Free Agency Wrap: On the Ravens' rope-a-dope, Miami's plan, Buffalo Bills, Kyler Murray
All of the spending is winding down. A few final thoughts inside.
We all have March Madness moments seared in our memory.
A handful come to mind here.
Syracuse’s run in 1996 was electric. Jason Cipolla drilled the icy corner J to send a Sweet 16 game to overtime vs. Georgia, but what about that pass with 2.4 seconds left? John Wallace did it all. UConn’s ‘99 squad was fun. Khalid El-Amin — roughly 5 foot 8, 320 pounds (give or take) — sliced defenses up.
No doubt, No. 1 on the list was a 12th-seeded St. Bonaventure team taking on mighty Kentucky. I can still remember our gym teacher at Ellicottville Central rolling a TV onto the court. As Tim Winn, Caswell Cyrus and those hometown Bonnies managed to hang around, the gym became crowded with students and teachers.
Nothing else mattered. Not math, not history.
Sports took precedent over scholastics. A beautiful thing at 12 years old.
The Bonnies lost, 85-80, but that’s a minor detail. Will never forget David Messiah Capers, a 56 percent free-throw shooter, drilling back-to-back-to-back free throws to force double overtime.
I suppose there was a geographical line to draw in our corner of New York State. Because when Gerry McNamara led Syracuse to an improbable Big East tournament run in ‘05? Students were most certainly were not allowed to enjoy his theatrics. Librarian Mrs. Friel successfully hunted me down in the computer lab during a study hall. Shucks.
Is the magic gone? College basketball is different these days. The connection with players is lost in this NIL portal’ing world. Here’s hoping the drama endures.
With another tourney on tap, fire away with your best memories in the comments.
I’m working on a bigger profile that’ll run early next week — cannot wait to share.
Until then, let’s put a bow on free agency with a few final thoughts.
Also, here are a few links to stories if you’ve missed anything:
This isn’t a conspiracy.
Maxx Crosby has spoken.
Highly encourage everyone to watch his latest podcast episode. Bare minimum, this 4-minute, 7-second clip is worth your time. If Crosby’s play-by-play account is accurate — and we have no reason to believe he’s inventing fiction — this is a horrid look for the Baltimore Ravens. Upon arrival, he was not greeted by GM Eric DeCosta — a hello that would’ve occurred before Crosby underwent an MRI with the Ravens’ medical staff.
In fact, Crosby never saw the GM once on his entire five-hour visit.
Tin-foil hats are not required. We don’t need Scooby Doo and the Mystery Machine to connect these dots. All signs point to DeCosta and the Ravens bailing on Crosby before he even arrived for his physical. Trey Hendrickson was still available, thus supplying the Ravens an edge-rushing option without mortgaging ‘26 and ‘27 first-round picks. Perhaps they simply needed Crosby to go through his medical testing for a reason to bail. Sure is hard to believe DeCosta was “gutted” the trade fell through when DeCosta himself couldn’t be bothered to see Crosby.
The NFL is a cutthroat business. Technically, the Ravens didn’t do anything illegal. But players, agents and other GMs won’t forget how DeCosta navigated this all. Pursuing Hendrickson while Crosby is in your building would be extremely low-class stuff. Your word should mean something in this business.
Back when we spent seven months talking to people around the NFL for our Bears series, I was stunned what other general managers said about Ryan Poles. (Part II and Part III here.) Very rarely do you hear high-ranking execs rip colleagues to this degree. Cannot help but think this Crosby saga affects how people do business with DeCosta.
Aren’t the Ravens supposed to be the model franchise? A city on a shining hill? This is all a reminder not to always believe what we’re told at the podium. DeCosta’s rationale sounds like nonsense in contrast to Crosby’s version of events.
The Ravens keep their picks, Hendrickson stays in the AFC North, Lamar Jackson took up boxing classes this offseason, Jesse Minter may be the next Mike Macdonald. By September, general NFL fans will move on.
One person who won’t forget is Maxx Crosby. He might flirt with the sack record this season.
Miami’s plan
Malik Willis entered this spring with the best chance to be the 2026 version of Sam Darnold.
A reclamation project. A missing piece for a contender. The epitome of resilience.
