2025 NFL free agency: 10 takeaways from opening week including the Vikings going wild, same old Cowboys, more

The first week of the NFL's 2025 free agency period is coming to a close, but we've already seen plenty of action.

Sam Darnold, the open market's top quarterback, signed on to be the Seattle Seahawks' new starter after Geno Smith was shipped off to the Las Vegas Raiders. The New York Jets undercut the Pittsburgh Steelers to sign Justin Fields as their next starting quarterback -- leaving Aaron Rodgers in the dust -- to usher in a fresh beginning led by new head coach Aaron Glenn.

The two biggest spenders were the the Minnesota Vikings and the New England Patriots, with both beefing up at the line of scrimmage. Plus, a couple multi-time Pro Bowl, locker room leaders from the NFC East switched squads with edge rusher DeMarcus Lawrence leaving the Dallas Cowboys and signing with the Seattle Seahawks and cornerback Darius Slay leaving the Super Bowl LIX champion Philadelphia Eagles and signing with the Pittsburgh Steelers. Lawrence left the Cowboys a lovely parting shot: "I'm not gonna win a Super Bowl there."

On that note, let's dig into 10 of the biggest takeaways from the first week of free agency:

1. Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, EVP Stephen Jones have free agency PTSD

The Cowboys provided a little hope for their fans that perhaps their "selectively aggressive" 2025 offseason would lead to more improvements to the roster in free agency.

They re-signed defensive tackle Osa Odighizuwa to a four-year, $80 million deal prior to free agency, which opened up cap space. They restructured the contracts of both quarterback Dak Prescott and wide receiver CeeDee Lamb to open up more cap space in 2025.

However, Dallas watched cornerback Jourdan Lewis (three-year, $30 million deal with $20 million guaranteed with the Jacksonville Jaguars), running back Rico Dowdle (one-year deal worth up to $6.25 million with the Carolina Panthers) and edge rusher Chauncey Golston (three-year, $19.5 million deal) leave for other teams in free agency.

Here's what the Cowboys have done this week: Re-sign some of their own guys and scrape the bottom of the barrel for bargains, many of whom are former first-round picks.

Signed

Traded for

Retained

As a result, Dallas has $42.778 million in effective cap space, per OverTheCap.com, and it has pushed some of Prescott's and Lamb's into the future for no notable moves in the present. Micah Parsons' price continues to rise after the Maxx Crosby and Myles Garrett extensions.

The last time the Cowboys signed an outside free agent for $6 million per year or more was edge rusher Greg Hardy in 2015, and the last free agent from another team who was signed to that amount of money on a multi-year deal was cornerback Brandon Carr on a five-year, $50.1 million contract. The Jones family is suffering from free agency paralysis, and their franchise is suffering as a result.

Ex-Cowboy DeMarcus Lawrence throws shade after leaving Dallas for Seahawks; Micah Parsons fires back Bryan DeArdo

2. Vikings general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah enjoys first offseason with a rookie QB contract, spends like no other

When Kwesi Adofo-Mensah was hired as the Vikings general manager, quarterback Kirk Cousins and his contract were entrenched in the franchise. Fast forward to 2025, and Adofo-Mensah got to experience his first offseason in charge with a significant amount of salary cap space after letting Sam Darnold walk and having J.J. McCarthy, the 10th overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft, on a rookie deal.

He spent his team's money like he just won the lottery: The Vikings have spent $243.75 million in free agency, far and away the most in the NFL, according to OverTheCap.com. Minnesota has spent over $30 million more than the next closest team, the New England Patriots, who have spent $212.4 million. The Vikings got bullied in their 2024 NFC wild-card round loss against the Los Angeles Rams, surrendering an NFL-record nine sacks. Adofo-Mensah is now spending all this money in an attempt to be the bully going forward on both sides of the line.

Here are the notable contracts the team has doled out in the past week. Spoiler alert: the majority of them were on offensive and defensive linemen. The Vikings are reinforcing themselves at the line of scrimmage.

Minnesota learned it doesn't matter if Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison are downfield if its quarterback doesn't have time to get them the ball. That's why the Vikings went all out on spending to protect their own QB and terrorize opposing quarterbacks.

3. The Bears are building new head coach Ben Johnson's offense just like his Detroit one: through the offensive line

Caleb Williams, the No. 1 pick in the 2024 NFL Draft, took an absolute beating his rookie year, as his 68 sacks taken were tied for the third-most in a season in NFL history.

Enter new head coach Ben Johnson, whose Detroit Lions offenses averaged 29.0 points per game while he was the offensive coordinator -- the best in the NFL. His Detroit offenses, especially in 2024, were anchored by Pro Bowlers up and down the offensive line, namely left tackle Taylor Decker, center Frank Ragnow, guard Kevin Zeitler and right tackle Penei Sewell.

