Best and worst free agent signing for each NFC West team

How do the Rams’ signing match up to their division rivals’?

The dust is settling on the NFL’s free agency period as teams and fans turn their attention to next month’s NFL Draft.

How did the four NFC West teams fare in free agency? The San Francisco 49ers are looking to maintain their hold on the division and keep contending for Super Bowls. Last season was promising for a young Los Angeles Rams team, but what are they without Aaron Donald? Both the Seattle Seahawks and the Arizona Cardinals are amidst rebuilds and hope to make the jump to contention sooner than later.

Let’s take a look at the best and worst signing for each team:

Los Angeles Rams

Best signing: Kamren Curl, DB

LA’s two-year, $9M deal with Curl was considered by capologists to be one of the most team-friendly deals across NFL free agency. Curl is a bonafide innings eater and brings four years of starting experience to a young Rams safeties room.

Worst signing: Colby Parkinson, TE

The Rams were in a tough spot with Tyler Higbee suffering a serious knee injury in the wildcard round of the playoffs. He’ll miss most of the 2024 season after recently signing a contract extension. Reading the tea leaves of Parkinson’s three-year $22.5M contract that has an out after two years and $15.5M, it seems like the team is expecting him to be both the short-term replacement for Higbee and the heir apparent at tight end.

With just 57 catches for 618 yards and four touchdowns over 54 career games, it’s fair to be skeptic that Parkinson can fill in for arguably the best tight end in Rams history on day one. We’ve also seen Sean McVay dream big at tight end in the past without the production matching the upfront cost.

Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images

San Francisco 49ers

Best signing: Josh Dobbs, QB

The 49ers play the compensatory formula frustratingly well, and that was best evidenced this offseason when Sam Darnold and Sebastian Joseph-Day signed elsewhere to give San Francisco draft ammunition in 2025. Most of the 49ers’ free agent deals were for one year (with the exception of Floyd, Yatur Gross-Matos, and Jordan Elliott). Dobb’s performance in the 2023 season has entrenched him as a backup, and he’ll be rewarded each offseason moving forward similar to how Chase Daniels, Nathan Peterman, and others have before him.

Worst signing: Leonard Floyd, DE

We’ve seen the 49ers be aggressive before and load up on the defensive line, but the signing of Floyd feels like a missed attempt at a splash. Don’t get me wrong, Floyd is a good player but a better run defender than pass rusher. That skillset is valuable, but it probably won’t end up matching the price tag of two years, $20M with an out after one year for $12M.

Would San Francisco have been better off bringing back Chase Young or making a push for Jadeveon Clowney perhaps?

Seattle Seahawks

Best signing: Jerome Baker, MLB

The early free agency rumors paired Seattle and head coach Mike MacDonald with his former Baltimore Ravens linebacker Patrick Queen. Queen would have been a strange fit as he struggled in Baltimore before his running mate Roquan Smith came along, and Queen ultimately commanded three years, $41M from the Pittsburgh Steelers.

A one year, $7M deal for Baker seems like a much more savvy signing, especially in how Baker could realistically produce at a same or better level to Queen. Baker might not be the Seahawks’ forever middle linebacker, but he’s the right guy for 2024 based on how the dominoes fell.

Photo by Perry Knotts/Getty Images

Worst signing: Leonard Williams, DT

The Seahawks acquired Leonard Williams from the New York Giants in exchange for a second round pick, and the doubled down on their sunk costs with a three-year, $64M deal. Williams is a starting caliber lineman, but I’d question how much he truly moves the needle at age 30.

Was Seattle afraid to acknowledge they maybe gave up too much for Williams via trade and felt forced to re-sign him as a result? That’s how it feels to me.

Arizona Cardinals

Best signing: Jonah Williams, OT

Smart teams view free agency as an opportunity to plug needs so they can let the draft and best players available fall to them. That’s what it seems the Cardinals are doing by partnering Jonah Williams with the tackle they drafted early last year, Paris Johnson. This signing provides adequate tackle play for Kyler Murray and keeps Arizona’s options open in the draft. Well played.

Worst signing: Sean Murphy-Bunting, CB

I want to give head coach Jonathan Gannon the benefit of the doubt and say he likely sees something in Sean Murphy-Bunting to prioritize him in free agency and sign him to a three-year, $25.5M deal that ties the corner to the team for at least two years and $18M. Still, Murphy-Bunting’s on-field play doesn’t suggest a price tag at this level. This makes the Rams’ signings of Darious Williams and Tre White look like relative bargains.

What is Gannon up to?