Falcons’ Kirk Cousins, Eagles’ Saquon Barkley highlight top NFL faces in new places

It’s been four months since the big headlines of NFL free agency, and with training camps opening across the league, there’s value in looking back on the biggest names changing teams this offseason.

It’s not just elite players — fully a quarter of the league’s teams have new head coaches, and there has been incredible churn with new coordinators on both sides of the ball. With the regular season just weeks away, here are the new faces in new places who will be making major headlines throughout the upcoming season.

QB Kirk Cousins, Falcons

Cousins, who turns 36 in August, was the high-dollar winner in free agency, landing a four-year, $180 million deal from Atlanta that includes $100 million guaranteed. He has averaged 4,000-plus passing yards over the past nine seasons, and quarterback has been a glaring weak spot for the Falcons since Matt Ryan left. 

But there are complications. Cousins is coming off a torn Achilles, and if that isn’t a big enough complication, Atlanta used the No. 8 overall pick in the draft to take Washington’s Michael Penix Jr., so fans are excited about Cousins’ successor before he’s even taken a snap for the Falcons. Oddsmakers have installed the Falcons as favorites to win the NFC South, even though the Bucs have won the division three years in a row and have most of their core returning for 2024.

RB Saquon Barkley, Eagles

Is this the juiciest of the offseason transactions? The rare inter-divisional move has Barkley leaving the Giants and getting — by running back standards — a big deal from the Eagles, who are paying him $38 million over three years. Philadelphia revamped its defensive secondary after a disappointing finish to 2023, but Barkley is arguably the biggest addition. Still only 27, can he get back to the dominance of his rookie year, when he rushed for 1,307 yards, caught 91 passes and scored 15 touchdowns? He makes those two Eagles-Giants showdowns must-watch games this season.

OLB Brian Burns, Giants

New York gave up a second-round pick to Carolina and signed Burns to a five-year, $141 million deal. At that hefty price, he’ll need to show his 2022 production, which was 12.5 sacks and a Pro Bowl. No Giants player has managed that many sacks in a season since Jason Pierre-Paul in 2014. If New York wants to show its 2022 success wasn’t a fluke — it was the team’s only season with a winning record since 2016 — then the defense will need to lead the way.

WR Stefon Diggs, Texans

Diggs went from one AFC power to another after four Pro Bowl, 100-catch seasons with the Bills. Can his experience take C.J. Stroud to another level, joining two receivers on the rise in Nico Collins and Tank Dell? Houston gave up only a 2025 second-round pick to get Diggs, and his absence has put Buffalo’s place in the AFC hierarchy in question because Josh Allen no longer has an elite target. Diggs, who turns 31 in November, will be a free agent after this season, which gives him an extra motivation to perform at a high level in 2024.

QB Russell WIlson, Steelers

Best veteran bargain in the league? Denver was willing to eat $39 million in guaranteed 2024 salary to move on from Wilson, so he lands in Pittsburgh for the league minimum, hoping to resuscitate his career. His stats last year — 26 touchdown passes against eight interceptions — are far better than what the Steelers have gotten from their QBs in the post-Roethlisberger era. They have former Bears starter Justin Fields as well, but Wilson, who turns 36 in November, will get the first crack at resetting himself as a worthy NFL starter.

DL Christian Wilkins, Raiders

Wilkins has never made a Pro Bowl, but he landed a massive $110 million contract after getting a career-best nine sacks — double his best in four previous seasons — with Miami in 2023. Lining him up with edge Maxx Crosby creates one of the best inside-outside combos in the league. If the Raiders are to improve their 8-9 record from last season, they’ll have to lean heavily on that defense, with uncertainty at quarterback and in the run game.

RB Josh Jacobs, Packers

There’s no shortage of 1,000-yard running backs with new teams in 2024: Derrick Henry from the Titans to the Ravens, Tony Pollard from the Cowboys to the Titans, Joe Mixon from the Bengals to the Texans, Ezekiel Elliott from the Patriots back to the Cowboys, Antonio Gibson from the Commanders to the Patriots, Austin Ekeler from the Chargers to the Commanders and D’Andre Swift from the Eagles to the Bears.

The most intriguing one, however, may be Jacobs to the Packers. Can a new home get him back to his 2022 form, when he led the NFL in rushing and earned first-team All-Pro and Pro Bowl honors? Jacobs dropped to an ordinary 3.5 yards per carry last season, but he’s still only 26 as he takes over as the lead back in Green Bay. Aaron Jones landed with the Vikings, so Jacobs will join ascending quarterback Jordan Love as the Packers try to challenge the Lions for the NFC North crown.

OLB Danielle Hunter, Texans

As Houston works to build on its breakout 2023 season, Hunter is a major addition, signing a two-year, $49 million deal after four Pro Bowls in the past five years with Minnesota. He needs just 12.5 sacks to reach 100 for his career and has yet to turn 30. Houston lost its top pass-rusher, Jonathan Greenard, in free agency to Minnesota, so can Hunter’s experience be a difference-maker as the Texans try to challenge the AFC’s best?

CB L’Jarius Sneed, Titans

The Chiefs couldn’t keep all of their best players, and Sneed is one who got away, traded to Tennessee for a 2025 third-round draft pick. The Titans gave him a four-year, $76 million contract, including $51.5 million fully guaranteed, unprecedented for a corner. He’s a central part of Tennessee’s rebranding, working under new defensive coordinator Dennard Wilson. If the Titans are to escape last place in the AFC South, Sneed needs to be in top form going up against three top young quarterbacks in C.J. Stroud, Trevor Lawrence and Anthony Richardson.

Chargers‘ Jim Harbaugh headlines eight new head coaches

You can make a case that Harbaugh is the NFL’s biggest import of 2024, fresh off a national title at Michigan and easily the most recognizable of the league’s new head coaches. He averaged 11 wins in four years as the 49ers’ head coach from 2011-14 and now takes over a Chargers team with just one playoff win in the past decade.

[READ MORE: Can Jim Harbaugh turn the Chargers into winners? He’s done it everywhere else]

Just three of the eight have been head coaches before, with the Falcons’ Raheem Morris and the Commanders’ Dan Quinn getting their second shots. The rest are new and young: Seattle’s Mike Macdonald is the youngest at 37, followed closely by the Patriots’ Jerod Mayo (38), the Titans’ Brian Callahan (40), the Panthers’ Dave Canales (43) and the Raiders’ Antonio Pierce (45).

Last year taught us how quickly a first-year coach can go in either direction. Frank Reich lasted only 11 games in Carolina, while DeMeco Ryans led the Texans to a division title and playoff win in his first season.

Greg Auman is FOX Sports’ NFC South reporter, covering the Buccaneers, Falcons, Panthers and Saints. He is in his 10th season covering the Bucs and the NFL full-time, having spent time at the Tampa Bay Times and The Athletic. You can follow him on Twitter at @gregauman.

[Want great stories delivered right to your inbox? Create or log in to your FOX Sports account, follow leagues, teams and players to receive a personalized newsletter daily.]

---

---