NFL free agency doesn’t technically start until Wednesday, but thanks to the legal tampering period opening on Monday, the annual spending frenzy is already well underway. Dozens of free agents have agreed to deals, stars have been traded, and markets have been reset by record-breaking contracts. Some moves were good. Others … not so much. Here are the winners and losers on the first (unofficial) day of NFL free agency.
Loser: The Cincinnati Bengals
The Bengals were one of the more active teams on the first day of free agency (legal tampering edition), but they didn’t make any of the moves their fan base has been clamoring for for at least a year now. Cincinnati brought back defensive tackle B.J. Hill before he could hit the open market, reunited with running back Samaje Perine (who last played for the Bengals in the 2022 season) and pried defensive tackle T.J. Slaton away from the Packers on a modest contract. Those are deals that will solidify the middle of the Bengals’ roster, but the top of the roster, behind Joe Burrow, is still very much in flux as Ja’Marr Chase, Tee Higgins, and Trey Hendrickson are still looking for new deals. That alone would have been enough to put Cincinnati on the “losers” side before the NFL’s offseason truly kicked off. But now that we’ve seen a few market-setting deals get agreed to shortly after the negotiating period began, it feels like the front office made a massive mistake by dragging their feet on extensions for those three stars.
The Bengals will almost certainly get a deal done with Chase at some point in the offseason. De facto general manager Duke Tobin has said the team plans on making him the highest-paid non-quarterback in the league. But that was before the Browns and Myles Garrett blew up the non-QB market by agreeing on a record-breaking deal that will pay the star pass rusher $40 million per season. If Chase and his agent hold the Bengals to their word, the negotiations will have to start at that number. Had they gotten a deal done last offseason, when Chase and the team were first able to work on an extension on his rookie contract and before the salary cap jumped by nearly $24 million this offseason, the contract would have been a lot more affordable.
Garrett’s deal will also have a massive impact on Hendrickson’s negotiations after the Browns reset the market for edge rushers. Hendrickson won’t come close to the $40 million average Garrett received, but it should bump up his asking price by at least a few million—which may be enough to convince the notoriously frugal Bengals front office to honor the trade request he recently put in. Hendrickson, who led the NFL with 17.5 sacks in the 2024 season, says he’d like to stay in Cincinnati, and that’s presumably not a new feeling. Again, had the Bengals acted quickly and got a deal done early, this would have been a much more affordable process for the team.
Higgins’s asking price could also be on the rise after the early days of free agency, thanks to the blockbuster DK Metcalf trade that sent the receiver to Pittsburgh, where he’s signing a new five-year, $150 million contract. Higgins was expected to get around $30 million per season on the open market, which is a small, but not insignificant, raise over what he’ll make playing under the franchise tag in 2025. But Higgins is younger and is a better player than Metcalf at this point in his career—and should be looking for more money than the former Seahawk got from the Steelers. Once again, it would have been a lot cheaper for the Bengals to lock down Higgins long-term if they had just acted quickly.
In all likelihood, the Bengals will find a way to get Chase, Higgins, and Hendrickson signed—it will just be expensive. Burrow, who’s gone on a very public campaign advocating for his teammates to get paid, may revolt if those deals don’t get done. Keeping the franchise quarterback happy should be a top priority for the front office, no matter how much it may cost. —Steven Ruiz
Winner: Caleb Williams
If the Bears’ porous offensive line hampered Caleb Williams’s development during his rookie season, Chicago is trying to make sure that doesn’t happen in his second season—his first under new head coach Ben Johnson.
By the end of the first day of the legal tampering period, the Bears had overhauled the interior of the line by adding three starters. Last week, Chicago agreed to trade for two starters—former Chiefs left guard Joe Thuney and former Rams right guard Jonah Jackson. (Those trades will become official on Wednesday.) On Monday, just a few hours into the negotiation window, they agreed to terms on a three-year, $42 million contract with the top center on the market, former Falcon Drew Dalman. Thuney, Dalman, and Jackson are an experienced interior trio that should help both Williams and young tackles Braxton Jones and Darnell Wright.
At least on paper, Chicago turned a major weakness into a strength in the course of a week. Last season, Williams was the most-sacked quarterback in the NFL. His style of play certainly contributed to that outcome, but it’s hard to imagine that ugly sack history repeating itself behind this new offensive line. After luring Johnson away from the Lions and now with the investment in Williams’s protection, the young quarterback is set up for a big year. —Nora Princiotti
Winner: Mike Vrabel
The Patriots were the biggest spenders on Monday, agreeing to contract terms with nine new players that could cost around $300 million collectively. The splashiest move was for defensive tackle Milton Williams, who will get a four-year, $104 million contract. Williams was a rotational player who made seven starts for the Eagles last season but was considered one of the top free agents available in this class, and will immediately become the highest-paid player on New England’s roster.
