The 2026 Free Agency Thread

[burgold]

I wonder if that's true? I mean we know you can shade a defense to give a corner more support. I mean in the glory days, we had Darrell green and the other guy. No one ever really suggested Vernon Dean or Barry Wilburn were great players, but Darrell taking away "half the field," they could make sure Barry or Dean played with safety help or linebackers underneath.

 

[KDawg]

You make a lot of solid points. I'll counter by pointing out that you really can't hide a below average corner. At WR we have seen Jayden elevate below average receivers. We have seen Patrick Mahomes and Tom Brady do the same. So if that's the choice, and with so many holes they had to have some remain, I'll take the weakness at WR over a weakness at corner. And of course there are still a few receives that can make an impact available, that's not the case with corners.

You absolutely can hide a below average corner. MUCH easier than hiding a bad receiver.

You have to scheme around a below average corner - give him help, create pressure to get the ball out quickly, let the corner do what he does best consistently and make sure not to ask him to do more than he is capable of. But below average corners play all the time in the NFL. There are a lot less high end corners in football than there are high end receivers.

Scheme can account for a corner issue.

The Vikings, Daronte's old team, did just that. Third in yards allowed, 7th in scoring defense and their corners were Byron Murphy and Isaiah Rodgers with a side of Fabian Moreau and Jeff Okudah. Those starting guys aren't bad players but neither are Sainristil and Amos. And, quite frankly, Robertson is a good slot and Akhelo Witherspoon is a quality depth piece.

Counting scheme and what we have in the corner room, I am less concerned there than I am at receiver. I have more confidence in the top two guys. I like Robertson as a slot, but have concerns if he has to play outside. I do think Witherspoon can fill in outside and we can be okay. But after him - yes - very concerned. Getting a high end corner to bump everyone down a peg would have been a good move, but it wasn't in the cards for us.

Scheme can also account for a receiver issue, but it involves a strong running game and a quarterback that will use his legs... Which is something JD/Kingsbury did a lot of in 2024, which is what made us electric. Daniels led the team in rushing... Quinn wants to have Daniels do less of that - so we shouldn't expect JD5 to take on that kind of workload again... (this is why I thought Love was such a major pick up for us if we could get him.)

 

[Voice_of_Reason]

Seems pretty inconsistent.

You’re essentially more comfortable with the risk being taken at WR because our draft picks being expected to pan out and save the spot is a reasonable team-building philosophy. You want those guys to step up and take starting roles if they were good picks. Okay, if you believe in the guy making the picks, that’s one way to look at it compared to other position groups that have had less draft capital spent on them.

Except, wait, that’s not quite true. AP has spent two 2nd round picks on two talented CB’s who were considered to be good value picks where we got them. But it’s not a defensible roster-building philosophy to expect those guys to grow into their pedigree and fill those starting spots? That’s what they were drafted to do, even more so than any of the mid round WR’s we’ve drafted.

Why then is that not the case at WR for you, where the draft resources spent are overall less valuable than the picks spent to fix CB? We’re waiting for all of them to develop and so far, the CB’s have flashed more and have higher pedigree and higher reasonable expectations.

31-year old Terry McLaurin being the only thing standing between this team and starting a bunch of 3rd + 4th rounders who have yet to do anything in the league…you aren’t afraid enough of that status quo. Especially since there’s zero reason to believe that our new OC is for sure going to create any sort of schematic advantage for us in year 1.

That’s not even getting into the fact that CB production is much more streaky and less predictable than WR production, so you could luck into decent CB play even from random vets way more easily, in a macro sense.

It's not inconsistent at all.

I'm not really "comfortable" with holes at either spot, I just acknowledge they exist. If I was to prioritize one over the other, I'd say CB.

With offense, your secondary weapon doesn't have to be a WR. If what we know about the offense is true, and it's going to be a run first, play action based offense which will feature the TE and slot a lot, the and they are going to reply on the running game, McLaurin, TE and slot WR as the first options. Therefore the 5th option in the beginning of season starting offense I think is less of a priority. ** Note, this is not the type of offense I really like, but that's what they appear to be going towards.

Whereas on the CB front, I'm not sure we have 2 good starters. Sainristil was be a second round pick. And he had a promising rookie season. But he's very under sized. Is he really ready to be a full time outside CB? He has shown he's better there than inside, but is that really going to work? He had a really, at best, inconsistent year last year. Probably trended to a bad year. Amos played well, but got hurt and is coming off an injury. Do you really trust them as starters?

And you can't hide CBs the way you can hide any one position in the offensive skill position set.

Put it this way, there is a risk on offense IF McLaurin goes down.

There is a risk on defense RIGHT NOW.

And FWIW, on Standig's podcast with Keim and Bram, he asked "which position do you think they need to add to" and Keim said Cornerback before Standig even finished the question. And he said it very emphatically.

I think they could line up and play with the offensive pieces as is, and have the potential to be terrific. I don't know if that's the case on the defense. And again, I get the whole "Flores defenses didn't rely on CBs, they brought pressure, etc." I get that. However, what I know to be fact based on watching the NFL for close to 40 years: At least 4-5 times a game, pressure won't get there, and you're going to need a CB to hold up in coverage. Otherwise it's bombs away.

So if I am more worried about one than the other, it's CB over WR.

 

[DWinzit]

Can you imagine the arguments if Delane and/or Tate were still there at 7 along with Styles? They would have been never ending arguments over who should have been taken.

