It's happening. And it's pretty much freak-out time around the NFL world. With the official start of free agency just a couple short days, free agents are currently talking with teams about contracts.
The backdrop here has been a robust trade market that has seen the likes of Alex Smith, Marcus Peters and Aqib Talib already moved. Meanwhile, Richard Sherman signed with his most-hated division rival in a shocking move over in the NFC West.
With NFL news set to hit a near all-time high this week, let's check in on seven teams that we will be talking about the most in free agency.
Dallas Cowboys
While Dallas likely won't be big-time players in free agency, the team has one major nagging question. What is it going to do with former Pro Bowl wide receiver Dez Bryant?
The team has given mixed signals in this regard, with owner Jerry Jones indicating Bryant will return and president Stephen Jones playing more of a bad cop role. What we do know is that Bryant will not return to the Cowboys at his current cap hit of $16.5 million. All of this noise has Dallas as the most-popular NFL team in the SNIPdaily Franchise Top 100 for the past week.
Minnesota Vikings
Will they sign Kirk Cousins once free agency opens on Wednesday? If not, does the team prefer Cincinnati Bengals backup quarterback A.J. McCarron to retaining Case Keenum? These are some huge questions for a team that will enter the 2018 season in clear Super Bowl contention.
Pretty much the entire football world believes Cousins will land in Minnesota. In fact, the New York Jets and Denver Broncos — two teams interested in Cousins — firmly think he's headed to the Twin Cities. This will make for a very interesting week in Minnesota. That's for sure.
New England Patriots
An offseason with New England being among the most talked about NFL teams? That can't be right. As the third-most popular team and most-popular NFL squad in the SNIPdaily Franchise Top 100 this year, it's not a huge surprise that we're going to hear a lot about the Pats in free agency.
Though, the team might very well be a lot less active than we've seen in previous years. New England is just $23.8 million under the cap. It also has to think about re-signing long-time left tackle Nate Solder and doling out cash for its draft class. Even then, we can expect Bill Belichick and Co. to pull off a move that will ultimately surprise the masses.
Philadelphia Eagles
As the defending champs, it's not a surprise that the Eagles are a much talked about entity. That was taken to a whole new level over the past week when they traded for Michael Bennett and sent Torrey Smith packing to Carolina. While Philadelphia won't be extremely active in free agent, we're still going to hear a lot about this team.
After adding Bennett and trading Smith away, Philadelphia currently finds itself an NFL-worst $10.9 million over the cap. It needs to cut that beef prior to the start of free agency on Wednesday. It's in this that the likes of Vinny Curry and/or Brandon Graham could be traded here soon. Let's not forget about the possibility of reigning Super Bowl MVP Nick Foles being moved.
Los Angeles Rams
The defending NFC West champions found themselves as the fifth-most popular NFL team in the SNIPdaily Franchise Top 100 over the past week. And for good reason. Fresh off adding Pro Bowler Marcus Peters in a trade with Kansas City, the Rams acquired fellow Pro Bowl corner Aqib Talib in a trade with the Denver Broncos. That gives defensive coordinator Wade Phillips two elite corners to work with.
Still boasting $36.8 million in cap room, there's also a good chance the Rams will be able to re-sign wide receiver Sammy Watkins in free agency. If not, the team will be in the market for another receiver — leading Los Angeles to continue making headlines around the NFL world.
Seattle Seahawks
This isn't the good kind of popular. Just ask Seahawks wide receiver Doug Baldwin and the team's fans. Over the course of the past several days, Seattle has seen its previously championship defense blown up. It started with the trade of Michael Bennett to Philadelphia.
Then, later last week, reports surfaced that Seattle was looking to move on from future Hall of Fame cornerback Richard Sherman. That happened on Friday. And less than 24 hours later, Sherman inked a three-year deal with the division-rival San Francisco 49ers. It sent the social media world into a frenzy. With Seattle now looking to move more pieces from its roster, the next several days are going to be popcorn-worthy in the Pacific Northwest. With that comes a tremendous amount of rumors and innuendo.
San Francisco 49ers
Speaking of the 49ers, they've pretty much been the talk of the NFL since the 2017 season came to an end. It started with the recently acquired Jimmy Garoppolo leading San Francisco to five consecutive wins to conclude the season. That led to the 49ers giving Garoppolo a shocking five-year, $137.5 million contract to avoid him hitting free agency.
If this weren't enough, San Francisco went out there and signed a former division rival in that of the above-mentioned Richard Sherman. People, Richard Sherman will be suiting up against the Seahawks as a member of the 49ers next season. Meanwhile, this team still has a ton of money to spend in free agency and has been linked to some of the top players available.
Posted from my blog with SteemPress : https://snipdaily.com/2018/03/seven-nfl-teams-well-be-talking-about-the-most-in-free-agency/