NFL free agency overreactions, plus DeMarcus Lawrence feuding with Cowboys star and Aaron Rodgers updates

Welcome to the Friday edition of the Pick Six newsletter! 

Well, we’ve done it! We’ve made it through the first week of free agency. Sure, Aaron Rodgers still doesn’t have a team and no one knows what the Cowboys are doing, but the important thing is that I know what I’m doing and that’s writing today’s newsletter. 

As I’ve mentioned every day this week, if you want to stay on top of everything that’s happening in free agency, then you’re definitely going to want to head 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 go 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 Watch, Day 5: Giants visit with veteran QB as they wait for Aaron Rodgers and Russell Wilson

The free agency tampering period started on Monday, which means Aaron Rodgers has now had four days to make a decision about his future, but apparently that hasn’t been enough time for him to decide. Will he sign with the Steelers? Will he play for the Giants? Will the Vikings sneak in and get him? Will he retire? At this point no one knows. 

With that in mind, here’s the latest on what’s happening in the QB market, starting with Rodgers: 

• Details on Aaron Rodgers’ offer from the Giants. Although we don’t know yet where Rodgers will end up, we do know that his biggest offer is coming from the Giants, according to The Athletic. If Rodgers is making his decision based on money, then maybe he goes to New York, but it still feels like the Steelers are the leader in the clubhouse. You can read more about the latest Rodgers’ rumors here. 
• Browns bring out the big guns for Russell Wilson. The Super Bowl-winning quarterback visited with Cleveland on Thursday and the Browns brought out Myles Garrett to help recruit Wilson. Apparently, the recruiting didn’t work, though, because Wilson ended up leaving Cleveland without a deal. He’s now headed to New York where he’ll be visiting with the Giants today. 
• Giants bring in Joe Flacco for a visit. If the Giants miss out on Aaron Rodgers and Russell Wilson, they’re going to need a Plan C and it appears that Plan C is Joe Flacco. Flacco visited with the Giants on Thursday, according to ESPN. It obviously wouldn’t be ideal if the Giants were forced to go this route, but based on how Wilson and Rodgers have played recently, Plan C might not be much worse than Plan A or Plan B.  
• Chiefs sign Gardner Minshew and Bailey Zappe. The Chiefs have added TWO quarterbacks over the past 24 hours. Minshew, who agreed to a one-year deal on Thursday, started nine games for the Raiders last season. As for Zappe, he spent the 2024 season in Cleveland, where he started one game. Zappe is also getting a one-year deal. 
• Brandon Allen heading to Tennessee. It’s still not clear who the Titans starting QB will be in 2025, but we know who their backup QB is going to be. Brandon Allen has signed a one-year deal with the team, according to NFL Media. It’s a move that makes sense for Allen and that’s because it reunites him with Titans head coach Brian Callahan. Allen and Callahan spent three seasons together in Cincinnati (2020-22) during a period where Allen was the Bengals’ backup QB while Callahan served as the team’s offensive coordinator.
• Taylor Heinicke staying with the Chargers. Heinicke spent the 2024 season as the backup to Justin Herbert and he’ll be keeping that job for at least one more year. The 31-year-old has agreed to terms on a one-year deal that’s worth up to $6.2 million, according to ESPN. 

In other QB news, Kyle Allen is expected to sign with Detroit after spending the 2024 season in Pittsburgh. 

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 winners and losers after the first week of free agency

Now that we’re about to wrap up the first full week of free agency, it’s time to judge every team on how they did and to make that happen, we had Cody Benjamin come up with some winners and losers from the first week. 

WINNERS

• Bears: “Caleb Williams didn’t have the benefit of beginning his tenure as face of the franchise with adequate protection. Until now, it seems. The Bears added not one, not two, but three legitimate starters up front in Joe Thuney, Drew Dalman and Jonah Jackson. As a bonus, Chicago also fortified the other trenches, putting Grady Jarrett and Dayo Odeyingbo alongside Montez Sweat to give new defensive coordinator Dennis Allen a savvy and physical front four.”
• Rams: “At the start of the offseason, it wasn’t crazy to envision Les Snead going ‘all in’ on the future rather than the present. With Matthew Stafford aging and angling for a pay raise, and a young defense emerging as the club’s identity, why not start selling? Instead, the Rams didn’t just retain Stafford; they also retained his top blocker, Alaric Jackson; his underrated insurance, Jimmy Garoppolo; and added a new toy in Davante Adams. Suddenly another deep run under Sean McVay seems plausible.”

