6 Teams That Should Already Be Planning Ahead for 2025 NFL Free Agency

Timing is everything when it comes to contract extensions in the NFL.

NFL front offices are constantly walking the tightrope between locking down premium talent for the long term future of their franchise and avoiding getting burned by committing too much to a player who hasn’t earned it.

We’ve seen teams around the league hand out some major extensions recently. Justin Jefferson was the biggest domino, but Jared Goff, Christian McCaffrey and Nico Collins have all cashed in as well.

These deals made sure that teams didn’t have to sweat out putting together an extension before the dawn of 2025 free agency. There are other teams around the league who should be looking ahead to next year’s free agent frenzy and either rewarding their top players with an extension, looking to make a trade or just standing pat.

Here, we’ll take a look at those teams and offer three steps that the franchise should take for the long-term health of their franchise and 2025 free agency.

1. Trade Tee Higgins by the trade deadline
2. Extend Ja’Marr Chase ASAP
3. Avoid a Trey Hendrickson Extension

The Cincinnati Bengals don’t appear to be looking beyond 2024 with the way they have approached Tee Higgins this offseason. The receiver is set to play on the franchise tag this season, but he still hasn’t actually signed the tender.

The last time the Bengals used the franchise tag, they let Jessie Bates III walk the following year. While some teams will use the tag to extend their contract negotiation window, that doesn’t appear to be what the Bengals are doing here.

The idea that they are just going to let the situation play out, compete for a Super Bowl with Higgins and Chase for one more season and let Higgins walk in 2025 free agency is short-sighted.

The more proactive approach of trading Higgins now would give them compensation that could either help this season or bolster their 2025 draft capital.

Cheaper receiver options could be important because Ja’Marr Chase is extension eligible and he’s already making moves to get paid. Chase skipped out on OTAs amid contract negotiations and Jeff Darlington of ESPN reported on SportsCenter (h/t B/R’s Julia Stumbaugh) that Chase is “the priority” for the Bengals right now.

That’s wise. As big as Jefferson’s contract is, waiting another year risks seeing the salary cap rise again. Then Chase’s team would be able to make the argument that they want the same percentage of the cap that Jefferson is getting resulting in an even bigger financial commitment.

Trey Hendrickson caused a brief stir this offseason when he and his agent reportedly approached the team about a long-term extension or a trade. Hendrickson put together a career year with 17.5 sacks, but he’s already under contract through 2025 with an $18.7 million cap hit next season.

That will be his age-31 season and there’s no reason to give money beyond that unless he duplicates his production in 2024.

1. Extend CeeDee Lamb ASAP
2. Extend Dak Prescott Before Training Camp
3. Extend Micah Parsons Before the 2025 Offseason

The Cowboys have three major contract extensions coming down the pike. That’s a quick explanation as to why they were the lowest-spending team this offseason by a wide margin. Jones and the ownership group only paid out $93.4 million while the Steelers ranked 31st at $146.9 million.

The only acceptable explanation for a lot of penny-pinching this offseason was the amount of guarantees that will be tied up in three major contract extensions.

Justin Jefferson’s new four-year, $140 million featured $110 million in guarantees. Given Lamb’s age and production, he’ll be seeking something similar. Even if it falls a little short, it’s going to be a massive contract.

Yet, the Cowboys don’t have another option. Their receiving corps outside of Lamb is relatively weak and he’s racked up 395 receptions and 5,145 yards with 30 touchdowns in his first four years.

Prescott’s Spotrac market value is a four-year contract worth $203.5 million. They don’t include guarantees, but Jalen Hurts has a comparable contract and about 70 percent of his was guaranteed.

The Cowboys can take a wait-and-see approach if they want, but it’s going to come with the constant distraction of trade speculation and extension talk. Even with the team’s lack of playoff success under Prescott it isn’t easy to find a quarterback who keeps them as relevant as Prescott has.

There’s not quite as much urgency with Micah Parsons. He’s not set to be a free agent until 2026. However, he’s extension eligible and could look to become the highest paid non-quarterback in the league.

It’s best to get ahead of that kind of contract. Plus, a new deal could soften the $21.3 million cap hit he’s scheduled for in 2025, thus creating some cap space for free agency that year.

1. Trade Marshon Lattimore Before Week 1
2. Extend Paulson Adebo Before the Season
3. Trade Alvin Kamara by the Trade Deadline

No one manages the cap quite like the New Orleans Saints. That’s no necessarily a compliment, it’s just a statement of fact. The Saints routinely come into each offseason with a cap burden in excess of $75 million.

They are already projected to be $100.2 million over the cap next season.

It’s a spending philosophy that can make some sense when a team is in position to contend. They continue to push money into future years with void years and restructures to theoretically put the most competitive team on the field they can.

But there have been diminishing returns for a while now. The Saints haven’t been to the playoffs in three years since Drew Brees retired.

Trading Marshon Lattimore would be the kind of move that would finally move the Saints toward a true rebuild. The cornerback’s restructured contract offers a an out-of-the-box way to create cap space.

As Dallas Robinson of Pro Football Network noted, the Saints converted Marshon Lattimore’s salary into an option bonus that would go to his new team if he were traded between June 1 and Week 1 of the 2024 season. Trading him would mean the Saints only take on a dead cap charge between $10-13 million.

