The 2026 Free Agency Thread

[burgold]

SInce it's basically the same conversation

Yeah I don't think any FO is doing nothing, they are always poking around and exploring. But its clear that this regime had some confidence that they can ride with the status quo at center -- but they'd have to have their head in the sand if they didn't realize their confidence is proven to be unfounded. It happens.

Like I said in a previous post, the we got the solutions in house to a stubborn extent reminds me some of the Rivera era. But i do think Peters is learning.

I think what's going on is almost exactly what was going on with the wide receiver group pre-Diggs.

Peters is a quiet guy. I'm sure he's looking at his options and trying to make a move. Quite a few of his moves came without fanfare or without us seeing them coming.

 

[skinsinparadise]

SInce it's basically the same conversation

I think what's going on is almost exactly what was going on with the wide receiver group pre-Diggs.

Peters is a quiet guy. I'm sure he's looking at his options and trying to make a move. Quite a few of his moves came without fanfare or without us seeing them coming.

Unless I'm missing a post somewhere, I don't think anyone's arguing Peters plans to do nothing. Obviously something's going to happen.

But clearly, they didn't think that spot would be a problem heading into camp — and they were wrong.

I don't think they planned for months that they will make their move at center 2 weeks before game 1. So this is them reacting to arguably a miscalculation about that spot earlier on.

Peters secret intentions can come out in advance. Keim had them interested in Aiyuk and then pivoting to Diggs so it wasn't out of the blue. I thought they'd sign Diggs before it happened. Right now, likewise Keim thinks they will add a center. But I don't get the vibe that this was their masterplan from the start -- it just hasn't worked out the way they wanted it to. Stuff happens.

 

[DWinzit]

A majority of this board recognized two weeks after the FA period began, and again after the draft that this roster needed juice at WR, C and in the defensive backfield. Those needs were recognized and spelled out regardless of Amos, Tunsil or Allegretti's injuries.

For whatever reason, those weaknesses did not appear to be a priority other than the signing of Douglas. In fairness, it is possible the Diggs signing could have been a wink and handshake long before it became official but the C was completely ignored and the DB needed more juice than just Douglas

 

[burgold]

Unless I'm missing a post somewhere, I don't think anyone's arguing Peters plans to do nothing. Obviously something's going to happen.

But clearly, they didn't think that spot would be a problem heading into camp — and they were wrong.

I don't think they planned for months that they will make their move at center 2 weeks before game 1. So this is them reacting to arguably a miscalculation about that spot earlier on.

Peters secret intentions can come out in advance. Keim had them interested in Aiyuk and then pivoting to Diggs so it wasn't out of the blue. I thought they'd sign Diggs before it happened. Right now, likewise Keim thinks they will add a center. But I don't get the vibe that this was their masterplan from the start -- it just hasn't worked out the way they wanted it to. Stuff happens.

You know better than that.

Of course, he thought center could be a problem heading into count. Otherwise, they wouldn't have offered Linderbaum 20m a year. Again, they tried. They whiffed on the guys they liked and didn't rush out to sign anyone they didn't like. Almost exactly like the wide receiver situation.

And no, I remember the Diggs situation. Up until the morning he signed people were griping about how inconceivable it was that Peters was content with the WR and completely ignoring Diggs when he was right there for the taking. So, the "advance notice" we got from the insiders including Kiem didn't exist or was pretty minimal. Maybe Kiem said there was some interest, but there was no "This is imminent. They're just hashing out numbers but it's going to happen folks."

 

[Always Commander Never Captain]

Apparently Gulbin was awful yesterday in the scrimmage -- both as to his snaps and blocking. So I gather they will try to get him on the practice sqaud.

I think they need to sign both a backup guard and center.

By really everyone watching camp, the two best O lineman are Cosmi and Coleman. Paul supposedly has struggled. Whomever who has played center has struggled. And Conerly has been up and down but overall nothing hot from those watching camp.

It would be one thing if that same O line looked great in joint practices or in the preseason but they haven't -- so I am taking the criticism of the line play in camp very seriously.

Gulbin was supposedly poor at Guard vs the Lions but solid at Center in the pre-season game. Hence their switch to him as Center full time. I think I want to wait for the last pre-season game to fully judge Gulbin's ability to be on the roster.

It hurts to use up the precious 2027 draft capital, but those picks are coming at a premium and could net some good returns. If we can pry the backup Center from Seattle (Olusegun Oluwatimi), that would be huge.

 

[HOF44]

Thing is I expect misses on draft picks. But these guys were in house, on your roster but your evaluation of them was horrible. That’s scary.

 

[skinsinparadise]

You know better than that.

Of course, he thought center could be a problem heading into count. Otherwise, they wouldn't have offered Linderbaum 20m a year. Again, they tried. They whiffed on the guys they liked and didn't rush out to sign anyone they didn't like. Almost exactly like the wide receiver situation.

And no, I remember the Diggs situation. Up until the morning he signed people were griping about how inconceivable it was that Peters was content with the WR and completely ignoring Diggs when he was right there for the taking. So, the "advance notice" we got from the insiders including Kiem didn't exist or was pretty minimal. Maybe Kiem said there was some interest, but there was no "This is imminent. They're just hashing out numbers but it's going to happen folks."

