The NFL’s 10 worst free agency contracts of the last 10 years, from DeMarco Murray to Brock Osweiler
NFL Free Agency is upon us, which means some teams will make strides toward a championship while others will make mistakes that they will regret for years to come.
With the salary cap, the contracts get bigger and bigger. In a league with a win-at-all-costs mentality, past failures won’t stop teams from opening their wallets and handing out lucrative deals to top free agents.
Players have short lives in the NFL, so more than a few mistakes have been made over the years. Injuries and poor fits make big free agent entrants duds year after year. In other cases, some contracts awarded by desperate teams seem doomed from the start.
The last decade has seen a bit of both. Here’s a look at the 10 worst free agent deals over the past 10 years.
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Worst free agent deals since 2013
Below are the 10 worst free agent deals over the past 10 years, plus a few honorable mentions.
DeMarco Murray (Eagle)
Contract: Five years, $40 million ($21 million guaranteed)
The Eagles had an exciting offseason in 2015 with Chip Kelly in charge of football operations, led by the shocking LeSean McCoy trade followed by the signing of DeMarco Murray.
Murray was the 2014 Dallas Offensive Player of the Year, having 1,845 yards and 13 touchdowns behind the league’s best offensive line. It’s been an unexpected year considering Murray only had 1,000 rushing yards one season prior to 2014 and it proved to be the perfect timing for the free hand.
Paying running backs is always risky, but the Eagles felt Murray was worth it. He was not. Murray just didn’t fit Kelly’s mold, struggling all season on his way to 702 rushing yards and 3.6 yards per carry.
Murray wasn’t done yet. He rushed for 1,287 yards and nine touchdowns after a trade to the Titans in 2016. Kelly misjudged how Murray would fit on his offense alongside college teammate Sam Bradford and it cost him his job.
Brock Osweiler (Texan)
Contract: Four years, $72 million ($37 million guaranteed)
After Peyton Manning retired, it was expected that John Elway would pay to keep Brock Osweiler in Denver. When he saw the price tag, he declined. Osweiler landed in Houston on a four-year, $72 million contract and became Bill O’Brien’s latest venture at quarterback.
The Texans won their division and a playoff game in 2016, but Osweiler wasn’t the reason. The former second-round pick completed 59 percent of passes for 2,957 yards, 15 touchdowns and 16 interceptions before being sent to a Cleveland pay deposit the following offseason.
15 touchdowns for $37 million is by no means a bad deal. Osweiler would only make nine more starts for the rest of his career.
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Kenny Golladay (giants)
Contract: Four years, $72 million ($40 million guaranteed)
The Giants thought they found Daniel Jones’ new No. 1 receiver when they signed Kenny Golladay in 2021. Instead, they added a headache.
Golladay rushed for just 521 yards without a touchdown in his freshman season in New York, catching fewer than half of his goals and developing a reputation for drops. He played part of the season through injury, leading to some hope that he could bounce back in 2022 under Brian Daboll, but Golladay finished the game with a total of six catches on 17 goals and publicly complained about it earlier in the season his role.
The Giants will officially release Golladay when the new league year begins.
Golladay had consecutive seasons of 1,000 yards with the Lions, but it’s possible a hip injury sustained in 2020 derailed his career.
Mike Glennon (Bears)
Contract: Three years, $45 million ($18.5 million)
This was a desperate deal that left fans skeptical from the start. Glennon didn’t make a single start in 2015 or 2016 and threw just 11 passes after starting in 18 games from 2013-14. That was enough to convince the Bears he was worth a $45 million contract.
Even though the guarantees were low, $18.5 million was still way too much for what Chicago was getting. Glennon made just four starts before giving way to Mitchell Trubisky, throwing four touchdowns and five interceptions.
He was released after the season with some money still left on his deal. Glennon didn’t make another NFL start until 2020.
Four touchdowns for $18.5 million would make Sam Bradford proud.
Jairus Byrd (Saint)
Contract: Six years, $54 million ($26.3 million guaranteed)
Byrd was one of the top free agents in 2014 after back-to-back Pro Bowl seasons with the Bills, and his deal with the Saints should bolster a ailing defense.
