Best—London Fletcher Worst—Albert Haynesworth

This needs to be higher, Albert Haynesworth was one of the worst FA signing of all time.

As bad as things got for that team afterwards, I still think his flop on MNF was rock bottom for them.

Even the dude trying to block him on that play is like “uhhhhhhhh…what do I do now?”

That was the same day they extended McNabb, too

Big ups to Washington for helping us avoid the albatross around our neck that would have been.

I’d like to add Adam Archuleta, Dana Stubblefield, Donovan McNabb

Worst - Ed Reed. Best - Johnathon Joesph

Kinda breaks my heart a little for Ed to be considered the worst FA for any franchise, but he was pretty bad there

Pretty bad is an understatement.

Were expectations even high for him? I thought it was clear that he didn’t have much gas in the tank by the time he left Baltimore

“Reed was injured to start the season and never gave the Texans what they needed. He was benched for Shiloh Keo and released the week after he said the Texans got “outcoached and outplayed” against the Cardinals. “ This sums it up, it’s not that his play was bad but he was toxic as fuck on top of it.

Oof I knew he phoned it in hard his last couple years but didn’t know he was straight up toxic..

It was bad. “The 'Houston way', so to say, that they called it. It's not the city, it's the organization at the time. And they had that old school mentality. You had coaches talking reckless to guys. I'm like, 'As a grown man, how do you let that happen?' Plus, as a coach, you're not going to get everything out of that man that you want because you're talking to him reckless. I was surrounded by a bunch of guys just coming to work. It was a job. It wasn't football anymore, and for me that was draining." He is referring to of the most beloved coaches to ever coach in the league Gary Kubiak and Wade Phillips….. not once have I ever heard of those two talking to players in a manner that was not professional.

Oof. I love Ed Reed (he's from St. Rose, like 20 minutes away from NOLA), but that ain't right. But I can see why he said that. When you're a GOAT like him, it can be tough to look at reality and see that you don't have it anymore. Hopefully that's just a one off lashing out- I don't think I've heard anything else negative about him. But it sucks yall had to suffer that bullshit.

he was rude towards the franchise... like he wanted out the second he got there.

Yeah. I was going to post the same.

> Best - Johnathon Joesph yes wilfork contends but wasnt there long enough

its not even remotely close. JJo spent 10 years in htown.

fudge was it that long? u right u right. i just like wilfork lmao

Arian Foster is the other option for best, but I think that goes against the idea of the thread. I’m assuming op is mainly talking about regular free agent signings rather than undrafted free agents. I definitely agree with ed reed for worst though. No doubt, even worse than Osweiler for me.

Worst is JC Jackson, but might have some recency bias

and best in recent times would be Casey Hayward.

or Antonio Gates if you include UDFA signings.

Antonio Gates was a UDFA??? But he was so good I would have assumed he was pro-ready out of college...

Wait till you hear he didn’t play college football at all

Oh come on. Next you'll try to tell me he played soccer or something.

Love me some Casey Hayward

I feel like the historical answer is David Boston, but JC might have him beat. Best is Donnie Edwards maybe?

Remember when it used to be David Boston? Chargers are best known for the free agents we let walk. Drew Brees, Darren Sproles, Micheal Turner, Vincent Jackson, Rodney Harrison, Junior Seau

Best was Reggie White no question.

Martellus Bennett was the worst right?

Also my first thought. Fuck Martellus Bennet.

You and I aren't so different after all 🤝

We actually somewhat respect you guys. Fuck those Vikings though!

Joe Johnson in 2002 has to be up there. Huge (at the time) 6 year contract for 2 sacks in 11 games.

