Tracking Free Agents, Draft, CFB Recruits

Three Part Series: Analyzing player movement from preps to pros

Mar 08, 2025

Sep 24, 2023; Seattle, Washington, USA; Seattle Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll talks with quarterback Geno Smith (7) following a three-and-out against the Carolina Panthers during the second quarter at Lumen Field. Mandatory Credit: Joe Nicholson-Imagn Images — Pete Carroll (L) and Geno Smith — Together Again.

(Editor’s note: This is the first of a three-part series addressing the acquisition of players by the NFL and college football. This story analyzes free agency. Next, we will take a deep dive into the NFL draft, and finally, we will take a look at CFB recruiting. We will list and rate players by position each time to help target your team needs.)

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March Madness may mean bracketology and basketball in some places, but we are all about football here.

In advance of official free agent moves, several key moves already were made as teams prepare for a steep crescendo of action midnight Monday, a millisecond after we turn the page on Sunday. That is when the NFL allows a so-called Legal Tampering Period. Teams are allowed to talk with Certified agents representing players who are due to be unrestricted agents this year.

Some teams just cannot, and did not, wait.

On Friday, the Las Vegas Raiders, seeking a veteran quarterback for new (to the Raiders) head coach Pete Carroll, re-united him with Geno Smith. They were together with the Seattle Seahawks.

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We offer information on over 800 free agents listed and rated by position.

Go to the position you want to see by clicking on it here:

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Back to live action. …

We expect the Raiders to be active during free agency, a trademark of Carroll when he built the Seahawks into a contender after leaving USC for the NFL. The Raiders can accommodate his carnivorous appetite for players. They had approximately $80 million in cap space only a week ago, but then. …

The Raiders extended the contract of defensive end Mad Maxx Crosby — Three years, $106,500,000, including $91,500,000 guaranteed.

The Washington Commanders traded to get receiver Deebo Samuel from San Francisco. Cleveland pass rusher Myles Garrett wants to be traded, but owner Jimmy Haslam didn’t want to discuss it and forwarded Garrett to GM Andrew Berry. Seahawks receiver D. K. Metcalf and Bengals edge rusher Trey Hendrickson are among other players who want to be traded. Some big names, including Evan Engram, Davante Adams, and Joey Bosa, have also been released.

Meanwhile, we wait to hear the fate of others, including Vikings quarterback Sam Darnold and vagabond quarterback Aaron Rodgers, who is expected to be released by the New York Jets.

Smith-Raiders

Hall of Football confirmed that Las Vegas gave up a 2025 third-round pick for Smith. The deal ends his five-year stay in Seattle, where he revived his career and became a two-time Pro Bowl selection. The Seahawks thus averted paying a $10 million roster bonus in mid-March as the Raiders take on the remaining $31 million for the one year left on the contract.

Smith, 34, ranks 21st in Total QBR over the past two seasons. He had the league's seventh-best QBR in 2022, when he made the Pro Bowl, was named AP Comeback Player of the Year and led the Seahawks to a wild-card berth after taking over as starter in the wake of the Russell Wilson trade. He then broke Wilson’s single season franchise record last year when he completed 70.4% of his passes while throwing for 4,320 yards, 21 touchdowns, and 15 interceptions.

Legal Tampering

Even if agreements are made on the down-low Monday and Tuesday, they cannot be announced until Wednesday, March 12, at 4 p.m., when we celebrate the official beginning of the 2025 NFL Season.

Lest we forget, there is a simultaneous series of side shows starring players stuck in purgatory between college and the NFL as they show off at their on-campus Pro Days as a follow-up to the recent Indianapolis Combine.

We will get to that in the second part of this series.

The early negotiating period does not apply to players who have received, or who may receive, a required tender applicable to the 2025 League Year — exclusive rights players, restricted free agents, franchise players, or transition players.

The categories of free agency:

Players are either “restricted free agents” or “unrestricted free agents.” A restricted free agent may be subject to a “qualifying offer.” A restricted or unrestricted free agent may be designated by his prior club as its franchise player or transition player.

Time period for free agency signings this year:

—Restricted free agents, from March 12 to April 18.

— Unrestricted free agents who have received a tender from their prior club by the Monday immediately following the final day of the NFL Draft for the 2025 League Year (i.e., April 28), from March 12 to July 22 (or the first scheduled day of the first NFL training camp, whichever is later).

—Franchise players, from March 12 until the Tuesday following Week 10 of the regular season, November 11.

— Transition players, from March 12 until July 22. After July 22 and until 4 p.m. ET on the Tuesday following Week 10 of the regular season, November 11, the prior club has exclusive negotiating rights to unrestricted free agents and transition players. If the above-listed players do not sign by November 11, they must sit out the season.

For further explanation, NFL lawyers tried their best not to confuse the issue with information in this press release.

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Below, we list potential free agents, rated within their positions.