Tag: Daily Trends Hunter

Finding Homes For NFL’s Best Free Agents Still On the Market

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    Scott Cunningham/Getty Images

    The first wave of free agency is finished, and most of the top players signed new deals. But plenty of talent remains available on the open market. 

    The second wave typically presents opportunities for teams to fill major needs with talented players at bargain prices. 

    Here’s an ideal landing spot for several of the best free agents still available.

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    Ed Zurga/Associated Press

    The Baltimore Ravens have a major need at edge-rusher after losing Terrell Suggs and Za’Darius Smith, who combined for 15.5 of the team’s 43 sacks and 40 of the team’s 104 quarterback hits last season. Houston, a four-time Pro Bowler, could provide an immediate answer to the departures. 

    The former Chief is only 30 years old, and he’s coming off a season in which he produced nine sacks and five forced fumbles in just 12 games. There’s still plenty left in his pass-rushing tank. 

    He’s an ideal fit as a standup linebacker or pass-rushing defensive end in Baltimore’s hybrid 3-4 defense. 

    The Ravens went to the playoffs last season and fielded the league’s second-best scoring defense, so Houston would have plenty of motivation to pick Baltimore over a rebuilding team such as the Oakland Raiders or New York Jets. The only question: Can the Ravens afford him? 

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    Gregory Payan/Associated Press

    This fit made sense last year and it makes sense again this year. 

    Suh, who is from the Pacific Northwest, would give the Seahawks defense another tough and talented interior defender who can stop the run and rush the passer.

    While he may no longer rank as one of the game’s elite interior disruptors, Suh still had 4.5 sacks and 19 quarterback hits for the Rams in 2018, and he was terrific in three postseason games, producing 1.5 sacks, five quarterback hits and two tackles for losses as the Rams marched to the Super Bowl. 

    For a long time, the Seahawks defense was built around a disruptive defensive line. Adding Suh would get the defensive line one step closer to an elite level. The Seahawks missed out on the opportunity to add Suh up front last offseason, but they shouldn’t let this second chance get away. 

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    Rick Osentoski/Associated Press

    No team needs pass-rushers more than the Raiders, who idly watched as most of the top rushers signed elsewhere during the first wave of free agency. 

    Now’s the time for Jon Gruden and Mike Mayock to get aggressive in adding a veteran rusher like Ansah. 

    He played in only seven games after suffering shoulder injuries last season, but he also produced 44 sacks and 10 forced fumbles during his first four NFL seasons. When healthy, Ansah is a productive and disruptive edge-rusher who uses length and athleticism to beat offensive tackles and harass the quarterback. 

    Adding Ansah, drafting an edge-rusher in the first round and getting a big second-year jump from Arden Key could revitalize the Raiders pass rush and lay the foundation for a rebound on defense in 2019. 

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    D. Ross Cameron/Associated Press

    The Saints actively pursued bringing back Jimmy Graham last offseason but couldn’t get a deal done. Cook, who set new career highs in catches, receiving yards and touchdowns for the Raiders in 2018, could present the Saints with an opportunity to finally give Drew Brees another athletic receiving threat at tight end. 

    There is already confirmed interest. According to Ian Rapoport of NFL Network, the Saints and Cook met on Thursday. 

    Cook turns 32 in April, so regression is a possibility. But Cook could be a dynamic playmaker in the Saints offense with Brees, who turned Graham into one of the NFL’s most prolific pass-catching tight ends during their run together in New Orleans. 

    The Saints’ need at tight end is legitimate. Josh Hill, Dan Arnold and Garrett Griffin are the only tight ends on the roster. Adding Cook to the group could solve the problem overnight. 

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    Ed Zurga/Associated Press

    The Packers already signed former Chicago Bears safety Adrian Amos in free agency, but Mike Pettine’s defense probably needs at least one more starting-level safety, and there’s no better available option than Berry. 

    The five-time Pro Bowler is a game-changing talent when healthy, but that’s the problem: He’s only played three games the last two seasons. 

    However, Berry met with noted foot specialist and Packers associate team physician Dr. Robert Anderson after the season, according to Mike Garafolo of NFL Network, so the Packers should have a good idea about where he’s at health-wise. 

    If he’s healthy enough to play at a high level and the price is right, Berry could team with Amos to give the Packers a terrific safety duo in 2019. It’d be a risk, but it’s a risk the Packers should seriously consider after the massive problems they suffered through at safety last season. 

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    Andrew Harnik/Associated Press

    The Ravens could use Brown to help replace C.J. Mosley, and the Packers hired Kirk Olivadotti, Brown’s position coach in Washington, but it’s easy to envision the Eagles signing Brown as a replacement for Jordan Hicks, who departed for Arizona in free agency. 

    Like Hicks, Brown is an all-around linebacker who could help the Eagles against the run and in coverage. In fact, Brown was one of only three linebackers in the NFL to register grades above 80.0 in run defense, coverage and tackling at Pro Football Focus last season. He finished with the third-highest overall grade at the off-ball linebacker position. 

    The Eagles are thin at linebacker and will likely need to sign a veteran or invest a draft pick in the position. They probably can’t do better than Brown, especially if he’s a bargain during the second wave of free agency.

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Families given soil to bury from Ethiopian Airlines crash site

Grieving family members of those who died in the Ethiopian Airlines plane crash are being given sacks of earth to bury in place of the remains of their loved ones.

The Ethiopian Airlines plane crashed six minutes after taking off from Addis Ababa airport en route to Nairobi, killing all 157 people on board.

On Sunday, officials begun delivering one kilogramme sacks of scorched earth taken from the crash sites, members of two different families told The Associated Press, because identification process for the bodies is taking too long.

“The soil came as it became impossible to identify bodies and hand over remains to family members,” one family member said. “We will not rest until we are given the real body or body parts of our loved ones.”

They spoke on condition of anonymity to avoid any possible government reprisal.

An Ethiopian government official, who also asked not to be named because they were not authorised to speak to reporters, confirmed the deliveries of soil.

Forensic DNA work has begun on identifying the remains but it may take six months to identify the victims, because the body parts are in small pieces.

However, authorities say they will issue death certificates of the victims that came from 35 countries within two weeks. 

Mass memorial

Thousands of people turned out to a mass memorial service for the dead in Addis Ababa on Sunday, one week after the crash.

Some victims’ relatives fainted and fell to the ground during the procession through the Ethiopian capital. 

Bouquets of white roses surrounded aviation staff as they gathered at Bole International Airport to remember the two pilots and six crew, who perished along with 149 passengers. 

Banks of the white flowers, the traditional colour of mourning, were placed in front of a row of empty coffins at the ceremony.

Coffins of Ethiopian passengers and crew members are arranged during a memorial service at the Selassie Church in Addis Ababa [Maheder Haileselassie/Reuters]

Interpol and Blake Emergency Services, hired by Ethiopian Airlines, will work with Ethiopian police and health officials to identify the bodies, Dagmawit Moges, Ethiopia’s Minister of Transport said on Saturday.

“Preparation for the identification process has already started and we will make sure that the post mortem investigation will start as soon as possible,” she said.

Experts from the US National Transportation Safety Board and the plane’s manufacturer Boeing are among those involved in the investigation.

In Paris, investigators are examining black box recorders to determine why the aircraft plunged into a field shortly after take off from Addis Ababa, searching for similarities to an October Lion Air crash that killed 189 people.

Both crashes involved the same model of plane – a Boeing 737 MAX 8 – causing aviation authorities to ground the model around the world after last week’s accident.

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New Zealand PM to discuss attack’s live-streaming with Facebook

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has said she wants to discuss the live-streaming facility available on Facebook after the attacker broadcast the Christchurch massacre live on the platform.

Ardern on Sunday said she would be looking for answers from social media firms about how the mosque attack, that killed 50 people on Friday, was livestreamed on their platforms.

Using a GoPro camera, suspect Brenton Tarrant broadcast extremely graphic footage of him shooting the worshippers at Christchurch’s Al Noor Mosque via Facebook Live.

The distressing 17-minute livestream was available to watch on social media for hours after the attack that also left 34 people wounded.

Ardern said there were “further questions to be answered” by the social media sites.

“We did as much as we could to remove, or seek to have removed, some of the footage that was being circulated in the aftermath of this terrorist attack,” said Ardern.

“But ultimately it has been up to those platforms to facilitate their removal. I do think that there are further questions to be answered.

New Zealand mosque attacks prompt flood of support for Muslims

“I have had contact from Sheryl Sandberg [Facebook CEO]. I haven’t spoken to her directly but she has reached out, an acknowledgment of what has occurred here in New Zealand,” Ardern said a media conference when asked if Facebook should stop live-streaming.

On Sunday, Facebook said it removed 1.5 million videos of the Christchurch shootings “in the first 24 hours”.

“We continue to work around the clock to remove violating content using a combination of technology and people,” Mia Garlick, who works for Facebook in New Zealand, said on Twitter adding that of the removed videos, 1.2 million were “blocked at upload”.

“Out of respect for the people affected by this tragedy and the concerns of local authorities, we’re also removing all edited versions of the video that do not show graphic content,” she said. 

Hours after the attack, New Zealand police said they were working to have the footage removed while urging people not to share it. 

Tech companies “have a content-moderation problem that is fundamentally beyond the scale that they know how to deal with,” Becca Lewis, a researcher at Stanford University and the think-tank Data & Society, was quoted as saying by the Washington Post.

“The financial incentives are in play to keep content first and monetization first.”

On Friday, YouTube tweeted it was “working vigilantly to remove any violent footage” while Twitter said it suspended the account of one of the suspects. 

How can online hate speech be stopped? – Inside Story

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Why We’re So Obsessed with How Politicians Eat

There were many stories from former staffers of Amy Klobuchar that portray her as a difficult boss. But the tale of the Minnesota senator eating a salad with a comb, that’s the one that has become iconic. You probably already know it: An aide didn’t manage to bring utensils for a meal aboard a plane, and so the senator dug a comb out of her bag and proceeded to eat with it. What might have been an exercise in creative problem solving was ruined by Klobuchar’s belittling of the aide and then having the staffer wash the comb afterwards.

