2021 NFL Free Agency grades for every team: Browns, Jets ace offseason

NFL Free Agency Grades: NFC South

Atlanta Falcons | Grade: D-

To put it frankly, it’s been an ugly offseason for the Falcons thus far. Their best free agent addition was…running back Mike Davis? That’s not something that’s going to get anyone excited, nor should it. This team had to restructure Matt Ryan’s contract just to get under the cap and they saw some key pieces of the defense leave. The cap constraints keep them from failing but only just barely.

Carolina Panthers | Grade: D

We saw the Panthers get a bit aggressive in free agency this offseason but it’s hard not to walk away from this class of signings without feeling like they overvalued several players while also making some questionable offensive line moves with Pat Elflein and Cam Erving. Haason Reddick could make or break this class overall but Carolina made a lot of noise to sign players that appear like they might just have the team treading water.

New Orleans Saints | Grade: C

Retaining Jameis Winston is the biggest move of consequence for the Saints in the 2021 offseason but much of the rest of their moves consisted of saying goodbye to veterans on the roster. This was always going to be a bit of a transition following Drew Brees’ retirement but you would like to see something with a bit more pop from their offseason to this point.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers | Grade: A

As the adage goes, “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” — and things were clearly not broken for Tom Brady and the Buccaneers as they captured a Super Bowl. So it should be lauded that they kept the band together in Tampa Bay by re-signing Shaq Barrett, Lavonte David, Rob Gronkowski and Leonard Fournette while tagging Chris Godwin. The only reason they don’t get an “A+” is bringing back Fournette when there was an opportunity to upgrade at running back.