Currently there are at least a few options at both CB and WR. I wish AP would pull the trigger on one.

The team may have decided to wait until some of the OTA's to get a better feel for what they actually have at both positions. The same may go for the FA's who wish to wait until desperate teams come a knocking

 

[burgold]

That would have been a fun scenario. I probably would have still preferred Styles, but I'd have been happy with Delane or Tate, too. Probably in that order. Even if it is in inverse order of need.

 

[KDawg]

Can you imagine the arguments if Delane and/or Tate were still there at 7 along with Styles? They would have been never ending arguments over who should have been taken.

Currently there are at least a few options at both CB and WR. I wish AP would pull the trigger on one.

The team may have decided to wait until some of the OTA's to get a better feel for what they actually have at both positions. The same may go for the FA's who wish to wait until desperate teams come a knocking

I think, at least for me, I thought Delane might have been a better choice for us given what is on the roster than Styles. But I certainly wouldn’t have argued much against Styles. The guy can play.

I think the arguments would have been Delane vs. Tate, more than Styles vs. either.

 

[DWinzit]

I think, at least for me, I thought Delane might have been a better choice for us given what is on the roster than Styles. But I certainly wouldn’t have argued much against Styles. The guy can play.

I think the arguments would have been Delane vs. Tate, more than Styles vs. either.

It will be interesting to see how Styles plays out for the coming year. If Styles becomes a beast and starter as the year progresses it would have quieted this topic.

If Terry were injured and no WR2 was brought I, oh boy. Same thing if one of our top corners were to go down.

Thankfully, this didn't occur and there were other worthy WR or CB's at 7 in my opinion

 

[burgold]

I think, at least for me, I thought Delane might have been a better choice for us given what is on the roster than Styles. But I certainly wouldn’t have argued much against Styles. The guy can play.

I think the arguments would have been Delane vs. Tate, more than Styles vs. either.

I might choose Styles first over the others despite roster need simply because in this unconventional draft there were only two players described as being superhuman prospects. Love and Styles. Both were incredibly productive with insane measurables. They were the players you draw up in the lab. I know you had concerns with Styles tackling force and felt he was more of a work in progress in need of a rugby coach. Tate and Delane both felt a tier lower. Still, if they had chosen Tate I would have got it and been happy. He's a high end prospect who looks unlikely to ever bust and always be solid. Delane intrigued me a lot. He had both the speed and production. I kept wondering why he wasn't more highly regarded.

 

[Conn]

You make a lot of solid points. I'll counter by pointing out that you really can't hide a below average corner. At WR we have seen Jayden elevate below average receivers. We have seen Patrick Mahomes and Tom Brady do the same. So if that's the choice, and with so many holes they had to have some remain, I'll take the weakness at WR over a weakness at corner. And of course there are still a few receives that can make an impact available, that's not the case with corners.

That’s a fair opinion to have, I don’t agree but that’s fine. Keeps this place and others like it spinnin’

What I don’t agree with on a larger scale is the “if you have to choose a hole to have” mindset. We feel that way, and yet we have $40M+ in cap space. We apparently can’t tie our shoes and buckle our pants in the same offseason. They could have done more at CB if that’s considered a hole, as they tried and failed to do at WR (which they are obviously retroactively pretending they’re fine with, and it’s working on many fans).

If anything the team brass is disagreeing with you guys. Because there are no reports of us swinging and missing on impact CB signings, and we didn’t spend draft capital to improve the spot despite it being a good draft for it. With limited draft capital to spend, we spent it on a 3rd round WR and we swung big and missed big on two FA WR’s. So the FO evidently thinks WR is a bigger need than CB, no?

I’m not sure if they’re right or not, but the team (while playing it cool at WR now) clearly felt it was a big need before they whiffed. And then did the best they could with a promising 3rd round prospect. I’m not seeing that attempted urgency at CB.

 

[Voice_of_Reason]

The problem with Peters on this issue for me isn't disappointment that he misses on so many of these players, most GMs would miss too, the issue I have with it is the process. Why does Peters go to McDonalds hoping to pull off gourmet meals -- to me either its arrogance on his end that he's that special or its not a position that its a high priority for him. I suspect more the later than the former point.

And this is the point that you keep making that I keep saying I completely in every possible way disagree with.

They offered as much for Pierce as the Colts, and as much for Doubs as the Patriots. They both chose to go elsewhere. You can't force a guy to sign with you. Why they chose to go elsewhere is a more macro concern, but not the topic of this particular conversation.

Arrogance would have been not attempting to solve the position at all, and it's clearly a priority because they tried to spend BIG money on the position. To carry out your restaurant analogy, He went to L'auberge Chez Francois hoping to get a a gourmet meal, and it turned out the restaurant was full. (L'auberge Chez Francois is a Michelin star quality restaurant in Great Falls VA and is one of the absolute best meals you could ever hope to have. The Duck L'Orange is a thing dreams are made of.) L'auberge is literally in the middle of the countryside in a neighborhood and 20 minutes from the next closest restaurant. And so when he couldn't get a table, he didn't panic and try and spend the same amount at a second tier restaurant.

Then they spent the second pick they had on a WR who probably was the most ready to play.

