Offseason In Review News & Rumors

Offseason In Review: Jacksonville Jaguars

After authorizing the three biggest contracts in team history, the Jaguars moved through a disastrous season. The team’s 4-13 campaign led to Doug Pederson‘s ouster, as the former Super Bowl-winning HC’s fate became easy to predict as the season’s final weeks transpired. The team’s initial offseason plan, however, took on water as it became clear GM Trent Baalke‘s presence was interfering with the search to replace Pederson.

A course change midway through led the Jaguars to their eventual Liam CoenJames Gladstone pairing. This brings far less experience compared to Pederson-Baalke, but Jacksonville had seen its fortunes worsen as that pair’s third season ended. Coen will be asked to elevate Trevor Lawrence to justify the $55MM-per-year contract awarded last year, and the new regime’s defining move equipped the former No. 1 overall pick with one of the most unique weapons in NFL history.

Coaching/Front Office:

Before Travis Hunter became in play for the Jaguars, they needed to sort out their leadership positions. It took a bit. Pederson, though, received an early pink slip. He was the only coach fired on Black Monday this year, and although reports of uncertainty did emerge late in the season, it was not hard to see where the situation was heading. After a 9-8 2022 season that featured a Lawrence-led 27-point comeback win over the Chargers in the wild-card round, the Jags were 8-3 and sniffing the AFC’s No. 1 seed a year later. They finished Pederson’s tenure with five wins in their final 23 games.

Lawrence’s health, a non-issue until his third season, hurt the Jags in this span. But the former Clemson super-prospect has not developed as the team hoped. The Jags ranked 24th offensively last season, one that ended with Lawrence sidelined due to a concussion and a nonthrowing shoulder injury that required surgery.

Pederson’s first Jacksonville season brought a 10th-place offensive ranking, the best of his tenure, with the HC being the primary play-caller. The veteran coach, however, gave OC Press Taylor the call sheet before the 2023 season and kept outsiders in suspense about his play-calling plans for 2024. Shad Khan even voiced support for Pederson taking the reins back, but Pederson stuck with Taylor — a development that reminded of the HC’s Eagles undoing.

Pederson had aimed to have Taylor promoted to Eagles OC in 2021, but ownership was not onboard. This helped lead to a split. Pederson brought Taylor with him to Jacksonville and stuck with him as play-caller for the past two seasons, even as the walls tumbled down. Pederson firing Mike Caldwell as DC did not bring a 2024 boost, as the Jags regressed in both points and yards allowed (dropping to 27th and 31st in those categories, respectively) under Ryan Nielsen. Josh Hines-Allen and Tyson Campbell joined Lawrence in failing to justify their 2024 paydays.

While Pederson’s tenure did not reach the depths of Gus Bradley‘s or Doug Marrone‘s, Khan gave him less time by moving on after three years. That came months after the owner labeled the 2024 Jags as the most talented roster in team history. Khan attempted to have only Pederson take the fall, keeping Baalke on to help hire the next HC. Although Khan stopped short of guaranteeing Baalke would remain GM, coaching candidates certainly assumed that would be the case (even Pederson had been hesitant about the then-GM in 2022).

This created a disjointed search, as both Aaron Glenn and Ben Johnson had reservations about Baalke. This contributed to Johnson choosing the Bears despite the coveted candidate’s reported Jags interest. The Jags then saw Coen decline a second interview, bowing out of their search and agreeing to a Buccaneers extension worth roughly $4.5MM per year on January 22nd. The Bucs’ extension offer was contingent on Coen not taking a second Jaguars meeting, but once he realized he held a strong chance at landing the Jags gig, another raise ask occurred. Bucs ownership declined it, however. This sequence proved to be an important stretch regarding the Jaguars’ big-picture direction.

Hours after Coen backed out on his second meeting, Khan fired Baalke. The owner did so despite claiming a full-on overhaul would be “suicide” for the franchise. Signaling the GM was the primary hang-up, Coen circled back and met with the Jags. This then involved Coen avoiding Bucs contact, telling Todd Bowles he was dealing with a personal matter, as a clandestine mission in north Florida commenced.

An agreement emerged Jan. 23. The one-and-done Tampa Bay OC certainly burned bridges on the way out of town — to the point the Bucs blocked two assistants from becoming Coen’s O-line coach — but he secured stunning power given his limited experience and history of leaving jobs quickly.

The Jaguars’ 2024 struggles prompted Khan to hand the keys to Coen. This came four years after the owner placed Urban Meyer atop the personnel pyramid. With Pederson not doing enough in between, the Jags are a coach-centric operation again.

Coen, 39, has not stayed in the same job since his first Rams stint in the late 2010s. Sean McVay hired Coen as assistant wide receivers coach in 2018 and moved him to assistant QBs coach in 2020. Coen then bounced from Kentucky to the Rams and back to Kentucky — all in OC roles — before yo-yoing back to the NFL with the Bucs, who gave the young coach his first NFL play-calling shot.

The 2022 Rams did not impress, but Coen coaxed a breakout Will Levis junior season (2021) and later helped Baker Mayfield build on his 2023 resurgence. Mayfield established career-high marks across the board last season, throwing 41 TD passes and completing 71.4% of his throws. This came as he reached a career-best 7.9 yards per attempt, checking enough boxes for Coen to follow Dave Canales in receiving a head coaching offer after one season as Bucs OC. Robert Saleh, who worked under Bradley in Jacksonville, was believed to be the team’s fallback option if Coen did not reconsider his stance.

Rumors over the past several years paint a grim picture of life during a Baalke GM stay. The 49ers keeping their GM over Jim Harbaugh in 2015 proved a mistake, as the team sunk to its lowest depth since the late 1970s, and the Jags’ 2022 HC search featured hiccups involving the GM. Khan firing Meyer increased Baalke’s organizational power ahead of a draft that brought a Travon Walker-over-Aidan Hutchinson pick. An early-season report last year also depicted friction between Baalke and Pederson, with Taylor’s status a point of contention.

Baalke following Tom Telesco off the GM tier this offseason means no second-chance GMs are currently employed, illustrating the high stakes these jobs carry. No team has hired Baalke or Pederson, and the Jags’ midwinter changeup brought in Gladstone, who is the NFL’s youngest GM (at 34).

Gladstone spent nine years in Los Angeles, rising from an assistant to the general manager position to director of scouting strategy. The Jags were Gladstone’s only GM connection, and it came after reported Coen preference Mike Greenberg, the Bucs’ assistant GM, declined an interview. Bears assistant GM Ian Cunningham also checked in as an early frontrunner. Gladstone and Coen worked together for four nonconsecutive seasons in L.A., and the former had worked under Brad Holmes before he became the Lions’ GM.

The Rams have an established history of finding draft gems in the McVay era, and their 2023 and ’24 drafts — efforts that helped create a formidable pass rush as Aaron Donald exited — reflected well on their scouting strategy chief. Seeing Holmes do wonders in Detroit, the Jags will roll the dice on a young exec. He joins Coen and Boselli as part of a decision-making troika, but the HC is atop the pyramid.

Coen did not hire an experienced OC. Udinski rises from Vikings assistant quarterbacks coach to this post. Even though the Jags’ OC position is currently a non-play-calling gig, this represents quite the vault for a 29-year-old assistant. Udinski landed this job after candidate Nate Scheelhaase bowed out to stay with the Rams.

Like Gladstone, Udinski rose from the “assistant to the” level. This climb, however, occurred within a two-year span. Kevin O’Connell made Udinski his assistant QBs coach in 2023, and Sam Darnold‘s belated breakthrough garnered attention for the staff. Udinski becoming an OC before Vikes QBs coach Josh McCown is interesting, but O’Connell — Coen’s Rams boss in 2020 — has become one of the NFL’s most respected coaches. This represents the first major branch off his coaching tree.

Campanile, 42, has no history with Coen or Gladstone. He spent four years in Miami as linebackers coach, arriving under Brian Flores and being retained by both of Mike McDaniel‘s first two DCs. Campanile only interviewed for the Jags’ DC job this year but met with the Dolphins and Giants about their positions in 2024. The Jaguars are now on their fifth DC of the 2020s. Nielsen has now been a one-and-done DC in New Orleans, Atlanta and Jacksonville over the past three years, managing to pull this off without technically being fired. The 2022 Saints co-DC took the Falcons’ job in 2023 and was subsequently tied to two canned HCs.

Trades:

Among the extensive receiver turnover in Jacksonville, this move stands out. The team was prepared to release Kirk, who turned heads with his $18MM-per-year contract as a 2022 free agent, but collected a low-end return from a division rival. While dealing Kirk to the Texans may have signaled the new staff’s view of his abilities, this is more of a salary dump from a regime that had no ties to Lawrence’s previous top target.

Kirk is still just 28 and delivered two impressive seasons in Jacksonville. Proving the Baalke-Pederson regime right for a market-reshaping contract — via the wave of deals made after Kirk’s — the former Cardinals second-round pick helped elevate Lawrence with an 1,108-yard 2022 showing and was more productive on a per-game basis in 2023. The slot weapon averaged a career-high 57.6 yards per game in 2023 but went down with a core muscle injury early in Week 13. That setback coincided with the Jags’ swoon, as they were 8-3 in the games Kirk finished that season.

A broken collarbone shelved Kirk last season, denying teams — including the then-WR-fixated Steelers — a chance to make trade offers near the deadline. The Jags moved on from Kirk’s $15.5MM 2025 salary in the final year of the contract, saving $10.44MM as a result. Though, the Coen-Gladstone regime did OK a $13MM-plus dead money hit via this trade. The Jags have made two significant WR investments in the past two drafts, lessening the blow to Lawrence.

Free agency additions:

One of the league’s most versatile players, Mekari has seen at least 200 snaps at all five O-line positions. His work at guard in 2024, however, set a quality free agent market in March. The Ravens had slotted Mekari as a swing backup but needed him at left guard last season. Jacksonville will slide Mekari to right guard, as Ezra Cleveland is in place at LG. This contract represented a value vault for Mekari, who played out a three-year, $15.45MM deal.

ESPN’s pass block win rate metric ranked Mekari fifth among guards last season, marking an impressive showing given that the versatile blocker’s primary position was tackle from 2021-23. The Jags are not certain 2023 first-round pick Anton Harrison will remain their RT starter, so it is possible Mekari could be tapped to take over there. His projected 2025 spot will be RG, however.

A $7MM-per-year deal looks like a win for Hainsey, who joined Murray and Brown among the Jags’ curious contracts on Day 1 of free agency. The Buccaneers demoted Hainsey, Ryan Jensen‘s center replacement, for first-rounder Graham Barton last year. Hainsey started a game in his contract year but played only 95 offensive snaps. Pro Football Focus was down on the former third-rounder’s center work in 2023, ranking him 32nd at the position, but viewed him as a top-15 snapper in 2022. Even as Coen only stopped through during Hainsey’s second-string season, the one-year Bucs OC signed off on a top-10 center contract to bring him to Jacksonville.

After the slot cornerback market received updates to move it past eight figures per year for the first time, a few more inside contributors cashed in. Kenny Moore and Taron Johnson did the early damage in March 2024, and Michael Carter passed them months later. This year, Lewis helped set the table for Jalen Pitre and Kyler Gordon. Lewis’ situation reminds more of Moore and Johnson’s, as Carter, Pitre and Gordon are second-contract players. Entering his age-30 season, Lewis is on his fourth contract. The Jags looked into reuniting Coen and Carlton Davis, but that market reached $16MM per year. Lewis instead became the team’s CB addition.