It’s memorably weird—so memorable that Klobuchar, who is now running for president, was compelled to diffuse the anecdote with a self-deprecating joke at Washington’s Gridiron Dinner. I’d venture the story is all the more memorable because it centers around a meal.

Story Continued Below

Food and politics have always had a complicated relationship. On one hand, food is a powerful political tool. Eating and drinking are ways in which political candidates reveal their humanity, their common touch. And so they hobnob over barbecue with voters in South Carolina and wolf down eat local delicacies in New Hampshire diners, they livestream from their kitchens and Instagram their calorie bombs at the Iowa State Fair. “Dining together makes you much more relatable, and I think people want a president they feel they could relate to,” says Terry Sullivan, who managed Marco Rubio’s presidential bid in 2016.

Banal as eating can be, though, sharing food and drink is also surprisingly intimate, and it touches on so many taboos, cultural stereotypes and straight up bodily awkwardness that it leaves candidates vulnerable, opening them up to social media mockery.

No one perhaps received more such mockery than Rubio, who, during his response to the 2013 State of the Union address found himself parched and reached off screen momentarily to grab a water bottle, and then gulped some down mid-speech. In the gesture, he committed a normal act of human self-maintenance, but its awkwardness was so profound that even in the moment, advisers knew it was an error. Sullivan says that Rubio had just delivered the same speech seamlessly in Spanish, and then chose not to break before launching into the English version. As his mouth got drier, Sullivan says, “the five of us who were there knew we should have put the bottle two feet closer.” But it was the reach, grab and gulp, coupled by Rubio’s admirable attempt to maintain eye contact with the camera, that made for such devastating GIFs. “Anything that is a 4-second visual is made to be repeated over and over again,” Sullivan says. Though the moment was brief, it continued to pop up as Rubio pursued the nomination, and Trump made mocking reference to it while campaigning three years later.

Nothing quite that viral has happened with this year’s crop of candidates—yet—but, especially at this early point in the race, people are poking around for clues about who each candidate really is. We look for meaning in the candidates’ food choices—perhaps hoping to discover how they act in those human moments when the barriers come down, but also, recognizing that the barriers might still be up, to discover what their meal choices might say about their politics, or strategy.

Food incidents have always had a strong confirmation bias: They tend to underscore the prevailing character sketch of the candidates. John Kerry underscored his image as a vaguely French elitist when he ordered a cheesesteak in Philadelphia with Swiss cheese, not Cheez Whiz; and though George H.W. Bush’s wonder at a grocery scanner was exaggerated, stories about it still confirmed a sense that he had grown out of touch with what it took for average Americans to get food on their tables. Hillary Clinton’s (likely truthful) claim on a hip-hop morning show that that she carried hot sauce everywhere she went—à la Beyonce—was seen as pandering for black support.

This year, candidates’ eating choices are already being scrutinized for signs of inauthenticity—perhaps more than ever. Kirsten Gillibrand got a little heat when she tried to eat fried chicken at a South Carolina chicken and waffles spot. She started using a fork, but then looking around at her neighbors, checked in with the restaurant owner to see if she should eat the chicken with her fingers as well, and after getting the go ahead, did so. “Is there anything Gillibrand has done that is not contrived and opportunistic?” tweeted New York’s Frank Rich. (Using utensils on hand-held food is generally a no-no—recall Tony Blair using cutlery on a hot dog and Bill de Blasio forking at a slice of pizza.)

The Onion even poked fun at the phenomenon with a recent headline: “Bored Iowa Town Trying To Convince Kirsten Gillibrand It Local Tradition To Eat Live Tarantula.” “Every presidential candidate who comes through town does it,” a character in the article, which Gillibrand gamely tweeted, calls out. “Obama did it, Bill Clinton did it. Oh, and they all swallow it, too—so don’t spit it out!”

With Kamala Harris, there seems to be hypervigilance around her eating choices when it comes to anything heavily identified with African-American cuisine, whether that is her own hot sauce or fried chicken, a food with a long history in African American cooking traditions, but also one that has been used in racist iconography for more than a century. In February, Harris joined Reverend Al Sharpton for a meal in Harlem. Seated together at the storied soul-food restaurant, Sylvia’s, with a swarm of photographers clustered at a nearby window, Harris ordered chicken and waffles, a specialty of the restaurant, while Sharpton stuck to his mostly vegan diet. Dave Evans, an ABC reporter, tweeted “Chicken & waffles. Seriously? For @KamalaHarris & toast & bananas for @TheRevAl.” The tweet has since been deleted and exactly what his complaint was is a little unclear, but it seemed he was criticizing her for chasing the African-American vote a little too eagerly.

Politicians get judged for their broader eating habits, too. Some on the right are pouncing on Cory Booker’s vegan diet, hoping it might alienate him from middle America by suggesting he wants to take away Americans’ beloved grilled meats. “Booker wants to take away your hot dog on the Fourth of July,” said Fox host Jesse Watters.

This year, though, some Democrats with large social media platforms are experimenting with how to use food as a net positive, rather than a potential gaffe in the making.

In their videos, Ocasio-Cortez and O’Rourke convey the sense that politicians are real people who do laundry or cook approachable meals at home. AOC used Instagram stories to chat informally about policy while preparing black-bean soup in her Instapot. O’Rourke did a Facebook live stream cooking chicken piccata in his cluttered family kitchen while his daughter popped in and out with her pet snake. Mundanity, it seems, has replaced folksiness in convincing voters that a candidate is authentic. Food is an important part of that.

Other candidates have taken note. “The zeitgeist calls for me to livestream the blow by blow here cooking dinner but then you’d discover that I’m about as useful as Buddy in this process,” wrote Pete Buttigieg about an Instagram shot of his husband wielding tongs to plate what looks like a salmon dinner while their dog Buddy looks on. Harris has stuck so far to showing holiday cooking with family and friends. Gillibrand shares recipes for cobbler. (Bernie Sanders, who never wants to be seen as trivial, doesn’t indulge in Instagram food imagery, nor does Biden, who at last count only had 12 images on his grid.) But this can backfire, too—some dinged Elizabeth Warren for trying too hard to seem relatable after awkwardly opening a beer on a recent livestream.

Food gaffes are almost always rooted in unmasking some perceived inauthenticity, which is perhaps why it has generally not tripped up Donald Trump; his burgers on silver platters fit perfectly with his carefully constructed common-man image. Commenters might have had a field day when, during the 2016 campaign he tweeted “Happy #CincoDeMayo! The best taco bowls are made in Trump Tower Grill. I love Hispanics!” but it didn’t seem to harm him with voters—perhaps because it didn’t actually create a mismatch between his perceived character and what he hoped to project.

And maybe this year’s crop of hungry Democratic candidates can take their cues from Trump in that respect, at least: Be yourself. Buttigieg periodically documents various meals with joyfully unpolished photos, and it seems to be working for him. Warren may want to choose another way to appear approachable. Ah! Perhaps she already has.

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Bill Browder: ‘Living rent-free in Putin’s head’

The turmoil of post-Soviet Russia in the 1990s saw a handful of business people grow rich, while the country itself grew poor.

Into the mix of chaotic capitalism and Wild West opportunity stepped a young Stanford business graduate ready to make his fortune: Bill Browder founded what would become the largest foreign investment fund in Russia, Hermitage Capital Management, worth $4.5bn in assets.

While pushing his own ventures, he spoke out about a culture of corporate corruption and soon fell foul of Russia’s new president, Vladimir Putin.

In 2005, Browder was expelled from the country and declared a “threat to national security”. His Hermitage investment fund was raided, and, he says, a complex fraud conducted by Russian officials resulted in the theft of some $230m.

It was a scheme uncovered by Browder’s lawyer, Sergei Magnitsky, whose later death in prison – apparently the result of torture – set Browder on a lifelong mission to expose corruption.

“They killed him in a horribly sadistic way at the age of 37 and I’ve been going after them ever since they killed him,” Browder said in an interview with Al Jazeera.

If they are ready to kill for money, there’s nothing more painful for them than to have their money frozen. And even if you haven’t frozen their money, just the idea that their money could be frozen is like a sword of Damocles hanging over their head. And that’s why Putin hates the Magnitsky Act so much because he is a kleptocrat first and foremost.

Bill Browder, CEO of Hermitage Capital Management

He lobbied for the 

Magnitsky Act

, which aimed to freeze the assets of those suspected of financial crimes and human rights abuses. It was passed by the 

United States

 Congress in 2012.

At the time of its passage, the Magnitsky Act targeted 18 Russian individuals, barring them from US entry and US bank dealings. In 2016, it became the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act, empowering the executive branch to impose targeted sanctions or visa bans on individuals who committed human rights violations anywhere in the world.

Magnitsky-inspired laws have gained traction in the European Union; Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, the United Kingdom along with several other countries have adopted provisions.

It has drawn the ire of the Russian president who, in 2018, said that he would grant the US access to 12 indicted Russian intelligence officials in exchange for access to several Americans, singling out US-born Browder and accusing him of not paying taxes while in Russia. In 2016, a Russian lawyer lobbied for repealing the Magnitsky Act and indicting Browder in a Trump Tower meeting with members of then-candidate Donald Trump‘s team.

“We know for sure that the Russians were there because of me and the Magnitsky Act … Russia is a country, where … a thousand individuals have stolen a trillion dollars over a 20-year period … and the other 145 million Russians are in destitute poverty,” said Browder.

“What the Magnitsky Act does … is go after those 1,000 people. If they are ready to kill for money there’s nothing more painful for them to have their money frozen. And even if you haven’t frozen their money, just the idea that their money could be frozen is like a sword of Damocles hanging over their head. And that’s why Putin hates the Magnitsky Act so much because he is a kleptocrat first and foremost.

