Free agency is one of the most exciting times for football fans. It involves multiple players joining new teams, trades for draft capital, and other transactions. Whatever the reason, almost every football fan can agree that free agency is entertaining.
Every year, some teams emerge from free agency with a bunch of improvements and some teams emerge worse than they entered. Here are some teams that I think have made the wrong moves, or lack thereof.
Las Vegas Raiders
The Raiders are coming off an 8-9 season where they snuck their way to second place in the AFC West. However, they only got worse in free agency and will surely drop in rankings next year. They added Christian Wilkins, Gardner Minshew, and Alexander Mattison.
The Raiders get a defensive game changer in Christian Wilkins. Gardner Minshew will come in and compete with Aidan O’Connell to see who gets to throw to Davante Adams. These new additions still do not fill the void left behind by Josh Jacobs and Hunter Renfrow who both made up significant parts of the offense.
Buffalo Bills
The Bills came into the off-season facing a rough cap space situation and faced the repercussions of it. They were forced to release Jordan Poyer, Mitch Morse, Tre’Davious White, Gabe Davis, Leonard Floyd, and Nyheim Hines. Each of those players brought a strong veteran presence to the team and will be greatly missed.
Those names were not the biggest but they meant a lot to the Bills. In response, they brought in Curtis Samuel, Mitch Trubisky, Nicholas Morrow, and Mack Hollins. I doubt that any of those signings will have a major impact on the team and help them improve as a whole. Even worse, nine of their eleven draft picks are after No. 125. This offseason will hurt the Bills’ chances of having another deep playoff run this season.
Carolina Panthers
The Panthers were without question the worst team last season, and even worse they don’t have the number one pick. They also sent their best player, Brian Burns, to the Giants in exchange for a second round pick, fifth round pick, and a fifth round pick swap. This trade comes just two years after the Panthers turned down two first round picks from the Rams in exchange for Brian Burns.
They also parted ways with Frankie Luvu, Yetur Gross-Matos, Vonn Bell, Jeremy Chinn, C.J. Henderson, and Bradley Bozeman. In turn, the Panthers signed Robert Hunt, Damien Lewis, A’Shawn Robinson, Josey Jewell, and traded for Diontae Johnson. But, most, if not all, of those signings could be labeled as an overpay. Those contracts will come back to haunt the Panthers sooner or later.
Los Angeles Chargers
The Chargers’ cap space has finally caught up to them. The past few years, the Chargers have been over the cap limit or near it. They lost the only two receivers who could produce in Keenan Allen and Mike Williams. They also lost Austin Ekeler, Kenneth Murray, Eric Kendricks, and Gerald Everett.
Their only major signings that might have an impact are Gus Edwards, Will Dissly, Denzel Perryman, and Hayden Hurst. Jim Harbaugh and Justin Herbert will have very little to work with and will heavily struggle with this mediocre roster.
Dallas Cowboys
The Dallas Cowboys have been the laughing stock of the NFL due to their lack of activity during the first week of free agency. Despite Jerry Jones saying that they’re “all in” this year, the Cowboys have only made one external signing in Eric Kendricks. This signing is a good value signing but will still not make as big of an impact as Cowboys fans were hoping for.
In addition to making one signing the number of players that they lost will hurt them even more. They lost Tony Pollard, Tyler Biadasz, Tyron Smith, Michael Gallup, Leighton Vander Esch, and Dorance Armstrong among others. It will be hard for the Cowboys to improve their roster with the remaining free agents and upcoming draft class. I fully expect them to regress this year unless multiple players have a breakout season.
What teams did we miss? Which of these teams do you disagree with? Let us know!
