The 2026 Free Agency Thread

[SkinsFTW]

I'll admit it, I am among like 99% of you who never watched a cfb game with these players playing and actively knowing what is happening on each play. I've watched none of the rookies seriously, none of the guys we've signed, nothing, but for some reason many people posting here actually believe that this team's success depends on these few rookies or whether we sign a second rate wr for more than he is worth. As if those decisions are the biggest question for this team.

AP is in question, what is he doing? He's losing when he doesn't overpay for a Wr3. He's doing it wrong somehow, like when almost everyone thought trading for Lattimore for almost nothing was a good idea, then retracted and hated it the next year. Now everyone hates the Lattimore trade. It was awful.


We fans know nothing, all of us know this, yet some still pretend, at times, that they know better. Not only that but some fans want to repeatedly shove the same nonsense on us. Over and over and over and over x100, I read the same posts making the same points. Page after page. Why say the same thing 100 times? Maybe you like your own opinion that much. There really is no other reason for posting the same bs 100 times.

The actual question is whether our QB can play an entire season including playoffs multiple seasons in a row. That is the real question. I've read like 50 pages of mostly the same posters questioning the Wr2 decision, over and over and over and over again. Page after page, we have no Wr2 OMG WOW, Really? (Did the Chiefs or the Patriots have a Wr2) but let's see if we actually have a QB first, ok? Do we have a legit long term QB? Wr2 though? Really?

Oh yeah nevermind, hof QB+ wr1+Wr2, which no SB winning team has had since the the colts in 2005. That is the ticket. We need all that to be a real winner.

We need Marvin Harrison and Reggie Wayne. We will win when we have those guys and a healthy JD.

 

[DWinzit]

Will see about the young guys. Going purely with my college takes of these guys and bringing that to now:

A. Antonio Willams -- loved the prospect. I think he will easily be the best of the young WRs-prospects they've taken. Polished route runner, twitchy, good YAC -- hands are good not great, good at tracking the ball. I think he has a legit shot at being a good #2, but I wouldn't bank on it from the jump.

B. McCaffrey -- I rated him as a 6th rounder at the time, even though he was a good athlete he looked stiff as a route runner. In the pros, i don't think he's a bust. But I am not banking on him either. Good kick returner. Good blocker. Good hands. So so seperator. I'd be surprised if he emerges as a legit #2, but I think he has a shot at being a #3 type but more likely IMO a #4

As for the seperation skills where he had a good number in his rookie season, there was one observer maybe it was Logan but I don't recall for sure who talked about how stats like that could be deceiving with the argument that Luke was sort of used as a first level target near the line of scrimmage and because defenses were cued into other WRs who scared them more, they played a lot of off coverage on Luke and that inflated his numbers or something like that. Also, I've heard that he was not good in either camp.

C. Jaylin Lane. I liked, didn't love the college version of the player. The college version was a raw route runner, a lot of basic routes on the first level, shallow crossers, slants, hitches, screens. Good YAC player in college, you didn't see much of that in the pros. Similar story to me about McCaffrey, I'd bet on him being a #4, has a shot at #3, be very surprised if he's a #2. I thought late 4th round was a good value for him.

D. Ben Sinnott. Graded him a third rounder before that draft. the college version was a good blocker, good hands, good YAC, not a great seperator. In the pros, it feels like so far a good move blocker, who makes some occasional plays. I don't love his interviews and what I've heard about him -- but I don't dislike any of it either. He just feels from an intangible standpoint, just OK, I don't get the vibe that he has this drive to be great. But will see, you never know. I think being the #3 TE will be more or less his career.

You are pretty on point with where I was with Luke and Sinnott. Both were over-drafted by AP. I thought Sinnott was specifically because they had big plans for him but Kliff never really incorporated him.

I was good with Lane's selection where they took him but thought he had a little more route abilities than he has shown. I knew he immediately gave us a good PR and figured he'd start as a WR4. He has never been more than a WR4-5 really.


Williams also must shine this season and I have much more faith in him than the others

This year we need at least one of the Lane, Luke and Burks group to be a solid WR3 and Sinnott to be involved and good as a weapon

 

[SkinsFTW]

I think we all want Diggs at this point, and we can't figure out why AP hasn't closed the deal yet.

AP probably has a reason other than fantasy football statistics. Also, this team is clearly on a cash cap and probably already hit it. AP might want another WR but it's not going to happen, unfortunately, or it will later at a lower amount.