“This law Putin hates so much, and that’s the reason why he hates me. And the fact that this law is causing him so much grief, is something which shows that we’ve got him back … I’m living rent-free in Putin’s head.”

Browder has also been investigating what happened to the millions of dollars that disappeared when his investment fund was raided – which has raised the question of whether or not Trump cropped up along the money trail.

“We’ve traced that for nine years and we’ve found all the money … through law enforcement investigations, through private investigations, through whistleblowers, and so far there has not been any money that went to Donald Trump,” Browder said. “Having said that, there’s a lot of money that went to Vladimir Putin.”

Critics of Browder may argue that he is being hypocritical; like the oligarchs he went after, Browder had taken advantage of the upheaval following the collapse of the Soviet Union to do business. But he says that he did things differently.

“The only similarity is that we were both investing in the system at the very same time. The difference was that almost immediately after I started, I started exposing corruption,” he said. “I was doing it for money, I wasn’t doing it for the goodness of the state. But to invest in companies, expose corruption, and try to stop it, that … [by definition] is a good thing.”

Now, he says Magnitsky-inspired laws are catching on quickly.

“The Magnitsky Act has now turned into a viral phenomenon. It’s jumping from country to country to country. There’s Magnitsky proposals all over the world in different parliaments and governments, etcetera, and of course I can help and stir up the pot and make things happen, but without my presence they would happen at the same time,” he said.

And he considers seriously that he may not be present; he feels under constant threat of being captured or killed by the Russian government.

“I live in a very precarious position where I could be killed, arrested, illegally rendered back to Russia. But I don’t spend my life living in fear … I am not the person who is going to live in fear, I am not the person who is going to withdraw, I am not the person who is going to go into hiding. My reaction is to go straight back at them,” he said. “Fate may deal me a very ugly blow but that’s the decision I’ve taken.”

Source: Al Jazeera News

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Flash floods, mudslides kill at least 50 in Indonesia’s Papua

Flash flood and mudslides triggered by days of torrential downpours tore through mountainside villages in Indonesia‘s easternmost province, killing at least 50 people and wounding 59 others.

The disaster in Papua province’s Jayapura district submerged hundreds of houses in neck-high water and mud, National Disaster Mitigation Agency spokesperson Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said on Sunday.

The floods and slides also destroyed roads and bridges, hampering rescue efforts.

Nugroho said 50 bodies had been pulled from the mud and wreckage of crumpled homes by Sunday, and another 59 people were hospitalised, many with broken bones and head wounds. He said the number of dead and injured is likely to increase since many affected areas have not been reached.

The dead included three children who drowned after the floods began late on Saturday.

“We are overwhelmed by too many injuries,” said Haerul Lee, the head of Jayapura health office, adding that some medical facilities had been hit by power outages. “We can’t handle it alone.”

#Update: Pictures of the Flash floods in #Indonesia‘s easternmost province #Papua that killed at least 42 people and left 21 badly injured. pic.twitter.com/ymdw1CfJoJ

— Sotiri Dimpinoudis (@sotiridi) March 17, 2019

Sentani subdistrict was the worst hit in the disaster, where a landslide early on Sunday was followed minutes later by a river that burst its banks, sweeping away residents in a fast-moving deluge of water, heavy logs and debris, said the local disaster mitigation agency head Martono.

Papua’s provincial administration has declared a two-week emergency in order to get assistance from the central government.

Papua military spokesperson Colonel Muhammad Aidi said rescuers managed to save two injured infants who had been trapped for more than six hours.

The parents of one of the babies were washed away and died.

Martono said rescuers have been evacuating more than 4,000 to temporary shelters.

Television footage showed hundreds of rescuers and members of the police and military evacuating residents to shelters at a government office. Ambulances and vehicles were seen carrying victims on muddy roads to several clinics and hospitals.

#UPDATE: Death toll in #Indonesia‘s flash floods rose to 63. Researchers are rushing to search and rescue dozens more after flash floods hit Jayapura district of Papua province in the country on Saturday night. pic.twitter.com/BDfRlw7tah

— People’s Daily, China (@PDChina) March 17, 2019

In Doyo, a housing complex was littered with huge rocks believed to have rolled down from a nearby mountain, according to an AFP news agency reporter at the scene.

Video footage showed rescuers administering oxygen to a victim who appeared trapped beneath a fallen tree.

Uprooted trees and other debris were strewn across muddy roads, while at Jayapura’s small airport a propeller plane lay partly crushed on a runway.

“The rain started last night and went on until around 1:00 am this morning,” said Lilis Puji Hastuti, a 29-year-old mother of two young children in Sentani.

“Our house was flooded with thick mud … we immediately grabbed our valuables and ran to a neighbour’s house to seek refuge. It’s hard to get out of the area because many roads are blocked … I’m worried, sad and scared all at one time,” she added.

Papua shares a border with independent Papua New Guinea on an island just north of Australia.

Flooding is common in Indonesia, especially during the rainy season which runs from October to April.

In January, floods and landslides killed at least 70 people on Sulawesi island, while earlier this month hundreds in West Java province were forced to evacuate when torrential rains triggered severe flooding.

The Southeast Asian archipelago of some 17,000 islands is one of the most disaster-prone nations on Earth, straddling the Pacific Ring of Fire, where tectonic plates collide.

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‘Referendum on democracy’ – Thailand’s first elections in years

Bangkok, Thailand – Thailand is preparing for its first election since 2014’s military coup, but with a system designed to weaken political parties and ensure the military’s continuing role, few expect the vote to resolve divisions that have plagued the country for two decades.

Nearly 52 million Thais are eligible to vote in the March 24 polls, which will be the first under the new constitution that was drawn up by the military.

Early voting began throughout the country on Sunday.

“I don’t think this election will take Thailand back to a liberal democracy because the constitution allows the military to continue to hold power,” said Titipol Phakdeewanich, a political scientist at the University of Ubon Ratchathani in Thailand’s east.

Nevertheless, he said he thinks it is still important for Thais to vote. “It is a referendum on democracy and whether this country wants to move forward with democracy or not.”

To win power a party must secure a majority across of the 750 seats across both houses of parliament. In the lower house, 350 seats will be directly elected, with the remaining 150 awarded according to each party’s popularity in the polls. The 250-seat upper house will be appointed entirely by the armed forces.

Thailand court disbands opposition party over princess nomination

That means while most parties will need to get 376 seats to secure power, the pro-military party Phalang Pracharat might only need to secure only 126.

Thailand has struggled to overcome deep-rooted political divisions since 2001, when telecommunications tycoon Thaksin Shinawatra rode to power promising to help the country’s rural poor. Thaksin’s rise electrified Thais who had long felt neglected, but it also sent shockwaves through the old guard centred around Bangkok’s elite who had long dominated the country’s politics. 

Even with Thaksin and his sister, Yingluck Shinawatra, exiled amid allegations of corruption, parties aligned with the family have won every election in the country over the past two decades. 

“No matter who wins, Thailand will likely remain in political crisis,” Josh Kurlantzick, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington DC wrote in an update on the elections last month.

Coup after coup

Instability is what the military has used to justify the numerous coups – at least 13 – it has staged since the absolute monarchy came to an end in 1932.

Bringing order to chaos was the reason the military under General Prayuth Chan-ocha gave for ousting the popularly elected government of Pheu Thai under Yingluck.

That coup came after months of turmoil on the streets of Bangkok between Pheu Thai supporters, and those bitterly opposed to the Shinawatras and their brand of populist politics, in itself a continuation of the colour-coded protests that first emerged under Thaksin and led to the coup against him in 2006.

After taking over in 2014, the military set themselves up as the National Council for Peace and Order helmed by General Prayuth, outlawing political activity and cracking down on peaceful opposition to martial rule or criticism of the junta’s policies. 

The NCPO then began drafting a new constitution – the 20th in modern Thailand – giving the military six seats in the unelected upper house, strengthening the Constitutional Court, and adopting a system of proportional voting designed to break the hold of the larger parties. 

After securing public backing in a referendum in August 2016, the constitution was signed into law by King Maha Vajiralongkorn, who took over as monarch after the death of his father, the revered King Bhumibol Adulyadej. He will be officially crowned in May a few day before the election’s official results are announced.

“We are actually inventing a whole new system,” said Termsak Chalermpalanupap, head of the Thailand programme at the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute in Singapore.

Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit, leader of the Future Forward Party, talks to media [Soe Zeya Tun/Reuters]

Fragmentation

Nearly 80 parties and more than 2,700 candidates will be competing for votes in the polls. Some seven million people will be voting for the first time.

The big names include the pro-military Palang Pracharat and the anti-military Pheu Thai and Future Forward, a new party led by car parts tycoon Thanthorn Juangroongruangkit. But there are also other, mostly smaller, parties that have positioned themselves more neutrally.

“In the 1990s, Thailand was considered a promising democracy in a region full of authoritarian regimes, but it turned out not to be,” said Aim Sinpeng, a lecturer in politics at the University of Sydney. “For many young Thais this will be the first time they are voting. The last time there was an election they were just kids.”

Pheu Thai remains popular in the rural heartlands in the country’s northeast that make up its power base, while the more establishment orientated parties continue to have the backing of the elite and middle class in Bangkok. Many voters are concerned about the economy – Southeast Asia’s second-biggest, but sluggish under military rule – and startling levels of wealth inequality.

Will Thailand’s election be free and fair?

Still, candidates and politicians continue to contend with laws, including lese majeste and the Computer Crimes Act, which can make it risky to speak out or even campaign. At the end of February, a Cyber Security Act was added to the authorities’ arsenal, allowing access to computer data and networks. 

Thai Raksa Chart, a spin-off of Pheu Thai, was dissolved last month and its leading members banned from politics for 10 years by the Constitutional Court after the party announced Princess Ubolratana Rajakanya as its candidate for prime minister. The princess gave up her royal titles when she married an American in 1972 and had carved out a career for herself as an actress and television host since returning to the country.

