The first week of the 2015 NFL free agency period was filled with a flurry of activity -- including a roar of trades that made Jimmy Graham a Seahawk, LeSean McCoy a Bill, Sam Bradford an Eagle and Brandon Marshall a Jet. It made for great theater and kept us all busy tracking down the next move.
Free agency has proven to be one of the most exciting times of the football calendar. And with that in mind, it's never too early to look ahead to the class of free agents set to hit the market in 2016.
For the purpose of this exercise, we're going to bypass four quarterbacks who could potentially become free agents next season -- Russell Wilson of the Seahawks, Andrew Luck of the Colts, Cam Newton of the Panthers and Eli Manning of the Giants -- as each of their teams has either stated its intentions to re-sign that player long term, or is almost assuredly going to finalize an extension (note: the Colts can also use their fifth-year team option on Luck for 2016).
This list highlights the 15 players who have the best chance to have a big impact on the 2016 free-agent class.
1. Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers: He enters the final year of his contract in 2015, and unlike the quarterbacks above, the possibility of him playing elsewhere has at least been floated. He'd be 34 when the subsequent league year begins, but he's undeniably durable (nine straight years of playing 16 games) and quarterbacks of his caliber simply don't become available that frequently. The Chargers do have the franchise tag in their back pocket to use if needed.