The Business Season of the NFL keeps on trucking. The next item on the agenda is Free Agency! 

I have always been interested in the free agency period since it has become what it is today. I am always intrigued to see how the different teams approach free agency from year to year. Some teams like to dive in and have a flurry of signings and activity, while others tend to sit on the sidelines and barely dabble in it. And, from year to year it seems like those institutional norms keep changing.

As interesting as free agency always is, this year has been the most exciting of any free agency that I can remember. With the strengths and weaknesses of the incoming draft class, coupled with the strengths and weaknesses of the free agency class, it made for some great drama (which is great for the NFL brand). I have to think that the league hopes to replicate this type of free agency period every year. I have sat down and started to write this article several times, and each time I think I have a handle on it, something new happens that makes me rethink things. But, I can’t wait forever, so here we go.

The biggest winners of this free agency period are…Interior Offensive and Defensive Linemen! I am not a huge fan of declaring teams winners and losers in free agency, because so many things factor into a teams success. But, I can clearly call a position group a winner when you see so many of them get the contracts they did.

It all started with Chris Jones’ massive extension. Now, I have some thoughts about this deal in particular, and I don’t think it works out in the Chiefs favor long term. But, you cannot deny that Jones has earned his payday. In addition to Jones, Christian Wilkins and Justin Madubuike also cashed in. On the offensive side of the ball you saw Robert Hunt, John Simpson, Ezra Cleveland, Mitch Morse, Lloyd Cushenberry, and more cash in with some good sized deals. I think the focus on the interior of the lines in free agency is predicated by what we have seen  play out on the field recently. Needless to say, it was a good year to be a big man in the NFL.

The biggest losers of  free agency this year are the Wide Receivers. I think there are two big reasons for this. Number one, I don’t think this year’s free agency class was very strong. When 29 year old Calvin Ridley is the headliner, it is hard to get super excited. Now, Ridley got his big deal, and we also some some decent deals for Gabe Davis and Darnell Mooney, but these deals aren’t nearly as lucrative as what we have seen in some other recent years. The second main reason that Wide Receiver is a free agency loser is because of how strong this year’s rookie class is at the position. This year we have receivers that will be drafted in the third-fourth round, that in other years may be borderline first round talents. The class is incredibly deep. I am excited to see how teams approach the draft in regards to this position. Because of the depth of the class, I think you might see teams pass on receivers early to draft other positions that don’t have the depth of receiver. This could make for some interesting discussions for the talking heads that will be covering the draft for us.

The most interesting part of the free agency period this year has been all of the QB activity and movement. It almost seems like every single team has made a significant QB or back-up QB move. We all know that QB is the most important position in the NFL, so of course teams are going to try and get the position right. It is still interesting to me to see how teams approach the position. It has also become increasingly important to have a quality back-up QB, and watching the carousel move has been exciting. The other part of this is how many trades we saw for QB’s this offseason. Teams that drafted QB’s recently that haven’t seen the success they hoped for on the field were not afraid to admit that mistake and trade them. Mac Jones, Kenny Pickett, and Justin Fields were all traded so that their teams could move on and go in a different direction at the position. It will be fun to see how these moves end up playing out as we get back into the playing season.

One final position of note during this free agency period is the Running Back position. This carousel was almost as active as the QB carousel. We saw almost all of the top of the market running backs change teams within the opening day of free agency. Saquon Barkley, D’Andre Swift, Tony Pollard, Austin Ekeler, Devin Singletary, and Zack Moss all signed with new teams very quickly. Derrick Henry took a bit longer, but ended up landing in the spot that I think everyone expected. We also saw Joe Mixon get traded during the early part of free agency. The running back movement was incredibly interesting to me due to how undervalued the position has been in recent years. While the old-fashioned fan in me thinks that running the ball well is the key to winning games, I have learned that the running back position has evolved. In the modern NFL you need versatile backs who can do much more than just run the ball. I think that is why we saw the activity that we did. The running back position in the Draft is somewhat underwhelming, and many of the backs that were available in free agency were guys that could bring things to teams that they didn’t already have. The running back position is still one of the lowest paid positions in the NFL, but at least we saw these guys get some solid deals with some guaranteed money.

I briefly want to touch on some early fantasy football thoughts in regards to what we have seen in free agency. There are a few guys that I think have benefited greatly from what we have seen so far. 

I think Breece Hall has been a huge winner of this free agency period. The Jets have added 3 pieces to their offensive line that should do a much better job of opening holes for him. As dangerous as he already was, this could pave the way for a RB1 type season for him.

A second big winner…the Falcons skill position players. As long as Cousins can return to form, he should be able to elevate the play of Bijan Robinson, Kyle Pitts, Darnell Mooney, and Drake London. I personally think London could be in for a top 15 type season.

A third winner would be Bryce Young. As poorly as he played last year, I’m not sure that it was entirely all his fault. This offseason, the team has brought in an offensive staff that has proven ability in developing players. They also invested in strengthening the offensive line, and adding another weapon in Diontae Johnson.

As we get closer to the Draft and the Preseason, I will continue to update my fantasy thoughts to help us get ready to dominate our season ahead.

Just because the first wave of free agency is essentially behind us, does not mean that it is over. Teams will continue to evaluate players that get cut, as well as, the next tier of guys that are available on the market. It is important to remember that there is a 53 man NFL roster during the season, and 90 man during the preseason. Teams will need to add a lot of depth, and oftentimes, the more underrated signings can end up being some of the most important ones.