NFL free agency 2025: The best deals on defensive players (so far)

Breaking down the savviest moves in NFL free agency.

Super Bowl winners aren’t based entirely on superstars; they’re created by filling all the holes on their rosters intelligently and with the right money allotted to the right talent.

As much as the 2024 Philadelphia Eagles had it going on with Jalen Hurts, A.J. Brown, DeVonta Smith, the best offensive line in football, and a host of first-line defensive talent, there were as many guys like Zack Baun, who signed a one-year, $3.5 million contract to be part of the show. Vic Fangio saw enough in Baun to expand his role, and Baun responded with an All-Pro season that netted him a fat three-year, $51 million contract this year.

So, when you’re looking to fill out your roster in the hopes of making it to next season’s Super Bowl, it behooves you to strike as many ridiculous bargains as possible. Based on the contracts that have already been drawn up in the 2025 free-agency space, here are the best bargains on the defensive side of the ball – the potential difference-makers whose contracts barely made a dent in the salary cap.

Roy Robertson-Harris, DL, New York Giants

Over time, there are those players who you just wind up inexplicably liking based on their tape, and you can’t really let it go. Defensive lineman Roy Robertson-Harris has been one of My Guys for a few years now, and that process amplified itself over his three full seasons with the Jacksonville Jaguars from 2021 through 2023. At 6’5 and 290 pounds, Robertson-Harris can line up outside the tackles, over the tackles, and outside the guards, and he can disrupt and pursue from all of those gaps. The Jaguars gave Robertson-Harris a three-year, $30 million extension in 2023, and traded him for a sixth-round pick in October of 2024.

Now, Robertson-Harris gets a two-year, $9 million deal with $5.3 million guaranteed, and this could work out very well on a Big Blue line that already has an embarrassment of riches with Dexter Lawrence, Brian Burns, and Kayvon Thibodeaux. It’s a major bargain for a guy who had two sacks and 16 total pressures on 226 pass-rushing snaps last season for two teams, and is capable of more with just one.

Leonard Floyd, EDGE, Atlanta Falcons

The list of pass-rushers with the most regular-season sacks from 2020-2024 starts out about as you’d expect: T.J. Watt, Myles Garrett, Trey Hendrickson, Nick Bosa, Micah Parsons, Haason Reddick, and Maxx Crosby. No. 8 on that list is Leonard Floyd, who has been well-traveled in recent years.

Floyd signed a four-year, $64 million contract with the Los Angeles Rams in 2021, and was released after the 2022 season. He signed a one-year, $7 million deal with the Buffalo Bills in 2023, and moved to the San Francisco 49ers in 2024 on a two-year deal. Floyd totaled 11 sacks and 44 total pressures on 373 pass-rushing snaps last season, excelling when Nick Bosa struggled with injuries, but he was cast aside in San Francisco’s massive salary cap dump this year. So, the Falcons were able to nab him on a one-year, $10 million, fully-guaranteed contract.

For a Falcons defense in desperate need of edge help, this is a major addition. Floyd can rock blockers back with speed-to-power moves, he can bend the edge and flatten his rush path, and he can also jump several gaps in a big hurry to mess with protections and get to the quarterback.

Floyd will turn 33 on Sept. 8, and he’s not likely a long-term solution, but as general manager Terry Fontenot and head coach Raheem Morris move to accentuate their pass-rush plan overall, the veteran provides an easy answer, and he solves at least part of the puzzle.

Deatrich Wise Jr., EDGE, Washington Commanders

The Commanders did have two 10-sack edge rushers last season in Dante Fowler Jr. and Dorance Armstrong in 2024, and both are still on the roster for 2025, but you know how it is — you can never have too many pass disruptors. That’s why Washington stole former New England Patriots edge-rusher Deatrich Wise Jr. on a one-year, $5 million deal that could pay major dividends.

Last season, the 2017 fourth-round pick out of Arkansas totaled five sacks and 20 total pressures on just 269 pass-rushing snaps, and at 6’5 and 280 pounds, he’s got some inside/outside flexibility. Two of his sacks and six of his total pressures happened when Wise was aligned inside the tackles.

Going back to Michael Bennett with the Legion of Boom Seattle Seahawks when Commanders head coach Dan Quinn was the defensive coordinator and defensive line coach in 2013 and 2014, Quinn has always loved – and has always known how to best utilize – those edge dudes who could mess with protections by moving around the line. Wise projects to be another, and he’s got all the tools to do it.

Robert Spillane, LB, New England Patriots

The Patriots, Wise’s former team, have made it abundantly clear that they’re going all-in on big-ticket defensive talent in this free agency slate. Former Philadelphia Eagles game-wrecking defensive lineman Milton Williams got the largest contract (four years, $104 million, $66 million guaranteed) in 2025 free agency regardless of position, and the Pats also signed edge rusher Harold Landry and cornerback CarltonDavis to fill major roles for major dollars.

A relatively unheralded contract that could also be a big deal on the field is the three-year, $33 million contract with $20.6 million guaranteed given to former Las Vegas Raiders linebacker Robert Spillane. Over six NFL seasons (four with the Pittsburgh Steelers and the last two with the Raiders), Spillane has turned himself into the kind of linebacker the NFL finds most appealing — the kind of linebacker who can do just about everything. Last season in a defense that didn’t always make a ton of sense, Spillane had two sacks, 13 total pressures, 110 solo tackles, 51 stops, and he allowed 55 catches on 65 targets for 572 yards, 294 yards, four touchdowns, two interceptions, four pass breakups, and an opponent passer rating of 111.0.

Spillane can play half-field linebacker all day in nickel packages, and if you want to play dime with him as the only linebacker on the field, he’s just fine with that as well. He’s the lower-cost cog who will give the high-priced guys around him that much more flexibility.

Donte Jackson, CB, Los Angeles Chargers

Head coach Jim Harbaugh made the decision to bring Jesse Minter, his former defensive coordinator at Michigan, to L.A. in that same role, The 2024 Chargers ranked ninth in Defensive DVOA after finishing 26th in 2023. Minter’s not tied to one type of coverage — the Chargers are just as likely to run single-high as they are to go across the field with Cover-4 or Cover-6 — but if you’re going to play in Minter’s defense, you’d better have your assignments and match rules together, or you won’t be on the field for long.

The Chargers found a real up-and-comer in fifth-round rookie Tarheeb Still last season, and they lost Kristian Fulton in free agency to the Chiefs. The most interesting free-agent reinforcement is former Carolina Panthers and Pittsburgh Steelers cornerback Donte Jackson, who signed a two-year, $13 million contract to be a part of the next iteration of Minter’s defense.

The contract looks like a real bargain based purely on Jackson’s metrics and tape with the 2024 Steelers. He allowed 38 catches on 62 targets for 508 yards, 241 yards after the catch, four touchdowns, five interceptions, three pass deflections, and an opponent passer rating of 75.2. When Jackson did get beaten for touchdowns, it was by guys like A.J. Brown and Ja’Marr Chase, and he wasn’t really badly beaten — these were one or two-step deals that could have gone either way.

On the plus side, what makes Jackson a good fit for what Minter wants to do is that he’s very sticky when he’s matched up on a receiver through the route, and he has the field vision to break off from his own assignments to prevent plays with picks and deflections.

Especially for the price the Chargers paid, we may well look back at the Donte Jackson deal as one of those contracts which really helped a team deep into the playoffs.