The 2026 Free Agency Thread

[burgold]

Or Chig motions into that Z WR role. Not sure that's a good fix, but I bet it's in play for a few snaps at least.

 

[skinsinparadise]

Does it though? It improves the WR group, but Diggs was slot only in New England (it's why they swapped him with AJ Brown). We'd still have a question mark for the Z WR.

Antonio Williams, Jaylin Lane, Luke McCaffrey, Chig Okonkwo will probably be getting the bulk of their snaps in the slot. That is unless the vague rumor the team thinks Antonio Williams can handle Z is true. If they think Williams can, then yes absolutely let us go grab Diggs.

I hear you, but I am not buying Burks-Dyami can play Z better than Diggs. Mind you last year he was coming off an ACL.

But playing along, if all Diggs can play is slot, that's fine with me too

 

[Chris]

But yeah i don't care about Keim's opinion on football, but his inside info is the best among those that cover this team clearly.

What? You’re not enthralled by his film breakdowns? 🤣

 

[Voice_of_Reason]

Yeah, I think the defense is being seriously slept on.

My disagreement with the people touting the offense isn't that I think it will be bad. I don't. If Jayden is healthy, I think it can be good. But they need some luck. If Terry gets hurt, I think the bottom could fall out pretty quickly because there simply isn't another proven high-end receiver behind him.

Where I can't follow the script is this idea that having a TE who can catch or a pass-catching RB is some novel cheat code that makes the WR issue less relevant. Plenty of teams have those things. And I also can't just assume that every offseason projection is going to hit: Croskey-Merritt becomes a star, Sinnott finally breaks out, Lane emerges, Chig turns into a Kittle-level beast, Antonio Williams hits immediately, etc.

The irony is that I liked many of these guys before Washington even acquired them. I pushed Croskey-Merritt before the draft. I wanted Chig before free agency. So this isn't me disliking the players. It's me refusing to assume that every optimistic projection becomes reality. It starts to feel a little too Larry Michael-ish for me—every flash becomes a breakout, every flier becomes a future star, every unknown becomes an answer.

Could one or two of those things happen? Absolutely. I actually expect at least one to happen. But the idea that all—or even most—of our hopes and dreams for every offensive flier are going to hit feels pretty far-fetched. I used to have more of that kind of offseason optimism myself. Over the years, I've become more cynical because I've watched too many "promising" players simply remain promising until they're gone. The defense is different because the depth is real. It's not built nearly as much on wishful projection. Guys like Wise, who were touted as major additions last year—and who I admittedly lampooned a little—are now depth pieces who might not even make the roster. Drake Jackson is the perfect example. He's exactly the kind of "what if" player this team is leaning on at receiver. The difference is that at edge, a "what if" player might end up on the practice squad. On offense, that same type of player gets discussed as a potential solution. That's a massive difference.

Edge is loaded with depth. Linebacker is similarly stacked. I love the addition of Cross at safety. I wouldn't call safety loaded with stars, but it's deep. At corner, Sainristil has his flaws but has at least been durable. Amos has talent, but we need to see if he can stay healthy. Robertson is feisty and, IMO, a good slot corner. They still need more depth there, no question.

That's why I don't agree with VOR's framing of CB versus WR. The difference is simple. If I thought Ben Sinnott was already amazing, Chig was already a superstar, or Croskey-Merritt was the next Saquon Barkley—I'm using hyperbole to make the point—then fine. I'd understand saying, "We don't need to emphasize WR because we're going to overwhelm teams elsewhere." They have the talent on defense to do just that. Offense has the question marks IMO.

If their TE1 was Loveland and their TE2 was Kmet? Sign me up. Let's old-school it and run the offense through two tight ends. If they had Gronk and Hernandez, obviously the WR conversation changes. If they had Kittle or Kelce, same thing. If they had Bijan in the backfield, sure, that changes the equation too. But that's not this roster.

