HEADLINES

Offseason In Review News & Rumors

Offseason In Review: Tennessee Titans

August 5th, 2025 at 10:00pm CST by Ely Allen

The 2024 NFL season became one to forget for the Titans, who matched a franchise low with 14 losses. Despite fielding a defense that allowed the second-fewest yards in the NFL last year, the Titans permitted the third-most points to opposing offenses. The 460 points allowed was the second-most for the franchise in a single season in its 65-year history. On offense, each of the last three years saw the Titans finish a season no better than 26th in yards or points as Tennessee moved past the Ryan Tannehill era.

Last year also started a Brian Callahan HC stint; the debut proved inauspicious. Weeks after the season wrapped, the Titans quickly paired their first-time head coach with a new GM in Mike Borgonzi. The offseason strategy appeared to center around a bit of roster (and front office) purging with an emphasis on building up an improved offensive line and arsenal of weapons for No. 1 overall pick Cam Ward, who the Titans hope will become a franchise quarterback for years to come.

Trades:

At one point a first-round prospect of a caliber to make the Chargers trade second- and third-round picks to move back into the Round 1 to draft him, Murray has since fallen from grace. As a rookie in Los Angeles, Murray led the team with 107 tackles, but in Year 2, an ankle injury derailed his progress.

Murray returned to the starting lineup in 2022, but a below-average performance pushed the Chargers to decline his fifth-year option. After a contract year in which he recorded 107 tackles, again, and three sacks, Murray signed a two-year, $15.5MM deal with Tennessee and led the Titans in tackles (95) last season, adding a career-high 3.5 sacks.

The thing with Murray is, despite his leading a couple of defenses in tackles and being a full-time starter for most of his career, the defenses he’s led have ranked in the bottom third of the league. Pro Football Focus (subscription required) is especially critical of the 26-year-old. As the Titans’ leading tackler in 2024, Murray graded out as the NFL’s 82nd-best linebacker out of 84 players graded at the position.

Part of the aforementioned purge, Tennessee packaged Murray with a seventh-round pick in exchange for the sixth-round pick it would use to draft Michigan running back Kalel Mullings, saving $4.91MM of cap space in the process. The move followed the Titans making 2023 leading tackler Azeez Al-Shaair a one-and-done.

Free agency additions:

There was a clear and concerted effort in free agency to improve on the offensive line. The center spot will be covered in the next section, but tackle JC Latham and left guard Peter Skoronski — the two top-performing linemen on a bad O-line last year — are the two sure returning full-time starters in 2025.

The Titans made Moore the third-highest-paid player on the team to shore up the left tackle spot after he started all four years of his rookie contract at the position in Pittsburgh. This allows Latham to return the right tackle spot, where he played both of his years as a starter at Alabama. With Latham returning to his natural position and working to improve his weight, the Titans are strengthening both tackle spots with one signing by bringing in Moore, who is now the NFL’s 10th-highest-paid LT.

Moore drew middling PFF reviews throughout his career, though he ranked 11th in ESPN’s pass block win rate metric last year, but he benefited as a young tackle option (26) and from both Ronnie Stanley and Alaric Jackson being taken off the market days before free agency. The Patriots pursued Moore as well, but the Titans — as they did with Calvin Ridley last year — eclipsed New England in a high-stakes FA battle. Moore will be asked to stop a revolving door, one that opened with Taylor Lewan‘s injury trouble, for Tennessee at LT.

Zeitler’s perennial status as one of the game’s top guards grows more and more impressive each year. Tennessee will be hoping that 35 years old is not the age that will finally bring a Zeitler decline, as he slots in opposite Skoronski. Zeitler made 16 starts with the Lions last season, running his career total to 197. Among guards, that is tied for eighth all time. With 10 starts in 2025, Zeitler can move to third on that list.

Although only a one-time Pro Bowler, Zeitler has proven ultra-dependable. He has played at least 15 games in a season every year since 2014. The former Bengals first-rounder graded as PFF’s No. 3 overall guard during his Lions one-off, helping to create another nice market in free agency. Zeitler will earn a raise from his Detroit salary ($6MM) via this deal.

Barton comes in as the plug to fill the hole left by the Murray trade. The second-leading tackler on a stifling 2024 Broncos defense, Barton’s three seasons as a starter have produced 363 tackles, five interceptions, and 12 passes defensed. In a base 3-4 defense that, more often than not, subs out the second inside linebacker with a defensive back, Barton figures to be the mainstay linebacker for Tennessee in 2025.

Barton will be looking to stick with the same team for the first time since his Seahawks rookie contract expired. Since that point, the ex-Bobby Wagner apprentice has made one-year stops in Washington and Denver. This is by far Barton’s best contract, and the $7MM-per-year deal provides some security — Tennessee’s recent penchant for ditching its highest-profile linebacker after one season aside — a 2026 roster spot will await.

Historically a strong performer in his eight years of play, Woods is coming off his worst season, per PFF. Despite leading a last-place Carolina defense in tackles (119), interceptions (three), and interception return yards (70) last year, Woods finished the season ranked 77th out of 98 players graded at the position. Both Woods and Amani Hooker have become safeties who roam in the box and slot, but Woods has more experience early in his career as a deep safety and should take that role in Tennessee.

To address a defense that finished 2024 tied with the third-fewest sacks in the NFL and lost its top pass rusher, the Titans brought in Jones and Lorenzo Carter. When Carter announced his intentions to retire two months after signing, the team pivoted to picking up another veteran OLB piece in Ward. The composite of the two doesn’t nearly make up for the loss of Harold Landry, so Tennessee will need to hope Arden Key and Jeffery Simmons continue to provide solid rush support while the new additions provide support.

The Titans searched young and old to fill out their receiving corps with capable weapons for their rookie passer. Three years removed from his prime, Lockett brings vast veteran experience in his first year out of Seattle since he was drafted. Jefferson showed flashes early in his career with the Rams as a potential WR2 but has stumbled at two stops since. The two will compete with a slew of rookies for targets behind Ridley and the tight ends.

The Seahawks cut Lockett as they overhauled their passing attack, trading D.K. Metcalf and Geno Smith. Lockett is the second-leading receiver in Seattle history, playing 10 years with the team. Four 1,000-yard seasons are on Lockett’s resume. He remained the Seahawks’ No. 2 weapon in 2023, but as Jaxon Smith-Njigba broke through last year, Lockett slid into the No. 3 role. Lockett, 33, still compiled 600 receiving yards — after an 894-yard 2023 ended his four-season 1,000-yard streak — and will step in months after the Titans traded DeAndre Hopkins. Lockett, who helped Russell Wilson develop into a star, said Ward’s presence drew him to Nashville.

Proche joins as a free agent receiver addition, as well, but his path to the roster is likely on specials teams. He’ll be competing with incumbent returners Julius Chestnut and Jha’Quan Jackson for the opportunity. Also, on special teams, the Titans will sport two new specialists at kicker and punter.

