Breaking down Aaron Rodgers’ free agency options, plus best value signings, top 10 players still available

Welcome to the Thursday edition of the Pick Six newsletter! 

We are now in Day 4 of free agency. I haven’t been outside in 72 hours, I have an IV of coffee inserted directly into my veins and I haven’t slept since Monday, but it’s all been worth it, because free agency has been a wild ride. 

We’re going to continue our free agency coverage today by breaking down some of the best value signings so far, plus, we’ll be taking a look at the biggest names left on the market. Also, I should point out that there will be deals going on all day, and if you want to stay on top of all those deals, then you’re definitely going to want to click here so you can follow all the action in our free agency live blog. If you’re too busy to follow a live blog, you can also click here to check out our free agent tracker that will be updated any time one of the top 100 free agents signs a deal.

As always, here’s your daily reminder to tell all your friends to sign up for the newsletter. To get them signed up, all you have to do is click here. 

1. QB drama continues: Aaron Rodgers and Russell Wilson still remain unsigned

When free agency officially started yesterday, we thought we might get some clarity on where Russell Wilson and Aaron Rodgers might end up, but instead, there has been NO clarity. If anything, things are just more confusing now. 

Here’s the latest on what’s happening in the QB market, starting with Aaron Rodgers: 

• Aaron Rodgers still undecided on his future. The only thing we know about Aaron Rodgers right now is that he has spent at least part of his week on a beach in Malibu contemplating his future (You can see the pictures here). At this point, it seems that the Giants and Steelers both want Rodgers, so he’ll have to decide between those two teams. 
• Vikings might get involved. According to The Athletic, the Vikings are still evaluating their options at QB and Rodgers is someone they could end up considering. It’s possible that Rodgers hasn’t made a decision yet because he’s waiting to see if the Vikings are interested. 
• The wild-card option for Rodgers. If Rodgers decides he doesn’t want to play for the Steelers or Giants or if he doesn’t like what he’s being offered, he could simply retire. Rodgers has given no hint on when he might reveal what he plans to do in 2025, which means his decision could come today, or next week or next month. If you want to know ALL the latest buzz on Rodgers, we’ve got that here. 
• Russell Wilson has two visits lined up. Wilson isn’t wasting any time starting his free agency tour. The Super Bowl-winning QB is going to visit Cleveland today followed by a visit to New York with the Giants on Friday. At this point, it seems like those are the only two interested teams so it won’t be surprising if we see Wilson make a decision by the end of the weekend. 
• Kirk Cousins is still in Atlanta. He’s still under contract with the Falcons, but it will be interesting to see if that changes over the next few days. Falcons GM Terry Fontenot has been insisting that his team is open to keeping Cousins as a backup QB this year. However, Cousins doesn’t want to be a backup, so there could be some drama in Atlanta. Based on how things have played out so far, it seems like Fontenot’s preference would be to trade Cousins instead of cutting him and getting nothing in return. 
• Mac Jones headed to San Francisco. Back in 2021, there was a lot of speculation that the 49ers originally wanted to draft Mac Jones before eventually settling on Trey Lance. Four years later, Jones is finally headed to San Francisco where he’ll serve as the backup to Brock Purdy. Jones has agreed to a two-year, $7 million deal that includes $5 million in guaranteed money, according to NFL.com. The 26-year-old spent the 2024 season in Jacksonville where he went 2-5 in seven starts.
• Mason Rudolph is returning to Pittsburgh. Rudolph has agreed to a two-year, $8 million deal that includes $4.5 million in guaranteed money, according to NFL Media. Rudolph is returning to the Steelers, the team that made him a third-round pick in 2018. He will presumably be serving as the backup to the starting QB that the Steelers have yet to sign.

In other QB news, Kyle Trask is returning to Tampa Bay for another season. 

There are still plenty of available quarterbacks out there and we’ll be tracking all of their moves in our QB tracker here.  

2. NFL grades: How every team did after first official day of free agency

Now that we’ve wrapped up the first official day of free agency, it’s time to grade every team on how they did. Some teams were good, some teams were bad and some teams apparently forgot that free agency was starting this week.  

