The start of a new NFL league year is here, and the free-agent market is off and running. The FOX Sports NFL crew evaluates the biggest signings of this year’s class and grades each move. Players are listed according to their rank in FOX Sports’ top 100 free agent list.
Follow every free-agent signing here:
2025 NFL free agency tracker: Signings, updates, best players available
Chris Godwin, WR, Bucs
2024 stats: 50 catches, 576 yards, 5 TDs in seven games
Reported terms: three years, $66 million, $44 million guaranteed
Previous team: Bucs
Greg Auman: Tampa Bay was able to keep the biggest piece of its offseason puzzle, guaranteeing two years even though Godwin is recovering from a dislocated ankle that cut short his 2024 season. Godwin might not be ready for the start of the 2025 season, but he’s back as a 1-2 punch with Mike Evans, getting slightly more than his last deal ($60 million over three years) and slightly more than Evans got last year. It’s all about continuity for the Bucs, who also brought back starting left guard Ben Bredeson on a three-year deal worth $22 million. Before Godwin injured his ankle, he was among the league leaders seven games into the season.
Grade: A-
Zack Baun, LB, Eagles
2024 stats: 151 tackles, 3.5 sacks, five forced fumbles, one interception
Reported terms: $51 million, three years, $34 million guaranteed
Previous team: Eagles
Ralph Vacchiano: The Eagles and the 28-year-old Baun have both defied the odds with this deal that kept him off the free-agent market. When Baun first signed with Philadelphia a year ago, for just one year and $3.5 million, no one expected him to emerge as a star player — not even Eagles GM Howie Roseman. He thought he had landed a good rotational linebacker and special teams standout. Instead, the player he got emerged as one of his best defenders, who kept it going in the postseason and even had a spectacular interception in the Super Bowl. Baun became an All-Pro and even finished fifth in the Defensive Player of the Year voting. So in an offseason where the Eagles weren’t expected to be overly aggressive in free agency, Roseman knew he had to keep one of his best defensive players, even if it meant spending on a linebacker — something he’s rarely done. But Baun was a perfect fit in the Vic Fangio defensive scheme and proved to be a big-time player who came through in big spots.
Grade: A-
Khalil Mack, edge, Chargers
2024 stats: six sacks, two forced fumbles, made his ninth Pro Bowl
Reported terms: one year, $18 million, fully guaranteed
Previous team: Chargers
Greg Auman: We had Mack as the No. 6 overall free agent, so the only concern is paying this much to a 34-year-old who had contemplated retirement. While you might get 17 sacks and five forced fumbles, like he had in 2023, it’s more likely you’ll get six sacks, like in 2024, and after releasing Joey Bosa, the Chargers are likely not as good on the other side. Learn the name Tuli Tuipulotu — he’s the third-year pro who had 8.5 sacks for Los Angeles last year and has to step up even more in 2025. It was smart for the Chargers to keep a defensive leader and locker room presence, but it’ll be hard to get $18 million in production from Mack at his age.
Grade: B-
Nick Bolton, LB, Chiefs
2024 stats: 106 tackles, three sacks, one interception, six pass breakups, one forced fumble
Reported terms: three years, $45 million
Previous team: Chiefs
Henry McKenna: It’s a good deal for the Chiefs. The only question is about positional value. Do you want an inside linebacker to be one of your highest-paid players? Maybe the Chiefs are seeing the ascendance of running backs (See: Barkley, Saquon) and thinking they’ll need Bolton more than ever in the years to come. And the good news is that while he’s highly paid, he’s actually still taking a team-friendly deal at three years and $45 million, roughly $3 million less annually than what Bears linebacker Tremaine Edmunds got when he hit free agency in 2023. Bolton clearly wanted to stay with K.C., and that’s no doubt because the Chiefs are in the Super Bowl almost every year. It’s ironic that a team like the Patriots, desperate for talent, would have had to pay Bolton millions more per year in order to get him to bolt. The Chiefs are getting discounts in a way that we really haven’t seen since Tom Brady and Bill Belichick were running the show in New England.