The Pittsburgh Steelers — for some reason — are content doing crossword puzzles until Aaron Rodgers makes up his mind. Other potential suitors, like the Houston Texans, didn’t want to change course. And Willis very wisely opted to avoid organizations run by mickey-mouse owners in Arizona and New Jersey. He signed a three-year, $67 million pact with the Miami Dolphins.
One week later, the Dolphins dealt their best receiver (Jaylen Waddle) to the Denver Broncos.
Miami gets 2026 first-, third- and fourth-round picks.
Denver gets Waddle and a fourth-rounder.
Grab your calculator and put on a new pot of coffee. The Dolphins’ dead money for this 2026 season is now up to $175 million. The six most expensive players on the Dolphins’ payroll this season aren’t even playing for the team: Tua Tagovailoa ($50M+), Tyreek Hill ($28.2M), Waddle ($26M), Jalen Ramsey ($20.9M), Minkah Fitzpatrick ($13M) and Bradley Chubb ($10.9M).
As of March 18, here’s Willis’ receiving corps: Malik Washington, Tutu Atwell, Jalen Tolbert and Terrace Marshall Jr.
I get the blowback. This is strange at first glance, as if the Dolphins are trying to exist in two totally different dimensions. In one, they’re fueling up the tank. In another, they’re breaking in a 27-year-old QB as their franchise guy. Seems impossible to properly evaluate a quarterback when the roster’s getting torn down to the studs.
Yet, this all strikes me as an overdue course correction.
The Dolphins were never going to compete for a playoff spot in 2026. GM Jon-Eric Sullivan and head coach Jeff Hafley clearly got the OK from ownership to slowwwww-cook this roster with an eye toward ‘27 and ‘28. And it bears repeating: these two were around Willis every day in Green Bay. Rather than load up on draft picks and simply pray that a franchise quarterback lands in their lap, they aggressively acquired someone they believe is their future. When you’ve got such conviction on a QB, why wait for perfect timing on an unknown?
The structure of Willis’ contract is smart for both sides. Dream scenario: He enters the upper stratosphere of quarterback pay by the time Miami can build a roster around him. Reports indicate running back De’Von Achane is staying put. He’s a top 5 back. And if I’m Willis, I’m still choosing Miami — Waddle or no Waddle — over teams with historically wretched ownership. Woody Johnson would discover a new way to ruin a quarterback’s career. Michael Bidwill isn’t competing any time soon in the AFC West.
Whenever the Dolphins eventually do escape salary-cap hell, they’ll have no problem attracting the best free agents. Vets are always eager to play in the state of Florida.
This April, Sullivan and Hafley own seven draft picks in the top 100.
The previous coach never pursued a quarterback of his own. Instead, Mike McDaniel did everything possible to accentuate Tua Tagovailoa’s gifts. It backfired. His roster wasn’t equipped to accomplish anything past November. Who knows if any of this works? But the team’s new GM and head coach are thinking long term.
JC Tretter is the new NFLPA president.
He has his work cut out for him. Good to see a former player take the reins instead of a lawyer. Tretter may want to hear what Matt Schaub had to say in this space.
Players have far more leverage than they realize:
On the Bills
At wide receiver, no way could this Super Bowl contender risk being left standing when the music stopped. The Buffalo Bills jumped the free-agency gun by trading for D.J. Moore. And judging by the wide receiver market, Brandon Beane and Joe Brady must be feeling good about their decision.
Alec Pierce cost Indianapolis $28.5 million per year.
Waddle cost the Denver Broncos the 30th pick and a third-round pick. He’ll make $28.25M per year.
Moore cost the Bills the 60th overall pick. He’ll make $27.5M per year.
Romeo Doubs, a solid No. 2, will make $17M annually in New England.
The price for A.J. Brown is only increasing.
Logic’s simple here. The next evolution for the Bills offense must be dialing up a specific play for a specific player when everything’s on the line. “Everyone eats” has its limitations. One of Moore’s former coaches believes he’s still this go-to threat. The Bills haven’t had such a force since Stefon Diggs was at his peak in ‘20, ‘21 and ‘22.
Moore will be motivated after a frustrating season in Chicago, too.
