What happened in the first week of NFL free agency: From Kirk Cousins to the Falcons to Justin Fields' trade to the Steelers

The Athletic's Robert Mays and former NFL quarterback Chase Daniel break down the last 24 hours of NFL free agency as we tick toward 4 p.m. ET, when deals become official.

Watch below and follow The Athletic Football Show podcast here.

With Maliek Collins on board, the 49ers’ starting defensive line likely will look like this: Nick Bosa and Leonard Floyd at defensive end and Collins and Javon Hargrave at defensive tackle. It’s a lineup that ought to bring more pass-rush firepower than the 2023 version, largely because of Floyd’s arrival. The 49ers have struggled to find a steady bookend to Nick Bosa since 2019. Last year, for example, the 49ers’ defensive end with the second most sacks was Clelin Ferrell, who finished with 3 1/2. Floyd, meanwhile, has had at least nine sacks in each of the last four seasons.

The 49ers like to keep 10 defensive linemen on the 53-man roster and dress eight on game days. The second-string unit looks like it will be Yetur Gross-Matos and either Drake Jackson or Robert Beal Jr. at defensive end with newcomer Jordan Elliott and Kalia Davis at defensive tackle. Gross-Matos also can rush from the inside on obvious passing downs.

The Chargers will be retaining Khalil Mack on a restructured contract, according to a league source. Mack has one year remaining on his deal, and his cap hit, before the restructure, sits at $38.517 million.

The most logical path is for the Chargers to add one or two void years onto the end of Mack’s deal. That would allow them to convert $21.88 million of Mack’s combined salary and roster bonus into a signing bonus. They could then prorate that over two or three seasons — depending on the number of void years. For one void year, the savings would be $10.94 million. For two void years, the savings would be $14.58 million. In both of these cases, Mack’s contract would void after 2024. The Chargers would then have to incur the savings as an accelerated dead-money charge.

When he’s on the field and playing hard, Arik Armstead is very productive. He’s a big man with great agility and balance for his size, making him dangerous as a one-on-one pass rusher, even if his style is more finesse than power. He can be disruptive in the run game, too, shedding blocks, getting upfield penetration and showing tackle-to-tackle range, though he’s not the factor in pursuit that he once was. The downside is he turns 31 in November, and over the last two seasons, he’s missed 13 games while — even when healthy — playing a smaller share of the snaps than he had since the 2016 season. But for a team that needs a five-technique in a 3-4 scheme, he would be a really good fit.

The move saves the Chargers $20 million in cap space, according to Over the Cap, and they are now cap compliant ahead of the new league year, which begins Wednesday at 1 p.m. PT.

The Chargers have agreed to terms on three free agent signings — Gus Edwards, Will Dissly and Alohi Gilman — and they will need to clear around an additional $9 million in space to fit those into their cap sheet. That space must be cleared before the contracts are processed. So more moves are on the horizon. Edge rushers Joey Bosa and Khalil Mack and wideout Keenan Allen all have cap hits of $30-plus million for 2024.

Mike Williams’ release ends a seven-year run with the Chargers. He was originally selected with the No. 7 pick in the 2017 NFL Draft. After a career year in 2021 — 1,146 receiving yards and nine touchdowns — Williams signed a three-year, $60 million extension that, at the time, tied him as the fourth highest-paid receiver in the league.

Continue reading.

The Chargers are releasing wide receiver Mike Williams, league sources said.

More to come.

The new 2-year deal for Bills DB Cam Lewis is worth a total of $3.1 million, per a league source.

$1.55 million is guaranteed at signing. He can earn up to $450K per year on a playtime incentive.

Cap hits:

2024 - $1,481,500

2025 - $1,618,500

49ers FB Kyle Juszczyk has agreed to restructure his contract, per league source. He'll remain with the team as the league's highest paid fullback.

The Raiders replaced departed backup tight end Austin Hooper (Patriots) by agreeing to terms with former Browns TE Harrison Bryant on Wednesday. It’s a one-year, $3.25 million contract, according to ESPN.