Grade: B+
Davante Adams, WR, Rams
2024 stats: 85 receptions, 1,063 receiving yards, 8 TDs
Reported terms: two years, $46 million
Previous team: Jets
Eric D. Williams: The California native returns to the West Coast, signing with the Rams. With Los Angeles moving on from veteran receiver Cooper Kupp, Adams gives head coach Sean McVay a nice complement to No. 1 receiver Puka Nacua. Adams, 32, also brings familiarity with the offense from his time in Green Bay playing in former Rams OC Matt LaFleur’s system with the Packers. Like McVay achieved with Odell Beckham Jr. during the Rams’ Super Bowl-winning season, Adams should experience a rebirth in this offense.
Grade: B+
Haason Reddick, edge, Bucs
2024 stats: one sack in 10 games after holding out
Reported terms: one year, $12 million
Previous team: Jets
Greg Auman: Can the Bucs get the Reddick who had double-digit sacks four years in a row from 2020-23? That’s the hope, as they make a major addition to their defensive front, hoping to get more consistent pressure without blitzing. Reddick had a lost 2024, holding out with the Jets and then mustering a single sack in 10 games. Todd Bowles says he wants takeaways from his defense, so what he wants is 2022 Reddick: 16 sacks, five forced fumbles in helping the Eagles to a Super Bowl. If it’s anything like 2023 Reddick, the Bucs will have a rare front-office miss.
Grade: B
Aaron Jones, RB, Vikings
2024 stats: 1,138 rushing yards, five TDs; 51 catches, 408 yards, two TDs
Reported terms: two years, $20 million
Previous team: Vikings
Greg Auman: It made lots of sense to bring Jones back. His 1,138 rushing yards was a career high, and he fit in well after coming in from Green Bay. It’s a slight raise from his first contract in Minnesota, but he showed his value in one year. The quarterback might change for the Vikings, but having Jones to lean on as a steady part of the ground game was important. He wasn’t at the same level as Saquon Barkley or Derrick Henry, but Jones was another free-agent back who worked out for his new team in 2024. He’s 30, so there’s no telling what his 2026 might look like, but only $13 million is guaranteed, so the Vikings could even move on after a year without a terrible cap hit.
Grade: B
Zach Ertz, TE, Commanders
2024 stats: 66 catches, 654 yards, seven touchdowns
Reported terms: one year, $6.25 million
Previous team: Commanders
Greg Auman: Ertz had a nice bounce-back year in 2024, getting seven touchdowns and clicking with rookie Jayden Daniels after totaling five scores in the previous two seasons. He looked close to retirement in Arizona, but found himself with the Commanders, and gives Daniels an easy fallback target with sure hands when the downfield options aren’t there. Washington is already adding Deebo Samuel, so this offense could be even better in 2025. Ertz needs only 40 catches to pass Shannon Sharpe for fifth all time among tight ends, and another touchdown season like his 2024 would put him in the top 10 there.
Grade: B+
Marquise Brown, WR, Chiefs
2024 stats: nine catches, 91 yards in two regular-season games, limited by injury
Reported terms: one year, $6.85 million, with $4 million in incentives
Previous team: Chiefs
Greg Auman: Kansas City’s receivers are a blur — injuries, off-field problems, a half-dozen free agents. The Chiefs made the Super Bowl essentially without Brown, so he’s a forgotten presence in this offense. His last and only 1,000-yard season was in 2021, and he’s totaled seven touchdowns in three years since. It’s hard to know where he fits in with Xavier Worthy and Rashee Rice — logically Brown is the No. 3 if those two are healthy and the Chiefs don’t make any more significant additions. For that, this deal is fine. We don’t know the fine print on those incentives, but they could be very easy to achieve after playing in only two games last season.
Grade: B
Mike Gesicki, TE, Bengals
2024 stats: 65 catches for 665 yards, 2 TDs
Reported terms: three years, $25.5 million
Previous team: Bengals
Ben Arthur: I like this deal a lot for Cincinnati. After Gesicki put up a top-10 receiving yard season for a tight end, the Bengals locked him in at just $8.5 million per year, which ranked 14th at his position pre-free agency. There’s just $6.5 million guaranteed in the deal (the signing bonus), and the Bengals have an out after 2025, which is significant because he’ll be 30 next offseason. Essentially, this is a team-friendly deal that rewards Gesicki for a big debut season in Cincinnati but also doesn’t eat into the Bengals’ ability to give Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins mammoth extensions.
