With training camps approaching quickly, we look at all 32 teams in the NFL and identify their worst move of the offseason
Every time an NFL team makes a move, their main goal is to improve their roster. Unfortunately, that’s not always what they end up doing.
Whether it be missing out on a player by over-valuing them or simply paying too much due to desperation, teams often find themselves swinging and missing in free agency. There are also whiffs in the draft as well — whether that be taking a player too early or simply going after the wrong position.
The NFL 2021 season will be no different as each team will surely have a move they look back on and regret. Here’s a look at what that move could end up being for all 32 teams in the league.
Arizona Cardinals: Relying on James Conner
Kenyan Drake wasn’t bad for the Arizona Cardinals but they learned from their mistake with David Johnson. It’s been proven time and again that paying a running back is a mistake so it’s usually best to use them as much as possible on their first contract, then let someone else pay.
While they didn’t draft Drake, Arizona did allow him to finish out his rookie deal then they used the transition tag in 2020 to buy an extra season. After that, they allowed the Las Vegas Raiders to give him a new contract but they forgot the next part of the plan — drafting a replacement.
The Cardinals drafted no running backs at all, meaning they will be relying on James Conner to pick up the slack Drake left behind. Conner and Chase Edmonds will likely be a committee for them but neither player really strikes fear into a defense and they both aren’t known for breaking off long runs.
With all their moves added up, Arizona had a very good offseason but this one could be an issue.
Atlanta Falcons: Not finding an heir to Matt Ryan
Atlanta Falcons will not agree with this at all but the team really should have tried to find a replacement for Matt Ryan. Yes, he still can put up solid numbers but he’s 36-years old and is coming off a third-straight season with a losing record.
In addition to his age, Ryan will also enter the 2021 season without Julio Jones who was just traded to the Tennessee Titans. They do still have Calvin Ridley and Gage Russell but without Jones, that’s not nearly as scary of a unit.
Atlanta could see some of that slack picked up by Kyle Pitts, the Florida tight end who was taken fourth overall, but the last thing they need is to have Pitts developing while Ridley is in his prime only to see things fall apart due to their quarterback declining due to his age.
Point to the numbers all you want, but since Kyle Shanahan left to coach the San Francisco 49ers, Matt Ryan has looked a lot like the version we saw before Shanahan came in. And now, that version of Ryan is also quickly approaching 40 and it would have made sense to start planning for life after Matty Ice.
Baltimore Ravens: Starting to ‘tinker’ with Lamar
Lamar Jackson is an elite playmaker. The former NFL MVP is nearly impossible to stop and what makes him even harder for defenses to deal with is the simple fact that he’s not like any other quarterback they face.
Some will use that to pick on Jackson, calling him a running back — but that’s short-sighted. What he really is, is the best dual-threat quarterback since Mike Vick. He can kill teams with his legs and while he will never be Patrick Mahomes, he does enough with his arms to win.
However, the Ravens are now trying to mess with that a little as offensive coordinator Greg Roman says Baltimore will be using him under center this season, rather than in the pistol which is what he primarily operated out of.
"“That is definitely going to be a part of what we do this year — the percentage of which I cannot state at this point,” Roman said via Jamison Hensley of ESPN. “I don’t know the extent of it. But we are working on it and evaluating it every day.”"
Perhaps they toy with this and toss the idea, but if the Ravens do decide to try and make Jackson more like other quarterbacks, it would be a mistake. He’s different, and it works. Trying to change him wouldn’t be the way to go.
He’s never going to be a traditional drop-back passer and that’s fine. Let Lamar do what Lamar does and teams will continue to struggle with how to stop him.
Buffalo Bills: Signing Emmanuel Sanders
The Buffalo Bills saw John Brown leave in free agency as he signed with the Las Vegas Raiders and in order to replace him, they signed veteran Emmanuel Sanders to a one-year deal worth $6 million. At first glance, that doesn’t seem like a huge contract for a player of Sanders’ caliber but the question is whether or not it was necessary.
Last season, the Bills top two receivers were Stefon Diggs and Cole Beasley and that’s not going to change in 2021. With Brown missing seven games, it opened the door for rookie Gabriel Davis to step up and taking over the No. 3 role and he did a great job.
