The 2026 Free Agency Thread

[Conn]

That’s not at all unreasonable Conn and yes, I think you have my view correct. 4 to 5 years is a reasonable time frame for a guy coming in with his credentials. Two drafts is not enough for me to judge him on especially when he’s had to give up picks to fill gaping holes that he inherited. To already be getting ready to jump ship at this point seems panicky. Maybe I’m just too patient.

Since you say you are willing to give him another swing at hiring a second coaching staff, we may be talking about around the same timeframe anyway.

Yeah, I don’t think we’re far off. But I’m more skeptical. He would need to really bungle this offseason for me to want him out before offseason #4. But I won’t say it’s impossible. So I err towards agreeing with you, but leave space for the flashing red lights to get my attention if the alarms start blaring after a poor offseason #3.

My main issue is that I don’t look at any of the players acquired for our roster in the last two offseasons and think “only Adam Peters and his sterling, blue chip reputation could have done this”. I don’t see any signature draft picks yet, nothing to hang his hat on as an elite evaluator. I would call it “replacement level GM’ing” to this point. And that’s what I want to see change as the sample size gets bigger.

He deserves time to grow into his role, certainly. He needs to start showing that growth is in progress, now.

 

[Riggo44]

Good depth here

 

[Always Commander Never Captain]

Since it appears a lot of posters are back to signing Aiyuk as Plan A for cheap and calling it a day...that would be a fireable offense by Adam Peters. His injury makes it beyond risky to think of him as anything more than a back of the roster WR like Luke McCaffrey or Dyami Brown. Aiyuk should not change any of the decisions for WR Need.

Copy and pasting below a post I made earlier (Link):

Problems with relying on Aiyuk:

• Brutal knee injury where it's uncertain how athletic he still is
• He won't have played for almost 2 years (23 months) since his injury
• He's ghosted teammates/staff this season so we don't even have any anecdotes about how he looks

If we do get Aiyuk, he should be thought of as a mystery box and not factor into other decisions at WR. If we get him, we should still go after Pierce as well as think about drafting Tate/Tyson. To rely on someone with the above issues is just setting up Jayden Daniels to have another brutal season where he throws his body away trying to make plays. Odds are Aiyuk will be a shell of himself.

Those above stats came from Michael Thomas. An injury bad enough to miss that much time (same time as Aiyuk has missed) often means they just aren't the same athlete anymore.

This is AJ Green. Shell of himself afterwards.

If we roll the dice on Aiyuk, it should not change the decisions on Pierce or drafting a WR at all.

 

[method man]

Good depth here

Was hoping they’d bring him back. Hopefully they can restructure Allegretti too

 

[KDawg]

Since it appears a lot of posters are back to signing Aiyuk as Plan A for cheap and calling it a day...that would be a fireable offense by Adam Peters. His injury makes it beyond risky to think of him as anything more than a back of the roster WR like Luke McCaffrey or Dyami Brown. Aiyuk should not change any of the decisions for WR Need.

Copy and pasting below a post I made earlier (Link):

I don’t think many think signing Aiyuk and calling it a day is any kind of option. Signing Aiyuk and adding another piece or two is, though.

Aiyuk for cheap is a great addition to the room. But we need at minimum one other option for a number 2 and maybe two. We also need to consider Burks.

Michael Pittman would be a good get, but then we are missing a downfield threat if we add Aiyuk and Pittman. But we’d be reliable underneath safety blankets.

 

[KDawg]

Good depth here

I saw a tackle re-upped and it was Wylie.

*sigh*

Though as a guard I actually kinda like him.

 

[Conn]

Since it appears a lot of posters are back to signing Aiyuk as Plan A for cheap and calling it a day...that would be a fireable offense by Adam Peters. His injury makes it beyond risky to think of him as anything more than a back of the roster WR like Luke McCaffrey or Dyami Brown. Aiyuk should not change any of the decisions for WR Need.

Copy and pasting below a post I made earlier (Link):

I agree. I’m down to swing on Aiyuk for a cheap price, for the upside, so long as we cut him the moment he does something disruptive, hypothetically.

But he needs to be the second or third move we make at WR, an afterthought upside play.

 

[Conn]

I think a Pittman, Nailor, Aiyuk trio of signings puts us in a good spot heading into the draft. Add Burks for cheap.

And then if WR is the BPA at 7 or 71, you figure it out. That’s when you shit or get off the pot with Lane/McCaffrey/Burks/Aiyuk.

Aiyuk may start on PUP anyways and buy you some time to see if anyone else gets hurt or shows out (or sucks out loud).

But more likely WR will not be BPA at either 7 or 71, and you’re still in a functional position at WR without reaching on someone. And that’s how you build a contending roster.

 

[Always Commander Never Captain]

I’d take Chubb on a fair contract. I don’t think he’s as good as people think he is and kinda fall in with skinsinparadise on Chubb’s ability. But if the money is right he is probably an upgrade to the guys we are currently trotting out. He’s not ideal. But he’s better than what we have. Which isn’t a high bar. Safety is the same.

Same, but fair is relative.

The fact that nobody would trade for him at $20 Mil next season and $19 Mil in 2027 means nobody thinks he'll get that much. We're probably looking at somewhere around Harold Landry's contract from New England. Somewhere around $14m a year, possibly even less like $11-12m. Harold Landry tweaked his knee mid-season and his snap count was getting more and more reduced as the season went along, he barely played in the playoffs. Chubb, with his injury history too, has that same fears and could get even less than Landry did. If he's asking for $18M, that seems too rich. $15M is a bit rich, but we lack people especially with Dorance Armstrong's recovery being an unknown. $12M seems fair.