Grade: A-
Notable Extensions
Josh Allen, QB, Bills
2024 stats: 3,731 passing yards, 28 TDs, 531 rushing yards, 12 TDs
Reported terms: $330 million, $250 million guaranteed, six years
Greg Auman: Why now? Perhaps the Bills are trying to get ahead of a new wave of quarterbacks getting substantial raises, even with nine now already making $50 million a year or more. NFL teams are normally hesitant to tear up a contract with more than one year left on it, so doing so with four years left is unconventional to say the least. In August 2021, Allen signed a six-year, $258 million contract. His new deal represents a 28% raise on the per-year value, exceeded only by Dak Prescott’s $60 million per year. In volunteering Allen a substantial raise, the Bills now have less cap space long term, paying him $12 million more per year when they didn’t have to do anything. They also extended edge rusher Greg Rousseau and linebacker Terrel Bernard a year ahead of free agency. And Buffalo just gave receiver Khalil Shakir a four-year, $53 million contract. In total, they gave out $513 million on four contracts to players who weren’t even free agents.
Grade: A-
Myles Garrett, DE, Browns
2024 stats: 14 sacks, 47 total tackles, 22 TFLs, 28 QB hits
Reported terms: four years, $160 million, $123.5 million guaranteed
Ben Arthur: This situation between Garrett and the Browns, a sudden flip from acrimony to a renewal of vows, is just the latest reminder of this reality: Money solves most problems in the NFL. Nothing about the circumstances that drove Garrett to making the trade request in the first place has changed. There’s been no infusion of talent through free agency or the draft to a team that finished 3-14 last season, tied for the worst record in the NFL. The Browns still have little cap space. They’re still on the hook for guaranteed money on Deshaun Watson’s disaster of a contract. They still don’t have their quarterback of the future. But Garrett is now — at least for the time being — the highest-paid non-quarterback in the league by a wide margin. He got a massive raise, and maybe that was the point all along. Sure, he would like to be on a contender. But $123 million in new guarantees is a nice consolation prize when your employer doesn’t succumb to your trade request.
Grade: A-
RELATED: What Myles Garrett’s record extension with Browns tells us about the NFL
DK Metcalf, WR, Steelers
2024 stats: Reported terms: five years, $150 million
Previous team: Seahawks
In acquiring receiver Metcalf from the Seahawks for a second-round pick in the 2025 draft, the Steelers added an explosive playmaker to an anemic offense that had trouble scoring during the second half of the year. The 6-foot-4, 235-pound Metcalf could be an ideal complement to vertical threat George Pickens. Pittsburgh had pursued Davante Adams, Brandon Aiyuk and Deebo Samuel via trade last year and signed Mike Williams midseason to mixed results. The addition of Metcalf should finally help jump-start an offense that averaged just 14.2 points per contest in Pittsburgh’s final five games of the year — all losses, including a postseason defeat to the Baltimore Ravens in the wild-card round.
Grade: B
Jaycee Horn, CB, Panthers
2024 stats: 1 INT, 13 PBUs, 2 sacks, 68 tackles (5 for loss)
Reported terms: four years, $100 million ($108 million max value), $70 million guaranteed
Previous team: Panthers
Ben Arthur: This is a massive win for Horn, who’s coming off his first Pro Bowl season. He had a great 2024, but he has missed 31 games in four years, including 13 since 2023. So apart from rewarding a homegrown standout, it’s difficult to see how this is a good deal for the Panthers, who’ve made Horn the highest-paid defensive back in league history. But it’s understandable. Carolina needs to prioritize defense — it ranked last in total defense in 2024 — and Horn is a cornerstone on that side of the ball. He had the leverage in this situation. And since Horn was entering a contract year, the Panthers probably banked on the fact that he’d have been even more expensive in 2026 with another great season, so they can save money now.
Grade: C-
The following writers contributed to this story: Ben Arthur (@benyarthur); Greg Auman (@gregauman); Henry McKenna (@McKennAnalysis); Ralph Vacchiano (@RalphVacchiano); Eric D. Williams (@eric_d_williams).
Want great stories delivered right to your inbox? Create or log in to your FOX Sports account, and follow leagues, teams and players to receive a personalized newsletter daily!
Get more from National Football League Follow your favorites to get information about games, news and more