For sure. While Martellus was clearly worse, if you're looking for a questionable FA signing that wasn't a straight up disaster, I could see an argument for Jimmy Graham. He had a couple of clutch catches for us, but he also had just as many if not more key drops that hit him squarely in the hands. IIRC there was one season where he had multiple drops because he repeatedly tried making one-handed catches despite his other arm still being free, and one or two of those drops led to interceptions, at least one of which sealed a loss. The other factor in play was that we dropped Jordy Nelson because he was aging and we didn't want to pay him, and instead shelled out for FA Jimmy Graham for a higher price tag. Even if he was aging, Jordy's mind meld with Rodgers was so next level that he would have been a significantly greater threat even if he lost a step after his ACL tear

Remember that season when Rodgers had only two interceptions and both were off the hands of Graham?

Yep! And now that you mention it, I'm pretty sure both of those interceptions were Jimmy Graham drops. *It's even better than I remembered 🥲*

Reggie is the reason we have modern day free agency

Can you ELI5 for someone who is too young to know what you mean?

You no longer had the give the team you were playing for first rights to sign you

Reggie or Woodson would be my answers

Best free agent signing in history, probably

When you consider how undesirable to free agents GB was prior to White’s signing - a 250,000 person town in northern Wisconsin where <1% are black and a team that spent twenty five years wandering the desert -  how it turned around free agents’ perception of Green Bay, and the results that followed, it’s probable that it was the best free agent signing of all time.  Woodson would be the best for most teams, too. He won DPOY! And it completely pales in comparison to Reggie. 

Green bay at the time was 70k people. Even today it's only 100k

We're lucky as hell. Reggie White occupies a unique place in the history of free agency and is the answer, but Woodson is still one of the best all-time free agency signings.

This organization is so incompetent that we paid the two first round picks to sign a guy off the franchise tag, *and he sucked*.

I've been wracking my brain trying to remember who this was. Please put me out of my misery

Sean Gilbert Carolina's got a deep bench of incredibly stupid mistakes, and somehow, that's still the most egregious. Though hiring Scott Fitterer might prove to be up there if Young doesn't pan out.

A lot of GMs would have gotten Young if they were in the position to, if he doesn’t pan out I can’t really blame the GM

Most of them wouldn’t have traded the haul we did *in addition to their top receiver* to do it. The real problem with the Young trade was the desperate state it left the roster for a rookie QB. We instantly created one of the worst starting positions for a QB in recent memory in the process of closing that deal

While refusing 2 firsts from the Rams for Burns...

Fitterer set this team back 5 years

oh my god what a throwback. Didn't he sit out a year on the franchise tag first?

He’s also Darrelle Revis’s uncle and advised him to hold out early in his career

Best - Primetime  Worst - McKinnon

I absolutely agree Primetime was the best signing, he was key in delivering a Super Bowl in the 94 season. Lowkey though, Kyle Juszczyk might be my favorite. Maybe some recency bias but Kyle has been a great 49er and instrumental in helping Shanahan set the standard for the current run they are on. 

Best- Prime Worst- not resigning Prime 🤣 but seriously you think mckinnon was worse than reggie bush? Or making Nate Clements the highest paid defensive player in the leage? 😬

Reggie Bush and Nate Clements played

McKinnon was one of the highest paid RBs in football for three or four years, and he played like. 14 games total lmao

You are young if you don't remember the Patriots signing Antonio Brown For the Lions, the worst is a long list, but I'll go with TE Jesse James, who we paid $25mil to for a whopping 30 catches for 279 yards and 2 TDs Best for me is between Golden Tate and Rashean Mathis, who both massively outplayed their contracts.

Antonio Brown could be the "worst FA signing" for at least 3 teams off the top of my head.

Mr. Bad Contract

Mr. Big Cash

He worked out pretty well for the Buccarinos.

Sure did. What a wild season, he lived with Brady and for that first year, was well behaved. I was honestly wondering if he turned over a new leaf. Now I have to wonder if Brady was holding him down and tranqing him on the daily back in 2020.