One reason the Saints could feel comfortable trading away Lattimore is the depth they have in the room. Paulson Adebo, Alontae Taylor and Kool-Aid McKinstry is a young trio worth building around.

The best cap-managing teams identify and pay young talent early. The Saints have an opportunity to do that by working to sign Adebo to an extension now. The 24-year-old has been a starter since he was a rookie put together a great season last year with four interceptions and an opponent passer rating of 62.7.

Paying him now will be cheaper in the long run than what they would pay if he has another season like that.

Alvin Kamara has been a star in the Saints offense since he was drafted, but he’s set to have a $29.1 million cap hit in 2025. If they can find a taker between now and the trade deadline they could get him off the books and only have a $10 million dead cap charge in 2025.

1. Extend Brandon Aiyuk ASAP
2. Trade or Release Deebo Samuel After 2024 Season
3. Wait on Extending Charvarius Ward

The San Francisco 49ers are facing a critical impasse when it comes to their receiver situation. Brandon Aiyuk has become a crucial cog in their passing game, but the Niners already paid Deebo Samuel and are projected to be $23 million over the cap already.

Aiyuk did not show up to the team’s mandatory minicamp, racking up over $100,000 in fines and potentially signalling a longer holdout coming.

The reality is that the days of having Aiyuk and Samuel on the Niners roster are probably numbered. It’s hard to pay two receivers and still have enough money to build a championship roster.

But trading or letting Aiyuk walk is not the answer. He’s only 26 years old and has proven to be the better pure receiver of the two.

The good news is that it’s fairly easy to get out of Samuel’s contract after the 2024 season. There would be a $15.1 million dead cap charge, but they would free up $9.1 million in space. A post-June 1 designation would split that $15.1 million dead cap charge between two years and save $17.5 million.

If you’re looking at ways to free up cash for Aiyuk, that’s a solution that should be considered. The Niners drafted Ricky Pearsall in the first round of this year’s draft and he’s already drawing rave reviews.

The Niners could take one more shot at the Super Bowl with a newly-extended Aiyuk, Samuel and Pearsall before letting Pearsall take over as the second receiver in 2025.

Charvarius Ward has recently expressed his desire to stay in San Francisco. His contract is set to expire at the end of the season and he’s played well in their system.

However, handing a 30-year-old cornerback an early extension is a hard sell. San Francisco would be wise to make Ward prove he can continue playing at high level at a volatile position.

1. Extend DK Metcalf Before 2025 Offseason
2. Make Decision on Tyler Lockett by Trade Deadline
3. Explore Trade Options for Geno Smith in 2025

There are eight teams who are already projected to be over the cap in 2025, per Spotrac. Most of them are names you’d expect to see. The Saints consistently handle their cap year-by-year. The Browns have Deshaun Watson’s onerous contract. The Niners and Bills have paid up in an attempt to win a Super Bowl in recent seasons.

Then there’s the Seattle Seahawks sitting at $9 million over the projected cap. The Seahawks haven’t won a playoff game since 2019 and haven’t won double-digit games since 2020.

With a new head coach coming in to replace Pete Carroll it would make sense to have a bit more of a long-term view in their goals.

That means clearing cap space for 2025 when new coach Mike Macdonald will have a better idea of what his team needs. It’s pretty early to extend DK Metcalf. He’s not a free agent until 2026, but he’s 26 years old, the price of receivers continues to rise and it could drastically lower his $29.5 million cap hit in 2025.

Tyler Lockett just signed a restructured two-year contract, but all of the guaranteed money is in 2024. His $17 million cap hit in 2025 is completely non-guaranteed. That could make him an interesting trade asset at the deadline if he’s showing signs of decline or Jaxon Smith-Njigba has just taken over the No. 2 spot.

The other aging veteran the Seahawks have to make a decision on is Geno Smith. There has been buzz this offseason about Sam Howell’s arrival in the Pacific Northwest and the team could clear a significant portion of Smith’s $38.5 million cap hit in 2025.

1. Extend Tristan Wirfs ASAP
2. Made a Decision on Chris Godwin by Trade Deadline
3. Wait Until After Season to Extend Lavonte David

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are kind of stuck in a rut at this point. They are good enough to contend in the NFC South, but they need to decide how much that’s worth to them. We’ll get a glimpse into their future plans with how they approach a few upcoming contract situations.

The biggest money contract they will need to hand out is Tristan Wirfs. The left tackle is only 25 years old and has already earned three Pro Bowl nods. He didn’t report to OTA’s amid contract negotiations, but it’s always a good idea to take care of young core players as quickly as possible.

That’s especially true when they have already handed out big extensions to Antoine Winfield Jr., Baker Mayfield and Mike Evans.

The more tricky situation is the one they face with Chris Godwin. The 28-year-old is in the final year of his contract and just put up his third-consecutive 1,000-yard season, but his success rate fell over 10 percent and he only scored two touchdowns. He also saw his targets drop from 9.47 a game in 2022 to 7.65 last year.

Part of that might be that he was miscast in Dave Canales’ offense. He spent more time on the outside when he has traditionally thrived in the slot.

The Bucs should wait to see how he fits into Liam Coen’s offense before making a decision on him for next season and beyond. However, it would be best to make that decision by the trade deadline so they could potentially get a valuable draft pick for him in a trade instead of waiting on a compensatory pick in 2026.

Tampa was wise to hand Lavonte David a one-year extension in March. He should be a year-by-year player at 34 years old.