The 2026 Free Agency Thread

[Anselmheifer]

Any interest in Sneed? Titans cut him

Nobody with injury issues please. We’ve had enough of that. Glad we missed on Doubs with those concussion issues.

I wonder when we can get an accurate assessment of what cap room we have left. That might tell us if we have room for Jennings AND Aiyuk. I’d love to see some signings at Cb,C, and OG as well. They don’t have to be high end

 

[NickyJ]

The best part about the guys we signed is that they were all winners. All from playoffs teams except for Chigy who may actually be the best because he's never been on a good team, had talent around him, or played with a good QB so he is ready to explode and play for something significant

That's a really good point. We're not just getting people from good teams, we're getting people from bad teams too. Not many teams can say they've done that in one offseason.

 

[Neophyte]

When didn’t Kliff’s offense work? When it relied on a broken receiver group, Josh Johnson and Bill?

There are a lot of valid complaints… but his offense worked.

7 pts against KC
13 against a bad Miami team
0 against MN (yeah, it's MN but a goose egg?)
23 and 22 against an horrendous Dallas D

I get that there were more issues on the defensive side than the offensive side and the offense scored enough to get the job done more than once - ATL and DEN come to mind.

The offense moved the ball okay but did you really have the same level of confidence this year that you had last year? I'm asking that in all seriousness to, brother. You are a learned man in this sport where I am just semi-serious fan who never even suited up in high school. You have forgotten more about the game than I have ever known.

Even once Terry was back and healthy, this offense looked "off" to me. Even when Jayden was healthy.

And it seemed like we kept doing the same things over and over to "get well" rather than try to change things up.

Terry, Deebo, and Zach were nearly always the 1st and 2nd read. The defense knew it. Why not switch it up? When Ertz and Sinnott were in the game together, Ertz went out and Sinnott blocked. Again, the defense knew it. Yet we really never saw a switch to Sinnott in the pattern and Ertz blocking. Why not? That's what I mean by favorites.

I hear every week that talent levels in the NFL are so close that the game comes down to matchups, misdirection, and disguises. When favorites stay favorites, it's hard to do that.

 

[Bulldog]

Perhaps what it says is Sinnott is not effective running routes in the middle and down the field and engendered no confidence from the coaches.

 

[Neophyte]

Perhaps what it says is Sinnott is not effective running routes in the middle and down the field and engendered no confidence from the coaches.

Sure. Always a possibility.

But when your season is going absolutely nowhere, why not give it a go anyway? It wasn't like we were going to miss the playoffs if Sinnott bombed a chance in the middle while down by double digits in Minnesota. Ya know?

And yeah, I'm beating my own dead horse here but how many balls did Ertz drop? How many penalties did he pull that hurt the team in key moments?

When you are losing, you try new stuff.

 

[Bulldog]

I agree. There were not enough plays for younger guys at the end of a lost season.

What was especially idiotic was we were trying to win games with a 40 year old quarterback we picked up off the street in a move that was going to do ZERO for our future.

If we had chosen to draft late or sign as UDFA a quarterback that had a legit NFL arm instead of Sam Hartman perhaps we could have at least had that player getting reps and improving for the future.

As it is Johnson won't be in the NFL in 2026 and Hartman doesn't have NFL skills and is only here because he his Daniels' friend.

 

[KDawg]

7 pts against KC
13 against a bad Miami team
0 against MN (yeah, it's MN but a goose egg?)
23 and 22 against an horrendous Dallas D

I get that there were more issues on the defensive side than the offensive side and the offense scored enough to get the job done more than once - ATL and DEN come to mind.

The offense moved the ball okay but did you really have the same level of confidence this year that you had last year? I'm asking that in all seriousness to, brother. You are a learned man in this sport where I am just semi-serious fan who never even suited up in high school. You have forgotten more about the game than I have ever known.

Even once Terry was back and healthy, this offense looked "off" to me. Even when Jayden was healthy.

And it seemed like we kept doing the same things over and over to "get well" rather than try to change things up.

Terry, Deebo, and Zach were nearly always the 1st and 2nd read. The defense knew it. Why not switch it up? When Ertz and Sinnott were in the game together, Ertz went out and Sinnott blocked. Again, the defense knew it. Yet we really never saw a switch to Sinnott in the pattern and Ertz blocking. Why not? That's what I mean by favorites.

