Let’s continue our series of free-agent breakdowns, shall we? In this article, we’ll go through the top free-agent EDGE players hitting the market this year!
It’s the time of year when our focus shifts to free agency, where both our real-life NFL teams and our fantasy teams will be impacted by each and every decision these players make. In this article, we are going to talk about the top free-agent EDGE players that will be hitting the open market in the coming months. Let’s get to them!
Premium free-agent EDGE Pass Rushers
Josh Allen, Jaguars
The former Kentucky Wildcat finally put all of his talent and technique together to rack up 17.5 sacks in a contract year. For that, he’ll be handsomely rewarded regardless of if he reaches the open market. Spotrac estimates that his AAV would be around $23.9 million, which puts him 7th highest paid at the position. General manager Trent Baalke didn’t mince words in reaffirming his commitment to Allen and the expectation is he will at least receive the Franchise Tag as they work on a long-term extension.
Update: Allen received the tag from the Jaguars and will make $24 million this season if they do not work out an extension.
Brian Burns, Panthers
The Panthers’ stud edge has been the model of consistency over his first five seasons with 46 total sacks. That comes out to about 9 sacks per season. It’s even more impressive when you consider he’s only had pass-rushing help opposite of him in one of those campaigns (Haason Reddick in 2021). The rumors are that contract talks are now stalled between the Panthers and Burns. They aren’t going to just let a player of this quality walk away for nothing, so the question is whether a team steps up and trades for him. The Los Angeles Rams tried to acquire Burns before and remain the most likely candidate to do so.
Update: The Panthers non-exclusive tagged Burns. They’ve now traded him to the Giants for a 2024 2nd and 2025 5th. He also signed a 5-year, $150 million extension.
Danielle Hunter, Vikings
Of all the players in this tier, Hunter is the most likely to make it to unrestricted free agency. He’s spent all of his career in Minnesota and I’m sure the Vikings would love to retain his services. However, with contract expectations of over $20 million per season, that’s going to be tough to manage. It’s not that Hunter isn’t worth that salary because his 16.5 sacks in 2023 and achievement of reaching double-digit numbers in five seasons show that he is.
It’s the precarious cap situation that Minnesota finds itself in that probably leads them to part ways. $41 million in cap space is great, but not when you still need to resign Kirk Cousins and extend superstar receiver Justin Jefferson. The dream scenario from an IDP perspective would be a deal with the division rival Lions. Could you imagine Aidan Hutchinson and Hunter teaming up?
Thank you for checking out my top Free Agent EDGE for 2024 article. Be sure to follow me on Twitter at @BigSteveFF and @IDP_Plus (we have offense, too), and please consider becoming a subscriber!
