The NFL wasted no time jumping into free agency. Though the official signing period doesn’t begin until March 16, a handful of extensions began to trickle in while teams debated whether or not to use their franchise tags in 2022. March 14 brought the start of the legal tampering period and a bunch of reported, but not yet official, deals between veteran stars and new teams across the country.
In the first day-plus of unofficial free agency, several plots have floated to the surface of the NFL’s never-ending grind. The Jacksonville Jaguars emerged as this year’s top spender, throwing big money contracts at veterans in hopes of rising from the league’s basement. The Los Angeles Chargers took full advantage of Justin Herbert’s inexpensive contract to add and retain the veteran talent to push them to the playoffs. The New England Patriots followed up their 2021 spending spree by… uh, trading for a linebacker who only played 21 percent of the Browns’ defensive snaps last year.
Here’s a breakdown of the biggest contracts to be reported early in the free agent period, along with some entirely-too-soon grades for these deals.
The Jaguars pay up to $114 million for a pair of complementary wide receivers.
Terms: Jaguars sign WR Christian Kirk for four years, $72 million with incentives that could take the deal to $84 million. Jaguars sign WR Zay Jones for three years, $24 million with incentives that could take the deal to $30 million.
Hooooo, boy. Okay. Wow.
GM Trent Baalke took a swing. Given the way his fanbase tore into him the past two months, it’s what he needed to do. While the max value on these deals is eye opening, the more likely scenario is $18 million annually for Kirk and $8 million each year for Jones. In a market where Nelson Agholor got a two-year, $22 million deal with the Patriots against a shrunken salary cap last season and zero-time Pro Bowler Mike Williams got $60 million this spring, I can understand why the Jaguars, fully aware they have to pay a premium to lure free agents to a very sad franchise, would do this.
But for Christian Kirk and Zay Jones? Kirk is a nice complementary piece who’s being paid like a top 10 wideout. He was responsible for at least three expected points added (EPA) in nine games last season but also put up a negative EPA four times.
He’s a good intermediate route runner whose skills kinda overlap with Marvin Jones, who is already on the roster. When asked to serve as Arizona’s WR1 in DeAndre Hopkins’ absence, he put up 38 catches for 451 yards and a pair of touchdowns in seven games as Arizona’s WR1 — a 92-catch, 1,095-yard, five touchdown pace over a 17-game season.
That’s good, but it’s not $18 million per year good.
Jones is a player I personally love after watching him absolutely lord over AAC defenses at East Carolina. As a pro, however, he’s averaged 37 catches and 402 yards per 17 games. He’s a year and a half older than D.J. Chark, who left Jacksonville to sign with the Lions on a one-year, $10 million deal.
In all, the Jaguars could be paying $148.25 million in total contract costs for a WR corps of:
- Christian Kirk
- Marvin Jones
- Zay Jones
- Jamal Agnew
- Laviska Shenault
That’s a deep group, but unless Kirk can make a leap after leaving Arizona there’s no alpha dog in that very expensive pack. Baalke is hoping quantity > quality when it comes to Lawrence’s targets.
Grade: C-
Chargers make the the biggest splash of the first day of free agency with a JC Jackson megadeal.
Terms: Chargers sign CB JC Jackson for five years, $82.5 million
Los Angeles had bigger defensive needs to fill than its pass defense. The Chargers ranked 30th in rush defense DVOA last fall and gave up more than 4.6 yards per carry on the ground.
Despite this, their two biggest defensive additions this offseason are an All-Pro cornerback and a former defensive player of the year pass rusher (Khalil Mack, who was acquired via trade last week). This makes sense when the other quarterbacks in your division are Patrick Mahomes, Russell Wilson, and (voice goes down an octave) Derek Carr.
Jackson rose from obscurity to become one of the league’s premier playmakers in New England. His 17 interceptions the past two seasons are the most in the NFL over that stretch. He’s allowed a passer rating higher than 47.0 just once in four seasons as a pro.