I hear every week that talent levels in the NFL are so close that the game comes down to matchups, misdirection, and disguises. When favorites stay favorites, it's hard to do that.

I think you bring up fair points. But he was so understaffed on offense. The roster we put on the field on both sides of the ball was a bottom of the NFL barrel. And I’m not all that impressed with Mariota (I think he’s a good backup QB, but some think he could be an NFL starter…)

The games Jayden came back he didn’t look like Jayden. Not based on playcalling, but because he looked injured and unconfident.

I have a hard time pinning the on field result last year on Whitt and Kingsbury.

I think AP failed this team last offseason (and it appears he’s learned this offseason). But a Kliff’s offense and the scheme gets guys open and allows for plays to be made - but we had no playmakers.

Our running back couldn’t block and wasn’t a real threat to catch, so anytime he’s back there the other team knows it can load the box. This is where the love for Bill puzzles me. He put us in a corner. And I do think he is going to get better. But he was a 7th rounder. We need to let him grow.

We had no healthy receivers, and McLaurin looked awful for most of the season. He just didn’t have the same burst and contested catch ability. And our most reliable guy, Ertz, tore his ACL.

When we do the same things, when Kliff hasn’t always done that, it tells you the personnel isn’t executing.

Football plays absolutely are designed to open a specific receiver, but the guy getting the ball is dictated by coverage and separation. Those three (Deebo, Terry and Ertz) got all the targets because they were the ones getting open.

White alone changes a lot of that because he can pass protect and catch. He is very mediocre as a rusher. Very. But he can run. So with him in the backfield it changes the rhythm.

Love will do that x3 if we are lucky enough to get him.

This current offensive group with Kliff looks much better than what we put onto the field.

I love the idea of using more PA and motion. Kliff isn’t my hero. I think he’s a good, quality OC. There are things he does that I’d take. There are things he does that I’d change. Lack of motions and manipulating personnel groupings and utilizing PA being in the forefront.

But he didn’t have the personnel to get creative. A lot of our receivers belong in the UFL.

I am still concerned with receivers, but I’m not sure we need world beaters as long as Chig, Terry and White are around and can add either Love or Tate.

But the spots that I am extremely concerned with are C and LG. Our OL is under talked about. This is why Tunsil was such a big deal for me. But I thought we’d still have Biadasz.

Our rushing offense is actually probably worse than last year. But our passing offense looks much better already. But we need receivers that can create room and can reliably run routes. We add even one of those and we can do more with other receivers because they are open and available.

For the record… I hate that we “played to win” against Philly. We should have played all of our young guys, including Sinnott, Hartman, etc. if we win with them… fine.

Winning with Josh Johnson could be what makes us miss Love. And that, to me, is egregious.

 

[BayouBrave86]

It’s also so much easier to get TEs and WRs installed and up and running in today’s NFL. The fact Ben hasn’t really been able to make a dent in his first two seasons is very alarming and concerning. He hasn’t even shown flashes of what he could really be. I guess if he learned to be an elite blocker he could be another Bates? Sweet, but that’s not what you use a second rounder on 😂

 

[Dlts20]

 

[Dlts20]

That's a really good point. We're not just getting people from good teams, we're getting people from bad teams too. Not many teams can say they've done that in one offseason.

Stop it. It's important to get guys from a winning culture who knows what it takes to get over the top. Chigy is just the exception and he happens to play a dependant position. That's why it's understandable. The defenders coming from a winning culture is important imo

 

[Iraolaball]

I get that perspective and sorry if I’m beating a dead horse

I just think that guys with greater talent get more opportunities. They also consistently get open. And they are trusted by the QB. And guys with marginal talent, don’t.

Sometimes the simplest explanation … I think McCaffrey and Sinnott were both pretty significant over-drafts. Really good players make the coaches play them by showing they warrant it (don’t forget, they are being evaluated in every minute of practice, not just games).

I would love to see one or both surprise but if am AP I have to act on what I know not what I hope or wish. So we need WRs.

