The NFL wasted no time jumping into free agency. Though the official signing period doesn’t begin until March 16, a handful of extensions began to trickle in while teams debated whether or not to use their franchise tags in 2022. March 14 brought the start of the legal tampering period and a bunch of reported, but not yet official, deals between veteran stars and new teams across the country.
In the first day-plus of unofficial free agency, several plots have floated to the surface of the NFL’s never-ending grind. The Jacksonville Jaguars emerged as this year’s top spender, throwing big money contracts at veterans in hopes of rising from the league’s basement. The Los Angeles Chargers took full advantage of Justin Herbert’s inexpensive contract to add and retain the veteran talent to push them to the playoffs. The New England Patriots followed up their 2021 spending spree by… uh, trading for a linebacker who only played 21 percent of the Browns’ defensive snaps last year.
Here’s a breakdown of the biggest contracts to be reported early in the free agent period, along with some entirely-too-soon grades for these deals.