We graded all 32 teams and we’re going to check out a few of those grades below: 

• Vikings: A-. “The Vikings left Day 1 of the tampering period with a ‘D’ grade from us, but Tuesday was all about Minnesota. General manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah found a way to keep cornerback Byron Murphy in house, then upgraded the trenches with former Colts Will Fries and Ryan Kelly on the offensive side, and a couple of veterans in Jonathan Allen and Javon Hargrave on defense. The Vikings also re-signed Harrison Smith on Wednesday night.”
• Bills: B. “The Bills made it abundantly clear that their main objective to begin this free agent cycle was to lock in their core and they’ve done just that, inking the likes of Josh Allen, Khalil Shakir, Terrell Bernard and others to extensions. They also added to their receiver room by bringing in former Chargers pass catcher Josh Palmer. Speaking of Chargers, the Bills landed Joey Bosa on a $12.6 million deal Tuesday night. That number does seem a bit high, but maybe he will thrive with this change of scenery.”
• Falcons: C-. “The good news is that the Falcons were able to agree to a two-year, $45 million extension with starting left tackle Jake Matthews, who had another year on his deal, to lock up the blindside going forward. However, that’s about where the good news ends.”
• Texans: D+. “Laremy Tunsil being traded out of Houston was not on the free agency bingo card for Day 1. After all, he’s a bona fide star at left tackle and one of the few strong pieces for a unit that saw C.J. Stroud get sacked 52 times last season. … While the Texans likely have a plan in place to help cushion the blow of losing Tunsil, it’s not clear at the moment, so we grade accordingly. Houston also traded starting guard Kenyon Green to Philly. … What are the Texans going to do on the offensive front? That’s the question everyone is wondering.”

We have grades for every team and you can check those out here. 

3. Grading some of Wednesday’s biggest deals in free agency 

We’ve been doing the same thing all week here, so you might know the drill by now: First, we hand out some team grades and then we follow that up by grading individual deals. 

Here’s a look at the grades we handed out for some of the biggest deals that went down Wednesday: 

• Vikings sign Javon Hargrave (two years, $30 million): A. “This comes after the Vikings had already brought in Jonathan Allen on a three-year deal. … The defense needed an infusion of talent along the defensive front and got it with the two big signings. Hargrave should thrive in Brian Flores’ system. And it’s a short-term, affordable contract.”
• Evan Engram to the Broncos (two years, $23 million): B. “We pinpointed the Broncos as a good fit for Engram when mapping out potential landing spots, so this makes sense. He does his best work in the underneath areas of the field, so he should make for a good fit in Sean Payton’s short-pass-heavy attack. Bo Nix will probably fire him a lot of passes. The question is whether he’ll be able to turn those passes into more significant gains than he has over the past few years.”
• Steelers sign Darius Slay (one year, $10 million): B-. “Slay only got a one-year deal, so it can’t be all that damaging. Counting on a 34-year-old cornerback to be one of your top perimeter options is dicey. He didn’t have his best season in 2024, but he was good enough to be a starter on one of the NFL’s best defenses.” 
• Seahawks sign DeMarcus Lawrence (three years, $42 million): C+. “Lawrence had a couple of great seasons while playing for then-Cowboys defensive line coach and now-Seahawks defensive coordinator Aden Durde. He’s a terrific two-way edge defender when healthy. But he’s 32 years old and coming off a Lisfranc injury, which makes a three-year, $42 million deal a significant risk.”

Jared Dubin graded a total of eight deals from Wednesday, and you can check those out here.

4. Top value signings of free agency: Steelers and Bills make smart moves

Every team’s goal in free agency is to get the biggest bang for their buck, so we decided to take a look at which teams are doing the best at that so far. Jared Dubin stayed up all night sifting through every deal that’s been handed out this week so that he could figure which teams have gotten the best value so far. 

