NFL winners and losers from free agency eve: Myles Garrett, DK Metcalf cash in; Cowboys, Bengals stunned

The NFL’s legal tampering period, the unofficial start to free agency when teams can begin meeting with and agreeing to deals with free agent players, kicks off on Monday.

However, the league’s 32 teams didn’t get the memo as an avalanche of deals went down on Sunday with a flurry of re-signings, extensions, trades and cuts. Here’s the full list of notable moves in case you may have missed some of the action.

Notable NFL transactions on Sunday

• The Buffalo Bills re-signed QB Josh Allen to a six-year, $330 million contract with an NFL-record $250 million guaranteed
• The Cleveland Browns re-signed edge rusher Myles Garrett to a four-year, $160 million contract with an NFL-record $123 million guaranteed for a non-QB
• The Pittsburgh Steelers traded a 2025 second-round pick for WR DK Metcalf and signed him to a five-year, $150 million extension 
• The Los Angeles Rams signed WR Davante Adams to a two-year, $46 million contract
• The Kansas City Chiefs re-signed LB Nick Bolton to a three-year, $45 million contract
• The New York Jets re-signed LB Jamien Sherwood to a three-year, $45 million contract
• The New England Patriots signed edge rusher Harold Landry to a three-year, $43.5 million contract
• The Seattle Seahawks re-signed LB Ernest Jones IV to a three-year, $33 million contract
• The Seattle Seahawks re-signed DT Jarran Reed to a three-year, $25 million contract
• The Minnesota Vikings re-signed RB Aaron Jones to a two-year, $20 million contract
• The Buffalo Bills released edge rusher Von Miller 

Without further ado, let’s get into separating Sunday’s action into winners and losers.

Winners 

Myles Garrett and the Cleveland Browns

Myles Garrett and the Cleveland Browns both got what they wanted on Sunday. Garrett, the 2023 Defensive Player of the Year, huffed and puffed about sitting out games if he wasn’t traded to a contender, but in the end, he got the record-setting pay day he was looking for after all. The 29-year-old is now the NFL’s highest-paid non-quarterback in terms of average annual salary ($40 million) and guaranteed money ($123 million). 

The Browns now have their defensive cornerstone locked down through his age 35 season in 2030, which allows them to zero in on a quarterback with the second pick in the draft and not even think about drafting Penn State edge rusher Abdul Carter. Plus, Garrett’s presence means Cleveland should be able to field an average defense, at a minimum, for their new rookie starting QB. 

DK Metcalf

Metcalf wanted out of Seattle after it was clear they were rebuilding. Not only did he shortly get his wish, but he received the largest contract by total value ($150 million) in Steelers history. The $30 million average per year on his contract is now tied for the fifth-highest in the league among receivers, and he still gets to line up opposite another wide receiver who can scare opposing defenses in George Pickens. Relatively open looks and a lot of cash are headed Metcalf’s way. That’s a major win. 

Mike Macdonald and John Schneider

The Seahawks now have five picks in the 2025 NFL Draft’s first two days — one first round pick, two second-round picks (one from the Metcalf trade) and two third-round picks (one from the trade of quarterback Geno Smith to the Las Vegas Raiders). The rebuild is on in Seattle, and when that’s loud and clear, that typically gives a regime (a head coach and a general manager) extra time to figure things out and develop young players because of lower expectations. Head coach Mike Macdonald and general manager John Schneider may have just reset the clock on their job security after a 7-10 campaign in their first year together in 2024. 

Davante Adams and the Los Angeles Rams

Wide receiver Davante Adams needs a few more good years to solidify his Pro Football Hall of Fame case, and the three-time first-team All-Pro also wanted to contend for a Super Bowl ring in the process. After signing with the Los Angeles Rams on a two-year, $46 million deal with $26 million guaranteed on Sunday, he got paid at the age of 32, and he gets to ring chase. 

The Rams were the closest of any team to knocking off the Super Bowl LIX champion Philadelphia Eagles in the 2024 postseason. Adams and Puka Nacua will feast in coach Sean McVay’s offense while catching passes from Matthew Stafford, a quarterback well-equipped to stuff the stat sheet when provided top-tier receiving talent like he has now. 

Aaron Jones

Aaron Jones is a 30-year-old running back who will turn 31 in December, but he still got a nice payday. He re-signed with the Minnesota Vikings on a two-year, $20 million contract with $13 million guaranteed on Sunday. That’s more than double the one-year, $7 million contract he signed with the Vikings last offseason after being released by the Packers. Jones thrived in Minnesota’s offensive ecosystem, producing single-season career-highs in yards rushing (1,138) and carries (255).

