Day: March 5, 2026

NFL free agency opened on Monday, and the deals have been fast and furious, so feel free to bookmark this page! Only three players received the franchise tag ahead of free agency, leaving nearly all 100 players on our top free agents list available to sign with any team without restrictions. Running back Kenneth Walker III and quarterback Malik Willis have already found new homes, while edge rusher Trey Hendrickson might be next. Here’s a closer look at some of the signings, trades and releases that have happened this offseason. [2026 NFL Free Agency: The Top 100 Players Available and Potential Fits] March 10 Commanders sign LB Leo Chenal Details: Three years, $24.75 million Lions sign QB Teddy Bridgewater Details: TBD Eagles sign CB Riq Woolen Details: One year, up to $15 million Saints sign LB Kaden Ellis Details: Three years, $33 million Browns sign IOL Elgton Jenkins Details: Two years, $24 million ($20 guaranteed) Jets sign CB Nahshon Wright Details: One year, up to $5.5 million Patriots sign WR Romeo Doubs Details: Four years, $70 million Jets acquire QB Geno Smith from Raiders (source) Jets receive: QB Geno Smith and a 2026 seventh-round pickRaiders receive: 2026 sixth-round pick Texans sign OT Braden Smith Details: Two years, $25 million Texans extend K Ka’imi Fairbairn Details: Two years, $13 million Giants re-sign LB Micah McFadden Details: One-year deal Dolphins sign K Zane Gonzalez Details: One-year deal Lions sign RB Isiah Pacheco Details: TBD Bears sign WR/PR Kalif Raymond Details: One year, $5.1 million Bills extend TE Dawson Knox Details: Three-year extension Giants sign CB Greg Newsome II Details: One year, up to $10 million Packers sign CB Benjamin St-Juste Details: Two years, $10 million ($10.5 million maximum) March 9 Patriots sign OL Alijah Vera-Tucker Details: Three years, $42 million Chiefs sign S Alohi Gilman Details: Three years, $24.75 million ($15 million guaranteed) Chiefs re-sign WR Tyquan Thornton Details: Two years, $11 million Steelers sign RB Rico Dowdle Details: Two years, $12.25 million Panthers sign LB Devin Lloyd Details: Three years, $45 million ($25 million guaranteed) Cardinals sign G Isaac Seumalo Details: Three years, $31.5 million ($19 million guaranteed) Texans sign S Reed Blankenship Details: Three years, $24 million ($16.5 million guaranteed) Seahawks re-sign WR Rashid Shaheed Details: Three years, $51 million ($34.7 million guaranteed) Raiders sign LB Nakobe Dean Details: Three years, $36 million ($20 million guaranteed) Raiders sign LB Quay Walker Details: Three years, $40 million ($28 million guaranteed) Commanders sign edge rusher Odafe Oweh Details: Four years, $100 million ($68 million guaranteed) Bengals sign edge rusher Boye Mafe Details: Three years, $60 million Cowboys sign S Jalen Thompson Details: Three years, $36 million 49ers sign WR Mike Evans Details: Three years, $60.4 million Commanders re-sign QB Marcus Mariota Details: One year, $7 million Bengals sign S Bryan Cook Details: Three years, $42.5 million Titans sign CB Alontae Taylor Details: Three years, $60 million Broncos re-sign RB J.K. Dobbins Details: Agreed to terms Titans sign CB Cor’Dae Flott Details: Three years, $45 million ($32 million guaranteed) Titans sign DL John Franklin-Myers Details: Three years, $63 million ($42 million guaranteed) Browns sign G Zion Johnson Details: Three years, $49.5 million ($32.4 million guaranteed) Bears sign LB Devin Bush Details: Three years, $30 million ($21 million guaranteed) Giants sign LB Tremaine Edmunds Details: Three years, $36 million Titans sign WR Wan’Dale Robinson Details: Four years, $70 million Saints sign RB Travis Etienne Details: Four years, $52 million Raiders sign C Tyler Linderbaum Details: Three years, $81 million ($60 million guaranteed) Cardinals sign RB Tyler Allgeier Details: Two years, $12.25 million Steelers land WR Michael Pittman Jr. Details: Pittsburgh, Indianapolis swap late-round picks in the trade. Pittman will also receive a three-year, $59 million extension. Giants sign TE Isaiah Likely Details: Three years, $40 million (worth up to $47.5 million) Bears sign S Coby Bryant Details: Three years, $40 million Lions