Today is the day that the NFL’s legal tampering period will begin and it will officially kickoff at 12PM EST. Contracts can’t be signed, but teams can agree to terms with players. While it’s not the official start to free agency, it is the start to see where players are most likely going to be in 2026.
The Buffalo Bills may not make a huge splash in free agency, but they’ve already made their splash via trade when they acquired wide receiver D.J. Moore from the Chicago Bears. The Bills are in a spot where they have to fill out the roster at various positions. Just like any other team, Buffalo has needs to address but they don’t need to worry about quarterback, unlike one of their division rivals.
The New York Jets are once again in a rebuild, but that’s nothing new. It will be Year 2 for them with GM Darren Mougey and HC Aaron Glenn. Last season was a disaster for them and a huge reason why was because of their quarterback situation. They brought in Justin Fields on a two-year, $40 million deal that had non-Jets fans laughing so hard.
Clearly, that didn't work out whatsoever and now the Jets are looking for another quarterback. Even with having the No. 2 overall pick in next month's draft, there is no quarterback worth taking with the 2nd overall pick (assuming that the Raiders draft Fernando Mendoza). With that, they may have to look at free agency to so what options are available.
Final free agency prediction has Bills laughing at Jets (once again)
Gary Davenport from Bleacher Report put together a list of final free agency predictions ahead of today’s legal tampering period and one prediction was the Jets bringing in QB Malik Willis from the Green Bay Packers on a two-year, $58.5 million deal.
"The Jets have two options. Sign one of those stopgaps, essentially punt on the 2026 season and hope that next year's draft class under center is as strong as some believe, or gamble that the improvement Willis showed in Green Bay is less a one-off and more a sign of things to come." said Davenport.
There were only two games last season where Willis got serious playing time. Now, I’ll give credit where it’s due. Willis did look impressive against the Bears and Ravens, where he had a combined 409 passing yards (along with 104 rushing yards) and 4 total touchdowns. He showed some promise and because of those games, he could very well get a solid contract.
However, because of the potential that Willis showed and with it being such a small sample size, the Jets would be taking a huge risk once again at the most important position in the sport. They already did that once with Fields and it hurt them.
If they were to repeat it just one year later with a different quarterback that hasn’t been a full-time starter, it would be absolute comedy for other teams including the Bills.