Some NFL free agency signings just don’t work out
Free agency is always full of player signings that get fans excited about their favorite NFL teams. But for every signing that turned out well, even just OK, there are plenty of free-agent decisions that ended up not working out.
Or at worst, the player ended up being a bust due to injuries or a level of play and expectations he didn’t live up to. It has happened to every team, though some have had more misfortune than others.
A lot of Arizona Cardinals fans won’t forget Sam Bradford, Malcolm Butler, Emmitt Smith, Duane Starks and Dexter Jackson, players who achieved big things with their previous teams but came to the desert and floundered, or, in Butler’s case, chose retirement.
Here are five of the NFL’s worst free agent signings, in terms of players who got big bucks in free agency and didn’t live up to their contracts with their new teams.
Albert Haynesworth, DL, Washington
The team now known as the Commanders signed Haynesworth, at the time in 2009 arguably the top interior defensive lineman in the NFL, to a seven-year, $100 million contract. Haynesworth played 20 games with Washington and was released, in some small part also because he was not well-liked in the locker room.
Le’Veon Bell,
WR, New York Jets
The Jets gave Bell, who’d sat out all of the previous season in a contract dispute with his former team, the Pittsburgh Steelers, a four-year, $52.5 million deal in 2019. Bell played 11⁄2 seasons with the Jets before being released, and by early 2022 was out of the NFL. Most recently he’s tried his hand at boxing.
Kenny Golladay,
WR, New York Giants
The Giants thought they were getting a No. 1 target for young quarterback Daniel Jones in Golladay, who’d played beyond his third-round draft pick value with the Detroit Lions. They signed Golladay to a four-year, $72 million contract in 2021. But Golladay caught just one touchdown in two seasons with the Giants, was not even a big part of their offense in 2022 and after the 2022 season was out of the NFL.
Nnamdi Asomugha, CB, Philadelphia Eagles
Asomugha was a three-time Pro Bowler with the Oakland Raiders before getting the big bucks before training camp in 2011 with the Eagles. He signed for five years at $60 million.
But he went from being one the NFL’s best corners to a more mediocre one in Philly, and before the 2013 season was released.
Jimmy Garoppolo, QB, Las Vegas Raiders
“Jimmy G” went from being a New England Patriots backup to Super Bowl starter with the San Francisco 49ers, to being replaced by Brock Purdy in 2022 after an injury, to signing with the Raiders for three years and $72.75 million in March 2023. Then he lost his job to rookie Aidan O’Connell midway through last season, and is now expected to be released after a two-game suspension for violating the league’s substance abuse policy.
The Raiders are pondering moving up in the draft to take a top quarterback and/or signing another veteran to step in and either start or back up O’Connell. They also don’t seem inclined to want to pay Garoppolo a roster bonus due later this month.