While big-name, big-dollar free-agency signings rule the headlines at the start of every league year, smart franchises understand that it’s the lesser-known contracts that frequently make the biggest difference when everybody hits the field months from now.
In 2022, the Seattle Seahawks let quarterback Geno Smith test the open market before re-signing him to a one-year, $3.5 million deal that worked out pretty well for everybody involved. Smith became the NFL’s Comeback Player of the Year, Seattle’s post-Russell Wilson franchise quarterback, and he got a major new deal when all was said and done.
The Eagles would not have made it to Super Bowl LVII without two relatively unheralded signings — cornerback James Bradberry to a one-year, $7.25 million deal, and pass-rusher Haason Reddick to a three-year, $45 million pact. Both players were defensive cornerstones throughout Philly’s remarkable season.
As we turn to the 2023 free agency cycle that begins Monday with the legal tampering period, and becomes official when players can actually sign contracts on Wednesday at 4:01 p.m. EST, it’s time to look at those players who might not be the biggest names, but could make profound impacts on their new teams (or their previous teams in some instances) based on past performance.
Here’s our list of the hidden gems of the 2023 free agency class.
QB Taylor Heinicke
Anytime you have a quarterback with nearly three times more explosive plays than interceptions in a season… well, you have something to work with, even if that quarterback may not project as an obvious starter. Heinicke was one-third of the Washington Commanders’ WTF quarterback troika that ended up with Carsen Wentz getting benched, and fifth-round rookie Sam Howell as the prohibitive starter heading into 2023. When Heinicke was on the field, he did alright, completing 62.2% of his passes for 1,859 yards (7.2 yards per attempt), 12 touchdowns, six interceptions, and 17 explosive plays. On throws of 20 or more air yards, he completed 11 of 29 for 383 yards, three touchdowns, and two interceptions.
Heinicke has a decent sense of the field, can make the occasional big throw, and though he’s a bit random at times, he’s not a serial error factory. This 41-yard completion to Terry McLaurin in Week 10 against the Eagles shows his ultimate upside.
No NFL team is going to sign Heinicke to a Daniel Jones contract and forget about the top quarterbacks in the 2023 draft, but if your team is in need of a high-quality backup and spot starter, your team could do a lot worse.
RB Raheem Mostert
The undrafted Mostert was the definition of a journeyman early in his NFL career, bouncing between team to team before finally landing with the 49ers in 2016. He worked his way up to a status as Kyle Shanahan’s primary back in 2019 before injuries started taking their toll.
When Shanahan acolyte Mike McDaniel became the Dolphins’ head coach, he took Mostert with him on a one-year, $2,125 million deal, which Mostert distinctly outperformed. He gained 892 yards and scored three touchdowns on 181 carries, forcing 39 missed tackles and picking up nine runs of 15 or more yards.
Mostert’s injury history will limit his earning potential in this free-agency cycle, and he will be 31 years old when the 2023 season begins, but teams will want to take a shot on a guy who did play in 16 games last season (starting 14), and still shows a great combination of inside power and track speed.
Raheem Mostert had an appealing number of "@#$% You" runs in 2022. He's still got it. pic.twitter.com/xF4dtQ6VNd
— Doug Farrar ✍ (@NFL_DougFarrar) March 10, 2023
RB D'Onta Foreman
A late bloomer in the NFL, Foreman was a rotational and replacement back for the Texans and Titans through the first four years of his career. He was invisible through the first six weeks of the 2022 season with the Panthers, and then, the Christian McCaffrey trade happened. Foreman gained 34 yards on 12 carries in the first six games, and then, he went off. From Week 7 through Week 18, Foreman’s numbers were virtually identical to those of Browns franchise back Nick Chubb.
Comparing D'Onta Foreman and Nick Chubb, Weeks 7-18.
Foreman: 191 carries for 876 yards, five touchdowns, 32 missed tackles forced, 12 carries of 15 or more yards.
