The month of March is filled with various sports events: March Madness, baseball spring training, and one of the most important sports focuses- the NFL free agency.
At the end of the NFL season, players who are in the last year of their contract go through a re-sign period where those players can only sign back with their previous team. Players that are cut from their teams are called restricted free agents. Teams can use the franchise tag, once applied to a player who is scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent, which forces the player to stay with the team for one season. Franchise tag values are based on the top five salaries of each position. Once a player is cut or no deal has been reached during the re-sign period, the player is now considered an unrestricted free agent.
The free agency period starts on Wednesday, March 13, but players can be offered contracts starting March 11.
Various players will get shuffled around the league during this time and as of March 6, 2024, former Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Mitchell Trubisky was signed to the Buffalo Bills after being released from the Steelers.
Trubisky will back-up the Bills starting quarterback Josh Allen. In order to afford Trubisky, the Bills had to make a series of roster cuts which included notable players such as safety Jordan Poyer and cornerback Tre’Davious White.
My vision for the Bills during free agency is to trade wide receiver Stefon Diggs for some potential draft picks. Diggs has not been happy with his role in Buffalo, and because of that, the team chemistry has been very low. Diggs has not requested a trade, but if things don’t change, then Diggs will end up somewhere else.
On top of everything, linebacker Von Miller’s contract is expiring at the end of the 2024-2025 season. Everything the Buffalo Bills has done so far made room for Miller’s contract; however, in order to stay competitive, they need to draft some highly valued rookie prospects.
With the first of many transactions made, there are still an abundant amount of superstars on the free agent market waiting for the right deal. One of the biggest names waiting for a deal is Former Denver Broncos quarterback Russell Wilson. With the ongoing contract that the Broncos still have to pay, Wilson took a minimum offer of 1.12 million dollars, which is the league minimum for quarterbacks. The team that is slated to land Wilson is the Pittsburgh Steelers, which has already met with Wilson prior to the free agency period. The Steelers want to give quarterback Kenny Pickett more competition; because of that, the Steelers fanbase is wondering once again who the starting quarterback really is. After signing Wilson, his former teammate strong safety Justin Simmons is set to become a free agent, my prediction for the Steelers next move, is to sign Simmons.
After the quarterback Russell Wilson announced via X that he would be signing with the Steelers, the new favorite to land Chicago Bears Quarterback Justin Fields was the Atlanta Falcons, but as of March 11, the Falcons signed quarterback Kirk Cousins. Cousins will most likely win the starting job since the Falcons are ready to move on from quarterback Desmond Ridder.
Cincinnati Bengals Wide receiver Tee Higgins was franchise tagged on Feb. 26, 2024.
As of Mar 11, Higgins has requested a trade. Notable teams that need receivers are the New England Patriots, Denver Broncos, Jacksonville Jaguars and the Kansas City Chiefs.
After playing six years for the New York Giants, running back Saquon Barkley agreed to a three-year contract with the Philadelphia Eagles. This move is not a big surprise since the Eagles let former running back D’andre Swift sign with the Chicago Bears. With all of that set in stone, the Giants have already filled the hole Brakley left by signing former Houston Texans running back Devin Singletary.
The Green Bay Packers have also made big changes at the running back position.
Running back Josh Jacobs spent the last five years in Las Vegas and now has signed with the Packers. Shortly after the Packers moved on from the six-year veteran running back Aaron Jones. As of March 12, Jones is planning to sign with the Minnesota Vikings.
The Los Angeles Chargers did not bring back their franchise running back Austin Ekeler.
Instead, the Chargers Signed former Baltimore Ravens running back Gus “The Bus” Edwards.
Ekeler did end up signing a two-year deal worth up to $11.43 million with the Washington Commanders.
To replace Edwards, the Baltimore Ravens signed former Tennessee Titans running back Derrick Henry to a two-year contract. Henry was with the Titans for eight years and broke many franchise rushing records.
With Free agency starting on March 13, football fans can expect some more major deals to be done.
*Information in this article obtained from Bryan DeArdo’s “2024 NFL free agency live updates, offseason rumors: Latest on Calvin Ridley, Mike Williams, other player news” piece via CBS. *
