NFL Free Agency 2022 Winners and Losers

NFL Offseason – Deshaun Watson. Matt Ryan. Davante Adams. Khalil Mack. Carson Wentz. What we call “2022 free agency” on the following offseason report card was really defined by a handful of blockbuster trades involving some of the NFL’s biggest names. So naturally Walkthrough and Football Outsiders are really grading all of the transactions so far, from trades to signings to re-signings to franchise taggings, with some retirements and releases sprinkled in and three void years tacked onto the end for New Orleans Saints fans.

The “rubric” for these report cards is self-explanatory. Disclaimers about there being plenty of offseason left and the fact that it takes three-to-30 years to evaluate any NFL decision are self-evident. You are here for the Buffalo Bills praise and the Green Bay Packers slander, so let’s get on with it.

AFC East

Buffalo Bills

Improved Roster: A
Used Resources Well: A+
Coherent Plan: A
Overall Grade: A

There’s much more to the Bills’ offseason than Von Miller. DaQuan Jones and Tim Settle offset the loss of Harrison Phillips and reinforce the interior defensive line. Rodger Saffold beefs up Josh Allen’s protection. O.J. Howard is a useful puzzle piece as a block-first tight end. Case Keenum is a shrewd, low-cost trade acquisition to fill out the quarterback room. And then there were the extensions: center Mitch Morse to maintain quality and continuity on the offensive line and receiver/returner Isaiah McKenzie for peanuts in a market where the Jaguars might have offered him $60 million in Baalke Bucks. Finally, there’s Miller, a major buff to a pass rush which already ranked seventh in adjusted sack rate in 2021.

It’s hard for a Bills-caliber contender to get significantly better in free agency, but Brandon Beane and company pulled it off.

Miami Dolphins

Improved Roster: A
Used Resources Well: B
Coherent Plan: B
Overall Grade: B+

The Dolphins were toodling along at their usual leisurely pace, feasting on a high-bulk, low-protein free agent diet of skill-position role players, Mike McDaniel binkies from the 49ers and special teams aces (Chase Edmonds, Raheem Mostert, Alex Ingold, Trent Sherfield, etc.). They looked ready to procrastinate their way through another offseason of tempering expectations: Sure, we finished just shy of the playoffs for two straight years, but there are still plenty of obstacles between us and the Super Bowl. And if there aren’t, well make some!

Then: Pow! The Tyreek Hill trade, just one day after the Terron Armstead signing. Suddenly, the Dolphins look like they are making a move to be a cross between this year’s Bengals (winning with sheer firepower if the quarterback develops) and the 2019 or 2021 49ers (the heck with the quarterback: we’ll YAC-and-sack our way to the top!)

It was a sudden shift, one the Dolphins probably weren’t considering when they entered free agency. It also cost them dearly in future draft capital. And it comes with considerable risks: the Bills still rule the division/conference, and Tua Tagovailoa may never be able to reach the pedals on this Lamborghini. But anything is better than another season of half-measures and gear-grinding.

New England Patriots

Improved Roster: C-
Used Resources Well: C
Coherent Plan: D-
Overall Grade: C

Don’t shop for new Buccaneers Brady jerseys yet, Patriots faithful: Bill Belichick has a plan! It may look like he’s staggering around with no offensive coordinator and a gutted coaching staff and signing binkie All-Last-Decade Team veterans (Devin McCourty, Mathew Slater, James White) while losing 40% of the starting offensive line and replacing J.C. Jackson with some dude from the Texans. But it’s all part of a grand strategy so subtle and cunning mere mortals cannot comprehend it! Jackson is guaranteed to flop for the Chargers, because that’s what ALL Patriots castoffs do! And Mac Jones will develop FASTER with Joe Judge screaming into one ear and Matt Patricia’s pencil digging into the other while the pocket collapses in his face!

