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Last week, I wrapped up the bulk of the NFL offseason around the AFC by picking my favorite and least favorite move for each of the conference’s teams. This week, naturally, I’m following up by looking at the 16 teams in the NFC and conducting the same exercise.
Again, these aren't necessarily the most prominent or impactful moves. It could be a signing that came in (or did not come in) as a good value given the contract; a weakness that was addressed thoroughly; or a signing, trade or draft pick everyone expected that never actually took place. And for draft picks mentioned here, I’ll try to use the context of where a player was regarded heading into the draft and/or the typical expectations of what a player drafted in a given round will do as a rookie to estimate their likely production in Year 1.
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Keep in mind that I'm evaluating these moves only within the context of each team, so if your favorite team hit home run after home run this offseason, its "worst" move might be better than another team's "best" decision. I'll start in the NFC East and work my way out to the champs in the Pacific Northwest, going division by division.
See more:Best, worst in the AFC
Jump to an NFC team:
ARI | ATL | CAR | CHI
DAL | DET | GB | LAR
MIN | NO | NYG | PHI
SEA | SF | TB | WSH
NFC East
Dallas Cowboys
Best: Signing Cobie Durant to a one-year, $4 million deal. I’m enthused about quite a few of the moves the Cowboys made on defense this offseason, including the decision to move up one spot and draft safety Caleb Downs at No. 11. But when we consider the cost involved, there might not be a better move than signing Durant away from the Rams on a one-year deal for about as much as Dak Prescott makes per game.
Durant isn't a superstar, and he has played behind some very good pass rushes in Los Angeles, but he has allowed a 74.3 passer rating in coverage over the past four seasons. At 28, Durant should still be in the prime of his career. The Rams experimented with him in the slot at times, but he’s best as an outside cornerback, where he’ll start across from DaRon Bland in 2026. Durant should be a massive upgrade on what the Cowboys rolled out at CB last season despite his modest deal.
Worst: Bringing back Terence Steele on a restructured deal. While Steele was once a glowing example of Dallas’ ability to develop offensive linemen, the former undrafted free agent hasn’t been the same since suffering a multi-ligament knee injury at the end of the 2022 season. Steele is tough and hasn’t missed a game over the ensuing three seasons, but he has struggled badly with speedier, twitchier edge rushers like Bryce Huff and Jonathan Greenard over the past two years.
The Cowboys could have cut Steele to avoid triggering his $13.3 million salary this offseason, but instead, they signed the incumbent tackle to a three-year, $33 million deal, paying the 28-year-old $13 million in cash this year in the process. I'm not sure there would have been a market to sign Steele at that price in free agency. There's no guaranteed money left on the contract after this season, but the Cowboys would owe $22 million in dead money if they moved on from Steele after 2026.
Steele is not a bad player, but this probably wasn't the right fit for a team that needs to squeeze every bit of surplus value possible given how much it is paying its top five players.
New York Giants
Best: Trading Dexter Lawrence II for the 10th pick. Losing a defensive tackle of Lawrence’s stature obviously hurts in the short term, but the Giants aren’t competing for a Super Bowl this season. Lawrence had been pushing for a new contract over the prior 12 months. His play warranted one after 2024, but he also had three years left on his existing pact. After 2025, when Lawrence was limited by an elbow injury and saw his numbers plummet, the case for extending a tackle who would turn 30 on a new deal wasn’t quite as clear.
The fact that the Bengals gave Lawrence only a modest raise as part of the trade makes it clear that this wasn’t really about the money for the Giants. Maybe they noticed how the defense played in 2025. The Giants were last in EPA per play against designed runs. You can chalk that up to Lawrence’s injury, the cycle of players they went through at linebacker after Micah McFadden went down in the opener, bad tackling and angles at the second and third levels, or all kinds of other factors. But the reality is the Giants were already the worst run defense in the league with Lawrence. How much worse could they be without him?
The Giants used that pick on 20-year-old offensive lineman Francis Mauigoa, who should step in at right guard immediately and eventually take over at right tackle, where he played virtually all of his college snaps. Although Lawrence is likely to be the better player in 2026, Mauigoa’s salary will be a fraction of Lawrence’s over the next four years, allowing the Giants to address other parts of their roster in the seasons to come. Right now, the priority has to be surrounding quarterback Jaxson Dart with a reliable offensive line.
Worst: Extending Joe Schoen. The Giants got this one in at the last second, as they signed their general manager to a new deal last week. It comes after Schoen’s role in the front office was reportedly a sticking point in negotiations between the Giants and new head coach John Harbaugh, who now has final say in personnel while reporting directly to ownership.
Schoen's track record in four years hasn't been overwhelming, as the team has gone 22-45-1 over his four years in New York. After a surprising trip to the playoffs in his first season with the organization, Schoen mishandled the two biggest decisions of his tenure, as he chose to franchise Saquon Barkley while signing Daniel Jones to a four-year, $160 million extension. A year later, Schoen let Barkley leave for the rival Eagles in free agency, while Jones quickly became an albatross on the roster.
To be fair, Schoen didn't exactly inherit a great situation from Dave Gettleman, who left New York's cap in a mess. But take a look at Schoen's top-100 picks from 2022 to 2024 — the Giants repeatedly drafted a player who wasn’t as good as the next player who came off the board at the same position. Malik Nabers’ injury makes that evaluation difficult, but fellow top-10 picks Kayvon Thibodeaux and Evan Neal have been disappointments, and the only players from that bunch likely to start in 2026 are safety Tyler Nubin and slot cornerback Dru Phillips.
