Mike Kaye’s take: 2026 NFL free agency predictions

[Carolina Cajun]

53 minutes ago, Mistuh Jones said:

I wouldn't want Mayes out either BUT if the rumblings about Tyler Linderbaum are true..............

amazing center...we are getting there, but 1 center wont change it especially when we can return a decent center.  Also remember, Cade Mays originally came as a OT/Guard, this was his second year at center, hes making HUGE strides EVERY year.  DONT spend money on a position of want, we need to spend on positions of need

[strato]

3 hours ago, Jon Snow said:

You cannot pay them all. They need to start drafting replacements for all of them. Looks like Mayes is first up to be replaced. I would think an OT is on the draft board somewhere. 

Absolutely. But you will be paying some starters on the OL. If you are going to phase out a couple being paid now, there could be room to give Linderbaum a nice signing bonus which pro rates over the life of the contract and a low year one salary. 
 

Build up the middle, inside out and front to back. 

[Jon Snow]

15 minutes ago, strato said:

Absolutely. But you will be paying some starters on the OL. If you are going to phase out a couple being paid now, there could be room to give Linderbaum a nice signing bonus which pro rates over the life of the contract and a low year one salary. 
 

Build up the middle, inside out and front to back. 

Then they will have to depend on rookie tackles for awhile. They've got about 1 more good season in Moton and who knows if Ikey will ever return full strength. Better start drafting at 1 on day 2 at least. I personally would prefer a 1st round LT myself but I will take what I can get. 

[tukafan21]

A 2 year deal for Coker would be terribly short sighted as I pointed out in another thread the other day.

T-Mac will be eligible for an extension after 2 more seasons, and while there is still 2 years to go, he's very much looked like the type of player you extend right away, knowing waiting will only cost more money and take longer before the contract becomes a bargain with rising contracts every year.

So if we sign Coker to a 2 year extension, that means we either let Coker walk after those 2 years or we don't extend T-Mac when we should, as I can't see signing both in the same off season much of an option, it was terrible for the Bengals this year.

I like doing a 1 year deal for Coker to set his market value with a full season as the #2, and then sign him to a 3 or 4 year deal after that, which also separates Coker and T-Mac's contract years to help keep both around instead of having to choose at some point, like the Bengals should have done.

I also think coming to an agreement on a multi year deal right now could be tough, the team will want to pay the rate of his actual production so far and his agent will want to be paid on his potential from his few breakout games, everyone might just be too far apart for a multi year deal.

Edited 11 hours ago by tukafan21

[strato]

26 minutes ago, Jon Snow said:

Then they will have to depend on rookie tackles for awhile. They've got about 1 more good season in Moton and who knows if Ikey will ever return full strength. Better start drafting at 1 on day 2 at least. I personally would prefer a 1st round LT myself but I will take what I can get. 

Well rookie LOT this season could be a rook, ROT next year could be Nijman he looked better this year maybe another year sets him up. Or another journeyman, or a draft pick. Yeah. I mean maybe Icky heals really good and comes back, the 2026 drafted LOT slides over… lots of variables. 
 

Moton gone, the Icky 100 million doesn’t get spent, rookie pay scale in place, keep drafting and try to replace the guard$ by the time you need to pay the OTs.. seems workable. Linderbaum or someone else. 

Edited 11 hours ago by strato

[ProcessBlue2]

I watched Dan’s press conference. He said he wouldn’t be reckless but I was messing around on Sport Trac. We have 40,000,000 already without restructuring. Just a few restructures double that figure easily. I think he’s about to go on a spending spree.

You can’t go backwards with Tepper. You can stay the same and be okay but I don’t think you can go back to 4-5 wins this year and expect not to get fired or have a seat that’s burning your ass. 

[kungfoodude]

9 hours ago, tukafan21 said:

A 2 year deal for Coker would be terribly short sighted as I pointed out in another thread the other day.

T-Mac will be eligible for an extension after 2 more seasons, and while there is still 2 years to go, he's very much looked like the type of player you extend right away, knowing waiting will only cost more money and take longer before the contract becomes a bargain with rising contracts every year.

So if we sign Coker to a 2 year extension, that means we either let Coker walk after those 2 years or we don't extend T-Mac when we should, as I can't see signing both in the same off season much of an option, it was terrible for the Bengals this year.

I like doing a 1 year deal for Coker to set his market value with a full season as the #2, and then sign him to a 3 or 4 year deal after that, which also separates Coker and T-Mac's contract years to help keep both around instead of having to choose at some point, like the Bengals should have done.

I also think coming to an agreement on a multi year deal right now could be tough, the team will want to pay the rate of his actual production so far and his agent will want to be paid on his potential from his few breakout games, everyone might just be too far apart for a multi year deal.

Remember that Coker isn't actually a free agent at all. He is an ERFA which means we can technically ink at league minimum and he cannot negotiate with other teams.

 

[kungfoodude]

9 hours ago, strato said:

Well rookie LOT this season could be a rook, ROT next year could be Nijman he looked better this year maybe another year sets him up. Or another journeyman, or a draft pick. Yeah. I mean maybe Icky heals really good and comes back, the 2026 drafted LOT slides over… lots of variables. 
 

Moton gone, the Icky 100 million doesn’t get spent, rookie pay scale in place, keep drafting and try to replace the guard$ by the time you need to pay the OTs.. seems workable. Linderbaum or someone else. 

Nijman would be one of the worst RT or LT's we have had in a long time. He is incapable of being a long term replacement. He is occasionally okay in spot duty. We had a significantly better backup suited to taking over the duties at RT/LT for longer stretches and not becoming a turnstile(like Nijman) in pass protection, it was BC. He is gone, however.

I think any thoughts of jettisoning Moton are immediately null and void with Ikey out for 2026. Had you returned Ikey, Lewis, and Hunt it's easy to spend some money or draft capital at C and then perhaps look at cheaper options for RT. Now we are inna scenario where we cannot be looking at two replacement OT's in the same offseason. That will be somewhere between an utter disaster to prohibitively expensive. 

The best course of action is try to get a solid, older veteran on a one year deal to replace Ikey, sign/draft a long term C and hopefully find a future RT prospect(with some LT ability?) in the draft. This gives you a LOT of flexibility and leeway in 2027 if you opt to jettison Ikey or Moton.