Jones landed in Nashville before Lockett; his Seattle tenure was certainly much shorter. Given the highest AAV ($17MM) of any free agent in Seahawks history, Jones ended up playing more as an edge rusher than expected. The ex-Broncos 3-4 defensive end gives the Titans options, having split time between the interior and edge in 2022 and ’23 before a near-full-time OLB role last season.

Jones posted between 5.5 and 6.5 sacks each year from 2020-22 in Denver, combining for 25 tackles for loss in that time. His production dipped two Seattle seasons (nine combined sacks, 12 TFLs). At 281 pounds, Jones gives the Titans an interesting option alongside Simmons or as a Key complementary piece on the edge.

Slye brings a bigger, younger leg (two 60-plus-yard field goal makes in his career) to Nashville, though he sacrifices some accuracy in his big swings. Hekker brings a bit more efficient finesse to the punting game than the Titans had last year. One of the most decorated punters in NFL history, Hekker is a four-time first-team All-Pro. The former Rams option collected a Super Bowl ring in Los Angeles and spent the past three seasons in Carolina. At 35, Hekker should still have some time left to add to his sterling resume.

Lastly, the team signed Allen and Boyle to hopefully back up Ward. At first, the two were likely competing for a QB3 spot behind Ward and Will Levis, but a season-ending shoulder surgery for Levis cleared the way for both to compete for QB2. Last year’s group of Levis, Mason Rudolph, and Trevor Siemian (practice squad) featured better second and third options, but Tennessee is hoping Ward will be the biggest improvement to the room this year. If we’re seeing Allen or Boyle for any serious snaps in 2025, something has gone terribly wrong.

Re-signings:

After Lloyd Cushenberry tore his Achilles tendon eight weeks into last season, Daniel Brunskill filled in for the remainder of the year. Cushenberry is working his way back — though he’s still on the active/PUP list at the moment. With Brunskill following ousted GM/ex-49ers exec Ran Carthon out of town, Levin returns alongside the free agent additions — Mustipher and Jaimes — to add depth at the position. Cushenberry should start, as long as he’s ready, and he’s making good progress, but should the team need a backup starting to open the season, it’ll be Levin’s longevity and experience in Tennessee versus Mustipher’s starting experience (40 starts in three years in Chicago).

The Titans appreciated what Joseph-Day brought to a front three that most often was composed of he, Simmons, and T’Vondre Sweat. According to PFF, the three are the highest-ranked returning starters on Tennessee’s defense in 2025, so re-signing Joseph-Day helps the team secure their anchor unit up front, while re-signing Lynch adds some depth on the interior behind Sweat and Simmons.

Like Lynch, Baker and Brown return as key backups. Both defensive backs were forced into bigger roles last year with injuries to Diggs and L’Jarius Sneed, and both performed admirably in relief. Baker will likely slot into a CB3 role, if Sneed is back in the picture, and while Tennessee likely hopes it won’t have to turn to Brown as frequently in 2025, it knows it can.

One of only nine active players with 15 or more seasons of experience under his belt and sporting the sixth-most games played in the NFL of currently active players, Cox is back for another year as the Titans’ long snapper. Returning to his home state and the state of his alma mater in 2021 after 11 years in Baltimore, Cox enters his fifth year as a Titan at 39 years old.

Diggs checks in as a late-summer addition once again. After an early-August signing last year, the former Seahawks Pro Bowler is back. Diggs, 32, looks to be competing for a depth role behind Amani Hooker, Xavier Woods and third-round pick Kevin Winston Jr. Still, Diggs — back after a lengthy Lisfranc rehab — could provide a stopgap presence while Winston develops. He has made 120 career starts, and an eight-game sample in 2024 drew a No. 20 PFF placement (among safety regulars).

Notable losses:

On offense, the Titans were willing to bring back Rudolph, but ultimately, he returned to a Steelers team that drafted him. Pretty much every loss on that side of the ball was pretty thoroughly addressed through the draft or free agency.

The real losses came on defense. Tennessee was willing to eat some $12.51MM in dead money to avoid paying Awuzie’s salary next year. This brought a quick exit for the former Cowboys and Bengals starter, who fetched a surprising three-year, $36MM deal in free agency last year. Awuzie, however, joined Sneed in missing extensive time in 2024. Awuzie, 30, played in just eight Titans games last season. He landed in Baltimore on a low-cost deal.

After failing to find a trade partner for Landry, the team made the move to release him and freed up $10.95MM of cap space, despite eating $13.1MM in dead money. Landry landed on his feet, rejoining Mike Vrabel — on a three-year, $43.5MM deal ($26MM guaranteed at signing) contract — in New England.

Landry, 29, had been tied to a five-year, $87.5MM Titans contract. The team moved on despite two years remaining on that deal. Landry had rebounded after missing the 2022 season with an ACL tear. As the Titans struggled for years to identify a Landry OLB wingman, they could count on solid production from their top edge rusher. Post-surgery, Landry combined for 19.5 sacks and 36 QB hits over the past two seasons.

Read more

Offseason In Review: Seattle Seahawks

July 31st, 2025 at 10:35pm CST by Sam Robinson

Hovering somewhere between the Saints and Steelers in the NFL’s middle class over the past few years, the Seahawks made significant offseason changes. They swapped out two known commodities on offense, dealing away Geno Smith and D.K. Metcalf before adding less reliable figures to replace the two cornerstones. Sam Darnold and Cooper Kupp‘s performances will go a long way toward determining if the Seahawks can make a level jump this year.

Beyond that, John Schneider‘s second offseason with full roster control led to a major offensive line investment in the draft. In a division with Sean McVay and Kyle Shanahan, the Seahawks have an annually difficult task. Will their offensive adjustments move the needle in what should be a more difficult NFC West compared to 2024?

Trades:

Smith’s contract became an issue for a second straight offseason. While the Seahawks were ready to renegotiate this year — not the case in 2024 — they moved on. This wrapped a six-year partnership with Smith, who had moved from a low-priority player — the Seahawks cut the former Russell Wilson backup for roster-rearranging purposes in 2019 — to a starter who had clearly established himself as a midlevel option. The Seahawks were just not ready to greenlight an upper-middle-class payday to retain the late-blooming arm.

Mike Macdonald endorsed a second Smith starter-level payday coming off a 10-7 season, and early expectations pointed to that eventually happening after talks began in February. Smith, though, tabbed his value in a different salary bracket than the Seahawks wanted to enter.

After evaluating Smith for three-plus years (counting an injury fill-in stretch in 2021), Schneider deemed him worthy of a slight raise — but not one that would have vaulted the QB near the $50MM-per-year club. Smith was believed to be eyeing a deal between $40 and $45MM per annum. That is now well off the top tier, thanks to the $50MM-AAV club’s expansion, but the Seahawks are believed to have offered Smith a deal that resembled the Darnold terms (three years, $100.5MM). Smith rejected it, and the team moved on.

