL.

Here is what the salary cap looks like for the Saints next season

Name2023 Salary CapDead Money if CutCap Saved if Cut
Michael Thomas$28,263,000$25,452,000$2,811,000
Cameron Jordan$25,737,250$23,486,500$2,250,750
Marshon Lattimore$22,464,317$43,006,471($20,542,154)
Ryan Ramczyk$21,441,321$39,965,287($18,523,966)
Andrus Peat$18,371,000$16,984,000$1,387,000
Alvin Kamara$16,093,000$15,372,000$721,000
Jameis Winston$15,600,000$11,200,000$4,400,000
Taysom Hill$13,925,000$23,775,000($9,850,000)
Demario Davis$13,276,000$13,104,000$172,000
Erik McCoy$12,680,000$17,480,000($4,800,000)
David Onyemata*$10,192,555$10,192,555$0
Tyrann Mathieu$8,900,000$14,600,000($5,700,000)
Marcus Maye$8,600,000$11,950,000($3,350,000)
Marcus Davenport*$7,626,941$7,626,941$0
Wil Lutz$5,620,000$1,920,000$3,700,000
Chris Olave$4,379,971$15,767,895($11,387,924)
Bradley Roby$4,145,475$2,412,426$1,733,049
Carl Granderson$4,140,000$160,000$3,980,000
Cesar Ruiz$4,034,290$4,034,290$0
James Hurst$3,761,000$2,044,000$1,717,000
Payton Turner$3,415,837$3,234,450$181,387
Tre’Quan Smith$3,400,000$1,500,000$1,900,000
Nick Vannett$3,365,000$765,000$2,600,000
Trevor Penning$3,214,390$11,571,804($8,357,414)
Tanoh Kpassagnon*$1,992,000$1,992,000$0
Alontae Taylor$1,637,431$2,847,321($1,209,890)
Pete Werner$1,550,368$747,156$803,212
Zack Baun$1,506,762$264,762$1,242,000
Paulson Adebo$1,375,912$514,548$861,364
Zach Wood$1,345,000$175,000$1,170,000
Adam Trautman$1,302,473$208,073$1,094,400
Landon Young$982,445$84,890$897,555
Dylan Soehner$876,668$6,668$870,000
Smoke Monday$876,666$13,334$863,332
Lewis Kidd$871,667$3,334$868,333
Rashid Shaheed$870,000$0$870,000
D’Marco Jackson$829,229$237,687$591,542

*cap figure assumes contract voids

Once the Saints reach 51 players it should be noted that every release will also see a player earning at least $750,000 take the cut player’s place on the roster. With that in mind only seven players on the roster would have a net savings over $1 million. Not one player would be over $4 million in savings. If you cut every single player with positive net savings on the roster you would only create $21 million in net cap space, a far cry from the $70 million necessary to function. It more or less leaves them in a position where doubling down is going to be necessary to some extent. So what options does the team have?

The first thing that New Orleans has to do is to be realistic about their team moving forward. They have not been that the last two years, especially this past offseason. Barring an incredible turnaround over the next few weeks the Saints are going to have to make decisions about the future of certain players on the roster by December rather than waiting until next year.

The NFL gives teams the ability to designate two players per year as post June 1 cuts.  What that means is you can defer the acceleration of dead money to the following year but it comes with a catch- you have to hold the player’s salary cap charge at the stated amount until June 1. That does not do you any good when you have players with cap hits over $20 million. You also can not use the post June 1 designation if you renegotiate the players contract after the season, but you can do it before the end of the regular season.

This was something I had discussed a long time ago and the Eagles wound up exploiting that loophole a few years ago by making future roster decisions in December and essentially asking the player’s agents to help them out with the salary cap. There was a time when most agents probably would have flat out denied such requests but nowadays the stronger relationships with teams go a long way, so rather than putting a team on their heels they work on helping them salvage their salary cap.

The Saints should choose two players to do that with this season. The first candidate has to be Michael Thomas. Thomas has $25.4 million in dead money if cut or traded and a cap figure over $28 million. In the last three years, Thomas has played in just 10 games and he has had a somewhat rocky relationship with the team as well. The Saints could go to him and promise him his freedom for 2023 in March as long as he redoes his contract.

To rework his contract they would remove all offseason bonuses and bring his salary down to the minimum of $1.165 million. To ensure his release the contract would contain a dummy salary in 2025 of some crazy amount that would be guaranteed if he were on the roster on the 2nd day of the 2023 league year. In that scenario his cap figure would be reduced from $28M to $12.978 million, a savings of $15.285 million. On June 2nd his cap would drop to $11.813 million and they would defer the rest of the $28 million in dead money to 2024. This is a significantly better option than taking $25 million dead for him in 2023 or restructuring the deal again and keeping their fingers crossed that he can be healthy and play at the level he used to play at.

