NFC Free Agency Grades.
NFC Free Agency Grade: NFC
NFC South
Tampa Bay Buccaneers—The Bucs Have Won The South For Four Straight Years And The Existential Crisis That Flowered After Tom Brady Retired Looks Solved With Baker Mayfield Set In Place. Tampa However Went One and Done In Playoffs and For The Third Year Will Install A New Offensive Coordinator. The Bucs Entered Free Agency With One Of The Lowest Cap thresholds but Came Out Solid. The Bucs Have Long Needed An Elite Pass Rush Threat To Join Their Group Of Formless Maulers And A Motivated Hasson Reddick Serves As That Pass Rusher. Reddick Only Posted One Sack With The Jets On Two Starts After Reddick Held Out For A New Contract. Reddick Comes To The Bucs On A One Year Prove It Type Deals and He Could Prove A Difference Maker Of The Edge. The Bucs Secured A New Deal With Chris Godwin Who Suffered an ankle/Foot Injury During The Season. Godwin Started The Season with 573 Yards Through Before The Injury and he Remains With The Team That Drafted Him. Sticking With The Trend Of Keeping Talent The Bucs signed guard Ben Bredeson Who Played 1126 Offensive Snaps To A Three Year Deal for 22 Million Dollars. Bredeson Comes In Off Of A Below Average Blocking Season With Pass Blocking And Run Blocking Grades Below 60. The Bucs Signed Long Time Line Backer Lavonte David To A One Year Deal worth $9 Million. I Almost Wanted To Ace The Bucs Even with Just Four Signings But The First Two Hit The Nail On The Head For The Team, The Bucs Could’ve Replaced Bredeson With A Becton And Improve Their Blocking And Replace David with Elandon Robert’s Or Oren Burks For Less Money, Both Were Top 10 Linebackers According To Pff David Who Came In At 64th.
Grade, B-
New Orleans Saints—
The Saints Entered The Offseason Once More Straddled With One Of The Worse Cap Situations In Football But Still Manage To Sign Some better Than Bargain Players. Tight End Juwan Johnson Ranked Amongst The Best Of The Tight Ends Available to Coming Off Of 50 Catches, 548 Receiving Yards and Three Touchdowns. Safety Justin Reid A Louisiana Native, Another Guy Amongst The Top Of His Position Joins The Saints On A Three Year Deal. The Saints Also Retain Edge Rusher Chase Young The Former Number Two Pick Comes In Off Of a 7.5 Sack Season. The Saints Add Some Offensive Line Depth with Landon Young And Center Will Clapp. The Saints Found The Financial Flexibility To Pick Up And Retain A Few Solid Pieces Apart from their Roster.
Grade, C+.
Carolina Panthers—
The Panthers Needed Outside Weapons But Few Teams Gave Up Their Top Options So Instead Carolina Turned To Stop The Pass. The Panthers Had One Of The Worse Passing Defenses Last Season And To Address The Matter They Lock Up Former Top Ten Pick Jaycee Horn With A Briefly Record-Setting Deal four-year extension worth $100 million with $70 million guaranteed, Then Resigned A Cornerback Micheal Jackson To A 14.5 Million Dollar Deal Over Two Years. Former Raiders Safety Trevon Moehrig Joins The Panthers Secondary And His Presence Could Create A Stronger And More Coordinated Secondary. Moehrig Didn’t Play His Best Football In Coverage, Giving up a 105.8 Passer Rating, But He’s A Solid Tackler. Patrick Jones Joins The Panthers From
The Vikings Bring Over His 7 Sack Production From A Season Ago To a Team In Need Of Pressure Production. The Panthers' Offense Retains Tight End Tommy Tremble and Wide Receiver David Moore. Serviceable Players But Nothing More. Former Cowboys Running back Rico Dowdle Joins The Backfield With Chubba Hubbard Tershawn Wharton Joins The Defensive Front Along With Derrick Brown And New Addition DT Bobby Brown III. The Panthers Could Unearth Some Untapped Potential In Guys Like Jones and Brown. These Players Will Improve But These Weren’t The Exact Upgrades The Team Sought Entering Free Agency.
Grade, C+.
