As a Steeler fan, Ive watched players that Ive considered "vital" to our team's success walk away year after year. This hasn't hurt the Steelers much as of late, as they've done a great job of building through the draft. However, letting a player the caliber of a Lamarr Woodley this offseason would severely cripple the LB corps, not to mention he's an absolute stud in the Postseason. So who's the player your team can least afford to lose, and why?
2011 NFL offseason: Whose the free agent YOUR team can least afford to lose?
- Thread starter LSN80
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Ty Burna
Getting Noticed By Management
Sidney Rice, and Chad Greenway, and getting AD a new contract.
Rice is the deep threat that opens the offense up underneath and over the middle for Harvin. He's basically a Larry Fitzgerald lite if you will.
Greenway is our best linebacker, makes a ton of plays, is relatively young and finally coming into his own.
Peterson is self explanatory.
Rice is the deep threat that opens the offense up underneath and over the middle for Harvin. He's basically a Larry Fitzgerald lite if you will.
Greenway is our best linebacker, makes a ton of plays, is relatively young and finally coming into his own.
Peterson is self explanatory.
The Dolphins will probably be shit again next season, but I'm going to pick Ronnie Brown.
Brown can be solid, and we REALLY don't need to have another hole on our roster. I would pick Ricky Williams, but he's starting to get up there in age. Plus, he trashed Tony Sparano after the season ended, so it's highly unlikely he will return.
Brown can be solid, and we REALLY don't need to have another hole on our roster. I would pick Ricky Williams, but he's starting to get up there in age. Plus, he trashed Tony Sparano after the season ended, so it's highly unlikely he will return.
Id add Ike Taylor to the list of free agents the Steelers can't afford to lose. If he had hands of any kind, I truly believe he has the potential to be a Pro Bowl cornerback. He's shadowed the other team's best receiver throughout the season and the playoffs. Other then falling down and giving up the huge TD to Santonio Holmes that made it 24-10 in the Conference Final, he's been a shutdown corner.
Chad Greenway, plain and simple. Guy was our best player on defense this season and behind Adrian he was probably our best player overall. He is (in my eyes) the most underrated LB in all of football. The guy is a gamer, loves it in Minnesota, and with Singeltary signing on as LB coach he will only get better.
Why the hell didn't you put this in the sports stadium?
To answer the question the Lions don't really have too many big free agents but the most important guy I would like to see back is Cliff Avril. His first two seasons in the league were solid but nothing great. However, this year he really broke out and was an intricate part in what made the Lions D line one of the best in the league. He finished the season with a career high 8.5 sacks and is only going to improve as he is just 24 years old. A couple other guys I would like to see resigned are Jerome Felton and Chris Houston.
To answer the question the Lions don't really have too many big free agents but the most important guy I would like to see back is Cliff Avril. His first two seasons in the league were solid but nothing great. However, this year he really broke out and was an intricate part in what made the Lions D line one of the best in the league. He finished the season with a career high 8.5 sacks and is only going to improve as he is just 24 years old. A couple other guys I would like to see resigned are Jerome Felton and Chris Houston.
Jonnie Walker
Getting Noticed By Management
Brent Grimes. Our corners are extremely weak without him, Dunta is decent, but we have nothing else there. Grimes makes plays, prevents plays, you name it. One of the most underrated players in the league.
bigdogstalfos
Dark Match Winner
I'll be the third Vikings fan to post in here and the third to say Greenway. Leber is likely gone, so the Vikings have to retain Greenway. He's really stepped up his game and has become a beast at both tackles and TFL. He just doesn't get the hype because he isn't a sack monster like some other LBs like Harrison and Matthews (especially those in 3-4 systems). Greenway has become one of the few consistent players on defense and his good play can at least somewhat neutralize the Vikings' laughably bad secondary. I like Sidney and all, but he's only had one good year and they still have Percy if Sidney leaves.