Instead, Byrd was limited to just four games in 2014 and made 27 starts for New Orleans’ historically poor defense in 2015 and 2016. He didn’t start another game in the NFL after being cut in 2017, despite the original terms of his contract runs until 2019.
Landon Collins (Washington)
Contract: Six years, $84 million ($44.5 million guaranteed)
Collins’ deal is another that seemed doomed from the start. The former safety from Alabama had a stellar season for the Giants in 2016 and went on to become one of the league’s best safety guards, but he wasn’t nearly the same player in 2017 or 2018.
Collins earned Pro Bowl appearances both seasons largely because of his name, and that was enough to convince a dysfunctional Washington organization to give him a huge sum of money (more than half guaranteed).
Collins wasn’t a total disaster in Washington, but he was nowhere near a $14 million-a-year player. He struggled with over 15 starts in 2019 and was limited to seven games in 2020 before becoming a hybrid safety linebacker in 2021.
Collins was released by the Commanders in 2022, three years after his six-year contract expired. He’s still carrying a dead cap hit of more than $5 million by 2023.
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Nick Foles (Jaguars)
Contract: Four years, $88 million ($45.1 million guaranteed)
The Jaguars weren’t immediately criticized for their signing of Foles, who looked like a huge upgrade over Blake Bortles.
Foles, of course, stepped in for Carson Wentz in 2017 and led the Eagles to a championship on a fairytale run, and he looked ready again when Wentz was injured in late 2018. Plus, with quarterback salaries skyrocketing, $22 million a year isn’t. t seem too bad.
Unfortunately, Foles went down in Week 1 with a broken collarbone. He returned and started three more games before being benched for Gardner Minshew. Foles completed 65.8 percent of passes for three touchdowns and two interceptions while going 0-4.
If you found Glennon’s four touchdowns for $18.5 million impressive, Foles’ three touchdowns for $45.1 million are a work of art. Foles has made 10 starts since his release in Jacksonville.
Le’Veon Bell (Jets)
Contract: Four years, $52 million ($27 million guaranteed)
The Steelers flatly refused to pay Bell what he wanted for nearly two full years, and they made the right decision.
Bell did what most running backs can’t and landed a big second contract on the open market. Now he’s the best example of why it’s so risky to do business like this.
Bell was limited to 789 rushing yards and three touchdowns with the Jets in 2019, averaging a lazy 3.2 yards per carry. He was released the following October after failing to show progress in two regular-season games.
Bell bounced back and forth between the Chiefs, Ravens and Buccaneers in 2020 and 2021 and couldn’t get stuck anywhere for more than a couple of months. Bell was a two-time All-Pro in Pittsburgh.
Trumaine Johnson (Jets)
Contract: Five years, $72.5 million ($45 million guaranteed)
A year before the Jets landed Le’Veon Bell, Mike Maccagnan’s big hit was former Rams CB Trumaine Johnson.
Johnson was franchised by the Rams in consecutive off-seasons before finally reaching free agency in 2018. For a cornerback who’s had very solid seasons but never been a shutdown defenseman, the deal was inflated from the start.
It would have been passable if Johnson emerged as a longtime starter for the Jets, but even that was a stretch. Johnson started 15 total games over two seasons in New York, struggled to regain his Rams form and was released in March 2020. He was responsible for an $8 million dead cap hit for the Jets in 2021, his second season since its release.
Byron Maxwell (Eagle)
Contract: Six years, $63 million ($25 million guaranteed)
If Kelly deserves credit for anything, it’s for not crippling the Eagles with a huge amount of guaranteed money on these bad deals. However, that is the only silver lining.
Maxwell had six interceptions with the Seahawks between 2013 and 2014 but was never the same outside of the Legion of Boom, starting 14 games in his only unspectacular season with Philadelphia.
After Kelly was fired, the Eagles sent Maxwell to the Dolphins after the season. He would only play two more seasons, meaning the Eagles’ contract expired three years after he retired.
recognitions
- Sam Bradford (Cardinals)
- Greg Jennings (Vikings)
- Byron Maxwell (Eagle)
- Nate Solder (giants)
- Julius Thomas (jaguars)
- Steven Jackson (Hawks)