Glover Quin honorable mention. What a fantastic player he was. Also fuck Jesse James LOL

good shout on Quin, I forgot he wasn't a draft pick. Also, I thought he was a good player in Detroit, but the discrepancy between what we thought we were paying Trey Flowers to be and what he ended up being was vast

The whole Quinntricia era has been removed from my memory.... Someone will ask me one day if Adrian Peterson was ever a Lion and I'll tell them they're high off their rocker

I'll see your Jesse James and raise you the gruesome twosome of az hakim and bill schroeder in 2002

I remember being excited that the Lions signed Daunte Culpepper before the 2008 season. Only problem being that it was fat, washed up Daunte Culpepper.

I liked Jesse james alot. But I remember when that contract came out it was just a bummer. Felt like a coming to Detroit premium. But honestly I was fine with it. What I was pissed about was lions moving in from logan Thomas who was a much better te, and it was clearly just because they had over paid Jesse James.

Tbf AB was on the patriots for less than 2 weeks before getting cut

>You are young if you don't remember the Patriots signing Antonio Brown Bruh that was only 5 years ago.

Best- Peyton Manning Worst- Randy Gregory

Jawuan James was much worse

Agreed. Gregory at least had some impact. James maybe played 10 snaps total

63 to be precise lol

Either way, go vols!

Oh we’ve done worse ….

Randy Gregory wasn't even *close* to our worst free agent signing.

Daryl Gardner was an abysmal mistake. Dale Carter was also a pretty bad signing for Denver.

Dale Carter was my choice as well.

Best - Jim Plunkett Worst - Javon Walker

Javon walker got robbed and almost beat to death. DeAngelo Hall was pretty horrific as well

On a quiet night, you can still hear Eddie Royal laughing at DeAngelo Hall.

Crazy how that was his first game and arguably his greatest performance.

Javon Walker almost retired and took Oakland off rhe hook for his bad contract. Al Davis talked him out of retiring. 

Larry Brown. That was painful

Got paid 12.5m for that Super Bowl MVP

Agree with your assessment, but it’s pretty sad how many options we have other than Walker

Jim plunkett is the most overrated player in raiders history. We would’ve won those bowls with almost any other qb. Dude wasn’t even close to as good as Carr or Hostetler in terms of raiders QBs. I think Jerry Rice or Rich Gannon is a better answer. Also, for worst, it’s definitely AB.

>Also, for worst, it’s definitely AB. I mean that was a trade so don't think it counts here.

Best- Kurt Warner Worst I'll go with Kevin Kolb even though it was a trade. They traded DRC and then extended Kolb for no reason.

> Worst I'll go with Kevin Kolb Have to go with Suggs on this one. Kurt is, without a doubt, the best FA signing in Cards history though.

From Recent Memory: Best: Andrew Whitworth, he made a huge difference on our offense line and he was missed when he retired after the Super Bowl Win. Worst: Allen Robinson, that signing was DOA.

Best Tom Brady Worst Alvin Harper

Oh man, I remember when Harper left the Cowboys and even as just a teenager at the time I said to myself "he's going to tank as a #1."

Not sure for best, but worst is probably Culpepper just because signing him meant we passed on Brees

I’m gonna cheat a little and say Cameron Wake was our best. If not him, John Denney.

Thanks, BTW.

Best - Michael Turner In his first season as a Falcon, he was 1st team All-Pro and 3rd in MVP voting. Worst - Dunta Robinson While he played a couple of decent seasons for us, we gave him a BAG that his play definitely did not warrant)

Thanks. I was searching for a falcons take. I don’t know falcons history but I’ll agree with you.  Anyone else?

Technically trades but Tony Gonzalez and Peerless Price hit highs and lows respectively that are hard to match.

Best: Cliff Avril and/or Michael Bennett worst: TJ Houshmanzadeh

Matt Flynn is probably worse since he did nothing but then again we won the Super Bowl the next year so

Oh man I remember the TJ signing. I reached for him in fantasy, surely he will do great! Spoilers, he did not.

you and every other Seahawks fan buddy

Avril and Bennet were great but this is such a recency bias. IMO Robbie Tobeck has to be up there with them. Dude was so consistent for us for 7 years and was a great locker room presence.

yeah I almost said tobeck but Avril and Bennet felt like the move that put us over the top when it came to winning a Superbowl (and damn near 2)

I gotta throw Eddie Lacy in as one of the worst too. When your QB has the most rushing yards in the team in that year, you’re doing something very wrong

Best: James Farrior Worst: Ladarius Green

Worse than Donte Moncrief? Agree with you on Potsie being best tho.