Atlanta Falcons—The Falcons entered Free Agency Caught Up In The Rapture Of Kirk Cousins Trade Rumors. Ultimately The Falcons Choose To Keep Their (Questionable) 100 Million Dollar Investment, At Least For Now, And Moved To Make Minor Tweaks To The Roster. The Pass Rush Added Leonard Flyod From The Niners and Former Raider Linebacker Divine Deablo. The Falcons Add Veteran Defensive Tackle Morgan Fox To The Depth OF their Defensive Front. The offense Kept Wide Receiver KHADAREL
HODGE Caught A Game-winning touchdown Versus The Bucs In Overtime in Week Five and A Pro Bowl in 2024. Corner Mike Hughes Returns To And Mike Ford From The Browns Join A Secondary That Suffered Highs And Lows.
Grade, C.
NFC West
San Fransisco 49ers—Usually Super Bowl Champions Have Their Roster Gutted Instead The Niners Waited a Year After Their Super Bowl Performance To Have The Star-Studded Roster Pilfered. A Roster Fitted With Several Top Market Names And Contracts Couldn’t Sustain Even With A Rising Cap Members Departed For Better Deals Elsewhere And The Niners' Offseason Became Famous For The Names They Lost. The Niners pick Up Tight Luke Farrell Who Fits More Of The Blocker Type But With George Kittle’s Future In Continuous limbo, He Could Emerge As The Number One Option. The Offense Also Picked Up Mac Jones To Back Up And Possibly Insurance For Brock Purdy Whom The Niners Still Haven’t Given An Extension To As Of 2024. The Niners Sign Richie Grant, Jason Pinnock At Safety, and Luke Gifford At Linebacker As stop-gap replacements For Talaona Hufanga and Dre Greenlaw, Tre Brown Comes In To Replace Chardavius Ward At Corner. Demarcus Robinson wide Receiver And Patrick Taylor jr at Runningback. The Niners Exhausted Their Free Agency Plugging Gaps Lost In The Swift Winds Of Free Agency And Honestly Could’ve Done Worse For What They Lost.
Grade, C+.
Seattle Seahawk—
Most Teams Look To Free Agency To Augment The Roster Or The Foundation Already Settled Upon But The Seahawks Transformed And Reimagined Their Entire Structure. Seattle Traded Away Both Geno Smith and DK Metcalf, Cut Long Time Receiver Tyler Lockett on Offense. Usually This Much Change All At Once Could Lead To Regression But Then Seattle Signed Quarterback Sam Darnold on A Years 100 Million Dollar Contract To Replace Geno Smith. Seattle Didn’t Trust Giving A 35-Year-Old Geno Smith a New Contract But Instead Signed A 28-Year-Old Sam Darnold Coming Off Of His Most Promising Year As A Starter. Seattle’s Next Major Signing, Cooper Kupp The Former Ram Star Returns Home To Washington On A Three Year Deal. Kupp Doesn’t Have The Same Wheels As He Did In His Prime And He won't Replace The Threat Of A DK Metcalf But He’ll Replace Lockett Kupp Savvy Still Makes Him One Of The Better Threats In the Slot. Josh Jones Joins The Seahawks As An Offensive Line Option But The Seahawks Will Need Much More If They Hope To Protect Darnold. Defensive The Seahawks Resign Ernest Jones A Solid Run Defender, and Jarran Reed A Defensive Tackle And Bring In Former Cowboys Pass Rusher Demarcus Lawrence. Lawrence Has 61.5 Career Sacks, Struggled With Injuries Last Season And Turns 33 In April. Losing DK Metcalf Will Hurt and Still Hunting For Offensive Line Help Will Remain A sticking Point But Seattle Improve By Swapping Out One Former Reclamation Project For Another Younger Champion Of Sorts. New Seattle Offensive Coordinator Klint Kubiak ran A Similar to The One Darnold Most Recently Played In San Fransisco and Minnesota So The Adjustment Could Appear Seamless.
Grade, B+.
Los Angeles Rams—
The Rams Won Free Agency By Resigning Quarterback Matthew Stafford To A New Deal That Keeps Him With The Team On A Season-to-Season Basis. The Rams Let Go Of Cooper Kupp and then Signed Former Jets/Raiders Wide Receiver Davante Adams To A Two Contract, of 23 Million Per Year. He’s Not The Same Player From His Green Bay Days But A motivated Adams Can Still Play Elite Football On The Outside. Poona Ford Joins A Pretty Strong Interior For The Rams that Already Includes Kobie Turner. Coleman Shelton Joins The Offensive Line At Center to Give The Rams Some Depth At The Position. The Rams Only Made A Couple Of Signing But This Roster That Nearly Made The NFC Championship Didn’t Need Much and Adding Adams To A Program That Includes Puka Nucua made A Challenging Offense Vaunted.
