NFL free agency is quickly approaching and in a couple of weeks – teams will bring in several new players in hopes of eventually winning a Super Bowl. It happens every year and every offseason – teams both win and lose free agency. And shortly after signings are made – you’’ll see a lot of winners and losers of NFL free agency and even initial grades based on the contract the team gave versus the players production analysts and fans think they will provide. But after the initial shock factor of signings within NFL free agency – you really don’t hear a lot about it after the fact. There are exceptions of course like with the Eagles signing Saquon Barkley and Zach Baun last offseason – but that’s because they were a part of one of the most dominant postseasons runs ever and they just won a super bowl. But Christian Wilkins and Robert Hunt each signed $100 million dollar contracts offseason – yet you don’t really hear a lot about either player. And in today’s video we’re going to go back and grade some of the biggest free agent signings from the 2024 class one year later. We are going to breakdown several signings and also have some grades at the screen at the end and there is a lot to breakdown in today’s video and without further ado – let’s begin
And we are starting today’s video by discussing the Texans signing of pass rusher Danielle Hunter. Danielle signed a two year $49 million dollar with the Texans with $48 of it being guaranteed and I liked this signing for both sides for a few reasons. Danielle will be just 31 years old when the contract expires and will get to test free agency again and have another chance to sign a big contract. Not only that, but he also gets to be a part of a good pass rushing duo in himself and Will Anderson. And anytime you have a situation like this where you can have a potential hall of famer come in and help your young franchise cornerstone pass rusher out – while still playing at a high level – and win a playoff game in the process – I am all for it every single time. Hunter finished the 2024 season with 66 pressures, 23 quarterback hits, and had 12 sacks and also made the pro bowl. I also really liked this signing because despite how guaranteed heavy this contract was – it was never going to affect the Texans extending players like Derek Stingley, CJ Stroud, or Will Anderson. They wanted a really good pass rusher and that’s exactly what they got. Will Anderson and Danielle Hunter are one of the best duo’s in football and this is an easy A+
Next up is Patrick Queen of the Steelers who signed a 3 year $41 million dollar contract to go to the Steel city. I wasn’t the biggest fan of this signing at the time because I thought it was an overpay relative to the player I thought Patrick Queen was going to be with Pittsburgh. And the Steelers only guaranteed $13.8 million of the $41 million so there were some concerns on their end too – that maybe 2023 was an outlier year for him. Queen was a second team all pro with the Ravens in 2023 and played at a really really high level. And in his first year in Pittsburgh – he was named to his second pro bowl and had another great year. He went through a transition period in the first few weeks of the 2024 season but eventually settled in and played at a really high level. I hope we see more of Patrick Queen and Payton Wilson in 2025 because they are a fun duo to watch. I’m sure there’s some people that will say this is an inflated grade, but the Steelers got everything they wanted from PQ in year 1 and then some. It’s a bonus he’s only 26 years old and it’s not unreasonable for him to play here for the next 4 or 5 years. This was a great signing by Omar Khan and one year later this too is an A+
Christian Wilkins of the Raiders is up and this is unfortunate because Christian Wilkins played 81 of 83 possible games for the Dolphins in the first 5 years of his career. He also had a really good final two years in Miami and was really putting it together. The idea of him and Maxx Crosby along the defensive line in a division where you have to be able to get after Patrick Mahomes, and Justin Herbert was a great idea to pair those guys. And you can add in Bo Nix to the quarterbacks in the AFC West now of course, though we did not know that at the time. But Christian Wilkins suffered a Jones fracture against the Broncos in week 5 of the 2024 season and missed the rest of the year. Wilkins had a pretty solid first 5 games for the Raiders and it’s unfortunate for the Raiders that the first time he suffered a major injury in his professional career was just months after signing a large free agent contract. I know the Raiders have obviously went through their struggles over the past several years – but I do like duo of Christian Wilkins and Maxx Crosby in 2025 and I hope we get to see it more. If I had to give a grade based on the limited play – I’d give it a B – but for now this is incomplete
