The 2026 Free Agency Thread

Primus Porcus said:
Maybe i just don't think there's as much of a difference as the guys we ultimately had, and it makes sense to me that the juice aint worth the squeeze. Mack Hollins having his 46 rec / 550 yd / 2 tds here doesn't feel like it would have turned our whole season around. Theoretically he adds 1, maybe 2 wins? If we're lucky? Avg of 3 more catches / 30 yards per game? Is that taking a team picking top 10, and creating a 2nd half of the season contender?

Might just be 2 different alignments of thought... so hell, i might be arguing a different point than you're actually trying to make.
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Wins is half of it. Jayden having to produce the offense alone is the other half.

There's no way that the Commies could have overcome that defense. None. But Jayden had to sacrifice his body to make up for the fact that no receivers could get open. I argue that Jayden's health depends on receivers who can move the ball without Jayden needing to do everything himself while scrambling, which he still had to do even in 2024 when he singlehandedly beat the Falcons.

He needs receivers who can get open. He needs receivers who can help each other by drawing coverage from each other. And right now, the only 3 receivers on the entire team that can be relied on are Terry, a rookie mid-round receiver (which to me is laughable and sad to depend on such a young day 1 player, who is almost totally unrecognized aside from SiP and some local beat reporters), and a TE. Which is almost exactly what we had last season, aside from better runningbacks. And now no veteran in Deebo if the rookie receiver plays like the other 2 receivers AP drafted.

We traded Chosen for Dyami and Moore for Van Jefferson. Upgrades, but not enough to soothe my fears that Jayden will have to risk it all again just to move the ball if a single one of the proven receivers goes down.
 
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Primus Porcus said:
Give me an example and i'll respond to specifics. Just a blanket argument 'they could have done more' without actually analyzing what 'more' could have been done... not how I personally choose to look at it.

Stefon Diggs - 8 months post ACL - got 3yr $21M per year from New England. Turns out to have been a good gamble, but would have been an extreme gamble for us to take having Terry holding out for more money at the time.
Davonte Adams - Don't think it was actually a viable option - He was going to the Rams no matter what
Romeo Doubs - Wanted him, but he chose to go to New England (reports were that we were in at even a little more than NE but he chose there)
Alec Pierce - In big on him, offered more than Indy and he chose to stay at Indy


Again, Cooper Kupp and Keenan Allen would be names i'd be curious about if we were in on, and we may still land Allen at this point if he's willing to leave the West Coast... who knows. Kupp again is north of 30 and got $15m per year... probably about where I would be comfortable paying him, but if that numbers to, or even above $20m... it's a major risk.


Beyond that, how much 'better' was out there? A WR who has 10 more catches and 100 extra yards over the course of the year? Not exactly some revelation of missed opportunity.
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You can’t just strike Diggs and call it an extreme gamble. Terry was already making more than $21m a year. Whatever we could’ve possibly done with Diggs would have had minimal impact on the Terry negotiation. You could argue it would have helped us because we would have had the leverage with his camp of having one of the best receivers of the past 10 years in the building
 
method man said:
You can’t just strike Diggs and call it an extreme gamble. Terry was already making more than $21m a year. Whatever we could’ve possibly done with Diggs would have had minimal impact on the Terry negotiation. You could argue it would have helped us because we would have had the leverage with his camp of having one of the best receivers of the past 10 years in the building
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Wasn’t mentioning Terry regarding leverage, it was about already being in negotiation with another 30 + wr … the gamble was paying a 30 year old WR, $21m per year on a multi year deal, 8 months after he tore his ACL.
 
Primus Porcus said:
Wasn’t mentioning Terry regarding leverage, it was about already being in negotiation with another 30 + wr … the gamble was paying a 30 year old WR, $21m per year on a multi year deal, 8 months after he tore his ACL.
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As the Patriots showed, you can structure the contract in such a way where it is easy to get out after a year. In retrospect, what was the harm of bringing him in for a year to see if he still had it?
 
skinsinparadise said:
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Interestingly, the most wide receiver drops were by Deebo (6) and Moore (3), neither are on the roster this year.

Deebo is largely a function of targets. Ertz also had 5 drops, same story.

Others with drops: McLaurin, Lane, Bates, McNichols; 1 each.

The much maligned LMC and Sinnott are not on that list. Neither are Burks or Bill, to my surprise.


I remember those drops hurting—it was that kind of year—but I’m not sure this stat tells us much, none of the worst offenders are here.
 
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Diggs trial is going well so far. Everyone thinks that she is lying and he's going to win
 
I wonder how they count drops? I could have sworn I remember Lane dropping at least three bombs.
 
burgold said:
I wonder how they count drops? I could have sworn I remember Lane dropping at least three bombs.
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I could have sworn that we were near the top of the league for a good while also but maybe they finished strong. Our problem was not getting open more than drops though
 
PFF

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SI, Connor Orr. One of the better power raankings for this team. Most expect them to suck. this one of note to me because he really disliked their off season last year. I recall for those who follow Jon Ledyard, he hated the 2025 off season for this team, too. Some of the agents in the survey that Standig did told him that he was suprrised that this team didn't press on the gas pedal with Jayden on that rookie contract.

I think this off season has been much better. Still coming short though on WR and CB. If they stop here, it feels like Peters is building back up to a better season in 2026 but the go for it season is 2027, the last year of Jayden's rookie contract. I hope not, still time for go for it in 2026. But this is definitely better than 2025.

www.si.com

Conor Orr’s Post-Draft NFL Power Rankings: NFC West Remains on Top

Now that all 32 teams have added some young talent, here’s our latest look at how every team stacks up.
www.si.com www.si.com

15. Washington Commanders​

Sonny Styles was my favorite player in this draft, and the remake of Washington’s defense gives Jayden Daniels something he hasn’t enjoyed in two years at the helm in D.C.: a complementary defense that can actually be weaponized. After what I felt was an irresponsible 2025, the Commanders seem to be allocating money and energy to the right areas in 2026.
 
They could have signed every available FA wide receiver last year and it wouldn't have made a difference with JD completing only 5 games. This year is more of the same. He goes down again, it's over. He completes the season, we're probably going as far as he can take us. This team is winning 0 playoff games with Mariota starting at QB.

The defense should be light years better than that garbage from last year too!
 
burgold said:
I wonder how they count drops? I could have sworn I remember Lane dropping at least three bombs.
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skinsinparadise said:
PFF

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Yeah I don’t know how they count drops or why the discrepency between PFR and PFF, but your memory of Jaylin Lane having iffy hands is right. He only had 16 catches on 32 targets and he had 3 fumbles.

If he hadn’t flashed as a punt returner, then I would be entirely pessimistic about him.
 
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SkinsFTW said:
They could have signed every available FA wide receiver last year and it wouldn't have made a difference with JD completing only 5 games. This year is more of the same. He goes down again, it's over. He completes the season, we're probably going as far as he can take us. This team is winning 0 playoff games with Mariota starting at QB.

The defense should be light years better than that garbage from last year too!
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I don't disagree - but you can't separate the two things. I believe Jayden's lack of trust in what was a pretty lame WR group heavily contributed to his getting hurt. You surround him with WRs who consistently run the correct routes, get open, and catch the ball, Jayden trusts that and gets the ball out quickly and decisively. Give him what we had in 2025 and he's going to hold onto the ball too long and/or take off. And that's what got him hurt multiple times last year. The two things go hand in hand.
 
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