The 2026 Free Agency Thread

[Anselmheifer]

Just learned today that Slayton is coming off a core muscle surgery. Nabers off the ACL. Skattebo off a severe injury. Lost their best defensive player.

Added these guys, who are solid, but don’t look life changing.

2026 New York Giants Free Agents

Tracking the status and signings of all 2026 New York Giants free agents, including total value, average and guarantees.

www.spotrac.com

Unless Dart makes a leap, I just don’t see it.

 

[skinsinparadise]

Just learned today that Slayton is coming off a core muscle surgery. Nabers off the ACL. Skattebo off a severe injury. Lost their best defensive player.

Added these guys, who are solid, but don’t look life changing.

2026 New York Giants Free Agents

Tracking the status and signings of all 2026 New York Giants free agents, including total value, average and guarantees.

www.spotrac.com

Unless Dart makes a leap, I just don’t see it.

As some have accused me of, like Riggo44, of being too paranoid about the Giants, and they've ended up right so far -- any hype for them has crashed during the season in recent years.

This time, its a hard tell, those guys are so full of themselves its hard to know if that arrogance is justified or it will make their crash if it happens so much sweeter -- ala what's happening with the Mets right now.

But yeah I don't love what they did for WR. I do think losing Wandale and Dexter Lawrence will effect that team more than some think.

And if Nabers and Skattebo struggle to return or find their form if they do -- their season can crash.

 

[skinsinparadise]

When I was a younger man, my mood for the whole week would change based on whether the Redskins won or lost.

For so long now, I’ve just followed along on the interned and had fun with engaging with the draft.

The 2024 season was such a blast.watching Jayden look like the team savior. It would be magical to get that back again this year.

Yeah same with me.

I am a big fan of this team but the other thing is I am a big NFL fan, too. So it was a blast for a change being a part of the national conversation. Being on TV at 8 PM versus 1 pm. Having a superstar QB that was the talk of the league. It almost felt surreal because it was all so different.

It's wild that a season later, most of that buzz is gone. but on the aggregate, that might be a good thing because I do feel all the praise got to their heads and the team lost its edge.

Still injuries was the theme. I do think they bounce back, but they have some business left at CB and WR.

 

[Dlts20]

Just learned today that Slayton is coming off a core muscle surgery. Nabers off the ACL. Skattebo off a severe injury. Lost their best defensive player.

Added these guys, who are solid, but don’t look life changing.

2026 New York Giants Free Agents

Tracking the status and signings of all 2026 New York Giants free agents, including total value, average and guarantees.

www.spotrac.com

Unless Dart makes a leap, I just don’t see it.

Plus Dart is even way more of a injury risk than Jayden. Him and Skat are concussions waiting to happen. 8 hope Harbaugh can save them for that because that's bigger than football but Dart was going the Tua route if not worse

 

[Riggo44]

I don’t know if you would count resignations in addition to firings, but there are many coaches who have found great success with multiple teams. In our own history we have Vince Lombardi, who led the Redskins to their first winning record in over a decade in 1969, and Dan Quinn, who led us further than we had been in three decades in 2024. But those are not the best examples.

The following coaches led two different teams to the Super Bowl: Don Shula, Bill Parcells, Mike Holmgren, Dick Vermeil, Dan Reeves, John Fox, and Andy Reid. And that’s just coaches that reached multiple championships, excluding guys like Tony Dungy, Tom Coughlin, Jon Gruden, and Sean Payton who were good with multiple teams but didn’t get quite that far with both of them.

So it’s a lot more common than you might think. Great coaches can and often do find success with multiple teams. Hopefully Harbaugh doesn’t, but I wouldn’t count on that.

I'm referring to coaches who have been in place 15+ years, granted the pool is small in-and-of-itself, but usually when you're someone for that long, it's very difficult to replicate that success.

 

[heisenberg]

I'm referring to coaches who have been in place 15+ years, granted the pool is small in-and-of-itself, but usually when you're someone for that long, it's very difficult to replicate that success.

