The new league year has not even started yet and owners have already shelled out well over a billion dollars in free agency. (Well, almost. More like agreed to do so. Reportedly.) Free agency is far from a cure-all for what ails teams, but the right additions can be the start of helping a struggling team become competitive and a competitive team turn into a Super Bowl contender.

Much like free-agent moves can alter the trajectory of a franchise, a player's decision on where he chooses to sign can change the narrative of his career (in a good or bad way) and have a huge impact on his potential fantasy impact.

For at least the next four days (March 9-10 - the two days of the legal tampering period - and March 11-12 - the first two days of the new league year), The Huddle will provide an extensive breakdown of every meaningful reported signing (at the four primary fantasy positions) and detail what it means from a fantasy perspective. (Players are listed by position and then in order of the overall worth of their reported contract.)

Note: Free agents cannot officially sign a contract with any team other than their own until 4:00 PM ET on March 11. The only players who can sign with teams before then are those who have already been released or were not already contractually tied to a team. Deals will occasionally fall apart in the 11th hour, which is why it is important to note that none of the players in this article have actually signed … yet.

QUARTERBACKS

Malik Willis, Dolphins (reportedly agreed to terms on a three-year contract worth $67.5 million)

After the 2024 preseason, the Packers traded a seventh-round pick to the Titans for Malik Willis and basically said, “We can rebuild him; we have the technology.” The Packers slotted Willis in as the backup to Jordan Love and got 11 games and three starts from Willis, to the tune of 972 passing yards, six touchdowns, zero interceptions, plus 261 rushing yards and three rushing scores. That production led the Miami Dolphins to entice Willis with a big-money deal to become their presumptive starting quarterback.

Under the braintrust of former Packers executive - and now Dolphins’ general manager - Jon-Eric Sullivan and former Packers defensive coordinator - and now Dolphins’ head coach - Jeff Hafley, Willis is a natural fit. Perhaps more than any other potential landing spot, they will give him every chance to succeed.

Early fantasy prognostication: Willis will be an instant fantasy sleeper thanks to his rushing ability, but in a small sample size, Willis displayed the ability to limit turnovers as well. We’ll see what he has learned when he starts in 2026 after a disastrous start to his career in Tennessee and a subsequent semi-rebound in Green Bay. Willis is a late-round sleeper quarterback with tons of fantasy potential in Miami.

RUNNING BACKS

RB Travis Etienne, Saints (reportedly agreed to terms on a four-year contract worth $52 million)

For what it's worth, Etienne's decision to leave for the Big Easy will mark his first time playing football in college or the pros without Trevor Lawrence. Etienne's arrival in New Orleans likely closes the door on Alvin Kamara playing another year in New Orleans. There is no question that Etienne provides the Saints with a big-play element at running back that they have lacked for a while. (He ranked in the top 10 among all players in rushes of 20-plus and 40-plus yards last season.) The problem with Etienne remains a bit of an enigma after four years in the league. For a player with as much explosiveness as he has, it is shocking that he has failed to average more than 4.3 yards per carry in any of the last three seasons. Even in his two best years as a pro, he has shown a tendency to wear down late in the year. The size of his contract likely guarantees that Etienne will begin the 2026 season as a three-down back for the Saints, but he will need to show he can keep his big-play ability for a full season if he doesn't want to eventually cede some early-down work to Kendre Miller or passing-down snaps to Devin Neal.

Early fantasy prognostication: The Saints have added enough quality pieces along their offensive line in recent years to give Etienne a chance to match or exceed his RB10 from last season (and head coach Kellen Moore should help in that regard). With that said, while Moore could view Etienne as his new Saquon Barkley (from their time together with the Eagles in 2024), the ex-Jag is not quite in the same class as Barkley, nor will his offensive line be on par with Philadelphia's most recent Super Bowl team. Moore also has not used his running backs all that often in the passing game traditionally (none of his last four offenses have ranked higher than 18th in running back targets). As a result, Etienne has RB1 upside in this offense if he can come relatively close to matching last year's touchdown rate (admittedly a tall order), but he comes with enough risk that a high-end RB2 investment feels like a safer call.

