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Catching Up with NFL Free Agency Part 2

Hyde will take his talents to the icy Hellscape of Northern New York State.

As excited as everyone was to see the New England Patriots improve their team exponentially over the last two days by screwing over other NFL teams in stupid trades, it didn’t come without a little heartache.

The fourth round pick from the New Orleans Saints the Patriots got as part of the Brandin Cooks deal, as of right now, would be the fourth-rounder the team would surrender as the final piece of their DeflateGate punishment.

This actually works out great for the Saints, since the pick is basically meaningless for New England at this point. Before the Cooks trade is officially turned in, the Saints can trade that pick (No. 118) down to anyone below them before the Patriots current fourth round pick (No. 132). Any pick in that 119-131 range has exactly the same amount of value for New England, absolutely zero. So now New Orleans can maybe pick up another late round pick or two to recoup the value of their fourth round pick, which the Pats only wanted in order to turn over to the NFL anyway. It’s a scene, man.

Buffalo Bills

The Bills have added six new players in just three days and not all of them have been cast-offs like former Seattle Seahawks kicker Steven Hauschka. The big get so far for Buffalo is former Green Bay Packers safety Micah Hyde. Hyde signed a five-year, $32.5 million deal with the Bills with $14 million in guaranteed money.

Last season Hyde finished with 56 tackles, one sack, two fumble recoveries, nine passes defended and three picks.

The Bills second biggest signing was just keeping one of their own guys in the building. Linebacker Lorenzo Alexander agreed to a two-year deal worth $9 million. Last year Alexander had 64 tackles, 12.5 sacks (a career high), three forced fumbles, six passes defended and an interception.

Buffalo brought in former Carolina Panthers fullback Mike Tolbert on a one-year, $1 million contract. They re-signed offensive tackle Jordan Mills to a two-year deal and added former Ravens back up offensive lineman Vladimir Ducasse. Former Cleveland Browns safety Jordan Poyer is now part of the Bills’ defensive backfield. Poyer spent most of last season on injured reserve after lacerating a kidney in an Oct. 16 game against the Tennessee Titans.

Tolbert wasn’t the only fullback added to the Bills’ roster. They also signed former Atlanta Falcons FB Patrick DiMarco to a four-year contract, $8 million contract and re-signed punter Colton Schmidt.

And, lastly, as previously mentioned the Bills made the mistake of hanging on to Tyrod Taylor, although under a new, two-year contract. Taylor’s revised deal pays him $30.5 million over two seasons if he plays it out. He comes with a $9.713 cap number this year.

Carolina Panthers

Just two days after re-signing their own Charles Johnson (the defensive end), the Panthers decided to add another Charles Johnson, this time the former Minnesota Vikings wide receiver. Johnson signed a two-year, $8 million deal with Carolina. Last year with the Vikings Johnson caught 20 passes for 232 yards.

The Panthers re-signed defensive back Colin Jones. Jones has been primarily a special teams player in his six years in the league.

Arizona Cardinals

The Cardinals continue to ignore age as an issue when signing players and opened up this free agent period adding back one of their best players in recent history, returning linebacker Karlos Dansby to the fold. Dansby last played for Big Red from 2004-2009 and in 2013. Last year with the Cincinnati Bengals Dansby had 114 tackles, one fumble recovery and six passes defended.

The Cardinals also found a home for discarded San Francisco 49ers safety Antoine Bethea. Bethea has a three-year deal with the details undisclosed. Bethea recorded 110 tackles, one fumble recovery, one forced fumble and one pick for the Niners in 2016.

Bethea wasn’t the only 49ers cast-off the Cardinals added, signing kicker Phil Dawson. Arizona re-signed center A.Q. Shipley to a two-year deal.

Of course, the biggest move of the free agent period for Arizona was finding a way to keep linebacker Chandler Jones. They did that with a five-year, $83 million contract with $53 million in guaranteed money.

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Written by Adam Greene

Adam Greene is a writer and photographer based out of East Tennessee. His work has appeared on Cracked.com, in USA Today, the Associated Press, the Chicago Cubs Vineline Magazine, AskMen.com and many other publications.

Catching Up with NFL Free Agency Part 1

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