A fourth-round pick from Central Florida, Davis finished his first season in the NFL with 599 yards and seven touchdowns on 35 receptions. He also averaged an impressive 17.1 yards per catch which was more than five yards more per reception than Sanders. He also finished with two more touchdowns than Sanders, who spent several weeks of the season as the No. 1 target with Michael Thomas out.
None of this is being said to knock Sanders, who has been a great player for a long time. It’s just never a great idea to put a 34-year-old in a position to take snaps away from a 22-year-old who was more explosive the prior season. That’s exactly what could happen to Daivs as Sanders’ contract suggests the second-year player will slide down the depth chart and become the No. 4 wideout.
Carolina Panthers: Trading for Sam Darnold
There was a point where Sam Darnold looked to be a lock to be the No. 1 overall pick in the 2018 NFL Draft. But then, the Cleveland Browns decided to surprise some people and took Baker Mayfield (or at least that surprised the ones who weren’t paying attention to the signs that John Dorsey was leaning heavily in that direction).
This led to Darnold going to the New York Jets at No. 3 and he was being asked to turn around a franchise that had been struggling for quite a while. Making that task harder was the hiring of Adam Gase who had just finished destroying the Miami Dolphins from the inside, and then did the same to the Jets.
With Gase gone, New York elected to just go with a clean slate which included traded Darnold to the Carolina Panthers where he will take over for Teddy Bridgewater who got just one season with the team. The hope is that Darnold will be better without Gase and while that might be the case, it’s still a long shot.
Darnold didn’t have a great coach in New York but he wasn’t without blame. He was often a turnover machine and that was a major issue of his back at USC, which was completely ignored by pundits for some reason.
There’s nothing that suggests he will magically stop giving the ball to the other team which could be a major problem for the Panther. Making matters worse, Carolina could have landed Justin Fields at No. 8 in the draft and kept the second-rounder they gave up for Darnold.
Chicago Bears: Signing Andy Dalton
This move might not be terrible but it still feels as though the Chicago Bears paid a bit too much for Andy Dalton. The former Cincinnati Bengals starter spent 2020 with the Dallas Cowboys where he started nine games in place of an injured Dak Prescott.
Darnold wasn’t bad and had decent numbers. He finished with 2,170 yards with 14 touchdowns and eight picks while completing 64.9 percent of his passes. The problem is, he still finished just 4-5 as a starter and a lot of those numbers might have been inflated considering the team was constantly playing from behind which led to them airing it out since their defense was atrocious.
Not only that, but he had one of the best wide receiver corps in the league at his disposal with Amari Cooper, Michael Gallup, and CeeDee Lamb leading the way.
Once the season was over, Dalton elected to look for an opportunity to start again and Chicago came calling with a $10 million deal. The problem is, he won’t be on a team that has the same weapons in the passing game Dallas does — so the numbers might not look the same.
Chicago also could make a mistake by leaning on his veteran status and making him the starter despite spending a first-round pick (and more since they traded up from No. 20 to 11) in order to land Justin Fields. The rookie is going to need practice reps and game reps to get better and having Dalton could stall that since he’s also new to the team and will need just as many reps to get up to speed.
Cincinnati Bengals: Replacing Lawson with Hendrickson
With Carl Lawson leaving in free agency, the Cinncinatti Bengals needed to find a new edge rusher. They did so by signing Trey Hendrickson away from the New Orleans Saints. If we were looking at straight comparisons, it would be apparent that the Bengals ended up downgrading some at the position.
Hendrickson is a good player but Lawson was a bit better in the pass-rushing department last season and has been more steady overall than Hendrickson who really broke out in 2020. But that happens sometimes in free agency when a good player leaves.
The problem is, the Bengals didn’t really just settle for the next best thing after Lawson. Instead, they backed up the Brinks truck and gave Hendrickson a better deal than the one Lawson got. They each ended up with $15 million per season but Hendrickson got $60 million over four seasons with Lawson netting $45 million over three.
To be fair to the Bengals, they didn’t give Hendrickson as much in guarantees as the Jets gave to Lawson but still, a similar deal to the one that they gave Hendrickson would have surely kept Lawson in Cincy. It wasn’t the worst move ever, but the Bengals’ defense did take a step back this season.
Cleveland Browns: Passing on Rashod Bateman, risking hopes on their current wide receivers
If nothing else, Cleveland Browns fans are fiercely loyal. This team has been so desperate for a winner that they’ve started to overvalue some of their players who have helped them turn things around — with Jarvis Landry standing out as the player they put far too much stock in.