The team would then have to decide who would be the second player to do that with. The one that makes the most financial sense is Cam Jordan, but I would put the more logical candidate to be Andrus Peat. Peat’s re-signing with the Saints in 2020 is one they probably wish they could have back. They seemed prepared to let him walk until the price got low enough to where they brought him back. Peat was already showing durability concerns at that stage and he only played in 6 games last season. He has played in 5 game this year and has been a low grade players for at least the last two years.

Peat’s cap charge next year is $18.371 million. By doing the same trick as above they can lower it to $7.7 million and reduce the dead money from $16.9 to $6.54 million next year with the balance going to 2024. Between those two players the team will open up $25.95 million putting the Saints in a far more manageable position. But remember this has to be done this year to make it work for next year.

The next player the team will need to make a decision on will be Jordan. Jordan will be 34 next season and entering the final year of his contract. I can’t see a scenario where they release him unless he asks to be released. If he were to retire they could do the same trick as above and that can be done after the regular season (the Saints did this with Drew Brees a few years ago). Most likely he will finish his career in New Orleans so I would just expect this to be a kick the can contract. The max savings here on a straight conversion would be $11.068 million. While you are dumping more dead money to the future I would assume that 2024 would be a retirement and they would split that now between 2024 and 2025. Certainly not ideal but they are not in good shape.  This gets the Saints to about $23 million over the cap.

There would really be no reason to move on from Ryan Ramczyk who is only 27. The max conversion here would net them $10.336 million in salary cap savings in 2023 about $13 million away from being good to go (and maybe even good if the cap really spikes). This is a conversion that should be fine for now and the future.

Marshon Lattimore in an interesting discussion. He is also only 27 and the team is financially invested in him for 2023 but I do think a trade market could exist. That said they would lose $6 million in cap space so they would need to hold off on trading him until after June if they wanted to make cap space. His cap number is $22.4 million so they would have to get very creative to do that. The smart play for them might be to see about converting his guaranteed salary to a guaranteed option due late in the summer. That would allow them to drop his cap charge down by $10.736 million and still keep a trade to be a possibility since the option would only be the responsibility of New Orleans if Latimore is on the team after the date the option is due.

Erik McCoy has a $10 million roster bonus due in the offseason. That would seem to be a pretty easy decision to just convert to a prorated bonus and spread it out. That saves the team $8 million. That move puts the Saints under our theoretical cap of $225 million assuming that they do not sign any futures deals. I have seen teams in cap trouble avoid maxing out the roster (the Ravens I know did it in the past and I think the Falcons may have as well) but to be on the safe side I think they would need to make another $10 million or so in cap space.

Personally I don’t see the need for a kicker with a $5.6 million hit on the team. Cutting him saves $3.7 million. Lutz is in the final year of his contract. Tight end Nick Vannett did a strange restructure this past year and I believe gave up guaranteed money to stick with the team. Unless I’m mistaken they would pick up $2.6 million with his release as only a small portion of his 2023 salary is protected. The team more or less opted early into Carl Granderson as a RFA in 2023 and they probably should opt out now, saving $3.98 million in the process. I could see them wanting to hold onto him because of his age but they need to have a bigger role designed for him if that is the case.

If they do all of this it should give them the cushion they need to at least work with the roster a bit. They could cut Jameis Winston but with no QB under contract it may be better to just threaten the cut and bring his salary back down to around $5 million. The Saints likely screwed themselves over this year when it came to Winston due their pursuit of Deshaun Watson. When they failed to land Watson they went back to Winston, signing him a two year $28 million contract. The prior two years as a free agent Winston had signed for the league minimum to backup Brees and $5.5 million the next year to compete for the starting job. He was hurt after a few games and there was no real reason to bump the salary by so much other than they had no other option to go to at the time. Winston has been hurt again this year so they should aim to get it down by a good $7-$8 million with a chance for him to make it up in incentives.

I would not touch the contracts of Tyrann Mathieu, Alvin Kamara, or Marcus Maye. While they could create cap room with each player they are all more valuable in a trade or as a planned release. Mathieu’s salary drops to just $7 million in 2023 which should make him attractive to teams. If traded, the Saints would open up $1.3 million and avoid paying that $7 million salary so the gain over a two year period is pretty strong. There are no offseason bonuses to consider so they could trade him at any point before the trade deadline and save room for the future.