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Offseason In Review: Carolina Panthers

Within a 10-month span, the Panthers had seen their owner throw a drink at a fan — amid a string of headlines involving the Carolina boss — and the team’s handpicked quarterback benched by Week 3. This came after the Panthers’ 2024 coaching search, due in part to David Tepper‘s past meddling, saw some big names bow out. As bleak as the franchise’s outlook appeared after Bryce Young‘s September struggles, signs of life emerged as the season wound down.

Carolina’s defense still ranked last, as the season ended with an NFL-worst minus-193 point differential, but the team saw Young make strides weeks after reentering the lineup. The Young-Dave Canales partnership began to pay some dividends, moving the team’s nearly scrapped plan back into focus. Coming out of the season, no Tepper- or Young-driven headlines have dragged down the NFC South club. The Panthers made significant updates to their defense, while Young will enter the season with another first-round wide receiver to target.

Extensions and restructures:

In a remarkable turnaround, Horn managed to score a $25MM-per-year deal that briefly topped the cornerback market. The Panthers had seen the former No. 8 overall pick fall well behind the No. 9 pick in that draft (Patrick Surtain), with injuries frequently impeding the South Carolina alum. Horn exited 2024 having played in just 37 of a possible 68 games as a pro. Up until days before last season, the cornerback market had remained frozen for more than two years. Jaire Alexander‘s $21MM-AAV Packers deal topped the market, but Surtain and Jalen Ramsey changed that. Horn submitting his healthiest NFL season placed him in position to receive a monster raise as well.

Pro Football Focus ranked Horn 60th among CB regulars last season, and Pro-Football-Reference charged him with six touchdowns allowed to go with the highest passer rating (as the closest defender) yielded of his career. Even as Ejiro Evero‘s defense sunk to 32nd in points and yards allowed, Horn made his first Pro Bowl. Perhaps more importantly, he missed only two games. Rather than have Horn play on a fifth-year option, the Panthers extended him at a top-market rate.

NFL contract value is not always a merit-based; timing matters significantly as markets are established. Horn had seen a broken foot sideline him for 14 games as a rookie and then a hamstring injury shelve him for 10 games during a 2023 in which the second-generation NFLer missed 11. Horn has delivered flashes, and the Panthers had a big-ticket salary slot open after trading Brian Burns in 2024.

Ahead of his age-26 season, Horn managed to eclipse Surtain in terms of AAV ($24MM) and fully guaranteed money ($40.7MM) despite the Denver ace’s Defensive Player of the Year season. After the cap spiked by another $24MM, however, Horn and then Derek Stingley Jr. pounced.

The Panthers are making an expensive bet on Horn shaking his early-career injury trouble. This represents a course change for the team, which let both Josh Norman and James Bradberry walk in free agency (under Dave Gettleman and Matt Rhule, respectively) rather than authorize an extension. Guarantees here only go through 2026, however, providing some protection for the team in case Horn cannot shake the injury trouble that largely defined his rookie-deal tenure. Horn receiving Pro Bowl recognition given the Panthers’ anemic 2024 pass rush also undoubtedly raised the team’s confidence in the Rhule-era draftee.

Thielen’s underdog story is poised to continue into a 13th NFL season, as the former Vikings rookie-camp tryout body heads into a third Panthers campaign. Despite the team making three first- or second-round receiver investments over the past three drafts, Thielen has persisted. He entered the offseason with no guarantees remaining on his contract. The Panthers gave him a slight bump, though not one that would prevent a release in the event the aging pass catcher (35 in August) showed a notable decline in camp.

Outlasting the likes of Jonathan Mingo and Diontae Johnson in Charlotte, Thielen produced after the Panthers opted against trading him at the 2024 deadline. Thielen accumulated at least 99 receiving yards in three of the seven games after he came back from a hamstring injury, providing a reliable option as Young made late-season strides.

The Panthers asked about D.K. Metcalf, a former Canales Seahawks pupil, but did not make an offer. They then chose Tetairoa McMillan eighth overall. Thielen could find himself in trade rumors again this year, which may well be his NFL finale, but the three-time 1,000-yard target also is positioned to continue serving as a Young security blanket and mentor to a cast now comprised of three first- or second-year receivers.

Free agency additions:

Losing Derrick Brown in Week 1 came after the Panthers devoted curiously modest resources to replacing Brian Burns. The result: a defense that allowed by far the most points in franchise history. Carolina yielded 534 points; the 30-year-old franchise’s previous-worst was 470 (in 2019). Even if the 17th game is factored in, Evero’s second Panthers defense allowed a team-worst 31.4 points per game. Horn managed an extension coming out of this mess, and Evero has a chance to rebound. Carolina devoted plenty of resources to fixing this broken unit this offseason.

The team chased the biggest fish in the D-line waters in free agency, coming close to having a deal done with Milton Williams. The ascending Eagles supporting-caster, PFR’s No. 3 free agent, was deep in talks with the Panthers. ESPN’s Adam Schefter indicated the sides were working to finalize a deal hours into the legal tampering period. The talks took a turn when the Patriots swooped in, submitting an offer the Panthers did not match. Both New England (Christian Barmore) and Carolina (Brown) already rostered D-tackles at $20MM-plus per year, and the Panthers stood down.

The Pats have Milton on a four-year, $104MM deal that came with $51MM fully guaranteed. Williams sits behind only Chris Jones and Christian Wilkins for DT AAV and full guarantees, and the cap-rich Pats’ actions led the Panthers elsewhere in this market. Wharton used a big contract year alongside Jones to land a monster payday given his UDFA NFL entrance. Dan Morgan‘s right-hand man, Brandt Tilis, was on the Chiefs’ staff when they plucked Wharton out of Division II Missouri S&T in 2020.

PFR’s No. 46 free agent, Wharton saw his market form after both Williams and Osa Odighizuwa were signed early (the latter re-signed with the Cowboys before free agency). The Chiefs wanted to retain him but saw that become unrealistic, due to Jones’ DT-record deal, early in free agency. The Panthers added another interior rusher, albeit one without much pre-2024 production.

Never clearing two sacks or five QB hits in a season before 2024, Wharton broke through in a contract year by registering 6.5 sacks and 11 hits alongside Jones. He added two more sacks in the playoffs. In Wharton’s defense, he had never started more than one game in a season until last year. The increased usage attracted FA interest. It will be interesting to see if the attention Brown will command from O-lines can help Wharton in a similar way.

PFF did not rank Wharton as a strong run defender last season, but the Panthers landed on Bobby Brown to help in that department. Squeezing into our top 50, Brown overlapped with Evero as a rookie in 2021. The former Rams fourth-round pick became a starter after the 2023 losses of Greg Gaines and A’Shawn Robinson, and PFF graded him as a top-30 run stopper (among interior D-linemen) in each of the past two seasons.

Brown remaining productive in this area post-Aaron Donald helped his free agency cause, and only going into his age-25 season helped his cause as well. Though, the Panthers are holding onto some guaranteed money until they observe his 2025 work. Whereas Wharton received two years fully guaranteed, half of Brown’s $5.55MM base salary will lock in on Day 3 of the 2026 league year.

This year’s safety market saw an upswing for the position; no player did better than Moehrig. As the cap ballooned by another $24MM, Moehrig fared better than the top free agent safeties in 2023 (Jessie Bates) and ’24 (Xavier McKinney). Moehrig is now the NFL’s sixth-highest-paid safety. Like Wharton, he used a big contract year to secure a nice FA payday. Unlike Wharton, Moehrig was a four-year starter on his rookie deal. The Raiders’ struggles after their 2021 playoff berth dimmed Moehrig’s profile, but teams were waiting in free agency.

Marcus Epps going down in Week 3 allowed for more Moehrig plays near the line of scrimmage (439 box snaps in 2024 compared to 326 in ’23), and he responded with a career-best 104 tackles to go with five TFLs and a sack. Moehrig also snared two interceptions, giving him five over the past two seasons. The Panthers still hosted Julian Blackmon on a visit after this signing, and an Evero-Justin Simmons reunion — the DC already has several former Rams and a Bronco (Josey Jewell) on this defense — came up recently despite the team choosing a safety (Ohio State’s Lathan Ransom) in Round 4.

Although the draft became the gateway to the Panthers attempting to solve their post-Burns EDGE issue, the team took a flier on Jones. Formerly a D.J. Wonnum teammate in Minnesota, Jones made an impact as a rotational rusher for a top-five defense last season. While backing up Pro Bowlers Andrew Van Ginkel and Jonathan Greenard, Jones tallied seven sacks and 12 QB hits. The Vikings, who also drafted Dallas Turner in the 2024 first round, were not in a position to re-sign Jones. The Panthers will provide more playing time for a player with just five career starts.

Dowdle entered free agency with an interesting resume. With the Cowboys for five years, he logged only seven carries from 2020-22. Waiting behind the Ezekiel ElliottTony Pollard pair, Dowdle served as a special-teamer. But the Cowboys used him as a Pollard backup in 2023 and then needed him to start a year later. Dallas letting Pollard walk and not drafting a running back opened a door for Dowdle, who quickly overtook a shopworn Elliott, who had returned on a low-cost deal.

Dowdle glided for 1,079 yards (4.6 per carry) last season. While the former UDFA’s 61 rush yards over expected (per Next Gen Stats) was a mid-pack number, the South Carolina native carries low tread on his tires — at 331 career carries — entering an age-27 season. He will be positioned as a Chuba Hubbard backup likely to see notable work with Jonathon Brooks out for the season.

Renfrow, 29, is back after spending the 2024 season out of football. A post-June 1 Raiders cut last year, Renfrow quickly fell out of favor with the team during Josh McDaniels‘ HC tenure. Bizarrely going from 1,000-yard receiver to $16MM-per-year extension recipient — a deal McDaniels and GM Dave Ziegler authorized — to a cog that did not fit into McDaniels’ scheme, Renfrow totaled only 585 yards from 2022-23. An ulcerative colitis diagnosis helped keep Renfrow out of football last year, but the Clemson alum — a player who led the 2021 Raiders playoff team in receiving — has recovered from the autoimmune disease and will attempt a comeback.

Re-signings:

Dalton’s Charlotte trajectory took a turn last season. Brought in to mentor a to-be-determined first-round QB in 2023, Dalton did so until Week 3 of last season. The Panthers benched Young, and trade rumors swirled after the former No. 1 overall pick’s shocking freefall. It did not appear Canales and Co. had immediate plans to give Young more time, as the undersized passer had looked terrible in Weeks 1 and 2. A Dalton car accident, however, changed the team’s QB course.

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Offseason In Review: Indianapolis Colts

The Colts entered the offseason with decision-makers on the ropes, as the Anthony Richardson decision may well be on the verge of ending Chris Ballard‘s lengthy GM stint and Shane Steichen‘s shorter HC run. Indianapolis moved on from one exec closely involved in the Richardson choice, and the team brought in Daniel Jones as competition. Thus far, signs point to that battle veering toward the six-year Giants starter.

As Jones steps into a strange savior role, considering the damage he did to the Giants’ power structure after struggling on a big-ticket contract, the Colts deviated from their usual Ballard-era free agency philosophy by signing two pricey DBs. The Colts are attempting to snap a four-season playoff drought, and jobs may be on the line. The Colts’ equation then changed drastically in May after Jim Irsay‘s death. The late owner’s oldest daughter, Carlie Irsay-Gordon, is now in control ahead of a pivotal season for the franchise.

