Terron Armstead will be in demand (duh) when free agency kicks off. Buzz around Indy was that a couple teams in Florida – Jags and Dolphins – want a seat at Armstead's table. How then might that impact the Jags as they sit there with the top pick? (1/2)
— Mike Giardi (@MikeGiardi) March 8, 2022
Well isn’t that interesting. NFL Network’s Mike Giardi shared some of his takeaways from this year’s NFL scouting combine, and there’s already plenty of intrigue surrounding one of the New Orleans Saints’ biggest free agents: left tackle Terron Armstead.
Giardi reports two teams, the Miami Dolphins and Jacksonville Jaguars, are already preparing to make a run at Armstead when teams can begin contacting free agents on March 14. No deal can be signed until the new league fiscal year begins on March 16 but from the sounds of it these two are readying strong contract offers.
And more teams could enter the sweepstakes for Armstead’s services; we identified five possible landing spots earlier this offseason, with Miami and Jacksonville each making the cut. They’re easy fits given the massive amount of salary cap space they have to spend (the two teams rank second- and third-most around the league in effective caps pace) and, you know, the young quarterbacks they’ve already invested so much in who are in need of protection.
What’s really interesting about this is the possible fit for Armstead in Jacksonville. The Jaguars of course own the top pick in the 2022 NFL draft, and they’ve often been projected to spend it on left tackles like Alabama’s Evan Neal and North Carolina State’s Ikem Ekwonu. If the Jaguars instead land Armstead in a blockbuster signing, the top of the draft is suddenly highly unpredictable. But we’ll just have to wait and see how the situation develops should Armstead actually reach the open market.