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As advertised, stage three of the NFL off-season has been off the walls crazy. Laundry list of familiar faces, in new places; a boatload of cash spent; and teams adding major assets like they are Thanos adding infinity stones. We still have a month to go until the draft; even more lightning can strike the skies in the next couple of weeks!
You already know I have to run a breakdown of some of the madness that has transpired in the past month across the league and its front offices. Following up my "Tag" post, we had some major moves be played out involving the eight tags that I will run through. Plus, I have some winners, losers, and survivors from the free agency stage, and have some opinions to drop regarding Pittsburgh's unreal quarterback room improvement. I could write a book with all the moves that went down, and headlines that were made. I will try and keep things relatively short. Lets roll.
Most teams who used their franchise tag this cycle, did so in the very final moments prior to the scheduled deadline. The 'chises switched gears for the step that followed. There was no time to be wasted with how fast and furious the free agency market was. Teams needed to build a plan and balance their cap and future cap in quick fashion. Three of the eight players tagged were extended long-term, while two were dealt and extended. Five total tags extended before April and extended before the July 15th deadline. No time was wasted!
Justin Madubuike, Jaylon Johnson, and Michael Pittman Jr. all received a long-term bag with high guaranteed numbers. Then the two surprise blockbusters. The two tag-n-trades. Chiefs dish L'Jarius Sneed to the Titans, and the Giants acquired Brian Burns from the Panthers. Both trades were quite surprising, especially with the timing of them dropping. I question both moves, but have positive thoughts as well.
Titans dealt a 2025 3rd-round pick and a 2024 7th-round pick swap to KC to reel in their new franchise cornerback. Tennessee extended Sneed to the 7th-highest contract among corners (total value); on a deal similar to the Jaylon Johnson/Bears deal, but with more guaranteed cash. Despite the hefty price, I love this move for Tennessee. The franchise isn't known for having too many star corners. Jason McCourty and Samari Rolle are arguably the two best in their history. Investing in a top-corner is something new for this 'chise and it's a good new. The secondary was treacherous going into stage three; Titans adding Sneed and Chidobe Awuzie is a big-big deal.
Even after adding Sneed and Awuzie, Titans still need to scoop up a safety on the market and/or focus on the back-end of the secondary in the draft. GM Ran Carthon hasn't drafted a safety or a cornerback in his tenure, as he is going into his second draft as GM. The past regimes whiffed time and time again on selections. Carthon's draft last season was middle of the pact success wise. I am intrigued to see how he progresses in year two. Need a safety. Getting Sneed is a big first move to rebuild that secondary. Great move. Not so great for KC, though. I thought they should have decided to roll one more season with McDuffie/Sneed in efforts to claim a three-peat. I agree with the Chiefs on paying Chris Jones rather than Sneed, but after getting only a three and a seven- I would have kept Sneed on the tag and let him walk at age 28... barring a season in which he actually makes an All-Pro or Pro Bowl.
Now the wild Burns to Giants nuke. This one was quite a surprise and just happened out of the blue it felt. After two seasons of barter, all the Panthers received for Brian Burns was a '24 2nd-rounder and a '25 5th-rounder. That's it! After declining that massive deal from the Rams; this is how the Burns/Panthers saga ends. Comedy. At least they got a 2nd-rounder! That is still better than them payin' the $24M LB tag. For the Giants, wowza, am I right? Like, that defensive line is nasty. I'm talking nasty-nasty. Well, if Burns can return to his pre-prove it year success. Burns-Thibodeaux-Big Dex?! Very appealing, very appealing, but extending Burns five-years, $150M is wild. His contract is the third highest in total contract value among defensive players. I thought that was a bit excessive. The move is great if Burns' production returns to elite form, even if it's just for the next two years. The defense for the G-Men is starting to come together; more work to be done.
New York needs major focus in the secondary, but only sit $8M above the cap. It's unlikely they add any more free agents. If somehow they manage to; getting a corner for super cheap would go a long way. Giants need to make their draft count to add some depth and potential in the secondary, as well as at defensive end. With that, it's good to see the Giants invest in a dominant defensive-front. In recent memory, the Giants are a much stronger contender in winning when they have a dominant defensive-front. That trio on the line and in the trench is nasty. Then you have Okereke on the back-end. A solid portion of the puzzle for new DC Shane Bowen to build off. The offense is noticeably worse; it's good the defense approved, rather than decline like the O.
