2024 Free Agency thread

[Shane]

McBride would be the only possibility IMO.

Hate to do it after only 2 years but he is only on a 4 year not a 5 and would def be cheaper now than after next year imo. Next year if he continues on This path is gonna be a HUGE contract.

 

[ASUCHRIS]

There are rumors we have been trying to get Higgins from the Bengals ever since he requested a trade.

So exciting...rumors!

Frankly there aren't that many splash free agents and the guys that you really want usually don't go to 4 win teams. Look at who the commanders have been signing to get their fanbase excited. Washed Austin Ekeler, washed Zach Ertz, ancient Bobby Wagner.

I didn't see anyone here clamoring for guys like Ekeler/Ertz or Wagner. Nice straw man though.

We're also going to have 11 rookies on the roster next year and we will want to play them. We want to sign enough free agents so we aren't forced to draft certain positions, but we don't want to sign so many that the rookies can't get on the field to develop. We have to avoid Devon Kennard type signings.

Again - who is asking for Devon Kennard type signings? That's pretty much all we've gotten, actually. Below average starters/rotation players from bad teams.

My expectation for next season is to be like the 2023 Rams/Packers. Everyone will expect us to be awful because we're starting almost entirely 1st/2nd year players and nobody knows the names of anyone besides Kyler/MHJ/Budda. We look okay at the start of the season, we struggle mightily in the mid season, then make a playoff push late in the season as things start to click. If we're lucky enough to make the playoffs, anything can happen.

WHY DON'T WE ATTEMPT TO BE GOOD BY ADDING SOME TOP END TALENT? We have the money, what's the point of waiting another year to try and be good?

 

[bankybruce]

LOL… this is EXACTLY what y’all said LAST YEAR about FA.

Not what I said. I've said 2 seasons since the start.

 

[Shane]

Not what I said. I've said 2 seasons since the start.

Actually many here have said they feel this would be a full 2 year rebuild and expect bigger things in year 3 you’re not alone.

 

[dreamcastrocks]

Not what I said. I've said 2 seasons since the start.

Actually many here have said they feel this would be a full 2 year rebuild and expect bigger things in year 3 you’re not alone.

I'm on both sides.

I thought that we would sign at least one free agent that everyone would be excited about with our cap space. We have not so far, (and there's virtually none left) even if I like the signings we have made.

I also said it would be at least a 2 year rebuild which I was also criticized for at the time.

 

[kerouac9]

Hate to do it after only 2 years but he is only on a 4 year not a 5 and would def be cheaper now than after next year imo. Next year if he continues on This path is gonna be a HUGE contract.

People are getting really excited about three or four good games in a row when the next-best target available was Rondale Moore.

McBride could totally reset the TE market with a $20 million AAV and still make less than Mike Evans.

 

[ajcardfan]

Hate to do it after only 2 years but he is only on a 4 year not a 5 and would def be cheaper now than after next year imo. Next year if he continues on This path is gonna be a HUGE contract.

That may not be a precedent they want to set. But, if you truly believe the guy is a star, the sooner you pay him the better it is for the team.

 

[bankybruce]

You're not throwing money at free agents just to add names - you're trying to get good players! We're in desperate need of good players! You understand this right? You understand that expecting to ONLY acquire good players in the draft gives you an incredibly narrow route to success, right?

I absolutely agree we need players, but I don't think those players are taking us to a super bowl this year. I want a foundation first. Many of you may not agree with me and I may end up being wrong, but I'm willing to let the plan play out.

I was thinking about this today. This is the Cardinals Leadership since they moved to AZ.

Larry Wilson - Promoted
Buddy Ryan - Outside Hire
Bob Fuergeson - Promoted
Rob Graves - Promoted
Steve Kiem - Promoted
Adrian Wilson/Quenton Harris -Interm/Promoted

For the first time we have leadership from outside since Buddy Ryan. Ryan tried to build through free agency, remember? The organization is tearing down 3 decades of bad to mediocre football with a dash some success lightly sprinkled throughout. It can't be done over night if you want long stability. If we fight for 8-9 wins, I'll be happy and FA will start to look our way so we don't have to overpay. Well, that's the hope at least.

 

[ASUCHRIS]

I absolutely agree we need players, but I don't think those players are taking us to a super bowl this year. I want a foundation first. Many of you may not agree with me and I may end up being wrong, but I'm willing to let the plan play out.

I was thinking about this today. This is the Cardinals Leadership since they moved to AZ.

Larry Wilson - Promoted
Buddy Ryan - Outside Hire
Bob Fuergeson - Promoted
Rob Graves - Promoted
Steve Kiem - Promoted
Adrian Wilson/Quenton Harris -Interm/Promoted

For the first time we have leadership from outside since Buddy Ryan. Ryan tried to build through free agency, remember? The organization is tearing down 3 decades of bad to mediocre football with a dash some success lightly sprinkled throughout. It can't be done over night if you want long stability. If we fight for 8-9 wins, I'll be happy and FA will start to look our way so we don't have to overpay. Well, that's the hope at least.