The argument seems to be: "We don't have a stud WR2, but we'll emphasize the tight ends and backs instead." Okay—but that only becomes a compelling answer if the tight ends and backs are actually special. Right now, those positions are filled with plenty of projection and unknowns too. Warren Sharp, who is hardly an idiot, thinks this may be the worst RB room in the league. Greg Cosell, who actually likes the defensive talent on this team, isn't high on the TE talent.

Personally, I'm more optimistic than either of them. I think the RB room will be fine. I think the TEs will be fine. I like White. I like Chig. I still like Croskey-Merritt. I haven't given up on Sinnott. But I just don't see those groups as so uniquely talented or dominant that they somehow supersede the need for another quality receiver. That's the leap I can't make.

Meanwhile, on defense, they simply have a lot of good football players. And as Champ Bailey recently pointed out, the pass rush itself should make life considerably easier on the corners. That's why I'm much more comfortable with the defensive construction. The strength there is tangible. The depth is tangible. On offense, too much of the argument still feels like: "Just wait until all these guys become something they haven't been yet."

I just want to point out, you said you would drop it, but you physically can't drop it. I didn't even bother responding to your previous post, but you dragged me into this one to continue to say you disagree with me. And you referenced me but didn't even tag me. I think you hate it when people disagree with you, and you keep coming back to try and prove that you are right over and over and over again. And quite candidly, you're getting somewhat snarky and sarcastic about it too.

From the perspective of actual disagreement, I think it comes down to this:
You have more confidence in the defense as currently constructed. I have more faith in the offense.

There are 3 things and one historical fact which make me less concerned with the offense:
- Daniels, when healthy, is a top 5 QB. And top 5 QBs are expected to carry the load of the offense.
- The OL should be top 10 in the league if not better. They probably have one of the best bookend tackle groupings in the NFL, and a top 3 (if not the best) LT in the league. They also have a pro-bowl caliber RG. And we know the floor of the LG play is at least "good." There are people freaking out about center. Maybe this is the rub, I'm not that concerned about it. I didn't think Biadasz was that great, and often injured though he played through it. Allegretti actually was the player calling out protections when Biadasz went down in 2024. If you believe the insinuations from the beat reporters, the main thing the tea wasn't happy with with Biadasz was getting into the right protections. I think this is going to be a really, really good group.
- Terry is the third best player on the team. If we're being honest, Tunsil is probably the best player on the team, and Daniels is probably second, though if somebody wanted to argue the opposite, it would make sense. But Terry is third. (Tress Way might be 4th. But that's a different story.) He's proven, he isn't missing the off-season, and he has a history of durability. And in the games he played last year when healthy, even though he was playing with a backup QB, the advanced metrics showed he was pretty good. ** If any of these guys get hurt, it's going to be a huge blow.

Historical fact: We saw in 2024 a lot of this collection of players perform at a top 5 offensive level. You can try and diminish that by saying they played a weak schedule. However, even in the weak schedule, they played some pretty good defenses. The Eagles (twice in the regular season, once in the playoffs, and they won one of them by scoring a bunch in the second half), Titans, Bears, Steelers, Ravens and Browns all had good defenses. The Bucs have a really tough defense to prepare for because they blitz from everywhere, and we beat them in the playoffs. And yet they were still a top 5 offense from a yards and 7th in points. Sure, they had a few games against poorly rated defenses (Dallas twice, though they struggled mightily against the Dallas defense). But even if the schedule wasn't tough overall, they didn't play a cake walk of defenses through that stretch.

So, the best 3 players on the team all play offense. QB is the most important position on the team, and we have what appears to be a top 5 QB. And the second most important position group on offense is the OL, and it looks like we have a really good one. I think you are discounting some really good players on the OL. Tunsil is an all pro level tackle, Cosmi is a pro bowl level guard, and Conerly had a really impressive end to his season for a rookie. The baseline for LG is what Paul provided last season, which was above average, and Allegretti will be fine at Center even through all the hand ringing about letting Biadasz go. There are a lot of really good players on offense. They just don't all play skill positions.