Smith, 35 in October, did not land the contract he sought from the Raiders. His reunion with Pete Carroll brought a two-year, $75MM extension. A key difference between Smith and Darnold’s deals, though, involves fully guaranteed money. Smith secured $58.5MM at signing. Not only is that north of where the Seahawks went for Darnold, it marks a sizable bump from what Smith received on his previous Seattle pact. Carroll and Schneider signed off on a three-year, $75MM contract in 2023. This was essentially a pay-as-you-go deal, as it contained only $27.3MM at signing.

Smith hovered in no-man’s land in terms of QB AAV on that contract, checking in north of backup money but well south of true franchise-level dough. The Seahawks rebuffed Smith’s hopes of an adjustment last year, as two seasons remained on his contract, but he did not escape the QB middle class even after securing a coveted update. Smith is set to enter the season as the NFL’s 17th-highest-paid passer (his previous deal would have checked in 20th). Only Darnold and Baker Mayfield, the latter having outplayed his 2024 Buccaneers contract, are in his neighborhood. Considering Smith’s age and atypical profile, moving toward $45MM AAV was not realistic.

Although Smith posted better marks compared to his Comeback Player of the Year season in completion percentage (70.4) and passing yards (4,320), the season came with an interception uptick (a career-high 15). Initially being placed in a competition with Drew Lock following the Wilson blockbuster trade, Smith surprised most by reemerging as an NFL starter. The Seahawks could not ultimately land great value in a trade for the elevated asset, though using the third-round pick on quarterback Jalen Milroe brings symmetry.

Raiders trade talks included a Seahawks offer of Smith and Metcalf in a package that would have brought back Maxx Crosby. Unsurprisingly, Las Vegas declined. But days after the Smith swap, Seattle moved Metcalf. The big-bodied weapon had requested a trade, and while Schneider said this situation did not feature animosity or a major value discrepancy, the team bailed on a six-year contributor. Metcalf, 27, had requested a trade in the past. The Steelers rewarded him with a four-year, $131.99MM extension ($60MM at signing). That dwarfed his Seattle terms (3/72); Metcalf is now the NFL’s fourth-highest-paid receiver.

That placement is bullish on a player who is 2-for-6 in Pro Bowl nods and one who was not a regular red zone threat during Smith’s time. Metcalf has three 1,000-yard seasons on his resume and has never finished south of 900, representing consistency. An argument can be made the Steelers paid higher-end WR1 money for a second-tier wideout, but the AFC North team had pursued Metcalf in 2024 — a year filled with Pittsburgh WR inquiries. This worked out well for Metcalf, who followed college teammate A.J. Brown in already collecting a second extension out of the 2019 second round.

The Seahawks had targeted a first-round pick for Metcalf, but the wide receiver eyeing an extension that surpassed $30MM per year stood to limit the return. Unsurprisingly, Seattle pulled off a deal after reducing its asking price. Metcalf played a lead role in Wilson’s late-prime years — a stretch that may need to be isolated if the declining QB is to reach the Hall of Fame — and delivered quality (if unspectacular) work with Smith.

Metcalf’s durability also factored into the trade price, as fellow 2019 second-rounder-turned-contract-year trade piece Deebo Samuel only brought the 49ers a fifth. As Metcalf moved toward a contract year, however, Schneider pivoted and will build around Jaxon Smith-Njigba.

Howell has been traded twice in two years; he became expendable after Lock’s return. The team waited until it acquired Milroe to make the move, sending Howell to Minnesota. Smith played all 17 Seahawk games last season, keeping Howell on the sideline after he started all 17 Commander tilts in 2023. The former fifth-round pick is in a contract year, being set to back up J.J. McCarthy after an uneventful Seattle stop.

Free agency additions:

The Raiders did not think highly of Darnold, leading to the Smith trade. Shortly after that swap, however, it became known the Seahawks would make an aggressive push for PFR’s No. 1 free agent. Darnold’s Minnesota breakthrough attracted several teams’ interest — in a year featuring unexciting free agents and, beyond Cam Ward, a maligned draft crop — but ended up with a franchise that did not have a need at the position until just before free agency.

An Aaron Rodgers rumor surfaced re: Seattle, as Schneider was in Green Bay when the team drafted the future Hall of Famer, but a Darnold deal was done less than 24 hours later. The Mayfield contract shaped his 2018 draft classmate’s. The Buccaneers have their starter on a three-year, $100MM deal. Though, the former No. 1 overall pick’s better track record led to a $40MM guarantee at signing. Darnold did not reach that point, and the Seahawks designed a Derek Carr-like deal that created an out next February.

An additional $17.5MM shifts from an injury guarantee to a full guarantee five days after Super Bowl LX. That matches the Raiders’ 2022 Carr deal. The AFC West team escaped the contract shortly after Super Bowl LVII; will the Seahawks send Darnold back to free agency after one season?

Darnold’s 35-touchdown pass season also brought outlier numbers, based on Darnold’s Jets and Panthers work, in completion rate (66.2%) and yardage (4,319). He powered the Vikings to a 14-3 season and elevated Kevin O’Connell to Coach of the Year honors. A rough ending to the season also became part of the Darnold free agency package, as the Lions and Rams routed the Vikings — the QB took nine sacks in the wild-card loss. The Vikings also had J.J. McCarthy readying to take over, and even though Darnold would have brought far more 2025 certainty, Minnesota passed on a franchise tag.

Teams showed interest in Darnold. The Steelers and Giants were among them. Darnold’s shaky run in New York and Carolina clearly limited his market, as no true multiyear guarantee appeared available to the former No. 3 overall pick. Darnold sought a bigger guarantee, but this pay-as-you-go Seattle deal looked to be the best he could muster. Thus, a “prove it” year will either be the bridge to another Seahawks contract or lead a regressing passer to the 2026 market.

Darnold’s Seattle success will need to feature regular contributions from Kupp, who will return to his native Washington. Drafted out of Division I-FCS Eastern Washington in 2017, Kupp emerged as a go-to target for Jared Goff and Matthew Stafford. His 2021 season remains one of the greatest in the history of the receiver position. The slot performer won the triple crown and both approached Calvin Johnson‘s regular-season receiving record and Larry Fitzgerald‘s postseason mark. Kupp’s 2,425 combined receiving tally is the most in a season, and the Super Bowl LVI MVP parlayed that dominant performance into a three-year, $80MM extension that included a substantial guarantee.

Kupp’s compensation became an issue quickly, after injury-plagued 2022, ’23 and ’24 seasons. Missing 18 games from 2022-24, Kupp was due a $7.5MM roster bonus in March. The Rams cut bait and replaced him with Davante Adams. Kupp, though, commanded widespread interest. He was linked to the Patriots, Jaguars, Broncos, Packers, Titans, Raiders, Saints and Cowboys. But an opportunity to come home and replace Metcalf appealed to the 32-year-old wideout, whose contract also allows for the Seahawks to move on fairly cleanly after one season.

