The Ravens traded Brown and a third-round pick to the Cardinals for a 2022 first-round pick, and his time in Arizona was a journey, to say the least. Between his own injuries and Kyler Murray’s torn ACL, the former college teammates weren’t able to team up as much as the old regime probably hoped, but he has flashed when in the lineup.
It’s hard to come up with a solid comparable player for a 5-foot-9, 180-pound outside wide receiver — although now the NFL is adding more of this archetype each year — and it’s also fair to wonder how badly Arizona wants to extend anyone, given the team’s timeline and the emergence of rookie wideout Michael Wilson.
Ridley’s contract situation is a true one-of-one. He returned to play in 2023 after missing all of 2022 while serving a suspension for sports gambling and had stepped away from football before the 2021 campaign was over but was a top wide receiver in 2020. There were drop issues in 2023 as Ridley returned to full speed, but he still proved capable of taking over a game while breaking off a series of explosive receptions.
Equally fascinating are the conditions on Ridley’s trade to Jacksonville, where the pick the Jaguars will send to the Atlanta Falcons escalates to a second-rounder if the two parties agree to an extension. We’re not 100% certain that the same language for the condition exists here as it did when Leonard Williams was sent from the New York Jets to the New York Giants, but there the Giants did not have to send a better pick by merely placing a franchise tag instead of signing Williams to a multi-year extension in 2020.
Top free agent comparison: Odell Beckham Jr., 2023
In Mooney’s second season in 2021, he put up 1,055 receiving yards on 81 receptions with a career-best 74.9 receiving grade. Since then, Mooney has unfortunately dealt with a few minor injuries and one of the lower-volume passing attacks in the league. Nonetheless, he creates separation on intermediate and deep routes consistently, and he could be the ultimate buy-low for a team that can tap into the potential we saw a few years back.
Top free agent comparison: Emmanuel Sanders, 2014
| Player | Receiving grade | Yards per route run | Average depth of target | Yards after catch per reception | APY as % of Cap at signing |
| Darnell Mooney | 64.3 | 1.20 | 12.3 | 5.1 | ? |
| Emmanuel Sanders | 70.0 | 1.43 | 11.5 | 4.7 | 3.8% |
*All data in tables reflects two years prior to UFA contract signing
Contract projection:Available in PFF’s free agency rankings
Davis is your typical vertical threat out wide, averaging more than 15 yards per reception in every season of his career and coming down with a fair amount of contested catches with good high-pointing skills. However, Davis doesn’t have the fastest release off the line and doesn’t snap off in-breakers with a sharpness to create separation over the middle. He’ll help stretch the field outside the numbers for an acquiring team and can have some huge outings on occasion, but he can also be absent from the box score at times.
Top free agent comparison: Devin Funchess, 2019
| Player | Receiving grade | Yards per route run | Average depth of target | Yards after catch per reception | APY as % of Cap at signing |
| Gabriel Davis | 67.3 | 1.35 | 16.2 | 3.1 | ? |
| Devin Funchess | 72.1 | 1.51 | 13.7 | 3.3 | 5.3% |
*All data in tables reflects two years prior to UFA contract signing
Contract projection:Available in PFF’s free agency rankings
Beckham progressively looked more and more like his old self as 2023 wore on. His 90.0 receiving grade from Weeks 9-14 trailed only Tyreek Hill among wide receivers.
Top free agent comparison: N/A
| Player | Receiving grade | Yards per route run | Average depth of target | Yards after catch per reception | APY as % of Cap at signing |
| Odell Beckham Jr. | 77.7 | 2.03 | 14.9 | 4.8 | ? |
| N/A | – | – | – | – | – |
*All data in tables reflects two years prior to UFA contract signing
Contract projection:Available in PFF’s free agency rankings
It will be fascinating to see if and how Cincinnati attempts to keep the elite trio of Ja’Marr Chase, fellow free agent Tee Higgins and Tyler Boyd together in 2024 and beyond, but Boyd could be the odd man out looking for a third contract after playing out the term of his four-year extension signed in 2020.
Boyd is a big slot receiver with solid blocking chops in the run game. He rarely ever drops a target and does well to sit down in soft spots of zones on key passing downs. However, Boyd posted several career-low marks in 2023, and with so many big financial decisions facing Cincinnati, the Bengals may not be willing to offer him as much as other teams looking to upgrade their unit over the middle.
Top free agent comparison: Robert Woods, 2023
| Player | Receiving grade | Yards per route run | Average depth of target | Yards after catch per reception | APY as % of Cap at signing |
| Tyler Boyd | 70.0 | 1.26 | 8.6 | 4.2 | ? |
| Robert Woods | 70.2 | 1.38 | 8.7 | 3.8 | 3.4% |
*All data in tables reflects two years prior to UFA contract signing
Contract projection:Available in PFF’s free agency rankings
Samuel was an efficient target in Eric Bienemy’s Washington offense that spread the ball around more than any team in the NFL, hauling in just shy of 73% of passes thrown his way with just four drops on 85 targets in 2023. Samuel was used as a ball carrier in 2023 like he was in 2022 and previous seasons dating back to his Ohio State days. His Swiss Army knife skill set shows up with good change of direction in space and start-stop ability that is still above average at this stage of his career.
Top free agent comparison: Adam Humphries, 2019
| Player | Receiving grade | Yards per route run | Average depth of target | Yards after catch per reception | APY as % of Cap at signing |
| Curtis Samuel | 73.4 | 1.41 | 7.1 | 4.3 | ? |
| Adam Humphries | 70.1 | 1.35 | 6.4 | 5.3 | 4.8% |
*All data in tables reflects two years prior to UFA contract signing
Contract projection:Available in PFF’s free agency rankings
