NFL free agency is underway, so let the grades and analysis of notable deals begin.

Each year in this space, I run through every significant free-agent signing and trade across the first two months of the NFL offseason. I hand out a grade for each move from the team's perspective. The grade tries to estimate a player's chance of outplaying the contract he signed, given his history and the track record of similar players, as well as whether the team could have used the money more wisely, given its situation. To say it is an inexact science would be an affront to science.

Grades come in as ESPN confirms various deals, and they're subject to change later in March as we find out more specifics about the structure of contracts and what is and is not guaranteed. Check out my nine favorite free-agent signings here.

Jump to an interesting deal:

How Tom Brady fits with the Bucs

Teddy B is a great fit for Carolina

Why Philip Rivers is an upgrade

Stefon Diggs trade is a win-win

Jimmy Graham? At age 33?

Why the 49ers won their trade

Vikings are all-in on Kirk Cousins

Bill O'Brien and the Texans did what?!

Did the Browns overpay for a TE?

Ryan Tannehill got how much?

Thursday, April 9

Los Angeles Rams get: 2020 second-round pick (No. 57)

Houston Texans get: WR Brandin Cooks, 2022 fourth-round pick

Rams grade: B

Texans grade: D+

In the latest battle of Bill O'Brien versus any conceivable or feasible notion of draft pick value, the Texans fired off one of their last remaining selections to not solve their self-created problem, trading for wide receiver Brandin Cooks. Even if Cooks returns to his prior form, the Texans seem to operate in a vacuum in which there is no concept of what the other 31 teams are doing or thinking. This trade is an admission of failure from the Rams. It's a flailing response to failure for the Texans.

Read the full analysis from Barnwell on the Cooks trade.

Wednesday, April 8

Chicago Bears get: QB Nick Foles

Jacksonville Jaguars get: 2020 fourth-round pick

Bears grade: C-

Jaguars grade: A-

Finally! We had to wait for the specific terms of Foles' restructured contract to come available, as it seemed almost impossible to believe that the Bears would inherit the three years and $57 million remaining on his contract. I assumed the Jaguars would have to attach a meaningful draft pick to get out of the $20.6 million in remaining guarantees they owed Foles, who was paid $30 million for his four starts in a Jaguars uniform.

Instead, the Jags got out of the deal and even netted a fourth-round pick for their efforts. General manager Dave Caldwell & Co. deserve a lot of credit for getting themselves out of the Foles pickle, even if they were the ones responsible for creating the pickle in the first place. Jacksonville will eat $18.8 million in dead money on its cap this season and then be free of the Foles deal from that point forward, leaving the team with more than $100 million in projected cap room for 2021.

The Bears were able to get creative with Foles' contract, in part because he was willing to give up virtually all of the non-guaranteed money to make the deal work. The former Super Bowl MVP is now on a three-year, $24 million contract with $21 million fully guaranteed, including $8 million in 2020, $8 million in 2021 and $5 million of the remaining $8 million in 2022. He has the chance to earn some of that money back with incentives, but given that he would have likely come away with something in the $12 million range over 2021 and 2022 as a backup after he was cut by the Jags, he gave up both the upside of his old deal and about $11 million in likely future earnings to move to the Bears.

Nick Foles made just four starts in Jacksonville, and now he'll compete with Mitchell Trubisky for the job in Chicago. Photo by Zach Bolinger/Icon Sportswire

There's nobody else on a veteran contract like this in football. Foles has most of his third year guaranteed, and when players get three guaranteed seasons, they're usually being paid like superstars. Borderline starters like Foles rarely get more than one guaranteed year on their deals. He is essentially guaranteed to get top-level backup money for two years and what will be mid-tier backup money in the third. That's not necessarily a bad deal in itself and it's much more in line with Foles' established level of play than his prior deal.

Giving up a fourth-round pick for an appropriately-compensated quarterback isn't a great move, though, given the other options for the Bears. They could have saved the money they spent on tight end Jimmy Graham and gone after a less expensive second pass-rusher than Robert Quinn and used that cash to go after Teddy Bridgewater or Tom Brady, both of whom seem like higher-floor options than Foles.

At a lower price, they could have waited for the Bengals to release Andy Dalton, who fits in the same group as Bridgewater or Brady, or gone after Cam Newton. (The claim that the Bears weren't interested in Newton because of his injury history makes you wonder whether they are even interested in leaking plausible arguments, given that Foles missed most of 2019 with a broken collarbone and hasn't been able to start for any extended length of time without getting injured.)

All four of those quarterbacks would have expected to start ahead of Mitchell Trubisky, whose recent history doesn't need to be rehashed here. While the organization has said that Foles and Trubisky are in a competition for the starting job, acquiring Foles and paying him like a high-end backup feels like a self-fulfilling prophecy. (Chicago general manager Ryan Pace also said Trubisky was the team's starting quarterback as recently as the combine, just three weeks before acquiring Foles.) My suspicion is that the Bears still badly want Trubisky to win the job and traded for a quarterback who was just good enough to push him without being good enough to clearly push him aside.

Foles' upside is the stuff of legend, of course, but his résumé as a very good quarterback amounts to nine starts under Chip Kelly in 2013 and two playoff games under Doug Pederson in 2018, one of which came against the league's second-worst defense. Foles has posted a passer rating of 79.8 and averaged 6.4 yards per attempt across his 43 other starts, which is replacement-level stuff.

In the past, his supporters have suggested throwing out his run under Jeff Fisher with the Rams while suggesting he would excel under Andy Reid disciples. The Bears are hoping that carries over, given that coach Matt Nagy once worked under Reid and Pederson in Kansas City, while quarterbacks coach John DeFilippo was in the same role while Foles made his Super Bowl run.

I'm not sure that theory is convincing. Foles wasn't great last season in Jacksonville with DeFilippo as his offensive coordinator. During that six-game run to the Super Bowl in 2017 with Pederson and DeFilippo, he was wildly inconsistent, mixing in two disastrous starts at the end of the regular season and a first half against the Falcons in which a dropped interception turned into an Eagles completion and a critical field goal. Foles was only competent filling in again for an injured Wentz the following season under Pederson.

That run in 2013 came under Kelly (and quarterbacks coach Bill Lazor, now the Chicago offensive coordinator) in an offense the league simply wasn't ready to stop. When the league adjusted to Kelly's tempo in 2014, Foles' numbers immediately retreated back to earth. He can look good for a short period of time in a system that's built around his strengths, but Nagy wasn't able to build that offense for Trubisky last season, and Foles' injury history doesn't make it likely he would hold up for an entire campaign. I understand why the Bears acquired Foles, but I don't think he actually solves their quarterback problem.

Saturday, April 4

The deal: One year, $910,000

Grade: B

The Bears know what they're going to get from Ifedi: solid run blocking and too many penalties. Ifedi has committed 52 penalties since joining the league in 2016, six more than any other player. Twenty-nine of those penalties are false starts, which is both good (since they only cost five yards) and bad (since they should be a fixable problem and Ifedi hasn't been able to kick the habit). Ifedi didn't get much help after starting his career with Tom Cable as offensive line coach, but there are also still too many post-Cable moments in which he looks like he just hasn't developed much from the guy the Seahawks drafted in the first round in 2016.

The Seahawks likely would have picked up Ifedi's fifth-year option and tolerated the penalties if they were more optimistic about his pass blocking, but he hasn't impressed there, either. He ranked 111th in ESPN's pass block win rate metric in 2019, and he has allowed between 5.5 and 6.5 sacks in each of his four seasons, per Stats LLC. Ifedi came into the league as an athletic project, and he's still one after four years in Seattle.

At the same time, though, projects like George Fant and Hal Vaitai have netted significant deals in free agency, and even a much worse former first-rounder like Cedric Ogbuehi was able to get $1.6 million guaranteed from the Seahawks. Ifedi is getting $137,500 to sign. Chances are he is still a below-average starting lineman, but even if he ends up as their swing tackle, the Bears are paying the minimum to find out whether he can turn into something more.

The deal: Three years, $7.5 million

Grade: B-

After an All-Pro season in 2017, Greg the Leg fell off slightly in 2018 while battling a groin injury and then collapsed in 2019. Zuerlein hit just 72.7% of his field goals and finished 21st in Football Outsiders' kicking metric, which accounts for distance. He went 5-of-11 from 40-to-49 yards after going 41-of-49 on those kicks over his previous seven seasons.

Frankly, NFL teams overreact to small samples when it comes to kickers, and that has happened here with Zuerlein. He has had bad seasons in the past and improved dramatically the following season, like when he hit 74.2% of his kicks as a rookie and followed with a 92.9% rate the following season. I'd be concerned if his groin injury had destroyed his mechanics, but the Cowboys hired former Rams special-teams coach John Fassel to take over that role in Dallas, so if Zuerlein was cooked, I'd expect Fassel to have pushed them in a different direction. The Cowboys are buying low here, and the $2.25 million guaranteed to Zuerlein means he's the favorite over incumbent Kai Forbath, who got a one-year deal to return to Dallas.

Saturday, March 28

The deal: Three years, $31.5 million

Grade: B-

Brockers, of course, had agreed to a deal with the Ravens before Baltimore didn't like what it saw in the LSU product's physical and retracted its deal. Presented with an opportunity to bring back their former first-round pick, the Rams used some of the cap space they cleared when they cut Todd Gurley and Clay Matthews by inking Brockers to a three-year pact worth a maximum of $31.5 million. It's not clear how much is guaranteed, but it's unlikely Brockers will have more than $21 million of the deal in guarantees, which was reportedly the case with his Ravens contract.

I would have been more excited about this deal if the Rams had signed Brockers to it at the beginning of free agency, because they used some of their cap space in the meantime to sign Leonard Floyd and A'Shawn Robinson. Brockers completes the foursome on the defensive line and will move back to his combo role of playing defensive end on early downs and tackle in passing situations, but I wonder whether this team has committed too much of the limited room it has to its starting D-linemen. The Rams are crying out for help at linebacker, along the offensive line, and depth just about anywhere on the defensive side of the ball. Brockers is a good player, and the Rams ended up getting a fair price, but he made more sense at the beginning of March than he does now.

The deal: One year, $6 million

Grade: B

Signed as the replacement for Brockers, Ravens fans might be even more excited about Wolfe than they were about the Rams' stalwart. Wolfe had seven sacks in 12 games for the Broncos last season and comes at a fraction of both the cost and commitment of Brockers. At his best, Wolfe can be a disruptive force as a 3-4 defensive end and can create havoc coming off of twists; it's easy to imagine him tying up linemen to create pass-rushing opportunities for Matthew Judon.