February 13 will be a seminal Seahawks date. The same day the team must decide on Darnold’s $17.5MM guarantee will bring a Kupp call, as a $9MM guarantee will vest on that date. The team has Kupp on a fairly favorable deal; his injuries and age suppressed his value here. Kupp is NFL’s 25th-highest-paid receiver. Injury leeriness is baked into this deal, with ankle and hamstring trouble sidelining Kupp since his impact Super Bowl. An ACL tear also appears on Kupp’s medical sheet. He will attempt to work as a Smith-Njigba complementary piece.

Lawrence landed on his feet still and will reunite with ex-Cowboys position coach Aden Durde. The second-year Seahawks DC coached Lawrence from 2021-23. Going into his age-33 season, Lawrence commanded interest beyond the “prove it” level his Lisfranc injury seemingly could have required. Prior to the truncated 2024, however, Pro Football Focus graded Lawrence as a top-12 edge defender six times in the previous seven years.

The well-rounded defensive end secured two Cowboys extensions but lost value after missing 13 games last season. Lawrence anchored Dallas’ D-line before Micah Parsons‘ arrival and transitioned into a high-end sidekick under Durde. Lawrence also stayed healthy in 2022 and ’23, playing 17 games in each season. The Seahawks also protected themselves in case the four-time Pro Bowler does not pan out. In only guaranteeing 2025 salary, Seattle would owe barely $4MM in 2026 dead money in the event of a release. Like Darnold and Kupp, the Seahawks managed a careful contract here.

Fresh off hijacking the Giants’ hopes at landing Ward at No. 1 overall (via a Week 17 upset win over the Colts), Lock returned to Seattle on a pay cut. He played for $4MM with the 2023 Seahawks and $5MM with the ’24 Giants. He is now at $2.5MM per annum.

Read more

Offseason In Review: New Orleans Saints

July 28th, 2025 at 10:50pm CST by Sam Robinson

The Saints’ stay as an NFL middle-class bastion ended last season. Two Derek Carr injuries helped sink a 2024 edition that had already seen HC Dennis Allen fired. Mickey Loomis was believed to be against an in-season Allen ouster, but ownership kept the enduring GM on to make a third coaching hire. Kellen Moore is now in command, marking a full separation from the Sean Payton era.

Ensuing developments brought the Saints closer to the elusive rebuild Loomis has delayed for years. Although another batch of restructures took place — three involving players who later retired — the team enters the 2025 season with expectations lower than anything in the Payton or Allen eras. Tyler Shough will be favored to make the bulk of the quarterback starts after Carr’s retirement, but the topic of a potential QB investment in 2026 looms as well.

Coaching/Front Office:

Even as the Jaguars’ search drifted off track, the Saints were the last team to hire a head coach in this year’s cycle. They waited on Super Bowl LIX for Moore, and the field thinned by that point. New Orleans initially sought an Aaron Glenn reunion. Glenn had been the Saints’ DBs coach from 2016-20; that would have brought Loomis another Payton assistant — albeit one he passed over for Allen in 2022.

The team then considered a Mike McCarthy Louisiana comeback; the former Packers and Cowboys HC had been Jim Haslett‘s OC from 2000-04. Loomis overlapped with even that tenure, beginning as GM in 2002. Kliff Kingsbury also drew Saints interest, but he has been understandably hesitant given his current setup and his swift unraveling in Arizona. Ex-Payton assistant Joe Brady also came up during this process.

The Jets’ Glenn hire preceded McCarthy, Brady and Kingsbury withdrawing their names from consideration. New Orleans did not present an ideal setup for a new coach, seeing as the team’s annually dicey cap situation accompanied a middling quarterback (at the time) and Loomis’ overarching presence. The New Orleans fixture has managed these yearly odysseys toward cap compliance, yet serious firing rumors have never cropped up — even as four straight non-playoff seasons have occurred.

This did not present the greatest job profile, and a handful of candidates opted to stay put rather than seriously commit themselves to a fixer-upper. Moore also interviewed for the Cowboys’ HC job, but Jerry Jones made the odd decision to promote Moore’s OC successor (Brian Schottenheimer) despite the second-generation coach not generating interest elsewhere for HC positions in over a decade.

Even as options narrowed, Moore’s decision was somewhat surprising. While the “there are only 32 of these jobs” cliche applies, Moore had rebuilt his stock after a Cowboys firing and a Chargers one-off. He had an elite offensive foundation, as the Eagles battered the Chiefs in a revenge tilt after a 55-point outing in the NFC championship game.

Jobs with established quarterbacks could have opened in 2026 or even ’27. Kingsbury is counting on that, but Moore opted not to parlay his time at the helm in Philly into a long-game play. He stayed in the New Orleans race, and while he certainly could have beaten out some of the above-referenced names who didn’t, the Saints’ preference became clear weeks before the official hire transpired.

On the other hand, Moore has seen his stock fluctuate since he was a regular HC interviewee earlier this decade. The former Dallas play-caller under McCarthy and Jason Garrett was off the HC carousel in 2023 and ’24, and although he is still young (36), the QB-turned-OC took the job offered to him. Given Moore’s 2024 work, he will carry considerable power in New Orleans. Though, Glenn and Liam Coen bring less coordinator experience and carry more weight in their respective organizations. Ditto Ben Johnson in Chicago. Moore not waiting for 2026 figures to draw scrutiny, especially as the Saints may be set for a poor 2025 ahead of a long-overdue rebuild.

Moore’s teams produced top-seven offensive finishes in four of his six years as an OC, and he operated as Nick Sirianni‘s full-time play-caller. The Eagles rebounded from their steep 2023 freefall to submit one of the highest peaks in the Super Bowl era, crushing the Commanders and Chiefs after Saquon Barkley‘s 2,000-yard rushing season. Jalen Hurts operated more efficiently compared to his 15-INT 2023, and he sliced up a top-five Kansas City defense committed to containing Barkley. Moore did not check in as a Johnson-level candidate, but he played a lead role in the Eagles’ second Super Bowl title.

Nussmeier, 54, is aboard as a non-play-calling OC. The Saints’ top two offensive minds both graduated college in Idaho — Moore at Boise State, Nussmeier at Idaho — though the two did not join forces until Dallas. Nussmeier coached in Dallas from 2018-22, moving from tight ends coach to QBs coach. He followed Moore to Los Angeles and Philly (both as QBs coach).

While Nussmeier did interview for the Ravens’ OC job in 2023, that marked his only such meeting before this hire. The Saints also had Eagles staffer Kevin Patullo on their OC radar, but Philly promoted him to replace Moore. Nussmeier’s presence figures to make a potential 2026 Saints QB investigation interesting, as his son (Garrett) could land as a first-round pick next year out of nearby LSU. This is also a reunion for Doug, a 1994 Saints QB draftee who spent four seasons as a backup with the team.

