The 2026 Free Agency Thread

DWinzit said:
Luke was overdrafted by a round just as Sinnott was. He had a larger learning curve than most players being drafted as receivers. The result is little was expected of him in his first year (perhaps the same can be said for Sinnott although he was not used to his strength)

Luke needed to step up in a big way last year and didn't, then injury hit. If he can't prove a solid WR3 this year he would be a borderline bust. Lane is going to need to figure out route running and hope he gets shots at gadget plays in place of Deebo assuming they incorporate some with the new scheme.

The real problem is they didn't bring in a legit WR2 last year or this year. That should land squarely on AP
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I’m exhaust by the WR2 conversation.

Though it’s literally impossible to know if somebody was over drafted or not. Nobody knows what the boards of the 32 teams are. McCaffery could have gone with the next pick for anybody knows.

All we know is the media folks who have a consensus based on 1/3 of the information available to teams. The media does not get to participate in interviews or in the medicals. They only get film and measurables.

What they do is useful but it also needs to not be considered as gospel.

Players bust all the time. Even the best GMs in the history of the NFL have made bad draft picks and bad trades.

The best GM in Redskins’s history traded a haul to move up to draft Ryan Leaf.

Ultimately the entire roster falls on Peters. If they win he did a good job, if they don’t, he didn’t. I think after 3 years, you can fairly judge his tenure, but I think we need to see this year play out first.

I still think he did one of the best GM jobs in the last 20-30 years putting together a roster which got to the NfC championship game by winning 2 road playoff games in year 1 coming off of an absolute roster mess left behind by Rivera. That did happen, and any attempt to lesson that accomplishment is foolish.

Year 2 was a debacle.

So I want to see how year 3 plays out before making any grand proclamations.

I think the obsession with the WR position is overblown, but it is what it is and I don’t really care to argue about it anymore.
 
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Voice_of_Reason said:
I’m exhaust by the WR2 conversation.

I think the obsession with the WR position is overblown, but it is what it is and I don’t really care to argue about it anymore.
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I look at last year's roster and WR2 was one of the biggest issues. To me it was before they went into training camp, improved slightly going into week 1 but not sufficient, and bit us in the arse.

To me, WR2 was one the absolute needs to this roster. They failed to do so even if he have improved the weapons somewhat in all aspects.

I am exhausted with the conversations on WR2 as well, just have a hard time understanding how anyone would not see it as still being a problem.
 
DWinzit said:
I look at last year's roster and WR2 was one of the biggest issues. To me it was before they went into training camp, improved slightly going into week 1 but not sufficient, and bit us in the arse.

To me, WR2 was one the absolute needs to this roster. They failed to do so even if he have improved the weapons somewhat in all aspects.

I am exhausted with the conversations on WR2 as well, just have a hard time understanding how anyone would not see it as still being a problem.
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And here's the thing: I don't think WR2 was that big a deal last year, and it definitely wasn't in 2024.

Until everybody got hurt and the person playing WR2 was actually WR9. When Chosen and whoever else was brought up to from the PS because Terry and Noah Brown were hurt, and then Deebo got hurt, then went from slot to WR1 (which he shouldn't have had to do), and then McCaffery, then Lane got hurt, etc. etc. etc...

If that position suffered league average injuries it's probably nowhere near the problem it appeared to be. Now, Peters should have known Noah Brown was not going to stay healthy for the season because the reason the Texans released Noah Brown was because he couldn't stay healthy. And he had a season ending internal injury. And then he got hurt in mini-camp. I actually put the Noah Brown re-signing as the worst individual personnel move Peters has made. Even the Lattimore trade, which was a debacle, at least you could say he was going all in and getting a player who might help them win a SB. It failed, but it was a swing. The Noah Brown thing was as predictable as the sun rising in the east. And I said that the minute they re-signed him.

What they've done this year is massively raise the floor. DBrown, Burke, Lane, Van Jefferson, Williams and McCaffery as a group have a higher floor than the team had last year, so if they do suffer tons of injuries, one would hope they wouldn't have to turn to PS players.

If we have to bring up players from the PS again to play meaningful snaps, it really doesn't matter who the original players were.

I'm not saying the WR last year were the second coming of Clark, Monk and Sanders or anything. But I do think there is some revisionist history going on in terms of what actually happened. The original plan was Terry, Noah Brown and Deebo as the 3 starting WRs, McCaffery and Lane as the depth. McCaffery didn't develop and Lane was a rookie. And all of a sudden, Noah was gone after week 2, Terry was gone after week 3, Deebo got hurt and missed a game and played hobbled in several others, McCaffery broke his collar bone, and Lane even finished the season on IR after an ankle injury in December. When all 4 of your 5 day 1 WRs either spend significant time on IR or end the season on IR, and the other one missed a game and also was limited, there's literally nothing you can do about that from a depth perspective.

