By Matt Morrison (@dynastyjerk)
A couple of weeks ago, I posted an article where I discussed some more of the NFC free agents that I didn’t get to in my initial Top 10 Free Agents article from early February. You can go read the entire article for the details, but allow me to remind you of the initial Top 10 players I talked about as well as the five I discussed in the NFC only article. All of the free agents are unrestricted free agents (UFA), meaning that they have played for four or more seasons and are free to negotiate and sign with any team.
| Rank | Player | Position | Status | Previous Salary |
| 1 | Saquon Barkley | RB | UFA | $7,217,000 |
| 2 | Tom Brady | QB | UFA | $15,000,000 |
| 3 | Josh Jacobs | RB | UFA | $2,983,350 |
| 4 | Tony Pollard | RB | UFA | $796,945 |
| 5 | Lamar Jackson | QB | UFA | $23,016,000 |
| 6 | Daniel Jones | QB | UFA | $6,416,014 |
| 7 | David Montgomery | RB | UFA | $1,003,845 |
| 8 | Geno Smith | QB | UFA | $3,500,000 |
| 9 | Miles Sanders | RB | UFA | $1,337,544 |
| 10 | Alexander Mattison | RB | UFA | $867,793 |
Additional NFC Free Agents
| Player | Position | Status | Previous Salary |
| Baker Mayfield | QB | UFA | $18,858,000 |
| Jimmy Garoppolo | QB | UFA | $7,000,000 |
| Jamaal Williams | RB | UFA | $3,000,000 |
| Allen Lazard | WR | UFA | $3,986,000 |
| Dalton Schultz | TE | UFA | $10,931,000 |
Well, today is the AFC’s turn and I have two running backs, two wide receivers and one tight end for you. Let’s jump into it.
More AFC Free Agents
Kareem Hunt
Hunt ($6,000,000) was a player who I thought was going to be traded prior to the 2022 trade deadline. The Browns were easily out of the playoff hunt (no pun intended), and Kareem seemed like the perfect player to trade for at least a late round pick. Hunt did not get traded and concluded his season as a Brown. He finished as the RB38 despite playing in every game last season. So, where does Hunt go from here?
He is an unrestricted free agent as his 2 year – $12,000,000 contract is expiring. His market value is a little dubious to figure out. He is a past workhorse running back, but he hasn’t put up more than 200 rushing attempts or over 900 rushing yards since his rookie season (2017). Maybe this is a blessing in disguise as he has much less “wear and tear” on his body when you compare him to other running backs taken in the 2017 class. Alvin Kamara ($15,000,000), Christian McCaffrey ($16,015,875) and Leonard Fournette ($7,000,000) are three names that come to mind.
I see Hunt moving on from Cleveland and finding his way to a team that will use him as a 1a/1b type running back. Miami would be a solid landing spot. I’ll guess that his salary is similar to his expired contract, so $6,000,000 – $7,000,000 is what I expect Hunt to make in 2023.
Devin Singletary
Much like Hunt, Singletary ($974,500) has many layers to his future contract situation. First is the emergence of James Cook ($1,458,014). I’m not convinced Cook is ready to become an every down back, but it’s not out of the realm of possibility. Singletary’s options also depend on if the Bills want to pursue a running back in the 2023 NFL Draft. Look for Singletary to make around the $6,000,000 mark per year.
Jakobi Meyers
Jakobi Meyers ($3,986,000) was one of my most rostered players last season in Dynasty Owner. It wasn’t something that I really planned, but it just happened that way. I recognized that he had a chance to be a fine value. He finished as WR40 with a sub $4,000,000 salary. This isn’t the greatest performance for a wide receiver, but he was a rock solid Bench wide receiver. Not only that, but he finished the season with games of 20.3, 16.9, and 12.2 Dynasty Owner fantasy points.
Meyers has earned a much larger contract going forward. He will almost surely make more than $10,000,000 per year, and I put him at closer to $12,000,000.
JuJu Smith-Schuster
JuJu Smith-Schuster ($3,250,000) should be returning to Kansas City in 2023. He performed very consistently throughout the season. He and Marquez Valdes-Scantling ($10,000,000) did a marvelous job replacing Tyreek Hill ($18,000,000). JuJu also had an excellent performance in the Super Bowl. He led all Chiefs’ players in receptions with seven.
JuJu should be invited back to the Chiefs, and if he is, I expect the 26 year old to make $15,000,000 per year.
Evan Engram
Engram ($9,000,000) finished as the TE5 for the 2022 Dynasty Owner season. He finished as TE5 despite some pretty inconsistent fantasy output. Engram had nine games of 9.0 Dynasty Owner fantasy points or less. Hopefully if you rostered him last year, you started him in Week 14. That week (39.2 Dynasty Owner fantasy points) accounted for more than 22 percent of his entire season output.
My gut tells me that Engram will re-sign with the Jaguars. They have adequate cap room and Engram seems to be a possible comfort target for Trevor Lawrence ($9,198,372) in the coming seasons. Engram’s salary should be roughly the same as his last contract at least on a per year basis.
Conclusion
For those of you wondering, I will be starting on New Contract talk once we get some substantial signings to talk about. Obviously, the majority of those signings will take place after the opening of NFL free agency on March 15th.
I thank you all for reading, and keep in mind that I will be talking about all of these players again as well as new players in the upcoming months. If there is any player that you would like me to talk about more, please send me a message, and I’ll do a full spotlight on that player.
Message me on Twitter (@dynastyjerk) and let me know if you have any questions or concerns. I would appreciate it if you followed @Dynasty_Owner on Twitter as well as subscribed to Dynasty Owner on YouTube. Thank you all. Take care and be safe.
TheJerk