Chubb: 192 carries for 876 yards, five touchdowns, 41 missed tackles forced, 12 carries of 15 or more yards. pic.twitter.com/9Z9mDpXEAC
— Doug Farrar ✍ (@NFL_DougFarrar) March 10, 2023
At 6-foot-0 and 235 pounds, Foreman can obviously bull through tacklers and make gains after contact (634 of his 876 yards came after the first hit), but he can also bounce outside and accelerate to the second and third levels. He might not be a bell-cow back in the traditional sense, but maybe he can be. Foreman certainly showed enough in his 2022 season to put the thought in the heads of NFL evaluators.
WR DJ Chark
The Lions signed the ex-Jaguars target to a one-year, $10 million deal last yar, and when he was on the field (he missed six games with an ankle injury), Chark was on point. He caught 30 passes on 52 targets for 502 yards and three touchdowns. Chark was Detroit’s primary deep receiver in a passing game that was more short and intermediate by necessity (i.e., Jared Goff was the quarterback), catching seven passes of 20 or more air yards on 15 targets for 252 yards and two touchdowns.
You’re betting on health with Chark to a certain degree, but I’d like to see him in a more vertical passing game, where he can really air it out on the go, post, and over routes that work well for him. Chark has an excellent feel for releases off the line, and once he gets going, he’s tough to stop. Darius Slay of the Eagles discovered that on this 22-yard touchdown in Week 1.
WR Allen Lazard
With Davante Adams and Marquez Valdes-Scantling out the door in Green Bay, Lazard became Aaron Rodgers’ primary deep receiver in 2022, with nine catches of 20 or more air yards on 28 targets for 263 yards and three touchdowns. That’s a pretty low hit rate, but when you consider the relative lack of other receivers who could take the heat off Lazard at the intermediate and deep levels of the field (at least until rookie Christian Watson started blowing up), plus Lazard’s status as a contested-catch receiver, those numbers need to be seen in context.
At 6-foot-5 and 227 pounds, Lazard has good downfield speed and route acumen, but you really want him on that wall when it’s time to make a throw into super-tight coverage, and it’s up to him to beat the defender with his physicality. This 35-yard boundary catch against Jets cornerback D.J. Reed (one of the NFL’s more underrated players at his position) in Week 6 proves the theory.
TE Mike Gesicki
There are times when you wonder about coaches realizing what their players can do, even if they’re brilliant coaches. We heard through the 2022 season that Gesicki wasn’t an ideal fit for new head coach Mike McDaniel’s offense, and while I’m not going to impugn McDaniels’ offensive wisdom, this one had me shaking my head a bit. The doghouse was an obvious thing, though — Gesicki started just one game in 2022 after starting nine in each of his two prior seasons, and his productivity went down as a result. Last season, he caught just 32 passes on 52 targets for 362 yards — but he also scored five touchdowns. This was a major step down from his 2021 season of 73 receptions on 113 targets for 780 yards and just two touchdowns.
Gesicki isn’t a burner, but he has a great understanding of how to get open in zones, and how to press man coverage. And in the red zone, those attributes seem to magnify. Again, I’m not sure why Mike McDaniel allegedly didn’t think that Gesicki was his brand of spice, but I’d like a tight end on my team who can get open in short spaces, and maintain the play outside of structure with scramble drills.
OG Will Hernandez
The Giants selected Hernandez in the second round of the 2018 draft out of UTEP, and watched his up-and-down play through four seasons. Then, Hernandez signed a one-year, $1,187,500 with the Cardinals last season, and started to get his game in shape at a different level. In 2022, he allowed three sacks, one quarterback hit, and 12 quarterback hurries in 565 pass-blocking reps, and looked solid in the run game.
Hernandez is a mountain of a man at 6-foot-2 and 335 pounds, but he’s more than just a slobberknocker who pushes defenders down into the dirt. On this Kyler Murray deep pass to Marquise Brown against the Panthers in Week 4, watch how Hernandez (No. 76) seals defensive tackle (and 2020 seventh-overall pick) Derrick Brown inside, and then mirrors him through the rep.