The Chargers are getting all that without even paying him a top five salary at his position. In a landscape where overpays proliferated through a rising cap, Los Angeles got Jackson for the same price the Dolphins paid Byron Jones two years ago. Pretty good! Factor in the Sebastian Joseph-Day deal to help rebuild the run defense, and general manager Tom Telesco has to feel pretty good about what his team has done to open the offseason.
Like with the Williams deal, the Chargers understood their window of contention with a quarterback on a rookie deal was short. They’re taking full advantage in hopes of following the Chiefs’ footsteps to contention.
Grade: A-
The Steelers get a starting quarterback. Technically.
Terms: Steelers sign QB Mitchell Trubisky for two years, $14 million
Listen, I don’t like it either. But this is a team that knows it can make it to the playoffs with a caretaker quarterback because that’s exactly what it did the past two seasons. Trubisky is inexpensive, doesn’t preclude the team from drafting a quarterback in April, won’t force the team into trading up for a shaky prospect in the first round and is mobile enough to escape pressure behind a rebuilding offensive line.
I broke down the deal and why it makes sense for the Steelers here. Trubisky worth a shot. You don’t just say “no” to the inaugural Nickelodeon Valuable Player.
Grade: C
Jaguars give Trevor Lawrence and Travis Etienne some much-needed support.
Terms: Jaguars sign G Brandon Scherff to a three-year, $49.5 million deal
Scherff escaped Washington’s franchise tag hell to sign the league’s richest contract for an interior lineman with Jacksonville. This is the football equivalent of drifting across the Pacific Ocean for years and finally making landfall in North Korea.
But Jacksonville is trying, and landing the best interior blocker on the market is a nice apology for forcing Lawrence to spend the bulk of his first year as a pro under the tutelage of walking canker sore Urban Meyer. Scherff upgrades an already-decent run blocking group to clear space for Etienne and a hopefully healthy James Robinson — no guard in the league had a better win rate on the ground in 2021, per ESPN.
He’s not as devastating in pass protection, but still above average. His ability to identify defensive schemes and stunts should help an offensive line that wasn’t blitzed much in 2021 but still allowed its QBs to be sacked or hit 84 times.
GM Trent Baalke did a good job fitting Scherff’s contract into the window where Lawrence will be relatively unpaid on his rookie deal. Unfortunately for the Jags, this wasn’t the only big-money deal he engineered during the tampering period.
Grade: A-
Mike Williams gets top-5 WR money
Terms: Chargers re-sign WR Mike Williams for three years, $60 million
The NFL wrung its hands about Christian Kirk’s expensive deal in Jacksonville, but it’s Williams who has the biggest salary in the 2022 free agent market so far. Only DeAndre Hopkins, Julio Jones, Davante Adams and teammate Keenan Allen are set to make more than his $20 million in average salary this fall.
That’s a lot for a player who has never been an All-Pro or been selected to a Pro Bowl. Williams only has one season on his resume with more than 50 receptions, but it came in 2021’s contract year, leading to a massive payout before he could hit free agency. The deal means Los Angeles will commit more than $40 million in average salary to its top two wideouts for each of the next three years.
Williams’ contract runs exactly through the end of Justin Herbert’s rookie deal, signaling the Chargers’ desire to wring every penny of excess value created by their quarterback’s inexpensive contract. The former first round pick’s value isn’t just in his production; Williams rose to the occasion while Herbert established himself as one of the game’s top young passers.
He was a one-dimensional deep threat when paired with Philip Rivers. He’s been a much more versatile target the past two seasons, which has been vital as Keenan Allen has slumped from his 2017-19 peak (yards per target 2017-19: 8.5; yards per target 2020-21: 6.9). Williams’ extension was a signal of L.A.’s trust in him and a potential changing of the guard at WR1 should Allen fade as his 30s approach. Dang, that’s a lot of money though.
Grade: B+