And we've seen them perform at a really high level just 2 years ago with a lot of the same players. The big swaps were Tunsil for Coleman (huge upgrade), Conerly for Wylie (upgrade), Allegretti for Biadasz (wash) and Chig for Ertz (I think this should be viewed as a wash for now, they are very different players, but could have upside.)

Can they re-create what they did in 2024? I don't know for sure, but I also see no reason why they couldn't. What concerns me most about offense and defense is the new, first time coordinators, but that's somewhat outside of this personnel discussion.

Contrast that to the defense. Yes, I get that they just completely overhauled the defensive personnel. I like the signings they've made. The overhaul needed to happen. They were old and slow everywhere on defense. But I still have a lot of concern on the defense. Several reasons:
- CB is a glaring weakness. I see they just signed Rasul Douglas. Is it still a glaring weakness? I don't know. I will admit I don't know a ton about him. But it's at least another body who started last year. I have no idea if this is going to change what the beat reporters have been saying, but to a man (at least the ones I've listened to), all have said CB was the area they thought they would add and needed to add, and look, that's what they did! On a joint podcast a month ago, Bram asked Keim where they needed to add and before Bram was done with the question, Keim said "Cornerback!" With an exclamation point in his tone. JP was openly concerned about Cornerback, said they absolutely need Amos to play well and stay healthy. Standig has said the same. Will the most pressing need now that they signed Douglas switch to WR? Maybe, and it probably should if Douglas is seen at least as depth who can start outside if either Amos or Sainristil get hurt/struggle.

They desperately need Amos to pick up where he left off and stay healthy. Sainristil is a ?. Is he going to thrive outside? He was good his rookie year, but last year he wasn't. He's also undersized. Amik Robertson has been ok in his NFL career. He's really short. If any one of those guys gets hurt, there's very little behind them, (probably hence the Rasul signing). If the CBs can't hold up, a lot of the other things the defense does is moot. Unlike on offense, you really can't scheme around a bad CB. Offenses will find them, and pick on them. In fact, it gets worse, they scheme during the week to target a bad/weak CB. Can you negate that with pressure? Sure. But you better be absolutely on point with your pressure packages, because if it gets picked up, you're toast.

I don't think you can hide bad cornerbacks. I think you can hide other positions on the field. Even if you're going to roll coverage, play off and crash on the ball and bring a lot of pressure, I just don't think you can hide your starting outside CBs. Slot CB is actually different, you can hide that spot with LB and safeties. You need 2 starters on the outside.
- Maybe this matters, maybe it doesn't, but all of these guys are going to have to learn to play together in a new system which none of them have played in. In some ways it's like 2024 all over again. And on defense, it never really clicked. You could say that's the players, Whitt, whatever, but the defense was basically bad all season.
- I think the switch from a 4-3 to a 3-4, where they are going to take players who have been DEs and make them OLBs is a huge risk, and we don't know exactly how that's going to work out yet. It might be great out of the gate, it also might take a while to figure out.
- Even though I side-eye PFF, one thing that they all said and it resonated, in today's NFL, coverage was more important than pressure. Is that true with the Flores scheme? Maybe not. And I get the fact they're going to rely less on CBs and try and generate more pressure. But I've always believed a defense needs to be able to cover, because you can't count on pressure getting there every play.
- I'm also concerned with the ability to stop the run. Is Settle a real NT in a 3-4? You don't really want to put Payne, Kinlaw or Newton at NT. Can Settle hold up? Can the other 2 DTs generate pressure on the inside? Maybe? One thing I am fairly confident in is the ILBs ability to get to the right hole and tackle. But I'm concerned about the OLB's ability to set the edge because they are DE's playing OLB, and that's a transition.