Too bad our owner also owns 2 other teams. Fuck Philly by the way, NJ also, screw you Josh Harris, you faux local team owner. Haha

 

[NickyJ]

I'll admit it, I am among like 99% of you who never watched a cfb game with these players playing and actively knowing what is happening on each play. I've watched none of the rookies seriously, none of the guys we've signed, nothing, but for some reason many people posting here actually believe that this team's success depends on these few rookies or whether we sign a second rate wr for more than he is worth. As if those decisions are the biggest question for this team.

AP is in question, what is he doing? He's losing when he doesn't overpay for a Wr3. He's doing it wrong somehow, like when almost everyone thought trading for Lattimore for almost nothing was a good idea, then retracted and hated it the next year. Now everyone hates the Lattimore trade. It was awful.


We fans know nothing, all of us know this, yet some still pretend, at times, that they know better. Not only that but some fans want to repeatedly shove the same nonsense on us. Over and over and over and over x100, I read the same posts making the same points. Page after page. Why say the same thing 100 times? Maybe you like your own opinion that much. There really is no other reason for posting the same bs 100 times.

The actual question is whether our QB can play an entire season including playoffs multiple seasons in a row. That is the real question. I've read like 50 pages of mostly the same posters questioning the Wr2 decision, over and over and over and over again. Page after page, we have no Wr2 OMG WOW, Really? (Did the Chiefs or the Patriots have a Wr2) but let's see if we actually have a QB first, ok? Do we have a legit long term QB? Wr2 though? Really?

Oh yeah nevermind, hof QB+ wr1+Wr2, which no SB winning team has had since the the colts in 2005. That is the ticket. We need all that to be a real winner.

We need Marvin Harrison and Reggie Wayne. We will win when we have those guys and a healthy JD.

Paying market price on a FA WR, with that market price still being only a fraction of the team's cap space and usually with reasonable escape routes if the player fails, is in a different universe than surrendering draft picks.

Stefon Diggs is not a WR3.

Jauan Jennings, who I also think is better than a WR3 but whatever let's pretend he's only that, wasn't even paid at the market price that was set at the start of free agency; it was incredibly cheap. And Washington spurned it.

Receivers who can both run routes and catch the balls that are thrown to them are directly related to Jayden's health. One of Jayden's incredible qualities that we saw on display is that he is a fighter. But that fighting quality is also what puts him most at risk.

What is a QB to do when receivers who aren't Terry can't get open? The safest thing to do is abandon all hope, chuck the ball away, and do it all over again next play. Jayden has not been doing that, though. He puts it on himself to take the broken plays and try to churn a few yards and make the best of a bad situation. We love him for it. It's thrilling. But as we saw last year, when nearly every play is a "bad situation" because nobody could get open, Jayden's fighting spirit put him in danger and he got hurt.

So we have a couple of choices on how to deal with that. One option would be to try paying someone who's good at his job. That's the Diggs option. The other option is tell Jayden to stop being such a dynamic player, never leave the pocket because we fear the playstyle that he's good at, and hope the WRs can do it all on their own this time even though our crippling fear of paying for talented players means we're not sure he has anyone who will do better and stay on the field this time.

Do you have another option?

 

[SkinsFTW]

I hate to break it to you, but the current Qb market excludes paying top market for WRs. JD is either a top QB or he isnt.

What high level WR, not drafted, did the Patriots, Chiefs, colts, packers, Seahawks, Steelers, anyone, sign?

Let's make a list of WRs of SB winners.

Seriously, what team, since the 2007 SB loser Patriots were a.WR, not even a WR2 from winning the SB?

Now question AP! He's doing it right, for once.

Try me, I'm in the Philippines, it's noon here

 

[SkinsFTW]

Paying market price on a FA WR, with that market price still being only a fraction of the team's cap space and usually with reasonable escape routes if the player fails, is in a different universe than surrendering draft picks.

Stefon Diggs is not a WR3.

Jauan Jennings, who I also think is better than a WR3 but whatever let's pretend he's only that, wasn't even paid at the market price that was set at the start of free agency; it was incredibly cheap. And Washington spurned it.

Receivers who can both run routes and catch the balls that are thrown to them are directly related to Jayden's health. One of Jayden's incredible qualities that we saw on display is that he is a fighter. But that fighting quality is also what puts him most at risk.

What is a QB to do when receivers who aren't Terry can't get open? The safest thing to do is abandon all hope, chuck the ball away, and do it all over again next play. Jayden has not been doing that, though. He puts it on himself to take the broken plays and try to churn a few yards and make the best of a bad situation. We love him for it. It's thrilling. But as we saw last year, when nearly every play is a "bad situation" because nobody could get open, Jayden's fighting spirit put him in danger and he got hurt.

