NFL free agency: 4 takeaways before signings are official

Patriots are loading up in free agency

Many assumed that the New England Patriots would be one of the most active teams this offseason with the amount of cap space they held. Their team had the most cap space of any franchise in the NFL heading into the legal tampering period on Monday. They signed lots of checks as they made a flurry of moves that has brought in some of the largest names in this free agency class.

New England is trying to force themselves into relevancy yet again after a disappointing 7-9 record in 2020. Players like Hunter Henry, Jonnu Smith, Mathew Judon, Nelson Agholor, and many others have already joined the franchise. Another move was re-signing Cam Newton as he returns as the starter for this team in 2021.

A nice surrounding cast seems to be forming around Newton and that could spell success for this team even though their division seems to be getting more competitive. Both the Miami Dolphins and Buffalo Bills seem to be legit playoff contenders going into next season, with the Bills looking like Super Bowl contenders moving forward. The different trades and signings made by this team should make them more competitive moving forward with the real chance of making the playoffs again.

The other side of this coin is that deals made could backfire on the team in a couple of seasons with these giant contracts that will have pen put to paper in the coming days. If they fail with these signings then they spent all this money during the offseason for nothing.

The NFL is always very exciting this time of year while free agents search for new homes across the league. It is going to be very interesting to see where players land over the next couple of weeks.