NFL Free Agency: Day 1 Recap

As one season ends, comes the offseason in which teams will prepare to strengthen their teams. The Free Agent Class for the NFL this season is an interesting one with new faces that will move onto new places. Some teams made sure that they were seen making moves, so let’s recap some of the best deals that occurred yesterday, March 16th. 

One team that made sure that their presence was felt in free agency, was the New England Patriots. First, they decided to re-sign Quarterback Cam Newton to a 1-year contract, but that’s not where the fun ended for the Patriots. They also landed Tight End’s Jonnu Smith and Hunter Henry. The Patriots have nearly spent over $300 million dollars just in the past 24 hours. They also agreed to deals with Davon Godchaux, Matthew Judon, Jalen Mills, Henry Anderson, Kendrick Bourne, Nelson Agholor, and Deatrich Wise. 

There will be something different in the NFL this year. After a 20-year career, Saints Quarterback Drew Brees will be hanging up his cleats. The Saints went out and re-signed their backup QB, Jameis Winston, to a 1-year contract worth $12 million. Coach Sean Payton always loved the way Winston worked, as it will be up to him to lead the Saints after the retirement of future Hall-of-Famer Drew Brees. 

A team that made big strides last year and looks to be a favorite in the AFC East this season is the Buffalo Bills. Josh Allen helped to lead this team to an AFC Championship appearance, with his new weapon from last season in WR Stefon Diggs. The Bills got busy yesterday, adding veteran WR Emmanuel Sanders to a 1-year contract. They also worked to re-sign two members of the offensive line, which will help to protect Allen and to help him get to another playoff appearance.

The New York Giants were also busy as of yesterday, working on an agreement to re-sign DE Leonard Williams to a 3-year contract worth $63 million. For their offense, they agreed to deals with RB Devontae Booker and WR John Ross. The Giants are still hunting for more offensive upgrades, so we can expect them to be busy this offseason. 

For the Super Bowl Champions, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers worked to bring back a great portion of their championship team for another season. They resigned OLB Shaquil Barrett to a 4-year contract worth $68 million. Earlier in the offseason, they placed their franchise tag on WR Chris Godwin, who has been stellar the past two seasons for the Bucs. TE Rob Gronkowski will unite with Tom Brady once again, resigning with the Bucs for another season worth up to $10 million. They also brought back long-time Linebacker Lavonte David for another two seasons. 

With NFL Free Agency heating up, we will expect to see more moves made throughout the week, with will help to either make or break certain teams. Some of the top free agents that are still available are WR Kenny Golladay, C Rodney Hudson, S Anthony Harris, CB Richard Sherman, WR’s Will Fuller V and JuJu Smith-Schuster, and more. Where do you think the remaining free agents will land?