Posts by @Mike Fanelli

The offseason for the Raiders was very different from every other franchise, thanks to the move from Oakland to Las Vegas. The 2020 NFL draft was supposed to be held in Las Vegas but COVID-19 had other plans. Thankfully, the draft will still happen on time and the Raiders still have seven picks, including two in the first round and five within the first 100 selections.

Entering the offseason, the Minnesota Vikings faced several critical decisions. With basically no cap space, the Vikings had to let go of several veterans. Xavier Rhodes and Linval Joseph were released while Everson Griffen and Trae Waynes were just a few of the free agents the team couldn’t afford to re-sign. However, the Vikings were able to sign Kirk Cousins to an extension that opened up the cap space needed to put the franchise tag on Anthony Harris.

Needless to say, this is an offseason New England Patriot fans will never forget. After 20 years and six Super Bowl victories, Tom Brady signed with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. With Brady now in Tampa Bay, Jarrett Stidham and recently sign Brian Hoyer will reportedly battle for the starting quarterback job this summer. While Brady was the biggest loss this offseason for the Patriots, they lost several key defensive playmakers like Kyle Van Noy, Jamie Collins, and Danny Shelton.

Entering free agency everything for the Dallas Cowboys centered around Dak Prescott. To no one’s surprised, the Cowboys placed the franchise tag on Dak as they try to work out a long term deal. However, with the new Collective Bargaining Agreement put in place, the Cowboys were no longer able to also transition tag Amari Cooper. Luckily for the Cowboys, despite a strong push from the Washington Redskins, Cooper never wanted to leave Dallas and re-signed on a five-year deal.

After years of being overly aggressive in free agency, the Washington Redskins have learned to “shop smart”. Instead of signing big name guys to awful contracts, they have learned to focus on smaller and smarter deals. They started the offseason by placing the franchise tag on star right guard Brandon Scherff. Starting left guard Ereck Flowers signed a massive deal with the Miami Dolphins. The Redskins were wise not to match and instead sign former Atlanta Falcons’ guard Wes Schweitzer to a deal for half the cost. They made a run at Amari Cooper but he ultimately decided to re-sign with the Dallas Cowboys.

Needless to say, the highlight of the Cincinnati Bengals’ 2019 season was landing the top pick in the 2020 NFL draft. The team finished the season 2-14, with wins over the New York Jets and the Cleveland Browns. The Bengals didn’t win a game till week 13, which was the first week of December. Obviously, this isn’t how head coach Zac Taylor wanted his first season in Cincinnati to go but the team can now properly start to rebuild around their top overall pick.

Entering the 2019 season, the Dallas Cowboys had Super Bowl expectations. After starting the season 3-0, averaging 32.3 points per game, Dak Prescott was looking like the second coming of Patrick Mahomes and well deserving of being the highest-paid quarterback in the league. However, the Cowboys struggled to be consistent on both sides of the ball the rest of the season and went 5-8 over their last 13 games, finishing 8-8 on the year. Unable to clinch the NFC East title in week 16, the Cowboys ended up missing the playoffs.