It felt like free agency started a full week ago, with trade agreements and re-signings keeping teams busy before they could even start officially negotiating with free agents on Monday afternoon. The reality is many of those re-signings diluted the free agent market -- it was not considered strong to begin with -- in some critical areas. For instance, if you were in need of a top wide receiver, you were much better off doing a trade for one -- like Deebo Samuel (Commanders) or DK Metcalf (Steelers) -- than waiting for free agency, when the top prospective free agent, Chris Godwin, chose to stay with the Tampa Bay Bucs, even leaving more money on the table to do it, according to NFL Network Insider Ian Rapoport.
We won't really know how this shuffling pans out until we see the final product on the field. At this time last year, after all, nobody knew that the Eagles' signing of linebacker Zack Baun would be so critical to their Super Bowl run, and that retaining him would become the Eagles' primary goal this offseason (they did, by the way). Still, the first part of the roster building season went better for some than others.
Here's a look at the winners and losers through Day 2 of the free-agent negotiating period.
WINNERS
Minnesota Vikings: Out from under Kirk Cousins' contract, Minnesota had money to spend and focused on the trenches. Former quarterback Sam Darnold was sacked nine times in the Vikings' playoff loss to the Rams. Since then, Kevin O'Connell has been focused on beefing up the interior of the offensive line so it can hold up for a full season. The Vikes did that by signing two former Colts, center Ryan Kelly and guard Will Fries. On the D-line, Jonathan Allen came aboard to shore up the interior push -- and it appears Javon Hargrave's en route to Minnesota, too. Bottom line: Minnesota's looking to build a physically tougher team around second-year pro J.J. McCarthy, who will likely become the starting quarterback following the departures of both Darnold and Daniel Jones.
Daniel Jones: In less than four months, Jones has gone from being released by the Giants to serving in a backup job with the Vikings to purportedly having a chance to be the starter in Indianapolis. Jones landed a one-year deal with the Colts, who have proclaimed they will hold an open competition for the QB1 job with Anthony Richardson. Richardson, the former No. 4 overall pick, has plenty of raw talent, but he has struggled with consistency and even staying on the field. Frankly, though, it's still hard to say just how open the competition truly will be, considering how many people inside the Colts building are tied to drafting Richardson. Jones, a former top-10 pick himself, now has a chance to be this season's Geno Smith or Sam Darnold. The Vikings had hoped to keep him, but with J.J. McCarthy the likely starter, Jones took the opportunity to compete again on a prove-it deal.
Washington Commanders: With the rebuild turbocharged by Jayden Daniels' transcendent debut season, which catapulted Washington all the way to the NFC Championship Game, the Commanders are going all in while the electric quarterback is on his rookie contract. It probably shouldn't be a surprise that general manager Adam Peters swung a trade for a premier left tackle in Laremy Tunsil; Peters was in San Francisco's front office when the 49ers traded for Trent Williams. That's a big talent upgrade, as was the trade to acquire wide receiver Deebo Samuel from the 49ers. The offense had little in the way of top-end talent last season beyond Daniels and WR Terry McLaurin. Daniels was sacked 47 times in 2024. With potential free-agent tackles like Ronnie Stanley re-upping with their current teams, the trade for Tunsil -- who, even into his 30s, remains one of the most durable and reliable protectors -- fills a huge need. The Commanders also addressed the defense by adding tackle Javon Kinlaw.
Las Vegas Raiders: The Raiders haven't been in the winners column in a long while, so let's give them their flowers. With no guarantee they could draft a quarterback in a class nobody is quite sure about anyway, the Raiders filled their immediate need, acquiring Geno Smith from the Seahawks in a trade that reunites Smith with Pete Carroll, who helped resurrect Smith's career in Seattle. Smith is coming off a season in which he completed 70 percent of his passes, and he brings a measure of stability to the offense. His presence also means the Raiders do not have to reach for a quarterback in the first round. If one they like falls to them with the sixth overall pick, they can still draft him, but acquiring Smith removes the desperation.
Just as important for the Raiders, they got ahead of the exploding pass rusher market, inking Maxx Crosby to a contract that briefly made him the highest paid non-quarterback in the NFL at $35.5 million per year -- until Myles Garrett got his blockbuster deal a few days later. Crosby was thrilled to land the deal, and signing him was an important signal for the Raiders' new regime to send to the locker room. It quickly ended speculation that Crosby might want to be traded, and it showed the Raiders will reward their best players.
Buffalo Bills: The monster extension for Josh Allen -- which included $250 million in guaranteed money, the most in NFL history -- got the headlines, but the Bills did a lot more than that to keep the best of their own. They extended receiver Khalil Shakir, who has emerged as Allen's safety net, and extended defensive end Gregory Rousseau and linebacker Terrell Bernard. The deal to bring in wide receiver Josh Palmer adds another weapon -- one who can stretch the field -- for Allen, who often seemed to be doing more with less last season, when the wide receiver room was almost completely remade. The Bills, with the league MVP at quarterback, are ever so close to being atop the AFC -- being proactive about retaining their top talent is a critical part of staying at the top level of the conference.