The Patriots also opened the checkbook for cornerback Carlton Davis III, who agreed to a three-year contract worth up to $60 million, with $34.5 million guaranteed; linebacker Harold Landry III, who agreed to a three-year, $43.5 million deal with $26 million guaranteed; linebacker Robert Spillane, who agreed to a three-year, $37.5 million contract; and offensive tackle Morgan Moses, who agreed to a three-year, $24 million contract. The Patriots also agreed to smaller deals with backup quarterback Joshua Dobbs and defensive tackle Khyiris Tonga.
The teams that spend big in free agency often wind up with some regrets, and that could happen in this case. Williams is a projection because of his inexperience, while Davis, Landry, Spillane, and Moses are older players. But if you strip back the guarantees, most of these contracts are two-year commitments, and New England had cash to burn. Primarily, they used it to bolster Vrabel’s defense—Williams will ideally pair with Christian Barmore as a disruptive interior tandem, and he gives the Patriots some insurance if the blood clot issues that limited Barmore to four games last season come up again. Davis gives New England a no. 2 corner opposite Christian Gonzalez that they can feel good about, and Spillane and Landry are reuniting with a coach who knows them both well. —Princiotti
Loser: Joe Schoen
Did Giants GM Joe Schoen just think we weren’t going to notice that the three-year, $36 million contract the Giants offered to WR Darius Slayton on Monday was the exact same deal the Giants weren’t willing to give SAQUON BARKLEY last offseason? Come on, Joe, at least make the parameters a little different! For your own sake!
Look, we’re all tired of kicking the Giants when they’re down for the Barkley stuff. They fucked up—bad. But then they go out and do something like this, and they make it just too easy for us. Surely, Schoen and Co. will try to spin this Slayton move as keeping a quality player who is part of their offensive core. And maybe we could buy it if there were some other obvious plan in place. Instead, the Giants, a bad team with a decent amount of cap space and plenty of holes to fill, spent the first unofficial day of free agency bringing in former Saints cornerback Paulson Adebo, who is a good young player but is coming off a broken leg, and securing Slayton. No offensive line help. Just one defensive line addition. And, most notably, by Monday night, the Giants appeared no closer to answering their biggest question: quarterback. There’s been plenty of reporting indicating the team remains interested in Aaron Rodgers, but they’re waiting for Rodgers to decide where he wants to play in 2025.
So, I guess now that I think about it, maybe Schoen would prefer we circle back to the Barkley thing, because at least he knows how those jokes are going to end, while the QB jokes are just getting started. —Lindsay Jones
Loser: The Commanders’ Effort to Avoid Regressing to the Mean
The Commanders were a great story last season, winning double-digit games and upsetting the Lions en route to an NFC championship game appearance, but we can’t let the good vibes mask the fact that Washington’s defense allowed 106 total points in its three playoff games. The Commanders ranked 10th among 14 playoff teams by point differential, and in the regular season they beat only two teams that finished with a winning record. If there were any directives for Washington in this free agency period, it needed to be surrounding quarterback Jayden Daniels with young players who could take pressure to be a hero off his shoulders.
So far, neither goal has been met, and you can argue that this team has lost more quality players than it has added. Trading for receiver Deebo Samuel is precarious after he put up his worst yards per route (1.61) in his career, even though the 49ers were pass-heavy by their standards last season. Washington also traded away several mid-round picks for Houston tackle Laremy Tunsil, who may have one more season of good play left in him. His film from last season reveals his play was worse than pass blocking advanced metrics might indicate. Those additions are offset by the losses of receiver Dyami Brown, defensive tackle Jonathan Allen, and safety Jeremy Chinn—each of whom would’ve been much easier to replace with the draft picks given up for Tunsil.
Maybe this all works out in the end because Daniels continues to shine in close games. If there’s any slip in his play, though, this team could be facing regression in 2025. —Diante Lee
Winner: The Tampa Bay Buccaneers
The key to winning free agency isn’t throwing around cash to bring in B-level talent; the key is avoiding doing so while not letting other teams raid your team for foundational players. Tampa Bay completed the assignment by getting deals done with Chris Godwin, Ben Bredesen, and Lavonte David early while losing only backup center Robert Hainsey, who played 95 snaps in the 2024 season. The Buccaneers haven’t meaningfully improved their roster yet, but there’s plenty of time for that. More importantly, they’ve ensured that their 2025 roster will be as strong as last year’s NFC South-winning team.
