Free Agency Grades For All 32 Teams

By
Logan Ulrich
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Free agency isn’t done technically, but we’re going on two weeks since the opening of the negotiating window which means we’re firmly in the second wave of free agency. Most of the big names and players who move the needle have found new homes, with a few stragglers that will come in over the next few weeks and months.

Some of them will move the needle, but for now we have a pretty good idea of how the offseason is shaping up for all 32 teams. We can start to figure out which teams got better and which teams got worse. The upcoming season will be the true judge of each team’s offseason, but to pass the time until then, here are some 2024 NFL Free Agency Grades:

San Francisco 49ers

Grade: B+

The 49ers entered this offseason with a Super Bowl window that remains open for 2024, but wobbly beyond that. Starting QB Brock Purdy made a base salary of $870,000 in 2023 and will make just $985,000 in 2024 before being eligible for a new deal in 2025, so the 49ers still have tremendous flexibility to build up the rest of the roster around him. The bulk of the 49ers’ core will be back next season. 

The exception is Armstead and this is the biggest shakeup the 49ers are making to the roster so far. Armstead has played 21 of 34 possible games over the past two seasons and would have been due big money at the age of 31. San Francisco decided the best play would be to get out a year too early rather than too late, even if it meant overhauling nearly the entire defensive line outside of DE Nick Bosa and DT Javon Hargrave when factoring in all their pending free agents. 

San Francisco signed Floyd, Gross-Matos and Elliott and traded for Collins. Floyd isn’t a flashy edge rusher but he showed he still has a good amount left in the tank last year with the Bills and provides steadiness across from Bosa. Collins and Elliott are priced reasonably for their potential impact as pass rushers from the interior, especially in San Francisco’s scheme. The biggest risk is Gross-Matos, who was minimally productive for most of his first four years in Carolina, but began to flash last year. He’s also a far better fit in San Francisco’s scheme. 

All four will count less against the cap in 2024 than what Armstead was slated for, even if you count the remaining dead money from Armstead’s June 1 release. I would expect the 49ers to bolster the defensive line even more in the draft to continue getting younger, cheaper and diversifying their assets up front. 

Most of San Francisco’s other moves continued this same theme, either retaining key role players like Jennings or Odum or throwing darts to shore up other weak spots, like the additions at cornerback. 

Chicago Bears

Grade: C

Initially looking this over, I was underwhelmed by what the Bears have done so far this offseason. After thinking it over, I upgraded to just whelmed. The extension for Johnson was great, locking in one of their best defensive players at a reasonable rate. Easily this is Chicago’s best move of the offseason. 

I liked Chicago taking two low-cost swings at finding a new starting center, though a 5th for Bates is a bit pricy. The trade for Allen is deceptively risky given his age and salary in excess of $20 million, but he does have a high floor and raises the floor of the receiving corps for a rookie quarterback. Chicago has cap to burn so it makes sense, even if it’s closer to a B than an A grade. 

The easiest thing to knock the Bears for is the return on the Fields trade, but his value was already shot by the way the quarterback market unfolded. A fourth-round pick might have been the best-case scenario, and to get anything more Chicago would have had to trade Fields last offseason, which would have changed a lot of things. The Bears could still salvage a fourth depending on how things shake out with the Steelers and Fields this year. 

The other big moves were for Swift, Byard and Everett — a running back, safety and backup tight end. Swift is explosive but I’m not even sure he’s the best running back on the roster. Byard has a terrific resume but was a big part of Philadelphia’s struggles on defense after the midseason trade last year. Overall, there’s just not much punch from the Bears’ offseason so far. They have two top-ten picks, so the punch is going to come from the draft anyway, but if the Bears had used the cap space they dedicated to Swift, Byard and others on an impact edge rusher, I’d feel a lot better about the team entering the draft. 

Cincinnati Bengals

Grade: B+

For the most part, the Bengals hunted for bargains in the first wave of free agency, shopping in the middle of the market and not the top. The contracts for Stone, Moss and Gesicki are good examples of that, and deals for Bell and Brown will likely be similar. All five should be starters, so it’s tough to knock the value. Moss was better than Mixon last year, albeit in part-time work. Bell and Stone should stabilize what was a big weakness for the Bengals on defense last year. 

The one deal where the Bengals extended themselves was for Rankins, and it was to answer their biggest need at a position where players were flying off the board. Rankins is a solid starter and could help the Bengals navigate the loss of DT D.J. Reader. Cincinnati needs Rankins to be a plus starter, and this deal easily comes with the most downside of any that they signed. It’s also the most important move they’ve made so far. 

Buffalo Bills

Grade: B-

This was an offseason of financial reckoning for the Bills, who made some swings over the past two years that have not panned out in a Super Bowl. Buffalo entered the offseason needing to dig out of a significant cap deficit, and that required moving on from former veteran stalwarts like Poyer, Morse and White. Extensions for Dawkins and Johnson created some more cap space, but at a bit of a premium, putting both players in the top five of their respective positions (counting Johnson as a slot corner, his deal makes him the top-paid nickel in football). Both players are viewed by the Bills as core starters but there’s some risk involved in giving out deals of that size. 

The Bills did get a major win by getting Miller to accept a pay cut instead of forcing a potentially necessary but tough decision by the Bills on whether to release him with a June 1 designation. Miller reduced his pay from $17.5 million to $8.9 million, saving that amount in both cash and cap space for the Bills. Had they released him, the cash savings would have been more, but the cap savings would have been minimal and the pass rush would have been worse for wear. The Bills and Miller are banking on the soon-to-be-35-year-old being a lot better another year removed from knee surgery. 

Even with all the moves to create cap space, the Bills were relegated to dollar store shopping for the most part to try and fill roles and depth. Their two most notable moves were re-signing Jones, who was a key player for them on the interior, and adding Samuel to bolster the receiving corps. Samuel had the best season of his career playing for Bills OC Joe Brady when he was the play-caller with the Panthers in 2020, setting a career-high with 1,051 yards from scrimmage and 851 receiving yards. At $8 million per year, it was one of the best receiver contracts signed in free agency. 