But seriously: the Patriots have been losing ground on the Bills since the day after Christmas. Even if we add some bargain free agents over the next month and assume they hit a grand slam in the draft (which they rarely do), the Patriots will still just look like a wild-card team weighed down with mid-tier free agents and fading Super Bowl heroes.

New York Jets

Improved Roster: A
Used Resources Well: A+
Coherent Plan: B
Overall Grade: A-

In addition to reshaping their offense by adding two new tight ends (C.J. Uzomah, Tyler Conklin) and shuffling out a defensive back who no longer wanted to play for them (Marcus Maye) for one who does (D.J. Reed), the Jets took care of a ton of in-house free agents: Braxton Berrios, Mike White, Lamarcus Joyner, Tevin Coleman, Dan Feeney, and more. The additions give Mike LaFleur’s offense an identity and Zach Wilson better scaffolding. The retentions are an encouraging sign that Robert Saleh liked some of the things he saw in 2021 and that the Jets aren’t falling into the change-for-change’s-sake trap.

The Jets upgraded their roster significantly without overspending and set themselves up for a productive draft. In JetsLand, that’s as good as it gets, in March or any other month.

AFC North

Baltimore Ravens

Improved Roster: C-
Used Resources Well: C+
Coherent Plan: C
Overall Grade: C

Za’Darius Smith wriggling free before they could haul him into the boat was a big loss for the Ravens. Most of their other moves have been roughly lateral: center Bradley Bozeman for tackle Morgan Moses, safety Marcus Williams for cornerback Anthony Averett. There are also lots of older in-house free agents in the wind at press time (Calais Campbell, Jimmy Smith, Brandon Williams, etc.). A few will likely return, but the Ravens won’t be able to afford many.

The Ravens hope to get much better by getting much healthier in 2022, and they are keeping a little bit of money carved out in case Lamar Jackson gets around to emailing them about an extension. Unfortunately, the rest of the division and conference isn’t exactly waiting around for a bunch of running backs to rehab or for Jackson to crack the spine on Contract Negotiations 101. Like the Patriots, the Ravens are stuck in second gear in an Autobahn conference.

Cincinnati Bengals

Improved Roster: A
Used Resources Well: A+
Coherent Plan: A+
Overall Grade: A

The Bengals wisely bided their time after adding guards Ted Karras and Alex Cappa at the start of free agency, steering away from the pricey Terron Armstead/Duane Brown market and instead leaping on La’el Collins the moment the Cowboys jettisoned him. They have now added enough upgrades to Joe Burrow’s protection to select the best available athlete in the draft instead of scooping up whatever offensive lineman falls to them with the 31st pick.

Hayden Hurst arrives as an affordable, acceptable alternative to C.J. Uzomah (it’s not like there are many targets left to spread around) and Larry Ogunjobi could return after failing his physical with the Bears. But really, this Bengals free agency period was all about turning the team’s one major weakness into a potential strength. And they still had $24 million in cap space as of press time!

Cleveland Browns:

Improved Roster: A+
Used Resources Well: C+
Coherent Plan: D
Overall Grade: Incomplete

Yeah, there’s a lot to parse here.

The Browns are a much better, very different team with Deshaun Watson and Amari Cooper in the lineup. The price tag in draft capital to acquire both was hefty but not crippling: the Browns still possess second- and third-round picks this season. Their cap situation also remains manageable, at least for 2022 and 2023: Watson’s contract has been wedged into the space the Browns have been carving out for a Baker Mayfield extension for the past year or so. As for the “plan:” upgrading at quarterback when already strong at other key positions certainly makes sense.

But…

Pricing in the various layers of Watson risk is a little beyond a humble 32-team free-agent grading feature. There’s also a sense around the league that the Watson trade came down from the ownership level, leaving Andrew Berry and Kevin Stefanski in scramble mode to assemble the rest of the Browns roster. There are lots of tiny details still to be sorted out, like what to do with Mayfield in what has suddenly become a dried-up veteran quarterback market.

The Watson trade neither places the Browns immediately on the road to the Super Bowl nor the highway to hell. There are a lot of potential outcomes in between, and not even Doctor Strange would be able to choose the most likely one at this moment.