He should be part of an Edge rotation along with another key Edge signing, and maybe whoever we draft with the #7 pick too.

 

[Canuck]

Its unfortunate that our 2 biggest needs aguably, Edge & WR are lacking in FA. No real difference makers at WR and older, injured guys at Edge.

RB and LB both look strong, TE & CB not bad either.

 

[Riggo44]

Rumors around the Twitter sphere that Pierce is getting tagged

 

[clskinsfan]

I saw a tackle re-upped and it was Wylie.

*sigh*

Though as a guard I actually kinda like him.

I like him for the same reason. He is versatile. He can plug holes anywhere along the line. We are screwed if we need him at tackle to start. But having him active on game days gives you the ability to plug him in at T for the remainder of a game. I am fine with that.

 

[clskinsfan]

We also need to consider Burks

I want Burks back. He showed more promise here than at any point in his career. Very good depth piece in my opinion.

 

[Conn]

Rumors around the Twitter sphere that Pierce is getting tagged

Should coincide with a Pittman release, at least

 

[Higskin]

Ignore....

 

[Always Commander Never Captain]

I want Burks back. He showed more promise here than at any point in his career. Very good depth piece in my opinion.

You sure? I'm fine having him back as part of Training Camp, but he should be fighting for a spot with Luke McCaffrey (in his final year where WRs have suddenly made a leap). Burks was supposed to be this even bigger version of Deebo to replace AJ Brown, another beefy wide receiver.

Burks Career:

• Year 1 - 33 catches, 444 yards, 1 TD, 50% Success Rate, YAC per Reception of 4.9
• Year 2 - 16 catches, 220 yards, 0 TD, 43.3% Success Rate, YAC/R of 4.4
• Year 3 - 4 catches, 34 yards, 0 TD, 37.5% Success Rate, YAC/R of 1.3
• Year 4 - 10 catches, 130 yards, 1 TD, 40% Success Rate, YAC/R of 3.4

...sure looks like his Rookie Year showed the most promise

• Year 5 - WR's never suddenly "get it" in Year 5. It's going to look a lot like Years 2-4.

If we acquired Aiyuk, then Aiyuk-Burks-McCaffrey should all be competing for one roster spot. If we assume 6 roster spots go to WRs, then here's an example:

1. Terry McLaurin
2. Jaylin Lane (maybe develops Year 2, at least he returns punts)
3. A healthy outside WR Free Agent (maybe Pittman if he's cut or Doubs)
4. A healthy slot WR Free Agent (maybe Nailor or Shaheed?)
5. Rookie WR (maybe even at #7 overall?)
6. Aiyuk - Burks - McCaffrey

Here's another way of looking at this. This is an attempt to rationally find a list of who we can rely on to help Jayden Daniels. For the sake of this, we'll say Jaylin Lane (A) is 2nd year Lane that develops a little, and Jaylin Lane (B) is 2nd year Lane that is who he was as a rookie:

1. Terry McLaurin
2. $20M+ a Year Healthy WR Free Agent (preferably Outside WR)
3. $12-15M a Year Healthy WR Free Agent or a Day 1 Rookie
4. Jaylin Lane (A) or a Rookie (Preferably Day 1 or Day 2)
5. Jaylin Lane (B) or a Rookie (Preferably Day 2)
6. Jaylin Lane (B) or a Rookie (Day 3) or one of the super risky trio of Aiyuk - Burks - McCaffrey...(Aiyuk has the most severe injury risk, then Burks, then McCaffrey. McCaffrey has a better shot of developing than Burks as Year 3 leaps has happened compared to year 5 leaps)

I think any other off-season plan by this Front Office is a failure and irresponsible. (Well...trades could happen I suppose). We need to spend serious money on the WR position in free agency because this group is just that thin and barren. The less money spent in Free Agency means the 1st Round pick in the draft starts becoming a WR Need pick instead of a BPA or other Need. I mean, anything else falls under the Ron Rivera School of Roster Building where we just pray back of the roster talent suddenly becomes front of the roster talent via hopes and dreams.

P.S. A low quality roll of the dice last off-season were Free Agent WR's at $10M a year. Here's who signed for that last season. Tutu Atwell, Dyami Brown, and Josh Palmer. They all sucked. Our Floor for the 2nd FA we grab has to be higher than that.

 

[method man]

Malcolm Koonce could be a possible bargain pickup. Was starting to emerge as a star in 2023, tore his ACL in 2024 and was a bit meh in his return in 2025 with 4.5 sacks and a 14% pass rush win rate.

He’s probably not going to follow PG to Pittsburgh given all the EDGEs they have.

Could be interesting on a 1 year $5M deal.

 

[Riggo44]

Why are people so ready to jettison LMC--both here and Twitter/X? He's an excellent kick returner entering year 3.

 

[method man]

Why are people so ready to jettison LMC--both here and Twitter/X? He's an excellent kick returner entering year 3.

Game of roster spots. Last year showed we need better depth in case Terry goes down again. We already have one specialist in Lane and another in LMC. Neither guy has shown they can make a meaningful impact as receivers at the NFL level. Kind of one or the other for me and I lean Lane given the speed and deep threat ability.

Not saying I need LMC gone but I need them to see in camp that he can be a guy who can catch 30-40 balls a season if need be. Felt like most of his big plays last year were on fairly busted coverages

 

[Gooseneck]

I like him for the same reason. He is versatile. He can plug holes anywhere along the line. We are screwed if we need him at tackle to start. But having him active on game days gives you the ability to plug him in at T for the remainder of a game. I am fine with that.

I think Wylie is a valuable addition at that price- Can do a decent job at guard and in in a worst case scenario can do a not terrible job at tackle