In what appears to be the beginning of a month free of sports, the NFL has come through with the beginning of free agency to offer us the escape from reality that sports has always been. Free Agency officially begins Wednesday, March 18 but teams can begin negotiating contracts on Monday, March 16.
As things have kicked off, we here at First Seed wanted to keep our readers updated by providing an updated list of signings, tags and trades along with our reactions to the big moves. So follow along as this page will be updated daily!
RB Derrick Henry is franchise tagged by Titans
RB Kenyan Drake is transition tagged by Cardinals
This is a great move for both the Cardinals and Drake. The Cardinals made a massively risky decision by trading away a draft pick for a running back who was unproven coming into 2019 and was set to become a free agent after the season. The stars seemed to align in this relationship and Drake rewarded the Cardinals’ risk by having a monster second half of 2019. He was a league-winner for several fantasy owners in 2019 and with the absence of David Johnson in 2020, could be looking at an RB1-upside season.
WR AJ Green is franchise tagged by Bengals
AJ Green has been stuck. He’s been stuck with the injury bug for the last three seasons. He’s been stuck with Andy Dalton. He’s been stuck with Marvin Lewis. And most of all, he’s been stuck on a losing team. Well, that’s not going to change in 2020. With the franchise tag, AJ will be stuck for another season. But, if there is any brightside, he will likely be stuck with a brand new, exciting quarterback; Joe Burrow. The Bengals are poised to select Burrow first overall which will hopefully ignite their passing game and return AJ Green to fantasy relevance.
QB Dak Prescott is franchise tagged by Cowboys
QB Ryan Tannehill re-signs with Titans
TE Austin Hooper signs with Browns
WR DeAndre Hopkins traded from Texans to Cardinals for RB David Johnson
TE Hayden Hurst traded to Falcons
Hayden Hurst to the Falcons is one of those moves that we consider to be reactive rather than proactive. Atlanta seems to be blowing up the team aside from Matt Ryan and Julio Jones, and bringing in a cheaper option like Hayden Hurst to replace Austin Hooper is a pretty logical move. The Ravens were clearly moving forward with Mark Andrews instead of Hurst, so the Falcons likely got him at a fairly discounted price point. After a huge season last year, Hooper also became too expensive for the Falcons to retain, making this an all-around logical move for them. Hurst had a very high pedigree coming out of college but has yet to live up to it in the NFL. Who knows, maybe a change of scenery will be beneficial in the end.
TE Jimmy Graham signs with Bears
WR Stefon Diggs traded to Bills
Stefon Diggs to the Bills is huge in terms of fantasy for multiple players. Initially, Diggs probably stays in the same position in terms of fantasy production. Minnesota had the fourth-highest rushing play percentage in the NFL 2019 while Buffalo finished in seventh, so Diggs stays in a run-happy offense going forward but with potentially a higher target percentage. Josh Allen gets a boost in fantasy production with an additional high quality weapon to line up alongside John Brown. In terms of the Vikings, it is now officially Adam Thielen’s team and his fantasy stock has skyrocketed.
WR Amari Cooper re-signs with Cowboys
QB Tom Brady announces he will no longer be playing for Patriots
QB Cam Newton is given permission to seek trade from Panthers
QB Teddy Bridgewater signs with Panthers
Quite honestly, this is a great move for both sides in my opinion. The Panthers get a capable QB with experience and Bridgewater gets a starting spot on a team that’s built to help him. Both receivers in Carolina, DJ Moore and Curtis Samuel, will most likely produce the same stats they did last season with more consistency, while Christian McCaffrey is a lock regardless of who is under center.
RB Jordan Howard signs with the Dolphins
QB Philip Rivers signs with the Colts
My early reaction is this is a huge signing for TY Hilton, the WR1 on the Colts who very well could be the Keenan Allen-type player on the receiving end of Rivers’ throws.
QB Nick Foles is traded from the Jaguars to the Bears
RB Todd Gurley is released by Rams and signs with Falcons
QB Tom Brady officially signs with Buccaneers
