Free agency in the NFL is always a fascinating experiment. Some teams elect to sign a massive number of players at a wide array of positions, with the overall focus of lifting a whole team, rather than patching a few holes. Others elect to spend big at one or two positions, confident they can backfill the roster through the NFL Draft. Then there’s a third class, typically the most successful organizations, who understand their consistent drafting and team building is going to lead to lost talent, making their free agency an effort in trying to stop the bleeding as much as possible. It’s this push-pull that gives us the parity we see in football every year.
With the bulk of the signings out of the way the free agent pool is fairly shallow. There’s still talent out there, but the players left are more depth signings that impact players — aside from Kyler Murray, who has yet to decide which team he might join. That means we can dive in and look at the teams that did the most work in free agency this year to get better, and those who suffered — either by losing talent, or by simply not using their funds wisely.
Teams who improved the most
The Panthers made two home-run signings and then a smattering of smaller ones to round out the roster. It was a bold approach from GM Dan Morgan by inking edge rusher Jaelan Phillips to a massive deal, but then walk back the spending spree a touch to get phenomenal value with linebacker Devin Lloyd, addressing the biggest two issues on defense in one fell swoop.
Phillips is the ideal pass rusher for the Panthers. His first step quickness and unreal athleticism is a force multiplier that will unlock Derrick Brown further. One of the most double-teamed defensive tackles in football last year, offenses were able to isolate Brown because they didn’t have anyone else to fear. Now they can’t afford to do that with Phillips coming off the edge, as he will command additional attention also.
Meanwhile Lloyd is the steadying force the Panthers have lacked at linebacker since Frankie Luvu left via free agency. He can reliably stop plays in the box and prevent a lot of leaked QB scrambles that burned the Panthers in 2025.
Perhaps most importantly, the Panthers now have ample freedom in the NFL Draft. With their two biggest holes were patched in free agency they can go any number of ways with the No. 19 pick, from adding another impact defensive tackle, or bolster their offensive line. This was a massive free agency haul for a team already taking the next step towards being a real playoff threat.
The Raiders had to spend a metric ton to hit the salary floor for 2026, but what I like about their overall free agency class is that they didn’t go overboard on dumb contracts. Sure, we can look at Tyler Linderbaum and say that the Raiders are overpaying a center (which they are), but outside of that there were a lot of really sensible moves that can drastically improve this football team.
In particular the move to land linebackers Nakobe Dean and Quay Walker is huge. These are two culture guys who are arriving from winning organizations and should help both on the field, but also in the locker room as they help players around them better understand what it takes to win in the NFL — something this team has been lacking.
It’s unclear if the team would have signed Kwity Paye had they known the Ravens were going to back out of the Maxx Crosby trade, but he’s a nice piece that doesn’t really break the bank at $16M AAV and only $31M of the contract guaranteed.
Overall we could still see a Crosby trade later which adds to the Raiders haul, but just looking at what they bring to the table right now ahead of the draft we can see an offense that will run much better with Ashtion Jeanty behind Linderbaum, and linebackers who can limit the amount of explosive plays the team gives up.
Two things happened to the Dolphins during this free agency that were home run moves:
- They found their starting quarterback
- Addition by subtraction
I’m a huge fan of Malik Willis and think he could be really special. It was wild to see a team land the No. 1 quarterback in free agency for $22.5M AAV in this market, which is an absolute steal. I’m not saying success will happen overnight, but the Dolphins will be a much better football team by virtue of not having to deal with Tua Tagovailoa or Quinn Ewers as their options at quarterback.
The biggest part to this equation is the players the Dolphins lost. They look their lumps by releasing Tagovailoa, Tyreek Hill, and Bradley Chubb — all overpaid vestiges of a sad era. It’s tough to say they lost much by getting rid of these guys, because all three were incredibly mediocre in 2025. The biggest loss was trading away safety Minkah Fitzpatrick, who got caught up in the shuffle, but from top to bottom I think this is a healthier football team as a result of their cuts.
