After a brilliantly busy opening day of free agency, things were a lot quieter on Day 2. Usually there’s a strong second wave on Tuesday, but this year so much happened on Monday that it was a little slower after that.

That was true for a while at least. News started picking up again throughout the afternoon. Then of course, there was Tuesday’s bomb drop that the Ravens were reneging on their blockbuster trade for DE Maxx Crosby. That has the potential to send ripple effects across the entire league, not just Baltimore and Las Vegas. 

Even though most of the big names have pledged to sign with new teams, most of the deals that have been reported aren’t official until tomorrow when the new league year starts at 4 pm Eastern. There are still plenty of second- and third-tier free agents unaccounted for, too. The offseason is just getting started. 

I’ve collated the biggest winners and losers from the first two days of free agency and broken it down here. This isn’t everything: a lot of the biggest early storylines I covered in Monday’s recap article, so check that out here if you missed it.

Losers: Raiders, Ravens, Crosby, Trey Hendrickson(?), & The Rest Of The League

I usually like to start these kinds of articles with something positive, but this is by far the biggest story out of free agency so far. We were actually set to publish this article last night when the news broke, and it’s obviously the most important thing to cover. The Ravens have backed out of the trade that would have sent two first-round picks (including the No. 14 overall pick in this draft) to Las Vegas for Crosby. Officially, Baltimore is citing a failed physical, and it prompted an incredibly icy response from the Raiders.

pic.twitter.com/zXrNfDhDZV

— Las Vegas Raiders (@Raiders) March 11, 2026

Crosby is coming off meniscus repair surgery in January and there’s no way he would have passed a traditional physical. This is public knowledge, too, it’s not some secret the Raiders tried to keep hidden. In situations like these, the “physical” the player needs to pass is mostly an examination of how the healing and rehab are progressing, with the goal being a rubber stamp from the doctor that everything is on track and proceeding smoothly. There’s a good chance the Ravens even had scans of Crosby’s knee before agreeing to the trade initially. 

So something changed. Was Crosby’s injury more serious than the Ravens thought? Did they find another, undisclosed injury? Or did they just get cold feet on the trade and want an excuse to call it off? The Ravens had never traded a first-round pick for a player before this deal. We may never know for sure, but the consensus around the league seems to be the latter — with several league GMs using some choice words to describe Baltimore’s actions.

Either way, this trade falling through has massive, league-wide ramifications. Several teams made trades and signings over the first two days of free agency with the knowledge that Crosby was off the market. The Cowboys, for example, traded for ED Rashan Gary from the Packers and signed other defensive players with their cap space. They would have to back out of that trade to make another run at Crosby, and they don’t seem inclined to do that so far. Other teams that were interested in Crosby are in a similar boat.

See, much that has happened in free agency so far was built on the foundation of the Crosby trade. With him back on the market, do teams try to do what they can to re-clear cap space and trade for Crosby all over again? The asking price is sure to be down; there’s no way the Raiders are getting two first-round picks for him now that he has the doubt of a failed physical hanging over him.

The Raiders have the cap space to make all their signings even with Crosby on the books, so the risk that they’ll be forced to rescind contracts is minimal. But they could reconsider some of those deals for other reasons if Crosby is still on the team next year, and losing out on those picks is monumental. Those were going to help supercharge the rebuild.

The Ravens, on the other hand, hadn’t done hardly anything so far besides trade for Crosby. They’re in a bad spot, too. They have their picks again, but now they’re behind the eight ball in free agency, have lost players to other teams and are still looking for a premier pass rusher. They could try to flip commitments from players who have committed to other teams before those deals go official. We’ve seen other teams do it before.

And that brings us to Hendrickson. Despite being one of the top free agents available since this process started, Hendrickson has yet to sign and he was initially going to be one of the losers in this article. It was reported Tuesday afternoon that his asking price was $10 million or so higher than teams were willing to go. On Tuesday evening before the Crosby news broke, it was reported that he was prepared to make a choice on Wednesday, perhaps indicating he’d accepted his market and was willing to sign for what he’d been offered.

Perhaps the Ravens decided they could just sign Hendrickson and not give up their picks for Crosby, or perhaps these are unrelated stories. Either way, Baltimore is probably in the market for Hendrickson, as well as half a dozen other teams. The Ravens might be desperate enough to drive up the bidding closer to what Hendrickson was seeking, meaning he could come out of this pretty solid after all. 

The Raiders will be looking at a weakened market for Crosby, who is still ready for a break with the franchise. Las Vegas may have to settle for significantly less compensation or hold onto him and hope he rebuilds his value in the coming months. Meanwhile the entire league is holding its breath waiting to see how many other contracts, trades, and signings are in jeopardy now. The whole situation is a mess.

