Marshfield Off-season, Part 3: Free Agency

From the notebook of Pirate owner/coach Jason Enright

I came into free agency with a couple objectives:

Sign LeSean McCoy
After trading Freeman and losing Gurley, I was hurting for a top RB and pickings were slim. I had budgeted something ridiculous here, like $40, hoping to sign him for a 1 year contract. However, the scandal involving his girlfriend hit right before free agency started (see what I did there?), which allowed me (I think) to get him for less. I’m not too worried about a potential suspension—a risk I was willing to take.

Sign Larry Fitzgerald
First off, let me say—stupid Franssen. I had budgeted like $25 here. I should have signed him for more than 1 year last season, but that aside, $25 should’ve been enough. But no, Franssen not only outbids me, but he waits until there was like an hour left on the clock, then comes over the top for like $40. I actually bid this thing up $36, but in the end I needed to have funds to make moves this season, if necessary. Then, he has the audacity to actually offer me a trade giving me Fitzgerald in which I had to give me a draft pick in return! Maybe that was his plan all along, to capitalize on my emotions and my love for Larry. Nice try!

Consider signing Tom Brady
After it was obvious I wasn’t getting Fitz, this freed up the capital I needed to sign Brady. Honestly, this is a luxury pickup at this point. Brees is no longer the top 3 QB he was, but he is certainly a top 10 with a high ceiling on any given week. But Brady is Brady and will probably actually be the starter.

Replace the safties I traded
As a personal philosophy, I like to start more than one safety. That is kind of difficult when there is only one safety on your roster. Last year I was spoiled with the top 2 in the entire league, the Honey Badger, and the top drafted safety (Adams). I traded them all away except for Reshad Jones, my boy. I actually had big plans to nab a couple in the rookie draft, but when two proven vets (albeit old guys) dropped to me for cheap, my plans changed. Weddle is like a 100 years old, but that beard of his absorbs a lot of the impact, extending his career. Smart. He always seems to find a crappy team to play for that needs him to step up and make tackles. Burnett was sort of a flier—he’s usually solid but basically sucked last season.

Sign a punter
Thought this would be pretty straightforward, until Badtown actually OUTBID ME FOR A PUNTER. So I promptly picked up a punter that scored more points than the punter he outbid me for. Weirdo.

Pick up cheap backups
I have high hopes for Bryon Jones at the CB position and he may end up being my starter. If Wilkerson can return to form for Green Bay, he could be beastly. I sort of forgot Mario Edwards was playing football, but he’s a DT now for Oakland and is supposed to be maybe good? We will see.

© 2018, Jason Enright. All rights reserved.