The 2026 Free Agency Thread

[DWinzit]

Coming from a dude who whined non stop about the depth at WR before the season. I am feeling better about the depth now. But I do want to add a legit backup X.

As Keim likes to say the team is higher on Luke McCaffrey than some fans are. They like him on special teams. They like him as a blocker. And is developing as a WR, played only a season in college at WR.

Not that am blown away by him but i'd be shocked if he is a cut casulty unless they really load up on WR this season.

To me he was coming on, the play against the Chargers in particular was one of my favs of the year. He played half a season, 200 yards, 3 TDs, not hot but not bad for a backup. And people could discount his kick return ability, but he still had the most yards among the returners -- and PFF which is supposed to factor context grade him as one of the top returners in the league with a grade much higher than any other returner on this team.

Will McCaffrey evolve as a starter? Probably not. But any WR who is a very good returner, good blocker, hard worker who is still young and developing, is at least OK at WR, and can play slot and Z -- I am not dumping him. I don't argue that some fans might enjoy McCaffrey being cut -- its lol sort of an in your face Peters, you suck, sort of venting-cathartic move. But I'll take Keim at his word that the team is higher on him than some of our fans.

As for Jaylin Lane, almost every point I've made about McCaffrey applies to him. He's a very good punt returner. Young and developing. I am fine with him as a backup at slot.

Treylon Burks to me is looking like a legit backup at Z. Maybe X?

My issue with Peters is don't count on these guys as the starters. They are IMO backups.

Agreed. Lane, Luke and Burks appear to be solid depth players. allowing them to compete for WR4 and WR5 with other new talent (better than the scrub vets we went into this season with) is the way to go. If Noah is brought back, he should be considered in that mix. And if Deebo is, he took should in a competition for WR3/WR4. Also Terry needs to have WR1 competition. Do not just hand him the WR1 title (possibly the biggest mistake of the past off-season).

Remember when you would say we just need a franchise QB. Well we got one, if he can stay healthy. It was the GM's ob to get him weapons and protection. It feels safe to say he accomplished the protection part. He however fell short with the weapons. He also fell short in shoring up the defense, instead just putting used plus in the holes in the tires. He needs to bring in legit weapons and defenders that will be here for more than one year in this off-season. He is also going to need to insure a legit QB2 and frankly something at QB3 as well due to Jayden not being able to stay healthy in a season with decent protection (yeah I know, a little sketchy with Allegretti early but we all knew he was not the guy)

 

[skinsinparadise]

Agreed. Lane, Luke and Burks appear to be solid depth players. allowing them to compete for WR4 and WR5 with other new talent (better than the scrub vets we went into this season with) is the way to go. If Noah is brought back, he should be considered in that mix. And if Deebo is, he took should in a competition for WR3/WR4. Also Terry needs to have WR1 competition. Do not just hand him the WR1 title (possibly the biggest mistake of the past off-season).

Remember when you would say we just need a franchise QB. Well we got one, if he can stay healthy. It was the GM's ob to get him weapons and protection. It feels safe to say he accomplished the protection part. He however fell short with the weapons. He also fell short in shoring up the defense, instead just putting used plus in the holes in the tires. He needs to bring in legit weapons and defenders that will be here for more than one year in this off-season. He is also going to need to insure a legit QB2 and frankly something at QB3 as well due to Jayden not being able to stay healthy in a season with decent protection (yeah I know, a little sketchy with Allegretti early but we all knew he was not the guy)

I was listening to Keim's podcast this morning. And he said clearly they basically decided to run it back as for the same strategy from 2024 and he doesn't expect Harris to endorse the same approach this off season. Good to hear from Keim because he rarely puts out points for no reason or just throws stuff against the wall.

As I mentioned, the "all in" stuff about him is total BS. It's generated from 2 trades -- Lattimore and Tunsil. Other than that he was modest as far from going it. They had all the cap room in the world yet they were 14th in FA spending last year. The reason why they signed so many older free agents is because they were cheaper. The Patriots signed 9 less players than Washington, yet spent more than three times what Washington did. As one agent told Standig, he was suprised that this team wasn't all in with Jayden's rookie contract.