Trading Maye would open up $3.8 million though I think teams would hedge on his contract. He has a roster bonus due in March so they cant just hold onto him the way they would Mathieu to wait for a trade. I don’t see the future here to convert his bonus as that just seems pointless if you can be cap compliant with the other moves.

Finally trading Kamara saves $1.7 million if traded prior to his roster bonus being due and about $700K if traded after. While Kamara is not looked at the same way as Christian McCaffrey, the Panthers just received four draft picks from a desperate team for him. Even if I have to eat the $1 million I would rather hope for a trade rather than prorating the whole contract. If a trade is impossible at his salary (and it may be) they probably should work on reducing his salary from $11 million to $5 or $6 million or just move on. He has $4 million that becomes guaranteed early in free agency which makes cutting him hard once that is earned. Cutting him prior to that would be neutral on the cap but they would avoid $10 of the $11 million and that $1 million is probably covered by offsets.  That $10 million is money that would be saved for 2024.

Beyond that the Saints should just be trying to get by the 2023 season. They should not be in the business of prorating everyones contract. Signing free agents that they should not be signing by using void years and future guarantees. It should all be about getting things fixed and finding a way to be relevant in the future. If they did the above their cap position should go from 3rd worst in the NFL in 2024 to somewhere in the higher part of the bottom third of the league. If they just hold onto all of the players they will move into the worst position in the league come 2024.

To make matters worse for the Saints they made an absurd trade this spring where they sent off their 2023 1st round pick and 2024 2nd round pick to add an extra first rounder in this year draft. The selection became Trevor Penning. Penning has been on IR all season. It was a “win now” move of sorts for a team that had no business thinking they were a “win now” team. That is really the biggest lesson everyone should learn from this. When you do not have a viable QB on your roster in no way shape or form can you trade away a future number 1 draft pick unless it is for a quarterback. Rather than scouting the potential QB of the future the team is just hoping that they don’t have to watch the Eagles get a top 10 draft pick next year while the Saints try to navigate an old, expensive, declining roster.

Looking Ahead to the Packers Options with Aaron Rodgers

With the Green Bay Packers and Aaron Rodgers stumbling through the 2022 season I have started to get a number of questions pertaining to Rodgers and his contract. Rodgers signed a massive three year contract worth $150.8 million with virtually the entire contract guaranteed for injury and over $100 million fully guaranteed. Due to the size of the contract it is a complex deal and questions are being asked about his future and the Packers options with the salary cap, so I will try to explain the contract as best as possible given the information I have on the deal.

Rodgers currently has a salary cap charge of $31.6 million in 2023. $59.465 million of his $59.515 million salary for the year is already guaranteed. The Packers have the option to pay that salary out as a $58.3 million option bonus and a $1.165 million salary in order to drive his cap charge to the $31.6 million figure. The timing of the option works in the Packers favor for both trades and/or potential retirement as the official option decision does not have to happen until the start of the 2023 regular season.

What Happens in Aaron Rodgers Retires?

If Rodgers were to walk away he would forfeit all his rights to the $59.465 million in guaranteed salary for next year. In order to best accommodate the hit on the salary cap my assumption would be that the Packers and Rodgers would sign a new contract where the option bonus was eliminated and just a $1.165 salary remained. That would reduce Rodgers salary cap charge to $16,998,750 and they would carry him on the roster as a procedural move until June 2nd. At that point they would put him on the retired list. The salary cap charge in that case would be $15,833,570 in 2023 and $24,480,000 in 2024.

If they did not do that and processed the retirement right away they would take a salary cap hit of $40,313,570 in 2023 but none in 2024. The Packers have no cap space next year so it would seem more likely that they take the first approach.

What Happens if the Packers Trade Aaron Rodgers?

Rodgers does not have a no trade clause in his contract so he could be traded to a team as well.  The timing of the option should give the Packers all the way until the end of training camp to move him. The cap charge here would depend on when he was traded. If Rodgers were to be traded prior to June 1st the Packers would take on a $40,313,750 cap hit in 2023. If he was traded after June 1st it would be a $15,833,570 cap hit in 2023 with $24,480,000 due in 2024. This assumes that the Packers did not exercise the option before the trade. If the option is exercised then the trade number spikes to nearly $100 million. There should be no need to exercise the option until the last possible day.

