Free agency completely changes the landscape of professional sports. When a player’s contract is up—he can go to any team and drastically alter the balance of power in the league.
The NFL is no different.
All it takes is one crazy deal and all of a sudden, the landscape of the NFL looks entirely new. And this isn’t just when a team signs a great player ala Tampa Bay bringing Tom Brady into the fold… We have also seen quite a few franchises capsize their Super Bowl hopes before the season even starts!
Let’s take a look back through the years at 10 of the craziest NFL free-agent deals we have ever seen.
10. Jacksonville Jaguars: Nick Foles (2019)
At the time that the Jacksonville Jaguars inked Nick Foles to a 4-year, $88 million contract—there seemed to be a pervasive skepticism amongst NFL fans about the Jags’ hope that Foles could replicate his Super Bowl MVP performance across an entire season.
Considering Foles spent the better part of his career—with the exception of his stunning 2013 campaign and the equally stunning Super Bowl run—as a backup, fringe starter type of guy—the deal just seemed like a rather risky gamble.
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Especially considering the first time that Foles cashed in—on that aforementioned 2013 campaign, he was unable to duplicate his success the following year.
In this case, we never really got a chance to see what he could’ve done in Jacksonville… Foles suffered a broken clavicle in the first game of the season and, upon return, struggled to regain form.
When all was said and done, his tenure with the Jaguars was only one season, then he was traded to the Bears, leaving the Jaguars with significant dead money against their cap and unfulfilled expectations.
9. Philadelphia Eagles: DeMarco Murray (2015)
2014 was a heck of a year for DeMarco Murray. The Dallas Cowboys built their offense around the burly running back and, man, did he eat. Murray led the league in yards with 1845 and touchdowns, with 13, en route to a first-team All-Pro selection and AP Offensive Player of the Year honors.
Following a record-breaking season with Dallas, the Cowboys division rival Philadelphia Eagles decided it was time to make a move and signed Murray to a 5-year, $42 million deal.
Unfortunately for the Philly faithful, past performance was NOT indicative of future success. The DeMarco Murray experience went south FAST in the City of Brotherly Love.
Murray never really fit into the offensive scheme that the Eagles were running at the time and had a hard time getting anything going. Furthermore, it turned out that the Cowboys had really run him into the ground the year prior—as Murray carried the ball a league-leading and astronomical 392 times.
The former All-Pro saw his yards per attempt drop from 4.7 in 2014 to 3.6 with the Eagles in 2015 and he ended up losing his starting job midway through the season. Murray finished with just 702 yards and six touchdowns during his lone season in Philadelphia—marking one of the craziest free-agent deals gone wrong in recent memory.
8. Seattle Seahawks: Matt Flynn (2012)
To say that the sample size was small for Matt Flynn prior to the Seahawks inking him to a deal that was sizable for the time and a player of his status, would be an understatement. In fact, it was really just one record-setting game with the Packers that allowed the perennial backup quarterback to cash in.
In the final game of the 2012 NFL season, Flynn was slotted in for Aaron Rodgers, as the then 14 and one Packers were resting key starters in a meaningless game against the Detroit Lions.
And… well… Flynn seized the moment chucking the ball all game to the tune of 480 passing yards and six touchdowns, including a last-minute game-winner to Jermichael Finley to seal the victory.
The media ran with the story and the Seahawks bought it hook line and sinker. Flynn signed a nice-sized deal with the Seahawks but was quickly overtaken by a third-round draft pick. Russell Wilson, as the starter during training camp.
7. Detroit Lions: Scott Mitchell (1994)
Prior to Jared Goff and Matt Stafford, the Detroit Lions’ attempts at finding a franchise quarterback were a comedy of errors.
A great example of this was the decision to sign Scott Mitchell to a multi-year deal after he had the TINIEST bit of success with the Miami Dolphins. He started just seven games for Miami in 1993, where he completed 57.1 percent of his passes for 1773 yards and 12 touchdowns to eight INTs.
Decent, but not exactly anything that would or should scream “Build your franchise around this guy!”
Though he did have one good season with the Lions in 1995, the rest of his career in Detroit went just about as expected, as Mitchell was plagued by inconsistency and was overall underwhelming.
6. New York Jets: Neil O’Donnell (1996)
The New York Jets at least had their sights set on a guy who was able to lead the Steelers to the Super Bowl in Neil O’Donnell—rather than a part-time starter like Scott Mitchell…
Either way though, the end result ended up being alarmingly similar. After O’Donnel’s aforementioned Super Bowl appearance with Pittsburgh, he signed a big… at the time… five-year $25 million dollar contract and it went just about as bad as it could’ve.
Admittedly, he did battle some injuries during his first season and made just six starts, but when he was out there—it wasn’t pretty. O’Donnell and the Jets ended up losing all six of his starts, and the quarterback was given the boot from the Jets after playing just two years in New York.
5. Philadelphia Eagles: Nnamdi Asomugha (2011)
As a collective, the 2011 Philadelphia Eagles were one of the most disappointing teams that the NFL has ever seen. They were loaded with big names all over the roster and underperformed magnificently.
Of all of the perpetrators, Nnamdi Asomugha might be the worst. When the Eagles signed him to a five-year $60 million dollar deal, he was considered to be one of the best cornerbacks in the league. He had a stunning level of athleticism to match his frame and could shut down opposing wideouts with the best of them.
