Key Additions: S Micah Hyde ($6.1M), S Jordan Poyer ($3.25M), K Steven Hauschka ($3M), Patrick DiMarco ($2.1M), WR Andre Holmes ($1.7M), G Vlad Ducasse ($1.2M), DE Ryan Davis ($1M)

Key Re-signings: LB Lorenzo Alexander ($3M), C Ryan Groy ($2.5M), T Jordan Mills, ($1.9M) Continue reading Free Agency Review: Buffalo Bills »

Jason Fitzgerald

Jason is the founder of OTC and has been studying NFL contracts and the salary cap for over 15 years. Jason has co-authored two books about the NFL, Crunching Numbers and the Drafting Stage, which are widely circulated in the industry and hosts the OTC Podcast. Jason’s work has been featured in various publications including the Sporting News, Sports Illustrated, NFL Network and more. OTC is widely considered the leading authority on contract matters in the NFL.

overthecap.com

Yesterday we broke down spending in 2017 by position on offense and today we will look at the defense. Pass rushers were the ones to cash in while the traditional linebacker positions continue to struggle to keep up with inflation in the NFL.

Pass Rushers

The prices for pass rushers continues to explode in the NFL with the top of the market seeing over 10% salary growth, which does not even include Melvin Ingram’s one year tag that he has yet to sign. While I thought JPP and Chandler Jones actually came in under expectations, in hindsight I think it really just reinforces two things- how much the franchise tag is a burden for great players and how much the Jaguars drive prices in free agency when involved. Thus far 2017 has added four new pass rushers into the top 10 and 7 in total to the top 20. While there are a few older deals in this group it seems clear that unless there is a massive change in the value placed on rushers that the new floor for anyone with even a small ability to rush the passer is going to get close to $9 million in the future with the top of the market probably maxing out around $17 million. Continue reading Free Agency Review: Market Movement on Defense »

Jason Fitzgerald

Jason is the founder of OTC and has been studying NFL contracts and the salary cap for over 15 years. Jason has co-authored two books about the NFL, Crunching Numbers and the Drafting Stage, which are widely circulated in the industry and hosts the OTC Podcast. Jason’s work has been featured in various publications including the Sporting News, Sports Illustrated, NFL Network and more. OTC is widely considered the leading authority on contract matters in the NFL.

overthecap.com

With the biggest contracts now signed in free agency I wanted to take a look at how each position fared at the top and compare the averages to where they stood last season. For some positions 2017 has been a banner year and for others it has not moved much despite the large amounts of cap space that teams had and continue to have this year. Today we will look at the offense  and in a day or two do a breakdown of the defense. Continue reading Free Agency Review: Market Movement on Offense »

Jason Fitzgerald

Jason is the founder of OTC and has been studying NFL contracts and the salary cap for over 15 years. Jason has co-authored two books about the NFL, Crunching Numbers and the Drafting Stage, which are widely circulated in the industry and hosts the OTC Podcast. Jason’s work has been featured in various publications including the Sporting News, Sports Illustrated, NFL Network and more. OTC is widely considered the leading authority on contract matters in the NFL.

overthecap.com

Now that the first week of free agency is nearing its end and most of the significant deals have been signed, I’d like to look at the new Wide Receivers contracts compared to their peers as well as each player’s past performance.

Alshon Jeffery: 1 year, $9.5M, $8.75M Guaranteed

Continue reading Free Agency Review – WR »

Now that the first week of free agency is nearing its end and most of the significant deals have been signed, I’d like to look at the new Tight Ends contracts compared to their peers as well as each player’s past work.

Martellus Bennett: 3 years, $21M, $6.3M Guaranteed

In my 11/22/16 article, I concluded that Bennett would re-sign with New England for 3 years and $21M. While I had the team wrong, the contract is right in line with what I expected, although with less guaranteed dollars. In lieu of signing Bennett, New England opted to trade for Dwayne Allen, who will count for a total of $17.4M over 3 years with no dead money in any season. New England is saving $3.6M in cap space over 3 years by going with Allen over Bennett, but they are also slotting a player in behind Gronkowski that is a clear step down from Bennett.

Continue reading Free Agency Review – TE »