We’re bringing back the Friday Tip Sheet for this week, with one thought on all 32 teams after the first wave of NFL free agency. Let’s go …
• The San Francisco 49ers still have some moves left in them but getting younger and cheaper and swapping out Arik Amstead—who’s been a great foundational piece for them—for Maliek Collins was a good start. Collins is disruptive, and should be a fit next to Javon Hargave attacking upfield with San Francisco’s defensive line.
• Patience is the word for the Chicago Bears in regards to Justin Fields after potential suitors in Atlanta and Pittsburgh landed options at the top of the market. Apart from that, adding D’Andre Swift and Keenan Allen should allow for Chicago to take pressure off a rookie quarterback, and lean on a defense that’s ascending, and could add another edge rusher.
• The Kansas City Chiefs got their biggest piece of business done, locking down Chris Jones, and took a worthy swing at receiver, signing Hollywood Brown to add a downfield element back to that position group. Now, let’s see whether they can trade L’Jarius Sneed.
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• Obviously, we’ll have to see what happens with Tee Higgins, but the additions of veterans Vonn Bell (coming back) and Sheldon Rankins are sort of under-the-radar signings that should help to continue to unlock what Cincinnati Bengals defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo brings to the table from a scheme standpoint.
• The Buffalo Bills were eventually going to get to this point, where they’d have to start to reset the core around Josh Allen. Key here—Micah Hyde is 33, Jordan Poyer is 32, Mitch Morse is 31 and Tre’Davious White is 29 and has played in 10 games over the past two years. So the totality of the moves look really tough for the team. Each individual one makes some sense.
• The Denver Broncos are rebuilding after parting ways with Justin Simmons, Jerry Jeudy and Russell Wilson. And how they handle the 12th pick, not the rest of free agency, will be the next big tell on the vision coach Sean Payton has for the team in 2024.
• I love the way the Cleveland Browns creatively assembled their receiver group of Jeudy, Amari Cooper and Elijah Moore. All of them have talent; all were acquired as distressed assets; and all should help Cleveland, where so much still will come down to how Deshaun Watson plays.
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• The Tampa Bay Buccaneers did well to get Baker Mayfield and Mike Evans signed before the legal tampering window opened Monday, which is a good sign for the environment that Todd Bowles has created in Tampa after Bruce Arians. Simply put, guys like that aren’t forfeiting a chance to hit the market if they’re not going back to a good place to work.
• I really like the way Arizona Cardinals GM Monti Ossenfort’s moves seem to serve a bigger plan. That was the case this week with their tackle spot, where the release of D.J. Humphries, who’s coming off an ACL tear, and the addition of Jonah Williams allow the team to get younger and healthier, and for Paris Johnson Jr. to move to what was always going to be his permanent home at left tackle.
• The Los Angeles Chargers’ decision making on their four pricey veterans each came with their own reasons—Mike Williams has a ton of injury baggage, Keenan Allen refused a pay cut, and Joey Bosa and Khalil Mack accepted theirs. But it also looks a lot like how Jim Harbaugh built teams in San Francisco and at Michigan, with a little less emphasis on offensive flash and a ton on defensive substance.
• Good on the Indianapolis Colts taking care of their own, in re-upping with Michael Pittman Jr., Kenny Moore, Grover Stewart, Zaire Franklin and Tyquan Lewis. All five are not just good players, but great pros, and rewarding them will resonate in the locker room, and create good feelings going into Year 2 of Shane Steichen’s program.
• Tough to pick through each of the close-to-20 mid-level free agents that the Washington Commanders signed, but there’s a pattern in that a lot of them have connections to the new coaches, and none of them have much money guaranteed past 2024. So this, to me, is about Dan Quinn and Adam Peters getting the roster to a competitive level with a plan to build through the draft.
• The Dallas Cowboys haven’t set the world on fire. But outside of Jerry Jones’s off-hand “all-in” comment, I don’t know what people expected. I think Dallas has a creative swing or two coming like it did last year with the trade for Stephon Gilmore during the draft.
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• The departures of Christian Wilkins and Robert Hunt signal the Miami Dolphins are bracing for the reality of Tua Tagovailoa’s contract growing exponentially. Better to get ahead on that, I suppose, because Miami’s cap situation was already tough.
• My perception of the Philadelphia Eagles’ addition of Saquon Barkley: The running back market had sunk to the point where landing a top-shelf veteran at the position became a bargain. Indeed, as far as base pay goes, Barkley’s making about $3 million less per year than Hunter Renfrow was before getting cut by the Raiders.
• We’ve spilled a lot of ink on Kirk Cousins, so here’s another thing to pay attention to with the Atlanta Falcons—Terry Fontenot and Raheem Morris clearly wanted to get faster on offense, and have with the signing of Darnell Mooney, and the trade for Rondale Moore.
• I love how New York Giants GM Joe Schoen is building up the lines of scrimmage. He now has five foundational pieces up front: Brian Burns, Dexter Lawrence, Kayvon Thibodeaux, Andrew Thomas and Evan Neal (who admittedly needs to develop). The ages of those guys, in order: 25, 26, 23, 25 and 23.