For the team acquiring Rodgers they would be on the hook for the salary for the year. The cap charge would be $59,515,000 if they do not exercise his option and $15.79 million if they were to exercise the option. Rodgers has an injury guarantee of $49.25 million for 2024 but that does not become fully guaranteed until 5 days after the 2023 Super Bowl. If Rodgers was cut after 2023 it would cost the team $43.725 million on the 2024 cap. If he retired they could split that as $14.575 million in 2024 and $29.15 million in 2025 using a similar June 2nd date as mentioned above in the retirement option.

Can Aaron Rodgers be Cut?

No that is not a feasible option. Because his salary next year is fully guaranteed the Packers would take on over $99 million in dead money. While they could officially pick up the option and split that across 2023 and 2024 it would be about $31 million in dead money in 2023 and then $68.2 million coming in 2024.

Panthers Trade Robbie Anderson

Panthers wide receiver Robbie Anderson looks to be on the move following his dismissal from Sunday’s game by the Panthers coaching staff, with Anderson being traded to Arizona for the remainder of the season.

For the Cardinals this is an easy trade to make. Anderson will only cost them $690,000 on the salary cap this year and while he will cost $12 million next season, none of that number is guaranteed so they can walk away with no issues. They have not yet announced the trade compensation but it would be hard to believe that it would be much anything given how things ended in Carolina. Anderson should give them at least some insurance as a replacement for Marquise Brown who went down with an injury during the team’s loss to Seattle.

Carolina will carry about $10.2 million in dead money for Anderson in 2022 and another $9.7 million in 2023. Carolina, who was cap strapped earlier in the offseason and needed to make room to remain in the the hunt to acquire Deshaun Watson, had already paid out $11.765 million of Anderson’s salary back in the spring to help achieve that salary cap relief, so it is a big bill to pay for someone not on the team.

Anderson joined Carolina in 2020 on a two year, $20 million contract during free agency. Anderson had a softer than expected market so the Panthers took a chance and for one season it worked out with Anderson putting up a career best 1,096 yards and 95 receptions.

Even though it was not a one year “prove it” deal the Panthers treated it as such and quickly extended Anderson after the season to a new contract worth $14.75 million a season. This would be a disaster for the team as Anderson only had 519 yards in 2021. Rather than paying the original $8 million salary and then letting him walk after a poor season, the new extension saw the team pay $12.5 million in 2021 and then an additional $12.31 million this year. For that extra $16.31 million in cash and cap the Panthers got 6 additional games, 13 receptions, 206 yards, and a touchdown of production.

Thoughts on Diontae Johnson and the Steelers

With the flurry of receiver contracts being signed I had a number of questions about Steelers wideout Diontae Johnson who is currently looking for a new contract before committing fully to the 2022 preseason schedule. The market has certainly exploded this offseason with 11 wide receivers signing new contracts worth at least $20 million per season. The rumor is the two sides are far apart on valuation which is not surprising since the Steelers have traditionally let many of their receivers walk when it was time to for an extension that would reach higher end numbers.

The first thing I wanted to do is to look at what would be considered a “top season” among recent NFL signings and compare it to what many would consider Johnson’s top season.

PlayerAgeRoundPFF GradeTGTRecYdsYPRTDTDPR
Metcalf25282.5129831,30315.71012.0%
Samuel26287.8121771,40518.267.8%
Brown25290.4106701,07515.41115.7%
McLaurin27377.6134871,11812.944.6%
Average25.82.384.6122.579.31,225.315.57.759.8%
Johnson26373.81691071,16110.987.5%

While I think Johnson does belong in the discussion with this group of players, he is a target monster compared to the other players but his numbers fall short in terms of overall impact with such a low yards per reception. Last season he ranked 12th in YPR out of the 14 players who had at least 130 targets per PFF in 2021. He was 29th among the 39 players with at least 100 targets in 2021. Of the 10 players with a lower yards per reception, 3 were tight ends and 1 is currently out of the NFL (Cole Beasley). The others were Keenan Allen, Amon-Ra St. Brown, Jakobi Myers, Hunter Renfrow, Jaylen Waddle, and Robbie Anderson. All but Anderson would be considered “slot guys” and even he had over 200 routes out of the slot. Johnson had just 42.

Obviously there are other factors that can come into play regarding, that including poor QB play, but I could see how the Steelers may very well view his impact on the game to be more in line with the Hunter Renfrow end of the market vs the top end players but clearly that won’t get a deal done.

Johnson not looking to play without a new contract makes sense. While he has not had a good situation at QB this is arguably the worst it will be with Mitch Trubisky penciled in as the starter with first round draft pick Kenny Pickett and/or backup Mason Rudolph waiting in the wings. In the seasons when Ben Roethlisberger was healthy, the team generally threw the ball around 650 times a year.  That fell to around 500 in the year he was injured. With that kind of drop, Johnson’s overall numbers could drop significantly which could impact him in free agency. His former teammate went through a similar struggle as a free agent which could also weigh on him.