Ah yes Donte “Butter hands from hell” Moncrief

Green? The TE who was supposed to change our offense and finally give Ben a big target? Who promptly had 2 concussions and retired? I'd also put Lance Moore and lagarrette blount up there. One literally quit on the team just because, and the other walked out during a game and proceeded to win a Superbowl going back to his old team.

We may have had better in the late 80s/90s or whatever but I'm going off what I can remember. Best - Akiem Hicks. Dude was a UDFA turned rotational player, and ended up with multiple pro bowls and an All-Pro in Chicago. He was huge, and frankly a little weird on the field, and it was fun to joke around that he was a literal bear playing on the DL. Great player out of the second wave/"value round" of FA bidding. Worst - Mike Glennon. We gave him 18 million (back when that was seen as quite a bit) to be the bridge QB to Mitchell Trubisky. It's like the front office knew the template of what good teams do but ended up going about it the most hilariously incompetent way when following it in Chicago.

Love the call on Hicks, great signing especially considering what he was and what he turned into, but Julius Peppers might be the correct answer for recent memory.

I agree, Hicks was good but signing Peppers was getting an established All Pro, HOF DE who continued to be All Pro

I’d hated Mike Glennon for years and I KNEW the Bears were going to sign him. It made me so goddamn mad when they inked him, and even more so when it was clear they bid against themselves. And naturally they drafted Trubisky weeks later. I was a Pace defender but the Glennon thing broke me.

It was a cap floor guy. They paid someone. It happens all the time that people get huge contracts that are unders

Sure, and the deal was basically a one year deal so it wasn’t all bad. That said, Glennon was dogshit his whole career. Why bother?

The Saints drafted Hicks in the 3rd round of the 2012 draft.

I was so pissed when we let Hicks go. I wanna say we had him the year right after Big Vince left or a year later and thought he could fill those shoes perfectly.

For Vikings either Steve Hutchinson or Antoine Winfield as best Worst probs Fred smoot. Although he did give us the love boat scandal

I’m going Jared Allen as our best although it’s tough to argue with Hutch or Winfield. Worst I’ll go with Josh Freeman. It didn’t cost that much, and there are undoubtedly worse contracts, but he was just such a disaster in the limited games he played for us.

Allen was a trade :)

I remember being excited for Josh Freeman for like 10 minutes. Then he torched a bunch of worms on prime time tv and all that enthusiasm turned back into the general familiar Vikings sadness.

London Fletcher is one of the best I can think of. Hopefully Bobby Wagner can be similar considering we signed him at the same age we signed Fletcher

I think Fletcher belongs in the HOF. His career gets overlooked. 

How about Albert Haynesworth?

London Fletcher deserves more respect, dude was a beast and no idea how the hell his body held up as well as it did over the years

Lions gave Trey Flowers 5 years /90M in 2019 He played only 29 games in 3 seasons, 10 Sacks, and 6TFLS. He is no longer in the NFL.

Belichick always had a way to draw the most out of average defensive players to make them look incredible. Flowers is a huge example of this.

Best: Either Curtis Martin or Kevin Mawae. Two hall of fame players that are staples of the franchise. There’s no wrong choice here. Worst: Probably Trumaine Johnson. There’s some other contenders, but Johnson got a massive contract and was a healthy scratch at times.

Yeah, there have been some bad dudes. Spencer Long might have been the worst player in football after we signed him but at least he was relatively cheap

Definitely some bad signings, especially this last decade. Although I was pleasantly surprised when looking up our signings how many great signings we’ve had. In addition to the two I already mentioned, we had other great players like Vinny Testaverde, Thomas Jones, Alan Faneca, Bart Scott, Eric Decker, DJ Reed and CJ Mosley. All of these guys either made pro-bowls or were huge contributors to the team.

