Free Agency Winners/Losers

By: Lucas Kochevar

Winner: New England Patriots
      The New England Patriots were the Super Bowl Champs and they somehow managed to become a better team. They managed to add to their offense with speedster WR Brandin Cooks and TE Dwayne Allen. On defense they were able to sign Stephon Gilmore and traded for Kony Ealy, the defensive star for the Panthers in Super Bowl 50. They won FA by a mile in my opinion with the addition of Cooks and Gilmore. Cooks will add to an already dangerous offense and Dwayne Allen is Martellus Bennett's replacement and he is a pretty solid replacement. Stephon Gilmore is now the best CB on the Patriots, and yes I don't believe in Malcom Butler that much. They also were able to keep their D-Line pretty consistent. The Patriots were also able to re-sign their key free agent LB Donata Hightower to a team friendly deal instead of having him leave somewhere else for more money.
Loser: Washington Redskins
      The Washington Redskins are a flat out mess. The Redskins have a franchise QB that has no interest in being there long term. They have a defense that isn't very good outside of the Josh Norman and Ryan Kerrigan. The Redskins managed to fire their GM on the first day of FA and blamed it on alcohol problems. According to several reports, the GM was in a good place when it came to alcohol and it hasn't affected his decisions in the role. Scot McCloughan has been absent from the team and his agent says that it has nothing to do with alcohol and it is about his Grandmother. This was a poor excuse for the Redskins to fire their GM. Sorry Redskins fans, but you have a long road ahead for your franchise. 
Winner: Philadelphia Eagles
​      The Eagles were able to get good WRs for QB Carson Wentz with the additions of Alshon Jeffery and Torrey Smith. They also were able to keep their defense relatively the same. They also added a solid OL in Stefen Wisniewiski. The deal with Alshon Jeffery was brilliant for both sides. It is a 1-year 14 million deal. The benefit for the Eagles is that they get to have a franchise WR and they can decide if they want him long term. This will hopefully help Carson Wentz also as he didn't have a good WR to throw to last season. The benefit for Jeffery is that he gets his own 'prove your worth a deal' season and can test the market next year and see if he can redeem himself from the last season, which was disappointing. I like what the Eagles did and hopefully with these additions they can compete in the NFC East with the Cowboys and Giants.
Loser: Dallas Cowboys
     The Cowboys O-Line just took a huge step back in the fact that they just lost two starters. The best O-Line in football saw their starting Guard, Ron Leary, leave for the Denver Broncos and they lost OT Doug Free to retirement. They still, for whatever reason, have Tony Romo on their roster. They also lost some pieces on the defensive side. They lost their two starting CB's in Brandon Carr and Morris Claiborne. They lost DE Jack Crawford to the Falcons last week. The Cowboys did resign WR Terrence Williams but outside of that move they didn't do anything that great during this FA period.