Considering how the Bills entered free agency, the last couple of weeks have gone about as well as the team could have hope. What will help the Bills the most is acing the upcoming draft where they have 11 picks. That’s where GM Brandon Beane will either help the Bills get over the hump or sow the seeds of his own demise. 

Denver Broncos

Grade: C

It’s going to be a lean year in Denver after some of the big swings of the past few years missed in spectacular fashion. Over the next two seasons, the Broncos will have $85 million in dead money from Wilson hanging on their books like a dead albatross. Broncos HC Sean Payton loves to at least act like the smartest one in the room, and he’ll have to in order for the Broncos to find cheap contributors. Denver has no choice but to find treasure in the NFL scrap heap. 

For example, Denver cut Simmons coming off a year in which he was named to the Pro Bowl and second-team AP All-Pro, but was in the last year of a deal worth a little over $15 million per year. The Broncos went out and signed two safeties for about two-thirds of the cost in AAV, but neither has a resume even close to Simmons. It’ll be up to DC Vance Joseph to bring the best out of both, and the Broncos are banking that safety is a position they can get away with less while they rebuild.

The Broncos dumped Jeudy for whatever they could get, adding two Day 3 picks and clearing $13 million in cap space. They kept veteran WR Tim Patrick, who’s coming off a torn ACL but when healthy is a much better fit both in terms of culture and scheme for Payton’s offense. Denver allowed LB Josey Jewell to leave in free agency and replaced him with Barton. Overall that swap is a downgrade, but Barton signed for close to the minimum instead of $10 million guaranteed, is two years younger and is at least on par with Jewell in coverage. There are more ways for the Broncos to net out positively with Barton than if they’d kept Jewell. 

That’s the strategy for the Broncos for this year and maybe next. Take a lot of swings on cheap players who fit the system and can be developed. It won’t look pretty this time of year but when we look back and re-evaluate, there could be a lot of upside. One critique I do have is that the Broncos canceled out a projected fourth-round compensatory pick for losing C Lloyd Cushenberry by signing Jones. They evidently liked the player enough that they felt the opportunity cost was worth it, but still worth noting. 

Cleveland Browns

Grade: C

The Browns were tracking for a much better grade before handing out a puzzling big-money contract to Jeudy. The former first-rounder has largely failed to deliver on the hype he entered the NFL with from Alabama. Billed as the next great receiver, Jeudy’s known more for feuding with future Hall of Famer Steve Smith Sr. than he is for anything he’s done on the field so far. His best season was in 2022, when he had 67 catches for 972 yards and six touchdowns. 

Cleveland evidently believes he’s capable of much, much more. The details of Jeudy’s deal will be telling, as it has some of the early hallmarks of other blatant initial agent-inflated reports — such as “up to” $58 million. Regardless of the true value of the deal, however, Jeudy has now cashed in significantly without having to prove himself in a contract year, as most people expected would be the case when the Browns traded for him. 

Acquiring him for two Day 3 picks was a shrewd move. But by giving him a lucrative second contract, the Browns have nerfed any expected surplus value from the trade. Jeudy would have to supplant WR Amari Cooper as the No. 1 receiver to exceed their investment, and maybe that’s what the Browns think is going to happen. By locking him up now, they avoid a situation where they have to franchise him in 2025. But if he continues to disappoint, they now have another burdensome contract on their books. 

That decision drags down what has otherwise been a solid offseason. The Browns restocked the defensive line with affordable and underrated options. They had to spend on Smith which doesn’t look as strong given he had just 5.5 sacks last year. But his underlying pressure numbers were good even if his snap counts were down from previous seasons. As long as he stays healthy, that should be a good investment. Hines and Foreman are cheap contributors with upside in the backfield as well, providing insurance as Nick Chubb tries to make his way back from a catastrophic knee injury. 

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Grade: A-

I wouldn’t throw a boat parade for the Buccaneers’ offseason like GM Jason Licht has suggested. But there are far more things to like than not about how things have shaken out for Tampa. The Evans deal is a rare win-win for the team and the player. Tampa Bay kept Evans for a lower APY than he probably would have gotten in free agency, while Evans has a chance to be back at the negotiating table in a year, two at the most. 

Not losing any out of the trio of Evans, Mayfield and Winfield despite having just one franchise tag is a win for the Buccaneers, too. It didn’t cost them too much in terms of leverage either, as both Evans and Mayfield could arguably have gotten more in free agency. Mayfield signed for $33 million a season but Tampa Bay can get out of the deal after just one year at the cost of $40 million. It’s another win-win deal. Mayfield gets some stability and a reward for a career season. The Buccaneers don’t have to start from scratch at quarterback but aren’t locked into a deal they can’t get out of if Mayfield regresses. 

Some other wins include bringing back David for another season on a cheap deal and a reunion with Whitehead in the secondary after two seasons with the Jets. Trading Davis throws cornerback into some flux but it saves a chunk of cap space for a player who’s had some injury issues. Hall is an interesting dart throw as a replacement, though the Buccaneers will surely make other moves. 

Overall, the Falcons will get a lot of hype for the offseason they’ve had but the Buccaneers have quietly had a strong one, too, and won’t give up the NFC South without a fight. 

Arizona Cardinals

Grade: C

Arizona didn’t make a singular move that feels like a looming disaster, mostly shopping in the middle to the lower side of the market. But it also feels like they spent money inefficiently overall. Getting better in the trenches was a big priority and the Cardinals targeted multiple starters here on both offense and defense. 

The deals on offense are easier to get behind. Brown has considerable starting experience and came cheaply on a deal slightly more than the veteran minimum. Williams’ deal was the biggest one handed out by the Cardinals but he also has extensive starting experience at both right and left tackle. He was better earlier in his career when he was healthy and at his natural position of left tackle, but probably tops out as an above-average starter. At a position like left tackle, that still has a lot of value. 