Grade, A.
Arizona Cardinals—The Cardinals Have One Of The Worst Roster In Football And Outside Of quarterback Kyler Murray, James Connor And A Recently Elite Tight End Trey McBride Trying To Figure Out What This Roster consists of Or What They’re Good At Feels Like A Chore. The Cardinals Made Small Tweaks But The Team Needed A Pass Rusher And Picked Up The Best Pass Rusher Available With Josh Sweat Signed To A Four Year Deal. Edge Rusher Dalvin Tomlinson Joins The Fold And LJ Collier Joins The Defensive Tackle Front. Mykal Walker and Akeem Davis-Gather Join The Linebacker Group. The Cardinals Add Journeyman But Serviceable Receiver Zay Jones And Similar Fehoko To The Roster. The Cardinals Had The Type Of Roster That Couldn’t Get Worse No Matter Who They Signed. Signing Josh Sweat Moved The Needle and How He Functioned As The Number One Pass Threat And Not Just A Part Of The Collective Will Prove The Value Of His Deal. The Cardinals Didn’t Add Any High Upside Pieces But Again Arizona Added Pieces To Their Roster.
Grade, B-.
NFC North
Minnesota Vikings—
The Vikings Didn’t Resign Sam Darnold Or Grab A Veteran Quarterback Opening The Door For JJ McCarthy To Get The Start In the Second Season With The Team. The Vikings Bet Most Of Their Cap Space On Injured Reclamation Projects With High Upside Starting With Defensive Tackle Jonathan Allen and Javon Hargrave. Both are productive Defensive Tackles Who Struggled With Injuries Last Season But Who Produced 42 And 45 Career Sacks. Will Fries Join the Vikings Offensive Line That Struggled With Interior Pressure And Center Ryan Kelly Joins Him On The Interior? Aaron Jones Rejoins The Team, And Jordan Mason Backs Him Up. Byron Murphy Jr Returned To The Team In Free Agency on A Three-Year Deal. The Secondary Adds A Lot of New Pieces In Jeff Okudah, Isaiah Rodgers, Theo Jackson, and Tavierre Thomas. The Vikings Sign A Host Of 16 Players So Far In Free Agency. If These Players Return Healthy And At Their Peak Performances Or Close the Vikings Could Emerge With A Top 10 Once Again and A Drastically Improved Offensive Line.
Grade, A.
Detroit Lions—The Lions Conquer The NFC during The Regular Season Thanks To A Versatile Offense But Suffered A Massive Meltdown Which Sucked For Numerous Reasons. First The Loss But The Lions Have A Team Built Around The Success Of Several Rookie Contracts, That Will Get Expensive In The Coming Years. The Lions Free Agency Moves Reflected Te Organization Prescience. Instead Of Going “All In” Potentially Mortgaging Their Future On Ill Fated Deals By Over Spending Instead The Lions Added Players For Depth And A Starter Or Two. The Lions Bring In DJ Reed On A Three Year Deal To Replace Carlton Davis As The Teams Top Corner. The Lions Linebacker Corp Got a Complete Reload As The Team Added Linebackers As The Position Would Go Out Of Style, Trevor Nowaske, Derrick Barnes, Grant Stuard, Ezekiel Turner, and Anthony Pittman A Total Of Five New Linebackers. One Can’t Assume The Lions will Keep All Of These Linebackers But They’ll Get A Good Look At Some Prospects. The Lions OFFENSE brought Back Tim Patrick Coming Off Of 33 catches for 394 receiving yards and three touchdowns The Veteran Receiver Doesn’t Move Like he Once Did Before
Injuries But He Can Still Play The “X” Receiver. The Lions defensive front and Edge Rusher Group Got Deeper Bringing In Marcus Davenport, From The Cardinals along With Defensive Tackle Roy Lopez From Arizona and The Team Retained Levi Onwuzurike. Through The Volume Of Signing The Lions Produced A Solid Free Agent Class, The Offense Also Kept Tackl Dan Skipper, Running Back Craig Reynolds, and Tight Ends Shane Zylstra and Kenny Yeboah Who Add More Depth to The Lions Roster. The Lions Could’ve Done More Work In The Secondary Considering They Play Man To Man A lot And Need Talented Player To Help Support Their Corners.
