The wide receivers are falling into place, with a host of starters landing with new teams. The biggest move, though, is yet to come.
The Patriots and Saints are talking about a deal involving Brandin Cooks and Malcolm Butler. Tom Brady will be 40 in August, but if that one goes down, he’ll look awfully appealing. Cooks, Julian Edelman, Chris Hogan and Malcolm Mitchell; that would be quite a quartet of wide receivers, particularly on a team already having Rob Gronkowski, James White, Dion Lewis and Dwayne Allen (added yesterday).
Cooks is talented, but the Saints have other players and feel defense is a bigger need for them.
The Saints have Michael Thomas and Willie Snead, who are capable wide receivers, and they’re signing Ted Ginn Jr. Ginn isn’t a great wide receiver, but he’s fast and could hit as an outside speed receiver, running mostly vertical routes. They used to use Devery Henderson in that role. Thomas and Snead should be busier in that offense.
The Eagles have a young, emerging quarterback, and that helped them land a pair of wide receivers. They’ve signed Alshon Jeffery to a one-year deal worth $14 million. Earlier in the day, they added Torrey Smith. This gives them a nice trio of wide receiver, with Jordan Matthews already in place. They’ve also got Zach Ertz at tight end, putting Carson Wentz in position to make a big move up statistically – top-15 numbers are possible.
Jameis Winston is a year ahead of Wentz, and his value is also on the rise. He’s been progressing nicely, and the Bucs have bolstered their receiving corps. They already have Mike Evans and Cameron Brate, and now they’re adding DeSean Jackson as a deep threat. Jackson is 31 and undersized, but he’s still one of the league’s best deep threats.
The Rams signed Roberts Woods to a five-year deal worth up to $39 million. That one doesn’t come with quite as much sizzle. This is the same team, after all, that gave Tavon Austin a four-year extension worth $42 million last year. So they’ve now got over $80 million tied up in a pair of receivers that’s never had a 700-yard season. We’ll see.
Earlier, Kenny Britt signed with Cleveland, while Pierre Garcon is headed to San Francisco. Brandon Marshall signed with the Giants, giving them a nice trio of wide receivers, but his targets should go way down now that he’s sharing balls with Odell Beckham and Sterling Shepard.
The Vikings were in the market for a pass catcher. They were bidding on Alshon Jeffery.
—Ian Allan