There is a chance we still see one of the three remaining tags be dealt; that being Tee Higgins. Bengals have been takin' more calls for the wideout after Higgins publicly asked for a trade, ending long-term negotiations. Rather it's on Draft Day, in the coming weeks, or by pre-season- I fully expect Higgins to be dealt. Bengals have to get as much for him as they can. Which should delay the execution. I predict we get a draft trade similar to the AJ Brown deal at the '22 draft.
The "eyes" emoji is the only thing I think of when I see the Steelers' new quarterbacks room. Omar Khan turned Mason Rudolph and Kenny Pickett into Russell Wilson and Justin Fields. A set of transactions that we would have only assumed could happen in Madden. Signing Wilson was a slight shocker, but trading for Fields afterwards was quite a stunner. Not only did Khan pull off an unthinkable upgrade; he did so for little-little give up.
Between Fields and Wilson, the Steelers will only be spending $4.5M for the two collectively this season. On top of that, Fields was acquired in exchange for just a conditional 6th-rounder. In order for that 6th-rounder to become a 4th-rounder, Fields would have to play 51% of the team's offensive plays this season. Which is unlikely with the Steelers plan of starting Wilson whilst having Fields "learn" behind him for the year. I have a strong opinion on the trade, from the Bears' perspective, and the Steelers plan, but man, you gotta be impressed with how Khan upgraded their QB room with such little investment.
What an awful decision by Poles and the Bears' front office. Proving again how they define the word poverty. That franchise has no success in developing quarterbacks, so they do outlandish things to restart the process again and again. Poles was doing so good this off-season too. So good. Added D'Andre Swift, Keenan Allen, and could have easily moved back from the one to the 3-6 zone to have a chance at drafting Marvin Harrison Jr. Can't tell me the Patriots, Cardinals, or Giants wouldn't move up to the one to snag Williams in front of the Commanders. Bears could have selected Malik Nabers at 9 as well to join Fields' arsenal. At that point, you just hope new OC Shane Waldron can blossom the three-season experienced Fields. Instead, you restart for a rookie prospect, who I promise you will be a project. People are blind by his little highlight plays against the dead and gone PAC-12.
I will put the brakes on that rant for now; I'll continue that on the next piece to prep the draft. Back to the Steelers. I won't degrade their decision making whatsoever, despite the fact I think it's quite sick Justin Fields is now considered a back-up QB while guys like Bryce Young, Bailey Zappe, Daniel Jones, and Aidan O'Connell (including several others) are starters in the league. Will Levis. Kyler Murray. You get the point. It's just crazy, but for Pittsburgh- it's quite brilliant. More brilliant considering all they are spending for the experiment (lack thereof). People crack the jokes and love hoping for Russell Wilson's downfall, but his play wasn't awful last season. He returned to his final season with the Seahawks form. Sean Payton needed someone to blame, plus that Broncos contract was brutal. The rest is history.
There was a lot of negative moving parts that shadowed over the fact that Wilson played much better in year two than he did in his first season with the Broncos. Fitting him into the Steelers' puzzle with the newly hired Artie Smith as OC, has quite an interesting look. Adding the veteran Wilson could return Smith to be a successful OC again. Artie's 2020 Titans, who finished the season the 4th-best ranked total offense and 2nd-best ranked rushing offense, had a fierce rushing attack with a strong WR1; solid TE1; and Ryan Tannehill under center. Pittsburgh is rolling out something similar. They may not have Derrick Henry, but they have a fierce 1-2 punch with Jaylen Warren and Najee Harris. Wilson should fit in nicely and is a perfect prototype for Smith to use in his type of offense. Past prime or not. I just hate this for Justin Fields.
Justin Fields is a top-20 (ceiling at 12) talent at QB in the league, and I'd take him over a rookie Caleb Williams ten out of ten times. Sitting on the sideline and learning an offense, as well as developing his weaknesses behind a proven winner is what should have been done in years 1-3 of his career. Instead, Chicago played him and forced him to develop in the trenches. Fields played his best season of his career with Luke Getsy in Chicago last season. Showed improvement in major departments. Now in year four, he is to sit on the bench and learn from there. I think that will kill any potential he has left. I could be wrong. Going from the field to the bench creates a mental barrier that he will have to rise over. It's a true change of scenery for Fields in Pittsburgh. Maybe Tom Arth does good work with him, and all goes well moving forward. We will see. From Pittsburgh's perspective, this was a home-run upgrade from Mason Rudolph and Kenny Pickett. Time to see how it plays out.
There really wasn't too many losers in stage three outside of some poor players in the cap department. I singled out the Saints, Cowboys, Cardinals, and Raiders as my four losers. Saints and Cowboys had their hands tied with cap availability, so there placement here isn't due to outlandish spending. They lose for simply puttin' themselves in a bad position with the inability to work the cap.