And as someone said, having Singletary as the LB coach, which is probably where he should have stayed, can only help the kid get better. Plus he's naturally from Vikings country. You have to support the pseudo-hometown kid.
And as someone said, having Singletary as the LB coach, which is probably where he should have stayed, can only help the kid get better. Plus he's naturally from Vikings country. You have to support the pseudo-hometown kid.
Ty Burna
Getting Noticed By Management
I know we only had to choose one player, but Sidney is a big part of that offense. Look at what Harvin was able to do with a deep threat taking pressure off of him. While teams double teamed Moss, Harvin was wide open to shred them with catches over the middle and the major YAC he provided. Without Sidney, Harvin is our only worthwhile receiver. Berrian should be gone for how shit he's played as of late, Camarillo is a poor man's Wes Welker, which isn't bad if we're going play that style of offense, Greg Lewis gave us one amazing catch and not much else, and Hank Baskett has a hot wife.
I wholeheartedly agree though Greenway is probably THE major free agent for us, but to say letting Rice go isn't as big of a deal is stretching it. I would rather have a Larry Fitzgerald type player teamed up with a Steve Smith type player rather than letting Harvin try to do his best Steve Smith impression, and look what he's done as of late, not much. Granted he has no QB, but he hasn't had any other receiver to take the pressure away from him. Take Sidney out of the equation and that's the exact same thing Harvin will face week in and week out. Rice will take that pressure off of Harvin, and once they key in on Harvin it will open Sidney up down the field for the deep shots. Rice may have had only one good year, but he made Tarvaris Jackson of all people look good against Buffalo this year. I was at that game and Tarvaris' throws looked like wounded ducks. Sidney basically bailed him out almost every time. He's too good to let go in free agency.
bigdogstalfos
Dark Match Winner
Greenway and Sidney are pretty much 1 and 1(a) as far as free agency priorities go. And I like Sidney a lot, especially when he can open up the field and let Percy do his slot thing. I guess in stating how important Greenway is, I ended up unintentionally undercutting Sidney's importance. The LB unit will really suffer without Greenway, unless you want more Erin Henderson, and the WRs are pretty worthless aside from Sidney and Percy. Really, I hope they just cut Berrian and his underachieving ass and use the money from him (and Favre and Fat Pat) to keep Greenway and Rice. They're not exactly in an enviable position right now.
TheOneBigWill
[This Space for Rent]
I don't know if this helps, or even if it's still 100% correct in the situation, but..
http://walterfootball.com/freeagentscontractscar.php
You can change the team if it loads up the Panthers first. It should list all the guys on the roster (or main guys) and when their contracts will be up. If this is correct for Carolina, then an improvement on a 2-14 season somehow doesn't look too promising if we can't keep at least half of this list. From most important to least.
1. Thomas Davis: Even though Davis hasn't been able to finish a season in the past 2 years, if he can overcome the injury bug and get back on track - he helps complete a very solid, very stiff LB core. Davis was one of the reasons we were only average on Defense this year. His injury forced us to move Beason to the outside, and change everything.
Davis has said he wants to return to Carolina, and isn't all about the money to do so. This indicates to me that he may believe his injuries have hurt his value too much, and I think (personally, anyways) that he's greatly under-selling himself on that.
2. Charles Johnson: The guy who quietly took over for Julius Peppers. He collected 11.5 sacks this year, and was a lone bright spot on an overly crappy year. He truly played for a contract extension, and I (for one) hope he gets every bit of a new deal.
Johnson isn't the top name at that position, compared to the likes of Peppers, Jared Allen, or others - but he was every bit as good this past year. 5th in the NFL for total sacks makes him worthy of noticing, at least heading into next year. If he hits the FA market - a lot of teams will be looking to grab this "quiet" killer up.
3. Ryan Kalil: I don't look at O-lineman much, but I'm not stupid enough to think they don't matter. Kalil was one of the best Centers to come out of the draft the year he went, and Carolina got a steal grabbing him in the 2nd round.