Hernandez can occasionally get beaten by stunts and games, but if you’re running a heavy gap offense in which you want your guards to fire out and eliminate people, he’s a prime candidate.
C Ethan Pocic
The Seahawks took Pocic in the second round of the 2017 draft out of LSU as part of Tom Cable’s Island of Misfit Toys, and through his first few seasons, Pocic struggled with play strength and technique issues. Amazing what a one-year flier deal with the Browns last year did for Pocic’s professional future. Bookended by the NFL’s best guard duo in Joel Bitonio and Wyatt Teller, and coached by Bill Callahan, Pocic looked like a completely different player. He allowed two sacks, no quarterback hits, and eight quarterback hurries in 461 pass-blocking snaps, and as the sacks he allowed were to Quinnen Williams in Week 2 and Daron Payne in Week 17, we’ll give him a couple of mulligans there.
Pocic has obviously been hitting the weightroom lately, as those previous play strength problems didn’t show up in 2022. Ask Steelers DI Larry Ogunjobi about that on this Nick Chubb one-yard touchdown run in Week 4. Pocic was rasslin’ here.
You don’t want to pay Pocic as you would a center who can come right in and be the epicenter of your offensive line, but with the right supporting cast and coaching, he should continue to ascend.
DI Dalvin Tomlinson
The Vikings’ defense was an abject disaster in most areas last season, ranking 27th overall in DVOA, 26th against the pass, and 19th against the run, but the list of people to blame for that (starting with former defensive coordinator Ed Donatell) should not include Tomlinson, who had his most productive season as a pass-rusher in 2022. New DC Brian Flores will improve things merely by his presence, but if the Vikings can’t get Tomlinson back, that will be a problem. Most human beings his size (6-foot-3 and a conservative 325 pounds) move to and through the pocket the way he does.
In 2022, Tomlinson was good for three sacks, seven quarterback hits, and 20 quarterback hurries in 348 pass-rushing snaps, and he had 26 stops in 256 run defense reps. He’s never had more than 658 snaps in a season though six years with the Vikings and Giants, so there is a rotational aspect to his game, but when Tomlinson is on the field for your defense, your defense is simply better.
This sack of Aaron Rodgers in Week 17 was just bad news for Packers right guard Jon Runyan Jr. for a couple of reasons: First, the Vikings were in a bear front with the defensive tackles to the outside shoulders of the guard, which forces one-on-ones. Second, Runyan had to deal with Tomlinson’s evil combination of stack-and-shed power, and quickness around the blocker when he’s beaten.
And if you’re trying a slide game to get your running back going against Tomlinson, you need to watch for his ability to penetrate on the move. Saquon Barkley of the Giants discovered that in the wild-card round on this three-yard loss.
Tomlinson is coming off the two-year, $21 million contract he got from the Vikings in 2021, which was a bargain then, and would be a bargain now.
DI Zach Allen
The Cardinals took Allen in the third round of the 2019 draft out of Boston College, and Allen was off to a relatively unremarkable start to his NFL career through his first two seasons. But then, J.J. Watt came to the Valley of the Sun in 2021 with a few ideas on how to be a multi-gap disruptor, and Allen was a willing disciple. The 6-foot-4, 281 Allen had his best season to date in 2022, with six sacks, 15 quarterback hits, and 14 quarterback hurries in 427 pass-rushing snaps. Allen’s sacks came everywhere from the edge to aligned over the guards to true nose-shade alignments — so, like his mentor, he’s developed into a guy who can harass quarterbacks from any place you’d like.
On this sack of New England’s Mac Jones in Week 14, Allen gave rookie left guard Cole Strange an evil inside/outside move, while Mr. Watt edged around the Patriots’ offensive line to get to Jones from the other side. They met at Jones, which was a nice touch.
Allen was a bit of a latecomer to the elite at his series of positions, but it’s likely that NFL teams will see him as the player he’s become.