The most outdated narrative that didn't age well was this team did so much more for Jayden than the Bears did for Caleb. Really? Keenan Allen, Odunze, G. Everett, Burden, Loveland and our old friend Zaccheus. And they already had D. Moore and Kmet. Peters on the other hand rides with Noah Brown as the Z who would be lucky to even make the Bears roster let alone be their #2 WR, with zero depth behind him.

In short, stop putting all the pressure on Jayden. Jayden by a mile has the worst supporting cast among the 2024 drafted QBs.

 

[DWinzit]

Seriously, even just bringing in a Keenan Allen for the offense and a Sweat for the DL and real DB to multi year contracts would have gone a long way not only for 25 butt at least for 26 as well.

And how about another Edge?

Gives so much more to build around

 

[Bulldog]

Washington has sat on a top 5 cash position under the cap in 2024 and 2025 and failed to make ONE single signature move in free agency to bring in an impact player that can visibly help to move this team forward.

Instead Peters has been VERY conservative with the cap and instead has acted like he is the GM of the Chiefs or Bills and given up draft choices or gone dumpster diving to find guys who can fill in.

The problem is that those other teams have been consistent contenders and have pro bowl players under contract that take up the cap so they have to be very conservative in adding to payroll.

This team after a 3-14 season in 2023 did not.

I would much rather have spent MORE in free agency in 2024 and 2025 and kept the draft picks.

With Daniels due for a new deal after next season, a good portion of that money spent in 2024 and 2025 if front loaded, could have been worked off the cap during that time and the next season in 2026.

Now we have Daniels still coming up on a new deal and we don't have the younger core around him to continue to improve.

We are in the position of doing in 2026 what we should have been doing in 2024

FINALLY, Peters has started to make moves for younger players like Drake Jackson and Treylon Burks and bring in guys that potentially can help us with upside at low cost.

But again, these are the kinds of moves we should have been making in 2024.

And I think we could have added an edge rusher and safety in free agency that would have been better adds than Wise and Will Harris.

These positions at DE and both FS/SS have been a mess for years.

 

[skinsinparadise]

Seriously, even just bringing in a Keenan Allen for the offense and a Sweat for the DL and real DB to multi year contracts would have gone a long way not only for 25 butt at least for 26 as well. Gives so much more to build around

Exactly. Bram in the same podcast goes they had no serious options in FA at edge, Keim tries to insert Sweat but Bram talks over him. I like Bram generally but lol when he's on with others especially Keim he is going on a solo tour -- doesn't play with the group. I recall the 2024 off season when Keim at times on Bram's show was about to share a nugget how Bram would talk over him from time to time and Keim never got to finish, it would drive me crazy.

The Bears took both WR and TE seriously as to starters AND depth. Peters took neither seriously.

It felt like this off season was (hyperbole to make a point) Bears go get even more weapons for Caleb and build that O line. Yeah McCarthy has Addison and Jefferson. Penix has a stud pass catching RB, Drake London, Kyle Pitts and they worked on giving him a defense. Go NE and spend you 300 plus million on defensive players and Diggs and company. Nix you got one of the best O lines and defense in the league. But none of it matters because we got Jayden. He's magic.

Go get your Odunze and Luther Burdens and Lovelands. We will do our thing with discarded junk from other teams -- and we will win anyway. Why? Because Quinn is a master motivator. Peters walks on water and doesn't have to spend big like other teams to win big -- he can Walllmart us into a SB. And Jayden Daniels can run through the playoffs with Crowder and Zaacheus and Dyami Brown so he can do the same with Chris Moore, KJ Osborn, and Michael Gallup.

It's not as dramatic as I paint it but it sure feels like an underpinning of their actions. I think Peters thought Jayden didn't need weapons because he's that good and Peters can find WRs off the scrap heap like its nothing. And figured they just need to protect him and the rest will take care of itself.

It was good to hear Keim say he doesn't think they run it back with a similar approach.

I know its a weird thing to say and I could be dead wrong. But my gut is these three things contributed to the bad off season,

A. Jayden winning in the playoffs in spite of the crap defense and doing it with 3rd tier WRs aside from Terry, so that lessened to urgency at WR and edge.

B. the success of the 2024 Zaccheus signing. I think convinced Peters his crap doesn't stink when it comes to signing WRs off the scrap heap.

