Divorces don’t have to be a bad thing. Sometimes it’s the only option in a marriage or for an NFL football team and a talented player who doesn’t fit into your long term plans. It can be the best thing for everybody.
Free agency can be a tough time for some players and teams facing a divorce. They want to stay together, they want to make it work. They work great together but they’ve come to a crossroads in their lives. The player deserves more money and and is too talented for the role he would have on the team. The team already has a player making that amount of money in that role and can’t afford to keep both guys. The divorce is amicable and kind of sad in that case, but inevitable.
Then there’s the rocky NFL divorce where a player has had contract issues with the team or real issues with the coaching staff. They’ve not been able to work it out and most of the time these players have watched other guys on the team get new fat contracts while they sit there stewing in their own dirty diapers. This divorce is ugly and just as inevitable.
Eric Weddle, Safety, San Diego/Los Angeles Chargers
As ugly divorces go, Weddle and the Chargers are in full Freddy Kruger territory. Weddle has made a nice little chunk of money from the Chargers since entering the league in 2011 and signing a 5-year, $40 million contract. Weddle has made every single dollar of it and been more than worth it for San Diego in his time there. The team, for some reason, has made no effort to work with Weddle on a contract extension.
To make matters worse, there seems to be some bad blood brewing between the sides. Weddle’s daughter performed at the team’s halftime during Week 16 and the Chargers fined Weddle for watching her on the field instead of going to the locker room. They then placed him on injured reserve and not only didn’t let him play in the final game of the season, they wouldn’t even let him on the plane.
So where will Weddle end up? He should just move a few miles up the state (or in the same city if the team officially moves to L.A.) and play for the Los Angeles Rams. A player like Weddle is the only legitimate need on their defense and he would plug right in.
Bruce Irvin, OLB, Seattle Seahawks
The break-up between Irvin and the Seahawks isn’t as contentious as Weddle and the Chagers, but it’s still going to happen. Irvin can be a disruptive force, but he’s never put up stats that jump out at you. That could have a lot to do with the players around him. We’ll find out next year when Irvin is wearing a different jersey.
The Seahawks simply don’t have the money to keep Irvin. It’s a big reason why they drafted Frank Clark last season and they’ll probably add another pass rushing outside linebacker in the draft this year.
Irvin will probably be able to pick his team this offseason with suitors in Dallas Cowboys, Buffalo Bills, Atlanta Falcons and New York Giants a given.
Muhammed Wilkerson, DT, New York Jets
Wilkerson picked the right time to have a career year. After the Jets drafted his replacement (Leonard Williams) Wilkerson put down the best season of his life just to kick dirt on the team as he walked out the door. Now the Jets are scrambling to find a way to keep him, even threatening to use the franchise tag, but that’s not going to happen. Not with a team that has Williams and Sheldon Richardson playing the same position.
Wilkerson will have no trouble finding a team willing to pay him. The Bills are a no-brainer and you can pretty much put Dallas on any list as the landing spot of a potential defensive star.
Louis Delmas, Safety, Miami Dolphins
Back in 2013 Delmas was one of the big free agents to hit the market after a stellar start to his career with the Detroit Lions. Delmas was courted by multiple teams but ended up signing with the Dolphins. It’s not worked out well. Delmas played in just 13 games in 2014 and missed all of last season after tearing an ACL in a joint scrimmage with the Carolina Panthers (the same scrimmage that knocked Kelvin Benjamin out for the season).
Delmas is still a potential star, just one I’m sure the Dolphins are ready to see play (or not play) somewhere else.
Delmas was pursued hard by the Rams back in 2013 so if they can’t land Weddle or Eric Berry as free agents, they’ll likely take a look at Delmas for the right price. The most likely landing spot for Delmas is probably the Baltimore Ravens who need plenty of help in the secondary, especially on the back end but don’t have a ton of money to spend on big money free agents.
