Hectic start to free agency
The NFL’s new league year is only 24 hours old, but we’ve already learned a fair amount since free agency officially began at 4 p.m. ET Wednesday (though it feels like it effectively started the moment JJ Watt broke up with the Texans last month).
Still, there’s been plenty to glean in the past day (read: weeks) as all 32 teams retool for the 2021 season. And though it will probably be at least another week until we see the bigger picture – and more than a month before the draft fully shapes the offseason – several things already are apparent:
Pass rushers get paid
It’s generally all about the quarterback(s) when it comes to the NFL. But put the passers aside for a second and ask yourself what’s the next mostimportant position? Well, if recent drafts hadn’t given you the answer – a pass rusher has been the first or second overall pick in four of the last eight drafts, and all of them have had one in the top five – then hopefully the dollars being collected by defensive ends and edge linebackers in recent days have made it clear where general managers’ priorities lie. Heck, many were surprised when Watt commanded $23 million guaranteed over two years even as he closes in on his 32nd birthday with a body battered by a decade in the league.
Since then, the Titans’ Denico Autry and Bud Dupree, Buccaneers’ Shaq Barrett, Panthers’ Morgan Fox and Haason Reddick, Bengals’ Trey Hendrickson, Patriots’ Matt Judon and Deatrich Wise, Jets’ Carl Lawson, Raiders’ Yannick Ngakoue, Lions’ Romeo Okwara, Giants’ Leonard Williams and Cardinals’ Markus Golden and Watt have commanded contracts totaling well north of a half-billion dollars.
Wide receiver market slow
As badly as the pass rushers were coveted, this year’s free agent wideouts haven’t felt they same level of love ... so far.
Sure, Tampa Bay franchised Chris Godwin, and the Bears tagged Allen Robinson. Meanwhile, Corey Davis (Jets) and Curtis Samuel have agreed to three-year deals that will pay roughly $12 million per. But it doesn’t appear anyone will sniff the top of the positional market that plays north of $20 million annually for elite pass-catchers.
In the meantime, guys like Antonio Brown, Will Fuller V, Kenny Golladay, T.Y. Hilton, JuJu Smith-Schuster and Sammy Watkins wait ... perhaps to their peril given the draft again appears loaded with highly capable receivers.
Where are big spenders?
As of Monday afternoon, when teams were allowed to initiate negotiations with pending free agents on other clubs, 10 (49ers, Bengals, Browns, Chargers, Colts, Dolphins, Jaguars, Jets, Patriots and Washington) had at least $31 million in cap space.
But though those organizations have made some significant investments – the Bolts and Niners notably resourcing their offensives lines – only the Patriots have gone whole hog, freely spending to upgrade their roster on both sides of the ball in the wake of a 7-9 2020 season.
The Jets and Jags still have more than $40 million available, per Over The Cap.