Still it is hard to imagine him agreeing to a contract in the sub $20 million per year range.  Here is the market breakdown of all the young receivers earning over $20 million a season and the relevant cash flow breakdown.

PlayerYearsTotalAPYTotal GuaranteeFull GuaranteeY0 Cash1Y Cash2Y Cash
A.J. Brown4$100,000,000$25,000,000$56,470,471$56,470,471$20,000,000$32,000,000$53,000,000
D.K. Metcalf3$72,000,000$24,000,000$58,220,000$31,000,000$26,779,529$40,999,529$53,999,529
Deebo Samuel3$71,550,000$23,850,000$58,167,000$41,000,000$20,832,000$32,077,000$53,999,000
Terry McLaurin3$69,600,000$23,200,000$53,154,118$34,654,118$26,525,000$31,700,000$50,200,000
D.J. Moore3$61,884,000$20,628,000$41,610,000$41,610,000$9,619,000$29,784,000$45,834,000

 Other than Moore, whose contract predated the market growth that occurred in free agency, the numbers are all pretty similar. The APYs are all between $23.2 and $25 million a season and realistically the Brown contract is only worth $23 million if you take out the inflated final year, giving us a market between $23 and $24 million a season. Guaranteed salary is between $53 and $58 million. Most of our differences come in the cash flow breakdown where there are some differences between the players at the start of the deals.

I think the argument would be that Johnson is in the class of McLaurin and to quickly discount the other three players all of whom have had at least one Pro Bowl selection, a higher draft grade, and arguably better high end seasons. McLaurin’s career has been more consistent than Johnson’s and even though McLaurin did surpass Brown in the true APY number he is well under him in cash earned through two years.

If the Steelers would like to get a contract done they probably have to follow a similar model, likely exceeding the McLaurin annual value to hit in the ballpark of $23.5 million a season but not reaching his cash flow numbers. Maybe a deal that offers about a $20 million raise this season, $30 million by next year, and then $47 or $48 million over two years before it reaches it’s max value. This is also a situation where the team could look for the extra year of control and do a 4 year rather than a three year extension as well.

Anything less than this I believe would make it hard for the Steelers to get a contract finalized given the way that contracts have recently gone. It would look like a big step back to drop below $20 million a season even if that happens to be where the Steelers view him at the moment.  

Offensive Spending- NFL Preseason 2022

As we move into the NFL preseason I wanted to take a closer look at spending in the NFL this year. Today I am going to look at the offense and see how teams are spending their money on each position. The numbers are based on the new money average per year of the top 30 players on offense.

Overall Spending on Offense

The average team has $121 million per year committed to the top 30 players on offense. The Browns lead the way, by far, in value placed on the offense- their contracts average $170 million per year. The Cardinals, Raiders, and Buccaneers are all closely grouped around $155 million each. The Panthers round out the top 5 at $146 million, though you can argue what the value of Baker Mayfield should be in this situation.

The teams with hardly any investment on offense are the Bears (A paltry $57.6 million), Steelers ($72.4 million), Falcons ($82.1 million), Bengals ($82.8 million), and Giants ($93.1 million). The Bengals number is in part low because they have key players obtained in the draft. The others are just sorting through things.

QL Spending

The Eagles lead the way with $65.7 million per year invested in their offensive line. That is nearly $15 million a year more than the Browns at $51.7 million. The Panthers, Lions, and Ravens are all around $50 million. The Patriots have the least invested with just $22.8 million spend on the offensive line. Seattle, who seemingly never spend on the line, is at $26 million while the Bears are the other team under $30 million at $27 million per year. The NFL average is $40.5 million.

WR Spending

With the recent swings in salary at receiver I was curious to see how this would play out. The current average per team is $31.5 million, which is about what Miami spends on Tyreek Hill (yes I know the number is inflated but its used in the calculations). Tampa Bay is up to $57 million on the year followed by Miami at $50 million, the Rams at $49 million and the Seahawks and Raiders at $48 million. The disparity at this position is huge with a $51.4 million per year gap between the top and bottom team, by far the most of any position other than QB. The Ravens spend just $5.3 million here followed by the Steelers at $10.4 million, the Colts at $11.2 million, and the Bears at $13 million.