To me, the actions this off season don't show EITHER arrogance OR lack of position value. You complain about the process. I frankly think you're dead, 100% wrong. I think the process actually showed really good thought and discipline:

1. Target the guys in FA who can actually solve the problem and go after them hard. Check
2. Do NOT settle for overpaying mid-guys who aren't going to solve the problem. Check
3. Sign a plethora of depth guys so we're not stuck with a bunch of has-beens or never gonna be's at the back end of the roster. Check
4. Draft the most "ready to play" WR as soon as you can. Tate was gone at 7. Would they have taken him? Depending on how the board played out, maybe if Styles, Love and Delane were gone. I'm glad they didn't panic pick Tyson because bringing in a guy with that injury history to a team that just had the injury season they had would have been a mistake. Not panic picking Tyson shows commitment to process and maturity also. Check.
5. Don't panic and get a guy you don't think will be a good fit after the draft. Check
6. See if you can find a high upside guy somewhere after the draft/mini-camps. In progress.

Could they have probably over paid for another WR in FA who isn't going to solve the problem? Sure. The clear option was Jennings, however I don't think they wanted Jennings at all. I have said for a while that I don't think he was high on the Commanders list because Peters knows him. Sometimes knowing a guy means you steer clear from them.

I actually have no problem at all with the process. I think it shows a very calculated, mature, methodical approach.

I don't love the results. Sometimes good process doesn't lead to good results. I would have been much happier if they had managed to land either Pierce or Doubs, though the contract Pierce got was insane. I think the Colts are going to regret that contract sooner than later, but who really knows.

For a number of people, this particular roster spot has turned into an emotional issue. I think it's because the approach in 2025 was poop on a stick and it blew up spectacularly. And there is a lot of "don't let that happen again! Wait! You're letting it happen again you big dummy!" Which I understand. I also understand "give Jayden Daniels all the toys you can get him." And I understand that frustration.

I don't really care to defend or not defend Peters. I am just looking at it objectively.

Peters is far from perfect. The biggest criticisms I have are:
- HIs 2024 draft class, apart from Daniels, has not done much of anything.
- The coaching staff mess with firing both coordinators and keeping the head coach going into year 3 is not a good look. And it's going to be a bigger mess if this season goes sideways.
- Hell, the search process for Quinn was a bit bizarre. He wasn't their first choice, nor probably the second choice.
- The trade for Lattimore completely busted. I appreciate the swing, but it was a swing and a miss. And that's on his room bill.
- Complete and total failure at the skill positions in 2025. I said signing Noah Brown was going to be a disaster and it was. That led to not being able to re-sign OZ, who came on at the end of the year. They trade Brian Robinson (no issue there), but were relying on Ekler to stay healthy, and that was a mistake waiting to happen. They did trade for Deebo, which worked out, but Deebo is great as the "get you over the hump" weapon, and we didn't have a hump.
- Allowing Quinn to keep Whitt after the first year as DC. It wasn't working. It was covered up by Daniels and the offense. Quinn might find that hard to recon with, Peters needed to force his hand.
- Though I think it's somewhat over blown, he put together a really old, slow team for 2025. Each move in the abstract made some sense, but all together, it did not.
- He let Quinn play to win the season finale against the Eagles with a 39 year old QB. He should have mandated Hairdoo MacGoo start the finale and that would have most likely gotten a much better result for us. Honestly, of all his transgressions, I'm almost most salty about this one. The rest are hard things. This was too easy to screw up and we screwed it up. And it's his fault.

What I think he's done well:
- FA in 2024 was absolutely phenomenal
- The plan to draft guys behind the FA signings in 2024 was really, really good.
- I'm glad he didn't let McLaurin walk all over them and get a contract above his value
- The trade for Tunsil came out of absolutely nowhere, nobody had any idea it was even being discussed and it was amazing value for a top 3 LT.
- 2025 draft looks promising
- 2026 FA class looks promising

So I'm far from a blind supporter of Peters. I think there's some good, some bad. I do think he's learning. I think the approach to this off-season has been much better than last year.

But I think this WR thing has taken on a life of it's own, and has gone from logic and reason to emotional torches and pitchforks. I understand why. I just don't agree.

I also think if he doesn't sign a competent backup wide receiver and Terry gets hurt, he might get fired. Quinn almost certainly will get fired. I also think they both probably know that. It's a really big gamble to place on a 31 year old WR who just had an injury riddled season. Which is why if it was me, there's no way I place that bet. Which is also why I think a move is coming eventually to help bolster the position since the first attempts didn't pan out.

 

[Voice_of_Reason]

I think, at least for me, I thought Delane might have been a better choice for us given what is on the roster than Styles. But I certainly wouldn’t have argued much against Styles. The guy can play.

I think the arguments would have been Delane vs. Tate, more than Styles vs. either.

FWIW, my order would have been Delane, Tate, Styles.

I feel like Delane is a better CB than Tate is a WR. And CB is a more valuable, harder to cover up deficiency position than LB, so I would take Delane over Styles, even though I think both are exceptional players.

I'm absolutely convinced if it was Tate vs. Styles, they would have picked Styles, and I would have picked Tate. I think picking Styles over either Tate or Delane would have bee the wrong decision. Also, some evidence I'm not alone in that both Tate and Delane went before our pick.

I really value CBs. Maybe more than most. I think it's the "island" position and while you can help a CB, either you can cover a guy or you can't. And finding a really exceptional one is worth the shot if you have it.

