What a whirlwind of an opening day of free agency. We had market-setting contracts and surprise signings all afternoon and into the evening, kicking off an already-exciting offseason and setting up more to come in the future. Don’t forget, this is just the first day, and we’re still waiting to see where some of the biggest names will land. Tomorrow is sure to bring many more storylines.

Now that the initial flurry has died down, I’ve been able to take a step back and evaluate the wider NFL landscape. What trends did we see? Which teams made out well, and which ones had disappointing days? Let’s take a look:

Winner: Tyler Linderbaum & His Agent

Holy [insert humorous expletive of choice], Batman. We knew Linderbaum’s contract would come in well above $20 million per year and comfortably set a new high-water mark for centers. When reports came out just before free agency began that his agent was looking for him to make north of $25 million, that seemed pretty crazy.

But pretty crazy it was not, for Linderbaum didn’t just make $25 million per year, he flew past that number on a three-year, $81 million contract with the Raiders. That deal resets the top of the center market by 50 percent at $27 million in average annual value with $60 million in guarantees. That’s a crazy number that frankly, I didn’t think Linderbaum would touch. In my article last week outlining potential free agent landing spots for the former Ravens center, I expressed skepticism that he would outdo Cowboys G Tyler Smith at $24 million per year. Clearly, I was mistaken.

This is a huge contract that’s largely unprecedented, but that’s also because a consensus top two player at his position very rarely hits the open market. And when he does, this is the sort of deal he commands. The Ravens made a mistake not picking up Linderbaum’s fifth-year option last offseason (which would have been $23.4 million) and punting on an extension until now.

Loser (kinda): Seattle Seahawks

It’s been a rough day for the Seahawks in free agency as they’ve been forced to watch other teams sign away all their top free agents. Super Bowl MVP RB Kenneth Walker III signed with the Chiefs for $14.35 million a year, S Coby Bryant landed with the Bears for $13.33 million annually and ED Boye Mafe joined the Bengals for $20 million.

Of those, losing Bryant probably hurts the most. Thirteen million is not a ton of money to spend on a plus-level safety, and he was a critical part of the Seahawks’ defense since being drafted. It would be unreasonable to expect the Seahawks to retain all their free agents, or even to want to. But not bringing Bryant back is a head-scratcher.

On the plus side, the Seahawks did sign their 2025 trade deadline acquisition, WR Rashid Shaheed, to a three-year, $51 million contract with $34.7 million guaranteed. That is incredible value, a practical steal, given what other receivers made this offseason.

Winner: Chicago Bears

The Bears didn’t make a flurry of moves or anything, but they made two very solid economic deals that I liked a lot. I already discussed the Bryant contract from a Seahawks perspective, but that’s incredible value on a high-floor, winning player who will instantly make Chicago’s secondary better. He can wear many hats in Bears DC Dennis Allen’s defense, as he played cornerback in college and has played a nickel role at times in Seattle.

Additionally, the Bears signed former Browns LB Devin Bush to a reasonable three-year, $30 million contract. A former first-round pick, Bush developed slowly in the NFL, but he was excellent for Cleveland last year. The Bears were on a mission to improve at linebacker, and they cut Tremaine Edmunds to sign Bush, only for Edmunds to sign with the Giants for more money than the Bears gave Bush.

Last year, there’s no doubt Bush was the better player. That’s a good bit of business by Chicago.

Winner: The Colts Not Repeating The Giants’ Mistakes

The Colts found themselves in a similar position this offseason that the Giants found themselves in three years ago. After QB Daniel Jones put up an impressive season before going down with an injury, the Colts wanted to retain him without overcommitting to a quarterback coming off an Achilles tear. Meanwhile, WR Alec Pierce was a pending free agent and the top wide receiver on the team, and he needed to be re-signed as well.

Minus Jones’ injury, it’s almost exactly what the Giants went through with Jones and RB Saquon Barkley. Given a team can only use the franchise or transition tags on one player, New York chose to sign Jones to an extension and tag Barkley. The decision backfired, as Jones came crashing back down to earth and Barkley signed with the Eagles the following offseason.

The Colts weren’t going to repeat that mistake. They used the transition tag on Jones — a somewhat risky move, as another team could offer a contract to Jones and the Colts would either have to match or let him walk for nothing — for less money than the transition tag would cost. Pierce’s deal came down to the wire, but they managed to sign him to a four-year, $116 million contract worth $29 million per year just as the legal tampering period opened.

