Yeah, I've seen Walker(Rasheed) reported a couple times and once it was "OT Rasheed Walker." I've been skeptical of all of those. Not with Tom, the draft capital and his injury risk.
As for Jenkins, I think it forces Jenkins to either get cut or extended. You save 20M cutting him. Our Cap is still in good shape mostly.
FAs
Just a little aside, I think we're going to be really good, so chances are guys get a bit more money as you do coming from a good team. Not as much as you did in the 90s, but...still.
Doubs= I think he walks and gets a nice 4 year 60M deal. That's not really that much anymore. Cap will be 300M next year. Maybe more? I'm calling it, a QB gets 100M AAV by 2031. A couple years after the NFL opts out of it's TV deal of 11/111B that they think is now under-market.
Walker-24-28M a year, 40 GTD money
Rhyan-I'm starting to think we may keep him. He's become a good pass protector but his run blocking isn't as great. I think he'll become more complete and they will give him 5/75, 35SB.
Quay Walker-I'd let him walk and I'm a MUCH bigger fan than most. Packers seem to like him as well. 4/55M 20M GTD? This is really early, but... they like him and the game should be easier for him.
Malik Willis-He's worth 10M AAV. Just can't be from us. A team like Washington where he fits the offense you have and can kinda fit what you've already got at QB.
Kingsley Enagbare-Love Enagbare. 3/30 maybe? But LVN, Gary, Sorrell who I like, Oliver at some point(though not the same player). If he has 6-7 sacks, that's a pretty reasonable contract. Maybe I'm high on his deal, but... I think he'll get 4 years
Brenton Cox Jr-Nice depth, gone. Maybe 1/4M
Malik Heath- Again, nice depth, probably signs with Minnesota with Brenton.
John Fitzpatrick- Really nice #3 TD. Blocking, can catch the ball, just solid..a 3.5M a year type player I guess.
Potential Cap Casualties
Jenkins ~25M cap hit ~5M cap savings-
*Kenny Clark was on this list and I kinda looked at next years cap with both being gone. It was like 31M cap hit and 17M in dead cap for Clark IIRC.
Aaron Banks 24M Cap Hit 20M Dead Cap
Nate Hobbs 14M Cap Hit 13 Dead Cap
I don't think it's crazy to think they could move off Banks or Hobbs if they don't have a good year or are injured. I think it's very unlikely, but our big FA signings both came with some risk...and relatively low GTD money. It'd have to be pretty bad, but... they're carrying 55M in dead cap again.
Jenkins, I could see a 2 year 34M extension... but that's going to depend on how confident they are in their depth and of course how he looks at center.
Right now it's going to be Morgan/Banks/Monks/Belton/Tom in a year from now based on what you'd expect.
Extension candidates- Take a page from Jerry Jones and...do the opposite
-Tucker Kraft-I think they have to keep him. Brings that attitude
-Luke Musgrave- I don't know what he is yet. I know he's a great athlete, but...just hasn't put it together.
-Wicks-I love Wicks, but you're going to have to give somewhere. He reminds me of Adams so much though.
-Jayden Reed-He's been a core player, the Jones fracture is a big concern and I think this is a big part of why he's playing through it.
-Colby Wooden-...I mean, it's one week, but...he looked REAL important
-Wyatt...He'll be 28 when he's due to be a FA
-Watson-He's signed through next year, but this reminds me of the Love deal going into his 5th year.
-Carrington Valentine- Right now he looks like our #1 CB...
This is when it gets REALLY touch. If you can get guys like Reed, Wicks for 4/60 type extensions, you do it, but maybe a bit of a luxury.
We could keep literally everyone... and then when Jordan Love is 33, be in the situation the Saints started to get into near the ends of Brees and that's taken on a life of it's own and they are going to have 300M in just DEAD cap from 2024-2026 and they're still projected to be ~16M over the 2026 cap...and that's with Ryan Ramzcek retiring and saving them a lot of money.
So they can play with the cap...and if you win, it's worth it, but if you get too far, you're going to be way over the cap without a couple years of 1st rd picks. So they have to be smart, but it's a fine line. But getting out and signing guys early is almost always smarter. Zach Tom, again, he'd have probably been one of the top FA's if we hadn't re-signed him. So that much more important they keep developing talent and hitting on the picks they do have left.
We'll let Russ Ball figure this out, but I'll enjoy them while they are here...