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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Jacksonville Jaguars 2025 Free Agency Losses:
CB Ronald Darby (Houston Texans)
S Andre Cisco (New York Jets)
C Mitch Morse (Retired)
RG Brandon Scherff (Free Agent)
TE Evan Engram (Denver Broncos)
TE Luke Farrell (San Francisco 49ers)
RB D’Ernest Johnson (Free Agent)
WR Christian Kirk (Houston Texans, via trade)
WR Devin Duvernay (Free Agent)
OG Blake Hance (Tennessee Titans)
QB Mac Jones (San Francisco 49ers)
Jacksonville Jaguars 2025 Free Agency Signings/Additions:
CB Jourdan Lewis (3 years, $24M, $12M guaranteed)
C Robert Hainsey (2 years, $12M, $6M guaranteed)
WR Dyami Brown (1 year, $10M, $5M guaranteed)
OT Chuma Edoga (2 years, $8M, $4M guaranteed)
TE Johnny Mundt (2 years, $6M, $3M guaranteed)
TE Chris Long (2 years, $5M, $2M guaranteed)
S Eric Murray (1 year, $5M, $2M guaranteed)
RG Patrick Mekari (3 years, $18M, $9M guaranteed)
QB Nick Mullens (1 year, $2M, $0.5M guaranteed)
Jacksonville Jaguars 2025 Rookie Draft Picks and Undrafted Free Agents:
WR/CB Travis Hunter (1st Round, No. 2)
S Caleb Ransaw (3rd Round, No. 88)
OL Wyatt Milum (3rd Round, No. 89)
RB Bhayshul Tuten (4th Round, No. 104)
LB Jack Kiser (4th Round, No. 107)
LB Jalen McLeod (6th Round, No. 194)
S Rayuan Lane III (6th Round, No. 200)
C Jonah Monheim (7th Round, No. 221)
RB LeQuint Allen Jr. (7th Round, No. 236)
DE Ethan Downs (UDFA)
DB Doneiko Slaughter (UDFA)
TE Patrick Herbert (UDFA)
DE Danny Striggow (UDFA)
S Cam’Ron Silmon-Craig (UDFA)
QB Seth Henigan (UDFA)
DL Eli Mostaert (UDFA)
G Sal Wormley (UDFA)
DL B.J. Green II (UDFA)
WR J.J. Jones (UDFA)
WR Quincy Skinner Jr. (UDFA)
DL Simeon Barrow Jr. (UDFA)
DB Daryl Porter Jr. (UDFA)
DB Mike Smith Jr. (UDFA)
EDGE Johnny Walker Jr. (UDFA)
DL Keith Cooper Jr. (UDFA)
OL J.J. Lippe (UDFA)
DB Melvin Smith Jr. (UDFA)
DL Anthony Booker Jr. (UDFA)
WR Theo Wease Jr. (UDFA)
Ross Jacobs’ analysis...
Jacksonville Jaguars Off-season Grade: B+
Lots of really sharp moves by the new GM James Gladstone who continues to impress me. Much like the Bears, Jacksonville moved quickly to completely revamp their interior O-Line and I think they got comparable improvement and for a much lower cost than Chicago managed, only they did it with lesser names so the media doesn't care. They also added one of the best slot corners in the game, Jourdan Lewis, and the ascending Dyami Brown to add more speed to the offense. A very solid group of additions. On the other side their only real notable losses were Andre Cisco who was very inconsistent, Evan Engram who was on the wrong side of 30, and Christian Kirk who is massively overrated. The single greatest move of the entire off-season was probably Gladstone somehow convincing a division rival to actually give them a draft pick for Kirk when he was destined to be cut anyways.
Then the draft saw Gladstone make the very bold move to trade up for Travis Hunter and pick up several other useful players in Ransaw, Milum, Tuten, and Kiser. This was a fantastic start for the young GM and I'm excited to see what he does in the future.
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.
Winner: New England Patriots
I love all the smart, cheap deals James Gladstone and the Jaguars struck this off-season, especially without a lot of prep time. But when we're looking at the overall impact for just the 2025 season -- so you have to give it to the Patriots. Yes, they overspent on most of their free agents, but the guys they brought in are still massive upgrades over what they fielded last year. Then the draft brought a lot of really solid players as well. There's not any one player that really stands out the way Travis Hunter stands out for Jacksonville, but the sheer quantity of good football players they added puts them over the top for me.
RC’s analysis...
Jacksonville offseason comments:
The only thing the Jags lost in free agency that hurts them for 2025 is Evan Engram. I get the big picture move, but this is a step back for judging just 2025 impacts.
They brought in, via free agency, a lot of decent/lesser-known/lauded player moves...which is what free agency should be for healthy teams or rosters that need an enema (JAX is in the enema state). I see the logic in many of their subtle moves...their free agency power was in the overall quantity not one major quality/blows you away big-ticket item headline move...they saved that splash move for the draft.
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.
RC’s WINNER: New England Patriots
I want to ‘fight it’/resist the Patriots winning every round because I don’t love Mike Vrabel or this organization post-Belichick, but every time I look at what they did in offseason 2025 -- I gain more and more appreciation for how good their offseason plan and execution of it was.
Jacksonville did a fine job this offseason, but New England did a great job. The Pats reinforced the O-Line, which is so key, but also added to the defense so smartly especially adding Carlton Davis to pair with Christian Gonzalez...that boosts the defense to another level, potentially. And then for an added bonus they upgraded at RB, WR, Kicker. I do not understand the Stefon Diggs signing/amount at all but other than that this was a terrific offseason.
*Officially Moving on in the Tournament* New England moves on to the Finals/Super Bowl to face Chicago
