Biggest NFL Free Agency Winners and Losers through one week.
Free Agency Winners: Raiders, Rams, Texans
Las Vegas Raiders: The Raiders are easily considered one of the biggest winners so far in free agency. They entered free agency with the most cap space and were willing to spend it to rebuild the league’s worst team the previous season. The raiders clearly came in with a plan to reshape the defense. They gave former Packers Linebacker Quay Walker a 3-year, $40.5 million contract and former Eagles linebacker a 3-year, $36 million contract. The former Georgia Bulldogs teammates will look to add speed and experience to the Raiders’ second level of defense. Vegas also paid Edge rusher Kwity Paye a 3 year $48 million contract to help provide a better pass rush next season. Potentially pairing him with Maxx Crosby after that whole saga could be a fun 1-2 punch at edge rusher. Their big splash move on offense was giving arguably the top available free agent, Tyler Linderbaum, a 3-year, $81 million deal. He provides immediate leadership and experience to the offensive line, and pairing him up with presumed number 1 overall pick Fernando Mendoza can help the young QB develop into a star player. Overall, the Raiders spent their money efficiently, and it wouldn’t surprise me if Klint Kubiak could get this team to the playoffs in his first season.
Los Angeles Rams: The Rams were the favorites to win the Super Bowl for most of last year, but ultimately fell short to the Seahawks in the NFC championship. The Rams did not have much to do in free agency, as the team was loaded with talent last year. If there was one question mark, it would be in the defensive backs’ room. They were able to pull off a massive trade with the Chiefs, acquiring superstar cornerback Trent McDuffie. They extended him to a 4-year $124 million contract, giving them a stud on the outside of their defense. They also paired him up with his former Chiefs teammate Jaylen Watson, giving him a 3-year $51 million contract and completely revamping their cornerbacks. They were also able to re-sign Kamren Curl to a 3-year $36 million deal. The Rams fixed their biggest weakness from last season, and it shouldn’t be a surprise if they are the favorites to win the Super Bowl next year. General Manager Les Snead has embraced going all in to potentially win one more Super Bowl with QB Matthew Stafford.
Houston Texans: Shifting focus to the Texans, another big winner through the start of free agency is Houston. The Texans’ biggest weakness this past season was their offensive line. It really showed during the playoffs as quarterback CJ Stroud was pressured a ton through both of their playoff games. They completely fixed their offensive line by signing Braden Smith and Wyatt Teller. Both veteran players can fix the interior offensive line. The Texans were also able to pull in David Montgomery in a trade with the Lions. A move I really like: pairing him with Woody Marks could make for a solid running back duo. The Texans’ run game was not good last year because Joe Mixon missed the entire season, which led to his release. Montgomery will be able to add some power running into the Texans’ offense. Houston had one of the best defenses in football last year; they did not need to do much to improve it. I really like the signing of Reed Blankenship, a bit underrated in my opinion. He’s going to provide quality snaps at safety and another chess piece for DeMeco Ryans.
Free Agency Losers: Eagles, Packers, Buccaneers
Philadelphia Eagles: Next, the Eagles are at the top of my list of losers for the start of free agency. For a team that was inconsistent last year on offense, the last thing they could have done was sit still. No splash moves, and losing three quality starters on defense is not the recipe for success. Losing Jaelan Phillips, Naobe Dean, and Reed Blankenship instantly makes one of the best defenses in football last offseason substantially worse. They were able to bring in Tariq Woolen on a one-year deal to play on the other side of Quinyon Mitchell at Cornerback. At the same time, Woolen was a bit inconsistent the past couple of years on the Seahawks. For a team that was so inconsistent on offense last season, I would have thought they would try to do more, especially at the offensive Line. The O-line was bad last year, and so far, they have refused to address that, quite questionable from Howie Roseman. On top of all this, AJ Brown continues to be the center of trade talks, not guaranteed to happen, but it would not be a smart move for the Eagles to move off of him. Overall It’s hard to understand what the Eagles plan was this offseason, time will tell if they can pull off a splash move, but for now, this has not been a good start to the offseason for Howie Roseman and Nick Sirianni.
Green Bay Packers: The Packers are also another team I felt as immediate losers this offseason. To start, the Packers lost Rasheed Walker, Romeo Doubs, and Quay Walker to free agency. The biggest question mark to me was losing Romeo Doubs. The Packers’ inability to want to invest in Wide Receivers has always been questionable, they haven’t had a true alpha receiver since Devante Adams, so letting arguably your best receiver walk away doesn’t make sense. It is hard to win playoff games when you don’t have an X-factor wide receiver to rely on. Focusing on defense should have been a priority for them, as it wasn’t that good when Micah Parsons wasn’t playing. Surely Parsons should be recovered from his ACL injury by week 1, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t huge question marks at other positions. Defensive Backs still aren’t great, and Linebacker is in question after losing Quay Walker, and they haven’t done anything to fix those issues. For a team that doesn’t have a first round pick for the next two years, you start to wonder where they will look next to fill positions of needs. In my opinion, the Packers had work to do on both sides of the ball and ended up losing more players than they brought in.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers: The Buccaneers seem to be in an interesting spot every year. They play in a weak division, which allows them to always be in playoff contention, but the roster never feels good enough to make a solid run in the playoffs. They lost future Hall of Famer Mike Evans, I get he has injury concerns now, but it still feels like a massive loss. Emeka Egbuka showed flashes last year, but Chris Godwin is a shell of his old self, and the Bucs have created a hole at the wide receiver position. They also lost Cornerback Jamel Dean to free agency, adding more question marks to a defense filled with question marks. The Bucs failed to make any splash moves in free agency, though they can look at the draft to fill those needs. Once again, it feels like a team that just isn’t talented enough to make a real run. I would have liked the Bucs to make more moves to bolster their entire roster.
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