One of the most important aspects of the NFL is the free agency period. Free agency allows players who are not under contract at the time to explore what teams are interested in them and how much money they are willing to pay said player. Some years the free agency period has nothing to write home about but others could involve signing that can change an entire team’s chances of how far they will go that season, and this year’s free agency has without a doubt had a couple of those big signings.
One of the biggest stories of this year’s NFL free agency were all of the running back signings. The running back signing that has been the most prevalent however was two-time Pro Bowler Saquon Barkely leaving the New York Giants to sign with the rival Philadelphia Eagles. Barkley has since stated that he wanted to stay in New York but New York was unwilling to give him a long term deal leading to Barkley signing a three-year contract worth $37 million to their rival.
Although the Eagles gained a Pro Bowl running back in free agency they also lost a young and talented one, D’Andre Swift to the Chicago Bears on a three-year deal worth $24 million. This was just one of multiple running back free agent signings during this year’s free agency. One of them being two-time Pro Bowler Josh Jacobs signing with the Green Bay Packers on a four-year $48 million deal. This signing, in theory, would have given the Packers one of the best running back duos in the NFL. Unfortunately for Packers fans however Green Bay released 2022 Pro Bowl running back Aaron Jones who would go on to sign with the Packers’ division rival Minnesota Vikings on a one-year contract worth seven million. The last notable running back free agent signing was three-time Pro Bowler Derrick Henry signing with the Baltimore Ravens on a two-year $16 million deal.
One of the biggest winners in this year’s NFL free agency was the Pittsburgh Steelers. One of the big moves that they made was signing former Super Bowl winning quarterback Russell Wilson after he was released by the Denver Broncos. Although Wilson is past his prime, he is still a very serviceable quarterback who the Steelers were able to sign for a little over one million dollars. The Steelers didn’t stop quarterback hunting there however as they also traded for Chicago Bears Justin Fields to be Wilson’s backup. The last notable move they made was signing Patrick Queen, formerly of the Baltimore Ravens, on a three-year $41 million deal.
A team that could be considered a loser of free agency is the Dallas Cowboys. Not necessarily because the moves that they made were weak, but because of the lack of moves they had during this period. This may not seem as important due to the fact that they were able to make the playoffs last year, but their decision to not make any big moves during free agency will definitely set them back while other teams have made moves that will make them better.
Although some teams may have been more successful during this free agency than others, every team has gone through some type of change that has made them better or worse. However, it will be very interesting to see how some of the big signings will affect the teams who were in contention for a Super Bowl last year play out this year.