Pittsburgh Steelers

Improved Roster: B-
Used Resources Well: B
Coherent Plan: C-
Overall Grade: B-

Mitch Trubisky is an affordable band-aid at quarterback. James Daniels and Mason Cole should lift the Steelers’ ranking in adjusted line yards from 28th to perhaps 20th or so. Myles Jack for Joe Schobert is a modest upgrade at a premium price. JuJu Smith-Schuster, Ray-Ray McCloud and James Washington are all gone, but who needs diva receivers, right? The Steelers are poised to keep treading wild-card water with their sacks-and-YAC formula. But tread water they will.

AFC South

Houston Texans

Improved Roster: B-
Used Resources Well: B+
Coherent Plan: D
Overall Grade: B

Procrastinating on Deshaun Watson for a solid year until his legal situation became (incrementally) less murky and multiple teams were ready for a gee-golly bidding war turned out to be the right move. But let’s not pretend that was some brilliant plan by the Texans front office: it was just indecision and wishful thinking that ended up “paying off” (if you ignore the team’s comic irrelevance in 2021 and assume the ship sailed on them ever, you know, keeping, placating, and building around Watson).

The Texans now have a stockpile of extra first-round picks, their usual “let’s look busy” allocation of mid-tier free-agent additions and subtractions, and a plan to build around Lovie Smith and Davis Mills. That third item effectively negates the first two and reminds us that the Texans’ underlying problem remains the man behind the curtain.

Indianapolis Colts

Improved Roster: C+
Used Resources Well: B
Coherent Plan: D
Overall Grade: C+

Welcome to the Indianapolis Retirement Home for Almost Great Quarterbacks!

The 2020-2022 Colts are just the 2018-2021 Denver Broncos, only with a greater flair for the dramatic. The Broncos, you recall, convinced themselves they were one caretaker quarterback away from the Super Bowl each year and kept casting their lot with dreary midmarket middle managers such as Case Keenum, Joe Flacco, or Teddy Bridgewater. The Colts prefer to take bigger swings on last-legs legends like Philip Rivers, newcomer Matt Ryan, or Carson Wentz, who aged eight years for every season he was in Philly.

The recent Colts have had more success than the recent Broncos, mostly because they play in a division where one team is run by a youth pastor and another by guys who couldn’t identify Aaron Donald in a police lineup. But they keep finishing second to a team that runs a 1974 offense behind an Adam Gase reclamation project. And their response, each time it happens, is to extend the Andrew Luck Retirement Crisis Management Plan for yet another year instead of getting on with life. Based on my Twitter mentions, Colts fans have Stockholm Syndrome about the whole situation and now actively root for near-wild-card seasons led by pricey quarterbacks.

Ryan is toast, folks. Expensive, immobile toast. The rest of their moves were a minor net positive, but the Colts currently have no left tackle and are thin at wide receiver. And they have no first-round pick, of course. But Ryan will get the Colts through a nine-win season and into the seventh wild-card spot before collapsing into a heap of ossified bones, just in time for Chris Ballard to ignore the 2023 quarterback draft class and give Kirk Cousins the eye.

Jacksonville Jaguars

Improved Roster: A-
Used Resources Well: C-
Coherent Plan: D
Overall Grade: C-

Everyone except Jason Mendoza-level superfans landed in the same place with the Jaguars’ out-of-the-gate free-agent spree: they clearly got better, but at what cost? Trent Baalke was clearly negotiating against himself on the Christian Kirk and Evan Engram deals and making change-for-change’s-sake semi-lateral moves when swapping out Andrew Norwell for Brandon Scherff and Myles Jack for Foye Oluokon.

A more successful franchise would earn some benefit-of-the-doubt for these moves, which superficially don’t look too different from the 2021 Patriots’ free agent spree. The Jaguars overspend like this several times per decade and traditionally end up with nothing to show for it but dead money charges instead of supplemental picks two years later. Nothing about their latest splurge suggests that things will be different this time.