The 2025 draft was better, with Abdul Carter and Dart showing promise as rookies. And it’s entirely possible that Schoen and Harbaugh have become a great fit and work really well together. But Schoen had a year left on his deal. Were the Giants really going to be stuck if they let Schoen play out the final year of that contract before deciding whether he was an essential part of the organization and in need of an extension? Would anybody be surprised if Harbaugh wants to bring in some Ravens executives 12 months from now?
How will John Harbaugh-led Giants handle adversity?
Philadelphia Eagles
Best: Signing Riq Woolen to a one-year, $12 million deal. The obvious weak spot for the Eagles in 2025 on an otherwise excellent defense was on the outside at cornerback. With Cooper DeJean in the slot and Quinyon Mitchell locking down one side of the field, teams threw early and often at Adoree’ Jackson. Defensive coordinator Vic Fangio went to Kelee Ringo in the same role with little success, and by midseason, the Eagles simply accepted that Jackson was going to be bombarded with attention. He was targeted on more than 20% of his coverage snaps on the outside last season, the fourth-highest rate of any corner in the league with 200 snaps or more.
Bringing in Woolen upgrades the Eagles at two spots. In their nickel subpackage, Woolen's size and ability to disrupt routes should appeal to Fangio. The former Seahawks corner has allowed a passer rating under 80 in each of his first four seasons as a pro. He’ll also play on the outside when the Eagles are in their base defense, allowing DeJean to move to safety in four-DB sets, which will help the Eagles cover for the departed Reed Blankenship.
Worst: Losing offensive line coach Jeff Stoutland. Few positional coaches are more known and beloved locally than Stoutland, who joined the Eagles as part of the Chip Kelly experience in 2013 and stuck around after Kelly was fired. Stoutland has played a huge role in developing a number of Eagles linemen over the past few years, including Jordan Mailata, Landon Dickerson and Cam Jurgens.
The line wasn't as effective last season, owing in part to both injuries and a scheme that didn't have many answers when the line wasn't dominating. It was no surprise when the Eagles fired offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo, but they weren’t able to smooth things over with Stoutland, who was disenfranchised by late-season changes to the offense and the arrival of new coordinator Sean Mannion.
Stoutland said he decided not to return, although it was unclear whether he was going to be offered the same role as run game coordinator in 2026. New line coach Chris Kuper had mixed results developing players in Minnesota. The Eagles have one of the league's best O-lines on paper, but star right tackle Lane Johnson is 36, and there isn’t high-end depth behind the starting five. The offense wasn’t great with Stoutland in the fold a year ago, but the Eagles might look back and wonder why they let one of the best positional coaches in football leave the building.
Washington Commanders
Best: Upgrading in the secondary. If you watched the Commanders attempt to play pass defense last season, you might be eligible for financial compensation. When their front four didn't get pressure last season, Dan Quinn's defense allowed 9.3 yards per dropback. That was the worst mark of any team in the NFL and the second-worst mark of any defense in that scenario over the past 10 years.
The Commanders fired defensive coordinator Joe Whitt after the season, but their issues weren’t strictly schematic. Marshon Lattimore, a high-profile trade addition during the 2024 campaign, was never really healthy during his time in Washington and struggled badly before tearing his ACL. Mike Sainristil, so impressive as a rookie, took a step backward. Noah Igbinoghene was in and out of the lineup. Starting safety Will Harris got hurt early in the season, forcing the Commanders to turn to special-teamer Jeremy Reaves, who had issues as an open-field tackler in spots where missing tackles result in huge plays.
General manager Adam Peters made major upgrades in the front seven, but the secondary should also be better. Amik Robertson, who should start in three-CB sets, quietly became an important player for the Lions in 2024. It was telling that the defense finally collapsed after Robertson got hurt two snaps into the divisional round loss to, coincidentally, the Commanders. Peters also added veteran depth in Ahkello Witherspoon, who has generally been solid when called upon over the past few seasons in Los Angeles. Nick Cross, signed on a two-year, $13 million deal, should be able to help near the line of scrimmage and as a blitzer for new coordinator Daronte Jones.
Are any of these guys stars in the way that Lattimore was when he was acquired for three picks in 2024? No. Frankly, though, the Commanders needed more depth than what they had a year ago, when their stars didn’t play like stars. Avoiding an obvious weak link and limiting big plays might be a way for the Commanders to get back to an adequate pass defense in 2026.
Worst: Cutting Tyler Biadasz before free agency. I’m not sure Peters anticipated where the market was going at center when he cut Biadasz in February. The move itself was a surprise given that Biadasz had been a reliable, athletic pivot for Washington. There was also no obvious center of the future on the roster, and after the offseason, it looks like the plan is to move former utility lineman and starting guard Nick Allegretti to center on a full-time basis.
The Commanders fired OC Kliff Kingsbury and replaced him with David Blough, who is expected to install an offense more in line what we've seen in places like Detroit and Chicago with Ben Johnson. That means more under-center snaps and more zone runs, which the Commanders ran at the third-lowest rate in the NFL in 2025. It's entirely possible that Washington thinks Biadasz isn't a great fit for that style of offense, although he looked just fine there with the Cowboys in the past.
That's all fine. But was there really no market to get anything for Biadasz? The Patriots were able to get a fifth-round pick for a lesser player in Garrett Bradbury. Biadasz was able to nearly match what he was going to make in 2026 with the Commanders when he signed with the Chargers, who also guaranteed about half of what Biadasz will make in 2027 as part of the deal. And the center market exploded after free agency began, as Tyler Linderbaum pushed the top of the position all the way up to an average salary of $27 million per season. It’s a surprise that Peters wasn’t able to get something for his starting center, and the plan to replace Biadasz isn’t particularly enthusing, either.
