NFL Offseason Moves that Need to Happen
The 2022 NFL season has come to an end. The Chiefs were once again crowned league champions after a great game against Philadelphia. Now comes one of the more fun parts of the NFL: the offseason. The NFL has resembled the NBA in the last few years in how mobile its players are becoming. We seldom saw a franchise quarterback move teams until Tom Brady left New England for Tampa Bay before the 2020 season. Then Matthew Stafford followed suit with his departure from his longtime team, the Detroit Lions, in favor of the Los Angeles Rams. Davante Adams and Tyreek Hill, two of the league’s best receivers, also left their teams last season in hopes of larger contracts. Moves have been made left and right the last few years, here are a few we’d like to see happen in 2023.
Derek Carr Signs with Carolina
I have been talking about this since Carr was benched at the end of the regular season. He has now officially been cut by Las Vegas, so he is free to sign with whoever he wants. We think he should sign with the Carolina Panthers. It’s almost scary how much sense this makes. Carolina has a good, young defense, much better than what Carr left in Vegas. In the last half of the season, they improved dramatically, moving all the way up to 16th in DVOA over that stretch. Carolina has a solid WR1 in DJ Moore and a good offensive line. PFF had their offensive line ranked 10th in pass blocking last year. Besides the personnel the Panthers have, they’re also in a very weak division and much weaker conference. Unless Tampa Bay does something drastic, they are set for a major decline. The Saints are in salary cap hell and Atlanta is by all accounts tanking for Caleb Williams. Derek Carr could come in and easily secure a playoff spot with a 9-10 win season. I doubt he could win a Super Bowl, but Carolina gives him the best chance at playoff success on a smaller level.
Lamar Jackson off the Ravens
This relationship continues to get worse and worse. After Jackson turned down a 250 million dollar contract last offseason, the negotiating has seemingly ceased. I can’t say I blame Baltimore. Lamar has ended his last two seasons on the injured list, with this past season being very unfortunate given he bet on himself. The Ravens are stuck between a rock and a hard place though. On the one hand, they could tag Lamar. There’s a possibility he doesn’t even play under the tag and then they’re out another season. On the other hand, they could trade him but what team would give up the necessary draft capital needed to pry him away from Baltimore after what they’ve seen the last two years. It would take an extremely desperate and dumb franchise to send over 5+ draft picks with at least two of them being firsts for a quarterback who’s only played 72% of games the last two years. Don’t get me wrong, when Lamar is healthy he’s a top 5 quarterback in the league. We just haven’t seen that output since the 2020 season. A fresh start could be just what the doctor ordered though and I believe one is desperately needed. Nothing good is going to come from the Ravens holding on to him just to save face.
Giants Trade for Tee Higgins
If I were to guess, I think the Bengals keep Higgins around for one more year as they try and compete for a Super Bowl before they have to pay their star players. A star WR2 is a luxury teams can’t afford when they’re paying their quarterback and WR1 70 million per year. They need draft picks so they can acquire offensive lineman. One of the only reasons they haven’t been able to win a Super Bowl is because of poor line play. I think they could get the Giants 2nd and 3rd round picks this year and a 4th next year if they played their cards right. They need to get something for him and I think the Giants should be buyers.
Daniel Jones has never had a true WR1 on his team. He owns a record of 21-31 and his best weapon has been Darius Slayton. A fine WR2, but definitely not who you want leading your receiving corp. Tee Higgins would immediately come into the one spot and excel. The Giants were able to win games last year without a lot of firepower. They came in at 15th in points scored. Higgins would add a boost to this offense and give Brian Daboll a real offensive tool to work with.
The Bills get Kareem Hunt
Kareem Hunt is not a big name, but he would have a big impact on the Bills roster. One of the biggest knocks on Buffalo the last few seasons has been their lack of a run game. Hunt would be a cheap Band-Aid on this problem. Given that he has been backing up Nick Chubb instead of starting since he left Kansas City, he could likely be had for somewhere in the range of 3-4 million per year. The level of production he would bring to the table would far outweigh his salary though. Last season, he rushed for 3.8 YPC in 17 games and that was while Jacoby Brissett was his starting quarterback. I firmly believe if the Bills gave him 225ish carries, he could rush for 800-900 yards while adding 300 more yards in the passing game. The bottom line is Buffalo needs some sort of a running game and Kareem Hunt could cheaply fill that void.
New York Jets Snag 1st Pick from Chicago
This is unlikely, but that doesn’t mean it wouldn’t be best for both teams. Word on the street is Chicago might be interested in taking a quarterback with their first pick. Let’s operate under the assumption they won’t. The Jets have a lot of great, young talent on their roster. Breece Hall will be coming back from injury, Sauce Gardner was the #1 corner in the league per PFF and Garrett Wilson won Offensive Rookie of the Year. This team is loaded with hope. The only problem is they don’t have a quarterback. It would take a lot to get him. A shot in the dark guess would see them sending off pick 13 and 43 this year and a first and third next year, but if they were able to get their quarterback of the future it would be worth it. Chicago also doesn’t have only one or two holes they can fill and immediately be relevant. They have a lot of issues requiring a lot of picks. The Bears could get Fields some pieces with three picks in the top-60 this year. The Jets need to be buyers in order to contend and the Bears should oblige.