The first big wave of free agency has ended. The second wave has, too.
As the dollars settle on last week’s spending spree, plenty of big names are still on the board.
Receiver Stefon Diggs had a very good year in his first season back from a torn ACL, notching his seventh 1,000-yard season. The Patriots opted not to continue his contract, which added him to the group of available players. He remains on the market.
So does receiver Jauan Jennings, who landed at No. 23 on the PFT Top 100 list of free agents. He failed to parlay an unexpectedly productive 2024 into an extension with the 49ers. The fact that he didn’t sign quickly after free agency opened suggests that he wanted more than the market will bear.
Receiver Deebo Samuel, No. 29 on the PFT list, also waits for his next team. There was no land rush for a player whose lone Pro Bowl and All-Pro season is now five years in the rear-view mirror. He hit free agency for the first time. He remains available.
Other receivers who are free and clear include Tyreek Hill (who’s recovering from a serious knee injury), Christian Kirk, DeAndre Hopkins, and Keenan Allen.
As running backs go, the best options are gone. Veterans who are available include Joe Mixon, Nick Chubb, Brian Robinson, A.J. Dillon, Raheem Mostert, Najee Harris, and Austin Ekeler.
Edge rusher Joey Bosa, who’s No. 35, was essentially replaced in Buffalo by Bradley Chubb. Bosa is waiting for his next stop; his mother apparently envisions the Bosa brothers teaming up in San Francisco.
Other big-name defenders remain. Future Hall of Fame linebacker Bobby Wagner is unsigned. As is edge rusher Jadeveon Clowney, the first overall pick in the 2014 draft. Veteran defensive end Cameron Jordan is a free agent. Linebacker Lavonte David, a fixture in Tampa Bay since 2012, is unsigned, too.
Then there are the quarterbacks: Aaron Rodgers, Kirk Cousins, Russell Wilson, Jimmy Garoppolo, Joe Flacco, and Tyrod Taylor are the headliners. Currently, only the Cardinals and Steelers are presumably in the market for a QB1.
More signings will surely happen. But, for the most part, the big-money pipeline has sealed shut. The budgets have been busted. Quickly, the spending spree ends and the pre-draft process resumes.
Bills Clips
Veteran safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson signed this week with the Bills. In his introductory press conference, he addressed one of the biggest issues hovering around him — a reputation for being a not-ideal teammate.
Gardner-Johnson said he’s not concerned about perceptions.
“I look at it like this,” Gardner-Johnson said, “if — and I don’t throw shade. I don’t throw — because locker rooms that I’ve been in, we’ve won. But the situation I got traded to, like, it’s hard to go into something where you’re not really familiar. Like, it’s like spurts. . . . That’s like going to McDonald’s. You can eat McDonald’s, but you don’t know how to make the fries. So, it’s like, I’m not saying you didn’t know how to play football, it’s just like, you have to gather that relationship while trying to get better while trying — and the season comes quick and all. Once the moves, the draft picks get in, it’s on you.”
He was traded to Houston last year. After the deal was done, Gardner-Johnson said the Eagles shipped him out because they were “scared of a competitor.”
The Texans abruptly cut him after an 0-3 start, without trying to trade him. After a short stint with the Ravens, he landed in Chicago.
With the Bears, he had 10 regular-season appearances with seven starts. He also started the divisional-round playoff game against the Rams.
“For me, I look at, like, every place I’ve been with, I won,” Gardner-Johnson said. “If it was a locker room problem, I just result back to whatever came out. Why now? Like, why now? If I was a locker room problem, like why now? What was the news flashes when we were winning, going 14-3? When we were on the top of the mountain. . . . When I was catching six [interceptions], but where was those like — but why now? So I just take it with a grain of salt . . . it is what it is.”
Gardner-Johnson, 28, has played for the Saints, Eagles, Lions, Eagles again, Texans, Ravens, and Bears. He has appeared in 87 regular-season games with 71 starts, and he was a member of the Super Bowl LIX championship team in Philadelphia.
The Bills are signing safety Geno Smith to a one-year deal, according to Jordan Schultz of The Schultz Report.
Stone, who turns 27 in April, spent the past two seasons with the Bengals, starting all 34 possible games.
In 2025, Stone totaled 104 tackles, two sacks, two interceptions and four pass breakups.
The Ravens made him a seventh-round pick in 2020, and he spent his first four seasons in Baltimore. He has 312 tackles, 14 interceptions and 21 pass breakups in his career.
He joins a room that includes C.J. Gardner-Johnson, Cole Bishop, Jordan Hancock and Sam Franklin.
Wide receiver DJ Moore experienced something new with the Bears last season.
The 2026 season was Moore’s first winning one in the NFL as he helped the Bears win the NFC North and advance to the divisional round of the playoffs before losing to the Rams. With that success coming in Ben Johnson’s first year as the team’s head coach, it seemed like the start of something big in Chicago but Moore won’t be around for what comes next.