Peters tried to add a top WR2 this off-season. One chose to stay in Indy and play with Daniel Jones (good luck with that) and the other chose to go to New England and play with Maye (that's a more reasonable argument.) You can't force players to come here. Could they have gone after another? Sure. Instead they turned their attention to TE and signed Chig, and then bolstered depth with signing Van Jefferson and DBrown. It seems in their mind, Chig was going to be a better receiving target at TE than anybody they could bring in after the first 2 WRs were off the board.

Is it still a problem? Maybe. It's certainly not a roster strength. How much of a problem it will be depends. It first depends on health, and then it depends on how the offense operates. If the WR2 is only a target 2-3 times a game, and they are mostly responsible for being tough in the run game and occupying space, and the targets go to Terry, White out of the backfield, Chig an slot WR, then it's not that big a deal, assuming the offense is running smoothly. If Terry gets hurt, it's a huge problem, but it would have been a huge problem even if they landed Pierce or Doubs.

Is Peters gong to be right about all this? Time will definitely tell. I have no idea.

I also think it's very very likely they sign another veteran WR.
 
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Not having a top tier WR other than Terry is a problem. It's a problem when everyone is healthy. It's a worse problem when everyone is not. That shouldn't really be a debate point. Adam Peters thinks it's a problem - that's why they took several swings for the fences to get one. It didn't work out. But arguing it's really not a problem - that's whistling past the graveyard imho.

You can't fix every hole on a team in a season, maybe not even a couple. But there is no question we have holes at WR. They may try and mask the dearth of talent there by throwing more to the RBs and TEs, but that doesn't erase the hole.
 
burgold said:
The difference is while Ertz knew how to get open and was a reliable receiver no one viewed him as a threat. He was just a safe outlet. It was also clear that Ertz was running on fumes. So Chig is different than Ertz because defenses need to pay attention to him. If Ertz catches a ball he catches it and falls over. At best, someone runs him down. If Chig catches a ball, the defense may not catch him or he might truck the defender.

So Ertz was a safety blanket and Chig is (potentially) a playmaker. A playmaker will stress the defense differently and may create opportunities for other receivers because they can't play him loose.

That's the theory the Chig supporters are working on anyway.
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I just looked at ESPN's TE rankings, which were voted on by coaches, executives, and scouts. Chig didn't crack their top 23. He also missed another top-20 list I saw. I also remember Jay not being particularly high on him, another former NFL analyst on Sheehan's show wasn't either (can't remember who), and Greg Cosell wasn't especially high on this TE room as a whole.

I don't think anyone pushed harder for Chig on the free agent thread than I did. I've loved his potential. But I also think some people are getting carried away now that he's actually here. I'm excited about him, but it's not hard to see that the enthusiasm for him isn't universal.

Even if you believe Ertz was running on fumes and Chig is the more dangerous player, which I do, they still produced similarly overall. Ertz got farther downfield on his targets. Chig caught shorter passes and created more yards after the catch, but they often ended up in the same place statistically. Again, I'm genuinely excited about Chig—I was advocating for him before it became popular—but there is some wait and see with him.

Ironically, a lot of the players people are now hyping are guys I was pushing hard for myself: Antonio Williams, Rachaad White, and Chig. But if history is any guide, maybe one of those players truly breaks out in a big way. It's much rarer for every player entering a new environment or scheme to suddenly reach his absolute ceiling. Usually one or two hit, while others remain roughly what they've always been.

I know some people think I, Conn, DWinzit, KDawg, and others are being negative or unreasonable because we aren't assuming the best-case scenario for every player. In good spirits, I just disagree. I think we're trying to be realistic. I also understand why others prefer to believe everything will break perfectly, and I don't begrudge anyone for being optimistic.

I just have a hard time believing players who weren't stars elsewhere suddenly become stars here simply because of scheme or fit. I'd love to be wrong. It just feels like we're assuming some solid Toyotas are about to become Ferraris. Within the context of Washington's roster, these players may look significantly better, but when you compare this offense to many others around the league, it's not difficult to understand why so many national analysts remain skeptical. Personally, I think those same analysts are underestimating how much the defense has improved, but we'll see.

As for the argument that Chig's style lessens the need for a true No. 2 receiver, I'm not convinced. Chig is essentially an F receiver who lines up in the slot. So did Ertz. The difference is stylistic. Ertz was an exceptionally precise route runner, which fit Jayden's timing-based style perfectly because he likes throwing to spots before receivers make their breaks. Chig is younger, more explosive, and more dangerous after the catch, and that's exciting.

But I don't see anything about Chig that suddenly makes this offense uniquely equipped to succeed without a legitimate No. 2 wide receiver. The only part I agree with is that because they don't currently have a proven No. 2, Chig should naturally see a healthy target share. That's a fair point. I just don't think his presence eliminates the need for another quality receiver.