sign C Cade Mays Details: Agreed to terms Rams sign CB Jaylen Watson Details: Three years, $51 million Patriots sign DT Dre’Mont Jones Details: Three years, $39.5 million Dolphins sign QB Malik Willis Details: Three years, $67 million Chiefs sign RB Kenneth Walker III Details: Three years, $45 million Colts re-sign WR Alec Pierce Details: Four years, $116 million Cowboys trade for Packers edge rusher Rashan Gary Details: Green Bay receives a fourth-round pick in the 2027 NFL Draft Jets trade for Dolphins S Minkah Fitzpatrick Details: Miami receives a seventh-round pick in the 2026 NFL Draft Texans re-sign DT Sheldon Rankins Details: Two years, $12 million guaranteed Jaguars re-sign CB Montaric Brown Details: Three years, $33 million Dolphins release QB Tua Tagovailoa Details: Even with a post-June 1 release designation, Miami will take on a record $99 million in dead money March 8 Packers re-sign OL Sean Rhyan Details: Three years, $33 million March 7 Chargers re-sign edge rusher Khalil Mack Details: One year, $18 million (fully guaranteed) Ravens re-sign QB Tyler Huntley Details: Two years, $11 million 49ers re-sign K Eddie Pineiro Details: Four years, $17 million ($10 million guaranteed) Colts, Packers make trade Details: Packers receive LB Zaire Franklin, Colts receive DT Colby Wooden Eagles extend DT Jordan Davis Details: Three years, $78 million ($65 million guaranteed) Bills re-sign C Connor McGovern Details: Four years, $52 million ($32 million guaranteed) March 6 Ravens trade for Raiders edge rusher Maxx Crosby Details: Baltimore sends Las Vegas two first-round picks (2026, 2027) Bears trade for Patriots C Garrett Bradbury Details: New England receives 2027 fifth-round pick from Chicago Texans release RB Joe Mixon Details: Houston saves $8 million in cap space Lions release OT Taylor Decker Details: Lions save $11.6 million in cap space Raiders release QB Geno Smith Details: Las Vegas saves $8 million in cap space Rams re-sign S Kam Curl Details: Three years, $36 million March 5 Texans extend edge rusher Danielle Hunter Details: One year, $40.1 million Rams re-sign TE Tyler Higbee Details: Two years, $8 million Bills trade for Bears WR D.J. Moore Details: Chicago receives 2026 second-round pick, Buffalo receives Moore and 2026 fifth-round pick March 4 Rams trade for Chiefs CB Trent McDuffie Details: Kansas City receives a 2026 first-round pick (No. 29), fifth-round pick and sixth-round pick, plus a 2027 third-rounder for McDuffie. March 2 Texans trade for Lions RB David Montgomery Details: Lions receive offensive lineman Juice Scruggs, a 2026 fourth-round draft pick and a 2027 seventh-round selection. Browns trade for Texans OT Tytus Howard Details: Texans receive 2026 fifth-round pick. Feb. 26 Jets, Titans make a trade Details: Jets receive DT T’Vondre Sweat, Titans receive edge rusher Jermaine Johnson Feb. 21 Cowboys re-sign RB Javonte Williams Details: 3 years, $24 million​Latest Sports News from FOX Sports

In the three years since Shohei Ohtani struck out Mike Trout to end a riveting 2023 World Baseball Classic, winning the tournament in 2026 has consumed Mark DeRosa’s every thought. To give his team the best chance, the Team USA manager knew there had to be a shift. “You see it from every other country, their best arms show up,” DeRosa said at the winter meetings in early December. “For whatever reason, the United States, our best arms don’t show up. That being said, we’re trying to change that narrative.” DeRosa expressed his appreciation for the commitment of the pitchers who threw for Team USA over the years, but it was hardly a representation of the best the country had to offer. In 2023, the team’s four starting pitchers in the World Baseball Classic were Merrill Kelly, Lance Lynn, Nick Martinez and a 41-year-old Adam Wainwright. They were all established MLB veterans coming off respectable seasons, but they were also all over the age of 30. None of them had won a Cy Young before, and they had a combined five career All-Star appearances among them — three of which belonged to Wainwright in the early 2010s. While it was USA’s high-powered offense that ultimately cratered in the final, when Japan