But her candidacy broke the tradition that royalty should not get involved in politics. In a statement, the king, her younger brother, described her candidacy as “inappropriate”.

Future Forward’s leader Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit, meanwhile, and other party executives face the prospect of criminal charges after the election over comments criticising the military that were posted on Facebook last year.

As campaigning enters its final week, some 52 lawmakers from around the region have urged the military government to lift restrictions on freedom of speech and expression.

“A true democracy depends on people being able to form an opinion without fear of retaliation or repercussion, something that is just not possible in Thailand today,” Charles Santiago, a member of the Malaysian parliament and chair of Asean Parliamentarians for Human Rights. 

“If the election is to have any legitimacy or credibility, the junta must immediately remove all remaining restrictions on freedom of expression and ensure the release of all those imprisoned solely for their peaceful political views.” 

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Stephen Curry, Warriors Crush Russell Westbrook, Thunder Without Kevin Durant

Oklahoma City Thunder guard Russell Westbrook (0) defends against Golden State Warriors guard Klay Thompson (11) during the first half of an NBA basketball game Saturday, March 16, 2019, in Oklahoma City. (AP Photo/June Frantz Hunt)

June Frantz Hunt/Associated Press

Despite being without Kevin Durant due to an ankle injury, the Golden State Warriors dominated the Oklahoma City Thunder 110-88 at Chesapeake Energy Arena in Oklahoma City on Saturday night.

Warriors guard Stephen Curry led all scorers with 33 points to go along with seven rebounds and three assists. He was aided by teammate Klay Thompson, who chipped in 23 points of his own.

  1. Steph Returns to Houston for 1st Time Since His Moon Landing Troll

  2. Lou Williams Is Coming for a Repeat of Sixth Man of the Year

  3. Pat Beverley Has the Clippers Stealing the LA Shine

  4. LeBron Keeps Shredding NBA Record Books

  5. Young’s Hot Streak Is Heating Up the ROY Race with Luka

  6. LeBron and 2 Chainz Form a Superteam to Release a New Album

  7. Wade’s #OneLastDance Dominated February

  8. Warriors Fans Go Wild After Unforgettable Moments with Steph

  9. Eight Years Ago, the Nuggets Traded Melo to the Knicks

  10. Two Years Ago, the Kings Shipped Boogie to the Pelicans

  11. ASG Will Be Competitive Again If the NBA Raises the Stakes

  12. Will Harden Burn Himself Out Before the Playoffs?

  13. When MJ Wore #12 After His Jersey Was Stolen Before a Game

  14. 15 Years Ago, LeBron, Wade and Melo Took Over All-Star Weekend

  15. 14 Years Ago, Iverson Dropped Career-High 60 Points

  16. The Kyrie and LeBron Bromance Is Back!

  17. Bats Have Become an Unexpected Attraction at Spurs Games

  18. KD Giving Back to His Hometown with Durant Center

  19. Four Years Ago, Klay Drops Record 37 Pts in One Quarter

  20. Remembering the Night Kobe Scored 81 Points

Right Arrow Icon

While Paul George was productive in defeat for the Thunder with 29 points and 13 rebounds, guard Russell Westbrook had arguably his worst game of the season, finishing with seven points on 2-of-16 shooting, as well as nine assists and eight rebounds.

  1. Steph Returns to Houston for 1st Time Since His Moon Landing Troll

  2. Lou Williams Is Coming for a Repeat of Sixth Man of the Year

  3. Pat Beverley Has the Clippers Stealing the LA Shine

  4. LeBron Keeps Shredding NBA Record Books

  5. Young’s Hot Streak Is Heating Up the ROY Race with Luka

  6. LeBron and 2 Chainz Form a Superteam to Release a New Album

  7. Wade’s #OneLastDance Dominated February

  8. Warriors Fans Go Wild After Unforgettable Moments with Steph

  9. Eight Years Ago, the Nuggets Traded Melo to the Knicks

  10. Two Years Ago, the Kings Shipped Boogie to the Pelicans

  11. ASG Will Be Competitive Again If the NBA Raises the Stakes

  12. Will Harden Burn Himself Out Before the Playoffs?

  13. When MJ Wore #12 After His Jersey Was Stolen Before a Game

  14. 15 Years Ago, LeBron, Wade and Melo Took Over All-Star Weekend

  15. 14 Years Ago, Iverson Dropped Career-High 60 Points

  16. The Kyrie and LeBron Bromance Is Back!

  17. Bats Have Become an Unexpected Attraction at Spurs Games

  18. KD Giving Back to His Hometown with Durant Center

  19. Four Years Ago, Klay Drops Record 37 Pts in One Quarter

  20. Remembering the Night Kobe Scored 81 Points

Right Arrow Icon

Westbrook was also called for a technical foul, and he will be forced to serve a one-game suspension since it was his 16th of the season unless it is rescinded by the NBA, according to Erik Horne of The Oklahoman:

Erik Horne @ErikHorneOK

Here come the silly fouls after no-calls. First on Paul George, then Russell Westbrook.

Westbrook gets a technical foul after the play. Should be his 16th unless any are rescinded in the next update from the NBA, which means Westbrook would have to served a one-game suspension.

The tech came when Westbrook argued with an official after expressing his belief that he had been fouled:

ESPN @espn

Russ earned his 16th tech of the season vs. the Warriors.

If it’s not rescinded, he’ll be suspended 1 game and fined $5,000. https://t.co/v0Vr0opqSg

Fresh off a thrilling 106-104 road win over the Houston Rockets with KD on the shelf, the Warriors were the better team from start to finish Saturday. Golden State dropped 40 points in the opening quarter and held a 13-point lead after 12 minutes of play, which it never relinquished.

With a 16-point advantage entering the fourth quarter, Warriors head coach Steve Kerr was able to get the likes of Shaun Livingston, Quinn Cook, Alfonzo McKinnie and Jordan Bell ample playing time off the bench, but OKC was still unable to close the gap.

Golden State won the season series over Oklahoma City 2-1 by virtue of Saturday’s victory, and the Dubs made it clear there is a significant gap between the top team and the No. 5 seed in the Western Conference.

Even without arguably their best player in Durant, the Warriors had the look of a team that is ready to run through the West en route to a fifth consecutive NBA Finals appearance.

Durant’s Absence Aiding in Golden State’s Playoff Preparation

The Warriors may not be a better team when Durant is out of the lineup, but with him sitting Saturday, Golden State appeared more focused and efficient than it has been in weeks.

Essentially everything ran through Curry offensively against OKC, and that worked in the Warriors’ favor. The ball movement was crisp and fluid, and the Thunder had a difficult time finding answers on the defensive end:

NBA on ESPN @ESPNNBA

Can’t take your 👀 off Steph Curry if you’re on defense.

(📍 @autozone) https://t.co/k2ri6g5gws

Because Durant is such a dynamic one-on-one player, there are times when the Warriors fall into the trap of letting him go iso, which can adversely impact their offensive sets. Since the temptation wasn’t present Saturday, Golden State spread the ball around and got 12 different players on the scoresheet.

While Durant is on the verge of returning, his two-game absence may be beneficial in the long term since it allowed the Warriors to find their offensive rhythm.

It isn’t often that a team can still thrive without a two-time NBA Finals MVP in the lineup, but the Warriors have done just that due to Curry’s presence, per KNBR’s Gary Radnich:

Gary Radnich @GaryRadnich

#Warriors now 25-1 in games Steph Curry plays and Durant sits…any doubt who is the Warriors MVP ?

Along with their excellence on the offensive end, the Warriors seemed to be engaged on defense from start to finish, holding the Thunder to a season-low 88 points.

The Athletic’s Marcus Thompson pointed out that Klay Thompson, Andre Iguodala and Draymond Green all had excellent defensive performances:

Marcus Thompson @ThompsonScribe

Klay’s Iguodala And Draymond are CLAMPING

The fact that Durant has been named NBA Finals MVP in each of the past two seasons proves the Warriors are largely a better team with him, and there is no question that his impending return is a scary proposition for opposing teams considering how Golden State played Saturday.

Curry and Co. showed they are playoff-ready against OKC, and they also offered a glimpse of what Warriors basketball could be like next season and beyond should Durant opt to sign elsewhere in free agency during the offseason.

What’s Next?

Golden State will continue its four-game road trip Monday with a matchup against the San Antonio Spurs. Kerr said that Durant will “most likely” be back in the lineup for that one.

Following Saturday’s disappointing performance, the Thunder will look to get back on track Monday when they host the Miami Heat.

This article will be updated to provide more information soon.

Get the best sports content from the web and social in the new B/R app. Get the app and get the game.

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New Zealand mosque attacks: Who is Brenton Tarrant?

Melbourne, Australia – The Australian man allegedly responsible for live streaming a massacre of Muslims as they prayed in New Zealand mosques was not previously known to security agencies in Australia or New Zealand, authorities said.

Brenton Tarrant, 28, accused of carrying out attacks on two mosques in Christchurch on Friday that resulted in the deaths of at least 50 people, including children, appeared in court on Saturday charged with murder.

Tarrant, described by Australia’s Prime Minister Scott Morrison as an “extremist, right-wing, violent terrorist”, expressed admiration for other violent white nationalists and his intention to “create an atmosphere of fear” and to “incite violence” against Muslims.

Bob Parker, a former Christchurch mayor, said it was unclear why security agencies weren’t aware of the threat Tarrant posed.

“I think there are questions to be asked about why this wasn’t picked up by authorities. There does seem to be a significant amount of information that was put online sometime before this attack took place, and it does not seem to have rung alarm bells in the right places,” Parker told Al Jazeera.

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said at a media conference that Tarrant was not on a “terrorist” watch list.

“This individual was not on any watch list for either New Zealand or Australia,” she said. “What I’ve sought from [security] agencies is further work to ascertain whether or not he should have been.”

Personal trainer

An Australian Federal Police (AFP) spokesperson confirmed to Al Jazeera “the man was not known to police in Australia for violent extremism or serious criminal behaviour”. Three other suspects were arrested along with Tarrant on Friday, but police now say he acted alone.

