's willingness to play safety could help extend career By Mike Klis 9NEWS March 18, 2019

If the Broncos want Kareem Jackson to make the immediate move from to safety given the surprise $7 million a year addition of , Jackson is willing.

The switch perhaps wasn’t going to happen this soon after Jackson agreed to his $11 million-a-year deal Monday with the Broncos. But even before Callahan was brought in Friday, Jackson already understood a switch to safety had the potential to extend his career.

And career longevity becomes a heightened consideration when you’re about to turn 31.

“It’ll definitely work in my favor being able to move to safety after a year or so,’’ Jackson said in an interview with 9NEWS on Friday morning. “And for me, a lot of time depending on how we game plan I would play different positions. That’s something coach Vic (Fangio) wants to do here in terms of game planning and if they want to shuffle me around, I’m definitely willing to do that.’’

A couple hours after Jackson’s interview with 9NEWS, the Broncos added Callahan with a three-year, $21 million deal. Callahan had been the Bears’ No. 3 cornerback behind and . However, Fangio, who was then the Bears , often used his nickel package, and therefore put in Callahan, for more than 80 percent of the defensive plays last season.

Fangio is the Broncos’ now. If Callahan stays as a No. 3 corner, his $7 million a year average will make him ’s highest-paid cornerback, passing the previous high average of $6.75 million by ’s Bobby McCain. (We’re calling the Colts’ Pierre Desir, who received a $7.5 million a year deal last week, a No. 2 corner).

Otherwise, Callahan becomes the No. 31 highest paid cornerback overall.

In Fangio’s 3-4 base defense, the Broncos could use Jr. and Callahan at cornerback and Justin Simmons and Jackson at safety. In Fangio’s nickel or dime packages, Harris, Jackson and Callahan may all play corner, while Simmons and and/or Jamal Carter play safety.

Check this out: Broncos has assembled three of the top 10-rated from 2018, as graded by Pro Football Focus (minimum eight games). Harris was No. 5, Jackson was No. 6 and Callahan was No. 10.

Thanks to Jackson, Fangio and defensive coordinator Ed Donatell can use any personnel they want in coverage. Jackson started out playing safety for the Texans last year. Injuries pushed him back to corner, but in today’s football, there’s not much difference between slot corner and dime .

Not having a set position may be one reason why Jackson was snubbed from the last season. But it helped him get paid once he reached free agency.

It wasn’t just money that drew him to Denver. It was the fit.

“Just in terms of what they would ask me to do in terms of playing in the secondary whether it was going to be corner or whether it was going to be safety,’’ he said. “I felt the system was going to fit me and use my strengths. And that’s being forceful out there on the field and covering and playing in multiple spots.’’

As for Jackson turning 31 next month, he just had his two best seasons at 29 and 30, when he posted his two-best totals of 73 and 87.

With playing so well the past two years at 40 and 41, NFL scouts may be evaluating the 30- and-older pool with a slightly-less critical eye.

“I think so,’’ said Jackson, who has two young daughters with wife Amber. “You’ve still got a ton of guys who can still play in their 30s. You’ve got guys who are really taking care of their bodies, paying attention to everything that they’re doing.

“Those are some of the things I try to do in the offseason. For me, the older you get the harder you have to work.’’

Jackson used to take a full month to rest after the season. In recent years, he’s only been taking two weeks off.

“One of my best friends, , he’ll be 35 this year and he’s still playing at a high level,’’ Jackson said. “I think it’s more so a mindset for certain guys and taking care of your bodies and health, obviously that plays a huge part of it, but I definitely think they’re starting to look at it a little bit different.’’

Joe Flacco says he understands what it is to be Broncos' By Jeff Legwold ESPN.com March 18, 2019

You're next .

You're the next quarterback tossed into the grinder. The grinder of history, of decades worth of success, of a loyal, passionate following and a football decision-maker who happens to be a Hall of Fame quarterback.

Don't think so? Consider threw 55 and 39 passes in the two seasons was the Broncos' offensive coordinator and there were multiple occasions Gase's emotions would boil over defending what Manning was doing at quarterback for teams that went 13-3 and 12-4.

Since Manning retired after the 2015 season, the Broncos have churned through Trevor Siemian, , Paxton Lynch and at quarterback. Whether it has been an ill-fitting offense, shaky offensive line play or not being able to consistently do the job they were asked to do, job security and touchdown drives have been far too difficult to come by.

After four attempts to have a younger, less experienced quarterback learn on the job only to see them struggle, Elway has gone to the other end of the spectrum with Flacco. Flacco is entering his 12th season and has started 172 regular-season and playoff games combined.

"The most important thing is to get everybody to buy in and believe that you're the guy," Flacco said.

When Elway signed a 36-year-old Manning in 2012, he said, "I like to sign Hall of Famers with chips on their shoulders," and Elway has made a variation of that thought part of the team's plans in free agency since.

"I do like guys with chips on their shoulders," said Elway, who believes Flacco has one of those chips as well after the Ravens benched him during last season to play rookie . "Guys who've been through it, had success, want to be successful with the . I want those guys with those chips."

Beyond the struggles on offense, which have been a big part of 9-7, 5-11 and 6-10 finishes over the past three seasons, the team's decision-makers, including Elway, found themselves with an odd struggle.

They didn't have "The Guy" at quarterback to avoid a preseason competition in either 2016 or 2017, when Siemian won the job. So, while the Broncos, and Elway, consistently wanted a quarterback to step forward, be vocal and take charge, the quarterbacks simply didn't know who the starter was, so it was difficult for any of them to act like starter.

And last season, Keenum had never been the unquestioned starter in the NFL before the Broncos had made him one. And while he consistently showed toughness and grit, at times he appeared uncomfortable with the weight of the job, while dealing with a rash of injuries to his offensive line and receivers.

So, enter Flacco with a career full of tight games, seven road playoff wins and more than a decade's worth of work as a starter. And on Friday, Flacco said things in a way the Broncos have longed to hear.

"My first priority ... I'm going to show everybody in this organization, and more importantly the players on my team, that I can play, that I can play quarterback," Flacco said. "That I can lead this team with the talents and skills that I have."

Now the words won't matter much if by Thanksgiving the Broncos again appear disjointed on offense and can't stress defenses to enough parts of the field or win enough games, but the Broncos do believe Flacco fits the part of the job description for their franchise that most quarterbacks don't understand until they play for the team.

Jake Plummer, who signed with the Broncos in 2003 after six years with the , understood.

"You get here and you realize, it isn't just some other team," Plummer said. "They've won, Elway's Elway, the fans have been crazy for the team from one generation to the next, they fill all the seats and every year [owner] Pat [Bowlen] expected you to win the . ... Not every place is like that, and if you're not ready for that as a quarterback, it's going to be a hard job that spits you out."

Flacco says he knows, that he understands and that a decade's worth of white-knuckle games in the AFC North have prepared him for what awaits. It has to, for the Broncos' sake, especially given there are a few fans who have just now seen the team have back-to-back seasons of double-digit losses for the first time in their lives.

"I think we played, I played in a lot of tight games in Baltimore," Flacco said. "We relied on our defense a lot, it's just always been kind of the culture around there and what people see us as, but we played a lot of hard-fought games because of that. I think when that happens you're not going to have games that look pretty, but you're going to be tested a lot, you're going to be put through the ringer a lot.

"... And when it comes to playoff games, that's what they are, they're all ugly and they're tough. You're throwing out of a little pocket, you're not back there unmolested for 10 seconds ... I think that's a lot, what a lot of my career was in Baltimore, a lot of tight games that we won by close margins. When you get used to playing those conditions ... you just prepare yourself for being in the moment."

A moment that has him with a new team, a new coach and an entirely new set of expectations.

Ja'Wuan James expects to stand strong at right tackle for years to come with Broncos By Aric DiLalla DenverBroncos.com March 18, 2019

Throughout the 2018 season, as Ja’Wuan James watched film each week, one player caught his attention again and again.

“It's crazy,” James recalled at his introductory press conference on Friday. “You watch film all week on different teams and I just kept seeing this kid [RB Phillip] Lindsay just pop up, popping runs here, popping runs there. Now to be able to be on his team and block for him, I'm excited.”

At the time, James likely had little idea he would eventually block for the rookie who became the first- ever undrafted offensive player to make a Pro Bowl in his first season. But after signing a four-year contract with the Broncos, James could be more than just a road-paver for Lindsay in 2019.

He may be a pillar for the Broncos at right tackle for years to come.

The biggest factor in that coming to fruition will probably be James’ ability to fit in the Broncos’ new offense and help power a strong rushing attack, in addition to providing protection against talented pass rushers like the Chargers’ .

With Pro Football Hall of Famer serving as the Broncos’ offensive line coach, James will have some of the best tutelage to bring him up to speed as he joins a new team, but at least as a run blocker, James thinks he’s already a good fit in a zone-blocking scheme from his experience with Dolphins.

"I love it,” James said. “I love it because not only do you get to have your athleticism part of it and running all day, but you get to be physical in the run game. That is a big part of any O-line. You get a chance to play on their side of the ball, the defensive line's side, and bring it to them every play and not just be sitting back. I'm excited about that. Like I said, I got to talk to Coach Munchak for about an hour upstairs. He got me all riled up right now."

With James’ talent and age, President of Football Operations/General Manager John Elway said he expects the 26-year-old tackle to be the Broncos’ long-term solution at the position.

“We really like him,” Elway said. “He’s a good fit for us with what we want to do with the zone scheme and outside-zone. He’s a physical guy and he plays hard. We’re excited about him. … We’re planning on him solidifying that right tackle for us. We really feel good about the two young tackles that we now have and what we’re doing. We’ll just continue to get better there.”

James, too, has the confidence that he can be a reliable force for the Broncos.

“I'm going to work hard,” James said, beginning to list reasons why he believes he can be the Broncos’ right tackle for years to come. “The scheme, like [Elway] said, it fits me well. Me being athletic and me doing it the past two years — I can't wait to get in here and actually get to do it.”

But James can’t rest now just because he’s moved to a new stage in his career.

“People talk about pressure and things like that,” James said. “I feel like I'm a guy who competes for myself all of the time. I think as long as I'm holding myself to the highest standard, I will be fine. I'm excited to get to work here. That is the biggest thing.

“I'm excited to get to work and win some ball games."

Mason's Mailbag: Adding Ja'Wuan James shows commitment to O-line By Andrew Mason DenverBroncos.com March 18, 2019

Please explain to me what is dead money, and how it affects the salary cap. For example does too much dead money hinder your chances of acquiring a player in free agency or the ?

-- Ros Manuel

Dead money is simple: It's the amount of money that you're paying players who are no longer on the roster, because they were released or traded when their team still had signing-bonus money or other guarantees owed to them. So it hinders you simply because it's money that you can't spend on your current roster.

However, some players are released with cap savings that outweigh the dead money. So if you had a player not living up to his contract with a salary-cap figure of $10 million and $1 million in dead money, you might make the move because the $9 million saved would outweigh the $1 million still charged against your salary cap.

According to OvertheCap.com, the Broncos have $21.38 million of dead money under their cap at the present time, with the biggest chunk coming in the wake of the Case Keenum trade. Barring unforeseen issues, the Broncos should be in considerably better shape next year when it comes to dead money.