won 3-2, the U.S. pitching staff was more middling than overpowering throughout the tournament. USA ranked sixth among the 20 countries in the 2023 WBC in ERA (4.20), eighth in opponents’ batting average (.255), 10th in average fastball velocity (91.5 mph) and 11th in strikeouts per nine innings (8.25). This year, Team USA should obliterate those numbers with the best rotation and pitching staff it has ever assembled. Aaron Judge was the first player named to the 2026 U.S. roster as the team captain last April. Getting the three-time MVP to participate in the WBC for the first time is an obvious boost to USA’s chances as it seeks to reclaim its spot atop the international stage after winning the tournament in 2017. But an arguably bigger announcement came weeks later, when Paul Skenes announced his commitment to the club. “Skenes,” DeRosa said, “changes the game.” Nearly a year before the 2026 WBC began, Team USA already had the AL MVP and the NL Cy Young in hand. That made for an effective recruiting tool as DeRosa and general manager Michael Hill built a roster that now looks more than capable of avenging USA’s 2023 defeat. The starting rotation is such a behemoth that Matthew Boyd, a 2025 All-Star starting pitcher for the Cubs, will likely serve in a piggyback role. “When you have someone of Paul Skenes’ stature saying ‘yes’ early on for the right reasons, someone like Aaron Judge doing the same, you go, ‘Man, I want to be part of it like those guys are,” Boyd told me. “I gotta say, I would’ve been doing it regardless, but when you get guys of their stature, it does bring people in. Those guys are the top of the game. You want to play with the best, too, and that’s something that’s really the cherry on top.” Persuading offensive standouts to play has never been much of an issue for a U.S. club that included Mookie Betts, Kyle Schwarber, Mike Trout and Trea Turner in the last tournament. But getting star pitchers to commit while ramping up for a long MLB season — and assuming the potential injury risk that comes with that decision — has historically been a trickier endeavor. The presence of Skenes, the top overall pick in 2023 who was named the National League Rookie of the Year in 2024 and the NL Cy Young in 2025, changed the dynamic. “It’s just a matter of one guy doing it,” said Bobby Witt Jr., “and a domino effect.” For Skenes, who played his first two college seasons at the Air Force Academy before transferring to LSU and was a member of the 12U and collegiate USA national teams, the choice was simple. Growing up watching the WBC as a kid, he never thought he’d have the opportunity to play in one. He knew if he did, he wouldn’t pass it up. So when DeRosa called, it didn’t take any convincing. “It’s Team USA,” Skenes said. “There’s no thought needed for it.” In December, more pitching announcements came flooding in. Early that month, Boyd announced he would be joining Skenes on the USA staff. He wanted to pitch for the U.S. team in the last tournament but wasn’t healthy at the time and hoped he’d get another opportunity. When DeRosa called him, the stars aligned. “If you don’t want competition, you’re in the wrong industry,” Boyd said. “I think all of us yearn for that competition, yearn for the big stage, yearn to compete against the best and want to go show why we are at that level. You train for those opportunities. So any time you present someone with that opportunity, at least for me personally, I’m magnetised toward those sorts of things.” Boyd will be pitching in a multiple-inning capacity to stretch out his pitch count as he builds up for the 2026 season, but given the talent on the staff, it is likely that he’ll be coming out of the bullpen. Weeks after Boyd committed, Team USA also announced the additions of Twins All-Star starter Joe Ryan, two-time All-Star Clay Holmes and Mets prospect Nolan McLean — arguably the top pitching prospect in all of MLB — to the roster on Dec. 17. One day later, Tarik Skubal posted an emoji of the American flag on X, signaling his intention to join the group. Suddenly, the Americans had the reigning NL and AL Cy Young Award winners forming the best 1-2 pitching punch in