The Armchair Quarterback’s Guide To The NFL: Free Agency

The Armchair Quarterback’s Under The Radar Free Agents: Offense

These are the players that I think offer the best value for the money at each position on offense:

Quarterback – Kellen Clemens

Look, there isn’t a free agent quarterback on the market this year that I would want as my everyday starter. So what you’re looking at is who could a team sign that could be a dependable back up or spot starter at a discount price. That’s where Clemens comes in. Last season he did a respectable job filling in for the injured Sam Bradford. While Clemens didn’t set the world on fire, he did put up numbers that were as good or better than some starters from other teams: 58.7%, 6.9 YPA, 8 TDs, 7 INTs. His completion percentage really climbed as the season went on and he became more comfortable too. The Rams managed to go 4-5 in his games as a starter, which isn’t bad considering the division they play in. Clemens is only 30 years old and has value on an NFL roster as a solid number two.

Running Back – Donald Brown

Brown’s own team didn’t feel comfortable with him being their main running back last season as evident in the Colts trade for Trent Richardson. However, the Colts soon realized that the better of the two running backs was the one that was already on their roster. Down the stretch it was Brown that got the bulk of the playing time and he made the most of it. Brown’s 5.3 yards per carry was #2 in the entire NFL amongst running backs with at least 100 carries. He can also catch the ball coming out of the backfield and almost never fumbles. Despite the fact that Indianapolis wouldn’t give him the ball early on, Brown still finished as Pro Football Focus’s #20 rated running back in the NFL last season. That’s seven spots higher than Maurice Jones-Drew who will undoubtably be the bigger name in free agency this offseason.

Wide Receiver – Golden Tate

This may seem like an odd choice for a list of under the radar free agents considering that Golden Tate just won a Super Bowl and is often in the press for something he said (or drinking the biggest bottle of champagne in the universe). In fact, most people would probably say that Tate is overrated, not underrated. However, a closer look at the numbers don’t support that theory. According to Pro Football Focus, Tate lead all NFL WRs in missed tackles caused despite only having 64 receptions. So Tate made more guys miss than other WRs that had 20-30 more chances to do so. Also, Tate has fantastic hands. In his past two seasons he’s only dropped a total of 5 of the 114 catchable passes thrown his way. So Tate catches almost everything thrown his way and then makes more guys miss after he catches it than anyone else in the league. If I’m an NFL GM, I’m letting other teams drop big money on the oft-injured Hakeem Nicks while I scoop up Tate to a more team friendly deal.

Tight End – Ben Hartsock

Wait, what is a 33 year old second string Tight End with a TOTAL of four (yes four) receptions in the past five seasons doing on this list? The answer to that can be summed up in one word: blocking. Hartsock is arguably the best blocking TE in the NFL. His PFF run blocking score was 11.7 last season. That was over double what the number two run blocker scored. With the latest trend being TEs that are more of a TE/WR hybrid, an old school blocking TE like Hartsock will come that much cheaper. Pass catching TEs are obviously important, but when it’s third and goal with the game on the line, having a mauler like Hartsock can be a very valuable asset for any team.

Offensive Tackle – Anthony Collins

Collins isn’t a household name, but he did a really good job stepping in as Cincinnati’s starting left tackle for much of the season. While he may be one notch below other free agent LTs like Eugene Monroe and Branden Albert, the drop off might not be enough to justify the steeper contracts that Monroe and Albert will command. If a team is in need of a starting LT, but doesn’t want to break the bank, Collins is the player to target.

Offensive Guard – Geoff Schwartz

Not only is Geoff Schwartz under appreciated league wide, he has been under appreciated by his past two teams. Carolina under used him and let him walk a year ago and KC was in danger on doing the same thing this last season. About halfway through the year they wised up and made him the starter. Despite having only the third most snaps at guard on KC’s roster, his performance in those limited snaps was still good enough to make him PFF’s #8 rated guard in the entire NFL. Schwartz isn’t elite at either pass or run blocking, but he’s solid at both. At only 27 years old, a team could sign him to a reasonable 5 year contract and have themselves an above average starter for the foreseeable future.

Center – Evan Dietrich-Smith

Dietrich-Smith will command some attention this offseason if Green Bay lets him hit the free agent market. At 27 years old, he was PFF’s #8 ranked center for last season and was their 4th highest rated center in pass protection. The reason he makes this list is because he will be the clear number two center on the market if Cleveland lets Alex Mack get out of town. The demand for Mack could let Dietrich-Smith fly under the radar and if a team signs him for significantly less than Mack gets they’ll have themselves a bargain. In fact, if a team runs a pass heavy offense, you could even make a case that Smith is the better fit for them anyway.

So there you have it, my under the radar free agents on offense for 2014. Will these guys hit the open market or will their current teams wise up and re-sign them? Do you feel like any of these guys shouldn’t be on the list? Are there players at these positions that you feel like would be even better under the radar signings? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below.

Now on to the Armchair Quarterback’s odds and ends of the week……