RB Spending

Running back spend averages under $11 million a season and just two teams have over $20 million committed to the position- the Browns and the Saints. The Vikings and Panthers are both at $19 million while the Titans round out the top 5. The teams not wasting resources at this position are the Bears, Rams, and Eagles (all under $5 million), and Commanders ($5.5 million).

TE Spending

While the Patriots don’t have much invested in their offensive line they sure do have money invested at tight end with $27 million in contracts. They are the only team in the NFL that spends more on tight ends than they do on their offensive line. The Ravens have $22 million here as they are the lone team to spend more on tight ends than receivers. Miami is the other team over $20 million. The 49ers and Eagles round out the top 5. The Giants, Steelers, Bills, and Vikings are not even spending $4 million on the position.

QB vs non-QB Spending

I thought it might be interesting to see how much teams are spending on their offense relative to their spending on QB rather than looking at QB spending which is generally just dependent on one player. The following graph breaks it down.

Teams in the top right quadrant are the ones heavily invested in the offense. These are the teams with the expensive QB’s who are still committed to trying to invest in as many parts as possible around the QB. The Browns would be the primary standout here.

The bottom right identifies the teams with an expensive QB situation who have decided to maybe cut some corners elsewhere. The Packers would be a team with a giant gap  as they have a fortune invested in Aaron Rodgers while ranking 29th in spending on the rest of the offense.

The top left are primarily teams with rookie QBs or questionable QB situations who are going out and spending on the offense. For Jalen Hurts this is clearly a big year for him and the Eagles. He has a ton of talent to work with and will be extension eligible after the season. The same can probably be said for Miami.

The bottom left quadrant are teams with low cost rookies/bad QB situations who are either heavily reliant on draft pick contribution or just punting on the offense this year. The Giants and Falcons on paper are the two worst situations while the Steelers and Bears are giving their young QB’s almost no help.

The following table has the spending breakdowns for each team. It should be sortable if you click on the header.

TeamOLQBRBTEWRNon QBOverall
Browns$51,671,979$52,802,500$22,287,323$14,703,508$28,627,389$117,290,199$170,092,699
Cardinals$42,117,090$50,257,500$9,145,147$15,619,910$38,502,867$105,385,014$155,642,514
Raiders$38,552,960$42,474,160$16,606,795$9,657,501$48,316,000$113,133,256$155,607,416
Buccaneers$48,118,735$29,828,834$11,852,110$8,071,488$56,684,330$124,726,663$154,555,497
Panthers$50,765,118$25,088,486$19,064,143$7,776,609$43,602,642$121,208,512$146,296,998
Commanders$44,973,596$35,380,400$5,504,386$10,071,991$46,823,089$107,373,062$142,753,462
Rams$34,763,242$40,895,000$4,485,921$11,805,202$48,741,924$99,796,289$140,691,289
49ers$35,828,234$38,960,568$10,791,264$18,290,000$34,319,064$99,228,562$138,189,130
Saints$48,338,220$18,038,395$20,152,500$14,709,470$35,088,968$118,289,158$136,327,553
Chiefs$42,780,183$47,000,000$9,311,338$16,533,445$20,196,390$88,821,356$135,821,356
Dolphins$34,365,831$15,004,411$14,336,555$20,698,174$49,980,247$119,380,807$134,385,218
Cowboys$36,952,207$42,823,249$17,676,667$14,068,053$20,448,139$89,145,066$131,968,315
Bills$41,188,501$47,645,000$6,108,036$3,500,000$33,268,516$84,065,053$131,710,053
Eagles$65,722,677$1,506,294$4,903,939$17,223,535$39,697,822$127,547,973$129,054,267
Packers$33,824,964$53,367,535$14,211,224$10,587,421$16,123,965$74,747,574$128,115,109
Lions$50,308,630$36,650,000$9,926,811$6,895,946$23,724,919$90,856,306$127,506,306
Jaguars$47,321,784$13,558,372$6,023,595$17,179,505$41,146,517$111,671,401$125,229,773
Broncos$38,633,324$37,185,000$7,523,939$6,198,296$33,366,071$85,721,630$122,906,630
Vikings$37,196,594$37,578,353$19,374,038$3,598,844$22,976,153$83,145,629$120,723,982
Titans$33,939,865$31,685,025$18,483,052$10,541,084$24,503,569$87,467,570$119,152,595
Jets$49,801,861$14,827,695$6,730,618$16,011,226$30,377,032$102,920,737$117,748,432
Colts$47,723,319$34,002,676$11,012,289$9,199,260$11,186,739$79,121,607$113,124,283
Chargers$33,041,603$8,644,689$10,947,101$8,931,641$46,011,347$98,931,692$107,576,381
Seahawks$25,787,684$6,259,521$11,927,745$12,139,041$48,496,784$98,351,254$104,610,775
Patriots$22,749,160$6,973,353$8,323,994$27,195,271$35,503,632$93,772,057$100,745,410
Texans$44,650,688$4,993,025$9,812,608$7,354,037$28,357,776$90,175,109$95,168,134
Ravens$50,088,278$4,382,913$12,576,514$22,070,015$5,308,120$90,042,927$94,425,840
Giants$35,929,994$12,861,014$11,485,906$3,385,778$29,496,169$80,297,847$93,158,861
Bengals$34,502,232$10,547,534$15,470,722$5,732,407$26,590,941$82,296,302$92,843,836
Falcons$33,617,571$10,715,741$10,321,805$10,363,127$17,075,946$71,378,449$82,094,190
Steelers$32,350,202$16,852,163$9,409,552$3,425,851$10,377,263$55,562,868$72,415,031
Bears$27,517,484$7,752,988$4,034,759$5,264,447$13,036,068$49,852,758$57,605,746
NFL. Avg$40,472,619$26,141,950$11,556,950$11,525,065$31,498,637$95,053,271$121,195,221

