Next year's edition of NFL free agency doesn't kick off until March 18, but teams are undoubtedly already planning their strategies. The first step is determining which players should be re-signed.
This can be a challenge, both because of the salary cap and because of the pending free-agent market. Overspending to keep one player could result in a failure to upgrade another position. At the same time, some players are too important to let go.
Those are the ones we'll examine today. Based on their importance to their respective teams in 2019 and factors like age and team fit, these players absolutely must be re-signed before they hit the open market.