Friday recap 3/19
Week one of free agency has been an absolute whirlwind, there have been dozens of moves, both signings, trades and cuts, much has happened, even after the COVID year. We are all aware that the salary cap for this season has been reduced by nearly $15 million, and teams have been struggling with this, but at the same time, massive deals are being made. Though we would love to touch on the biggest move for each team in one post there is simply too much to put into a single page, so instead we will focus on some of these massive and remarkable deals then go over and see how they can affect the team heading into this upcoming season and even future years.
To begin, the San Francisco 49ers and Trent Williams have agreed to reunite on a massive six year, $138 million deal. This deal will put Williams in the record books as one of the highest paid offensive lineman in NFL history and will keep him in the NFC West, a huge win for the niners. With defenses within their division constisting of Chandler Jones, JJ Watt, Aaron Donald, and Leonard Floyd, keeping an elite offensive line together is up towards the top of the team’s to do list, and they’ve rightfully fulfilled this deed.
The raiders have also been making a great number of moves this week as well, consisting of some big signings and some important role players leaving too. Some of these signings consist of Yannick Ngakoue, Solomon Thomas, John Brown, and Kenyan Drake. These additions will revitalize their defense as well as their offense and will make a large difference, however they have also seen some big names leave Vegas, including nearly their entire offensive line. They traded Trent Brown back to the Patriots, they traded Rodney Hudson to the Arizona Cardinals, and traded Gabe Jackson to Seattle, additionally it seems like they will lose their backup quarterback in Marcus Mariota after they asked him to take a pay cut and he refused. Jon Gruden looks to have a plan and will build this team to the point where he is satisfied, but will the team he builds actually be good? This remains to be answered.
The Chicago Bears have also had an interesting week. They have been pushing for weeks to make a trade for Russel Wilson, offering three first round picks, two starting players and a handful of other draft selections. This offer was later declined. After missing out on Russel Wilson, and having no movement in a trade for Deshaun Watson, the team opted to sign the red rifle, Andy Dalton. Andy played a good chunk of 2020 after Dak Prescott went out early with a leg injury, and impressed Ryan Pace and Matt Nagy enough to offer him the starting job, as he said in his first team presser. The Bears later made another move that fans weren’t very fond of, announcing that they will be releasing Kyle Fuller, a key player to their secondary. This move is simply a cap casualty, as they’ll save $20 million in cap space, but at the same time they are loosing one of the best at his position.
Some other big signings that have happened include the following. Patrick Peterson and the Vikings agree to a one year deal worth $10 million. The Broncos and Justin Simmons agree to a four year deal worth $61 million. The Texans signed Tyrod Taylor to a one year deal worth $12.5 million, and also traded for Bengals’ quarterback Ryan Finley, completing the deal was a late round pick swap between the two. Juju Smith Schuster and the Pittsburgh Steelers have agreed to a one year contract worth $8 million, turning down better deals from the Ravens, Eagles, and Chiefs. The Bills signed Mitchell Trubisky to a one year $2.5 million deal, and will be serving as Josh Allen’s backup. And lastly, the Dolphins signed Jacoby Brissett as well as Will Fuller, both to one year deals. Of course there have been many more signings this week, these are only the ones that we feel are deserved to be mentioned this week.
In summary, the NFL’s free agency period shows how unmatched it truly is. Free agency offers to players the opportunity to find a new home, make a massive amount of money and make a new name for themselves. Even last season we saw names like Tom Brady leave his forever home to seek something new, and gun for the championship. This year has not disappointed, and will keep surprising us, not just up until the season, but also once the season begins. Stay tuned!