Everybody is a winner in their own hearts. Never will you ask an NFL GM if they feel they’ve won or lost free agency and hear them say, “We lost.” So long as they’re stone sober. But deep in the recesses of their soul, beneath the hearts and minds and professional positively, lurks a profound understanding of their own situation: we lost.
Of course, some people won. Otherwise, this would be titled “NFL Free Agency Losers,” which, while potentially entertaining, would be rather disingenuous. Lots of teams had great weeks, some of them dubiously so, and so I’m here to hand out some winners, some losers and one creatively-named award for each team on the list. There will be intrigue, there will be drama, the AFC North and West will be heavily represented and a box lunch will be provided. Let’s roll.
Winners of NFL free agency so Far
Baltimore Ravens
Prying a win from the jaws of loserville are the Ravens, who could very easily have graced the other half of this article had they not pulled off one of the great AFC North heists in recent memory: the classic trade-two-firsts-for-Maxx Crosby-but-then-void-the-trade-and-sign-Trey Hendrickson move. You know, that classic one. Easily the best free agent on the board, Baltimore kind of traded Maxx Crosby for Trey Hendrickson and two first-round picks. That would go down as an amazing trade … if it was actually a trade and not, you know, the thing I described above.
You’re having a weird week if you’re a Baltimore Ravens fan. You were probably thrilled when your team got Crosby, gutted when the Raiders stole Tyler Linderbaum as retribution, probably dismayed when the Crosby trade got voided and then overjoyed when Hendrickson came out of the tunnel to unilaterally fix everything. They also picked up Jaylinn Hawkins, a safety who flew under the radar but was a super important player for the New England Patriots in their run to the Super Bowl last year. A fascinating one-two punch where Baltimore arguably signed the best player and lost the second-best player on the board, I’m still netting this a W week for the Birds in Blu … (they’re purple sir) … The Birds in Purple. I’m colorblind.
Las Vegas Raiders
Oh, did you think both teams involved in that debacle couldn’t be winners… somehow? The Maxx Crosby fallout will dominate conversations about this team, but that’s technically a trade, not a free agency signing. And man oh man did the Raiders go all out upgrading this tattered roster for the incoming prince who was promised: Fernando Mendoza, likely to go first overall in the upcoming NFL Draft. We have edge rushers, we have linebackers, we have cornerbacks. We even have Jalen Nailor, who was a cool receiver in spots for the Vikings.
Tyler Linderbaum’s importance for Mendoza cannot be overstated. We have seen the importance of centers for a young signal caller, particularly with Jason Kelce for Jalen Hurts, whose production decreased mightily once Kelce retired. That is a home run signing, and they completely blew up the center market to get him; Linderbaum was the most expensive interior O-lineman of all time.
Crosby makes this interesting, as with additions Quay Walker, Taron Johnson and Kwity Paye, this is starting to look like a defensive unit I can talk myself into. The Raiders are still clearly in rebuild mode, but if Crosby actually remains a Raider and plays next year, it goes from a project to something far more intriguing real quick.
Carolina Panthers
Welcome to “this money isn’t going to spend itself” with the Carolina Panthers, who dropped four years and $120 million on Jaelan Phillips, an absolutely colossal bag for a player that should fill Carolina’s biggest need since trading Brian Burns to the New York Giants. Meanwhile, they snagged Devin Lloyd, one of the best linebackers on the market, for three years and $45 million. Both deals include significant guarantees, but those are two players you want on your team going forward.
The Panthers won the NFC South last year (yes, I’m just linking the NFL standings to prove that it actually happened), a fact that all of us forgot immediately because it was on some tiebreaker chicanery and they went 8-9. But Bryce Young really looked like a competent quarterback in spots and particularly down the stretch last year; Tetairoa McMillan was a major hit in the draft, and Derrick Brown is still one of the league’s best interior defensive linemen. This team still has holes, but has begun filling them in a real way. Landing Phillips, one of the best players on the board full stop, is a major win.