NFC North
Chicago Bears
Best: Shopping in bulk on the offensive line. The Bears felt pretty good about their offensive line heading into last season's playoffs before surprises struck. First, rookie left tackle Ozzy Trapilo tore a patellar tendon in the postseason win over the Packers, which will likely cost the former second-round pick a significant portion of his 2026 season. After the season, free agent addition Drew Dalman unexpectedly decided to retire at the age of 27, costing the Bears their starting center.
In a market where there weren't many plug-and-play solutions at those positions, general manager Ryan Poles was able to sign multiple potential contributors at both spots. At center, the Bears traded for Patriots pivot Garrett Bradbury, who started all 17 games for a team that made it to the Super Bowl. Poles then used a second-round pick on Logan Jones, who won the Rimington Trophy as the nation’s top center in 2025. Jones should be the team’s long-term replacement at the position for Dalman.
Left tackle is always going to be trickier to fill, but the Bears have options. Athletic Canadian export Theo Benedet, who had several starts at the position last season, is back in 2026. Poles brought backBraxton Jones — who was the team’s primary option at left tackle for most of his four years with the organization — on a reasonable deal at one year and $5 million. And the Bears took a flier on former Browns first-round pick Jedrick Wills Jr., who was impressive as a rookie before injuries took a toll.
Are any of those options locks to deliver above-average play? No. But the Bears at least have players with experience on the left side who might still have some untapped upside given their age. And there's another option Poles could still pursue on the open market in tackle Taylor Decker, who played for Ben Johnson during their time together in Detroit. Decker would be a logical short-term stopgap if the Bears don’t like what they see from their younger options in camp.
What Logan Jones brings to the Bears
Worst: Not addressing the edge. The Bears didn't get enough pass pressure in 2025. When coordinator Dennis Allen didn't send extra pass rushers at the quarterback, the Bears ranked 30th in pressure rate (23.7%). Montez Sweat managed 10 sacks, but the team’s two notable free agent additions of last offseason failed to make much of an impact; Dayo Odeyingbo and Grady Jarrett combined for only 2.5 sacks and 12 knockdowns in their first season with Chicago.
Odeyingbo was sidelined for the second half of the season after tearing an Achilles, an injury that could limit him in 2026. Considering $13 million of Odeyingbo’s $15.5 million base salary was already guaranteed at signing, the Bears were stuck in a difficult position. Between Sweat and Odeyingbo, Poles was already committed to a significant amount at edge rusher. But the Bears still needed to add another player to help their pass rush.
The draft might have been a logical place for Poles to look for a solution, but the Bears didn't add anybody to help out on the edge. Chicago also hasn't signed anyone there in free agency. Again, though, there's still time to find a solution, with players such as Joey Bosa and Haason Reddick still available on the open market.
Detroit Lions
Best: Replenishing the offensive line. Detroit's line wasn't up to its usual standards in 2025. The Lions finished 20th in run block win rate and 31st in pass block win rate. Their success rate on run plays fell from sixth in 2023 and 2024 to 25th in 2025. And given Jared Goff’s large on/off splits with regard to pressure — Goff ranks third in the NFL in EPA per play when unpressured over the past three years but 27th in the league when pressured — the Lions need to make sure they’re running the ball effectively and staying out of obvious passing situations to protect their quarterback.
Facing a pending cap crunch with extensions for several young starters, general manager Brad Holmes did pretty well. The Lions cut veteran Taylor Decker and moved Penei Sewell to left tackle, where he excelled as a rookie while Decker was injured. Sewell was an elite left tackle prospect coming out of Oregon and should do just fine on Goff’s blind side. He’ll be replaced on the right side by first-round pick Blake Miller, whose experience as a four-year starter at Clemson should make the 22-year-old an immediate contributor at the pro level.
The Lions also cut Graham Glasgow at center and replaced him with Panthers center Cade Mays, who spent several years as Carolina’s backup interior lineman before doing solid work in pass protection as the team’s primary center for most of 2025. It would have been nice to see the Lions add more at guard besides 49ers lineman Ben Bartch, who wasn’t a regular during his time in San Francisco, but Lions fans will hope Holmes did enough to get the Lions back on track up front.
Worst: Continuing to give away draft picks while trading up. After years of building the roster without needing to worry too much about cash or cap constraints, Holmes is facing an evolution. Having too many young players to pay is a nice problem to have, but the Lions have paid draftees such as Amon-Ra St. Brown, Penei Sewell and Aidan Hutchinson. This offseason, Jahmyr Gibbs, Brian Branch, Sam LaPorta and Jack Campbell all became eligible for extensions, with the latter signing a four-year deal this past week.
Holmes has had to be relatively conservative in free agency to account for those deals, moving on from veterans such as Decker, Glasgow and David Montgomery while also letting the likes of Al-Quadin Muhammad and Amik Robertson leave for modest deals elsewhere. The only player who landed anything larger than a one-year deal from Holmes in free agency this year was Mays. Given the raises Detroit’s young players are going to land, you can understand why Detroit is cutting back on free agent additions.
Holmes has to surround those newly expensive players with cost-controlled young talent to make the roster, work, though, and he's leaning too heavily into trading up. The Lions already came into this draft without a third-round pick, having sent two third-rounders to the Jaguars to move up and get Isaac TeSlaa on Day 2 a year ago. TeSlaa showed some promise as a rookie, but he projected (and still projects) to be Detroit’s third wide receiver. The Lions moved up for Tate Ratledge in 2025, sent a future third-rounder to the Jets for the right to take Giovanni Manu in the fourth round in 2024 and dealt more future draft capital to land Sione Vaki and Miles Frazier.
