Not likely to get any of the above
Short post but should be fun,
Who are 3 players realisticly that we need/could sign during the Free Agent period??
I say our 3 is:
1. Adalius Thomas
2. Chris Dielman
3. David Macklin
YOURS?????
The only guy realistically available is David Macklin, and he stinks. He was benched by the Cards earlier in the season. He's slow.
Adalius Thomas will be franchised by the Ravens, he's also 30-years old and expects a bonus payment of $10-12 mil.. If he were to hit the open market, Mike Nolan, his former coach with the Ravens would sign him in a minute. The Niners will be $40 mil. under the cap, and we couldn't compete financially.
Kris Dielman will not be available either. A.J. Smith has said Dielman re-signing with the Chargers is his top priority, and they have the cap room to do it. If not, both the Browns and Bills are expected to make big pushes.
As for others like Eric Steinbach, forget it, the Bengals plan on re-signing him. Asante Samuel will also not make it onto the open market. The Patriots will either sign him to an extension, or franchise his butt and make him play for the tender, or extort a package of draft picks for him. Samuel fits into Belicheck's plan for managing the cap, he can't be replaced, and he's young, which makes him the perfect candidate for a big-money payout. The Patriots' strategy is to build through the draft, sign free agents for depth, and pay only the players that are irreplacable.
It's not a good year for free agents. Everyone has the cash to pay their own guys. Nate Clements is the only guy likely to make it onto the open market, and do we really plan on paying a free agent DB $8 mil. per? Everyone talks about how Lance Briggs is heading out of Chicago, and maybe he is, I don't know why he's linked so extensively with the Dolphins. His skill set is not necessarily geared toward the 3-4. Bears' GM Jerry Angelo was also quoted as saying he told Briggs' agent that if a deal didn't get done, they'd probably franchise Briggs, so don't count on his availability either