Caleb Williams: The Bears quarterback was sacked a league-high 68 times as a rookie last season, and it was no secret upgrading the offensive line, particularly the interior, was the top priority (they shored up the other side of the line of scrimmage, too, agreeing to a deal with defensive tackle Grady Jarrett hours after he was released by the Falcons). The Bears went all in on the offensive line, trading for guards Joe Thuney and Jonah Jackson and agreeing to a deal with center Drew Dalman as the negotiating period opened on Monday. Dalman was rated by Pro Football Focus as the fifth-best center after a strong 2024 with the Falcons in which, in the nine games he played, he allowed just 10 pressures and no sacks. With new head coach Ben Johnson a creative and aggressive offensive play-caller and the anticipated better protection this overhaul suggests, Williams should blossom.
Sam Darnold: A career renaissance continues for Darnold, who agreed to a three-year, $100.5 million contract with $55 million guaranteed with the Seattle Seahawks. Darnold helped the Vikings win 14 games before having his two worst performances of the season at the end. Still, he earned a starting job, and there was no assurance that would be the case if he stayed in Minnesota, where J.J. McCarthy, a 2024 first-round draft pick, is waiting in the wings. The trade of Geno Smith opened the starting job in Seattle, where the offensive coordinator is Klink Kubiak, who was the passing game coordinator in San Francisco when Darnold began his resurrection after languishing with the Jets and Panthers. That means the system should be familiar for Darnold. He doesn't have the caliber of weapons he had with the Vikings, now that DK Metcalf has been traded, and the Seahawks would be wise to use some of their draft capital and remaining free-agent dollars to address their leaky offensive line, but this is a long way from the one-year prove-it deal Darnold played on last season, or the money he would have made had he stayed in Minnesota another year.
LOSERS
C.J. Stroud: The Houston Texans' offensive line was already among the worst in the NFL in 2024, and that was before they agreed to trade five-time Pro Bowl left tackle Laremy Tunsil to the Commanders on Monday, one of the stunners of early free agency. Stroud was sacked 52 times last season and under considerable pressure most of the time, contributing significantly to his sophomore struggles. Tunsil did not have his best season in 2024, part of the line's overall difficulties -- penalties were a particular issue for him -- but he was still very good. According to Pro Football Focus, Tunsil has a 91.7 pass blocking grade since 2022, which is second in the NFL among all offensive tackles. As part of the compensation, the Texans received a 2026 second-rounder and a 2025 third-rounder. Tuesday brought the signing of veteran guard Laken Tomlinson, even while another move -- trading O-lineman Kenyon Green, a first-round pick in 2022 who never lived up to that draft status, to Philadelphia -- underscored the amount of work there is to do up front.
San Francisco 49ers: This feels like the week one Super Bowl window closed for the 49ers, while they started work on opening another one. Linebacker Dre Greenlaw, whom the 49ers had hoped to retain, agreed to a deal to go to the Denver Broncos, and three-year starter Aaron Banks, one of the top guards on the market, agreed to terms with the Packers. Starting cornerback Charvarius Ward agreed to terms with the Colts, a blow to the secondary that had been anticipated. There's more: the team is planning to release Pro Bowl fullback Kyle Juszczyk, and is releasing veteran pass rusher Leonard Floyd, who contributed 8.5 sacks in 2024. All of this comes after San Francisco agreed earlier this month to trade Deebo Samuel to the Commanders. The 49ers are preparing for an extension for quarterback Brock Purdy, but this is a sharp pivot from a very successful collection of players.
Teams that wait to extend their cornerstone players: Myles Garrett's big contract was great for him and the Browns and terrible for teams that didn't proactively work to get their best players under contract early. Garrett's pact -- a new four-year extension worth $40 million per year, with $123 million guaranteed -- completely reset the market for elite pass rushers and for those who aim to be the highest paid non-quarterbacks in the league. The Bengals have said publicly they will make receiver Ja’Marr Chase the highest paid non-QB, and in the space of last week, the number to get that done jumped by $5 million per year, from $35 million -- Justin Jefferson's deal, signed last year -- to $40 million, what Garrett got. The Bengals were close to wrapping up Chase last year, but by failing to close the deal then, they cost themselves millions of dollars over the life of the contract Chase will eventually get.
The same goes for the Cowboys and Micah Parsons, a year after the Cowboys waited until the last possible moment to get extensions done for CeeDee Lamb and Dak Prescott. The market always goes up for players at premium positions, and in addition to costing the teams many millions of dollars they could have allocated to other needs, these kind of delays often lead to frustration and distraction for the players. Moving aggressively to lock up cornerstone players also sends a strong signal to locker rooms about the team's willingness to reward excellence. Final point: think the Raiders are happy they got Maxx Crosby's new deal, which briefly made him the highest-paid non quarterback, over the finish line before Garrett's?
