The NFL’s 2024 free agent market had its soft opening Monday and, although almost no sales are final until Wednesday at 4 p.m. ET, what an eventful half-day.
With few exceptions, most of the big names have signaled their future intentions, namely soon-to-be Atlanta Falcons QB Kirk Cousins, who’s once again proven to be perhaps the league’s foremost businessman. And while notable players like DE Danielle Hunter, LT Tyron Smith, WR Calvin Ridley and RB Derrick Henry remain available, it’s possible the most prominent moves yet to materialize occur as trades.
Regardless, enough has already transpired to anoint an initial round of free agent winners and losers:
The last time he played for non-guaranteed NFL money was 2015, the final year of his rookie deal in Washington. Now “KFC” is leaving the Minnesota Vikings for the Falcons after taking a four-year, $180 million offer – though with $100 million guaranteed, per reports, Cousins’ run of fully in-the-bank cash will apparently come to an end. Argue amongst yourselves as to whether he’s one of the league’s top-10 passers, but he’s certainly an upgrade for an ATL squad that has gone 7-10 the past three seasons with bottom-10 play behind center. TE Kyle Pitts, WR Drake London and RB Bijan Robinson should all push to be Pro Bowlers for a team that almost certainly becomes the prohibitive favorite in the NFC South.
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The interior disruptors continue to cement their position as a premium one in the NFL – perhaps the most valuable (literally), quarterback notwithstanding. The Kansas City Chiefs’ Chris Jones (five years, $158.75 million), Las Vegas Raiders’ Christian Wilkins (four years, $110 million) and Baltimore Ravens’ Justin Madubuike (four years, $98 million) have all moved into Aaron Donald’s financial neighborhood in recent days – Jones with waterfront property after resetting the positional market. And the Seattle Seahawks' Leonard Williams (three years, $64.5 million) ain't exactly slumming it after re-signing Monday night.
Say what? Yes, they’ve essentially sat on the FA sideline while RB Tony Pollard, C Tyler Biadasz and DE Dorance Armstrong are moving on with Smith, the longtime stalwart on the blind side, apparently set to follow. But is that worse than overspending for aging or largely interchangeable pieces? Let’s allow "America’s Team" to get MVP runner-up Dak Prescott’s contract in order – it's set to expire next year with a provision preventing the quarterback from being tagged – and see what happens afterward.
How best to offset the retirement of longtime team pillars Jason Kelce and Fletcher Cox? One seemingly good approach would be to extend G Landon Dickerson and sign pass rusher Bryce Huff and RB Saquon Barkley. A team that finished the 2023 season so poorly looks set up for a nice rebound in 2024 – maybe more so if EVP/GM Howie Roseman offloads either OLB Haason Reddick or DE Josh Sweat in a patented pre-draft trade with Huff entering the fold. Huff’s three-year, $51.1 million deal will be the richest ever for an undrafted free agent who didn’t play quarterback, per ESPN.
The guys mostly charged with blocking the Joneses and Donalds of the world also landed some compensatory appreciation. Dickerson moved to the top of the pay scale with a four-year, $84 million extension. Elsewhere, Robert Hunt reeled in a five-year, $100 million payday to help safeguard Carolina Panthers QB Bryce Young, who will also now be protected by newly hired G Damien Lewis (4 years, $53 million). And Jonah Jackson leaves the Detroit Lions for the Los Angeles Rams and a three-year, $51 million offer after LA re-signed G Kevin Dotson with a three-year, $48 million pact last week.
He’s landed with a perennial playoff-caliber squad in Pittsburgh and will almost surely be the Steelers’ QB1 in 2024. Wilson probably couldn’t have hoped for a better outcome given what he’s faced in recent months.
If nothing else, they've held serve – re-signing QB Baker Mayfield, WR Mike Evans and K Chase McLaughlin after previously franchising All-Pro FS Antoine Winfield Jr. Maybe it’s enough to get the Bucs a fifth consecutive playoff appearance and fourth straight NFC South crown. However it does feel like they have a lower ceiling than their division Cousins, the quarterback-upgraded Falcons.
The new leader of the Pack guided the league’s youngest team in 2023 to the divisional round of the playoffs in his first year as QB1. Monday, Love’s Green Bay Packers got younger yet maybe even better while moving on from veteran LT David Bakhtiari, G Jon Runyan Jr., S Darnell Savage and RB Aaron Jones – all aging and/or eminently replaceable players – while adding bruising RB Josh Jacobs, the league’s 2022 rushing champion, and versatile S Xavier McKinney. Seems like the runway to again be a perennial division contender is only getting longer.
Given Wilkins’ impending arrival in Las Vegas – not to mention the impact it could have on 2023 first-rounder Tyree Wilson – this might be the time to lay a bet on Mad Maxx being the league’s 2024 Defensive Player of the Year.
By the time these new contracts and trades can be officially executed Wednesday, it doesn’t appear many major names will be unaccounted for – save a surprise deal or transaction necessitated by salary cap restrictions. For NFL fans eager to settle in for uninterrupted college hoops conference tournaments ahead of Selection Sunday, there shouldn’t be many (football) reasons to be checking the phone.