So we have a couple of choices on how to deal with that. One option would be to try paying someone who's good at his job. That's the Diggs option. The other option is tell Jayden to stop being such a dynamic player, never leave the pocket because we fear the playstyle that he's good at, and hope the WRs can do it all on their own this time even though our crippling fear of paying for talented players means we're not sure he has anyone who will do better and stay on the field this time.

Do you have another option?

I hear you man, but AP is clearly taking the route that a QB has to handle it like a second contract QB and after his injuries in year 2 I'm not going to disagree with him! A QB is either franchise or not.

By the way I was a Drake Maye guy. I admit that I might have been wrong, but so far it's 50/50. Maye in 2025 was probably overrated, they played nobody but somehow got through the playoffs despite Maye. He was #2 for league MVP tho, because they obviously didn't watch the games. They played nobody but the bills until the playoffs

 

[NickyJ]

Paying 8 million for Jauan Jennings is hardly top market. Especially for a team sitting on $50m cap space.

The reason the team has to look to free agent WRs is because the team has repeatedly failed to acquire long-term WRs in the draft, and both of them were low effort attempts with mid-round draft picks that have unsurprisingly turned out to not play like highly rated talent. So AP has to look elsewhere for what he could not provide himself. I don't give him a pass for what he has failed at. I look at him and ask "how is he going to fix it?"

You are expecting Jayden to play like a seasoned veteran franchise QB, but already doing it in his third year. Those seasoned veteran QBs that you are comparing him to by and large had a supporting cast to rely on as they grew from flashy rookies into stars. Manning had Harrison and Wayne. Mahomes had Kelce, Hill, and Kareem Hunt. This past year, Darnold even in a miraculous turn around year had 2 killer RBs who made 1.8k yards on their own.

I don't find it acceptable to whiff on every WR pick so far and then shrink from it and say "whelp, I tried. Good luck my man, go be Mahomes now. Break a leg but not literally."

Drake had a healthy WR1 last season on his playoff run for what it's worth, but the team let him go for off field reasons and he is now available. For a couple of years, surely it won't break the $50m bank. Maybe McLauren will become healthier again as he gets older. But it's playing with fire to roll out with a year older McLauren, a rookie mid-round draft pick (third time's the charm!🤞), an equal or maybe improved TE, and no WR2.

 

[SkinsFTW]

Jennings? Dude might be wr4 or 5 here, thing is, we don't know, he's never going to be a WR 1 or 2 though, for any team.

Every team in the league knows this. Fans still refuse to believe though. For instance, (let's look at actual facts) Dyami Brown signed for 10M last year with the Jags, Jennings just got 8 this year. 31 other teams agreed with AP yet some of you know better!

AP should spend his time dealing with reality, rather than backup plans like Jennings who will probably be less than Dyami Brown. Meanwhile, fools here know how to build a SB winner!

 

[SkinsFTW]

It's kinda funny tho, if you look back a couple months, Pierce signed for close to 30m with the colts. He's not even an elite receiver.

Fans here said soon after that we should pay Jennings, whatever it's going to cost us. SO, 25-30m a year for Jennings, remember?

AP didn't do it. No other team did either. 32 teams denied Jennings for months.

Snyderatto or Bruce Allen would have surely just paid that guy 20-25M a year for 4-5 years despite his current age and everyone here would have celebrated it. This is where weve came from, and you all cannot deny this. This is history. We've lived it, over and over for decades.

What I'm trying to say is don't try to pretend that you know better, AP knew that Jennings was worth almost nothing in NFL Wr terms, and he didn't overpay the guy.

We should actually celebrate that. We have actual disciplined management.

 

[RexTomb]

I'll admit it, I am among like 99% of you who never watched a cfb game with these players playing and actively knowing what is happening on each play. I've watched none of the rookies seriously, none of the guys we've signed, nothing, but for some reason many people posting here actually believe that this team's success depends on these few rookies or whether we sign a second rate wr for more than he is worth. As if those decisions are the biggest question for this team.

AP is in question, what is he doing? He's losing when he doesn't overpay for a Wr3. He's doing it wrong somehow, like when almost everyone thought trading for Lattimore for almost nothing was a good idea, then retracted and hated it the next year. Now everyone hates the Lattimore trade. It was awful.


