Worst NFL Free Agency Signings: Impact and Outlooks For Fantasy Football (2025)

April 12, 2025

Justin looks at the worst NFL free agent signings of 2025. What were the worst moves that NFL teams made during the initial wave of NFL free agent signings?

The bulk of NFL free agency is behind us, though it sounds like certain quarterback decisions could still drag on. When Aaron Rodgers signs somewhere, that move will almost certainly make the list of the worst moves in free agency.

Future Rodgers signing aside, what are the worst moves that have been made so far in free agency? Which players signed contracts that made absolutely zero sense?

Here are the worst free-agent signings of the 2025 offseason so far.

Sam Darnold - QB - Seattle Seahawks

The Seattle Seahawks handed Sam Darnold a three-year, $100.5 million contract this offseason. That's a lot of money for...well, for Darnold.

Here's the thing: The Darnold we saw in 2024 is deserving of a big contract if he shows up again in 2025, but Seattle is betting on a lot here. While Darnold is coming off the best season of his career, he's also heading into his eighth NFL season and will join his fifth team.

Sam Darnold contract + Geno dead cap hit = 114 million over 3 years (and up to 10 million more in bonuses).

Geno Smith contract = 106 million over 3 years (and up to 10 million more in bonuses).

You can say they got younger, but you cannot say they got cheaper.

— Carter Donnick (@CDonnick1) April 3, 2025

2024 was the first time Darnold had tossed double-digit touchdowns since 2019, and he continued to have turnover issues as he threw 12 interceptions. Seattle is asking a lot of Darnold, especially considering Seattle already had Geno Smith on the roster.

Now look: I get it. Darnold is younger. His 2024 numbers were better. Seattle thinks it has a system in place to allow Darnold to build on 2024, not regress. It's just that the last part there is pretty speculative.

I'm especially concerned because maybe Kevin O'Connell was just a quarterback whisperer — look at how Kirk Cousins fell apart the moment he left Minnesota. Look at how confident the team is that it can win with J.J. McCarthy under center.

This is just a very risky move for the Seahawks.

Cooper Kupp - WR - Seattle Seahawks

And we're back in Seattle again! The Seahawks moved on from Tyler Lockett and D.K. Metcalf this offseason, then signed Cooper Kupp to a three-year, $45 million deal.

There was a time, not that long ago, when that kind of deal for Kupp would have been highway robbery, but in 2025, I'm just not sure Kupp is someone you want to give big money to.

Kupp feels like he's held together by string at this point. After leading the NFL in receptions, yards, and touchdowns in 2021, he's missed time in three consecutive seasons, and 2024 saw him finish with his fewest receiving yards since 2018, another year where Kupp missed time.

The extensive injury history aside, Kupp's also entering his age-32 season. What is Seattle's expectation here? Like, what do the Seahawks think a mid-30s Cooper Kupp is going to give them? It feels like he's just a better version of Lockett, but that's working under the assumption that Kupp stays healthy.

Seattle rebuilt its wide receiver room this offseason. In addition to Kupp, the team brought in Marquez Valdes-Scantling, Steven Sims, and River Cracraft. The result is probably just a worse version of the 2024 Seattle offense.

Brandin Cooks - WR - New Orleans Saints

The money on the Brandin Cooks deal in New Orleans isn't bad, as the Saints signed him to a two-year, $13 million deal. It's just that signing Cooks doesn't feel like the right move for the Saints, who needed help at wide receiver and landed a player who missed seven games last season and turns 32 in September.

I think #Cowboys fans would have been upset if they would have re-signed Brandin Cooks to that deal.

The only way they were/are going to improve the WR2 spot is through the draft. https://t.co/KnoA7SITNd

— Marcus Mosher (@Marcus_Mosher) March 21, 2025

Cooks averaged just 25.9 receiving yards per game last year for the Cowboys, the worst mark of his career by far. In 10 games, he caught 26 passes for 259 yards and three touchdowns.

Now, it looks like the team expects Cooks to be either the No. 2 or No. 3 receiver, depending on Chris Olave and Rashid Shaheed's health. Maybe New Orleans is just pre-emptively waving the white flag on the 2025 season and looking ahead to the 2026 NFL Draft and a chance to replace Derek Carr. Does any other explanation for their offseason moves make sense?