Though without question, my biggest concern is CB. Maybe after I read a little more about Douglas, I will ease up on my concern. And to the shot you took at me saying I was essentially inventing the concern to cover for the fact I'm less concerned about WR so it wouldn't appear as though I was giving Peters a pass, I mean, why would I bother doing that? I honest to God don't care about being right on a football message board. If I'm wrong, I'm wrong. So what? If I thought Peters was doing a flawless job, I'd just say that. I don't. So I haven't. I certainly don't need to invent something in order to appear to be unbiased or something.

Until I see the defense come together, I'm just not going to trust it. I can like the players they added. I can even like the scheme. However, I can also acknowledge the gaping hole at CB and have concern not all of the pieces fit exactly right.

So for those reasons, I'm more concerned about the defense than the offense. Reasonable people can disagree. I don't see this as an unreasonable position to take. Especially with how bad the defense has ben the last 2 years under this regime. (It's been bad longer than that, but that's on somebody else's room bill.)

I also don't think adding another outside WR is like "the missing piece" on offense. While I think they can be really good to great offensively, if there is a hole to fill, I am more frustrated they didn't do more at RB. I would gladly have taken a much better weapon at RB and keep the WR room the way it is. They're putting a heck of a lot more on Bill and White than they are on Burks/Van Jefferson/DBrown on a play to play basis.

I also have literally no idea if any of this is going to work out. Everything might fall apart. I don't think the offense is going to be a train wreck. I think they're going to be good to great. I could be very wrong about that. That happens. Everybody has opinions and takes which turn out to be really wrong. The defense could be great, and the offense could really miss not having other playmakers. I fully acknowledge that is a possibility. I would love to be right about the offense and wrong about the defense. That would mean both units would be really good.

I'm guessing as much as anybody. I also don't grade offseason until the end of the season. I don't grade drafts until 2-3 years after the draft. So, after the season, we'll see how they ended up and how smart they actually were. As Bill Parcells says "You are what your record says you are."

But I also don't really get that emotionally tied into either 1) being right, or 2) worrying that much about specific moves. I enjoy listening to things about the team, talking about them, I'm happy when they win, sad when they lose. But somewhere along the way, I no longer get devastated when they lose. Maybe that's the effect of them being bad for 30 years, or maybe it's because I'm now 50 and there are way more important things in my life, and I can take this as a hobby and have fun with it.

 

[skinsinparadise]

I just want to point out, you said you would drop it, but you physically can't drop it. I didn't even bother responding to your previous post, but you dragged me into this one to continue to say you disagree with me. And you referenced me but didn't even tag me. I think you hate it when people disagree with you, and you keep coming back to try and prove that you are right over and over and over again. And quite candidly, you're getting somewhat snarky and sarcastic about it too.

I didn't drag you into anything. I was giving a holistic take on the roster. You were hitting me for not agreeing with you about CB just prior to that so I figured I'd give you credit for that point while addessing it in my long take about the roster, but it was one point among many.

From the perspective of actual disagreement, I think it comes down to this:
You have more confidence in the defense as currently constructed. I have more faith in the offense.

Not true. It's silly. I don't think anyone on the planet thinks the defense is better than the offense. What I said was they did a lot to improve the defense. They did little to improve the offense. But as I said the offense has Jayden Daniels. That fixes plenty. And I've explained to you many times why i don't like that so much is put on Jayden.

Historical fact: We saw in 2024 a lot of this collection of players perform at a top 5 offensive level. You can try and diminish that by saying they played a weak schedule. However, even in the weak schedule, they played some pretty good defenses. The Eagles (twice in the regular season, once in the playoffs, and they won one of them by scoring a bunch in the second half), Titans, Bears, Steelers, Ravens and Browns all had good defenses.

Everything broke right for them. If the schedule is again the weakest. If Terry again doesn't miss s snap. They have hardly any injuries. They win many games on the last play. Sure it could all work out wonderfully.

You though keep missing my point, I never said the offense is going to be bad. I've said the opposite. I just don't like piling it all on a young QB -- especially because one of the secret sauces of 2024 was Jayden ran like crazy, someone isn't open, then he took off.