“The NSW joint Counter-Terrorism Team has begun an Australian based investigation to assist New Zealand Police,” the AFP spokesperson said. “With an investigation under way, it is not appropriate to provide further comment.”

New Zealand shooting: Many worshippers killed at Christchurch mosques

Tarrant has spent little time in Australia in the past four years and only had minor traffic infractions on his record, authorities said. He had worked as a personal trainer at the Big River Gym in Grafton, a small city 500km northwest of Sydney.

After his father died in 2011, Tarrant used his inheritance to travel internationally, including to France where he claimed to have seen an “invasion” of immigrants.

The gym’s owner Tracey Gray told Australian media, “I think something must have changed in him during the years he spent travelling overseas… Somewhere along the lines, experiences or a group have got a hold of him.”

Delusional, dangerous

“The origins of my language is European, my culture is European, my political beliefs are European, my philosophical beliefs are European, my identity is European and, most importantly, my blood is European,” wrote Tarrant in a 74-page so-called manifesto posted online prior to the attacks.

It detailed an anti-immigration, neo-fascist ideology lamenting the supposed decline of European civilisation. While describing himself as a “regular white man”, Tarrant speculated he might get 27 years in prison just like Nelson Mandela and be awarded a Nobel Peace Prize.

Responding to his own question “Is there a particular person that radicalised you the most?”, Tarrant wrote: “Yes, the person that has influenced me above all was [US conservative commentator] Candace Owens… Each time she spoke I was stunned by her insights and her own views helped push me further and further into the belief of violence over meekness.”

Professor Greg Barton, chair of global Islamic politics at the Alfred Deakin Institute for Globalisation & Citizenship, characterised Tarrant as having an “unhealthy narcissism” common among “terrorists”.

“I think he was drawn by this dark fantasy of going zero to hero, like an Anders Behring Breivik, like the Quebec City mosque shooting of January 2017,” said Barton.

“It had to be imported from Australia,” he added, referring to the Islamophobic ideology that motivated the attack, “coinciding with that access to assault weapons”.

While known for having more moderate politics, New Zealand has relatively lax gun laws in comparison with its larger neighbour.

Right-wing terror

Asked why the perpetrator would not have been on a terrorism watch list, Barton said, “there are so many people posting the sort of thing that Brenton Tarrant was posting, that they just don’t raise any alarms. There is a large cloud of right-wing extremism online”.

Anti-racism campaigners in Australia have raised concern in recent years about far-right figures such as Tommy Robinson or Milo Yiannopoulosseeking to tour the country, where they attract significant followings online.

Analysis: ‘How Fascism Works’? – New Zealand mosque shootings

Australia’s Immigration Minister David Coleman said Saturday Yiannopoulos’ visa had been revoked because of comments he made in the wake of the Christchurch attacks, which referred to Islam as “barbaric”.

“The police has been telling us for several years that their big, rising concern – which they struggled to put resources at because it’s not an immediate threat – is the rise of right-wing extremism,” Barton said. “They’ve always said it’s not a case of if, not when, they come to Australia resulting in serious violence.”

According to a recent report from the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), domestic extremists killed 50 people in the United States last year – an overwhelming majority of which were perpetrated by right-wing extremists.

“White supremacists were responsible for the great majority of the killings,” it said.

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Every NFL Team’s Smartest Offseason Decision so Far

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    Ben Margot/Associated Press

    The heaviest waves of veteran movement in the NFL come at the start of the new league year. Between free agency opening up and roster bonus dates—which create deadlines for cap casualties and trades—coming into play, the NFL drastically reshuffles itself within a week.

    Not even one full week into the new league year, the vast majority of the clear starting-level talent on the market has been scooped up. We’ll take you through each team’s best move this offseason, whether that’s who they picked up, who they avoided, who they re-signed, who they let walk, who they traded or who they released.

    Only one team is going to come out of this season with a Super Bowl ring, but there is a quality decision, at least on the surface, that every franchise in the league has made in the last month.

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    Matt York/Associated Press

    The Arizona Cardinals, coming off of a 3-13 season, obviously were not the most talented team coming into the offseason. But somewhat surprisingly, the team, led by head coach Kliff Kingsbury transitioning from the college level, has been extremely active this offseason.

    Before the league year even began, Arizona signed three veterans who were cap casualties: cornerback Robert Alford, pass-rusher Brooks Reed and tight end Charles Clay. Alford, a 30-year-old with 85 pass deflections and 10 interceptions in his career, has started 76 games in the NFL. Reed, who just turned 32, has tallied 54 quarterback hits, 35 tackles for loss and 21.5 sacks in 86 starts. Clay, a 30-year-old with 3,631 receiving yards and 23 receiving touchdowns, has started 100 games in the NFL.

    The Cardinals also made a trade with the Pittsburgh Steelers for right tackle Marcus Gilbert, a 31-year-old who has started 87 games in his eight-year career. The cost of the bookend? A sixth-round pick. Not bad for a team that gave up a sack on 9.5 percent of dropbacks last season, the 27th-ranked mark in the league.

    Once the legal tampering window opened, the Cardinals came to terms with 36-year-old pass-rusher Terrell Suggs, who currently has the most career sacks (132.5) among active NFL players after Julius Peppers’ retirement. While most of the league spent their offseason drooling over 20-somethings cashing in on big contracts, Arizona went for aging veterans who can smooth out the holes in their roster in the short term.

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    Joe Robbins/Getty Images

    For the second straight year, the Atlanta Falcons’ cap situation has kept them from making a large splash in free agency. Currently, the Falcons have just $7.3 million available in cap space, 31st in the league. This, in part, is because the squad elected to use the $15.2 million franchise tag on defensive tackle Grady Jarrett, who now has the second-highest cap hit on the team.

    Over the last two seasons, Jarrett has recorded 10 sacks and 23 tackles for loss. The only defensive tackles to surpass those numbers in that period are Akiem Hicks, Cameron Heyward, Aaron Donald, Jurrell Casey and Geno Atkins. Of that group, Hicks is on the cheapest deal ($48 million), Donald is on the most expensive deal ($135 million) and Heyward, Casey and Atkins are on contracts that range from $59.2 million to $65.2 million.

    A $15.2 million cap hit feels like a lot now, but Jarrett is putting up numbers that warrant a blockbuster contract. Making sure that they were able to negotiate with Jarrett through the summer on a multi-year deal was the best thing the Falcons could have done this offseason, and the franchise tag ensured they would be his sole suitor in the 2019 offseason.

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    Charlie Riedel/Associated Press

    Michael Crabtree had his worst season in the NFL in 2018, finishing with 3.4 receptions per game (a career low), 37.9 yards per game (another career low) and a 54.0 percent catch rate (you guessed it, another career low.) Just one season into a three-year, $21 million contract that only paid out $8 million in the first year, the Baltimore Ravens moved on from the 31-year-old, who was a free-agent signing in 2018.

    By accounting for $4.7 million in dead cap in 2019, they avoided paying him the remaining $13 million he was owed over the 2019 and 2020 seasons. Baltimore can now focus on reshaping its receiving unit in the Lamar Jackson era.

    Currently, the only returning wide receiver on the roster who had more than 200 yards last season is Willie Snead. Assume the Ravens will utilize the cap space provided by the Crabtree release and be active in the free-agent receiver market moving forward.

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    Mark Tenally/Associated Press

    You may not be familiar with Ty Nsekhe, but there’s a good reason for that. Coming out of Texas State, Nsekhe was a two-way player for four different Arena Football League teams from 2009 to 2012. A short preseason stint with the Indianapolis Colts in August 2012 led to the then-St. Louis Rams adding him to their active roster a month later. That season, he wound up playing two games for the Rams as a 27-year-old rookie.

    He was released the following offseason, and after a brief stint with the New Orleans Saints, he spent time in the Canadian Football League and rejoined the AFL. He didn’t play in another regular-season NFL game until he was picked up by the Washington Redskins in 2015.

    In 2018, Nsekhe, now 33 years old, became a first-time unrestricted free agent in the NFL. While he has never been a full-time starter, he has started 16 games over the last four years in Washington. Because of his age, the Buffalo Bills were able to land Nsekhe on a two-year, $14.5 million contract with $7.7 million guaranteed. According to Spotrac, those practical guarantees rank 87th among active NFL contracts.

    For a tackle whom Pro Football Focus ranked 19th in 2016 and 42nd in 2018, that’s about as good of a deal as you’re going to get on the open market.

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    Jack Dempsey/Associated Press

    One of the biggest questions the Carolina Panthers needed to address this offseason was what the team did at the center position in the post-Ryan Kalil era. While Kalil had started 145 games for the Panthers since 2007, he missed 18 games over the last three years due to injury. In December, the 33-year-old announced his retirement from football.

    With a five-time Pro Bowler leaving, Carolina needed to fill the hole in their offensive line with a quality player. The candidate that made the most sense was former Denver Bronco Matt Paradis, who was Pro Football Focus’ second-ranked center in the league last season.

    For $29 million over three years, the Panthers were able to secure Paradis’ services. There is some risk involved considering Paradis only started nine games in 2018 due to a fractured fibula, but the incoming talent they added is higher than the 2018 version of Kalil.

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    Patrick Semansky/Associated Press

    Cordarrelle Patterson: first-round bust and potentially the greatest kick returner ever. That’s what the Chicago Bears got with a two-year, $10 million contract.

    In New England last year, Patterson was used more as a running back and jet-sweep player (42 carries) than a traditional receiver (21 receptions), but his calling card has always been his ability as a kick returner. Since he entered the league in 2013, Patterson has taken back six kick returns for touchdowns, three times more than any other individual in the league over that time.

    Among post-merger players in NFL history with 50 or more kick returns, Patterson ranks first in yards per kick return. The distance between Patterson (29.98 yards) and the second-ranked player (Joe McKnight: 28.73) is nearly the distance between the second-ranked player and the seventh-ranked player (Ameer Abdullah: 27.47.) Patterson is clearly in a class of his own, and at age 27, he has plenty of career ahead of him.

