The 2025 Free Agency Thread

I think it was Keim who alluded to this but our sports science and incorporation of it is a weapon at keeping guys healthy. Quinn goes out of his way to ensure players get more than enough treatment and gives those extra days off to veterans so that they can avoid major soft tissue injuries.

The health of our older veterans is a great selling point to a guy like Mack
 
SilentThreat said:
I imagine Peters and co. aren't depending on multiple years of outstanding play.

**not directed at your post specifically, just a general thought here**

We as fans need to stop thinking about every move in a vacuum. These guys are working in a 3, or 4 dimensional world.

A front loaded, heavy guarantee in 2025, even if it's a cap hit of $27M - $30M, he's instantly our best EDGE player, and he counts around 10 - 12% of our cap hit. For reference the table below is the top Cap % for EDGE players.

View attachment 10091

Front loading the deal let's you carry 'less' into 2026, which means a lower cap hit from Mack, paired with the inevitable raise in Salary Cap (it has gone up from $224M to 279M over the last 2 seasons) means that Cap % drops drastically, which means if there's a big fall off, the cap % is more in line with his production. Meanwhile you've bought 2 more off seasons to address the long term solutions at EDGE.


We have to also understand we're in the absolute BEST position an NFL team can hope to be in. Top 10 (arguably top 5) QB play on a rookie deal, and not just on a rookie deal, in year 1. We have a 4 year window to massage the roster that allows some spending to be 'higher' than it may be, if it's the right moves.
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With mega respect: I agree with the thought, I only disagree when to "buy" on their production chart. I don't see the reason to spend heavily on someone who you fully expect to be taking a meteoric fall soon. (apologies for slight exageration.) It doesn't do a lot of good to have your ED play peak in 2025 when the rest of your team is still underdeveloped. That's why Myles Garrett still doesn't have any SB rings. It doesn't make sense to my little country boy brain to pay a chunk of your salary cap to someone peaking before the rest of your team is relevant, As you said, these moves don't occur in a vacuum, and they work only when the entirety of the team is taken into consideration.
 
Hail Raiser said:
Was our pass rush really that bad last year? I know we weren't the Eagles, but it seemed average at worst.

Not that I don't want to improve on that.

Stopping the run and our CBs seemed to be our issue.

CB2, SS another ILB (unless Magee is legit and healthy), OLB unless Fowler comes back and whatever to set an edge and stop thew run.
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The bigger issue than the rush is our DEs were horrendously terrible at setting the edge in the run game. Getting an elite pass rusher who also won’t get completely pushed around in the run game automatically elevates the defense by a whole lot.
 
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Voice_of_Reason said:
The bigger issue than the rush is our Dads were horrendously terrible at setting the edge in the run game. Getting an elite pass rusher who also won’t get completely pushed around in the run game automatically elevates the defense by a whole lot.
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Not my Dad.
 
bowhunter said:
With mega respect: I agree with the thought, I only disagree when to "buy" on their production chart. I don't see the reason to spend heavily on someone who you fully expect to be taking a meteoric fall soon. (apologies for slight exageration.) It doesn't do a lot of good to have your ED play peak in 2025 when the rest of your team is still underdeveloped. That's why Myles Garrett still doesn't have any SB rings. It doesn't make sense to my little country boy brain to pay a chunk of your salary cap to someone peaking before the rest of your team is relevant, As you said, these moves don't occur in a vacuum, and they work only when the entirety of the team is taken into consideration.
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Someone who may be expected to have a large step back soon is the difference between a really good front office, and one that struggles. My only response is that this one has now had a season together, and the track record is that their investment in players that fall into that category have been widely successful... so to that point I have to believe if they were to make a move on Mack, it's because they've made the proper evaluations. Ertz / Wagner / Ekeler were all guys that were 'expected' to be on the downside of their career, and those guys all contributed.

As far as your comment about 'little country boy brain' lol while it made me laugh out loud, i appreciate your post, so respect right back to you.

The second part of that sentence, i'd like to point out we were in the NFC Championship. No the roster is not set, but to be fair, a roster that plays in the NFC Championship game is pretty damn close to peaking. If we had Garrett, or Mack, on this roster in 2024, I think there is a real conversation that the game vs Philly in the Champ game, at a minimum, looks and feels very different. Both of those guys are legitimate run defenders. They're not Fowler who is considered to be a liability in the run game. They are not.

The bigger point to my post wasn't about Mack specifically, and you may believe Mack is not good enough anymore. My point is that there are ways to maintain what he wants, while only setting a liability in cost into the area that is still 'up' to standard... and if you have to overspend a little bit, we have that ability with Daniels being on a rookie deal. A top 10 DE in the league is worth $30M right now. It's crazy but it's the truth. Mack may be on the fringe of a top 10 DE in 2025 with a large fall off in 2026, but if you're paying him $30 mil in 2025, you're structuring it so you dont have to in 2026.
 
On TE I’m reading the Raiders are open to trading Michael Mayer. Depending what the ask is I’d be very interested in that. I liked him a lot in College.
 
How important is it to bring back Marcus Mariota? Looks like Titans are interested in him.
 
Boone said:
If they don't retain Mariota I would consider Minshew a great backup option.
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I would be down with that. I just dont really want to spend a whole lot of money on a backup QB at this point. It made sense last year with JD being a rookie. But if JD goes down for any extended period of time our season would be over anyways. No reason to spend money on a backup.
 
Chris 44 said:
How important is it to bring back Marcus Mariota? Looks like Titans are interested in him.
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I was severely underwhelmed when we signed Mariota as the backup. Turns out Peter’s and the current coaching staff know more about football than I do.

(That’s not always been the case over the past 20 odd years).

He’s the perfect backup behind JD and for Kingsbury. I think getting him back is really important.
 
clskinsfan said:
Hopefully JD stays healthy and it's not important at all.
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I think it’s still important even if Mariota doesn’t play a down. He seems like the big brother guy who works well with JD in the meeting room and on the sideline.

Chemistry was good.
 
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