No thanks. Not giving up assets along with signing the guy to big bucks. Plenty of other players they could sign straight up.
The Chiefs' game plan was not reflectively of them fearing Aiyuk more; they were able to single-cover Deebo with McDuffie, an All-Pro slot CB, one of the best in the league. That match-up afforded them the luxury of double-teaming Aiyuk, as did Deebo's injury, which took him out of the game for a spell and limited his effectiveness. Brandon Aiyuk is a *very* good WR.
Very valid point on McDuffie, but teams that play the 49ers do fear Aiyuk more than Deebo, who is the living definition of a contract year player. He gets so much national press because of his 2021 season, lining up in the backfield, etc, but Aiyuk has simply been better since Deebo got paid two years ago. That is not even debatable. I'd take Aiyuk over Deebo any day and I bet nearly all NFL GMs would too, including John Lynch.
Sure. He's three years younger, significantly cheaper, and he's been healthier. But this?: Pretty debatable. Deebo has played 6 fewer games but scored more TDs (17 > 15) & he's generated 73 yards/game to Aiyuk's 72. Aiyuk is a very good player. He's also, on good days, the 4th player defenses key on after CMC. Kittle & Deebo. He's a guy who might - *might* - struggle if he's the #1 option, something he has rarely been in his career.
If we didn’t just see what CMC at the same age and 16 mil a year did, I wouldn’t push for it, but if there’s a chance saquon could be 85% of CMC in this offense you gotta go for it.
I just went to look up his stats, used the pro-reference link. And at the bottom, the “compare to” was Jimmie Ward. he’s one year younger than Jimmie. Stats, slightly better? They both played 12 games 2 years ago and 10 for Jimmie this year to 12 for Eddie. I guess I’m not saying he’s not better than Jimmie, but I feel like if we are gonna upgrade the position, let’s UPGRADE it.
The Texans should acquire two safeties this offseason (draft notwithstanding), with Jackson potentially available at a reasonable price. Besides Ward he's better than what's on the roster now, would you rather have M.J. Stewart, Grayland Arnold, Dre Houston-Carson, Kareem Jackson or Eddie Jackson? Jackson can play both safety positions so sharing snaps with Ward could maintain their overall health. Then they could add a bigger money guy like McKinney to fortify that position and move Pitre to nickle because he sucked last season.
The Athletic - Let’s examine a Saquon Barkleyhypothetical that seems to be gaining some traction lately. The what-if: Rather than dragging the running back through another franchise tag process, the New York Giants should make an offer to Barkley early this offseason. If he doesn’t accept, let him test free agency and see what the league thinks he’s worth. Then, before signing anything, Barkley gives the team that drafted him at No. 2 overall in 2018 a chance to match. The 27-year-old Barkley was posed with that scenario by The New York Postduring Super Bowl week, and he told the outlet: “I wouldn’t be against that. That’s fair.” GO DEEPER What are the biggest offseason needs for all 32 NFL teams? O-line, QB, edge rushers top list OK, so let’s play this out. If Barkley and the Giants don’t agree to a deal before the March 5 franchise tag deadline, and the team doesn’t use the tag, that leaves us with a question: What does the market actually look like for Barkley after a poor 2023 offseason for running backs? We spoke to Pro Football Focus salary cap analyst Brad Spielberger and The Athletic’s resident GM, Randy Mueller, to get a sense of where the market stands for running backs and what Barkley could be looking for when free agency kicks off next month. “What’s working in the (veteran) running backs’ favor this offseason is it’s not perceived to be a very good draft class,” Spielberger said. In last year’s draft, two running backs (Bijan Robinson and Jahmyr Gibbs) were selected in the first round with another five going off the board within the top 100 selections. To Spielberger’s point, in The Athletic’s draft guru Dane Brugler’s recent Top 100 ranking, his first running back doesn’t appear until No. 70 with six additional backs rounding out the list. Maybe working against Barkley, however, is what looks to be an intriguing free-agent class. Beyond Barkley, there’s potentially Josh Jacobs, Derrick Henry, Austin Ekeler, Tony Pollard and D’Andre Swift, among others. While Spielberger expects some of the backs to do fairly well, including Barkley, he