The first day of NFL free agency started out slowly but quickly picked up steam. By the end of the day, those covering the league were practically giddy as rumors, trades and signings flooded social media and news outlets.
It was, quite simply, a glorious opening act to what is sure to be an exciting week or two of non-stop action in the NFL.
Monday marked the first of three days that have been dubbed the “legal tampering period.” What this means is that teams and players can discuss contracts but cannot sign them unless the player was released by another team. In those cases, players are free to sign with any team at any time.
For instance, the Buffalo Bills released Mario Williams last week. If he had been offered a contract to his liking he could have signed one today. On the other hand, a player like Malik Jackson of the Denver Broncos will have to wait until Wednesday, March 9 at 4 p.m. ET to actually sign any deal.
That doesn’t mean there wasn’t a lot happening behind the scenes to discuss.
While there is much yet to be discovered, we learned a lot from Monday’s fast-paced flow of information. These are the biggest takeaways from the first day of NFL free agency.
Note: All contract information courtesy of Spotrac.com.
1. Peyton Manning goes out on top
Monday marked the end of an era in the NFL, as Manning made his retirement official.
The legendary quarterback made an outstanding speech, wrangling his overflowing emotions with the same acumen we’ve seen on display during his playing days for the last 18 years.
It's the little things. That's what Peyton Manning is going to miss most.
Wow. Wow. Wow. https://t.co/0fGbraWrMT
— NFL (@NFL) March 7, 2016
He was roundly lauded by most of his peers, who made their affections known in person and throughout social media and was sent off in style by the Denver Broncos, with Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay and others from that organization in attendance as well.
Manning finishes his career as the NFL record holder in many top all-time categories, including:
- NFL career passing touchdown record: 539
- Most passing yards, career: 71,940
- Single season touchdown record (2013): 55
- Most passing yards, season (2013): 5,477
- Most wins (including playoffs): 200
After winning Super Bowl 50 with the Broncos in February, Manning also has two Super Bowl rings to his credit.
He’s a one-of-a-generation player whose absence will leave a huge hole in the NFL landscape, which also leads us to our next takeaway from Day 1 of free agency.
2. Broncos could end up in desperation mode at quarterback
Strapped for cash with other high-value free agents to account for, it’s becoming quite clear that Denver could enter the 2016 NFL season without Manning or Brock Osweiler.
John Elway has quite a mess to clean up in terms of his salary cap after investing so heavily in procuring a championship-caliber roster for Manning the past few years. With the future Hall of Famer’s $19 million off the books, Denver is still looking at some extremely difficult decisions upcoming entering the new league year with the least amount of adjusted cap space of all the NFL teams.
With Peyton's retirement, the #Broncos are back under the salary cap with about $16-17M to spend in FA.
— Cameron Wolfe (@CameronWolfe) March 6, 2016
With more than a few key players about to seek riches in free agency, not to mention Osweiler, there just isn’t much money to go around. On top of Malik Jackson, who is one of the most coveted defensive linemen in the league, Denver will see linebacker Danny Trevathan, guard Evan Mathis, left tackle Ryan Harris and many others seeking riches in free agency.
Osweiler has already been linked to the Houston Texans — a team that desperately needs a quarterback — and should generate interest from other quarterback-needy teams around the NFL in the coming days. He’s already decided against signing an initial offer from Denver reportedly worth $39 million over three years, and you know he’s going to get what he can while he’s a hot commodity.
With so many pressing needs, Denver could conceivably be stuck out in the cold when it comes to quarterback selection during the free agency period.
3. Howie Roseman can’t get rid of Chip Kelly’s mess fast enough
That didn’t take long. The first chance he got, Howie Roseman (back in charge of Philadelphia’s personnel after a failed experiment with Kelly last year) unloaded three of Kelly’s highest-profile players from a year ago.
First we got news of a trade that sent both cornerback Byron Maxwell and linebacker Kiko Alonso to the Miami Dolphins in exchange for some undisclosed draft picks.
Maxwell was signed to a six-year deal worth $63 million last year, and Alonso was brought to Philly in the deal that sent running back LeSean McCoy to the Buffalo Bills. Of the two, Alonso would appear to be the best player acquired by Miami, but he’s had trouble staying healthy since coming into the league out of Oregon.
Not long after news of this trade broke, the biggest news of the day hit when it was reported by Adam Schefter of ESPN that the Eagles were sending running back DeMarco Murray to the Tennessee Titans.
With $35 million left on Murray’s contract, it was a huge win for Roseman to get rid of the money, and to get rid of a player who has made it known since last year that leaving Dallas for Philly was a big mistake.
The trade was also a great move for the Titans, which we’re about to touch on in our next topic.
4. Titans invest wisely in Marcus Mariota’s future
There weren’t many teams that could both use the services of Murray and absorb his gaudy contract, but the Titans were one of them. In fact, the move made so much sense we predicted it would happen (read here).
By bringing in a power back like Murray, who can still carry the load in a power scheme (he was ill-fitted for Philadelphia’s zone scheme under Kelly last year), Tennessee is making a smart investment in the health and development of young quarterback Mariota.
Mariota showed a lot of promise last year but was blasted more than a few times (missing four games) because he lacked any semblance of a rushing attack behind him to protect him.
Teams didn’t fear the Titans’ anemic running game, which averaged just 92.8 yards per game (No. 25 in the NFL) and simply attacked off the edge to devastating effect. No team in the league allowed more sacks in 2015 than the Titans, who saw their quarterbacks get taken down 55 times.
Assuming Murray can still run north/south as he did in 2014 with the Dallas Cowboys, he’ll give the Titans the balance that was significantly lacking last year when Bishop Sankey and rookie David Cobb were toting the rock.