Grade, B+.
Green Bay Packers—
The Packers Spent The Front End Of Free Agency Trying To Secure A Deal For DK Metcalf Which Never Materialized. Instead The Packers Put Together One Of The More Quieter Free Agencies Of Any Team This Offseason. Mecole Hardman Won’t Represent The Game Changing Wide Receiver The Packers Searched For but He’ll Add To The Fray. The Packers Sign 49ers Guard Aaron Banks to A Four Year Deal To Bring His Solid But Not Great Run Blocking To Pave Paths For Running back Josh Jacobs. Nate Hobbs Comes Over From The Raiders To Play Corner After Allowing A Sub-100 Passer Rating. The Packers Also Signed Kicker Brandon McManus And Linebacker Isaiah McDuffie. Aaron Backs Ranked Top Five As One Of PFF’s Most OverPaid Free Agents And Only Time Will Tell. The Packers Could’ve Pushed Harder To Pick Up A Number One Receiver and Exited Free Agency Without One.
Grade, C.
Chicago Bears— Bears Quarterback and Number One Overall Pick Caleb Williams Took 68 Sacks On The Season Making Pass Protection The Number One Concern In Chicago As The Bears Revamped The Entire Interior Of The Offensive Line. The Bears Traded A Sixth Round Pick For Guard Jonah Jackson From The Rams. Jackson Struggled With Injuries Only Playing Four Games Last Season. The Bears Also Signed Veteran Center Drew Dalman from the Falcons and Acquired All-Pro Guard Joe Thuney From The Chiefs For Another Late Pick. Reconstructing Offensive Lines Don’t Often Work, No Matter How Much You Spend—Just Ask Cincinnati—But The Bears Acquired Some Quality Who At Least Won't Play As Poorly As Last Season. On The Defensive Line, The Bears Sign Defensive Tackle Grady Jarrett and Edge Rusher Dayo Odeyingbo. Offensively The Team Signed Two Wide Receivers Devin Duvernay, Olamide Zaccheaus, And Running back Travis Homer. The Reconstructed Offensive Will Have To Live Up The Billing but Caleb Williams Should Enjoy Some Improve Pass Protection.
Grade, B-.
NFC East
Dallas Cowboys— The Offseason Focused On Other Contract Dilemmas Like Micah Parson Who Could Reset The Recently Twice Reset Non-Quarterback/Edge Rusher/Wide Receiver Market In The Future. The Cowboys Also Lost All-Pro Guard Zach Martin To Retirement Which Also Resulted In Cap ramifications The Cowboys Lost Over 9 Million This season And Less Than 18 Million Dollars Next Season. The Cowboys Had A whopping 22 Free agents And Managed To Reel In Half That Number In Return. The Cowboys Still Came Away With A Solid Haul of Players Starting With Retaining Defensive Tackle Osa Odighizuwa Who Saw His Production and His Importance To The Team Sky skyrocket as the rest Of The Defensive Line Dealt With Injuries and The Cowboys rewarded Him With 80 Million Over For Years. The Boys Also Add Veteran And Solid Defensive Tackle Solomon Thomas To Defensive Line. Dante Fowler Returns To Cowboys After A Solid Season with The Commanders and Payton Turner Join The Edge Rushers For Depth. The Boys Brought Back Special Team’s Ace Keyvonte Turpin, and Add Two Running Back Javonte Williams and Miles Sanders. The Cowboy's Runningback Room Needed Transformation Ever Since The Lost Of Tony Pollard and The “Fall Off” Of Ezekiel Elliott. The Cowboys’s Defense Picks Up Two Former First-Round Picks In Linebacker Kenneth Murray and Corner Kair Elam To Add Depth To Injured Position. New Dallas Defensive Coordinator Matt Eberflus Brought Over One Of His Guys Jack Sanborn From Bear. The Cowboys Pulled In A Solid Haul Of Players Focused On The Strength Of The defense. Micah’s Contract Will Dominate Most Of The Discussion And Whether He Plays On His Current Deal Will Garner Much Speculation. The Cowboys didn’t Address The Offensive Line Much Outside Of The Signing Of Robert Jones But the Offense Improve In Rushing Game.
