2019 NFL Free Agency Awards: The best and worst of the offseason (so far)

Free agency is far and away the silliest event on the NFL’s annual calendar. Every year, front office executives espouse the importance of smart cap management; then, without fail, they go out and spend hundreds of millions of dollars on so-so players.

Happens every year, and 2019 was no different. There were A LOT of bad signings — we’ve graded all of the major deals here — and a handful of good ones. Most of the major dominos have already fallen, so what do you say we hand out some superlatives?

Without further ado, we present For The Win’s NFL Free Agency Awards for the 2019 offseason…

Best deal: Panthers sign Matt Paradis to three-year, $27 million contract

Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

It’s never a good thing to go into free agency desperate to fill a position, but that’s the spot the Panthers were in after they parted ways with Ryan Kalil. Somehow, Carolina managed to come out of it with the top center on the market at a completely reasonable price. That never happens in free agency. Matt Paradis will cost the Panthers $9 million per season over the next three. He’ll help solidify the interior line, which was a major issue in 2018, and do so at a team-friendly cap number.

Best bargain: Cardinals sign Terrell Suggs to one-year, $7 million contract

Evan Habeeb-USA TODAY Sports

It’s unlikely that Terrell Suggs will be around when the Cardinals are ready to compete for a playoff spot — unless Kliff Kingsbury really is the genius he’s cracked up to be — but whenever you can add a productive player at a premium position for only $7 million a season, it has to be considered a big win. Suggs could take a step back and still earn that money in 2019.

Worst overpay: 49ers sign Kwon Alexander to four-year, $54 million contract

His hair is a metaphor for the pile of money the 49ers just set on fire. (Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports)

A week later and I’m still searching for answers here: What were the 49ers thinking? Have they ever seen Kwon Alexander play? Have they seen his medical history? They do know he was once suspended for PEDs, right? They do realize that linebackers are an inessential position and it makes little sense to allocate so much money for one who isn’t even all that good, right?

I NEED answers.

Redskins’ annual dumb offseason move: Redskins give up comp pick to sign Ereck Flowers

Every. Single. Year.

It was going to be tough for the Redskins to top the Landon Collins signing — which we gave a D-minus in our free agency grades — but they figured out a way to do it. The Redskins gave up a sixth-round compensatory pick for the right to pay one of the worst tackles in football up to $4 million in 2019.

In case you’re not familiar with Flowers’ game, his go-to is the “get beat instantly and try to trip the pass rusher” move that all the greats have in their repertoire.

Team that improved itself the most: New York Jets

Calm down, Jets fans. New York might be the most improved team after free agency but it took a lot of cash for the job to get done. And while it should pay immediate dividends, the Jets cap situation won’t look great in a few years as a result. So basically…

Their offseason spending spree reminds me a lot of the Giants’ spree back in 2016. Whatever happened to the Giants? I wonder how they’re doing these days.

Most desperate move: Broncos sign Ja’Wuan James to four-year, $52 million contract

John Elway is bad at his job (Jake Roth/USA TODAY Sports)

Is John Elway worse at drafting quarterbacks or finding starting right tackles? He’s pretty bad at both. So, of course, in order to solve his right tackle problem, he made Ja’Wuan James, an average (at best) player, the highest-paid right tackle in NFL history. No big deal.

Team that wisely sat out: New England Patriots

We could honestly just give them this award every offseason. The Patriots didn’t make any major signings, but they did manage to get better by trading for Michael Bennett and letting Trey Flowers sign with Detroit, which will bring back a compensatory pick.

Team that did too much: Green Bay Packers

Trevor Ruszkowski-USA TODAY Sports

We get it: New GM Brian Gutekunst isn’t Ted Thompson, the former Packers front office man who notoriously stayed out of free agency much to the chagrin of spoiled Packers fans. But Gutekunst did too much. The Adrian Amos signing was a smart one, but then he went ahead and overpaid for the Smiths, Preston and Za’Darius, before deciding that underwhelming guard Billy Turner was worth a long-term investment. I’m sure fans in Green Bay are happy to be in on the free agency fun, but it won’t last very long.

Annual QB overpay: Jaguars sign Nick Foles to four-year, $88 million contract

“Yes, I’d like to confess to a robbery in Duval County.” (AP Photo/Butch Dill)

Nick Foles joins an illustrious group featuring Brock Osweiler, Mike Glennon and Sam Bradford. If you’ve started some games, didn’t look absolutely horrible and happen to be tall and white, you will get a big deal in free agency. The best (or worst, I guess) part is that Jacksonville is essentially telling the world that they aren’t drafting a QB in the first round this year. It’s almost a guarantee the Jags will be back in the market this time next year.

Smartest move by a player: Anthony Barr spurns Jets for Vikings

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Anthony Barr may have very well passed on more money to return to Minnesota instead of signing with New York, but the move will help him in the long run. Mike Zimmer will get the most out of him and help him earn a third contract. The Jets may have asked him to convert to edge rusher — a move that would have derailed his career if it did not work out.