The 2026 Free Agency Thread

[Conn]

I’ve never expressed this sentiment before, but I think it’s time for the owner to intercede.

No way I buy a team for 6 billion, draft a potential generational franchise QB, and accept the team not even having a proven #2.

Nah. If you feel that way then it’s time to clean house and bring in someone whose vision you align more with, in the shoes of an owner. Not intercede to make football decisions.

 

[Conn]

AP doesn't have the greatest reputation when it comes to certain things but I am going to give him the benefit of doubt on this one. He knows what we went through at WR last year and both him and DQ identified what they wanted, which was someone with big streak capabilities.

They tried to get Pierce but couldn't. They tried to get Doubs but couldn't. Fortunately for them, Williams who they had high value in, fell to them and they label him as someone who they think is explosive with quick strike capability.

If you remember, entering the off-season, it was reported that they wanted Ayuik but he won't be the only one. They will sign one more.. They drafted Williams as the one more and now they just want Ayuik. It's been their plan all along.

We hesitated to sign Terry last year due to age. Allen is 34, Hopkins is 34, and Diggs is 32 with some baggage and a big personality. Pittman and Jennings are not that special to them compared to Ayuik. Now let's get to Brandon.

Ayuik is one of Jayden's best friends and teammates. This has been in the works for a long time and they want to play together. AP was in SF when they drafted Ayuik. He loves him. Now the biggest 2 things are how good they think that he is and when will he be released. All of us and the media are flat out speculating.

AP is super close to Shanahan and Lynch. He's spoken with them, had dinner with him, and more. It is safe to say that he knows a lot more about what they are going to do than us. I also still think they don't want to burn any bridges with us as we have given them some great deals and they will need us in the future.

Lastly they are also focused on the Blough system. I think they believe that Chig will be huge and so will Williams. I think all of them between Jayden, AP, and DQ believe that Aiyuk is the best player in the group, with the highest ceiling, he will be released sooner than later, and he is ready to go.

If before FA started you posted a few times “trust AP guys, he’ll go D in the 1st, draft a WR in the 3rd, and sign Aiyuk” as the solution to our problems, you would’ve been dog piled with people saying that’s ridiculous, we have unlimited cap space we’ll obviously sign or draft or trade for someone else, it would be malpractice not to, etc. etc.

Now some of those people are in cope-mode so they’ll instead thumbs up your post and talk about how it’s okay and expected, actually. And that’s fine.

Obviously I’d like to sign Diggs at this point. And still pursue Aiyuk whenever he’s available, as a garnish to the rest of the offseason and not as any sort of savior.

But it all comes down to your first sentence. It’s about giving the benefit of the doubt, or not. I don’t see a reason to do so, so I don’t. You’re arguing that we should. We’ll all feel a lot better if we get another starting caliber WR on the roster, but it’s really just about investing blind belief or not. I don’t have it to give right now, but they can earn it back.

 

[Conn]

I imagine Peters is held in higher esteem still league wide than among Commanders fans.

Getting this franchise to the NFCCG from the moribund state it had been in after his first year after overhauling 70% of the roster in one year is impressive. People on this board often talk about him like he's among the worst GMs in league history and someone they can't wait to bounce off the team.

This is laughably overstated in service of your point, come on. I can name all the most critical FO posters on this board, myself included, and NOBODY feels how you described. Definition of a straw man, enjoy beating it up

 

[Conn]

I was just thinking of something. I think this is the big disconnect between the fans and the team. Everyone is adamant that we need another receiver but would all of you be screaming that we need Diggs or Jennings if we had drafted Tate in the first round? I don't think that you would have. We would hate been satisfied and just waited for Aiyuk to be icing on the cake. I even think that a lot of you would have been satisfied if we drafted Boston.

Basically you all like Williams but you aren't seeing him as that guy, probably mostly because of all the talk of him being a slot, 3rd receiver. I keep saying this. They feel like he is that guy. They feel like they got a steal and a true #2 at the least with #1 upside. Again alot of people had him as a first round pick or even top 3 receiver coming into last season.

Look no further than our very own team. We had a lot of guys stock drop last year. Just look at Jayden. People were calling him a top 5 QB at the end of his rookie year. Now he's way down the list. Still everyone here is banking on it just being a down sesson and him rising back to the top this year. That's how they see Williams. They think that we got another McLaurin, 3rd round pick again.

I was just listening to Grant and Danny and they are now saying what I've been saying. They said talking to people in the building, they see him as a starter in 2wr sets. If you get past the mindset that he's a 3rd round, 3rd receiver, slot guy, then I don't think you would feel like it is so egregious that we haven't signed anyone else yet because you wouldn't feel like that if we drafted Tate, Tyson, or Lemon.

Again, this is not a typical 3rd round pick. I've never heard them call a 3rd rounder the best route runner in the draft. Even if he plays a lot of slot. We are running the Ben Johnson offense where St. Brown was the best receiver in the game on any given weekend, from the slot. They think that they got their cake and eat it too by being able to get Sonny and still get a receiver who they had a high grade on.