Pierce’s contract is expensive, but the Colts managed to thread the needle with both players without overcommitting to Jones or losing either (so far). That’s a win.

Loser: Denver Broncos

There are two reasons I’m labeling the Broncos a loser. First, they lost DT John Franklin-Myers to the Titans and were forced to cut LB Dre Greenlaw. Those are two of their better defensive players and the Broncos won’t get better on that side of the ball without them.

Additionally, Denver missed on a lot of their top free agent targets. Reports indicated that the Broncos were after one of the top running backs on the market, either Walker or former Jaguars RB Travis Etienne. When Walker signed with the Chiefs and Etienne with the Saints, the Broncos were forced to pivot, instead re-signing RB J.K. Dobbins.

That may ultimately be a blessing in disguise, and it’s only been one day of free agency, but it’s still a rough day for one of the teams hoping to stay atop the AFC.

Winner: The Los Angeles Rams’ Secondary

After sending a bunch of picks to the Chiefs for CB Trent McDuffie and signing him to a record four-year, $124 million deal, the Rams weren’t done working on their secondary. They also signed McDuffie’s former teammate in Kansas City, CB Jaylen Watson, to a three-year, $51 million deal to play opposite McDuffie.

It’s humorous that the Rams are just replicating the Chiefs’ cornerback duo from the past few years, but there’s a reason they did. Kansas City had one of the top cornerback duos in the league and now they play together again in Los Angeles.

When combined with the three-year, $36 million extension the Rams gave S Kamren Curl, it’s safe to say that Los Angeles has fully attacked their biggest weakness from a year ago. The Rams were a few plays away from playing in the Super Bowl instead of Seattle, and they’re doing everything they can to make sure they actually finish the job this time.

Loser: Bad Contracts

This will be a catch-all for a few of the contracts I didn’t like today. This doesn’t mean these are necessarily bad players or even bad fits, but they could be overpays, odd priorities, or a host of other reasons I would consider these bad contracts.

For a team that is otherwise leaning pretty hard into a rebuild, the Dolphins sure gave a lot of money to QB Malik Willis. A three-year, $67.5 million contract with $45 million in guaranteed money is nothing to sneeze at, and Miami is committing to Willis for at least two years with this move.

Isaiah Likely just became the sixth-highest paid tight end in the league and has the third-most guaranteed money among all tight ends behind just Trey McBride and T.J. Hockenson. I know he’s Giants HC John Harbaugh’s guy but that’s a ton of money to spend on a player who’s never had more than 500 receiving yards in a season.

I like Jaelan Phillips the player a lot, but the Panthers are paying him like a top-10 edge rusher with a four-year, $120 million deal and $80 million in guarantees. Between Phillips and second-year ED Nic Scourton, Carolina suddenly has a formidable duo off the edge, but Phillips’ injury history would scare me.

Winner: Las Vegas Raiders

I liked pretty much everything the Raiders did today in free agency. You could argue they overpaid for Linderbaum but this is exactly the sort of move they can afford to make: outbid the competition for an elite player at a position that will directly help their soon-to-be rookie quarterback.

Outside of Linderbaum, I really liked the linebacker signings they made. Nakobe Dean at $12 million per year is a steal given his talent level, though injuries certainly played into that. I’m not a big Quay Walker guy, but $40.5 million over three years is a little less than he was expected to make, so I can’t fault the Raiders too much for that. The two worked well together at Georgia and it’s not a bad thought to try and replicate that in the NFL. 

Picking up CB Taron Johnson in a pick swap from the Bills is great value, as is getting CB Eric Stokes back at $10 million per year. Spending $16 million per year for Kwity Paye is also a move I’m a big fan of — Paye can produce as a secondary pass rusher, but his primary value comes as a run defender. He’s one of the best run defenders on the edge in the league and should help raise the floor of that Las Vegas defense considerably.

Overall, the Raiders didn’t do anything too splashy, outside of shipping Maxx Crosby to the Ravens over the weekend for two first-round picks. They didn’t burn all their cap space and rush to sign every big-ticket free agent they could entice to the desert (Linderbaum excluded). Instead, they got floor-raising players on reasonable deals without breaking the bank or hamstringing the team’s future flexibility.