Let’s face facts, if the Broncos don’t address the offensive-line issues, the quarterback will not have time to do squat. We have the , we have a pretty good defense but need that line, desperately. I hope the new O-line coach can make a big difference too, another thing our Super Bowl teams had. Your take?

-- David Jones

You wrote this on March 14. By that time, the Broncos had already announced that they had agreed to terms with Ja'Wuan James. In two of the last three years, the biggest contract the Broncos issued in free agency was to an offensive lineman (James this year; Ron Leary in 2017). Left tackle was a 2017 first-round pick. And you noted Offensive Line Coach Mike Munchak, whose impact in Pittsburgh was profound in turning a group that was the league's second-worst in sack rate during 's first 10 seasons into the second-best from 2014-18.

As big an acquisition as James was, Munchak could be bigger. Working with former starting guard Chris Kuper, who will assist Munchak in coaching the line, you have a Hall of Famer and an outstanding starter who both possess the ability to convey their knowledge to the players on their watch. Even if the Broncos do not add another immediate starter in free agency or the draft, it is fair to expect this line to improve because of the coaching and the experience collected by Bolles, Connor McGovern and Elijah Wilkinson, currently slotted to start at left tackle, center and right guard, respectively.

For the impact of coaching, remember how Tom Nalen blossomed in 1995 under Alex Gibbs, who jumped from Kansas City that offseason to coach the Broncos' offensive linemen. In more recent years, you can see how New England's offensive line immediately rebounded to its vintage form when longtime line guru Dante Scarnecchia returned to their staff in 2016.

In two of the last three offseasons, the Broncos made premium investments in their offensive line. Now it's time for Munchak and Kuper to bring it together.

With Matt Paradis signing with Carolina, how do you think Denver fills that position? Is McGovern the answer or is it a free agent or maybe the draft?

-- Martin Stockton

As Elway said at his press conference Friday, "Connor is our center right now." Drafts and future free- agent pickups can change that, although the Broncos don't have much wiggle room under the cap after their work of the last few days.

If the Broncos trade down in the first round, they could look to find their center. If not, the value for interior offensive linemen looks better in the second or third rounds than it does at the No. 10 selection.

The list of late-first-round potential centers who could be in the mix if Denver trades down includes State's Garett Bradbury and Kansas State's , a Wiggins, Colorado product who also projects as a right tackle.

Day 2 interior-line options include Wisconsin's Michael Deiter (who is more of a guard, but could project as a center), A&M's Erik McCoy and Mississippi State's Elgton Jenkins. Personally, my favorites in that list are Risner, Deiter and Bradbury. McCoy could be an ideal scheme fit for the zone-blocking concepts you will see from the Broncos this year; he's quick and athletic.

With Ja'Wuan James, the Broncos are now "settled" at LT (Bolles), LG (Leary) and RT (James) right? Or is it the plan for someone to switch positions?

-- Jose Borrero

Don't expect any position shifts for the players you mentioned. Leary will stay at left guard, with Wilkinson currently slotted at right guard, according to Elway.

Given the willingness of teams -- especially in the AFC West -- to use elite pass rushers over the right tackle as often as the left tackle, it doesn't behoove the Broncos to move James to the left side, especially when he has just a handful of college and pro snaps over there. He is a right tackle and will remain so.

Should the Broncos go after Justin Houston in free agency? It could be Miller and Houston wreaking havoc like Miller and Ware, and Chubb under them would be nasty.

-- Andrew Massey

Given free-agent expenditures to this point, Houston doesn't make sense unless he lingers on the market and his price hits bargain-basement levels. Besides, it's not like he would even start in Denver; and have the edge-rushing roles sewn up.

The Broncos had other urgent needs that needed addressing before they added an extra edge rusher. With moving on to Tampa Bay, Denver could use a little more depth there, but they could find it on the second or third day of the draft. Don't forget about Jeff Holland, who showed some flashes late last year after spending time on the practice squad following his acquisition as a college free agent. It would be no surprise if Holland takes a similar career track to the one Barrett enjoyed after going undrafted in 2014.

Don't ask me why, but for some reason I've always been a fan of AJ McCarron. Do you think Elway will take a flyer on him?

-- Mark Morgan

I won't ask why, but maybe you're an Alabama fan? Anyway, I'm not sure what the point would be beyond having an experienced backup, although you can bring back Kevin Hogan, as well. Two teams jettisoned McCarron in the last eight months. In both cases, the teams let him go while holding on to , whose of 32.5 is the worst for any quarterback with at least 125 career attempts since 1980. That says something, and it isn’t good.

Inside 2019 NFL free-agent contract numbers: Who really got the best deals? By Dan Graziano ESPN.com March 18, 2019

The flurry of NFL free-agent signings last week came with its usual flurry of numbers. X player signed with X team for X years and XX,XXX,XXX dollars, of which X,XXX,XXX is guaranteed. You read and/or hear about it every hour, every minute of the first week, and it's hard to keep track of it all.

We're here for you.

The numbers that accompany the news of signings don't always tell the whole story. It's easy to draw conclusions from initial reports and believe one linebacker or safety got a much better deal than another in another town. But the numbers you hear in the early days of free agency don't do much to separate fully guaranteed money from injury-guaranteed money. They don't tell you how many years of a five-year deal the player is actually likely to see based on the contract's structure. They don't tell you when the money actually gets direct-deposited into the player's bank account.

That's why, after the first wave of free agency settles a bit and we get a look at the real contract details, we like to write this column every year, digging into those details and figuring out who really got the best deals. It's here that we pick out a couple of contracts we like and a couple we don't like so much and point out a couple of other worthwhile oddities or comparisons that might help you understand a little bit more about what goes into this complex process.

Deals I like for the players

C.J. Mosley, LB, There were other teams pursuing Mosley, and the final numbers of the deal reflect a competition-driven price. If Mosley were to play out his whole contract, it would pay him $85 million over five years. More practically, it fully guarantees him $43 million over the next three years. He gets a fully guaranteed, $7.5 million signing bonus and fully guaranteed salaries of $1 million in 2019 and $6 million in 2020. His $10.5 million 2019 roster bonus becomes fully guaranteed on the sixth day of the league year -- meaning March 18. His $10 million 2020 roster bonus was fully guaranteed at signing. And as if that weren't enough, half of his $16 million 2021 salary becomes fully guaranteed on the fifth day following the execution of the contract. So, if he signed the deal Wednesday, he has already guaranteed $8 million of his 2021 salary no matter what.

This third-year guarantee -- even when it's a partial one -- is a huge thing. Most of these contracts are really only one-year or two-year deals that allow the teams to get out of them if they don't like them. But if you can secure a third-year guarantee -- especially one as significant as Mosley did -- you've almost guaranteed yourself a third year with the team. If the Jets were to cut Mosley after the 2020 season, they'd still have to pay him $8 million to not play for them in 2021 and would have paid him $43 million for just two years.

The strong likelihood is that Mosley sees all $51 million of the money this deal is scheduled to pay him in the first three years, and that makes it the deal of this cycle. Mosley won this thing.

The top three safeties , Washington; , ; ,

These guys all got paid, and all got paid about the same amount, but the structures are a little bit different. If we're splitting hairs, I give Collins' deal the slight edge over Thomas' deal, with Mathieu's not far behind. Here's a side-by-side look at the three deals:

Signing bonus: Thomas, $20 million; Collins, $15 million; Mathieu, $14.8 million

First-year cash: Thomas, $22 million; Collins, $16 million; Mathieu, $15.65 million

Two-year cash flow (all fully guaranteed): Collins, $32 million; Thomas, $32 million; Mathieu, $26.8 million

Three-year cash flow: Collins, $45 million; Thomas, $43 million; Mathieu, $42 million

Full guarantee at signing: Collins, $37 million; Thomas, $32 million; Mathieu, $26.8 million

The reason I put Collins slightly ahead of Thomas is not that his full contract is $84 million over six years and Thomas' is $55 million over four years. It's that Collins has $5 million of his $12.5 million 2021 salary fully guaranteed at signing. As with Mosley's deal, this virtually assures Washington will keep Collins for at least that third year, as cutting him after two years and $37 million wouldn't make a lot of sense financially. Either way, it was an excellent week for agents David Mulugheta and Andrew Kessler, who negotiated the deals for Collins and Thomas. ' new deal with the Lions is another that includes guaranteed money in the third year -- $10 million of his $14.375 million 2021 salary - but there aren't many deals that do.

Kareem Jackson, CB, Denver Broncos Jackson got $33 million for three years, which is just fine, but what makes this one a winner is that $23 million of that money is fully guaranteed at signing and pays out in the first two years -- a $9 million signing bonus, a $3 million 2019 salary and an $11 million 2020 salary. Further, the 2021 year is an option year at $10 million, but the Broncos have to decide on that option by the end of the 2020 league year, which means he'd know before free agency opened. More on the significance of that date versus others below.

Golden Tate, WR, You'd think the $16 million dead-money charge the Giants are carrying for Odell Beckham Jr. to play for the Browns would temper their other spending this season. You'd be wrong. Tate is getting $22.95 million fully guaranteed over the first two years of his four-year deal with New York -- a fully guaranteed $7.975 million salary in 2020, plus a $7.5 million dead-money charge if they cut or trade him after 2019, basically ensuring he'll be on the Giants roster for at least two years.

Le'Veon Bell, RB, New York Jets The Jets were free-agent Santa Claus this year, and Bell found his way onto their "nice" list. His four- year, $52.5 million deal will be criticized because it falls short of 's Rams deal in terms of annual average, and that makes it easy to say it wasn't worth his sitting out a full season to get it. And that might be fair. But such analysis ignores the fact that part of Bell's motivation was to hit free agency healthy, which he did, and that the $27 million in full guarantees he'll get over this contract's first two years exceeds whatever guarantees the Steelers were offering him last summer.

Steelers contracts guarantee only the signing bonus, and there's no way Pittsburgh was offering Bell a signing bonus higher than $27 million. His full guarantee at signing with New York is higher than Gurley's $21.95 million and David Johnson's $24.6825 million. The only running back contracts with higher full guarantees at signing are those of Jacksonville's and the Giants' , whose rookie deals were fully guaranteed at signing because of how high they were drafted.

Deals I like for the teams

Kwon Alexander, LB; , OLB/DE, Reported as a four-year, $54 million deal, Alexander's is in reality a one-year, $15 million deal. His only guarantees are his $4 million signing bonus, his $1.75 million 2019 salary and his $8.5 million 2019 roster bonus. He can earn another $750,000 in per-game roster bonuses this year (and every other year of the deal) if he's on the game-day active roster all 16 games, which is how it gets up to $15 million. Alexander's 2020 salary of $11.25 million is guaranteed for injury only at signing, and it doesn't convert to fully guaranteed until April 1, 2020. Which is where I feel it's important to pause and make a point about the 49ers.

This April 1 date is a common factor in the deals 49ers executive vice president of football operations Paraag Marathe is doing in free agency. , Marquise Goodwin, Weston Richburg, Jerick McKinnon and are among the current 49ers whose contract include an April 1, 2019, deal to trigger 2019 contract guarantees. The deals Ford (whose five-year, $85 million deal guarantees him only one year and $19.75 million) and running back signed with San Francisco don't fully guarantee 2020 salary until April 1, 2020.

