NFL free agency grades for all 32 teams, plus 10 biggest surprises and Max Crosby breaks his silence
Here’s everything you need to know about the NFL for March 12
By
John Breech
Mar 12, 2026
at
12:57 pm ET
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12 min read
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Welcome to the Thursday edition of the Pick Six newsletter!
We are now in Day 4 of free agency. I haven’t slept in 72 hours, I don’t know what the outside world looks like anymore and I have an IV of Red Bull inserted directly into my veins, but it’s all been worth it, because free agency has been a wild ride.
We’re going to continue our free agency coverage today by handing out some grades, plus we’ll be taking a look at the biggest surprises that free agency has brought us so far. Also, I should point out that there will be deals going on all day, and if you want to stay on top of all those deals, then you’re definitely going to want to click here so you can follow all the action in our free agency live blog.
If you’re too busy to follow a live blog, we have a full team-by-team list of every signing that has been made during free agency and you can check that out here. Alright, let’s get to the good stuff.
As always, here’s your reminder to tell all your friends to sign up for the newsletter.
1. 10 biggest surprises of free agency: Crosby trade tops the list
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There haven’t been many huge splashes in free agency this year, but 2026 will likely be remembered for a long time around the NFL and that’s mostly because we saw one of the biggest offseason surprises ever go down this week when the Ravens decided to back out of the Maxx Crosby trade.
With that in mind, Jordan Dajani went through and came up with the 10 biggest surprises of the week and we’re going to check out his top five.
1. Maxx Crosby trade falls through.Without a doubt, the most surprising surprise of free agency is the Maxx Crosby trade falling through. And if you think this has nothing to do with free agency, consider that it alters the Ravens’ plans (They ended up signing Trey Hendrickson on Wednesday morning, just hours after backing out of the Crosby). Just days ago, the Ravens agreed to send two first-round picks to the Raiders in exchange for Crosby. However, the Ravens’ medical staff apparently did not like what they saw during Crosby’s in-person physical. “It doesn’t smell right,” one team executive told CBS Sports NFL insider Jonathan Jones about Baltimore nixing the trade.
2. Saints grab RB Travis Etienne. One of the biggest surprises was the New Orleans Saints recruiting running back Travis Etienne back to his home state of Louisiana with a four-year, $52 million deal. Not only did this tie Etienne with Josh Jacobs in being the No. 8 highest-paid running back at $12 million per year, but what in the world does it mean for five-time Pro Bowl running back Alvin Kamara?
3. Nahshon Wright’s contract.Usually, a player that makes the Pro Bowl and leads the NFL with eight takeaways in a contract year cashes in when free agency rolls around. It is not usually on a one-year, $5.5 million deal. … Spotrac’s market value tool saw Wright signing a three-year deal worth $50 million, but the Jets got a steal in Wright at one year, $5.5 million.
4. Mike Evans ditches Tampa Bay to head west.Mike Evans will not be a Buc for life, as the Buccaneers legend agreed to a three-year deal with the 49ers that carries a max value of $60.4 million. It was surprising that Evans elected to leave the franchise that selected him No. 7 overall back in 2014, but also that he agreed to a deal that pays him less than players like Michael Pittman Jr. and Jerry Jeudy.
5. Tyler Linderbaum’s record-setting contract. The Raiders made one of the biggest splashes of the offseason when they agreed to historic terms with former Ravens center Tyler Linderbaum. … Vegas gave Linderbaum a three-year, $81 million deal that pays $27 million per year. This massive, massive deal makes him the No. 5 highest-paid offensive lineman in the NFL and highest-paid center ever.
Jordan has five more surprises here, but I’m not going to tell you what they are so that you’ll be surprised when you read them.
2. Free agency grades: How every team has done this week
Now that we’ve made it through three days of free agency, it’s time to grade every team on how they did. Some teams were good, some teams were bad and some teams apparently forgot that free agency was starting this week.
Zach Pereles graded all 32 teams and we’re going to check out a few of those grades below:
Ravens: C-. Even before the Crosby trade fell through, I had a C+ for the Ravens. Now, this offseason is off to an abjectly disastrous start. The Ravens saw their roster holes exposed in 2025. More holes are popping up — and quickly — early in free agency, but there’s still time to get things back on track.