🤣🤣 Just got home and was reading through posts. Was about to gif reply to your last post with “beating a dead horse”, but I see you’ve taken your own bait. Well played!

 

[DWinzit]

Omenihu is a really sneaky good acquisition for this team! That was a really good interview

 

[SkinsNumberOne]

I get that perspective and sorry if I’m beating a dead horse

I just think that guys with greater talent get more opportunities. They also consistently get open. And they are trusted by the QB. And guys with marginal talent, don’t.

Sometimes the simplest explanation … I think McCaffrey and Sinnott were both pretty significant over-drafts. Really good players make the coaches play them by showing they warrant it (don’t forget, they are being evaluated in every minute of practice, not just games).

I would love to see one or both surprise but if am AP I have to act on what I know not what I hope or wish. So we need WRs.

That can work both ways, with a different person evaluating.

In other words, it may be that Kliff believed that LMC, Lane, Sinnott weren't good enough. It could be that JD didn't like how they ran routes or didn't have enough trust (although again, I think we all saw this and it was never fixed, and I point to potential coaching issues there). It could be a combination of those. It could even be true too.

The new regime may look at it (and after all, they were there) and say, I think if we coach them this way, maybe a slight modification from before, maybe a bit more emphasis on this/that, it may make them reach that next level. They may feel they saw enough there to have some confidence in an increased role.

My point here is, I tend to agree with what I think I understand from Neophyte here; I don't see that we are so dire at WR especially considering all of the factors. Would we like to get better at WR? Absolutely. Do we enter this offseason with a mountain of needs? Is WR maybe, maybe, maybe (coaches' discretion, and as you said, they see more than we do, and these are different coaches) "OK" with something different than what some of us think? I don't see the data points (without some potential reasons) to tell me WR is a disaster with small tweaks. I do think it's risky, especially if we are thinking Aiyuk and Burks heal all ills. Both have too much injury history to feel good on it.

I would tend to think they need one more WR ideally. I think they entered 2024 thinking their CB room needed help. Then when they were looking really good, they reached for Lattimore. That didn't work out well, but the reality is, sometimes you enter the season with groups not quite where you'd like them to be; some of it is circumstantial. They tried to get better so far in the WR room and it didn't pan out.

When didn’t Kliff’s offense work? When it relied on a broken receiver group, Josh Johnson and Bill?

There are a lot of valid complaints… but his offense worked.

People keep saying this, and just ignore the ones where it really didn't work. As if those don't matter.

I just don't throw out the Vikings, I don't throw out the Dolphins, I don't throw out the Chiefs (especially that first half). One that was particularly telling was the Cowboys, where Eberflus was positively bragging that he had "watched a lot of film" and seen "things they could do." Those kinds of quotes are alarming. There were games where the offense worked, absolutely, and there were lots of games where there was more damage in garbage time or too late to matter.

There were actually a few stats that some announcers alluded to as well, which I thought were kind of clear. Things like how often they ran in specific situations or specific personnel groupings. Those are stats that good DCs (and Eberflus too, maybe, haha) pore over at times. Anything to get an advantage. It seemed Kliff handed some simple advantages that maybe weren't as clear with limited film in 2024, or again I will say - it just seemed something may have been wrong with the coaching in 2025.

 

[actorguy1]

 

[KDawg]

That can work both ways, with a different person evaluating.

In other words, it may be that Kliff believed that LMC, Lane, Sinnott weren't good enough. It could be that JD didn't like how they ran routes or didn't have enough trust (although again, I think we all saw this and it was never fixed, and I point to potential coaching issues there). It could be a combination of those. It could even be true too.

The new regime may look at it (and after all, they were there) and say, I think if we coach them this way, maybe a slight modification from before, maybe a bit more emphasis on this/that, it may make them reach that next level. They may feel they saw enough there to have some confidence in an increased role.

My point here is, I tend to agree with what I think I understand from Neophyte here; I don't see that we are so dire at WR especially considering all of the factors. Would we like to get better at WR? Absolutely. Do we enter this offseason with a mountain of needs? Is WR maybe, maybe, maybe (coaches' discretion, and as you said, they see more than we do, and these are different coaches) "OK" with something different than what some of us think? I don't see the data points (without some potential reasons) to tell me WR is a disaster with small tweaks. I do think it's risky, especially if we are thinking Aiyuk and Burks heal all ills. Both have too much injury history to feel good on it.

