Winners and Losers From Day 1 of NFL Free Agency

Day 1 of the NFL's Official Tampering Period — the two-day stretch before the NFL's league year actually turns over on Wednesday — was filled with as many major "signings" as you would imagine. As is always the case, NFL teams bid hundreds of millions of dollars in a very short space of time to ostensibly improve their teams as much as their football acumen, and financial constraints, will allow.

But you know how it is with anything in life; for everyone who wins, someone else loses. So, with no runway to speak of, and with none of the participants given the chance to prove their worth for better or worse, here's our attempt to assign thumbs up and thumbs down on single deals, as well as multiple transactions that reveals franchise thought processes... again, for better or worse.

• SEE ALSO: Where Athlon’s top 50 free agents are signing

Winners

Jeremiyah Love

Notre Dame running back Jeremiyah Love was already one of the most coveted players in the 2026 draft class, and when he ran a 4.36-second 40-yard dash with a 1.55-second 10-yard split at the scouting combine at 6-foot-0 ad 212 pounds, it just confirmed what the tape showed — that Love is basically a bigger version of Detroit Lions running back and tone-setter Jahmyr Gibbs, and that Love is the kind of player you can legitimately build your entire offense around.

It would appear that the NFL agrees, because when the New Orleans Saints (who have the eighth overall pick in the 2026 draft) gave former Jacksonville Jaguars running back Travis Etienne Jr. a four-year, $52 million contract, and the Kansas City Chiefs (who pick ninth) gave former Seattle Seahawks running back and reigning Super Bowl MVP Kenneth Walker III a four-year, $43.050 million contract with $28.7 million guaranteed, it tells you one thing: Nobody in the league expects Love to be available beyond, say, the New York Giants (who have the fifth overall pick), or the Washington Commanders (who have the seventh).

Great news for those backs who benefited in free agency, and potentially even better news for Jeremiyah Love and his NFL future.

Fernando Mendoza

Anyone who knows anything about football knows that the Las Vegas Raiders will select Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza with the first overall pick on April 23. But Mendoza will need a lot around him to succeed, as is the case for any young quarterback. Chief among the Raiders' needed reconstructions was an offensive line that underperformed (to say the least) under o-line coach Brennan Carroll in 2025, and would need someone to really run the show in 2026 and beyond.

In the seven-round Raiders mock draft I put together after the Maxx Crosby trade that gave the Raiders Baltimore's 14th overall pick, I proposed that Klint Kubiak's new team should break the bank to sign former Ravens center Tyler Linderbaum, and build around that. Well, on Monday, the Raiders signed Linderbaum to a three-year, $81 million deal, which gives them the flexibility to add other pieces to a line that is now exponentially better with Linderbaum's presence.

Add in the signing of former Minnesota Vikings receiver Jalen Nailor to a three-year, $35 million deal with $23 million guaranteed, and the Raiders (who still have a ton of salary cap room to make other moves) are starting to put it together right for their future franchise quarterback.

The Tennessee Titans — in theory, at least

Few teams were more active on Day 1 of the Legal Tampering period than the Tennessee Titans, and for good reason. Over the last couple of years, few teams have gone into the octagon from week to week with less high-level talent, and in Year 2 of quarterback Cam Ward's development, it was time for that to change. So, general manager Mike Borgonzi and his crew went after it, inking five major deals that could all pay great dividends.

Defensive lineman John Franklin-Myers, who got a three-year, $63 million contract with $42 million guaranteed, should be an absolute force in head coach Robert Saleh's defense next to Jeffery Simmons. As should cornerbacks Alontae Taylor and Cordale Flott, who signed their own big-money deals to help redefine a secondary in need of just that.

The one move that has people wondering is the four-year, $78 million deal given to former New York Giants receiver Wan'Dale Robinson, but when you look at Robinson's production and efficiency over the last couple of seasons (especially on third down), it's easier to overlook his 5-foot-8, 190-pound frame, understand that only $38 million of the deal is guaranteed, and accept that Robinson's speed and elusiveness will give Ward something he really didn't have before.

The Titans needed to make some big splashes to add talent, and they did. It would also seem that they did so fairly intelligently.

The Los Angeles Rams' secondary

Last season, the Los Angeles Rams were a hair's breadth away from Super Bowl LX despite a cornerback group that allowed 157 catches on 293 attempts for a league-high 2,166 yards, a league-high 20 touchdowns (tied with the Dallas Cowboys), 13 interceptions, 41 pass breakups, and an opponent passer rating of 81.8. Not great numbers for a defense that played by far the most snaps of dime (six defensive backs) in the NFL last season.

As is generally the case, Rams general manager Les "F Them Picks" Snead did all he possibly could to correct the problem — in this case, by raiding the Kansas City Chiefs. On March 4, the Rams sent the 2026 29th overall pick, as well as 2026 fifth- and sixth-round picks and a 2027 third-round pick, to the Chiefs for cornerback Trent McDuffie, and then signed McDuffie to a new four-year, $124 million contract with $100 million guaranteed, making McDuffie one of the highest-paid players at his position... well, ever.