The wideout is now a member of the Bills after being traded to Buffalo earlier this week. At a press conference on Thursday, Moore said that he was happy with how things went last year but felt that his time with the Bears had reached a natural end point.
“I’m excited. I’m excited for the new challenge and a new journey. I think my time in Chicago, it ran its course and it ended on a great note with it being a great season in how it ended,” Moore said, via the Bills’ website. “Now it’s time to do that here.”
Moore will be working with quarterback Josh Allen in his new home and the hope in Buffalo is that his arrival helps boost a receiving corps that came in for a fair amount of criticism during the 2025 season. If that happens, the Bills could find a breakthrough of their own.
The Bills added edge rusher Bradley Chubb in free agency and they are set to make a veteran addition to the back end of their defense as well.
Agents Kevin Conner and Robert Brown announced that safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson has agreed to a one-year deal in Buffalo. Gardner-Johnson can make up to $6 million under the terms of the deal.
Gardner-Johnson opened last season with the Texans, but was released after three games and signed with the Bears after a short stint on the Ravens’ practice squad. He had 51 tackles, three sacks, two interceptions and a forced fumble in 10 regular season games for the team. He missed the playoff opener with a concussion and returned with four tackles in Chicago’s overtime loss to the Rams in the divisional round.
Gardner-Johnson has also played for the Eagles, Lions and Saints since entering the league as a 2019 fifth-round pick. He won a Super Bowl ring while with the Eagles and will try to help the Bills end their long quest for the first one in franchise history.
Free agent edge rusher Bradley Chubb has agreed to a three-year, $43.5 million deal with the Bills, Adam Schefter of ESPN reports. The deal includes $29 million in guarantees and $9 million in incentives.
Chubb, 29, ranks 36th on PFT’s list of top-100 free agents.
He played all 17 games last season after returning from a torn ACL that kept him out the entire 2024 season. Chubb totaled 47 tackles, 8.5 sacks and two forced fumbles in 766 snaps. He played 72 percent of the team’s defensive snaps.
The Dolphins acquired Chubb in a trade with the Broncos during the 2022 season. They recently released him, making him an unrestricted free agent.
The Broncos made him a first-round pick in 2018.
In his career, he has appeared in 90 games, with 89 starts, and has totaled 303 tackles, 48 sacks, one interception, seven passes defensed and 15 forced fumbles.
With the new league year coming on Wednesday afternoon, the Bills have made a procedural move to open up some cap space.
Per Field Yates of ESPN, Buffalo has restructured quarterback Josh Allen’s contract to free up $12 million against the cap.
Allen was previously set to count for roughly $56.39 million of cap space in 2026.
The Bills and Allen agreed to a six-year, $330 million extension last March, putting him under contract through 2030.
The quarterback completed 69.3 percent of his throws for 3,668 yards with 25 touchdowns and 10 interceptions in 2025. He also rushed for 579 yards with 14 TDs.
Defensive back Cam Lewis is joining the Bears on a two-year deal, Jeremy Fowler of ESPN reports.
Lewis, who turns 29 next month, played his college ball at Buffalo and signed with the Bills as an undrafted free agent in 2019. He played six seasons with the Bills.
He signed a one-year contract in 2023 and a two-year contract in 2024.
Now, he’s leaving Buffalo.
Lewis played 76 games with 14 starts with the Bills, totaling 166 tackles, an interception, three forced fumbles and 11 passes defensed.
He played 1,346 defensive snaps and 1,043 in his career with the team.
Connor McGovern said last week that he thought his time with the Bills was “over and done,” so it came as a surprise when news broke over the weekend that the center was signing a four-year deal to remain in Buffalo.
During an interview with Adam Schein of Mad Dog Sports Radio, McGovern explained how things took an unexpected turn ahead of the start of free agency. McGovern said that he always had interest in returning to the Bills, but that the team said he’d get a chance to hit the open market during exit interviews and that remained the plan until quarterback Josh Allen shared his preference for McGovern’s return.
“They were gonna let me test free agency,” McGovern said. “Then our good friend No. 17 kind of got involved and wanted to make sure that this got done.”
Keeping the best player on the team happy is usually a good idea and it seems the Bills were able to do that by securing McGovern’s commitment this week.
The Bills are keeping one of their tight ends around for the next couple of years.
According to multiple reports, Dawson Knox has agreed to a new three-year contract with Buffalo.
Knox, 29, had one year remaining on his deal with the Bills. But, as noted by Tom Pelissero of NFL Media, the tight end was due to make $12 million in 2026, with a $1.5 million roster bonus due to him on Sunday.
Now Knox and Buffalo have worked through a new deal to keep him with the club.
A third-round pick in the 2019 draft, Knox has played his entire career with the Bills. A one-time Pro Bowler, Knox has registered 229 catches for 2,694 yards with 27 touchdowns in his seven seasons.
In 2026, Knox played all 17 games with 12 starts, tallying 36 receptions for 417 yards with four TDs. He was on the field for 58 percent of Buffalo’s offensive snaps.
