2026 NFL Offseason Outlook Series
Pro Football Rumors is breaking down how all 32 teams’ offseason blueprints are shaping up. Going forward, the Offseason Outlook series is exclusive to Trade Rumors Front Office subscribers, and that link provides details on how to sign up for an annual membership.
Here are PFR’s 2026 rundowns of the 32 teams’ offseason blueprints:
AFC East
AFC North
AFC South
AFC West
NFC East
NFC North
NFC South
NFC West
Vonn Bell Joins Colorado’s Coaching Staff
Vonn Bell did not announce his retirement at any point, but the longtime NFL safety has lined up the first gig in his post-playing days. Bell has been announced as a member of Deion Sanders‘ staff at Colorado. 
Bell will work as the team’s safeties coach in 2026. That comes as no surprise, since he played that position for nine years in the NFL. The 31-year-old was on the market throughout this past season, lining up a workout with the Steelers in October. No deal was worked out, and he did not catch on with a team through the remainder of the campaign.
A second-round pick of the Saints in 2016, Bell immediately took on a starting role in New Orleans. He played out his rookie contract before landing a three-year Bengals pact during his first trip to free agency. The Ohio State product was a first-team staple during his first Cincinnati stint, which included a run to the Super Bowl in 2021.
When his Bengals contract expired, Bell landed another three-year commitment. Joining the Panthers on a $22.5MM deal, he was expected to operate as a key figure in Carolina. However, Bell wound up being released after only one year with the team. That set up a Bengals reunion worth the veteran minimum. Bell reprised his role as a Cincinnati starter at first, but by the end of the campaign he had been relegated to special teams duties.
After going one year without managing to line up an NFL opportunity, Bell will now turn his attention to coaching instead of going through the free agent process once more. In all, he totaled 151 regular and postseason appearances in the league and amassed roughly $36MM in career earnings.
Panthers Grant DT A’Shawn Robinson Permission To Seek Trade; Team Open To Moving QB Andy Dalton
A’Shawn Robinson has been a full-time starter with the Panthers since arriving in free agency two years ago. The veteran defensive tackle’s Carolina tenure is likely nearing an end, however. 
Robinson has been granted permission to seek a trade, Joe Person of The Athletic reports (subscription required). In cases such as this, teams often attempt to gauge the trade market of a player they are likely to release in the absence of any offers. Person recently pointed to Robinson as a strong cut candidate, making today’s news unsurprising.
One year remains on Robinson’s contract, a three-year, $22.5MM pact he signed on the open market in 2024. The former Lion, Giant and Ram is currently scheduled to carry a cap hit of $12.56MM in 2026. However, a release in this case would yield $10.5MM in savings while only creating a dead money charge of $2.06MM. That could very well lead to a Robinson departure through a cost-shedding move soon, unless a trade partner can be found. Soon to turn 31, Robinson has totaled 145 tackles and eight sacks in 33 Panthers games.
Another Carolina veteran who could be on the move shortly is Andy Dalton. The longtime quarterback is drawing trade interest, and the final year of his contract contains a base salary of just $3.9MM. That figure could be attractive for any number of teams seeking out affordable depth under center, and Panthers general manager Dan Morgan has spoken about a willingness to find a new Bryce Young backup this offseason.
“There’s a potential that somebody may want him,” Morgan acknowledged during an appearance on the Pat McAfee Show (video link). “Andy’s a really good player, and he’s a great guy, great culture fit for us. I haven’t talked to any teams about a trade, but I think if the possibility did come up then I would talk to Andy, give him that option and let him explore a trade. I do think we want to get a little younger and a little more athletic at that backup quarterback spot.”
Dalton is 38, so the list of replacement candidates which are younger is rather long. The former Pro Bowler has made a total of seven starts across his three Carolina seasons, but Young has shown enough to enter 2026 as the team’s clear-cut starer. Even though a long-term extension is not likely to be worked out this offseason, Young could be in line for a substantial raise relatively soon.
