NFL Free Agency 2020: 5 Best, 5 worst deals handed out so far

For years, the Raiders have been ailing at linebacker. With a blank slate to work with, however, they’ve been aggressive and smart in free agency to address that need. I also am a fan of signing Nick Kwiatkoski to a relatively modest contract but the prize of the NFL free agency class for Las Vegas to this point is Cory Littleton.

In the simplest terms, you can count the number of linebackers who are better than Littleton in coverage on one hand without using the full assortment of fingers. While with the Rams, he’s emerged as one of the elite players in the league in that regard.

Littleton isn’t necessarily the strongest run defender but he’ll be a tremendous asset in defending the Chiefs offense in the AFC West to try and make this team competitive. Furthermore, when paired with Kwiatkoski, that’s now a reliable and versatile tandem that the Raiders have been lacking for some time.

Make no mistake, Austin Hooper joining the Cleveland Browns makes a ton of sense on paper. Former first-round pick David Njoku has not panned out as the organization has hoped to this point and new head coach Kevin Stefanski utilized his tight ends frequently while he was in Minnesota. And giving Baker Mayfield, as he enters his third season, another reliable pass-catching weapon would never be a terrible thing.

At the same time, this is an overpay for Hooper. The Browns were smart in front-loading the guaranteed money so they’ll be able to get out of the deal should they need to. But as good of a player as Hooper is, he’s not one of the elite players at the position. Paying him $11 million per year makes him paid like he is in that tier of tight ends, however. Subsequently, this was a deal that’s fine but gets a “worst” label because it was unnecessarily expensive.