It’s the job of an NFL franchise to do its due diligence when it comes to upgrading a roster. Everyone knows who the star players are. In this class, it’s the likes of Davante Adams, Chris Godwin, and Von Miller. They’re talents that will make just about every roster in the NFL better as soon as they walk through the door. But players can slip through the cracks for a variety of reasons. There’s value to be found in every free agent class.
Injuries, lack of playing time, not being suited to a coach’s system. It happens all of the time. It happens in the draft, just like it happens in free agency. There are so many players in free agency that it’s tough to pinpoint the reasons all of them made it there in the first place.
It’s all about perception. One man’s trash is another man’s treasure, for lack of a better term. Here are five players who might fly under the radar in free agency, but have a big impact on their new teams in 2022:
- Foley Fatukasi, DT, New York Jets
Despite the NFL’s shift in recent years to a pass heavy league, there’s still room for early-down defenders who can disrupt the running game. And Foley Fatukasi of the Jets fits that description perfectly. His game is predicated on raw power, using his 6-foot-4, 318lb frame to man-handle offensive linemen off their base and disrupt running lanes. In the last three seasons, Fatukasi has become one of the NFL’s premier run-stoppers.
His run defense grade of 87.6 was the fifth-best among all interior defenders in 2019, and a year later, his grade of 86.2 was the second-best, per PFF. His grade in 2021 fell short of expectations, but the Jets’ run defense struggled as a unit. Even so, Fatukasi still had 28 run stops in the regular season and was in the top 20 in run stop %. He might not be much of a pass rusher, but the things he does well, he does really well.
Any team that takes on Fatukasi in free agency will be well aware of his limitations. He topped out at a career-high 16 quarterback pressures in 2021 but didn’t register any sacks. It’s all about the run defense when it comes to the former UConn lineman. He can line up as a one-technique defender positioned over the center, but the Jets primarily used him as a three-technique defender in 2021.
He’s never played more than 558 snaps in a season, so it’s hard to see Fatukasi as a true three-down defender, but as a pure run specialist, he’d be a good get for any team looking to solidify their defensive interior.
- Joseph Noteboom, OT, Los Angeles Rams
There’s a very good chance that Noteboom stays with the Rams if Andrew Whitworth retires after a Hall of Fame career which culminated in a Super Bowl win. It would be a good move for the Rams, but they’ll likely have competition to retain the former third-round pick.
He’s played over 700 snaps at left tackle over the last two seasons combined while playing deputy to Whitworth and the results have been impressive. He allowed just 5 total pressures in 191 snaps at left tackle in 2021 and had a pass-blocking grade of 81.6. The obvious knock against Noteboom is the ridiculously small sample size. What we’ve seen from him as a pass-blocker is impressive, but is it truly enough to project him as a starting left tackle? We’ll have to see.
He isn’t a polished run-blocker but he had a career-high run-blocking grade of 68.5 in 2021, per PFF. It’s a gradual sign of improvement for a player who was viewed as a developmental project in the 2018 NFL Draft. Physically, he has all of the tools you’d want out of a starting NFL lineman and has worked with one of the best left tackles of his generation since being drafted. It’s likely Noteboom picked up a thing or two from the wily vet.
There might not be a huge body of work to go on for a team to give Noteboom long-term, starting left tackle money, but the Rams – or any other tackle-needy team – could give him a one-year prove-it deal and take it from there. He’s just 26-years-old, so Noteboom has time on his side. But in a free agency class that features Terron Armstead, Orlando Brown Jr., and a few other strong tackles, he might be bargain compared to some of the money teams might throw around to shore up their O-lines.
- Desmond King, CB, Houston Texans
If there’s a cornerback worth buying low on in free agency, it might just be Desmond King. After a strong start to his career, King struggled immensely with the Texans in 2021. Of course, it didn’t help that he was playing on one of the worst defenses in the NFL. A lot of that came down to King playing away from his natural position of nickelback, as the Texans utilized him as an outside corner for the majority of the season.
King gave up 729 receiving yards in 2021 – the eighth-most in the NFL – and allowed just under 70 percent of his targets to be hauled in. King has never produced great results as a man-coverage defender – he’s better as an instinctive slot corner in a zone-heavy system. He showed that with three interceptions this season, but his overall play was less than stellar – at least in coverage.
An undervalued part of King’s game is his production as a run defender – not something that is usually heralded in a cornerback. But as teams begin to use nickel defenses as their base defense, they’ll need their slot cornerbacks to hold up more often as run defenders. That’s something King has been able to do consistently throughout his career.
It’s not enough to hang your hat on, but on a better team, in a better system more suited to his ability, King may very well have a bounce-back year in 2022. For now, he’s probably one of the more undervalued free agents on the market.
- D.J. Chark, WR, Jacksonville Jaguars
The top of the free-agent class is littered with quality receivers. Davante Adams, Chris Godwin, Mike Williams, and Allen Robinson sit atop the list. But just a few rungs down, the list still offers some good receiving talent. D.J. Chark is one such receiver.
His four-year stint with the Jaguars was littered with poor quarterback play and nagging injuries, but he always showed the potential to be a solid Z receiver in most offenses. Chark played in just four games in 2021, and only caught 7 of his 22 targets, but he did average 22 yards per reception. That number is abnormally high and the obvious product of small sample size, but Chark possesses 4.3 speed and has proven to be a deep threat in the past. Given the right circumstances, he could be one of the better deep-threat receivers in the NFL.
He has all of the physical tools but often struggles to win his routes and gain separation using that physicality. That, coupled with the injuries, has held him back from a truly breakout campaign to date. Still only 25-years-old, Chark has a lot of football left in him. And it’s hard to ignore a 6-foot-4 receiver with game-changing speed. Someone will take a chance on him, and they’re unlikely to regret it.
- Marcus Maye, S, New York Jets
There’s no other way of framing it: 2021 wasn’t a good year for Marcus Maye. The former second-round pick had been one of the better safeties in the NFL heading into the 2021 season. But instead of signing him to a long-term deal, the Jets elected to franchise tag Maye and figure out the details later. The result was the worst-case scenario. Maye blew out his Achilles in Week 9, sidelining him for the rest of the season, but he never looked fully comfortable as a do-it-all safety in Robert Saleh’s system. Maye is much better suited to the role of a deep playmaking safety, rather than a hybrid who can frequently play in the box – despite being a competent run defender.
That might alter his market a little, as will the potential lingering effects of his injury, but there’s enough tape to back up the sentiment that Maye is one of the better free safeties in the league when he’s at his best.
Between 2018 and 2020, Maye averaged a grade of 79.1 with the 5th highest PFF grade among all safeties in 2020. All it takes is one team to believe in his recovery and Maye could be back to playing at a high level. It might not happen immediately, and he might need to take an incentive-laden deal to make it happen, but he’s too talented to sit on the open market for long.
-Thomas Valentine
Twitter: @ThomasValenfine