Unfortunately for the Eagles, Asomugha’s performance dramatically declined almost immediately after he signed that five-year contract with them. Wonder if there was any correlation there?!
After failing to live up to that lockdown corner reputation that he had built up with the Raiders prior to his time in Philly, Asomugha quickly fell out of favor with Eagles fans, then management—and he was released after just two seasons, marking one of the worst free-agent acquisitions we have ever seen.
4. Houston Texans: Brock Osweiler (2016)
The Brock Osweiler odyssey in Houston was a puzzling one. There were some expectations for him after he looked decent during his spot starts for an aging Peyton Manning in Denver the year prior, but let’s face it, that Broncos team was loaded with talent on both sides of the ball.
Granted… He went five and two during those seven starts, completing over 61 percent of his throws and generally protecting the football… but again that was a Super Bowl-ready squad.
It is hard to believe that anyone in the Houston front office seriously thought that it would be a good idea to sign the lanky quarterback to a 4-year, $72 million contract—or that he would be able to improve upon or at least replicate the already modest performance he had in Denver
But alas, they did!
Osweiler struggled massively—completing just 59% of his passes for 2957 yards and 15 touchdowns to 16 interceptions. The tape, truthfully, was worse than the counting numbers too. He looked completely out of sorts and unable to orchestrate a professional offense.
Shortly after the season’s conclusion, Houston decided that they had seen enough and shipped him out of town at a massive loss, eating up dead cap money and having to tack a second-round draft pick on to him to get anyone to absorb his contract.
Talk about a crazy bad free agent signing! Not only did it waste an entire season for Houston—but also—a second-rounder!
3. Dallas Cowboys: Mike Vanderjagt (2006)
There was a time—long before the Justin Tucker era—when Mike Vanderjagt was the cream of the crop in the NFL when it came to kickers.
He broke into the NFL at 28 with the Indianapolis Colts and kicked for them for eight good years. In fact, at the time that Dallas inked Vanderjagt to this dubious contract, he was statistically the most accurate kicker that the game had ever seen.
Now, there were some inherent advantages he had, as he played in a dome in Indy—and was part of that high-powered Peyton Manning-led Colts offense—meaning that there wasn’t a ton of high pressure, or long-distance kicks that he really had to make…
But c’mon, we are talking about the most accurate kicker in NFL history at the time, the Cowboys thought that adding Vanderjagt was a can’t lose proposition.
Though… it is worth noting that there were some red flags from his time in Indy… After a playoff loss in 2003, Vanderjagt ripped the Colts head coach Tony Dungy and Manning, which ultimately resulted in Manning, calling him an “idiot” kicker who got “liquored up and ran his mouth.”
Either way, his time in Dallas—and that decision to give Vanderjagt, two and a half-million signing bonus and another 800 grand in salary as a free agent were ultimately disastrous.
Vanderjagt was cut mid-season due to poor performance, as he hit just a hair over 70 percent of his kick, and never played another snap in the NFL.
2. Oakland Raiders: Larry Brown (1996)
Larry Brown is a name that will go down both in the record books—and in infamy for different organizations, as he embarked on a tumultuous journey from being named Super Bowl MVP with the Dallas Cowboys, to a lucrative deal and ultimately massively disappointing deal with the Raiders.
Brown was beloved in Dallas for securing two interceptions off of Steelers QB, Neil O’Donnell helping the Cowboys to a win in Super Bowl XXX, but he could never really recreate that magic with the Raiders.
In fact, it didn’t take long until opposing teams were regularly targeting the defensive back that was supposed to be their shutdown corner. Brown’s challenges on the field were compounded by injuries and off-the-field issues, further limiting his impact and availability for the Raiders.
Then, after two disappointing seasons, the Raiders had had enough and cut Brown, despite the fact that he had played just 12 games for them on a five-year $12.5 million dollar deal.
Tough scene across the board.
You have to think Larry Brown might wish that he never left the comforts of Dallas for a payday and the path unknown! He could’ve just gone down as a legend.
1. Washington Redskins: Albert Haynesworth (2009)
There may never be a free agent signing worse than Albert Hanyesworth to the then-Washington Redskins.
Despite his character concerns, folks in Washington were excited about the prospects of bringing him into town, as Haynesworth was coming off back-to-back Pro Bowl and All-Pro seasons with the Tennessee Titans, where he recorded a total of 14.5 sacks across the 2007 and 2008 seasons, which is insane for an interior lineman.
Unfortunately for the Washington Faithful, the excitement came to a screeching halt shortly after he signed that 7-year, $100 million contract. Haynesworth’s production plummeted, and his effort and commitment were continuously questioned. Haynesworth appeared in just 20 games over two seasons with the Redskins, recording a mere 6.5 sacks—a far cry from his performance with the Titans.
What made matters worse was Haynesworth was eager to blame everyone but himself and regularly clashed with Head Coach Mike Shanahan and defensive coordinator, Jim Haslett… Both behind closed doors and in the media.
It was always something with Haynesworth. He was benched, suspended, all of it—then eventually sent out of town at a massive loss. His signing not only tanked the team’s performance but put them in a terrible position financially and marked one of the worst free-agent deals we have ever seen.