Finding a long-term backup option as early as this spring would make sense for Carolina as a result. Just like Robinson, that could lead to Dalton finding himself on the move in time for the start of the new league year.
Panthers’ Andy Dalton Garnering Interest
Bryce Young is locked in as the Panthers’ starting quarterback for 2026, but the team may have a new second-stringer next season. Backup Andy Dalton is generating trade interest, Adam Schefter of ESPN reports.
A three-time Pro Bowler during his run as the Bengals’ starter from 2011-19, Dalton has since achieved journeyman status. Before moving to Carolina in 2023, Dalton divided three seasons among Dallas, Chicago and New Orleans.
Since the end of his Bengals tenure, the 38-year-old has combined for 36 starts, including seven with the Panthers. He briefly took over as the Panthers’ starter when they benched a struggling Young in September 2024. Dalton made five starts then, but after he sprained his thumb in an October car crash, Young reclaimed the position for the rest of the year. The former No. 1 overall pick has held the role ever since.
With Young performing well enough to keep his job in 2025, Dalton saw less action than ever. He attempted a career-low 37 passes over four appearances. His lone start, a 40-9 loss to the Bills in Week 8, came while Young was on the shelf with a high ankle sprain. That may go down as Dalton’s last start as a Panther if general manager Dan Morgan receives a good enough offer. Otherwise, given Dalton’s close relationship with Young, the Panthers may be content to continue with him in the No. 2 role.
Twelve months ago, with Dalton nearing another trip to free agency, Morgan kept him in place on a two-year, $8MM extension. He’s due a 2026 base salary of $3.9MM, which is reasonable for an established backup and even more appealing for a stopgap starter.
It’s unknown which teams have shown interest in Dalton, but Rich Cimini of ESPN points out that he played for Jets offensive coordinator/former Panthers head coach Frank Reich in Carolina in 2023. The Jets are expected to release Justin Fields, while Tyrod Taylor is heading for free agency. That leaves New York as an obvious landing spot for a veteran signal-caller, whether it’s Dalton or someone else.
OC Brad Idzik To Call Panthers’ Plays In 2026; Latest On QB Bryce Young
Dave Canales‘ work as the Buccaneers’ offensive play-caller in 2023 provided a springboard to a head coaching opportunity. The Panthers hired Canales after only one season of OC experience, and he has called plays throughout his Carolina tenure.
That will change in 2026. In a rather interesting development, the third-year HC confirmed OC Brad Idzik would serve as Carolina’s 2026 play-caller. This will be the first such assignment for the 34-year-old coordinator, who came to Charlotte along with Canales in 2024.
Idzik joins Canales in being an ex-Pete Carroll Seahawks staffer. He worked as a quality control assistant and assistant wide receivers coach (under Canales, the team’s WRs coach for much of his tenure) in Seattle. After Canales landed the Bucs’ OC gig, Idzik became Tampa Bay’s receivers coach. Following two years in a non-play-calling role, Idzik will receive a promotion of sorts.
Unlike HC carousel mainstay Ejiro Evero, no interviews have come Idzik’s way since he arrived in Charlotte. The Panthers are also coming off an inconsistent year on offense, ranking 27th in scoring.
This is an interesting decision from Canales, and it certainly suggests confidence he will be the coach beyond 2026. David Tepper has been known as a rather impulsive owner; he fired Matt Rhule less than 2 1/2 years into a seven-year contract and canned Frank Reich after 11 games. Tepper headlines have died down since the Reich ouster, but Canales taking his hands off the wheel after a playoff season is a bit unexpected.
The son of former Jets GM John Idzik, Brad Idzik will have more say in Bryce Young‘s development in 2026. The Panthers are expected to pick up Young’s fifth-year option, buying them time. Like the Texans and C.J. Stroud, though, an extension does not appear forthcoming this offseason.