Free agency additions:

Give Ballard credit for following through on a January mission statement. The ninth-year GM indicated his conservative free agency blueprint — an M.O. that prioritized a draft-and-develop route to the point the Colts fielded an almost entirely homegrown starting lineup last season — likely needed to change. Ballard had provided only one $20MM guarantee to a free agent in his tenure; that was Philip Rivers in a 2020 one-off. The embattled front office boss went to work on changing his stripes this offseason, as two of PFR’s top 40 free agents ended up in Indianapolis’ secondary.

This year’s cornerback market highlighted the value of the medium-term contract. Ward joined D.J. Reed, Carlton Davis and Byron Murphy in eschewing the usual four-year second contract for three- or two-year (in Murphy’s case) accords earlier this decade. That set up the late-20-somethings for significant third contracts, deals that probably would not have been available had the quartet opted for traditional-length FA pacts earlier. A new market for the third-contract CB ended up being set in a few hours’ time in March, and the Colts outmuscled multiple suitors for Ward.

Indianapolis had kept costs low at its outside cornerback positions for most of Ballard’s tenure, allocating the most notable CB money to their slot post. Kenny Moore‘s two contracts reset the slot market in 2019 and 2024, but he had little help following the 2023 Stephon Gilmore trade. Gus Bradley‘s vanilla scheme did not feature reliable pieces outside over the past two seasons, and the Colts had seen prior developments — the Rock Ya-Sin-for-Yannick Ngakoue trade and the Isaiah Rodgers gambling suspension — affect this position. Ward now checks in as an anchor-level piece, and the Colts will hope to coax more quality work as the ex-UDFA nears 30.

The 49ers made their CB choice by extending Deommodore Lenoir last season, effectively ensuring Ward would need to sign his third contract elsewhere. Ward slogged through a down season. The former Super Bowl winner (as a Chief) did not overlap with Ballard in Kansas City, being acquired from the Cowboys (for guard Parker Ehinger) months after Ballard’s Indianapolis arrival. He signed a three-year, $40MM 49ers deal in 2022, becoming one of many Chiefs one-contract CBs under Steve Spagnuolo. Ward provided a boost for San Francisco, earning second-team All-Pro acclaim during the team’s Super Bowl LVIII season.

Ward, 29, led the NFL with 23 passes defensed in 2023 but saw his coverage metrics worsen last season. After allowing 56.8% and 54.1% completion rates as the closest defender in 2022 and ’23, Ward yielded 61.5% accuracy last year. This corresponded with a rise in passer rating allowed (116.6 – up from 2023’s 64.5 number). Pro Football Focus had rated Ward as a top-six corner in both 2022 and ’23, but it dropped him to 93rd during Nick Sorensen’s season in charge.

Ward, however, was playing after a family tragedy; his 1-year-old daughter died in October 2024. The Colts will bet on the proven cover man regaining his previous form, and other teams — the Chiefs included — were willing to do the same.

It was certainly interesting to see the Colts win not one but two free agency derbies for DBs. Bynum checks in as a more traditional pickup, being on his second contract and attached to a four-year pact. But the 6-foot safety will turn 27 this month. Cashing in now is paramount to a player who became an important piece as Brian Flores rebuilt the Vikings’ defense. Part of the DC’s top-five unit, Bynum excelled in a complex scheme and will join a Colts team that had mostly turned to the draft (Nick Cross, Julian Blackmon, Malik Hooker, Clayton Geathers) to staff this position over the past decade.

The safety market has fluctuated over the past several years, and the past two free agencies saw money dry up after the top targets (Jessie Bates, Xavier McKinney) signed. This year, however, teams prioritized the position. As two-high looks populate NFL defenses, four teams — the Colts, Giants (Jevon Holland), Panthers (Tre’von Moehrig) and Broncos (Talanoa Hufanga) — doled out at least $13MM per year to add a safety. Bynum is now the NFL’s 10th-highest-paid safety.

The former fourth-round pick talked terms with the Vikings, but they made Murphy a higher priority. Bynum has been durable (51 starts since 2022) and productive (eight rookie-contract INTs). PFF graded Bynum 21st among safety regulars in 2023 but slotted him outside the top 60 last year. Teams were undeterred, driving up the market.

Bynum will join Cross, who enters a contract year after leading all DBs in 2024 tackles, as the Colts’ starting safeties. Lou Anarumo‘s group will carry considerably more firepower compared to Bradley’s Moore-dependent secondary.

Jones’ contract does not approach where the Colts went for Rivers, but the stakes attached to this Indy QB move are higher. The Giants gave the oft-underwhelming Eli Manning heir apparent six years. After two unimpressive seasons under Jason Garrett, Jones delivered a surprising breakthrough in Brian Daboll‘s 2022 Coach of the Year season. The former No. 6 overall pick ranked sixth in QBR and elevated an overmatched (save for Saquon Barkley) skill-position corps to the divisional round.

The well-timed season garnered Jones a four-year, $160MM deal. The QB’s production on that contract represents the main reason Daboll and Joe Schoen are on hot seats, making it fascinating he is now in Indy potentially tasked with cooling the temperature on Ballard and Steichen’s chairs. The Giants benched Jones after a 2-8 start, and he was no better before his midseason ACL tear in 2023. Being nearly two years removed from that injury could help unlock the former dual threat’s run-game element; Jones’ 708 rushing yards in 2022 represented an important part of the Giants’ playoff formula. But after the Giants waived Jones and the Vikings did not make him their backup, he comes to Indy with little momentum.

Briefly connected to Trey Lance, the Colts outbid the Vikings for Jones. They made no secret of the fact Richardson would need to compete to keep his job. Considering the concerning accuracy the former No. 4 overall draftee displayed last season, Jones viewed the Colts as a rebound gateway due to the playing time that could be available. The Vikings being set to give J.J. McCarthy the reins made that job less appealing for Jones, who still has a chance, despite the New York disappointments, to travel a Baker Mayfield– or Sam Darnold-like path via this Colts opportunity. Despite Jones’ recent struggles, he collected more guaranteed money than Mayfield or Darnold did in their rebound seasons.

The Colts turning to Jones would make them only the second franchise since 1970 to use eight Week 1 starting QBs in a nine-season span; Washington’s journey to Jayden Daniels represents the other. While the Commanders’ QB carousel has stopped, Richardson faces an uphill battle to stop the Colts’. Next to nothing has gone right since Indianapolis drafted Richardson, and the dual-threat (in theory) quarterback missed key offseason time due to another shoulder injury. Richardson is expected back by training camp, but missing minicamp gave Jones a “significant” lead in the QB competition.

As previously mentioned in this space, Richardson became just the eighth 21st-century QB to complete fewer than 50% of his passes in a season on 200-plus attempts. Also on that list: Tim Tebow, JaMarcus Russell and Bengals megabust Akili Smith. Five of the seven pre-Richardson QBs on that list lost their jobs the following year; Richardson pairing his alarming 47.7% completion rate with durability concerns and maturity issues works against him — even as Jones stands at a career crossroads.

The one-year Florida starter, who completed 53.8% of his passes for the 2022 Gators, has been unable to secure the reps necessary to develop properly. Richardson has missed 19 starts, and Steichen being concerned enough with his QB’s work habits — with the bizarre tap-out in Houston bringing that issue to light — to bench him for Joe Flacco last season gave the Colts reason to add competition. While Richardson is only 23 and tied to a fully guaranteed deal through 2026, time is running out.

Not doing much to replace Zack Moss behind Jonathan Taylor last year, the Colts added the Bengals’ Moss injury fill-in to man that spot. Herbert has flashed as a pro, averaging 5.7 yards per carry in 2022 — for a Bears offense that led the NFL in rushing — and 4.6 in 2023. The sixth-round speedster combined to amass 1,342 yards in that span, but the Bears signed D’Andre Swift to take over their backfield in 2024. Herbert ranked fourth in Next Gen Stats’ rush yards over expected metric in 2022; that form assuredly helped the Colts look past a down contract year (36 carries, 130 yards with the Bears and Bengals).

Re-signings:

Quietly, Alie-Cox has become one of the longest-tenured tight ends in Colts history. The college basketball convert can move into fifth place for games played among Colts tight ends, past Dallas Clark, by playing only eight games this season. Sitting on 108 for his career, Alie-Cox will match Clark, Jack Doyle and Hall of Famer John Mackey‘s nine-year Colt tenures in 2025. Only two tight ends (Marcus Pollard and Tecmo-era staple Pat Beach) have played 10 seasons with the team.

Alie-Cox, 31, has played between 38-55% of Indy’s offensive snaps over the past five seasons. Jelani Woods‘ injury struggles have kept him a key piece, though the enduring presence accepted a steep pay cut — after playing out a three-year, $17.55MM contract — weeks before the Colts’ Tyler Warren move.

Notable losses:

The last link to the Ryan Grigson rosters, Kelly expressed interest over multiple offseasons in staying with the Colts. The 2016 first-round pick played out a four-year, $49.65MM extension and joined Quenton Nelson and Braden Smith as staples that helped both Taylor to the rushing title and Andrew Luck post a Comeback Player of the Year campaign three years prior. While Kelly and the Colts talked, it became clear he would hit the market. Both he and Fries ended up in Minnesota, where Grigson is a front office staffer.

Fries commanded a big market despite going down in Week 5 of last season with a broken leg. Being 32, Kelly did not attract similar free agency interest, but he still will replace Garrett Bradbury as the Vikings’ starting center — on a two-year, $18MM deal. Fries was the only free agent to sign a five-year deal this offseason, scoring $87.72MM on a deal that secured $34MM guaranteed at signing. Minnesota’s O-line overhaul will deal a blow to the Colts.

Kelly missed seven games last season, undergoing knee surgery that keyed an IR placement. Prior to last season, though, the Alabama alum earned four Pro Bowl nods and a second-team All-Pro honor. ESPN’s pass block win rate metric still placed Kelly 10th among interior O-linemen last season, and PFF graded Kelly’s most recent full season (2023) well by placing him eighth among centers.

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2025 Offseason In Review Series

Here are PFR’s breakdowns of each NFL team’s 2025 offseason. The list will be updated between now and Week 1.

AFC East

  • Buffalo Bills
  • Miami Dolphins
  • New England Patriots
  • New York Jets

AFC North

  • Baltimore Ravens
  • Cincinnati Bengals
  • Cleveland Browns
  • Pittsburgh Steelers

AFC South

AFC West

NFC East

NFC North

  • Chicago Bears
  • Detroit Lions
  • Green Bay Packers
  • Minnesota Vikings

NFC South

NFC West

  • Arizona Cardinals
  • Los Angeles Rams
  • San Francisco 49ers
  • Seattle Seahawks

Offseason In Review: Las Vegas Raiders

With owners delaying Tom Brady‘s approval as a Raiders minority owner for over a year, Mark Davis‘ plan to install the all-time QB great/FOX lead analyst as his top football exec was on hold. This delay brought both good and bad news for the Raiders’ 2024 power structure. Davis removed Antonio Pierce‘s interim tag and arranged a shotgun marriage with ex-Chargers GM Tom Telesco. Brady’s first months in charge, however, led to both being fired and yet another batch of new Raider leaders being brought in.

The Raiders’ latest reboot soon brought a full-on Seattle feel, as new HC Pete Carroll added three-year Seahawks starting quarterback Geno Smith in a trade. As the Raiders attempt to raise their floor with Carroll and Smith, Brady and new GM John Spytek created some long-term questions with their decisions this offseason.

 Coaching/Front Office:

We covered in last year’s Raiders Offseason In Review effort how unusual the Pierce promotion was, as the former Super Bowl-winning linebacker’s experience level was unlike just about any modern HC hire’s. That turned out to be an issue for the Raiders, who trudged through a 4-13 season, losing the momentum their Pierce-led 2023 stretch created. Pierce, who drew HC interest from other teams last year, fired his OC hire (Luke Getsy) halfway through the season and could not stave off an ouster himself. No team has hired the former Arizona State DC this offseason.