    As a Chicago Bear, he will likely earn his seventh kick return touchdown, which would give him the third-most in NFL history behind Josh Cribbs and Leon Washington.

7 of 32

    Gary Landers/Associated Press

    The tight end market got silly this offseason. After drafting two tight ends in the top 100 last year, the Baltimore Ravens gave blocking tight end Nick Boyle (613 career receiving yards) a three-year, $18 million deal. In the same division, the Cincinnati Bengals had to make a decision about Tyler Kroft (661 career receiving yards).

    In the end, Kroft signed with the Buffalo Bills on a deal that nearly mirrored Boyles’: $18.75 million over three years. At some point, you have to question the real value of a blocking tight end. If he is only generating about 150 yards per season, is he even being respected in the passing game? Would that money not be of better use on a swing tackle, who can come in as a sixth offensive lineman to block as a tight end and likely receive the same amount of respect running routes?

    At least a swing tackle would be able to start at offensive tackle in an injury situation, something that is increasingly important as collapsing offensive lines tank passing games by midseason in today’s NFL. Bengals tackle Jake Fisher reportedly has been dropping weight to become a blocking tight end professionally, a great career choice if they are going to get paid like low-level starters and high-level swing tackles.

    If the Bengals can get Fisher back in that role on the cheaper side, they will never regret Kroft walking out the door.

8 of 32

    Seth Wenig/Associated Press

    Before free agency even officially opened, the Cleveland Browns made one of the splashiest moves of the offseason by trading 2019 first- and third-round picks and safety Jabrill Peppers to the New York Giants for three-time Pro Bowl receiver Odell Beckham Jr. It is always hard to gauge the value of a trade with so many moving parts, but luckily, Pro Football Focus did the math.

    PFF’s Eric Eager claims said the WAR (wins above replacement) of those two picks and Peppers is worth 1.85 wins over the lifetime of their projected contracts. Beckham was worth 1.95 WAR in just 2018.

    That means if Beckham’s 2019 matches his 2018, the Browns will already be in the black one year into the trade. On top of that, Cleveland gets Beckham on a contract that will not have his signing bonus prorated onto their cap, meaning their cap hits from 2019 to 2022 will be $16 million cheaper than what the Giants were slated to account for.

    Beckham also has no guaranteed money left on his deal after the 2019 season, meaning he is essentially playing out a one-year deal with four team options as it currently stands. Cleveland should get more out of Beckham this year than the three assets it sent to New York will be worth for four seasons combined. After that, the Browns can drop Beckham’s salary if he is not worth his pay. Cleveland general manager John Dorsey certainly got the better end of a lopsided deal.

9 of 32

    Ron Jenkins/Associated Press

    Sometimes negotiations aren’t pretty.

    Dallas Cowboys pass-rusher Demarcus Lawrence joins running back Le’Veon Bell and quarterback Kirk Cousins in a group of players who not only played through one franchise tag but were hit with back-to-back franchise tags. In search of a long-term deal, Lawrence and the Cowboys came to no resolution after the last tag, but hopefully they can reach a multiyear deal before the deadline this summer.

    While Lawrence is reportedly threatening to not even have shoulder surgery until he receives a long-term contract, making the Cowboys risk Lawrence potentially rehabbing during the season at the cost of $20.6 million, they had to do what they had to do. The options were let Lawrence leave this offseason for a 2020 compensatory third-round pick, potentially destabilizing a playoff season with quarterback Dak Prescott still on a cheap rookie contract, or applying a second tag to Lawrence.

    When part-time starters like Za’Darius Smith went for $66 million on the open market, it showed why Dallas’ only option was to franchise-tag Lawrence in an effort to work out a long-term deal with him. The downside is paying $20.6 million if, for whatever reason, his play falls off in 2019, but considering a multiyear contract would command well more than that in guarantees, the offset is minimal.

    If worst comes to worst, the Cowboys can shop him to potential suitors who would be willing to give him the commitment he is looking for, like the Kansas City Chiefs did with Dee Ford. Ford commanded a 2020 second-round pick and a new contract in a trade to the San Francisco 49ers, meaning the Chiefs came away with better than they would have gotten had they let him walk in free agency.  

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    Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images

    Case Keenum was clearly not the answer at quarterback in Denver, but no one knew if the Broncos would be looking to replace him in free agency or through the draft until they traded for Joe Flacco, who was benched last year in Baltimore for rookie Lamar Jackson. At first, the idea of a Flacco rebirth seemed laughable. Over the last two years, no quarterback with 25 or more starts had a lower Adjusted Net Yards per Attempt (ANY/A) than he did.

    In short, he was the worst quarterback to see the most playing time. The reactions were immediate: How could the Broncos just settle for a quarterback like that this early into the offseason?

    Then came the Nick Foles contract. By no means is this a claim that Flacco is going to succeed in Denver, but having him on a contract with $0 guaranteed compared to Foles’ $50.1 million guaranteed is a much better option. When a quarterback like Patrick Mahomes (2018 ANY/A: 8.9) is in your division, neither Flacco (2017-2018 ANY/A: 5.2) nor Foles (2017-2018 ANY/A: 5.9) is moving the needle. During the regular season, Foles has only been marginally better than Blake Bortles (ANY/A: 5.8) over the last two years.

    The Broncos probably didn’t find the answer to their quarterback situation with Flacco, but they did take themselves out of the bidding for Foles, who now has the potential to hinder the Jacksonville Jaguars’ salary cap for the next three years. Having Flacco essentially play out option years gives them flexibility, which is important when your quarterback is a borderline starter.

11 of 32

    Charles Krupa/Associated Press

    Last season, Khalil Mack and Aaron Donald signed top-tier contracts as defenders that slated them for a combined $276 million, completely resetting the market for what star defenders are worth. As the top pass-rusher available on the open market this offseason, many thought Trey Flowers, coming off of a Super Bowl win with the New England Patriots, would break the bank.

    Instead of matching Mack’s contract, Flowers signed a five-year, $90 million deal with Detroit that came one year and $51 million short of Mack’s deal. On top of that, Mack’s $60 million guaranteed at signing is over 50 percent more than Flowers received.

    After a hard market reset, like we saw on pass-rushers last year, the free-agent market, usually filled with players just a tier below the stars who do the resetting, generally follows. For whatever reason, Flowers, who was named a Pro Football Focus second-team All-Pro list last season, was unable to get that type of money.

    The Lions are the beneficiary of that. While the edge-rusher market is likely to keep expanding over the next five years, the Lions are only on the hook for an average of $15.3 million in cash per year for Flowers’ services from 2020 to 2023.   

12 of 32

    Mike Roemer/Associated Press

    One of the biggest questions this offseason was what the Green Bay Packers would do with Nick Perry’s contract, considering his large signing bonus and how much of that prorated bonus had yet to hit the salary cap. If they designated him a post-June 1 release, they would save no immediate cap space for free agency. If they released him before June 1, they would eat $11 million in dead cap. If they let him play out the year, would he be worth the money?

    In the end, the Packers took the option of immediate cap space with a pre-June 1 release. That allowed them to fit the first years of free-agent signings Za’Darius Smith and Preston Smith under the cap. Only after the news broke that Green Bay was signing the two pass-rushers did it become clear Perry would be released.

    Perry, who was slated to make north of $32 million over the next three seasons, was cut for an $11 million dead-cap figure. According to Spotrac, it is the sixth-largest dead-cap number for an individual in the 2019 season. While most of the cap relief will be felt in 2020 and 2021, moving on from Perry and signing the Smiths as starters was a great turn of the tide at the edge positions.

13 of 32

    Michael Wyke/Associated Press

    As with most of the franchise-tagged players, the theme of the Jadeveon Clowney tag is that the Houston Texans could not let him walk for a compensatory pick.

    The 2014 first overall pick, Clowney has racked up 24.5 sacks and 53 tackles for loss over the last three seasons. The only players to match those stats are Chandler Jones and Aaron Donald.

    Two years ago, Jones earned an $82.5 million contract, meaning the $15.4 million Clowney is due in 2019 is a fraction of what his multiyear extension could be worth. Clowney is a 26-year-old star who would have been the premier defensive lineman in the 2019 free-agency class. Houston needed to ensure it got more than a 2020 third-round compensatory pick for his services. Working on a long-term extension with the safety net of being able to shop him for a higher draft pick was the right thing to do.

    The stability Clowney brings the team also has value. Defensively, Houston’s only other players under contract with 20 or more starts over the last two years are Benardrick McKinney, D.J. Reader, Zach Cunningham, J.J. Watt and soon-to-be 35-year-old Johnathan Joseph. With defenders rotating in and out of the lineup as frequently as they are in Houston, it must feel nice for the Texans to hang their hat on Clowney for another year.

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    Mark Zaleski/Associated Press

    You do not see situations like his in the NFL often, but 2013 second-round pick Margus Hunt had a breakout year as a 31-year-old in 2018. The former Estonian shot putter recorded 15 of his 20 career starts for the Indianapolis Colts last year during a playoff run, vaulting him into the conversation of breakout defensive linemen.

    He posted 13 tackles for loss, something only seven other players listed at 280 pounds or more were able to do, according to Pro Football Reference. When you make it on a list with Chris Jones, Geno Atkins, DeForest Buckner, Calais Campbell, J.J. Watt, Cameron Jordan and Aaron Donald, teams will fight for your services.

    The worries about giving Hunt a multiyear contract were his age and the possibility he was a one-year wonder. Before free agency began, Hunt re-signed with the Colts on a two-year, $9 million deal that is cheap for a starting veteran defensive lineman. According to Spotrac, his average salary of $4.5 million per year ranks 50th among defensive linemen, and only 77 make more than $1 million per year on their current contracts.

