NFL Free Agency Winners and Losers

NFL free agency has kicked off and a plethora of moves have happened. Some teams like Miami have made lots of deals to bring in new talent, while others like the Chiefs are running it back with almost the exact same squad. We also see that some teams did better than the rest, and certain GMs are definitely going to now be under a watchful eye. Today we are going to cover the biggest winners and losers, and the teams who were the most in between.

Winners

Buffalo Bills

Close to being Super Bowl contenders, their window is slowly opening. The acquisition of Diggs is obviously the most notable. He is the first real wideout Josh Allen will have. Last year, he threw for about 3k yards with 20 passing TDs and 9 INTs with a rather lackluster WR core. They weren’t horrible or bottom tier by any means, but they were very one dimensional. John Brown and Cole Beasley share a very similar skillset, and Diggs has the all that, and more. He provides Allen the best deep-ball receiver in the NFL and a consistent catcher that can push him towards being a top 8 QB. Along with that, Bills resigned several young key players like S Jordan Pryor and filled in defensive holes with Quinton Jefferson and Mario Addison. Their defense gets tougher, and they will be a team to mess with next year, especially with the AFC East up grabs

Arizona Cardinals 

DeAndre Hopkins going to the Cardinals was probably one of the most unexpected things to occur. Kyler Murray now has arguably the best WR in all of the nfl to throw to. And with his scrambling abilities, he is due for a major season. While his offensive didn’t improve much, he will be far better off. Last season they were 16th in offensive points per game, and with Nuk it’s bound to go up. Getting a player like Nuk is simply amazing for the Cardinals. It seems as if Kliff has done more his QB in one trade than some teams have done for their QB throughout their whole career (COUGH EAGLES COUGH). 

Baltimore Ravens

As if the Ravens weren’t sneaky enough they managed to get Calais Campbell, who is producing at 33 and trade Hayden Hurst, the former back-up TE, for a second and a fourth. They have pulled so much robbery and are adding to a vicious front 7. It’s hard to see anything they have done thus far as bad. Every move is handled so suavely and it should irk the other teams knowing that Eric DeCosta is doing this. 

Ehhh?

Cleveland Browns

Cleveland made two large signing. Austin Hooper and Jack Conklin. At an initial glance it seems like they should be winners. But problems were brewing with Odell and it was not helping the team. Everyone looks at it as “Baker has another weapon,” but last season he had Odell, Jarvis Landry, Nick Chubb, and Kareem Hunt. Even David Njoku was not that bad. Yet Baker still threw 21 INTs. Everyone critisizing Jameis should look at Baker. How much more talent can you provide him? And if and when he expects a big pay day, how can you fit that with Garretts and Wards own pay days? A lot of questions come into play, but at very least we know they are invested in their QB.

Las Vegas Raiders

Wow. Saying Las Vegas is kinda weird. Anyways, the Raiders made a lot of moves defensively this offseason, and Mayock certainly surprised me. They also got a veteran leader with Jason Witten. They also got Mariota. A lot of weird moves just in general. Wasn’t expecting this

Losers

Carolina Panthers

Panthers fans must be going crazy. They are gonna lose their best player ever, and lost a few other assets with that and really only signed Bridgewater and Weatherly. It’s a hard loss, rather incomprehensible to them. Bridgewater, I love him and even joke about him like he has a prophecy attached to him. But he isn’t that proven. And for the Panthers to take a leap of faith with him is just bad. I have no doubts he will be good, but his only reliable weapon is CMC. Previously he had Kamara and Michael Thomas. The talent level is a huge drop down. He wasn’t bad, but it’s hard man. To add to the loss, CMC has been swirling in trade rumors after having a historical season. 

Chicago Bears

Could’ve had such a fruitful offseason, but everything went into the wrong direction. They could’ve had Teddy B, whom even though I  just previously criticized I believe would’ve been a better option, Cam Newton or Brady. Instead, they trade for Foles. Now look, BDN is my lord and savior but he isn’t a starter anymore. They also gave big bags to Robert Quinn and Jimmy Graham. Both are players who are older and may decline soon. Its been a bad offseason.

Houston Texans

Do I really have to say it? The Texans traded arguably the best WR in the entire NFL for David Johnson and a 2nd round pick. DJ has not been a reliable RB at all ever since his wrist injury in 2017, and last season even took a backseat role to Kenyan Drake. Now he is playing behind worse offensive line than in Arizona, and will be held accountable for more actions. Furthermore, this significantly weakens Deshaun Watson’s game. He lost his #1 weapon. To add to the bad moves, the signed Randall Cobb to a 3 year 27 million dollar deal. Last year he was 6th in dropped passes, and dropped at a rate of about 9.7%. They are paying him money to potentially be the number one wideout, with Will Fuller being the next best option, but he is so injury prone it’s hard to see a step up. Lastly, the loss that adds even more fire to the flame is losing D.J. Reader. He had a career year, as is only 25, was one of the best run defenders, and ranked 7th best out of DTs according to PFF. The Texans front office seems to be in complete confusion and they themselves don’t know if they are trying to rebuild or contend.