The Saints employing the core of the staff from a poor 2023 Chargers season — one that resulted in mass firings — felt underdiscussed this offseason, and Staley will now work for the coach he hired two years ago. That represents an interesting dynamic, and the three-year Chargers HC is set for only his second DC season.

A 49ers staffer last year, Staley had initially attracted the Bolts’ attention by leading a No. 1-ranked Rams defense in 2020. He did not, however, deliver a top-20 season (in scoring defense) with the Chargers, whose defense took a massive step forward under Jesse Minter last year.

Staley, 42, also shifted the Saints to a primary 3-4 defense for the first time since “Dome Patrol” was at work in the early 1990s. Staley is a Vic Fangio disciple, representing a good reference here due to the accomplished DC being the linebackers coach for that famed unit more than 30 years ago. D-line staples like Cameron Jordan and Chase Young are shifting to OLB posts, while former first-rounder Bryan Bresee is now a 3-4 D-end. Base defenses have certainly seen their relevance decline, but this is one of the more interesting pivots due to how long New Orleans used a 4-3 scheme.

Moore beat out Rizzi for the HC job, with the interim leader generating support during the process. Rizzi went 3-5 as the Saints’ interim boss. He went 0-4 without Carr, however, to close the season. Antonio Pierce‘s disastrous showing after having his interim tag removed also could hurt temp leaders’ chances — seeing as he was the first such promotion since 2017 — in the near future. While the Saints reunited a recent Chargers staff, Rizzi predictably followed Payton and Pete Carmichael to Denver.

Free agency additions:

Reid and Mathieu did overlap as teammates with the 2018 Texans; otherwise, the former third-round pick keeps replacing the All-Decade-teamer. The Texans used Reid as a starter after Mathieu’s Chiefs defection in 2019. The Chiefs signed Reid as a younger option in 2022; Mathieu went back to Louisiana weeks later. The Honey Badger’s recent retirement now leaves Reid replacing the standout safety once again, though Blackmon is also aboard following the 12-year veteran’s July exit. The Saints outbid the Chiefs, Eagles and Titans for Reid.

PFR’s No. 18 free agent, Reid fetched a third contract that matches his second. The Chiefs also gave Reid a three-year, $31.5MM pact; the Saints, though, authorized slightly more guaranteed at signing ($22.25MM to $20.49MM).

Reid maintained this value, even if this is a slight pay cut in the grand scheme due to the 2024 and 2025 cap spikes, by being an essential Steve Spagnuolo chess piece. The versatile DB played at least 160 snaps at free safety, in the box and in the slot last season and at least 250 in all three spots in 2023. Pro Football Focus graded Reid as a top-10 safety, and being set for an age-28 season — the benefits of the three-year second contract strike again — also boosted Reid’s FA stock.

Moore and Cooks did not overlap in Dallas, but this is obviously a reunion move for the veteran pass catcher. The Saints drafted Cooks in the 2014 first round, but the then-deep threat became an auxiliary piece in a Michael Thomas-fronted receiving corps by 2016. Cooks’ trade odyssey began when Loomis and Payton flipped him to the Patriots for a first-round pick that became Ryan Ramczyk. Cooks then migrated to the Rams, Texans and Cowboys as one of the NFL’s few players to be traded four times. Ahead of an age-32 season, Cooks is in decline. But he has remained a usable piece.

Recording 1,000-yard seasons for the Saints, Pats, Rams and Texans, Cooks did not approach that benchmark with the Cowboys. Cooks, 31, has not eclipsed 700 yards in a season since 2021. After helping Dak Prescott to a second-team All-Pro season in 2023 (with 657 receiving yards and eight touchdown catches), Cooks averaged a career-low 10.0 yards per reception (259 total) in an injury-shortened 2024.

He still commanded a decent market and will give the Saints a reasonable third option alongside Chris Olave and Rashid Shaheed. The Saints, who hosted Gabe Davis and were linked to Cooper Kupp, will still roll out a top trio of WRs coming off injury-shortened seasons (each missed at least seven 2024 games).

Blackmon has been unable to command a multiyear deal since his Colts rookie contract expired. After a one-year, $3.7MM Indianapolis re-up, Blackmon will be ticketed to start alongside Reid. Though, PFF slotted Jordan Howden 34th among safety regulars last season — after New Orleans cut Marcus Maye. PFF, though, ranked Blackmon 30th on more than twice as many snaps (1,084). The former third-rounder is going into an age-27 season and has made 62 career starts.

Yiadom has only put together notable defensive work in New Orleans. The 49ers used him as a spot starter (five games) last season, while the former third-rounder never stuck with the Broncos, Giants, Packers or Texans. In 2023, however, Yiadom saw extensive run under Dennis Allen despite initially being added on a practice squad deal. Making eight starts in ’23, Yiadom posted a career-high 14 passes defensed and allowed a completion percentage of just 48.9%.

With Marshon Lattimore and Paulson Adebo gone, the Saints will likely need Yiadom to start again. At $3MM per year, starter-level work would be a bargain from the eighth-year journeyman. Yiadom, Kool-Aid McKinstry and Alontae Taylor residing as New Orleans’ top CBs will give Staley a tough-looking task as he prepares to call a defense again.

Re-signings:

With Adebo committing to the Giants early during the legal tampering period, the Saints carried cash — via their latest jagged odyssey toward cap compliance — to hand to their other top in-house target. Young did not seem a lock to land a multiyear deal, given his injury past, but he parlayed a “prove it” contract into a nice midcareer guarantee.

The former No. 2 overall pick stood perhaps as the PFR top 50’s biggest wide card. Settling in at No. 20, Young still carried good value by having flashed brightly when healthy and only heading into his age-26 season. With Jordan’s career winding down, Young is now the Saints’ top edge-rushing talent.

The Saints missed on Payton Turner and have not seen Isaiah Foskey (zero sacks in 27 games) pan out; enter Young, who opted to stay on a team with low expectations. The ex-Heisman runner-up posted a career-high 21 QB hits (to go with 5.5 sacks and eight TFLs) last season, doing so despite working as an overqualified DE3 behind Jordan and Carl Granderson. The Saints still gave Young a 63% snap share and will ask more of him in 2025. Young made a successful recovery from a neck injury that nagged him in 2023 and is nearly four years removed from a career-altering knee setback.

Read more

Offseason In Review: Chicago Bears

July 27th, 2025 at 10:24pm CST by Adam La Rose

Thanks to the Bryce Young blockbuster, the Bears owned the No. 1 selection in last year’s draft. As expected, general manager Ryan Poles and Co. used that as an opportunity to move on from Justin Fields and reset at the quarterback spot. 2024 marked the beginning of the Caleb Williams era.

