2026 NFL free agency takeaways: What we learned from first wave of deals

The second week of March annually rings in the new NFL league year, which kicks off the whirlwind that is free agency. Every year we learn new things about team building in the parity-filled NFL.

For years, it was thought that high spending in free agency didn’t equate to having a roster capable of winning it all, as no team from 2010-24 ranked in the top five in offseason free-agent spending by total contract value and then reached the Super Bowl. 

The league’s two Super Bowl LX participants, the New England Patriots and the Seattle Seahawks, disproved that notion during the 2025 season. The Seahawks ranked fourth in the 2025 offseason in free-agent spending, while the Patriots went from picking in the top five of the draft to playing in the Super Bowl after spending an NFL-record $364 million in free agency during the 2025 offseason.

So what lessons did we learn from the first wave of the 2026 NFL free agency period? Here are five things to consider about offseason moves and signings going forward.

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1. Trades aren’t complete until the physical

This has always been the case, but the football world received a strong reminder when the Las Vegas Raiders’ trade of five-time Pro Bowl edge rusher Maxx Crosby to the Baltimore Ravens in exchange for two first-round picks fell apart after the Ravens backed out. 

Baltimore backed out of the deal after failing Crosby’s physical just two months after he underwent surgery on his left knee to repair a meniscus injury. Anyone who undergoes that type of procedure likely wouldn’t be able to pass a physical right now, and Crosby’s agent, CJ LaBoy, posted a statement saying his client is ahead of schedule and tracking toward returning for the offseason program this spring. The Ravens were well within their rights to nullify the trade because of the physical, and it appears it wasn’t as underhanded as it initially seemed, since no other NFL team has agreed to a trade with the Raiders for Crosby’s services.

Maxx Crosby fallout: Ravens might have just set ugly precedent for NFL offseason trades

John Breech

2. It’s never been better to be a free agent

The NFL’s salary cap jumped $22 million this year, from $279.2 million in 2025 to $301.2 million in 2026, because of the league’s bountiful 11-year, $110 billion media rights deal with Amazon, CBS, ESPN, FOX and NBC.

There have been salary cap jumps every year in the NFL of late, but the 2026 increase produced new levels of cashing in for players this offseason. Eight have either become the highest-paid player at their position or the highest-paid free agent at their position in terms of average annual salary.

McDuffie, Tunsil, Linderbaum and Stout became the highest-paid players ever at their respective positions, while Phillips, Pierce, Walker and Likely received the highest-paid free-agent contracts at their positions. For years, it was advisable for players to work out extensions with the teams that drafted them, as teams were leery of free-agent spending. As the salary cap continues to soar, it might be more prudent to have the patience to wait and cash in on the open market.

2026 NFL free agency live tracker: Full list of team-by-team signings and trades

Kyle Stackpole

3. Raiders, Titans follow Patriots’ blueprint

New England picked in the top five of the NFL Draft in both 2024 and 2025, but after selecting quarterback Drake Maye third overall in 2024 and then spending an NFL-record $364 million in free agency during the 2025 offseason, the Patriots were back in the Super Bowl. Two other teams that will be picking in the top 10 of the draft in 2025 and 2026 — the Raiders and the Titans — are looking to follow in the Patriots’ footsteps.

The Titans spent an NFL-most $293.2 million in free agency to help support 2025 first overall pick quarterback Cam Ward, while the Raiders were right behind them. Las Vegas spent $281.57 million in free agency ahead of likely drafting Indiana Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Fernando Mendoza first overall in April.

This likely won’t be the last offseason we see bottom feeders take major financial swings in free agency in an effort to quickly climb toward the top of the league.

4. Vikings ready to move on from J.J. McCarthy

The Vikings decided to let Pro Bowl quarterback Sam Darnold walk in free agency last year despite him throwing a career-high 35 touchdown passes. That decision came because of Darnold’s struggles in the final two games of the season — at the Detroit Lions with the NFC North title and the No. 1 seed on the line, and at the Los Angeles Rams in the opening round of the playoffs. It also came because Minnesota had traded up to select Michigan national championship-winning quarterback J.J. McCarthy 10th overall in the 2024 NFL Draft.

The choice to start McCarthy and let Darnold walk aged poorly almost immediately. The former No. 10 overall pick finished last in the NFL in completion rate (57.6%), touchdown-to-interception ratio (11-12) and passer rating (72.6), while Darnold won Super Bowl LX as the Seahawks’ starting quarterback. That sequence of events no doubt played a critical role in the decision to fire general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah less than a year after extending his contract.

The firing of Adofo-Mensah and the signing of 2019 No. 1 overall pick Kyler Murray to a one-year deal Thursday signal Minnesota is prepared to move on from McCarthy — provided Murray returns to his early-2020s Pro Bowl form that made him one of four players in NFL history to average 200-plus passing yards per game and 30-plus rushing yards per game for his career. The other three are 2024 NFL MVP Josh Allen, 2015 NFL MVP Cam Newton and 2024 NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year Jayden Daniels.

Don’t be surprised if McCarthy begins the 2026 season riding the bench after losing a training camp competition with Murray.

Kyler Murray signs with Vikings: Minnesota earns A+ for landing former No. 1 pick after Cardinals release

Carter Bahns

5. Running backs matter — even to Patrick Mahomes

The Chiefs’ 2025 running back duo of Isiah Pacheco and Kareem Hunt failed the team’s offense. Chiefs running backs combined to rush for 1,247 yards, 3.7 yards per carry and 47 tackles avoided — all figures that ranked in the bottom five in the NFL. That’s why Kansas City went against its typical cost-cutting philosophy at the position and made Seahawks Super Bowl LX MVP Kenneth Walker III the highest-paid free-agent running back in league history with a $14.4 million average annual salary on a three-year deal. That figure also makes Walker the fourth-highest-paid running back in the NFL.

The days of Mahomes leading the Chiefs in rushing through the first six weeks of the season, as he did with 222 yards on the ground in 2025, should be over. The three-time Super Bowl champion quarterback needing to do so likely played a role in him tearing his ACL last season. Walker should be able to end the Chiefs’ drought without a 1,000-yard rusher, a stretch that began in 2018 — tied for the longest active streak in the league and spanning Mahomes’ entire tenure as Kansas City’s starting quarterback. 

Mahomes himself tweeted his excitement for the signing of Walker almost instantly after the news broke.

Walker wasn’t the only running back to cash in during the first wave of free agency. Former first-round pick Travis Etienne Jr. landed a four-year, $52 million deal with the Saints, giving him the largest contract at the position in the NFL by total value. In an era where teams play their safeties deeper to take away the vertical passing game, the value of a strong running game continues to rise.