When you look into why Wolfe was so much cheaper than Brockers, you see why the Ravens preferred the former before his physical. Wolfe is a year older than Brockers, and injuries have been a consistent nuisance for the 30-year-old, who has missed 20 games and most of five others over the past seven years with various ailments. Brockers has missed a total of two games over that time frame. Brockers is also a better run defender, which is going to be where the Ravens will need Wolfe (or would have needed Brockers) most. Wolfe is a reasonable Plan B given the circumstances, and this is a low-risk deal.

Derek Wolfe, a second-round pick in 2012, had 33 career sacks for the Broncos. Ric Tapia/Icon Sportswire

The deal: One year, $3.1 million

Grade: B-

In February, I wrote about why the Broncos should have let Harris leave if the reported interest in their defensive tackle at a rate of more than $10 million per season was accurate. Well, it wasn't accurate.

Harris was solid, especially after the Broncos used more Mike Purcell at nose tackle and let Harris play defensive end, but his six sacks was not representative of his true pass-rushing ability. In the end, the Broncos got a fair price for Harris, who will get a chance to prove he's worth that long-term deal in a second season under Vic Fangio.

The deal: One year, $3.8 million

Grade: C

The Cardinals traded for Gilbert a year ago, only for the longtime Steelers tackle to miss all of 2019 because of a torn ACL. Arizona got by with swing tackle Justin Murray on the right side and brought back Murray for another season, but I figured it would try to upgrade that spot. I didn't think it would be with Gilbert, who seemed more likely to retire.

After missing 36 of the past 48 possible games, Gilbert isn't likely to be able to hold up to the grind of an NFL season. The money here isn't onerous, particularly if it's not fully guaranteed, but the Cardinals shouldn't be putting themselves in a situation where they're projecting Gilbert to start.

Wednesday, March 25

The deal: One year, $8 million

Grade: A-

Although Suh has seemed content to wander the league on a series of one-year deals since he left the Dolphins after the 2017 season, the Bucs saw enough from the five-time Pro Bowler last season to keep him around for another season. Suh didn't dominate as a pass-rusher, but his alliance with wildly underrated tackle Vita Vea was the biggest reason the Bucs improved from 31st in rush defense DVOA in 2018 to the league's top rush defense this past campaign.

Suh also brings an underrated asset to the table: availability. The 33-year-old has never missed a game due to injury and has appeared on the injury report only three times in 10 seasons. The Bucs can feel confident that Suh is going to show up and play about 875 defensive snaps at a high level, which is not the case for a majority of free-agent signings. Tampa still has about $16 million in cap room to play with and should continue to attract veterans who want to get one final run with Tom Brady.

Ndamukong Suh has had 58.5 career sacks across 10 seasons. Roy K. Miller/Icon Sportswire

The deal: One year, $1 million

Grade: B+

Robey-Coleman is always going to be synonymous with that play against the Saints, but he has been an above-average slot cornerback in his time with the Bills and Rams. Los Angeles declined his option in order to create cap space, but at this price, I'm surprised the Rams weren't able to bring him back for another season.

This is an easy victory for the Eagles, who have upgraded two of their three cornerback slots by signing Robey-Coleman and trading for Darius Slay. The slot cornerback market seemed to take off in 2019, when guys such as Bryce Callahan, Justin Coleman and Tavon Young were able to sign significant multiyear deals, but with Brian Poole and Robey-Coleman each taking a one-year deal for modest money, things appear to have swung in the other direction.

Tuesday, March 24

The deal: One year, $6 million

Grade: B

The Jets found their replacement for Robby Anderson by striking a one-year deal with Perriman, who averaged nearly 18 yards per catch as Tampa's third wideout last season. Perriman's December hinted at more, as the former Ravens first-rounder took advantage of injuries to Mike Evans and Chris Godwin to rack up 506 receiving yards, which was third in the NFL to Tyler Higbee and DeVante Parker over that time frame. Perriman finished the regular season with three consecutive 100-yard games, his first time doing so as a pro.

While Jets fans might be looking at Perriman's end to the season and wondering how they got a superstar wide receiver for just over half of what Anderson got from the Panthers, I'll push back a bit. To start, those three consecutive 100-yard games came against three of the worst pass defenses in football: the Lions (who ranked 29th in pass defense DVOA), Texans (26th) and Falcons (25th). And while Jameis Winston certainly has his weaknesses, he proved to be an effective deep passer during his time under Bruce Arians. Sam Darnold ranks 35th in passer rating and 32nd in Total QBR on deep passes over the past two seasons with the Jets, and the offensive line moves the organization has made this offseason don't lead me to believe Darnold will have much time for his receivers to get open in 2020.

New York general manager Joe Douglas did need to start finding weapons for Darnold, though, and while I would expect the Jets to target a wide receiver with one of their four top-80 picks in April's draft, Perriman is a viable deep burner with upside. Credit the Jets for waiting out the market and getting a guy who looked like he had played his way into a bigger deal for a modest, one-year commitment.

The deal: Two years, $20 million

Grade: B-

Mr. December seems to get better as the season goes along, as Anderson has gone from averaging 30.9 receiving yards per game in September to 62.4 yards per game in the final month of the season. After Anderson spent four seasons in New York with four different offensive coordinators while catching passes from six different quarterbacks, the Panthers hope that a more stable combination of offensive coordinator and quarterback could get the wide receiver feeling comfortable before Thanksgiving. Anderson will see a couple of familiar faces in Carolina from his days at Temple -- coach Matt Rhule and quarterback P.J. Walker.

I would think of Anderson as a much healthier but less effective DeSean Jackson. On pass plays, Anderson's average max speed hit 15.01 miles per hour, which was the 12th-fastest mark for any wideout in football and right alongside players like Tyreek Hill, Ted Ginn and Marquise Brown. That can be a product of the routes each player is running, but route trees are going to naturally select for speed, and as you can see from Anderson's catch grid, last season saw the Temple product work the middle of the field far more frequently. In 2018, just 28% of his catches came between the numbers. In 2019, that number jumped to 48%. Anderson is always going to be at his best stretching teams vertically, but if he can threaten teams over the middle of the field, that's going to add significant value.

Robby Anderson caught 207 passes for 3,059 yards and 20 touchdowns in four seasons with the Jets. Kyle Ross/Icon Sportswire

Anderson was the most appealing wide receiver in this free-agent crop, but with a deep draft class of wide receivers coming in April, his market was softer than expected. I thought he might end up as an overpay from a team paying him like a No. 1 or 1A receiver, but this isn't quite at that level. He has nominally been the Jets' No. 1 wideout for stretches over the last two seasons, but he's not going to get the sort of workload to support that usage rate in Carolina. With the Panthers likely able to get out of this deal after one year and $12 million, there's not a ton of risk, though they'll likely lose the fourth-round compensatory pick they were projected to receive for Mario Addison as a result of this signing.

This is an interesting move from the Panthers, who are in the middle of what looks to be a rebuild and weren't really in need of another receiver with DJ Moore, Curtis Samuel and Christian McCaffrey combining for 382 targets last season. The oft-injured Samuel is the most likely to suffer with the addition of Anderson; it's not impossible to imagine the Panthers shopping Samuel as a result of this deal.

Monday, March 23

Seattle Seahawks get: CB Quinton Dunbar

Washington gets: 2020 fifth-round pick

Seahawks grade: B+

Washington grade: D+

After successfully snatching safety Quandre Diggs off the Lions' roster last season, Seahawks coach Pete Carroll and general manager John Schneider have made another low-cost, high-upside addition by sending a fifth-round pick to Washington for its former starting cornerback. Dunbar was one of the few reasons to turn on Washington tape last season; quarterbacks posted a passer rating of 68.4 with Dunbar in coverage, the 14th-best mark in the league for cornerbacks who were targeted at least 30 times. Dunbar also has the athleticism to play either outside or in the slot, which is an added bonus.

The Bill Barnwell Show Barnwell and friends discuss sports -- usually.

• Podcast: Stat superlatives »

• Archive: Every podcast from Barnwell »

Dunbar almost always stuck on the right side of the defense, which is where the Seahawks typically lined up Tre Flowers last season. Flowers struggled, and it would hardly be surprising if Dunbar took over as the starter by the end of training camp. Carroll is regarded as one of the best defensive back coaches in the league, so it wouldn't be wrong to think that Dunbar could get even better while under Carroll's wing. At 27, the Florida product should be entering his peak.

The only reason this isn't an even bigger win for the Seahawks is because of what happens with Dunbar's contract, which is why he initially requested a trade from Washington. He has one year left on his deal, at $3.3 million, which is a significant bargain. I would expect the Seahawks to at least consider giving him an extension, and though I think he could flourish in Seattle, 2019 was really the only season in which he has played at that high of a level. Extension or no extension, this is an easy win for the Seahawks, and it's a surprise that Washington wasn't able to get more for a young, emerging cornerback.

The deal: One year, $6 million

Grade: B-

Adding to an embarrassment of riches for the Ravens in the secondary, Smith will return to his only NFL team for a 10th professional season. Injuries have consistently limited Smith, who has played just one 16-game season in his past six tries. In 2019, an MCL sprain cost him six games, with a groin injury in December adding a seventh absence. In the past, with him being one of the highest-paid players on the team, Smith's injuries really hurt the Ravens.

Now, if Baltimore can get 12 games out of Smith, the team will be happy. He'll likely be the Ravens' nickel or dime defensive back, with Marcus Peters, Marlon Humphrey and Tavon Young ahead of him on the depth chart. With the Ravens declining Brandon Carr's option, I wonder if they will try Smith in the hybrid cornerback/safety role that Carr played for the team last season. In either case, Smith will represent valuable depth for a team that is enjoying the benefits of having a league MVP in Lamar Jackson whose cap hit is narrowly more than $2.5 million in 2020.

The deal: Two years, $17.6 million

Grade: C+

Mariota's contract is high-end backup money, which should be telling in terms of what the Raiders are thinking. He is basically on a one-year, $7.5 million fully guaranteed deal with incentives in 2020. The Raiders were able to negotiate a second year at $10 million, which will help avoid a Ryan Tannehill-sized contract if Mariota follows in the footsteps of his former backup and breaks out in his new digs.

Of course, Mariota can't break out unless he gets an opportunity. Tannehill was a more likely candidate to get on the field in 2019 than Mariota is this season. For one, Mariota's position with the Titans at this time a year ago was far more tenuous than Derek Carr's current status with the Raiders. Mariota's injury history also made it exceedingly likely Tannehill would see the field, while Carr has only missed two games in six seasons.