the tournament and leading the best pitching staff in Team USA history. “You see Skenes and Skubal decide,” said USA reliever Gabe Speier, “everyone else wants to be part of it.” On the same day of Skubal’s announcement, Giants All-Star Logan Webb also officially joined the group. In Skubal, Skenes and Webb, the top three pitchers in the USA rotation have combined for three Cy Young Awards and six All-Star nods in the last two seasons alone. Webb had initially committed to pitch for USA in the 2023 WBC but ultimately backed out as he was finalizing a long-term extension in San Francisco. Still, he told DeRosa at the time that it was always something he wanted to do at some point, so the USA manager stayed on him over the last few years. “The ending, Shohei Ohtani vs. Mike Trout, it just excites you as a baseball fan,” Webb told me. “I was at the edge of my seat watching it, and I wanted to be a part of it. I think DeRo texted me 100 times these last three years, and I’d hear it from other people, ‘Hey, DeRo said you’re playing in this. Mookie Betts, I did his podcast, and he said, ‘You better play’ — and then he’s not playing, of course — but it was something I wanted to do.” Shortly after the 2025 season ended, Webb was on country singer ERNEST’s tour bus with Team USA bullpen coach David Ross and talk-show host Pat McAfee in Nashville when he finalized his decision. “I told Rossy, ‘Text DeRo, tell him I’ll do it,’” Webb recalled. “It was something I wanted to do, and it was a cool moment, and I was like, ‘I’m going to do it.’ I was already thinking about it, and it wasn’t that difficult a decision to be honest.” At the time, the addition of Webb might’ve seemed superfluous given the talent already in place. But with Skubal announcing that he’ll only make one start ahead of a contract year and with Ryan dealing with a lower back issue that will force him out of pool play, it could now be the difference in winning a championship. Weeks before the tournament began, a text thread had started among the players on the team. “DeRosa’s like, ‘We’re winning this thing, we gotta redeem ourselves,’” Speier told me. “There’s a bit of redemption involved, so it makes it even more high stakes.” Webb, who is slated to start USA’s opener on March 6 against Brazil, enters the tournament with contract security after signing a five-year, $90 million extension in 2023. Many others are pitching without the same long-term safety net. Skenes and McLean are still pre-arbitration, most of the relievers on the team are in their arbitration years, and Skubal, Boyd and David Bednar are among the pitchers on the roster entering their final seasons under contract. (Holmes is, too, with a player option for 2027.) But they believed the benefits of pitching in the WBC, and the opportunity to represent their country and take back the title, outweighed any potential downsides. “Obviously the risk is still there, especially for those of us that are entering free agency,” Boyd said. “But I know for me, first and foremost, the opportunity to represent your country is the highest honor in sport.” Rowan Kavner is an MLB writer for FOX Sports. He previously covered the L.A. Dodgers, LA Clippers and Dallas Cowboys. An LSU grad, Rowan was born in California, grew up in Texas, then moved back to the West Coast in 2014. Follow him on X at @RowanKavner.​Latest Sports News from FOX Sports

Crunch time is coming. The start of this summer’s World Cup is less than 100 days away. It’s an exciting time, no doubt, but for players, these can be nervy days. Especially right now, given that the U.S. men’s national team hasn’t been together since November. A lot has happened since then, and the upcoming March training camp – which features matches against Belgium (March 28) and Portugal (March 31) in Atlanta – is of the utmost importance because it’s the last one before Mauricio Pochettino’s final 26-man roster is announced. Those who get called up in March will feel some relief, while those who don’t will feel their stress levels rise. Here’s who has improved their cases, who has work to do: Stock Up Johnny Cardoso, Midfielder, Atlético Madrid Cardoso made this list last