LOSERS

• C.J. Stroud: “Typically, with a promising quarterback on a rookie deal, you’d like to be stocking up on star power. And that’s kind of what the Houston Texans did last offseason. A year later, they’re already taking their lumps for the spending spree, swapping one banged-up wideout (Stefon Diggs) for another (Christian Kirk) and rebooting practically Stroud’s whole front, including Pro Bowl tackle Laremy Tunsil.”
• Falcons: “It’s telling that their biggest move of the offseason so far is ‘refusing to let Kirk Cousins out of his contract as a $180 million backup.’ Could the aging quarterback come in handy if Michael Penix Jr. falters? We suppose. But maybe not behind a line now missing anchor Drew Dalman.”

Cody has a full list of winners and losers that consists of a few more names and you can check that out here. 

3. 10 takeaways after the first week of free agency

With the first week of free agency about to be in the books, Garrett Podell has some observations he’d like to share with us about what’s transpired over the past few days. 

Garrett came up with 10 takeaways from Week 1 of free agency and we’re going to check out three of them below:  

1. Cowboys have free agency PTSD. “The last time the Cowboys signed an outside free agent for $6 million per year or more was edge rusher DE Greg Hardy in 2015, and the last free agent from another team that was signed to that amount of money on a multiyear deal was cornerback Brandon Carr on a five-year, $50.1 contract. The Jones family is suffering from free agency paralysis, and their franchise is suffering as a result.”

2. NFL teams shying away from running backs in free agency, likely waiting to get them in the draft. “This year’s running back free agency class has received nothing but scraps. Aaron Jones, who ran for a career-high 1,138 yards on a career-high 255 carries, was the only back who walked away with a relatively sizeable deal. … The financial run on running backs isn’t happening in free agency, but in the first two days of the draft, we will see plenty of backs fly off the board.”

3. Vikings went on a smart spending spree. “Vikings GM Kwesi Adofo-Mensah spent his team’s money like he just won the lottery: the Vikings have spent $243.75 million in free agency, far and away the most in the NFL, according to OverTheCap.com. Minnesota has spent over $30 million more than the next closest team, the Patriots, who have spent $212.4 million. … Minnesota learned it doesn’t matter if Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison are downfield if their quarterback doesn’t have time to get them the ball. That’s why the Vikings went all out on spending to protect their own QB and terrorize opposing quarterbacks.”

Garrett has a total of 10 free agency observations and you can check out all of them here.

4. Free agency overreactions after the first week

Everyone on the internet loves to overreact to things, and that’s especially true when we’re talking about the the NFL. With that in mind, Jeff Kerr decided to take a look at several things that happened around the NFL during the first week of free agency to decide if we’re all overreacting. 

Statement: Signing Sam Darnold was a lateral move at QB for the Seahawks. 
Overreaction or reality: Overreaction. “Darnold is 27 and threw for 4,319 yards and 35 passing touchdowns last season (ranking fifth in NFL in both categories). On throws of 20+ yards downfield, Darnold led the NFL in completions (34), completion rate (49%), pass touchdowns (9), and pass yards (1,182). The upside is there with Darnold, who will be reunited with Klint Kubiak, who will be calling plays as the Seahawks’ offensive coordinator (Kubiak was the passing game coordinator when Darnold was in San Francisco). This was a risk worth taking for Seattle.”

Statement: The Bengals front office will cost the team another playoff berth. 
Overreaction or reality: Reality. “One has to wonder why the Bengals take so long to sign their players to extensions. Ja’Marr Chase still isn’t signed yet and he’ll become the league’s first $40 million receiver because the Bengals have waited too long to get his deal done. Tee Higgins is on the franchise tag for the second straight year and there seems to be no long-term extension in sight (again). Then there’s Trey Hendrickson … if Cincinnati could get its own top players signed, perhaps the Bengals could actually improve their roster in free agency. They shouldn’t be this mediocre with Joe Burrow.”

Statement: Commanders have surpassed the Eagles after adding Laremy Tunsil and Deebo Samuel. 
Overreaction or reality: Overreaction. “The Commanders certainly got better in free agency with the trade acquisitions of Tunsil and Samuel, giving Jayden Daniels some blindside protection and a gadget receiver that can create nightmares for defenses (especially lining up next to Terry McLaurin). Philadelphia still has the core of its offensive group intact and the best offensive line in football. The Eagles defense still has good young players and more are coming with the players they have drafted and developed over the past few years. Washington is better and can win the NFC East. Philadelphia is still loaded and in a Super Bowl window.”