Carolina is not expected to offer Young an extension before the ’26 season, The Athletic’s Joe Person notes. This is not especially surprising given the diminutive quarterback’s struggles through three seasons. Canales played a central role in elevating the former Heisman winner into a capable starter, after the Panthers benched the Tepper-driven QB draftee two games into his second season. After trade offers emerged, an Andy Dalton car accident led to Young being given another chance. He has kept the job since.
Young ranked 22nd in QBR last season, though it took him 16 games to clear 3,000 passing yards. Averaging 6.3 yards per attempt, Young finished with 3,011 yards and a 23-11 TD-INT ratio. That still represents considerable progress after a concerning rookie season. The Panthers devoted two first-round picks (Xavier Legette, Tetairoa McMillan) to staffing Young’s receiving corps, seeing McMillan win Offensive Rookie of the Year acclaim. More development will be necessary for the Panthers to complete an extension.
No extension will keep Young tied to a $1.15MM base salary in 2026, though his cap number checks in at $12.1MM. The Panthers picked up Sam Darnold‘s fifth-year option and gave Teddy Bridgewater a three-year, $63MM contract. But they have not extended a starting QB since paying Cam Newton ahead of his 2015 MVP season. That re-up came in Newton’s fifth NFL offseason. Newton had proven far more than Young on his rookie deal. This Tepper-Canales-Dan Morgan regime is expected to see how Young’s stock looks in his fifth offseason before committing long term.
Chargers C Bradley Bozeman Announces Retirement
After eight seasons in the NFL, Chargers center Bradley Bozeman is hanging up his cleats. The 31-year-old announced his retirement on Instagram on Monday (via Adam Schefter of ESPN).
The Chargers were the third team for Bozeman, an Alabama product who entered the league as a sixth-round pick of the Ravens in 2018. With Matt Skura then serving as the Ravens’ center, Bozeman’s lone start during a 14-game rookie season came at left guard. Bozeman became a full-time starter at left guard in 2019, his first of three straight 16-game seasons.
After Skura left the Ravens to sign with the Dolphins in 2021, Bozeman switched back to center. It turned out to be the last season in Baltimore for Bozeman, who accepted Carolina’s one-year offer in 2022.
Although Bozeman only started in 11 of 17 games in his first season in Carolina, he was impressive enough for the Panthers to bring him back on a three-year, $18MM contract. The 325-pounder notched a 17-start season in the first year of the deal, but the Panthers released him in March 2024.
A week after his Carolina tenure ended, Bozeman moved to the West Coast on a one-year agreement with the Chargers. Bozeman made just over $1.1MM during another 17-start season, leading the Chargers to award him a raise on a two-year, $6.5MM accord last March.
While Bozeman was again a full-time starter over 16 games in 2025, Pro Football Focus ranked his performance last among 37 qualifying centers. His struggles were among a handful of problems up front for the Chargers, who went without injured left tackle Rashawn Slater for the season and didn’t have right tackle Joe Alt for most of it. As a result of the Chargers’ O-line woes, quarterback Justin Herbert took the league’s second-most sacks (54).
The Chargers may have been in the market for a center this offseason had Bozeman kept playing in 2026. They definitely will be now that Bozeman is walking away after 129 games and 110 starts in the league. His exit will clear the way for yet another new starting pivot for the Chargers. The Bolts have not used the same primary starting center for three straight years since longtime staple Nick Hardwick retired in 2014.
Panthers Re-Sign LS J.J. Jansen
Once again, J.J. Jansen has agreed to continue his career. The longtime Panthers long snapper signed another new deal on Tuesday, per a team announcement. 
To no surprise, this is the latest in a long line of one-year pacts. Jansen has been operating on a year-to-year basis since 2021, and that will no doubt continue until his career ends. Now 40, Jansen will extend his lead in terms of the franchise’s games player leader list by playing his 18th NFL season.
Acquired via trade in 2009, the Notre Dame product has yet to miss a contest in his career. Jansen played out a five-year deal during the middle stages of his Carolina career, but he has been a special teams mainstay far beyond the expiration of that pact. The one-time Pro Bowler has played 277 games in the regular season, good for 27th in NFL history. Only Marcedes Lewis and Calais Campbell have played more among active players.
