• Kansas Metropolis Chiefs want to focus on a left sort out: After buying and selling away guard Joe Thuney, the Chiefs may very properly attempt to signal the very best obtainable left sort out available on the market to fill the most important gap on the group.
• The Arizona Cardinals can be clever to shore up a weak point: Head coach Jonathan Gannon attending to work along with considered one of his former gamers may exponentially enhance Arizona’s cross rush, which was a weak point final season.
• 2025 NFL Draft season is right here: Attempt PFF’s best-in-class Mock Draft Simulator and find out about 2025’s prime prospects whereas buying and selling and drafting on your favourite NFL group.

Estimated studying time: 5 minutes

Whereas there are all the time some shocking free-agent signings, there are additionally loads that simply make an excessive amount of sense to not occur.

We highlighted 5 of the latter that we predict would serve the gamers and the groups properly.

OT Ronnie Stanley: Kansas Metropolis Chiefs

It has been properly documented how poorly Kansas Metropolis’s left tackles fared throughout the 2024 season, as they allowed a strain on 11.3% of cross performs, the NFL’s worst fee. In addition they mixed to earn a 50.0 PFF pass-blocking grade, the league’s lowest. It compelled the Chiefs to play guard Joe Thuney at left sort out within the second half of the season; nevertheless, since they traded Thuney to the Chicago Bears, that’s not an possibility anymore, and they should repair the left sort out place.

In the meantime, Stanley had his greatest season since 2020, as he earned a 70.7 PFF total grade. Nevertheless, Stanley’s 80.9 PFF pass-blocking grade ranked 16^th amongst offensive tackles, as he surrendered a strain on simply 6.7% of his group’s cross performs.

C Drew Dalman: Chicago Bears

New head coach Ben Johnson didn’t waste any time bettering Chicago’s offensive line in an effort to assist quarterback Caleb Williams’s improvement in his second season within the league. The Bears have already added guards Jonah Jackson and Joe Thuney by way of trades, and there’s a good likelihood they won’t cease at these strikes. Middle Coleman Shelton signed only a one-year take care of the Bears final season, so Chicago does not likely have a beginning heart on its roster at this level.

Dalman has develop into among the best facilities within the NFL over his time with the Falcons, as he ranked within the prime 5 in PFF total grade in every of the final two seasons. Though his foremost power is extra within the run sport, Dalman may instantly make Chicago’s inside trio one of many higher inside offensive traces in all the NFL.

WR Amari Cooper: Los Angeles Chargers

Though final 12 months’s second-round choose Ladd McConkey has been all the things the Chargers may have hoped for and much more, Los Angeles nonetheless desperately wants broad receivers, which was very evident within the Chargers’ lone playoff sport. Of Los Angeles’s 242 receiving yards, 197 had been recorded by the rookie, which was consistent with what now we have seen from the Chargers offense throughout the common season.

Though there isn’t any elite broad receiver possibility on the free agent market following the Cincinnati Bengals franchise tagging Tee Higgins, Cooper might be a dependable goal and No. 2 broad receiver within the Chargers offense. Whereas the veteran broad receiver may not likely carve out a job for himself in Buffalo after he joined the Payments midseason, having a full offseason within the Chargers offense may allow him to nonetheless contribute in 2025.

CB Charvarius Ward: Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Ward performed in addition to some other cornerback within the NFL in his first two seasons with the San Francisco 49ers, as he earned an 89.1 PFF total grade over the 2022 and 2023 seasons, which ranked behind solely Sauce Gardner. As well as, his 2,163 snaps over this era additionally ranked fourth within the NFL. Whereas Ward couldn’t replicate this type and sturdiness in 2024, that’s largely – if not totally – as a consequence of an off-field tragedy. There isn’t any motive to suppose that Ward, who will nonetheless be solely 29 years outdated firstly of the season, can’t get again to his outdated type within the subsequent couple seasons and develop into as soon as once more among the best cornerbacks within the league.

The cornerback place has been a necessity for the Buccaneers even with out the anticipated reduce of Jamel Dean, and Ward’s fashion works properly with Todd Bowles’s aggressive protection.

DI Milton Williams: Arizona Cardinals

Arizona’s protection generated a strain on simply 30.9 p.c of cross performs in 2024, which ranked solely 27^th within the NFL. Moreover, their inside defenders mixed to earn a 54.3 PFF pass-rushing grade, which ranked 28^th within the league. The Cardinals desperately have to improve their cross rush, each exterior and on the inside. Whereas Milton Williams won’t be an entire inside defender as a consequence of some struggles in opposition to the run, he greater than makes up for it together with his pass-rushing manufacturing. In reality, his 91.7 PFF pass-rushing grade in 2024 led all inside defenders within the NFL. His connection to Cardinals head coach Jonathan Gannon – who was once Philadelphia’s defensive coordinator – simply makes this an excellent higher match for Williams.