C. Their good luck with injuries in 2024 and late season surge -- I gather helped convince Quinn to go even more to the extreme of doing a light camp and preseason

 

[Bulldog]

I remember the belief around the league that building a team starts with a quarterback on offense and a pass rush on defense.

Washington has never really tried to build a traditional inside out defense, adding building blocks that are the right size/fit for their positions and forming a core of veterans brought in who are still in their primes AND draft picks who are developing.

Right now, our defensive line is one of the worst in the NFC. Our safeties are among the worst as well.

We are OLD at linebacker and deploy an alignment with two backers that consistently gets gashed with misdirection run plays and passes to the tight end in isolation.

Signing 31 year old Wise, 30 year old Martin and 36 year old Von Miller at DE is nothing more than dumpster diving at this point of their careers.

You can make an argument that Miller as a situational rusher on third downs at 15-20 snaps a game on a contender is a good add, but that's not what we are asking him to do. He is out there for way too many plays.

We should have draft picks coming into the game to replace fill-in veterans when they get hurt.

Instead we have to look at the waiver wire or see who is stocking shelves at Walmart.

 

[DWinzit]

Let's hope they have learned and thee approach will be different this off-season SIP. It felt like they thought an Edge was going to fall into their lap at some point. TO me, that was either arrogance or foolish day dreaming that held the whole team back. They need to just go after players they identify they like. They did do this in 2024 but there was nothing really like that att all in 2025

It was disappointing they didn't even participate at the trade deadline. They might have been able to exchange backup players or exchange picks (without giving any picks up) to upgrade and get seriously looks at player(s) for 2026 even if depth players. I mean, we had nothing to lose, only to gain

 

[burgold]

The most outdated narrative that didn't age well was this team did so much more for Jayden than the Bears did for Caleb. Really? Keenan Allen, Odunze, G. Everett, Burden, Loveland and our old friend Zaccheus. And they already had D. Moore and Kmet. Peters on the other hand rides with Noah Brown as the Z who would be lucky to even make the Bears roster let alone be their #2 WR, with zero depth behind him.

There's an interesting philosophical debate here. Peters seemed to do everything in his power to shore up protection. Adding Tunsil and Connerly is nothing to sneeze at relative to resources. In terms of weapons, Peters definitely went light although he probably imagined a Terry, Deebo, and Noah being a good starting trio. No one really expects to need their fifth and sixth receivers to start for the majority of the season. In hindsight, Deebo probably was the wrong bet. Deebo did okay, but isn't a YAC guy anymore and that was his superpower. A good free agent receiver (or two) would have given him better bang for the buck. As for tight end, I can see why they wanted to roll with Ertz one more year based on the connection him and Daniels had in 2024.

 

[Bulldog]

We should be looking to trade Daron Payne for a bag of donuts. 1 sack is not hard to replace.

 

[burgold]

Let's hope they have learned and thee approach will be different this off-season SIP. It felt like they thought an Edge was going to fall into their lap at some point. TO me, that was either arrogance or foolish day dreaming that held the whole team back. They need to just go after players they identify they like. They did do this in 2024 but there was nothing really like that att all in 2025

It was disappointing they didn't even participate at the trade deadline. They might have been able to exchange backup players or exchange picks (without giving any picks up) to upgrade and get seriously looks at player(s) for 2026 even if depth players. I mean, we had nothing to lose, only to gain

In fairness, all their backup talent was starting. Other than maybe Payne (who I would have considered trading I'm not sure there was anyone healthy enough or talented enough to tempt anyone.

 

[DWinzit]

In fairness, all their backup talent was starting. Other than maybe Payne (who I would have considered trading I'm not sure there was anyone healthy enough or talented enough to tempt anyone.

True but still could have swung to upgrade them whether trading them one of them or swapping picks. There were a number of trades where teams swapped lets say a player and a high 7th for a 6th. It didn't seem as though they even looked into these type of moves or at least I recall no rumors.

 

[clskinsfan]

Problem is not only did they miss in FA but it appears they missed in the 24 draft as well. Newton cant break the starting lineup and they signed Kinlaw to replace Allen because of that. Add in what appears to be a miss with Sinnott and the fact Maye appears to be a future MVP and I have not really been impressed with Peters drafting either.