Cowboys: B-.The George Pickens franchise tag situation seems like one that could linger, and unfortunately, Jerry Jones doesn’t exactly have the best reputation when it comes to extending his stars in a timely fashion. Still, this was an elite offense that brings mostly everything back. The upgrades on defense aren’t earth-shattering, but they are legitimate.
Jaguars: D.The Jaguars closed last season so strong that it looked like running things back could have been an option. But now they’re down an All-Pro linebacker (Devin Lloyd) and a workhorse running back (Travis Etienne) who has had at least 1,399 yards from scrimmage three of the last four seasons. As far as free agency goes, there had been zero outside improvements of note before the addition of RB Chris Rodriguez on Wednesday.
Rams: A. There was one glaring area of need for the Rams, who were one possession from going to the Super Bowl last year: cornerback. And for the first time in years, they addressed it. Trent McDuffie plus Jaylen Watson plus Quentin Lake is a very good trio. Kam Curl brings a steady, reliable presence at safety. The Rams’ cornerbacks upgrade is one of the biggest positional improvements I can remember for a team that was already a bonafide top-tier Super Bowl contender.
We have grades for every team and you can check those out here. Besides the Rams, there were four other teams that received either an ‘A’ or ‘A-,’ and if you want to find out who those teams are, be sure to read Zach’s full story.
We also graded some of the biggest individual signings from Wednesday and we’ve got those here.
3. Maxx Crosby fallout continues: Four things to know, including a late-night statement from the Raiders’ star
As we mentioned at the top, the most shocking part of free agency so far is the fact that the Ravens backed out of the Maxx Crosby deal, and surprisingly, the biggest winner here might actually be the Raiders. Apparently, Crosby now wants to stay in Las Vegas.
Here’s the just in on the situation:
Maxx Crosby commits to Raiders. Going into the offseason, Crosby had quietly requested a trade out of Las Vegas, but after all the Ravens’ drama this week, it appears Crosby now wants to stay with the Raiders. Two days after Baltimore backed out of the trade, Crosby broke his silence on social media, “Everything Happens For A Reason. Believe Nothing You Hear & Half Of What You See. Im A Raider. I’m Back. Run That Sh*t.” The Raiders have to love the fact that Crosby now seems EXCITED about staying in Las Vegas. If Crosby stays, he’ll be playing on a much improved defense that now includes recent free agent additions like Nakobe Dean, Quay Walker and Kwity Paye. The Ravens might have actually done the Raiders a favor here.
Could the Raiders still trade Crosby? With the Ravens’ trade officially off, other teams have already called the Raiders about possibly making a deal, but right now, it’s unclear what’s going to happen. According to ESPN, the Raiders are “listening” to the offers, but unless someone blows them away, it sounds like Las Vegas will be more than happy to keep Crosby. Of course, it’s possible that Crosby’s statement has changed things, because according to Pro Football Talk, the Raiders are now telling teams that their star pass rusher definitely won’t be traded.
Ravens GM addresses the Maxx Crosby deal. Ravens GM Eric DeCosta met with the media on Wednesday, and of course, he was asked about the Crosby deal. There’s been a lot of speculation that the Ravens backed out of the deal due to getting cold feet and DeCosta didn’t exactly clear things up. “As part of the normal trade process, there were a lot of different parts with the trade process, we’ve done a lot of trades. One of the key things is you bring a player in and try to get as much information as you can. We were not able to complete the process of trading for the player, based on our assessment of the situation,” DeCosta stated. You can read his full comments here.
Ravens might have set an ugly precedent. With the Ravens backing out of the trade at the 11th hour, the NFL better hope that this doesn’t start a trend. If more teams start backing out of deals, that could potentially destroy the entire offseason trade process. The Ravens essentially agreed to buy a house that needed a new roof and then got mad because it needed a new roof. I broke down the full fallout from this trade and you can check it out here.
The irony of all this is that the Ravens nixed the Crosby deal over a bad medical report and then they went out and signed someone who missed 10 games due to injury last season. Not only was Trey Hendrickson banged up for most of 2025, but he also just underwent core muscle surgery in December.