Again, even the local media is finally starting to get it because this whole time they have been tempered because they think we drafted a slot guy/ 3rd receiver so they are looking for more but now they are realizing that the team sees him as a outside, starting receiver who will go inside on 3 wide. AP and DQ keep telling you that he can play outside when no one even asked them that.

Now don't get it twisted. They might be wrong as hell and it can all backfire with him looking like a 3rd round/ slot/3rd receiver, but they think that he is just like the Eagles drafting Lemon in the first round to take AJ Browns starting spot. I bet they have them rated similar so if Lemon or some of the others would have not made you scream for Diggs or Jennings then they want you to treat the Williams pick the same way.

I like Williams, he could be “that guy” and it still wouldn’t be enough for me, personally. But a great start.

But more importantly I have no reason to value the fact that THEY think he’s that guy. You’re weighting that very heavily, I can’t figure out why. They’ve whiffed a bunch on guys they loved in their first two offseasons—either in talent evaluation, or in scheme deployment. Guys who they were shocked fell to them, who they had first round grades on, etc. Maybe they were poorly coached after being drafted, maybe they were mis-evaluated. But either way, they’ve whiffed on “their guys” plenty so far.

I hope they’re right about Williams, and I love that some people I respect here like him a lot. But I’d have to be a real koolaid drinker to just trust them on him being THE solution to our WR problems. Like come on.

 

[Dlts20]

If before FA started you posted a few times “trust AP guys, he’ll go D in the 1st, draft a WR in the 3rd, and sign Aiyuk” as the solution to our problems, you would’ve been dog piled with people saying that’s ridiculous, we have unlimited cap space we’ll obviously sign or draft or trade for someone else, it would be malpractice not to, etc. etc.

Now some of those people are in cope-mode so they’ll instead thumbs up your post and talk about how it’s okay and expected, actually. And that’s fine.

Obviously I’d like to sign Diggs at this point. And still pursue Aiyuk whenever he’s available, as a garnish to the rest of the offseason and not as any sort of savior.

But it all comes down to your first sentence. It’s about giving the benefit of the doubt, or not. I don’t see a reason to do so, so I don’t. You’re arguing that we should. We’ll all feel a lot better if we get another starting caliber WR on the roster, but it’s really just about investing blind belief or not. I don’t have it to give right now, but they can earn it back.

I think a lot of it has to do with your perception of last year vs the year before. We had an elite offense 2 years ago and have better talent now. Therefore if you believe that offense was real then you might feel ok with what we are doing. If you believe that last year was more real then you probably won't be happy with just adding Aiyuk to how we stand now.

I guess a lot depends on Aiyuk which is a terrifying thought to some. The best version of Aiyuk could put us in the SB. Fat, washed up Aiyuk may have us struggling again but I truly believe that Terry has another year in him, Chig 8s ready to breakout in a major way, and Williams is the real deal with impact from the jump.

 

[Conn]

One of the things that gives me pause on Diggs:


He can definitely help us, but will we bring in a potentially volatile, me-first player? This will be his fourth team in four years. There's a reason for that. Similar to Biadazs, the Pats released him before they knew who was going to replace him. That's an issue. He has some glaring flags that I don't know this team will ignore.

Agreed on the character stuff, even if he’s “cleared” legally I’d be a bit surprised to see us pursue him.

But in the locker room, in his defense he was a model citizen football-wise with the Patriots this past season. Their young WR’s gave him a lot of credit for being a mentor to them and being a good teammate. It seems he’s chilling out in his elder years. Then again, he did end up their leading receiver (such as it was), and they made the SB, so maybe there just wasn’t anything for him to get dramatic about.

 

[Conn]

My biggest worry is that Blough ends up another McVeigh and we lose him to a head coaching job. The main reason I was completely against a defensive head coach hire. A defensive head coach with a rookie QB is just asking for no consistency on the offensive side of the ball.

I completely agree with you, but if that happens it means that Jayden Daniels had a monster bounce back year to get Blough in that conversation, which means we’re back on the map for legitimate OC hires (or HC hires whenever a change is eventually desired) and he’s on his way to becoming the system himself, the way that Brady, Manning, and Rodgers eventually grew into being “the system”. If Daniels earns Blough a HC opportunity in an under center heavy alignment offense, it’ll mean he’s grown so much in a single season that he can probably carry this franchise generally (even if he shouldn’t have to). Basically, it’s frustrating but would be an ideal problem to have to deal with, in the context of our QB’s development, because Blough isn’t going anywhere if Jayden Daniels doesn’t look like a stud again. Maybe the unemployment line if the opposite happens.

 

[Riggo44]

Agreed on the character stuff, even if he’s “cleared” legally I’d be a bit surprised to see us pursue him.

But in the locker room, in his defense he was a model citizen football-wise with the Patriots this past season. Their young WR’s gave him a lot of credit for being a mentor to them and being a good teammate. It seems he’s chilling out in his elder years. Then again, he did end up their leading receiver (such as it was), and they made the SB, so maybe there just wasn’t anything for him to get dramatic about.