Dallas only brought in one new free agent in veteran LB Eric Kendricks while the Saints added four new players, including edge Chase Young. A signing I wasn't high on. Young hasn't been productive since his stellar rookie season. He didn't look that great with the 49ers and has quite the history of injuries. New Orleans was low on cap availability and spent $13M of it just for one season with Chase Young... I'm not about it. Should have used that money to add more aid to the offensive line and/or the secondary. Hopefully they are successful in the draft.
Dallas had a bad set of contracts that they are feeling hard this off-season, and likely the next as they still don't sit great in terms of the cap (26th: $4.9M). Not a good feeling as the window to win with Dak Prescott, DeMarcus Lawrence, and Zack Martin is closing and quickly. At least the one free agent they brought in, fills a hole, especially with Leighton Vander Esch hangin' his cleats. They must execute some good selections in the draft as well.
People are quick on praising the Raiders' signing of DT Christian Wilkins, despite it being a noticeable over-pay. Don't get me wrong, I think Wilkins and Maxx Crosby is a dangerous duo in the trench; I like the vision, but this team has a lot of building to do. Giving out contracts like that just shouldn't be the way for Vegas. Luckily, they still sit in the top-10 in cap space, but that doesn't help their case of being a loser in stage three. One of the worst all-around rosters in the league, and all you add is Wilkins, Gardner Minshew, and Alexander Mattison? Won't cut it. Not when you consider the amount of free agents available. Raiders are in a deep hole as a 'chise. They need to build their O-line, secondary, LB room, weapons, and find a quarterback. The secondary is so bad that Crosby and Wilkins might not even have enough time to reach the quarterback. I hope the fans understand how much time this rebuild could take, so they don't turn on Antonio Pierce after a year or two. It's the long game now in Vegas.
Cardinals are in a similar boat, minus a pay-day to a top free agent. Horrid roster up and down that got no real upgrades outside of the signing of OT Jonah Williams. Check that, the Sean Murphy-Bunting signing wasn't awful, either. Outside of those two, the Cardinals best acquisition was Desmond Ridder. Yes... Desmond Ridder, to be the backup to Kyler Murray. We have the Steelers QB room; then there is the Cards' QB room. Gotta love this league (sarcasm). Arizona's $29.7M in cap space ranks 5th most in the league. Rebuild wise it's not awful to keep and build that number going into next season. Not like this team is being a contender any time soon. It's arguably the worst roster in football. The problem is the plan, and seeing who they are investing in.
Cardinals continue to be awful in seeing and developing talent. This is Monti Ossenfort's second draft coming up. His first draft seems to be a C+ at best. BJ Ojulari was solid and can improve under Gannon; lets see what Ossenfort can do in his second rodeo. As of now, I consider them losers depending on their draft and if they don't add any assets post draft in free agency. Still some solid gets on the market looking to extend their services.
Several teams faced some serious challenges in both cap space, and contract expires. I thought teams did a great job at playing damage control. We had some big-time survivors that survived the damage of the off-season. Vikings, Chargers, and Buccaneers would be my top three in those regards with the Texans in the mix as well. All four franchises did a helluva job of keeping their rosters intact to still be competitive next season.
Minnesota had 15 free-agents leave and sign with a new team. Of those 15, they lost two of their staples of the past six years in Kirk Cousins and Danielle Hunter. Vikings had to replace five key defensive starters; and did a pretty damn good job in doing so. I love the addition of Jonathan Greenard (4/YR-$76M) to replace Hunter, as well as the additions of Blake Cashman & Andrew Van Ginkel to replace Jordan Hicks and bolster the LB room. Vikings' first timer GM has been superb. So has Nick Caserio down in Houston. Texans had eleven players leave to a new team, including four defensive starters, their punter, and their starting RB. Caserio traded nothing in exchange for Joe Mixon, whom despite his decline, can still be considered an upgrade over departing starter Devin Singletary. He also replaced Greenard with, well, Danielle Hunter. Coincidental. The signing of former Titans LB Azeez Al-Shaair is also a good get, despite an over-pay. Al-Shaair will fit nicely in DeMeco Ryans' system. Houston also retained Dalton Schultz, their secondary depth, and even added more to the secondary with the Jeff Okudah signing. Solid work by Caserio.
