NFL

Free Agency: Best and Worst Deals of Week 1

Xaiver Aguiar March 21, 2021

The first week of Free Agency featured some very good signings while some teams overpaid for players. Week 1 brought a lot of surprises too, with Kenny Golladay, Leonard Fournette, Melvin Ingram, and Ndamukong Suh still available. And it brought some players remaining in their division. TE Gerald Everett going to the Seahawks & Kyle Van Noy returning to the Patriots.

Best Deals

  1. Corey Linsley, 5 year/$62M deal. The Chargers locked up an elite veteran Center to protect Justin Herbert, making him the highest paid Center in the NFL. In 734 snaps, Linsley only allowed 1 sack last season in Green Bay. LA took a big step as they look to improve their line. After releasing Trai Turner, the Chargers needed to revamp their OL, and made a great move signing Linsley. This addition will also allow them to go elsewhere in the draft, Guard, tackle, or even CB.
  2. Joe Thuney, 5 year/$80M. The Chiefs shocked a lot of people by releasing both their starting tackles in Mitchell Schwartz & Eric Fisher, then proceeding to sign Thuney to a big contract. Well, Thuney was a great move for the Chiefs. The Chiefs can now solidify their interior offensive line with Thuney, Laurent Duvernay-Tardif, and the recent signing of Kyle Long. These signings allow the Chiefs to focus on tackles in the draft, which is a fairly deep class.
  3. John Johnson, 3 years/$30M. The Browns had a huge hole in their secondary coming into Free Agency, and they filled it perfectly with John Johnson. Johnson can line up deep with Grant Delpit & Ronnie Harrison, who they acquired last off-season. Last season, Johnson totaled 105 tackles & 1 INT in 16 games.

HM: Hunter Henry, New England Patriots (3 year/$37M), Corey Davis, New York Jets (3 years/$37.5M)

Worst Deals

  1. Leonard Williams, 3 years/$63M. The Giants paid up for one of their best DLineman last year, paying him $21M per year. Williams potential finally showed last year when he totaled 57 tackles & 11.5 (career high) sacks. The Giants, with minimal cap space, took a huge chance on Williams with this contract. New York Could have waited another year when the cap space rises & they get a better idea of what Williams’ potential will be.
  2. Nelson Agholor, 2 years/$22M. The Patriots made Agholor one of Free Agency’s top paid receivers with $11M average salary. Last season Agholor showed an up in production, totaling 896 yards & 8 TDs. Agholor, even with an improved season, was highly overpaid. His average salary ranks higher than Tyler Lockett, Will Fuller, and JuJu Smith-Schuster’s respective contracts.
  3. Trey Hendrickson, 4 year/$60M. Hendrickson was one of the top young pass rushers this Free Agency, however, I do think he was slightly overpaid. Hendrickson totaled 13.5 sacks last year, however

HM: Matt Judon, New England Patriots (4 year/$54M)

Week 2 will feature the likes of Kenny Golladay, Antonio Brown, Leonard Fournette, Eric Fisher, Justin Houston, Melvin Ingram, Richard Sherman, Xavier Rhodes, and Keanu Neal.