The Lions continued to stay aggressive in 2026. They traded away a fourth-round pick to move up six spots in the second round for edge rusher Derrick Moore, then shipped off a sixth-rounder to move up 13 spots in the fifth round (receiver Kendrick Law). And per video released by the Ravens, we know Detroit initially tried to trade up in Round 1, offering the Ravens their fourth-round pick and a 2027 third-round selection to move up from No. 17 to No. 14 before eventually changing course.
The issue here isn't targeting players the Lions want. They needed an offensive lineman in the first round. They've needed help on the edge for years and moved up to grab one in Round 2. Of course, that's also the downside of taking players at less premium positions in 2023. Holmes and the Lions should be very happy about landing excellent players at running back (Gibbs), tight end (LaPorta), linebacker (Campbell) and safety (Branch), but it's easier to fill those positions in the later rounds and free agency than it is to find difference-makers on the edge or offensive line.
At some point, though, the Lions have to be more conservative and trust that players are going to fall to them. They have to consider trading down to amass more selections, something Holmes hasn't done since trading down from No. 6 to No. 12 in the 2023 draft as part of the deal that landed him Gibbs and LaPorta. Trading up here and there is reasonable enough, and the Lions eventually decided against what would have been their biggest trade up in Round 1, but they've repeatedly pushed the move-up button over the past three drafts.
As good as their young core is, the Lions have had to turn to players who are bouncing around the league in key roles more often that they would like. Giving away those middle-round picks forced them to turn to players such as Kindle Vildor, Ben Niemann and Anthony Firkser for significant snaps. They’ve also run the risk of missing out on the next St. Brown or Kerby Joseph, middle-round picks who became stars in Detroit.
Green Bay Packers
Best: Adding cornerbacks. When the Packers lost big games in 2025, it was usually because their cornerbacks weren't able to hold up in coverage. Micah Parsons was able to mask some of those issues, but once he tore an ACL, the issues in the secondary popped to the forefront. Including the postseason, the Packers were eighth in pressure rate in 2025, but they finished 20th in QBR allowed and 22nd in EPA per dropback.
General manager Brian Gutekunst admitted a mistake and moved on from 2025 free agent addition Nate Hobbs one year into what was a four-year, $48 million deal on paper. The Packers signedBenjamin St-Juste, who has had more success as an outside cornerback and just finished a solid year with the Chargers as a rotational option, to a two-year deal for just under $10 million. Gutekunst then used his first selection (No. 52) on corner Brandon Cisse. With Javon Bullard in the slot, Cisse and St-Juste will be much-needed competition for Keisean Nixon and Carrington Valentine on the outside.
Worst: Failing to replenish the offensive line. It was no surprise to see the Packers move on from a pair of starters up front this offseason. Gutekunst's lean to younger players hinted toward the departure of Elgton Jenkins, who struggled after being moved to center and was entering the final year of his contract at 30 years old. And the Packers never showed much interest in re-signing left tackle Rasheed Walker, who ended up signing a one-year deal for just $4 million to join the Panthers.
The Packers re-signed utility lineman Sean Rhyan (who took over at center for Jenkins) to a three-year, $33 million deal, and Jordan Morgan will take over as the starting left tackle. Anthony Belton, who didn’t look great in eight starts as a rookie last season, will get another year to prove himself as a starting guard. Gutekunst understandably still believes in his highly drafted young players.
You have to go back only to last year, though, to remember how many issues the Packers had fielding their five favorite offensive linemen. The five-man lineup the Packers intended to start — Walker and Zach Tom at tackle, Aaron Banks and Rhyan at guard, and Jenkins at center — played just 64 snaps together all season. In the 2024 postseason, the Packers were tormented by a Jenkins injury early in the wild-card round loss to the Eagles, as backups Travis Glover and Kadeem Telfort took over and committed three holding penalties.
The Packers were without a first-round pick by virtue of the Parsons trade, but there’s not a lot behind the starting five, and that’s a problem. The highest-profile addition on the interior was fifth-round pick Jager Burton. Gutekunst wasn’t going to be in the market for one of the expensive young interior linemen, but the Packers could still stand to add a lineman or two as depth before Week 1.
Minnesota Vikings
Best: Signing Kyler Murray to a one-year deal. Well, this one’s easy. Even if you think Murray is the 20th-best quarterback in football, we’ve seen lesser QBs sign for massive deals in recent years in free agency. Malik Willis just got $45 million guaranteed over two years with the Dolphins. Justin Fields took home just over $20 million for his one year with the Jets. Daniel Jones, who might be a roughly comparable quarterback, landed a $50 million guarantee from the Colts while coming off a torn Achilles.
The Vikings are getting Murray for the league minimum, with the Cardinals on the hook for the majority of what's owed to the former first overall pick in 2026. There's more to roster-building than sheer surplus value, but no deal has the potential to offer more upside in 2026 than this one. And given that the Vikings were facing down another season with J.J. McCarthy as their primary option under center, Murray addresses what might be their biggest position of need.
Barring the opportunity cost of finding out that McCarthy's suddenly the quarterback they expected to land in the first round two years ago, the Murray acquisition offers virtually no downside and a massive amount of upside.
Worst: Trading Jonathan Greenard for two third-round picks. I can understand why the Vikings traded Greenard. Although he was excellent when healthy in his two years with Minnesota, injuries limited him to three sacks in 12 games in Year 2 after he racked up 12 sacks in Year 1. The Vikings traded significant draft capital in 2024 to move up for Dallas Turner in the first round, and while I’m not sure his eight-sack total from 2025 really reflects Turner’s true impact on the field, you can understand why the Vikings want to open up a starting role for the Alabama product. With Greenard wanting a new contract, a trade made sense.