Tennessee Titans

Improved Roster: B
Used Resources Well: B+
Coherent Plan: B+
Overall Grade: B

The Robert Woods trade salvaged an otherwise dreary free-agency period for the Titans. Woods, Austin Hooper, and Trenton Cannon spruce up the team’s playmaking corps at WR2, TE1, and RB2, and Julio Jones was just playing out the string anyway. Keeping center Ben Jones on a team-friendly contract was also a significant move. The Titans’ “coherent plan” boils down to:

• Feast on the AFC South bottom-feeders;
• Earn high playoff seeding;
• Hope to get lucky.

It may not be the most brilliant plan in the world, but it’s appropriate, and the Titans are once again in position to carry it out.

AFC West

Denver Broncos

Improved Roster: A
Used Resources Well: A
Coherent Plan: A
Overall Grade: A

The best arguments against the Russell Wilson trade, Randy Gregory signing, and smaller complementary moves the Broncos made in March boil down to:

• Going all-in is risky and scary and therefore bad; or
• The AFC West is too tough so why try?

Both arguments make more sense when tweeting from a coffee shop than when running an NFL organization that has been stagnating for over half a decade. The Broncos risked not even having a playoff appearance to show for their strong 2018-2020 drafts if they kept twiddling their thumbs at quarterback.

The risk/reward ratio on the Wilson trade favorable, and the Broncos made supplementary moves (Gregory, linebacker Alex Singleton, re-signing linebacker Josey Jewell). to backstop the trade by reinforcing their defense. The Wilson gamble may fail, but doing less would have guaranteed failure.

Kansas City Chiefs

Improved Roster: D
Used Resources Well: C
Coherent Plan: D
Overall Grade: D

The Tyreek Hill trade feels like the end of a blissful youthful summer. Oh, the fun we had! But nothing lasts forever. The salary cap beckons us back to reality. The Chiefs needed Hill to agree to a significant contract overhaul if they had any hopes of propping up a defense which had already lost cornerbacks Charvarius Ward and Mike Hughes. Hill understood his market value. It was time to part on the beach and sunset and get back to practical matters like acquiring first- and second-round picks to add cornerbacks and edge rushers and converting the Cheetah budget into offers for second-tier free agents. So end the salad days. Here’s looking at you, kid. We’ll always have Super Bowl LIV.

Trading Hill was not the Chiefs’ original plan. It’s a logical pivot, but not an optimal one. The Chiefs traded a spark of brilliance for a measure of stability. Maybe it was necessary. Perhaps it was inevitable. But even if the Chiefs rip up the draft and somehow emerge a tiny bit better than they were before, they will never be quite as much fun again.

Las Vegas Raiders

Improved Roster: A
Used Resources Well: C+
Coherent Plan: C-
Overall Grade: B-

The Raiders see themselves as a team that reached the 2021 playoffs with an interim coach and therefore could build aggressively for the short term with the Davante Adams trade and Chandler Jones signing. The rest of humanity sees the Raiders as a wobbly 2021 wild-card fluke in the NFL’s toughest division that needs a floor-to-rafters rebuild. Mark Davis is the one writing the checks, and Josh McDaniels has much more to gain from a few nine- or 10-win seasons than from a purge, so here we are.

Lost among the headline-grabbing deals were a handful of McDaniels “Patriots guyz” additions (Brandon Bolden, Jakob Johnson in place of Alec Ingold, Jones in a way), the gutting of the linebacker corps (not a terrible thing), and a Rock Ya-Sin/Darius Phillips/Anthony Averett rebuild at cornerback (necessary).

All of the comings and goings leave the Raiders +700 to win the AFC West this year, with no first-round picks for two years and significant money tied up in a 33-year-old edge rusher and a receiver who might not be quite the same without His Moody Majesty throwing to him. We shouldn’t fall into the “the AFC West is too hard, so surrender” trap (see: the Broncos report card), but sometimes the odds are telling you all you need to know about a team’s offseason plan.