The ensuing campaign was littered with missteps on the part of Matt Eberflus’ coaching staff, however, and notable sideline changes transpired at multiple points. Finding a coach capable of maximizing Williams’ potential was a central priority entering the offseason, and the Bears managed to land the top candidate on the market. Poles has since received a new commitment to continue overseeing the rebuild he took on in 2022. The progress of that effort will be measured largely by how this campaign plays out.

Coaching/Front Office:

Over the course of his three seasons as Detroit’s offensive coordinator, Johnson established himself as one of the top offensive minds in the NFL. That led to widespread interest over multiple years and the expectation a jump to a head coaching gig would come relatively soon. Going deep into the hiring process in 2024, Johnson instead chose to remain in place for another year.

As expected, the Lions were again one of league’s most balanced and productive offenses. Johnson’s unit led the NFL in scoring while ranking top six in both rushing and passing yardage. The timing and frequency of Detroit’s many trick plays drew criticism on more than one occasion – including the Lions’ upset loss in the divisional round of the playoffs. Still, Johnson emerged as the top prize during the 2025 hiring cycle.

The 39-year-old interviewed with the Jaguars, Raiders and Patriots prior to his Bears hire. Johnson’s meetings with Chicago obviously drew interest leading up to his decision to head to the Windy City but they were also part of a very wide-ranging search. The team was connected to a number of high-profile pro and college coaches, including an unsuccessful attempt to speak with (and potentially trade for) Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin. The Chicago opening was of interest to Bill Belichick, but no interview took place with the now-North Carolina staffer.

The Bears did speak with previous (and, in two cases, active) NFL HCs in the form of Pete Carroll, Mike Vrabel, Mike McCarthy and Ron Rivera during their search process. Brown also received one interview for the full-time gig before ultimately joining the Patriots. In the end, Johnson received a deal averaging a reported $13MM per year – more than double Eberflus’ rate as a fellow first-time head coach when he was hired – to lead the way for Williams and Co. In 2025 and beyond, he will be counted on to provide stability on the sidelines and maximize the former Heisman winner’s potential.

At the time of Johnson’s hire, Poles had two years remaining on his pact. Having been brought in only two days before Eberflus, he was a far more central figure in the search process which brought in Johnson. A February report indicated Poles was expected to receive a new deal, and he is indeed now aligned with Johnson from a contract perspective.

The Eberflus era failed to produce any winning seasons, but in his three years at the helm Poles has succeeded in turning over much of the roster and cleaning up the team’s finances. A largely young core is in place for years to come and Chicago’s offense in particular has a notable amount of potential moving forward. Of course, moves like the ill-fated Chase Claypool trade illustrate the downside of Poles’ GM run.

A lack of emphasis along both sides of the line of scrimmage also proved costly in 2024. Before finding out how this year’s moves fare in term of rectifying the situation, though, Chicago’s front office authorized a new Poles commitment. President and CEO Kevin Warren outranks Poles in the current power structure, something which can be expected to continue for the foreseeable future. If this sign of confidence – premature, some would argue – proves to be fruitful, though, a high degree of stability at all levels of the organization will be possible over a lengthy tenure.

Mass turnover is common around the NFL once new head coaches are brought in. Given the nature of Chicago’s staff both before and after the in-season dismissals made in 2024, it came as no surprise that was the case in this situation. Shortly after being installed, Johnson made it clear there would be new faces in several positions on his staff.

Beatty is among them, although he will not call plays. The former Saints assistant spent the past two years coaching the Broncos’ tight ends, and he could find himself regularly working with that position group in his new gig as well. In any case, Beatty’s time in New Orleans makes him a familiar face for Allen, who will provide the Bears with an ex-NFL head coach during Johnson’s first year in that role.

After his run in charge of the Raiders ended, Allen spent nearly seven full seasons leading the Saints’ defense. The 52-year-old was promoted to head coach after Sean Payton’s 2022 departure, but he was unable to lead the team to the playoffs. Improvement from seven to nine wins across his first two years suggested Allen could enjoy continued progression in 2024. Midway through an injury-plagued campaign, however, the Saints sat at 2-7 and Allen was dismissed.

A third opportunity as an NFL head coach does not seem plausible at this point for Allen. Still, expectations will be high for his unit. From 2020-23, the Saints ranked between fourth and ninth in points allowed with a top-seven finish in total defense during three of those years. Especially if Allen can help oversee an improvement against the run, his hire will prove to be worthwhile.

Randle El worked together with Johnson in Detroit; in addition to his new title he will maintain his familiar role as receivers coach. A key element of the Bears’ success on offense will be the development of the team’s wideouts not named D.J. Moore, so that unit will be worth watching closely. Barrett is another member of the staff who followed Johnson from Detroit to Chicago.

Just as the Bears have head coaching experience at one coordinator spot, they will also have ex-coordinators serving as position coaches in 2025. Bieniemy spent 2024 in the college ranks, but a mutual decision was made to part ways with UCLA after the campaign. A return to the NFL was sought as a result, although the former Chiefs offensive coordinator’s stock was in a worse spot than it was when he took charge of the Commanders’ offense for one year.

Nevertheless, Bieniemy met with the Patriots about their OC gig before it went (for the third time) to Josh McDaniels. In the end, the 55-year-old joined the Bears in a move which will see him oversee a unit in need of improved production in 2025. D’Andre Swift averaged a career-worst 3.8 yards per carry during his debut Chicago campaign; increasing that figure and/or establishing a strong backfield tandem could help the team’s offense but also increase Bieniemy’s chances at another play-calling gig in the NFL.

Last offseason, the Jaguars cleaned house on the defensive side of Doug Pederson’s coaching staff. The offense remained largely intact, and Taylor maintained his role calling plays for Jacksonville last season. That arrangement drew scrutiny from then-general manager Trent Baalke and carried into the campaign as a source of tension between the two. Taylor joined Pederson in departing Duval County following the season, and Baalke did the same after it appeared he would be safe.

Taylor (along with Pederson) was unable to help quarterback Trevor Lawrence meet the expectations associated with his draft pedigree and $55MM-per-year extension. It would thus come as a surprise if Zac Taylor’s brother were to receive another coordinator opportunity – or at least one with play-calling responsibilities – in the near future. This Bears stint could also result in a rebound in terms of coaching stock, though.

The Colts’ day-to-day operations (among other things, of course) were greatly impacted by owner Jim Irsay’s passing this offseason. The situation was different in the Bears’ case, as McCaskey’s son George has chaired the team’s board of governors since 2011. Nevertheless, Virginia McCaskey’s death means the coming season will be the first since 1982 without her in place atop the ownership group.

The McCaskey family still has an 80% stake in the franchise, and that will not change any time soon. The Bears could, however, sell off the non-controlling share which belonged to the late Andrew McKenna Sr. at some point in the future. A number of teams around the league have taken the private equity route for an influx of cash, and Chicago could be among them.