 

[Commander Wraith]

That’s a fair opinion to have, I don’t agree but that’s fine. Keeps this place and others like it spinnin’

What I don’t agree with on a larger scale is the “if you have to choose a hole to have” mindset. We feel that way, and yet we have $40M+ in cap space. We apparently can’t tie our shoes and buckle our pants in the same offseason. They could have done more at CB if that’s considered a hole, as they tried and failed to do at WR (which they are obviously retroactively pretending they’re fine with, and it’s working on many fans).

If anything the team brass is disagreeing with you guys. Because there are no reports of us swinging and missing on impact CB signings, and we didn’t spend draft capital to improve the spot despite it being a good draft for it. With limited draft capital to spend, we spent it on a 3rd round WR and we swung big and missed big on two FA WR’s. So the FO evidently thinks WR is a bigger need than CB, no?

I’m not sure if they’re right or not, but the team (while playing it cool at WR now) clearly felt it was a big need before they whiffed. And then did the best they could with a promising 3rd round prospect. I’m not seeing that attempted urgency at CB.

I’m not sure I agree that they’re “retoractively pretending they’re fine” with receiver. Not saying you’re wrong, I just think it could be a matter of finding the right fit and biding their time… which might include seeing how these young guys look in camp, including w/in the context of this offensive scheme.

Regarding FA corners, IIRC, we were in on Woolen? To your point though, not much beyond that. I would guess, similar to (what seems to be?) the process at receiver, it was high quality or move on to the draft/signing a FA depth piece, rather than settling for an ok FA for substantial money. I don’t want to get too far over my skis on this point though - I can’t remember how many other quality corners were available in FA, and even if I did, I wouldn’t know enough about fit for our team (schematically, financially, culturally) or for the player (would they have to beat out Amos/Sainristil? Is our potential lame duck staff an issue? And so on.)

I got the impression the draft was not great for corners after the 2nd? I may just be parroting Jeremy Green though; it may not have been the consensus. Although it sort of hints at it, I don’t think drafting Williams over a corner inherently means wr trumped corner for them.

Agree that they (seemingly) had wr as a bigger need. I’m not sure we know that to still be the case though after landing Williams (but it could be). Camp could also change their mind (in either direction).


One thing it seems everyone agrees on - if Terry goes down, we’re in trouble.

 

[skinsinparadise]

And this is the point that you keep making that I keep saying I completely in every possible way disagree with.

They offered as much for Pierce as the Colts, and as much for Doubs as the Patriots. They both chose to go elsewhere. You can't force a guy to sign with you. Why they chose to go elsewhere is a more macro concern, but not the topic of this particular conversation.

Arrogance would have been not attempting to solve the position at all, and it's clearly a priority because they tried to spend BIG money on the position. To carry out your restaurant analogy, He went to L'auberge Chez Francois hoping to get a a gourmet meal, and it turned out the restaurant was full. (L'auberge Chez Francois is a Michelin star quality restaurant in Great Falls VA and is one of the absolute best meals you could ever hope to have. The Duck L'Orange is a thing dreams are made of.) L'auberge is literally in the middle of the countryside in a neighborhood and 20 minutes from the next closest restaurant. And so when he couldn't get a table, he didn't panic and try and spend the same amount at a second tier restaurant.

Then they spent the second pick they had on a WR who probably was the most ready to play.

To me, the actions this off season don't show EITHER arrogance OR lack of position value. You complain about the process. I frankly think you're dead, 100% wrong. I think the process actually showed really good thought and discipline:

1. Target the guys in FA who can actually solve the problem and go after them hard. Check
2. Do NOT settle for overpaying mid-guys who aren't going to solve the problem. Check
3. Sign a plethora of depth guys so we're not stuck with a bunch of has-beens or never gonna be's at the back end of the roster. Check
4. Draft the most "ready to play" WR as soon as you can. Tate was gone at 7. Would they have taken him? Depending on how the board played out, maybe if Styles, Love and Delane were gone. I'm glad they didn't panic pick Tyson because bringing in a guy with that injury history to a team that just had the injury season they had would have been a mistake. Not panic picking Tyson shows commitment to process and maturity also. Check.
5. Don't panic and get a guy you don't think will be a good fit after the draft. Check
6. See if you can find a high upside guy somewhere after the draft/mini-camps. In progress.

Could they have probably over paid for another WR in FA who isn't going to solve the problem? Sure. The clear option was Jennings, however I don't think they wanted Jennings at all. I have said for a while that I don't think he was high on the Commanders list because Peters knows him. Sometimes knowing a guy means you steer clear from them.

I actually have no problem at all with the process. I think it shows a very calculated, mature, methodical approach.

I don't love the results. Sometimes good process doesn't lead to good results. I would have been much happier if they had managed to land either Pierce or Doubs, though the contract Pierce got was insane. I think the Colts are going to regret that contract sooner than later, but who really knows.

For a number of people, this particular roster spot has turned into an emotional issue. I think it's because the approach in 2025 was poop on a stick and it blew up spectacularly. And there is a lot of "don't let that happen again! Wait! You're letting it happen again you big dummy!" Which I understand. I also understand "give Jayden Daniels all the toys you can get him." And I understand that frustration.

I don't really care to defend or not defend Peters. I am just looking at it objectively.