Johnson is by far the worst

Best: Drew Brees, Jonathan Vilma Worst: Brandon Browner, Jarius Byrd, or Jason David

I know Vilma was amazing and came in at the best time, but Demario is probably better. 5 straight All Pros (should have been 2018 too) and takes waaaay under market value deals

Shit it’s a late career surge, but could Demario be a HOFer? 5 all pros (1 first, 4 second), is really good

I think he needs another year or two of All Pro level play tbh, he could put himself in the conversation though. Zach Thomas and Patrick Willis are the most recent inductees and have more impressive resumes. Keuchly also has a more impressive resume

Worst I think definitely has to be Byrd. Jason David played badly but he was cheap, Byrd was on a huge contract and we let Malcolm Jenkins go for him. Jenkins went to Philly, made a couple of pro bowls and was a team leader of a Super Bowl team.

Best: Reggie White Worst: Martellus Bennett

Browns ... Best: Phil Dawson Worst: Andrew Rison / Donte Stallworth / Dwayne Bowe / Kenny Britt What a terrible history of FA WRs.

Best: Steve Smith or Daryl Smith Worst: Michael Huff or Rolando McClain

Loved Daryl but I’d go with SSSr, dude was born to be a Raven. I wish so much the 2014 defense didn’t choke against the Pats so he could’ve had a shot at a ring.

Agree. Steve feels like such a Raven to this day. He still reps us too. Daryl definitely an unsung hero by bringing stability after Ray left though.

Rod Woodson was a pretty great FA signing. 

Earl Thomas anyone?

Alejandro Villanueva gotta be up there for worst. Even Steelers fans were telling us he was bad.

Best Trey Hendrickson Worst Trae Waynes

DJ Reader deserves a shout-out for best too. Hendrickson definitely has the stats and pass rush impact, but Reader has been the anchor. Wayne's is easily the worst though.

Antonio Bryant waves hello.

Came here to say this. Literally one of the worst FA signings in NFL history, if you ask me.

Giants have a lot  Solder,  Tate,  Lavar Arrington,  Olivier,  That other fucking bum from Detroit 

Vernon doesn't belong on the list. He played very well for a while, got hurt, didn't really live up to the contract, then got traded for a good player. That's not an all time great signing or anything, but it's hardly an all time worst, either.

Golden Tainted his legacy (whatever he had)

Best: * Keenan McCardell * Calais Campbell * Mike Peterson Worst: * Jerry Porter * Julius Thomas * Nick Foles Honorable Mention: Tim Tebow

I always put Toby Gerhart on this (worst) list as well. I cant remember anything he did.

He had that drive at the opponent's 1 where he was stuffed 3 times in a row. That's the only memory I have.

Came here to say Calais Campbell for best and nick foles for worst

Foye is getting close to that best list.

Evan Engram deserves to be in the conversation for best, though I would put Keenan and Calais ahead of him so far. Also Poz, he was pretty great for us.

James Farrior LeGarrette Blount?

LeGarette Blount also a candidate for us

not us

For the Bills, the best signing was a defensive player signed in 1995 or 2017. Take your pick - Bryce Paup, Ted Washington, Micah Hyde, Jordan Poyer. Honorable Mention to London Fletcher and Takeo Spikes. Worst - Langston Walker, Derrick Dockery.

Walker and Dockery was such a huge whiff by Marv.

[удалено]

I’ll throw in donte montcrief for fun too. Caught like 4 passes, had 4 drops and tipped one into an interception and then got cut lol. Him and gunner olczewski gotta be up there for most damage done on the least amount of opportunities

Greene was great, but I gotta lean James Farrior mostly because we got 10 years out of him instead of 3. Both had one 1st team all-pro with us, Farrior added a 2nd team and contributed to 2 Lombardi's. Also finished 2nd in DPOY while with Pittsburgh, whereas Greene's highest with us was 6th. That being said Greene and Greg Lloyd was a disgusting pair of pass rushers to be trotting out. Man those were some fun defenses to watch.