Saquon Barkley is up and I’ll be honest I thought about just posting a picture of him with the letter grade and moving onto the next player. Saquon signed a 3 year $37.75 million dollar contract with the Birds last offseason and this deal was very beneficial for both sides because Saquon got about as much guaranteed as he could have at the time – while still being one of the higher paid players at his position. And in his first year with the Birds he ran for over 2,000 yards and had 15 total touchdowns and won a super bowl too. He had nearly 2,300 total yards of offense in the regular season and there’s going to be a lot of lofty goals for Saquon Barkley in 2025 – all of which are achievable. Meaning yes – I wouldn’t be surprised if Saquon breaks Eric Dickerson’s rushing record next year. Saquon had the best year of his career by far and had over 1,000 rushing yards after contact. Saquon running for a touchdown on the first play from scrimmage in the NFC championship game describes the type of year he had. This is an easy A+. Zack Baun was a name not a lot of people knew about last year around this time. During his 4 years with New Orleans he only started in 14 games and played less than 1,000 career snaps. This may be the most crazy fact about Zack Baun that a lot of people don’t know – but he played more snaps with the Eagles in one year than he did with the Saints in the first 4 years of his career. And in his first year with the Birds – he had over 150 tackles, 11 tackles for a loss, had 5 forced fumbles and was a first team all pro. And of course a Super Bowl champion. You’re not going to find a better contract in terms of production relative to dollars spent than this one as he signed a one year 3.5 million dollar deal last year and this too is an A+. Now I know you may be thinking – enough with the A+’s and discussions of how great the Eagles and more specifically how good Howie Roseman is at his job. And I get it. But the Eagles signed former Jet Bryce Huff to a 3 year $51 million dollar deal with $34 million being guaranteed and Bryce Huff had a really bad year in Philly. He did miss some time due to a torn ligament in his wrist, but in his first 5 games as an Eagle – he had just 4 total tackles and only had half a sack. It got to a point where Eagles fans would note if he recorded a tackle to give you an idea of how bad this signing was. Obviously it didn’t affect the Birds in the end, but this specific signing is an F.
Xavier McKinney signed a 4 year $67 million dollar deal with the Packers and after having a solid first few years with the Giants – he took his game to another level in 2024. He had 8 interceptions including one in each of the first 5 games and was also a first team all pro. The Packers are one of the best teams year in and year out and it’s because of signings like this. I don’t mean this in a sign good players way – although that certainly applies – but because of the lower amount of guarantees within the contract. $23 million of the $67 was guaranteed and in today’s era with the salary cap continuously going up – and it was announced recently that the cap is going up in a big way for the 2025 season – is beneficial to teams with players already under contract – and that includes Xavier McKinney with the Packers. He has a cap hit of $17.8 million in 2025, $19.1 in 2026, and $22.5 million in 2027 – if he’s still on the roster by then. But the cap will continue to go up and if he doesn’t work out – the Packers are protected too. He was also a 21 year old rookie back in 2020 and will be just 26 by the start of the 2025 season so there’s a non zero chance he is with this team for the next 4 or 5 years – maybe even longer. And when you sign a first team all pro in free agency at 25 years old – it shouldn’t come as a surprise that this is an A+ grade. The Packers also signed Josh Jacobs to a big free agent deal as his deal was 4 years $48 million and the concept of the contract that we discussed with Xavier McKinney – very much applies to Josh Jacobs too. Only $12.5 of the $48 was guaranteed and with running backs after their rookie contract kind of being on a year by year basis – this was a very smart contract given by the Packers. In Jacobs first year with Green Bay – he set a career high in total touchdowns as he had 16, finished 11th in offensive player of the year voting, and also caught the first receiving touchdown of his career.