We fans know nothing, all of us know this, yet some still pretend, at times, that they know better. Not only that but some fans want to repeatedly shove the same nonsense on us. Over and over and over and over x100, I read the same posts making the same points. Page after page. Why say the same thing 100 times? Maybe you like your own opinion that much. There really is no other reason for posting the same bs 100 times.

The actual question is whether our QB can play an entire season including playoffs multiple seasons in a row. That is the real question. I've read like 50 pages of mostly the same posters questioning the Wr2 decision, over and over and over and over again. Page after page, we have no Wr2 OMG WOW, Really? (Did the Chiefs or the Patriots have a Wr2) but let's see if we actually have a QB first, ok? Do we have a legit long term QB? Wr2 though? Really?

Oh yeah nevermind, hof QB+ wr1+Wr2, which no SB winning team has had since the the colts in 2005. That is the ticket. We need all that to be a real winner.

We need Marvin Harrison and Reggie Wayne. We will win when we have those guys and a healthy JD.

A live look at FTW.

 

[Ashburn Dave]

AP probably has a reason other than fantasy football statistics. Also, this team is clearly on a cash cap and probably already hit it. AP might want another WR but it's not going to happen, unfortunately, or it will later at a lower amount.

Too bad our owner also owns 2 other teams. Fuck Philly by the way, NJ also, screw you Josh Harris, you faux local team owner. Haha

I've seen the cash cap suggestion floated before and if that truly is the case, then AP needs to have a 1on1 with Harris about how close we are to being a SB contender. AP needs to convince Harris that now is the time to get this done.

 

[DWinzit]

Harris comes across a pretty smart dude. I'm sure there's strategy and I'm not seeing AP having a sit down with him and walking away with the purse suddenly opening.

It could also be AP that hasn't seen the player that strikes his fancy

 

[Boone]

I'm thinking, there might be a little space and middle ground between 'AP is incompetent, Josh Harris is a skinflint, and if we don't get a WR2 we are doomed' and 'Fans know nothing, never question our GM and Owner, Tom Brady did it with scrubs so Jayden can too'.

But hey, that's just me.

 

[skinsinparadise]

I'm thinking, there might be a little space and middle ground between 'AP is incompetent, Josh Harris is a skinflint, and if we don't get a WR2 we are doomed' and 'Fans know nothing, never question our GM and Owner, Tom Brady did it with scrubs so Jayden can too'.

But hey, that's just me.

Yep. I don't really see most people's postions here, whether mine or those who agree with me or someone who disagrees with those stances full of absolutes and certainty. It's opinion. I think we are all adults and get that. And there is no harm in watching prospects, thinking about the roster as a whole and giving it a go as to opinion.

We can just shut up and say trust the process, don't dive into it yourself and wait for the season to start and let it all unfold for better or worse or just hit your point once and let it all go for months. And if some want to do that, cool. And if those same people think we are arrogant to not do the same -- I don't find it arrogance, I see it having fun with the sport, dive in give your own takes. That's why sports talk radio exists. That's why you got sports shows, sports columns, etc. And yeah some of it of course will be repetitive because teams-sports will have some of the same lingering questions and often there will be new angles that kept arising on those same questions.

It's the off season. We got 8 months to kill. Speaking for myself, I enjoy talking about it. And there are moving parts, its not static. We got the pre FA period -- what are they going to do? We got the FA period, what did they do. We got the post FA period. The predraft period. The draft. The post draft. Then camps, and reports from that.

I think most of us here, aren't normal football fans, or Commanders fan, we eat and breathe football. So we are going to have more opinions than the average fan about it. And its fun to engage and debate with others who care equally. For those who care less about it than we do, it can come off that we care too much, that's cool to each their own.

I am glad I am this into it. I have some friends over the years that lost their zest for sports. I experienced the same for baseball, I used to love it, but it doesn't move the needle for me anymore, and that makes me a little sad. But speaking for myself, I don't think I know more than Peters. I don't think I am a draft guru. I don't think my opinons are facts. And I do think there is plenty of nunace in most of these topics, sometimes I express the nuance, sometimes I don't.

But I love all the engagement here, whether I agree or disagree with the posts. The intensity is fun.

For me, if my intensity and passion for this team and for football ever started to fade — if I became more chill about it all — that would honestly be a sad day.

I still get butterflies before games. And I know the difference between being a 10 out of 10 invested versus a 6 out of 10 — it’s night and day. That emotional swing… that’s part of what makes it fun.

I love that feeling of caring that much — that intensity. It’s hard to replicate. And honestly, I wish I had more hobbies that brought out that same level of passion in me. But yeah the emotion and engagement from the people who are constantly engaged whether I agree or disagree with the points -- I love it.