Winner: Coaches Signing Old Friends

The Titans and Giants have been very busy over the last two days, but both teams are targeting some familiar faces. The Titans signed CB Cor’Dale Flott, TE Daniel Bellinger, and WR Wan’Dale Robinson, all of whom played under Titans OC Brian Daboll when he was with the Giants. That’s in addition to DT John Franklin-Myers, who played under HC Robert Saleh when he was with the Jets.

Meanwhile, new Giants HC John Harbaugh went about bringing over a bunch of his former Ravens players, including TE Isaiah Likely, S Ar’Darius Washington, and even P Jordan Stout. I actually really like most of the moves New York made — while I think they overpaid for Likely, they got a big upgrade at linebacker with Tremaine Edmunds and brought back Micah McFadden, who provides a stable floor next to Edmunds. Re-signing RT Jermaine Eluemunor is a big win and should help stabilize a young offensive line.

The Titans invested a lot on defense and should field a more competent unit in 2026. Saleh completely overhauled the cornerback room with Alontae Taylor, Joshua Williams, and Flott, as well as providing some pass rush punch with Franklin-Myers. Both teams got better with mostly reasonable contracts and they did it by targeting players the coaching staffs were already familiar with.

Loser: Los Angeles Chargers

After the season ended, I made a prediction that the Chargers would be the best team in the AFC next season. They already made the playoffs despite catastrophic injuries to their offensive line and had a boatload of cap space to work with. They felt like a team that was a move or two away from being a legitimate Super Bowl favorite.

Well, it’s only been two days, but they haven’t really done much with all that money. They managed to re-sign ED Khalil Mack and brought in a new starting center in Tyler Biadasz for three-years, $30 million. Those are both good moves. Other than that, though, they signed a blocking tight end in Charlie Kolar, a backup guard in Cole Strange and a fullback in Alec Ingold.

It’s the most Jim Harbaugh offseason of all time, but after hiring former Dolphins HC Mike McDaniel to be his new offensive coordinator, I’d hoped he’d have a little more punch in free agency. The Chargers still need two starting guards, they lost their second-best pass rusher in Odafe Oweh to the Commanders and have done little to replace him, and their receiving corps doesn’t strike fear into anyone.

Unless McDaniel is able to unlock a fully realized version of QB Justin Herbert — which is certainly possible — Los Angeles is a team that doesn’t seem to be taking much of a step forward, at least so far. I find that disappointing.

Winner: The Houston Texans’ Offensive Line

They aren’t done yet, but suddenly the Texans’ offensive line is starting to take shape. On Tuesday, they signed former Colts RT Braden Smith to a two-year, $20 million contract to fill in for the departed Tytus Howard. With Aireontae Ersery hopefully taking a step forward on the left side and the extension they gave to G Ed Ingram, the Texans have reason to be optimistic about their offensive line next year.

With Houston having pick No. 28 in the draft, that’s the perfect range for someone like Oregon G Emmanuel Pregnon or maybe Alabama OL Kadyn Proctor. The Texans are one starting-caliber guard away from fielding a competent offensive line in 2026, which suddenly makes them a dangerous team.

Loser: Arizona Cardinals

I’ll be honest: I have no idea what the Cardinals are doing. They seemingly missed on their top quarterback target(s) after releasing Kyler Murray, and instead pivoted to Gardner Minshew to back up Jacoby Brissett. That can’t have been Plan A.

It’s almost like they’re trying to walk the line between a full rebuild and staying competitive while turning the roster over. They haven’t spent a ton of money, but their biggest contract was committing three years to a 31-year-old guard in Isaac Seumalo coming off a bad stint in Pittsburgh. There just doesn’t seem to be a cohesive plan here, which is a shame, because Arizona’s roster still has a lot of talent.

Winner: The Carolina Panthers Defense

I criticized the Panthers yesterday for the massive contract they handed ED Jaelan Phillips at four years, $120 million. I still feel that was an overpay, but Carolina redeemed themselves with a fantastic contract to LB Devin Lloyd — three years, $45 million and an absolute bargain for arguably the second-best linebacker in football.

I haven’t been shy about how big a fan of Lloyd I am. He put together a phenomenal season in a contract year in 2025, grading out as the third-best linebacker in PFF’s system and making the middle of the field a no-fly zone for the Jaguars. At $15 million in average annual value, Lloyd is sitting $6 million behind the top of the linebacker market. It’s a bargain for Carolina and, in my opinion, the single best contract that’s been signed in free agency so far.

Loser: Falcons QB Michael Penix Jr.

This one’s pretty simple. The Falcons signed former Dolphins QB Tua Tagovailoa on Tuesday and have indicated that he’ll be in an open competition with Penix for the starting job next year. Except…Penix is recovering from a torn ACL and is unlikely to be ready to go to start the season, let alone in training camp. Kinda hard to win a job you can’t compete for.

And on top of that, Atlanta has a new head coach in Kevin Stefanksi and Tagovailoa might be a much better fit for his offense than Penix. A former first-round pick by the old staff, Penix may have a difficult time starting games in Atlanta again.