It feels as though the Dolphins are still around a six or seven-win team, despite shedding the biggest contracts on the roster. That is a huge improvement to the future of the franchise.
LOVE what the Pats did in free agency top-to-bottom. Romeo Doubs is a solid replacement for Stefon Diggs, and carries infinitely less baggage with him. Coming off a career-high 13.2 yards-per-reception, Doubs is the field-stretching wide receiver the Patriots needed, and will really help Drake Maye as the team continues to assert its dominance.
The signing of Alijah Vera-Tucker was beautiful too. He can slot in at left guard to give much-needed stability to that side of the line, and I’m not as worried about his injury history as others are. It was a fairly low-risk move as far as I see, with only $21M of the contract being guaranteed, offering some wiggle room if things go south, health-wise.
Rounding out the big signings was Dre’Mont Jones, who feels like a strict upgrade over K’Lavon Chaisson, who was the team’s dedicated third-down pass rusher last year.
This is a team that made two fairly large signings, and one big trade that can be lumped into their free agency haul. Getting cornerback Jamel Dean is a massive boost to a defense that struggled to stop the pass, and it was honestly shocking the Buccaneers didn’t harder to retain him.
Rico Dowdle is a sneaky under-the-radar move that I love. A cold finish to the season saw Dowdle go for low money, and pairing him with Jaylen Warren is a fascinating one-two punch at running back for the Steelers. Dowdle thrived in 2025 despite being behind an injury-wracked Panthers offense line that was without its two starting guards for much of the year, and he can bring some explosiveness to the backfield.
Then there’s the trade, which was staggering. Pittsburgh managed to get Michael Pittman Jr. for next-to-nothing, using just a late-round pick swap to get a complementary piece to D.K. Metcalf who can really help stretch the field. We still don’t exactly know who will be playing quarterback for the Steelers, but the table is set for this team to do good things.
Teams who didn’t do enough
The Bengals are learning the hard way why teams don’t sign a quarterback and two wide receivers to huge contracts. This was a team in dire need of help on defense, as well as the offense line — and came away with neither.
Boye Mafe is a good player, but not at the expense of losing both Trey Henrickson and Joseph Ossai. Bryan Cook is a good safety, but it was a luxury spend when the team has more pressing needs. The Bengals want to chalk up their struggles solely to Joe Burrow being hurt, but they haven’t been able to consistently win with him either because of the defensive troubles. That gets even worse now they’ve downgraded at the edge.
The Buccaneers hemorrhaged high-tier talent and didn’t fill the gaps. There’s no easy way to replace losing both Jamel Dean and Mike Evans, but the team didn’t even really try. Instead, they overpaid TE Cade Otton, and made a smattering of ancillary moves that didn’t really improve the team.
The Bucs got especially hurt this cycle by the fact that Carolina took a big step forward while they took one back. It’s setting up for a regression year.
The Titans spent the most money in free agency this year, and even though the numbers are on the page — I can’t for the life of me see where the money went.
via Spotrac
That is an abundance of mediocre talent at a lot of positions, and I dont like how the Titans went for so much quantity over quality. I like Cam Ward, I love Robert Saleh — but this class is really dicey. John Franklin-Myers is the closest to an impact player, and Tennessee is putting a lot of faith in Wan’Dale Robinson to become a No. 1 receiver. Outside of those guys, there’s a lot of overpaying replacement-level starters. Almost an admission this team is worried about its ability to draft.
I don’t doubt the Titans will be a better team in 2026 (because it’s difficult to get worse), just I expected to see more from a team spending over $250M in free agency.
I hated what the Saints did in free agency this year. Another team that needed to spend some cash, New Orleans lost two solid starters on defense, and didn’t really restock. I like the signing of Kaden Ellis, who was underrated — but he’s counteracted by massive overpays for David Edwards and Travis Etienne.
This felt like desperation from the Saints when there were smaller, more sensible moves that could have been made other than paying two guys big money when they’re both headed towards 30.