On another note, this move sets up Tennessee to feel awfully good about selecting Ole Miss offensive tackle Laremy Tunsil with the No. 1 overall pick of the 2016 NFL Draft. He’ll not only protect Mariota’s blind side for years to come but will be an effective weapon in the running game to help Murray get back to his 2014 form.
5. Miami Dolphins still don’t understand how to build a winner
Whereas Titans general manager Jon Robinson should be praised for providing his young quarterback with players who will help him develop, the same cannot be said for the Dolphins.
Despite a new personnel man in charge, general manager Dennis Hickey, Miami is back on the wrong track once again after making the biggest (and most ill-conceived) splash of the 2015 edition of NFL free agency when it signed Ndamukong Suh to a horribly overpriced contract and received little in return.
On the one hand, getting rid of cornerback Brent Grimes would save Miami $6.5 million against the cap. This move is rumored to be on the horizon. By itself it’s a questionable move, given the fact that Grimes was the best cornerback on the roster last year. Though, the savings makes it understandable.
However, what Hickey is doing instead, trading for Maxwell and his gargantuan salary, along with an injury-prone inside linebacker, is simply ridiculous.
Maxwell proved last season that the Eagles were fools for buying into him as a top-tier cornerback. He was one of the worst cover cornerbacks in the NFL 2015 but had fooled many because of his success playing with the Legion of Boom in Seattle beforehand. The cat is well out of the bag at this point, though, which makes Miami’s decision to give up draft picks all the more confusing.
Kudos to Roseman, though, once again, for finding a away to make some darn fine lemonade out of Kelly’s lemons.
6. Nobody knows where the QB market should be
The NFL is entering uncharted waters as it concerns what is and what is not reasonable to pay average quarterbacks.
Heck, Washington didn’t bat an eyelash paying Kirk Cousins $20 million this upcoming season on the franchise tag after he put together one really good half season. And Philadelphia was giddy to bring back Sam Bradford on a two-year deal that pays him around the same amount.
Former NFL receiver Donte Stallworth, when hearing about Bradford’s deal, quipped “there’s been no better time to be an average NFL quarterback.” He’s not wrong.
When a guy like Osweiler, who doesn’t even have a half-season under his belt starting in the NFL, can turn down almost $40 million over three years because he has confidence he’ll make more on the open market, you’ve got a problem.
This brings up an interesting scenario for one Robert Griffin III, who was just released by Washington on Monday. Bleacher Report’s Mike Freeman recently reported 10 teams as having interest in bringing him aboard, and given his star potential it’s quite possible he could earn a significant payday after wearing street clothes on the sideline, despite being healthy all year in 2015.
Another quarterback who appears ready to cash in on some short-term success is Ryan Fitzpatrick, who is not expected to sign with the New York Jets before the start of free agency on Wednesday.
7. Calvin Johnson’s lingering decision hard on the Lions
While it’s been widely assumed that Detroit Lions receiver Calvin Johnson will retire following his 2015 campaign, he has yet to make a decision.
This is particularly difficult for rookie general manager Bob Quinn, who still has Johnson on the books for $24 million in 2016 heading into the second day of the NFL’s legal tampering period.
With Johnson’s contract still valid, Detroit’s ability to maneuver is severely hampered during this critical time. By no means are the Lions hamstrung by Johnson’s salary, with over $34 million in cap space, but the franchise still has no idea exactly how to approach free agency.
It’s with this in mind that the organization is reportedly hoping to get an answer from Megatron in the next 24 hours. It would be extremely detrimental for the Lions to enter the actual signing period of free agency (starts March 9 at 4 p.m. ET) without a concrete answer from Johnson.
Detroit has been more than respectful of Johnson’s need to take his time with this decision. Now it’s time for him to pay the organization back by making a decision before it truly does hurt the team that drafted him.
8. Tight end market is ridiculous right now
Before free agency even hit, both Travis Kelce of the Kansas City Chiefs and Zach Ertz of the Eagles signed lucrative long-term deals with their respective teams. Kelce landed a five-year deal worth $46.8 million, while Ertz scored a five-year contract worth $42.5 million.
Both are young, promising players their teams hope develop into Rob Gronkowski-type clones over the course of the next decade, so it was understandable to a point that they landed such lucrative contracts.
However, when the Indianapolis Colts re-signed Dwayne Allen Monday evening it became readily apparent things are just spiraling out of control when it comes to paying tight ends with “potential.”
Before diving into Allen’s contract details, let’s first just remember he caught all of 16 passes for 109 yards with one touchdown last season. He has never before caught more than 45 passes in a single season (his rookie campaign), when he totaled 521 receiving yards. His best touchdown totals came in 2014 when he caught eight, but in four years with Indianapolis he has hauled in just 13.
It’s with all that in mind that our jaws hit the floor when Allen’s new contract was announced — a four-year deal worth almost $30 million:
The #Colts have struck a deal to keep TE Dwayne Allen, source said (as @ProFootbaIlTaIk reported). It's 4 years, nearly $30M.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) March 8, 2016
Imagine what a guy like Jared Cook, recently released by the Los Angeles Rams, is going to haul in. Just three years after signing a five-year deal with the Rams worth $35 million, he’s set to haul in another whopper this year.
Cook has always wowed scouts with his potential but has never before had the pleasure of playing with an upper-echelon quarterback during his time with the Titans and Rams. That said, he’s shown himself to be more productive playing with mediocre passers the past four years than Allen has playing with Andrew Luck.
There is a lot of money that needs to be spent around the league these days, and playmaking tight ends — proven or otherwise — are reaping the benefits of the market.