2022 NFL free agency opens March 16 and teams will hope to land some star power whereas some of these moves fail — as these 30 signings illustrate
Each year, NFL teams spend big money on free agents they think will come in and change the course of their franchise. And every year, there are those who do exactly that.
Take, for example, Drew Brees or Tom Brady. Both ended up joining new teams via free agency and each delivered Super Bowls.
However, not every signing pays off as there are those moves that teams end up regretting. Here, we look back over the past decade and select the 30 worst free-agent signings that end up being huge regrets.
In 2022, free agency opens March 16 and teams will hope that they find themselves the missing pieces to their Super Bowl puzzle. They will also be trying to avoid making a mistake as these teams below did as we offer up the 30 worst signings of the past 10 years.
These 30 NFL Free Agency moves are the worst of the worst in the last decade
30. Andy Dalton, QB, Chicago Bears (2021): 1 year $10 million
In 2020, the Dallas Cowboys signed Andy Dalton to a one-year deal as he filled the role of backup to Dak Prescott with the Dallas Cowboys. After nine seasons with the Cincinnati Bengals, it was a new role for Dalton to come off the bench but his time with a clipboard didn’t last.
When Prescott broke his ankle in Week 5, Dalton took over and started nine games from that point. He was 4-5 but still played well enough to give the Chicago Bears enough reason to believe he could be the starter for them — and this led to a one-year $10 million agreement between the two.
Dalton played in eight games for the Bears and had just six starts, going 3-3 in those starts. He completed 63.1 percent of his passes for 1,515 yards with eight touchdowns and nine picks. Had he made half as much and been a reserve, those numbers would have been fine but it was a lot to pay for a guy who mainly slowed the progression of Justin Fields by taking snaps from him.