NFL Free Agency: Who are the 25 best players on the market?
23. OLB/DE Markus Golden
After tearing his ACL in 2017 with the Arizona Cardinals, and clearly carrying some lingering effects into 2018, Golden had to settle for a one-year deal with the New York Giants last offseason. The reunion with former Cardinals’ defensive coordinator James Bettcher worked out nicely, as Golden had 10 sacks, 27 quarterback hits and 13 tackles for loss.
Golden had a 12.5-sack campaign for Arizona in 2016, the last time before last year that he was healthy for an entire season. All in all, it’s not surprising he wants to test the market to a full extent this offseason.
My understanding is #Giants LB Markus Golden has interest in returning to the #Giants, but will also endeavor to test free agency because of relative time to the start of the new league year, as of now, per source. Golden recorded 10 sacks last season for the #Giants.
— JosinaAnderson (@JosinaAnderson) March 5, 2020
It’s worth noting Pro Football Focus was not complementary of Golden’s overall work last season. The site ranked him a dismal 88th among 124 qualified edge defenders while, crediting him with 26 total pressures (73rd among edge rushers).
The Giants are able to make significant moves in free agency ($73.99 million in cap space right now, via Over the Cap), and they should be ready to pony up and retain Golden. He was the first player to register double-digit sacks for them since Jason Pierre-Paul in 2014, with a clear need a linebacker only made greater with the moves to cut Alec Ogletree and Kareem Martin.
Organizations that are more analytics driven will surely take PFF’s poor grading of Golden last year seriously. But his raw sack production guarantees multiple teams will have interest, and that will naturally drive up his ultimate price.