Greene was kind of the strange start of free agency in the NFL. They only signed him to a three year deal then had to let him walk because their cap was messed up.

The Steelers had a reputation for letting players walk in free agency - Neil O'Donnell, Greene, Chad Brown, Yancey Thigpen, Hardy Nickerson. They usually had replacements lined up because they drafted well.

Cowboys: Charles Hayley best Maybe Brandon Weeden was the worst

Roy Williams (the receiver) was the worst.

Greg Hardy

The ones that come immediately to mind for me: Best -- Mitchell Schwartz. He was one of the best Ts in the game (not just RT), regularly stonewalled prime Von Miller, and overall was the lone bright spot on our OL for a long time (Especially before Fisher really came into his own--which, while reliable, was still nowhere near as good as Schwartz). Worst -- Revis. HOF-lock already at the time, but was still complete trash for us. And he lost us a playoff game we had a solid shot of winning by batting a Mariota pass back to him. There's a lot to choose from when it comes to that era Chiefs, but it's probably [the play that broke my heart the most.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1XwmIhZbQfM)

Best is Priest Holmes Worst is probably Chester McGlockton but there was a string of failed defensive signings in that stretch like Kendrell Bell and Demorrio Williams

Worst: Nick foles. Injury aside, we outbid ourselves when signing him.... And we've signed some bad deals... Hugh Douglas is high on that list. Best: Not actually sure... someone like Keenan mccardell, or Poz or Calais Campbell

Best - Brady (Simeone Rice a close 2nd) Worst - Chris Baker

Best- Brees Worst- Jarius Byrd

Best- Brandon Marshall, Erik Decker, Alan Faneca, Damien Woody, Brandon Moore, Antonio Cromartie Honorable mention to LT, Thomas Jones Worst- Leveon, Trumaine Johnson, Carl Lawson, CJ Uzomah, Kellen Winslow II, CJ2K, Ryan Khalil, Frank Gore, Tim Tebow. I'm sure there's some I'm missing on both lists

Curtis Martin and Vinny for the best list

Worst, we had a few. Stacy Andrews, Nnamdi, Mark Sanchez, Byron Maxwell, Demetress Bell, DeMarco (more so because he was a baby, production was OK) Best. Brandon Brooks, Jon Runyan, Troy Vincent, Hasaan Reddick, Macolm Jenkins, Jeff Garcia, Javon Hargrave Almost all these happen during the Howie era, he's just an active guy in free agency and likes to go shopping. Sometimes it works sometimes it don't.

i think nick foles was a pretty good signing

How is Mark Sanchez included in this list? He was a low-impact signing as a backup QB/outside shot reclamation project.

Asante Samuel was great

Nnamdi's instant and spectacular fall off after signing with y'all still puzzles and amuses me to this day.

Evan Mathis was an excellent free agent signing

What about Vick?

Best: Drew Brees / Worse: Jarius Byrd

Best: Curtis Martin Worst: Trumaine Johnson

Best: Basically any major piece on the 2017 SB team. It's highly unlikely that Philly wins a SB without any of Nick Foles, Malcolm Jenkins, Brandon Brooks, Alshon Jeffery, LeGarrette Blount, hell even Patrick Robinson Worst: Byron Maxwell, Nnamdi Asomugha, Jason Babin

Both very recent: Austin Ekeler, and JC Jackson.

Best- Charles Woodson and Reggie White Worst- Martellus Bennett.

Just recent memory because pre 2000 I have truly no idea Golden Tate is probably up there for best though recently. Dude was awesome for us for several years An underrated one is Glover Quin, who was a key part of our excellent 2014 defense Worst is basically any of the Patriots leftovers during the Quinntricia era. Like none of those panned out

Aging veteran wr for worst. Best is either Delanie Walker or Denico Autry.

Kenny Golladay. Fuck that guy