Ranking the 5 worst moves of the 2020 NFL offseason...

Ranking the 5 Worst Moves of the 2020 NFL Offseason

[bleacherreport.com]

There's still some meat left on the free-agent bone in 2020 (including three of the last 10 No. 1 overall picks), but the NFL's focus has largely shifted from spending big on veteran players to looking toward the April 23-25 draft.

We're all going to find out what Roger Goodell's basement looks like.

Now that free agency is winding down, it's only natural to look back at the winners and losers of the 2020 iteration. The signing of Tom Brady has injected the most enthusiasm we've seen from the fanbase in Tampa, Florida, since, well, maybe ever. The Las Vegas Raiders overhauled one of the NFL's weakest linebacker corps. The New Orleans Saints look like arguably the league's best team after adding veteran wideout Emmanuel Sanders.

Those franchises want the draft to get here so they can keep the good times rolling.

Others, however, want the draft to get here for a different reason. They're tired of being lambasted publicly for offseason gaffes. Maybe they overpaid dramatically for an aging player. Made an ill-advised trade. Some may even have done both.

Might as well be thorough.

At the lowest of those depths—the nadir of neglect—is this quintet of questionable strategy.

These are the five worst moves of the 2020 offseason.

(Dis)Honorable Mention

These transactions didn't make the top five, but the general managers below seemingly tried hard to be bad at their jobs. They just weren't quite able to make the countdown no one wants to be part of.

Houston Texans Trade for Brandin Cooks

Bill O'Brien is a name you'll see with frequency in this piece. The Texans dealt second- and fourth-round picks for an expensive receiver who is coming off one of the worst seasons of his career and who has five documented concussions in six NFL seasons. That this wasn't close to the worst idea O'Brien had in 2020 is both terrifying and oddly impressive.

Detroit Lions Sign OLB Jamie Collins for Three Years, $30 Million

Collins had a great season with the Patriots in 2019, topping 80 tackles and amassing a career-high seven sacks. He's also familiar with Lions head coach Matt Patricia from their days together in New England. But Collins is 30 and has never consistently thrived away from Bill Belichick's team. The last time he got a big contract, from Cleveland, the results were...ungood.

New Orleans Saints Re-Sign OG Andrus Peat for Five Years, $57.5 Million

It's not all that often that Saints general manager Mickey Loomis swings and misses, and an argument can be made that continuity in front of Drew Brees is worth an overpay. But there's a difference between overpaying and giving a player who has missed nine games over the past two years—and struggled in 2019—the second-most guaranteed cabbage among guards in NFL history.

New York Jets Sign OT George Fant for Three Years, $27.3 Million

It was no secret that the New York Jets desperately needed to bolster the offensive line, and the team spent a lot trying to do so. But Fant is not a sure bet by any stretch—he's a middling talent who hasn't started the majority of his games at left tackle since his rookie year (with mediocre results). He also missed the entire 2017 season with a torn ACL.

Houston Texans Sign S Eric Murray for Three Years, $18 Million

More O'Brien! This isn't an especially big contract, but it's a baffling one. Murray is an excellent special teams player and an OK depth safety, but when pressed into starting duty in Kansas City and Cleveland, he struggled. Players like that get one-year deals—not $6 million per season and over $10 million guaranteed.

5. New York Giants Sign CB James Bradberry for 3 Years, $43.5 Million

The New York Giants shook things up by going against years of tradition and not ignoring the inside linebacker spot again. Bringing in Blake Martinez from Green Bay on a three-year deal that averages $10.3 million per season fills a massive need without significantly overpaying to do so.

Don't worry, Giants GM Dave Gettleman still got around to the overpaying part. It was just with a different player.

Martinez wasn't the Giants' biggest splash on defense. That honor went to veteran cornerback James Bradberry, who got $14.5 million per year over three seasons and a whopping $31.9 million in guarantees to leave Carolina for the Big Apple. As Michael Eisen reported for the team's website, Gettleman thinks they're both big additions to a Giants defense that ranked 25th in the league in 2019:

"Martinez gives us a guy that has played in the system for Pat Graham and will get us lined up. I think that this scheme is going to fit him better. Everybody knows I drafted James when I was in Carolina. He gives you a big, long body that has played against number ones (receivers). He has the mindset, he's not shy and the moment is not too big for him."

In fairness, Bradberry's a good cornerback. Last season with the Panthers, his passer rating against was a highly respectable 70.1.

But Bradberry, by most estimations, isn't a great player. His completion percentage against a season ago shot up 15.6 points relative to 2018, and he's yet to log more than three picks in a season.

He's also now a top-five player at his position in terms of average annual salary, and only Stephon Gilmore and Byron Jones sport contracts among cornerbacks with a bigger initial guarantee.

4. Chicago Bears Sign TE Jimmy Graham for 2 Years, $16 Million

Two years ago, the Chicago Bears were a 12-win division champion. They took a massive step backward in 2019, however—a slide that spurred them to action in free agency.

Chicago made an aggressive play at quarterback by bringing in veteran Nick Foles to push or replace Mitchell Trubisky. General manager Ryan Pace also acquired a new receiving weapon, inking veteran tight end Jimmy Graham to a two-year, $16 million contract.