Luke Farrell - TE - San Francisco 49ers

The 49ers signed tight end Luke Farrell to a three-year, $20.25 million deal, which must mean they either value his blocking skills more than any other tight end in the league or think he can still develop as a receiver.

It's tough to trust the latter option. Last season in Jacksonville, Farrell caught 12 passes for 67 yards. Across four NFL seasons, he's played in 66 games with just 36 catches for 318 yards and zero touchdowns.

As 49ers writer Grant Cohn pointed out for Sports Illustrated, the signing makes even less sense when you consider the usage patterns in San Fran:

It's also a strange signing for the 49ers because they don't use two-tight-end formations often. Last year's No. 2 tight end, Eric Saubert, caught a mere 11 passes and played just 377 snaps. And the 49ers paid him the veteran minimum.

So when the 49ers gave Farrell a three-year deal worth an average of almost $7 million annually, lots of people thought he signaled a philosophical shift in the 49ers offense. They would evolve into a two-tight-end offense and not a two-back offense with a fullback on the field 50 percent of the time.

This theory made sense when the 49ers released Kyle Juszczyk, but this morning they re-signed him. Which means Farrell is just an expensive replacement for Saubert and probably will have a similar impact.

Let's not forget that the 49ers have George Kittle, who remains one of the league's best tight ends. There's simply not much room for Farrell to make an impact on this roster. Yet, the 49ers paid him like he'd be starting for the team. What gives?

Maybe the 49ers have a plan here. Maybe with Deebo Samuel Sr. gone, the team will run some kind of two-back, two-tight end base set. Only the Ravens ran 22 personnel on more than 10 percent of plays last year though, with the Niners running it just 4.3 percent of the time, so that's probably not it.

Robert Hainsey - C - Jacksonville Jaguars

There were a few baffling offensive line moves this offseason. Let's begin in Jacksonville, where the Jags paid $21 million for center Robert Hainsey.

A three-year, $21 million deal for a starting center isn't bad, but the Jags aren't necessarily getting a starting center. Hainsey comes over from Tampa Bay, where he started 17 games in both 2022 and 2023. But what about 2024?

Yeah...about last year. Hainsey's two-year stint as a starter ended with the Buccaneers drafting his replacement and starting rookie Graham Barton in his place.

New Jaguars head coach Liam Coen knows Hainsey well, as he was the Buccaneers' offensive coordinator before taking the Jags job, so maybe he deserves a little more faith when it comes to this signing. However, in a vacuum, it looks like an overpay for a guy who got benched last year.

Jaylon Moore - OT - Kansas City Chiefs

The Chiefs gave Jaylon Moore a two-year, $30 million deal to come to Kansas City and be the team's new left tackle. It's a solid deal if you know you're getting a good player to play the most important offensive line position.

But KC doesn't know that. Not for sure, at least. There's a lot of projection here.

That's because Moore, who spent the first four years of his career in San Francisco, has never been a full-time starter. He's started games, with a career-high five starts in 2024, but he's never shown he can go out there week after week and protect the quarterback.

That's not to say he hasn't looked good in those limited snaps. He has! But looking good as a situational pass protector and looking good when taking 100 percent of a team's snaps are very different things.

New #Chiefs LT Jaylon Moore on his readiness to be a starter: "The tape doesn't lie. I know it's a small sample size. . . They see something in me. I'm excited to go balls to the wall for these guys."

— Charles Goldman (@goldmctNFL) March 20, 2025

Will KC's bet on Moore pay off? Maybe, but it's a huge risk when his job is to be the blindside protector for arguably the most important quarterback in the NFL. Is this the best Kansas City could do to protect Patrick Mahomes?

Eric Murray - S - Jacksonville Jaguars

Lest you think bad moves were limited to the offensive side of the ball, we end with a defender: Eric Murray, a safety who the Jaguars signed to a three-year, $22.5 million deal this offseason.

As a Texans fan, I've watched a lot of Murray over the last five years, and I have to say that I don't get this for the Jaguars. It's not so much that Murray is bad. It's that he's just kind of "meh" at this stage of his career.

Murray's still a good run defender, but he struggles in coverage. So when you're a Jaguars team that allowed the most passing yards in the NFL last season, you'd think the focus would be on improving your secondary in coverage.

This is just a weird fit. Murray is fine, but he won't fix the things that Jacksonville needs to fix.

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