With the Super Bowl now in the rearview mirror, we are officially out of the 2023 season and gearing up for 2024. Over the next several months, 31 teams are going to do their best to catch up to the Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs.
That process begins in earnest with free agency, which opens next month. With that in mind, we’re taking space this week to highlight some of the best available options. In the space below, you’ll find the top 25 offensive free agents available this offseason. On Friday, we’ll do the same thing for defense.
(To check out the top 25 defensive free agents, click here).
Without further ado…
Jackson didn’t have his best season in 2023 and he missed a few games due to injury along the way, but he has shown the ability to reach a Pro Bowl level of play at guard, and has consistently been an important part of what has been a very good Detroit offensive line. He probably benefits to at least some extent from playing between Taylor Decker and Frank Ragnow, and he’s a better run-blocker than pass-protector, but he’s a quality starter on the interior.
Incredibly, Becton played 16 of 17 games this past season. And honestly, he wasn’t that great. But a player his size, with his skill set and pedigree, if he can just stay healthy… you might be able to get an average or better starter at a major discount.
Ekeler turns 29 years old in May, he’s one of the smallest backs in the NFL, and he’s coming off averaging a career-low 3.5 yards per carry. But he is still a very good pass-catcher who is elusive in space, and if there’s a team that wants to use him in a smaller role than the one he’s had over the past few years in L.A., he could thrive.
Williams flipped from the left side of the line to the right in 2023, and mostly held up fine. He was better earlier in his career than he has been over the past couple of years — especially in pass protection — but he’s still young enough that you can justify investing in his future and hoping he recaptures some of what he did early on.
Henry led the NFL in carries for the fourth time in the last five seasons and made double-digit end zone trips for the sixth consecutive year, but he’s now a 30-year-old back who weighs 247 pounds and has had a below-average yards-per-carry clip in each of the last three seasons. There’s obviously still a place for him as a power rusher who rips off the occasional big play, but the days of him toting the rock 20-plus times a game are behind us.
It’s hard to know what to do with Mayfield, who legitimately played well at times last season but also had more than his share of meltdown games. How does his performance hold up without offensive coordinator Dave Canales, who left to become the head coach of the division rival Panthers? Still, he is a quarterback who has shown he can perform at a starter level, so he’s one of the top options out there this offseason.
Zeitler was the NFL’s second-highest-graded pass-blocking guard at Pro Football Focus in 2023, and he allowed just 21 pressures all year. His run blocking slipped a bit and he is headed into his mid-30s (he’ll turn 34 in March), but any team looking for a starting guard that likely won’t break the bank should look in his direction.
Many will point to Pollard’s finally being elevated to the No. 1 role as the reason for his relative struggles in 2023, but even a cursory look at his game log and especially a deeper look at the underlying stats like broken tackle rate and explosive play rate reveals how much better he was later in the season than he was early on, when he was still working his way back from the broken leg that ended his 2022 campaign. If he can maintain what he did over the latter half of the year, he could be a bargain — especially if the league views him more as a mere change-of-pace back.
Risner was on the street for the first few weeks of the 2023 season, but the Vikes desperately needed help along the interior and brought him in. He performed at about the same level as he did in Denver, and should sign much earlier this offseason than he did a year ago.
Schultz is basically an average starting tight end, but that has value — especially for an offense that moves the ball the way the Texans do. Houston might want to devote its resources to other positions and roll with younger players like Brevin Jordan, though, so Schultz could potentially be had for a similar type of 1-year deal to the one he got a year ago.
Onwenu has played left and right guard, and right tackle at different times in his career. He’s probably best on the interior but he’s shown enough flexibility to kick outside, and that is an extremely valuable trait.
Jacobs is another player who is hard to value. For four of his five NFL seasons, he has basically been an average-to-replacement-level running back. But in that fifth season, he was arguably the best back in the league. His improvement as a pass-catcher in recent seasons bodes well for his ability to work outside of Las Vegas, if it comes to that, but any team investing big money over multiple years is probably still being unwise.
Dotson flipped from left guard to right guard upon landing in Los Angeles after three years with the Steelers, and he became an absolute mauler in the run game. The Rams value that aspect of their offense and will presumably try to bring him back, but some other team looking for an a**-kicker on the inside could take a shot, as well.
This is basically just a “well, if he stays healthy…” type of bet. Barkley hasn’t been able to do that, for the most part, and therefore hasn’t been able to tap into his immense gifts. A team that is more willing to manage his workload and acknowledge the boom-bust nature of his contributions as a runner could get more out of him than the Giants have.
James has developed into a strong two-way center over the years. He has always been solid in pass protection and he did a better job of moving in the run game this past season. Teams always need average-starting-center play, and James can provide it.
Moving inside from tackle to guard after his rookie season made Hunt a much better player. Both this year and last he was very good both as a road-grating run blocker and a pass protector, and his ability to work in space in the run game was key to Miami’s ground attack this past season.
Ridley is a bit older than you think (he turned 29 in December) and he’s now four years removed from the last time he looked like a true No. 1 wideout. But everyone can use strong No. 2 types, and he has shown the ability to command targets and produce efficiently when he gets them.
A tackle in college and a guard earlier in his career with the Cowboys, Williams moved to center in Miami and blossomed into one of the NFL’s best. Any team with a young quarterback that needs a center should be looking in his direction due to his ability to work as a fulcrum in the run game and a strong interior pass-protector.
Brown has basically only been a good tackle when he’s been in New England and has otherwise been forgettable, but if you think your offensive line coach can tap into whatever it is the Patriots have found in him, this is a good starting tackle on either side of the line. His size makes him a better fit for the right side, but the 11 games he played on the left this year were some of his best as a pass protector.
Hollywood has gotten a bit overlooked playing with Arizona, where he was without Kyler Murray for quite a while, and was working in Kliff Kingsbury’s offense for half of his time in the desert. But he still has great deep speed, and he’s shown that he can do more of the real wide receiver stuff than he may have been given credit for earlier in his career. He’s not a No. 1 guy, but he can be a very good No. 2 in the right situation.
When healthy, Smith remains one of the small handful of best tackles — and overall offensive linemen — in the NFL. He might have been the NFL’s best tackle this season on a down-to-down basis. It’s just a week-to-week guess as to whether he will actually be healthy at this point. But man, he is still so, so good.
Pittman is coming off the best season of his career, having racked up 109 catches for 1,152 yards and four scores last year despite going through a system change and multiple quarterback injuries. He has great size and is a threat to run after the catch with the ball in his hands. He may not quite be an alpha for your passing game, but he’s a really good fit as a high-level X receiver.
One of the most consistent pass-catching threats of his or any era, Evans should be a priority for any team looking to take its passing game to the next level. He’s huge, he’s a threat both downfield and in close areas, and he is basically a walking 1,000-yard season. Only his age (soon-to-be 31 years old) kept him from the No. 2 spot on this list, but he should have several more productive years left in him.
Higgins dealt with injuries and the absence of Joe Burrow this past season, but we have seen that he has the capability to be a No. 1 or No. 2 option in a really good passing game. He only recently turned 25 years old so he likely hasn’t even hit his prime years yet.
Cousins is a borderline top-10 quarterback when healthy, regardless of the memes that go around about him. He’s accurate, he’s been extremely durable up until this year’s Achilles tear, and when he pushes the ball downfield, he can be really explosive. Somebody is going to get a good QB here.
Go to Source
Author: Jared Dubin
February 18, 2024 | 1:26 pm
