2022 NFL free agency: Day 1 winners and losers

Day 1 NFL Free Agency Losers

3. Las Vegas Raiders

We just mentioned that the AFC West was an arms race and the Las Vegas Raiders didn’t help themselves by sitting out of the proceedings. The Raiders did make the playoffs a year ago and have a good quarterback in Carr but they still have major questions along their offensive line and on defense that weren’t addressed.

There is time for Las Vegas to turn things around since they have $30 million of cap space to play with in the coming days. The issue may be that if they wait too long to act any players who can boost their roster significantly will be off the board by then.

2. Jacksonville Jaguars

This year’s biggest spenders so far haven’t done a good job allocating their resources. Jacksonville did make a pair of valuable defensive additions with linebacker Foyesade Oluokun and defensive tackle Folorunso Fatukasi but the money allocated to offensive players made little sense.

Guard Brandon Scherff was a good move on paper to help protect Trevor Lawrence but his durability issues could lead to a lot of that money being wasted. Paying the trio of Christian Kirk, Zay Jones and Evan Engram a total of $117.5 million gives Lawrence more weapons but none of the trio is as good an investment as doing what the Browns did by trading a fifth-round pick to acquire Amari Cooper.

1. Indianapolis Colts

The Colts are in a winnable division and have a major quarterback question with a ton of salary cap space, a scenario that would usually lead to plenty of spending. GM Chris Ballard instead sat out of Day 1 entirely, not making a single big move while watching guard Mark Glowinski leave for a deal with the New York Giants.

Indianapolis is sitting on over $62 million in salary cap room, money that Ballard can use to attack the second wave of free agency if he is simply eyeing value plays. For the moment, however, the Colts are the NFL’s biggest losers since they have squandered an opportunity to add some big-time players to a roster that needs some help.