On the heels of James Cook leading the NFL in rushing, the Bills were in danger of losing O-Line coach Aaron Kromer and two starters. Getting Connor McGovern back on a team-friendly deal was a nice coup. He signed a deal with $13 million per year two days before fellow center Tyler Linderbaum signed at an annual rate of $27 million.
Defensively, the Bills inked a batch of new players for new DC Jim Leonhard’s scheme. I’d consider Bradley Chubb, Dee Alford and C.J. Gardner-Johnson obvious upgrades over their replacements. Chubb is another year removed from a December 2023 torn ACL. He’s 30 years old. The Bills are banking that he’s got some peak football left in him. Alford is the sort of chess piece that should help Leonhard with his pre-snap deception. Gardner-Johnson run his course with teams. But for one year, he’s worth the risk. No way does the previous head coach green-light such a signing. All teams that aspire to win championships should gamble on a personality or two. The Bills need some bite.
Let’s not forget the most seismic move of them all. Out is Sean McDermott. In is Joe Brady. The Bills have a head coach who’ll view his quarterback as the franchise, not a burden.
This team will be quite different in 2026.
Kyler takes Minnesota
Excellent insight from Matthew Coller on the Go Long Pod this week. The proprietor of Purple Insider detailed why he believes this won’t even be a quarterback competition in Minnesota. Such is life in the NFL. Kevin O’Connell and the Vikings will say all the right things over the next few months. Odds are, J.J. McCarthy will need to wait for Murray to fail or suffer an injury to get his shot again.
The Vikings aren’t in a position to let a young quarterback take his lumps through another 17-game season.
Murray’s style of quarterbacking is unique. I still wonder if he can adjust as his athleticism and speed wane. He also has only played one full season since 2020.
Talking to Coller made me think of an old conversation with one of Murray’s most ardent defenders.
Jordan Hogan was an assistant coach with the Arizona Cardinals for two years and spent plenty of time in the quarterback room with Murray.
Here’s what he had to say in ‘22 to Go Long:
“Kyler is a gamer. He just wants to hurry up and get through Monday through Saturday and get to the games. He takes practice seriously. He’s locked in when we do competitive stuff. 7 on 7. Scout-team periods. But you can definitely tell he lives for gamedays. They’ve been playing high school football for a very long time in the state of Texas. When you can say he’s arguably the best player to come out of that state of football, that’s saying something. He never lost. … He has one year as the starting quarterback and he’s the Heisman. Obviously, he played baseball at Texas A&M and Oklahoma. He gets drafted into the MLB. He’s the first overall pick in the NFL. He’s just a winner. If we’re not winning, he’s a super competitive person. Any type of small drills we’re doing at practice or if we’re playing hangman, anything competitive throughout the practice week, he wants to win. He does not like losing. He gets that look in his eye — and I’ve seen it a couple times coming out of halftime — where, ‘We’re not losing this game.’ We may be down going into halftime but he has that look in his eye, like ‘Just give me the ball and I’ll make something happen.’”
O’Connell is staking his own career on bringing this version of Kyler Murray to life.
Murray himself has every reason to re-dedicate himself and evolve.
It might work. Minnesota is a dream scenario for a quarterback trying to rehabilitate a career. Justin Jefferson is the best wide receiver in football. Brian Flores is one of the league’s top D-coordinators. And this franchise is a historical hotbed for the Second (and Third) Act Quarterback — Randall Cunningham, Jeff George, Brett Favre, Case Keenum, Kirk Cousins, Sam Darnold.
Amongst all options this March, this was O’Connell’s best bet.
Taking over that locker room won’t be easy for the soft-spoken Murray. These players still miss Darnold.
If nothing else, his presence ensures the NFC North is a four-team race. Any team could finish first. Any team could finish last.
im not gonna lie i chuckled a little when i saw the line "Kyler is a gamer"
March Madness circa 1983 New Orleans, Keith Smart will eventually hit the baseline jumper to win the title for Indiana U but the highlight of my very 1st trip to NOLA is the unexpected hurricane warning that hit the city. Everything shuts down, people are told to stay indoors and my hotel decides to throw a “Hurricane Party”, $10 all you can eat crawfish and all you can drink hurricanes. My 19 y/o self had never seen so many happy drunks in a small space and it started a lifelong love of everything New Orleans!