Trades:

Prior to free agency, it became clear upgrading the interior of the offensive line was a major Bears priority. Familiarity played in a role in both cases with respect to targeting new guards, of course. Ben Johnson previously worked alongside Jackson in Detroit and Ryan Poles was a member of the Chiefs’ front office in 2021 when Thuney signed with Kansas City in free agency that year.

During his four years in Detroit, Jackson operated as a full-time starter. The former third-rounder managed to play double-digit games every year, but that was not the case upon arrival with the Rams in 2024. Jackson dealt with a shoulder injury during his debut Los Angeles campaign, and the ailment caused him to miss time during the middle of the season. Upon returning to full health, though, he only played another two games; Jackson finished the year as a backup after a brief trial period at center.

Even though the Rams signed him to a three-year, $51MM pact last spring, it came as little surprise when they allowed Jackson to seek a trade. The Bears swap took place prior to March 12, which was key based on the timing of an $8.5MM roster bonus in 2025. Chicago took on the remaining money on the Ohio State product’s pact and then added another year via an extension. Jackson received $7MM in a new, full guarantee for 2026 with another $5.25MM guaranteed for injury.

Expectations will be high during his time in Chicago as a result. Jackson will handle right guard duties on his new team, something which he has not done much of to date in his career. Provided he can provide consistent play at that spot for the coming years, however, the Bears’ decision to reunite him with Johnson will prove to be worthwhile.

At 32, Thuney is four years older than Jackson. He will nevertheless be counted on to an even larger extent to serve as a high-end performer up front. Thuney already had a strong track record upon arrival in Kansas City, but during his tenure with the Chiefs he collected three Pro Bowl nods. In each of the past two seasons, the former Patriot has landed on the All-Pro first team at left guard. Even considering Thuney’s rough ending — as a left tackle fill-in — to his Chiefs tenure, Thuney has been one of the NFL’s best O-linemen this decade.

Maintaining that level of play will be a key aspect of Chicago’s retooling efforts up front. Thuney has graded out as a top-10 guard in terms of Pro Football Focus grade every year since 2018 and he has missed just two games over that span. The Bears are counting on that remaining the case for a few more years; a two-year extension surfaced in May. As a result of the new deal, Thuney is owed $51MM over the next three years, with the guaranteed money included in that figure to be paid out this season and next.

Just like Jackson, Thuney is on the books through 2027. That duo will be the subject of scrutiny if things do not go according to plan, but if each of its members plays to their potential they – alongside established right tackle Darnell Wright – will help offer stability to a unit where it has been lacking in recent years. Johnson’s ability to bring about improvements to the offense in general will of course depend on the success of Poles’ efforts to provide him with a stronger unit up front than his predecessor had to work with.

Read more

Offseason In Review: Philadelphia Eagles

July 17th, 2025 at 10:06pm CST by Sam Robinson

Quickly revealing the Chiefs’ tightrope walk toward a threepeat would not go the distance in Super Bowl LIX, last year’s Eagles edition cemented itself among the great modern-era NFL teams. In terms of roster strength, the 2024 Eagles proved they belonged in the conversation with the century’s best squads.

After entering last season with questions stemming from a 2023 collapse, the Eagles used a savvy offseason blueprint to assemble a force that submitted one of the great peaks in NFL history. The defending champions passed on paying some starters from last year’s outfit while using this offseason to lock down some crucial cogs as well. A similar Philly roster will attempt to run it back, and the team will enter the season as the clear frontrunner to represent the NFC in Super Bowl LX.

Extensions and restructures:

As the RB market reached rough waters exiting 2023, Roseman saw an opportunity. The Eagles landed an elite back at a reasonable price, and Roseman received deserved credit for acquiring an ultra-talented RB at a second-tier price. The six-year Giant proceeded to deliver one of the best seasons in the position’s history, going from an injury-prone player who did not have a realistic Hall of Fame case to one that has at least approached the conversation.

Barkley was on track to break Eric Dickerson‘s hallowed rushing record, before being rested in Week 18, but he did eclipse Terrell Davis‘ mark for most rush yards in a season (counting playoffs). The 1998 MVP had totaled 2,476 yards between the regular season and the Broncos’ three playoff games that year; Barkley followed his 2,005-yard regular season with 499 more in the playoffs to eclipse Davis’ mark.

It did come in one more game, as the Eagles were sent to the wild-card round as the No. 2 seed, but the upgrade from D’Andre Swift to Barkley played a lead role in Philly’s championship surge. Barkley’s 205 yards against the Rams were certainly needed to eliminate them.

The Eagles had Barkley signed through 2026 via their three-year, $37.75MM ($26MM guaranteed) contract, but the team rewarded its most talented player with a market-resetting payday. Barkley became the first running back to cross the $20MM-per-year barrier.

This second payday in two years brings a stark contrast to Barkley’s New York exit, as the Giants did not make an offer to retain him. Barkley’s success did not bode well for HBO’s chances of seeing a second Hard Knocks: Offseason effort come to pass, and he managed to score a monster payday at 28 despite missing chunks of four seasons previously.

Although this looks great for one of the RB position’s top earners, the Eagles are taking a risk based on Barkley’s past. The former Offensive Rookie of the Year has missed 26 games due to injury as a pro. His 2026 pay transformed from nonguaranteed to a $16.75MM full guarantee while the option bonus-laden (as this is the Eagles) contract includes a $2.5MM guarantee in 2027. It would cost the Eagles $16.6MM in dead money to move on in 2027. The Eagles have not shown much fear of dead money in recent years, and they will bet on the three-time Pro Bowler after his otherworldly contributions to last season’s cause.

Johnson is pushing Mike Tomlin for extension volume at this point. This is the decorated right tackle’s fifth Eagles contract. Roseman has made a habit of early extensions for his O-linemen, and Johnson has regularly been paid with multiple years left on a previous contract. The Eagles rewarded their stalwart right tackle after he collected a fifth All-Pro accolade; he joined Jurgens and Landon Dickerson as Pro Bowlers on one of the best NFL position groups this century.

Johnson, 35, has likely done enough to be enshrined in Canton. He has won two Super Bowls, helped RBs to rushing titles 11 years apart and is the last active member of Philly’s “Core Four.” This contract will be difficult to escape until at least 2027 — due to six void years being included — and then would bring a $25.53MM dead money hit. These consequences have not mattered much for the Eagles, who are ahead of the curve here. Now the NFL’s second-highest-paid RT, Johnson (just four injury-driven absences since 2022) is also aiming to play until his contract expires in 2027.

Philly’s development strategy up front is second to none, and the team now has four of its five starters on extensions worth between $17MM and $25MM per year. Jurgens impressed at guard in 2023 and in replacing Jason Kelce last season, earning his first Pro Bowl nod in 2024. This deal came after the Eagles paid Dickerson months into his first offseason of extension eligibility and gave Jordan Mailata a second extension when two years remained on his first.