Los Angeles Chargers

Improved Roster: A
Used Resources Well: A
Coherent Plan: B+
Overall Grade: A

The best defense is often an excellent offense, and the best run defense is often an excellent offense AND an excellent pass defense, The Chargers added Sebastian Joseph-Day to a run defense which ranked 30th in DVOA last year, but Khalil Mack and J.C. Jackson should provide so many sacks, stops, and turnovers that the occasional 8-yard burst up the gut won’t matter much anyway.

In terms of resource usage: resigning Mike Williams was a quietly important move, adding Mack while retaining a first-round pick was brilliant, and converting Justin Herbert’s rookie-contract savings into 2022 value—taking on a little extra Mack money to broker the trade, winning the Jackson bidding war—was the right move. This is how an NFL team on the verge of contention should attack a short-term window.

NFC East

Dallas Cowboys

Improved Roster: D
Used Resources Well: D
Coherent Plan: D-
Overall Grade: D

We’re at an inflection point in the Cowboys’ endless binge-purge cycle: they’re shedding salaries (Amari Cooper, La’el Collins), getting out-maneuvered for their own free agents (Randy Gregory), and watching valuable role players erode away (Cedrick Wilson, Connor Williams) while adding substandard replacements (Dante Fowler, James Washington). They’re doing it all at a time when they would be justified to push money down the line in pursuit of a short Super Bowl window, Rams-style.

One underlying Cowboys issue is their need to turn contract negotiations into soap operas: the Dak Prescott and Ezekiel Elliott sagas, whatever the hell happened with Gregory, the Cooper trade-contract-trade epoch which somehow only lasted 2.5 seasons. For every ultra-friendly Tyron Smith/Tank Lawrence deal Jerrah nails, he ends up overspending for a Zeke or Jaylon Smith or negotiating until his own back is to the wall with Prescott or Gregory.

While the AFC is an ever-escalating arms race, the NFC is a conference of attrition: it will probably be won by the contender which backslides the least. The Cowboys have slipped substantially. Their hope is that teams like the Packers end up sliding even further.

New York Giants

Improved Roster: C-
Used Resources Well: C
Coherent Plan: B+
Overall Grade: C+

The Giants are rebuilding and they know it. This was a harm-reduction free agency period for them: departures such as Logan Ryan help the team move on financially from the Dave Gettleman fiasco, while Mark Glowinski brings affordable competence to the offensive line and Tyrod Taylor should provide just enough of a nudge/quasi-alternative to keep the Daniel Jones conversation (outside and inside the organization) honest.

The best news for the Giants last week were the Cam Robinson extension and Brandon Scherff signing in Jacksonville; the Laremy Tunsil extension for the Texans; and all the quarterback moves. The Jaguars will probably select edge rusher Aidan Richardson at the top of the draft. The Texans are also likely to pursue a defender. The Falcons and Panthers remain in the rookie quarterback market. That means a top offensive tackle will be available for the Giants fifth overall and an excellent Best Available Athlete could fall to them with the 10th pick. Again, Joe Shoen knows this, and knows that the goal is to build for 2023 and beyond, which is why inactivity is good activity in East Rutherford.

Philadelphia Eagles

Improved Roster: B
Used Resources Well: B+
Coherent Plan: A
Overall Grade: B+

The Eagles added a top-tier edge rusher in Haason Reddick and a viable WR2/WR3 in Zach Pascal while restructuring Fletcher Cox and Darius Slay to stay solvent. The departures of Alex Singleton and Hassan Ridgeway won’t matter much.

Free agency was just an appetizer for a draft where three first-round picks are the main course. The Eagles were wise to neither gorge themselves nor purge when it wasn’t necessary.