At the same time, the money in this deal suggests Las Vegas sees Mariota as someone they expect to seriously compete for an opportunity and have a shot at winning the job in 2020. Jon Gruden once called the former Oregon signal-caller a "6-foot-4 Russell Wilson." I wonder if Gruden sees an opportunity to incorporate a more diverse run game and more opportunities off play-action by adding Mariota.

The problem is that Mariota simply hasn't been good for any lengthy stretch of time, and expecting him to turn into the next Tannehill in 2020 would be relying on the exception to become the rule. Carr dramatically outplayed Mariota in 2019, and outside of added mobility, Mariota's skill set isn't vastly superior to that of Carr's. Mariota throws the ball deeper than Carr, but he also takes sacks at an astronomical rate. It wouldn't shock me to see Mariota start at one point for the Raiders in 2020 if Gruden gets bored with the quarterback he has, but it would take something totally unexpected for Mariota to earn a long-term contract with the franchise next offseason.

Carolina Panthers get: 2020 fifth-round pick

Washington gets: QB Kyle Allen

Panthers grade: B-

Washington grade: C

This trade might be bigger news for the players who aren't involved. By dealing for Allen, Washington coach Ron Rivera seems to be closing the door on acquiring Cam Newton, his other former quarterback in Carolina. It also makes me think that Washington isn't expecting Alex Smith to play as he continues to recover from multiple leg surgeries. On top of all that, it suggests that new Panthers coach Matt Rhule has faith in Will Grier or newly signed XFL star P.J. Walker to be the primary backup in Carolina once the team releases Newton, which should be any day now.

The trade itself isn't exciting. Allen rode an interception-free streak at the beginning of his run with the Panthers to attract some silly short-term comparisons, then he threw 16 interceptions over his final nine games. His fumble and sack rates also were worse than league-average. His specialty was the megasack; Allen took a league-high 18 sacks of 10 yards or more. The Houston product profiles as a lower-end backup quarterback, and he won't offer much relief if Dwayne Haskins gets injured.

I don't like giving up draft picks for players of that caliber when another way to grab one is to sign him from a lower league. Rhule is quite familiar with Walker, who started every one of his 28 wins while the two were at Temple. The XFL didn't name an MVP for their abbreviated season, but Walker would have been the popular pick after throwing 15 touchdowns against just four interceptions. The Panthers will likely carry both Grier and Walker on their roster in 2020, but the order in which they sit behind Teddy Bridgewater will likely depend on a preseason competition.

Sunday, March 22

The deal: One year, $2 million

Grade: B-

Could this be the Patriots' new starting quarterback? New England cut Hoyer in camp last year to keep Jarrett Stidham as its backup to Tom Brady; now, with Brady in Tampa, Hoyer appears to be in a competition with Stidham to replace the future Hall of Famer.

I'm skeptical the Patriots intend to go into the regular season with Hoyer, Stidham and Cody Kessler as their quarterback options. The $2 million deal Hoyer signed doesn't preclude the Patriots from adding somebody else, and while they don't have a lot of cap space, they can trade guard Joe Thuney or restructure a number of deals to create room.

They're not in a rush to add a more significant quarterback such as Andy Dalton, Cam Newton or Jameis Winston, because there are no teams out there to compete with them for a veteran passer. Who else around the league has an opening? There are a few teams such as the Bengals and Titans that have pure backup jobs available, but in terms of viable paths to a possible starting opportunity? Brady took the last starting job in the NFC, although Washington could try to challenge Dwayne Haskins. The Chargers have suggested they don't plan on pursuing a veteran quarterback and are likely to draft a passer to compete with Tyrod Taylor. The market consists of the Patriots and maybe the Jaguars, who seem committed to giving Gardner Minshew a try.

Brian Hoyer is back for his third stint with the Patriots. Zach Bolinger/Icon Sportswire

Realistically, the Patriots have their pick of those three starters, so they can wait for Dalton and Newton to get cut. (Winston isn't likely to be a fit with Bill Belichick.) It's more likely that Hoyer and Stidham are competing to serve as the primary backup to whomever the Patriots do end up adding later in this window.

The 34-year-old Hoyer will be joining the Patriots for his third stint with the organization, but just 51 of his 1,477 career pass attempts have come with New England.

He doesn't have NFL-caliber accuracy; take a look at the interception he threw in the preseason to Logan Ryan, which was the second-most notable pick Ryan made against his former team in 2019. The Patriots are running a scissors-route combination and get the clear-out they want. Hoyer has the entire sideline to miss toward and still throws the ball behind his receiver, allowing Ryan to catch up for an interception. Hoyer has a sub-60% completion percentage as a pro, and though the Patriots might prefer him to Stidham in a pinch, I refuse to believe Hoyer is the final answer for the Pats.

The deal: Three years, $28.5 million

Grade: C

The 49ers are trying to bring back as many pieces as possible from their 2019 breakout defensive campaign, short the traded DeForest Buckner. It's no surprise they wanted to dial up Ward, who served as their starting free safety. Ward has always been a willing run supporter, but the Niners might have kept him deep last season in part to keep their former first-round pick healthy. And it worked: After breaking his collarbone in May and missing the first three weeks of the season, Ward was active for the remainder of the regular season and all three playoff games, the first time he has been able to play 16 games in a season since 2015.

I'd like to believe that Ward will stay healthy, but we're looking at one year in six tries in which he was able to make it through a full 16-game campaign. When teams pay free agents market value expecting them to get healthy or stay healthy after a rare run of availability, it usually doesn't work out well. San Francisco can get out of this deal after one year and $13.5 million in guarantees, but with $3.5 million of Ward's $8.4 million base salary for 2021 guaranteed, this is likely a two-year, $19 million contract. I hope he is able to show off what he can do, but this is the sort of commitment teams usually regret.

The deal: Three years, $20.5 million

Grade: D+

A move from the Texans where they don't understand positional scarcity and overvalue a player who shouldn't have had anywhere close to this sort of market? I don't believe it, either. Murray carved out a role on the Chiefs as an excellent special-teamer who was overmatched when used as a regular safety. Kansas City mostly used him as a desperation option at free safety while Eric Berry and Daniel Sorensen were injured in 2018; but when Berry and Sorensen returned during the second half, Murray lost his job.

The Chiefs then traded Murray to the Browns for Emmanuel Ogbah, and though Murray stepped in while the Browns lost their entire starting secondary to injuries, he missed two months with a knee injury of his own, returning to regular action only in Week 17.

As a special-teamer coming off of a knee injury who profiles as an ideal fourth safety and a questionable third option, Murray's market probably should have come in somewhere around one year and $2 million. The Texans, naturally, are giving him a three-year deal for more than $20 million. Even if just one year of this contract is guaranteed, the Texans misread or simply didn't pay attention to the low-end safety market here.

The deal: One year, $4 million

Grade: B

The league just doesn't seem very fond of Clinton-Dix, who now joins his fourth team in three years after Green Bay, Washington and Chicago all decided against offering him a long-term deal. Here, Clinton-Dix reunites with a former coach in Mike McCarthy, who should install Clinton-Dix as the starting free safety coming out of camp.

The Cowboys have struggled at the position for years, and this is a low-risk deal for a player who has -- outside of his abbreviated run with Washington -- generally been an above-average player. Serving as the primary defender in coverage isn't often Clinton-Dix's duty, but he has posted a sub-70 passer rating there in each of the past two seasons. The Bears did drop off against deep passes last season, but they were better over the middle of the field than they were against passes up the sidelines. Run defense has historically been Clinton-Dix's weakness, but at this price, getting a solid defender against the pass makes sense for the Cowboys.

Ha Ha Clinton-Dix is headed to the Cowboys on a one-year deal, his fourth team in three years. Photo by Robin Alam/Icon Sportswire

The deal: One year, $9.5 million

Grade: C+

How much are you willing to believe in a few good games? Beasley, of course, led the league in 2016 with 15.5 sacks, but his 16 knockdowns and limited repertoire of pass-rush moves suggested regression was likely to come (6.5 of his sacks that season came against Paxton Lynch and a pre-Sean McVay Jared Goff). Beasley racked up a total of 11.5 sacks over the next 2½ years, but after November came around, he got back to work. During the second half of the season, Beasley had 6.5 sacks over his final eight games.

Again, though, his sacks came on just seven knockdowns. His first 2.5 sacks were clear coverage sacks. Three of the remaining 5.5 sacks came against Kyle Allen, who posted the worst sack rate in the league among quarterbacks with at least 300 attempts. Beasley still shows great burst and gets around the corner quickly, but there rarely seems to be a Plan B when he can't beat his opposing man with speed.

He clearly has NFL athleticism, and I wonder whether a better defensive staff could unlock something more than what we've seen. The Titans have a former outside linebacker running things in Mike Vrabel, but even if Beasley does excel in 2020, the Titans don't have any leverage in keeping him around. The Titans did need another edge rusher to play across from Harold Landry, and this isn't an exorbitant sum in comparison to guys such as Dante Fowler Jr., but I'm not optimistic about Beasley turning things around.

The deal: Two years, $11 million

Grade: C

One of several offensive linemen the Seahawks added to their roster over the past week, Shell was an average to below-average right tackle for the Jets over the past three seasons. Last year was his worst as a pass protector, with the South Carolina product giving up seven sacks across 13 games' worth of action. Shell is better as a run-blocker, though, and the Seahawks see him as a cheaper replacement for Germain Ifedi, who was always better as a run-blocker himself.

Shell won't commit as many penalties as Ifedi, but to be fair, that also describes nearly every other player in football.

The deal: One year, $6 million

Grade: D-

The Cardinals have already won the offseason with the DeAndre Hopkins trade, but this is an example of what not to do in free agency. Campbell has been a starring member on one of the league's worst defenses over the past four years while playing alongside a genuine star in Deion Jones. He has been stretched both against the run and the pass, allowing a passer rating north of 100 in each of the past two seasons. Campbell, an off-ball linebacker, also plays arguably the easiest position to fill on defense.

I wouldn't want to make Campbell a priority, but his talent or the decision to add him to the Cardinals' roster isn't why this grade is so low. The problem is his contract. This is a one-year, $6 million deal that could get up to $8.5 million with incentives, which is way too much for a player who hasn't proved himself to be even an average NFL starting linebacker at this point. Even if Campbell does play well, the Cardinals will have to compete with the open market to bring him back, so the reward here is extremely modest.

