Free Agency, Stages 6-7
Nothing thrilling, one thing important to me.
We re-sign
DE Tommy Newton, he's a 10th year former 7th round pick, and sets up as our likely D7 affinity leader this year (after a retirement voided that role). He gives us great cohesion, a 90 personality in the right sign group, and some special teams capability. I wish he were a minsal guy, but I had to pay him 2.9+0.6 each year to get him to sign -- but for me, and how I run this team, it's worth it.
Downside with him is his personality is only 60, so to clear the path for him to be our group leader for a few years, I will need to cut LB Klinghagen and Collins, meaning our LB corps will be thinned out considerably. That's our likely direction, though.
Other FA 1:6-7 signings:
$7m/yr (cut-friendly) RB Cooper Mayo who makes our decisions there even trickier
$12m/yr TE Carlton Pearson signed to be a co-starter for us (perfect fit)
minsal WR Larry Woodworth, strong affinity guy, could get 25 targets
minsal OG Abraham Dawson, would need starts to fit, just camp fodder
$5m/yr OG Luis Strong, weak affinity, basically an insurance play here
$3.5m/yr LB Lance Shapiro, solid affinity guy and zone defender, good pickup
minsal 98-rated long snapper Antonio Kampman re-signed
Pretty big stage for us, especially since I just announced we were basically done. TE Pearson and LB Shapiro will play a lot, DE Newton isn't exciting statistically but he's important to the roster structure.