Here are the winners and losers from the legal tampering period.
The first day of free agency hasn’t even officially opened and we already have two big winners in the NFC. Atlanta and the Giants, two losing teams from a year ago, might have found a way to flip their fortunes with two mammoth deals.
Kirk Cousins is now a member of the Falcons, and so long as he’s healthy, it’s a ridiculous coup. It’s not often you find a way to get a top-tier quarterback without having to give up the moon in return — but the Falcons managed to do just that. They keep their draft capital intact, while adding an elite quarterback.
Sure, it cost a lot of money, but the salary cap is largely a made up construct — especially when the three core weapons of your offense in Bijan Robinson, Drake London, and Kyle Pitts are all on rookie deals. This essentially means that when it’s time to really feel the bite of these rookies, Cousins’ time in Atlanta is likely done. If you add in that our own J.P Acosta has the Falcons taking LSU receiver Malik Nabors with the No, 8 pick in the 2024 NFL Draft, you have a scenario where this team could legitimately have the most fearsome offense in the entire conference. Not just the NFC South, the entire NFC — and this is coupled with a defense that was already middle of the league in 2023, but will be much better organized under Raheem Morris and Jimmy Lake.
I’m buying into this Falcons team big time. They should cruise through the NFC South and make the playoffs, and from there anything is possible. Essentially this team lost Matt Ryan, went a couple of years without him — then signed a new Matt Ryan. If you watched Atlanta last year you know how scary this team could have been with a halfway decent quarterback. Now they have much more than that.
Meanwhile the Giants pulled off the stunner of the day, finalizing a trade with the Carolina Panthers for disgruntled edge rusher Brian Burns. The Pro Bowler had been unable to reach a long-term agreement with the Panthers for the last two years, despite the organization previously asserting he was a part of their future plans. Now with new head coach Dave Canales it was decided Burns was expendable, with the Panthers getting a 2nd round pick (No. 39 overall) and a 5th round pick in return.
New York wasted no time to pay their new man, as Burns agreed to a five-year, $150M contract with $87.5M guaranteed.
To be honest, this is a win-win move, despite a lot of angst around the deal. Burns struggled in 2023 to adjust to Elijah Evero’s new 3-4 defense, which put an emphasis on Derrick Brown as the anchor. Burns showed flashes of brilliance, but it wasn’t nearly as pronounced as the Panthers hoped — which likely soured them on a long-term deal. Meanwhile the Giants know exactly how to use a guy with Burns’ skillset, because they already have one in Kayvon Thibodeaux. The Burns/Thibs pairing is going to be FUN.
This is so brilliant for the Giants because now they have ludicrous flexibility with the No. 6 pick. They could stay and take a quarterback, add a receiver, or trade down to a QB-hungry team and amass a larger war chest. With the pressure of finding more pass rush off their shoulders this team can play, and that makes this very fun.
Of course, this is before we even mention the other brilliant signings the team made. A trio of less-explosive, but really solid pieces in RB Devin Singletary, OT Jermaine Eluemunor and OG Jon Runyan Jr. revamps the G-Men’s offensive line, and gives them a short-yardage back with durability, something they sorely lacked from Saquon Barkley.
Yes, there are some pain points for the Giants as well. Seeing Barkley in an Eagles jersey twice a year won’t be fun, and Xavier McKinney is damn-near irreplaceable he’s such a good safety, but Brian Daboll teams are built in the trenches — and the moves on Monday really help reshape this team in a positive way. I love what the Giants did as well.
Loser: Minnesota Vikings
I really like the three big signings the Vikings made on Monday. Jonathan Greenard is a promising pass rusher, albeit a little inconsistent, Blake Cashman coming home to Minnesota and bolstering the team’s run stopping ability is great, and Andrew Van Ginkel is a nice rotational piece.
Here’s the rub: It’s impossible to overlook what the Vikings lost on Monday. This was a team that was likely looking forward to a playoff berth in 2024, making one more big push with the offense as constructed. Now that’s all gone. Nobody in the NFL has a worse quarterback situation than Minnesota does at this precise moment. Their “competitive rebuild” went belly up, because the team was neither able to be competitive, nor rebuild.
The situation under center is dire. This team can’t afford to punt on the season and look to 2025, because the risk is that Justin Jefferson will want out. It likely ties the franchise’s hands to trade up in the draft, because there’s really nobody left at this point they could sign and compete with at remotely the same level as Kirk Cousins.
The trio of defensive signings today also seem to indicate that Danielle Hunter is on his way out too. Hunter will command more in free agency than the Vikings wanted to spend, which is fine in isolation — but when it means you’ve lost your starting quarterback AND your best pass rusher on the same afternoon it’s a very dark day.
That rebuild has to happen now, and it won’t be competitive.
Winner: Green Bay Packers
The Packers made two monumental moves on Monday that catapults them back into the conversation in the NFC North.
Offensively the team got strictly better by signing Josh Jacobs. The former Raiders running back is a legitimate 1,000 yard rusher who has receiving chops which were under-utilized in Las Vegas. This opens things up for Jordan Love even more, and after the teams surprising playoff run in 2023 they are poised to take a step forward offensively.
The bigger signing is the aforementioned Xavier McKinney. One of the best safeties in the NFL, he now slots in next to Jaire Alexander, and helps take pressure of Jonathan Owens — who really struggled last season.
To cap all this off you have to factor in that the Packers got better by virtue of the Vikings taking the hit they did today. All in all it was a very good day for the Packers.
Winner: Brian Burns
After waiting for two years to get an extension one of the top pass rushers on the market finally got it. As it stood he was set to play under the tag, which would have been grossly unfair for what he’s done on his rookie contract for the Panthers.
A rookie contract will set you up for life. A second NFL contract will set generations up. Congratulations to him for it — and on a personal note, thank you for your time in Carolina.
