The NFL season starts back up on March 11, when free agency opens at 4 p.m ET — with the “legal tampering period” (still the funniest phrase in sports) beginning 48 hours earlier. It will be the first chance to see which teams can turn fiscal responsibility to patching their most immediate holes, which then allows well-run organizations to focus on taking the best player available, or project their roster down the road when the draft rolls around in April.
There’s no question that some of the luster is gone from free agency in recent years. Fewer elite, big-name players are hitting the open market than ever before. This is due to two main factors: The salary cap keeps going up, and teams have more urgency to sign their elite players early, locking them into extensions to avoid the open market drama altogether. Nevertheless, there are still a lot of quality starters hitting the market — you just need to look a little deeper for them.
This free agent class is led by Ravens’ center Tyler Linderbaum, who will become the highest paid center in the NFL as a result of hitting the market. It’s rare to find a 26-year-old center with Linderbaum’s run-blocking ability hit free agency, and a lot of teams will salivate over that. Even though he can have lapses as a pass blocker, it’s a small price to pay to get one of the best players at the position, and a guy who could easily play another decade in the NFL because of longevity at the position.
Here’s our list of the Top 50 players hitting free agency in 2026.
