March 11 is the starting gun for the NFL’s 2024 free agent period. But before teams can claim their spot in the race, they’ve got to do their prep work first.
All 32 franchises will be taking inventory and adjusting their payroll in order to maximize spending against the league’s salary cap. For some teams, it means restructuring contracts and waiting for the legal tampering date to begin reporting their big signings. For others, it means discarding veteran starters in order to sneak under the spending limit or create the space for new megadeals.
Those moves have trickled in as offseason preparation ramps up. Some of the names being hastily added to free agent lists are recognizable. Others less so. But all created vital savings by cleaning out their lockers and leaving quietly.
Let’s take a look at who has been released as free agent signings loom.
S Eddie Jackson and G Cody Whitehair, Chicago Bears
Cap savings: $12,560,000 (Jackson), $9,146,000 (Whitehair)
Jackson was an All-Pro in 2018 and served as a defensive captain for a solid Bears defense, but his efficacy in coverage waned significantly over the last four seasons. Whitehair was a Pro Bowler the same year as Jackson’s breakthrough but faced similar concerns as the mileage piled up on his NFL odometer.
DT Lawrence Guy and S Adrian Phillips, New England Patriots
Cap savings: $3 million each
New England’s transition from Bill Belichick’s leadership took another step forward with the release of one of his unsung veterans. Guy spent the last seven seasons as a big-bodied defensive lineman with the Patriots. While he didn’t rack up much in terms of counting stats, his presence and ability to flatten rushing lanes was vital to a thriving defense.
Guy wasn’t the only veteran New England released as it moves into the post-Belichick era. Phillips was cut the same day, saving an additional $3 million and paving the way for a potential spending spree this offseason.
OT Chukwuna Okorafor, C Mason Cole and QB Mitchell Trubisky, Pittsburgh Steelers
Cap savings: $8,750,000 (Okorafor), $4,750,000 (Cole) and $2.9 million (Trubisky)
Okorafor was Pittsburgh’s starting right tackle between 2020 and 2022, earning a three-year, $29.25 million contract extension in the process. He was phased out of the starting lineup last fall and now heads to free agency.
Cole started every regular season game for the Steelers over the last two years, but largely underwhelmed. Trubisky competed with Kenny Pickett for a starting role and played forgettable football, eventually being replaced by Mason Rudolph in the Steelers’ run to the 2024 NFL Playoffs.
S Tracy Walker, Detroit Lions
Cap savings: $5.5 million
Walker couldn’t fill in for an injured Chauncey Gardner-Johnson and eventually lost his starting role as Detroit relied more on younger players like Brian Branch, Kerby Joseph and Ifeatu Melifonwu in the secondary. He gave up a 117.9 passer rating in coverage last fall.
C Brian Allen, Los Angeles Rams
Cap savings: $4,130,000
Allen started all 17 games in the Rams’ Super Bowl-winning 2021 campaign. Since then he’s only made five starts thanks to a 2022 injury before losing his place on the depth chart to Coleman Shelton.
EDGE Emmanuel Ogbah, Miami Dolphins
Cap savings: $13,700,000
Ogbah is a valuable rotational presence, but couldn’t justify a near $14 million cap hit. He has just 6.5 sacks over the last two seasons and will now get the chance to chase a second Super Bowl ring elsewhere.
G Laken Tomlinson, New York Jets
Cap savings: $8.1 million
The Jets aren’t exactly in a place to be jettisoning blockers, but the 32-year-old Tomlinson may have entered a state of diminishing returns. While he’d been a Pro Bowler in 2021 and started all 34 games for New York the last two seasons, the franchise felt his cash owed could be better spent elsewhere — particularly with players like Bryce Huff, Mekhi Becton and Connor McGovern headed toward free agency.
EDGE Shaquil Barrett
Cap savings: $8.1 million
Barrett broke out for a league-high 19.5 sacks in his first season with the Bucs back in 2019 and played a key role for a Super Bowl-winning team one year later. But he has just 7.5 sacks the last two seasons and turns 32 years old this autumn. Tampa Bay will have to designate him a post-June 1 cut to realize any savings, but moving on from the veteran pass rusher should push the team’s available cap space over $50 million headed into the start of free agency.
TE Jonnu Smith, Atlanta Falcons
Cap savings: $6.5 million
Smith enjoyed a resurgent 2023, springing for more receiving yards in his first season as a Falcon (582) than he did in two years with the New England Patriots. But he was too expensive for new head coach Raheem Morris’s needs, especially with Kyle Pitts on the roster. At 28 years old, he’ll be a valued commodity in this year’s free agent marketplace.
WR Marquez Valdes-Scantling, Kansas City Chiefs
Cap savings: $12 million
Valdes-Scantling came up big in the playoffs, but his speed couldn’t make up for his iffy hands. He’s a useful wideout, just not one worth the $14 million he was owed in 2024 — especially after just 21 catches for a wideout needy Chiefs team last fall.
RB Alexander Mattison, Minnesota Vikings
Cap savings: $3,350,000
Mattison was primed to take the reins once Minnesota discarded Dalvin Cook. Instead, he remained mostly the same low efficiency back he was in 2022, only with more playing time. That leaves some combination of Ty Chandler, Kene Nwangwu and restricted free agent Cam Akers as the Vikings’ top three backs headed into free agency.
S Kevin Byard, Philadelphia Eagles
Philadelphia hoped adding the former All-Pro would fix its problems in the secondary. Instead, Byard was a flawed safety unable to reclaim the glory of his best years as a Tennessee Titan. His inflated salary made him an easy cut, even for an Eagles team that spiraled out of the 2024 NFL Playoffs.
TE Logan Thomas and OT Charles Leno, Washington Commanders
Cap savings: $6.5 million and $7.4 million, respectively
Washington’s rebuild continues thanks to the release of two long-tenured veterans. Thomas had developed into a useful tight end in four seasons with the Commanders. Leno started 47 games over the last three seasons in D.C.. But both players were on the wrong side of 30 with a youth movement underway under new owner Josh Harris. The two moves clear out more than $90 million in salary cap space for the offseason.
CB Darious Williams and S Rayshawn Jenkins, Jacksonville Jaguars
Cap savings: $11 million and $5,428,000, respectively
Williams signed a three year, $30 million contract in hopes of reviving the Jags’ secondary. He lived up to the billing, allowing a 68.9 passer rating in coverage in 2022 and then dropping that number to 63.5 while starting all 17 games in 2023. But Jacksonville’s defense remained a mess and the cost savings of releasing the soon-to-be 31-year-old were too tempting to pass up. He should have little issue finding a new home this spring.
Jenkins’ 62.5 passer rating allowed in coverage was a career best, though it didn’t tell the whole story of an up-and-down 2023. Like Williams he’s on the wrong side of 30 — and thus incompatible with the Jaguars’ tear down.
S Jamal Adams, S Quandre Diggs and TE Will Dissly, Seattle Seahawks
Cap savings: $16.5 million, $11 million and $6,970,000, respectively
Seattle’s Jamal Adams trade officially goes down as a bust. The Seahawks traded two first round picks to acquire him, then gave him a $70 million contract extension in 2021 just to see him play 22 total games the following three seasons. Diggs was the perennial Pro Bowler next to him in the secondary, but the veteran safety struggled last fall as his defense ranked 30th in the NFL in yards allowed and defensive efficiency.
Dissly was a useful blocking tight end and occasional receiving threat over six seasons in Seattle. Ultimately, that wasn’t worth the near $7 million in savings his release created.