Johnson has clearly impressed upon Bears general manager Ryan Poles that beefing up their offensive line is a big deal. Chicago traded for Rams right guard Jonah Jackson earlier this month and then made another huge trade by reeling in two-time first-team All-Pro left guard Joe Thuney from the Kansas City Chiefs in exchange for a 2026 fourth-round pick.

Once the NFL's legal tampering period opened up Monday, the Bears immediately hauled in the open market's top center by signing former Atlanta Falcons center Drew Dalman to a three-year, $42 million contract with $28 million guaranteed. Johnson has a clear vision for Williams and his offense's future, and it's being swiftly executed in Chicago.

4. The NFL expects the 2025 draft's RB class to be generational

Last year's running back free agency class was generational with Saquon Barkley (Eagles), Derrick Henry (Ravens), Josh Jacobs (Packers), Aaron Jones (Vikings) and Tony Pollard (Tennessee Titans) all signing lucrative deals. The five Pro Bowl backs all ended up rushing for more than 1,000 yards on their new teams.

It's clear the league views the best avenue for running back acquisition in the 2025 offseason to be the draft instead of free agency. Just look at the contracts handed out thus far and then look at the running back prospects in the upcoming draft.

This year's running back free agency class has received nothing but scraps. Jones, who ran for a career-high 1,138 yards on a career high 255 carries, was the only back who walked away with a relatively sizeable deal. Sure, Najee Harris (27 years old) and Rico Dowdle (turns 27 on June 14) aren't superstars like some of their peers from yesteryear, but they both were 1,000-yard backs and are in their 20s. However, their respective markets just didn't materialize.

Notable RB free agency contracts (2025 offseason)

Vikings re-signed Aaron Jones (two years, $20 million with $13 million in total guarantees)

Chargers signed Najee Harris (one year, $5.25 million fully guaranteed)

Panthers signed Rico Dowdle (one year, $2.75 million base salary worth up to $6.25 million)

Cowboys signed Javonte Williams (one year, $3 million base salary worth up to $3.25 million)

Chiefs signed Elijah Mitchell (one year, $2.5 million with 1.35 million guaranteed)

Steelers signed Kenneth Gainwell (one year, $1.79 million, $620,000 guaranteed)

Bengals signed Samaje Perine (two years, $3.6 million)

On a related note, CBS Sports.com's consensus draft rankings have six running backs ranked as top 100 prospects.

Boise State's Ashton Jeanty (11th overall)

North Carolina's Omarion Hampton (66th)

Iowa's Kaleb Johnson (74th)

Ohio State's TreVeyon Henderson (79th)

SMU's Brashard Smith (86th)

Ohio State's Quinshon Judkins (97th)

The financial run on running backs isn't happening in free agency, but in the first two days of the draft, we will see plenty of backs fly off the board.

Ashton Jeanty landing spots: Ranking five best fits for top NFL Draft prospect, including Cowboys, Chargers Cody Benjamin

5. The Patriots believe way more in Mike Vrabel than they did in Jerod Mayo

In 2024, the Patriots spent a total of $136.3 million in free agency for first-year head coach Jerod Mayo, per Spotrac. In 2025, after hiring former Titans head coach Mike Vrabel, New England has blown past that number by spending $214.5 million, the second-most in the entire NFL behind only the Vikings, per OverTheCap.com.

New England signed one of free agency's top defensive line options in Eagles defensive tackle Milton Williams (four years, $104 million with $63 million guaranteed at signing); a veteran offensive tackle in Morgan Moses (three years, $24 million worth up to $28.5 million); a new starting cornerback in Carlton Davis (three years, $54 million with $34.5 million guaranteed); and a new edge rusher in Harold Landry, one of Vrabel's former Titans Pro Bowl pupils (three years, $43.5 million with $26 million guaranteed).

The Patriots are really going for it in Year 2 of the Drake Maye era, but Mayo certainly has to be salty watching his former franchise bestow his successor with a much bigger treasure trove of toys in free agency.

6. The Bengals are gluttons for salary cap punishment after continuing to procrastinate contract resolutions for Ja'Marr Chase, Tee Higgins and Trey Hendrickson

All the Bengals have done this offseason is watch the market value of their trio of stars -- wide receiver Ja'Marr Chase, wide receiver Tee Higgins and edge rusher Trey Hendrickson -- skyrocket.