Peters is far from perfect. The biggest criticisms I have are:
- HIs 2024 draft class, apart from Daniels, has not done much of anything.
- The coaching staff mess with firing both coordinators and keeping the head coach going into year 3 is not a good look. And it's going to be a bigger mess if this season goes sideways.
- Hell, the search process for Quinn was a bit bizarre. He wasn't their first choice, nor probably the second choice.
- The trade for Lattimore completely busted. I appreciate the swing, but it was a swing and a miss. And that's on his room bill.
- Complete and total failure at the skill positions in 2025. I said signing Noah Brown was going to be a disaster and it was. That led to not being able to re-sign OZ, who came on at the end of the year. They trade Brian Robinson (no issue there), but were relying on Ekler to stay healthy, and that was a mistake waiting to happen. They did trade for Deebo, which worked out, but Deebo is great as the "get you over the hump" weapon, and we didn't have a hump.
- Allowing Quinn to keep Whitt after the first year as DC. It wasn't working. It was covered up by Daniels and the offense. Quinn might find that hard to recon with, Peters needed to force his hand.
- Though I think it's somewhat over blown, he put together a really old, slow team for 2025. Each move in the abstract made some sense, but all together, it did not.
- He let Quinn play to win the season finale against the Eagles with a 39 year old QB. He should have mandated Hairdoo MacGoo start the finale and that would have most likely gotten a much better result for us. Honestly, of all his transgressions, I'm almost most salty about this one. The rest are hard things. This was too easy to screw up and we screwed it up. And it's his fault.

What I think he's done well:
- FA in 2024 was absolutely phenomenal
- The plan to draft guys behind the FA signings in 2024 was really, really good.
- I'm glad he didn't let McLaurin walk all over them and get a contract above his value
- The trade for Tunsil came out of absolutely nowhere, nobody had any idea it was even being discussed and it was amazing value for a top 3 LT.
- 2025 draft looks promising
- 2026 FA class looks promising

So I'm far from a blind supporter of Peters. I think there's some good, some bad. I do think he's learning. I think the approach to this off-season has been much better than last year.

But I think this WR thing has taken on a life of it's own, and has gone from logic and reason to emotional torches and pitchforks. I understand why. I just don't agree.

I also think if he doesn't sign a competent backup wide receiver and Terry gets hurt, he might get fired. Quinn almost certainly will get fired. I also think they both probably know that. It's a really big gamble to place on a 31 year old WR who just had an injury riddled season. Which is why if it was me, there's no way I place that bet. Which is also why I think a move is coming eventually to help bolster the position since the first attempts didn't pan out.

You've in fun hit me for writing long posts and that you can do the same. Wow. lol, that one a really long one. I am not a full blast Peters guy either. He's done some good, some bad, more good IMO. But the WR is a recurring problem. And it surprises me that a minority but vocal minority among the fan base and local media keeps defending it.

I can defend almost anything if it’s one offseason. Everybody misses. But when the same issue keeps happening three straight years, it’s no longer random variance — it’s a pattern.

If my kids failed the same class three years in a row, I’m not giving out brownie points because they studied a little harder before the third F. Effort matters, sure, but eventually results are what count. At some point you either solve the problem or you don’t.

And, I think Peters is now dealing with the fallout from his own decisions in 2025. Back then, Jayden was the golden child around the league. He was the exciting young QB everybody wanted to attach themselves to. But after forcing him to operate with one of the weakest supporting casts among young QBs, the perception shifted. Now Drake Maye is the trendy guy. Caleb still gets treated like a blue-chip star. Meanwhile Jayden suddenly gets discussed as “concerning” or “a question mark.” And hence you got narratives like Doubs could have said yes to Washington or NE but he wanted to play with Maye.

Maye looked cleaner because his supporting cast helped him look cleaner. Jayden spent the year holding the ball, waiting for receivers who couldn’t separate, taking off and running because nobody was open, and getting pressured into playing hero ball every week and ultimately getting hurt
That affects everything — timing, rhythm, confidence, efficiency, turnovers, sack rate, durability, all of it. Put almost any young QB in that environment and they’re going to look worse. Put Jayden in the ecosystem Caleb or Maye had and I think the national narrative around him looks completely different right now.

So when analysts like Mina Kimes hype Maye and Caleb while suddenly treating Jayden like some open-ended debate, I think that says more about the situations they were put in than the quarterbacks themselves.

It's absolutely an emotional issue for some, including myself. For three main reasons. And I've elaborated a million times on it so I won't repeat the explanations for these.

1. Jayden is a young QB. I love the dude. But to treat him in his young career like he's already Mahomes or Brady, arguably the two best QBs in the history of the game is very presumptous. And heck Mahomes still has a better supporting cast than Jayden.

2. What's the goal? SB? Or is that the playground we don't intend to play in? I can't see you thinking a SB is within reach now, if you are comfortable with name that jag at Z.

3. I think it endangers both Jayden's health, his perception about the organization that drafted him and trajectory to put the offense on his back in ways other teams who took Qbs that same draft year don't do with their young QBs.

 

[Chris]

Some of you guys need to start a Substack. 🤣

 

[skinsinparadise]

Maybe for my substack debut I'd start with this:

I listened to that Sheehan segment on the radio — the same one that article was based on about don't squander Jayden's rookie window.