However, defensive tackles like Quinnen Williams and Dexter Lawrence landed first-round picks in deals, and edge rusher Maxx Crosby (briefly) netted the Raiders two first-rounders. Did the Vikings really do themselves any favors by waiting until late April to deal Greenard? They landed only a pair of third-round picks from the Eagles. One of those picks was the 98th selection in this year’s draft, and it would be a surprise if the 2027 third-rounder landed anywhere before No. 90. Two late third-round picks isn’t a ton for a player as explosive as Greenard, who was still blowing by people on tape at less than 100 percent a year ago.
The Vikings were facing a difficult cap situation this offseason, but the four-year, $98 million deal Greenard signed with the Eagles is structured in a team-friendly manner. Greenard will have cap hits of $6.2 million in 2026 and $11.1 million in 2027. The Eagles will face a potential dead cap hit for Greenard well down the line, but the Vikings could have opted to give Greenard this same deal while reducing his cap number by nearly $16 million in 2026 and more than $11 million in 2027 in the process.
I understand wanting to open up more snaps for Turner, but for what they landed and what they apparently needed to pay Greenard to make him happy, I'd rather have kept one of my best players around for another year or two.
NFC South
Atlanta Falcons
Best: Signing Tua Tagovailoa to a one-year deal for $1.2 million. As was the case with Murray and the Vikings, signing a starting-caliber quarterback for the veterans minimum is the best possible deal any team can strike in free agency. Even if Tagovailoa never plays for the Falcons, Atlanta landed a player who would profile as one of the best backup quarterbacks in football as security for the returning Michael Penix Jr. (knee). Teams are paying $7 million for guys like Marcus Mariota and Davis Mills this year. Tagovailoa has shown a higher floor and ceiling than those passers.
And if the Falcons do need the lefty to play meaningful snaps in 2026, Tagovailoa should be good competition for Penix. He has posted a 59.1 Total QBR since entering the league, and although 2025 saw him fall to a career-low 37.5 mark, Tagovailoa was up at 57.1 as recently as 2024. Penix has posted a 55.3 Total QBR over his first two years as a pro passer, but that's over only a 12-game sample, having sat behind Kirk Cousins for most of 2024 before tearing an ACL in 2025.
If Tagovailoa is a league-average quarterback, the Falcons landed a player who could be valued at $40 million per season for the league minimum. And if he's not, well, they're out a little over a million bucks.
Worst: Signing Jahan Dotson to a two-year, $15 million deal. It wasn’t necessarily a surprise to see the new Falcons regime move on from Darnell Mooney after an injury-hit 2025 season, but I’m not enthused about how they chose to replace him. Atlanta went back to the Bears to add Olamide Zaccheaus, who is an ideal third or fourth wideout given his blocking ability. Third-round pick Zachariah Branch fits as a slot receiver and return man.
Dotson might also be best in that same slot role, and I think the Falcons are still paying for his profile as a former first-round pick as opposed to his actual play as a pro. Over four years in the NFC East, Dotson averaged 0.9 yards per route run, which ranks 79th out of the 80 wide receivers who have run at least 1,000 routes over the past four seasons. You can chalk that up to the presence of A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith in the lineup alongside Dotson over the past two seasons, but being able to command targets by getting open is a skill. Dotson wasn’t able to do that in Washington or Philadelphia.
There's a point where taking a flier on Dotson makes sense, but it's not the $10 million guaranteed mark that the Falcons hit this offseason.
Carolina Panthers
Best: Rebuilding the left tackle situation. There's another comparable to the NFC North here. Just as the Bears lost their presumed 2026 starting left tackle to a torn patellar tendon in the 2025 postseason, the Panthers saw former first-round pick Ikem Ekwonu go down with his own patella injury in the wild-card round. Ekwonu might not play much, if at all, in 2026, but the Panthers are on the hook for his $17.6 million guarantee either way.
Salary is one big difference between the situation with Ekwonu and Ozzy Trapilo, who will be in Year 2 of his rookie deal while missing time in Chicago. The other is the future. The Bears hope that Trapilo will be their left tackle in 2027, which caused them to look at short-term solutions to replace him in 2026. Ekwonu has struggled throughout his time in Carolina, and although there have been some signs of growth over the past two years, the Panthers were already likely planning on moving on from Ekwonu after his rookie deal barring some significant step forward in 2026.
The Panthers then came into this offseason with the ability to approach short- and long-term solutions at tackle. They landed both. The decision to sign former Raiders tackle Stone Forsythe wasn’t inspiring, but general manager Dan Morgan was able to make a more inspired move days later. When Rasheed Walker’s market failed to develop, the Panthers signed the four-year pro to a one-year deal for $4 million. The league very clearly wasn’t overwhelmed by Walker during his time in Green Bay, but the Panthers were landing a three-year starter at a premium position in the prime of his career. Yosh Nijman wasn’t great in Carolina after joining from the Packers, but Walker should offer good value with this contract.
Then, the Panthers added to the position by using a first-round pick on Monroe Freeling, the 6-foot-7 tackle who impressed at Georgia over the past year and a half. Freeling is still relatively inexperienced, but with Walker (and Forsythe) in the fold, the Panthers don’t need to rush the rookie into the lineup. If Freeling impresses in camp, the Packers have an overqualified swing tackle in Walker to back up Freeling and Taylor Moton. If he’s not ready, Freeling will be the swing tackle, and Walker should be able to hold his own as a one-year starter in a prove-it campaign.
Panthers GM Dan Morgan details why team drafted Monroe Freeling
Worst: Signing Kenny Pickett to a one-year, $4 million deal. There is a theoretical surplus value opportunity if Pickett does somehow take over the starting job and play well in Carolina, but why did the Panthers move on from Andy Dalton only to pay a premium to bring in Pickett?