4. Richard Marshall: Speaking truthfully, he won't be coming back unless we Franchise tag him. Marshall wanted a contract extension last year and he didn't do himself any favors with the front office by creating a small scene about it in the off-season.
His contract is up now, and that being said he'll be a hot Free Agent to hit the market. Carolina may have the funds and deep ability TO keep him - but we won't, because he's become more interested in the money and less interested in his playing. Losing him will hurt, but not greatly.
5. DeAngelo Williams: As a personal favorite, I'd love to see him back. He has more speed than Stewart or Goodson, but in overall comparison - he doesn't do anything they can't, besides run faster. I think the only way we keep Williams is if money doesn't become a main factor to him.
Stewart was selected to be the replacement, and Goodson exploded due to injuries to both this past year. That makes Williams less valuable, and ultimately the oldest of the trio. In a time when Carolina likes to claim they're in a "youth movement", that doesn't favor Williams' chances of staying any more so. Again - I hope we resign him, but I don't expect it to happen.
He'll be a great FA pick-up for another team. Seattle, potentially Tampa Bay or New Orleans even, forbid.
6. James Anderson: Much like Charles Johnson, James Anderson was a quiet name to many but he filled in greatly for the injury to Thomas Davis. Anderson probably won't amount to anything more than a great back-up, and half-decent starter - but all of that being said, he's still a very great player and did every bit of the job asked of him this past year.
7-8. Jeff King/Dante Rosario: Our new Head Coach comes from a team with an All-Pro TE. Our new Offensive Coord. was formerly the TE's Coach from the same team. That makes King and Rosario suddenly very attractive in resigning, if either feel they could have potential.
King is the main starter, but barely got targeted in a John Fox offense. Outside of a GW-4th down/4th Quarter/time expiring catch from Jake Delhomme, against (ironically) the same team as our new HC/OC - Rosario has been utterly quiet. I like Rosario over King, but truly don't think it'll be too hard to replace either if we have to.
9-13. Matt Moore, Ed Johnson, Nick Hayden, Jamar Williams, C.J. Wilson: Out of this entire list, Matt Moore was the only guy I had huge hopes for coming into this past season. Now, he's no better (or worse) than Jimmy Clausen and just as expendable.
Ed Johnson was a decent DT, along with Nick Hayden - but we were killed from running games, and that means neither guy deserves to continue starting.
Williams barely played, and when he did he got injured almost instantly. Finally, Wilson is a guy that constantly finds himself cut, then resigned. I'm sure this off-season will be no different.
http://walterfootball.com/freeagentscontractscar.php
You can change the team if it loads up the Panthers first. It should list all the guys on the roster (or main guys) and when their contracts will be up. If this is correct for Carolina, then an improvement on a 2-14 season somehow doesn't look too promising if we can't keep at least half of this list. From most important to least.
1. Thomas Davis: Even though Davis hasn't been able to finish a season in the past 2 years, if he can overcome the injury bug and get back on track - he helps complete a very solid, very stiff LB core. Davis was one of the reasons we were only average on Defense this year. His injury forced us to move Beason to the outside, and change everything.
Davis has said he wants to return to Carolina, and isn't all about the money to do so. This indicates to me that he may believe his injuries have hurt his value too much, and I think (personally, anyways) that he's greatly under-selling himself on that.
2. Charles Johnson: The guy who quietly took over for Julius Peppers. He collected 11.5 sacks this year, and was a lone bright spot on an overly crappy year. He truly played for a contract extension, and I (for one) hope he gets every bit of a new deal.
Johnson isn't the top name at that position, compared to the likes of Peppers, Jared Allen, or others - but he was every bit as good this past year. 5th in the NFL for total sacks makes him worthy of noticing, at least heading into next year. If he hits the FA market - a lot of teams will be looking to grab this "quiet" killer up.