2022 NFL Offseason Gains and Losses

While there are still players to be signed in free agency and a few deals we are waiting on details for I think we can begin to assess just how much teams were impacted by the offseason. For each team I looked at their 2021 roster and calculated how much contract value was lost to other teams in 2022 via free agency or trade to determine how much value was lost to a team. I then looked at how much every team added in contract value for players who were not on their team last season. These were all calculated using annual contract values as the baseline for value gained or lost. If a player retired it is considered no impact since they no longer have an active contract. The same goes for players who we do not have contract details for or have yet to sign a contract. We will revisit these again in the summer when those are all taken into account. Here is a quick look at each team.

After calculating the number I broke each team down into groups with some quick thoughts on the strategies for the year.

The Big Movers

The clear big movers this offseason were the Browns, Dolphins, Jaguars, Broncos and Chargers. Each of these teams had a net positive gain over $40 million per year for 2022. Each had minimal losses with the exception of the Jaguars who lost over $40 million in contract value to other teams, which ranked 13th in the league. That was made up for by their massive spending spree which ranked 1st in the NFL at nearly $95 million per year. You can argue whether or not the contract values made sense for the players they signed but in the mind of the Jaguars they did. Miami’s number is a bit inflated due to Tyreek Hill counting at $30 million a season, but they would be top 3 even if we pulled him out. The Chargers and Broncos both made major moves.  All five of these teams should have major expectations for this year.

Offseason Improvement

The next tier of teams range between $20 and $30 million in added annual salary. Four of the five were playoff teams looking to get better. Those were the Steelers, Bills, Titans, and Raiders. The Raiders made the biggest splash by adding the 4th most value, a number somewhat inflated by the Davante Adams signing but they also purged their roster and had the 9th most amount of salary acquired by other teams, though one of those was a QB who never played last year. The other three were running it back with many of the same players in 2022 while adding a few names to the mix expected to put them over the top. The other team was the Jets who ranked 7th in contract value added and took a much more proactive approach to free agency this year compared to the prior two offseasons. The Jets will have expectations of being relevant late in the year while the Steelers should have the aspirations of the playoffs again. The other three teams are likely considered Super Bowl or bust type expectations.

Minor Impacts

The Eagles had a net gain of $14.9 million ranking 26th in salary gained and 32nd in salary lost. The Bengals were similar with a 22/28 ranking for a net gain of just under $12 million. Detroit, Baltimore, Tampa and the Giants all kind of fall in this range with the Giants and Bucs being slightly negative. These teams are generally just running it back with a few additions and subtractions. I would anticipate that expectations for these teams are the same as what they were last season.

Reshuffling the Deck

The Colts, Commanders, Vikings, and Panthers are the teams I would put here. The net impact of gains and losses is minor but the hope is a big change in direction especially the Colts. Indy added the 9th most contract value at $49.3 million but lost the 11th most at $48 million. Obviously a good chunk of that is the swapping of QBs but they are trying to make things work in the same type of budget. Washington added the 10th most and lost the 16th most and in some world are expecting Carson Wentz to make them a playoff team. Minnesota added the 14th while Carolina added the 12th most. Both teams had over $25M in payers leave the team. The strategies here seem to indicate that the teams treated the offseason as a way to get over the playoff hump.