Grade, A.
Philadelphia Eagles—
The Eagles In Recent Years Have Become The NFL’s Version Of “Pimp My Ride” In Some Respect. NFL Free Agents Who Haven’t Lived To Their Potential Or Have Fallen On Hard Times Flock To Philly For A Chance At Reclamation and Transformation And Howie Roseman Picked Up a Few Guys This Offseason. The Eagles Resign Former Transformation Project Zach Baun To A Big Deal That Made Him a Top Five Linebacker By Annual Salary. Other Linebacker And Pass Rusher Types The Eagles Picked Up Include Former Giant Azeez Ojulari And Josh Uche Two High Upside Pass Rusher. Ojulari Has Struggled With Injuries But He Has Good “Stuff” Producing Eight Sacks As A Rookie But Never Playing A Full Season Since. Uche Had 11.5 Sack In 2022 But Hasn’t Come Anywhere Close Since. Adoree Jackson Joins A Stud Secondary That Let Go Of Darius Slay In The Offseason. Offensively The Eagles Pick Up Two Tight Ends Harrison Bryant From The Raiders and Kyler Granson From The Colts. Dallas Goedert Remains The Top Option At Starter as One Of The League’s Best Tight Ends But He’s 30 Dealt With injuries and Could Become A Cap Casualty After This Season. Running Back AJ Dillon Joins The Eagles from The Packers To Back Up Saquon Barkley.
Grade, B+.
Washington Commanders—
The Commanders Moved To Build Off Of The NFC Championship Game By signing A Host Of Players In Free Agency, 25 In Total, So Highlighting The Major Moves Like Keeping Punter Tres Way Will Take Precedents. The Team Brought Back Veteran Linebacker Bobby Wagner Who Pick Up His 13th Season With Over 100 Tackles And despite Age 35 He’s Still Good At Football. Tight Zach Ertz Also 35 Return After He Played A Crucial Role In The Commander's Playoff Run. The Commanders Give “Big” Money To Former Niners First Round Pick and Former Jet Javon Kinlaw Who Despite His Hulkish Frame(6’5, 320 lbs) but He’s Coming Off Of A Strong Year And Will Join A Commanders Front Anchor By Daron Payne. The Commanders Also Made Trades For Deebo Samuel and Left Tackle Laremy Tunsil To Protect Jayden Daniels. The Team Brought Back Noah Brown at Wide Receiver And Signed Cornerback Jonathan Jones. The Commander's Defense needed The Most Attention And The unit's Improvement Will Hinge On The Play Of Javon Kinlaw, Clelin Ferrell, And Jonathan Jones On The Outside. The Commanders Also signed former Cowboy/Raiders Receiver Micheal Gallop Who didn’t Play in 2024 For a Period and Returned To Football. The Commanders Didn’t Move The Needle Unless One Of Those Guys Play Beyond Expectation. Tunsil Will Prove Critically But He Played On A Down Turn Last Year.
Grade, C.
New York Giants—
The Giants Kind Of Revived The Pulse Of Free Agency Late In The Second Window By Signing Quarterback Russell Wilson To A One Year Deal Worth $21 Million Half Which He’s Guaranteed. Wilson Who Plays Drop Off a Cliff Late In The Season, A Continued Trend From His Seattle Days, Will Bring Leadership and Possibly A Strong Deep Connection With Explosive Giants Receiver Malik Nabers. Outside Of Wilson, The Giants Revamp Their Secondary Signing Safety Jevon Holland And Corner Paulson Adebo To Join Xavier McKinney Sure A Weakness Of The Team. The Team Resign Darius Slyaton A Coveted Speedster On The Open Market To Three Years 36 Million Dollars deal. On The Offensive Lime The Giants Signed James Hudson III as Insurance To The Already Lackluster Protection For Wilson or Whomever Plays Quarterback. Chauncey Golston From The Cowboys and Roy Robertson-Harris Join A Solid Defensive Line That Features Stars Like Dexter Lawrence And Brian Burns. The Team Also Brought Back Back-Up Quarterback Tommy Devito Because Why Not.
The Giants Didn’t Improve Much From The Team Already Assembled.
Grade, C.