Per Patrick Finley of the Chicago Sun-Times, Pace said the entire Bears brain trust thought Graham would give them a boost:

"I think it's a good example where we are all connected to a vision with a player on our team. You start with the physical evaluation on the player. He's a guy we know well. But then you have to fit with our offensive scheme. And I just think there are a lot of discussions on how to maximize Jimmy Graham in this offense, and that's with [coach] Matt [Nagy] and all of our offensive coaches and our scouts."

The question here is: What date was on that physical evaluation?

There was indeed a time that Graham was arguably the NFL's best tight end. From 2011 to 2013, he caught at least 85 passes each year and averaged 1,169 yards and 12 scores per season.

However, 2013 was a long time ago. The Graham we saw last year in Green Bay had just 38 catches for 447 yards and three scores. The catches and yardage were his fewest since his rookie year.

Graham is a shell of the player he once was—a shell the Bears guaranteed $9 million to.

3. Cincinnati Bengals Sign CB Trae Waynes for 3 Years, $42 Million

We've seen all sorts of rare events this offseason.

Like the Cincinnati Bengals spending money in free agency.

In defensive tackle D.J. Reader, the Bengals got an up-and-coming lane-clogger who can collapse the pocket and is just entering his prime at 25. In cornerback Trae Waynes, the Bengals signed a 2015 first-round pick who's coming off maybe the best season of his career.

As Geoff Hobson reported for the team's website, defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo talked up Cincinnati's new No. 1 corner.

"He's gritty, he's tough, he can run like the wind. He's got length. A quality player," Anarumo said. "No doubt about it. He comes from all that stuff. He comes from good pedigree."

There are plenty of expectations for the 6'0", 190-pound Waynes after he inked a three-year deal that averages $14 million per season and contains a $15 million signing bonus. The 27-year-old is the NFL's sixth-highest paid cornerback in terms of average annual salary.

Waynes is being paid like an elite corner. But he hasn't played like one. Heading into 2019, he was widely regarded as a bust. Last year, he allowed 74 percent of the passes thrown in his direction to be completed and posted a passer rating against of 107.9.

It was a classic (and substantial) overpay.

Maybe team owner Mike Brown would be better served if he went back to being cheap.

2. Houston Texans Sign WR Randall Cobb for 3 Years, $27 Million

O'Brien has had quite the offseason.

After a certain trade (that we'll get to shortly) left the Texans woefully thin at wide receiver, O'Brien wasted no time in putting pen to paper with veteran slot man Randall Cobb. The 29-year-old, who had 55 catches for 828 yards and three scores for the Dallas Cowboys in 2019, told reporters that signing with Houston was an easy decision:

"The reason I picked the Texans is, obviously, I think that you look at what they've been able to do over the past few years. [They] went to the playoffs four of the past five times. At this point in my career, I still don't have a ring, so I want to be in a situation where I have that possibility. I think when you look at Deshaun [Watson] and what he's been able to do since he's been in the league, I've been really impressed from afar watching him."

The truck full of money the Texans pulled up to Cobb's house didn't hurt.

In an offseason when the wide receiver market produced significantly lower deals than many expected for the top players who switched teams, Cobb got a three-year deal at an average of $9 million per season. Two-thirds of that deal is guaranteed.

That's for a slot receiver who will turn 30 before the season starts, has missed time in each of the last four years and hasn't logged a 1,000-yard season since 2014.

That 2014 campaign was also the only 1,000-yard season of Cobb's nine-year career.

1. Houston Texans Trade WR DeAndre Hopkins to Arizona Cardinals

Like there was any question which transaction would top this list.

Over six seasons as the Texans head coach, O'Brien has won just over 54 percent of his games and guided the team to four AFC South titles. In terms of regular-season success, he's had a good run.

His tenure as the team's general manager the past year or so has been another story.

There's just no way to view his decision to trade star wideout DeAndre Hopkins to the Arizona Cardinals for tailback David Johnson, a second-rounder and a fourth-round pick swap as anything less than a fiasco. Per Kevin Patra of NFL.com, Hopkins passed his physical Monday. As soon as Johnson passes his, said fiasco will become official.

Whether Hopkins wanted a new contract doesn't come close to excusing this mess. The Texans dealt arguably the game's best receiver for what amounts to a second-rounder and a running back who has battled injuries and hasn't gained 1,000 rushing yards or averaged four yards per carry since his breakout 2016 campaign.

Even if you factor in Houston's subsequent acquisition of Cooks from the Rams, this is still a hot mess. For all intents and purposes, the Texans gave Hopkins to get Johnson, Cooks and a second-rounder. That would be a solid switch. If this was fantasy football. And the year 2016.

ESPN's Jeff Darlington reported O'Brien is "squarely" on the hot seat after he bungled the offseason so spectacularly (h/t Garrett Stephen of 247 Sports). Quarterback Deshaun Watson made a number of cryptic statements on social media that spurred speculation that he's unhappy with the team's direction.

Other than that, everything's fine.