Solid work recognition is owed to Chargers GM Joe Hortiz & Bucs GM Jason Licht as well. Chargers smartly cut ties with wide-receivers Keenan Allen and Mike Williams to erase the nasty cap situation that Tom Telesco left them. While keeping and reconstructing the contracts of Khalil Mack and Joey Bosa. Sure, Herbert loses his two major weapons (three w/ Ekeler), but Greg Roman and Harbaugh are good enough to make Herbert good without Allen and Williams. Bolts use the money to brute up the offense with the loss of skill by bringing in RB Gus Edwards, TE Will Dissly, and TE Hayden Hurst. They also brought in defensive depth. They have an ultra-important draft coming up with holding the 5th pick, but wow are they sitting in a good spot compared to where they were at the start of stage two.
Jason Licht did his dance too. Tampa Bay had one of the toughest lists of contract expirations. Before the draft even begins, they know Mike Evans, Baker Mayfield, Lavonte David, and Antoine Winfield Jr. will all be on the 2024-25 roster. Bucs fans couldn't have asked for anything more, I am sure. Yeah, the Mayfield contract was a bit steep, but he earned the coin by winning over the fans. Keeping Evans was needed to keep Mayfield in his current tier. I've already discussed the importance in retaining Winfield Jr. in my Tag post. On top of keeping the staples intact; Licht brought in some o-line aid and signed S Jordan Whitehead for little to nothing to duo up with AWJ in the back-end. Such solid work by Licht, sitting 30th in cap space ($2.5M) means his free agency is done. Time for the draft. Way to survive the damages to keep a possible 7-10 win season in the air.
Like I have mentioned, I thought there was a slew of front offices that did good work this cycle after the NFL raised the cap. If there were three that stood out to me the most, or three to be considered great not good, then I'd give those honors to the Rams, Eagles, and Patriots.
I actually really like what the Patriots have done. It's nice to see that 'chise with an actual GM again. Now, nothing they did will result in more games won next season. Not at all, but it was the perfect first step in making a successful and quick rebuild. Here is why. Patriots now currently have the most available cap space in the NFL ($48.7M). The roster was so depleted and in need of a rebuild, that you know you aren't winning a ton of games in the next 1-3 years. No need to spend big on one or two guys. They resigned Kyle Dugger, Kendrick Bourne, Hunter Henry, and Mike Onwenu. Patriots also signed Antonio Gibson to give Rhamondre Stevenson a solid number two. Now they have an important draft ahead. Drafting a quarterback, Drake Maye or Penix Jr, is the main to-do. That selection is to play the year behind Brissett and Zappe. Starting the draftee is not the right thing to do. Then you reload in free agency next season with the built up cap space.
Rams went from a survivor in the off-season, to an off-season winner. Aaron Donald retiring is quite gut-wrenching; thankfully Raheem Morris did stellar development work for the defensive front of the Rams before taking the Falcons HC position. Losing Donald hurts, for sure, but the team is still in great shape. Keeping the Stafford window more open. A makeover completely elevated the secondary with the additions of corners Darious Williams, Tre'Davious White, and safety Kamren Curl. Rams also built protection around Stafford with resigning Kevin Dotson and adding Jonah Jackson as well as tight end Colby Parkinson. Who will blossom with Stafford. Everything the Rams needed do; they did; and then some.
Eagles faced similar challenges as the Rams when they lost Jason Kelce and Fletcher Cox to retirement, as well as some production to free agency. Kelce and Donald will be headlining the Class of 2029. I have the Eagles as a winner, purely because of what Howie Roseman did with the future cap while building the roster for next season. Eagles signing Saquon Barkley can do wonders for the offense depending on how he is used in Kellen Moore's system. Bryce Huff was another big-time signing and should fit in nicely, although I think trading Haason Reddick was stupid. Huff and Reddick as a duo would have given the Eagles a top defensive-front in the league. The player additions were solid, but the fact Roseman has the Eagles sitting 4th in available cap is wild, especially after extending Landon Dickerson to such a luxurious deal. It's impressive, hopefully losing Jake Rosenberg (longtime salary cap executive) isn't a disaster in disguise for Roseman and the Eagles. Such solid work this off-season, and we all know this cat Roseman likes to make splashes during the draft. The Eagles might not be done just yet.
I am quite impressed at the list of teams who actually had a good stage three of the off-season, but we still have stage four to go... the draft. Bears showed that you can go from good to bad, and quick in the matter of just one move. I'm willing to bet more teams will join that fray come day three of the draft. We will also see more teams rise from good to great depending on how they draft. Stage three was electric in noise and excitement. The party isn't over. Stage four is ready to make it's mark. It's draft season!
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