NFL Analysis
3/17/25
8 min read
2025 NFL Free Agency: This Year's Most Underrated Signings
So much of the focus on free agency is on the big-money signings. Some of those can work out — they typically are for the best players — but we often get to the middle of the season and wonder how a player making a significant impact was available for so little during the offseason.
The moves we look at here aren’t going to be the best value signings. They’re more underrated moves that might not get the most attention now but could have an outsized impact during the season.
2025 NFL Free Agency's Most Underrated Signings
Kevin Zeitler, G, Tennessee Titans
Kevin Zeitler just turned 35 years old at the beginning of March, but he remains one of the most productive guards in the league. The age is what has kept him on one-year deals lately, but I’d keep signing Zeitler to one-year deals until he completely falls off. At just $9 million this year, he’ll make less than half of Aaron Banks’s average annual salary.
According to Sports Info Solutions, Zeitler's 1.1 percent blown block rate last season with the Detroit Lions was tied for a career-low and the lowest rate among offensive linemen with at least 500 snaps played.
That wasn’t just a career year as a passenger on a good Lions line. He’s steadily been one of the most reliable linemen in the league for nearly a decade despite only one career Pro Bowl nod.
Zeitler brings veteran experience to a reworked Tennessee line. As a right guard, he’ll line up next to J.C. Latham, who struggled at left tackle as a rookie but will move back to the right side, where he played in college.
With that improvement in pass blocking inside — along with potentially improving at both tackle spots with the signing of Dan Moore Jr. being the reason to move Latham — the Titans could have a decent line to put in front of a rookie quarterback — say, Cam Ward.
As a run blocker, Zeitler can help an interior that struggled to create holes. Per FTN, the Titans ran the ninth-highest rate of inside zone runs last season but ranked 27th in yards per carry on those plays.
Kristian Fulton, CB, Kansas City Chiefs
Defensive backs got paid this offseason. Jaycee Horn was extended at the top of the market and then beaten out by Derek Stingley’s extension. Meanwhile, the top corners in free agency now round out the top 12 of average annual value at the position with deals ranging from $16-$18 million per year.
Because of that, teams taking some shots further down the market could work out for some teams. The Kansas City Chiefs signed Kristian Fulton for two years and $20 million with $15 million guaranteed. That’s a decent swing for a player who has shown upside throughout his career.
The former second-round looked like a future star in Tennessee before injuries thwarted his progress. On a one-year deal with the Charges last season, he was one of the best cornerbacks in football during the first half of the season by multiple advanced metrics, including adjusted yards allowed per coverage snap.
According to Next Gen Stats, Fulton had the 17th-highest tight window rate on targets among defensive backs with at least 20 targets on the season.
Having Fulton on the outside could allow Trent McDuffie to move into the slot more often in 2025, especially with safety Justin Reid now gone. McDuffie was a stronger slot corner in 2023 than he was outside in 2024, and moving him inside more often with Fulton on one side would allow the Chiefs to get the most out of Jaylen Watson, Joshua Williams, and Nazeeh Johnson on the other side.
Haason Reddick, EDGE, Tampa Bay Buccaneers
It’s easy to overlook the Haason Reddick signing because it was the first deal announced once the tampering period opened and because Reddick had little impact following his lengthy holdout last season.
Yet, getting a pass rusher with Reddick’s upside at one year and $14 million with just a $2 million guaranteed salary is a desperately needed win for a team like the Buccaneers.
Tampa Bay was fifth in overall pressure rate last season but got there by relying on the blitz. The Buccaneers sent a blitz on 36.4 percent of opposing dropbacks, second only to the Detroit Lions, per TruMedia. However, the Buccaneers were just 13th in pressure rate with a four-man rush.
Yaya Diaby led the team with 65 pressures, but the next two highest pressures came from the interior with Vita Vea (50) and Calijah Kancey (39).
Todd Bowles is never going to stop blitzing at a high rate, but adding Reddick gives the Buccaneers a threat to win 1-on-1, which can both help with the four-man rush and give opposing offenses someone to pay attention to when the blitz is coming.
Reddick had at least 60 pressures in both 2022 and 2023 and accounted for at least 23 percent of his team’s pressures in each season from 2020 to 2023. In 2023, Reddick had the fourth-most quick pressures among all defenders, per Next Gen Stats.
It’s possible Reddick has started to decline — he’ll turn 31 years old in September — but he doesn’t have to be the 2023 version of Reddick to be worth this one-year deal.
Jordan Mason, RB, Minnesota Vikings
The Vikings traded for Jordan Mason, but we’re going to count it as an underrated move based on what else was out there on the free agency market.
Sure, Minnesota could have entered what’s expected to be a deep running back draft class, but for a pick swap in 2025 (the Vikings will send a fifth-round pick in exchange for a sixth-rounder) and a 2026 sixth-round pick on top of a two-year deal with $7 million guaranteed, it’s not a significant investment at the position that still brings in a productive player.
Mason was San Francisco’s leading rusher last season, and he was easily the best of the group that needed to fill in for Christian McCaffrey. According to Next Gen Stats, Mason averaged 1.4 rushing yards over expected per carry, which was third behind Derrick Henry (1.8) and Saquon Barkley (1.6).
With an improved interior of the offensive line after the signings of Will Fries and Ryan Kelly, Minnesota should be better than 17th in EPA per play on running back carries.
The Vikings re-signed Aaron Jones earlier in free agency — the best back on the market — but that was only for two years and $20 million. Jones played well for Minnesota last season, although the Vikings lacked a reliable second option to take some of the load off Jones’s legs.
Mason can provide value on the ground for early downs, which could also free up Jones to have some more receiving work. A rotation could keep all backs healthier throughout the season.
Ernest Jones, LB, Seattle Seahawks
Teams that re-signed their players, especially early in free agency or before, got good deals. The Seahawks re-signed Ernest Jones for three years and $28 million with $10 million guaranteed.
In a market that saw some linebackers with a shorter track record hit the $15 million average range, getting Jones back on a deal that does not touch the top 10 in either average annual salary or three-year cash is a big win. We covered Jones as an underrated player before, and he still is.
Before the Seahawks traded for Jones midseason, they ranked 17th in EPA per play and 24th in success rate against the run. After Jones was acquired, the Seahawks ranked fifth and ninth, respectively.
Jones finished tied for 14th among linebackers in total tackles that produced a positive play for the defense (75). He made a tackle on 23.9 percent of his run defense snaps, the fifth-highest rate among 46 linebackers with at least 300 snaps against the run.
We also saw what the loss of Jones did to the middle of the Rams’ defense — a unit that struggled to stop the run or short passes up the middle in 2024.
Jones had a relatively up-and-down year in coverage but still finished 30th among linebackers in yards allowed per coverage snap while playing for two different teams. He was also playing through a knee issue — part of the reason he didn’t get a bigger contract — but if offseason surgery goes well, he could be moving even better around the field.