I listen to Sheehan quite a lot, and his overall take mirrors mine pretty closely. He thinks this is a good team. He doesn’t buy into the national-media narrative that Washington is going to stink. He thinks they should make the playoffs. His point is simply that they aren’t quite a Super Bowl-caliber roster yet, but they’re close enough that a few more aggressive moves could push them there.

What’s funny is I’ve noticed that take seems to irritate some people. And it’s strange to me because he or people like myself are not coming from a negative place at all. I actually like a lot of what this front office has done. But somehow saying “this is good, now go finish the job” gets twisted into being anti-homer or being a hater.

My guess is that it spoils the offseason high for some fans. It’s more comforting to believe Santa brought every present on Christmas morning and nobody got left behind, rather than saying, “Hey, this is 80% there, now go get the last 20%.”

And look, I get it. That mindset does make the offseason feel like Cloud 9. It’s fun.

But like Sheehan, I think I’ve gotten crankier as I’ve gotten older because now all I care about is winning a Super Bowl. When I was younger, I could convince myself a B-level offseason was really an A+ and feel great about it.

Now? I want a roster that can line up with the Eagles, Rams, Lions, or whoever else and realistically be viewed as their equal — not a fun upstart team that has to get hot at the right time to make a run. They were close in 2024. That’s what makes this frustrating. It feels like they’re within striking distance of becoming one of those true top-tier NFC rosters, yet they keep stopping just short of fully going for it.

I remember having an email exchange years ago with Larry Michael when he still worked for the team, and he explained Bruce Allen’s philosophy: build a competitive team, get into the dance, and maybe one year you get hot and make a run.

It feels like we’re still on that kind of ride right now. And I would’ve completely understood that mindset during most of the Snyder era. When you don’t have a franchise QB, when the organization is dysfunctional year after year, just becoming respectable again feels like a massive victory. In those years, simply being competitive was enough to get excited about.

But this is different now. They finally have what teams spend decades searching for — a young franchise quarterback. That changes the standard. To me, this isn’t the time to think small or be satisfied with “pretty good.” This is the moment to think bigger and aim to go toe-to-toe with the elite teams in the league.

And I can flip the whole “homer” thing on its head. If anything, the people pushing hardest for the team to maximize this window are the bigger homers. Because we believe they’re capable of more. We’re not content with just being respectable again or sneaking into the playoffs. We want them operating like a true powerhouse that expects to compete for Super Bowls every year.

 

[burgold]

It's an interesting flip on the narrative. For what it's worth, I don't think Aiyuk or Diggs perfects the roster and makes us Super Bowl ready. I still want another receiver. I feel like they would be an answer, but not the answer. Right now, I think wide receiver has questions. Maybe it works, maybe we make due, but it's hard to imagine us excelling with what we get. Now like I said, neither Diggs or Aiyuk make the receiving room excellent, but I do think it makes other defenses take our wide receiver room seriously.

In the best of worlds, defenses will have no choice to take us serious. If Bill is breaking long runs. If White fills that receiving threat. If Chig takes Ertz production numbers but makes them dangerous, if Williams ain't actually a rookie, and if McLaurin punches Father Time in the face then we will be a serious offense even without a second pedigreed receiving threat. But any sentence requiring five "ifs" is not one to feel confident about.... so let's sign a vet receiver.

(Also, how can it be that I'm the pithy and concise poster of the day. That's crazy)

 

[Voice_of_Reason]

You've in fun hit me for writing long posts and that you can do the same. Wow. lol, that one a really long one.

I actually thought about that as I was writing the post and thought about breaking it up. I almost added something like "man, SIP will enjoy the length of this post."

However, the only reason I feel justified in jokingly giving you a hard time about long posts is the irony that I write really long posts too. Takes one to know one.

I have a general reputation of being long winded. So when I poke fun at you, it's partially poking fun at myself.

 

[Voice_of_Reason]

You've in fun hit me for writing long posts and that you can do the same. Wow. lol, that one a really long one. I am not a full blast Peters guy either. He's done some good, some bad, more good IMO. But the WR is a recurring problem. And it surprises me that a minority but vocal minority among the fan base and local media keeps defending it.

I can defend almost anything if it’s one offseason. Everybody misses. But when the same issue keeps happening three straight years, it’s no longer random variance — it’s a pattern.

If my kids failed the same class three years in a row, I’m not giving out brownie points because they studied a little harder before the third F. Effort matters, sure, but eventually results are what count. At some point you either solve the problem or you don’t.

And, I think Peters is now dealing with the fallout from his own decisions in 2025. Back then, Jayden was the golden child around the league. He was the exciting young QB everybody wanted to attach themselves to. But after forcing him to operate with one of the weakest supporting casts among young QBs, the perception shifted. Now Drake Maye is the trendy guy. Caleb still gets treated like a blue-chip star. Meanwhile Jayden suddenly gets discussed as “concerning” or “a question mark.” And hence you got narratives like Doubs could have said yes to Washington or NE but he wanted to play with Maye.

Maye looked cleaner because his supporting cast helped him look cleaner. Jayden spent the year holding the ball, waiting for receivers who couldn’t separate, taking off and running because nobody was open, and getting pressured into playing hero ball every week and ultimately getting hurt
That affects everything — timing, rhythm, confidence, efficiency, turnovers, sack rate, durability, all of it. Put almost any young QB in that environment and they’re going to look worse. Put Jayden in the ecosystem Caleb or Maye had and I think the national narrative around him looks completely different right now.