DL Dre'Mont Jones
Jones has been an underrated pressure generator since the Broncos took him in the third round of the 2019 draft out of Ohio State, and he did the contract year thing perfectly with his best season to date in 2022. Jones amassed seven sacks, five quarterback hits, 33 quarterback hurries, and 25 stops in just 13 games — he missed the last four games of Denver’s season with a hip injury.
When healthy, Jones can attack from just about any gap at 6-foot-3 and 281 pounds, and he has some vicious pass-rush moves to glue it all together. On this sack of Trevor Lawrence in Week 8, watch how Jones (No. 93) started off on the edge aligned with Bradley Chubb, let right tackle Jawaan Taylor deal with Chubb, and just bulled right guard Brandon Scherff into the quarterback.
There was also this ridiculous play against the Jets in Week 7, when Jones started off in flat coverage, and had the athleticism and wherewithal to come back and take quarterback Zach Wilson down.
Some reports indicate that Jones could receive upwards of $10 million per year in free agency. You may or may not have heard much about him yet, but NFL teams certainly know the deal here.
EDGE Justin Houston
If you want to discover the Fountain of Youth, maybe just follow Justin Houston around and see where he’s getting whatever he’s getting. The 33-year-old 12-year veteran was a revelation for the Ravens in 2022, putting up 12 sacks, six quarterback hits, and 24 quarterback hurries on just 306 pass-rushing snaps. The list of players with double-digit sacks at that age is not long, and the list of guys who do it at age 34 is obviously shorter, but there’s nothing in Houston’s 2022 tape that shows he’ll slow down anytime soon.
Houston has developed all kinds of veteran moves. He’s expert at shifting from the edge and sifting through inside gaps for quarterback takedowns, and as he showed against Buccaneers left tackle Donovan Smith in Week 8, he’s perfectly capable of bull-rushing any blocker into any quarterback’s kitchen. He’ll be an ace rotational signing for any team in need of more energy in quarterback disruption. The Ravens, by the way, got all that production on a one-year, $3.5 million contract.
EDGE Yannick Ngakoue
Ngakoue has been with five different teams (Jaguars, Ravens, Vikings, Raiders, Colts) over the last four seasons, which is certainly… interesting for a player of his production profile. He’s also been traded twice in that span. It does mean that he’s getting sacks and disruptions in just about any defensive system you’d like. Ngakoue has had at least 44 total pressures in each of those seasons, including the 44 (12 sacks, nine quarterback hits, 23 quarterback hurries) in 2022. Maybe it’s time for a team to embrace Ngakoue in a longer-term sense, as the Eagles did last year with former “earth-wanderer” Haason Reddick. He’s coming off a two-year, $26 million deal with $21 million guaranteed given to him by the Raiders, and subsequently traded to the Colts.
Ngakoue will turn 28 on March 31, so there’s still a lot left in the tank. He’s been one of the better effort disruptors of the last few years, and he showed his most recent former team what time it was with this sack of Derek Carr in Week 10.
Ngakoue was also quite an annoyance to the Eagles and their league-best offensive line in Week 11, tallying two sacks and making left tackle Jordan Mailata’s life especially difficult.
EDGE Arden Key
The Raiders took a shot on Key in the third round of the 2018 draft out of LSU, and through three seasons in silver and black, he didn’t do much to fulfill that opportunity, with just 10 starts and three sacks. He was most infamous for a facemask penalty against the Dolphins in Week 16 of the 2020 season that set up the Dolphins’ game-winning field goal, and eliminated the Raiders from any chance of the postseason.
Waived in April, 2021, Key signed with the 49ers for the 2021 season and had better luck there, with eight sacks, 14 quarterback hits, and 17 quarterback hurries. That led him to a one-year, $4 million deal with the Jaguars, which he validated with five sacks, 13 quarterback hits, and 33 quarterback hurries — a career-high 51 total pressures.
Perhaps the arrow is pointing up. In Week 15 against the Cowboys, Key beat rookie left tackle Tyler Smith for two sacks — the first sacks Smith had allowed in seven games. Smith did a decent job of getting into his set here, but if you’re going to deal with the kind of edge speed No. 49 can bring, decent isn’t good enough.