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    David J. Phillip/Associated Press

    The Jacksonville Jaguars have released 2014 third overall pick Blake Bortles after he started five years for the team. Of the 24 quarterbacks with 1,500 or more pass attempts over the course of Bortles’ NFL run, he finished dead last in Adjusted Net Yards per Attempt.

    Moving on from Bortles’ contract allowed the Jaguars to save $8.4 million in cash in 2019, earn some cap relief and open up a roster spot for someone who could compete to be their quarterback of the future. Keeping Bortles at his price point when he had previously been benched by the likes of Chad Henne and Cody Kessler was not an option.

    Hopefully, after the Nick Foles signing, the team will still explore the NFL draft over the next two years to try to find a franchise passer. The Jaguars own the seventh overall pick in the draft, making it the 11th time in 12 years that they own a top-10 pick. Their two swings at quarterbacks in that range were misses (Blaine Gabbert and Bortles), but they need to keep swinging.

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    Ed Zurga/Associated Press

    Safety Eric Berry might bounce back with another team, but the Kansas City Chiefs could not keep him at his price. The five-time Pro Bowler only played in three games in the 2017 and 2018 seasons after he arguably had the best year of his career in 2016.

    Following his franchise-tag season in 2016, Berry signed a $78 million contract. Kansas City had a decision to make: Was Berry, averaging 1.5 games played per year, worth the $48.1 million in cash he was owed over the next four years? The answer was clearly no, so the Chiefs moved on.

    The release of Berry, along with the tag-and-trade of Dee Ford and the release of Justin Houston, showed an initiative by the team to have a full-blown restart on the defensive side of the ball while MVP quarterback Patrick Mahomes is still on a rookie contract. Injuries put them in a tough position, and they chose to bite the bullet and get through this transitional period quickly.

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    Ron Schwane/Associated Press

    The Los Angeles Chargers have been fairly quiet this offseason, but one major move was signing former Pro Bowl quarterback Tyrod Taylor. Taylor started in Buffalo for three years, and Chargers head coach Anthony Lynn was with the Bills for the first two. Taylor, 29, was the Week 1 starter in Cleveland in 2018 but was benched three games in for rookie first overall pick Baker Mayfield.

    Over the last four seasons, Taylor has an Adjusted Net Yards per Attempt of 6.06, a higher number than veterans like Cam Newton (6.02), Eli Manning (6.01), Nick Foles (5.43) and Joe Flacco (5.36.) He is a borderline starting quarterback who should bring the Chargers a higher passing efficiency than rookie passers traditionally do.

    On a two-year, $11 million contract, Taylor is also significantly cheaper than the likes of Newton, Manning, Foles and Flacco. According to Spotrac, Newton, Manning and Flacco will make between $16.7 million and $18.5 million in cash this year, while Foles will bring home about $30.8 million between his 2019 salary and signing bonus.

    Taylor is familiar with Lynn’s offense, is talented enough to push for a starting job, is a cheaper option than his peers and gives the Chargers some flexibility as starter Philip Rivers goes into the last year of his contract as a 37-year-old. This one checks all the boxes.

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    Nick Wass/Associated Press

    Six-time Pro Bowl free safety Eric Weddle was a cap casualty for the Baltimore Ravens, who would later sign future Hall of Famer Earl Thomas to replace him. Weddle, before the new league year began, signed a two-year, $10.5 million contract with the Los Angeles Rams, providing experience and veteran depth at a position they have been trying solidify.

    Their 2018 starting free safety, Lamarcus Joyner, was franchise-tagged and played through his contract, costing the Rams $11.3 million in cap space last season. Weddle is making less than that over two years. Not only is Weddle a quality middle-of-the-field safety, but he also prevented Los Angeles from having to compete for Joyner’s services.

    Joyner signed a four-year, $42 million deal with the Oakland Raiders that would slate him to make $22 million over the first two seasons of the deal. Paying less than half price for an outgoing starter’s replacement? Savvy move, Les Snead.

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    Brynn Anderson/Associated Press

    Officially, the Miami Dolphins have not done much this March. They released Ted Larsen, Andre Branch, Danny Amendola and Josh Sitton, they traded quarterback Ryan Tannehill, and they signed tight ends Dwayne Allen and Clive Walford. They also signed cornerback Eric Rowe, a former New England Patriot like Allen.

    The Dolphins’ official Twitter account noted they had a visit with potential starting quarterback Teddy Bridgewater, who later re-signed to be the New Orleans Saints’ backup at the tune of $7.3 million on a one-year deal with $5 million more in incentives. Outside of that, Brian Flores has seemingly brought a piece of New England with him, as the early stages of free agency are quiet.

    The team can still make moves, like saving $12.9 million in cap space with the release of defensive end Robert Quinn, but they have yet to do it. Currently, the team is slated to have $95 million in cap space in 2020 without including the rollover of their sixth-ranked $35.1 million in 2019.

    Flores and Co. are stripping the team down to its bare contributors and are acting as if they have accepted this is going to be a long-term rebuild. There is no urgency to sign contracts when they are not in Super Bowl contention. More teams should take this approach with a new coaching staff.

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    Mark LoMoglio/Associated Press

    2014 first-round pick Anthony Barr, after starting 71 games for the Minnesota Vikings, was one of the hottest names on the free-agent market during this cycle. After nearly signing with the New York Jets as a pass-rusher, Barr had a change of heart and returned to the Vikings on a five-year, $67.5 million contract.

    Despite the massive price tag, Barr will only cost the Vikings a $5.6 million cap hit in 2019 even though he is making $16 million in cash. By year three of his contract, he can be released for immediate cap savings of $7.7 million and cash savings of $41.4 million over three years. Essentially, he signed a two-year, $26.1 million contract with team options.

    One of the more interesting factoids of the Barr contract is that starting in 2020, he will have $3 million in incentives tied up to sack totals on a yearly basis. Could it be that after Everson Griffen is no longer starting, Barr—an off-ball linebacker who played a pass-rushing position in college—could transition to a pass-rushing role? If he succeeds in that transition, he will be playing well below the market price of a quality pass-rushing veteran, as he is being paid in line with the off-ball linebacker market.

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    Mark Tenally/Associated Press

    The New England Patriots almost always pick at the end of the draft. To make up for draft capital, they have to rely on compensatory draft picks from outgoing free agents. This year, the two major free agents the Patriots let walk were Trey Flowers and Trent Brown, who signed deals worth a combined $156 million.

    To keep their projected compensatory third-round picks, though, the Patriots needed to avoid spending big money in the free-agency market. Brown was easy to replace, as 2018 first-round pick Isaiah Wynn will likely step in as the team’s left tackle. But Flowers, a defensive end, had no real on-roster replacement.

    This is where the Michael Bennett trade comes into play. Bennett notched nine sacks in one season in Philadelphia as a pass-rushing specialist, and the three-time Pro Bowler will join New England at the cost of $15.2 million over two years and the swap of 2020 Day 3 selections. Essentially, the Patriots traded their 2020 fifth-round pick for Bennett, a 2020 seventh-round pick and the ability to retain their 2020 third-round compensatory pick (money that could have been spent in free agency on a pass-rusher).

    On top of that, there is no guaranteed money left on Bennett’s deal. He is functionally on a one-year deal and has to earn the $8 million owed to him in 2020, as the Patriots can release him with no dead cap. Bill Belichick continues to play chess.

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    Bill Feig/Associated Press

    Since 2014, Teddy Bridgewater has posted an Adjusted Yards per Attempt (AY/A) of 6.65, roughly equal to what Derek Carr (career earnings: $52 million) has recorded. An AY/A of 6.65 is also better than what slated veteran starters Case Keenum, Joe Flacco and Nick Foles have posted over more pass attempts.

    If New Orleans really does believe Bridgewater is their quarterback of the future, locking him into a one-year, $7.5 million rental to be Drew Brees‘ backup with the incentive to pay out $5 million more for performance in his absence is a minimal cost. He has only thrown 25 regular-season passes over the last three years, but we are not seeing him in practice every day like head coach Sean Payton is.

    With only one pick in the first 167 selections of the upcoming NFL draft, the Saints had few options to address the quarterback position before Brees’ contract runs out in 2020 as he turns 41 years old. When his contract does expire, they will still have to account for $21.3 million in dead cap beyond his deal because of the various restructures the Saints have worked into his contracts over time.

    The window is closing on the Brees era, and all parties involved are acting with that awareness. Bridgewater visited with the Miami Dolphins prior to signing his deal in New Orleans, presumably as a potential starter in 2019. There will be growing pains involved in the post-Brees rebuilding process, including but not limited to the dead cap on his expiring contract. However, the Saints seem confident that the 2019 third-round pick they traded for Bridgewater will eventually manifest into a candidate to be a Week 1 starter in 2020.

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    Rick Scuteri/Associated Press

    While the Odell Beckham Jr. trade is not going to make general manager Dave Gettleman any fans in New York, the Giants did make a savvy move for guard Kevin Zeitler. The team responded to losing two major offensive linemen in free agency last season by signing left tackle Nate Solder and drafting guard Will Hernandez in the second round, but the work was not finished.

    To acquire another sturdy offensive lineman, Gettleman sent pass-rusher Olivier Vernon to the Cleveland Browns for Zeitler. One of the major selling points on Zeitler is his contract. While Vernon was set to make $31 million in cash over the next two years before his contract expired, Zeitler will only make $32 million in cash over the next three years.

    The Giants offensive line has been a problem for years, but Gettleman managed to spin a pass-rusher into a guard making just $1 million more for an extra year under contract. To replace Vernon, New York recently signed Markus Golden, formerly of the Arizona Cardinals. Golden, who posted 12.5 of his 19 career sacks in 2016, has a history with current Giants defensive coordinator James Bettcher, who was the Cardinals’ defensive coordinator from 2015 to 2017.

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    Phelan M. Ebenhack/Associated Press

    One of the better moves the New York Jets made this offseason was trading for Kelechi Osemele, a guard who was under contract with the Oakland Raiders. Osemele was a Pro Bowler in 2016 and 2017 who has started 93 games for the Baltimore Ravens and Raiders over seven seasons.