Yeah, or even if you go back to the same place like Joe gibbs, the magic was gone, albeit under very different circumstances with farquad running the show.

 

[skinsinparadise]

For those who have pushed back a little at my thought that Daronte will likely mostly use the Flores scheme. My thought has been their rhetoric has telegraphed its likely that scheme, their FA signings have telegraphed it, too.

Here's more evidence with Quinn talking about them using a heavy zone scheme with eyes on the QB.

 

[MartinC]

Dart to me is a major wildcard. He has a lot of moxie and plays with his hair on fire but also runs himself into harms way a ton. Skattebo the RB version of Dart. It's no wonder those two are besties.

Between those two, the bravado of Harbaugh -- all three already talking Super Bowl -- and the NY media that eats that stuff up and the national media who seem to really really want the Giants to be great I gather because the money generated from that NY market -- feels like either the bravado will help them overcome the decade plus of losing culture -- or the burble bursts and the collapse is more dramatic because of all that self hype.

I am rooting for the later of course.

Part of the Giants hype seems to be they lost so many close games and the idea that Harbaugh alone makes the difference in those tight margin games. Maybe. Will see. But I find it all insufferable

Dexter Lawrence was quietly one of the best players in the NFL. I recall among others, Logan Paulsen talking about studying that defense that Lawrence makes everyone on that unit better because he's the focus. I think and hope they feel that loss. Warren Sharp posted stats about them when Lawrence plays and when he misses games, and its not pretty. He was quietly their best player.

Dart looks like the jerk jock bully in every 80's High School movie. I find that hard to get past

More meaningfully he seems to me like the kind of QB who can win you a game - hes a 'gamer' - but wont be consistent enough to win you a Division/championship. Put another way playing with your hair on fire can be great in a last gasp 2 minute drive, but its not a repeatable process that will make you a consistent winner.

 

[Riggo44]

skinsinparadise when he has to spend time with his in-laws...the indoctrination is real

 

[Riggo44]

Jaxson Dart is Taylor Heinicke with a better arm. I am also more annoyed by Giants fans, since it's the offseason, and it's their time to shine...

 

[skinsinparadise]

Jaxson Dart is Taylor Heinicke with a better arm. I am also more annoyed by Giants fans, since it's the offseason, and it's their time to shine...

Yeah I've seen you make that comment before.

He has Heinicke's moxie. But bigger build, bigger arm, better runner. Maybe a stronger armed Bo Nix? But a reckless version of it.


PFF take on him before the draft.

Kosko: Why Jaxson Dart should be a top-15 player in the 2025 NFL Draft class

I recently stated that Dart is a top-15 prospect in this class. Let me explain why — starting with the data.

www.pff.com

Of course, all this data is valuable, but it means little if the film evaluation doesn’t match. Even this generation’s best quarterback didn’t have an elite statistical profile. The reason I was high on him as a prospect wasn’t just the numbers—it was what I saw on film. Patrick Mahomes had a solid data and grading profile, but it didn’t necessarily indicate an all-time great was about to enter the NFL.

Dart is not Mahomes as a prospect, let me be crystal clear about that. Nor is he Jayden Daniels or Joe Burrow. From a passing standpoint, he actually is more similar to Daniels than you might think, only with a tad more zip on his throws, while his athleticism is on par with Bo Nix’s.

Dart can pepper the field with velocity and is accurate enough off-platform to alter his arm angle to complete passes. He possesses good pocket movement and spatial awareness to find open receivers when the play breaks down.

The biggest question surrounding Dart is the system he played in at Ole Miss. While it incorporates some NFL concepts, it also manufactures deep and intermediate shots with limited full-field read progressions. He’ll need to learn an NFL playbook and develop his game from under center.

However, I don’t put much weight into the system factor because most college offenses differ significantly from the NFL. Take Mahomes, for example—before him, no quarterback from the Air Raid system had ever succeeded in the NFL. Until he did.

Scout the player, not the system. If a quarterback can play, he’ll find a way to succeed.