There are plenty more overreactions from the first week of free agency, and if you want to check those out, be sure to click here. 

5. Cowboys drama: DeMarcus Lawrence takes savage shot at his old team

When it comes to free agency and improving their roster, sometimes it feels like the Cowboys aren’t even trying anymore. The Cowboys have gone 30 years without winning a Super Bowl and DeMarcus Lawrence doesn’t think that streak is going to end anytime soon. 

Lawrence made a comment this week that started some drama with Micah Parsons. Here’s what you need to know about all the drama involving the Cowboys: 

• Lawrence says Cowboys won’t win a Super Bowl. One reason Lawerence signed with the Seahawks is because he doesn’t think the Cowboys are going to win a Super Bowl anytime soon, “I know for sure I’m not gonna win a Super Bowl there,” Lawerence told a Seahawks reporter this week. The veteran pass rusher spent his entire 11-year career in Dallas before leaving for Seattle, so if he feels this like Dallas is never going to win a Lombardi Trophy, it’s definitely worth noting. 
• Micah Parsons did not take kindly to Lawrence’s comment. The Cowboys star responded on social media by insinuating that Lawrence is bitter because the Cowboys didn’t want him anymore, “This what rejection and envy look like! This some clown shit,” Parsons wrote. 
• Lawrence fires back at Parsons. “Calling me a clown won’t change the fact that I told the truth,” Lawrence wrote on social media. “Maybe if you spent less time tweeting and more time winning, I wouldn’t have left.” Wow. It might be for the best that Parsons and Lawrence are no longer teammates. 

One thing we don’t know is whether Lawrence is the only player that feels this way. If the Cowboys have a bunch of players on the roster who don’t feel that the team is serious about winning a Super Bowl, that would potentially be a serious problem for Jerry Jones. 

“America’s Team” is turning into “America’s Laughingstock.”

6. Extra points: Cooper Kupp could sign today

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. 

• Cooper Kupp sweepstakes could be coming to an end. There are multiple teams interested in Kupp, including the Patriots, Saints, Seahawks and Cowboys. However, ESPN has reported that the Cowboys likely won’t end up landing the receiver. As for the Saints, they don’t have a ton of salary cap space, so it will be interesting to see if they can meet Kupp’s asking price, which is apparently around $13 million or $14 million per year. We have the full details on Kupp here. 
• NFL recalculates compensatory formula. The NFL made a slight error with the formula for compensatory picks. The Dolphins were given a pick they shouldn’t have gotten, so they had one of their two seventh-round comp picks taken away. Also, the Saints were awarded a comp pick in the seventh-round (254th overall). You can check out our full story on comp picks here. 
• Marvin Harrison Jr. reaches settlement with Fanatics. The Cardinals receiver had been a dispute with Fanatics, and because of that, his jersey wasn’t for sale during his rookie year. However, that dispute is now over after the two sides reached a settlement, which means Harrison’s jersey will soon be for sale. You can read more about the dispute here. 
• Cowboys sign another running back. The Cowboys had already signed Javonte Williams this week, and now, they’ve added another running back after agreeing to a deal with Miles Sanders. If the Cowboys are trying to get their fan base excited, signing another running back probably isn’t the way to do it. 
• Texans make a trade. The Texans have acquired guard Ed Ingram from the Vikings. As part of the deal, Minnesota will get a 2026 sixth-round pick from Houston. The Texans traded away both Laremy Tunsil and Kenyon Green this week, but now they’ve actually added an offensive lineman. The Texans also signed veteran G Laken Tomlinson on Tuesday, so they’re slowing revamping their offensive line.   
• DK Metcalf switching numbers. DK Metcalf has worn 14 for his entire career, but George Pickens is wearing that in Pittsburgh, so Metcalf is going to wear No. 4 with the Steelers. 
• Vikings likely to cut former first-round pick. Garrett Bradbury is officially on the chopping block. If the Vikings can’t trade Bradbury, they’re going to release him, according to ESPN. Although Bradbury started all 17 games at center for Minnesota last season, he became expendable after the Vikings signed Ryan Kelly from the Colts. Bradbury was the 18th overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft.