This is a recap over the first few, wild weeks of NFL Free Agency including winners and losers as well as best and worst deals.

Winners:

Arizona: You know you’ve done a good job in a trade when the internet laughs at the heist you were able to pull off. It’s more than getting DeAndre Hopkins for at most a high 2^nd pick, but they also got out of a bad contract in David Johnson (Average of $13 million).  They also placed a transition tag on Kenyan Drake who broke with them last year after he was brought in from Miami.

Tampa Bay: Tampa Bay landed the biggest fish that everyone had their eyes on: Tom Brady. To go from Jameis Winston’s 30 interceptions (and another 9 dropped interceptions by defensive players) to Brady who hasn’t thrown more than 14 in a season will be huge for a team that was close to the playoffs last year. They also kept the main piece on their top 10 defense from last year as they franchise tagged the NFL’s sack leader in Shaquil Barrett.

Cleveland: Yes, the Browns made big moves last year that didn’t work. But this year, under the new regime of Kevin Stefanski and Andrew Berry, they addressed team needs, got players who fit Stefanski’s system, and they got favorable deals done with players. There signed a few one-year deals and got the best offensive lineman Jack Conklin on a front-loaded deal where when it comes the time to pay guys like Myles Garrett, Baker Mayfield, and Nick Chubb, Conklin is only earning $12 million in the final year.

Losers:

Houston: Simply put, you don’t trade a top 5 wide receiver in DeAndre Hopkins for a 2^nd Round Pick and a running back with a worse contract and hasn’t been productive since 2016. Randall Cobb was overpaid at $9 million per year, and so was Eric Murray, at nearly $7 million per year. Bill O’Brien went from blowing playoff leads to basically trading off key pieces of his team.

LA Rams: It’s one thing to give a productive running back like Todd Gurley was his big payday. What you shouldn’t do is release Gurley 20 months after he signed his contract. They lost production by replacing Dante Fowler with Leonard Floyd (Fowler had 11.5 sacks, Floyd had 3 sacks last year).

Jacksonville: “Sacksonville” in the space of 2 years went from one win away from a Super Bowl appearance to getting rid of almost all key members of that defense. They got back next to nothing for Calais Campbell and AJ Bouye, and it sounds like Yannick Ngakoue wants out of Jacksonville as soon as possible. The contract for Joe Schobert is also a bad look for a Linebacker who underperformed last year (5 years, $53.75 million).

Best Deal Not Mentioned:

Cory Littleton (3 years, $36 million): Las Vegas (almost said Oakland) got a steal in Littleton who is a valuabl3, 3 down linebacker who can do a little bit of everything. He can play in coverage, he can get to the quarterback, and has put up 100 plus tackles in back to back years. For what he does on the field, it’s a great value for Las Vegas.

Worst Deal Not Mentioned:

Trae Waynes (3 years, $42 million): Now, Waynes is by no means a bad player, as he was a reliable number 2 cornerback for Minnesota last year. But reliable number 2 corners should be getting paid more than guys like Stephon Gilmore (reigning NFL Defensive Player of the Year), Tre’Davious White (All-Pro last year), and Kyle Fuller (Pro Bowler).