Former Cardinals Land on Best, Worst Free Agent Signings of 2022
Plenty of noise is being made about the Arizona Cardinals this offseason, and rightfully so.
A 4-13 record got Kliff Kingsbury fired, Kyler Murray tore his ACL late in the season and DeAndre Hopkins might just be traded when it's all said and done.
Free agency is also set to impact the Cardinals in some form or another with 30 players ready to rest the market. Arizona has the ability to shape their roster differently heading into 2023, and that can be viewed as either great or horrid depending on your viewpoint.
Similar sentiments were carried last offseason after the Cardinals started off 7-0 and made the postseason. A handful of key players departed the desert for greener pastures, and many wondered how the both the team and the players would fare going their separate ways.
Pro Football Focus recently graded the best and worst free agent signings of last offseason. Out of ten total players, three were former Cardinals:
BEST: Philadelphia Eagles EDGE Haason Reddick
Contract: Three years, $45 million ($30 million total guaranteed)
2022 wins-above-replacement: 0.2 (16th)
"The craziest thing about Reddick’s contract from last offseason is that the price tag was kept so reasonable despite the fact he was coming off back-to-back double-digit sack seasons. If there’s one thing you can count on some teams to do each offseason, it’s overpaying for sack production where underlying metrics aren’t as favorable," said Brad Spielberger.
"That wasn’t the case with Reddick, who was consistently winning pass rush reps over the prior two seasons once he was finally moved back to edge rusher full-time, and one of the sharpest organizations in the NFL seemed to take advantage of teams’ apprehension due to Reddick’s lack of size. All Reddick did was earn a career-high 90.0 pass rush grade, finishing top-15 among edge defenders in pass rush win rate (18.9%) and pressure percentage (15.9%), while his 16 sacks ranked second and six forced fumbles ranked first in the NFL.
"In one of the greatest single offseasons a team has had in the modern era, this signing stands out."
WORST: Las Vegas Raiders EDGE Chandler Jones
Contract: Three years, $51 million ($32 million total guaranteed)
2022 wins-above-replacement: 0.028 (65th)
"The easiest way to illustrate this deal's poor value is by simply looking at the 2022 production of three other 30-plus-year-old edge defenders that signed significantly smaller contracts last offseason," said Spielberger.
Player Contract Overall grade Pass rush win rate Pressure rate
Chandler Jones 3 / $51M 63.8 13.1% 10.6%
Melvin Ingram 1 / $4M 70.3 17.0% 11.8%
Justin Houston 1 / $3.5M 73.6 18.4% 14.6%
Jerry Hughes 2 / $10M 71.4 18.6% 15.8%
"Jones’ deal is pretty much the same as Von Miller’s true contract in Buffalo when you get into the details, and Miller recorded as many pressures and three more sacks than Jones in 2022 on 160 fewer pass rush snaps. Jones has had a phenomenal career and showed flashes in 2021 once he regained health, but there were enough warning signs to avoid a deal of this magnitude, and other alternatives available for much cheaper considering Las Vegas had just extended edge defender Maxx Crosby.
"Jones has $16 million already fully guaranteed for 2023 making his contract seemingly unmovable, and now Las Vegas has to go back to the drawing board at quarterback."
WORST: Miami Dolphins RB Chase Edmonds
Contract: Two years, $12.1 million ($6.1 million total guaranteed)
2022 wins-above-replacement: 0.019 (94th)
"We promise we’re not trying to pick on the Dolphins, and it’s worth mentioning that the five-year, $75 million deal for left tackle Terron Armstead and two year, $14.035 million deal for center Connor Williams were among the best signings of the 2022 offseason. Fortunately for the Dolphins, their two big whiffs on offense also weren’t super expensive, and here they already moved on by trading Edmonds to the Denver Broncos at the deadline," said Spielberger.
"That said, it was almost bizarre how poor of a fit Edmonds was in head coach Mike McDaniel’s offense. On outside zone rushes this season, Edmonds ranked 51st out of 53 running backs with at least 10 carries at 1.9 yards per carry. The value here gets worse when you fold in Miami trading a fifth-round pick to acquire Jeff Wilson Jr. from the 49ers with just eight games remaining on his contract. Miami has the least amount of draft capital of any team in 2023 and still doesn’t have a running back signed long-term."
Former Cardinals WR Christian Kirk inked a fairly massive deal (four-year, $72 million) with the Jacksonville Jaguars and played pretty solid for the team down the stretch. Former inside linebacker Jordan Hicks inked a two-year, $10 million deal with the Vikings. He started every game for them.
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