Pierce and Telesco did not see eye to eye at quarterback; an eventful (for the wrong reasons) season transpired. Pierce was closely linked to preferring a blockbuster trade-up to reunite with Jayden Daniels, but Telesco was believed to be unready to part with the draft capital that would have been necessary to make that happen. Both power brokers paid the price, and while the Raiders were likely the one team that made the Commanders an offer for No. 2 overall, it never sounded like Washington would have made that trade.

The Raiders finding themselves shut out after not making any move up the board (from No. 13) created a predictable QB issue. Even as Brock Bowers dominated, Telesco paid for not addressing the QB situation last year.

Not wanting Pierce’s replacement tied to a holdover GM, Brady orchestrated Telesco’s ouster. Davis was not exactly displeased with Telesco’s draft, as it produced a record-setting tight end season and two O-linemen (Jackson Powers-Johnson, DJ Glaze) poised to start this year, but the Christian Wilkins signing — and the deal given to stopgap Gardner Minshew — worked against the longtime AFC West exec. The Raiders fired Telesco less than 13 months after a Pierce-led 63-21 demolition led to Telesco’s Chargers ouster. No team has hired since hired Telesco.

Connections to Bill Belichick and Deion Sanders emerged, but no real traction came regarding either college coach. Mike Vrabel also turned down a meeting with his former Patriots teammate due to being set on returning to New England. These were not the most notable “what if?” regarding this Raiders coaching search.

Brady’s presence convinced Ben Johnson to give the Raiders serious consideration, whereas the high-demand candidate was otherwise prepared to pass on an interview. The optics of Brady calling Lions games, including their playoff loss to the Commanders, for FOX and simultaneously eyeing him for the Raiders created an obvious conflict of interest. Brady is not leaving the booth, however, and he used the time to scout Johnson for a Vegas pitch.

While the Raiders prepared a big offer for Johnson, a later report indicated they never actually made it. Johnson ended up backing out of the Raiders and Jaguars’ searches, informing the Bears he would mentor Caleb Williams. The Raiders’ lack of a surefire quarterback option at that time hurt their cause, and Brady and Co. soon completed about as drastic a pivot as possible. They have gone from attempting to hire a 39-year-old to choosing Carroll, who will become the oldest HC in NFL history after turning 74 in September.

Carroll did not advance as far on last year’s HC carousel but rocketed back for what will be his fourth NFL HC opportunity. The former Jets, Patriots and Seahawks leader did not overlap with Brady in Foxborough, being fired as Robert Kraft engineered the 2000 Belichick hire/trade, but faced him with the Seahawks. Carroll said Brady’s part-owner status became a draw for him. While other teams had interviewed Carroll since his Seahawks ouster, it is also fair to say the Super Bowl-winning HC was not an in-demand candidate.

Few coaches receive fourth chances, separating Carroll from most of his peers. His four AFC East seasons notwithstanding, the veteran leader will obviously be best remembered for his Seattle stay. The ex-USC national champion HC held final personnel say with the Seahawks, and while John Schneider has seen more credit for the team’s draft finds (Kam Chancellor, Richard Sherman, Bobby Wagner, Russell Wilson), Carroll held the hammer.

The Seahawks went 170-120-1 under Carroll. That regular-season win total sits 17th all time; he can move to 14th with a four-win season. The Raiders will expect more, as the defense-oriented coach never posted fewer than seven wins in a season in 14 Seattle years.

Wilson’s prime and the Legion of Boom’s presences raised the Seahawks’ ceiling, and the organization capitalized on the former’s rookie contract to supplement the Sherman, Chancellor and Earl Thomas extensions. That formula produced one of the NFL’s best 21st-century teams, as the 2013 Seahawks demolished the Broncos — who had Spytek on staff at the time — in Super Bowl XLVIII before a banged-up successor fell just short to Brady’s Patriots a year later.

The Seahawks became the first team since the mid-1950s Browns to lead the NFL in scoring defense in four straight seasons, running that streak from 2012-15. But Carroll’s unit gradually declined to the point it became a weakness during the Smith years. The Seahawks ranked 25th in points allowed in 2022 and ’23, and they Ken Norton Jr.– and Clint Hurtt-run units were 26th or worse four times from 2019-23.

While Carroll deserves some credit for providing key input to tailor an offense around Wilson’s skillset, the Seahawks hovered around the .500 mark during the coach’s final three seasons. Carroll lobbied to keep his job in 2024, but ownership disagreed and moved on with Schneider at the controls (and the NFL’s youngest HC — Mike Macdonald — on the sideline).

Marv Levy and George Halas were both 72 when they coached their final seasons; Romeo Crennel was an interim Texans HC at 73. This season, Carroll will be two years older than any other full-time HC in NFL history. That invites obvious questions about the Raiders’ plan, as it features a shorter coaching contract (three years) compared to standard deals. Kelly and Graham would make unusual successors, and it is fair to wonder if the Raiders have Carroll’s replacement on staff. A rumor indicating Brennan Carroll could be in that mix certainly proved interesting. How the Raiders plan to transition after this short-term Pete Carroll run will be a central storyline for as long as this partnership lasts.

The third pillar in the Raiders’ power trio carries by far the lowest Q rating, but Spytek has a unique relationship with Brady. The two were teammates at Michigan, more than two decades before Spytek resided in a Buccaneers front office that wooed the QB legend to Tampa. Spytek, 44, moved from national Broncos scout to Bucs player personnel director after Denver’s Super Bowl 50 win. The Bucs assembled pieces that eventually attracted Brady as a free agent, and Spytek was integral to that combination delivering the franchise’s second Super Bowl championship.

The veteran exec also helped the Bucs establish a four-year NFC South title streak — albeit in a rather down period for that division — despite Brady’s retirement creating a $35MM dead money bill in 2023. Tampa Bay still managed to re-sign and extend its key players, producing winning records both with Brady’s dead cap bill on the books (2023) and after Baker Mayfield received a major pay raise (2024).

Carroll does not hold full personnel control in Vegas; it is unclear who is making the final calls. Brady has described himself as a sounding board — a good nominee for undersell of the year — while Carroll has said he, Spytek and Brady are involved in the decision-making.

Kelly became a borderline reviled presence in Philly by 2015, when his power grab nearly led Howie Roseman out of town. Kelly’s 2016 49ers stop led to the 49ers cleaning house a year later. Both teams became NFC powers after firing Kelly. Still, the former UCLA HC-turned-Ohio State OC received interest in another try. This included Raiders OC interest in 2024, making it interesting they circled back — after another regime change — this year.

The Raiders interviewed Kelly twice in 2024, and it undoubtedly cost more to hire him a year later due to the Buckeyes’ national championship season. Kelly, 61, made the unusual transition from HC to OC at the college level. Ohio State’s ascent to a title — 14 years after Kelly’s Oregon squad fell short to Cam Newton‘s Auburn team — after losing Marvin Harrison Jr. led to interest from a few teams.

The Raiders’ $6MM salary — believed to be the highest for an active coordinator — brought in Kelly, as Brady and his ownership group partners are helping deliver funding into a traditionally cash-poor franchise.

Graham, 46, has been on the HC carousel for a bit. This year did not produce as much attention, even with the Jaguars having Graham as an option behind top choice Liam Coen. The Jags and Bengals, though, did consider Graham for DC. This came after a Graham-led bounce-back gave the Raiders their first top-16 scoring defense (ninth) since the Super Bowl XXXVII year.

Dating back to Al Davis‘ final decade in charge, the Raiders have been unable to rely on their defenses. This included last year, when Graham’s unit regressed to 25th in points allowed. Graham has no history with Carroll, but he was on the Patriots’ staff during seven Brady years.

Signaling their latest fresh start, the Raiders rehired both Olson and Woods. Olson had been the Silver and Black’s OC for six seasons across a two-stint stretch (from 2013-14 and again from 2018-21). Olson took over after Raiders play-calling after Jon Gruden‘s forced resignation. The Raiders’ DBs coach in 2014, Woods joined Spytek in collecting a ring with the 2015 Broncos — before three DC opportunities (in Denver, Cleveland and New Orleans) followed.

Trades:

One of many teams to enter the offseason with a QB need, the Raiders passed on free agency and a lowly regarded draft class at the position. While Las Vegas was linked to both a Wilson-Carroll reunion and being in on Sam Darnold and Justin Fields, the team made a preemptive strike.

As it turned out, Brady did not want the Raiders to bring in Darnold. But they joined the Giants in making a strong push for Matthew Stafford. Both teams had agreed to provide the aging signal-caller with a sizable guarantee package — from $90-$100MM. (The Raiders, however, were not going to trade their No. 6 overall pick even as the Rams sought a first-rounder for their centerpiece player.) Brady and Stafford met at a ski resort in Montana, after the Rams had given their starter permission to discuss trades, as Davis’ new ownership weapon appeared to give the team a boost in QB recruitment.

Reminding of Brady’s Ben Johnson pursuit, the mission brought intrigue from the courtship’s object but ultimately failed when Stafford — as could be expected given his importance to the Rams and fit with Sean McVay — regrouped and stayed in L.A. Stafford heading from the friendly confines McVay has created in L.A. for Vegas uncertainty at 37 would have been a big gamble.

Smith’s value had sunk so low the Seahawks had cut him while they rearranged their roster in August 2019. That began a three-year stint as Wilson’s backup, but when Carroll signed off on the March 2022 Wilson blockbuster trade, Smith beat out Drew Lock for the ’22 Seattle gig.

Smith’s stunning turnaround captured attention and brought a substantial raise. But the Seahawks paused on committing true franchise money to their Wilson replacement. That pattern persisting in 2024 and into this offseason opened the door for the Raiders, who obtained Smith for a modest trade price.

They also acquired the QB’s Seahawks-designed three-year, $75MM contract. Agreed to in Carroll’s final Seattle offseason, the deal’s true numbers had placed Smith in no-man’s land at the position. Hovering a couple tiers south of the new franchise-QB market and well above backup money, Smith had pursued a Seahawks extension in 2024. Talks about a deal this year led to the trade, as the Seahawks and Smith’s camp did not see eye-to-eye on value.

The outcome of the Raiders’ subsequent Smith negotiations proved interesting, as the 13th-year passer’s AAV sits 17th at the position. Smith did pass Derek Carr‘s Saints contract — still active at the time the Raiders extended Smith — and Baker Mayfield‘s midlevel Buccaneers accord, but he did not clear the $40MM-per-year bar he hoped to in Seahawks talks. The NFC West team had proposed Smith numbers similar to the Darnold contract (three years, $100.5MM); he declined. Darnold’s deal carries a year-to-year structure; the team offering that to Smith illustrates hesitancy despite a solid three-year starter tenure.

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Offseason In Review: New York Giants

Admitting defeat on Daniel Jones may have come too late for the regime that inherited Dave Gettleman‘s handpicked Eli Manning successor. After three seasons tied to the inconsistent quarterback, Joe Schoen and Brian Daboll may be battling uphill to keep their jobs before their preferred Jones replacement takes the reins. Jones being the Giants’ primary starter for the first three Daboll-Schoen seasons runs the risk of, given the direction of the team since its 2022 divisional-round cameo, the QB effectively dragging the decision-making duo out of town.

