NFL Free Agency: Saturday Thread

NFL Free Agency: Saturday Thread

This article is part of our NFL Free Agency series.

This post will keep track of Saturday's free agency news in the NFL. For a comprehensive selection of other NFL offseason content check out our other articles on the subject, including the free agency reports from Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday ,Thursday and Friday

We also have the following to ready you for draft battle:

Free Agent Grid

Franchise Tags

Pro Day Tracker

Coach/Coordinator Directory

2021 Player Projections
 


 

-Kenny Golladay finally found a new home, agreeing to a four-year, $72 million deal with the Giants on Saturday. Perhaps the exact details of the contract reveal a lighter pay or shorter duration than the media-presented terms, but even if there's some funny money going on it's a clear WR1 expense. Particularly given the Kyle Rudolph contract from Friday, the Golladay addition seems to block out Evan Engram from a realistic role. The Giants need to divert targets toward Golladay to justify his contract, and players like Sterling Shepard, Darius Slayton and Saquon Barkley aren't good candidates for reduced workloads. Engram's returns haven't been so good, on the other hand, so replacing his route reps with blocking reps for Rudolph is one way to send more work toward Golladay.

To this point in March, Golladay's ADP in BestBall10 drafts is 51.32, 23rd among receivers (after Tee Higgins, before Brandon Aiyuk and Chase Claypool). It wouldn't be terribly surprising if he fell more toward the WR30 point, where he would rank just ahead of JuJu Smith-Schuster

This post will keep track of Saturday's free agency news in the NFL. For a comprehensive selection of other NFL offseason content check out our other articles on the subject, including the free agency reports from Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday ,Thursday and Friday

We also have the following to ready you for draft battle:

Free Agent Grid

Franchise Tags

Pro Day Tracker

Coach/Coordinator Directory

2021 Player Projections
 


 

-Kenny Golladay finally found a new home, agreeing to a four-year, $72 million deal with the Giants on Saturday. Perhaps the exact details of the contract reveal a lighter pay or shorter duration than the media-presented terms, but even if there's some funny money going on it's a clear WR1 expense. Particularly given the Kyle Rudolph contract from Friday, the Golladay addition seems to block out Evan Engram from a realistic role. The Giants need to divert targets toward Golladay to justify his contract, and players like Sterling Shepard, Darius Slayton and Saquon Barkley aren't good candidates for reduced workloads. Engram's returns haven't been so good, on the other hand, so replacing his route reps with blocking reps for Rudolph is one way to send more work toward Golladay.

To this point in March, Golladay's ADP in BestBall10 drafts is 51.32, 23rd among receivers (after Tee Higgins, before Brandon Aiyuk and Chase Claypool). It wouldn't be terribly surprising if he fell more toward the WR30 point, where he would rank just ahead of JuJu Smith-Schuster.


-It's a good thing Golladay and the Giants made their headlines Saturday, otherwise the biggest news in a slow day would probably be Chris Carson re-signing with Seattle on Friday night. Carson saw his usage monitored a little more closely in 2020 than in prior years, with the Seahawks seemingly making an effort to limit the wear and tear on him given his violent running style, so perhaps there is still room for Rashaad Penny to flash some production in 2021. But in the meantime, we can end our speculation about who will serve as starting running back for Seattle this year.

-Phillip Lindsay is another runner who signed Friday night, though his story is much more depressing. Lindsay agreed to a one-year deal with the Texans, where he joins a ragtag bunch that already included David Johnson and Mark Ingram. The Texans don't figure to protect many leads in 2021, so Lindsay projects especially poorly here given his lack of passing-down qualifications.

-Dan Arnold agreed to a two-year, $6 million deal with the Panthers, adding some intrigue to their tight end depth chart. Arnold might be listed at tight end but he's basically a wide receiver at 6-6, 220 pounds. That could work to his benefit, though – the Panthers didn't throw to 'real' tight end Ian Thomas in 2020, and Arnold functioned more like a slot receiver in Arizona. Obviously Carolina can't run the same routes with Arnold as they did with Curtis Samuel, but Arnold might be at least part of how Carolina plans to replace Samuel in the 2021 offense. With a BestBall10 ADP of 239.15 (TE34), Arnold's current price is low enough to justify a speculative investment.

-Standout corner Kyle Fuller agreed to a one-year deal with Denver, reuniting him with Vic Fangio and providing a substantial upgrade to Denver's cornerback reps. Fangio has two of his most trusted corners now in Fuller and Bryce Callahan, and 2020 third-round pick Michael Ojemudia showed a decent amount of promise as the potential third corner.

-Dallas snagged a potential bargain when they agreed to terms with safety Keanu Neal on a one-year, $5 million deal. Neal has had injury issues, perhaps due in part to his hard-hitting ways, but there's never been any doubt about the quality of Neal's play. It's still unlikely, but it is possible for Dallas to put together a competitive defense before the 2021 season if they handle the draft correctly. Neal could be a major IDP factor, moreover.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Mario Puig
Mario is a Senior Writer at RotoWire who primarily writes and projects for the NFL and college football sections.
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