Even worse, to create cap room, the Cardinals actually gave Campbell a five-year deal with four voidable years to reduce the cap hit they'll face from this contract in 2020. His deal automatically voids five days after the Super Bowl, and the Cardinals will automatically eat $4 million in dead money on their 2020 cap. It's one thing when the Saints build in that structure to retain Drew Brees or the Eagles do it to create cap space as part of Lane Johnson's contract. If you're adding four voidable years to try to squeeze a marginal player like Campbell onto your roster, it should be a sign that you're not managing your finances well. The Cardinals just refinanced their car loan and put a bunch of the payments off until next year so they could buy some fuzzy dice.

Friday, March 20

The deal: Two years, $16 million

Grade: C+

The Saints undoubtedly remembered what Sanders did to them in the 2019 regular season. In that 48-46 classic won by the 49ers, Sanders caught seven passes for 157 yards and a touchdown and added a 35-yard touchdown pass for good measure. The Saints were shopping for a second wideout to take Ted Ginn's spot in the lineup, and when a big market didn't jump out at the longtime Broncos standout, Sanders chose to return to the stadium where he had his biggest game as a member of the 49ers.

This could be a move in which the name is bigger than the production. Sanders had that 157-yard game, but across his other 12 games for San Francisco, he averaged just under 35 receiving yards per contest. Sanders was playing through a rib injury and actually completed a 17-game regular season (after the midseason trade), but injuries are also a recent reality for him, given that he missed time with a pair of ankle injuries in 2017 before tearing an Achilles tendon in 2018.

Sanders deserves a ton of credit for working his way back from that Achilles tear to be ready for Week 1, and his experience can only help the Saints as they try to make their way over a recent playoff hump; but he also just turned 33, and he wasn't especially productive last season. He might have a big game or two, but Sanders isn't likely to be the sort of difference-maker we saw during his peak from 2014 to 2016. Even if we're assuming this is a one-year commitment in terms of the guarantee, the Saints are probably paying a fair price or slightly more as opposed to getting a bargain.

The deal: Two years, $16 million

Grade: D+

It's not quite the $10 million-per-year offer Gordon reportedly turned down from the Chargers around the time of his holdout, but with $13.5 million guaranteed, it's likely he sees the full $16 million from this new deal. In the end, there's probably not much difference between signing a four-year, $40 million contract with half of it guaranteed -- which is likely where Gordon's Chargers deal would have landed -- and signing this deal with a chance to hit free agency again after the salary cap rises in a couple of years.

For all of Gordon's versatility as a runner and receiver, though, he just hasn't been consistently healthy or good for very long as a pro. I covered his inconsistency before the 2019 season, noting that we had really seen one above-average season from him in five tries. Last season was a disaster, as Gordon's rate stats fell across the board after his return from the holdout. Simultaneously, the fumble concerns from his rookie season reappeared -- he fumbled four times on 204 touches, including a backbreaking drop on the goal line to hand a victory to the Titans. The Chargers were better with Austin Ekeler on the field.

Melvin Gordon averaged just 3.8 yards per carry last season, but he had nine total touchdowns. Peter Joneleit/EPA

If Gordon fixes the fumble problem, stays healthy and runs and catches passes efficiently in the way he has once across his five seasons, the Broncos will get a solid return on their deal here. Instead, in signing Gordon, they're diminishing the role of Phillip Lindsay, who has been more efficient than Gordon over the past two years. The Broncos want to keep Lindsay's workload down and likely will swap Gordon into the lineup for Royce Freeman, but the back half of a running back rotation isn't something the Broncos should be giving $13.5 million guaranteed, especially with their needs elsewhere. It might be generous to suggest Gordon is a league-average back, which is something Denver didn't need to prioritize.

The deal: Two years, $12 million

Grade: B+

Nobody can accuse the Steelers of ignoring the tight end position. After trading for Vance McDonald in 2017 and Nick Vannett last year, Pittsburgh is replacing the latter by handing Ebron a two-year deal. A healthy Ebron is an upgrade on both McDonald and Vannett as a receiver, so this is a nice under-the-radar move for Pittsburgh in a rare foray into free agency.

Steelers fans looking up Ebron's stat line from 2018 and eyeing those 13 touchdowns are too optimistic. That touchdown rate was out of line with both Ebron's history and the broader history of tight ends in football, given that he turned just 66 catches into 13 scores. The Colts made Ebron a focal point of their offense under Andrew Luck that year with 110 targets, but Ebron's numbers fell across the board last season. He disagreed with the organization about undergoing ankle surgery in December, which led to his departure this offseason.

A healthy Ebron gives the returning Ben Roethlisberger an upper-echelon athlete with a large catch radius. The Steelers can move Ebron all over the formation to try to create mismatches, which should allow them to leave McDonald inline when they work out of 12 personnel. Drops have been a problem for Ebron in the past, which might bring back ugly memories of Donte Moncrief's disastrous September with the Steelers. But if Ebron was consistently healthy and didn't have the occasional drop, he would be looking at Austin Hooper money.

This is a good risk/reward opportunity for the Steelers, and it's shocking that tight end-needy teams such as the Patriots didn't compete here.

Baltimore Ravens get: 2021 fifth-round pick

Pittsburgh Steelers get: DE Chris Wormley, 2021 seventh-round pick

Ravens grade: C+

Steelers grade: B-

I'm surprised to see the Ravens move on from Wormley, who played 46% of the defensive snaps last season and looked to be a competent rotation lineman. His role was going to be diminished after Baltimore added Calais Campbell, but with Michael Pierce leaving, I figured Wormley would be in the lineup as a primary reserve.

The Ravens haven't had trouble drafting and developing Wormley types in the later rounds, so they might see this as a way to get some compensation for Wormley as he enters the final year of his rookie deal.

The Steelers will get a year to try out Wormley as depth up front behind Cameron Heyward and Stephon Tuitt; and if Wormley flashes, Pittsburgh could net a late-round compensatory pick in 2022 for its troubles after he hits free agency.

The deal: Three years, $12 million

Grade: C-

This deal guarantees Bailey $5 million, which is a big first year for a player the Vikings were about to cut over the summer. After a disappointing debut campaign in Minnesota, the team responded to Bailey's preseason struggles by trading a fifth-round pick for Kaare Vedvik. When Vedvik struggled, the Vikings threw up their hands and cut the former Ravens kicker, handing the job back to Bailey. The longtime Cowboys stalwart responded with a solid season, hitting 93.1% of his field goal tries, although he missed four extra points. Football Outsiders pegged Bailey and the Vikings as the 10th-best kicking group on scoring plays in the league.

It's clear the Vikings are shell-shocked when it comes to kickers and are just going to evaluate guys based on their most recent 20 attempts. Bailey is no different now than he was over the summer or in 2018, when the Vikings wouldn't have given him this deal. It's the wrong way to evaluate kickers. Minnesota realistically needs to reevaluate its kicking infrastructure and plan as opposed to alternately convincing itself that Bailey is either not worthy of a job or worth $5 million.

The deal: Four years, $32 million

Grade: B-

Jenkins, a first-round pick in 2009, wasn't necessarily popular with Saints fans when he left town the first time, but after the team struggled to replace him, fans will be more excited about his return. Sean Payton has already said that he should never have let Jenkins leave, and by signing Jenkins to what looks like a two-year contract with approximately $16 million in guarantees, the Saints will have a chance to atone for the mistake they made in 2014.

Of course, they aren't getting the 26-year-old Jenkins they let leave in free agency. Jenkins will turn 33 in December, and his advancing age is likely why the Eagles elected to decline the Ohio State product's option. Jenkins had said he wouldn't be back under the same deal, which was set to pay him $7.9 million for 2020. He didn't really get a raise, but it looks like he instead received a second guaranteed season at a similar rate by leaving for the Saints.

Malcolm Jenkins was drafted in the first round by the Saints in 2009, and now he returns on a four-year deal. Mitchell Leff/Getty Images

Jenkins will take Vonn Bell's spot in the starting lineup, which could be interesting. Bell served both as a box safety and a free safety at different times in 2020, with Marcus Williams almost always lining up deep. Jenkins, on the other hand, started the vast majority of snaps inside the box.

Once a topflight college cornerback, Jenkins' calling card as a pro has been his versatility and ability to cover slot receivers, take on tight ends and serve as an effective run defender. He was still generally able to handle those roles in 2019, but I'd be worried about using him in Bell's role in 2020 and especially in 2021. I'd trust the Saints to build his role to play to his strengths, which are more toward the line of scrimmage at this point, but this could be messy in 2021 if Jenkins declines. With a relatively modest price tag, though, this is a solid move.

The deal: One year, $6 million

Grade: C+

Gurley didn't even make it 24 hours as a free agent before finding his new team. He'll remain one of the NFL's highest-paid running backs for 2020, as just $2.5 million of the roster bonus he received from the Rams contains offset language. He will collect $5 million from the Rams and $6 million from the Falcons for a cool $11 million. Given how much Atlanta has invested in its offensive line, this is a logical and smart landing spot for Gurley to rebuild his value.

The Falcons certainly needed running back help after cutting Devonta Freeman, but they should have filled this position in the draft. I don't love the idea of using $6 million on a running back given the limited cap space they have to replenish their defense. Because this is a one-year deal, even if Gurley breaks out and returns to form, they will probably talk themselves into giving him a new contract next offseason.

The deal: Five years, $57.5 million

Grade: C+

Where did this come from? The Saints have a habit of making splash signings for big money in free agency when we think they're pressed against the cap, but I didn't see Peat coming back on this sort of deal. Not only is he coming back, but the Saints are giving him the fifth-largest average annual salary of any guard in football. I thought the former first-round pick might attract free-agent interest from a team looking to move him back to tackle, which would have bumped up his price tag, but the Saints are quite happy with Terron Armstead and Ryan Ramczyk on the edge.

I didn't see a Peat return on the books because the Saints seemed set at guard. Nick Easton was signed last year from the Vikings to take over at center for the retiring Max Unger, but when the Saints grabbed Erik McCoy in the second round of the draft, New Orleans installed him at center and used Easton as an overqualified utility interior lineman. With Peat leaving, it seemed logical that the Saints would push Easton into the starting lineup at guard and play him with the incumbent Larry Warford.

Now that plan doesn't seem quite as clear. Saints reporters Katherine Terrell and Mike Triplett were wondering whether Peat's signing could bring an end to Warford's tenure with the team. Viewed from that angle, a Peat return could make sense. Warford has a cap hit of $12.9 million in the final year of his contract, and the Saints could free up $8.5 million by cutting or trading the former Lions starter. Given the paucity of available guards on the open market, Warford might have some trade value.