3. Ryan Kalil: I don't look at O-lineman much, but I'm not stupid enough to think they don't matter. Kalil was one of the best Centers to come out of the draft the year he went, and Carolina got a steal grabbing him in the 2nd round.
4. Richard Marshall: Speaking truthfully, he won't be coming back unless we Franchise tag him. Marshall wanted a contract extension last year and he didn't do himself any favors with the front office by creating a small scene about it in the off-season.
His contract is up now, and that being said he'll be a hot Free Agent to hit the market. Carolina may have the funds and deep ability TO keep him - but we won't, because he's become more interested in the money and less interested in his playing. Losing him will hurt, but not greatly.
5. DeAngelo Williams: As a personal favorite, I'd love to see him back. He has more speed than Stewart or Goodson, but in overall comparison - he doesn't do anything they can't, besides run faster. I think the only way we keep Williams is if money doesn't become a main factor to him.
Stewart was selected to be the replacement, and Goodson exploded due to injuries to both this past year. That makes Williams less valuable, and ultimately the oldest of the trio. In a time when Carolina likes to claim they're in a "youth movement", that doesn't favor Williams' chances of staying any more so. Again - I hope we resign him, but I don't expect it to happen.
He'll be a great FA pick-up for another team. Seattle, potentially Tampa Bay or New Orleans even, forbid.
6. James Anderson: Much like Charles Johnson, James Anderson was a quiet name to many but he filled in greatly for the injury to Thomas Davis. Anderson probably won't amount to anything more than a great back-up, and half-decent starter - but all of that being said, he's still a very great player and did every bit of the job asked of him this past year.
7-8. Jeff King/Dante Rosario: Our new Head Coach comes from a team with an All-Pro TE. Our new Offensive Coord. was formerly the TE's Coach from the same team. That makes King and Rosario suddenly very attractive in resigning, if either feel they could have potential.
King is the main starter, but barely got targeted in a John Fox offense. Outside of a GW-4th down/4th Quarter/time expiring catch from Jake Delhomme, against (ironically) the same team as our new HC/OC - Rosario has been utterly quiet. I like Rosario over King, but truly don't think it'll be too hard to replace either if we have to.
9-13. Matt Moore, Ed Johnson, Nick Hayden, Jamar Williams, C.J. Wilson: Out of this entire list, Matt Moore was the only guy I had huge hopes for coming into this past season. Now, he's no better (or worse) than Jimmy Clausen and just as expendable.
Ed Johnson was a decent DT, along with Nick Hayden - but we were killed from running games, and that means neither guy deserves to continue starting.
Williams barely played, and when he did he got injured almost instantly. Finally, Wilson is a guy that constantly finds himself cut, then resigned. I'm sure this off-season will be no different.
As a Lions fan, I am probably going to go with Chris Houston. I wanted to go with Kevin Smith, because when healthy he would be a good member of the Lions RB tandem along with Morris and Best. However, I can't really say that the Lions would be able to least afford to lose him, as he spent more time being injured than healthy. They moved on without him. Drew Stanton will never be a starter, and Hill is a much better backup, so he is expendable too. However, the Lions are still weak in the secondary, and while Chris Houston didn't have a great year, he was fairly stable. Losing him means the Lions will have to work even harder to revamp the secondary. Basically, losing Houston means taking a step backwards, so to improve they will have to take two steps forward.
Big Sexy, I show Avril will only be a restricted Free Agent, so I think there is only a small chance he leaves. The Lions are almost certainly going to match any offer another team makes, unless its absolutely ridiculous. I figure at least an 85% chance #92 is still wearing the Honolulu blue whenever the next season of football is.
Big Sexy, I show Avril will only be a restricted Free Agent, so I think there is only a small chance he leaves. The Lions are almost certainly going to match any offer another team makes, unless its absolutely ridiculous. I figure at least an 85% chance #92 is still wearing the Honolulu blue whenever the next season of football is.