Contrast that to the defense. Yes, I get that they just completely overhauled the defensive personnel. I like the signings they've made. The overhaul needed to happen. They were old and slow everywhere on defense. But I still have a lot of concern on the defense. Several reasons:
- CB is a glaring weakness. I see they just signed Rasul Douglas. Is it still a glaring weakness? I don't know. I will admit I don't know a ton about him. But it's at least another body who started last year. I have no idea if this is going to change what the beat reporters have been saying, but to a man (at least the ones I've listened to), all have said CB was the area they thought they would add and needed to add, and look, that's what they did! On a joint podcast a month ago, Bram asked Keim where they needed to add and before Bram was done with the question, Keim said "Cornerback!" With an exclamation point in his tone. JP was openly concerned about Cornerback, said they absolutely need Amos to play well and stay healthy. Standig has said the same. Will the most pressing need now that they signed Douglas switch to WR? Maybe, and it probably should if Douglas is seen at least as depth who can start outside if either Amos or Sainristil get hurt/struggle.

Keim said to ESPN the other day, the biggest question mark with this team is the #2 WR. No one, not me either have suggested they have done enough at CB. One of my points back to you a few days back was it has been said they will sign a veteran CB, and Douglas specfically was cited by Keim weeks ago as a target and I posted about it here.

Though without question, my biggest concern is CB. Maybe after I read a little more about Douglas, I will ease up on my concern. And to the shot you took at me saying I was essentially inventing the concern to cover for the fact I'm less concerned about WR so it wouldn't appear as though I was giving Peters a pass, I mean, why would I bother doing that? I honest to God don't care about being right on a football message board. If I'm wrong, I'm wrong. So what? If I thought Peters was doing a flawless job, I'd just say that. I don't. So I haven't. I certainly don't need to invent something in order to appear to be unbiased or something.

I've seen a lot of debates over a lot of years, and I can't recall anyone being that upset at a miss at a position without being upset with the FO at the same time. At a minimum, people usually aim some of their frustration at the FO responsible for the problem. You don't do that at all.

That's why your CB response feels, to me, like a function of the WR debate, where Peters is taking some arrows. Maybe it's subconscious, but it comes off like: I really, really like Peters, I'm going to defend his offseason and showcase how emotional and over-the-top his critics are — but to prove I don't think he's perfect, I'll hammer him on something else without taking any real macro shots at Peters himself. Especially since it comes up usually in the throes of the WR discussion.

Because if you were truly this upset about the CB situation, wouldn't some of that anger be directed at the guy who built the roster? But if you say that's not what's driving it. That's cool.

 

[skinsinparadise]

What? You’re not enthralled by his film breakdowns? 🤣

Nope. lol. Don't get me wrong Keim is no dummy. But I don't agree with all his football takes and he's not the liveliest guy on his podcasts. But he's the dude I trust the most with his deep throat info that he gets from time to time.

And the weird thing about it, is he drops it with almost zlich fanfare, the Douglas nugget for example he dropped almost randomly towards the end of a podcast. It seemed so specific that I posted it here at the time.

 

[CommDownMan]

A non-Brandon Aiyuk tweet.

Never thought I'd be this excited for Rasul Douglas, but we made it guys!

 

[clskinsfan]

I think he will be behind Amos, Sainristil, and Robertson, but we needed more bodies there, so this makes sense.

Agreed. 3.8 mill is far from starting CB territory.

I've been gone for a while. But wanted to stop in now that we are getting closer to training camp. I know a lot of you guys want Diggs. But I would prefer just to bring Deebo back instead in all honesty. We know what we had with him.

 

[Conn]

Agreed. 3.8 mill is far from starting CB territory.

I've been gone for a while. But wanted to stop in now that we are getting closer to training camp. I know a lot of you guys want Diggs. But I would prefer just to bring Deebo back instead in all honesty. We know what we had with him.

