Free-agency Debrief: Biggest surprises as league year begins Published: Mar 14, 2018 at 01:33 PM Around The NFL Podcast Co-Host The birth of the new NFL league Jalen Mills Jersey year was defined by endings. The stopped signing free agents for a few minutes to say goodbye to the franchise's best player since the team's reboot in 1999. The released the defensive heart and soul of their NFC Championship Game-qualifying "All or Nothing" team. The cut the first-round pick they selected just before and went off the draft board back in 2014. While Wednesday wasn't as jam-packed with the sort of furious movement seen during , there were a lot of eye-opening decisions. Here's a look at the biggest surprises from the day in which the NFL calendar officially turned the page to 2018: calls it a career: The have done a fine job upgrading their offensive talent over the last week, adding , and . But the decision of will make it more difficult for the team to make a quick turnaround. Perhaps the deal that the agreed to hand swingman on Tuesday should have been a clue. The will give a player with only 14 career starts $18 million guaranteed on a five-year, $37.5 million contract, . The also picked up former tackle . They knew they had a big hole to fill. Thomas' value since being drafted in 2007 is incalculable. He made six All-Pro teams in a seven-year period during his peak and is known as one of the finest technicians ever to play the position. It's a shame to see him retire with such an exciting influx of talent in Cleveland and two top-four picks on the way. Knowledge of human fallibility aside, I saw him as an indestructible ironman who would play forever. But Thomas' words were telling. He said he is staring at a knee replacement in his future and was surprised and happy to have even survived physically to play seven games in 2017. After he's sacrificed to stay on the field for so long, I'm looking forward to Thomas' next career in the media making us all smarter. Honey Badger and top Phase 2 of free agency: Four hundred sixty-eight crusty sportswriter Twitter jokes couldn't be wrong: Free agency was almost over by the time free agency started. At least, the first phase was. There are still plenty of compelling players out there, including , and . But the weren't even free a day ago. when asked by the , betting on himself. It makes sense, because largely resulted from a confluence of circumstances. coach Steve Wilks didn't quite see Mathieu as a fit in his scheme, according to Rapoport, and last year's second-round pick, , is a budding star. (Still, something is wrong about Mathieu getting cut on a day the spend money to bring in quarterback to back up starter , with left tackle expected to protect them.) I suggested to Mathieu in an interview last week that he could wind up making more money in free agency than if the kept him. "My agent thinks so, too," Mathieu said. Now it's time to see if his agent was right. Plenty of teams could use a dynamic safety who can also cover the slot as a cornerback. While Jonnu Smith Jersey Mathieu admitted that he played a little too carefully early in his recovery from a second ACL surgery, he was flying around the field with abandon late last season. Chris We seling atop a list of potential landing spots for Mathieu, and the fit makes a lot of sense, considering the presence of defensive coordinator James Bettcher (who spent the past five seasons with the Cardinals) and the ' needs. Mathieu is now ranked No. 5 overall on our free agents list, and he's No. 2 among players who are still looking for a team. Only Suh is higher than Mathieu among available free agents. I wrote earlier this week, but it still feels surprising to see the two best defensive free agents this season emerge from the discard pile. is one of the NFL's highest-paid running backs: No current front office pays generous prices quite like the . The deal, first reported by "Good Morning Football's" Peter Schrager, includes nearly $12 million in guaranteed money in 2018. That will make him the second-highest-paid running back behind in 2018, and McKinnon's four-year average ranks fourth. NFL Network's Mike Garafolo noted that McKinnon was ticketed to go to the until the gave him an offer he couldn't refuse. I love McKinnon's skill set and have little doubt that coach Kyle Shanahan will maximize it. And perhaps general manager John Lynch's spending habits won't come back to bite the in a league where teams -- like San Francisco -- almost have Christian Barmore Jersey too much salary-cap space. Still, there have been some eyebrows raised around the league at the deals the have given to players like McKinnon, receiver , tackle and pa s rusher . The traded for a quarterback: For one day only, is atop the team's quarterback depth chart. Minnesota's means that the is not quite over yet, and it makes a ton of sense from the ' perspective. Instead of spending upwards of $5 million for a warmed-over veteran backup, the can save money on a young former starter who showed incredible potential in the 2016 season and the early portions of 2017 before collapsing under the weight of an awful offensive line. The , who are presumably in line to with after he visits Thursday, surely hope Siemian never hits the field, but it's a nice insurance policy Cameron McGrone Jersey to have. Solder gets quarterback-level money: The former left tackle has been an above-average starter throughout his career, even if his last few seasons have been up and down. Still, it says a lot about this barren free-agent tackle market that the over the next two years to get Solder to sign. That's more than the per-year salary of starting quarterbacks like and . Solder will undoubtedly make the ' offensive line better, and he's known as one of the NFL's great guys, but that's a lot of money for a 29-year-old tackle without a berth to his name. and get hitched: The only surprise in McCarron with the was the total lack of surprise involved. Five teams filled their starting-quarterback need on Tuesday, almost as if they took turns cro sing off names on the free-agent quarterback list. McCarron was the last potential starter left, unle s a team got bold and signed Colin Kaepernick. The were the last team looking for a starter. This marriage of convenience still makes sense. Buffalo is clearly planning to draft a rookie quarterback to build around, so the focus should be on that mystery man, not McCarron. Guarantees are on the way down: Forget that narrative about somehow changing the dynamics of players getting guaranteed contracts in the future. Cousins is getting $84 million guaranteed, but Solder is currently in second place in guaranteed money from any free agents ($35 million), with cornerback in third after reportedly getting $34 million guaranteed from the , . Teams seem hesitant than ever to capsize their coffers with long-term guaranteed-money contracts. In the past, the key contractual terms to note was how much money a player received in the first three years of a contract. Now that's been reduced to two years even for top-shelf free agents, and only one year guaranteed for many more. The current regime in Detroit can't be blamed for the previous regime's decision to take Ebron Tedy Bruschi Jersey just before , , , and in an incredibly deep 2014 draft. The save $8.25 million by not paying Ebron his fifth-year option. This move, by the way, is a good reminder of why teams should almost pick up the option after a player's first three seasons: The picked up the option on Ebron, but they still had the option to cut him loose now with no penalty, and they did so after a season where Ebron battled drops and mental errors in key spots. New coach Matt Patricia and GM Bob Quinn have helped oversee a quiet defensive overhaul this week, with the bringing in cornerback , linebacker and linebacker . These are the types of low-cost, low-risk deals the -- where both Patricia and Quinn, of course, cut their teeth -- often make in free agency. This article has been reproduced in a new format and may be mi sing content or contain faulty links. Please use the Contact Us link in our site footer to report an i sue.
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