The reason this date favors the team is fairly obvious: It allows the 49ers more than two weeks of free agency to find out whether they can upgrade over a player they have before committing the next year's money to him. This is why, for example, the Coleman signing could be bad news for McKinnon, who signed with the team just a year ago and didn't play a snap after suffering a season-ending injury in camp. If the Niners decide Coleman is a sufficient replacement for McKinnon, they could cut McKinnon before April 1 without owing him a penny more than the $11.7 million they've already paid him. And while, yes, $11.7 million is a lot for a running back who never carries the ball for you, that's a sunk cost, and the only way it would affect the 2020 budget is with a $6 million dead-money charge the cap-rich Niners can easily afford.

Those who like the Alexander deal would point to the fact that Alexander's $11.25 million 2020 salary is injury-guaranteed, as is $2 million of his $12.55 million 2021 salary. And injury guarantees are good to have. But they are different from full guarantees because in practice, players and agents often have to file grievances to collect on injury guarantees, and those cases are usually settled for a portion of the full amount. Marathe takes a little bit of a risk guaranteeing that much against injury in future years, especially with a player such as Alexander coming off a major injury. But the reality is the April 1 dates provide the team a massive amount of financial protection, and it surprises me that all of their players keep agreeing to it.

Anthony Barr, LB, Same thing here. The top-line numbers say $67.5 million over five years, but this is really a one-year, $16 million deal. Barr is guaranteed his $13 million signing bonus and a $2.9 million salary in 2019 and can earn another $100,000 workout bonus to get the number to an even $16 million. His $10 million salary in 2020 is injury-only guaranteed, as is $7.1 million of his $12.3 million 2021 salary. I'd love to know whether the Jets deal Barr backed out of included any second-year guarantees. (The way the Jets were handing out money last year, you'd have to think so.)

Barr is betting on himself, as you can tell by the $3 million-a-year, sack-based escalators his deal has in the 2020-23 seasons. If he stays healthy and emerges as a pass-rusher, he could see a really solid chunk of this deal before he's done.

Cameron Wake, DE, Titans I get it. Wake is 37 years old. To get any deal at all at this point is a miracle, as is Wake's entire career to some extent. I just think the Titans got a steal here. The top-line numbers say $23 million for three years, but this is really a one-year, $8 million deal with $7.25 million guaranteed. (He can add $750,000 in per-game roster bonuses.)

This is basically what they were paying , who just retired. And Wake is a freak who has four double-digit-sack seasons since turning 30. There's no reason to assume he's about to go off a cliff at age 37 just because most mortals do.

More notes and oddities We still haven't seen the full details of 's new Raiders contract, but since the Bills were the team that almost got him, it's worth noting they'll dole out a total of $23.8 million in guarantees and $25.2 million in first-year cash to three receivers -- Cole Beasley, John Brown and Andre Roberts. Once we get the guarantee and first-year numbers on Antonio Brown, it'll be worth comparing.

Speaking of the Raiders, I'm intrigued by some of their contract structures. is making $15.25 million this year and $21.5 million in 2020. is making $9.05 million this year and $12.95 million in 2020. We'll see how Brown's contract looks, but I wouldn't be surprised to see a similar jump. The Raiders don't do signing bonuses, so that's one part of it, but another is that the team is moving to Las Vegas next year, and there's no state income tax in Nevada, while California has one of the highest in the nation. If I were signing with this team, I'd want to slide as much of my money into 2020 and beyond as possible.

Tennessee's acquisition of quarterback could be a shrewd move. ESPN's reported that the Dolphins paid $5 million of Tannehill's $7 million guaranteed salary as part of the deal, which indicates the Dolphins are in pick-acquisition mode, similar to where the Browns were two years ago when they traded for Brock Osweiler and a second-rounder. From the Titans' end, they have Tannehill for one year and $2 million. Solid backup for , who has persistent health issues, but Tannehill also could be a nifty trade chip late in the summer if someone's veteran starting QB goes down with an injury. Or, heck, even if not. The Jets got a third-round pick from the Saints in exchange for late in camp last year, and the Saints weren't even bringing Bridgewater in to start.

NFL free agency winners, losers: Browns rise as Giants sink without Odell Beckham Jr. By Nate Davis USA Today March 18, 2019

A few notable names remain available — and is still a Cardinal — but NFL free agency seems to have largely run its course.

Who came out on top (and who didn't?) among this week's avalanche of signings and trades? Read on ...

WINNERS

Browns: They're clearly the sexy team entering the 2019 season after adding DE Olivier Vernon, DT Sheldon Richardson, RB Kareem Hunt and that OBJ fella. The trade for WR Odell Beckham Jr. was the story of the free agency period, given his relatively cheap price tag (two picks, only one a first rounder, and S ) and reunion with BFF , not to mention the apparent regression of the Ravens and Steelers. It seems highly likely the league's longest playoff drought will end at 17 years, at minimum, but this team might even challenge for a first-round bye and more.

Safeties: The lottery began with Washington's decision to give Landon Collins an eye-popping, six-year, $84 million deal ($44.5 million of it guaranteed) — the same Landon Collins whom the Giants deemed unworthy of an $11 million franchise tag. The pattern continued with Kansas City's Tyrann Mathieu landing his own deal averaging $14 million, while Baltimore's Earl Thomas came in just shy of that at $13.8 million per, though his guarantees at signing ($32 million) surpassed others at the position. Denver's Kareem Jackson, Oakland's Lamarcus Joyner, Green Bay's and Tennessee's also did their part to ensure safeties no longer reside in the bargain bin — and just a year after quality players like Eric Reid and Tre Boston had to wait months to find work in a Charmin-soft market.

Jets: Now more than a half-century removed from their lone championship, they've been prominent free agent players many times before ... with no hardware to show for it. This may be GM Mike Maccagnan's last opportunity to take a big swing at a solution, and he paid handsomely for ILB C.J. Mosley (5 years, $85 million) and slot WR (3 years, $28.5 million) but added RB Le'Veon Bell (4 years, $52.5 million) and G (swap of Day 3 draft picks with Oakland) at reasonable cost.

The slot: NFL defenses have spent about 70 percent of their time in the nickel package (five defensive backs) for years, even while many league observers still obsess over the distinction of 4-3 and 3-4 fronts as it pertains to base defenses. Simultaneously, most offenses predominantly deploy three wide receivers. Despite this, it's taken a while for No. 3 receivers and nickel backs to be regarded as starters. However that's apparently changing. Slot receivers Crowder and (Titans) came in just shy of averaging eight figures per season while Cole Beasley (Bills) will get $7.3 million per year over the next four. On the flip side, (Lions), Tavon Young (Ravens) and Denver's Jackson and Bryce Callahan — all of these defensive backs predominantly make their living matched up against inside receivers — are also earning serious financial compensation for their unique skill sets.

Packers fans: So welcome to free agency ... what do you think? Things have clearly changed under new- ish GM , who's obviously willing to open the checkbook in a way predecessor Ted Thompson wouldn't (though we're still not sure about four years and $28 million for G Billy Turner, Bri). Amos and OLBs Za'Darius Smith and Preston Smith are all excellent, if underrated, players — which Green Bay fans already deduced given their trio of four-year contracts add up to $154 million.

New Jag: pulled down $88 million over four years, vaulting him into the top 10 among quarterbacks in terms of total value (ahead of , Ben Roethlisberger and many others). Quite a coup for Foles given there didn't appear to be a robust demand for him outside of northern .

Old Jags: DT Malik Jackson (3 years, $30 million from Philadelphia), S Tashaun Gipson (3 years, $22.6 million from Houston) and OLB (1 year, $12 million from the Rams) all landed on their feet after being prematurely shown the door in Jacksonville over the past six months.

Josh Allen: The Bills didn't go after blue chippers, but they did reinforce the offensive line in front of their second-year passer, notably adding C , while giving him a short-range target in Beasley and a home run threat by snatching speedy WR John "Smokey" Brown.

Josh Allen: Not a whole lot of premium pass rushes on the market, especially to desperate teams like Oakland, so the Kentucky star still appears like a virtual top-five lock in next month's draft.

Raiders: They may not be ready to dethrone the Chiefs in the AFC West just yet, but WR Antonio Brown, OT Trent Brown, WR Tyrell Williams and Joyner should immediately restore the Silver & Black to relevance. And given new GM didn't have to surrender any of the four picks he owns in this draft's top 35 selections in order to pry Brown out of Pittsburgh, there's still plenty of talent yet to arrive in Oakland this year.

Kwon Alexander's agents: Rosenhaus Sports somehow got the 49ers to pony up a four-year, $54 million deal for a one-time Pro Bowl inside linebacker who tore his ACL last October. San Francisco has an escape hatch for 2020 if Alexander doesn't rebound physically, but it still feels like he came out on the winning end of this negotiation.

Steelers ... in the long run: The Antonio Brown situation had become untenable. And history will show Pittsburgh tried to give Bell a deal above market value in 2018, not lowball him while seeking some hometown discount. The organizational compass — it points to continuity, loyalty, principled dealings and the like — remains true and should keep a flagship franchise largely contending as long as the Rooneys rule.

LOSERS

Steelers ... in the short run: A club that failed to reach the playoffs for the first time since 2013 appears further weakened and will be hard pressed to overtake the Ravens and Browns in this division, much less battle the Patriots for AFC supremacy. Roethlisberger's window should be open for a few more years, but no Lombardi Trophy will be passing through it after this season.

Le'Veon Bell: Was $35 million in guaranteed cheddar nice relative to his rather dispensable position? OK, sure. Did he get a better deal than the five-year, $70 million pact the Steelers offered last year, per reports? Almost certainly not. Did he "extend" his career by taking a year off? Dubious assumption, especially given he'll surely absorb far more punishment with the Jets than he would have in a timeshare with Pittsburgh's bruising James Conner. Not buying the spin no matter what Team Bell tries to sell. When you gamble, oftentimes you're going to lose. Sorry, Le'Veon ... maybe you should've spent 2018 turning yourself into a strong safety or inside linebacker.

Running backs: We're a long way from the days when commanded offers in the $100 million range. Bell was hardly the only one to serve as a reminder to "Mamas, don't let your babies grow up to be tailbacks." They're hardly destitute, but it was shocking to see how little Mark Ingram (3 years, $15 million), (4 years, $14.4 million), Tevin Coleman (2 years, $8.5 million), (1 year, $2.8 million) and others settled for. Dangerous as he still is, even Peterson only got a touch more than $5 million for another two years in Washington. Aside from Bell and maybe Ingram, one may literally be better off — financially and, certainly, physically — being a kicker or punter.

Giants: Dear Mr. Gettleman, even if I wholeheartedly agree with the divorce from Collins, I fear you will never live down the decision to export Beckham. Never. Ever.

Deshaun Watson: Houston's quarterback was bludgeoned for 62 sacks in 2018, more than any passer had been subjected to since 2006. Admittedly, Watson could help himself by getting rid of the ball when there's no play to make. But surely it wouldn't have been too much to ask (or pay) for Matt Paradis or Rodger Saffold or Daryl Williams, right?

Anthony Barr: Let's hope the Vikings linebacker has peace of mind after reneging on the Jets to take less money to stay in Minnesota and remain in a system that will probably never truly showcase his ability.

