Ideal landing spots for NFL's top remaining free agents

The NFL free-agency period has been open for more than a week, but there’s still plenty of big names on the market. Here’s where we think they should go.

Keenan Allen | WR | Buffalo Bills

At 32 years old, Allen should look to play for a contender. With just five playoff games in his 12-year career, the six-time Pro Bowler needs a team that can get him to Super Bowl LX. 

Allen would fit perfectly on the Bills, where QB Josh Allen recently won the NFL’s MVP award. Allen has missed 16 games over the past five seasons but would bring a 17-game average of 1,245 yards and seven touchdowns to a team without a 1,000-yard receiver last season.

Amari Cooper |WR | Tennessee Titans

The 2024 season is one Cooper would like to forget after posting 547 yards and four touchdowns in 14 games with the Browns and Bills. He had 1,250 yards for Cleveland the previous year and scored a career-high nine touchdowns the year before that.

Tennessee traded DeAndre Hopkins away in 2023 and lost Nick Westbrook-Ikhine to the Dolphins this offseason. The Titans still have leading receiver Calvin Ridley but Tyler Boyd remains a free agent.

With the No. 1 pick in the 2025 NFL Draft, there’s a good chance the Titans take a quarterback, possibly Miami’s Cam Ward. If they do, the five-time Pro-Bowler would be an ideal target for the former Hurricane.

Brandin Cooks | WR | New England Patriots 

A former first-round pick of the Saints in 2014, Cooks hopes to play for his sixth team in 11 years next season. After posting a career-low 259 yards in 10 games with the Cowboys last season, his days as a No. 1 receiver are clearly over, but he could be an asset to a team with young pass-catchers like New England — he had 1,082 yards with the Patriots in 2017.

No team passed for fewer yards per game (176.1) than the Patriots last season and got only 87 yards in 12 games from second-round rookie Ja’Lynn Polk. Sharing the field with a veteran like Cooks could be just what Polk needs under new head coach Mike Vrabel.

Stefon Diggs | WR | Dallas Cowboys

The Cowboys haven’t had a true No. 2 receiver to complement CeeDee Lamb since Cooper had 865 yards and eight touchdowns in 2021, numbers that should be within reach for Diggs, as long as he’s healthy.

A torn ACL limited Diggs to eight games, 496 yards and four total scores with the Texans in 2024, ending his streak of consecutive 1,000-yard seasons at six. 

Diggs grew up a Cowboys fan, and his younger brother, CB Trevon Diggs, has been with the Cowboys since 2020. The elder Diggs often talks about playing with his brother, and at 31 years old, this could be his last chance to do so.

Tyler Lockett | WR | Las Vegas Raiders

Lockett made 212 catches for 2,527 yards for Seattle with Geno Smith under center from 2022-24. He had 612 catches and 59 touchdowns under former Seahawks coach Pete Carroll from 2015-23.

Now that Carroll and Smith are with the Raiders, Lockett seems like an ideal candidate to boost the team’s anemic offense. Only three teams scored fewer points per game (18.2) than Las Vegas last season, but veteran receiver Jakobi Meyers did have a career-high 1,027 yards. 

With a 4-13 record, the Raiders won't catch the Chiefs next season, but pairing Lockett with Meyers and All-Pro tight end Brock Bowers could get them out of the basement in the AFC West.

Von Miller | LB | Buffalo Bills

With a $23M cap hit for 2025, the Bills had no choice but to release the soon-to-be 36-year-old pass-rusher, but ESPN's Jeremy Fowler describes Miller’s return as a "50-50" proposition.

The veteran linebacker had six sacks in 13 games last year, two fewer than Bills DE Greg Rousseau, who played 456 more snaps than Miller and signed a four-year, $80M contract to stay in Buffalo this offseason. Letting Miller go would still cost the team $15M in dead cap money, so bringing him back could be the best option for both sides. 

While his name has been linked to the Bengals, Packers and his home town Dallas Cowboys, the Bills give Miller the best odds (+650) to reach Super Bowl LX  and end his career with a third Super Bowl ring.

Aaron Rodgers |QB| New York Giants

According to multiple reports, the 41-year-old quarterback has standing offers to join the New York Giants and Pittsburgh Steelers, although by the sounds of Steelers captain Cameron Heyward, Pittsburgh could be off the table. 

Aside from Tommy DeVito, the Giants have no quarterbacks signed for 2025 and even if the Giants take Ward or Colorado's Shedeur Sanders in the draft, the team could bring them along slowly, letting them learn under Rodgers the way Rodgers learned under Brett Favre in Green Bay.