With All The Talk Hyper-focusing On the Draft and HC’s I’d Love to Discuss Free Agency

For the first time in over a decade we have real money to spend and there are some pretty great names out there. The draft is important but we have a real opportunity to make this team insanely competitive with the right signings.

Note: these aren’t the only signings but the ones I’m hoping for/would like to highlight.

Re-sign:

Ogbonnia Okoronkwo: he really started coming on strong at the end of the year and would be a great rotational piece to keep around.
Tavierre Thomas: also had a strong end of season filling in for Stingley. Would be great depth to keep around behind him and Nelson.
Jordan Akins: One of the most underrated players we have. Great pass game TE that is a no brainer to keep around.
Johnathan Owens: if we can keep him for cheap I hope we do. However if other teams want to pay him, adios. I don’t see him as a starter next year but with his ties to Simone Biles and Houston he may not want to leave.
John Weeks: no explanation needed.

Defensive signings:

DL:
Da’Ron Payne: he’s my #1 choice. May be the best value for production at the position, young and skilled.
Javon Hargrave: if we miss out on Payne this isn’t a bad option. At 29 he’s got a little less football left in him but is coming from a winning team which holds value.

LB:
Denzel Perryman: like Payne I think this would be the best value signing at ILB. He can play sideline to sideline effectively. Downside is he’s 30.
Devin Bush: if we want to go young and don’t mind spending a bit more Bush can be a really intriguing option as he’s still pretty young.

Secondary:
Jessie Bates III: I would LOVE this signing he and Pitre could be in the conversation for best safety tandem in the league in the near future.

Offensive signings:

OL:
Jason Kelce: I’ll preface this saying this is a pipe dream. But if we want to protect a rookie QB I wouldn’t not be opposed to throwing money at him especially if we draft a center in the later rounds we’d like our starter to mentor.
Garett Bradbury: probably the more realistic signing here but also won’t be cheap. At 27 he has quite a bit more football in him.

RB: D’Earnest Johnson: we have our punishing back in Pierce. We need someone to compliment him and I think Johnson’s skillset does just that. He’s a good pass catcher and more of a make plays in space back. With all the big name RB’s hitting the market I think he will be able to be to sign for cheap.

Some draft notes (to understand how I see this rounding out):

Pick 2 QB, this post isn’t about debating which one.

At pick 12 the 5 top DL will be off the board. If not we snag one of them. But in the likely event they are gone I’d like to see us trade down to 18ish and take Nolan Smith (edge).

Trade back into round 1 (mid 20’s) with the assets we got from trading down and pick 33. Take O’Cyrus Torrence (guard). Now our OL is SOLID.

Late Rd 2 / Early Rd 3 (pending what picks we have after the trades) take the best WR left on the board. Hopefully Jaylen Hyatt is there.

Round 3/4 (pending the picks we have after trades) Ivan Pace Jr. absolute heat seeking missile of an LB. Line him up opposite Harris and our LB core looks good. He will be a problem in the league on the weak side blitz.