Kenneth Walker III, Chiefs (reportedly agreed to terms on a three-year contract worth $43.05 million)

The Chiefs have gone through a lot of running backs over the past few seasons and brought back some of them for another go-around as well. Last season saw the Chiefs go back to the well with Isiah Pacheco, Kareem Hunt and rookie Brashard Smith in a rotation to limited success. All three backs averaged less than four yards per carry in 2025, necessitating a new approach at running back for a Chiefs team that was treading water until quarterback Patrick Mahomes went down with an ACL injury.

Enter Walker, fresh off a Super Bowl and Super Bowl MVP trophy. After playing a full 17-game season for the first time in his career, Walker averaged 4.4 yards per carry and notched his second 1,000-yard season in 2025. Walker represents a clear upgrade in talent in the Chiefs’ backfield. Now he should have the backfield to himself, courtesy of the commitment Kansas City is showing him financially. Only Smith remains from last season’s backfield, so Walker should be front and center as a dynamic long-distance threat that the Chiefs haven’t had in quite some time.

Early fantasy prognostication: For fantasy, Walker was RB22 and in a clear timeshare with Zach Charbonnet last season, but this payday virtually guarantees a bell-cow role for Walker in 2026. There’s a chance Mahomes may not be available in Week 1 following his ACL tear, but Walker will be relied upon to give opposing defenses something else to focus on rather than just Mahomes’ arm and legs. The touchdown equity available in Kansas City as a high-scoring team should vault the expectations of Walker into the RB1 range for fantasy, with best-case scenarios seeing Walker as a top-five running back overall in 2026.

Kenneth Gainwell, Buccaneers (reportedly agreed to terms on a two-year contract worth $14 million)

Long regarded as a good backup running back, Kenneth Gainwell saw a huge uptick in work splitting the Pittsburgh Steelers’ backfield in 2025 with career highs across the board in carries (114) and rushing yards (537), plus targets (85), receptions (73) and yards (486) as well. It’s going to be hard to reach those numbers with Tampa Bay, where he’ll work in as a likely clear second back to Bucky Irving.

Early fantasy prognostication: It’s a clear downgrade from his 2025. As long as Irving stays healthy, Gainwell won’t see as much work as he did in Pittsburgh. In fact, it probably hampers Irving’s fantasy value if anything. Gainwell slots into a late-round “Zero RB” running backs in 2026 fantasy drafts, where he’ll have a ton of contingent value if something happens to Irving. Barring an injury to Irving, Gainwell may not receive enough work to make him a standalone back either.

Tyler Allgeier, Cardinals (reportedly agreed to terms on a two-year contract worth $12.25 million)

It is hard to understand the fit from a player or team perspective here, and it might be even more surprising that Allgeier could not attract a bigger offer on the open market as a proven young power back with a low reading on his career odometer. James Conner just agreed to a restructured contract recently and appears likely to remain in Arizona as a result. He arguably provides many of the same qualities to an offense as Allgeier and is a more proven quantity in the passing game. Trey Benson has struggled to stay healthy, but he offers more explosiveness. (It is almost worth wondering if the Cardinals intend to move on from him at this point.) As far as the Cardinals are concerned, they probably won't have enough leads to protect anytime soon to benefit from someone like Allgeier as much as another team might have. A more optimistic outlook might be that Arizona knows it will not contend in 2026 and is looking forward to pairing Allgeier with Benson once Conner is likely off the roster in 2027. 