More elements, of course, are mixed into the buildup to Schoen and Daboll’s fourth Giants season; none, however, approach the quarterback matter. The team’s 2024 decisions at the position bled into 2025, where a worse draft class awaited. The Giants’ QB woes did move them into position for Abdul Carter, after one seminal Drew Lock showing took them out of Cam Ward territory, and their pass rush certainly has the personnel to be among the NFL’s best. But how the team’s Russell WilsonJaxson Dart (feat. Jameis Winston) QB depth chart performs will determine if John Mara will need to make another regime change.

Free agency additions:

This offseason produced undesirable endings for a few parties on the quarterback carousel. Aaron Rodgers preferred the Vikings; he ended up a Steeler. The Steelers aimed to either re-sign Justin Fields or manage a trade for Matthew Stafford, and they were then subjected to a three-month wait by their third choice. The Raiders did not end up with the piece they wanted, as the Rams retained Stafford via another reworked contract. Tom Brady‘s aim to avoid Sam Darnold led the Raiders to acquire Geno Smith from the Seahawks, who then landed this year’s top QB free agent.

As Seattle appeared the most satisfied from the veteran passer it acquired, New York did not double as a desirable destination. The Giants were in on Darnold and Stafford, making an aggressive contract offer — in the $90MM guarantee neighborhood — to the 37-year-old passer after asking about him at the 2024 deadline. But the Giants’ Stafford interest hinged on the Rams being OK starting over, which never made much sense considering their place as a top NFC contender, and the Super Bowl-winning QB being fine heading to a team in much worse shape.

The Giants then entered the Rodgers race, but as it looked like the future Hall of Famer viewed “relocating” to New York’s NFC team his clear third choice, an April report indicated Mara placed age and durability concerns as too great. That merely could have been a way for the struggling owner to attempt to save face after Rodgers made it clear he was not joining the Giants, as he did receive an offer that was deemed better than the Steelers’ proposal. This not working out led the Giants to Wilson.

A marriage of convenience will commence. Wilson had placed the Giants on his wish list back in 2021, when the Seahawks ended up not moving him, and showed interest in New York early during the 2025 offseason. Though, even Wilson can be labeled unsatisfied by this offseason’s carousel. The 2024 Steelers starter is believed to have wanted to stay in Pittsburgh. But the Steelers had prepared to make Wilson a one-and-done, even after re-signing rumors persisted before a five-game season-ending losing streak, eyeing Fields above the player that replaced him. All these developments brought a late-March Wilson Giants signing, after Rodgers — even at 41 — stalled the QB market.

Wilson is past his prime, and the 14th-year veteran’s post-Seattle seasons have left his Hall of Fame standing in question. But Wilson’s work over the past two seasons has revealed his shocking 2022 showing was more Nathaniel Hackett-driven. In over his head as a head coach, Hackett empowered Wilson and his team in Denver — to poor results.

Wilson deserves blame for how that disastrous 5-12 season unfolded, as his perception of his abilities differed from reality. The NFL’s fourth-leading all-time QB rusher’s attempt to minimize rushing attempts after gaining weight to protect a pocket-passing version of himself from hits backfired spectacularly. But Wilson rebounded in 2023 and enjoyed moments during a Steelers playoff season last year.

On one hand, it says plenty about Wilson’s stock that the Broncos took a record-smashing dead money hit to move on a year before the Steelers showed little interest in re-signing him. Wilson clashed with both Sean Payton and Arthur Smith, not fitting in the former’s offense and arguing to have more line-of-scrimmage freedom in Pittsburgh. While QBR did not view Wilson as an especially effective passer, ranking the potential Hall of Famer 21st in 2023 and 22nd last year, he did post a 26-8 TD:INT ratio in his second Broncos season and a 16-5 mark — even as the Steelers lacked much firepower beyond George Pickens — in an 11-game 2024. The Giants will (or perhaps forced themselves to) bet on this post-prime period lasting at least one more year.

A nine-time Pro Bowler (six original-ballot nods), Wilson tops Manning in that department. But the latter delivered remarkable durability, not missing any games due to injury. Wilson’s ironman streak was moving into Manning territory in Seattle, but he has missed time due to injury in three of his past four seasons. Last year, a calf injury and an aggravation cost Wilson six games. By the time he returned, the Steelers did not have unanimous agreement on reinserting Wilson into the lineup. Mike Tomlin benching Fields without too much internal support played into the younger passer’s future in Pittsburgh, and Wilson will now try to hold off another young arm.

As Wilson attempts to stave off a younger challenger for the second straight year, he again received assurances (from Daboll) the starting job was his. The Steelers made that their party line last year, but Fields closed the gap to the point it took Tomlin until barely a week before the regular season to officially announce the decision.

For all the sack troubles Wilson has encountered — especially as his athleticism wanes — he has remained a viable starter. (Wilson sits 11 behind Rodgers for most sacks taken in NFL history, reaching this point despite playing in 49 fewer games.) How long will be be able to hold off a handpicked Daboll rookie?

Winston’s increasing popularity as one of the NFL’s most colorful characters aside, his turnover penchant — and perhaps Browns increased interest in protecting high draft real estate — led to a benching for an overmatched Dorian Thompson-Robinson. Winston’s two-year deal, though, gives him a better chance to be a Giant in 2026 compared to Wilson. Winston, 31, being a third-string option does not align with his present profile. Once Dart ascends to first-string duty, which will almost definitely happen this season, trade rumors involving Winston and/or Wilson — should the transition be made before the deadline — figure to emerge out of the Giants’ remade QB room.

The Giants’ plan to draft a QB early turned off some potential targets, and Winston signed before Wilson. It will be interesting to see if the former No. 1 overall pick would stand by as an emergency QB3.

Winston threw 13 TD passes and 12 INTs in 2024. A signature high-variance performance came in a Monday-night Broncos loss that featured 497 passing yards, four TD throws and three INTs (including two pick-sixes). That encapsulates Winston’s career, as he would be a higher-octane option compared to Wilson at this stage of their respective careers. The former Buccaneers, Saints and Browns starter’s status in training camp will be interesting to monitor.

Adebo suffered a broken femur midway through last season. Despite the former Marshon Lattimore sidekick’s contract year ending this way, he did not need to accept much of a discount. Not proving as much as the top healthy CBs on the market (Charvarius Ward, D.J. Reed, Byron Murphy, Carlton Davis), Adebo matched the Ward-Davis-Murphy AAV of $18MM. Adebo bested Ward, Davis and Reed in fully guaranteed money.

The former third-round pick’s age (26) had plenty to do with this, and this represents a new swing for this regime. Gettleman handed eight-figure AAVs to James Bradberry (2020) and Adoree’ Jackson (2021), while Schoen has kept costs lower since arriving. Adebo’s contract thrusts him into a CB1 role. This was initially viewed as a way to take some pressure off 2023 first-rounder Deonte Banks, who has not lived up to the investment. But Cor’Dale Flott mixing in with Banks as the other outside starter in minicamp will make this position one to follow closely.

Adebo’s last healthy season produced notable improvements in coverage. The 6-foot-1 corner was charged with yielding only 6.7 yards per target and allowing a 55% completion rate as the closest defender in 2023. He allowed one touchdown pass that year and yielded merely a 62.7 passer rating. Even when slot corners are included, Adebo ranked ninth among CBs in the NFL in passer rating allowed that year. He was off to a nice start in ’24, seeing that number vault only to 71.9.

With Lattimore off the field during much of that stretch, the Saints asked Adebo to anchor their CB corps. The Giants, who intercepted all of five passes last season and saw no player record more than one, are also paying for Adebo’s playmaking. He intercepted seven passes and broke up 28 since 2023.

Two of PFR’s top 17 free agents joined Big Blue’s secondary, as Holland (No. 6) followed Adebo (17) a day later. Holland’s market was rumored to push $20MM per year, but it did not quite reach that range. Holland’s deal fell short of Tre’von Moehrig‘s Panthers terms (three years, $51MM) and where the Packers went for Xavier McKinney (4/67) last year. Holland still scored a top-10 safety pact.

This is effectively an admission recent safety decisions were incorrect, as the Giants let Julian Love — who has since been extended in Seattle — walk for a $7MM-per-year deal and observed McKinney zoom to first-team All-Pro honors a year later. The Hard Knocks: Offseason series proved so damning for the Giants no NFL team could be convinced to do it this year. While much of the attention went to Saquon Barkley‘s Eagles defection, the team appeared to underestimate McKinney’s market. New York will need to hope a slight discount on Holland can make up for it.

A former second-round Dolphins draftee, Holland notched five career INTs, five career forced fumbles and four recoveries on his rookie contract. The effective blitzer also has five career sacks. He has managed this production as the Dolphins cycled through three defensive coordinators in his four seasons. Pro Football Focus viewed Holland as playing better under Vic Fangio, grading him third among safeties in 2023, than Anthony Weaver (56th). Holland and Adebo give the Giants quality talent they lacked in the secondary last year. Considering the Carter addition’s presumptive impact on the Dexter LawrenceBrian BurnsKayvon Thibodeaux pass rush, how this front-seven crew could benefit from two plus coverage players (and vice versa) is being slept on a bit.

The Carter pick came after the Giants added Golston as a rotational presence. Used as a D-end more often in 2024, Golston has more experience inside. Golston appears the fifth wheel in New York’s pass rush, but the talent and depth here makes it certainly the team’s best since its Super Bowl-era NASCAR package. Golston, 27, made some money on a contract year that included 5.5 sacks (he recorded 3.5 from 2021-23). The Cowboys deployed Golston as their DeMarcus Lawrence replacement; it will be interesting if the Giants take advantage of his inside-rushing past in an attempt to get all four of their OLBs on the field.

Andrew Thomas has missed 18 games since 2023, gutting the Giants’ O-line. He is expected back from Lisfranc surgery in training camp, but the Giants slow-playing their high-priced left tackle’s return leaves some questions. Hudson took the first-team LT snaps during OTAs and minicamp.

A 17-start player in four Browns seasons, Hudson capitalized on the Giants’ issues at the position to become the NFL’s highest-paid swing tackle. Among players with no path to the lineup in a full-strength scenario, no deal checks in higher than Hudson’s. PFF has not viewed Hudson’s work well, but he logged 200-plus snaps at right tackle each year from 2021-23 and tallied 207 on the left side last year.

Re-signings:

Slayton’s New York arc remains unusual. The Giants took the rare step to cut his rookie-contract pay in 2022, as a demotion was planned when the team still held out hope for Kadarius Toney and Kenny Golladay. Slayton delivered his usual, leading that playoff team in receiving yards. He did that four times from 2019-23. Slayton circled back to re-sign (on a two-year, $12MM deal) in 2023 but saw the Giants rebuff his efforts to secure a raise last year.

Even as a cratering Giants QB situation affected the passing attack — a trend during Slayton’s career — the reliable vet entered 2025 as one of the top wideouts available. Even as the Giants drafted Malik Nabers sixth overall and added Wan’Dale Robinson and Jalin Hyatt, Slayton — a Gettleman draftee — remains a core player. He finally has a contract to show for it, as reasonable WR2 money comes his way.

Slayton had aimed to join a contender; the Giants — facing a vicious schedule that obviously became known weeks after Slayton’s recommitment — appear outside that realm in 2025. It is certainly possible no team offered a comparable guarantee, one that protects Slayton for his age-29 season in 2026. Four times a 700-yard receiver and zero an 800-yard cog, Slayton did well to score what he did. Inking a two-year deal preserved his value for a third contract. Now, Nabers’ sidekick will hope the Giants can turn their operation around while he is on this deal.

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Offseason In Review: San Francisco 49ers

As we reach the end of this year’s Offseason In Review journey, the defending NFC champions — who played the lead role in churning out summer content — close the show. After coming closer to winning a championship without actually doing so than anyone in the Super Bowl era, the 49ers completed a busy offseason.

