“Officially” NFL free agency has not started yet, however, the legal tampering period has started, and we are past the first 24 hours as of 12:00 p.m. ET on Tuesday, March 16. What this means is that teams are allowed to talk to players and make deals with players although none of them will become official until 4:00 p.m. ET on Wednesday, March 17.
While we are still only in the legal tampering period of free agency, there has been no short of big names on the moves in the early days.
After watching their former quarterback, Tom Brady, win the Super Bowl in his first season on another team, the Patriots have gone all in on free agents to get them back as a playoff caliber team. Conversely, we have seen numerous teams including the Bears, Buccaneers, Colts, Cowboys, Falcons, Packers, and Seahawks (not including re-signing free agents).
While there has only been one day of the legal tampering period, and plenty of great players still available, there are some pretty clear winners and not so clear losers in the first “unofficial” day of free agency.
Winner:
For only the third time in the Bill Belichick era, the Patriots failed to make the playoffs and that just so happened to be the exact season Tom Brady left the team to join the Buccaneers (eventual Super Bowl champions). Everyone knew that the Patriots were going to have some set backs without having Brady at quarterback, but things became even worse with the onset of COVID-19. Due to the virus there were multiple defensive players (stars) who opted out of the season, making things even tougher for New England. While they may have missed the playoffs, not all things were bad last season. They went 7-9 and still had a top 10 defense on the year. Their biggest issue was the offense had no production at all, this season they are looking to change that early.
Additions: QB Re-signed Cam Newton (one-year deal), WR Nelson Agholor (two-year deal), WR Kendrick Bourne (three-year deal), TE Jonnu Smith (four-year deal), TE Hunter Henry (three-year deal), Trent Brown (trade with Raiders), DE Deatrich Wise Jr. (four-year deal), DT Davon Godchaux (two-year deal), LB Matthew Judon (four-year deal), S Jalen Mills (four-year deal)
New England has gone all in to make their way back to the postseason, they added players to both the offense and defense and while the defensive additions are good, the offensive additions are what were really needed. Last season the offense ranked as one of the worst scoring offenses (27th) and that was in large part to having a next to nothing air attack. This season that was their first concern addressed. Agholor ranked as one of the best deep-threats in the game last season, Bourne has always been reliable with his hands and then adding the two top tight ends of the free agent class is huge. We all know the success of the Patriots with two great tight ends, and while Cam Newton is not Tom Brady he should thrive with these two. New England still has some moves to make, but out of everything they have done they are in a great position to be fighting for a playoff spot.
Loser:
The Cowboys got their QB locked up long term by signing Dak Prescott to a four-year contract which is great, but outside of that they have done nothing. Obviously, it is still very early in the process, but the offense was not really the issue last season. Sure, last season the offense may not have been the same with Dalton as it was with Prescott, but that is more or less normal when you do not have your starting quarterback. With Prescott they never scored less than 17 points (30 points in four games), but they went 2-3 in those games due to the defense not being able to stop the opposing offenses. Their defense ranked 28th in points allowed last season and they are headed down a similar path if they do not make some changes this season.
Securing Prescott for four years is great, but the team will not get back to being a playoff contender unless they build a defense like they had in Prescott’s early days. The Cowboys have great offensive talent that will help them score, but if there defense blows leads it does not matter what the offense does. Again, it is early on in the process, but the Cowboys will need to address the defense sooner rather than later.
Winner:
Alex Smith was a great story last season making it back to the playing field after it was thought he may never step foot on a football field again. While he was a great story and played serviceably for Washington last season they needed a true quarterback to help make them a true playoff contender. Washington has a great young core on both the offensive and defensive sides, including Chase Young, Terry McLaurin, Cam Sims, Kamren Curl, Daron Payne, and Montez Sweat. The only issue is with their young core is that a majority of them are on the defensive side and one of them is not a quarterback. This means that they needed to go out and get a quarterback for the young offense to help take them over the hump. It is very possible they take a quarterback early in the draft, but getting a reliable veteran in free agency was vital.
Additions: QB Ryan Fitzpatrick (one-year deal)
It’s safe to say that Fitzpatrick is no stranger to playing with different teams as this is his ninth team in his 17th NFL season and in many of those latter years he was a quarterback who brought some magic along with him. Fitzpatrick may only have one winning season under his belt as a starter in the league, but he is by far a better option than anyone the Football Team has and could become a very good mentor for any young quarterback that they may take this season. To go along with that it is very possible we see McLaurin and Sims have career seasons with Fitzpatrick as well as the run game better balance the offense out. Washington is already a team with a great defense and now with the addition of Fitzpatrick, they might have the offensive balance to win the division not solely based on their defense.
Loser:
Seattle is in a rough spot this offseason because the big question is what are they going to do with Wilson? If Seattle is going to trade their franchise QB then it makes no sense to go all in during free agency, but if they intend to keep him then they are going to need to give him some protection to not make him run for his life. Wilson has been one of the top quarterbacks in the league for the past five seasons, but due to the inability of the offensive line to protect him, Wilson has never been the most comfortable dropping back. Outside of the offensive line the Seahawks also have a new offensive coordinator which also could have potentially been an issue. One of the reasons Wilson’s numbers have looked so good is because they throw so much more than run, they do have the wide receivers to do that, but if they keep him they still need help.
The defense is no longer at the level of the “legion of boom” and they are not a terrible defense, but they do need help on that side of the ball. Overall, they need help on both sides, specifically on the line on both sides of the ball if they want to come back to the top of the NFC West (even though they won the division last season). Seattle has to decide quick whether or not they plan to keep Wilson because if they decide to keep him then they will need to add to the team around him and they need to make these decisions before the season starts.
Winner:
This one is a bit of a cheat here because technically they did not sign any new free agents, instead the re-signed pending free agents, but those players were integral to last season’s success. Obviously, we know that Tom Brady left the Patriots and joined the Buccaneers and led them to the Super Bowl victory, but if he did not have the team around him that they did they would not have made it this far. Some of the key pieces were impending free agents entering this season, but the Buccaneers made it a point to bring these players back and that is exactly what they did. They were able to keep WR Chris Godwin on the franchise tag, TE Rob Gronkowski (one-year deal), DE Shaquil Barrett (four-year deal), and LB Lavonte David (two-year deal).
The Buccaneers have some of the best talent on both sides of the ball and being able to keep these players means that they are right in the same position as they were last season. Last season they were in great position to make the playoffs with their additions and it turned out to be good enough to win the Super Bowl. Every team will take being in a similar position the year after a Super Bowl win. Re-signing these players makes it so Brady and the Bucs can win back-to-back and though they are likely to sign some free agents, re-signing these pending free agents was the first step to a repeat.