Early fantasy prognostication: Bad team, bad fit and a crowded backfield - three of the things no fantasy manager wants associated with their running backs. Allgeier should be considered the favorite now to lead the team in carries in 2026, but all bets are off after that. Arizona is clearly the worst team in the NFC West at this point, which means plenty of negative game scripts and situations that do not play into Allgeier's strengths. Worse yet, the Cardinals could be looking at some combination of Jacoby Brissett and Gardner Minshew starting the majority of games at quarterback in 2026, which could lead to unfavorable fronts on running downs. Last but not least, Arizona's offensive line is a far cry from the quality one Allgeier ran behind for most of his time in Atlanta. Unless things change in a big way over the next few months in Arizona, Allgeier is shaping up to be a volatile RB3 in fantasy this year.

Rico Dowdle, Steelers (terms yet to be disclosed)

The first thing to note here is that investors of Kaleb Johnson should be concerned. As for Dowdle, he has managed to turn an injury-plagued start to his NFL career into back-to-back 1,000-yard seasons on two offenses that probably had no business supporting a 1,000-yard rusher. It could be argued that Pittsburgh is the best situation he has been in since emerging as a starter for the Cowboys in 2024. Who was his head coach that year, you ask? New Steelers head coach Mike McCarthy. That fact alone does not guarantee Dowdle will walk into a three-down role for Pittsburgh in 2026, but it should make him a heavy favorite to assume an early-down role much like the one Najee Harris had while sharing the backfield with Jaylen Warren in 2024. In that season, Harris rushed for 1,043 yards and six touchdowns and caught 36 passes - nearly identical numbers to the ones Dowdle has posted over each of the last two seasons.

The Steelers arguably have a better offensive environment now than Dallas did two years ago and Carolina did last year, especially following the addition of Michael Pittman Jr. on March 9. It probably does not hurt Dowdle's cause that McCarthy will be calling the plays instead of Arthur Smith in Pittsburgh this year.

Early fantasy prognostication: While the Steelers may not appear to be a great fit for Dowdle on the surface for present and future managers, he has a good chance of being a very good value in fantasy. Pittsburgh's defense should be improved in 2026, which should allow McCarthy to lean on the running game as much as he wants. The Steelers' offense should be significantly better as well (assuming Aaron Rodgers returns) with DK Metcalf and Pittman serving as credible threats on the perimeter and Pat Freiermuth and/or Darnell Washington doing the same inside the hashes. Harris typically pushed for low-end RB2 status during his time in Pittsburgh in a lesser offense. If Dowdle comes anywhere close to handling the same kind of volume, he has the explosiveness to do more with his touches than Harris ever did. What does McCarthy think of Warren? That is the big question. If McCarthy views Warren more as a nice complement, Dowdle has low-end RB2 fantasy upside. The decision to move on from Kenneth Gainwell suggests McCarthy - at least initially - prefers Warren in a change-of-pace role and wants Dowdle to be the man on running downs and near the goal line.

WIDE RECEIVERS

Alec Pierce, Colts (reportedly agreed to terms on a four-year contract worth $114 million) 

Pierce may not be changing his address, but the start of free agency has certainly changed his outlook for the 2026 season (and likely beyond). Box-score scouts will likely look at his 2025 season (47 catches for 1,003 yards and six touchdowns) and think it was just a continuation of his first three seasons but with more volume. The truth is that while he kept doing his big-play thing as well as he ever has, he was also the team's most complete receiver at times. The problem is that while he is now being paid like a No. 1 receiver, he has not been one (outside of maybe his final season at the University of Cincinnati when he posted 52 catches for 884 yards and seven touchdowns). In other words, Indianapolis is asking someone who has never topped 52 receptions in college or the pros to be an alpha receiver (or at least paying him like one).

While it is not unheard of for a No. 2 receiver to get paid like this (Jameson Williams, Tee Higgins and DeVonta Smith are recent examples, although all of them will now make less than him), Pierce has never consistently shown the ability to earn targets (seven career games of at least eight targets in 64 outings) or dominate games in the way they have. It is entirely possible that Pierce does more to make life easier for Tyler Warren and Josh Downs than to become the team's primary receiving threat. 