Even if Peat does replace Warford, this is a lot of money for a guard who hasn't played a full 16-game season and didn't play well in 2019. The 2015 to 2018 version of Peat was on pace to get this sort of deal, and at 26, he still has plenty of time to continue developing. If the Saints use this to move on from Warford, it's a C+; if they keep Warford and devote this much money to guards and interior linemen, I'd lean toward a C.

The deal: Three years, $48 million

Grade: C+

Fowler had his best pro season in 2019, when the former third overall pick was able to start all 16 games for the first time in his career and racked up 11.5 sacks for the Rams. It's fair to look at his success and assume it was a product of teams being hypervigilant and focused on Aaron Donald, but that wasn't really the case. Fowler had two sacks in Week 1 when the Panthers locked in on the star defensive tackle and tried to block him alternately with Christian McCaffrey and nobody, but Fowler didn't get another sack playing off Donald or on the same side as the two-time Defensive Player of the Year until Week 16.

Can the Falcons count on this sort of production from Fowler every season? I'm not sure anyone can be certain. He wasn't a particularly effective pass-rusher at Florida, where the Gators moved him around the defense. The Jaguars drafted him with the third overall pick to be their Leo rusher, but after he tore an ACL, it opened up a spot for Yannick Ngakoue to prove he was the better player. Fowler never got back his starting job.

Dante Fowler Jr. had 13.5 sacks over 24 games with the Rams. Kirk Irwin/Getty Images

Fowler was arrested twice during his time with the Jags, but it also appeared the team simply soured on him. They fined him $700,000 for repeatedly missing "mandatory" appointments that weren't actually mandatory, an amount Fowler won back via grievance before Tom Coughlin's departure from the organization. Playing a reserve role behind Ngakoue and Calais Campbell doesn't necessarily imply that Fowler was all that bad of a player in Jacksonville, and it's easy to imagine a scenario in which he broke out with Los Angeles after getting a much-needed fresh start.

The Falcons desperately needed a lead pass-rusher after waiting for Vic Beasley to return to form and then letting him walk this offseason. Fowler should be an upgrade on Beasley, albeit at a more expensive cost. If we assume that two of the three years in this deal are guaranteed, which is pretty typical, the Falcons are paying for Fowler to repeat the production from last season over each of the next two seasons. He is capable of doing that.

The deal: Three years, $30 million

Grade: C

While Whitworth was a Hall of Fame-caliber tackle for most of his career, he slipped badly in his age-38 season last year. After committing three holding penalties in 2017 and four in 2018, Whitworth was flagged 10 times last year, which was second in the league behind Broncos tackle Garett Bolles. Whitworth still ranked highly in ESPN's pass block win rate metric. But in 2018, he ranked 28th in double-team rate, which is the percentage of the time he got help with his blocks; he ranked second last season, meaning the Rams needed to help him far more frequently.

The Rams don't have any viable alternatives at left tackle and don't have a first-round pick to target a pedigreed replacement, so they'll bring Whitworth back for another year and hope that he doesn't decline any further. He will make $10 million in 2020, but seemingly out of a desire to rack up dead money, the Rams also guaranteed a $2.5 million roster bonus for 2021 when Whitworth signed his deal.

The deal: Three years, $17.3 million

Grade: B-

The Titans will hope to replace Jack Conklin by promoting Kelly, who spent the past four years serving as the team's utility lineman after being acquired in a trade for wide receiver Dorial Green-Beckham. Kelly was adequate at left tackle by ESPN's pass block win rate metric last season when he started the first four games for a suspended Taylor Lewan, and everyone on the Tennessee line can run block.

I wouldn't want to play him on the left side permanently, but Kelly is really on a one-year, $6.3 million deal, which isn't too risky.

The deal: Two years, $15 million

Grade: C+

This is really a one-year, $7.5 million deal from a Dolphins team that has cast its net out for young pass-rushers and is hoping one sticks. I don't mind that philosophy, and Ogbah has had stretches in which he looked like a promising edge rusher. He had 5.5 sacks and 16 knockdowns for the 1-15 Browns in 2016, before struggling to make an impact over the next two seasons. Traded to the Chiefs last season, he generated 5.5 sacks and 11 knockdowns on just 411 snaps, less than half of his total from that 2016 campaign. One of those sacks was even against star Packers right tackle Bryan Bulaga, and Ogbah did a great job of closing down Lamar Jackson in the open field for another.

Ogbah tore his pec in Week 11 and missed the remainder of the season, so while he'll be on the field, it remains to be seen whether he will be 100 percent to start the campaign. The Dolphins aren't getting a huge discount here, but Ogbah has some upside.

Thursday, March 19

The deal: Cash-strapped Rams cut former Offensive Player of the Year

The Rams cut Todd Gurley on Thursday, bringing a stunning end to the Rams career of a player who was considered a viable MVP candidate as recently as December 2017. His story is a cautionary tale for teams that want to believe their stars are exceptions to what we know about player value and a reminder of how teams that ignore the economics of the NFL often end up paying for their mistakes down the line. It's also a reminder of just how hard it is to be a running back in the NFL in 2020.

To understand why the Rams cut Gurley, you have to start with the terms of the four-year, $57.5 million extension he signed in July 2018. I didn't grade this move, but you can read my thoughts on it here.

Philadelphia Eagles get: CB Darius Slay

Detroit Lions get: Third- and fifth-round picks

Eagles grade: B

Lions grade: C

The Eagles finally got their star cornerback by making a deal for Slay, who signed a three-year, $50 million extension in the process. This is a big deal for a Philadelphia team that had typically gone cheap at cornerback during Howie Roseman's second reign as general manager, but it's not as enormous of a shift as we might have expected for a couple of reasons. This is on the lower end of what we might have expected for a Slay trade, both in terms of trade compensation and contract value.

While this isn't exactly a DeAndre Hopkins-sized mistake from the Lions, it's fair to say that the projected return for a Slay trade before free agency began was more than two mid-round picks. The Lions did get the Eagles' original third-round selection (No. 85) instead of their third-round compensatory pick (No. 103), but when you consider that the Rams sent two first-round picks to the Jaguars for (the younger) Jalen Ramsey, it seemed fair to expect the Lions to get at least a second-round selection or a late first-round pick as the key highlight in a Slay package.

Likewise, the contract Slay is getting from the Eagles is toward the top end without really resetting the market. Slay responded to a tweet in January about cornerback deals in the $15 million range by saying the numbers were too low, but this deal comes in just above those contracts with an average annual salary of $16.7 million. With Slay reportedly taking home $30 million guaranteed as part of the deal, this appears to be a two-year, $30 million contract, which would be right in line with those figures.

Darius Slay, a second-round pick in 2013, made three Pro Bowl teams in his time in Detroit. Gregory Shamus/Getty Images

As Over The Cap pointed out, the top of the cornerback market hasn't jumped in the way we would have expected this offseason, once you adjust for the rising cap. Slay's average annual salary amounts to 8.4% of the current salary cap, which would make it the eighth-largest cornerback deal since 2011.

Six of the seven larger deals are inactive, including two Darrelle Revis contracts, extensions for Richard Sherman and Joe Haden, and free-agent deals for Nnamdi Asomugha and Josh Norman. Patrick Peterson's 2014 extension is the top of the active market at 10.5%, and it's nearly six years old. For Slay to top that deal on a three-year contract, he would have needed to take home $21 million per season.

While most Eagles fans are thrilled about adding a top-level cornerback after years of trying to get by with the likes of Ronald Darby and Sidney Jones in meaningful roles, there are likely a few who remember the disastrous Asomugha signing and worry that this could be a repeat. He had been brilliant during his time with the Raiders and shut down his side of the field to a virtually unprecedented extent, but after signing with the Eagles before his age-30 season, the three-time Pro Bowler seemed to lose it overnight. He lasted two years with the Eagles before being cut, and he was out of football a year later.

I wouldn't be as concerned that Slay will disappoint in Philadelphia. Asomugha was a great player, but the Eagles also took him out of the role he played in Oakland for stretches during his first year in Philadelphia, and he never seemed to get his confidence back. Slay hasn't been as dominant as the former Raiders cornerback, but he's more versatile and certainly more comfortable moving around the formation to take No. 1 wideouts. Slay was equally comfortable on either side of the field in 2019:

Darius Slay's heat map in 2019 from @NextGenStats pic.twitter.com/H8oHGZKCIT — Bill Barnwell (@billbarnwell) March 19, 2020

The Lions, who played the second-highest rate of man coverage in football this past season, stuck Slay on the opposing team's top receiver a fair amount of the game. In looking through the 2019 season, he had games in which he was up against the likes of Keenan Allen, Allen Robinson, Amari Cooper, Stefon Diggs, Terry McLaurin, Courtland Sutton and Davante Adams on almost every one of their targets. When there wasn't a clear-cut No. 1 -- like when the Lions played the Packers while Adams was hurt -- he bounced around more.

The last shutdown corner that defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz had was a still-developing Stephon Gilmore in 2014, but according to the Football Outsiders Almanac, Schwartz kept his cornerbacks on their own sides of the field 86% of the time with the Bills that season, the eighth-highest rate in football. That's not enough information to suggest that the Eagles won't use Slay to shadow No. 1 wide receivers, but Slay's usage pattern for 2020 is still subject to some question.

I'm not sure this whole ordeal has gone well for the Lions and their braintrust of Matt Patricia and Bob Quinn. Detroit ended up getting two midround picks for Slay and used the cap space to sign an inferior replacement in Desmond Trufant, who will get $10.5 million per season over the next two years. If the options were Trufant at $10.5 million or Slay at somewhere between $15 million and $17 million per campaign, the third- and fifth-round picks and the salary gap aren't enough to overcome the difference between the two players. This might not have been an option if Slay insisted on leaving, but I would have rather signed Slay to the extension the Eagles handed out and just kept the better player.

The deal: One year, $4 million

Grade: B

This is an easy, low-cost addition for the Bengals, who will reunite Alexander with former Vikings corner Trae Waynes in a new-look Bengals secondary. The additions would seem to point to Cincinnati either cutting Dre Kirkpatrick or trading William Jackson, with the former far more likely. Alexander has struggled to stay healthy at times, but he has been an above-average slot cornerback when on the field for Minnesota. He should continue in that role for the Bengals in 2020.