Unfortunately for Jacobs personally – this was an insane year across the board for running backs and obviously in a year where Saquon rushes for 2,000 yards, Derrick Henry rushes for 1,900 yards, and Jahmyr Gibbs has 20 total touchdowns – and even Bijan Robinson having a near 1,500 yard year – Josh Jacobs didn’t get discussed probably as much as he should have. Rushing for 1,300 yards and 15 touchdowns and it not being discussed shows the type of year it was for running backs across the board. Now I know there will be some people that say – how can Saquon have 700 more rushing yards and be given the same grade as Josh Jacobs – and I completely understand that – so if you want to knock Jacobs a bit because he didn’t have the year Saquon did – I can understand that thought process – but anytime you sign a free agent running back – and they have a 1,671 total yard season – along with 16 total touchdowns – guys to me- that’s an A+ every single time.
Back to the AFC South for the next player and it’s Calvin Ridley of the Titans. This was a pretty noteworthy signing last year because everyone thought he was going back to Jacksonville – only for the division rival Titans to bring him to Nashville at the last minute. The Titans obviously struggled throughout most of 2024 and Calvin was no exception. He had just 9 receptions in his first 5 games as a Titan and the game a lot of people remember is of course – the 8 target 0 reception game against the Colts in week 6. Obviously the quarterback play in Tennessee was not great for a lot of the 2024 season and the Colts game in particular was pretty bad at times because the ball wasn’t even close to where he could make a play. He had 834 yards in the final 11 games of the 2024 season which would have had him on pace for a near 1,300 yard year for a full 17 game season. He has the occasional drops and Titans fans know all about that but I’m glad he ended the season the way he did. It was a 4 year $92 million dollar contract with $50 being guaranteed – so even in the worst case it was a 2 year deal. But right now Titans fans should be good with the year he had considering how bad the quarterback play was at times. One year later this is an A
Russell Wilson of the Steelers is up and this is a bit of a tricky player to grade because the Broncos released him and Russell signed a $1.2 million dollar deal with the Steelers. And in theory – him throwing for 16 touchdowns in 11 games and going 6-5 as a starter – again based on a $1.2 million dollar contract would be an A+. But we’re going to grade this on a more normal basis if you will just because of how much of an outlier this type of signing was to begin with. When this signing was made the hope was that it would essentially be a lightning in a bottle type deal where the Steelers could rely on the defense and have a quarterback elevate the team more than what they saw from for most of the previous few years. It worked for a couple of weeks but the wheels eventually came off and the Steelers offense became entirely too reliant on the big play. It became a lot of lay ups or 35 foot Steph Curry 3 pointers and that’s not reliable and Russ played a part in that – because he doesn’t throw the ball to the intermediate part of the field as much as other quarterbacks – which is predictable to game plan against. The Steelers have been in quarterback purgatory for a while now and Russ is another name on the list. He wasn’t awful, but he wasn’t great either and this gets a B
Darnell Mooney of the Falcons is up and the Falcons signed Mooney to a 3 year $39 million dollar deal with $26 of it being guaranteed. Mooney had a really good season all things considered as he finished the year with 992 yards and 5 touchdowns. I know some people remember this, but not everyone does and Darnell actually had a 1,000 yard season with the Bears back in 2021. He had just 907 receiving yards over the next two years and there were a lot people surprised the Falcons gave him an average annual value of $13 million per year despite the lack of production. I know the Falcons front office has their faults – and not addressing the pass rush regularly is certainly one of those faults – but this was a really good signing especially when you consider the value. Like with the Danielle Hunter signing – this was never going to get in the way of potential extensions like with Bijan Robinson or Drake London because the guarantees would be well out of the way by the time their extensions came due. And for signing a player who went for nearly 1,000 yards in year one – and a guy who revived his career in the big A – for $13 million per year when receivers in today’s era cost north of $20 million regularly – we’re going to give this signing an A+