Pickett has been part of four organizations over a 24-month span, having been traded by the Steelers, Eagles and Browns before finishing up 2025 with the Raiders and signing in Carolina. He has thrown exactly 800 pass attempts over that time frame. His 45.0 Total QBR ranks 28th out of 33 quarterbacks with at least 800 passes over the past four years, and his 0.06 EPA per dropback is last, just ahead of Bryce Young in 31st and Russell Wilson in 32nd.
Pickett's still young enough to improve, I suppose, but if four organizations have decided that he's not a priority, are the Panthers really likely to find otherwise? Is that possibility worth paying $4 million to explore?
New Orleans Saints
Best: Stocking the cupboard for Tyler Shough. After a promising half-season as the starter in 2025, the Saints understandably gave Shough a clear path to their starting role ahead of Spencer Rattler (and new addition Zach Wilson) in 2026. There was already a fair amount for Shough in terms of playmakers, as the Saints have a legit No. 1 wideout in Chris Olave and a tight end in Juwan Johnson who ranked third at the position in receiving yards last season. Having traded draft capital for Devaughn Vele and Ja’Lynn Polk in 2025, the Saints could have moved forward with those guys and made minor additions to Shough’s supporting cast this offseason.
Instead, the Saints plowed forward and made significant upgrades. First-round pick Jordyn Tyson’s stock rose throughout the draft process, and although there are injury concerns about the Arizona State prospect, there were observers who saw Tyson as the best wideout in this class. The Saints added inline tight end Oscar Delp on Day 2 and small-school athletic phenom Bryce Lance at wide receiver in the fourth round. With Noah Fant also signing a two-year deal for $8.8 million, coach Kellen Moore has the flexibility to go to 12 or even 13 personnel groupings this upcoming season if so inclined.
I wrote about Travis Etienne Jr. and why I’m not sure the Jaguars are really worse off without the former first-round pick on the AFC side of things, but his four-year, $48 million deal makes more sense for the Saints than it did for the Jaguars. It’s easier to stomach paying a league-average back $24 million over the next two years when your quarterback is making just over $3.1 million over that same span, as Shough will in New Orleans. Trevor Lawrence is set to make $79 million over those same two seasons.
Etienne should be an upgrade on Alvin Kamara, who has averaged 3.9 yards per carry since Drew Brees’ retirement and might end up as a cap casualty in New Orleans.
Worst: Spending for solid veterans in free agency. While there are certainly reasons to be optimistic about the future in New Orleans as many of the veterans who were stuck on the team's cap fall off this offseason and some of the young players emerge as core contributors, the Saints still look like they're a couple of years away. They won six games against one of the league's easiest schedules a year ago, failing to win a single contest against a team that posted a winning record in 2025.
They got there as the league's 10th-oldest team, including its third-oldest defense, which carried the team. (The Saints were 27th in EPA per play on offense and 10th on defense.) They’ll be younger in 2025 given some of their departures, as stalwarts such as Cameron Jordan and Demario Davis saw their contracts expire. The Saints could afford to be active in free agency.
I would have liked to see them go for players who offered more upside or have their best years ahead of them. Instead, a win-soon team made win-now decisions. David Edwards is a borderline Pro Bowl-caliber guard, but to get the Bills lineman, the Saints had to guarantee part of his third contract year at signing — a perk no other player in free agency landed. That’s something we typically see only for truly elite players at premium positions.
Edwards is 29, but there's nothing wrong with adding a very good player to help build around Shough. But did the Saints really need to shell out for a back who hasn't been much better than league average in Etienne, even given his local ties? Kaden Elliss is an underrated player and a valuable blitzer, but the returning former Saints draftee turns 31 in July. He’s younger than Davis, but is this a team that really needed to pay a premium for a solid linebacker?
None of these moves is awful in a vacuum, and I don't dislike the players involved, but I'm just not positive they're the right moves for this particular team this far away from contention. In an ideal world, the Saints would be using their draft picks to land running backs, guards and linebackers who project to get better in the years to come while rolling over some of their money to future seasons.
Here's where Mickey Loomis' habit of trading up and/or sending picks away for veterans doesn't help matters. The Saints never trade down, and although they added picks over the past two years by trading away Marshon Lattimore and Rashid Shaheed, they also sent a fourth-round pick (and a 2027 seventh-rounder) to the Broncos for Vele and a sixth-rounder in 2027 to the Patriots for Polk, then blocked those guys on the depth chart with the wide receiver moves I mentioned earlier. They’ve moved up for players such as Kool-Aid McKinstry and Jake Haener in recent years with very mixed results. This team should be focused on stockpiling young talent as opposed to fielding a team that might push to win eight games in 2026.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Best: Addressing linebacker. It was time to do something at what had traditionally been a position of strength in Tampa Bay. The Bucs' defensive tape made for painful watching at times last season, as the duo of Lavonte David and SirVocea Dennis simply lacked the athleticism to compete against upper-echelon NFL offenses. David was in his 14th pro season, but Dennis was badly stretched in pass coverage or any sort of open space, where he often couldn’t get close enough to even miss tackles. Dennis allowed a 122.0 passer rating in coverage and missed 13% of his tackle attempts, and David wasn’t far behind, allowing a 120.1 rating as a pass defender.
David retired, marking the end of an excellent career in Tampa Bay. General manager Jason Licht replaced him by signingAlex Anzalone, landing the Bucs one of the league’s most competent coverage linebackers, albeit one on the wrong side of 30. He allowed a 78.8 passer rating in coverage in 2025 and has seen his coverage passer rating top 100 only once in eight years as a pro.