Extensions and reworkings, one after an endless rumor spree that involved a handful of other teams, dominated a San Francisco offseason that also featured a key coaching change. Here is how the 2023 runners-up went about assembling their latest Super Bowl contender.

Extensions and restructures:

Amid the 49ers’ months-long Aiyuk odyssey, they rewarded the game’s most dynamic running back. As RB salaries stagnated ahead of a 2023 crisis point at the position, this year brought some relief for the market. Saquon Barkley secured $26MM fully guaranteed to top all backs. No player had approached McCaffrey’s $16MM-per-year AAV, however; that number topped position since the Panthers signed off on it in April 2020. But McCaffrey’s deal had paid out its guarantees ahead of the All-Pro’s age-28 season. The 49ers soon took care of the 2022 trade acquisition, raising the RB ceiling with a number unlikely to be approached in the near future.

McCaffrey now holds the RB AAV lead by $4MM, and his $24MM at signing trails only Barkley. Of course, CMC already played four seasons on the deal he inked with the Panthers to set himself up well despite playing a position with a notoriously short career span.

The second-generation NFLer proved a perfect fit in Kyle Shanahan‘s offense, giving Brock Purdy an unmatched backfield weapon as he began his QB1 run. The 49ers beat out the Rams by sending second-, third-, fourth- and fifth-round picks for McCaffrey and saw tremendous return on investment last year, when the former top-10 draftee soared to Offensive Player of the Year acclaim.

McCaffrey’s rushing title (1,459 yards) was the franchise’s first since Hall of Famer Joe Perry in 1954, and the OPOY’s 21 total touchdowns led the league despite the 49ers resting him in Week 18. McCaffrey’s workload (1,806 career touches) and Carolina injury history certainly bring concerns entering Year 8, but he has shown the value a top-tier RB can provide a team and did well to secure money through 2025.

Although the deal runs through the 2027 season, it becomes a pay-as-you-go pact beyond 2025. It would cost the 49ers $12.8MM to move on from McCaffrey in 2026, but even if that happens, this will still be considered a successful partnership. The 49ers had kept RB costs low since their 2018 Jerick McKinnon deal did not pan out, but they will hope to again lean on the game’s most expensive ball-carrier as they attempt to win their first Super Bowl in 30 years.

This payment may well have provided a push for Williams to act regarding his contract, as he is by far the top player blocking for McCaffrey. The 49ers have constructed an offensive line that features only Williams tied to a deal worth more than $6MM per year, leaving the door open to this holdout due to the value the perennial All-Pro left tackle provides. A rumor about a potential Williams contract squabble surfaced in June, and the decorated blocker indeed followed through on an attempt to seek an update midway through his six-year deal.

Williams, 36, signed a six-year, $138MM contract in 2021, as the 49ers beat out the Chiefs to re-sign a player who would secure Hall of Fame entry on this contract. The former Washington top-five pick, a first-team All-Pro each year from 2021-23, had played out the guarantees on his contract. Despite the 49ers controlling Williams through 2026, they were dealing with a player who had already displayed conviction via his 2019 Washington standoff — one that ultimately keyed a 2020 trade to San Francisco. The 49ers’ O-line construction also brings Williams dependance, a blueprint reflected in the team’s 0-2 record without its stalwart LT last season.

Between missed practices and preseason games, this holdout cost Williams $5.39MM to wage. Although the CBA prevented the 49ers from waiving Williams’ fines like they did for Nick Bosa (due to the former being on a veteran contract), the holdout probably proved worthwhile for the 15th-year veteran. Williams’ updated deal added no new years but made him the NFL’s highest-paid tackle once again ($27.55MM per year) and made it nearly impossible for the 49ers to move on until at least 2026. Even then, the penalty would now be steep ($35.7MM).

With Williams confirming late last season he was not planning to retire, the 49ers will show faith he can deliver multiple additional seasons. With one more Pro Bowl nod, Williams — an 11-time Pro Bowler — can set the NFL tackle record.

Jennings’ agreement pointed to the 49ers splitting up their Aiyuk-Deebo Samuel pair in 2025, and with Aiyuk finally signed, Samuel trade rumors probably are not far away. A former seventh-round pick, Jennings has delivered strong value. The team attempted to replace Jennings with third-rounder Danny Gray, but Jennings has proven important in more ways than one. The ex-quarterback caught and threw a TD pass in Super Bowl LVIII, coming after a 361-snap season, and PFF rated him as the NFL’s third-best run-blocking receiver in 2023.

Previously given a second-round RFA tender, the 27-year-old role player is signed through 2025. He rounds out a deep receiving corps, should first-rounder Ricky Pearsall eventually factor into this season’s equation. Of course, this was a footnote compared to the next notable WR transaction the 49ers completed.

John Lynch said in February an Aiyuk extension would present challenges; this proved a good synopsis for the action-packed negotiations ahead. Discussions began in late March, but no movement between the parties occurred for months. This produced countless rumors about Aiyuk’s price points — in terms of AAV and guarantees — and invited other teams to inquire. Trade talks did not become serious until training camp, though the 49ers — as they did with Samuel during his 2022 impasse — discussed Aiyuk with teams during the draft. San Francisco wanted a mid-first-round pick for the second-team All-Pro; no team made such an offer, and by summer’s end, no team ultimately would.

During the sides’ negotiations, the wideout market shifted. When the parties began talking, one receiver was tied to a deal north of $30MM per year (Tyreek Hill). Amon-Ra St. Brown and A.J. Brown joined that club in April, and Justin Jefferson reset the market in late May. CeeDee Lamb used the Jefferson deal to secure monster terms from the Cowboys following a holdout. The top two contracts on the market did not affect Aiyuk too closely, but the position’s ceiling rising as it did inflated asking prices for players not quite on that level. The Dolphins and Eagles respectively paying Jaylen Waddle ($28.25MM per year, $76MM guaranteed) and DeVonta Smith ($25MM AAV, $69.99MM guaranteed) shaped the Aiyuk talks as well.

These deals did not convince the 49ers to change their Aiyuk view for months; the team stood at a price between $26-$27MM per year until training camp. Aiyuk had aimed to land St. Brown-level money and targeted guarantees in the Brown range ($84MM). An ascending player, the 26-year-old talent still exited the 2023 season 17th in receiving yards in the 2020s. Aiyuk’s surface-level stats brought scrutiny regarding his demands.

The 2020 first-round pick, however, displayed high-end efficiency last season. His 1,342-yard year came on just 105 targets in the 49ers’ well-balanced offense. Aiyuk’s 3.01 yards per route run ranked third in the NFL last year, and his camp undoubtedly parlayed this efficiency — along with Aiyuk’s importance to a championship contender — into the late-August windfall.

Before reaching the finish line, the 49ers let Aiyuk shop around. Had he wanted to merely take the best deal, the Patriots (at $32MM per year, with Kendrick Bourne potentially coming back to San Francisco) may have been the trade partner. But Aiyuk did not want to be dealt to New England or Cleveland, the latter offering $30MM per and submitting an interesting package involving contract-year WR Amari Cooper along with second- and fifth-round picks. Although Aiyuk would have welcomed being dealt to the Commanders and reuniting with college teammate Jayden Daniels, they were not especially interested.

The Steelers — an Aiyuk draw largely due to Mike Tomlin‘s presence — became the “what if?” team, but their trade and extension offers underwhelmed both the 49ers and Aiyuk. Trade framework ultimately emerged, but the underwhelming proposals ended up bringing Aiyuk back to the table with the 49ers, who again turned a WR trade request into a summer extension. Of course, it took San Francisco upping its offer to $30MM per.

Pittsburgh not having a comparable receiver to trade for Aiyuk hurt its cause, leading San Francisco to contact other teams about what would have essentially been a three-team trade. Most notably, they offered the Broncos a third-rounder for Courtland Sutton. The Steelers offered second- and third-round picks for Aiyuk, but the 49ers being unable to flip the third they would have obtained for Sutton helped keep Aiyuk in the fold. Sitting on the same extension offer for two-plus weeks, Aiyuk accepted and is now the NFL’s sixth $30MM-per-year receiver.

Considering how difficult it would have been for the 49ers to replace their top outside receiver at this juncture, a late-summer trade never made much sense. Had the 49ers been rebuilding and determined to obtain the most value, Aiyuk is probably in the AFC now. For one more season at least, the 49ers’ four-All-Pro skill-position setup — which includes Samuel and George Kittle on through-2025 contracts — is intact. A likely Purdy 2025 extension threatens to split up the quartet after this season.

Free agency additions:

These signings seem like they occurred years ago, as the 49ers’ holdover contracts overshadowed their outside additions. But Floyd represents a key piece for a team that carried far less proven edge rushers opposite Bosa for a multiyear stretch. After washing out with the Bears, Floyd revitalized his career alongside Aaron Donald. Floyd’s Bills work, however, showed he was not merely a Donald creation.

The former top-10 Chicago pick matched his career high with 10.5 sacks last season, becoming a vital defender for a Bills team that did not see Von Miller display his 2022 form after a second ACL tear. Given a one-year, $7MM Buffalo deal, Floyd anchored the AFC East champs’ pass rush. He is in San Francisco due to an assist from offseason hire Brandon Staley, the ex-Rams DC who pushed for a reunion.

Floyd, who turned 32 on Sunday, has been one of the 2020s’ most consistent rushers. He has totaled between nine and 10.5 sacks in each of the past four seasons and tallied between 18 and 22 QB hits each year this decade. Teaming with Bosa and highly regarded D-line coach Kris Kocurek should allow Floyd to continue producing at this level.

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Offseason In Review: Dallas Cowboys

Perhaps the worst letdown in a string of Cowboys playoff misfortunes caused Jerry Jones to make Mike McCarthy a rare lame-duck HC and stall on a Dak Prescott extension. The longtime owner received steady criticism for letting the Prescott and CeeDee Lamb situations fester throughout the offseason, one that otherwise featured few veteran augmentations.

Rookies became needed to fill holes along Dallas’ offensive line, and constant questions about how the team plans to assemble a backfield came out. As usual, however, the Cowboys kept it interesting as they remain on the job of trying to end a near-30-year NFC championship game drought.

Extensions and restructures:

With Micah Parsons under contract through 2025 via the fifth-year option, the Cowboys’ three-headed contract quagmire became a Lamb-Prescott matter as this offseason progressed. In Cowboys fashion, negotiations with each generated numerous headlines. One holdout ensued. But the team did reach a resolution with one of the two standouts, moving first to pay Lamb after his first-team All-Pro season.

Shifting to the Cowboys’ go-to performer after the 2022 Amari Cooper trade, Lamb led the NFL in receptions last season and broke Michael Irvin‘s single-season records for catches and yards by tallying 135 grabs and 1,749 yards. Serious extension talks did not pick up until training camp. Lamb surfaced as an extension candidate in 2023, and it would have been cheaper to extend him then. Per COO Stephen Jones, Lamb was not interested in an extension in 2023. Whatever the case may be, the 25-year-old wideout enhanced his value by both dominating in 2023 and waiting for other receivers to move the market well past $30MM per year.

Exiting the 2023 offseason, only Tyreek Hill had secured a $30MM-per-year deal at wide receiver. Hill’s pact also deceived, as a phony final-year salary propped up the AAV. Lamb and Justin Jefferson sought legit structures, and by the time Dallas’ WR1 came to the table, three other wideouts — Jefferson, A.J. Brown, Amon-Ra St. Brown — had moved past $30MM per annum. Jefferson’s $35MM-per-year deal that included $110MM guaranteed and $88.7MM guaranteed at signing played the biggest role in Lamb negotiations, just as it has in Ja’Marr Chase‘s Bengals talks.

