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Friday, December 21, 2018

Best fits for NFL's top 25 free agents





December 21, 2018
By Field Yates ESPN Insider

Building through the draft is always the preference, but free agency is where NFL teams go for instant gratification, seeking out proven veterans who have shown themselves at the pro level already.

Esteemed colleague Kevin Seifert and the collective ESPN NFL Nation compiled a list in early October with a forecast of the top 25 free agents of 2019. I made a couple of changes for my list, and here's the fun part: I get to take a stab at projecting where these players might make sense for 2019 and beyond.

A couple of caveats: Some of the top players are destined for a franchise tag. That doesn't whittle the list down entirely, but a $100 million player on the open market is unlikely to play anywhere else than where he currently calls home because of his franchise tag. Additionally, while I will be mindful of potential cap constraints a team would have in signing a player, there's a lot of housekeeping to be done ahead. Teams that are currently cap-strapped can open up resources through other roster movement.

Let's play matchmaker.

Trey Flowers, DE

The fit: Patriots (extension)

Flowers has emerged as arguably the Patriots' best defensive player, and while his production doesn't indicate a story of dominance, he's brought exactly that for them. He's versatile, powerful, a key cog in defending the running game and the team's best pass-rusher. A homegrown product who doesn't turn 26 until training camp, Flowers is a natural retention candidate for the Patriots.

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