Usage Profile in Kliff Kingsbury's Offense
Under offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury, the Commanders deployed Ertz primarily as a pass-catching safety blanket rather than a traditional inline blocker. [1, 2]
  • The Slot Specialist Role: He ranked near the very top of the NFL for total slot snaps among tight ends. This scheme routinely moved Ertz off the line of scrimmage to match him up against linebackers and safeties. [1]
  • The Inline Alternative: Blocking duties in heavier formations were more frequently assigned to teammates like John Bates, allowing Ertz to preserve his energy for intermediate routes and third-down conversions
 
Boone said:
Not having a top tier WR other than Terry is a problem. It's a problem when everyone is healthy. It's a worse problem when everyone is not. That shouldn't really be a debate point. Adam Peters thinks it's a problem - that's why they took several swings for the fences to get one. It didn't work out. But arguing it's really not a problem - that's whistling past the graveyard imho.

You can't fix every hole on a team in a season, maybe not even a couple. But there is no question we have holes at WR. They may try and mask the dearth of talent there by throwing more to the RBs and TEs, but that doesn't erase the hole.
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Yep.

Last year, the entire standoff over Terry's contract centered on one reality: receivers over 30 are more likely to decline and more prone to injuries. Yet after acknowledging that risk, they turned around and relied on Terry heavily and made 30-year-old, injury-prone Noah Brown their No. 2 receiver—with essentially no safety net behind him. I thought it was poorly conceived at the time, and I said so all summer. You didn't have to be Nostradamus to see they were flirting with disaster at wide receiver. Eventually, it blew up in their face.

This year, at least they recognized the problem. They swung at multiple targets, even if they ultimately missed. But they're still asking an even older Terry to stay healthy and continue playing at a high level. If he gets hurt, they're in real trouble.

I know the counterargument: every team is in trouble if it loses its No. 1 receiver. Sure—but not like this team. Washington's No. 1 is already on the wrong side of 30, making both injury and age-related decline more legitimate concerns than they would be with a typical 25- or 26-year-old star. And unlike many teams, there isn't an established No. 2 who can slide into the top role. I have a hard time believing defenses are going to lose sleep over a lineup featuring Dyami Brown at X and Van Jefferson at Z—or any variation of that group.

At the end of the day, they replaced their two biggest pass-game contributors from last season—Deebo and Ertz—and are essentially betting that rookie Antonio Williams and Chig will be significant upgrades. Maybe they will be. Antonio was one of my favorite players in the draft. But do I know he'll be better than Deebo from Day 1? I don't. And Chig has never produced a season that matches Ertz's 2024 production, or likely what Ertz would have done in 2025 had he stayed healthy.

The rest of the improvement essentially comes down to hoping players like Dyami Brown and Van Jefferson are better depth options than Chris Moore, Chosen, K.J. Osborn, and the other reserve receivers from last season. That's a reasonable expectation, and I think they probably are. But that doesn't fundamentally change the ceiling of the position group.

I gave Peters an F for how he handled the receiver position heading into 2025. For 2026, I'd bump that to a D+. He deserves credit for recognizing the problem and making legitimate attempts to fix it, even if those attempts ultimately came up short.
 
If this team wants negativity as fuel its all around them, 2024 to you name it outside this market to them was the mirage, the real team is closer to 2025. I think the team surprises. Not because as some here think Peters has done a better job than some give him credit for -- its because the power of an elite QB to overcome much.

 
RedWolf said:
So tell me the truth. What does the board think about WR2?

I think this is something that we seriously need to discuss
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What else have we been discussing all off season?

It's patchwork. We are hoping that a bunch of castoffs together can be cobbled together to be adequate. It might work, but Dyami Brown has never really shown he can be a starter. Burnks and Van Jefferson are the same. Burks does have starter traits, but no starter production. Luke flashed, but he'd have to make a heck of a jump. Like I said above, if you creatively mix and match and play to their strengths maybe you can make due, but number 2 looks rough unless we struck gold with Williams or they know something no one else does about one of the other castaways.
 
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NFC is tough but executives-coaches have ranked 6 out of the top 10 QBs from the AFC.

 
That list looks pretty reasonable me. But I would put Maye over both Herbert and Dak. And I would move Dak under both of them.
 
ntotoro said:
The weird thing is, I can see this WR "solution" working well... for one season... then falling back into 2025-dom. If Diggs comes on, even better... for one season.
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I couldn't agree more with the Diggs comment. Why TF have they NOT signed him yet. Even if they do eventually get Ayuk (and he's actually not crazy), how does it hurt to have Diggs? He's a legit #2 (and one could argue every bit as good as Terry). Go sign the man. (Edit, I read on an earlier comment that he's back in court again - similar charges. If that is legit, then I agree that he's a non-starter).
 
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