Jansen already leads the way in terms of games played by long snappers, and he will now extend his advantage in that regard. A move into the top 20 in league history (at all positions) will take place provided he manages to play a full campaign in 2026. As Carolina’s wild-card game approached, Jansen expressed a willingness to continue his career. Today’s news thus comes as no surprise.
Carolina relied on another veteran in the form of Sam Martin to handle punting duties in 2025. He is a pending free agent, so change could be seen at that position this offseason. Rookie Ryan Fitzgerald served as the team’s kicker this past season, and that can be expected to continue into 2026. Jansen will provide stability to the Panthers’ special teams battery yet again as he adds further to his career totals.
Panthers Add Darrell Bevell To Staff
After serving as the Dolphins’ quarterbacks coach/passing-game coordinator over the past four years, Darrell Bevell emerged as a finalist to take over as the Jets’ offensive coordinator. The Jets ended up hiring Frank Reich for the position on Feb. 4, but Bevell has landed a different job a week later. He’s leaving Miami to join the Panthers’ staff as associate head coach/offensive specialist, Tom Pelissero of NFL Network reports.
Carolina will be the seventh NFL team for the 56-year-old Bevell, whose pro career began in 2000 as an assistant quarterbacks coach in Green Bay. Between his six-year run with the Packers and his four seasons with the Dolphins, Bevell coached in Minnesota, Seattle, Detroit and Jacksonville. He was the O-coordinator with the Vikings (2006-10), Seahawks (2011-17), Lions (2019-20) and Jaguars (2021).
Bevell is best known for a successful tenure in Seattle, which won the Super Bowl in 2013 and then came within a yard of repeating the next year. Patriots cornerback Malcolm Butler had other ideas, though, as he intercepted a Russell Wilson pass at the goal line to seal a 28-24 Pats victory in Super Bowl XLIX.
Bevell and former Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll have since drawn no shortage of criticism for passing instead of handing off to Marshawn Lynch in the game’s waning moments. Bevell nonetheless remained in charge of their offense for three more seasons.
Dave Canales, now the Panthers’ head coach, was the Seahawks’ wide receivers coach during Bevell’s entire seven-year stay as their O-coordinator. Panthers general manager Dan Morgan was in the Seahawks’ front office for that stretch.
The three are now reuniting in Carolina, which won the NFC South in 2025 despite an 8-9 record. Quarterback Bryce Young, the former first overall pick, made enough progress in his third season for the team to pick up his fifth-year option. The jury is still out on whether Young will turn into a franchise signal-caller, but Bevell will now have a hand in his development after drawing mixed results from Tua Tagovailoa in Miami.
With assistance from Bevell, Tagovailoa led the league in passer rating (2022), yards (2023) and completion percentage (2024) in separate seasons. Tagovailoa also received a Pro Bowl invitation in 2023, but he bottomed out in 2025 – Bevell’s last year in South Florida – and the Dolphins now hope to trade him.
Browns To Conduct DC Interview With Aubrey Pleasant; Team Requests Jonathan Cooley, Charlie Bullen Meetings
With the Browns‘ head coaching position going to Todd Monken, defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz will not be with the team any longer. His resignation has created a DC opening in Cleveland for the first time in three years. 
The list of candidates to replace Schwartz has grown. Rams defensive pass-game coordinator Aubrey Pleasant will speak with the Browns this afternoon, Ian Rapoport of NFL Network reports. Meanwhile, Charlie Bullen, currently the outside linebackers coach of the Giants, has received a Browns interview request, per Rapoport’s colleague Mike Garafolo.
Both Pleasant and Bullen are also candidates for the Cardinals’ defensive coordinator opening. That is not the case for Panthers defensive pass-game coordinator Jonathan Cooley, but he too is on Cleveland’s radar. Cooley has received a DC interview request as well, according to ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler.