Second-round pick Josiah Trotter isn’t quite as ready to contribute against the pass, with the Missouri product projected as more of a solid run defender than the sort of player with the instincts to step right in as a pass defender. In that role, he might be an athletic upgrade on Dennis. Christian Rozeboom, who started with the Rams and Panthers over the past few seasons, was also added as veteran depth. This isn’t the great linebackers room of years past, but it should be less of a liability in 2026.
Worst: Failing to convince either Mike Evans or Jamel Dean to return. It’s never fun to lose franchise stalwarts. And while it’s one thing when a veteran like David reaches the end of his playing career, the Bucs weren’t able to bring back a pair of players who had put excellent work on film in recent years. Evans was hit by injuries in 2025, but he had one of the most efficient seasons of his career in 2024, when the future Hall of Famer averaged 2.6 yards per route run. Dean posted a 63.1 passer rating in coverage in 2025 while missing just 2.1% of his tackle attempts. The veteran corner should have been a Pro Bowler ahead of alternate selections Nahshon Wright and Keisean Nixon in the NFC.
Even worse, neither player signed an exorbitant deal in leaving Tampa Bay. Evans' contract with the 49ers is really a one-year pact for $14.3 million. Dean joined the Steelers, who don’t guarantee multiple years for players who aren’t future Hall of Famers, meaning his three-year, $36.8 million deal looks more like a one-year, $13.5 million contract. The Bucs are in a tight cap situation when you consider that Baker Mayfield is coming due for a raise this offseason, but those are more than fair deals for players who still project to play at a high level in 2026.
At the same time, the Bucs might never have had the opportunity to sign Evans at that number, given that the star reportedly wanted a new challenge and the opportunity to play in San Francisco. Licht prepared for this scenario by using his top two picks in last year’s draft on wideout Emeka Egbuka and cornerback Benjamin Morrison, although the latter struggled when called upon as a rookie. The Buccaneers will survive and remain competitive in the NFC South, but it hurts to see key players leave for relatively reasonable contracts elsewhere without landing anything in return.
Bucs GM highlights importance of team staying healthy to McAfee
NFC West
Arizona Cardinals
Best: Signing Roy Lopez to a two-year, $10.5 million contract. It won’t be the highest-profile deal of the offseason, but Lopez was a useful defensive tackle for two years in the desert before leaving for the Lions last offseason on a one-year pact. The Cardinals hoped to upgrade on the interior by adding Dalvin Tomlinson in 2025, but they might have been better off holding on to Lopez, who has consistently been underrated as a rotational lineman. Now, they bring him back.
Lopez is big enough to play as a nose tackle, but he's also athletic enough to shoot gaps and even go through prominent interior linemen like Kevin Dotson for pressures. While the availability of Walter Nolen III might have a larger impact on whether the Cardinals field an above-average defense in 2026, Lopez should quietly be a useful player for 400 or so snaps again this upcoming season.
Worst: Drafting Jeremiyah Love with the third pick. It’s the right player in the wrong situation. Love profiles as a fantastic running back prospect, just as Ashton Jeanty, Bijan Robinson and Saquon Barkley did in years past. It’ll be extremely difficult for Love to live up to those expectations in Arizona, where the Cardinals have one of the league’s least-imposing quarterback rooms and offensive lines. Passing up potential defensive difference-makers such as Arvell Reese, Sonny Styles and Caleb Downs makes leaning into running back a difficult proposition, especially given that the Cardinals had already signedTyler Allgeier to work alongside James Conner.
Even if Love does emerge as a standout back, the finances of the running back position already cap what teams typically want from their first-round picks. By signing a fully guaranteed four-year, $53 million contract, Love has already realized the largest guarantee for any back in football by a considerable margin. His $13.3 million average salary makes Love the eighth-highest-paid back in the league from day one.
If he works out, he offers modest savings on what the Cardinals could have acquired by signing a veteran back like Kenneth Walker III in free agency. If the Cards had landed Reese and turned him into a valuable edge rusher, they would have found a player worth $40 million per season while paying him that same $13.3 million salary. And history tells us that we shouldn’t be any more confident about teams being right about backs than we should be about players at any other position, even given Robinson’s success with the Falcons.
With the market for running backs staying relatively flat over the past decade, it has become much more reasonable and logical to pay backs on second contracts than to use high draft picks to land them in Round 1. There might be a team for which using a first-round pick on a running back makes sense, but that team isn't the 2026 Cardinals. I hope (and expect) to see Love enjoy a lengthy, successful career in Arizona, but the Cardinals had bigger issues to address on draft day.
Los Angeles Rams
Best: Signing Jaylen Watson as part of the cornerback revolution. The Rams’ cornerbacks were often found wanting in their losses a year ago. They made a big move, trading a first-round pick to the Chiefs for Trent McDuffie, who then signed a four-year, $124 million contract extension as the team’s new top cornerback.
Given the terms, I might like the move to sign Watson for three years and $51 million more. Watson will make $34 million over the next two years, and while he doesn’t have the inside-outside flexibility or playmaking ability at the line of scrimmage that McDuffie does, he is an excellent cover cornerback with plenty of experience in difficult situations behind those Steve Spagnuolo blitzes. Watson has allowed passer ratings of 75.4 and 79.0 over the past two seasons, and he posted a microscopic 1.5% missed tackle rate last year.
The Chiefs were perfectly comfortable with Watson covering the opposing team's top receiver at times in 2025. We saw big wideouts like A.J. Brown and Jaxon Smith-Njigba torment the Rams last season, and Watson’s 6-foot-2 frame should help against those large targets in 2026. After the Rams played dime defense more often than any other team last season, the additions of McDuffie and Watson should allow them to play it even more this upcoming season.
