Jordan Stephenson
South Bureau Chief
NFL Free Agency officially started March 13 th at 4 p.m., also trades were made official that same day. There definitely was no shortage of important league altering news that shocked many fans and NFL analysts. Some playoff teams have made many free agency moves, while other playoff teams have barely done anything at all to address their team needs. This has already been one of the busiest free agency periods in NFL history, and in recent memory. Most if not all these teams, hope these free agency moves leads to playoff berths.
The top QBs in this free agency period were Russell Wilson, Baker Mayfield, and Kirk Cousins. Last week the Broncos unfortunately released Wilson, which for good reasons gave them an $85 million cap hold, over the next two seasons. So, he had early visits with a few potential teams, and fortunately agreed to a league minimum deal with the Steelers. The Steelers also agreed with star LB Patrick Queen, on a three-year $41 million deal. Cousins is currently rehabbing a torn Achilles but has a couple of options to choose from in free agency. So, the Vikings couldn’t meet is asking price, and another team was extremely desperate for an upgrade at QB; Cousins eventually signed a four-year $180 million deal with the desperate Falcons. This deal includes $100 million in guaranteed money, which adds to guaranteed money over the past few seasons. The Falcons then signed Darnell Mooney to a three-year $39 million deal. The Baker Mayfield and Mike Evans connection will be prevalent again because they both re-signed with the Buccaneers. Mayfield signed a three-year $100 million deal after betting on himself, then Evans signed a two-year $52 million deal.
Many NFL analysts thought the running back market would be extremely scarce, because of what happened last season, and when no running backs were franchise tagged, fortunately there was an extremely movement of running backs in the free agency market. The most surprising were Derrick Henry leaving the Titans while then agreeing to a two-year $16 million contract with the Ravens, and Saquon Barkley leaving the Giants while signing a three-year $37.75 deal with the division rival Eagles. Then Tony Pollard left a gaping hole with the Cowboys, to replace Henry and sign a three-year $24 million deal with the Titans. Austin Ekeler left the Chargers and signed a two-year $11.43 million deal with the Commanders. D’Andre Swift left the Eagles and agreed to a three-year $24 million deal with the Bears. Josh Jacobs left the Raiders and signed a four-year $48 million deal with the Packers. The Packers released Aaron Jones was sadly released by the Packers, so he immediately signed a one year $7 million deal with the division rival Vikings. The Bengals were sadly going to release Joe Mixon, so the Texans came in at the 11 th hour and traded for him. Zack Moss then signed a two-year $8 million contract with the Bengals. Gus Edwards left the Ravens to sign a two-year $6.5 million deal with the Chargers.
There were definitely a few impactful trades made in this free agency period. The Jets just acquired OT Moses Morgan from the Ravens for 2024 6 th round pick and a 2024 4 th round swaps. The Jets also signed Tyrod Taylor as the backup QB for Aaron Rogers, and they look to trade their previous backup QB Zach Wilson. Tee Higgins received the non-exclusive franchise tag, but has not had any contract discussions with the Bengals since last season, so he sadly requested to be traded. The Browns acquired Jerry Judy from the Broncos for two 2024 5 th and 6 th round picks. The Steelers just traded Diontae Johnson to the Panthers for Donte Jackson and 2024 7 th round pick swaps. The Jaguars acquired Mac “10” Jones from the Patriots for a 2024 6 th round pick. The Giants acquired Brian Burns from the Panthers for a 2024 2 nd and 5 th round pick. The Colts acquired Carton Davis from the Buccaneers with a 2024 and 2025 6 th round picks for a 2024 3 rd round pick. Then Burns immediately agreed to a five-year $150 million deal with the Giants.
Speaking of great defensive players getting the bag like Burns did they were definitely a few more of them that also received huge contracts. Chris Jones finally re-signed with the Chiefs for a five-year $158.75 million contract, with $101 million guaranteed. Danielle Hunter agreed to a two-year $49 million deal with the Texans, with $48 million guaranteed. Christian Wilkins sadly left the Dolphins, but I’m definitely happy he was able to get his money and signed a four-year $110 million contract with the Raiders.
My teams in the Dolphins and Packers have been relatively busy, because we had to make tough decisions in cutting certain good to great players. The Dolphins signed Jonnu Smith to a two-year $10 million deal and former Bills Jordan Poyer and Siran Neal to one year deals. The Packers signed Xavier McKinney to a four-year $68 million deal. There will definitely be more acquisitions to come because free agency is just getting started, and the draft is soon approaching.