The Bears’ incumbent quarterback is still waiting for GM Ryan Poles, who's expected to take former USC QB Caleb Williams atop the 2024 draft, to “do right” by him even while jobs in Atlanta, Las Vegas and Pittsburgh fill up. Certainly worth wondering if Fields will have to wait for another team to get burned by an injury, or if he just gets stuck in Chicago indefinitely.
Anteing up for Fields rather than settling for Wilson really seemed like it would have been the superior, long-term play.
They’re still out $85 million simply to not have Wilson in their locker room. And they still have no bona fide QB1 going into next season (but that No. 12 draft pick sure appears to be the likely acquisition route).
Whether it’s Daniel Jones or a rookie at quarterback next season, where are the weapons following Barkley’s departure? The acquisition of OLB Brian Burns is nice, but the five-year, $150 million investment – less a second-round pick – makes GM Joe Schoen’s offensive strategy even more curious. Maybe the plan comes into focus at draft time, but for now … ?
To be clear, Carolina's rookie general manager, and former star linebacker, isn’t the guy who purportedly turned down two first-rounders plus a second for Burns two years ago. Yet if Schoen’s offer of a second- and fifth-rounder – which is what the Giants recouped to send Williams to Seattle for half a season – was the best Morgan could get, why not just keep Burns, who had already been tagged and characterized as a foundational piece of the Panthers' plans?
A lot more talent has been departing (Wilkins, Hunt, OLB Andrew Van Ginkel, CB Xavien Howard, LB Jerome Baker, DE Emmanuel Ogbah) than arriving (LBs Jordyn Brooks, Anthony Walker Jr., S Brandon Jones, TE Jonnu Smith). That’s the price of the hefty extension that appears headed for QB Tua Tagovailoa … though legitimate questions if he’s set up to do more with less.
Pass rushers Jonathan Greenard and Van Ginkel are nice pickups who, at best, offset the departures of OLBs Hunter and D.J. Wonnum for the Vikes. But they don’t explain the offensive plan around Jefferson, arguably the league’s most dangerous receiver and one who’s awaiting a long-term extension as he heads into the fifth-year option of his rookie contract. Minnesota is scheduled to pick 11th in Round 1 of the draft and may now have to get aggressive, not only to settle the quarterback position but to sell Jefferson on the future. For now, it appears to be Sam Darnold's job as he joins his fourth team heading into his seven season.
In addition to the Fins, the Buffalo Bills also appear diminished – and, like Miami, largely because they had to get their salary cap in order. The New York Jets re-signed K Greg Zuerlein and added a few second-wave guys (QB2 Tyrod Taylor, G John Simpson, DT Javon Kinlaw). The New England Patriots took a similar approach, keeping OL Mike Onwenu, TE Hunter Henry and WR Kendrick Bourne before going to the bargain bin for QB Jacoby Brissett, RB Antonio Gibson and LB Sione Takitaki. Perhaps a forced approach for the division's 2023 playoff teams (Buffalo, Miami) and a calculated one for the NYJ and Pats, but nobody here looks appreciably better ... other than Jets QB Aaron Rodgers, which may be the real difference maker.
They spent on WR Gabe Davis, WR/KR Devin Duvernay, C Mitch Morse and Savage while swinging a deal for new QB2 Mac Jones. But the NFL mandates a spending floor to the salary cap … yet it doesn’t feel like they’re notably better in a division where the Houston Texans took a quantum leap in 2023?
They spent on CB Chidobe Awuzie, C Lloyd Cushenberry, LB Kenneth Murray and Pollard. But the NFL mandates a spending floor to the salary cap … yet it doesn’t feel like they’re notably better in a division where the Houston Texans took a quantum leap in 2023?
They spent on Armstrong and Biadasz, who follow new HC Dan Quinn from Dallas to the Commanders and weaken a division rival, while also adding RB Austin Ekeler and LB Frankie Luvu. But the NFL mandates a spending floor to the salary cap … yet it doesn’t feel like they’re notably better despite having more spending power than any other team entering free agency. (Though, heck, maybe Quinn, GM Adam Peters and the rest of a new regime should be credited for some level of prudence that’s generally been foreign in these parts for the past quarter-century.)
Barkley hauled in a three-year, $37.8 million contract with $26 million guaranteed – good money for the position but hardly an earth-shattering windfall given it's comparable to what Jacksonville's Davis earned as a WR2. The Packers awarded Jacobs, franchised in 2023 like Barkley, $48 million over four years. Yet those two did significantly better than Ekeler, Pollard, D’Andre Swift (Bears) or Devin Singletary (Giants), all 1,000-yard backs in 2023 who forge ahead with deals averaging fewer than eight figures. Gus Edwards (LA Chargers) and Zack Moss (Cincinnati Bengals) won't average beyond $4 million. Meanwhile, Aaron Jones and former Bengal Joe Mixon both hit the unemployment line, while two-time rushing king King Henry bides his time.
***Follow USA TODAY Sports' Nate Davis on X, formerly Twitter @ByNateDavis.
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