2025 NFL Free Agency and Trades Tracker: Fantasy Football Impact

The 2025 NFL offseason is well underway, with free agency and trades already shaking things up for fantasy football. FTN Fantasy is here to analyze every move from a fantasy angle to get you ahead of the competition.

Below, we’re offering our thoughts on every fantasy-relevant offseason move. Smaller moves will get analyzed here, and we’ll link to our full writeups and mini-podcasts from Jeff Ratcliffe for the bigger moves. Bookmark this page, as it will be updated all offseason.

2024 NFL Transaction Tracker – Free Agent Moves and Trades

Samaje Perine Returns to Bengals on 2-Year Deal (March 10)

This will be Perine’s third stint with the Bengals, after playing there in 2019 and again from 2020 to 2022. He peaked in 2022 with 681 scrimmage yards and 6 touchdowns, good for a No. 34 finish among running backs in PPR. He played for the Broncos and Chiefs the last two years, getting just over 1,100 scrimmage yards and 3 scores across the two seasons. Now, he returns to Cincinnati, where he’ll backup 2024 breakout Chase Brown. Brown promises to dominate touches once again, and don’t be surprised if the Bengals add another back this offseason, given the relatively modest two-year, $3.8 million investment in Perine. But if he goes into the season as a backup, there will be a role there.

Josh Palmer Leaves Chargers for Buffalo (March 10)

The former LA receiver got a bigger deal than expected with the Bills.

Justin Fields Becomes New QB with Jets (March 10)

Fields is a better fantasy quarterback than a real one, but he’ll start in New York.

Dyami Brown Lands in Jacksonville (March 10)

After a relatively quiet four years in Washington, Brown signed in Jacksonville Monday on a one-year deal. Brown had career highs in 2024 in targets (40), receptions (30) and yards (308) and scored a touchdown. He peaked at the right time, adding another 229 yards and a touchdown in three playoff games. Brown’s contract is worth a reported $10 million with a chance for it to rise to $12 million. In Jacksonville, he likely becomes the WR2 right away, although Brian Thomas Jr. promises to dominate targets. Brown isn’t a fantasy factor right now.

Sam Darnold Signs with Seahawks (March 10)

Darnold rode a rejuvenated year in Minnesota to over $100 million in Seattle.

Jags Get New Backup QB in Nick Mullens (March 10)

After three seasons as the backup quarterback in Minnesota, Mullens heads to the Jaguars to be the new backup quarterback to incumbent Jacksonville starter Trevor Lawrence. Mullens started eight games apiece in 2018 and 2020 in San Francisco, then one game in 2021 in Cleveland and three in 2023 in Minnesota. For his career in 33 games (20 starts), he has 34 touchdowns against 31 interceptions. Mullens is serviceable as an emergency fill-in, but the Jaguars likely have no interest in him getting extended playing time.

Jimmy Garoppolo Returns to Rams (March 10)

Veteran QB Jimmy Garoppolo agreed to return to the Rams on a one-year deal on the first day of free agency. Garoppolo played only one game in 2024 in relief of Matthew Stafford, starting Week 18 and throwing for 334 yards and 2 touchdowns against 1 interception. Garoppolo has zero value in fantasy of course, but if anything were to happen to Stafford, he would immediately become an interesting streamer given the presence of Puka Nacua and Davante Adams.

Elijah Mitchell Leaves San Francisco for Kansas City (March 10)

After four seasons in San Francisco, including a missed 2024 thanks to injury, Elijah Mitchell left the 49ers on the first day of free agency for Kansas City. Mitchell’s lone big season came as a sixth-round rookie in 2021, when he got 207 carries for 963 yards and 5 touchdowns. Since then, he’s had 560 rushing yards in 16 games. This signing is a depth move for the Chiefs as insurance for starter Isiah Pacheco.

Braxton Berrios Leaves Miami for Houston (March 10)

Free agent WR/returner Braxton Berrios signed with the Houston Texans on the first day of free agency. The 29-year-old Berrios is recovering from an October torn ACL and had no offensive touches in 2024, but he’s a former first-team All-Pro as a returner. The chances of this move having any fantasy impact are basically nil.

Slew of Re-Signings Sunday Before Free Agency Begins (March 9)

A handful of notable names re-signed with their 2024 teams before the legal tampering period begins Monday:

The Bengals agreed to a three-year deal to keep TE Mike Gesicki around. Gesicki had 65 receptions for 665 yards in 2024, doing especially well when Tee Higgins was out of the lineup. He’s not a guy who needs to be on a season-long fantasy roster, but he’s an interesting weekly streamer in the right situation.
Kansas City signed WR Marquise Brown for one more year. Brown was expected to help the Chiefs in a big way in 2024, but a preseason injury limited him to two regular-season games and the postseason. He totaled 141 yards and no scores on 14 receptions (28 targets) across his five games. Brown gets a chance to rebuild his value in 2025.
The Panthers gave TE Tommy Tremble a two-year deal. The 24-year-old has never topped 234 yards or 23 receptions in any of his four seasons, so he’s not a fantasy factor, but the team keeping him around might mean bad news for 2024 fourth-rounder Ja’Tavion Sanders.
The Saints restructured QB Derek Carr’s contract to pay most of his money as a signing bonus. That wasn’t a re-signing, but it does more or less guarantee Carr will be around New Orleans in 2025.
The Commanders gave TE Zach Ertz a one-year deal to stick around. Ertz will be 35 in November, so he’s certainly year-to-year at this point, but he had a resurgence in 2024, with 91 targets, 66 receptions and 654 yards (all his best since 2021) and 7 touchdowns (best since 2018). With Deebo Samuel Sr. in town and 2024 rookie Ben Sinnott having a year of growth at TE, the Commanders won’t have to lean on Ertz as much in 2025, but he can still be productive in limited use.
The Browns and EDGE Myles Garrett agreed to a four-year extension that made him the highest-paid non-quarterback in NFL history. Obviously, Garrett isn’t a fantasy piece outside of IDP leagues, but given the potential of a huge trade return if he had gotten moved, there were fantasy considerations in any Garrett trade that are now off the table.
The Vikings kept Aaron Jones Sr. around on a two-year deal. The 30-year-old had a career-high 1,138 rushing yards in Minnesota in 2024 to go along with 408 receiving yards (second best of his career). He’ll turn 31 before the season ends, so the days of Jones being even a potential bell cow are over, but he can be perfectly productive on 14-18 touches a game.
The Patriots re-signed TE Austin Hooper for one more year. Hooper had 476 yards in New England in 2024, his most since 2019. Hooper was the TE6 in fantasy that year, but at this point in his career, he’s just roster depth with very marginal TE upside.
Denver and QB Jarrett Stidham agreed to terms on a two-year deal to keep him around as the backup to 2024 rookie Bo Nix. Stidham is seen as one of the better backups in the league, so having a veteran behind Nix works in Denver.