It used to be true that some of the biggest players in free agency were often some of the worst clubs. That is no longer the case.

Free agency is now proving to be the fastest way to turn your team around.

Just last year, "six of the top 10 2017 spenders in free agency made the playoffs: the Patriots, Titans, Rams, Vikings, Panthers, and Jaguars."

"Before the cap rose, the book on NFL free agency was that it was usually a bad idea. Sports Illustrated wrote just
three years ago that some big-spending teams had learned that “shelling out cash to players who are nearing their 30s
can end up backfiring in spectacular fashion.” That has changed—and quickly. All the room to spend has changed the way
teams think about money. Multiple league executives, coaches, and experts told me that it is changing the way teams are
built at an unprecedented pace and turned free agency from a last resort into a legitimate team-building strategy, like it has
in other sports....That means if you weren’t paying attention, you might not have noticed that the game changed."

How the Rising Salary Cap Explains the NFL Playoffs