Early fantasy prognostication: The Colts obviously were thrilled at how much Pierce blossomed in 2025, but there is no way managers should subscribe to the "follow the money" theory in this particular case. Pierce's reported contract is the ninth-richest deal (average annual value) at his position. While he may eventually evolve into the complete receiver he appeared to be rounding into last year, managers don't need to make the same kind of investment that Indianapolis just did. Pierce should be considered a shaky fantasy WR3 with occasional WR1 upside and a WR4 floor.

Wan’Dale Robinson, Titans (reportedly agreed to terms on a four-year contract worth $78 million)

Robinson has been pigeonholed as a small, gadget-type slot receiver for his career. In 2025, however, he played more on the outside than he had in his three-year career. While still primarily working in the slot on almost 68% of his snaps, Robinson saw a career-high 31% utilization on the outside of the formation. Robinson IS small at 5-foot-9 and 180 pounds, but now he’ll run his routes in Tennessee with former Giants head coach - and now Titans offensive coordinator - Brian Daboll calling the plays.

The Titans need to move the chains, and Robinson was ninth in the NFL last season in third-down receptions as well as 12th in first-read target rate among receivers with 50 or more targets. Sure, the Giants not having Malik Nabers played a large role in Robinson being that involved on money downs, but he delivered when needed and that shouldn’t be discounted. Tennessee was hard-pressed to form a functional passing game last season on the fly, but Year 2 of Cam Ward and adding an accomplished target like Robinson could help smooth things out for the Daboll- and Ward-led offense in 2026.

Early fantasy prognostication: Robinson followed up his 140 targets earned in 2024 with another 140 in 2025. He not only caught 92 balls last season, but Robinson also notched his first 1,000-yard season. Robinson was quietly fantasy football's WR14 in PPR formats and, while typically a short-area target, Robinson extended his aDOT from 5.1 yards in 2024 to 9.0 yards in 2025. Robinson will now likely compete for targets with Elic Ayomanor, Chimere Dike, Gunnar Helm and perhaps Calvin Ridley. However, the monetary investment in Robinson leads one to believe that he will be a featured target, and that puts him squarely in the WR3 conversation for fantasy purposes.

Mike Evans, 49ers (reportedly agreed to terms on a three-year contract worth $60.4 million) 

In case there was any doubt, Brandon Aiyuk has played his last snap for the 49ers. Evans should serve as a strong red zone weapon at the very least in San Francisco  - one that will be very much needed early in the 2026 season while George Kittle completes his recovery from a torn Achilles. While he will turn 33 years old before the start of the season, Evans also gives head coach Kyle Shanahan a traditional X receiver who will undoubtedly attract defensive attention whenever he is on the field. While durability has become more of an issue in recent years and the presence of Christian McCaffrey (and eventually Kittle) lowers Evans' fantasy floor a bit from a volume perspective, there is absolutely no reason why the longtime Buccaneer cannot score 10-plus touchdowns in this offense if the 49ers can get at least 12 games out of him. 

Early fantasy prognostication: Evans almost always possesses top-20 upside at receiver with occasional WR1 upside. The only caveat now is that his health (and age, to a lesser degree) is more of an issue. Depending on your league's risk tolerance with injuries, managers - especially zero-RB enthusiasts - might be able to snag him as their WR3.

Michael Pittman Jr., Steelers (reportedly part of a late-round pick swap and agreed to a three-year contract worth $59 million)

It is hard to understand how Daniel Jones' favorite receiver was available for a late-round pick swap, although the Colts' hands were probably tied somewhat given the size of Alec Pierce's deal (reported four years and $114 million). Regardless, Pittman's addition addresses what was arguably the worst receiver room in the NFL last season. Along with the freakish D.K. Metcalf (6-foot-4 and 230-plus pounds), Pittman (6-foot-4 and 220-plus pounds) gives Pittsburgh enviable size on the perimeter, which could come in particularly handy if Aaron Rodgers plays another year and builds enough trust with him to make him his preferred target on back-shoulder throws.