Yeah - I hate the premise that it takes 3 years to build a team - many NFL teams change very quickly. People here appear to be all in on a 4 year plan. Monti better be a hell of a drafter - so far the results from one year are very mixed.

 

[Mulli]

I absolutely agree we need players, but I don't think those players are taking us to a super bowl this year. I want a foundation first. Many of you may not agree with me and I may end up being wrong, but I'm willing to let the plan play out.

I was thinking about this today. This is the Cardinals Leadership since they moved to AZ.

Larry Wilson - Promoted
Buddy Ryan - Outside Hire
Bob Fuergeson - Promoted
Rob Graves - Promoted
Steve Kiem - Promoted
Adrian Wilson/Quenton Harris -Interm/Promoted

For the first time we have leadership from outside since Buddy Ryan. Ryan tried to build through free agency, remember? The organization is tearing down 3 decades of bad to mediocre football with a dash some success lightly sprinkled throughout. It can't be done over night if you want long stability. If we fight for 8-9 wins, I'll be happy and FA will start to look our way so we don't have to overpay. Well, that's the hope at least.

I was thinking 1) imagine how even more perennially terrible the franchise would have been without free agency, 2) it is interesting how almost every other AZ front office over the years has focused on building the WR room over the OL.

 

[Cheesebeef]

I absolutely agree we need players, but I don't think those players are taking us to a super bowl this year.

Hey… what do you know? More lies about others expectations. Cool talk!

 

[Mulli]

Hey… what do you know? More lies about others expectations. Cool talk!

Lighten up, Frances

 

[MadCardDisease]

I said this last season, I believe that Monti is following the Belichick blueprint that Bill used when he initially took over the Patriots long ago. If you are looking for a more modern example then look no further than Monti's former coworker of 15 years in Nick Caserio and how he has rebuilt the Texans.

In Nick's first year with the Texans (2021) he inherited a team in total disarray. His first step was to tear down the roster and get the cap under control. He also made trades that added future draft picks as Caserio has said he prefers to build through the draft. That first year was all about resetting the culture. That 2021 team won 4 games. Sound familiar?

In 2022 the Texans had 5 picks in the top 75 including Two 1sts and Two 2nds. Building through the draft is not a quick process, especially when a team lacks a franchise QB. Unfortunately for the Texans, 2022 was a terrible year for drafting a QB and they were forced to roll with Davis Mills at QB again. I think that is where the Cardinals have a leg up on Houston. Houston only won 3 games in Caserio's second year. A big part of that was not having that Franchise QB in place.

Fast forward to 2023 and Nick has another strong draft and finally acquires what appears to be their Franchise QB in Stroud. In addition to the strong draft Caserio added several mid tier FAs who made big contributions in 2023. That young team exceeded expectations and made a strong push in the playoffs.

Now in 2024 with a playoff caliber team Caserio went after his first "Big Name" FA in Edge Rusher Danielle Hunter.


I believe that the Cardinals are a year ahead of the Texans in their rebuild just because of the Kyler factor. With a strong draft I think they could be a mid level team this season. Obviously the key being, if you are building your team through the draft you really need to hit on a bunch of your draft picks.

 

[Krangodnzr]

Yeah - I hate the premise that it takes 3 years to build a team - many NFL teams change very quickly. People here appear to be all in on a 4 year plan. Monti better be a hell of a drafter - so far the results from one year are very mixed.

The problem that I see with this expectation is that the Cardinals, outside of Murray, don't really have a strong core of players that could propel them to a quick turnaround.

When the Cardinals turned it around under Arians, there was still a core of Dockett, Campbell, PP21, and Fitzgerald.

When the Rams turned things around with McVay, they were actually a fairly talented roster. The Niners took years to turn things around.

 

[Krangodnzr]

I said this last season, I believe that Monti is following the Belichick blueprint that Bill used when he initially took over the Patriots long ago. If you are looking for a more modern example then look no further than Monti's former coworker of 15 years in Nick Caserio and how he has rebuilt the Texans.

In Nick's first year with the Texans (2021) he inherited a team in total disarray. His first step was to tear down the roster and get the cap under control. He also made trades that added future draft picks as Caserio has said he prefers to build through the draft. That first year was all about resetting the culture. That 2021 team won 4 games. Sound familiar?

In 2022 the Texans had 5 picks in the top 75 including Two 1sts and Two 2nds. Building through the draft is not a quick process, especially when a team lacks a franchise QB. Unfortunately for the Texans, 2022 was a terrible year for drafting a QB and they were forced to roll with Davis Mills at QB again. I think that is where the Cardinals have a leg up on Houston. Houston only won 3 games in Caserio's second year. A big part of that was not having that Franchise QB in place.

Fast forward to 2023 and Nick has another strong draft and finally acquires what appears to be their Franchise QB in Stroud. In addition to the strong draft Caserio added several mid tier FAs who made big contributions in 2023. That young team exceeded expectations and made a strong push in the playoffs.

Now in 2024 with a playoff caliber team Caserio went after his first "Big Name" FA in Edge Rusher Danielle Hunter.


I believe that the Cardinals are a year ahead of the Texans in their rebuild just because of the Kyler factor. With a strong draft I think they could be a mid level team this season. Obviously the key being, if you are building your team through the draft you really need to hit on a bunch of your draft picks.