doesn’t anticipate any bidding wars due to the nature of the market for the position. Mueller, who will have plenty to say on The Athletic about the entire free agent market in the coming weeks, believes Barkley would be one of the best available offensive players, given where the other positions stand a month away from free agency. “This is just my opinion, I could see making a case for him being the top offensive guy on the free agent board for some teams,” Mueller said. “If I’m a team with an underperforming running game, and feel like I need a shot in the arm, I don’t think it’s crazy money. So it’s risky (for the Giants) to not tag him unless you’re okay with him leaving, I think.” GO DEEPER Ranking Giants' top 10 free agents: Who joins Saquon Barkley, Xavier McKinney on the list? The running back franchise tag is at $12.1 million this year, but will the Giants want to use it on Barkley again? He just turned 27 years old and missed three games this season with a high-ankle sprain. His stats were also less impressive last season than they were in 2022. Last season, he tallied 247 carries for 962 rushing yards (3.9 YPC) to go along with 41 receptions for 280 yards and 10 total touchdowns in 2023. “(The $12.1 million) is not a crazy number if you did tag him, nor is it crazy if you sign him, I don’t think,” Mueller said. “He takes your offense above and beyond what is designed and planned. So coaches get more out of it than what they draw up. Again, my opinion. But that’s what makes him special.” But will the league agree with Mueller’s analysis? Pro Football Focus projects Barkley’s market value at $11 million per year, while Spotrac estimates Barkley at an average annual salary of $9.9 million.Over The Cap’s 2023 valuation is at $7.9 million. Spielberger concurs with PFF’s estimate, guessing Barkley’s ultimate contract lands in the $11-12 million range (per year), and it all goes back to the franchise tag number. “That’s kind of just how those negotiations go,” Spielberger said. “You just work off of the tags and then go from there. If Barkley hits the market, Mueller doesn’t think the annual per-year number will be more than the $12.1 million tag, either. But then there’s the guarantees. For PFF, Spielberger projected Barkley to land a two-year, $22 million deal with $15 million of that guaranteed. Mueller believes a deal begins with two years of the tag as the guarantee on a three- or four-year deal and perhaps even a little north of that tag total to sign the longer deal. Barkley has said he’s looking for something that’s “fair,” and if it’s not in New York, hopefully somewhere else. What’s fair is likely going to be different to each party in negotiations, but the Giants should have the cap space to make an offer in the range of what Barkley is looking for (if they want to). They have about $22 million in cap space right now but could extend that to more than $80 million — though going that high seems unlikely — with restructured contracts and cuts. Now, the Giants have a lot of free-agent decisions to make beyond Barkley. In fact, players who accounted for 33 percent of their snaps (fifth-most in the league) are slated for free agency, according to Over the Cap. Along with Barkley, the Giants have 28 additional free agents. Still, the focus for Giants fans — and interested parties around the league — will be on Barkley. Should he hit the open market, he could be in a good position. “I think someone will pay those two players (Barkley and Jacobs) in free agency,” Spielberger said. “Just because the draft is the big thing to me. I just don’t know how early the first guy goes and how many players the teams like at that spot. So it’s, You know what, let’s just get a sure thing, just pay a guy and just not worry about it anymore.’ And I think that applies to Saquon for sure.” If Barkley ends up a free agent, the next part of the equation is sorting through potential landing spots and whether the Giants would indeed match — or be given a chance to match — the offer. But before that comes the NFL Scouting Combine in which the Giants and Barkley’s representatives are supposed to reconvene. We’ll see if anything gets resolved in that time frame before March 5.
I mean, the cut at the second level was nice as hell, but he also had a large alley to run through before he got to the second level and forced the safety into a defensive tackling position. If our interior line is still getting pushed around you could put Barry Sanders back there and it won't matter.