A Bit of a Salary Cap Crunch

This set of teams lost between $15 and $30 million in value this year with some of it likely being salary cap related. The 49ers, Saints, and Patriots were all near the $0 cap room mark for most of the offseason. Only the Saints pulled enough levers to create a bunch of cap room but that was done in the attempt to trade for Deshaun Watson. Wisely they seem to be sitting on that money to carry over to next year’s salary cap mess. Each of these teams could have done more this offseason but decided to keep in check, basically keeping most of the players on the team but not signing new ones. Expectations are probably slightly lower than last year.

The Oddball Team

The Seahawks had a net loss of $29 million (not including Wagner) driven by the loss of their QB which would seem to signal a rebuild, but they did add over $37 million in salary, 11th most in the NFL, which is an oddball decision for a team that should be rebuilding without Wilson. I guess you could consider that reshuffling the deck but with some much money out I just did not have a place to put them so I added them here.

Major Changes

Here we have teams whose team composition was also changed for salary cap purposes but they also made a conscious effort to simply begin resetting the rosters. The Chiefs are already down $30 million and that number should grow once Tyrann Mathieu signs somewhere. Clearly they are looking ahead at decisions and pulled away from the stars they could pull away from and will likely do more of that next season when it is time to move on from Frank Clark. Atlanta is down $38 million as they are still purging a terrible cap situation. No team lost more than Chicago who had nearly $75 million in contracts playing on other teams in 2022. This is a complete overhaul for them. The Rams are down $46 million (that will change with the Wagner signing) but lost the 3rd most in value this year, one of just a handful of teams to lose three or more $10M+ players. These teams are all going to have lower expectations than last season, unless they draft someone who is thought to be an impact player.  

All Eyes on the Draft

Finally we have the Texans, Cardinals Cowboys, and Packers who I would put in this class. Houston has  signed the most players but rank just 24th in contract value added, so it is all minor adds. Their overall value lost is bloated due to Watson, who didn’t play last year, but it is also clear they just signed players to fill out a roster while focusing on the draft to completely rebuild the team. The Cardinals went all in last year and basically added nothing while losing $53 million to other teams. They are a cap mess as well and can not continue with the strategy of adding older veterans on one and two year contracts. They need the draft to go really well. Dallas just began gutting their team. They lost $60 million in contracts to other teams including the trade of Amari Cooper and added a paltry $4.2 million in outside free agents. Finally the Packers lost $68 million in contract value including Adams, Smith, and Valdes-Scantling while restructuring every contract under the sun and extending Aaron Rodgers to a massive contract just to comply with the salary cap. They need major hits in the draft this year.  Other than Houston each of these team’s should have a downgraded outlook.

Here is the data in table form for each team.

TeamAPY Value GainedAPY Value LostNet APY Change
Browns$81,022,661$18,034,701$62,987,960
Dolphins$84,315,000$26,376,667$57,938,333
Jaguars$94,835,000$41,140,000$53,695,000
Broncos$73,410,000$25,320,386$48,089,614
Chargers$63,365,000$22,432,500$40,932,500
Jets$58,705,833$29,903,563$28,802,270
Steelers$35,595,833$8,320,000$27,275,833
Bills$51,002,500$25,132,500$25,870,000
Titans$31,080,000$9,256,930$21,823,070
Raiders$79,564,114$58,682,500$20,881,614
Eagles$20,350,000$5,422,500$14,927,500
Bengals$25,250,000$13,260,000$11,990,000
Lions$17,107,500$6,982,500$10,125,000
Ravens$25,205,000$15,447,500$9,757,500
Panthers$35,897,500$26,557,500$9,340,000
Vikings$33,482,500$25,390,000$8,092,500
Commanders$39,082,500$32,850,000$6,232,500
Colts$49,335,000$47,479,114$1,855,886
Buccaneers$21,085,000$22,035,000($950,000)
Giants$26,602,500$29,782,500($3,180,000)
49ers$25,885,000$41,698,333($15,813,333)
Saints$13,920,000$33,765,000($19,845,000)
Patriots$17,248,868$40,461,828($23,212,960)
Seahawks$37,567,886$67,087,500($29,519,614)
Chiefs$33,345,000$63,337,500($29,992,500)
Falcons$28,605,000$66,505,000($37,900,000)
Bears$32,136,930$74,976,666($42,839,736)
Rams$25,500,000$71,787,500($46,287,500)
Cardinals$6,062,500$53,205,000($47,142,500)
Texans$24,860,447$72,972,500($48,112,053)
Cowboys$4,187,500$60,143,567($55,956,067)
Packers$8,640,000$68,505,817($59,865,817)