My oh my, there has been a flurry of NFL news today and the ability to sign free agents does not come until tomorrow at 4 pm ET!!!  Which means that there is plenty of time for a deal to fall through (remember the Eagles last year with Frank Gore?) and create yet a flurry of even more news.  A quick look at some of the bigger moves in the last 24 hours:

Eagles looking for a new identity: Trading DeMarco Murray to the Titans and Kiko Alonso with Byron Maxwell to the Dolphins is a show that the Eagles are slowly removing the Chip Kelly fingerprints off of their roster.  I doubt that every player obtained under his watch will leave (they did keep Sam Bradford after all), but the Eagles want to go back to their roots with the Andy Reid style offense.  It is the same one that Doug Pederson ran and was successful with in Kansas City.  Murray might have a solid turnaround with the Titans given the dual-threat abilities of Marcus Mariota and with TEN having the first overall pick to repair the offensive line.  The Dolphins… I have no idea.  They are making a lot of questionable moves, just as they did last season, that do not seem to make much sense on paper.  It did not work out last season, but maybe it will this time…?  Doubtful.

Big money big money big money: Come on Wheel!!! Wheel-Of-Fortune anyone?  No?  Well, Malik Jackson (six years, 90M is the reported deal) and Kelechi Osemele (five years, 60M reported deal) were certainly thinking about big money and they got it from the Jaguars and Raiders respectively.  It is always dangerous to throw that kind of money around, especially for a player like Jackson who had a lot of big time players around him, but the beauty of it for the Jaguars and Raiders is that they have a TON of cap space.  That large amount of cap space allows them to front load a contract and reduces the long term risk with guarantees and dead money.  A large first year cap hit makes it easy to cut the player later if he is a dud or allows the Raiders to sign more players in the following years to build around them.  And both teams did flash a lot of signs of life last season and could be under-the-radar playoff picks for 2016.

Re-signing: Richie Incognito resigned with the Bills at three years, 15.75M which is good for him and great for Ramon Foster.  If he does not try the free agent route, I will be shocked.  I am sure that he and his agent have had many talks today after seeing Incognito and Osemele get their contracts.  Bills also resigned their tackle, Cordy Glenn.  The Giants are taking a chance on Jason Pierre-Paul with a one year deal that can reach up to 10.5M.  I am sure it is a very incentive heavy contract, but JPP wants to see if he can revalue himself, he reportedly left “more money” on the table but it obviously was lower than what he wished, and the Giants look to be willing to give him the chance. The Chiefs and Seahawks both issued three year deals to a defensive player that they did not wish to lose.  Chiefs are rolling the dice on age with Tamba Hali and slid him a three year deal to keep him in KC while the Seahawks locked up the nine veteran DT Ahtyba Rubin his own three year deal.

Head-scratcher: TE Dwayne Allen got four years and almost 30 million dollars to stay with the Colts.  I am glad the Steelers never had the chance to look at him on the market if that is what he wished to make given his career 91 receptions for 1,045 yards (albeit the 11.5 YPC is not too shabby).  He just does not inspire (16 receptions last season and an injury) and this deal does not make a lot of sense to me.  Then again, Jim Irsay has not made many moves recently that made a lot of sense to me.

Steelers: Pittsburgh kept some players in house by giving Darrius Heyward-Bey, William Gay, and Robert Golden all three year deals at a very low rate.  There are still some questions about other pending free agents (Foster, Steve McLendon, and Kelvin Beachum (and he is probably looking with considerable interest at the large offensive line contracts so far)) and there are still some starting spots available in Pittsburgh.  It will be interesting to see what is done in free agency vs. what is done through the draft for PIT.  I would still love to see Zach Brown and Haloti Ngata come to PIT.

Others: Texans have interest in RB Lamar Miller and QB Brock Osweiler, Packers have interest in RB Matt Forte, Raiders have interest in RB Chris Ivory and Doug Martin, and the Eagles have RB Ryan Matthews available for trade.  Basically, if you’re looking for a RB, now is the time.

Calvin Johnson and Peyton Manning are both officially retired and will be missed from the NFL.  Johnson was glorious to watch since his rookie year (I wanted him to go to Tampa Bay in that drat *sad face*) and Manning will take some getting used to as he was in the league for most of my life and the only time I did not watch him was when he was out for a season due to his neck injury.  2016 has been a big year for retirements.

Personal note: Typing from my back porch in 65 degree weather with Queen playing and drinking an A&W root beer?  Yes please!!  Summer is almost here and I could not be happier about that fact.