The deal: Three years, $42 million

Grade: C

Teams shouldn't base their free-agent signings on fans' opinions, but it's fair to note that Waynes seemed to be perennially frustrating to Vikings fans during his three-plus years as a starter. The 2015 first-rounder took over as a starting corner halfway through his second season and held the job through 2019, though Mike Zimmer would pull him from games for stretches. Waynes was in a rotation as late as December, though he was nearly an every-down player during Minnesota's two playoff games.

Trae Waynes had just seven interceptions in five seasons in Minnesota, and the former first-round pick had two total over the last two seasons. Jevone Moore/Icon Sportswire

None of the Vikings' cornerbacks covered themselves in glory in 2019, and Waynes was no exception. He was better than Xavier Rhodes, who posted a brutal passer rating of 128.5 as the nearest defender in coverage, but Waynes was still below league average in posting a mark of 107.3. Rhodes posted the largest gap in the league between expected completion percentage and actual completion percentage; Waynes was 13th worst in the same category. Opposing quarterbacks posted an expected completion percentage of 60.8% on throws in his direction but actually completed 70.4% of those passes.

The Bengals have virtually sat out free agency for years now, but in adding Waynes and D.J. Reader, they've spent meaningful money to add talent. Waynes' $15 million signing bonus is his only guaranteed money, but unless the Bengals cut him before Week 1, he'll make $20 million for Year 1. Realistically, this is a two-year, $31 million contract, which is an aggressive deal for a player who hasn't ever played like a No. 1 corner for any length of time.

The deal: Two years, $21 million

Grade: C+

Once on a star track with the Falcons, the 29-year-old Trufant hasn't looked the same since tearing a pectoral muscle during Atlanta's run to the Super Bowl in 2016. Three disappointing seasons from Trufant followed, and the Falcons finally decided to cut bait this offseason.

I liked the idea of a team signing him as a possible buy-low option, but the Lions are a curious fit. Trufant was cast as the Richard Sherman in Dan Quinn's defense, designed to try to lock down one side of the field. The last time he really spent a significant amount of time on the right side of the defense was in 2016. The Lions played man coverage on 65.9% of their snaps last season, which was the second-highest rate in football.

It's possible that Matt Patricia sees Trufant as a candidate for a role change, but there's some risk in adding him and shifting him into more man coverage. This time, Trufant will be replacing Darius Slay, who was traded to the Eagles on Thursday morning.

The deal: Three years, $27 million

Grade: B

The Vikings essentially swapped out Linval Joseph for Pierce, and while Pierce doesn't offer Joseph's pass-rushing upside, I like this swap. Pierce is four years younger and was downright unmovable in his time with the Ravens. He was typically only a two-down defender, but he might be the best nose tackle in the league in that role now that Damon Harrison has declined.

The Vikings were already first in the league in stopping power-running opportunities last season, and they should be able to keep that up with Pierce in the fold.

The deal: Two years, $6.1 million

Grade: C+

It seems like Heath has been with the Cowboys since the turn of the century, but after seven years in Dallas, he is joining Jason Witten and Maliek Collins in moving to the desert. The Raiders have Johnathan Abram coming back after missing virtually all of his rookie season and could move LaMarcus Joyner to free safety after a frustrating first season with the organization.

Heath was stretched as a full-time starter for the Cowboys, but his versatility and willingness to hit make him an above-average third safety if the Raiders use him there. Heath has no guaranteed money after 2020.

The deal: Three years, $18 million

Grade: C+

With Lorenzo Alexander retiring, the Bills needed to add a strongside linebacker to play alongside starters Tremaine Edmunds and Matt Milano. Unsurprisingly, general manager Brandon Beane and coach Sean McDermott went to the Panthers well and came back with Klein, who had been a backup in Carolina before spending three years as a starter in New Orleans. The 28-year-old wasn't an every-down player -- he's better against the run than he is against the pass -- but the Bills will ask him to be an early-down defender and probably put Klein back on special-teams duty.

The overall money here isn't enormous, but Klein ended up getting a relatively player-friendly structure; he'll have $8.5 million guaranteed at signing, $3.2 million of which comes in Year 2. That should be enough for him to earn $11 million over the next two seasons.

The deal: Three years, $18.6 million

Grade: C

The Jets traded a conditional seventh-round pick to the Ravens for Lewis last season when Baltimore was about to cut him, which was a surprise given that he had started for John Harbaugh in both 2016 and 2018. Injuries limited Lewis to 20 games over three seasons with the Ravens, and while he was able to stay on the field until missing Week 17, he committed six penalties for 58 yards in 13 starts.

I figured the Jets would look to replace Lewis this offseason, but owing perhaps to a lack of guard options, they're bringing the 27-year-old back to town. Lewis' deal is really for one year, $3.5 million with no guarantees after 2020, so they were able to buy two years that will look cheap if he improves this season.

Wednesday, March 18

The deal: Two years, $20.5 million

Grade: C+

For years, the undrafted Harris was one of the NFL's most underrated and underpaid players, thanks to a below-market extension he signed with the Broncos in December 2014. The Kansas product was able to get a raise for his final season in Denver, but Harris wasn't up to his former level of play in 2019, and that would concern me if I were a Chargers fan.

Part of Harris' value proposition in years past was his ability to play both outside and in the slot. Few corners can play both spots at a high level, but he was the exception. Last season, the Broncos imported Bryce Callahan to play in the slot, but the former Bears corner missed the entire season because of a foot injury. Despite Callahan's absence, Harris was rarely used in the slot; according to NFL Next Gen Stats, he took just 3% of his snaps in the slot, down from 52% in 2018 and 55% in 2017. Simultaneously, he allowed a passer rating of 116.3 in coverage, a dramatic rise for a guy who had not topped 71.5 in any of his three prior seasons.

There's also the reality of age. Harris turns 31 in June, and the survival rate for cornerbacks in their 30s is brutal. Take the corners who started 12 or more games in their age-30 seasons between 2000 and 2015. Just 48.5% of them started 12 or more games in their age-31 campaigns, with that number dropping to 37.5% at age 32 and a mere 20.3% at age 33. In addition, corners under 6 feet were less likely to survive each year than taller ones, and Harris is listed at 5-foot-10.

Chris Harris Jr., who went undrafted in 2011, had 20 interceptions during his time with the Broncos. Scott Cunningham/Getty Images

Is Harris more talented than the majority of those corners? Maybe, but even guys who were starring as they turned 30 lost the plot quickly. Nine of those 30-year-old corners made it to the Pro Bowl. Some (such as Troy Vincent and Ronde Barber) continued to play well for years to come. Others were on their way out. Darrelle Revis was a Pro Bowler for the Jets at age 30, he declined rapidly at 31, and then he was out of football, except for a brief, disastrous stint with the Chiefs. Antonio Cromartie and Tim Jennings each started one more season before their careers as regulars came to a close. Charles Tillman started one more year, missed most of two seasons due to injury and then came back for one 12-game run with the Panthers. Aaron Glenn started two more seasons and then bounced around the league for years as a veteran reserve.

It's clear that the league was concerned about Harris, given that he failed to come close to the top of the market in terms of money. I would assume that this deal is mostly or entirely guaranteed. The Chargers already have Casey Hayward outside and Desmond King in the slot, so Harris will come in as the other outside cornerback. With Hayward and Harris on the wrong side of 30, this group looks better on paper than it plays in reality.

The deal: One year, $5 million

Grade: B

The Steelers never seemed to find the best fit for Davis in his time with the team. They started him as a strong safety before moving him to free safety in 2018, and he showed promise but didn't quite make the position his own. Last year was going to be a make-or-break season for Davis, but he suffered a shoulder injury in a Week 1 loss to the Patriots, which led the Steelers to move Minkah Fitzpatrick into the role. Fitzpatrick isn't leaving for a long time.

Going after Davis makes sense for Washington, which has Landon Collins to play as a box safety and needs somebody who can play center field. It would have been a better deal if Washington could have netted at least one team option at the end, but Davis likely insisted on a one-year deal so he can reestablish his value before hitting free agency in 2020.

The deal: Two years, $17 million

Grade: C+

Joseph remained a viable starter for the Vikings until the end, though he missed three games in 2019 due to a knee injury and played just 51% of the defensive snaps, his second-lowest percentage in six seasons with Minnesota. The Vikings ranked in the top 10 against both the run and the pass by DVOA, despite mostly theoretical cornerback play, and though Joseph wasn't the primary contributor to their pass defense, he's still going to be a solid big body against the run.

The days of Joseph topping three sacks and 10 knockdowns in a season might be over, but he can offer a little more as a pocket-pusher than most run-first tackles. The Chargers will hope he ends up forming a stout pair of three-down tackles with 2019 first-round pick Jerry Tillery.

The deal: One year, $4.5 million

Grade: C+

Moved into a reserve role after the Cowboys drafted Jaylon Smith and Leighton Vander Esch, Lee is likely overqualified for his part-time position, but injury concerns and the lure of sticking with his only professional team were enough to get him to take a pay cut last year and stick around this offseason. He turns 34 this offseason and might have had a clearer path to a starting role elsewhere, but with Vander Esch recovering from neck surgery, Lee should see plenty of snaps in Dallas in 2020.

The deal: One year, $10 million

Grade: C

After the Rams acquired Dante Fowler Jr. two seasons ago and coaxed an 11.5-sack season out of the former third overall pick, they'll try to do the same thing with Floyd. The ninth overall pick in the 2016 draft, Floyd hasn't been able to make much of an impact as a pass-rusher, despite the presence of Khalil Mack on the other side of the field. Floyd's sack total has dropped each of the past three seasons, and his gangly frame doesn't make him a great run defender at the point of attack.

The Rams are betting on potential here, but the price is awfully high for a player who hasn't been a difference-maker. Floyd's deal could rise to $13 million with incentives. Even if Floyd breaks out, the Rams won't have any leverage to keep him around for years to come. This deal needed to either be for less money or have a second year attached.

Denver Broncos get: DT Jurrell Casey

Tennessee Titans get: 2020 seventh-round pick

Broncos grade: B+

Titans grade: D+

This is a straight salary dump for the Titans, who are getting the 237th pick in return for a guy who was arguably their best defensive player the past five seasons. Tennessee is going to replace Casey in its starting lineup with 2019 first-round pick Jeffery Simmons, who missed most of his rookie season because of a torn ACL but flashed during Tennessee's postseason run. The move frees up just under $10 million on the 2020 cap for the Titans.

This is an easy victory for the Broncos, whose three starters along the defensive line are all free agents. Casey isn't in the top tier of interior pass-rushers, but he's a tough two-way player who should help create pass-rushing opportunities off of stunts and twists for Von Miller and Bradley Chubb. Denver coach Vic Fangio will likely use Casey in the Akiem Hicks role, and given what lesser players are getting paid in free agency, bringing in Casey on what amounts to a three-year, $37.9 million deal with no guaranteed money is a good use of a late seventh-round pick.

