(Source: Musket Fire)
With four days of NFL free agency in the books, many of the top names have already signed to either their current team or took their talents elsewhere. I am going to be covering three of the biggest winners and three of the biggest losers of free agency thus far. We aren’t even a full week into free agency yet and there are a lot of moves left to be made that can make some of my “losers” not look so bad when we come around to the draft in late April. My formula behind this list is quite simple. I’ll be looking at the teams’ additions and departures, if they overpaid or underpaid for any big names and if they addressed any of their biggest needs. With that being said, here are my winners and losers of free agency after the first few days.
WINNER: New England Patriots
(Source: New York Post)
Notable Additions:
Trent Brown OT- 1 year, $11 million
Jonnu Smith TE- 4 years, $50 million
Matt Judon EDGE- 4 years, $54.5 million
Hunter Henry TE- 3 years, $37.5 million
Kyle Van Noy EDGE- 2 years, $12 million
David Andrews C- 4 years, TBD
Nelson Agholor WR- 2 years, $26 million
Notable Departures:
Joe Thuney OG (KC- 5 years, $80 million)
We are not at all accustomed to seeing this type of aggressiveness in free agency from the New England Patriots. I’m sure this shocked just about everyone seeing them be so persistent in attaining some solid assets in free agency. The Patriots entered free agency with the most amount of money to spend at just over $71 million. Belichick was not afraid to spend, and they turned their team right around from last season. First was the Cam Newton signing. The Patriots fanbase is pretty much split down the middle; some love this move, others not so much. I like the move simply for the fact that Cam didn’t really have any weapons to play with and now he can showcase his true potential with the new signings of Smith, Henry and Agholor. New England traded for Trent Brown from Las Vegas to add him back onto the offensive line which was a smart move knowing that Joe Thuney was all but gone. They then double-dipped on tight ends and signed the top two on the market this offseason in Jonnu Smith and Hunter Henry. To help on the defense, they were able to acquire Matt Judon, Jalen Mills and were able to bring Kyle Van Noy back. Van Noy, a versatile weapon in the defensive front seven for the Patriots, was cut after signing with the Miami Dolphins a year ago. The Patriots almost lost two vital offensive linemen in Joe Thuney (who signed with Kansas City) and David Andrews. Andrews, after testing his value on the open market decided it was best to stick around in New England for the next four years. The Patriots covered a lot of their big needs and even acquired multiple guys at certain positions. All in all, a solid offseason for the New England Patriots and I truly believe that they can win the AFC East this season thanks to all these acquisitions.
LOSER: Las Vegas Raiders
(Source: Press Box Online)
Notable Acquisitions:
Yannick Ngakoue EDGE- 2 years, $26 million
Kenyan Drake RB- 2 years, $11 million
John Brown WR- 1 year, $3.75 million
Notable Departures:
Nelson Agholor WR (NE- 2 years, $26 million)
Rodney Hudson C (traded to ARI)
Gabe Jackson OG (traded to SEA)
Trent Brown OT (traded to NE)
Now for the “loser” side of things. The Las Vegas Raiders are the most confusing team to me at this point with their offseason moves. They were able to acquire edge rusher Yannick Ngakoue on a deal that pays him $13m per year which is great value at his level of talent. Ngakoue was not a huge name last season due to the fact that he was in a defense filled with high-talent guys. The Raiders needed a linebacker/pass rusher and Ngakoue fit the bill to a tee. Another solid signing was picking up recently-cut veteran WR John Brown to help out in their young WR room. After that, Las Vegas’ offseason was quite the head scratcher. The Las Vegas Raiders had one of the best offensive lines in the league to help protect Derek Carr and promising RB Josh Jacobs. For some reason, Gruden and Mayock decided that they wanted to shake things up and traded three of their offensive linemen all within a week. With another one of their linemen still sitting in free agency, the Raiders now only have one of their starting linemen from last season currently signed on the roster. For a team that is perennially in the playoff hunt, blowing up the offensive line definitely damages that plan. Another weird move by them was signing Cardinals RB Kenyan Drake. Drake is a solid running back, but the role they are going to have him play, could’ve been a mid round draft pick therefore they could save around $10 million by not signing Kenyan Drake. After one of his best seasons in the league last year, you can imagine Derek Carr is not a huge fan of these moves.
WINNER: Tampa Bay Buccaneers
(Source: The Pewter Plank)
Notable Acquisitions:
Shaquill Barrett EDGE- 4 years, $68 million
Rob Gronkowski TE- 1 year, $10 million
Lavonte David LB- 2 years, $25 million
Chris Godwin WR- TAGGED
Notable Departures:
N/A
You can’t talk about winners and not mention the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Always known for being a laughing stock of a franchise, Tom Brady fit into that offense and was able to win them a Super Bowl this past year. However, that Super Bowl would not be in their hands if it wasn’t for the defense. The Buccaneers defense is one of the best in the league and you could see it by watching their run in the playoffs. With a lot of significant players set to hit free agency, the Bucs pulled some strings and were able to resign all of the guys that they wanted to. By having Brady sign a contract extension with voidable years, they were able to clear up $19 million in cap space this offseason to retain all their big pieces. Keeping that dominant linebacking corp of David, Barrett and White together was the biggest priority. The Bucs signed veteran Lavonte David to a two year deal, then were able to pay Shaq Barrett long term as well. Chris Godwin, one of Brady’s favorite targets, was franchise tagged and happily accepted in hopes to run it back for another Super Bowl. Gronkowski also signed a one year deal to stay with his long time QB and best friend. The Bucs look to head into next season with essentially the same exact Super Bowl winning roster; will they be able to repeat?