I think it’s perfectly fine to feel the opposite, but for me if it’s for one year, I prefer Diggs. And I wouldn’t want Deebo for more than one year either. But I get disagreeing.

For me, Diggs can make plays downfield even at his age, and he’ll be healthier than last year. Deebo seems to just steadily losing athleticism, and is a near-LOS player who was forced into a larger role last year. He did admirably with it in a lost season, considering, but it’s not his game and he looked slower and less athletic by the end of the year. Diggs isn’t what he once was (insert that song here) but he is still a much more natural deep threat and hands plucker downfield when called upon. And would be very dangerous on the outside on play action shots across from Terry

 

[Conn]

I’m not sure about depth. Non-zero chance Douglas is our best outside CB right now. It really depends on how the young guys develop (and Amos’ health)

 

[Always Commander Never Captain]

Yes, I think from the preseason to the end of the regular season Deebo noticeably lost a lot of juice. It wasn't just one step slower either.

He didn't seem to be a YAC threat anymore. Separation looked much worse.

 

[DWinzit]

Yes, I think from the preseason to the end of the regular season Deebo noticeably lost a lot of juice. It wasn't just one step slower either.

He didn't seem to be a YAC threat anymore. Separation looked much worse.

Yes and that's why he hasn't drawn interest. Funny thing, he had juice at the beginning of the year

 

[Always Commander Never Captain]

I’m not sure about depth. Non-zero chance Douglas is our best outside CB right now. It really depends on how the young guys develop (and Amos’ health)

And how Sainristil fits. There's a real chance he could play up massively in the scheme (my suspicion), but maybe he never feels at home with what's asked of him and struggles.

 

[Conn]

And how Sainristil fits. There's a real chance he could play up massively in the scheme (my suspicion), but maybe he never feels at home with what's asked of him and struggles.

We have yet to see much of what our FO and coaching staff were so ecstatic about with Sainristil, he’s got a big leap to make to be a good starting CB, never mind the difference-maker they were excited to draft. I really hope this scheme brings it out in him.

 

[Always Commander Never Captain]

We have yet to see much of what our FO and coaching staff were so ecstatic about with Sainristil, he’s got a big leap to make to be a good starting CB, never mind the difference-maker they were excited to draft. I really hope this scheme brings it out in him.

Byron Murphy is the Sainristil comp I'm thinking of. Someone without elite measurables, but seems like he could be a good boundary zone corner in the right scheme.

Minnesota signed him 3 years ago and he became a pro-bowl caliber player for them.

We know Sainristil isn't good in Man coverage, he can't quite handle the quick twitch of Nickel. But his best games have been when he was an outside corner. I know his 2025 wasn't good, but I feel like he played better after Joe Whitt was demoted from DC duties and after he was moved to Outside Corner from Nickel. The stats don't really show much of a difference in production between the two time periods, but my memory is Sainristil looked more the part. I suspect the 2026 defense with a better pass rush, and being predominantly zone, will play into Sainristil's skillset.

 

[Faithful Fan]

Agreed. 3.8 mill is far from starting CB territory.

I've been gone for a while. But wanted to stop in now that we are getting closer to training camp. I know a lot of you guys want Diggs. But I would prefer just to bring Deebo back instead in all honesty. We know what we had with him.

I agree bringing back Deebo is probably our best option if we want to add a vet wide receiver. On the field, he was our leading receiver last year. Off the field, he was a model citizen.

I think it’s perfectly fine to feel the opposite, but for me if it’s for one year, I prefer Diggs. And I wouldn’t want Deebo for more than one year either. But I get disagreeing.

For me, Diggs can make plays downfield even at his age, and he’ll be healthier than last year. Deebo seems to just steadily losing athleticism, and is a near-LOS player who was forced into a larger role last year. He did admirably with it in a lost season, considering, but it’s not his game and he looked slower and less athletic by the end of the year. Diggs isn’t what he once was (insert that song here) but he is still a much more natural deep threat and hands plucker downfield when called upon. And would be very dangerous on the outside on play action shots across from Terry

I would be fine adding Diggs, he’s a local product, he continues to be productive, and he would probably be near the top of our depth chart right away. So he seems like a good fit.

