We’re looking at all NFL team’s free agent moves (in and out) and their NFL Draft to see who got better and by how much -- setting the tone for analyzing them for the upcoming season for FF purposes and for betting evaluations on team over/unders, etc.
We had Grok list all the moves and we show them first and then Ross and I (RC) weigh in on what we see with all the roster moves -- how they affect 2025 only. And ultimately we pick a winner.
We’ll do two matchups per day, within each division seeded from the 2024 final standings, for 16 days...then we’ll take the 16 winners and accelerate the matchups after that and advance the best ‘offseason’ moves teams through to the ‘Super Bowl’, declaring a final winner.
New England Patriots 2025 Key Free Agency Losses:
QB Jacoby Brissett (Free Agent)
LB Ja’Whaun Bentley (Released, Free Agent)
C David Andrews (Released, Retired)
DT Davon Godchaux (New Orleans Saints)
DE Deatrich Wise Jr. (Washington Commanders)
CB Jonathan Jones (Washington Commanders)
OT Chukwuma Okorafor (Released, New York Jets)
New England Patriots 2025 Key Free Agency Signings/Additions:
QB Josh Dobbs (2 years, $8M, $3.8M guaranteed)
WR Stefon Diggs (3 years, $69M, $34.5M guaranteed)
WR Mack Hollins (1 year, $3M, $1.5M guaranteed)
OT Morgan Moses (3 years, $24M, $12M guaranteed)
C Garrett Bradbury (2 years, $10M, $5M guaranteed)
DT Milton Williams (4 years, $104M, $52M guaranteed)
CB Carlton Davis (3 years, $60M, $30M guaranteed)
LB Robert Spillane (3 years, $37M, $18.5M guaranteed)
LB Jack Gibbens (1 year, $3M, $1.5M guaranteed)
EDGE Harold Landry (3 years, $43.5M, $21.75M guaranteed)
New England Patriots 2025 Rookie Draft Picks and Undrafted Free Agents:
OT Will Campbell (1st Round, No. 4)
RB TreVeyon Henderson (2nd Round, No. 38)
WR Kyle Williams (3rd Round, No. 69)
C Jared Wilson (3rd Round, No. 95)
S Craig Woodson (4th Round, No. 106)
DT Joshua Farmer (4th Round, No. 137)
EDGE Bradyn Swinson (5th Round, No. 146)
K Andres Borregales (6th Round, No. 182)
OT Marcus Bryant (7th Round, No. 220)
LS Julian Ashby (7th Round, No. 251)
CB Kobee Minor (7th Round, No. 257)
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TE C.J. Dippre (UDFA)
DL Wilfried Pene (UDFA)
S Jordan Polk (UDFA)
WR Jeremiah Webb (UDFA)
OT Cole Birdow (UDFA)
WR Efton Chism (UDFA)
QB Ben Wooldridge (UDFA)
TE Gee Scott Jr. (UDFA)
RB Lan Larison (UDFA)
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Cleveland Browns 2025 Free Agency Losses:
S D’Anthony Bell (Seattle Seahawks)
OL James Hudson III (New York Giants)
S Juan Thornhill (Free Agent)
DT Dalvin Tomlinson (Arizona Cardinals)
G Jedrick Wills Jr. (Free Agent)
RB Nick Chubb (Free Agent)
OL Nick Harris (Free Agent)
LB Jordan Hudson (Free Agent)
TE Geoff Swaim (Free Agent)
DT Michael Dwumfour (Free Agent)
RB John Kelly Jr. (Free Agent)
Cleveland Browns 2025 Free Agency Signings/Additions:
WR DeAndre Carter (1 year, $0.8M, $0.4M guaranteed)
OL Teven Jenkins (1 year, $3.05M, $1.5M guaranteed)
LB Jerome Baker (1 year, $2.5M, $1M guaranteed)
DE Joe Tryon-Shoyinka (1 year, $4.75M, $2M guaranteed)
OT Cornelius Lucas (2 years, $10M, $5M guaranteed)
DT Maliek Collins (2 years, $20M, $13M guaranteed)
QB Kenny Pickett (Acquired via trade, contract not disclosed)
CB Tony Brown II (1 year, $1.5M, $0.5M guaranteed)
QB Joe Flacco (1 year, $4M, $3M guaranteed)
Cleveland Browns 2025 Rookie Draft Picks and Undrafted Free Agents:
DT Mason Graham (1st Round, No. 5)
LB Carson Schwesinger (2nd Round, No. 33)
RB Quinshon Judkins (2nd Round, No. 54)
TE Harold Fannin Jr. (3rd Round, No. 67)
QB Dillon Gabriel (3rd Round, No. 85)
RB Dylan Sampson (4th Round, No. 104)
QB Shedeur Sanders (5th Round, No. 144)
DL Adin Huntington (UDFA)
RB Ahmani Marshall (UDFA)
LS Brent Matiscik (UDFA)
S Donovan McMillon (UDFA)
DL Jason Ivey (UDFA)
CB Lamareon James (UDFA)
OL Cam’Ron Johnson (UDFA)
OL Justin Osborne (UDFA)
CB Dom Jones (UDFA)
OL Dartanyan Tinsley (UDFA)
EDGE John Pius (UDFA)
WR Mitch Van Vooren (UDFA)
Ross Jacobs analysis...