Despite Jurgens’ resume not rivaling Creed Humphrey‘s, the Eagles closed the gap between the Chiefs center and the field with this accord. ESPN’s pass block win rate placed Jurgens 10th among interior O-linemen last season, though Pro Football Focus only slotted him as the game’s 14th-best center. The former second-round pick anchored the Eagles’ signature play, one that received a reprieve thanks to a hotly contested offseason vote, and the Eagles were comfortable with a top-market deal. It is difficult to doubt their O-line vision at this point, given the success in the Jeff Stoutland era.

A $14MM 2025 option bonus affected Goedert’s contract-year trade value — to the point the Eagles considered accepting 2026 draft capital in a swap. This situation differed from the Zach Ertz ending, as no Goedert-level presence lurked as an heir apparent. A steep drop-off would have come had the Eagles not found a way to retain the eight-year tight end.

Goedert, 30, has been entrenched as Philly’s No. 3 pass-game option for years and remains one of the league’s best all-around TEs. The team has seen him run into annual availability trouble, missing 20 games due to injury this decade. This led to the pay-cut ask succeeding.

The Division I-FCS product did not seek a relocation, even as his 2025 pay drops from $14.25MM to $10MM. Trade offers did emerge during this process, however, and the Eagles — thanks to their void years M.O. — will face a $20.49MM dead money hit if they do not extend Goedert by the 2026 league year.

Trades:

The Eagles also capped Gardner-Johnson’s second stint at one season, making a curious trade of a proven safety for a future Day 3 pick and a guard teetering on bust status. Gardner-Johnson said the Eagles informed him on the first night of free agency they would trade or cut him. The Eagles benefited from Gardner-Johnson’s 2024 return, after an injury-plagued Lions season, and had him on an affordable deal (three years, $27MM). That certainly made it interesting the team once again moved on early.

Despite learning another new system — his fourth defense in four years — the cover man/known agitator nabbed six INTs in 2024. That matched his 2022 Philly total and helped Vic Fangio‘s defense lead the league in yardage and finish second in points allowed. Gardner-Johnson did not carry significant guaranteed money beyond 2024 and is only going into an age-27 season. He will be positioned to boost the Texans’ secondary, while the Eagles — who used this as a cost-cutting space as Barkley, Johnson, Jurgens and Zack Baun received raises — have safety uncertainty again.

The team’s issues at the position, among other problems, in 2023 prompted the CJGJ re-signing. Philly’s 2025 approach also spotlighted the decision to move on early, as the team made an offer to Justin Reid. The Saints won out for the three-year Chiefs starter (on a three-year, $31.5MM deal). Philly, however, has also been connected to a Fangio-Justin Simmons reunion. This will be a 2026 need as well, as Reed Blankenship is on an expiring contract.

Adding to the 2024 Eagles’ achievement: their highest-paid edge rusher was a Super Bowl healthy scratch. Huff did not work out in Philly, failing to make the transition from Robert Saleh‘s scheme to Fangio’s. The former Jets situational rusher posted 10 sacks in his 2023 contract year and drew a wave of free agency attention; the Eagles won out with a three-year, $51MM deal that included $34MM at signing. By November, Huff was barely playing 20% of the Eagles’ defensive snaps. After a wrist injury led him to IR, the former UDFA find made just two more appearances and did not record a statistic in his two playoff cameos.

The Eagles found an interesting taker, as Huff will reunite with Saleh in San Francisco. They managed this trade return despite it being clear, even after Josh Sweat‘s departure, Huff would not receive a second chance. While Fangio cited Huff’s hand injury as a key reason for the struggles, the player confirmed the bad fit upon being dealt. The Eagles are taking on more than $20MM in dead money — $4.94MM in 2026, $16.6MM in ’26 — based on this quick divorce.

One of the teams to show interest in Joe Milton, the Eagles are handing the QB2 reins to Tanner McKee. The 2023 sixth-round pick played well against Giants starters, as the Eagles were sitting most of their lineup in Week 18, by finishing with 268 passing yards and two TD throws. Pickett’s downward trend continues, even as he has a chance to earn the Browns’ starting job. The former No. 20 overall Steelers selection has been traded twice, with the second swap generating a lesser return compared to the Eagles’ package — which included a third-round pick — from 2024.

Re-signings:

Like at running back, the Eagles had kept costs low at linebacker for years. The team moved on from Mychal Kendricks and Nigel Bradham by the late 2010s, finding UDFAs (Alex Singleton, T.J. Edwards) as fill-ins. Singleton and Edwards collected their money elsewhere (Broncos, Bears), while the Eagles cycled through more low-cost options. The team did not re-sign Super Bowl LVII starter Kyzir White, either. Although Philly’s 2023 linebacker setup contributed to the team’s late-season unraveling, no major investments came at the position in 2024. In fact, Baun received less money ($3.5MM) than Devin White ($4MM). Baun’s showing changed the team’s calculus.

The first Eagle linebacker to be named first-team All-Pro since Jeremiah Trotter in 2000, Baun dominated in his first extended look on defense. Formerly used as a backup Saints edge rusher, Baun researched special teams contracts as free agency comps. Fangio had initially looked at Baun as an edge piece, but with White not seizing the job alongside Nakobe Dean, the former third-round Saints draftee capitalized.

By season’s end, Baun had posted 151 tackles, 3.5 sacks and five forced fumbles. His diving interception of Patrick Mahomes, giving the Eagles a knockout opportunity before halftime, punctuated one of the best LB seasons in recent memory. The Shaquille Leonard-like (healthy version) stat line raised Baun’s value to the point the Eagles kept him out of free agency with a top-five ILB contract.

The off-ball linebacker market had sustained hits in recent years. Leonard saw injuries move him off his monster Colts contract, while the Jets (C.J. Mosley) and Jaguars (Foye Oluokun) gave their top tacklers pay cuts. It had become more affordable to roster top-tier ILBs, but Baun (28) helped reset the second tier of this market. His $17MM-per-year deal topped all free agent LBs, as Nick Bolton and Jamien Sherwood came in at $15MM AAV. Still, only six players at this position earn more than $14MM per year. This allowed Roseman to capitalize on another depressed market.

Read more

Offseason In Review: Jacksonville Jaguars

July 11th, 2025 at 10:30pm CST by Sam Robinson

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 Coen–James 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.

Read more

Offseason In Review: Carolina Panthers

July 7th, 2025 at 10:15pm CST by Sam Robinson

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 Elliott–Tony 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.

Read more

Offseason In Review: Indianapolis Colts

July 4th, 2025 at 10:30pm CST by Sam Robinson

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.

Read more

Offseason In Review: Las Vegas Raiders

July 2nd, 2025 at 10:02pm CST by Sam Robinson

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.

Read more

Offseason In Review: New York Giants

June 25th, 2025 at 10:30pm CST by Sam Robinson

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 Wilson–Jaxson 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 Lawrence–Brian Burns–Kayvon 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.

Read more

Load More Posts