Early fantasy prognostication: It is far too early to make a good call on Pittman, most notably because no one knows the identity of Pittsburgh's starting quarterback for 2026 yet. If Rodgers returns, then Pittman has a decent chance of pushing for low-end WR3 value at a likely low-end WR4 price. If the quarterback is Mason Rudolph or Will Howard (or another low-end starter type), then low-end WR4 feels more like a best-case scenario for him.

WR Rashid Shaheed, Seahawks (reportedly agreed to terms on a three-year contract worth $51 million)

Shaheed had a career season in 2025, but it was truly a tale of two halves as his first nine games with the Saints were excellent, followed by a dismal nine games with the Seahawks after a trade at the deadline. Shaheed was nowhere near a full-time player with Seattle, as he could only earn 23 targets in nine games and ran routes on just 65% of dropbacks for the Seahawks.

Early fantasy prognostication: His new contract could be a key to increased utilization for Shaheed in 2026, so it’s fair to assume a bit of a bump in time on the field and more prominent utilization alongside Jaxon Smith-Njigba. Will Cooper Kupp be part of the equation as well? Time will tell, but the Seahawks putting a hefty financial investment into Shaheed is a good sign for a bounce-back. He could be a savvy late-round sleeper for fantasy in 2026 that could pay off handsomely for fantasy managers.

TIGHT ENDS

Isaiah Likely, Giants (reportedly agreed to terms on a three-year contract worth $40 million) 

Tight end was not exactly a pressing need for New York with Theo Johnson around, but he is not going to play ahead of another player at his position making more than $13 million per season. While the allocation of resources for the Giants can be questioned, the talent they are acquiring cannot. This move also does not happen unless it comes with new head coach John Harbaugh's blessing. Likely had the misfortune of being drafted on a run-heavy team that already had an established tight end like Mark Andrews four years ago, yet he somehow managed to look like Lamar Jackson's best playmaker at various times with the Ravens. Harbaugh had a front-row seat to that, so he will make it clear to new offensive coordinator Matt Nagy that Likely plays a key role right away.

Likely is not exactly a liability as a blocker in the run game, but where he truly excels is as a move tight end who serves as a mismatch against linebackers in coverage. Barring any other significant moves in free agency, Likely could replace what the Giants are losing in Wan'Dale Robinson - albeit from a player who is eight inches taller and about 60 pounds heavier. Assuming Likely effectively becomes the new No. 2 option in New York (replacing Robinson), there is a possibility Johnson's maintains the same role he had in 2025 and Likely ends up seeing the same kind of hybrid usage that Kyle Pitts did in 2025.

Early fantasy prognostication: While Johnson could prove to be better than the new regime believes, the presence of Harbaugh and the size of Likely's contract should be enough to give Likely's truthers something they have wanted for most of his pro career - a chance to be the clear No. 1 tight end in a potentially good offense. If Nagy views Likely as more of a hybrid matchup weapon and less as a traditional tight end (much in the same way Nagy saw Andy Reid use Travis Kelce during his time in Kansas City), then he probably has a low-end TE1 floor and could push for top-five status at his position in any given week.

Honorable Mention

QB Tua Tagovailoa, Falcons

QB Gardner Minshew, Cardinals

WR Kendrick Bourne, Cardinals 

WR Jahan Dotson, Falcons

WR Olamide Zaccheaus, Falcons

WR Jalen Nailor, Raiders

TE Austin Hooper, Falcons

TE Charlie Kolar, Chargers

Notable Players Who Re-signed (and should not expect their fantasy stock to change much)

RB J.K. Dobbins, Broncos

TE Travis Kelce, Chiefs

TE Greg Dulcich, Dolphins

TE Cade Otton, Buccaneers

Players Traded Before March 9

WR D.J. Moore, Bills

Franchise/Transition Tag Players

QB Daniel Jones, Colts

RB Breece Hall, Jets

WR George Pickens. Cowboys

TE Kyle Pitts, Falcons

This article originally appeared on The Huddle: 2026 Free Agency Recap - Day 1