 

[Boone]

We named it 'Burgundy and Gold Obsession' because 'Lukewarm about the Burgundy and Gold' didn't have the same ring to it

 

[skinsinparadise]

I've seen the cash cap suggestion floated before and if that truly is the case, then AP needs to have a 1on1 with Harris about how close we are to being a SB contender. AP needs to convince Harris that now is the time to get this done.

It's sort of where I am at on it. I think Harris has been outstanding and far from cheap. And he's spent plenty. But if they believe they are close -- and I do think they are close, IMO I'd spend that extra to take them to the top.

If I thought they were a long way off, I wouldn't care. But I do think they are give and take two players away from going on a big time run.

 

[burgold]

I guess my one hesitation is that I just don't know this is an "all in" moment. Even though we had 2024 and I think 2025 was enormously impacted by injuries, 2026 probably has a ceiling below Super Bowl. We have two new coordinators, almost an entirely rebuilt defense with players who have no chemistry with one another yet. A highly talented QB who will need to learn how to process the field from under center (maybe VR reduces the growing pains here?)

So while I want us to complete this team and that includes getting a Diggs or an Aiyuk (Why not both?), I still see this team as being a playoff team, but not a true championship threat. Even if we have all the pieces Blough and Jones will need time. Life isn't a video game and the players need time working together and the coaches need to figure out how to play chess on the field against an opponent and how to adjust their adjustments.

 

[Boone]

I could not agree more with you burgold. The addition of two new inexperienced coordinators alone is a massive change that will impact everything this team does in 2026. Daniels will always give a decent team a puncher's chance at making the playoffs, but I think we should expect it to take a few seasons for this team to reach it's potential (and that's assuming Quinn and Peters survive the next couple of years.

 

[DWinzit]

I guess my one hesitation is that I just don't know this is an "all in" moment. Even though we had 2024 and I think 2025 was enormously impacted by injuries, 2026 probably has a ceiling below Super Bowl. We have two new coordinators, almost an entirely rebuilt defense with players who have no chemistry with one another yet. A highly talented QB who will need to learn how to process the field from under center (maybe VR reduces the growing pains here?)

So while I want us to complete this team and that includes getting a Diggs or an Aiyuk (Why not both?), I still see this team as being a playoff team, but not a true championship threat. Even if we have all the pieces Blough and Jones will need time. Life isn't a video game and the players need time working together and the coaches need to figure out how to play chess on the field against an opponent and how to adjust their adjustments.

I'd say that's a fair take. Two new coordinators, new playbooks, new schemes combined with a major turnover of players. All of this and coming off a 5 win season doesn't spell champion. It should be a build up year where we need to improve and reach the playoffs. That would the team a year two trajectory to take it to the house

 

[skinsinparadise]

I guess my one hesitation is that I just don't know this is an "all in" moment. Even though we had 2024 and I think 2025 was enormously impacted by injuries, 2026 probably has a ceiling below Super Bowl. We have two new coordinators, almost an entirely rebuilt defense with players who have no chemistry with one another yet. A highly talented QB who will need to learn how to process the field from under center (maybe VR reduces the growing pains here?)

So while I want us to complete this team and that includes getting a Diggs or an Aiyuk (Why not both?), I still see this team as being a playoff team, but not a true championship threat. Even if we have all the pieces Blough and Jones will need time. Life isn't a video game and the players need time working together and the coaches need to figure out how to play chess on the field against an opponent and how to adjust their adjustments.

2024 was a newly assembled team and they made a run. The 2025 Patriots team was a major overhaul, the changed their defense around just like this team did, took a bad defense and made it good in one off season, new coordinator on defense too.

I think this team is distinctly better than the 2024 team. I agree that they had every break imaginable in 2024 and that's unlikely to be replicated. But IMO this is a distinctly stronger roster, not on offense, but defense versus 2024.

Part of at least my "angst" about adding a #2 WR is that I do think if they added someone like Diggs, the offensive talent would exceed the 2024 offensive talent. And i do think there is a major difference between a high end #2 playing Z than a #4 type.

But yeah if I thought this team couldn't make a run at this, I wouldn't give a rats ass if they added someone like Diggs. I used to mock Bruce's line about them being "close". But I think if Jayden stays healthy, they are close.

And while I agree even if they added a high end Z, they wouldn't be as talented as some teams in the NFC. But Jayden is a gamer, he's clutch, get him to the playoffs and anything is possible.