Best Free Agent Fits: Meyers, McGary, McGlinchey, Bates, Thomas

We’re breaking down some potential fits for our top pending 2023 NFL free agents with the start of the league year and free agency coming up soon on March 15. Using our Top 2023 NFL Free Agents list, we’re examining the possible landing spots for the top 50 or so players who are expected to be available this offseason. 

This is based both on reported interest by particular teams and by connecting the dots between team needs, coaching staff connections, scheme fits and available players. 

Keep an eye out this week for the rest of our Free Agent Fits series!

• DJ Chark, Sean Murphy-Bunting, Robert Woods, Taylor Lewan, Marcus Peters
• Rashaad Penny, Damien Harris, Andre Dillard, David Long, Jermaine Eluemunor
• Taylor Rapp, Vonn Bell, C.J. Gardner-Johnson, Mike Gesicki, Austin Hooper
• Cameron Sutton, Arden Key, Ogbonnia Okoronkwo, Samson Ebukam, Dalton Schultz
• Isaiah Wynn, Miles Sanders, Ethan Pocic, Isaac Seumalo, Nate Davis
• T.J. Edwards, JuJu Smith-Schuster, Mecole Hardman, Allen Lazard, Emmanuel Moseley
• Orlando Brown Jr., Jamel Dean, Marcus Davenport, Jimmy Garoppolo, Bobby Wagner

Patriots WR Jakobi Meyers

Best Fit: Texans

How the market develops for Meyers will be fascinating. He has yet to top 1,000 yards receiving in a season and he’s best suited as a slot receiver who wins with savvy and route running as opposed to athleticism. But receivers who run good routes have a lot of value, and New England’s offense hasn’t exactly been receiver-friendly the past couple of seasons. Meyers is also the best receiver available in free agency this offseason, and it’s not particularly close. There are major questions about the upcoming draft class, too, after the NFL has been spoiled the past few years with loaded groups. All of this will make Meyers more appealing. 

A team looking to add some stability to its receiving group would likely find Meyers most appealing, and in the case of the Texans it helps to have people in the front office like GM Nick Caserio who have seen him up close with the Patriots. If the Texans are able to trade WR Brandin Cooks like the veteran is hoping, they’d need to add some experience to a group that would be headlined by Nico Collins and John Metchie, especially with a young hopeful franchise quarterback coming in. Meyers has a QB-friendly skillset — he converted from the position in college actually — and has the potential to be a quality No. 2 for the Texans. 

Falcons RT Kaleb McGary

Best Fit: Falcons

Atlanta declined to place the franchise tag on McGary to prevent him from reaching the open market, so there’s certainly a chance another team is willing to outbid them. The tag would have been $18.1 million fully guaranteed. McGary is probably going to be looking for a deal in the $15 million to $19 million range, so if the market is on the higher side of that, playing elsewhere is quite possible. 

The question is if other teams will be willing to go that high. McGary had a breakout 2022 season after the Falcons declined his fifth-year option. He started all 17 games for the second straight season and finished as PFF’s No. 4 overall tackle, largely on the back of a run-block grade that was second-best in the NFL for a team that ran the ball 559 times. Pass-blocking was much more of an adventure for the 28-year-old, and there are more pass-heavy teams than run-heavy ones. Perhaps one of those is willing to outbid the Falcons but I think Atlanta’s familiarity with him will win out in the end on a deal that’s still plenty big. 

49ers OT Mike McGlinchey

Best Fit: Bears

Along with McGary and Jaguars RT Jawaan Taylor, McGlinchey is one of a trio of right tackles who are about to get PAID. None of them are elite players but all three are solid, and that’s worth a lot in the NFL. Good tackles are hard to find, and that should give McGlinchey the leverage to hit the upper end of the right tackle range we mentioned above. 

The Bears have the resources to buy an entirely new starting offensive line if they want this offseason, and they could turn a position that was a massive weakness into a strength in free agency. In our last post, we mentioned Chiefs LT Orlando Brown Jr. as a possible target, and the Bears could reset the tackle market for him and still have plenty to sign McGlinchey as a bookend on the other side. Chicago wants to run a similar wide zone offense as the 49ers, so the scheme fit ought to be fairly seamless. 

Bengals S Jessie Bates

Best Fit: Browns

Another team should be willing to make Bates one of the NFL’s highest-paid safeties this offseason, something the Bengals just didn’t feel like they had the budget to do. There aren’t a lot of sure things in free agency but Bates just might be the closest thing. He’s still only 26, has played at a high level for multiple years and the Bengals raved about his character while he was in Cincinnati. If he stays healthy, it feels like his new team probably won’t be regretting his deal in a couple of years. 

There’s been some buzz connecting Bates to the Browns and it would make a ton of sense. They need production in the secondary after a ton of investments the past couple of seasons that haven’t panned out the way they would like. They are expected to be one of the more aggressive teams this offseason as they can restructure QB Deshaun Watson’s deal to create a significant amount of cap space, and they want and need to contend in 2023. 

Saints WR Michael Thomas

Best Fit: Giants

There’s actually been some buzz in recent days that the door hasn’t been shut for Thomas in New Orleans, assuming he’s willing to take a pay cut to stay. The Saints do need to add a reliable No. 2 for 2022 first-round WR Chris Olave, and Thomas would be among the best options for that role. They might have a few million budgeted toward it, so the question would be if Thomas values staying in a familiar environment as he tries to restart his career or if he wants a better salary and possibly a better situation elsewhere. He seemed pretty excited on Twitter about the Saints signing QB Derek Carr, for whatever that’s worth. 

Let’s say he rejects the deal and the Saints make him a June 1 cut like most people expected. He would enter a thin receiver market with major questions, like his injury history and past personality clashes with coaches and teammates, but also the best resume of almost anyone available and tape as recent as early last season showing he can still play. There would be teams willing to gamble on that. The Giants might have the biggest need for a receiver of any team this offseason, and Thomas is the type of player who, if he can shed the bad injury luck, could make freshly-minted franchise QB Daniel Jones’ life a lot easier.