Pleasant’s first NFL coaching gig came in 2013. That season, he worked as an intern with the Browns. Since then, the former UDFA has held a number of roles on various NFL teams. Much of Pleasant’s coaching career has come with the Rams, though. He has worked with the team during two different stints; back in Los Angeles since 2023, he received the added title of assistant head coach one year later.
Bullen is also a veteran staffer, with experience at the college and pro levels. The 41-year-old joined the Giants’ staff in 2024, and he took over from Shane Bowen midway through this past campaign after Bowen’s dismissal. New York brought in Dennard Wilson as defensive coordinator, ensuring Bullen would not receive the gig on a full-time basis. His first full season leading a defense would come about in 2026 in the event of a Browns (or Cardinals) hire.
Cooley had not been connected to any D-coordinator openings prior to today. A former Rams staffer, he worked under Ejiro Evero in Los Angeles. The two were reunited in Carolina in 2023. Cooley worked as the Panthers’ secondary coach during his first season with the team. For the past two years, he has held his current title.
Via PFR’s Coordinator Search Tracker, here is an updated look at where things stand with the Browns:
- Ephraim Banda, safeties coach (Browns): Interviewed
- Charlie Bullen, defensive pass-game coordinator (Giants): Interview requested
- Jonathan Cooley, defensive pass-game coordinator (Panthers): Interview requested
- Aubrey Pleasant, defensive pass-game coordinator (Rams): To interview 2/9
- Jason Tarver, linebackers coach (Browns): Interviewed
- Cory Undlin, defensive pass-game coordinator (Texans): Mentioned as candidate
- Dino Vasso, defensive backs coach (Texans): Mentioned as candidate; withdrew from search
Final 2026 NFL Draft Order
With Super Bowl LX in the books, the full 2026 NFL draft order has been set. Free agency is not far away, but attention will increasingly turn to April’s event as the offseason progresses.
The top of the first-round order is not subject to much in the way of speculation. The Raiders own the No. 1 selection and are widely seen as the landing spot for Fernando Mendoza, the lone quarterback regarded as a first-round lock at this point. How other QB-needy teams positioned throughout the order operate over the coming weeks – knowing there is a lack of high-end prospects this year – will make for an interesting storyline around the league.
This year’s NFL Combine will begin on February 23. Events such as the Senior Bowl have already taken place, leaving the Combine as the next major checkpoint in the evaluation of top prospects. Teams will begin arranging ‘Top 30’ visits with several players of interest relatively soon during the build-up to the draft. This year’s event will take place in Pittsburgh from April 23-25.
Pending the inevitable trades which will shake up the order, here is a final look at how things stand leading up to Day 1:
- Las Vegas Raiders (3-14)
- New York Jets (3-14)
- Arizona Cardinals (3-14)
- Tennessee Titans (3-14)
- New York Giants (4-13)
- Cleveland Browns (5-12)
- Washington Commanders (5-12)
- New Orleans Saints (6-11)
- Kansas City Chiefs (6-11)
- Cincinnati Bengals (6-11)
- Miami Dolphins (7-10)
- Dallas Cowboys (7-9-1)
- Los Angeles Rams (via Falcons)
- Baltimore Ravens (8-9)
- Tampa Bay Buccaneers (8-9)
- New York Jets (via Colts)
- Detroit Lions (9-8)
- Minnesota Vikings (9-8)
- Carolina Panthers (8-9)
- Dallas Cowboys (from Packers)
- Pittsburgh Steelers (10-7)
- Los Angeles Chargers (11-6)
- Philadelphia Eagles (11-6)
- Cleveland Browns (from Jaguars)
- Chicago Bears (11-6)
- Buffalo Bills (12-5)
- San Francisco 49ers (12-5)
- Houston Texans (12-5)
- Los Angeles Rams (12-5)
- Denver Broncos (14-3)
- New England Patriots (14-3)
- Seattle Seahawks (14-3)