Bengals: They're feverishly rebuilding the 2018 team — LB Preston Brown, TE C.J. Uzomah, RT Bobby Hart — for reasons only clear to Cincinnati's front office.

Ravens defense: New GM Eric DeCosta has worked in Baltimore for two decades, but this is the first free agency class with his name fully attached to it. He plainly didn't overpay for Ingram, though didn't rookie Gus Edwards look more than comfortable as the lead back last season? But DeCosta's decision to dismantle the league's top-ranked defense was the true head scratcher. Parting with veterans like OLB and S or opting not to pay players entering their primes — Mosley and Za'Darius Smith — all seem like perfectly reasonable choices on a case-by-case basis, but the collective loss appears staggering even with Thomas coming aboard. This secondary is elite, but the front seven appears a bit suspect entering draft season.

Ryan Tannehill: His new Dolphins bosses clearly don't think much of the quarterback, yet also haven't been willing to grant Tannehill's freedom even while unsuccessfully trying to lure Teddy Bridgewater home to Miami. (UPDATE: Tannehill was traded to the Titans on Friday.)

Colts fans: Don't misinterpret this as a dig at GM Chris Ballard, who's resurrected this franchise into a Super Bowl contender despite effectively lacking a head coach and quarterback just 13 months ago. However after entering free agency with a salary cap war chest exceeding $100 million, the fan base can be forgiven for hoping for more than the retention of CB Pierre Desir and addition of WR .

NFL sportswriters: A flurry of activity began before the negotiating window even opened Monday. Brown's switch to the Raiders surfaced just as daylight savings' lost hour was kicking in early Sunday morning. Bell's deal also came down after midnight ET. Complaint? Nah. Just denoting this one goes into the "L" column.

Ball So Hard University: Welp. Its main campus in Baltimore seemed permanent after being established in 2003. Alas, school president Suggs was expelled and can only hope a satellite branch takes root in the greater Phoenix area. On a positive note, BSHU was not stained by this week's college bribery scandal, unlike slightly more prominent institutions, including USC, Wake Forest and Texas.

Combine tests reveal has heart condition By Ian Rappaport NFL.com March 18, 2019

Mississippi State defensive end Montez Sweat, who rose to the national spotlight with his performance at the Senior Bowl and on the field in Indianapolis at the 2019 NFL Scouting Combine, has medical news that may make some teams do an in-depth analysis.

Multiple sources say that combine doctors took a thorough look at Sweat because of a pre-existing heart condition. This was not publicly known before Indy.

In the past, combine doctors have prevented players from participating because of health concerns, including sending one player home this year. Ultimately, the combine deemed his condition low-risk and cleared Sweat to participate.

When asked about his medical condition, his agents issued the following statement to NFL.com:

"Because of privacy issues we are not allowed to comment specifically. But I will tell you that this is not news. Montez is the same person that was medically cleared to play and dominate the SEC, the Senior Bowl, and the NFL combine. No change in health and no change in domination!"

NFL teams are in the process of assessing how they will handle the news.

Sweat took advantage of that opportunity and lit up the combine after dominating the Senior Bowl, vaulting himself into top 10 consideration. At 6-foot-6, 260-pounds, he ran a 4.41 40-yard dash while excelling at all drills. This latest medical news means teams may evaluate Sweat more closely come draft time.

The Five Best and Five Worst NFL Free Agent Signings So Far By Andy Benoit MMQB March 18, 2019

A few days into free agency, most of the big names are off the board. The MMQB has covered things from just about every angle, with grades on the biggest moves, early winners, best players still available and much more.

Here’s a quick look at the five best and five worst moves we’ve seen so far.

BEST 5. Rodger Saffold, LG, Titans – 4 years, $22.5M guaranteed

THIS is exactly what free agency is for. The Titans are built on an outside zone ground game. Their previous left guard, Quinton Spain, was a downhill mauler who lacked the lateral movement skills to consistently execute zone blocks. So, the Titans invested in Saffold, who garnered All-Pro votes each of the last two years playing in the Rams’ outside zone scheme. Yes, Saffold tailed off a bit late last year (by his standards), which is concerning for a player who turns 31 in June. But it wasn’t a steep enough decline to forebode an imminent collapse. With Marcus Mariota under center, Tennessee’s offense must start with the ground game, which makes left guard a critical position.

4. Adrian Amos, S, Packers – 4 years, $12M guaranteed

Amos played in a predominantly 2-deep safety scheme under defensive coordinator in Chicago and now must transition to a predominantly 1-deep scheme under Packers coordinator . But that’ll be a small challenge, and Amos was always sound when the Bears did employ 1-deep coverages. More importantly, Fangio’s and Pettine’s schemes are predicated on matchup zone principles. Amos has the vision and spatial awareness to solidify Green Bay’s matchup zones, which wobbled too often last year as young players shuffled from position to position, due to injuries and lineup-tinkering. Another way to view this: Instead of re-signing Ha-Ha Clinton-Dix, one of football’s most physically gifted but least reliable safeties, the Packers filled that spot with a quality starter from their rival Bears. (And later saw those Bears sign Clinton-Dix, no less.)

3. , WR, Buccaneers – 1 year, $4 million guaranteed

Perriman, who last season came on strong late with the Browns, originally agreed to this “prove it” deal with Cleveland but wisely backed out after the Odell Beckham Jr. trade. With Beckham aboard, Perriman, who is purely an outside receiver, would have likely been relegated to the No. 4 spot, giving him little chance to prove anything. In Tampa, he’ll likely be the No. 2 or No. 3 receiver, ensuring he’ll see a majority of the snaps. Those snaps will feature aerial designs that suit him, as he’s adept on the deep and intermediate perimeter routes that define new Bucs head coach ’s passing attack.

2. Earl Thomas, S, Ravens – 4 years, $32 million guaranteed

Was it a bargain? Not really. But the safety position is more important to the disguise-oriented, blitz- intensive Ravens than it is to any other defense. Thomas will only be 30 come Week 1. For a free safety, who endures contact on fewer than half the snaps, that’s not old, even for a guy who had a rod inserted into the leg he fractured last October. Plus Thomas isn’t only a free safety...in passing situations as a Seahawk, he came down into the box to have a greater impact in coverage. That versatility is crucial to Baltimore’s approach. With Thomas and seventh-year pro , the Ravens have football’s best safety tandem.

1. Tevin Coleman, RB, 49ers – 2 years, $8.5-10.6M total (depending on incentives), $3.6M in Year 1 with penalty-free team option in Year 2.

The contract terms are unbelievably team-friendly, and Coleman is an instant difference-maker. Long- striding speed makes him football’s most explosive pure outside runner, and his flexibility in the passing game is perfect for Kyle Shanahan’s scheme, especially alongside Jerick McKinnon and versatile fullback . Shanahan loves to put multiple backs on the field because, with more run possibilities to account for, the defense is rendered into a predictable coverage. Shanahan then exploits those coverages with QB-friendly route combinations.

Coleman can run most of the route tree. He is such an outrageous bargain, in fact, that you wonder if there’s something negative about him that teams know but we don’t. But if that were the case, he likely would not have been signed by Shanahan, who was Coleman’s offensive coordinator in . After the 2016 season whispers around the NFL were that Coleman, despite backing up star , was Shanahan’s favorite Falcons back.

WORST 5. C.J. Mosley, LB, Jets – 5 years, $51M guaranteed

The Jets paid top dollar for a guy who unofficially ranks somewhere between 6-12 at his position. Look: That’s the nature of free agency; every year there are two or three signings like this. The Jets, with more cap space than every team except Indy, could afford to splurge. And Mosley is a fine player who stabilizes the run defense and enhances the blitz packages that new defensive coordinator loves. So we’re not going to rip this move. But paying above sticker price on a monster-sized deal will always land the team and player on lists like these.

It’ll be interesting to see how this goes. One thing to watch is New York in Cover 2. When Williams is not calling blitzes, Cover 2 is his favorite look. Its zone structure often has the middle linebacker run with an inside receiver downfield (making the coverage “”). The Ravens did this a lot under defensive coordinator in 2017 but got away from it under new coordinator Wink Martindale in 2018. One reason for that may have been the team grew leery of Mosley covering deep down the middle, as he doesn’t have great speed.

4. Justin Coleman, slot CB, Lions – 4 years, $17.9M guaranteed

Great fanfare surrounded this one. Report: Lions set to make Justin Coleman the highest-paid nickel corner in history! Congrats to Coleman—he played well as a Seahawk. But if it’s slot help you want, why not go after Bryce Callahan, who had an All-Pro caliber season in Chicago? Yes, the Bears ran a zone scheme and prefers man-to-man. But in Chicago’s zone scheme, the slot corner often has man-to-man type duties, playing to help over the top. Patricia’s scheme has similar demands, only with your help being inside. It’s a subtle difference that Callahan would easily pick up. Oh, and besides: The Seahawks scheme that Coleman thrived in the last two years often asked the slot corner to play true zone coverage, with very few man-to-man elements. So not only would Callahan, who remains unsigned, presumably have been much cheaper than Coleman, but his recent experience is more applicable to Patricia’s system. It should be noted, however, that Coleman spent his first two NFL seasons with Patricia in New England. But that tenure was uninspiring, which is how Coleman wound up in Seattle.

Overall, the Lions paid a premium for Coleman, but his appearance on this list is more about who the team passed over. Callahan so outshines Coleman on paper that you wonder if the Lions (and other teams) have bad, unreported news on Callahan. He fractured his foot and underwent season-ending surgery last December…is everything OK there? If it is, this move is hard to understand.

3. Devin Funchess, WR, Colts – 1 years, $10M (with another $3M available in incentives)

Even before last season ended, multiple reports said there was a “0% chance” Carolina would re-sign Funchess. His production over the final six weeks: 3 catches, 33 yards. Total. We’ve seen other disappointing receivers, including , thrive after joining , and Funchess is only on a one-year deal. But many would argue that late-bloomer Breshad Perriman is a better prospect than Funchess, who moves like a moderately swift tight end but is only equipped to play out wide. Perriman was signed for just 40 percent of what Funchess got. How much better is Funchess than Dontrelle Inman, who had 8 catches for 108 yards and 1 TD in the postseason for Indianapolis and remains unsigned?

2. Latavius Murray, RB, Saints – 4 years, $7.2M guaranteed

In some respects, this is less about Murray and more about Mark Ingram, a vastly underrated between- the-tackles runner who also did wonders for New Orleans’s backfield screen game. Murray is less agile, less patient and a lot less powerful than Ingram, who signed with the Ravens for just under $1.5 million more on an annual average than Murray got. The Saints are in “win now” mode and downgraded significantly at a position that has become important in their high-volume offense. And let’s not forget new Niner Tevin Coleman’s deal, which is also not much more expensive than Murray’s. Coleman and Murray are different types of runners, and Murray, if we’re purely talking style, is a better fit in New Orleans’s scheme. But that’s like a Hollywood producer saying Emelio Estevez is a better fit for a leading role than Bryan Cranston because the character should be 5’7”, not 5’11”. At some point, raw talent must rule the day. Ingram, and especially Coleman, have a lot more of it than Murray.