Stephen Jones initially said Lamb was seeking to become the NFL’s highest-paid non-QB, topping Jefferson, but quickly retracted it. Jerry Jones then said the team was not operating urgently with Lamb before backtracking, after Lamb took issue with the owner’s situational assessment. The Cowboys submitted a few offers to Lamb, initially coming in below $33MM per year and then moving between $33-$34MM on average before finally reaching $34MM per.

The Vikings’ landmark deal reset the WR guarantee market, and this booming market did not feature the kind of deals the Cowboys typically work out. Dallas has long preferred lengthier contracts — spanning at least five years — but receivers in recent offseasons had opted for three- and four-year extensions. Dallas both bent on term length, guarantees and eventually AAV.

After previously never giving a wideout more than $60MM guaranteed, the Cowboys rewarded Lamb — after a weeks-long holdout — with $100MM locked in and $67MM at signing. Those numbers placed the 2020 first-rounder comfortably in second at the position.

As many big-ticket extensions now feature, a rolling guarantee structure offers Lamb year-out protection. His 2026 base salary ($25MM) shifts from an injury guarantee to a full guarantee in March 2025. Another $7MM for 2027 will shift from an injury guarantee to locked-in cash in 2026. The Cowboys used four void years packed with option bonuses to spread out Lamb’s cap hits; the extension saved the team more than $10MM in 2024 cap space.

[RELATED: Prescott Agreed To Four-Year, $240MM Extension On Sunday]

The Lamb holdout merely stood as a high-end undercard to Prescott’s main event. Dallas took this process to the wire — ahead of a soft Week 1 deadline — and is heading into rocky terrain with their ninth-year starter. After a rumor circulated indicating the Cowboys would be OK letting Prescott hit free agency next year, the team pushed back on it by insisting it wants to extend the former fourth-round find. Both team and player initially said a contract did not have to be done by Week 1, but Prescott later added that “it says a lot if it is or it isn’t.” This situation ran late into Saturday night, but Dak remains on the four-year, $160MM contract he signed in March 2021. As it stands, he is months from being one of the most coveted targets in free agency history.

The Cowboys are battling uphill against their quarterback, having given him extraordinary leverage thanks to a three-offseason negotiation that afforded the QB no-trade and no-franchise tag clauses. Dallas later completed multiple restructures, ballooning Prescott’s 2024 cap hit to $55.13MM and creating a $40.13MM dead money hit — thanks to void years — if he is not extended by the start of the 2025 league year.

Unless the 30-year-old passer receives a monster offer — the $60MM-per-year number has come up often — there is no reason for him to pass on approaching free agency. He did not shut down that path this summer.

Maligned due to his place as the centerpiece player on a team known for late-season shortcomings, Prescott is nevertheless coming off a second-team All-Pro season. The MVP runner-up bounced back from a down 2022 season, and if Kirk Cousins fetched $100MM in practical guarantees ahead of an age-36 season following Achilles surgery, Prescott would be in position to reset a quarterback market that has incrementally climbed to the $55MM-per-year place. As should be expected, Dak is targeting a deal north of that $55MM-AAV number.

Unless the Cowboys are keen on starting over at QB with a veteran team — this worked out well for the post-Super Bowl 50 Broncos — after Jerry Jones’ 82nd birthday, they will need to again give in. A contract flooded with guarantees and early vesting dates will almost definitely be required to keep Dak from testing the market, as a $60MM-plus-AAV accord would certainly await in 2025 if he plays out his contract year.

Jones has received steady criticism for letting his top players’ values increase by waiting on extensions, but this is a unique contract to complete. The sides are believed to be in agreement on term length, at least, and the Cowboys do have exclusive negotiating rights until mid-March. Though, the closer we get to free agency, the more challenging the mission becomes for the team.

The Cowboys’ longest-tenured player now that Tyron Smith is gone, Martin still earned All-Pro acclaim despite admitting he was not at his best following a holdout last year. Martin is a future first-ballot Hall of Famer who secured guarantees over his six-year contract’s final two seasons, but this restructure will inflate the dead money total the Cowboys would absorb if the soon-to-be 34-year-old blocker is not re-signed in 2025. The 11th-year veteran is considering retirement after this season. If Martin retires, the Cowboys would be tasked with replacing an all-time guard great and face a $26.5MM dead cap hit next year.

Free agency additions:

Elliott now counts more than $8MM on Dallas’ payroll; the other $6MM comes from dead money associated with the Cowboys ditching his previous contract. Once given a six-year, $90MM deal to anchor Dallas’ offense, Elliott is now 29 and enters the season with by far the most touches (2,421) among active backs. The Cowboys did miss two-time rushing champion’s nose for the end zone last season, but his presence atop the depth chart creates concern.

Even as Elliott closed the Bill Belichick era as the Patriots’ starting running back, his New England one-off produced a bottom-10 rushing yards over expected mark (minus-71). The Cowboys pursued Zack Moss in free agency but saw him join the Bengals on a two-year, $8MM deal. Dallas did not chase Derrick Henry this offseason, and rumblings about an Elliott reunion — a topic that came up last year even after Dallas made him a post-June 1 cut — emerged before March’s end.

It remains odd the Cowboys did not at least add a late-round RB flier of sorts, instead re-signing Rico Dowdle and bringing in Cook, who enters the season with the fifth-most touches (1,585) among active RBs. Following four straight 1,100-yard rushing seasons in Minnesota, Cook saw his play nosedive in New York. The would-be Jets bridge back to Breece Hall ended up being released. The Cowboys can elevate Cook to their active roster, but an Elliott-Dowdle-Cook committee — in 2024, at least — may well be the NFL’s least formidable backfield.

The reunion theme continued on defense. While Kendricks and Joseph have no previous Cowboys ties, they both played several seasons under new DC Mike Zimmer. Each served as part of the Vikings’ defense-powered core in the 2010s, helping the team to three playoff berths during Zimmer’s tenure.

Joseph, 35, will be charged with helping out a Dallas run defense that ranked 16th last season — but one that allowed Aaron Jones to run wild in the seminal wild-card loss. The recent Chargers and Bills D-tackle, Joseph has made 170 career starts. He will most likely work as a situational player tasked with aiding Dallas ground deterrence.

Kendricks, 32, comes over after becoming a cap casualty (by the Vikings and Chargers) in each of the past two seasons. The former Zimmer mainstay had a deal in place to be the 49ers’ bridge to Dre Greenlaw, but Kendricks backtracked on that commitment and joined a Cowboys team promising more opportunities. With the Cowboys moving undersized LB Markquese Bell back to safety, cutting Leighton Vander Esch and seeing 2023 third-round pick DeMarvion Overshown coming back from an ACL tear, Kendricks is suddenly needed again.

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Offseason In Review: Atlanta Falcons

It is difficult to come up with an offseason that featured this much Falcons discussion. Perhaps 2007. But this one brought three storylines that helped shape the NFL over the past several months. Three straight 7-10 seasons, which followed three previous non-playoff efforts, had made the Falcons into one of the league’s least interesting teams. Atlanta’s coaching search, free agency period and the draft — and even some post-draft activity to build on what the team had already done in 2024 — made this a captivating club to follow.

Coaching/front office:

Joining Ron Rivera in entrusting his job to a quarterback plan most doubted, Smith saw two season-ending blowouts seal his fate. The former Titans OC could not turn Desmond Ridder into a reliable starter, benching him on multiple occasions. Considering Ridder’s 2024 trajectory, Smith faced too daunting a task. Ownership still canned the three-year HC and set its sights on a more experienced option. Being the only team to target the most experienced coach on the market turned out to backfire, as the process received endless scrutiny and fallout.

Targeting experience after hiring first-timers in his searches throughout his ownership tenure, Arthur Blank is believed to have initially wanted Belichick as his next head coach. After the two interviews the Patriots legend conducted, he was in the lead. The Falcons were moving closer to going with the most accomplished HC in the Super Bowl era, and on the morning of the Morris hire, Belichick still believed he would land the job. Changes during one of the most captivating searches in PFR’s history will be associated with Morris, through no fault of his own, as Falcons higher-ups took heat for not hiring Belichick.

A rumor about many in the NFL suspecting Belichick was interested in bringing ex-Patriot assistants Josh McDaniels, Matt Patricia and Joe Judge with him came about as the candidate’s slide out of the lead chair for this job began. More significantly, turf protecting may well have taken place in Atlanta’s front office. Even though a report came out about Belichick being willing to cede personnel control — which he held throughout his New England tenure — CEO Rich McKay and GM Terry Fontenot would have naturally seen their power threatened had the longtime Patriots czar come aboard. Dot connecting certainly points to this duo steering Blank in another direction.

McKay, who has been with the Falcons since 2003, moved from the GM chair to the CEO role in 2008. He still wields considerable power within the organization, and a February report indicated the ex-Falcons and Buccaneers GM had a good relationship with Morris and conversely was not on the greatest terms with Belichick. Blank and McKay co-ran the search, with Fontenot providing input in his fourth year as GM, and an April examination revealed the Falcons did not end up ranking the 72-year-old leader in the top three for the job. With Morris the unanimous first choice, the McKay-Fontenot-Blank trio is believed to have respectively ranked Mike Macdonald and Bobby Slowik second and third.

Although a report that surfaced immediately after the Morris hire indicated McKay would step back from his role in football operations, he will certainly be tied to this decision. Football fans may have him to thank (perhaps blame) for Belichick’s upcoming media blitz this season.

As it stands, Fontenot remains in place as the team’s football ops boss. Belichick, who would have been the oldest HC hire in NFL history by six years, was seen as a short-term play by the Falcons and would have threatened Fontenot’s place in the power structure due to sheer experience. The six-time Super Bowl-winning HC figures to run into age-related hurdles as he tries to return to the league in 2025 as well. While Belichick-NFC East connections have subsequently emerged, Morris has a second chance.

Atlanta also interviewed Jim Harbaugh but saw the Michigan leader cancel a second interview, as he zeroed in on Los Angeles. Morris, 48, will make a historically quick return to a team that had employed him as its interim HC for most of the 2020 season.

Morris broke into the NFL as an assistant under McKay in Tampa and remained well liked among Falcons players still left from his interim stay. The former Bucs HC worked as a Falcons assistant (on both the defensive and offensive sides) from 2015-20 and bolstered his credentials for a second chance after winning a Super Bowl ring as Rams DC.

The Sean McVay tree has also produced promotions for several defensive coaches, with Morris following Brandon Staley as a Rams DC to receive a top job. Benefiting considerably from Aaron Donald‘s presence, Morris did not produce a top-12 defensive ranking in points or yardage in L.A. Being 24 years younger than Belichick obviously helped Morris’ cause, as did his past with McKay and the Falcons. Morris enters this season 21-38 as a head coach, but this Falcons roster may be the best he has helmed. Morris’ Bucs stay overlapped almost entirely with Josh Freeman‘s QB1 stint.

A few teams targeted Zac Robinson as OC, but once Morris took over in Atlanta, he quickly brought the ex-Rams QBs coach with him. The former Oklahoma State quarterback has been on McVay’s staff since 2019. Robinson, 38, has only worked for the Rams, moving up to pass-game coordinator in 2022. With teams continuing to gravitate toward McVay staffers, Robinson probably would have had multiple options — particularly after Puka Nacua‘s rookie-year dominance — to begin an OC career.