So when analysts like Mina Kimes hype Maye and Caleb while suddenly treating Jayden like some open-ended debate, I think that says more about the situations they were put in than the quarterbacks themselves.

It's absolutely an emotional issue for some, including myself. For three main reasons. And I've elaborated a million times on it so I won't repeat the explanations for these.

1. Jayden is a young QB. I love the dude. But to treat him in his young career like he's already Mahomes or Brady, arguably the two best QBs in the history of the game is very presumptous. And heck Mahomes still has a better supporting cast than Jayden.

2. What's the goal? SB? Or is that the playground we don't intend to play in? I can't see you thinking a SB is within reach now, if you are comfortable with name that jag at Z.

3. I think it endangers both Jayden's health, his perception about the organization that drafted him and trajectory to put the offense on his back in ways other teams who took Qbs that same draft year don't do with their young QBs.

I think all of this is fair. But my point was that you consistently say it's arrogance or devaluing the position. I think the first is absolutely not true and there's absolutely no evidence to that effect anywhere.

The second might have been true in the past. But I don't think it's true now.

And I get the "failed 3 times, it's time for results" thing. However, flip side, you can't keep punishing the kid for the same mistake. And it's not entirely apples to apples, because this season Peters really has tried, but unlike taking a course or studying for an exam, there are outside influences which effect your success. A mistake was made. Fine. I think almost everybody would agree with that.

However, you also can't just wave a magic wand and fix it. I don't know exactly what more they could have done which wouldn't have resulted in overspending for players who wouldn't solved the actual problem.

You also criticized process. And this year, I think the process has been very good. I outlined what seems to have been the plan.

So where we're back to is punishing the child for a mistake from last year even though they're trying to change. And that's where I do think effort is important.

And to the point Maye looked better because he had better weapons last year, I mean, ok. But they have spent the entire off-season trying to throw all of the weapons they had last year out the door.

To your 3 points:

1. Last year they made a really big mistake with the WR corps, but something which has been discussed as well, the timing of the entire offense was also off because of Terry's holdout. It really was a "whatever could go wrong did go wrong" situation. The big mistake was re-signing Noah Brown. They should have looked to upgrade. Who? I'm not sure. At that point, Diggs was coming off of an ACL. There were a few other guys, but the WR market wasn't great. I've said this forever, signing Noah Brown meant OZ was leaving. They had to pick one. Then they were left with the dregs after that.

2. I actually don't think having a rotation at Z means anything in terms of whether the team is SB worthy or not. The Patriots, who as we recall were in the SB last year, receivers last year who had meaningful yards were Diggs (1,013), Boutte (551), Hollins (550) and DeMario Douglas (447). None of those guys are really all that. You could say all of them are JAGs apart from Diggs at this point, and he's not what he used to be. And they got lucky with Diggs coming off of an ACL.

The Seahawks, who we will recall won the SB, are even more stark: They got a ridiculous season from Smith-Njiba (1,793). Then they had Kupp (593), and Shaheed (188). So they didn't really have a second outside receiver who contributed a lot either.

As long as there is production from WR1, running game, TE, slot, there are a lot of different ways to do offense. We just saw the 2 SB teams who had basically 1 WR, and a lot of other guys.
Based on those comps, you need ~600 yards from your other outside receiver if you have a good #1 and you can make the SB. That's 35 yards a game. Do I think our rotation could probably do that? I really do.

3. I blame Daniels' injury last year on Terry. And partially on Peters being stupid and signing Noah Brown. Terry because he was being a stupid horses ass missed the entire training camp. So did Noah Brown. Those were WR options 1 and 3. Deebo out of the slot was #2. The offense had absolutely no practice time together, and at the beginning of the season, Daniels was holding the ball more than he did in his rookie year because of lack of trust. That should never have happened. And it won't happen this year absent an injury. And FWIW this is an emotional issue for me. While I like Terry, I will not forgive him that misstep. Ever.

Also, to be clear, I'm not absolving or defending the results. But I think the idea that they could have done much more than they have done this year is not exactly true. So, I'd like to know what else they could have done that would have made you happy. 2025 is sunk cost. Can't change it. What could they have done differently this year? They went after the two top targets. They failed. They drafted a guy with their second pick. They signed depth. What more was there to do that they didn't try or could have done?

 

[skinsinparadise]

I think all of this is fair. But my point was that you consistently say it's arrogance or devaluing the position. I think the first is absolutely not true and there's absolutely no evidence to that effect anywhere.

The second might have been true in the past. But I don't think it's true now.

And I get the "failed 3 times, it's time for results" thing. However, flip side, you can't keep punishing the kid for the same mistake. And it's not entirely apples to apples, because this season Peters really has tried, but unlike taking a course or studying for an exam, there are outside influences which effect your success. A mistake was made. Fine. I think almost everybody would agree with that.

However, you also can't just wave a magic wand and fix it. I don't know exactly what more they could have done which wouldn't have resulted in overspending for players who wouldn't solved the actual problem.

You also criticized process. And this year, I think the process has been very good. I outlined what seems to have been the plan.

So where we're back to is punishing the child for a mistake from last year even though they're trying to change. And that's where I do think effort is important.

And to the point Maye looked better because he had better weapons last year, I mean, ok. But they have spent the entire off-season trying to throw all of the weapons they had last year out the door.