LOSER: Cincinnati Bengals
(Source: Fan Duel)
Notable Acquisitions:
Trey Hendrickson DE- 4 years, $60 million
Chidobe Awuzie CB- 3 years, $21.75 million
Mike Hilton CB- 4 years, $24 million
Riley Reiff OT- TBD
Notable Departures:
Carl Lawson DE (NYJ- 3 years, $45 million)
William Jackson CB (WAS- 3 years, $40.5 million)
AJ Green WR (ARI- 1 year, $6 million)
Cincinnati has recently made some moves to not make their offseason look as bad as it was after day one. Cincinnati to me, is still one of the biggest losers in free agency. They can certainly turn this around real quick if they are able to lure in Kenny Golladay; a free agent WR that has been linked to them for the past few days. The most puzzling move made by the Bengals was letting Carl Lawson walk to sign Trey Hendrickson. Hendrickson, a defensive end from the Saints, had 13.5 sacks on the season last year. Despite his numbers looking good, he didn’t have much of an impact. Most of his sacks were second chance or clean up sacks meaning that he doesn’t get a lot of pressure on the quarterback by himself, he needs other talent around him to put up help with pressures. Carl Lawson on the other hand, who signed with the Jets was second in the league at QB pressures last season. They signed for the same amount of money per year and the Bengals really lost out on choosing Hendrickson over Lawson. Regardless of that, Cincy was able to pick up two decent cornerbacks to replace William Jackson in the secondary. They also just signed Riley Reiff, an offensive tackle who was cut by the Minnesota Vikings. The offensive line was the Bengals BIGGEST need to protect Joe Burrow. Although Reiff is a capable player, signing an offensive tackle who will be 33 mid way through next season is not good for the Bengals long term. Like I mentioned before, the Cincinnati Bengals can easily look like winners throughout the rest of free agency and the draft; but at this point in time, I have the Bengals as losers.
WINNER: Washington Football Team
(Source: Entrepreneur)
Notable Acquisitions:
William Jackson CB- 3 years, $40.5 million
Curtis Samuel WR- 3 years, $34.5 million
Ryan Fitzpatrick QB- 1 year, $10 million
Notable Departures:
Ronald Darby CB (DEN- 3 years, $30 million)
The Washington Football Team really came out of left field and shocked everyone last season by making the playoffs and keeping it competitive with the eventual Super Bowl champs. Washington had a very underrated and underappreciated free agency thus far but it will pay off BIG time for them as they look to get even better. At first, I wasn’t a huge fan of the Fitzpatrick signing but after thinking about it for a while, it does make sense. Fitzpatrick gives Washington a veteran QB who is still an effective player as he almost brought Miami to the playoffs last season while being Tua’s “closer” later in the year. Losing Ronald Darby at the CB2 spot was not ideal, but they quickly were able to replace him as they struck a deal with William Jackson from Cincinnati. Fuller and Jackson will be a great cornerback duo to supplement that top tier defensive front. Another need for Washington was a second receiving target opposite Terry McLaurin. The Football Team signed McLaurin’s college teammate Curtis Samuel. Samuel will be a nice number two option for Fitzpatrick in the offense next season. Washington was able to upgrade at positions they lost, and signed their biggest positions of need. Their free agency so far might be the most perfect.
LOSER: Chicago Bears
(Source: The Athletic)
Notable Acquisitions:
Andy Dalton QB- 1 year, $10 million
Allen Robinson- TAGGED
Notable Departures:
Roy Robertson-Harris DE (JAX- 3 years, $23.4 million)
Mitch Trubisky QB (BUF- 1 year, 2.5 million)
Lastly as losers, we have the Chicago Bears. We’ll keep this one short...what is your plan? The Bears wanted to pursue Russell Wilson from Seattle by giving up a BOATLOAD of picks and players; Seattle declined. Therefore, Chicago signed Andy Dalton to be their starter. After seeing Trubisky play last season, I would have rathered for the Bears to just sign Trubisky to a one year deal rather than getting Dalton to be the starter. Dalton is a capable quarterback, but there had to have been better options out there. They also will probably not be able to draft a top five quarterback in the draft sitting at the 20th pick. If they are lucky enough to have a top quarterback drop down to them, you have to take him. After seeing the Dalton signing, I’m sure star WR Allen Robinson has not changed his mind on wanting to leave.