Oh How I Missed This!

Not much of an intro this week, lots of news to get to and offer some reactions to. Free agency is upon us, so let’s jump right in!

Free Agency News and Reactions

• 🐆 The Patriots have agreed to trade Mac Jones to the Jaguars for a sixth-round pick. After having a promising rookie season, Jones is out after three years in New England. He will back up Trevor Lawrence in Jacksonville. As for New England, they are squarely on the quarterback market and will likely take a quarterback at the third pick of the 2024 NFL draft. It’s possible they go for a veteran and have a bridge year, but with the class being as strong as it is, I see no reason why they don’t go for a QB. And just for laughs ⬇️ ⬇️ 

• In addition to shipping off Mac Jones, the Patriots signed Kendric Bourne to a 3-year, $33 million contract. It might be an overpay but only $19 is guaranteed. He’s not a great receiver but he is a solid one when healthy.

• 🧀 In what felt like a crazy turn of events on a day full of crazy events, Josh Jacobs is headed to Green Bay. Aaron Jones was informed he was going to be released soon afterward. Jacobs will operate as the bell-cow back in Lambeau for Jordan Love and should be a locked-in RB1 in 2024.

• 🏴‍☠️ Baker Mayfield has agreed to a 3-year, $100 million contract with Tampa Bay, confirmed later by Baker himself. Mike Evans is gonna eat next year. Hopefully, we get a little more out of Cade Otton and Chris Godwin as well. And, Rachaad White dump-off season is officially underway. Looks like we might get more “At Home With Baker Mayfield” commercials. Or at least we should. Those were good.

• Russell Wilson is headed to Pittsburgh once the new league year opens. It seems Pittsburgh is content with going for “one more shot” without blowing it up. He won’t lead them to the promised land, especially at this stage of his career, but he is a step above Kenny Pickett.

• 🐻 D’Andre Swift has gone to the Bears. That hurts Khalil Herbert’s and Roschon Johnson’s fantasy values. The Bears’ quarterback situation remains unsolved, with Fields still on the team and no one willing to trade for him at the moment. Caleb Williams is almost certainly joining Chicago via the draft, and if he does, that helps all the Bears’ running backs value. For now, Fields’ rushing ability will limit potential dump-offs to Swift and the other backs.

• 🦅 In one of the biggest moves of the day, Saquon Barkley is moving in division to the Eagles. It’s a big move for him as the Eagles look to re-tool for another Super Bowl run after coming up short last year. While some see it as a downgrade because of the tush-push, it’s easy to forget that D’Andre Swift was the RB6 in half-PPR formats from weeks 2-12. Barkley managed to finish as the RB12 despite playing on a poor Giants roster. Their talented center Jason Kelce has retired, no doubt hurting their ability to tush-push successfully quite as often.

• 🐅 Tee Higgins requested a trade after being placed on the franchise tag. Teams will certainly be reaching out to Cincy to find their WR1.

• In a somewhat surprising turn of events, Kirk Cousins, not Justin Fields, is going to Atlanta. Bijan Robinson, Drake London, and Kyle Pitts all see increases in value and could be in for a big bounce-back season as long as Kirk comes close to performing like pre-injury Kirk. In the meantime, the story now evolves to who comes to Minnesota at quarterback. Is it Sam Darnold? Justin Fields? Or some other trade for Zach Wilson or Trey Lance? Or do they draft a rookie? There’s a lot left to be done for the Vikings, who I don’t think are in rebuild mode.

• Minshew Mania is going to Las Vegas because why not? It fits! Gardner Minshew agreed to a 2-year, $25 million deal with the Raiders. Davante Adams and Jakobi Meyers are going to be seeing a lot of targets in 2024.

• 🐆 After spending the first few years of his career in the cold north of Buffalo, Gabe Davis is taking his talents to the warmth of Jacksonville. It’s not flashy, but Davis can operate as a deep threat with Christian Kirk and Zay Jones working the short and middle areas. I don’t think it’s a Super Bowl-worthy receiving group, but then again the Chiefs won theirs with arguably less talent in their WR room.

• 🔥 Tony Pollard agreed to a 3-year, $24 million deal with the Tennessee Titans. That would be awesome for him except that they already have Tyjae Spears. Pollard’s signing (among others) has been a controversial one among the fantasy community. Some say that Pollard killed Spears's value, others argue that Pollard is nothing to worry about. I’m more of in the middle, where Pollard is being paid too much to sit on the bench and do nothing, but Spears is too explosive to not use. I think they eat into each other’s workload and limit their respective upsides.

• After losing Antonio Gibson to the Patriots, the Commanders signed former Charger Austin Ekeler. Gibson makes the New England backfield all the more muddy, and I think Ekeler takes on Gibson’s old role as the change of pace back in Washington.

• Zack Moss is going to the Bengals, and they are releasing Joe Mixon. Looks like the Bengals are rolling with Moss and Chase Brown going forward.

Some lesser news and notes:

• Gus Edwards is going to the Chargers. I doubt that means they have solidified their backfield for 2024, as Edwards is older and doesn’t have receiving chops.

• The same can be said for Dallas, Houston, Las Vegas, the Giants, and Minnesota. All are either in need of backfield help or their current backfield depth chart is highly in question. For example, Zahmir White played well last year, but to say he goes into 2024 as their lead back is questionable even with a lackluster rookie class.

• Colby Parkinson is heading to the Rams so he’ll be competing for targets alongside Tyler Higbee and Davis Allen.

• Noah Fant stays in Seattle, hopefully, the departure of Parkinson gives Fant a larger share of the Seattle target pie.

There was a lot of movement in the running back market and a little in the quarterback department. Receivers didn’t see a lot of action, but that will heat up in the coming days. That will do it for this edition of the Ballfield Banter newsletter, thanks for reading and we’ll dive more into the free agent signings next week! In the meantime, join the discord where we’re talking about this stuff all the time!