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Draft King Analysis
March 17, 2015
Lou Pickney, DraftKing.com

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Coming very late tonight, the latest 2015 NFL Mock Draft for this site will finally be going online. Putting it together is an exhaustive exercise that can turn into a days-long process, at least for me, particularly when I'm redoing it from scratch like I did with this one.

As always, free agency knocks over the proverbial apple cart and forces widespread changes and reconsiderations and leaves plenty of adjustments to be made. If nothing else, it certainly keeps things from getting stale.

Buffalo has signed transition-tagged TE Charles Clay to a massive offer sheet that Miami will have a difficult time matching. The particulars: it's a five-year deal for $38 million, with in excess of $20 million of that guaranteed. The Dolphins, who had to make widespread cuts along with jettisoning WR Mike Wallace to free up cap space, almost for sure won't be able to match.

The Bills lost TE Scott Chandler to New England in free agency, so it's a need position for them. But, wow, that is a huge money offer for a player in Clay who fits the more traditional blocking-first mold of tight ends.

As a point of comparison, less than three years ago the Patriots signed Rob Gronkowski to an eight-year deal with only $13.17 million guaranteed. Never doubt the power of the open market to drive up a player's price tag.

In hindsight, Miami using the transition tag rather than the franchise tag in an effort to save money backfired in a major way. Though, as I think about it, I wonder if management there realized what was likely going to happen with Clay when the decision was made to sign former Browns TE Jordan Cameron last week.

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