They could've extended Hendrickson at the beginning of the offseason fresh off a year in which he led the NFL with 17.5 sacks. Sure, he'll turn 31 in December, but he's only the fifth player ever to post consecutive seasons with at least 17 sacks. Either the Bengals or another team will eventually have to pay up for his work. That's why seeing both Raiders Pro Bowler Maxx Crosby (three-year, $106.5 million deal with $91.5 million guaranteed) and Browns 2023 NFL Defensive Player of the Year winner Myles Garrett (four-year, $160 million, $122.8 million guaranteed) drive up the edge rusher market has to sting for one of the more cash poor NFL franchises

Then, they watched new Steelers wide receiver DK Metcalf, who turns 28 in December and is older than both Chase and Higgins with a less versatile route tree, sign a four-year, $132 million extension. That makes him the NFL's third highest-paid receiver in average per year salary ($33 million) behind only Justin Jefferson ($35 million average per year) and CeeDee Lamb ($34 million average per year). Now, both Chase's and Higgins' next deals will be more costly.

One would've thought Cincy would look to resolve at least one of those three contract situations with the new league year beginning on Wednesday, but the Bengals remain stagnant to their own detriment.

7. The Titans are drafting Miami QB Cam Ward first overall

When the Titans made it known they were willing to trade the 2025 NFL Draft's first overall pick in February, it was thought they had their eyes on Penn State All-American edge rusher Abdul Carter. Then, it came out at the NFL Scouting Combine that Carter has a stress reaction in his right foot but will be able to work out at his March 28 Penn State Pro Day.

In free agency, the Titans went all out to reinforce their offensive line, signing Steelers offensive tackle Dan Moore Jr. (four years, $82 million, $50 million guaranteed) and Lions Pro Bowl guard Kevin Zeitler (one year, $9 million). Given the urgency in which Tennessee has moved to reinforce their offensive line, it feels like it has now shifted to locking in on the 2025 draft's top quarterback prospect, Cam Ward of the Miami Hurricanes.

Cam Ward NFL Draft 2025 profile: Full scouting report, pro comparison, landing spots, future outlook and more Dan Schneier

8. The Giants are in big trouble at the QB position

The Titans likely zeroing in on Ward leaves the Giants in tough place. That means Tennessee likely won't trade down, and the Browns could draft a quarterback second overall to supplant the disappointing Deshaun Watson. Darnold is a Seattle Seahawk, and now New York is in both the Aaron Rodgers and Russell Wilson sweepstakes. If Rodgers chooses the Steelers, the Giants could land Wilson. If Rodgers chooses the Vikings, the Steelers could land Wilson and New York would end up with neither.

Right now, Tommy DeVito is the only quarterback on the Giants' roster. New York is in danger of leaving free agency worse off at its quarterback spot than anyone could have imagined.

Aaron Rodgers rumors, updates: Here's all the latest buzz around the QB as Steelers, Giants await his decision Bryan DeArdo

9. The 49ers are in a major rebuild/reboot

The 49ers that lost in overtime of the Super Bowl against the Kansas City Chiefs at the conclusion of the 2023 season are dead. Ten 49ers starters from the 2024 season are no longer on the roster in 2025:

San Francisco has a big decision to make with quarterback Brock Purdy entering the final year of his rookie deal in 2025. Pay him the big bucks or move on? The 49ers did just sign some Purdy insurance by grabbing Mac Jones, a reported 2021 draft favorite of head coach Kyle Shanahan, on a two-year, $7 million deal with $5 million guaranteed. San Francisco is clearly rebuilding, and how it handles Purdy's future could change the trajectory of its franchise for the foreseeable future.

10. The Texans believe in new OC Nick Caley to fix the offensive line

The Texans' offensive line decisions this offseason have been puzzling. They traded away five-time Pro Bowl left tackle Laremy Tunsil, who graded out as Pro Football Focus' fourth-best pass-blocking tackle, and a 2025 fourth-round pick to the NFC runner-up Commanders for four draft picks (a 2025 third, a 2025 seventh, a 2026 second and a 2026 fourth). They also traded away 2022 first-round pick offensive guard Kenyon Green and a 2026 fifth-round pick to the Eagles for safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson and a 2026 sixth-rounder.

Houston did sign 33-year-old offensive guard Laken Tomlinson to a one-year, $4.25 million contract and acquire 2022 second-round pick offensive guard Ed Ingram from the Vikings in exchange for a 2026 sixth-round pick. Among 161 offensive linemen who played at least 500 offensive snaps in 2024, Ingram ranked 150th (7.8%) and Tomlinson ranked 100th (5.7%) in quarterback pressure rate allowed.

One could argue the Texans downgraded their offensive line personnel a year after allowing the ninth-highest quarterback pressure rate (36.7%) in the league, which definitely played a key factor in quarterback C.J. Stroud's sophomore slide. Houston did fire offensive coordinator Bobby Slowik and hired another disciple of the Shanhan-McVay tree to succeed him in Rams pass game coordinator Nick Caley.

The Texans better prioritize their offensive line in the draft. Otherwise, they're banking purely on going from Slowik to Caley at offensive coordinator being the primary driver for change in a positive direction along their offensive front.

Click here to read article