To your 3 points:

1. Last year they made a really big mistake with the WR corps, but something which has been discussed as well, the timing of the entire offense was also off because of Terry's holdout. It really was a "whatever could go wrong did go wrong" situation. The big mistake was re-signing Noah Brown. They should have looked to upgrade. Who? I'm not sure. At that point, Diggs was coming off of an ACL. There were a few other guys, but the WR market wasn't great. I've said this forever, signing Noah Brown meant OZ was leaving. They had to pick one. Then they were left with the dregs after that.

2. I actually don't think having a rotation at Z means anything in terms of whether the team is SB worthy or not. The Patriots, who as we recall were in the SB last year, receivers last year who had meaningful yards were Diggs (1,013), Boutte (551), Hollins (550) and DeMario Douglas (447). None of those guys are really all that. You could say all of them are JAGs apart from Diggs at this point, and he's not what he used to be. And they got lucky with Diggs coming off of an ACL.

The Seahawks, who we will recall won the SB, are even more stark: They got a ridiculous season from Smith-Njiba (1,793). Then they had Kupp (593), and Shaheed (188). So they didn't really have a second outside receiver who contributed a lot either.

As long as there is production from WR1, running game, TE, slot, there are a lot of different ways to do offense. We just saw the 2 SB teams who had basically 1 WR, and a lot of other guys.
Based on those comps, you need ~600 yards from your other outside receiver if you have a good #1 and you can make the SB. That's 35 yards a game. Do I think our rotation could probably do that? I really do.

3. I blame Daniels' injury last year on Terry. And partially on Peters being stupid and signing Noah Brown. Terry because he was being a stupid horses ass missed the entire training camp. So did Noah Brown. Those were WR options 1 and 3. Deebo out of the slot was #2. The offense had absolutely no practice time together, and at the beginning of the season, Daniels was holding the ball more than he did in his rookie year because of lack of trust. That should never have happened. And it won't happen this year absent an injury. And FWIW this is an emotional issue for me. While I like Terry, I will not forgive him that misstep. Ever.

Also, to be clear, I'm not absolving or defending the results. But I think the idea that they could have done much more than they have done this year is not exactly true. So, I'd like to know what else they could have done that would have made you happy. 2025 is sunk cost. Can't change it. What could they have done differently this year? They went after the two top targets. They failed. They drafted a guy with their second pick. They signed depth. What more was there to do that they didn't try or could have done?

We’ve already gone back and forth on this thread about the receivers they could have pursued, and I’m too exhausted to relitigate the entire list again.

But the bigger point remains: every one of those “JAGs” you mentioned on New England would walk in and immediately compete to be the #2 WR here — and probably win the job. And that’s before even getting into the reports that the Patriots may make a serious post-June push for A.J. Brown. If that happens, the gap between the two supporting casts becomes even wider.

And Washington is operating on the same quarterback timeline as New England. The only reason it feels different is because Washington is catching up from behind post 2025, so it feels like NE got a head start but they didn't. And both teams are trying to maximize a rookie-QB window right now.

I think we just fundamentally disagree on positional value. When you say the Z receiver spot isn’t really a factor in whether a team is Super Bowl-worthy — or that 2nd WR is the place you’d choose to tolerate weakness if you had to pick one — it tells me you simply don’t view receiver as a premium position in today’s NFL.

I do. Strongly.

In a league built around explosive passing games, spacing, separation, and making life easier on a young QB, I think high-end receiving talent matters enormously. And its not about just having one WR. Especially when your franchise quarterback is still on a rookie contract and every advantage should be leveraged aggressively.

 

[Darrell Green Fan]

I’m not sure I agree that they’re “retoractively pretending they’re fine” with receiver. Not saying you’re wrong, I just think it could be a matter of finding the right fit and biding their time… which might include seeing how these young guys look in camp, including w/in the context of this offensive scheme.

Regarding FA corners, IIRC, we were in on Woolen? To your point though, not much beyond that. I would guess, similar to (what seems to be?) the process at receiver, it was high quality or move on to the draft/signing a FA depth piece, rather than settling for an ok FA for substantial money. I don’t want to get too far over my skis on this point though - I can’t remember how many other quality corners were available in FA, and even if I did, I wouldn’t know enough about fit for our team (schematically, financially, culturally) or for the player (would they have to beat out Amos/Sainristil? Is our potential lame duck staff an issue? And so on.)

I got the impression the draft was not great for corners after the 2nd? I may just be parroting Jeremy Green though; it may not have been the consensus. Although it sort of hints at it, I don’t think drafting Williams over a corner inherently means wr trumped corner for them.

Agree that they (seemingly) had wr as a bigger need. I’m not sure we know that to still be the case though after landing Williams (but it could be). Camp could also change their mind (in either direction).


One thing it seems everyone agrees on - if Terry goes down, we’re in trouble.

What if Amos goes down? He is a 2nd year player who missed time last season and he is considered our only legit corner. I'm not sure I buy the theory that Jones does not require good corners. Sure it worked with the Vikes, but they had far better front 7 people than this team has, there is no guarantee he can dial up the same pressure here.

I still go back to how a great QB can make average receivers productive. We saw it in 2024, we saw it with Mahomes, Brady and Manning for years. Austin Collie was a viable fantasy football starter, that would not have been the case had he played in Cleveland but Manning made him a valuable receiver. Sure you can slide coverage to help poor corners, but that compromises the defense and leaves holes elsewhere.