• It wasn’t their ideal, but give the Jacksonville Jaguars credit for not being held hostage by the Calvin Ridley negotiation, signing Gabe Davis and Devin Duvernay before getting an answer from their top receiver. A really deep draft class at the position is still in front of them, too.
• The addition of Morgan Moses at tackle may seem like the New York Jets are spinning their wheels, but they had to do something there. Moses is a reliable, competent starter who gives them a starting point to work from as they assess whether to add David Bakhtiari to the mix and taking another one in the top half of the first round.
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• I like the creative move from the Detroit Lions to add inconsistent ex-Buccaneer corner Carlton Davis for a late third-rounder and a sixth-round pick swap. But I’m not so sure they shouldn’t have just paid the freight (probably a second-rounder) for Sneed, who was spectacular for the Chiefs in 2023.
• What’s fascinating to me about the Green Bay Packers’ week is how they swapped out a couple of very established players, cutting Aaron Jones after signing Josh Jacobs, and letting Darnell Savage go after signing Xavier McKinney. It’s a good sign, to me, that GM Brian Gutekunst isn’t married to guys Green Bay drafted and developed. It’ll be cool to see how those two situations work out, both for the Packers, and Vikings (Jones) and Jaguars (Savage).
• The past few days illustrate how much the Carolina Panthers need fixing. Burns was traded for second- and fifth-round picks a year-and-a-half after the Panthers were offered two firsts and a third for him by the Rams, and got a contract that was reasonable for a 25-year-old pass-rusher in New York. Why couldn’t Carolina just give it to him? Because the negotiation got personal. That they had to roll the dice with Diontae Johnson to get Bryce Young receiver help says something, too.
• Outside of the Ridley bidding, which was aimed at trying to get the team’s next young quarterback some help, the New England Patriots operated like a team that knows a longer build is ahead. They added vets such as tackle Chukwuma Okafor, tight end Austin Hooper and tailback Antonio Gibson just to build an across-the-board baseline, so they won’t have to force needs in what’ll be a very important draft for the franchise.
• I love the idea of Christian Wilkins next to Maxx Crosby, and the Las Vegas Raiders giving themselves some flexibility at quarterback after signing Gardner Minshew—who can be the guy who gets them to 2025 at the position, or be in the room with a highly drafted rookie, as he was last year in Indy. And re-singing Andre James was the right call, too, showing the locker room that the new brass will reward a well-respected, homegrown player.
• The Los Angeles Rams probably overpaid in giving guards Kevin Dotson and Jonah Jackson a combined $33 million per year. But it does facilitate the continued evolution of their run game, which has added a lot of gap-scheme elements, which went a long way in helping Matthew Stafford bounce back after his injury marred 2022 campaign. It also could foreshadow Los Angeles, even without the retired Aaron Donald, going back into all-in mode with a big swing to come.
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• Typical Baltimore Ravens offseason—big-ticket, homegrown incumbent (Justin Madubuike) gets paid, and a third-contract program-fit vet (Derrick Henry) comes in.
• The perpetually cap-strapped New Orleans Saints were able to fortify their linebacker group, re-upping with heart-and-soul leader Demario Davis, and importing Kansas City’s Willie Gay. Other than that? New Orleans is running it back, with a new offensive staff in place, and Michael Thomas now gone.
• It’s never overly exciting to see your team simply take care of its own, but that’s what the Seattle Seahawks did in re-signing Leonard Williams and Noah Fant, both of whom came over via trade over the past couple of years. But in Mike Macdonald’s first year, it’s smart to show the players the coach likes what he’s inheriting, and Seattle’s fortunes this fall were always gonna ride on continued growth from the star-studded 2022 and ’23 draft classes anyway.
• This qualifies as an aggressive offseason for the usually quiet Pittsburgh Steelers, with the additions of Russell Wilson, Donte Jackson and Patrick Queen. Pittsburgh’s biggest acquisition, though, was probably the hire of Arthur Smith, who brings a stronger resume to the table than any Mike Tomlin offensive coordinator since the days of Bruce Arians and Todd Haley. If Wilson’s got something left, or Kenny Pickett has untapped potential, I think Smith finds it.
• The Danielle Hunter signing shows the position of strength that the Houston Texans are operating, and not just with C.J. Stroud on a rookie deal, but a fleet of stars at premium positions (Laremy Tunsil, Will Anderson Jr., Derek Stingley Jr.). Indeed, Houston was a destination for Hunter, with Stroud’s contractual situation helping to facilitate the signing, and they have flexibility to plan long-term with draft-pick trades.
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• The Tennessee Titans are working this offseason like a team that really wants to see what it has in its young quarterback. Free agency gifted Will Levis a new receiver (Calvin Ridley), pass-game tailback (Tony Pollard) and center (Lloyd Cushenberry), with a top-10 pick sitting there for Tennessee to further shore up its offensive line. Let’s see it, Levis.
• This Minnesota Vikings offseason will always be seen through a quarterbacking prism. With Cousins gone, Minnesota tamped down its aggression in going after Sneed, and worked to get three years younger with its lead edge rusher (Jonathan Greenard coming in to take Hunter’s place). Now, with Sam Darnold on board, and the Vikings holding two first-rounders, the question is … what’s next?