Those two totals showed the Vikings, in their mind, that Jones is capable of shaking off the injury bug to be a productive RB1 at his age. However, he did get that deal in spite of wearing down noticeably as the season progressed. He averaged 5.2 yards per carry in his first six games last season and over a yard fewer, 4.1, in the Vikings’ last 11 games. Jones cashed in with a mostly guaranteed contract through his age 32 season. Not bad at all for a running back.  

The Titans, who hold the No. 1 pick, can now breathe easy when potentially trading down to No. 3 with the New York Giants because Penn State edge rusher Abdul Carter will likely be on the board. That’s because the Browns solidified their edge rusher spot by re-signing Garrett on Sunday. Cleveland will certainly be focused on a quarterback, which turns up the heat for the Giants’ desires to trade up to No. 1 if they prefer Miami’s Cam Ward over Colorado’s Shedeur Sanders among the QBs. 

Tennessee has a need at edge rusher after cutting Harold Landry, and now they now they can stockpile draft picks in a trade down and still get their guy with the third overall pick. 

Losers

Micah Parsons, Ja’Marr Chase, Tee Higgins and Trey Hendrickson, plus their respective agents, must’ve been popping bottles of champagne after their positional markets took significant jumps on Sunday. 

Parsons, a three-time All-Pro who is 25 years old, can demand an extension from the Cowboys for at least $40 million in average annual salary and not even blink after Garrett, who is four years his senior, signed for that much. 

Hendrickson will turn 31 in December, but he’s only the fifth player ever to post consecutive seasons with at least 17 sacks, and his 17.5 in 2024 led the league. Either the Bengals or another team will eventually have to pay up for his services. 

Metcalf, who turns 28 in December, is older than both Chase and Higgins, and his route tree is less diverse than both current Bengals wideouts. Nonetheless, he received a five-year, $150 million extension from the Pittsburgh Steelers. Both Higgins and Chase are set to cash in after Sunday’s action. 

All of these players could have been extended by their teams last year. That would have saved both organizations a lot of money and cap space. But because both front offices were passive, they’ve allowed the rest of the league to drive up the market at these position groups. 

Teams with cap space

So many players got deals done to remain with their teams, and a few big trades have already occurred. That leaves teams with huge chunks of cap space like the New England Patriots (a league-best $113.3 million per OverTheCap.com), Los Angeles Chargers ($83.3 million) and the Arizona Cardinals ($74.5 million) picking at leftovers come Monday. Sure, there are options out there on the open market, but many of the top guys are already gone. That means teams like these with holes and massive amounts of cap space will overpay on talent or punt on the current options and lean even harder into the draft, which can have mixed results. 

Aaron Rodgers is a loser after Sunday for a couple reasons. One is two potential landing spots evaporated for him. The Las Vegas Raiders needed a quarterback, but they opted to trade for Geno Smith. The Seattle Seahawks were an appealing destination for Rodgers with Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Tyler Lockett and DK Metcalf in the building. Now Lockett, Metcalf and others are gone, and Seattle has made it clear they are rebuilding. That’s not something Rodgers wants to do at 41. 

Secondly, he lost the chance to finish out his career playing on the same team as longtime teammate Davante Adams — their 83 touchdowns as a quarterback-wide receiver duo are the third-most all-time. They’re behind only the Peyton Manning and Marvin Harrison (114 with the Colts) and Steve Young and Jerry Rice (92 with the 49ers). Instead of Adams potentially following Rodgers to the Giants, Steelers or Titans, Adams signed with the Rams. With Matthew Stafford returning to the Rams, that won’t be a landing spot for Rodgers. 

On Wednesday, Rams general manager Les Snead called wide receiver Cooper Kupp playing for Los Angeles in 2025 “the least likely” option after putting him on the trade block earlier this offseason. 

Now that the Rams have signed Adams, it’s clear they’re ready to move on from Kupp after acquiring another accomplished veteran at his position. 

Von Miller

The Buffalo Bills are re-signing everybody: quarterback Josh Allen, wide receiver Khalil Shakir, edge rusher Gregory Rousseau and cornerback Terrel Bernard have all received new deals this offseason. However, Miller was cut on Sunday ahead of his age 36 season.

Not only did he lose out on some big money, but now he’ll likely have to wait for the first few waves of free agents to be signed before figuring out his 2025 NFL home.