But compared to Deebo, Diggs is also older, more trouble off the field, and doesn’t know our coaches or have the reps with our quarterbacks.

You’re right about Deebo doing admirably last season. He was basically asked to be our #1 receiver most of the year, not really a recipe for his success, but still managed to lead the team in receiving. I was impressed with him last year and would welcome him back.

Yes, I think from the preseason to the end of the regular season Deebo noticeably lost a lot of juice. It wasn't just one step slower either.

He didn't seem to be a YAC threat anymore. Separation looked much worse.

Here are the game logs:

https://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/S/SamuDe00/gamelog/2025/

It does seem there was a bit of a decline there, but I would say we wore him out. The thing that stood out to me is that he took 73% of the snaps last year. We would rather have him at half that this year, but it’s impressive that he could do it in a pinch. For comparison, Diggs took 55% in New England.

Yes and that's why he hasn't drawn interest.

Of course, neither has Diggs. All the guys who are free agents at this point are available for one reason or another.

 

[burgold]

For some reason, Deebo just feels redundant. He specializes in what we want Williams and Lane to do and I do want to give the young guys an opportunity to step up. OTOH, the fun part of getting Deebo back would be seeing if the 2025 plan had a chance of working albeit in a different scheme.

 

[skinsinparadise]

Lane as I mentioned upon watching him before that draft was mostly a gadget WR, short passes and YAC, in the NFL they didn't use him much like that but when they did he wasn't much, averaged slightly over 2 yards of YAC last season so that's clearly bad. Maybe he emerges more in that regard this year. But I suspect he's buried on the depth chart behind Antonio and McCaffrey. But will see.

Antonio I like a lot, decent YAC guy nothing crazy though on that front, not a physical player so different type from Deebo.

I keep going back to Van Jefferson. Not that he's anything special. He's had a meh career aside from one season, 6 years back. But considering Jayden is so much about timing and trust -- Van by reputation is the best route runner among the options at Z. Burks not known as a crisp route runner. Dyami seems to be all about screens and go routes. Van i believe can run the full route tree. Granted he's a dude that's a #5 on most other NFL teams if he makes the roster at all. But if I am betting on a dark horse to win the Z job, it would be him. Lane really isn't a Z IMO. McCaffrey maybe can be a Z, but also more of a slot.

Also wouldn't shock me if McCaffrey plays slot, when Antonio plays Z.

 

[Boone]

I don't believe you forego adding a player who makes your team better immediately (Deebo or Diggs) to give someone who has yet to prove they can be effective at this level (Lane) ,more reps. That's a good way to stay mediocre. We gave up a 5th rounder for Deebo to rent him for a single season. AP knows exactly what he does and doesn't bring to the table. But what he brings to the table is much more than anyone not named McLaurin has shown they can bring.

 

[skinsinparadise]

I don't believe you forego adding a player who makes your team better immediately (Deebo or Diggs) to give someone who has yet to prove they can be effective at this level (Lane) ,more reps. That's a good way to stay mediocre. We gave up a 5th rounder for Deebo to rent him for a single season. AP knows exactly what he does and doesn't bring to the table. But what he brings to the table is much more than anyone not named McLaurin has shown they can bring.

Yeah not sure its Deebo for me on that point but I agree with the overall sentiment. They are in year 3 of Jayden's rookie contract. Last year was a wasted year. The Patriots and Bears aren't farting around with their teams with QBs on rookie contract. Go for it. Sign a veteran WR.

Lane is a late 4th round pick. Not a first rounder. He had almost a 10% drop rate, 2 yards and change YAC -- he might emerge but he doesn't have the pedigree or showed enough flashes last year to bank on him. But as a punt returner he was awesome.