The First Read: Five teams that must make a splash in NFL free agency in 2024
We are less than a week away from the start of the NFL free agency period, and it's going to be a wild ride once again. There will be plenty of big-name veterans on the market, like Minnesota quarterback Kirk Cousins, Kansas City defensive tackle Chris Jones, Denver quarterback Russell Wilson and Dallas left tackle Tyron Smith. There will be ample discussion about other high-profile types who likely will be available, such as a certain quarterback in Chicago who could end up being traded (Justin Fields). Several noteworthy running backs will have opportunities to seek employment elsewhere, including the New York Giants' Saquon Barkley, Tennessee's Derrick Henry and the Los Angeles Chargers' Austin Ekeler.
What will be even more interesting will be the level of aggressiveness we see from various general managers once free agency begins. The 2024 salary cap will be a little higher than anticipated, coming in at $255.4 million -- which means franchises that were already swimming in cash will have some extra dollars to throw at prospective targets. If we've learned anything over the past few years, it's that more teams believe it doesn't pay to be passive at this time of year. A team that thinks it's close to competing for a championship had better be ready to do some serious shopping if its budget is in order.
So this latest version of The First Read is going to focus on those teams that must be braced in the starting blocks when free agency begins. There are a number of teams that might believe they can improve over the next few weeks. However, these are the five who most need to make some huge offseason splashes when the new NFL year officially ensues on March 13 (ranked according to who should feel the greatest sense of
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