Thank goodness for the NFL

NORTH CANAAN — These are trying times. The coronavirus has basically put our society on hold — and part of that is that all sporting events have been canceled for the foreseeable future.  

For someone such as myself, who is a huge sports fan, it’s especially tough to be out of school and observing social distancing because there’s so much less to watch on television.  

Thankfully, I found some solace through the NFL free agency season. This is a time when players who are not under contract can seek out deals with new teams. It has given me a little reprieve from this societal shutdown.  

In this article I’ll be going over what I think are the three best free agency moves and the three worst.  

Tom Brady is a Buccaneer 

Up first and perhaps the most important: Tom Brady signing with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.  

I see this as an absolute slam dunk for both sides. Brady gets a “win-now” team to prove he doesn’t need Coach Bill Belichick to win, and the Bucs get a quarterback who isn’t going to throw 30 interceptions.  

Stefon Diggs is a Bill 

Next would be the Minnesota Vikings trading Stefon Diggs to the Buffalo Bills. Again, I see this as an outright win for both sides.  

The Vikings get a first-round pick plus a few others in exchange for Diggs, who had a rift with quarterback Kirk Cousins.  

The Bills get a young wide receiver coming off back-to-back 1,000-yard seasons to pair with their young quarterback, Josh Allen.  

Gerald McCoy is a Cowboy 

The last “best” free agency move belongs to my favorite team, the Dallas Cowboys. They signed defensive tackle Gerald McCoy to a three-year deal.  

McCoy, an eight-time Pro- Bowl-er, fills a huge need in the middle of their defense and for below the average price.  

Last season the Cowboys’ highest pressures from a defensive tackle was 11; McCoy alone had 48. A pressure is a stat that occurs when a defensive player forces the quarterback to leave the pocket. 

Deandre Hopkins is a Cardinal 

This next move is undeniably the worst move of free agency: The Houston Texans trading Deandre Hopkins to the Arizona Cardinals. The Texans traded an unquestionable top three wide receiver in the sport for an injury-prone running back in David Johnson plus a couple of picks.  

This is a fantastic move for the Cardinals, who get to pair Hopkins with their quarterback: Offensive Rookie of the Year winner Kyler Murray.  

Bad news Bears 

The next two bad moves were made by the same team, and that would be the Chicago Bears.  

First, they made a trade for Jacksonville Jaguars Nick Foles, who has lost his starting job to a second-year player.  

It’s good to give Mitch Trubisky some competition, but they could have brought in a cheap free agent. Instead they opted to waste a pick by trading for someone who will get paid $66 million over three years.  

The other move was signing former Cowboys pass rusher Robert Quinn. Quinn is still an effective player and will be in Chicago, but he’s not “$14 million a year” effective and he certainly won’t be over the next five years. He’s already 30 and it’s extremely rare for a pass rusher to be very effective after that age.    

Sam Foley is a college student and Lakeville Journal reporter. He is bored after only a week in quarantine. 

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