Oakland Raiders: 5 free safeties to target in 2018 NFL free agency

In all honesty, there are only two free safeties on the open market that are worth paying a premium for. The first would be Los Angeles Chargers free safety Tre Boston. This will be only Boston’s fifth year in the league. He played his first three out of North Carolina for the Carolina Panthers as a former fourth-round pick. Boston would sign a one-year deal with the Chargers after the Panthers cut him in May 2017.

Boston is easily coming off his best year in the league. He shined in Gus Bradley’s defense, as he had eight pass breakups and five interceptions in 16 games for the Chargers. Boston started in 15 games for the almost-playoff bound Chargers. It would be a tough, and possibly likely loss for the Chargers in free agency.

Given the scarcity of elite free safeties hitting the market this spring, Boston is a primed candidate to get overpaid. Other teams have more available capital to overspend on Boston than do the Raiders. However, adding him would make the Raiders better and the division rival Chargers worse. That’s always something to consider.

Some could argue that Boston was in the right place at the right time for a lot of his interceptions. However, he did set many career highs with the 2017 Chargers. Given how frugal the Chargers are historically, he could very well be out the door. Oakland needs to pay a premium to get him, but shouldn’t to break the bank on a guy coming off maybe a career year.