What Happened During the 2021 NFL Free Agency Class?

The 2021 Free agency class for the NFL has been pretty crazy so far. So many players have been traded, cut, resigned, or franchise tagged. Free agency started on March 17th and ends on July 22nd.  

The biggest trade of the whole offseason was QB Mathew Stafford traded to the Los Angeles Rams for QB Jared Goff, a 2021 third-round pick, and a 2022 and 2023 first-round pick.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers didn’t sign many players but the best pickup they made was RB Giovani Bernard. They re-signed most of their free agents including RB Leonard Fournette, WR Chris Godwin, TE Rob Gronkowski, DT Ndamukong Suh, and OLB Shaquill Barrett. They re-signed the most stars players out of all teams. The Lions lost their two best WR Marvin Jones Jr and Kenny Golliday. Alex Johnston, a 7th-grade student at WMS said, “This will make a really big impact on the Lions because they were our two best WR.” 

The Houston Texans have a QB named Deshawn Watson, who has requested a trade he still has not gotten traded and is dealing with a lot of off-field stuff right now. The Texans don’t care and still haven’t released Watson. Deshawn Watson is a top 5 QB in the league right now and he is on one of the worst teams in the league. Alex Johnston said, “Deshawn Watson should go to a new team because his talent is being wasted.” Noah Tarquinto, a 7th grader at WMS said, “The Steelers should try and get Deshawn Watson because Big Ben is gonna retire soon.”

The patriots signed a lot of players at the start of free agency. They signed TE Jonnu Smith and Hunter Henry. Also, they signed OLB Matt Judon, S Jalen Mills, WR Nelson Agholor,  and a lot more people. They made so many moves in the first week of free agency and slowed their spending down after they signed a bunch of players. 

Some of the top players who got franchise tagged were Dallas Cowboys QB Dak Prescott, Chicago Bears WR Allen Robinson, Denver Broncos S Justin Simmons, and New Orleans Saints S. Marcus Williams. Franchise tags are only 1-year deals so if they want that player back next year they will have to franchise tag him again or resign him. 

With the NFL adding another week to the season there will still be 20 games but now it will be 3 preseason games and 17 regular-season games. Most teams will now be looking to add more depth in some positions because of the longer season which gives more room for injuries.