On defense, the deals for Nichols and Jones were a blatant attempt to raise the floor of the defensive line, one of the team’s biggest weaknesses last year. Both players are closer to replacement-level players than impact starters, however, and both got contracts with guarantees through two years. Wilson and Murphy-Bunting also got guarantees into the second year despite this being the third team of their career. 

It’s not so much that these four are bad players, it’s that they profile closer to players who have or will sign for close to the minimum, not multi-year deals with multiple seasons of guarantees. Arizona improved its roster with these signings but didn’t get as much bang for its buck as some other teams did. 

Los Angeles Chargers

Grade: C+

When I handed out grades from this past coaching cycle, I was underwhelmed by the Chargers’ hire of HC Jim Harbaugh. Some of you were underwhelmed by my grade. This isn’t a victory lap, but so far Harbaugh is doing exactly what I expected him to, reshaping the Chargers around his preferred identity of a ground-and-pound team. Two of the team’s first moves were to sign a bruising power back and a blocking tight end. 

The biggest moves center around the quartet of Williams, Allen, Mack and Bosa, all of whom had contracts that needed to be addressed to get the Chargers back in the black this offseason. When the dust settled, Allen and Williams were gone while Bosa and Mack remained on reworked contracts. Moving on from Williams was expected. Trading Allen surprised a lot of people. The Chargers now have a receiving corps headlined by Josh Palmer and Quentin Johnston, unless and until they reinforce the position in the draft. They could take a top receiving prospect with the No. 5 pick and be just fine, but they could also take a tackle or trade back, in which case the questions about the receiving corps will remain. 

You can’t criticize the Chargers for not having a coherent vision. They wanted to get more physical on both sides of the ball and get Harbaugh personnel that could embody the identity he wanted to play with. I think it’s still an open question about how well that vision will work. 

Kansas City Chiefs

Grade: A

The Chiefs had one of the biggest wins of the offseason by keeping Jones, who currently should hold the title of best defensive tackle in football after Aaron Donald’s retirement. They had to be dragged kicking and screaming to the bargaining table by Jones’ camp to pay market value, but eventually they did — and for good reason. They can replace a lot of players on offense thanks to the brilliance of QB Patrick Mahomes. Replacing a player like Jones on defense would have been exponentially harder. 

Kansas City also rebuilt the rotation around Jones by re-signing Pennel, Nnadi and Wharton, likely to cheap contracts. On offense, the Chiefs got one of the steals of free agency by signing Brown to a one-year deal worth a base value of only $7 million. It helps that Brown was coming off of a pair of injury-addled seasons in Arizona and his market was undoubtedly weaker than he’d hoped. However, $7 million is at least half of what he probably should have been able to get. The goal is obviously to parlay a big year with Mahomes into a big contract in 2025. Brown is exactly the type of player the Chiefs needed to add on offense to address the deficiencies they had in 2023. 

So far the only thing that hasn’t gone off as well for the Chiefs is the situation with Sneed. Seeing a weak cornerback market, the Chiefs tagged Sneed with the goal of trading him, anticipating his market would still be strong enough to fetch a second-round pick. So far, Sneed hasn’t been able to find a team willing to both pay him what he’s angling for and give up a pick to the Chiefs. 

Tag-and-trades are complicated and can take more time to work out all the details, so there’s still plenty of time for the Chiefs and Sneed to find something agreeable. The worst-case scenario is presumably Sneed playing out the contract in Kansas City, which isn’t all that bad given how key of a player he was in their title run last year. I do wonder if the Chiefs would rescind the tag at some point, like the Panthers did with CB Josh Norman back in 2016, and direct the $19.8 million from the tag elsewhere. 

Indianapolis Colts

Grade: B-

Colts GM Chris Ballard has been primarily focused on retaining his own players this offseason, handing out extensions to Franklin, Pittman, Moore, Stewart, Lewis and even Sanchez. Five of those six were starters and Lewis has a prominent role in the defensive line rotation. 

Ballard has been less aggressive about adding from outside the team to fill needs. It’s out of the ordinary from how he usually operates, but it is interesting since he hinted he could be more aggressive with plenty of cap space and the luxury of a starting quarterback on a rookie contract. That hasn’t quite panned out yet. The Colts were linked to big moves for players like L’Jarius Sneed and DE Danielle Hunter, but their biggest outside addition is Davis and he’ll be a part-time player behind Stewart and DeForest Buckner. 

Per Over The Cap, the Colts have a little over $18 million in effective cap space, which budgets for the rookie pool. Some of that is needed to operate during the season when 53 players plus a practice squad and injured reserve all count against the cap. But there’s a little bit of room for some more moves. The pool of available players is far more depleted at this point, however. 

Ballard gets some points for signing a starting linebacker, starting receiver, starting nose tackle, starting corner and a third edge rusher, even if they were already on the roster last year. It’s tough — though not impossible — to get significantly better in free agency. It’s a lot easier to get worse, and Ballard likely avoided the Colts getting worse. 

Washington Commanders

Grade: A-

The Commanders have been one of the most active teams so far this offseason in terms of sheer number of transactions, which makes sense as new GM Adam Peters and HC Dan Quinn look to recast the vision for the franchise. Quinn’s fingerprints in particular can be seen with three former Cowboys players coming over; Armstrong, Fowler and Biadasz. Armstrong and Fowler will help Washington rebuild its edge rushing group essentially from scratch, while Biadasz is an upgrade at starting center. 

Former Panthers Luvu and Chinn are two of my favorite signings and not just because they come from my favorite team. I was shocked Carolina let Luvu leave, especially for a reasonable $10 million per year deal. His work ethic and physicality embody everything new GM Dan Morgan says he wants the Panthers to be about, and he’ll be a tremendous fit with Quinn who puts his players in a position to run fast and hit hard. Chinn isn’t a true safety and that hurt him last year in Carolina after a promising start to his career, but he fits that same mold, too. 

Wagner and Ekeler are both better locker-room presences than on-field players at this point in their careers. But that’s an important role and neither are out of gas in the tank quite yet. Wagner is a future Hall of Famer but teams will pick on him in coverage and with run concepts that expose the step or two he’s lost. Ekeler will likely be better when he’s not trying to play through a high ankle sprain but being a complementary back suits him better at this point in his career. 

Lucas and Obada were solid role players from the prior regime who will get a chance to stick around. The Commanders paid a premium for Mariota as a backup, but his mobility in OC Kliff Kingsbury’s offense is an interesting X-factor. The return Washington got in the trade for Howell was excellent for a player no longer in their plans as well, especially compared to other trades for Kenny Pickett and Justin Fields. 

Dallas Cowboys

Grade: D

This grade is for Dallas’ overall approach rather than any move they’ve made so far — largely because the Cowboys haven’t done much of anything. The Cowboys brought back Lewis, their starting nickel corner, and signed Kendricks to help fill the void at linebacker. That’s a drop in the bucket after losing starters at running back, center, left tackle, cornerback, wide receiver, defensive end, safety and defensive tackle. 

It’s a far cry from what most people thought when owner Jerry Jones said they’d be “all in” on the last year of QB Dak Prescott and HC Mike McCarthy’s contracts. An extension for Prescott would have created considerable cap space, but at a massive cost because Prescott once again had considerable contract leverage on his side after an MVP-quality season. The team could restructure his deal and others to create cap space, but the Cowboys don’t seem willing to do that either. 

After the Cowboys flopped in the postseason, Jones’ view of “all-in” evidently is closer to a burn-the-boats approach, giving the core of the roster under Prescott and McCarthy one more shot but not compromising future assets to bring in reinforcements. 

The Cowboys still have the draft and there will be players available in the summer who can help. But the roster has lost too much at this point to realistically replace. Dallas will enter the 2024 season as a worse team, at least on paper, than it was in 2023. 

Miami Dolphins

Grade: B

There are a lot of parallels between the Dolphins’ and Bills’ offseasons so far. Miami had to dig out of a major cap deficit and cut several starters to shed salary. They also had pending free agents they were unable to re-sign, most notably DT Christian Wilkins, G Robert Hunt and OLB Andrew Van Ginkel. Instead, the Dolphins had to go value shopping. 

The success of this strategy will hinge on the cohesion between the pro scouting department’s evaluations and HC Mike McDaniel’s staff. Sometimes when teams go value shopping, they get what they pay for. But sometimes with multiple rolls of the dice, teams can either get lucky by finding a diamond in the rough or end up collectively approximating the player they lost. This is especially true at non-premium positions. It helps that most players are closer to “replacement level” than fans might think. If you think about a standard bell curve distribution, that makes intuitive sense. There are outliers on both sides, either really good or really bad, but the plurality of players fall close to the middle. 

That’s why Miami’s logic is understandable. The Dolphins are banking on Gallimore, Jones and Hand being able to replace Wilkins and DT Raekwon Davis without too much of a dropoff and at a fraction of the cost. Miami made similar switches at cornerback (Fuller for Howard), safety (Poyer for Brandon Jones) and interior offensive line (Brewer, Wynn, Driscoll for Hunt and C Connor Williams, though depending on how his ACL recovery goes the door for his return might not be shut). 

The Dolphins have lost ground during free agency but perhaps not as much ground as it looks. There’s a lot of pressure on McDaniel and QB Tua Tagovailoa to continue to stay ahead of the curve and reach a new level on offense, and GM Chris Grier needs to start acing the draft if they’re planning on paying Tagovailoa north of $50 million per season. But the Dolphins have overall set themselves up well in free agency for what’s next. 

Philadelphia Eagles

Grade: B

Philadelphia made two major splashes in free agency, poaching Huff and Barkley from the two New York teams. Landing Huff feels like a part of a bigger plan at edge rusher that hasn’t quite unfolded yet. Both Eagles DEs Haason Reddick and Josh Sweat came up in trade rumors, but Sweat restructured his contract which could indicate he’s in the team’s plans for 2024. Reddick’s roster bonus was pushed back and Huff is a similar player in some ways. Both are undersized and quick off the line. Reddick has answered some questions about his run defense over the past couple of years, and Huff is hoping to do the same by leaving the Jets to find a bigger role. This contract indicates the Eagles have some confidence he can play a bigger role. 

Eagles GM Howie Roseman went against tendency, or at least perceived tendency, by shelling out big bucks for a running back. The history of big-money deals to running backs in free agency is not good but Philadelphia is betting Barkley is a different talent who can thrive in a healthier offensive ecosystem, which is not how you’d describe the Giants for the bulk of Barkley’s career. 

Barkley’s deal isn’t the riskiest contract the Eagles agreed to, however. While Philadelphia missed Gardner-Johnson in their secondary last year, I think they over-corrected with this three-year, $33 million deal. Gardner-Johnson has an extensive injury history. He plays with a ferocity his body can’t support. The Eagles were right to let him walk last year for a one-year deal with the Lions, and he played only three games. Now after that the Eagles were willing to sign him to a big deal? 

The Eagles were bargain-shopping for the most part outside of these deals. Landing Parker on a minimum deal is interesting. He’s probably just a role player at this stage in his career but he’ll be a No. 3 wideout for Philadelphia instead of a No. 1 in New England. That should suit him better and the Eagles improved their depth with this move. 

I really like the signing of Hennessy to give the Eagles options along the interior of their offensive line. He can play both guard and center and he had a great 2022 season at center, per PFF. He didn’t sign for much more than the minimum so there’s considerable upside here for the Eagles. 

White has been one of the NFL’s most overrated players since his rookie season. The athleticism is undeniable, but his instincts and at times his effort have been lacking. But on a one-year deal for only $4 million, there’s a lot of upside to this contract and not a whole lot of downside, especially with how bad the Eagles were at linebacker last year. 

Finally, the deal to acquire Pickett was a relatively low-cost way to get a former first-round pick in the building as a backup and play the long game, either in a future trade or with the compensatory pick formula. 

The Eagles have more work to do, especially in the secondary. But so far they’ve had one of the more active and intriguing offseasons of any team. 

Atlanta Falcons

Grade: B+

The Falcons successfully filled their biggest need with the best player available in free agency, signing Cousins to a massive contract to give Atlanta the franchise quarterback it’s lacked since Matt Ryan was playing. There is some risk with this deal. It’s a massive amount of money, and Cousins will be 36 coming off of a torn Achilles. However, he’s a pocket passer, not a running back, so there’s good reason to be optimistic about his prognosis. Cousins has been one of the most reliably productive quarterbacks over the past several years, and he’s being dropped into a familiar scheme with protection and weapons. Odds are, he’ll continue to be reliably productive. 

The deal for Cousins sucked up most of the Falcons’ available budget but they made two more additions on offense with Mooney and Woerner. Mooney gives the Falcons a speed threat as they transition to more base three-receiver formations on offense. Woerner is a blocking specialist who frees up TE Kyle Pitts to be used in different ways. 

Atlanta paid a premium for both, which exposes them to some risk. There were cheaper speed threats available and the Falcons guaranteed two years of salary to Mooney. He had a 1,000-yard season in his second year in the league but hasn’t done much the past two years. Woerner’s impact will be harder to judge from the box scores but his deal was a lot less risk. 

New York Giants

Grade: B

This felt like a year in which Giants GM Joe Schoen decided not to succumb to pressure about retaining players who were fan favorites and instead focused on allocating resources to positions he felt were important. The Giants let RB Saquon Barkley and S Xavier McKinney walk for lucrative deals elsewhere in free agency and chose to use their free agent budget on rebuilding the right side of the offensive line and pushing a trade for Burns over the goal line. 

The big headliner is Burns. The trade compensation to acquire him from the Panthers was more than reasonable, with the Giants giving up only a second-round pick. The contract is a little more eyebrow-raising. Carolina wasn’t willing to go to this level for Burns, which is why he was available for the Giants in the first place. Burns is a good player, but this deal puts him in the same echelon as perennial Defensive Player of the Year candidates like Nick Bosa and T.J. Watt. Statistically, Burns compares more favorably to guys like Montez Sweat and Rashan Gary — high-level pass rushers but maybe a tier below the elite level. 

Burns is still just 26 so maybe he taps into another level in New York, particularly with more help around him with DT Dexter Lawrence and OLB Kayvon Thibodeaux. And even if the Giants overpaid, they still got a really good player. 

Runyan and Eluemunor are closer to average players but they still represent significant upgrades for the Giants on the right side of the offensive line, assuming Eluemunor supplants RT Evan Neal. New York took a couple more stabs at upgrading the depth by signing Stinnie and Schlottmann. Stinnie started 11 games last year at left guard and Schlottmann has 14 career starts, mostly at center. 

Jacksonville Jaguars

Grade: C

Over the past several years, under multiple GMs, the Jaguars have been one of the league’s most aggressive teams in free agency. Sometimes it’s worked but more often than not the Jaguars have been examples of how hard it is to build a consistent winner while relying on a bunch of free agent signings. It’s just harder to find value. 

This year, they cycled through a batch of previous signings that were no longer worth their cap hits and brought in a new wave of players to try and patch holes. Some deals look better than others. Morse is a low-cost addition with a proven track record at a position of need, though his run blocking was a sore spot for the Bills the past few years. If Armstead is healthy in 2024, $14.5 million a season is a steal for a disruptive interior defender. However, they guaranteed him $14 million in 2025 which could come back to bite them in the rear if his production falls off a cliff now that he’s on the other side of 30. 

Jacksonville went two years with the guarantees in nearly all of their deals, actually, which increases the risk factor for them if these signings don’t pan out as well as they expect. History says some of them won’t. Davis and Savage were the two deals I found the most questionable. Davis is a limited player who’s better in a complementary role. That’s initially what the Jaguars intended but they weren’t able to keep WR Calvin Ridley. Savage is an outstanding athlete, and the highlights with him are terrific. He’s had five years to establish down-to-down consistency, however, and hasn’t. He’s a player I’d have rather taken a one-year flier on than a multi-year commitment. 

The other curious thing here is how the Jaguars handled their offensive line, which was one of their weaknesses last season. Jacksonville elected to bring back four of five starters, not cutting LT Cam Robinson or Scherff for cap savings, re-signing Cleveland and adding just Morse who will compete with C Luke Fortner to start. Maybe Jacksonville is banking on things being different with better health but it’s counter-intuitive to not change anything and expect to be better. 

New York Jets

Grade: A-

Fixing the offensive line once and for all was the top task for Jets GM Joe Douglas, one he’s been trying to accomplish since he took the job. Time will tell if he completes the assignment, but so far he’s been able to land high-ceiling players with minimal investment. Smith and Moses were both among the best left and right tackles respectively last year, and Simpson had plenty of highlight blocks for the Ravens last year. None of those three will make more than $6.5 million in 2024. 

Health is the key variable here. Smith’s deal is heavily structured with incentives, as the 33-year-old has missed big chunks of the past four seasons. When he’s in the lineup, he’s still one of the league’s best left tackles, but the Jets need to plan as if he won’t play all 17 games. Moses has been a paragon of durability up until this past year when he missed three games. He’s also 33 and durability tends to deteriorate with age. If the Jets are lucky, they’ll get 30+ combined games from these two. The downside is why I would expect the Jets to still look heavily at taking a tackle in the first round. 

The other major move is landing Williams after he was cut by the Chargers. There’s downside tied to health here as well, as Williams is coming off of a torn ACL. It was reportedly a clean tear and it happened in September, so there’s a good chance he’s ready to roll. If he is, he’s a perfect fit for QB Aaron Rodgers as a big outside receiver. Rodgers loves taking shots down the sideline and Williams excels at winning those contested catch opportunities down the field. 

Ultimately, it’s do or die no matter what for the Jets this year. There’s no sense in Douglas playing it safe. The Jets have to go for it, and the moves they’ve made this year have upside that outweighs the risk. 

Detroit Lions

Grade: B+

There’s a lot to like about Detroit’s offseason so far. They took a swing at upgrading in the secondary by trading for Davis, who seems like a cheaper alternative to some of the other top corner options available like Chiefs CB L’Jarius Sneed. The Lions gave up a lower pick than what Kansas City is asking for Sneed and didn’t have to commit as much money. There’s some risk if Davis can’t stay healthy but the potential payoff is solid. 

The Lions locked up Glasgow to a reasonable contract before the guard market took off. He’s a known quantity in their system who can also play center — a valuable commodity given C Frank Ragnow’s accumulation of injuries. Zeitler will take the other guard spot. He’s 34 years old but made his first career Pro Bowl in 2023. Even if the wheels fall off, the Lions almost certainly didn’t over-commit on this contract. 

Deals for Davenport and Robertson are good dart throws at players who could have some upside in the Lions’ system. Davenport has seasons of nine and six sacks with the Saints in a similar system to what Lions DC Aaron Glenn runs. Staying healthy will be key for him. Robertson is a feisty competitor who embodies what the Lions look for in players, but he has real size limitations at 5-9 and 183 pounds. With CB Cameron Sutton off the team after domestic violence charges this week, the depth is needed. 

Reader is another excellent fit for the Lions as a hard-nosed, physical player. But the fit with him and DT Alim McNeill could be weird. There’s a lot of overlap between both as wide bodies with more pass rushing juice than you’d expect. Reader is coming off of a torn quad, which is a serious injury for a big man. There’s some real downside to this deal for the Lions but they don’t have significant guarantees past this season. 

Green Bay Packers

Grade: B-

There are two ways to look at the Packers’ offseason so far. The less charitable is to say they spent big money on a running back and a safety, two of the deepest positions in free agency this year, plus a slot corner. 

The other side of that coin is the Packers’ roster is in such good shape that the biggest areas for improvement were running back and safety. There’s something to that. The Packers have either young, ascending players or established starters at quarterback, wide receiver, tackle, edge rusher, interior defensive line and offensive line, cornerback and tight end. The depth chart was much thinner at safety and running back, especially when the Packers elected to cut Jones after he rejected a pay cut. 

The history of big-money deals to running backs is grim but Green Bay doesn’t have any guaranteed money to Jacobs after this year. The 26-year-old led the NFL in rushing in 2022, so this deal could end up a win for the Packers as well, adding a different dynamic to an offense that looked, well, dynamic down the stretch last season. McKinney’s deal is a much bigger investment, but he’s entering his age-25 season and represents a massive talent upgrade over what the Packers had at safety before. 

One other thing worth mentioning: Nixon’s contract is underwhelming if viewed as just a slot corner. But with the NFL set to change the kickoff and create what it hopes is an 85 percent return rate, having an impact kickoff returner could be a huge edge for Green Bay. Nixon has been named to the All-Pro team as a returner each of the past two seasons. 

Carolina Panthers

Grade: C+

To Carolina’s credit, I can see the vision. The Panthers wanted to add as much talent as possible, especially on offense to give QB Bryce Young more of a chance to sink or swim on his own merits rather than just being dragged down by his supporting cast. They were willing to push resources from the defense to offense to do that, trading Burns and shedding his $24 million franchise tag and not matching the Commanders for LB Frankie Luvu. 

That allowed the Panthers to go toe-to-toe with a hot interior offensive line market and get two new starting guards to shore up Young’s protection. They had to shell out a massive amount of money, though. Not only did they pay Hunt like one of the best guards in football, they guaranteed him an eye-popping $63 million, stretching into the third year of the deal. That’s a deal that has the potential to go very poorly for Carolina. Their investment in Lewis was sizable too, albeit for “only” $13 million a year and two years of guarantees. 

There were a few other deals that raised eyebrows, like for Robinson and Jewell. Both have a history with DC Ejiro Evero which likely prompted the big investment from Carolina but those are also deals that carry more downside than upside. The Panthers did get value on other deals, like for Wonnum, Jackson, Fuller and Nijman. Fuller in particular is a great fit with Evero. Wonnum isn’t a replacement for Burns but he’s a start as the Panthers try and rebuild their edge rushing group. 

There’s some risk with the trade for Johnson, as Carolina is taking on $10 million in salary and Johnson was a questionable locker-room presence at times in Pittsburgh. But from an on-field perspective, Johnson was a cost-effective solution to the biggest problem the Panthers had last year — no receivers who could separate. Johnson isn’t a perfect receiver but he’s a dynamic route runner who can win instantly and give Young a quick outlet. 

Overall, the Panthers got better, but they shelled out a lot of cash to do so and took on some risky contracts. The new coaching staff still has its work cut out for it to help the Panthers get back to respectability. 

New England Patriots

Grade: C

The only two multi-year contracts the Patriots have given out so far to outside free agents are for Gibson as the No. 2 running back and Takitaki to improve the rotation at linebacker. New England was in the mix for WR Calvin Ridley but ended up striking out. That would have made their free agency haul look quite different. 

Apart from Gibson, the other notable outside additions were Brissett as a backup/bridge starter at quarterback, Okorafor to provide experienced depth at tackle, Hooper as the No. 2 tight end and Osborn to compete for a role at receiver. New England has been busy but a lot of their work has been re-signing players. Henry and Onwenu got big contracts, as did Bourne coming off a torn ACL. Jennings got a strong deal too as a rotiational edge rusher and the Patriots brought back Uche on a reported steep discount, with Uche reportedly leaving as much as $8 million on the table. 

The Patriots did a good job retaining quality players like Onwenu and probably Dugger, with teams hesitant to do New England’s negotiating work for them given they can match anything Dugger gets on the transition tag. The biggest change going into 2024 looks like it’s going to be the coaching staff and a new rookie quarterback, not so much the rest of the roster. Those are big changes, to be sure, but it undersells how much work the rest of the team needs. 

Las Vegas Raiders

Grade: C

The Raiders awarded one of the biggest contracts of the offseason to Wilkins, making him the NFL’s second-highest-paid defensive tackle and jumping the former No. 2, Jets DT Quinnen Williams, by $3 million a year. It’s a highly player-friendly deal, with practically three years and north of $80 million in guarantees. 

It’s less of a team-friendly deal. Wilkins had a breakout season in 2023 with nine sacks. His previous career-high was 4.5 sacks, however, and this deal pays him like one of the top interior pass rushers in football. Wilkins is a solid player, but he hasn’t been that outside of last year. Perhaps the Raiders’ scheme and surround talent help him live up to this deal but I’m skeptical. 

The other major move was signing Minshew to a deal that should make him the heavy favorite to be Las Vegas’ starting quarterback in 2024. It also includes some guarantees for 2025, though not at a level that would prevent him from hanging around as a backup should the Raiders add a rookie either this year or next. Minshew is who he is at this point in his career. He doesn’t move the needle much but he’s a competent placeholder. 

Los Angeles Rams

Grade: B

The Rams knew before the rest of us that Donald would be retiring. There’s no way to replace arguably the best defensive player of all time, or at least the best of this generation. But it’s still interesting that the Rams didn’t really try. There were notable pass rushers available, both from the edge and interior, but the Rams didn’t land any and weren’t linked to pursuing anyone outside of Andrew Van Ginkel. 

Instead, the Rams became the second team to go full double-barreled shotgun on the guard market, inking both Dotson and Jackson to major contracts. In fact, they equaled the Panthers’ investment in the position, at least in terms of APY handed out. It’s an interesting strategy. It keeps the offense in a position of strength to hopefully keep the Rams afloat while they figure out what the next era of defense will look like. 

We’ll see how it shakes out. Los Angeles made two other interesting moves in the secondary, bringing back Williams on a deal that’s really just one year and $7 million if the Rams don’t want to pick up his guarantees in 2025. Curl had some great tape in Washington but looked to be a victim of a deep safety market. Los Angeles doesn’t usually invest a lot in safeties but Curl was too good to pass up. 

Baltimore Ravens

Grade: B+

The crown addition here is signing Henry to augment the backfield — though retaining Madubuike on that deal compared to the rest of the defensive tackle market is significant too. Henry is a perfect fit for the Ravens, who can create a ton of stress for defenses with both Henry and QB Lamar Jackson sharing the same backfield. Both are big play threats anytime they touch the ball and should help keep the ground game the identity for Baltimore’s offense. 

With another big deal for Madubuike adding to the significant contracts the Ravens have on the books, including for Jackson, the team has been understandably quet in free agency. They brought back a few key role players in Agholor, Harrison and Urban. The only other outside addition is Jones, who provides depth at tackle and is an interesting upside play. He had a good year back in 2022 and is a former third-round pick, but didn’t mesh with the regime change in Arizona. 

Baltimore took a bit of a risk by trading Moses, as even though he’s 33 he played at a high level this past season and was under contract for only $5 million, which is a steal for a starting tackle. The Ravens clearly thought it was better to get out a year early than a year late, and they did need the savings. Baltimore will likely add at least one tackle in the draft to compete with Jones and sixth man Patrick Mekari.

New Orleans Saints

Grade: C

The Saints have been somewhat limited in how active they can be due to their cap situation. They’ve been able to work out a few pay cuts instead of leaning on just restructures and that’s helped but there’s only so much New Orleans was going to be able to do this offseason. They’ve gone bargain shopping to get guys like Gay and Udoh to play specific roles or bolster the depth, but for the most part, the Saints are going to be trotting out a similar team in 2024 to what they had in 2023. 

They did have room for one big addition, however, and it looks like they singled out Young to try and reinforce the pass rush. New Orleans has invested a fair amount of draft capital over the last few years in trying to find a worthy running mate and eventual heir to DE Cameron Jordan. So far they’ve struck out. They’re rolling the dice again with Young, the former No. 2 pick and defensive rookie of the year whose career has since gone off the rails due in large part to injuries. 

Young had neck surgery shortly after agreeing to sign with the Saints, and the deal includes almost $8 million in per-game roster bonuses to protect the team if the injury sidelines Young into the regular season. That does protect the Saints from some of the downside with this contract but it doesn’t change that their biggest move of the offseason so far is a huge risk. 

Seattle Seahawks

Grade: C+

With a new head coach, the Seahawks are reshaping the roster in a major way and made several notable cuts. Some of the deals they signed instead to bring in or keep players were head-scratchers, though. Fant is the most glaring example, as he got an eight-figure deal despite not scoring a touchdown in 2023 and only barely clearing 400 yards receiving. Spending $6 million per year on Jenkins with how much depth there was at safety was also a choice. 

Williams got major money, too, as retaining him after a midseason trade was a priority for GM John Schneider. To be fair, Williams did acquit himself well after the trade with four sacks and nine tackles for loss. While he got a deal north of $20 million per year, there are no guarantees in 2025, giving the Seahawks some flexibility. 

The other notable move here was the trade for Howell, giving up the equivalent of a late third or early fourth-round pick depending on which trade value chart you go by. This gives the Seahawks a young developmental option behind starting QB Geno Smith, who has two years remaining on his contract. It’d be a surprise if Howell beat Smith out for the starting job this year, as Smith’s play didn’t fall off as much as his stats might suggest. But it does give the Seahawks options for the future. 