week after scoring his first goal for the club. This week, he started and played 90 minutes in Atleti’s 3-0 loss to Barcelona. Despite the defeat, they advanced to the Copa del Rey final on 4-3 aggregate. After battling injuries, Cardoso seems to finally be getting into a rhythm at a big La Liga club. He hasn’t played for the USA since last summer and hasn’t had a statement game to prove to Pochettino why he deserves a World Cup roster spot yet. But, perhaps his recent club performances and consistency might earn him a March call up. Weston McKennie, Midfielder, Juventus McKennie is no doubt the hottest USA player right now. Whether he’s scoring goals or showing off his versatility and playing different positions for coach Luciano Spalletti, his name is constantly making headlines. And he’s likely at the top of Pochettino’s list for March camp. This week, McKennie signed a new deal at Juventus that keeps him with the Serie A club until 2030. McKennie will reportedly make $7 million per year – a well-earned deal given he’s scored eight goals so far this season. “McKennie has been a powerful tool on both the right and left wings for [manager] Luciano Spalletti, winning the hearts of the fans, and he is now reaping the rewards of his daily hard work in training,” Juventus said in a statement. Antonee ‘Jedi’ Robinson, Fullback, Fulham It’s a relief for USA fans to see Robinson in the “stock up” section here. Robinson went 90 for Fulham in a 1-0 loss to West Ham on Wednesday – it was his first Premier League appearance since Feb. 1 (he started in a FA Cup match vs. Stoke City on Feb. 15). He’d been dealing with a minor ankle issue, which was concerning because Robinson had previously missed so much time after recovering from a nagging knee injury. But playing the entire match and not having to gradually build up fitness is huge. Fulham next plays Southampton in a FA Cup match on Sunday. Josh Sargent, Striker, Toronto FC Finally, the saga is over. Sargent has left Norwich City and joined Toronto FC for a reported $22 million in fees. The striker signed a five-and-a-half year contract that will keep him with the MLS club through June 2031. While the drama surrounding Sargent’s desire to move closer to family in North America is behind him, what’s still ahead is the fact that there’s not much time left to impress Pochettino. Sargent has had his chances, but has struggled to score goals for the national team. Maybe if he can get off to a quick start in Toronto, things will be different? We’ll see. His form may have dipped in the last month after he was demoted to train with the U21 team in Norwich while waiting for this transfer. Even so, it’s a net positive that he’s back in MLS ahead of a pivotal summer. Stock Down Diego Luna, Forward, Real Salt Lake Luna is still out with a knee injury and has not played in a match for his club yet this season. After a breakthrough season in 2025, Luna seemed like a lock to make Pochettino’s World Cup roster. He still should, but his availability for March camp will be key. RSL travels to Atlanta this weekend, so we’ll get a health update then. Matt Turner, Goalkeeper, New England Revolution Turner, who was the USMNT’s starting goalkeeper at the 2022 World Cup, lost his spot to Matt Freese less than a year ago. Freese, who plays for NYCFC, started the last 12 matches of 2025 for the U.S., including every game in last summer’s Gold Cup. Turner is the ultimate competitor and wants his spot back. So much so that he joined the Revs last summer on loan from Lyon through June 2026. He’s playing more now, which is a plus, but the club is 0-2 to start the season. Pochettino will have to see much more from him in order for Turner to replace Freese. Christian Pulisic, Forward, AC Milan Pulisic is going to be the face of the United States squad at the World Cup this summer. There’s no question about that at all. But his current form is mildly concerning. The star forward has not scored a goal in nine straight matches for AC Milan. If this drought continues, it will be an unfortunate story line that Pulisic will have to address during training camp later this month.​Latest Sports News from FOX Sports