I am curious why he wasn't resigned then...

Maybe he got a little close with Russini? 🤣

 

[Riggo44]

My biggest worry is that Blough ends up another McVeigh and we lose him to a head coaching job.

It would be an absolute BOMB if he became another McVeigh...

 

[Riggo44]

Do they know the Giants offensive coordinator is Matt Nagy?

 

[NickyJ]

I am curious why he wasn't resigned then...

Maybe he got a little close with Russini? 🤣

Diggs might not want to go back to the team that cut him as a show of their lack of faith in him. It would have been awkward for the team to continue to hold onto him, but Diggs doesn't have to care about the teams' optics. If he can choose his next destination, he can choose to go where where they 'believe in him'.

 

[Conn]

I think a lot of it has to do with your perception of last year vs the year before. We had an elite offense 2 years ago and have better talent now. Therefore if you believe that offense was real then you might feel ok with what we are doing. If you believe that last year was more real then you probably won't be happy with just adding Aiyuk to how we stand now.

I guess a lot depends on Aiyuk which is a terrifying thought to some. The best version of Aiyuk could put us in the SB. Fat, washed up Aiyuk may have us struggling again but I truly believe that Terry has another year in him, Chig 8s ready to breakout in a major way, and Williams is the real deal with impact from the jump.

That’s fair. I didn’t think that offense was real, I thought the winning streak was a run of Jayden Daniels playing out of his mind elite football in high-leverage moments, with some luck thrown in, and our various elder statesmen held up better than you could expect to play their very important roles for the young QB. But I had real issues with Kliff’s scheme (and my issues weren’t even about how much Daniels ran, even though that concern did develop for a lot of people eventually. My issues were about his lack of play action usage, lack of motion usage, cuteness, lack of attacking an obvious weakness, etc.)

They doubled down on that offense and roster construction that lucked into miracles alongside Daniels’ ballsy brilliance, and it failed them as everything that went right in 2024 in the right moments, went wrong in 2025. And yes, I did feel like what I saw in 2025 was more representative of what they had built, in my perception. It went worse than I expected, don’t get me wrong. But I felt 2025 was closer to “real” than 2024 was, looking at our staff, schemes, and roster in a macro sense.

And apparently they agreed because they ripped it all apart and fired the coordinators who were running the show for nice guy Quinn, and turned over most of the defense especially.

Part of that was firing the architect of that offense I said I didn’t believe in, and here we are. So it’s not as simple as having a down year and escalating right back to our 2024 brilliance if Jayden bounces back imo. A lot has changed since then, and our ceiling has actually gotten higher imo. But the floor has also gotten lower. It’ll be fun to watch it play out but I have no real reason to trust that they know what they’re doing. I think they were even surprised by 2024. I just want to see Jayden get the real support and opportunity to be that guy again. It was legendary.

 

[Conn]

I am curious why he wasn't resigned then...

Maybe he got a little close with Russini? 🤣

He had this court case brewing since before the SB even happened, so the character concerns became very real despite his good soldier stuff in the locker room

 

[Riggo44]

He had this court case brewing since before the SB even happened, so the character concerns became very real despite his good soldier stuff in the locker room

I need more coffee. I completely didn't put the trial and release together...

 

[KDawg]

We can argue about it all we want… but I think it’s clear that the organization thinks Aiyuk is the answer and it’s just a matter of time.

If we get healthy, motivated Aiyuk? I think he could be.

Question is… do we?

 

[Dlts20]

We can argue about it all we want… but I think it’s clear that the organization thinks Aiyuk is the answer and it’s just a matter of time.

If we get healthy, motivated Aiyuk? I think he could be.

Question is… do we?

Jayden told AP to sign Cross who I think may end up being surprisingly similar to Downs so let's hope that he can help get Aiyuk on his square. Dude obviously loves him. Also, don't get it twisted. I would be ecstatic if we added Diggs, Jennings, Pittman, or whomever but if Aiyuk is good then guys are going to be upset about playing time.

He also may switch and not want to come if he knows that we have Terry, Williams, and Diggs. If he's washed then it's no loss but if he is healthy, elite, and goes to another club then we will be upset.

 

[Discobob]

Agreed on the character stuff, even if he’s “cleared” legally I’d be a bit surprised to see us pursue him.

But in the locker room, in his defense he was a model citizen football-wise with the Patriots this past season. Their young WR’s gave him a lot of credit for being a mentor to them and being a good teammate. It seems he’s chilling out in his elder years. Then again, he did end up their leading receiver (such as it was), and they made the SB, so maybe there just wasn’t anything for him to get dramatic about.

If we sign Diggs for a 1yr deal, he's a Merc.... everyone know that. I feel like the character concerns are less of an issue for a short timer.

 

[Dlts20]

This is from today

 

[RedWolf]

Sign Diggs. Maybe Aiyuk will fall into our lap later. One in the hand is better than two in the bush

 

[Conn]

Jayden told AP to sign Cross

Where are you getting this?