The 2025 Free Agency Thread

I'm trying to keep tabs on guys who were our FAs this year. Lot of news going on, so some things get lost in the shuffle. Here's what I scrounged up:

FA Lost:

DL Jon Allen - Vikings
S Darrick Forrest - Bills
S Jeremy Chinn - Raiders
WR Dyami Brown - Jaguars
OT Cornelius Lucas - Browns
OLB Mykal Walker - Cardinals (there goes our SB trophy next year)

FA Re-signed:

LB Bobby Wagner: 1 year, $9.5 million
QB Marcus Mariota: 1 year, $8 million
TE Zach Ertz: 1 year, $6.25 million
P Tress Way: 1 year, $2.8 million
TE John Bates: 3 years
RB Jeremy McNichols: 1 year
K Zane Gonzalez

FA Still Available:

QB Jeff Driskel
WR Noah Brown
WR Jamison Crowder
WR K.J. Osborn
WR Olamide Zaccheaus
OT Trenton Scott
C Michael Deiter
Edge Clelin Ferrell
Edge Dante Fowler Jr.
DL Sheldon Day
DL Jalyn Holmes
CB Michael Davis
CB Noah Igbinoghene
CB Burnedamin St-Toast
K Austin Seibert
 
Jones had a decent season in 2022. 69 tackles 4 picks.....But I just dont understand why we are bottom of the barrel hunting when we have money to spend. I am a little disappointed in this free agency so far.
 
GRADES

SEASON STATS

BIO


Grades​

Jones- https://www.pff.com/nfl/players/jonathan-jones/11217


2024
Regular

OVERALL GRADE
60.7


AVG
117th/223 CBs
PASS RUSH GRADE
57.5


AVG
84th/223 CBs
RUN DEFENSE GRADE
55.2


AVG
161st/223 CBs
COVERAGE GRADE
61.1


AVG
108th/223 CBs


Benjamin​

St-Juste​


CB
#25
|

WAS Commanders
6'3"

200lbs

27y/o

Benjamin St-Juste headshot


Overall Grade '24
47.4
197th/223 - CBs
Snap Count '24
836
35th/223 - CBs
Interceptions '24
0
83rd/223 - CBs
SB WK MATCHUP
 

Patriots' Jonathan Jones is NFL's unlikely 'lockdown' cornerback​


• Patriots cornerback Jonathan Jones is PFF’s highest-graded player at his position through three weeks.

• New England elected to move Jones from the slot to outside cornerback because his skill set most closely matched JC Jackson’s.

• Jones has had a high degree of success against Miami Dolphins wide receiver Tyreek Hill throughout his career.

​

FOXBORO, Mass. — The New England Patriots having PFF’s top-graded cornerback is not, in itself, shocking. The identity of that player and what role he’s manning is, however, pretty surprising.

The Patriots seemingly always have one of the NFL’s best cornerbacks. The outside, shutdown defender has long been a staple of head coach Bill Belichick's defense. First, it was Ty Law and Asante Samuel, then Aqib Talib, Darrelle Revis, Malcolm Butler, Stephon Gilmore and JC Jackson all sifted through New England’s complex, multiple defense with the ability to cause problems for opposing quarterbacks by clamping down one side of the field or being a constant threat for a turnover. The Patriots won six Super Bowls and made three more with these such players elevating their defenses.

Jackson departed in free agency this offseason, and New England was left without an obvious successor for that role. But now Jonathan Jones — who for the first time in his six-year career is primarily playing outside rather than in the slot — is PFF’s top-graded cornerback.

“I’m watching their tape and they’ve always got a lockdown match corner over the years,” Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin said before his team's Week 2 matchup with New England. “In recent years, it’s been Gilmore, and then it was Jackson, and now it’s Jones.”

The Patriots were looking for an internal replacement for Jackson, and they felt Jones’ skill set was the most transferable, according to a source, who added that the 5-foot-10, 190-pound cornerback has impressive strength for his size.

Jones is not considerably shorter than Jackson, who’s listed at 6-foot-1 but measured in at 5-foot-10 at the NFL Scouting Combine. Jackson’s wingspan is three inches longer than Jones’, however.

Since going undrafted out of Auburn in 2016, Jones, 29, has been known as one of the NFL’s top slot cornerbacks, sporting a 78.5 overall career PFF grade and 78.5 grade in slot coverage. He signed a three-year, $21 million contract extension in 2019, making him one of the top-paid slot cornerbacks in the NFL. Through the first six years of his NFL career, Jones, who missed most of last season with a shoulder injury, played just under 16% of his snaps outside at cornerback with over 68% of his playing time coming in the slot and another 16% at safety or other assorted positions throughout the defense. He famously played safety in the Patriots’ Super Bowl 53 win over the Los Angeles Rams.

This season, through three games, he’s played over 84% of his snaps outside. His 85.6 overall defensive grade and 90.4 coverage grade rank first among qualified cornerbacks. He’s allowed just six catches on nine targets for 91 yards with an interception and two forced fumbles.

“It’s been fun,” Jones told PFF on Wednesday. “It’s been different. You enjoy it. I’ve done it here but not as much consistently. It’s just a different perspective of the game versus being inside, (and) kind of being more involved in the run game.”

He hasn’t had easy assignments through three games. Jones has been in man coverage on 44 out of 90 passing plays. The Patriots have only been in Cover 2 or quarters defense in 11 coverage snaps and Cover 0, Cover 1, Cover 3 or Cover 6 for their remaining 77 coverage snaps.

New England was in man coverage on 10 of Jones’ 29 coverage snaps Week 1 against the Miami Dolphins. Jones covered Dolphins wide receiver Tyreek Hill on all 10 of those dropbacks. He mirrored Hill on 19 of 29 total coverage snaps and handled Jaylen Waddle another five times. He let up just four catches on six targets for 50 yards to Hill, whom he’s always had relative success against.

“I think J Jones is a guy that, media-wise, people don’t talk about him, but I think if you go back and check out what he’s done every time he’s played defense, he’s played at a high level,” Patriots long-time safety and defensive captain Devin McCourty told PFF on Wednesday. “I think if you go back to 2019 and 2020, if you watch our gameplans against Tyreek Hill, our gameplan was putting J Jones on him. But I don’t think he ever got credit for that. So, now seeing him play outside week in and week out, people are like, ‘Oh man. Jonathan Jones is a pretty good corner.’”

Jones, who’s one of the NFL’s fastest active cornerbacks with a timed 4.33-second 40-yard dash, has played against Hill in six games now. He’s let up 11 catches on 20 targets for 143 yards with a pass breakup in those contests. Hill has not had a 100-yard game against the Patriots since 2018. They’re set to match up again next in January as now-AFC East foes.

www.pff.com

Patriots' Jonathan Jones is NFL's unlikely 'lockdown' cornerback

Jonathan Jones is the latest in a long line of shutdown New England Patriots outside cornerbacks after previously manning the slot.
www.pff.com www.pff.com
 
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