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David Zalubowski/Associated Press
Judging the best moves of the NFL offseason is an annual tradition. Where’s the fun in being patient, right?
The ink has barely dried on many acquisitions around the league, but several free-agent signings and trades have captured our attention in a positive way. They’re all worthy of a prominent spot in the national conversation.
The following choices consider a player’s expected performance, contract details and potential impact on the team. Players who re-signed with their previous team were not considered.
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Phelan M. Ebenhack/Associated Press
If the Tampa Bay Buccaneers gave wide receiver Russell Gage a three-year, $30 million contract without Tom Brady under center, it would have been ill-advised. When the future Hall of Famer un-retired, though, the Bucs had plenty of incentive to bolster their receiving corps.
As an added bonus, they stole Gage from a division rival.
The 26-year-old played the last four seasons on the Atlanta Falcons, developing into a key contributor over the last two years. He caught 72 passes for 786 yards and four touchdowns in 2020 and had 66 catches for 770 yards and four touchdowns this past season.
Rather than hoping for Scotty Miller, Jaelon Dardon or Tyler Johnson to become their No. 3 option, the Bucs went out aggressively and eliminated the uncertainty with Gage.
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It might be cheating to combine two moves, but mentioning only one of Alex Cappa or Ted Cappas would seem incomplete.
After star quarterback Joe Burrow got sacked a league-high 51 times during the regular season last year, the Cincinnati Bengals clearly needed to upgrade their offensive line this offseason. They’ve done exactly that in free agency.
Cincinnati signed former Tampa Bay Buccaneers guard Alex Cappa to a four-year, $40 million agreement and former New England Patriots center Ted Karras to a three-year, $18 million pact. While the Bengals should still be seeking improvements at tackle, they’ve substantially improved the interior group.
That should help Burrow stay upright for longer, which was among their top priorities this offseason.
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Marcio Jose Sanchez/Associated Press
In recent years, teams have realized the prime opportunity to chase a Super Bowl is during a quarterback’s rookie contract. They can load up at other positions until their signal-caller signs a megadeal.
The Buffalo Bills are entering the final year of Josh Allen’s deal before his six-year, $258 million extension kicks in next season.
As a result, they’re going all-in on the Super Bowl hunt.
Buffalo agreed to a six-year, $120 million contract with edge-rusher Von Miller, although it’s effectively a three-year, $53 million pact, per Spotrac. Although the Bills have a good defensive line rotation, it lacked a pass-rushing punch. The 32-year-old Miller is now past his All-Pro prime, but he recorded 13.5 sacks in the regular season and playoffs combined last year.
Given the depth of QB talent in the AFC, true contenders need both an elite signal-caller and a defense that creates havoc. Buffalo already had the former with Allen, and Miller may be the key to the latter.
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That thing we said earlier about rookie quarterback contracts? It applies to Justin Herbert and the Los Angeles Chargers, too.
Not only did the Chargers trade for pass-rusher Khalil Mack this offseason, but they also signed cornerback J.C. Jackson to a five-year, $82.5 million contract with $40 million guaranteed.
Coming off an All-Pro season on the New England Patriots, Jackson has racked up 37 pass defenses with 17 interceptions over the last two years. He’s quickly emerged as one of the NFL’s best shutdown cornerbacks.
Herbert still has two years left on his rookie contract—plus a relatively low-cost team option in 2024—which means the time is now for the Chargers to stack their roster. They’re doing so accordingly.
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Alex Brandon/Associated Press
The Cleveland Browns entered the offseason in need of a true No. 1 receiver. Although they could have kept Jarvis Landry for $16.3 million, he’s more of a secondary wideout.
Once each of Davante Adams, Chris Godwin and Mike Williams had been franchise-tagged or re-signed with their respective teams, the Browns were basically down to signing Allen Robinson II, trading for Amari Cooper, overpaying Christian Kirk or pinning all of their hopes on the draft.
The Browns opted for the second door, trading fifth- and sixth-round picks to the Dallas Cowboys for Cooper. While his $20 million annual salary is hefty, he’s had five 1,000-yard campaigns in his seven NFL seasons.
Cleveland has plenty of leverage moving forward, too.
Cooper has three seasons remaining on his contract, yet he’s owed no more guaranteed money. If he performs below the Browns’ expectations, they can release him next offseason and wouldn’t have any dead cap hit to show for it.
But if he thrives—especially if Deshaun Watson is available—Cleveland will have found the answer to its receiver dilemma and will be paying Cooper his market value anyway.
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During the 2012 and 2013 seasons, they shared the field at Fresno State. And now, Davante Adams will be catching passes from his college quarterback while on the Las Vegas Raiders.
Adams and the Green Bay Packers could not agree to a contract extension, so they dealt him to the Raiders in exchange for a first- and second-round pick in the 2022 NFL draft. He’ll immediately become the primary target for Derek Carr in Las Vegas.
In college, they connected 233 times for 3,031 yards and 38 touchdowns in just 26 games. Adams has since developed into one of the league’s best receivers.
Vegas immediately signed Adams to a five-year, $141.3 million deal, per Ian Rapoport of NFL.com.
The cost is significant, sure. But to simply keep up in a stacked AFC West, the Raiders needed reinforcements for Carr. It’d hard to find a better addition than Adams.
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Hyoung Chang/Getty Images
Could you draft a quarterback instead of trading two first- and second-rounders, Drew Lock, Noah Fant, Shelby Harris and a fifth-round pick for Russell Wilson? In theory, yes.
Do you trust the Denver Broncos to execute that path? You shouldn’t.
Since selecting Tim Tebow in 2010, Denver—which signed Peyton Manning along the way—also spent a second-round pick on Brock Osweiler (2012), a first-round choice on Paxton Lynch (2016), a second-rounder on Lock (2019) and a trio of seventh-round fliers on Zac Dysert (2013), Trevor Siemian (2015) and Chad Kelly (2017). Exactly none of those players panned out.
Meanwhile, Wilson has averaged 3,706 passing yards, 469 rushing yards, 31.6 total touchdowns and 8.7 interceptions while guiding eight playoff teams in 10 seasons with Seattle.
Denver fans might be bored during the early rounds of the 2022 and 2023 drafts, but they’ll be far more entertained in the fall as Wilson aims to bring the franchise its first 10-win season since 2015.
All contract information via Spotrac.
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