NFL Offseason

Second- and third-year breakout candidates for the 2026 NFL season – Defense edition:

Back for the second half of this annual series. With us being in the true dead period of the NFL offseason, with training camps set to start partially about a week from now, we’re talking about young breakout defenders across the league. Yet again, we’ll be looking at seven different players on the other side of the ball.

Defining the term “breakout” can be somewhat volatile, so here are the guidelines I typically set for the defensive players – no front-seven defenders who recorded double-digit sacks or tackles for loss, players who intercepted 4+ passes, earned a Pro Bowl/All-Pro nomination, or are just generally considered one of the better performers at their respective positions. Moreover, I typically stay away from guys who have barely seen action in the pros up to this point. This, for example, makes names like cornerback Travis Hunter (Jaguars) and defensive tackle Walter Nolen (Cardinals) ineligible.

Among last year’s group, Laiatu Latu finished top 20 in total QB pressures with the Colts, Payton Wilson made some key plays as one of the starting linebackers for the Steelers to help them make the playoffs, and Browns safety Ronnie Hickman was credited with only one touchdown allowed on well over 1000 defensive snaps, compared to his nine passes defensed. Here’s who made the list this time around:

 

Continue reading →

Standard
NFL Offseason

Second- and third-year breakout candidates for the 2026 NFL season – Offense edition:

It’s that time of the year. We’re in the depths of the offseason, with NFL training camps starting off in a couple of weeks. We’ve spent a lot of time discussing the movement of players and construction of rosters, before examining burning questions for all 32 teams at this stage. So now, let’s bring back my annual two-part series on young breakout players across the league. Once again, we’ll be looking at seven different players on offense and defense each.

To avoid questions around what constitutes a “breakout”, here are the guidelines I set for myself – no 1000-yard rushers or receivers, players that have scored double-digit touchdowns, earned a Pro Bowl/All-Pro nomination, or are just generally considered one of the better performers at their respective positions already. That’s why you won’t see someone like Bears tight-end Colston Loveland show up here. Also, I typically try not to include such players who have barely seen the field as pros, although I did make one exception here.

Drake Maye ended up as the runner-up for league MVP, Rome Odunze and Ricky Pearsall showed promising flashes when healthy, and Tanor Bortolini established himself as a quality starter at center for the Colts, as guys who made the list a year ago. Let’s get to the 2026 version:

 

Continue reading →

Standard
NFL Offseason

One burning question for each AFC team ahead of the 2026 season:

In the second half of this little mini series, we ask and somewhat try to answer one question on my mind for each AFC team. Once again, this can revolve around certain position groups, schematic details and or any other things that come to mind.

Standard
NFL Offseason

One burning question for each NFC team ahead of the 2026 season:

After spending the last four months analyzing all the roster additions and departures for the 32 NFL teams, I asked myself what are the biggest questions I still have for each of them. This can revolve around personnel, schematics and really any other topic that came to mind. Today we’ll start on the NFC side!

Standard
NFL Draft, NFL Free Agency, NFL Offseason, NFL Trades

Most improved position groups across the 2026 NFL offseason:

Over the past few months, we’ve extensively talked about the NFL Draft and the players selected by each team – most recently as part of my month-long divisional draft and roster review video series – to go with some thoughts on free agency. At this point of the calendar, we’ve largely reached the end of the roster acquisition period, and it’s time to make some overarching statements.

The purpose of this exercise is to draw conclusions one more time, but from more of a large-scale view, and outline the position groups that were improved the most through all these different avenues, also including trades. This is based on what each roster looked like following week 18, not taking injuries into account, whether those affected who were actually available at that time or those who may linger into this upcoming season.

Once again, the idea here is to talk about these units in a more comprehensive sense, rather than simply pointing at a singular player who might change the feel of those.

This is what I came up with:

 

Continue reading →

Standard
NFL Draft, NFL Free Agency, NFL Offseason

AFC West Draft & Roster Review 2026

In the final episode of our eight-part divisional draft & roster review series, once more we’re taking a deep dive into the draft selections and all other roster moves through that prism for four teams – the Broncos, Chiefs, Raiders and Chargers!

Standard
NFL Draft, NFL Free Agency, NFL Offseason

NFC West Draft & Roster Review 2026

We’re headed West, entering the final week of our divisional draft & roster review series. In this episode, we’re discussing the draft classes and roster constructions of the Cardinals, Rams, 49ers and Seahawks!

Standard
NFL Draft, NFL Free Agency, NFL Offseason

AFC South Draft & Roster Review 2026

Closing out week three of the annual divisional draft & roster review series, we’re taking an in-depth look at the Texans, Colts, Jaguars and Titans – all their draft picks and other relevant roster moves this offseason!

Standard
NFL Draft, NFL Free Agency, NFL Offseason

NFC South Draft & Roster Review 2026

Kicking off the second half of this divisional draft & roster review series, today we’re heading down South – discussing the draft classes of the Falcons, Panthers, Saints and Bucs, and all the other offseason moves through that lens.

Standard
NFL Draft, NFL Free Agency, NFL Offseason

AFC East Draft & Roster Review 2026

Closing out the first half of my annual my divisional draft & roster review series today, we’ll be talking about the Bills, Dolphins, Patriots & Jets today – discussing every single player each team drafted and how it fits with the different stages of their roster constructions.

Standard