NFL Free Agency 2020: Start date, best available players, cap space

The 2020 NFL free agency period could vastly change the league, so we look at when it starts, the best available players and the cap space of all 32 teams.

The 2020 offseason will truly get underway when 2020 NFL free agency begins on March 18 at 4:00 p.m. ET as the new league year begins. There will be a two-day legal tampering period beginning on March 16 prior in which teams will be allowed to negotiate with players to try and get deals in the works before they can legally be signed on March 18.

There are always high stakes when it comes to NFL free agency but the 2020 class of players could be a bunch of game-changers. Some of the biggest quarterback names in the league could well be on the move this season, the same of which can be said for some high-end skill-position players and defensive talent.

So which players will be ripe for the picking in 2020 NFL free agency? Let’s take a look at the best available players.

Top 25 available NFL free agents in 2020

1. Dak Prescott, QB
2. Tom Brady, QB
3. Drew Brees, QB
4. Amari Cooper, WR
5. Jadeveon Clowney, DE
6. Yannick Ngakoue, DE
7. Brandon Scherff, OG
8. Anthony Castonzo, OT
9. Chris Jones, DT
10. A.J. Green, WR
11. Shaquil Barrett, DE
12. Arik Armstead, DT
13. Derrick Henry, RB
14. Austin Hooper, TE
15. Philip Rivers, QB
16. Byron Jones, CB
17. Jarran Reed, DT
18. Teddy Bridgewater, QB
19. Justin Simmons, S
20. Matt Judon, EDGE
21. Ryan Tannehill, QB
22. Chris Harris Jr., CB
23. Anthony Harris, S
24. Robby Anderson, WR
25. Jameis Winston, QB

Of course, who is available in 2020 NFL free agency is an irrelevant ordeal if a team doesn’t have any money to operate under the salary cap. Yes, these numbers can change quickly with cuts, trades, extensions and the like. But let’s still take a quick look at the cap room for all 32 NFL teams as of Sunday, Jan. 26, per Over The Cap (using their Effective Cap Space metric and rounding to the nearest thousand):

San Francisco 49ers: $14.948 million
Chicago Bears: $6.031 million
Cincinnati Bengals: $49.31 million
Buffalo Bills: $81.852 million
Denver Broncos: $61.948 million
Cleveland Browns: $50.721 million
Tampa Bay Buccaneers: $81.507 million
Arizona Cardinals: $53.657 million
Los Angeles Chargers: $53.144 million
Kansas City Chiefs: $18.691 million
Indianapolis Colts: $91.846 million
Dallas Cowboys: $79.529 million
Miami Dolphins: $91.374 million
Philadelphia Eagles: $43.57 million
Atlanta Falcons: $6.191 million
New York Giants: $61.887 million
Jacksonville Jaguars: -$1.958 million
New York Jets: $51.352 million
Detroit Lions: $48.748 million
Green Bay Packers: $28.189 million
Carolina Panthers: $25.098 million
New England Patriots: $46.974 million
Las Vegas Raiders: $56.295 million
Los Angeles Rams: $20.092 million
Baltimore Ravens: $28.406 million
Washington Redskins: $44.546 million
New Orleans Saints: $11.777 million
Seattle Seahawks: $57.878 million
Pittsburgh Steelers: $1.431 million
Houston Texans: $55.192 million
Tennessee Titans: $53.944 million
Minnesota Vikings: -$10.183 million

With some of the quarterbacks and elite talent available in 2020 NFL free agency, we could see the landscape of the league truly change this offseason. We’ll just have to see how these teams manage their cap space situations and try to improve their teams once the free agency period begins on March 18.