Bryant, 25, had 24 catches for 238 yards and three touchdowns as a rookie, and 13 catches for 81 yards last year.

He also had five carries for eight yards and four first downs, as the Browns used him on quarterback sneaks and pitch plays.

To tie as the highest-paid kicker in NFL history, that kicker has to be, well, money. Jake Elliott converted on a career-high 93.8 percent of his field goal attempts for the Eagles last season, and he tied his own team record with a critical 61-yard field goal in a Week 2 victory over the Minnesota Vikings. The Eagles are signing Elliott to a four-year, $24 million extension, an annual value that ties Justin Tucker for the NFL record for kickers. Elliott's deal comes with $14.2 million guaranteed, a league source told The Athletic.

Elliott was entering the final year of a five-year extension he'd signed in 2019. The one-time Pro Bowler is entering his eighth season with the Eagles, and he'll now be under contract through 2028. Special teams coordinator Michael Clay's unit ranked first in DVOA last season. The franchise retains one of its most crucial and reliable pieces of the league's best special teams corps.

The Broncos and wide receiver Lil’Jordan Humphrey have agreed to terms on a one-year deal, his agents Jimmy and Dylan Gould confirmed to The Athletic.

Humphrey joined the Broncos in free agency last year after playing for Payton as a member of the New Orleans Saints. He played in all 17 games for Denver in 2023, starting eight. He finished with 13 catches for 162 yards and a career-high three touchdowns.

Overall, Humphrey played 40 percent of the offensive snaps for the Broncos last season and became the team’s most reliable blocker at the position. It’s a role he’ll likely fill again at a position undergoing change this offseason. The Broncos last week traded Jerry Jeudy, their first-round pick in the 2020 NFL Draft, to the Cleveland Browns in exchange for two Day 3 picks in this year’s draft.

Jets general manager Joe Douglas would probably admit now that he never should’ve let Morgan Moses walk in free agency after a solid season as New York’s starting right tackle in 2021 — especially looking back now at how much of a mess the Jets have been at the tackle position in 2022 and 2023.

In two years with the Ravens, Pro Football Focus ranked Moses 12th overall among offensive tackles to play 500 snaps in 2022, and 15th in 2023 — and 10th in run blocking this past season. Moses is on the older side (33) but remains a solid right tackle and should provide a massive upgrade over the collection of players the Jets played at the position last year.

Mekhi Becton opened last season at right tackle and moved to left tackle when Duane Brown got injured. Alijah Vera-Tucker moved from guard to right tackle, then suffered a season-ending injury. The rest of the way, the Jets shuffled through Max Mitchell, Billy Turner and rookie Carter Warren at right tackle, all grading as some of the worst tackles in the league by PFF’s grading.

The trade should be viewed as a home run for Douglas, who had mostly been quiet to start free agency and in this deal only had to move back in the fourth round and give up a sixth-round pick in order to acquire a solid starting offensive linemen at a low cost. Moses is only set to earn $5.5 million for the Jets in the final year of his contract.

With John Simpson, this locks in four starters on the Jets offensive line: Moses, Simpson, center Joe Tippmann and Vera-Tucker, who can play guard or tackle.

The expectation is that the Jets will draft an offensive tackle with their first-round pick, No. 10, but don’t rule out the possibility that they pursue former Packers left tackle David Bakhtiari in free agency as well.

Ravens decision makers made clear that they viewed solidifying the offensive line as one of their offseason priorities. They wanted to get younger and more athletic upfront. Morgan Moses played well for the Ravens over the past two seasons, but he’s just turned 33 and he battled through an arm/shoulder injury for much of last season. Moving on from him should allow the Ravens to get a bit younger upfront and it also creates much-needed $5.5 million of salary cap savings.

The Houston Texans are trading defensive tackle Maliek Collins to the San Francisco 49ers, league sources confirmed. Houston will receive a seventh-round pick.

Collins, 28, started 16 games for Houston this past season, recording 41 tackles and five sacks.