I would tend to think they need one more WR ideally. I think they entered 2024 thinking their CB room needed help. Then when they were looking really good, they reached for Lattimore. That didn't work out well, but the reality is, sometimes you enter the season with groups not quite where you'd like them to be; some of it is circumstantial. They tried to get better so far in the WR room and it didn't pan out.

People keep saying this, and just ignore the ones where it really didn't work. As if those don't matter.

I just don't throw out the Vikings, I don't throw out the Dolphins, I don't throw out the Chiefs (especially that first half). One that was particularly telling was the Cowboys, where Eberflus was positively bragging that he had "watched a lot of film" and seen "things they could do." Those kinds of quotes are alarming. There were games where the offense worked, absolutely, and there were lots of games where there was more damage in garbage time or too late to matter.

There were actually a few stats that some announcers alluded to as well, which I thought were kind of clear. Things like how often they ran in specific situations or specific personnel groupings. Those are stats that good DCs (and Eberflus too, maybe, haha) pore over at times. Anything to get an advantage. It seemed Kliff handed some simple advantages that maybe weren't as clear with limited film in 2024, or again I will say - it just seemed something may have been wrong with the coaching in 2025.

See my long post above RE: why Eberflus knew what we were doing.

 

[KDawg]

I mean. It’s not awful. He has trust with Jayden and can catch a deep ball. But… this looks like a camp position battle receiver…

Although he is WR2 right now. That is what is scary at the moment.

 

[skinsinparadise]

I like Dyami for depth

 

[actorguy1]

 

[actorguy1]

 

[Simeon]

I think some of us (me included) have put too much emphasis on "we need an ...." as if the team is a list of individual positions and we need to check all the boxes. I'm no KDawg so I read up some more on the Ben Johnson offense. A lot of the recent decisions by AP make a lot more sense to me when I put them in the context of what we think is coming. I knew it would emphasize the run more but now I'm seeing the emphasis is going to be run-first in all likelihood. Lots of move blocking and not necessarily zone; some gap as well at any point on the line. Receivers will be important and I expect a high production for the season, maybe top 10 but their role will emphasize blocking downfield a lot more. Another role is to keep defenders from stacking the box and be ready to exploit any downfield opportunities when they attempt to cheat, hence the need for a credible deep threat. In that context - They already added a good WR. Chig will be used as a WR/TE hybrid who gets open, catches well, gains YAC and is a good move blocker. I expect him to be in on almost all plays and never super close to the line. We will have 2 TEs, Sinnott and Bates. Our 2 TE sets (most plays will really be 1 TE. - Jennings is similar to Chig but has shown he can get open vs corners and may fit better as a traditional WR who can block. OTOH I expect Chig would block better against LBs. - Terry can block (maybe not as well) but has shown he can catch at all levels and has eleite tracking. Pierce I think they wanted as much for potential as production; could maybe be our #1 WR next year, just didn't work out and that's not on AP. If we don't get Jennings and have to settle for a Keenan Allen type I think we will be fine to start but would have risky depth. I do think it's way too soon to write off the Luke/Lane duo and expect one of them to surprise us this year. And I also think people are pretty quick to plan on us moving on from Terry next year; his 27 contract is NOT prohibitive and let's just see how he performs this year.
- The pursuit of Tyler L. to the extent of way overpaying a center makes sense when you consider his elite run blocking and OK pass blocking. He was also I think seen as an elite leader for the line as to calling out protections, etc. And I also agree that the contract he did get was insane but see now we were not overbidding for this offense. Not sure why they dropped Biadazz so soon but I believe Allagretti is also a good move blocker and call protections well. Chris Paul may not be back at any price; great as pass pro but sucks at run blocking, particularly on the move. - I reaaly liked CRod before he was popular and wish him well but see he might not be the best type of back for this O. Bill may be a better runner but lack of proficiency in the passing game is a big minus, the whole idea is to keep them guessing. White fits well for that but is older and not as good a pure runner. The best move in the draft as far as impact on the team for me is Love by a mile, he would supercharge this offense. Tate would add value but I don't think have as much impact.

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