Keeping Godwin off the open market was the biggest win for Tampa Bay. He may not be a no. 1 receiver at this point in his career, but he’s a top-shelf no. 2 option who played a significant role in Tampa Bay’s offense before going down with a season-ending ankle injury in Week 7. Godwin was Baker Mayfield’s top target in the quick-passing and receiver-screen game. His blocking was also an asset in the run game. The passing game survived after Godwin’s injury thanks to the emergence of rookie Jalen McMillan down the stretch, but it was missing a key layer without Godwin. The Bucs got a pretty sweet deal, too. Godwin’s three-year, $66 million contract makes him the highest-paid receiver on the team—which will likely lead to Mike Evans getting a raise—but when accounting for the increased salary cap, it’s a below-market value for a good WR2.
The Bucs also got good value in their deals with David and Bredesen. David is no longer an elite linebacker but played good football in 2024. Even if David takes a step back, he should be worth the one-year, $10 million pact he signed. Bredesen was a key member of a Tampa Bay offensive line that finished the season on a tear and played his best down the stretch. At the very least, he, along with Godwin, will provide continuity for an offense that lost its coordinator this offseason. —Ruiz
Loser: Davante Adams
In case you forgot, here’s a clip from Netflix’s Receiver that shows Adams’s experience playing with quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo on the Raiders in 2023.
Yikes!
Adams did not hold back on his frustration with Garoppolo when the cameras were around. He also shared that he’d signed off on the quarterback’s benching—which Adams said was necessary for the prolific pass catcher to remain with the team at the time.
Fast-forward to Sunday, when the Rams signed Adams to a two-year deal that will pay him $8 million in guaranteed base salary this year. Then on Monday, Los Angeles announced it had re-signed Garoppolo as its backup quarterback, meaning that Adams is one Matthew Stafford injury away from being back to catching “hospital balls” from Jimmy G. —Princiotti
Winner: Inconspicuous Offensive Linemen
Salary cap inflation explains a good amount of the free agent spending we witnessed on Monday, but it still can’t account for some of the bloated deals given to offensive linemen. The most shocking deal from the negotiating period was Green Bay’s agreement to pay former 49ers guard Aaron Banks $77 million over the next four seasons, even though he was essentially an average player during his time in San Francisco. Adding Banks means veteran lineman Elgton Jenkins will likely be moved to center in 2025 and is a candidate to be cut next offseason before he’s scheduled to make more than $18 million in the final year of his deal.
Kansas City, meanwhile, is expected to pay a different former 49ers lineman, backup tackle Jaylon Moore, $30 million over the next two seasons. Moore will be the latest through the revolving door of guys trying out as quarterback Patrick Mahomes’s blindside blocker at a time when protection is critical coming off an ugly performance by the offensive line in the Super Bowl loss to Philadelphia. Kansas City’s track record with the position has been rough since Eric Fisher departed after the 2020 season.
And then there’s the $82 million deal Dan Moore Jr. is expected to sign with the Titans. The total is stunning—and averages more than $20 million per season—but the Titans’ process makes sense. Moore has had some ups and downs as a pass protector, but he has the physical tools to improve and is just 26 years old; adding him allows the Titans to move 2024 first-round pick JC Latham back to his natural spot at right tackle.
If teams watched the Eagles mow their competition down up front and believed their pathway to winning is through the trenches, I think that’s the right lesson to learn, too … but only if teams are actually acquiring good players up front. —Lee
Loser: 49ers Nostalgia
The dismantling of the dominant San Francisco teams from earlier this decade is nearly complete. The exodus started with a trade agreement to send receiver Deebo Samuel to Washington (that deal will become official on Wednesday), followed by news on Monday of three starters from the 49ers’ Super Bowl LVIII team agreeing to free agent deals with new teams: Dre Greenlaw, Charvarius Ward, Aaron Banks. Javon Hargrave is going to be released, and on Monday it was reported that the team will also cut longtime fullback Kyle Juszczyk. By the end of the day, just 12 of the 22 starters from that Super Bowl team that lost to the Chiefs remain on the roster heading into the 2025 season.
There are plenty of good players remaining, of course—Nick Bosa and Fred Warner and George Kittle and Brandon Aiyuk and Christian McCaffrey, among them—but this is clearly a team in transition. They’ll eventually be able to recoup compensatory draft picks after losing so many players in free agency this year, and that will help restock the roster, but the reality is that the 49ers’ calculus is simply different now that they’re staring a large extension for Brock Purdy in the face. —Jones
