Improvement in free agency is sometimes about the quality of the pickups, not the amount. And the Tampa Bay Buccaneers may have added a player who will immediately help.
Tampa agreed to a deal with DeSean Jackson, who was one of the top wide receivers on the free agent market.
Jackson has been taking the tops of opposing defenses since entering the league in 2008 and is always capable of making a big play. He averaged 17.9 yards per play last season in Washington, 17.6 in 2015, and a whopping 20.9 yards per play in 2014.
Playing across from Mike Evans, Jackson will give Tampa Bay an excellent deep threat for up-and-coming quarterback Jameis Winston.
As if signing Jackson weren’t enough, Tampa Bay also took another former Washington player.
The Bucs agreed to a 3-year deal with Chris Baker worth around $16 million. Baker had 48 tackles and 4.5 sacks in Washington last season. He should pair well with Gerald McCoy on the Bucs’ defensive line.
Defensive has long been a sore spot for the Saints, so they are doing what they can to improve on that end.
Last year’s No. 31-ranked defense couldn’t afford to lose defensive lineman Nick Fairley, so they locked him up on a four-year deal, reportedly worth almost $30 million. The former No. 11 pick finally played a full slate of games during the regular season and racked up 6.5 sacks for New Orleans.
The Saints defense also added inside linebacker A.J. Klein, taking him away from Carolina. They signed Klein to a four-year, $24 million deal with $9.4 million guaranteed. Klein saw extra action last season after Luke Kuechly missed time for the Panthers and recorded 31 tackles and a sack.
The Saints are also meeting with free agent linebacker Manti Te’o, who is trying to return from an Achilles injury, and is risky.
Offensively, New Orleans made a few moves.
They agreed to a deal with veteran wide receiver Ted Ginn. The speedster has shaky hands but lots of big play potential when he catches the ball. He scored 10 touchdowns in 2015 and four last season for Carolina. Drew Brees could easily put him to good use, and he could be insurance as a deep threat in case the Saints decide to trade Brandin Cooks.
The Saints also agreed to a deal with right guard Larry Warford, who was with the Lions last season. He was ranked by many behind Kevin Zeitler in the right guard free agent market, but should be solid for New Orleans.
The Baltimore Ravens quietly have done a nice job in free agency.
Their big splash was signing safety Tony Jefferson to a four-year, $36 million deal. Jefferson was one of the top safeties on the market and received interest from multiple teams. He was a strong player last season for the Cardinals, recording 96 tackles and two sacks in 15 games. He will give the Ravens a nice tandem at safety next to Eric Weddle, while Jefferson’s signing likely means Lardarius Webb will not return to the team.
The Ravens also signed running back Danny Woodhead to a 3-year deal. The 32-year-old has been extremely effective in the passing game, first with the Patriots and more recently with the Chargers. He is healthy after recovering from a torn ACL and will give Baltimore another option in the ground game with Kenneth Dixon set to serve a 4-game suspension.
Baltimore also decided to pick up wide receiver Mike Wallace’s option for 2017. He had 72 catches for 1,017 yards and four touchdowns last season.
The Ravens re-signed backup quarterback Ryan Mallett as well and will have him behind Joe Flacco on the depth chart.
Sometimes improving in an offseason isn’t just about the players you add, but also the ones you lose. And in this case, it’s all about addition by subtraction for the Texans.
The Houston Texans came out of nowhere with a trade on Thursday. They dealt Brock Osweiler and a second-round pick in 2018 to Cleveland, while swapping a 6th for a 4th-round pick in this year’s draft.
The Texans are taking a bit of a cap hit by dealing Osweiler and will lose a second-round pick next year, but they also move up two rounds in this year’s draft, and most importantly, they can now start over at quarterback.
The Texans made the big splash last year with a 4-year, $72 million deal for Osweiler that clearly was a mistake. They realized that quickly and were not about to go through another season with him as their starter. They admitted their error and are working quickly to move on rather than get stuck in this situation for another season.
Now Houston has a few options.
They still have Tom Savage, who proved competent as a quarterback option in place of Osweiler at times last season. And they have an extra $10 million in salary cap space that they can use in free agency. If they’re able to put that money towards signing Tony Romo, the Texans would be a legitimate contender in 2017.
