Left Tackle: Russell Okung, A very good offensive tackle. Also still in his prime years at the age of 28. I can not imagine him slipping from Seattle but if he does, teams will be lining up outside his door. His estimated average annual salary is 8.9 million paired with a 4 year contract. The problem with Okung is his durability. He is yet to play 16 games in a season after 6 year career. 4 years might be the result of his inability to remain healthy. 4 years is a big dedication to someone with his injury history. While his injuries have never been serious or long term, he has had a lot of them. 8.9 per year I think is an accurate estimation for Okung because of the injury threat. If he had played more games in his career, he would be in the 9-10 million average annual salary range, but at the Left Tackle position, you need to pay talented players, and you need to lock up young talented players. Seattle will resign him, they do not have a good replacement for him.
Cordy Glenn, The Bills are in a lot of trouble, they are very low on cap space and they are no where close to challenging for the AFC East title. They are losing a few key guys, while they already have a lot of holes in places where they have spent money. 46% of money spent on their roster goes towards Defensive Tackles, Ends, and Cornerbacks. Glenn is a good young talent, who has played in every game after his rookie season. Durable, 26 early prime years. His estimated average annual salary is 11 million on a 5 year contract and for that money he can not resign in Buffalo. Carolina would be a good destination for Glenn. Michael Oher had a career year last season but was overwhelmed in the super bowl against fast agile speed rushers. Oher was on a good contract, a little more 3.5 million. Glenn could be an established left tackle and really help the sub par Carolina offense. The Raiders also need a starting Left Tackle as they just lost Donald Penn at the end of the season. Raiders have a lot of cap space and a potential future QB in Derek Carr. I think a very good fit would be in Green Bay. The Packers do have David Bakhtiari but he is not a top class LT, they could move him to RT where he probably be a lot more comfortable and have Cody Glenn plug in at LT. The packers have a good amount of space so they could make this work a lot easier than Carolina could. Seeing as Carolina needs more then just a few offensive linemen. Right Tackle: Andre Smith + Joe Barksdale, Both very good semi young players and the best two right tackles on the free agent market. Both players will resign with their former teams, Cincinnati and San Diego respectively. Cincinnati was a good team last season and they are going to need to bring back a few players to return to the success they had. Andre Smith is a no brainer, keeps their offensive line in sync. He will probably ink a 2-3 year deal for 4.5-5.8 million AAS*. Joe Barksdale is another must sign for the Chargers, they have nothing close to a suitable replacement for Barksdale. They need him especially now that Phillip Rivers in getting up there in age. He's been a reliably durable tackle who has played in every game over the past three seasons. Barksdale is on his 3rd team in 5 seasons, so I could see him testing the market if San Diego undersells him. The Chargers shouldn't do that because they have a vast amount of cap space. Guards: Brandon Brooks, He is an emerging young Right Guard. His age is 27. A zone blocking linemen, better at run blocking but still sufficient at pass blocking. He is being talked about being one of the two best guards set to be available in free agency. What is most confusing about all the talk surrounding him is why will he be available in free agency. Looking at the Texans roster, they do not have anything close to replace Brooks production. If he doesn't resign in Houston which I would find utterly stupid by the Texans, he could land in New York Giants, New England, Tennessee, and Jacksonville. The Patriots are a reach team for Brooks. He won't sign in New England his AAS should be around 7-9 million with a long 4-5 year contract. That is to rich of a contract for New England to handle. But Brooks would fit very well with the Patriots and greatly help the pass protection. Now New York, Tennessee, and Jacksonville all have large amounts of cap space and are also all in need of interior linemen. New York Just released two veteran interior players without any back up on their current roster. Tennessee and Jacksonville ranked among the top of the league in sacks allowed. On top of being awful at protecting the QB, they have awful interior linemen and either team signing Brooks makes them at least a win or two better then last year. Jahri Evans, He is an elderstatesmen in the NFL, at 32. He had a large cap hit last year of 7 million. Evans is clearly past him his prime but barely. He could be a good veteran one or two year plug for a Super Bowl contending team. He won't be cheap for 32 year old, probably around 4-5 AAV and 1-2 year contract. New England would be a good fit for Evans, if they can get him on the cheap. The Patriots have a good amount of young interior guys. They only need a quick fix on the inside but the problem is the money. Again the Jaguars and the Titans could be in on Evans if they miss out on Brooks or other young interior talent. Possibly even the Browns could be in on the 32 year old guard. Center: Stefen Wisnieski, He is a good young center. He played well under a one year contract in Jacksonville. I do not expect him to return to Jacksonville. By my measure, he is the best center in the free agent market. He should get a huge pay day, at 26 and only having missed 3 games in his entire 5 year career. His AAS is going to be somewhere between 4-6.5 million for 4 years. Chicago, Colts, Rams, and the Packers should be teams interested in Wisnieski. The Bears might not want to dedicate that kind of money since they have not made any indication currently as to where they are in team development. The Colts were in the top half of most sacks allowed last year and that seemed like a major problem for Andrew Luck last season. Setting his feet in a clean pocket. The best fit would be the Colts for Wisnieski, they have enough cap space to offer a good market deal. The Colts also have a talented team that should be in the playoffs next year. The Rams look like they are trying to go through another rebuild when they dumped three veteran players yesterday. Mackenzie Bernadeau, This guy is a utility linemen. If you are familiar with basketball, then Bernadeau is a good sixth man. Spot starter and good versatile player. Just from those descriptions, if he doesn't go back to Dallas which he won't, Then he will go to New England. He does not require a large contract his AAS will come out to be 1.4-2 million. At 30 years old he has enough experience to be a good contributor essentially off the bench. What killed New England last season was the lack of depth on the Offensive Line. Bernadeau is a better version of Ryan Wendell or Dan Connolly. And with a low cap number he is easily sign-able player for the Patriots. Denver also did not have the greatest of depth across the o-line so I suspect they will try and sign him as well. *** Average Annual Salary Comments are closed.
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