The two main focuses of the NFL offseason are the start of free agency and the NFL draft in April - that's it. However, the NFL and the media surrounding it do such an exceptional job at getting the fans sucked into the action of it all.
It's been that way for years no matter who is a free agent, no matter who is getting drafted - there's always a certain level of excitement to it all because the NFL is marketed in such a genius way that no other professional league in the country is doing, or more like they can't.
This year comes as no exception.
As soon as the starting gun fired for free agency, the mass panic around X crashing simply because people wanted to know who signs where is an indication of how big the event of NFL free agency is to both the insiders and the fans.
Even NFL insider Ian Rapoport summarized the outage by saying, "Man, if you thought we were important, wait until Twitter goes down. The only way to get this kind of information is right here on NFL Network…forget about Twitter. Just watch TV.”
He was right.
All the fans across the league were the same on the first day no matter where they were - we had to find an outlet to hear the latest news that wasn't on our phones.
But a thought popped up - why are we hyping up this free agency so much?
When you take a look at all the signings that have occurred and who went where, it's honestly way more excitement built up around it than it should be and there are plenty of examples of this.
Admittedly, the DK Metcalf to Pittsburgh trade was a shock and a near-perfect way to kick things off. It let every fan know the big wave of signings was coming within that first day, like always.
Sure, the San Francisco 49ers released their entire team and the Houston Texans traded away their offensive line for practically a rusted penny and some stale potato chips after what was already a putrid season from their front five. But was everything else really headline news? Or was it just made out to be?
The biggest signing of free agency has come at the hands of the Seattle Seahawks and quarterback Sam Darnold, who is coming off a career year with the Minnesota Vikings and was given a $100.5 million contract.
Yet, that overshadowed cornerback Jaycee Horn's four-year deal with the Carolina Panthers worth $100 million - which made him the highest paid at his position in NFL history. Then when you ask 10 NFL fans who Horn is, probably seven or more of them will say "I have no idea."
So is this free agency really that boring where Darnold going to the Seattle Seahawks is the highlight of it all?
When wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins signed a one-year deal worth up to a possible $6 million with the Baltimore Ravens, everyone was ecstatic to see Lamar Jackson have yet another option in the passing game, even posting graphics of him being the 'WR1' - totally forgetting the 32-year-old is well past his prime.
Hopkins simply falls in line with veteran receivers the Ravens have signed in recent years who already have one foot inside the retirement home - something that isn't worth a single second of headline thought. Or at least, it shouldn't be.
And after fans called the page out on their post, they came back with this:
In this day and age, engagement seems to be the only thing that matters most - what gets the people talking. Perhaps this article is no different.
Yet, taking a step back and looking at it all, the truth of the matter is that this NFL free agency period is mostly filled with smaller names being signed to simple one-year or two-year deals and aged veterans at the ends of their careers who are just names at this point.
Everyone is sitting waiting to see what Aaron Rodgers (41), Russell Wilson (36), and Cooper Kupp (31) plan to do. In 2025, to put it nicely, that's pathetic.
Every new article that's out is either talking rumours of Rodgers going to the Steelers, Wilson leaving in an SUV in Cleveland, or Cooper Kupp wanting to sign somewhere immediately.
This year's free agency isn't anything special. Fans and media alike are clinging to names this year to have some sort of headlines to talk about and twisting them to create engagement.
Putting players on a pedestal who are in early retirement and don't deserve more than a minute of air time needs to stop and bad teams with a ton of cap space didn't instantly become title contenders because they signed a lot of top names - New England.
Rodgers going to the Steelers doesn't make them any better than when Wilson was there.
Geno Smith is not going to lead the Las Vegas Raiders to a Super Bowl no matter how touching the reunion with Pete Carroll is.
Wilson going to the Browns does nothing at all to improve their chances of even coming in third in the AFC North, let alone have playoff dreams.
Kupp, a guy who hasn't been able to play a full season since 2021, is not going to skyrocket any team in this league to instant Super Bowl contenders when he's done for the season by Week 10.
But it's understandable, the NFL needs its headlines every year because it's the NFL. The old heads are players a lot of us grew up watching and are interested to see them land on different teams, even our own.
Perhaps it's even hypocritical to talk about said headlines in an article vehemently calling them out in the first place.
Rodgers completing the Brett Favre tour of possibly going to the Vikings is a funny topic for a day - but it's just hot smoke for clicks online because it's been made obvious that won't happen.
Not a single player that's signed to any team this year has catapulted them to a level where it shakes up the landscape of their own division, let alone the league itself - not a single one.
There's no doubt that free agency this season will have the TV loudmouths spewing nonsense and other lovable personalities creating unique discussion topics about what actually matters for each respective team.
But all in all, this year's free agent 'frenzy' is nothing more than daily background noise that has left me shrugging my shoulders at every notification I see about who signed where and for how much.
You could call me a stick in the mud, but I just don't see the excitement behind Darnold on an average Seahawks team or an aged quarterback signing with a team that he'll flop with.