Lake’s resume is more complicated. Although he coached with Morris in Tampa and L.A., Lake is still best known for his quick dismissal as Washington’s HC. An incident in which Lake appeared to strike a player on the sidelines preceded another complaint emerging against the Huskies’ then-HC, and the school fired him in November 2021. Lake, who spent part of Morris’ Bucs stint coaching DBs, resurfaced as a Rams assistant HC in 2023. No other team sought a Lake DC interview this offseason, and he will begin this season as the Falcons’ defensive play-caller.

Free agency additions:

The Vikings were not willing to offer Cousins a deal comparable to the offer the Falcons submitted. Cousins-Atlanta connections came out in early March, and although both the QB and Vikings brass had said they wanted to huddle up for a fourth contract, hitting the open market once again — despite coming off an Achilles tear and entering an age-36 season — opened the door to lucrative outside bids. Being a proven above-average quarterback still brings big opportunities.

Cousins and the Vikings engaged in negotiations last year, but the sides disagreed on Year 3 guarantees. This led to a restructure, one the Vikings are paying for now. Even as $28.5MM was set to accelerate onto Minnesota’s 2024 cap, the Vikings stood down. They had a farfetched scenario in which Cousins could be their bridge QB before a rookie eventually took over (the irony), but Cousins wanted more than being a year-to-year option. One of the shrewdest financial operators in NFL history maximized his value once again by hitting the open market, and the Falcons — a year after Blank expressed excitement in building a roster around Ridder’s rookie contract — returned to the franchise-QB payment business.

Atlanta was linked to Justin Fields and Baker Mayfield, but Cousins rumors took over — as the ex-Rams staffers were not interested in Fields — in the days leading up to the legal tampering period. Other than the 2007 Joey Harrington signing in an emergency circumstance, this is the first Falcons free agency play for a starting quarterback since they signed Bobby Hebert from the Saints in 1993 — full-fledged free agency’s debut. In the years since, they had used the trade market (Jeff George, Chris Chandler) and the draft (Michael Vick, Matt Ryan, Ridder) to staff the position. Cousins brings risk, due to age and the October 2023 Achilles tear, but he has also been a dependably productive passer since usurping Robert Griffin III in Washington.

Cousins had thrown an NFL-most 18 touchdown passes when he went down, finishing off a three-TD day in Green Bay, and carries no previous injury baggage to Atlanta. Aaron Rodgers is also recovering from the same injury; he is nearly five years older.

Cousins could not elevate the Vikings to the Super Bowl precipice; the team missed the playoffs in three of his five healthy seasons. But the QB, who was blessed with Justin Jefferson and the Stefon DiggsAdam Thielen pair before that, regularly put up stats. Cousins finished with three 30-plus-TD seasons in Minnesota. Though, he never finished in the top 12 in QBR as a Viking. The former fourth-round pick did rank seventh in the metric in his eight-game 2023 season. He received full clearance early in training camp.

The Falcons lost a fifth-round pick for tampering regarding their pursuits of Cousins and Mooney, whom the QB told his new team he would help recruit. This came before players could agree to deals, leading to a light punishment. Mooney will come over after two mediocre Bears years, but the former fifth-round find’s 2021 1,000-yard season clearly still resided in execs’ minds, as it took the Falcons matching the Jaguars’ three-year, $39MM Gabe Davis deal to land Mooney. The Chiefs and Titans were linked to Mooney as well.

Mooney, 26, ranked 39th in yards per route run in 2021 — Allen Robinson‘s franchise tag season that ended up revealing the veteran’s decline — and totaled 1,055 yards that year. He combined for 907 yards under OC Luke Getsy. Mooney’s fortunes should improve under Cousins, who consistently fed Thielen, Diggs and Jefferson while keeping K.J. Osborn regularly involved as well. The Falcons have not seen a productive receiving duo in a while, with the Julio JonesCalvin Ridley pair last seeing substantial time together in 2019.

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Offseason In Review: Los Angeles Rams

Relative to many of the contenders in the NFL, the Rams went through a fairly quiet offseason. Departing coaches and veterans, returning and incoming veterans, the Rams return a similar offense in 2024 — one accompanied by a few new faces on defense and among the coaching staff. The goal of another Super Bowl remains, though, as Los Angeles attempts to challenge San Francisco for the division and, ultimately, the conference.

Free agency additions:

While much of the offense will look the same as it did in 2023, free agency provided almost a completely different group of starters in the secondary on defense. Williams is a familiar face back in Los Angeles, returning to the Rams after two years away. The veteran cornerback first found his way to L.A. after his initial signing with the Ravens as an undrafted free agent in 2018. A midseason cut led to Williams being claimed by the Rams, with whom he would become a full-time starter over four years.

Williams left for Jacksonville under a three-year, $30MM deal but was released a year early, allowing him to return on his new three-year contract. The 31-year-old CB’s deal, however, becomes a pay-as-you-go pact after the first year. That gives the Rams some protection in case Williams cannot recapture his form from his first L.A. stint.

Williams is joined in a new-look secondary by Curl and White. A former seventh-round pick with Washington, Curl became a full-time starter shortly into his rookie season. Curl hasn’t intercepted any passes since his three-pick year in 2020, but his 53 starts in 60 games in Washington should make him perfectly capable of joining John Johnson as a starter in the defensive backfield. With a torn ACL sidelining starter Derion Kendrick for the season, White (34 missed games since his Thanksgiving 2021 ACL tear) will be tapped as the next man up, starting across from Williams.

One new offensive starter did arrive as a free agent. After spending his entire rookie contract as a starting left guard in Detroit, Jackson will return to a role that he last played in his redshirt sophomore season at Rutgers. Jackson played guard in his final season with the Scarlet Knights and his transfer year at Ohio State, but Los Angeles will ask him to find his way back to the center of the offensive line. This recent switch will kick 2023 second-rounder Steve Avila, a guard as a rookie but a center throughout Los Angeles’ offseason program, back to guard.

Garoppolo joins as a potential upgrade to Stetson Bennett as a backup quarterback. It’s been a bit of a fall from grace for Garoppolo over the past few years after losing his starting jobs in San Francisco and Las Vegas, but perhaps coming into a situation in which he knows he’s a backup will prove useful for the veteran passer. This continues a trend of Sean McVay bringing in a downward-trending starter and installing him as Matthew Stafford‘s backup.

Re-signings:

The Rams acquired Dotson in a trade last year from Pittsburgh and reaped the rewards for it. For some mid- to late-round draft swaps, Los Angeles acquired a middling guard heading into the final year of his rookie deal and saw him put forth his best season of NFL football so far. According to Pro Football Focus (subscription required), Dotson ranked as the second-best guard in the NFL last season. Previously, the advanced metrics site had not ranked Dotson any higher than 28th. The Rams joined the Panthers in shelling out big cash for two guards on this year’s guard-rich market.

In the receiving corps, Cooper Kupp and Puka Nacua will receive all the attention, but Robinson returns as a quality contributor off the bench. After quickly shipping Van Jefferson to Atlanta last season, the Rams depended on Tutu Atwell and Robinson to step up behind their star receivers as contributors. Robinson finished fourth in the receivers room in yards last year and will push Atwell for targets after behind Kupp and Nacua again in 2024.

On defense, as we mentioned above, Johnson returns to keep the secondary from looking completely strange from last year’s group. Rozeboom and Reeder were both re-signed after starting five and six games last year, respectively. This duo was originally set to provide supporting work on the Rams’ defensive second level, but the departure of Ernest Jones (see the Trades section below) will require the two to take on bigger responsibilities in 2024.

Notable losses:

The biggest loss here is an obvious one, as the Rams watch a three-time Defensive Player of the Year, 10-time Pro Bowler, and eight-time first-team All-Pro hang up his cleats. Donald is irreplaceable. Period. The Rams will certainly have a difficult time picking up the pieces after of the greatest defenders in NFL history retired with one year left on his contract.

Donald, who threatened to retire in 2022 in an effort to strengthen his leverage for a redone contract (and succeeding), remained near the top of his game last season (eight sacks, 16 tackles for loss, 23 QB hits) and earned the last of his first-team All-Pro nods. Assessing the Rams’ defense becomes tougher due to the impact Donald made.

Dante Fowler, Leonard Floyd and Von Miller collected big paydays shortly after thriving alongside the Rams’ unmatched inside pass rusher, with Donald’s presence undoubtedly lessening the burden on the team’s secondary as well. He drove the defensive effort in the Rams’ Super Bowl LVI win, doing so three years after his second DPOY season powered McVay’s team to Super Bowl LIII.

Donald’s retirement — at 33 — will tag the Rams with substantial dead money. He will count $23.8MM against Los Angeles’ 2024 cap and $9.7MM on the team’s 2025 payroll. The Rams made the playoffs with more than $70MM in dead money on last year’s cap; the loss of Donald on the field will matter far more compared to the cap ramifications of his retirement.

How the Rams’ defense functions after Donald’s 10-year career wraps will be a central NFC storyline. Regardless, the Rams will attempt to use some combination of Kobie Turner, Bobby Brown, and second-round rookie Braden Fiske to try and make up for Donald’s lost production.

The cause for the abovementioned new-look secondary can be seen here. Fuller was a four-year starter (missing most of one year with injury) as a sixth-round pick for the Rams. In those three healthy years, Fuller yielded seven interceptions and a 100-tackle season. He leveraged those performances into a one-year deal with the Panthers, reuniting with ex-Rams safeties coach Ejiro Evero. Witherspoon played in every game of the season last year for the first time in his career, reeling in three interceptions in the process. The 29-year-old remains a free agent.

On offense, the loss of names like Wentz and Freeman seems bigger than they may be. Far removed from being a 2017 MVP candidate and three years after his last full season as a starting passer, Wentz’s impact in Los Angeles was minimal. Still, the drop in quality from Wentz to Garoppolo or Bennett at QB2 may be significant. Freeman’s name may not seem like a big loss, but his 319 rushing yards in 2023 were the most behind Kyren Williams by a decent margin. The team drafted Michigan’s Blake Corum in the third round this year in hopes that he’ll provide an improvement at RB2.

Of the losses on the offensive line, Shelton’s is the biggest. Shelton took the reins from Allen at center last year, starting every Rams game. Seeing his playing time dissolve, Allen ended up a cap casualty. Shelton has since found his way into a Week 1 starting role in Chicago on a one-year contract.

Extensions and restructures:

One of this offseason’s biggest moves saw the Rams reward Stafford for a healthy and productive season in 2023. The cannon-armed QB’s 2022 injuries played the lead role in the Rams submitting the worst Super Bowl title defense ever, and rumblings about a trade surfaced early during the 2023 offseason. Though, Stafford’s contract and health at the time never made a move realistic.

After a bounce-back 2023, Stafford — upon seeing nearly all the guarantees from his contract exhausted — expressed desires for more locked-in money in his future. Los Angeles took care of its own, moving $5MM of future funds so that Stafford would receive $36MM in 2024. The team also added a guaranteed $4MM roster bonus for the 2025 season to Stafford’s contract.

The modified deal does not extend Stafford’s obligation past its original end following the 2026 season, but the Rams made their quarterback happy in hopes he can do the same for them. While the team has expressed optimism Stafford can play beyond 2024, the team still views this — the summer reworking aside — as a year-to-year partnership.

Noteboom’s path as the heir apparent to Andrew Whitworth did not quite pan out as Los Angeles had hoped. While Noteboom is not the full-time starter they expected, he still holds a consistent role as a swingman; the former third-round pick started 14 games over the last two years at guard and tackle. An agreement to restructure with a pay cut allowed Noteboom to continue in that role moving forward. His decreased income was supplemented in the short term with nearly $7MM in guarantees. As a result, Noteboom’s cap hit decreased from $20MM to $11.6MM.

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