Here are five of the top deals on his list in terms of best value (The only rule here is that the player had to sign a contract worth less than $10 million per year): 

• Steelers sign RB Kenneth Gainwell (one year, $1.8 million). “Gainwell is just a really, really solid No. 2 running back. He’s great in pass protection and the two-minute drill, and he excels at creating yards after the catch. He’s not the most efficient runner, but that’s likely not what Pittsburgh brought him in to do.”
• Giants sign EDGE Chauncey Golston (three years, $19.5 million). “Golston also turned himself into a really nice rotational player over the last few years in Dallas, and is coming off what was probably his best season. He can play on the edge and on the interior, and he should really help the Giants against the run.”
• Bills sign LB Michael Hoecht (three years, $21 million). “This signing won’t get as much play as the Bills’ other addition on the edge, but I really like it. Hoecht had 13.5 sacks in a rotational role for the Rams over the last few years, but his per-snap metrics have always looked good. His 11% pressure rate last season, per Tru Media, was on par with players like Travon Walker (also 11%) and just south of Joey Bosa (11.5%).” 
• Panthers sign RB Rico Dowdle (one year, $6.25 million). “The Cowboys let Dowdle walk to sign Javonte Williams, and then Dowdle soon signed a contract with a lower base value but more upside when he went back home to Carolina. Dowdle had one of the highest rushing success rates in the NFL last season and led the league in the share of carries on which he produced at least 3 yards after contact.”
• Rams sign DT Poona Ford (three years, $29.6 million). “Ford is coming off a really solid year with the Chargers during which he picked up 21 run stops and 23 pressures, according to Pro Football Focus. He’s a really good run stopper and he’s flashed some more pass-rush usefulness in recent seasons.”
  

You can check out Dubin’s full list of value signings here. 

5. Top 10 free agents left on the market: Quarterbacks and offensive linemen galore

We’re less than 24 hours into the “official” start of free agency, and we’ve already seen 22 of the top 25 players on our top 100 list get signed. If you’re sad because your team seems to have forgotten that free agency is happening and hasn’t signed anyone yet, I have some good news for you: There are plenty of good players still available. 

With that in mind, let’s check out the 10 best players who are still available:

1. QB Aaron Rodgers
2. QB Russell Wilson
3. OT Cam Robinson
4. OG Mekhi Becton
5. OG Teven Jenkins
6. CB Rasul Douglas
7. WR Amari Cooper
8. DE Calais Campbell
9. CB Asante Samuel Jr. 
10. EDGE Azeez Ojulari

Note: We did not include tagged players on this list even though they are free to speak with other teams. 

Day 4 of free agency will be rolling along today, and since it won’t be easy to keep track of every signing, here’s another reminder that we’ve put together a free agent tracker here so that you can stay up to date on what has happened so far. We also have a live blog that will cover signings AND trades as they happen, and you can check that out by clicking here.

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6. Extra points: Patriots release long-time center

It’s been a busy 24 hours the NFL, and since it’s nearly impossible to keep track of everything that happened, I went ahead and put together a roundup for you. 

• David Andrews released. After 10 years, the Patriots are moving on from Andrews. The long-time center has been released today, the team announced. Andrews started 121 games during his time with the Patriots while also winning two Super Bowls, but the 32-year-old had been dealing with injuries. He missed 13 games in 2024 due to a shoulder injury. 
• Saints convince two key veterans to take pay cuts. Cam Jordan and Tyrann Mathieu will both be returning to New Orleans in 2025 and both of them accepted a pay cut to make that happen, according to ESPN. The Saints needed to make some cap room and the good news for New Orleans is that both veterans were willing to help the team. 
• Cowboys pull off two trades. The Cowboys made TWO trades on Wednesday. First, they acquired former first-round pick Kaiir Elam from the Bills (Details here). After that, they made another deal: This time, they acquired Kenneth Murray from the Titans (You can see the compensation here). Elam has been a bust so far and will be looking to revive his career in Dallas, but Murray could contribute right away. The linebacker led the Titans in tackles last season.    
• Jets release C.J. Mosley. The Jets dumped their defensive captain on Wednesday night. The five-time Pro Bowler started 50 games for the Jets from 2021 thru 2023, but he missed 13 games last season due to injury. At 32, one possible landing spot for Mosley could be in San Francisco, where he would reunite with former Jets coach Robert Saleh, who’s now the defensive coordinator for the 49ers.