1. Ja’Wuan James, RT, Broncos – 4 years, $32M guaranteed

Privately, some people close to the Dolphins waited to see who signed James with the same eager anticipation with which you wait to see who sits on the seat with the whoopie cushion. They believe a rude surprise awaits that GM. Turns out the GM is John Elway. He won’t hear the whoopie cushion until later down the road, but the Dolphins are already laughing. You can understand why Elway made the move; right tackles are hard to find, and playing with a bad one can significantly hinder your scheme. But the belief by some in Miami was that other teams wouldn’t know just how much energy was spent each week gameplanning ways to hide and help James. He’s not quick or nimble enough to get out in space in the screen game, and he’s prone to breakdowns (both physical and mental) in pass protection. NFLPA, agents at odds as CBA talks near (and the owners love it) By Mike Florio Pro Football Talk March 18, 2019

Lost in the commencement of free agency was the climax to long-lingering hostilities between the NFL Players Association and the agents who represent players in contract negotiations.

A session between a group of players and a group of agents happened on Monday in conjunction with the NFLPA’s annual meetings. Based on communications with multiple sources, it did not go well. With the current Collective Bargaining Agreement expiring in less than two years, that will be music to the ears of the folks who have billions in their bank accounts.

PFT has obtained a copy of a memo sent by the NFLPA to all registered contract advisors explaining the tone and content of the meeting between approximately 60 players and six agents: Peter Schaffer, Christina Phillips, Jayson Chayut, Steve Caric, Pat Dye Jr., and Adisa Bakari.

“[P]layers were dismayed by the lack of any input by the agents on ‘real world’ options when the Owners are likely to push back strongly on changes to these and other economic and restriction issues,” the memo explains. “For example, there was no discussion on how we should collectively build leverage in order to substantially strengthen players’ ability to effectuate these changes and gains, and/or their plans to prepare players for a lockout or a strike. Rather, at times, the session turned into a lecture on why players ‘should’ believe that these issues are important and almost suggesting that they had the unilateral ability to simply change them. Accordingly, there was a general feeling among the players that the agents came into the session grossly underestimating our players’ understanding of complex CBA/negotiating issues; many of the agents’ remarks focused on emphasizing their value in the CBA negotiation process, and thus the session was clearly not as productive as it could have been.”

More will be written in subsequent items here about the economic and restriction issues. To the extent that the agents shared hard truths with players on key topics (for example, the owners will not relinquish the franchise tag without a major concession in return), the players shouldn’t shoot the messenger. To the extent that the players want to make significant gains in the next CBA (for example, getting rid of the franchise tag), the agents should realize that their role isn’t to tell the players why shouldn’t want these things but how they could at least try to go about getting them.

Based on the memo, it appears that one specific incident caused angst and concern among the players.

“During the meeting Peter Schaffer asserted that he represents the bulk — if not all — agents,” the memo explains. “There was a portion of the meeting when one agent made an unfortunate remark that many players interpreted as extremely condescending, and during a rather heated exchange about the ‘roles’ of the agents in this business, other agents specifically and personally targeted an Executive Committee member about the contract that he signed,” the memo explains. “The Player leadership does not know which agents are members of Mr. Schaffer’s representational group, and it may become important that current players know who these agents are in light of some of the comments and information learned during the meeting (including the existence of a derogatory email extolling agents to publicly attack a current player and his decision to represent himself).”

The member of the Executive Committee mentioned in the memo is Richard Sherman, and the reference is to the contract he negotiated for himself in 2018. A year later, multiple agents continue to believe it was a bad deal, and Sherman and other players (like , another member of the Executive Committee) continue to be upset about the criticism of Sherman’s deal.

The memo concludes with a statement from the NFLPA Executive Committee: “We do believe that agents can play an important role in helping to prepare our men for issues that matter to us, and we will continue to seek input, as we have in the past. We want to emphasize that contract advisors are, above all else, agents of this Player’s Union, and all agents owe a fiduciary duty to their clients and the collective body of players. The invitation extended to the agents to attend the auxiliary meeting was done in the hope of building better relationships and to provide a constructive conversation as we prepare for the expiration of the CBA. However, both the tone and specific statements by some of the agents showed an overall lack of understanding of the role of the elected player leadership and at times specifically demonstrated a lack of respect for the rights of players to represent themselves if they so choose.”

Schaffer provided a statement to PFT regarding the meeting, which as one source in the room explained to PFT ultimately resulted in progress, despite some difficult discussions early in the process.

“We want to thank the NFL Players Association for inviting several agents to attend the recent auxiliary meeting of the NFLPA Board of Representatives,” Schaffer said. “The agents in attendance were selected by the NFLPA, and represented a cross-section on the agent community and participated in the interest of solidarity and cohesion with all members of the NFLPA, in order to work together to build a strong relationship to identify both problems within our common interest profession, and solutions. The opportunity to have such varying perspectives and sharing of viewpoints in one room, particularly as we prepare for the upcoming expiration of our labor agreement, is rare and unique. It is step forward that the NFLPA allowed for and heard suggestions that led to spirited debates, without which there can be no real solutions and transparency. The agents attending shared with the players a common heartfelt passion for both the business and game of professional football. We look forward to future opportunities for various groups of agents and members of the NFLPA to gather and continue a dialogue for the betterment of all current, former and future NFL players.”

However it plays out from here, the union and the agents need to find a way to work together. Relentless criticism by agents of the 2011 CBA — criticism which often ignores the reality that NFLPA executive director DeMaurice Smith negotiated the best deal possible when faced with a workforce not inclined to miss a single game check — has slowly and surely pushed the two parties apart. It’s time for them to resolve those difference and get on the same page.

Which means that, initially, the players need to get on the same page about the agents, and the agents need to get on the same page about the players. Eventually, they will be facing a group of NFL and ownership representatives who have been on the same page for decades. And they will be intent on keeping the gains made in 2011 (they’ll say the current agreement works for both sides), they will try to get more, possibly under the threat of a lockout, and absent a lockout they will dare players to strike.

Unless players are willing to strike and make it stick for a full season, they need to be ready to use all other available tools in order to get the best possible deal, the kind of deal that both sides will be happy with over the long haul, ensuring the kind of labor peace that will fuel the ongoing growth of a game from which players, agents, owners, and many others benefit. That won’t happen until players and agents are operating in unison, the way that the owners always do and always will.

And if the players and agents can’t come together, the owners will win. Again.

FMIA: How The Odell Deal Got Done, and an NFL Free Agency Wet Blanket By Peter King Football Morning in America March 18, 2019

What I know after this explosive week that I think you should know:

• A week ago this morning, there’d been no seeds planted for the Odell Beckham Jr.-to-Cleveland trade. Sources very close to both the Giants and Browns have told me there was no contact made about Beckham until last Tuesday morning—half a day before the deal was finalized shortly after 7 p.m. that night. So there was no talk of Beckham in the previous Olivier Vernon-for-Kevin Zeitler deal, as had been speculated.

• The Beckham trade would not have gotten done without the inclusion of Jabrill Peppers. Fact.

• Agent told me about a significant roadblock in negotiations for Antonio Brown the other day, which I confirmed with Raiders GM Mike Mayock on Saturday night. The impasse, on the night of Friday, March 8, nearly scuttled the deal. “I went to bed Friday night and the deal was off the table,” Raiders GM Mike Mayock told me Saturday night from his home in Oakland. [More detail in “What I Learned,” lower in the column.] Sticking points: guaranteed money and making Brown the highest-paid receiver in football.

• Of all the news of the past week, the most sobering was the report that Chiefs receiver is being investigated for domestic battery in Overland Park, Kans. The Kansas City Star reports a source said the incident resulted in a broken arm for the 3-year-old son of Hill and his fiancée. The fallout here could be devastating for Hill and for his family, obviously. That is what must be considered above all else. But down the line, the football implications, on the heels of the Chiefs already jettisoning 2017 NFL rushing champion Kareem Hunt after his abuse incident last year, could be massive. “Tyreek Hill is the most dangerous player we face,” one rival GM told me.

• Earl Thomas was prepared, with regrets, to accept a one-year guaranteed contract worth $12 million, with $1 million in likely-to-be-earned incentives, with an undisclosed team Wednesday morning. That team, I am told, was sure it had Thomas, whose market had never materialized the way safety markets developed for Landon Collins, Tyrann Mathieu and Adrian Amos. Then the Ravens swooped in, knowing they had to overpay to break up the other deal. “The Ravens were never in the picture,” Thomas told me Thursday. “I was shocked. I was blessed.” In the span of two hours and 10 minutes, the Ravens and Thomas’ agents worked out a four-year, $55-million deal. Moral of the story: It only takes one. And it doesn’t take long.

• The becoming the next Philadelphia 76ers? Or the next ? I’ve got a theory, and it involves being patient with new coach . Very patient.

There’s something else that struck me in the past few days. It is not fun, and not exciting. It is just real, and it’s a wet blanket I think you all need to know. I’ll get to that in a minute, but first let’s dive into the trade that rocked the week. The Lead: Odell Trade

The Giants had this attitude about Odell Beckham entering last week: As long as he’s ours, he’s ours. If we get a good to very good offer for him, we’ll trade him. If not, we’ll cope with him and continue to wait for the right offer, and if he’s on the team, we’ll make it work. Not the best way to proceed, but that was their reality. From the Giants’ point of view, the reality was his talent made him un-cuttable, but the energy it took to corral his greatness was something they would have preferred to live without. The maddening thing about watching this happen in the last week is how polarizing this was. It was either, Beckham is ruining the team—dump him, or Are you crazy! You can’t trade this Hall of Fame player!

The reality is it was probably smart to trade him. That doesn’t, however, make the decision to sign him for $18 million a year less than seven months ago very smart.

So … last week. I believe GM Dave Gettleman thought it was a sign of desperation to reach out and try to scare up offers—that he learned under Ernie Accorsi, who played that kind of game with the Chargers in last-second trade during the 2004 draft. So Gettleman reached out first to only one team before dealing Beckham: Buffalo. When the Antonio Brown deal fell through, Gettleman called Bills GM Brandon Beane wondering if he was so interested in Antonio Brown, how about Beckham? Beane didn’t bite.

Hearing the persistent rumors, Cleveland GM John Dorsey reached out Tuesday morning. No harm, no foul, he figured. That began a back-and-forth over the next 10 hours, approximately, that featured about 12 ideas/offers/counter-offers. The Giants wanted two first-round picks for Beckham, but I believe Gettleman knew that bounty might be tough to get because Beckham had proven himself a difficult player to handle. The Browns discussed some other players. But Gettleman, smarting from the prospect of losing safety Landon Collins in free agency to Washington (still hard to fathom why the Giants didn’t franchise their unquestioned defensive leader, Collins, at $11 million for 2019), had studied one Cleveland player he wanted: the 25th pick in the 2017 draft, versatile if slightly disappointing safety Jabrill Peppers. And at some point during the day, my understanding is Gettleman made it clear that the trade would not get done without Peppers being in it.

That was okay with Cleveland. My read of Peppers—and when I asked a couple AFC people about him in recent days, the view was shared—is that he was a good and aggressive run-defender and okay but not very instinctive or disruptive against the pass. He allowed, per Pro Football Focus metrics, passer ratings of 128.4 and 116.5 in coverage in his first two NFL seasons. If that doesn’t get better, Peppers won’t be a long-term Giant. But in the Giants’ eyes, Peppers could replace Collins, and he’d be the second first- round pick Gettleman wanted. And the Giants had made an iffy pick in the 2018 Supplemental Draft last summer, using their 2019 third-rounder on Western Michigan cornerback Sam Beal. Cleveland’s mid- first-round pick (17th overall), and the former first-rounder in Peppers, and the low third-rounder (95th overall) this year replacing the third-round pick they’d lost … all of that was compensation enough for Gettleman.