    The cost was just a swap of a fifth-round pick for a sixth-round pick, virtually nothing in terms of meaningful draft capital. The Jets will only have to pay Osemele $21.9 million over the two remaining years of his contract, with no dead cap to take on if they want to move away in 2020.

    To put those numbers into perspective, Raiders free-agent offensive line signing Trent Brown is slated to make $36.8 million over the next two years with a $21.3 million dead-cap number in 2020. Denver Broncos offensive line signing Ja’Wuan James is slated to make $27 million over the next two years with a $19 million dead-cap number in 2020. Buffalo Bills offensive line signing Mitch Morse is slated to make $28.4 million over the next two years with a $10.3 million dead-cap number in 2020.

    Had the Jets added a top offensive line piece in free agency, it would have cost them more over the following two years, and they would not have the option to walk away if something changed over the next season. For a next-to-meaningless swap of draft picks, the Jets bought a two-time Pro Bowler on a cheaper deal with an easier out.

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    Butch Dill/Associated Press

    It cost the Chicago Bears more than a first-round pick to acquire star pass-rusher Khalil Mack just to pay him a blockbuster contract. It cost the Cleveland Browns more than a first-round pick to acquire star receiver Odell Beckham Jr. on his mega-deal. What did it cost to get seven-time Pro Bowl wide receiver Antonio Brown in an Oakland Raiders uniform? Third- and fifth-round picks.

    Brown’s contract is going to be framed as the biggest ever for a wide receiver on an average salary basis, but average salary does not accurately match cash flow when bonuses are spread over a different amount of years. Brown signed a three-year, $50.1 million contract with the Raiders once he was traded, but Beckham’s extension signed in 2018 is slated to make him $67 million between his signing bonus and the first three “new years” (2019-21) on his contract.

    The Raiders did not set the market rate for receivers. Beckham had already done that. What Oakland did was acquire a Pro Bowl wide receiver for two mid-round picks. Head coach Jon Gruden has made some questionable decisions, like paying Jordy Nelson‘s $3.6 million roster bonus just to release him, but the Brown trade was a massive win for the coach with nine years left on his contract.

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    Mark LoMoglio/Associated Press

    Head decision-maker Howie Roseman is working magic in Philadelphia. Pass-rusher Brandon Graham signed a new multiyear contract that only has a $3.5 million cap hit in Year 1 of his deal. Left tackle Jason Peters restructured his contract to give him just a one-year, $6 million deal when the Eagles could have released him for over $10 million in cap space this offseason. Right tackle Lane Johnson restructured his contract down to a $7.1 million cap hit.

    With the help of that cap space, along with trading away defensive end Michael Bennett, the team was able to acquire receiver DeSean Jackson, a former Eagle, and extend him on a three-year, $27.6 million deal. Jackson, a known deep threat, is fourth all-time in team history in receiving yards, will likely ascend to third all-time this season and has a shot to finish second all-time after the next two years.

    According to Warren Sharp of Sharp Football, the routes Jackson typically succeeds in as a vertical receiver (go routes, post routes, comeback routes and seam routes) are also what quarterback Carson Wentz throws the best. Bringing back Jackson seems like a great fit, at least analytically.

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    Phelan M. Ebenhack/Associated Press

    Let us revisit the Pittsburgh Steelers’ multiyear offer for Le’Veon Bell last summer. Ian Rapoport of NFL Network reported that the Steelers’ offer only guaranteed Bell’s $10 million signing bonus. The remaining money in the first two years of his contract were “rolling guarantees,” which is essentially a team option.

    In free agency this year, the New York Jets gave Bell $25 million in full guarantees at signing. In actual guarantees, not “rolling guarantees,” that ranks first among veteran running backs in the NFL.

    For comparison, here are the full guarantees for every veteran running back who’s making more than the Steelers’ Bell offer, according to Spotrac:

  • Bell: $25 million

  • David Johnson: $24.7 million

  • Todd Gurley: $22 million

  • LeSean McCoy: $18.3 million

  • Devonta Freeman: $17.3 million

  • Lamar Miller: $14 million

  • Jerick McKinnon: $11.7 million

If the Steelers were not willing to give Bell more fully guaranteed money than McKinnon (14 starts in five NFL seasons) and Bell thought he could reset the NFL running back market with guarantees, the two sides were never going to see eye-to-eye on a long-term contract. It was better for Pittsburgh to move on and Bell to sign a top-of-the-market deal, which both did.

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    Michael Ainsworth/Associated Press

    Currently, the Seattle Seahawks have the fifth-most cap space in 2020 with a projected $93.1 million and the second-most in 2021 with a projected $151.4 million. While a potential Russell Wilson extension will cut into that space, they have very few long-term contracts that extend through the next three years. The only players slated to post a higher cap hit than kicker Jason Myers in two years are tackle Duane Brown and receiver Tyler Lockett.

    The Seahawks have plenty of room to sign difference-makers to long-term deals, and retaining defensive end Frank Clark’s rights were paramount. Even after Clark was hit with a $17.1 million tag, the Seahawks rank 18th with $21.5 million in cap space this year. Had they not applied the tag to Clark, they would currently rank third in NFL cap space, per Spotrac.

    Since entering the league in 2015, Clark has posted 35 sacks, a number only 15 other defenders have matched. He also did it by starting just 33 out of a potential 64 games over that time, as he was often working off the bench behind the likes of Michael Bennett and Cliff Avril. Eleven of the other 15 players to record 35 or more sacks over the last four years have started at least 56 games, and Minnesota’s Danielle Hunter is the only other player drafted in the last four years to make the list.

    That is the type of defender you pay when you have long-term cap flexibility. Considering Seattle’s circumstances long-term, this move was a no-brainer but incredibly important for how the Seahawks build their team moving forward.

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    Tony Avelar/Associated Press

    Since 2011, Robbie Gould has hit 25 of 29 field goals of 50 yards or longer (86.2 percent), making him the most accurate long-range kicker in the game over this time among kickers with more than 10 attempts. Only two other NFL kickers (Matt Bryant and Phil Dawson) are within 10 percent.

    The NFL average for this range is 63 percent, so over 29 field goals of 50-plus yards, Gould is worth roughly six long field goals above the NFL average. That does not include the value he possesses in the lower range. Gould also hit 90.1 percent of field goals (173-of-192) under 50 yards.

    Unlike most franchise tags, Gould is not a young star looking to sign his first multiyear contract. He’s a 36-year-old player at a cheap position. It makes sense the 49ers would be shy to give him a long contract considering his age. A $5 million cap hit is a safe short-term bet for a team that still has $32.6 million in cap space (ninth-most in the league) this season.

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    Nick Wass/Associated Press

    There is little nuance to this signing. Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach Bruce Arians loved to air the ball out deep with the Arizona Cardinals, and he said quarterback Jameis Winston is one reason why he came out of retirement to coach the Bucs.

    “Bottom line: About 95 percent of the successful quarterbacks in the NFL are special people, not just robots with big arms,” Arians said. “They inspire others. They get teammates to do things they never thought possible. You want to be around that kind of quarterback.”

    One problem: Tampa Bay traded vertical threat DeSean Jackson to the Philadelphia Eagles as the cap-poor team tried to alleviate roster restrictions. The solution: signing Breshad Perriman to a much cheaper one-year, $4 million contract after he was allowed to walk from his agreement with the Cleveland Browns following their trade for former Giants star Odell Beckham Jr.

    The 25-year-old Perriman, a 2015 first-round pick who ran a 4.19-second 40-yard dash, broke out in 2018 with the Browns, catching 10 balls for 259 yards and two touchdowns in December. The potential that he’d carry over that December success, at 25.9 yards per reception, must have sold Arians on the wideout.

    With Mike Evans (a big-body receiver), Chris Godwin (a flexible option) and Perriman (a vertical threat), Arians has the start of a dangerous wide receivers room.

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    Rick Scuteri/Associated Press

    The highest-profile guard in this free-agent class was Rodger Saffold of the Los Angeles Rams, who played under former Tennessee Titans offensive coordinator Matt LaFleur in an under-center, play-action-heavy system. After only suiting up for 52 of 80 games from 2011 to 2015, Saffold has been able to stay on the field recently, missing just two games the last three seasons.

    A 2017 second-team All-Pro guard, Saffold signed the largest contract for a guard in this free-agent class at $44 million over four years, but his deal is not in line with the top of the market at the position. According to Spotrac, his average salary is worth $3 million less per year than Zack Martin’s deal in Dallas and ranks sixth overall at the position. In guarantees at signing, he ranks ninth and $13 million behind Martin.

    Among all offensive linemen, his average salary ranks 26th, and his guarantees rank 27th. The Titans managed to pay a top offensive lineman familiar with their system, if they choose to roll it over, without overspending. Overpriced borderline All-Pros often fly off the boards quickly in free agency, so this is a major win for the Titans.

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    Dustin Bradford/Getty Images

    As mentioned in the Denver section, the best thing quarterback-needy teams could have done this offseason is to stay clear of the Nick Foles sweepstakes. Over the last two years, Case Keenum posted an Adjusted Yards per Attempt (ANY/A) of 6.12, higher than both Foles (5.90) and Joe Flacco (5.22.)

    Instead of paying Foles $50.1 million in guarantees or giving Flacco $18.5 million this season alone, Washington avoided the ring tax by trading a 2020 sixth-round pick for Keenum, a more efficient quarterback than either of those options over the last two years, and restructuring his deal to a $3.5 million, one-year contract.

    On March 17, Alex Smith’s 2020 salary will officially be guaranteed due to injury, meaning the Redskins will lock into a dead cap of $32.2 million in 2020 if they choose to release him straight up. With limited options because of the money tied up to a future dead-cap number, Washington did the best it could under the circumstances.

    Unless otherwise notes, stats in this article are provided by Pro Football Reference. All contract figures are courtesy of Spotrac.

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