New England Patriots
This is my hometown team, so I’ll try to recuse myself from overreacting to Romeo Doubs’ injury history and the fact that I, and everyone else, wanted Alec Pierce. The Patriots paid WR2 money for Doubs, who is probably a bit better than Stefon Diggs, who New England cut to save cap space. Dre’Mont Jones is also a great addition to a team that needs defensive ends, and Kevin Byard was apparently First Team All-Pro last year and led the league in interceptions. Full disclosure: I didn’t know that, especially since the Patriots only gave him one year and $9 million.
Nevertheless, the Patriots are still in the process of filling cap space vacated by years of incompetence and a rookie deal quarterback. Alijah Vera-Tucker is a speculative and risky add given his abhorrent injury history, but the Super Bowl made it clear that you can’t just leave Jared Wilson and Will Campbell to their own devices on Drake Maye’s blind side. With Wilson moving to center, that was a necessary add.
Losers of NFL free agency so far
Denver Broncos
The most money-in-the-bank pick in the history of “Winners and Losers” articles, the Broncos have simply not signed a single player as of the writing of this article. With most of the big names off the board, the Broncos have stood shockingly pat, not really losing any players but not getting much better either.
You could read this one of two ways: Denver believes they were the best team in the AFC last year, got punk’d by a freak Bo Nix injury and a snow storm in the AFC Championship and see no reason why they can’t just run it back and have it all work out better. That is a very dangerous way to run your team, as all of their AFC counterparts have been loading up around them. The Patriots were in the winners column up above, the Bills traded for (and paid) D.J. Moore and the Texans unleashed a flurry of signings. That, combined with the fact that the AFC West may not be quite as much of a peanut next season, makes me skeptical this is a good idea.
It’s also possible that Denver simply isn’t a particularly attractive destination with the awkward publicity surrounding Sean Payton chilling potential signings. I am not reporting that, but it is not typical for a team that just fell barely short of the Super Bowl to not improve at all in a full week of deals.
Cincinnati Bengals
It’s not that the Bengals aren’t signing players — they grabbed Bryan Cook, Jonathan Allen and Boye Mafe, all good additions to their abominably bad defensive unit from last season — it’s that they simply do not have the financial flexibility to fix all of their problems. They lost Hendrickson for nothing after not trading him when they could, and they are paying their quarterback and two wide receivers an entire third of their cap space. No matter how you slice the rest of the cake, there still won’t be enough for the whole birthday party. Someone will be crying because they did not get any birthday cake.
What were the Bengals supposed to do? Their win condition for the entirety of Joe Burrow era has been an explosive passing offense, and losing either Chase or Higgins would torpedo that project. They dealt with injuries last year that ended their season before it began, so maybe it can get itself back on track naturally. But with the defense now pass-rusherless without Hendrickson, an unplayable unit might get even more unplayable. How does something that was unplayable get more unplayable? Watch the Bengals next year to find out!
Atlanta Falcons
The Falcons are in a tough spot with the quarterback position. Kirk Cousins is getting cut and will incur a decent dead cap hit, and Michael Penix Jr. tore his ACL in November. That is his fifth season-ending injury in eight college/pro seasons and his third torn ACL, so the Falcons can’t necessarily count on any level of production from Penix in the future. They needed to fill the quarterback position, and their offense is built around a left-handed-pocket passer quarterback, so it makes sense that they signed … (record scratch).
Yep, that’s me, the Atlanta Falcons. You’re probably wondering how I got in this situation where Tua Tagovailoa is our starting quarterback next year. Well, it all started when Kirk Cousins tore his Achilles…
I just… I just cannot fathom watching football every Sunday and coming away with the opinion that Tua Tagovailoa can help your football team with games. I simply cannot understand it. Tagovailoa was so detrimental to the Dolphins’ success that they cut him and incurred almost $100 million in dead cap!!! I didn’t even know that was possible. Are we sure that’s possible?
Tua played one of the worst games I’ve ever seen in my life on Thursday Night Football against the Ravens, and from that moment on I vowed never to be back in on him as a functional starting quarterback. For that reason and that reason alone, Atlanta is my most loser-y loser.