He will either go for a serviceable WR, TE or a Pass Rusher. Who do you think are realistic targets? Right out of the bat, let me say no to Ridley. Saints are in cap hell? So are Packers and less so Cowboys. They are all in NFC and can be good partners. Who do you think Joe D might target?
He won't trade either of the two first rounders for anyone IMO. He might well trade one of the next two picks for an elite player, if possible.
Ridley. You don’t find guys like that in FA. He’s young too. 4 elite years in him if he’s mentally ready.
The 4 worst teams in terms of the cap are in order, the Saints (the worst), Packers, Cowboys, Vikings Following are lists of the UFAs for those teams and players we possibly could be interested in obtaining via trade or if they are released. Packers FA Davante Adams (29) De'Vondre Campbell LB (28) Chandon Sullivan CB (25) Marquez Valdes-Scandling WR (27) Robert Tonyan TE (27) Equanimeous St. Brown WR (25) Rasul Douglas CB (26) Dennis Kelly RT (32) Lucas Patrick OG (28) Isaac Yiadom CB (25) Tyler Lancaster DE (27) Kevin King CB (26) he's not worth it Oren Burks LB (26) Jack Heflin DT (23) Trade ? Preston Smith Edge (29) Za'Darius Smith Edge (29) Cowboys FA Dalton Schultz TE (25) Michael Gallup WR (25) Connor Williams OG (24) Keanu Neal S (26) Malik Hooker S (25) Randy Gregory OLB (29) Cedric Wilson WR (26) Leighton Vander Esch LB (25) Corey Clement RB (27) Noah Brown WR (26) Malik Turner WR (26) Brent Urban DE (30) Dorance Armstrong DE (24) Carlos Watkins DE (28) Maurice Canady CB (27) Damontae Kazee S (28) Trade ? Amari Cooper WR (27) Jayron Kearse S (27) Demarcus Lawrence DE (29) Jaylon Smith MLB (26) Tony Pollard RB (24) Saints FA Marcus Williams S (25) Terron Armstead OT (30) Kwon Alexander ILB (27) Tre'Quan Smith WR (26) PJ Williams CB (28) Dwayne Washington RB (27) Ty Montgomery RB (29) Jalyn Holmes DT (26) Jeff Heath SS (30) Trade ? Michael Thomas WR (28) Kwon Alexander MLB (27) Demario Davis OLB (33) Alvin Kamara RB (26) Marshon Lattimore CB (25) David Onyemata DT (29) Bradley Roby CB (29) Kenny Stills WR (29) Andrus Peat OG (28) Vikings FA Tyler Conklin TE (26) Xavier Woods S (26) Anthony Barr OLB (29) Everson Griffen DE (34) Patrick Peterson CB (31) Mackensie Alexander CB (28) Dede Westbrook WR (28) Chad Beebe WR (27) Rashod Hill OG (30) Wayne Gallman RB (27) Ty Nsekhe RT (36) Nick Vigil OLB (28) Mason Cole C (25) Eddie Yarbrough DE (28) Sheldon Richardson DT (31) Trade Harrison Smith S (32) Dalvin Tomlinson DT (27) CJ Ham FB (28) Luke Stocker TE (33)
The name that keeps sticking out to me is Amari Cooper. He's only 27, is under contract for 3 more seasons, and has 0 guaranteed money left on his deal. Dallas is projected to be ~20M over the cap in '22 which just happens to be how much Cooper's APY is on his current deal. I'd for sure trade one of our 2nd's and another late round pick for Cooper. Cooper, Elijah and CD is a very solid WR trio with the potential to be elite depending on how Elijah progresses. Throw in another target or two via FA (Njoku, Tonyan, OJ Howard) and the draft at TE (McBride, Ruckert, Otton) and you've got the makings for a very, very good offense.
If he has 0 guaranteed dollars wouldn't he be the guy Dallas would hang onto? They would try to trade the players with the guaranteed contracts, no? Hard to believe Cooper is only 27 by the way, seems like hes been playing for awhile
I agree, if they are going to trade for someone they should aim high to acquire a player like Ridley with a brighter future instead of trying for guys for what they've accomplished in the past
I would think it would be the opposite. It's typically not very cap friendly to trade guys with guaranteed money left on their deal because then you incur whatever their dead money hit would be. This can always be negotiated but that also drives down the asking price. I'm also not a Capologist so someone may correct me on this one.
From your keyboard to the football gods ears. When you are starving for talent like we are and you have as many picks as we do, trade one of them for someone that has already panned out. Guarantee yourself more talent rather than hoping you can find talent.
A name to watch is Robert woods. If the rams decide to keep obj with kupp and v Jefferson woods could be the odd man out. Definitely worth a phone call
Torn Acl in November, he might start the year on pup while he gets back in shape . 9 months is average recovery time.
I could see it - taking a cue from what the Rams have done with converting picks into proven players. The difference between us and the Rams though is that the Rams are consistently in title contention so they have no qualms about mortgaging the future to win now. I don't think it's a great strategy longevity-wise but JD has to feel his seat warming up so I could see him selling out a bit in the hopes the team is competitive next season.
We don’t have to do what the Rams did and I don’t think Douglas is dumb enough to think it’s even close to the same situation. We have 4 picks in the top 70. You can trade one or two and still land [hopefully] cornerstone players for the next decade. We’re in a great spot, but I’d be lying if I said I wouldn’t be a little upset if Douglas didn’t max out the assets by acquiring top notch talent.
Woods will be 30 at the start of the year though. Tough sell to me. Out of all of these options thrown around, I’m warming up to Ridley. I don’t want Cooper. He disappears when he feels like it during stretches in the season.
Spending your capital on draft talent is how you build for the future; spending it on veterans is how you build the here and now. I wouldn't trade away a #4 overall pick for a "here and now" veteran unless we were one or two wins away from a championship run. Otherwise, I'd invest the pick in the future. I'm OK with JD trading down for more picks, but I would scratch my head if he trades the pick for a veteran.