New England Off-season Grade: A-
New England is undergoing a massive revamp under Mike Vrabel. He is putting his stamp on this team, and I expect massive improvement. What area did the Patriots not improve this off-season?
They cut a bunch of expensive, aging vets and brought in multiple solid starters on defense during free agency. Landry, Spillane, Davis, and Williams will immediately add an element of toughness missing from this team. They also brought in Moses to man the right side of the line, Hollins for his size and toughness at receiver, and Bradbury to compete at center, plus a ton of depth pieces. Then in the draft they hit on several critical areas including O-line, receiver, RB, and D-line, all potential young building blocks for the future.
Free agency was used to fill holes and make them more competitive, and the draft brought a new core. That's exactly how teams should be building.
Cleveland Browns Off-season Grade: C+
Cleveland's free agency looks like a wash. None of the names particularly stands out except Kenny Pickett as a cheap, upside shot at a QB. During the draft they passed up on Travis Hunter to trade down for several extra picks and Mason Graham. I'm not grading players they did not take, nor am I giving them credit for future draft capital since this is just a look at how the team improved for 2025.
I've said my piece about Graham multiple times, but at the end of the day he is still a starting defensive tackle so that's a net positive. The Browns followed up Graham with easily the best inside linebacker in the class in Schwesinger, two very solid and complimentary RBs in Judkins and Sampson, a productive "move" TE, and two cracks at QB.
No matter what you think of the two particular QBs in question, this was a smart move by Cleveland to keep taking shots at an important position. I happen to think Shedeur can absolutely be a starting QB in the NFL so I grade this move positively although I'm sure RC will not agree. The only thing holding me back from giving them a better grade is the fact that they didn't address their biggest weakness outside of QB at all. Cleveland's offensive line was putrid last year, and unless they all get healthy and return to form, it's going to be putrid again.
Winner: New England Patriots
Not close to me. The Browns had some solid picks in the draft, but outside of Schwesinger I'm not sure any of them moves the needle all that much and their free agency was rather pathetic. The Patriots added multiple instant starters, however ‘mid’ they actually are, and then nailed a nice solid draft. It's not the sexiest offseason ever and it's not going to turn their team around overnight, but at least now they aren't a complete dumpster fire...like Cleveland.
RC Analysis...
New England Offseason Comments:
Looking at the Pats free agency...didn’t really lose much, name/talent-wise. And they definitely signed more talent coming in, with their big budget/CAP availability they had.
NE signed four instant starters on defense -- Carlton Davis, Milton Williams, Spillane, Landry. If Davis is as good at CB as he was last year, and for his career...teaming him with Christian Gonzalez is pretty savvy. The best CB duo in the division, and one of the best in the league perhaps? The defense is boosted.
The offense...not so much. Vrabel is ‘offensively challenged’ and he’s going for the Steelers-mindset of: boring run game and hopefully good defense. And offensive players know this, thus they couldn’t sign anyone of note...no one wants to go there if they have other options. They overspent/wasted $ on Stefon Diggs, who may not play until halfway into the season...and he did not look great last season. Mack Hollins is a good grinder WR, a mercenary not a game changer. They did add a couple useful OL upgrades, because the O-Line was so bad anything is an upgrade.
On both sides of the ball, the Pats are better in what they lost vs. gained in free agency. They got 4-5 instant starters from the draft too. The Patriots didn’t make 1-2 power/killer moves among all their dealings, but the power of this offseason was in the depth/quantity of useful or good players they got versus the marquee of ‘quality’ of top names. This is the kind of offseason they needed to have.
Cleveland offseason comments:
The Browns really lost nothing but depth pieces in free agency...the sign of a bad team sometimes is -- nothing to lose because they literally had ‘nothing’ for talent. And that’s the Browns’ franchise in a nutshell. The players they added were the usual Cleveland ‘nothing’. I mean, Flacco/Pickett is some hope, and Maliek Collins is useful. So, they got a nudge better in free agency. I guess?
They had an OK draft. Schwesinger was a great pick. Mason Graham starts right away, even though I don’t ‘see it’ in him as the star everyone else thinks. Judkins/Sampson is a fresh backfield (with no O-Line to block for them).
And yes I disagree with Ross on Shedeur. I think he’ll be a fast flameout in the NFL. He definitely wont give anything to 2025, as that’s what we are judging here.
The Browns net out a few more players/starters ahead of where they were -- but they needed to make a huge net positive, but they had a generic positive.
RC’s WINNER: New England
The Patriots bought a-half-a defense in free agency, like the Cardinals did...only better, better players brought in. Not only did they buy half-a-defense, they also added several O-Linemen that were desperately needed. Plus, they killed it with Kyle Williams as a 3rd-round instant #1 WR for them + Mack Hollins as an instant starter as well. The Patriots undertook a great transformation...and did it wonderfully.
The Browns are only here because the rest of their division didn’t really do anything to beat them in the AFC North battles to get here. No contest...Patriots win.
*Officially Moving on in the Tournament* New England moves on to the AFC Finals
