The free-agency period in the NFL is like a game of poker where everybody’s cards are on the table face-up. It’s wild to see who raises with what.
It’s also educational because you learn once again that, despite what anybody says about loyalty, roots, teamwork, location, chemistry or wanting that ring and only that ring, money is everything. In case you had forgotten.
The Bears got much-needed free-agent help where they really wanted it: on the offensive line. Quarterback Caleb Williams should be schmoozing up just-acquired center Drew Dalman, 26, fresh from the Falcons. Injured early last season, Dalman returned for the final six weeks and helped running back Bijan Robinson have the highest rushing EPA (expected points added) in the NFL during that period. So that’s tip-top.
Dalman got paid a bit by the Bears, too: $42 million over three years, with $28 million guaranteed. This makes him the second-highest-paid center in the league. Interestingly, word is he turned down more money from other teams because he wanted to play for Bears coach Ben Johnson and protect 2024 No. 1 overall pick Williams. That, for sure, makes Dalman an anomaly.
Williams got more protection when the Bears traded for Chiefs guard Joe Thuney, 32, and Rams guard Jonah Jackson, 28, last week. Thuney, a four-time Super Bowl champion (twice with the Patriots, twice with the Chiefs) and two-time All-Pro, is the big hire, a blocker who helped Chiefs star Patrick Mahomes do what he does, a mature dude you hope is not aging downward.
The Bears plugged more holes by picking up free-agent edge rusher Dayo Odeyingbo from the Colts and former Falcons defensive tackle Grady Jarrett. Both these men got big money, too: a reported three years and $48 million (with $32 million guaranteed) for Odeyingbo and three years and
$43.5 million ($28.5 million guaranteed) for Jarrett.
As one team adds in this free-agent poker game, another subtracts. The salary cap for 2025 has ballooned to $279.2 million, so everybody is dealing with lots of chips, though some teams are using IOUs and some are hoarding chips for the future. Others have cards hidden under the table, sneaky deals to massage cap space and game the system down the road.
No matter, because the Bears, having filled needs on both lines and despite spending almost all their chips, are still in good shape to go after skilled players in the upcoming draft without regard to position. They have three picks in the first 41, and you never know who might be waiting.
But we started out talking about money, and that’s what this is all about. If you’ve got money, you can get things; if you don’t, you’re screwed — in football and in life, it seems. When there is little else of worth, we look fondly at things, status, power, wealth for wealth’s sake. It wasn’t always like this, but it never was far away. In sports, money always has been the big dog. During free agency, cash blares out as king. As Jerry Seinfeld once pointed out: ‘‘People don’t turn down money. It’s what separates us from animals.’’
I was particularly amused when defensive end Myles Garrett re-signed with the Browns on Sunday for four years and $160 million, with $123 million guaranteed. At $40 million a year, Garrett is now the highest-paid non-quarterback in NFL history. He beat out Raiders pass rusher Maxx Crosby, who briefly was the highest-paid non-QB when he signed a three-year deal worth $106.5 million ($91.5 million guaranteed) last Wednesday.
The amusing part is that Garrett had demanded a trade from the Browns, saying he might even boycott them if they didn’t let him go, because he wanted to win a Super Bowl and didn’t want to be part of a rebuild for the ever-rebuilding team. But how things evolve.
‘‘Myles had a change of heart,’’ agent Nicole Lynn told Cleveland.com.
The goal, Garrett himself said, ‘‘has always been to compete for and win a Super Bowl.’’
This is interesting because the Browns are close to the most pitiful NFL franchise around. They and the Lions are the only two original NFL teams never to play in a Super Bowl. The Browns once drafted quarterback Tim Couch No 1. They drafted loony Johnny Manziel in the first round. They are paying suspect quarterback Deshaun Watson a guaranteed $230 million in what universally has been judged the worst contract in NFL history.
So what really happened for Garrett (and just about everybody)? Money happened. Imagine that.