4. Top 10 free agents left on the market: Six offensive players and four defensive players top the list
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As we head into Day 4 of free agency, we’ve already seen 35 of the top 40 players on our top 100 list get signed. If you’re sad because your team seems to have forgotten that free agency is happening and hasn’t signed anyone yet, I have some good news for you: There are plenty of good players still available.
With that in mind, let’s check out the 10 best players who are still available:
1. QB Kyler Murray 2. S Jaquan Brisker 3. OT Rasheed Walker 4. WR Jauan Jennings 5. DE Joey Bosa 6. LB Bobby Wagner 7. WR Stefon Diggs 8. OL Joel Bitonio 9. WR Deebo Samuel 10. EDGE Calais Campbell
Note: We did not include tagged players on this list even though they are free to speak with other teams.
Day 4 of free agency will be rolling along today, and since it won’t be easy to keep track of every signing, here’s another reminder that we’ve put together a free agent tracker here so that you can stay up to date on what has happened so far. We also have a live blog that will cover signings AND trades as they happen, and you can check that out by clicking here.
5. NFL exploring possible game on Thanksgiving Eve
The NFL has already taken over Thanksgiving, and now the league is exploring the possibility of taking over the day before Thanksgiving.
CBS Sports NFL insider Jonathan Jones reports the NFL is considering playing a game on Thanksgiving Eve.
Adding a Wednesday game would almost be unprecedented. There have only been four Wednesday games in the NFL over the past 75 years.
In 2012, the NFL’s annual Thursday night opener in Week 1, which featured the Giants and Cowboys, was moved to Wednesday to avoid a conflict with then-President Barack Obama’s speech at the Democratic National Convention.
In 2020, a Steelers-Ravens game got postponed multiple times due to COVID and ended up playing on a Wednesday.
In 2024, the NFL scheduled a Christmas doubleheader that was played on a Wednesday. That featured the Ravens facing the Texans and the Chiefs playing the Steelers.
If the game happens, that means the NFL would have at least one game on the schedule for seven out of nine days starting on the Sunday before Thanksgiving. The league is also mulling over the possibility of adding a second Black Friday game, so Thanksgiving week could be a busy one in the NFL next year.
If you want to read more about the possible schedule changes, we’ve got a full story here.
6. Extra points: Vikings are the favorite to land Kyler Murray
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It’s been a busy past few days in the NFL, and since it’s nearly impossible to keep track of everything, I put together a quick roundup for you.
Kyler Murray to visit with Vikings. The former No. 1 overall pick is expected to visit with the Vikings today, and as of right now, Minnesota is the favorite to land Murray, according to NFL Media. However, Murray is expected to talk with three to five teams before making a decision about where he wants to play this ear, so it’s certainly still possible that he doesn’t end up in Minnesota.
Cowboys make two trades. The Cowboy had a busy day on Wednesday. First they shipped off defensive tackle Osa Odighizuwa to the 49ers in exchange for a 2026 third-round pick (92nd overall) and we graded the deal here. They followed that up by trading defensive tackle Solomon Thomas to Tennessee in a deal that saw the two teams swap seventh-round picks (The Cowboys got the 218th overall pick while the Titans got Thomas and the 225th overall pick). We also graded that trade and you can see how both teams did here.
Bills sign Bradly Chubb. The Bills were in need of some pass-rushing help and they got it on Wednesday by signing Bradley Chubb to a two-year, $43 million contract. Chubb, who was the fifth overall pick in the 2018 NFL Draft, had 8.5 sacks for the Dolphins last season, but Miami ended up releasing him in a cost-cutting move.
Daniel Jones finally gets new deal. Indiana Jones is back. The Colts made a huge commitment to Jones on Wednesday by signing him to a two-year, $88 million deal that could be worth up to $100 million. The deal will pay Jones a total of $50 million in Year 1, which is a $12.2 million raise over what he would have made from the transition tag. It sounds like the Colts are pretty confident that Jones, who tore his Achilles in December, will be fully ready to go in Week 1, but that remains to be seen.