 

[Chris]

and the fact Maye appears to be a future MVP

Oh what a difference personal health, team health, and a historically easy cupcake schedule can do.

 

[HOF44]

I was a proponent of Maye in the draft. Then last year I was like boy did I get that wrong. Now I’m back to I don’t know maybe my gut was right. It still goes back to is JD to frail for the NFL. If he’s not I still think we got a great one. If he’s is just damn.

 

[clskinsfan]

Oh what a difference personal health, team health, and a historically easy cupcake schedule can do.

Thing is being worried about health issues is exactly what the concern was pre draft....

 

[Bulldog]

It's hard to tell what is an exact measure of a draft but to me with 9 picks in 2024 and selecting near the top of each round, in my mind Washington to have a quality daft should have been able to come away with 3 impact starters and at least 2 other players that are on the roster and making a visible contribution with the ability to elevate over time.

Philly was able to come away with TWO starting corners in the 2024 draft that helped take them to the Super Bowl and win it.

Beyond Daniels, we haven't really seen any other player from 2024 flash uber ability and skills.

Sainristil is a competitive guy and has fire, he will be in the NFL for a long time. But whether he will ever be a pro bowler or top level cover man is question.

Newton falls into that deep fog at DT that seemed to envelop Phidarian Mathis a few years ago. Like Mathis, Newton was a guy that came out and had injury problems before the draft. As it turned out his injury issues were more serious than initially thought by Washington doctors, although other NFL teams took him off their draft boards - as it turns out the worry over structural issues were well-founded. Newton is going to play at 290 in the NFL, the hope he was going to grow out to be 305 or so and gain traction inside won't happen due to weight/foot issues.

I agree that Sinnott hasn't showed much. When I heard Peters say he was like a Swiss Army Knife, my immediate thought was in Round 2 we should be getting more value out of a pick than a versatile change of pace guy.

Heck, Chris Cooley was a #3 pick and came in with less fanfare and was in the pro bowl by Year 3.

Coleman and McCaffrey are on the roster but have not been major contributors in 2025 on offense.

Magee is still largely an unknown. Baptiste is on IR.

 

[Chris]

Thing is being worried about health issues is exactly what the concern was pre draft....

It was but that has nothing to do with New Englands or Maye’s success this year.

 

[Chris]

I was a proponent of Maye in the draft. Then last year I was like boy did I get that wrong. Now I’m back to I don’t know maybe my gut was right. It still goes back to is JD to frail for the NFL. If he’s not I still think we got a great one. If he’s is just damn.

I was definitely not and quite vocal about it here, before most of the active posters here arrived, for about 5 reasons. He has surprised me but I’m not crowning him off of one very fortunate set of circumstances type of season. If he has the same level of success next year with a 1st place schedule, I will admit my stupidity.

 

[Bulldog]

Well, to be honest I liked Maye coming out because of his arm, size and age.

I didn't know that Jayden Daniels was going to have one of the best rookie seasons in NFL history, but I did think that Maye had a better chance to have a longer NFL career due to size/durability issues I saw with Jayden.

So, to me it was a trade-off.

I thought both would be starters in the NFL and good ones. Because of his ability to rush at high level, Daniels had a weapon that Maye, while mobile, didn't have as an impact weapon.

But if you asked me which one would have a 12 or 13 year career in the NFL and be productive throughout I would have said Maye.

I go back to what Jimmy Johnson said - when bigger talented athletes play smaller talented athletes, the former usually turns out to be the winner.

 

[clskinsfan]

I didnt necessarily hate drafting JD. He was a good fit for Kingsbury's system. I did hate the fact he was drafted over Maye though. Who I considered the best QB in the draft with WIlliams a close second. I admitted my stupidity last year. Daniels was far better than I expected. And basically carried this team on his shoulders. As long as we can figure out a way to keep him healthy we have a good one. Problem for me is to keep him healthy you may need to change his game to a point that what makes him dangerous is rarely available to use in games imo.

By the way I also stated last year that all 5 of the top QB's would end up successful in the NFL. That still seems to be possible. Could end up the best QB draft in history for sure.