Dart isn’t a perfect prospect, nor is he my top quarterback in this class, but he’s a very good one — and I believe many are overlooking him.

I expect the draft community to come around on Dart in the next two months. Don’t be surprised if his name is called early on April 24.

 

[heisenberg]

Man, why didn't we sign martin emerson?

I just saw he recently signed with the saints.

I didn't even realize he was out there, another Achilles tear guy from last year but it was in training camp and supposedly hes fully recovered.

He would have been a perfect addition.

 

[skinsinparadise]

 

[KDawg]

Jaxson Dart is [REDACTED] with a better arm. I am also more annoyed by Giants fans, since it's the offseason, and it's their time to shine...

We don’t talk about [REDACTED]. Any time anyone brings him up people get all sentimental and talking about [REDACTED] just veers us off course. It’s always better to avoid any conversation about [REDACTED].

 

[skinsinparadise]

Man, why didn't we sign martin emerson?

I just saw he recently signed with the saints.

I didn't even realize he was out there, another Achilles tear guy from last year but it was in training camp and supposedly hes fully recovered.

He would have been a perfect addition.

lol, I know it sounds sarcastic but I got the impression listening to Newmarks presser on Saturday that they planned to take next week (this week) to come up with their next plan for FA post the draft.

If that's so, while they are discussing what's next and what should they do. Other teams are implementing their plan while this team might be using this week to come up with a plan.

 

[heisenberg]

lol, I know it sounds sarcastic but I got the impression listening to Newmarks presser on Saturday that they planned to take next week (this week) to come up with their next plan for FA post the draft.

If that's so, while they are discussing what's next and what should they do. Other teams are implementing their plan while this team might be using this week to come up with a plan.

The part of my brain that knows these guys aren't idiots is really hoping thats just something he said that wasn't meant to be taken too literally.

I refuse to believe they would willingly let other teams pick the carcass of free agency for a week before they roll out of bed and see what's left.

 

[burgold]

Yeah, or even if you go back to the same place like Joe gibbs, the magic was gone, albeit under very different circumstances with farquad running the show.

Heh. I was just thinking the opposite. Looking back at the fact that Gibbs, ten years away from having anything to do with the sport and rusty as hell got to the playoffs twice under Snyder, is just a testament to how good he was. He milked those teams for all they were worth in a way that Shannahan, Rivera, Gruden, and Schottenheimer couldn't. It is arguable that none of them had success here except Gibbs. And all of them (minus Gruden) had a history of success before Snyder.

 

[DWinzit]

The drafting of Gulbin makes this whole Allegretti take feel like a captain obvious response.

 

[skinsinparadise]

The part of my brain that knows these guys aren't idiots is really hoping thats just something he said that wasn't meant to be taken too literally.

I refuse to believe they would willingly let other teams pick the carcass of free agency for a week before they roll out of bed and see what's left.

It definitely could be a miscommunicated point or maybe I misinterpreted it. And lol I wasn't looking to kill that FO after the draft, I have defended just about every pick they made so I was feeling good about them. But that was the impression I was left with as to how he communicated it.

They are definitiely not stupid. But I can see just being exhausted from draft prep, telling the staff take a few days off, they've earned it, etc, and then lets regroup at some point this week and talk about the roster post the draft and come up with a game plan as to what's next. That's the vibe I got watching it. But maybe I'll rewatch and see if my impression changes, it does sometimes upon rewatches.

But to your point even if that was their plan, they must notice that Dallas and the Giants among others are pouncing this week so you'd figure even if they wanted to decompress some after the draft, seeing the activity might jolt them out of that mode.

 

[MartinC]

lol, I know it sounds sarcastic but I got the impression listening to Newmarks presser on Saturday that they planned to take next week (this week) to come up with their next plan for FA post the draft.

If that's so, while they are discussing what's next and what should they do. Other teams are implementing their plan while this team might be using this week to come up with a plan.

I hope that’s not true.

You can’t make up for lost time.