The NFL did not become America’s most powerful entertainment machine by playing football games alone. The league’s free agency and draft seasons are practically as big a cultural bonanza as anything that happens from September through February, and this year is no exception.
Multiple expensive starting quarterbacks are changing teams. One of the sport’s most talented running backs has decided to go south on Interstate 95 from New York to Eastern Pennsylvania. The Atlanta Falcons made a play for relevancy after years in the wilderness. And the 2024 season took on a drastically different shape. Here are five of the splashiest, most consequential moves teams have made so far.
The Falcons land Kirk Cousins, the market’s top available QB
Cousins will never be mistaken for one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL, but he is miles ahead of the flotsam that many teams trot out. Always in the league’s upper half in a wide range of passing stats, Cousins has proven adept at getting himself paid. At 35, he’s left Minnesota for a contract worth $100m guaranteed with the Falcons, who will make Cousins their starter for at least two years and as many as four. Cousins is an enormous upgrade on previous starter Desmond Ridder, and he should help an intriguing group of skill position players – tailback Bijan Robinson, tight end Kyle Pitts, and receiver Drake London – put up stats more befitting of their natural talents.
The move leaves the Vikings in quarterback purgatory. They have picked up former Jets and 49ers quarterback Sam Darnold, who has hardly distinguished himself since being selected No 3 overall in 2018, and perhaps they’ll draft another QB in April, but the 11th pick may not be early enough to land a long-term successor to Cousins. The scarcity of talent at the most important position in the league is why Cousins, in his mid-30s and coming off a torn achilles that cut short his last season, can still command such a massive payday. In a putrid NFC South, Atlanta are now a threat.
Grade for the Falcons: B+
Grade for Cousins: A+ for money, B+ for destination
Russell Wilson heads to the Steelers … for practically nothing.
Lacking an early draft pick to get a prized rookie in this year’s draft, Pittsburgh needed a veteran to pressure disappointing third-year quarterback Kenny Pickett. In Wilson, they may have hit a relative jackpot. The Denver Broncos are set to pay Wilson nearly $40m after cutting him (and one of the biggest contracts in football history) loose. Wilson’s new salary was always set to lower the Broncos’ obligation to him, so he had no incentive to push for anything more than the $1.2m veteran minimum. In the terms of the NFL QB market, the Steelers are getting Wilson, a Super Bowl winner, for free.
How much Wilson still has in the tank is a matter of debate. He’s no longer one of the league’s premier passers, not by a long shot. He takes a lot of sacks in the backfield, a deficiency that followed him from the Seattle Seahawks to the Broncos and could be amplified behind a vulnerable Steelers offensive line. But Wilson played better last season than in his inaugural Broncos campaign in 2022, and for $1.2m, the Steelers do not need him to be a franchise tentpole. They merely need him to be better than Pickett, who was one of the worst starting quarterbacks in the NFL in 2023. Wilson should clear that bar playing for a coach, who has never had a losing season.
Grade for the Steelers: B-
Grade for Wilson: A
The Raiders find a defensive anchor in Christian Wilkins
The glitziest free agent pickups this week were on the offensive side of the ball, but Wilkins’ move to the Las Vegas Raiders should be one of the year’s most impactful. With other defensive stars getting one-year “franchise tag” designations that kept them from free agency, the defensive tackle was the best defender on the open market. Wilkins is a mauler of a rush defender who can also get after the QB from the middle of the line, but the Miami Dolphins were in a bit of salary cap hell and couldn’t afford to keep Wilkins around.
So Wilkins goes to Las Vegas, where he seems like an ideal cultural fit for a franchise that, at its best, is all about hard-nosed physicality. A four-year contract with $85m guaranteed makes Wilkins one of the priciest defensive players in football and gives the Raiders some hope of staying in games next season. The franchise does not have a long-term QB and plays in a division with Patrick Mahomes and Justin Herbert. May as well double down on defense, and that’s just what Vegas have done here. The deal is tremendous for Wilkins, who gets more guaranteed money than most projected, although he joins a team without a clear path to the playoffs.
Grade for the Raiders: B+
Grade for Wilkins: B
Saquon Barkley stays in the NFC East, but not with New York
The Giants took Barkley with the second overall pick back in 2017. After six years with Big Blue, Barkley left the organization for the most painful destination: Philadelphia. The Eagles signed him to a three-year pact that guarantees him $26m and robs Giants fans of one of the few enjoyable parts of watching their team in recent years. Speaking of fans: Barkley’s collegiate supporters at Penn State, a plurality of whom are also Eagles diehards, will be delighted to get to cheer on a local hero who had become an adversary.
The NFL has long trended away from giving hefty contracts to running backs, and Barkley is a half-decade removed from his best performances with the Giants. But he will be just 27 this season, and his sublime conditioning and athleticism make him a good bet to remain productive behind an Eagles offensive line that is usually excellent. With future Hall of Fame center Jason Kelce retiring, the addition of Barkley is a reinforcement to ensure the Eagles continue having one of the league’s best running games. The only grumble for Barkley is that the Eagles ended last season amid acrimony and he’s playing in an era where his running backs can’t command huge salaries.
Grade for the Eagles: B-
Grade for Barkley: B
The Eagles sign Bryce Huff, furthering a New York-to-Philly pipeline
Edge rusher Huff put up 10 sacks for the Jets last year, a true breakout season after he totalled 7.5 in his first three years combined. The Eagles under general manager Howie Roseman love their pass-rushers; two years ago, the Eagles had 70 sacks, just two off the NFL’s single-season record. Roseman and company believe Huff, who will be 26 this season, fits into a long line of Eagles edge defenders who can get after the QB and put him on the ground. Double-digit sack producers do not often get to the open market, and when they do, they often cost more than the $34m in guarantees Philly gave Huff.
There are reasons Huff cost less than a typical young edge rusher making it to free agency. A former undrafted free agent, Huff is both a tremendous success story through perseverance and a player with a fairly limited track record. He put up strong QB pressure stats in 2022 and the big sack numbers in 2023, but he does not feel like a certainty to continue producing 10-plus sacks a year. Huff’s ability as a run defender is also questionable and contributed to the Eagles getting him on just a three-year deal. The Eagles are placing a bet that Huff gives them premium production at a slightly-less-than-premium rate. He also gets to leave the Aaron Rodgers sideshow.
Grade for the Eagles: C+
Grade for Huff: A-