So when the deal got to the one and the three and Peppers, Gettleman and Dorsey agreed. By my measure, the Giants got about 80 percent value for Beckham; I’m not as high on Peppers as Gettleman obviously is—or as Gettleman has to be. Gettleman had to decide whether he wanted to leverage the Cleveland offer with other teams. Because Beckham’s stock had been tarnished, it’s doubtful, for example, that he could have fetched better than 17-95-Peppers from the 49ers for picks and/or a player in the next two drafts. The Niners have been sniffing around Beckham for months. But they’re just not a good match right now. The Giants need high picks and/or productive players. The Niners wouldn’t have wanted to trade a high pick this year or next plus rising star DeForest Buckner … and the Giants might not have wanted to settle, say, for next year’s first-rounder and this year’s second-rounder (36th overall) plus a lesser player than Buckner (say safety ). The Giants need help now. So Gettleman took the bird in the hand. He lanced the boil.

In the coming days, or at the NFL meetings in Phoenix, Gettleman will be pressed on why he said, “You don’t give up on talent,” and then he gave up on it. He’ll probably say he didn’t give up on talent—he used Beckham to get more talent, including Peppers and two picks in the first three rounds in a draft stocked on defense, where the Giants are woebegone. Gettleman’s history in Carolina was to build from the inside out, to build his lines first. The Giants now have picks 6, 17, 37, 95 and 108, and even if they pick a quarterback first, New York should pound the defensive side of the ball with at least three or four of those choices.

So now the Giants can approach 2019 and beyond without the distraction of Beckham—but also without his greatness. I do not buy that it’s a great move; I do not buy it’s a bad move. And I can tell you the Giants, absent a strong pitch by Cleveland, would still have Beckham on the team today.

One last Giants-related thing: the Aug. 28, 2018 signing of Beckham to the five-year, $90-million deal. Think back to last August. Beckham had a quiet offseason, mostly, and part of the allure of the Giants job for rookie coach was to coach him. If Gettleman did not sign him before the season, the Beckham contract would have been the Sword of Damocles over the Giants’ season. And so the deal got done. Six weeks later, Beckham appeared in the ill-fated ESPN interview alongside Lil Wayne (Non Sequitur of the NFL Season) and questioned Eli Manning’s ability. Josina Anderson asked Beckham, who signed the biggest contract for a receiver ever, and was playing in the media capital of the world, if he was happy. “That’s a tough question,” he said. Strange thing to say, and, inside the Giants and around New York, the answer went over like a fart in St. Patrick’s Cathedral. Shurmur disciplined Beckham. But it didn’t get much better from there—and missing the last month of the season with a quad injury left some in the organization wondering how hurt he was.

Part of me says, “Good luck, Cleveland.” And maybe history will repeat itself and Beckham eventually will be a problem. Maybe he won’t. His best football friend and one of the only people who can tell him when he’s being an idiot, Jarvis Landry, is the leader in the receivers room. His LSU receivers coach (and two-year position coach with the Giants), Adam Henry, coaches the wideouts in Cleveland. And there’s , the head coach who appears to have some blunt-force trauma to his communications.

Kitchens is the big X factor. Some boom-or-bust players seem like tech stocks at the start of their careers. and Saquon Barkley turned into Apple, John Ross and Reuben Foster into AOL. Kitchens, who took over offensive play-calling after was fired last fall, helped the Browns to a stunning 5-2 finish, making look like a fledgling Favre. Kitchens had enough of the Midas Touch to land Cleveland’s head-coaching job. Amazing story. But can he handle being a first-year head coach, and the pressure that comes with coaching an ascending Cinderella, and the play-calling, and handling the incendiary Beckham?

“From a planning standpoint,” Dorsey told me Saturday, “you want to surround a first-year head coach with quality coaches at all levels. I think we’ve done that. Surround him with a strong coaching staff [veteran offensive coordinator Todd Monken, ex-head coach Steve Wilks as defensive coordinator]. And remember: This head coach is very direct, very honest. He’s going to tell it like it is, and he’ll tell Odell like it is. He will hold players accountable. He’ll let players express themselves, as he should do.

“We really like Odell. He’s passionate. He’s competitive. He wants to be great. You can’t have enough of those guys. He’s on time. Everything you hear is he’s a great teammate. We’re thrilled to have him.”

Dorsey has had one heck of a run these last 11 months. He drafted the franchise quarterback (Baker Mayfield) and a long-term very good running back in ; traded for two Pro Bowl receivers (Landry, Beckham); signed the tarnished 2017 NFL rushing champ (Kareem Hunt). Now Dorsey has to be sure his offensive line is good enough, and I’d watch for some fortifications there.

He was in full we-haven’t-done-anything-yet mode when we spoke Saturday, but he knows the expectations, locally and nationally, are through the roof. The Browns are already the Vegas favorites to win the AFC North. Last time they won the division: 30 years ago, in 1989, when Dorsey was a Packers linebacker and Bud Carson coached the Browns.

“You’re never happy till you get to the ultimate goal,” Dorsey said. “Right now we’re a third-place team, 7-8-1, building a team that can compete. That’s all.”

He’s right, technically. But for the first time in 1.5 generations, there’s the weight of expectations on the Browns. Odell Beckham has put them there.

Free Agency: Fool's Gold

So we’ve just had a week of all NFL, all the time, of two mega-New York stories (Odell Beckham Jr., being traded by the Giants and Le’Veon Bell signing with the Jets) breaking within five hours, and the New York media machine going as wild as it can. Fans of the Detroit Patriots are fired up. The Raiders are going to the playoffs. J-E-T-S! Jets Jets Jets!

I am here to dump cold water on this.

History Says Free Agency Is Often Fool’s Gold Five very bad team stories of spending big in free agency:

• 1996: The Jets, 3-13 in 1995, signed Super Bowl QB Neil O’Donnell (to the third-highest quarterback contract ever) and tackles Jumbo Elliott and David Williams. O’Donnell started 0-6 and got yanked. New York finished 1-15 and fired the coaching staff.

• 2000: Washington, 8-8 in 1999, went wild in free agency, signing Bruce Smith, and to deals totaling $99 million on paper. Sanders lasted one sub-par year and retired, coach was canned in December, and Washington went 8-8, 8-8, 7-9 and 5-11 in the four years after the gold .

• 2009: Washington, which likes to win March, replayed its free-agent follies of a decade earlier, making the worst signing in free-agency history (, seven years, $100 million, and he lasted two disastrous years) and a few others. Washington crashed to 4-12. Coach and GM: fired.

• 2011: Philadelphia, NFC East champs in 2010, worked the free market like no team in the 26-year history of free agency, led by president Joe Banner and GM . ”They came out of the gate like wild men,” coach Andy Reid said. “Dream Team,” quarterback christened the newbies—Nnamdi Asomugha, Ronnie Brown, Cullen Jenkins, Young, Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie and others. “Dream Team” went 8-8 and 4-12. Reid got fired.

• 2016: Jacksonville spent $199 million on good but not great players (Malik Jackson, Tashaun Gipson, Chris Ivory, ). The reward: The Jags regressed from 5-11 in 2015 to 3-13 in 2016, and coach Gus Bradley got whacked in December.

I sense a trend.

“There are lots of mistakes made in free agency,” Cleveland GM John Dorsey said Saturday. “And lots of mistakes made early in free agency—when there are 32 teams competing for the best players, and you’re going to pay probably 20 percent more than makes sense.”

Sometimes high-priced imports work, and they improve a team mightily. Reggie White had great defensive impact as the first big free agent in 1993, and made it cool for free agents to work in Green Bay. (2006, to New Orleans) became one of the best quarterbacks ever. Andrew Whitworth (2017, Cincinnati to the Rams) has been one of the best left tackles of football for a growing and starry team. The Giants got a one-year pop out of Janoris Jenkins, Damon Harrison and Olivier Vernon in 2016, and made the playoffs that year … but it was like a 5-Hour Energy jolt. The Giants crashed. And there are a lot more Haynesworths and Asomughas and ’96 Jets than there are even one- year success stories.

Just Look At 2018 While getting excited about the new class of free agents, remember these Pro Football Focus ratings of some of the richest players who changed teams in the 2018 free-agency class.

Kirk Cousins ($28 million per year) was PFF’s 11th-rated quarterback. Case Keenum ($18 million per) was the 28th-rated quarterback. ($16 million per) was the 38th-rated wide receiver. ($15.5 million per) was the 38th-rated tackle. Trumaine Johnson ($14.5 million per) was the 43rd-rated cornerback. ($14 million per) was the 35th-rated wide receiver. Andrew Norwell ($13.3 million per) was the 13th-rated guard. ($12.2 million per) was the 73rd-rated cornerback. Ryan Jensen ($10.5 million per) was the 36th-rated center.

Seriously: How many GMs who signed those players, 12 months later, wish they hadn’t? Keenum in Denver, Watkins in Kansas City, Johnson in New York and Butler in Tennessee … Those would be the top on my list.

The Contracts Are Phony Some insightful work done by Jason Fitzgerald at Over The Cap. I asked him for the total number of contracts of three years or longer in the last few free-agency periods. Let’s isolate on 2015 and 2016. Of the 197 lengthy (three years or more) free-agent contracts signed in those two years, 121 of the players never made it to the third years of their deals. That’s 61.4 percent of big free-agents, gone after one or two years. The clear majority of free-agent contracts beyond two years: window-dressing.

The Belichick Way You saw the pictures, I assume, of and girlfriend Linda Holliday in Barbados on the weekend before free-agency began. They have phones there, and Belichick was using them. “Don’t let those photos fool you,” Rosenhaus the agent told me Sunday. “We talked one morning at 4:30 about Trent Brown. They wanted to keep him.” Brown, of course, went to Oakland. As Mike Reiss reported, the Patriots were heavily into the Adam Humphries bidding before the slot receiver went to the Titans. But as usual, New England was mostly a Triple-A player in free agency, willing to play the long game while Trey Flowers and Brown left for gigantic contracts. New England will be content to use their six picks in the first three rounds (32, 56, 64, 73, 97, 101) and at least five in the first three rounds next year as currency. It’s easy to wonder why other teams don’t copy this model, but I wonder: Why don’t other teams copy this model?

On Tyreek Hill I have no news about the domestic-abuse investigation involving Chiefs receiver Tyreek Hill that the Kansas City Star reported about Friday. The paper quoted a source saying the abuse resulted in a broken arm suffered by the son of Hill and his fiancée.

So until we know more, we have no idea about Hill’s involvement, or his potential fault in the matter, or anything other than there was an incident, and police are investigating. The facts must surface. If Hill has something to do with whatever happened to the child, there must be serious consequences, obviously. I cannot and do not want to speculate on what might happen. It is unfair to the purported crime, if one occurred. There is just too much we don’t know.