And the Cardinals are slated to have $109 million in salary cap space and lose virtually none of their current core. Add this year's draft picks and resign a few of the vets worth signing and obviously it's less, but they will have a good chance to completely retool the roster.

 

[ajcardfan]

Yeah - I hate the premise that it takes 3 years to build a team - many NFL teams change very quickly. People here appear to be all in on a 4 year plan. Monti better be a hell of a drafter - so far the results from one year are very mixed.

Missing the playoffs this year is pretty unacceptable to me. Seriously. Depending on circumstances with injury, perhaps being eliminated the last week would be kind of ok.

We couldn't ask for a better home schedule. We should go hard at making the playoffs this year

 

[bankybruce]

Hey… what do you know? More lies about others expectations. Cool talk!

What? I'm not sure why I'm being attacked for my opinion on the rebuild. I've been constant in my approach and respectful about it. We don't agree and that is ok. I never said others said that about expectations, that is my criteria for when it's time to spend.

It's just football Cheese!

 

[bankybruce]

Yeah - I hate the premise that it takes 3 years to build a team - many NFL teams change very quickly. People here appear to be all in on a 4 year plan. Monti better be a hell of a drafter - so far the results from one year are very mixed.

I get that, but honest question, how long are their windows in doing that? I don't want a window, I want long term stability of feeling like we have a chance every season.

 

[bankybruce]

Missing the playoffs this year is pretty unacceptable to me. Seriously. Depending on circumstances with injury, perhaps being eliminated the last week would be kind of ok.

We couldn't ask for a better home schedule. We should go hard at making the playoffs this year

If we are in the hunt in late December, I'll be happy. With the added playoff teams, 9 wins should he enough and if we have a good draft 7-9 wins is my expectations.

 

[Mulli]

I prefer a three year rebuild to a two year rebuild plus a third year go for it and failure and then start another rebuild with Lincoln Riley.

 

[Shane]

Hey… what do you know? More lies about others expectations. Cool talk!

Uncalled for and for what?

 

[ASUCHRIS]

The problem that I see with this expectation is that the Cardinals, outside of Murray, don't really have a strong core of players that could propel them to a quick turnaround.

When the Cardinals turned it around under Arians, there was still a core of Dockett, Campbell, PP21, and Fitzgerald.

When the Rams turned things around with McVay, they were actually a fairly talented roster. The Niners took years to turn things around.

This is fair - although if we added a couple above average players last year, and a couple more this year, we'd be in a better position to make moves. This is a really slow burn rebuild, and I was hoping that we'd at least add one or two good starters this year, especially after sitting out last offseason.

 

[ASUCHRIS]

Missing the playoffs this year is pretty unacceptable to me. Seriously. Depending on circumstances with injury, perhaps being eliminated the last week would be kind of ok.

We couldn't ask for a better home schedule. We should go hard at making the playoffs this year

Yeah, the problem with a 4 year rebuild is that nobody knows what the NFL landscape will look like 2 years from now...it's a year to year league in many ways. The NFC is way down, and was mostly a joke last year...that won't last forever.

 

[ASUCHRIS]

I said this last season, I believe that Monti is following the Belichick blueprint that Bill used when he initially took over the Patriots long ago. If you are looking for a more modern example then look no further than Monti's former coworker of 15 years in Nick Caserio and how he has rebuilt the Texans.

In Nick's first year with the Texans (2021) he inherited a team in total disarray. His first step was to tear down the roster and get the cap under control. He also made trades that added future draft picks as Caserio has said he prefers to build through the draft. That first year was all about resetting the culture. That 2021 team won 4 games. Sound familiar?

In 2022 the Texans had 5 picks in the top 75 including Two 1sts and Two 2nds. Building through the draft is not a quick process, especially when a team lacks a franchise QB. Unfortunately for the Texans, 2022 was a terrible year for drafting a QB and they were forced to roll with Davis Mills at QB again. I think that is where the Cardinals have a leg up on Houston. Houston only won 3 games in Caserio's second year. A big part of that was not having that Franchise QB in place.

Fast forward to 2023 and Nick has another strong draft and finally acquires what appears to be their Franchise QB in Stroud. In addition to the strong draft Caserio added several mid tier FAs who made big contributions in 2023. That young team exceeded expectations and made a strong push in the playoffs.

Now in 2024 with a playoff caliber team Caserio went after his first "Big Name" FA in Edge Rusher Danielle Hunter.


I believe that the Cardinals are a year ahead of the Texans in their rebuild just because of the Kyler factor. With a strong draft I think they could be a mid level team this season. Obviously the key being, if you are building your team through the draft you really need to hit on a bunch of your draft picks.

I'm somewhat skeptical of "The Patriot Way" at this point...it only worked with Tom Brady at the helm, and there is a lot of people that sold the same mantra that failed spectacularly.

 

[Stout]

Actually many here have said they feel this would be a full 2 year rebuild and expect bigger things in year 3 you’re not alone.

That is 100 percent true. The board was fairly evenly split on this. The real disagreements came in how long people thought it should be taking 2 years or more than 2.