Washington (Ugh) Commanders

Improved Roster: C
Used Resources Well: D
Coherent Plan: D
Overall Grade: D+

The best thing about the Carson Wentz trade was that it was over quickly. The Commanders stayed out of the Deshaun Watson sideshow and weren’t dragged into any Matt Ryan/Baker Mayfield intrigue. Wentz already feels like a bad decision Washington made two years ago and now must simply cope with. Plus, a $22-million salary, a third-round pick, and some hot-dog blazer memes are starting to look like a small price to pay for a guy who can hover in the top 25 in DVOA and won’t show up on any police blotters.

The rest of the Commanders offseason—swapping out Brandon Scherff for Andrew Norwell, jettisoning Landon Collins, retaining J.D. McKissic and Cam Sims—is just a bunch of stuff that happened.

NFC North

Chicago Bears

Improved Roster: C-
Used Resources Well: B
Coherent Plan: B
Overall Grade: B-

Khalil Mack and Allen Robinson are gone, as are guard James Daniels, defensive lineman Bilal Nichols, and returner/receiver Jakeem Grant. A whole squadron of newcomers are on board, some as lateral replacements (Lucas Patrick for Daniels), others as curiosities. (Byron Pringle and Equanimous St. Brown could host a “WR4s on Great Offenses” podcast. Aaron Rodgers and Patrick Mahomes would never be guests.)

It all adds up to a rebuilding team shuffling money and manpower around. The second-round pick the Bears received for Mack may be their most interesting—and valuable—acquisition of the offseason so far.

Detroit Lions

Improved Roster: C+
Used Resources Well: C-
Coherent Plan: D
Overall Grade: C-

Zzzzzzzzzzzz Oops! Sorry: the Lions offseason lulled us into a deep coma!

D.J. Chark is a solid acquisition, Trey Flowers a logical subtraction. Cornerback Mike Hughes is a perma-prospect who appeared to be coming around for the Chiefs last year. Other than those minor moves and some even more minor ones, the Lions have busily signed in-house free agents, which is a totally normal thing for a 3-13-1 team to want to do.

Like the Jets, the Lions deserve some credit for prioritizing in-house players and avoiding a silly Jaguars-style splurge. But the Jets at least have a quarterback prospect, and their acquisitions gave the offense a sense of direction. The Lions look eager to enjoy another mulligan year of Dan Campbell soundbites and backdoor covers. We’ll reserve judgment until we see what Brad Holmes does with two first-round picks and an early second-rounder. But it’s time to start moving forward, fellas.

Green Bay Packers

Improved Roster: D
Used Resources Well: C-
Coherent Plan: F all the minuses on earth
Overall Grade: F

It takes two to tango in a dysfunctional codependency. Yes, Aaron Rodgers is as prickly as a porcupine petting zoo, but the Mark Murphy/Brian Gutekunst braintrust really gets their jollies from trolling him, even if it hurts the team.

Yes, yes, Davante Adams supposedly wanted to play for the Raiders, the Packers outbid them, blah blah blah, spinney-spin-spin. The Packers held Adams’ rights. They’re a Super Bowl contender. There was no reason to trade him two days into free agency, less than a week after Rodgers signed his latest money-as-surrogate-for-mutual-respect contract, except that they liked the price and seem to enjoy the ever-roiling soap opera as much as Rodgers does.

Also, the Packers lost two offensive linemen: Lucas Patrick and Rodgers bestie Billy Turner. Writing Za’Darius Smith’s loss off as a necessary compromise, the Packers could have kept most of the core of their roster together by doing Saints stuff. And Saints stuff is 100% justified for a 14-team win with a Hall of Fame quarterback in a conference with few serious contenders, as opposed to the Saints. If the Packers really care about future draft picks and resources, they should have just let Rodgers play the field.

Assemble all the receiver-heavy Rodgers fanfic mock draft scenarios you like: the Packers have guaranteed another Super Bowl second runner-up finish in 2022, at best, with their quarterback beefing and bloviating each week to everyone on earth with a Stitcher account.