The question now: What are the Titans clearing out money to do? If it's to create cash or cap space for a massive Derrick Henry extension, it's probably not going to be a great use of money. If it's for something else, we'll reevaluate this grade later.

The deal: One year, $5 million

Grade: A-

Non-tendered by the Falcons last offseason, Poole responded by turning into something truly rare by 2019 standards: a bright spot for the Jets. With Poole serving as their primary slot corner, the Jets allowed a passer rating of 87.7 to wideouts who came out of the slot or out of a tight split, according to NFL Next Gen Stats, the third-best mark in football. By comparison, they ranked 22nd in the league in passer rating on throws to receivers who were split out wide.

This is a deep draft class for competent cornerbacks (without many great ones available), but the logical entry point for Poole was going to be something close to the four-year, $36 million deal Justin Coleman signed with the Lions last season. Instead, I'm shocked that the 27-year-old Poole wasn't able to attract a significant multiyear offer. The cornerback market has been stagnant, but this is a great deal for the Jets, who get back one of the few positive contributors for another campaign on a modest deal.

The deal: Three years, $20.3 million

Grade: B-

It was a surprise when the Bucs cut McCoy last year after he made six consecutive Pro Bowls from 2012 to '17, but Tampa was better after replacing McCoy with Ndamukong Suh, and McCoy didn't have his best season in Carolina. The Oklahoma product tied his lowest totals from that Pro Bowl run in sacks (five) and knockdowns (13).

McCoy was also one of the starting defensive tackles on the league's worst run defense by DVOA. The Panthers allowed more yards per carry without him on the field, but they gave up 5.0 yards per pop with him present, and their first-down rate was higher with him on the field. I don't think McCoy was capable of single-handedly saving a decaying Panthers front, and the Bucs added other pieces, but Tampa also went from 31st in rushing DVOA to first in the league after replacing McCoy with Suh.

At this point, McCoy is going to be best as a penetrating interior disruptor who can serve as a team's secondary pass-rusher. That's exactly what he'll be in Dallas, where the Cowboys could move on from Tyrone Crawford. This is a reasonable price, though McCoy's decline over the past few seasons means the Cowboys might want to get out of this deal after one year.

The deal: Five years, $70 million

Grade: B-

Quinn had a bounce-back year in Dallas, racking up 11.5 sacks and 22 knockdowns in 14 games. By ESPN's pass rush win rate metric, though, the former Rams standout was already a superstar. He posted the league's best PRWR in 2018 and 2019 by a comfortable margin. He has won on 32.6% of his pass-rush attempts the past two seasons, and second-placed T.J. Watt is closer to 17th place than he is to Quinn in first. By another measure, Quinn has created a sack once every 22 pass-rush attempts the past two seasons, which is the fifth-best mark in football for defenders with 400 or more attempts.

Top-10 edge rusher money would put Quinn somewhere around $17 million per season, so it's clear that the league isn't valuing Quinn at the level advanced metrics indicate. Chicago general manager Ryan Pace suggested he "wasn't a Moneyball general manager" upon being hired, and though I'm not exactly sure what that means years later, I don't think he was relying heavily on analytics when he signed Quinn. Either way, with $30 million reportedly fully guaranteed on this contract, this isn't an enormous overpay for an edge rusher.

Of course, the Bears already have the league's largest defensive contract committed to the edge rusher on the other side of the field in Khalil Mack. Cutting Leonard Floyd created $13.2 million in cap space and made the Quinn deal work, but I wonder if this is money the Bears should have committed (at least in part) to a quarterback such as Teddy Bridgewater, a guard or one of the many cornerbacks on the market.

The deal: Three years, $30 million

Grade: C

Yet another player signing a three-year, $30 million pact, Phillips racked up 9.5 sacks in a breakout season in Buffalo. Neither the tape nor the numbers suggest that Phillips is likely to repeat that total; he finished the season with 16 knockdowns and a pass rush win rate of 10.1%, which ranked 71st in the league. ESPN's automated analysis suggests that Phillips created only five sacks, all for himself.

Even a fallback season for Phillips would help the Cardinals, who didn't get much of a pass rush from their defensive line in 2019 after Darius Philon was cut before the season. The only D-lineman who popped occasionally was Rodney Gunter, who is now a free agent. Outside linebacker Chandler Jones continues to play at a high level, but the Cardinals badly need an interior disruptor to help draw attention away from the former Patriots standout. Phillips is coming in to play that role, but I'm skeptical that he'll hit that 9.5-sack total again.

The deal: Three years, $63 million

Grade: B

It's hard not to root for the much-loved Bridgewater, who has officially come all the way back from his career-threatening knee injury to earn a starting job with another team. The Panthers are giving him $40 million guaranteed over the next two seasons and shopping Cam Newton, who will either be cut or traded. There's a chance that Carolina could draft a quarterback in 2021 if Bridgewater struggles, but for now, Teddy is the man in Carolina.

The move reunites Bridgewater with new Panthers offensive coordinator Joe Brady, who served as an offensive assistant with the Saints in 2018 before taking over as LSU's offensive coordinator last season. Brady was able to unlock something special in Joe Burrow, who turned into the presumptive first overall pick in his final season with the Tigers. Asking Bridgewater to produce one of the best seasons we've ever seen is a little much, but he could be a good fit with the offensive concepts Burrow ran in 2019.

Bridgewater's biggest strength is quickly working through his progressions to make accurate throws to open receivers. Brady had similar faith in Burrow, whom he frequently placed in empty backfields and trusted to find an open receiver before any blitz could get home. Bridgewater should get to do the same in Carolina. Of course, Burrow had one of the best receiving corps in recent memory to pluck 50/50 balls out of the air; Bridgewater isn't going to have those sort of mismatches in Carolina.

Austin Hooper's deal is worth $44 million, with $23 million guaranteed. AP Photo/Bruce Kluckhohn

The Panthers do have receivers such as Christian McCaffrey, Curtis Samuel and DJ Moore, each of whom can make teams pay after the catch. Bridgewater's accuracy should put those receivers in positions in which they can catch balls in stride. I wouldn't expect the Panthers to be an explosive downfield attack, but they should be able to create big plays by making defenders miss in the open field.

The downside here is that Bridgewater has thrown just 221 passes the past four seasons. He was solid in winning all five of his starts with the Saints last season, but that was in about as quarterback-friendly of an offense as you can imagine, given New Orleans' playcalling and personnel. Just one of the five teams Bridgewater beat during that stretch finished in the top 10 for pass defense DVOA, and that was the eighth-placed Bears. The Carolina offensive line is also a work in progress after trading Trai Turner for Russell Okung, and the only tight end of note on the roster is Ian Thomas.

This is a good fit for both player and team. Bridgewater is now one of the few quarterbacks in the league on a middle-class deal, given that everyone else is either typically on a rookie deal or on a contract north of $25 million per season. The unique, unpredictable path he took here makes that a fair deal, and if he plays the way he did with the Saints a year ago, it could be a bargain for new coach Matt Rhule.

The deal: Five years, $53.8 million

Grade: C-

As is often the case with Jacksonville's free-agent deals, this is really a two-year contract with options. In the past, because the Jags had virtually unlimited cap space, general manager Dave Caldwell was able to give those deals out with small or nonexistent signing bonuses, which meant they were able to easily get out of their signings when overpays for guys such as Dan Skuta and Jared Odrick didn't work out. With the cap a much more pressing issue for the team these days, Schobert instead takes home a $12 million signing bonus as part of this deal, which means the Jags would owe $7.2 million in dead money if they move on from him after the season.

Two years and $22.5 million isn't a dramatic overpay for Schobert, who is the latest in the seemingly endless line of useful cover linebackers coming out of Wisconsin. In the range of linebackers getting somewhere between $10 million and $12 million per season this offseason, I'd prefer Schobert to everybody besides Cory Littleton.

My issue with this deal, instead, is that it's about the last place this team should be spending the little cap room it has left. Yes, it needs to replace Telvin Smith. For a team that is already paying Myles Jack more than $14 million per season, though, is adding a second off-the-ball linebacker on a big-money deal really the best use of resources? This is a position where teams -- including these same Jaguars under Caldwell -- can typically find useful players in the middle rounds of the draft.

This money probably should have gone to help in the secondary or a tight end or even toward a bigger deal for Teddy Bridgewater, who would have been an upgrade on Gardner Minshew. It's money the Jaguars could have pushed toward Yannick Ngakoue or a replacement in their pass-rush rotation for the frustrated franchise tagged player. This is a reasonable move for the wrong team.

The deal: Five years, $45 million

Grade: C

The Eagles have been spoiled to have Vaitai as their swing tackle the past few seasons. The TCU product was a competent left tackle while filling in for Jason Peters during Philadelphia's run to the Super Bowl in 2017, playing particularly well during the postseason. Since then, he has served as a sixth lineman and injury replacement, playing nine complete or nearly complete games in the process. He filled in for Lane Johnson over the final few weeks of 2019, when the star right tackle went down with a high ankle sprain.

Vaitai was always going to be too expensive for Philadelphia, but there was some sticker shock when his initial deal with the Lions was reported. The actual deal isn't quite as significant; Vaitai is earning $10 million per season with a couple of guaranteed years. This is a two-year, $20 million pact with options attached afterward. Vaitai will take over for the released Rick Wagner on the right side with Taylor Decker, who is soon due for a contract extension, entrenched on the left side. I thought Vaitai's big deal might come from a team that wanted to sign him to play left tackle, where players typically get paid more money.

There are three right tackles who have signed deals in this price range this offseason. Vaitai is a more promising option than George Fant (Jets), who has looked less impressive and has less experience than the Big V. At the same time, Bryan Bulaga (Chargers) has been a much more impressive NFL player than Vaitai. Although he's older and has more of an injury history, if I were Matthew Stafford, I'd much rather have Bulaga guaranteed for the next two seasons at right tackle than Vaitai.

The deal: Two years, $8 million

Grade: B

The Lions found their replacement for Damon Harrison in Shelton, who has consistently been a productive two-down nose tackle during his career. Last year was his best season, as the former Browns first-round pick was an anchor up front for the league's leading rush defense.

It's telling that Patriots coach Bill Belichick thinks he can find another nose tackle for relatively cheap and let Shelton leave at this sort of modest price, but the Lions were losing virtually all of their defensive tackles to free agency and desperately needed talent here.

