NFL free agency 2019: Safeties are flooding market

The free-agent crop in the NFL always seems to be exceedingly strong at one or two positions. This year, one could make a case that the edge rushers are the best group, although they’re going to be picked over by the franchise tag.

That knowledge leaves us with the safeties, who are once again going to be dominating the landscape in search of a payday. For teams that need some help in their secondaries, that’s great news. For the players and their agents, that could leave some very talented players out in the cold as they search for homes.

Last year, we saw this happen at the same position. Guys like Kenny Vaccaro, Tre Boston and Tyrann Mathieu had to settle for lesser deals, with Boston and the Honey Badger already back in the market after one-year pacts. Now they will be joined by Earl Thomas, Landon Collins and LaMarcus Joyner, a trio of playmakers who will be seeking top-dollar for their talents.

While it’s impossible to say who is going to land where, we can guess who some of the contenders might be.

The Oakland Raiders should be aggressively pursuing at least one safety considering how bad their play was on the back end in 2018. The Raiders were among the worst defenses in the league, and the combination of Reggie Nelson and Karl Joseph wasn’t helping matters. Further complicating the issue was head coach Jon Gruden refusing to play Joseph for large stretches of time.

If Oakland plans on even trying to slow down the offenses in Kansas City and Los Angeles, getting a player the level of Thomas would obviously do wonders.

Speaking of Kansas City, the Chiefs should be invested in this market. On the surface, one might believe it’s tough to pay both a new safety and Eric Berry, but the Chiefs could cut Berry — provided he can pass a March physical — and save $9.1 million as a post-June 1 designated move. If that’s the case, and even if it’s not, Kansas City could go out and bring in Collins. On Thursday, the Chiefs hired Steve Spagnuolo to be their new defensive coordinator, and he has a long history with said free agent. It could be a match made in proverbial heaven for a team on the doorstep of a Super Bowl.

While free agency won’t start for more than a month, the safety class is one to watch as being a terrific value for teams trying to improve.