Having said that, there could be a point when there will be a football consequence to the story. Last year, playing with Patrick Mahomes, Tyreek Hill became the NFL’s most impactful non-quarterback. With 1,630 scrimmage yards, and receiving and rushing and returning, Hill was a threat to make an explosive play every time he touched the ball. I’m not alone in thinking that. I was in New Orleans in November and shared my opinion with Sean Payton. Drew Brees was nearby. Payton looked around to find Brees. “Hey Drew, tell Peter who’s the most dangerous player in football right now,” Payton said.

“Tyreek Hill,’’ Brees answered.

Right now, the Chiefs have lost one game-breaker, Kareem Hunt, and replaced him with an effective running back, Damian Williams. If Hill is missing for any period of time, the only Hill-type threat on the roster is Sammy Watkins, the former first-round pick who has been plagued by injuries as a pro. He has missed 15 of his last 51 games, with the Bills and Rams and Chiefs. Hill, in his two transcendent seasons with the Chiefs, has missed one game and played 35, and caught 178 passes for a 16.1-yard average. Hill is not just fast and quick; he is sudden, more sudden than any player in football. Can the Chiefs win without him? With Mahomes, all is possible. But if you ask me, the specter of Hill not playing for the Chiefs was a bigger story last week than the specter of Odell Beckham playing for the Browns.

The Week That Was

Earl Thomas, Baltimore Leader One of the lasting memories I have of the 2018 season is Thomas, with a broken leg in Week 4, getting wheeled off the field in Arizona, and flipping a middle finger to the Seattle sideline. Frustration. Anger. A 29-year-old safety, one of football’s best, who tried in vain to negotiate a new contract in the last year of his four-year deal, failed, bitterly reported to the team, and saw his free-angry dream crash with the busted leg.

“A lot of frustration that day,” Thomas told me the other day from Baltimore. “I was in a battle with the team, and I chose to play, and I was betting on myself. So when it happened, it just added to my frustration. I did what I did, and I saw , and I just was like, ‘You won. You won.’ Just a very disappointing day.”

So the hurt and the bitterness lasted till a three-way call he had with his agents last week, after Thomas thought the big-money deals for safeties were over. “I thought I was signing for one year somewhere else,” Thomas said, “and my agent [David Mulugheta] said, ‘I think you’re going to like this.’“ The deal: four years, $55 million, $22 million in the first year, $35 guaranteed—all in the first two years.

As with many of the free-agent deals, this one is good, basically, for two years. That’s how long the Ravens are counting on Thomas. If he doesn’t play at least two seasons, Baltimore GM Eric DeCosta screwed up, and I’m sure he knows it. This first major decision of DeCosta’s—after taking over for the retired Ozzie Newsome—is a risky one. Thomas missed 21 of Seattle’s last 51 games with broken legs. No one doesn’t like Earl Thomas. He’s one of the best safeties of this generation, the card-carrying leader and playmaker of the Legion of Boom. But now, playing at 30 for the first time and coming off two injuries in the last three years, he has to prove he can stay on the field and lead a new team he doesn’t know.

Baltimore has lost its two Alpha males on defense—Terrell Suggs (to Arizona) and C.J. Mosley (to the Jets). The Ravens need Thomas to be that leader, and to stay on the field for the next two years. “You look at , ,” Thomas said. “I feel like that’s my style of play.”

Mike Mayock, Ready To Compete So I’ve known Mayock for some time, and when we spoke Saturday night, he sounded like the same driven prospect-knower I’ve come to rely on in the last few years. “I’ll be honest,” he said. “I never believed in big spending in free agency. For years, that is not where my head was. But and I spent a long, long time examining our team. We had so many team needs. We figured, we can go out and spend a little money on several positions. Or this year, we can look at three, four, five, six guys who can make a difference on the field and, as importantly, in the locker room. If we can get the guys we want, we should do it. We find a way to get Antonio Brown, Tyrell Williams, J.J. Nelson at receiver. We get a tackle, Trent Brown, 25 years old, who doesn’t even know how good he can be, who was lock- down, shutout in the playoffs for New England. We got at center, with a good young tackle, Kolton Miller, as the other tackle. We can line up and compete right now offensively.”

As for how the tempestuous talent, Antonio Brown, will fit: “AB got off the plane with a nutritionist and a trainer. They go everywhere with him. He wants to break ’s all-time record. Trust me: me and Jon are all in with that. I just think what happened in Pittsburgh was there were some lines drawn on both sides, and it was hard to get past that. He is primed to show everyone how good he is.”

Le’Veon Bell To The Jets I like the signing by the Jets, because I don’t think a man who was the best all-around back in football at 25 and who sat out the season at 26 and returns to football at 27 will be hurt much by sitting. In fact, he might be better for the lack of hits last year. Two things I worry about with Bell.

One: Pittsburgh had a top-five offensive line. The Jets have a poor offensive line, and failed at one of the most important offseason jobs GM Mike Maccagnan had. He got neither of the top two free-agent centers—Mitch Morse, who signed with Buffalo, or Matt Paradis, who signed with Carolina. The Jets did improve the line with a deal for a former star guard, Kelechi Osemele, who needs to return to his Baltimore form, but it’s an average unit at best. Two: Without the kind of receiving weapons he benefited from in Pittsburgh, will foes load the box to stop Bell and risk less coverage on outside receivers?

Finally, we could debate all day whether it was smart for Bell to sit in 2018—and miss out on the $14.5- million franchise number he’d have made in a place with a medium cost of living, Pittsburgh—but how about his four-year, $52.5-million deal with the Jets, with $25 million fully guaranteed? Assuming Bell is a resident of tax-advantaged Florida, he’ll still have to pay a heftier state tax in New Jersey than he did in Pennsylvania: 10.75 percent in New Jersey versus 4.07 percent state and local tax in Pennsylvania, according to Robert Raiola, a CPA and director of the Sports and Entertainment Group at PKF O’Connor Davies. So not only will Bell never make back the money he lost last year—he won’t be able to keep as much of what he makes this year in New Jersey.

Are the Dolphins Tanking? I’m not suggesting the Dolphins are tanking. At all. I am simply asking this question, in the wake of Miami trading Ryan Tannehill to Tennessee and failing to sign Teddy Bridgewater in free agency, and apparently having no interest in prying Josh Roen from Arizona, and instead signing to fill the last starting-QB void in the NFL on Sunday: What is the goal of the Miami Dolphins this year?

What should be the goal be? If I were owner Stephen Ross, I would want to be absolutely sure that everything my franchise did in 2019 was to set up the team to have my long-term starting quarterback in place in 2020. That, plus establishing coach Brian Flores’ culture, is what matters in 2019. In other words, if my scouts and GM and coach say the best guy for our team for the long term is State quarterback , then figure out a way to get in position to jump from 13 in the first round (Miami’s pick) to however high it takes, using 2019 and 2020 draft currency, to do it. If that isn’t possible, or Haskins isn’t the guy, then you put it off till the / draft year, 2020, and do the same thing next year. But if you don’t solve the QB question this year, it makes no sense to scratch and claw to win seven games this year. Picking 14th next year just makes it next-to- impossible to get the dream quarterback in 2020.

It’s a tough way to live, but everyone in the building—coaches, owner, staff—has to be on board with the quarterback quest. It’s all that matters right now. Which is why signing a stopgap like Fitzpatrick is smart. As long as he doesn’t recreate Fitzmagic too often in 2019.

Quotes of the Week I

“We love New York, but Seattle is home for us. I won a Super Bowl, been to two [Super Bowls], won a lot of playoff games. I love being there.” —Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson, whose contract expires at the end of next season, on whether he’d be interested in quarterbacking the Giants one day.

Hard for me to imagine the Seattle GM John Schneider wouldn’t put the franchise tag of approximately $27 million (a rough figure that could change in the next year) on Wilson in 2020 if the two sides can’t reach a long-term deal sometime in the next 12 months. I also wouldn’t be surprised if Wilson accepted playing year-to-year potentially, because he would make about $60 million for two years if the Seahawks had to tag him in 2020 and 2021. Let’s say Wilson hits true free agency in March 2022 at 33. By then, a franchise quarterback might average $43 million a year. So actually delaying his foray into the free market could conceivably make Wilson significantly more money than if he signed long-term in 2019.

I doubt the Seahawks will ever let Wilson walk, as long as Schneider and/or Carroll run the franchise. It makes far more sense for Seattle do a Wilson deal now, because even one averaging, say, $35-million-a- year now would be less costly than one signed for five years in 2022. I also think Wilson’s trusted agent, Mark Rodgers, has a different view of negotiating than many football agents do. Though he respects the impact a major injury could have on Wilson’s earning potential, Rodgers doesn’t fear going year-to-year for a couple of seasons and then cashing in at the top of the market in two or three years.

II

“He loves football. But at the same time, the amount of pain and punishment he’s had to endure … Rob has so many opportunities. It’s a tough decision to make. I’m sure he would love to play football but at the same time he’s gotta consider where he is from a physical standpoint. So I can’t really tell you what I think is gonna happen.” —Agent Drew Rosenhaus, on “The Peter King Podcast,” on whether New England tight end will play football in 2019

III

“The economics will have nothing to do with it.” —Rosenhaus, on Gronkowski’s decision.

IV

“People that have been here, I can’t tell you how many players commented ‘This is amazing. This is awesome. What a facility. What a place. What a culture.’ All that stuff that we have going here. We love it. All I’m gonna say is anybody that says that doesn’t know Buffalo and really is just speaking out of ignorance. That pissed me off, to be candid.” —Bills GM Brandon Beane, after a signing streak of free agents, on the perceptions that players don’t want to play in Buffalo.

V

“We represent diversity, kindness, compassion—a home for those who share our values, refuge for those who need it. And those values will not and cannot be shaken by this attack. We are a proud nation of more than 200 ethnicities, 160 languages. And amongst that diversity we share common values. And the one that we place the currency on right now is our compassion and support for the community of those directly affected by this tragedy. And secondly, the strongest possible condemnation of the ideology of the people who did this.” —New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern, after shootings at two mosques left more than 50 dead in her country Thursday. A man suspected of being a white supremacist was arrested in the attacks. Ardern stressed two things: New Zealand would work aggressively on some form of gun control, and the country would continue to welcome all peoples.

VI

“He’s a rock star that never won a Grammy.” —Kyle Brandt of “” on Odell Beckham Jr.

VII

“There’s no one more distracting than Odell, even on his best day.” —Marc Ross, the Giants’ former director of college scouting, on NFL Network, on the trade of Odell Beckham Jr. to the Browns.

VIII

“The Giants are the Miami Marlins.” —Longtime New York sportswriter Gary Myers, after Odell Beckham Jr. was traded to the Browns.

What I Learned 30 Rookie Oakland GM Mike Mayock, on making the Antonio Brown deal, and on making deals in general, and on the background he believes serves him well in negotiating with other teams … and, in this case, with veteran agent Drew Rosenhaus:

“So Drew and I negotiated on Friday [March 8], but we were apart. It was not getting done. Actually, I went to bed Friday night and the deal was off the table. Our trade with Pittsburgh was contingent on us reaching a deal with Drew for Antonio, but that was very much in doubt last Friday night.

“If you want to get a deal done, Drew will stay at it with tenacity. But we woke up on Saturday without a deal. He had a position and I had a position. We had some issues with the amount of guaranteed money they wanted, and how far we were willing to go. Plus, AB wanted to be the highest-paid receiver in football. Those were issues we had to address. Those respective positions cost us a deal on Friday night.