Worst: Not adding more offensive line depth. There was consternation about the Rams not using the 13th pick to add another receiver, but I'm not sure that was really warranted. If the Rams are going to live in 13 personnel again in 2025, they should be covered with Puka Nacua and Davante Adams (and no receiver they drafted was going to be a suitable replacement for the former). They did draft another tight end in Max Klare, giving them five who might be active on game days between Klare, Colby Parkinson, Tyler Higbee, Terrance Ferguson and Davis Allen.
When the Rams have struggled or disappointed, though, it has usually been because the O-line has been missing key contributors. Think about the team that fell apart in 2022 and how many linemen it was forced to turn to throughout the season. In 2024, the Eagles were able to attack center Beaux Limmer, who was forced into the lineup when the Jonah Jackson/Steve Avila positional switch didn’t take. The entire 2025 NFL season might have turned on Justin Dedich taking a procedural penalty while filling in for the injured Kevin Dotson in Week 16, costing the Rams a touchdown early in their loss to the Seahawks that eventually decided the division and home-field advantage.
That might be a bit of an exaggeration, but the Rams do need offensive line depth, especially now that right tackle Rob Havenstein has retired. Coach Sean McVay will promote Warren McClendon Jr. to the starting role and used a third-round pick on Keagen Trost, but the Rams don’t have a swing tackle they would trust for any length of time on the left side or a good backup guard. Finding the former might be tough, but adding a veteran guard between now and the start of the season would be a quietly important addition for a Rams team with championship aspirations.
San Francisco 49ers
Best: Trading a third-round pick for Osa Odighizuwa. As injuries ripped this 49ers front apart before leaves started to change colors last fall, the 49ers very clearly had a hole on their roster. While Nick Bosa’s going to be back on the edge, and the 49ers will hope for more from Mykel Williams and Alfred Collins after quiet rookie seasons, new defensive coordinator Raheem Morris needed a disruptor on the interior.
Enter Odighizuwa, who was surplus to requirements in Dallas after the Cowboys elected to keep Kenny Clark next to Quinnen Williams. Odighizuwa has never topped five sacks in a pro season, but he consistently runs more impressive pressure metrics. He racked up 23 knockdowns in each of the 2024 and 2025 seasons. And Odighizuwa’s 3.4% quick pressure rate over those years is in line with the 3.7% rate Williams has posted over his past two campaigns.
The 49ers will pay Odighizuwa $37.3 million over the next two years, which is quite affordable given that the top of the defensive tackle market is already north of $30 million per season. Odighizuwa is closer to good than great, and he's not as effective against the run, but he is a much-needed pass rusher for the 49ers, who needed all the defensive line help they could get by the end of last season.
Worst: Using a third-round pick on Kaelon Black. Even coach Kyle Shanahan admits that he has a bad habit of taking middle-round running backs who don’t work out. We’re past the point where the 49ers are running the Shanahan zone scheme from 2012 and can credibly just plug and play undrafted free agents and expect elite results. But the 49ers have simply taken too many swings at this position, especially given the presence of Christian McCaffrey as one of the highest-paid backs in football at the lead role.
The 49ers naturally hope and expect that Black, their third-round pick, won't follow in the footsteps of Isaac Guerendo, Tyrion Davis-Price, Trey Sermon and Joe Williams, all backs Shanahan added in the middle rounds of drafts before quickly losing interest. However, ESPN’s Jordan Reid had Black as the 177th-best prospect in the draft on his board, and ESPN’s Matt Miller placed Black at No. 226. Shanahan pounced on Black at pick No. 90. I’d give one of the league’s best coaches some benefit of the doubt with his running back evaluations, but that might not be warranted given the evidence.
Seattle Seahawks
Best: Re-signing Josh Jobe. Opposing teams were inevitably going to carve up the Seahawks’ defense as several of their contributors hit free agency. There might have been contract terms at which it made sense to bring back some of those players, but with Boye Mafe landing $20 million per year from the Bengals and Coby Bryant signing for more than $13 million per season with the Bears, Seattle coach Mike Macdonald might have liked his chances of coaching up options on cheaper deals.
There might have been a real choice at cornerback, where Riq Woolen signed a one-year deal for $12 million with the Eagles. I liked that move for the Eagles, but given that the organization seemed to fall in and out of love with Woolen during his time in Seattle, it probably made more sense for the Seahawks to choose their other free agent CB instead.
Jobe, who coincidentally came to the Seahawks from Philadelphia early in his career, delivered over the past two years as a starter, posting passer ratings of 76.6 and 77.0 in coverage in Seattle. He’s not as athletic as Woolen, but Jobe will be under contract for $9.5 million in 2026 with the team’s option to pay him $6.5 million in 2027. Jobe can pay that off as a third cornerback, let alone as a starter.
Worst: Not doing more to upgrade the offensive line. I know, I know. The Seahawks won the Super Bowl while people like me were complaining that the interior of their offensive line (Gray Zabel aside) wasn't good enough. I wouldn't say that the line was great, but on the biggest stage, it was indeed good enough to win a title.
With the defense taking hits in free agency and Kenneth Walker leaving for the Chiefs, though, I would have liked general manager John Schneider to put a little more into building the line. His only addition was fifth-round pick Beau Stephens. Adding someone to offer competition for right guard Anthony Bradford, whom teams targeted throughout the season, or extra depth to help if oft-injured right tackle Abraham Lucas doesn’t play all 17 games after doing so for the first time in 2025, would help. But then again, I also said that last year, and it didn’t matter.
