2025 NFL free agency Day 1 winners and losers: Mike Vrabel beefs up Patriots defense, Jets find upside at QB

NFL free agency technically doesn’t begin until Wednesday, when trades — plus signings of players with expiring contracts — can be finalized. All kinds of activity kicked off on Monday, however, thanks to the league permitting all 32 teams to begin negotiations with impending 2025 free agents.

Some clubs made gigantic splashes, with the New York Jets and Seattle Seahawks hammering out deals with new starting quarterbacks, the Chicago Bears pouring right back into the offensive line, and both the Detroit Lions and New York Giants dishing out top dollar to new cover men. And again, we haven’t even reached the official start of free agency yet! More moves are on the way, all across the league.

In the meantime, which players and teams took a clear step forward thanks to Day 1 of the free agency frenzy? Which moves figure to make a monumental difference when the games begin next fall? And which of Monday’s moves could prove ill-advised, leaving other players and organizations in a state of unease?

Here’s our first roundup of winners and losers from the start of the NFL’s 2025 negotiating period:

Winner: Mike Vrabel

We don’t yet know if Drake Maye will have legitimate weapons in 2025, but the quarterback’s new coach should be happy, with the New England Patriots doling out a combined $244 million to Milton Williams, Harold Landry, Robert Spillane and Carlton Davis since Sunday. That’s four different starters for Vrabel’s defense, which should be rugged and physical against the run, at the very least.

The Panthers entered the negotiating period with tons of money to spend, and they quickly dumped $100 million of it on in-house cornerback Jaycee Horn. He’s young and talented, yes, but he’s also never played a full season. Then they reportedly came close to landing Milton Williams, the ex-Philadelphia Eagles up-and-comer, only to watch the big man ink a deal with New England instead.

Winner: Seahawks’ QB strategy

Is going from Geno Smith to newcomer Sam Darnold a lateral move? That’s not an unreasonable assessment. Darnold flopped to close 2024, and now he’s got an inferior offensive setup. But $100 million isn’t what it used to be at quarterback; Seattle is barely paying Darnold top-20 money, and he’s also younger than Smith, who returned a third-round pick via trade. It’s a mid-risk, high-reward dart throw.

Loser: Bills‘ WR investments

Look, nothing against Joshua Palmer, who got $36 million to be Josh Allen’s latest downfield option. Maybe Allen will finally elevate the wideout from speedy sidekick to legit starter. A year after Buffalo settled — or overpaid — for scraps like Curtis Samuel and Marquez Valdes-Scantling, however, it stands to reason the team could’ve allocated its resources a little better when it comes to Allen’s perimeter weaponry.

It’s a classic win-win pairing here. New York needed to get younger under center after the failed Aaron Rodgers experiment, and Fields is still just 26, despite his extensive NFL experience. Fields, meanwhile, wasn’t getting legit offers from the Pittsburgh Steelers and should have a real crack at a No. 1 gig. If he can’t prove to be a steady passer, the Jets are only investing low-end starter money over two years.

Loser: New York Giants

Adding Paulson Adebo at cornerback is legitimately promising; he’s been a ball magnet when healthy, and he’s still young. The bigger concerns, however, remain glaring: They could be boxed into an aging journeyman at quarterback (barring a future splash atop the draft), they’ve still got a sizable hole on the interior of the offensive line, and safety is still a question mark after 2024’s loss of Xavier McKinney.

With the Chicago Bears’ signing of Drew Dalman, Windy City has now welcomed three different starters to the offensive front in a span of a few days. Dalman may be the most promising as the ascending former anchor of the Atlanta Falcons‘ line, but alongside Pro Bowl guards Joe Thuney and Jonah Jackson, he should be well-suited to keep Williams more upright as the captain of Ben Johnson’s ship.