“But what I knew was AB wanted to play for Jon Gruden. Drew and I were willing to keep chipping away.”

Seems like a lot of pressure in your first major negotiation as a GM, I said to Mayock.

“Well, I would disagree. I spent 18 years in commercial real estate [in New Jersey, while developing his second career as a football analyst]. I was negotiating major deals every day of the week. What I learned over the years about deal-making that applies to any business is this: If your intention is to win the deal, that is rarely going to work and it’ll piss people off. But if your intention is making deals and not caring about the winner or the loser, you can make a lot of deals. And both sides can walk away feeling good. And that’s what happened here.”

Rosenhaus got enough new money—mostly in the last two years of the three years remaining on Brown’s contract, to take advantage of lower taxes when the Raiders move to Nevada—to move Brown past Odell Beckham Jr., as the highest-paid receiver in football in per-year compensation. And he and Mayock settled on $30 million guarantees, which are likely not consequential because it’s unlikely Brown will be cut in Oakland.

Numbers Game • Draft choices in the top 40 overall picks of the last five drafts for Cleveland: 14.

• Draft choices in the top 40 overall picks of the 2019 draft for Cleveland: 0.

Cleveland has had, in order, the eighth, 22nd, 35th picks (2014); the 12th and 19th picks (2015); the 15th and 32nd picks (2016); the first, 25th and 29th picks (2017); and the first, fourth, 33rd and 35th picks (2018).

This year, barring a trade, the Browns will be off the clock all night Thursday on day one of the draft, and off for about the first 90 minutes of night two in Nashville, site of the draft. They are scheduled to choose only twice in the first two days of the three-day draft: 49th and 80th overall.

Factoidness

I

Players, and agents, have gotten wise about pushing as much guaranteed money as possible into the first two years of contracts, knowing that teams can quickly fall out of love with their new stars. Per Jason Fitzgerald of Over The Cap, of the 126 contracts of three years or more signed since the end of the season, only three have guaranteed money beyond the second year. They are:

Trey Flowers, Detroit. A $10-million guarantee in 2021. C.J., Mosley, Jets. An $8-million guarantee in 2021. Landon Collins, Washington. A $5-million guarantee in 2021.

II

Life so often is about opportunity, and being in the right place at the right time.

Pro Football Focus grades every player on every snap in every game. In the 2018 regular season, New England left tackle Trent Brown was graded the 29th-rated left tackle in football by PFF. (Minimum 10 games started.) He allowed three sacks, 12 hits on Tom Brady, and 20 significant pressures. Essentially, Brown was brought in (a pretty painless deal for New England, dropping 48 slots midway through the 2018 draft) from San Francisco to be a fireman and maybe a short-term starter at tackle. When first- round tackle suffered a torn Achilles in August, Brown morphed by need into the left tackle. At best, you’d call his regular-season performance serviceable.

Then the playoffs came. Brown played all 251 offensive snaps of New England’s Super Bowl championship run … and allowed zero sacks and zero hits.

Then free agency came about, and the tackle market was thin. No left tackle in the NFL last year allowed more quarterback disruptions (sacks/hits/pressures) than Raider rookie Kolton Miller’s 65. The Raiders had cap room. The Raiders had a desperate need. They signed Brown to the highest-paid contract of an offensive lineman in the 99-year history of the NFL: four years, $66 million, with $36.3 million guaranteed.

10 Things I Think I Think

1. I think it was cool to hear Mike Mayock say something Saturday night when we spoke by phone, because he was anxious to put it out there. The subject was his relationship with Jon Gruden, who is, occasionally, a mercurial guy. Many in Gruden’s past would say he could be tough to work with. “I’ll say this on the record,” Mayock said. “Jon and I are awesome. Love working with him. Tied at the hip philosophically. Professionally, I have never had a better time.”

2. I think the eight-week NFL suspension for Kareem Hunt is just. That means his inexcusable act of abuse against a women in the wee hours of a night gone awry in Cleveland will have cost him, essentially, a year of employment: the last seven Chiefs games of 2018, and the first seven Browns games of 2019. Along with the treatment Hunt is rumored to be getting for what ailed him, the 11 months away from games strikes me as the kind of early-career warning siren that will give Hunt the chance to prove he is the good person he claims to be.

3. I think I’m dubious that Odell Beckham ever used the F-word against coach Pat Shurmur during the season last year. I’m not positive about it, but I would guess if Shurmur is asked about it at the league meetings, he will say it did not happen.

4. I think I’m not a big fan of everyone who ever crossed paths with Ben Roethlisberger trashing him, or of this narrative that the Steelers are ruined now because Roethlisberger can somehow run amok, without a teammate-governor to keep him from ruining the team. Roethlisberger will never be considered a great leader, and I agree with those who say it’s not cool to go on local radio and announce Antonio Brown ran a bad route in a game. But let’s keep this in perspective. It’s not Roethlisberger who went AWOL the last week of the season in a game with major playoff implications, and it’s not Roethlisberger who chose to forgo playing football last year for $14.5 million. He did lead the NFL with 5,129 passing yards, however, in the midst of the Steeler mayhem. That counts.

5. I think this will get lost in the news blizzard of the week, but it’s interesting because of the perspective it forces us to have. Think back to four years last week, when New Orleans traded tight end to the Seahawks. Seattle, thinking it got a quasi-steal, was happy to deal center —a good player but not a star—and a first-round pick, the 31st overall in 2015, to New Orleans. In the last four years, we’ve waited for Graham to be the just-below-Gronk tight end he’d been with Drew Brees in New Orleans.

Graham hasn’t had a 70-catch season. He hasn’t had a 1,000-yard season. He’s been a nice player for Seattle for three years and Green Bay in 2018. But he’ll always be thought of only as a good player post- Saints, not a great one. We viewed the trade, even with the first-rounder, as a bit of an ex parte deal for the Seahawks. But it actually turned out one-sided the other way—even with the draft pick (linebacker Stephone Anthony) being a disappointment in Neaw Orleans. Unger has been an above-average center, and he started 67 of 68 games in New Orleans over the past four years.

I bring this up because you may have missed the fact that Unger retired on Saturday. Kudos to Unger— decent guy, quiet guy, workaday guy—who was symphonic with Brees.

6. I think if I ran a network, one of the first things I would do is give women anchors and reporters and commentators the option of making their on-screen dress business attire, not cocktail attire.

7. I think (and I realize this is a touchy topic and I’m about to sound like an old codger and father of two daughters), but men wear suits in high-profile TV jobs while the majority of women, in sports and news, dress in cocktail-type clothing. Do these women want to? Or do they feel forced to dress in cocktail-type attire because they feel they need to have a certain look?

I don’t know why this has become the norm. I know TV trends have waxed and waned over the years, but in watching sports and the daily cable news shows, I see quite a bit of skin on women, and I just wonder if this is how they want to dress on TV. To me, I would rather have women delivering sports news and real news dress the way they truly want to dress, not the way they think they need to dress to be appealing or to keep their jobs. To be clear, not every female anchor or reporter dresses for air like it’s a night on the town, and if that’s her personal preference, it’s fine. I would hope we could get to a place where women dress in the way they prefer, not in the clothing they feel forced for whatever reason to wear.

You might feel that’s an oddity to interject in this column, but I feel strongly about it. If you raise daughters who would like to report in sports or politics on air—I didn’t, but they loved sports and such a choice would not have surprised me—you shouldn’t have to say success or failure in the business depends on how you look, or what you are willing to wear on-air.

8. I think this just seems too weird: In the same week the 12th pick in the 2014 NFL Draft, Odell Beckham Jr., was the story of the week in a trade from the Giants to Cleveland, the 22nd pick in the 2014 NFL Draft, , the former Cleveland quarterback, got signed as the third quarterback on the Memphis Express of the Alliance of .

9. I think the last week was not kind to the . At all. The Bucs wanted to hold serve, basically, and keep Kwon Alexander and Adam Humphries, and, if he could be happy, DeSean Jackson. The Bucs went 0-for-3. The Humphries loss, even though slot receiver is not the most important weapon in a Bruce Arians offense, is hard because he’s a tough over-achiever, very productive, egoless, and just 25. Check out how his 2018 regular season compared to ’s:

Humphries: 781 snaps, 76 receptions, 10.7 per catch, 5.7 yards after catch (very good for a slot guy), three drops. Edelman: 748 snaps, 74 receptions, 11.5 yards per catch, 4.7 yards after catch, eight drops.

Good signing by GM Jon Robinson in Tennessee.

10. I think these are my other thoughts of the week:

a. Sports Column of the Week: by Dave Hyde of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, on the sordid tale of the coaching of U.S. Open champion Naomi Osaka on the courts of south Florida. Really terrific reporting by Hyde.

b. TV Story of the Week: by Steve Hartman of CBS News, on a veteran named Ernie Andrus, who has found an incredible way to live his life in his nineties—incredible and oh so admirable.

c. His current run, from the Atlantic coast in Georgia (begun over the weekend) to San Diego, will take him four years, he figures. He’ll be close to 100 then. What a man.

d. The college admissions scandal, for those of a certain age (say, 40 to 65), rings so harrowing.

e. Story of the Week: How on God’s green earth so many red flags were missed in this scandal, by Joe Rubin, Matthew Ormseth and Suhauna Hussain of the Times.

f. “This process was set up to be exploited by unscrupulous people.” Nice summation, Villanova counselor.

g. News item: Carlos Gonzalez agrees to minor-league deal with Cleveland. My God! Cargo! It’s come to Triple-A for the once-great Cargo. h. Holy crap, Aaron Judge: six homers and four doubles in your first 30 spring-training at-bats? Yikes! i. My AL MVP pick this year might be pretty easy. j. NFL Meetings next week in Phoenix. Spring training is going to be just about kaput by the time I arrive. I mean, who schedules these things? You didn’t check with me first? k. “Veep” is almost back on TV. There is a God. l. You did what, Bradley University? Luckily, an apology was forthcoming. m. One thing in my employment career, however long it lasts, that I will be eminently pleased about— that I never have worked or will work for James Dolan, and that I never have covered or will cover a sporting entity owned by James Dolan. n. A fan at a Knicks game yells at Dolan, “Sell the team!” And the Knicks owner has him banned from the arena. o. There is being thin-skinned. And there is having skin as thin as one-ply toilet paper. Dolan is the latter. The Knicks have won one playoff series since the 2000-01 season, and it will likely be the worst team in the NBA this season. The only thing the franchise is good at is tanking, and the owner bans someone from Madison Square Garden for yelling at him, “Sell the team!” p. Beernerdness: For the two-plus years we lived in Boston a few years back, I tried a bunch of Jack’s Abby (Jack’s Abby Brewing, Framingham, Mass.) beer and loved most everything. Last week, at the Dive Bar on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, I spotted Jack’s Abby Red Tape Lager. I had to try it. It’s an amber lager, though not so amber in color, and exceedingly tasty. Maltier than a normal lager, and excellent in taste and finish. Really liked it. Miss you, Jack’s Abby.

q. Take a bow for the prediction of the Odell trade, Jay Glazer.

r. Take a bow for breaking the Odell story, Mike Garafolo.

s. So you’re down on the media? Think we don’t need the watchdogs of the local press? Read this in the Seattle Times.

The Adieu Haiku One thing I have learned. Reinforced this week: Two sides to every story.