Pittsburgh Steelers

Grade: B

When you boil all these moves down, the Steelers have basically slashed a bunch of salary, traded their No. 1 receiver, added a new starting linebacker and completely overhauled their quarterback room. 

I don’t think the latter was the plan entering the offseason, but Wilson fell into their laps for the minimum salary, and Pickett’s reaction to that move opened the door to add Fields. Both players have significant flaws but both are upgrades over anyone the Steelers have started under center the past two seasons, and Pittsburgh has a 19-15 record with one playoff appearance in that span. 

Queen is a terrific fit for Pittsburgh’s defense and should help provide the quality of linebacker player fans have become accustomed to that has been lacking the past few years. Trading Johnson removes a poor locker room influence and a bad fit in new OC Arthur Smith’s scheme. Overall, the Steelers took a big step toward returning to the type of identity that has been the hallmark of their most successful franchises. There’s still quite a bit for them to follow through on, though. 

Houston Texans

Grade: B

Houston was one of the busiest teams over the past couple of weeks, not just because they had a ton of cap space but also because they had one of the longest lists of pending free agents of any teams due to GM Nick Caserio’s love of filling out the team with veteran contracts the past couple of years. A bunch of those guys signed new deals to try and keep building the Texans into an AFC contender. 

The most notable of those deals was a three-year, $36 million extension for Schultz, one of several tight end deals that happened before the start of actual free agency as teams moved quick to secure options anticipating a weak year at the position, both in free agency and the draft. The $12 million per year puts Schultz just inside the top 10 at the position, which is a touch aggressive. But he’s a high floor player with a rapport with QB C.J. Stroud. 

The Texans were willing to pay a little bit of a premium on a few other deals as well. The contract for Hunter was one of the most lucrative deals handed out around the entire league and a huge win for the player. Hunter got a strong average annual salary at just under $25 million a year, nearly the whole deal guaranteed, and with just two years he has another theoretical bite at the contract apple when he’s 32. For Houston, it was worth it to put a bonafide edge rusher across from 2023 Defensive Rookie of the Year Will Anderson Jr. Adding Autry to the interior of the line is another nice get. While he’s turning 34, his best years have all come on the other side of 30 and he’s a perfect fit in Houston’s defensive scheme. 

Al-Shaair got into eight figures and is just outside the top five in salary for off-ball linebackers, leveraging a huge performance in a prove-it year with the Titans and familiarity with Texans HC DeMeco Ryans from playing under him in San Francisco. That’s probably why the Texans were willing to sign him to a slightly higher figure than what they were reportedly willing to give LB Patrick Queen. It’s a little curious but defensible. 

Houston was also responsible for one of the most flummoxing decisions of free agency — trading a seventh-round pick for Mixon only to turn around and give him a major extension. This won’t set the Texans back more than a seventh or a few million in the end, but it’s bafflingly bad process given that they almost certainly could have blown away any other suitor for Mixon with that offer had they just waited for the Bengals to cut him. 

Still, the Texans overall seem like they had more hits than misses in free agency. There’s a good mix of proven contributors, dollars allocated to high-value positions and upside deals. This is the type of offseason that could set the Texans up to take a step forward as a team. 

Tennessee Titans

Grade: B-

The Titans are still rebuilding but they had money to spend this year and there’s no time like the present to try and win and prove that you don’t need former HC Mike Vrabel as much as the rest of the league thinks. That might have contributed to the Titans being a surprise splashy team, coming in out of legitimately nowhere to be the rare mystery team that isn’t a leverage ploy in the Ridley sweepstakes. 

Signing him to pair with WR DeAndre Hopkins gives the Titans two proven veteran commodities for QB Will Levis as Tennessee seeks to evaluate him for the future. The Titans’ supporting cast on offense wasn’t nearly as bad as it was for the Panthers or Bears or other situations where young quarterbacks have had it rough, but it also wasn’t ideal. They added another playmaker in the backfield with Pollard and landed the top center in free agency to try and shore up the offensive line, all with the goal of setting Levis to succeed or fail on his own merits. 

They probably overpaid to do it. Pollard’s contract is fine if he looks more like the explosive change of pace he was before the 2023 season. The Ridley contract is a legitimate risk, however. It locks him onto the roster for the next two years when he’ll be turning 30 and 31 respectively. Cushenberry got a player-friendly structure too but he’s a few years younger and an ascending player. This Ridley deal could be just fine, or it could age like milk. 

The Titans took some risks on defense too with deals for Awuzie and Murray. Awuzie got $12 million a year despite the fact he’ll turn 29 this summer and hasn’t had an interception since 2021. In between, he tore his ACL and dealt with back problems. Tennessee didn’t risk as much on Murray, but he leaves Los Angeles with a bit of a bust label to try and recover from. 

Minnesota Vikings

Grade: B

The Vikings took the plunge and finally hit their limit with QB Kirk Cousins, allowing him to leave in free agency for much more than they were willing to pay. On one hand, that opens up considerably roster flexibility now that they don’t have to navigate around fully guaranteed salaries for Cousins on their books. On the other, they now have a gaping need at the most important position in football. 

To navigate the transition period, Minnesota signed Darnold as a bridge starter and will presumably look hard at landing a rookie at some point in the draft, perhaps in a trade up the board. Most of the team’s financial flexibility went toward reinforcing the defensive side of the ball. The Vikings signed Greenard and Van Ginkel to revamp the edge rushing group almost completely from scratch, then added Cashman to fill another glaring need at off-ball linebacker. That side of the ball was also a lot weaker than the offense and needed more attention. 

It feels like Minnesota is banking on HC Kevin O’Connell and the talent that’s still on offense keeping a relatively solid floor for the team, with improvement on defense helping to make up for some of the instability at quarterback. It’s probably not a coincidence their biggest offensive signing was a running back to help take pressure off the passing game. 

Still, it’s all going to come down to picking the right guy to start over with at quarterback.

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