LB Drue Tranquill
In today’s NFL, when nickel is the new base, and defense are playing more dime coverage than old-school 4-3, your linebackers had better be both athletic and versatile. The best at the position are fluid enough to cover tight ends and slot receivers up the seam, tough enough to blow up run fits, and aggressive enough to be force multipliers in blitz packages.
Tranquill, selected by the Chargers in the fourth round of the 2019 draft, checks all the boxes. The 6-foot-2, 234-pound veteran had a career year in 2022, with five sacks, 15 total pressures, 105 tackles, 53 stops, and 46 catches allowed on 58 targets for 440 yards, 332 yards after the catch, two touchdowns, two interceptions, two pass breakups, and an opponent passer rating of 95.4.
Whether he’s intercepting a Derek Carr pass to tight end Darren Waller up the seam…
…or beating Tyreek Hill up near the line of scrimmage and getting away with it (not something a lot of defenders have the temerity or skill to do)…
…Tranquill seems the very model of the modern linebacker.
LB Germaine Pratt
Pratt has become more and more of a factor in Cincinnati’s defense as it’s come together from front to back, and 2022 represented his best season to days. The 2019 third-round pick out of North Carolina State had one sack, eight total pressures, 77 tackles, 41 stops, and 43 catches allowed on 60 targets for 408 yards, 277 yards after the catch, no touchdowns, two interceptions, four pass breakups, and an opponent passer rating of 76.2.
At 6-foot-3 and 250 pounds, Pratt can stop the run like an old-school headbanger, as seen in this Week 14 rarity, a Nick Chubb run that ended in a two-yard loss.
Pratt is just as capable of effectively dropping into coverage and preventing a completion, as he did against Baltimore’s Mark Andrews in the wild-card round.
CB Jamel Dean
Dean may be an underrated player overall, but not in this neck of the woods — we had him ranked as our second-overall free agent in our recent rankings behind only Eagles defensive tackle Javon Hargrave. Dean has been an outstanding cornerback since the Buccaneers selected him in the third round of the 2019 draft out of Auburn, and in 2022, he allowed just 34 catches on 68 targets for 412 yards, 120 yards after the catch, five touchdowns, two interceptions, five pass breakups, and an opponent passer rating of 81.3.
That’s a high touchdown total for a cornerback we (and others) have rated this highly — Dean allowed just one in 2021 — but when you look at those touchdowns, there are some coverage busts, and occasions where coverage traffic got in the way. More often than not, Dean was on point against a lot of the NFL’s better receivers. For example, getting tough with Seattle’s DK Metcalf and deflecting a pass, as Dean did in Week 10, doesn’t work for everybody — or, most anybody.
Dean can also slow-play quarterbacks into deflections, as he did to Patrick Mahomes and Marquez Valdes-Scantling in Week 4.
Dean is probably a few days away from a new contract worth more than $15 million per year, and he’ll have earned it.
CB James Bradberry
Some believe that you’re most remembered for the last thing you did. James Bradberry probably hopes that isn’t the case. His defensive holding penalty with 1:54 left in Super Bowl LVII set the Chiefs up to beat the Eagles, 38-35, on Harrison Butker’s last-second field goal.
It was an unfortunate way for Bradberry’s season to end, because for the most part, he was dynamite for the Eagles on a one-year, $7.25 million deal. The former Giants salary cap casualty allowed just 46 catches on 98 targets in the 2022 season for 489 yards, 159 yards after the catch, two touchdowns, four interceptions, 12 pass breakups… and for the record, just three penalties all season long.
Bradbeery’s old team really felt the sting in Week 18 and the divisional round, as he was targeted nine times, allowing three catches for 41 yards, 13 yards after the catch, no touchdowns, one interception and a slew of pass breakups. If Bradberry is on you in press coverage, good luck disengaging.
Bradberry showed a ton of improvement in Jonathan Gannon’s defense last season, and he should be paid as one of the top 20 cornerbacks in the NFL. He’s scheme-versatile and consistent… no matter what he’s remembered for at this point in time.