Then on Monday, the Rams doubled down by agreeing to sign former Chiefs cornerback Jaylen Watson to a three-year, $51 million contract with $34 million guaranteed. And with that, a Rams defense led by Chris Shula got quite a bit more interesting.

The Rams have the defensive front to get away with that much dime defense; what they needed were press coverage warriors who were willing to disrupt routes off the line of scrimmage to make things even tougher for their opponents. And in McDuffie and Watson, that's exactly what they got. Great moves for a franchise that has everything else in place for a potential Lombardi Trophy.

The Dallas Cowboys' defense

Well, it couldn't get any worse.

The 2025 Cowboys' defense was the joke of the NFL by any metric you care to mention — between the misbegotten schemes of Matt Eberflus and the trade that sent Micah Parsons to Green Bay before the season began, what had been known as "Doomsday" for decades became more of a Three Stooges outtake reel.

One in-season deal — trading for ex-New York Jets interior defensive lineman Quinnen Williams — started to make a big difference on the rare occasions that Eberflus put Williams and Osa Odighizuwa out there at end, with Kenny Clark at nose tackle. That trio proved nearly impossible for any opponent to block, and now, with the addition of former Packers defensive lineman Rashan Gary, the Cowboys have the beef up front to run the kind of modern NFL defense new coordinator Christian Parker learned during his time under Vic Fangio in Philadelphia.

All the Cowboys had to do here was to give Green Bay a 2027 fourth-round pick and take on Gary's contract (which is eminently reasonable), and that was that. Dallas also stole underrated safety Jalen Thompson from the Arizona Cardinals on a three-year, $33 million deal with $22 million guaranteed.

These moves don't erase all the sins of the past, but at least this Cowboys defense is moving in the right direction.

Losers

The Philadelphia Eagles' defense

There are times when even the NFL's best personnel people are hamstrung by the financial realities of life. The Philadelphia Eagles and general manager Howie Roseman came into free agency with not a lot of effective cap space, so you knew that some important people would be heading out the door.

The first defector was edge-rusher Jaelan Phillips, who had been an absolute force in Vic Fangio's defense after Philly traded a 2026 third-round pick to the Dolphins last November 3. In nine games and 256 pass-rushing snaps, Phillips had two sacks and 44 total pressures, and that was enough for the Carolina Panthers to give him an astonishing four-year, $120 million deal with $80 million guaranteed.

Then, linebacker Nakobe Dean, who had been quite valuable when healthy, signed a three-year, $36 million deal with $20 million guaranteed to be a part of the Las Vegas Raiders' aforementioned rebuild. And finally, safety Reed Blankenship (who those in the know will tell you is one of the on-field leaders for that defense) agreed to a three-year, $24.75 million deal with $16.5 million guaranteed to join DeMeco Ryans' ravenous Houston Texans defense.

Both Roseman and Fangio are among the best in the NFL at what they do, so don't underestimate their abilities to take the hits and turn them around, but Monday was a rough day in the City of Brotherly Love.

Steve Spagnuolo

Why do bad things have to happen to good people? Kansas City Chiefs defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo isn't just one of the best at what he does; he's also one of the more genuine individuals in the NFL today. But even the uber-nice Spags could be forgiven for uttering a few profanities after the rest of the league went after his secondary with all kinds of gumption.

We've already mentioned the losses of Trent McDuffie and Jaylen Watson to the Rams, and it's never easy to replace your two best cornerbacks. In addition to all of that, the Cincinnati Bengals came in and poached safety Bryan Cook on a three-year, $40.25 million deal with $14 million guaranteed. Then, the Titans added to their roster late in the day by signing cornerback Joshua Williams (a good rotational guy) to a contract of his own.

Now, Spags has a secondary consisting of Kristian Fulton and Nohl Williams at outside cornerback, Chris Roland-Wallace in the slot, and safeties Chamarri Conner and Jalen Hicks. After the McDuffie trade, they have two first-round picks (nine and 29), and four picks in the top 75, and it's a deep class at both cornerback and safety. So, maybe Spags and general manager Brett Veach can get it all back in the draft... but that's a spicy meatball right now.

The Miami Dolphins' salary cap situation

Good on the Miami Dolphins for signing quarterback Malik Willis after releasing Tua Tagovailoa on Monday, but after that bit of news, there's what the Dolphins have to work with in 2026, and the dead cap staring them in the face for the new league year.

Releasing Tagovailoa with a post-June 1 designation puts Miami on the hook for $99.2 million in dead cap over the next two years, and as much as $67.4 million this season. That's in addition to the dead cap hits they already had for (deep breath; all numbers via OverTheCap.com):

Woof! Not a lot for new head coach Jeff Hafley and new general manager Jon-Eric Sullivan to work with, but if the previous regime had handled things better, maybe Hafley and Sullivan wouldn't have their current gigs.