NFL Teams that Quietly Won Free Agency

When free agency opens, the NFL world becomes chaos. Numerous reactions are shown across the league from analysts, fans, and more in a negative and positive fashion. There are obvious winners every year, but some teams fall under the radar-based on big signings, or for one team, re-signings that will make their team exceptionally better. Let us look at four teams that fall into this category with some quietly sneaky moves.

Los Angeles Chargers

While they did not have the most glamorous free agency to this point, the Chargers addressed a huge need on the offensive line while also relacing TE Hunter Henry, who signed with the Patriots this offseason. The big signing on the offensive line is former Packers, C Corey Linsley. Linsley was regarded as one of the top centers in football last year, anchoring an impressive Packers offensive line. Now, he will do the same for the Chargers, who look to keep young QB, Justin Herbert, upright and create lanes for RB Austin Ekeler. The Chargers offensive line is a work in progress but adding Linsley is huge in building a foundation and one to build upon. Another move that was vital to the Chargers was signing TE Jared Cook to replace Henry. Cook is one of the more reliable tight ends in football and is a nice safety blanket for Herbert to go to when he is in trouble or in the red zone. It was not the biggest splashes, but the Chargers addressed key needs with key players, making for an effective offseason. 

Cleveland Browns

After his first offseason as a GM, Andrew Berry has followed it up with more success, making key moves and re-signings during the free agency period. The Browns’ biggest weakness in 2020 was the back end of their defense and Berry was aggressive from the jump to upgrade. Cleveland landed a pair of players from the Rams secondary, S John Johnson and CB Troy Hill to multi-year contracts. Both players are coming off good seasons and will a lot of quality snaps to the Browns, who will also be getting back S Grant Delpit and CB Greedy Williams, who were both injured for all of 2020. The Browns also came into agreement with LB Anthony Walker, a former Colt, strengthening a depleted linebacker room. The most underrated move they made was re-signing WR Rashard Higgins, who was an important piece to the Browns offense in 2020 and played a huge part in QB Baker Mayfield’s success. Despite all this, the Browns may not be done as they are in the mix for DE Jadeveon Clowney as well.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Usually, teams that win the Super Bowl start to lose players to free agency, but that is not the case for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The Bucs had numerous key free agents and signed all of them back to contracts, notably Shaq Barrett on defense and Rob Gronkowski on defense. Today, they completed the clean sweep of bringing their players back by signing RB Leonard Fournette. The Bucs did not go outside their team, but with their re-signings, they will now return all 22 starters and make another run at the Super Bowl. They have gone under the radar because they did not sign anyone new, but keeping their guys is going to be huge for their team’s further success.

Washington Football Team

After the Washington Football team limped into the playoffs at 7-9, the team decided to move on from QB Alex Smith, leaving a vacancy at quarterback. With the draft coming up, there is a chance WFT takes a quarterback, but that did not stop them from signing QB Ryan Fitzpatrick, the ageless wonder, to be their starting QB. Washington also added WR Curtis Samuel, CB William Jackson, and CB Ronald Darby to headline their free-agent class so far. With a quarterback that can push the ball down the field, plus more weapons on both sides of the ball to go along with an already good roster, Washington is putting themselves in a good position for success in 2021.

Info from spotrac.com

Writer

-By: Richie Dordas