Jonathan Greenard is up and the Vikings and Texans swapped pass rushers in Danielle Hunter and Jonathan Greenard in free agency which looking back was kind of cool because a lot of both the Vikings and Texans fan base was rooting for their previous guy to have success on their new team – and each guy did. Jonathan Greenard finished 3rd in the NFL in pressures with 80 on the year as he finished only behind Trey Hendrickson and Myles Garrett who each finished the year with 83. He also had 22 quarterback hits, 12 sacks, and had 4 forced fumbles. He was named a pro bowler for the first time in his career and this was also a really team friendly contract for the Vikings. A big part of Brian Flores system is being able to drop back in coverage – and Greenard did that too. He signed a 4 year $76 million dollar deal and not surprisingly this is an A+. The Vikings also signed another defensive player in free agency who was a jack of all trades and that was former Dolphin Andrew Van Ginkel. At times – Gink was everywhere on the field and he became the first Viking since Harrison Smith in 2012 to have two pick 6’s in one year. Van Ginkely set career highs in total tackles, tackles for a loss, sacks, and of course – interceptions too. He finished 7th in defensive player of the year voting and was a 2nd team all pro. He signed a 2 year $20 million dollar contract with the Vikings last offseason and this – along with Zach Baun contract with the Eagles – was by far one of the best value signings of the 2024 free agency period. Kwesi Adofo – Mensah did a terrific job in free agency last year – and this too – is an A+
Robert Hunt signed a $100 million dollar contract with the Panthers and the big thing with the Panthers entering 2024 was – they had to get better up front. It didn’t matter – how – they just had to get better. I completely understand why people don’t like David Tepper as an owner – I get it. But I do respect putting your money where your mouth is and watching the 2023 Panthers fail – in especially the manner they did – and immediately spending $153 million dollars on the interior offensive line to give your quarterback a chance. Robert Hunt had a pretty solid year and was named a pro bowler. Robert allowed 36 pressures in 2024 which isn’t great by any means – but he allowed 12 in 2 games alone which were against the Chiefs and Bucs as he allowed 5 against KC and 7 against Tampa in one of the two games he played against the Bucs. He was paid to be one of the best guards in football and he was good – but I don’t think he was elite. There were very low lows at times with Hunt – who again – still had a pretty good season and I don’t want that to be lost. But because of that – this is an A- rather than an A+. Now for Damien Lewis – he was more consistent than Robert Hunt throughout the 2024 season and in terms of paying him an average of $13.2 million per year – versus paying Robert Hunt $20 million per year – right now Lewis looks like the better signing. And this is more praise of the Lewis signing than saying the Hunt signing was bad – because it wasn’t. I’m glad we saw the interior part of the Panthers offensive line improve in a big way from 2023 to 2024 – and both free agent big signings played a big part within that. I liked both signings last year when they were made – and I like both of them now. And the Damien Lewis signing gets an A.
Staying in the NFC South for the next free agent signing and it’s Kirk Cousins of the Falcons. I don’t think this is as simple as looking at the signing and saying yep Kirk lost the job to Michael Penix and it’s an F. I think everyone was shocked when the Penix selection was made – but Kirk did provide some good times for Falcons fans in 2024. Not many of course – but the Eagles comeback win on Monday night was an incredible game, and so was the Thursday night Bucs game in which Kirk threw for over 500 yards and 4 touchdowns and Atlanta put up 36 points. Or even the other Tampa game in which Kirk threw for 4 touchdowns and Atlanta won on the road in a tough division game. The end was not fun as in the final 5 games he started for the Falcons he threw just 1 touchdown to 9 interceptions which was by far the worst stretch of his career and he was benched for number 8 overall pick Michael Penix. At this point he is expected to be released and unfortunately for the Falcons was Kirk was guaranteed $100 million dollars. I really don’t think this is as simple as giving it a flat out F because it wasn’t an Albert Haynesworth type contract – not even close. But obviously this free agent signing didn’t work out for the Falcons and one year later this gets a D. I hope you enjoyed today’s article and hope you have a great rest of your day!