Minnesota Vikings

Improved Roster: D
Used Resources Well: F
Coherent Plan: C-
Overall Grade: D

It was tempting to give the Vikings an F-minus-minus-minus-minus in every category simply for extending Kirk Cousins’ contract even further into the future. But in a league where teams trade for Carson Wentz and break the bank for Deshaun Watson consolation prizes, even a premium-priced Cousins starts to look pretty good.

Adam Thielen’s contract extension is a quieter but larger problem: Thielen turns 32 this summer, has a mounting injury history, and is settling into a WR2 role; he can still play, but he’s not the sort of player a rebuilding team should be extending its relationship with. Meanwhile, the Vikings tried to trade or renegotiate with Danielle Hunter but ended up eating his $26-million cap hit all at once. Then they randomly added Za’Darius Smith because … they’re contending???

Cleaning up the excesses of the Rick Spielman/Mike Zimmer “Let’s pay Rolls Royce prices for Hondas” era is going to take a while, especially when the new braintrust keeps making more messes.

NFC South

Atlanta Falcons

Improved Roster: D
Used Resources Well: D
Coherent Plan: D+
Overall Grade: D+

You can read my thoughts on the Matt Ryan trade here.

Two weeks ago, the Falcons were restructuring Ryan’s contract yet again to exchange 2022 cap space for future financial nightmares, so it is obvious that they didn’t really have a “coherent plan.” And gumming up Ryan’s contract so badly that they could only get a third-round pick in return isn’t exactly an example of “using resources well.” But at least the Falcons can start the pre-rebuilding process, something they have been putting off for about three years.

Carolina Panthers

Improved Roster: C+
Used Resources Well: A
Coherent Plan: C+
Overall Grade: B

The Panthers did a fine job dusting themselves off after they fell off the Deshaun Watson chase. Center Bradley Bozeman and guard Austin Corbett are quality additions for an offensive line which finished 25th in adjusted line yards and 27th in adjusted sack rate in 2021. Haason Reddick’s departure stings, but the Panthers invested in lots of in-house free agents (headlined by Donte Jackson) and near-free agents (DJ Moore) while parting ways with players unlikely to help them moving forward (A.J. Bouye, hopefully Cam Newton before things get really cringe).

If the Panthers get healthier, stick Kenny Pickett under center, and prevent Matt Rhule from doing actual harm, they could be sneaky competitive in 2022. It’s like the first year of a proper rebuild, just delayed until Year 3!

New Orleans Saints

Improved Roster: D
Used Resources Well: C+
Coherent Plan: C
Overall Grade: C

Deshaun Watson would have been the Saints’ “get out of cap purgatory free” card. Instead, the Saints took out a seventh mortgage to clear $29 million in 2022 cap space for … Jameis Winston? The fact that the Commanders traded for Carson Wentz and the Steelers opted for Mitch Trubisky should tell you how impressed the rest of the NFL really was by Winston’s pre-ACL injury semi-hot streak last year.

The Saints were now theoretically $14 million over the 2023 salary cap before adding Winston and are showing nearly $168 million in liabilities for 2024, with players like Cameron Jordan and Demario Davis (who will each be 35 before that season starts), Alvin Kamara (a running back with legal issues), and Taysom Hill (insert wisecrack here) carrying big numbers or voidable years two seasons down the road. This lack of future flexibility isn’t just an anchor the Saints will be dragging for years, but it’s the reason they could not add the bells and whistles Watson clearly wanted in a new contract: guaranteed money has to go somewhere, and the Saints ran out of cap nooks and crannies.

That said, this year’s cap machinations were a wonder to behold, like a fraternity pledge stuffing a billiard ball in his mouth or a drunk landing an airplane in a hurricane. If the Saints’ goal is to prove that they can remain quasi-competitive while drowning in revolving debt, then mission accomplished! If they hope to build a Super Bowl contender in the next five years, however, they either needed Watson or a little common-sense credit repair.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Improved Roster: C
Used Resources Well: A+++
Coherent Plan: A
Overall Grade: A

The “resource” in this case is Tom Brady’s value as a recruiter/recruitment tool. Brady also provides full justification for any “Die Broke” cap management tactics. Adding Russell Gage as a WR3 was a smart move. Trading for Shaq Mason to replace Ali Marpet was a grace note.

