NFL Offseason Moves

Winners (a.k.a. The 2019 Cleveland Browns Award)

San Francisco 49ers: After a breakout season in 2019, it felt like the Niners would be legit Super Bowl contenders even if they had a quiet free agency. That pre-conceived notion didn’t stop Jed Hoyer. The re-signing of Arik Armstead was a must. He sure as heck didn’t come cheap, but he is an integral part of a championship caliber defense. keeping Safety Jimmie Ward after a career year was another solid move, one that was only feasible as a result of a seperate 49ers move. Hoyer wouldn’t trade his star defensive lineman, Arik Armstead, without getting immense compensation in return… and the Colts gave him just that. The 49ers traded Armstead to the Colts in exchange for the #13 pick in the upcoming draft. Armstead is great, but the depth on the defensive line for San Francisco made him expendable, especially factoring in the big payday that would be coming (the Colts extended him with 56 million guaranteed). First, this move gave the 49ers enough financial flexibility to keep Jimmie Ward and second, the #13 pick can be used on a WR to bolster SF’s offense. There is a high likelihood that one of CeeDee Lamb, Jerry Jeudy, or Henry Ruggs, is available at pick 13. That offense can be scary good, regardless if Jimmy G ever truly lives up to his contract and hype. The 49ers can be lethal in 2020.

Kyler Murray: Sure, you could say that it should be the Cardinals here and not just Kyler Murray, but the Cardinals free agency has made Kyler, specifically, a big winner. Kyler had a solid rookie season with a primarily subpar group of men around him. However, after the Cardinals acquired Kenyan Drake and he performed incredibly, Arizona found themselves with a solid 3 on offense. Murray, Drake, and the legendary Larry Fitzgerald. That alone made people believe that the Cardinals offense had lots of potential as Kyler improved in the league. Wanna know what would help any QB in the league? Adding a top 5 WR to his available targets. The Cardinals front office is taking action and arming their prized young QB with all the resources they can. Kyler Murray may very well be on his way to stardom because of his insane talent, but also because of the pieces around him.

Others Considered: New Orleans Saints, Cleveland Browns, Buffalo Bills

Losers (a.k.a. A Routine Jets Offseason)

Houston Texans: I think this is a gimme. The Houston Texans have absolutely bombed the offseason thus far. We all know about the DeAndre Hopkins trade, but let’s start with some other questionable moves. Signing Randall Cobb to a 3 year 27 million dollar deal is quite a head-scratcher. Randall isn’t terrible and the Texans do need WRs to replace the aforementioned Hopkins, but Randall is not that guy. He is a slot receiver that is serviceable, but clearly past his prime and not deserving of a 9 million dollar salary. Furthermore, he doesn’t fill the Hopkins void at all! Randall is a slot receiver! He doesn’t play like Hopkins at all and really won’t help Deshaun Watson significantly. Re-signing Bradley Roby wasn’t a terrible move, but if he can’t stay healthy, paying him 12 million to sit on the sideline seems like a waste to me. Now it’s time to review the most shocking move of the offseason (Brady to TB was big, but it was more seeable than this), the Texans trading DeAndre Hopkins and a fourth-round pick for David Johnson and a 2021 fourth-round pick. Holy cow. I don’t even know where to start. Bill O’Brien traded his true superstar WR for what, an injury-prone running back with a bad contract and a lot to prove? Not just that, but also a 2021 fourth-rounder! The Texans couldn’t even get a first or second-round pick for the best hands in football. The biggest question is why? Well from what we know, Hopkins wanted a big extension, which was inevitable and something that he was deserving of, but Bill O’Brien didn’t wanna give it to him. He was willing to give Randall Cobb an AAV of 9 million, but wouldn’t give his star WR an extension. The Texans were in a position to contend, they have a budding star in Deshaun Watson at the helm, a guy that can lead the team to a Super Bowl with a decent supporting cast. Too bad O’Brien traded away his best weapon and failed to improve the porous offensive line. The Houston Texans offseason was an F.

New England Patriots: Losing arguably the greatest player the NFL has ever seen makes it hard to not be in this column. Sure, Brady isn’t the same player he was a few years ago, but he’s still a damn solid QB. In the past, New England had young and high-potential backups on the roster, namely Jimmy G and Jacoby Brissett. If Bill Belichick had one of them ready to take the reigns from Brady, I’d feel more optimistic. Unfortunately (fortunately for the rest of the league), they don’t have either… they have Stidham. Stidham’s college career was a roller coaster. He began at Baylor and showed progress in the 10 games he played in. It was a decently short sample size, but he had a 12-2 TD/INT ratio and had a 68.8 throwing percentage. The future looked bright for Stidham and arguably looked even brighter when transferring to Gus Malzahn and the Auburn Tigers. After sitting out 2016, Stidham became the starter in 2017. He played pretty well and helped lead the Tigers to the SEC Championship. Then in 2018, he seemed poised to breakout. However, Stidham clearly regressed. His 18/5 TD/INT ratio isn’t bad, but isn’t what one is hoping for from a senior QB who has shown good ability. Stidham’s accuracy was very poor at 60.7 throwing percentage, significantly down from his previous years. The biggest takeaway I got from Stidham was that he was a mediocre game-manager that really wasn’t very good. Call me a biased Alabama fan, but that is what I saw. Stidham only threw 4 passes this past season (one being a pick-six to the best Safety in the league Jamal Adams), so we really don’t have a better gauge on him and his abilities. If anyone can make Stidham work, it’s the devilish genius that is Bill Belichick. Ultimately though, until I see Stidham carving up my Jets and setting the world on fire, I can’t believe it and see the Patriots taking a significant step back

Others Considered: Chicago Bears, Los Angeles Rams, Miami Dolphins, Detroit Lions