Keim mentioned their interest in Diggs multiple times — he flat-out said Diggs was the only WR they were interested in on the market.

So saying we had no warning about the Diggs signing isn't accurate. There was a ton of talk about Aiyuk being the target, and after that fell apart, it shifted to Diggs. I posted that Keim thought it would likely happen. If you don't recall that, cool — but it happened.

That said, you never know for sure until it's official. I said multiple times that if they ultimately signed Diggs — and closer to the signing, I thought they would — I'd lay out praise for Peters on it. And I did. Someone mentioned after the signing that some fans were still discontented — I weighed in that I'm not one of them.

 

[burgold]

Thing is I expect misses on draft picks. But these guys were in house, on your roster but your evaluation of them was horrible. That’s scary.

I'll agree with this one. Imagine if Allegretti didn't get hurt in the preseason but in Game 2 and they trot out Good-Jones as our center.

In many respects, the fault in cutting Biadasz wasn't about Allegretti, but what happened down the line. Our third string center option who then became our primary backup looks like he's been stealing NFL game checks and just doesn't belong on a roster.

 

[DWinzit]

I'll agree with this one. Imagine if Allegretti didn't get hurt in the preseason but in Game 2 and they trot out Good-Jones as our center.

In many respects, the fault in cutting Biadasz wasn't about Allegretti, but what happened down the line. Our third string center option who then became our primary backup looks like he's been stealing NFL game checks and just doesn't belong on a roster.

Good-Jones just doesn't have a resume that should have made anyone think he could be a legit C2.

They also knew when waiting until the 6th round to select a C meat they would be hard pressed to be C2

A move should have been made then since they had already decided to not address the roster hole prior to the draft. In fairness, there were a number C prospects that could have been C2 if the draft had played out differently. None would have ever reached the 6th round however.

 

[burgold]

Yeah, like I said earlier, this situation reminds me almost identically to the wide receiver position.

They came out in free agency swinging but missed.
Not having landed their top choices they looked at what's out there and decided to wait and see what their pups and castoffs looked like.
When the castoffs looked not ready for prime time they got more serious about getting a wide receiver.
Aiyuk was their safety net.
Aiyuk went (choose your adjective)
Diggs cleared the legal jeopardy problems. They decided he was worth a one year contract.

At center:
They came out in free agency swinging but missed.
Not having landed their top choices they looked at what's out there and decided to wait and see what their pups and castoffs looked like.
When the castoffs looked not ready for prime time they signed a couple of off the street guys
None of the off the street guys hit.
Now, Peters is on the hunt for the center-version of Diggs. My guess is that he either doesn't like Glasgow or just doesn't see anyone out there good enough so he's waiting to pounce.

I hope I'm right. I was worried about Allegretti being good enough even before the injuries.

 

[DWinzit]

Yeah, like I said earlier, this situation reminds me almost identically to the wide receiver position.

They came out in free agency swinging but missed.
Not having landed their top choices they looked at what's out there and decided to wait and see what their pups and castoffs looked like.
When the castoffs looked not ready for prime time they got more serious about getting a wide receiver.
Aiyuk was their safety net.
Aiyuk went (choose your adjective)
Diggs cleared the legal jeopardy problems. They decided he was worth a one year contract.

At center:
They came out in free agency swinging but missed.
Not having landed their top choices they looked at what's out there and decided to wait and see what their pups and castoffs looked like.
When the castoffs looked not ready for prime time they signed a couple of off the street guys
None of the off the street guys hit.
Now, Peters is on the hunt for the center-version of Diggs. My guess is that he either doesn't like Glasgow or just doesn't see anyone out there good enough so he's waiting to pounce.

I hope I'm right. I was worried about Allegretti being good enough even before the injuries.

I think the problem in seeking a legit vet C is it would probably take a low end trade and that may scare AP off. It could be trading away one of our late round picks, one of our rostered players or a combo.

They really need to scour the depth charts and place an offer to another team on a worthy player. There are a few out there, just a question of if the team is willing to part with their player.

They can't afford to wait until cutdowns and hope someone is available. If that's the plan, they will then probably be competing with a number of other teams who are also in need of C/IOL depth.

Or pray Allegretti can come back to health quickly, stay healthy all year, and do a good job as the starting Center (all this is too big of an ask).

 

[Conn]

Yes, reading more, it was an experiment which truly is ok for preseason.

Well, I wouldn’t go that far. Our self-scouting needs to be a little more confident a lot earlier than that imo. Because being in the situation of having to run that experiment basically ruined any chance our offense had at getting real, valuable, productive work in against a good defense and we basically learned nothing except that the “experiment” was a bad idea and a failure. So our QB (and the starting O) who has zero game completions two entire preseasons in a row now, didn’t really get to run the offense productively in a live environment against real opponents. Wasting that type of work and those reps feels bad. But hey, we learned the interior OL situation is as bad as we feared!

Now, maybe Daniels spends the entire season harried and on the run and unable to execute simple concepts. In which case I guess this was good practice for what he’s got coming. But I don’t think anyone wants that outcome.