There are tons of aging Buccaneers veterans sitting on the free-agent aftermarket right now. A few will rejoin Brady’s Heroes (Gronk), but someone is going to toss leftover cap bucks at Ndamukong Suh, William Gholston, etc. The Buccaneers roster won’t be as solid as it was in 2020 and 2021, but at the Super Bowl shortlist level, free agency is more about maintenance and adaptability than improvement.

NFC West

Arizona Cardinals

Improved Roster: D
Used Resources Well: C-
Coherent Plan: D
Overall Grade: D

Chandler Jones, Christian Kirk, Chase Edmonds, and Jordan Hicks are all gone. Zach Ertz, James Conner, edge rusher Devon Kennard and TE2 Maxx Williams (among others) are all back, which would be great if the Cardinals were a 13-win team trying to keep the band together, not an annual disappointment in a fiercely competitive division.

The Cardinals are, at best, wandering around in circles. Think of them as the Dolphins of the Desert, but with a less vocal fanbase/press pool.

Los Angeles Rams

Improved Roster: C
Used Resources Well: B
Coherent Plan: A+
Overall Grade: B

Cap management can be deceptively easy. When a team is in a Super Bowl window, it must do anything possible to extend that window. And the Rams are obviously in a Super Bowl window. That means Matthew Stafford extensions and splashy Allen Robinson additions make perfect sense.

Everything comes with a price, of course. Andrew Whitworth retired, Von Miller is gone, Robert Woods netted pennies on the dollar in a trade, and lots of rank-and-file veterans (Darious Williams, Austin Corbett, Sebastian Joseph-Day, Johnny Hekker) signed elsewhere and must be replaced with whatever sixth-round picks the Rams have lying around. But the Rams did re-sign Whitworth replacement Joseph Noteboom, among others. They know what they are doing. And they know that it can pay off, because it already has.

San Francisco 49ers

Improved Roster: B
Used Resources Well: C
Coherent Plan: B
Overall Grade: B

The 49ers defense ranked 31st against No. 1 wide receivers, so signing Charvarius Ward was a sound move. Ward may not be a “shutdown cornerback,” but he has proven that he can play at a near-Pro Bowl level on a defense with a strong pass rush.

It’s becoming clear that any Jimmy Garoppolo trade will be more of a fizzle than a blockbuster, which lowers the 49ers’ “resources” score. At press time, it sounds like John Lynch is trying to milk everything he can from a dry market. It’s unlikely they will get more than a Day 3 pick, but with loose cannons like the Seahawks and the Panthers still seeking quarterbacks, anything is possible.

Seattle Seahawks

Improved Roster: D
Used Resources Well: B+
Coherent Plan: C
Overall Grade: C

The Seahawks traded Russell Wilson for draft picks so they could rebuild, but no one seems very convinced: A) that’s what they are really doing; or B) that they are capable of pulling it off. Had they replaced Pete Carroll with some Mini-McVay, we’d be penciling Kenny Pickett into their plans and extending the Seahawks lots of optimism/benefit-of-the-doubt. But Carroll, one of the most successful coaches in football history? He’s old, man.

The rest of the Seahawks’ free-agent moves provide little clarity about the team’s direction. Re-signing Will Dissly, Sydney Jones, Quandre Diggs, and Rashaad Penny made sense but didn’t exactly signal a change in organizational direction. Acquisitions Noah Fant, Shelby Harris, and Uchenna Nwosu don’t really address the Seahawks’ need positions.

The 2022 Seahawks may emulate the 2021 Saints and 2020 Patriots: hovering around .500, beating weaker opponents based on professionalism/reputation/homefield advantage, and hoping a quarterback solution drops into their lap next year.