NFL Analysis
3/17/25
6 min read
2025 NFL Free Agency: 5 Players Who Got Overpaid This Year
Free agency is an exciting time for NFL fans, but it also comes with questionable contracts that result in overpaid players around the league.
That's not to say that these players can't end up living up to their deals, but given their recent track records of on-field performance, some of the deals that were given out this offseason come off as head-scratchers.
Let's dive into a handful of the most overpaid free agents from this offseason, looking at it from a production perspective instead of potential.
All contract numbers are provided by Over The Cap.
Most overpaid 2025 NFL free agents
Javon Kinlaw, DT, Washington Commanders 
3 years, $45 million ($30 million guaranteed)
It's one thing for the Washington Commanders to get younger by releasing Jonathan Allen, but it's a whole other ordeal to replace his value on the team by overpaying another interior defensive lineman like Javon Kinlaw $15 million a year.
Kinlaw becomes the 21st-highest-paid interior defensive lineman in the league by average annual salary. This is despite never playing more than 700 defensive snaps in a season and being a less-than-reliable run defender.
That said, Kinlaw does bring some pass-rushing juice, generating 65 pressures and 8.0 sacks in the last two seasons. He even ranked 15th in pass rush win rate for the New York Jets this past season.
Still, given Kinlaw's injury history earlier in his career and struggles as a complete three-down defensive tackle, this is a pretty tough deal to justify, especially as an Allen replacement.
Aaron Banks, OG, Green Bay Packers
4 years, $77 million ($27 million guaranteed)
The Green Bay Packers deserve the benefit of the doubt when it comes to offensive line evaluations. However, on paper, the deal that Aaron Banks got is one of the most surprising of free agency.
Banks was a second-round pick by the San Francisco 49ers back in 2021, and he had become a mainstay at left guard for them during the last three seasons. A 325-pound guard, Banks can move bodies in the trenches with some decent ability in pass protection, allowing just one sack in the last two seasons.
However, Banks still has some limitations, including some mental lapses on film that allowed free pass rushers. Despite that, the Packers were comfortable making him the third-highest-paid left guard in the NFL, behind only Landon Dickerson and Quenton Nelson.
It's clear that the Packers want to get bigger in the trenches and are likely to keep establishing the run with Josh Jacobs. Still, that's an awful lot of money to spend on a guard for a team that had enough cap space to make moves to open their Super Bowl window this offseason.
Dan Moore Jr., OT, Tennessee Titans
4 years, $82 million ($50 million guaranteed)
It's hard to blame the Tennessee Titans for wanting to bolster their offensive line after how this past season went. However, with so many tackle options re-signing with teams, the free agent market quickly became sparse, and the Titans might have gone too overboard to find any kind of starting-caliber left tackle.
Dan Moore Jr. gets a contract that puts him comfortably in the top 10 of highest-paid left tackles in the league. The $50 million guaranteed is especially shocking, putting him fourth among current LTs in guaranteed money.
It's not like Moore is an All-Pro caliber of left tackle, either. He allowed 12 sacks and 41 pressures just this past season and has never allowed fewer than seven sacks during his four years in the league.
That's an awful lot of money to give to an unproven left tackle. While he may have playing experience, the Titans needed some bigger upgrades than this one to prevent a disaster like last year when it comes to protecting their quarterback.
Dayo Odeyingbo, EDGE, Chicago Bears
3 years, $48 million ($32 million guaranteed)
The Chicago Bears are paying Dayo Odeyingbo like a top-20 pass rusher in the league, but that deal is going to be leaning heavily on potential over production.
Odeyingbo was drafted by the Indianapolis Colts in 2021. However, it wasn't until the past two seasons that he finally became a fairly reliable pass rusher. He set a career-high for sacks in 2023 with 8.5, then set a career-high mark with 42 pressures this past season.
Despite the big uptick in pressures, Odeyingbo still generated pressure on less than 10 percent of his pass-rushing snaps. He also ranked outside of the top 20 in ESPN's pass rush win rate among EDGEs.
The Bears don't seem to be worried about that and were comfortable giving Odeyingbo a contract that made him a top-20 paid EDGE in terms of average annual salary and guaranteed money. Ryan Poles was determined to bolster Chicago's trenches, which is a smart strategy, but this one might have been a pretty drastic overpay unless Odeyingbo can find another gear in 2025.
Harold Landry, EDGE, New England Patriots
3 years, $43.5 million ($26 million guaranteed)
It was difficult to include any New England Patriots signings here simply because the team had to use its money somehow. However, when considering Harold Landry's play in recent years, it's a bit shocking that the Patriots didn't want to use this kind of contract offer to acquire a younger, more productive pass rusher.
Landry was a premier pass rusher when Mike Vrabel was head coach of the Tennessee Titans, posting career numbers in 2021 with 12 sacks and 70 pressures. However, a torn ACL forced him to miss the entire 2022 season, and his pressure numbers have been rapidly declining since, even though he's hovered around double-digit sacks in recent seasons.
The good news is that Landry is still just 28 years old, but the fact he only generated pressure on 7.1 percent of his pass-rush snaps in 2024 should be a huge red flag. That's a lot of money to pay for a player trending in the wrong direction, but it's clear that Vrabel still believes in the player that Landry can be when he's operating at peak efficiency.