 

[SkinsLife]

The problem as a whole is that this Oline was not good before the Tunsil injury. Even with Tunsil, it would likely struggle.
It also take time for Oline to jell.. they havent even practiced together.
Line had highest paid LT, top 5 paid RG, and a mid-first pick - and even with tunsil they were bottom 3rd of the league.
in a weird way.. i actually feel ok about the LT spot with Coleman (might be wishful thinking) but very worried about pretty much every other player on Oline (even Cosmi wasnt that good last year)

Brandon Coleman. - Adequate replacement LT
Chris Paul - below avg that noone wanted - seems like we are the only team that see him as a starter
Nick Allegretti Q - ??? cant make it out of training camp healthy
Sam Cosmi - top 5 paid guard - very good
Josh Conerly Jr. - underwhelming so far

 

[DWinzit]

The problem as a whole is that this Oline was not good before the Tunsil injury. Even with Tunsil, it would likely struggle.
It also take time for Oline to jell.. they havent even practiced together.
Line had highest paid LT, top 5 paid RG, and a mid-first pick - and even with tunsil they were bottom 3rd of the league.
in a weird way.. i actually feel ok about the LT spot with Coleman (might be wishful thinking) but very worried about pretty much every other player on Oline (even Cosmi wasnt that good last year)

Brandon Coleman. - Adequate replacement LT

Chris Paul - below avg that noone wanted - seems like we are the only team that see him as a starter

Nick Allegretti Q - ??? cant make it out of training camp healthy

Sam Cosmi - top 5 paid guard - very good

Josh Conerly Jr. - underwhelming so far

I think they had a chance to be just fine before Tunsil went down.
By all accounts Coleman was coming into his own at LG.
If Allegretti has stayed healthy he may have been fine starting at C. He has been with the OC and made the line calls in the past from the G and limited C spots.
The two week spots were in depth

• If Tunsil or Conerly went down, they'd need to kick Coleman outside. They thought Wylie and Paul could hold their own but so far that hasn't proven true. It could though if Allegretti or a legit vet takes over at C.
• If Allegretti goes down.....a bum or a 6th round rookie with limited experience.

 

[skinsinparadise]

I think the problem in seeking a legit vet C is it would probably take a low end trade and that may scare AP off. It could be trading away one of our late round picks, one of our rostered players or a combo.

They really need to scour the depth charts and place an offer to another team on a worthy player. There are a few out there, just a question of if the team is willing to part with their player.

They can't afford to wait until cutdowns and hope someone is available. If that's the plan, they will then probably be competing with a number of other teams who are also in need of C/IOL depth.

Or pray Allegretti can come back to health quickly, stay healthy all year, and do a good job as the starting Center (all this is too big of an ask).

Going with Keim's take, as I mentioned before — they targeted Linderbaum, as we know. Then they had another FA target, and either Keim doesn't know who that was or doesn't want to disclose it, and for whatever reason it fell through.

Apparently they weren't sold on the other options after that.

As for the idea that they had a fallback plan at center this whole time — I doubt it, and it's because that would be odd. The O-line is all about chemistry. It's not just Jayden building timing and snap rhythm with the center; it's the whole unit working together.

So my read is they wanted to see if their in-house options could hold up as backups. That hasn't worked out, and the Allegretti injury has compounded the problem.

They played out their hand, it didn't work, and now they're forced into Plan C. I'd put the odds they either trade for a center or add one off the waiver wire at around 95% — I'd be shocked if they don't.

 

[Discobob]

Raise your hand if your are irrationally irritated that there is no news of having signed anymore IOL ?

🖐️

 

[NickyJ]

The most regrettable part is that if Allegretti doesn't heal up soon, the new starting center will have never played a snap with the team and a little under 2 weeks of practice to gel.

 

[DWinzit]

Going with Keim's take, as I mentioned before — they targeted Linderbaum, as we know. Then they had another FA target, and either Keim doesn't know who that was or doesn't want to disclose it, and for whatever reason it fell through.

Apparently they weren't sold on the other options after that.

As for the idea that they had a fallback plan at center this whole time — I doubt it, and it's because that would be odd. The O-line is all about chemistry. It's not just Jayden building timing and snap rhythm with the center; it's the whole unit working together.

So my read is they wanted to see if their in-house options could hold up as backups. That hasn't worked out, and the Allegretti injury has compounded the problem.

They played out their hand, it didn't work, and now they're forced into Plan C. I'd put the odds they either trade for a center or add one off the waiver wire at around 95% — I'd be shocked if they don't.

I get it. I found it frustrating when they missed in a number of centers in the draft that I liked, seemed to fit the scheme, had more experience and graded better than Gulbin.

Once the draft was completed and we had Gulbin and Good-Jones, there were other viable FA's available. The choice to entertain that thought then is biting them in the ass. Just like waiting and putting their trust in Aiyuk. We were lucky Diggs was still available and had interest in playing in Washington so late.

 

[heisenberg]

biting them into the ass

We seem to struggle with this idiom around here.
🤣

 

[DWinzit]

We seem to struggle with this idiom around here.
🤣

Got to love spell check!
I edited it lol