Tuesday, March 17

The deal: Brady is expected to sign with the Bucs soon

Grade: A

Was Brady foolish to pick the Buccaneers? Should Tampa have gone for one of the other quarterbacks? Can he be competitive with his new team and even compete for a Super Bowl? Let's run through what we know about this new marriage and get a sense of what to expect for Brady in Florida.

The deal: One year, up to $4.8 million

Grade: C+

After 16 seasons in Dallas, the future Hall of Famer has decided to extend his career and make a trip to Vegas to reunite with a fellow former Monday Night Football commentator in Jon Gruden. At this point, Witten's role is essentially to run short option routes, catch passes and fall down; he ranked 90th in yards after first contact and 97th in air yards per target out of 107 receivers last season.

Witten is past the point of serving as a primary tight end, but as an inline option who frees Darren Waller to move around the formation, he's a logical fit for the Raiders.

The deal: Three years, $30 million

Grade: B+

The best case for Bulaga's indirect value has been observing what happens to Aaron Rodgers when Bulaga isn't on the field. In 2019, when the right tackle played 16 games for only the third time in 10 pro seasons, he missed most of two games and parts of six others. Unsurprisingly, Rodgers' numbers fell off: The quarterback's passer rating dropped from 96.6 with Bulaga on the field to 83.8 across 101 dropbacks without him. Rodgers' sack rate was actually worse with Bulaga on the field, but he went from averaging 7.2 yards per attempt with him on the field to just 5.8 yards per throw without him. Rodgers is no fool: When Bulaga wasn't protecting him, he got the ball out more quickly.

Those seven other pro seasons are the most plausible reason the Chargers might regret this deal. Bulaga has missed 45 games in his career, including all of 2013 because of a torn ACL. He has another 13 games in which he was active and in the lineup but failed to play more than 50% of the offensive snaps, often owing to injuries prematurely ending his night. Bulaga turns 31 next week, so it's tough to imagine him getting dramatically healthier over the course of this deal, though he has missed only two full games the past two seasons.

Even given those injury concerns, though, the Chargers have to be happy with this contract. George Fant got three years and $30 million from the Jets, and he barely has 16 games' worth of experience as an NFL lineman. This is an easy win for the Chargers and a major upgrade on what was a dismal right tackle situation for Anthony Lynn's team in 2019.

The deal: Four years, $53 million

Grade: C+

As shocking as it is to see future Hall of Famers changing teams in free agency, what might be even wilder is a rare foray into unrestricted free agency for the Bengals. Cincinnati has occasionally signed low-cost players such as A.J. Hawk or brought back cut former Bengals such as Michael Johnson, but the Bengals have generally stayed out of the upper-middle class and higher free-agent neighborhood. Perhaps buoyed by the success the Packers have had in free agency, Cincinnati actually has signings worth writing up.

Around the league, there was a lot of interest in Reader, who took over as the Texans' nose tackle for Vince Wilfork and might profile as a lesser version of the Patriots great. Nose tackles typically don't get this sort of deal, but Reader had his best season as a pass disruptor in 2019, racking up 2.5 sacks, 13 knockdowns and 6 tackles for loss. He has stayed relatively healthy, missing only three games in four seasons, and he is a logical option to line up alongside undersized penetrating tackle Geno Atkins on the interior. Reader should immediately upgrade a run defense that ranked 28th in defensive DVOA last season, though that upgrade comes at an enormous cost.

The deal: Three years, $18 million

Grade: C+

Boston has struggled to come away with multiyear deals after solid campaigns with the Chargers and Cardinals, but after making his return to the Panthers in 2019, he did enough to convince a transitioning Panthers team to keep him around. This could end up as a one-year deal in the $9.5 million range, and Boston wasn't able to make an impact as part of the league's worst run defense in 2019, but he was a competent free safety. I think he's best as a safety working his way into the box, but the Panthers used Boston almost entirely as a free safety in 2019, with Eric Reid working as their strong safety. I wonder if new coordinator Phil Snow will use the two more interchangeably in 2020.

The deal: One year, $25 million

Grade: B+

If Tom Brady leaving the Patriots for Tampa Bay isn't weird enough, get ready for Rivers in silver and blue. I wondered whether the post-Brady Patriots might try to hijack Rivers' long-rumored move to the Colts, but the reunion between Rivers and former Chargers offensive coordinator Frank Reich just made too much sense for all parties involved. I'm a little surprised that this isn't more than a one-year pact, even if future years weren't guaranteed, but Indianapolis has the cap space to absorb a one-year deal and shouldn't have much trouble bringing Rivers back if things work out.

The Bill Barnwell Show Barnwell and friends discuss sports -- usually.

• Podcast: Stat superlatives »

• Archive: Every podcast from Barnwell »

I'm optimistic that we'll see a better Rivers in 2020 than we did in 2019, in part because he is going from one of the league's worst offensive lines to what might arguably be one of its best. The Chargers ranked 19th in ESPN's pass block win rate metric last season, and even that was likely a product of Rivers' ability to read defenses and put his linemen in the right place. Anthony Lynn's offense was overcome by injuries up front, with veterans Russell Okung and Mike Pouncey missing a combined 21 games and never playing a snap together during the season. The Chargers had what was likely the worst tackle situation in football with Sam Tevi and Trent Scott in key roles.

The Colts ranked third in pass block win rate and did a solid job of protecting Jacoby Brissett, whose sack rate in his second run as Colts starter was nearly half of what it was the first time around. With steady, competent protection, expect Rivers to do a better job of protecting himself pre-snap and have fewer plays in which he gets blown up by a failed block attempt immediately afterward. Indy already brought back Anthony Castonzo, which should provide Rivers with one of the league's best left tackles on his blindside.

Rivers' interception rate spiked last season, but as I mentioned in my column about possible Brady replacements, a league-high seven of his 20 picks came in the final five minutes of games while his team was trailing. Those are moments when he typically had to try to put the ball into tight windows to try to make something happen. The previous season, playing on a Chargers team that often had leads in the final five minutes, Rivers threw just one pick in the final five minutes of games.

I'd also count on him playing better in front of fans who actually want to root for his team. With the Chargers forced to resort to silent counts in front of rabid fans who were cheering for the opposition in Carson, California, Rivers was 25th in passer rating at home in 2019. He was 13th in the same category on the road. In 2018, Rivers was ninth in passer rating at home and fourth on the road. I wouldn't usually put much stock in a two-year sample of home/road splits, but few teams have faced the sort of home-field disadvantage the Chargers were up against.

Kirk Cousins is locked up in Minnesota for at least three more seasons. Hannah Foslien/Getty Images

This move isn't without risk, of course. Rivers turns 39 in December, and you can't chalk all of his interceptions up to desperate decisions. The Chargers' offense wasn't moving the ball effectively early in games, which is why they were often trailing in the fourth quarter. It's hardly as if the Rivers-Reich partnership was a roaring success the first time around; Reich was fired after a 4-12 season in which the Chargers ranked 26th in points per game and 15th in offensive DVOA. The Colts also don't have the sort of weapons the Chargers had for Rivers and need to add at least one wide receiver to work alongside T.Y. Hilton and second-year wideout Parris Campbell.

Even given those concerns, Rivers was the best quarterback the Colts could have targeted in free agency. He should be an upgrade on Brissett. With the Jaguars rebuilding, the Titans likely to see some sort of regression from Ryan Tannehill and the Texans seemingly undergoing an existential crisis, the Colts are well-positioned to make a run at the division title if they can get their draft right.

The deal: Two years, $10 million

Grade: D

I've liked some of the upside shots the Dolphins have taken, particularly edge rusher Shaq Lawson, and getting Byron Jones to build the league's most imposing set of cornerbacks is a logical move at the top of the market. This, though, is a brutally bad decision. Howard is a totally reasonable one-cut back without top-end speed who doesn't offer anything in the passing game, and there are approximately 30 of those guys for NFL teams to sign at any given time. The 49ers have five of them on the roster right now. It's arguably the most fungible player type in football.

With the Dolphins still not especially close to contending, this is a position with which they should have taken one or two of their 14 draft picks and gone after somebody who could turn into a three- or four-year starter. I suspect Miami will still draft a runner, and he'll eventually take over as the starter, but every carry and practice rep the Dolphins give to Howard incurs the opportunity cost of not stumbling on a more valuable replacement at a fraction of the cost. The money isn't going to make or break the Dolphins, but this would be a short-sighted decision at the league minimum, let alone for $5 million per season.

The deal: Three years, $27 million

Grade: D+

First things first: I'm considering this grade independent of the DeAndre Hopkins trade. It isn't fair or realistic to consider Cobb as a replacement for one of the league's top receivers, though I suspect we'll all be casting Cobb in that role within the broader story of what Bill O'Brien has done to the Texans. Here, I'm trying to consider whether this signing is a good idea for the Texans with their current, post-Hopkins roster.

I still don't like this move. I can understand the logic of bringing in somebody who can work underneath as a possession receiver while Will Fuller and Kenny Stills head downfield, but Houston already has a competent slot receiver it refuses to give reps to in Keke Coutee. The Texans have two second-round picks and a third-round selection in the deepest draft class for wide receivers in recent memory. I have to imagine they could have grabbed a slot receiver with one of those selections and used this cap space more wisely.

Randall Cobb caught 55 passes for 828 yards and three touchdowns in Dallas last season. Kelvin Kuo/USA TODAY Sports

Is Cobb really a difference-maker? This is a receiver who was able to net only a one-year, $5 million deal from the Cowboys last offseason. He had a nice bounce-back season, but it came after his receiving yards per game dropped four years in a row and fell by nearly 50% from his 2014 peak. Dak Prescott's numbers didn't budge with or without Cobb; the quarterback posted a 99.4 passer rating and a 71.6 QBR with Cobb on the field, then hit a 100.5 passer rating and 73.8 QBR without Cobb in the lineup.

At a similar price to last season's, Cobb would be a viable addition for the Texans. By handing him a contract with $18.75 million in guarantees, the Texans are buying that Cobb will improve on his 2019 numbers, if not come close to the player who was a Pro Bowler in 2014. Cobb could be the beneficiary of a lot of low-efficiency targets within this offense, but I'm not optimistic that O'Brien is using his money wisely here.

The deal: Three years, $36 million

Grade: B

The Raiders had one of the NFL's worst linebacking corps last season. After adding Littleton and Nick Kwiatkoski, they should be competent and have the upside to be very good if Kwiatkoski lives up to his potential. I wasn't sure Kwiatkoski was enough of an upgrade t