Landry is a decent wide receiver but he’s similar to a volume shooter in the NBA. He beats zone coverage and racks up a ton of catches doing so but the yards and touchdowns don’t follow. A perfect example of this came in 2017 when he was with Miami and he led the NFL with 112 receptions but finished with just 987 yards.
Despite that 8.8 yards per receptions average, former GM John Dorsey gave him a five-year $75.5 million contract after trading for him. Landry has been a good receiver and did absolutely help turn things around but in the playoffs against Kansas City his limitations were on full display as he couldn’t beat the Chiefs man coverage even though they’re not exactly a shut-down defense.
Even with those issues, the Browns elected to skip on Rashod Bateman in the draft and instead took Greg Newsome. While Newsome should be a good player, he also has an extensive injury history as do their other starting-caliber cornerbacks.
As fate would have it, Bateman ended up joining the Baltimore Ravens so they will see up close and personal what they missed out on as they lean primarily on third-round pick Anthony Schwartz and Odell Beckham, Jr. coming off a torn ACL as the ones to stretch the field.
Dallas Cowboys: Thinking linebackers are more important than they are (and that safeties are not)
No matter who the coach of the Dallas Cowboys is, they seem to be stuck in the wrong era. For years, Jason Garrett was in charge and he seemed to think it was the 1990s as he wanted to do nothing but run the ball. He was even a huge part of them giving a massive extension to Ezekiel Elliott as they declared him “the straw that stirs the drink.”
So with every other team moving into a passing-oriented offense, Garrett and the Cowboys often fell behind. There’s a chance they could start to move away from this now with Mike McCarthy but in his second season, it seems he decided to turn the clock back on his defense.
Dallas did wisely move on from Mike Nolan and replaced him with Dan Quinn but with Quinn’s influence, they decided to start acting as though linebackers are the most important piece on a defense. The truth of the matter is, linebackers are much like running backs in that they can be replaced with mid-round options and aren’t nearly as important as defensive linemen or the secondary.
For the Cowboys, they decided to sign Keanu Neal and move him from safety to linebacker, and then they drafted two more linebackers including Micah Parsons at No. 12. This was despite having Jaylon Smith on a monster contract that he hasn’t lived up to (much like the Zeke one that was mentioned earlier) and Leighton Vander Esch who they took in Round 1 of the 2018 NFL Draft.
As for safeties, they took none. They did decide to move Israel Mukuamu to safety, but still he was a cornerback at South Carolina and went in the sixth round — making him a project player which is what they just had in Xavier Woods as well as Donovan Wilson.
For whatever reason, they continue to treat safety as an afterthought and linebacker as king. It has failed them before and could once again unless one of their project players surprises them and turns out to be a steal.
Denver Broncos: Signing Ronald Darby for so much
Ronald Darby was very good in 2020 for the Washington Football Team, which was a change from his 2019 season with the Philadelphia Eagles. That year, Darby struggled mightily as did the rest of the Eagles secondary.
He was playing on his second-straight one-year contract as the former Buffalo Bills second-round selection was looking to prove he deserved a little more security. The Denver Broncos decided that they were comfortable giving him that, agreeing to a three-year, $30 million contract with the Florida State product.
Darby now joins a defense that has completely made over their secondary. They return their starting safeties in Justin Simmons and Kareem Jackson but will now have three new cornerbacks in Darby, Kyle Fuller, and rookie Patrick Surtain. Of the three, it’s easy to make the argument that Darby could be the third-best option which makes his contract seem a little pricey.
When he’s at his best, Darby is a capable starter but his inconsistent play gives reason to be concerned. It might have been better to try and land him on a one-year deal the same way Washington did. And if that meant they would have lost out on signing him, they probably could have done just as well with another option for less money.
Detroit Lions: Hiring Dan Campbell
There were several new head coaches hired ahead of the 2021 season and outside of Robert Saleh, most were rather questionable. One that really stood out was the selection of Dan Campbell to coach the Detroit Lions.
A former NFL tight end, Campbell has been working with Sean Payton in New Orleans for a while but now that he has his own head coaching gig, we’re getting a good look at the type of leader he will be. And that leader will be interesting — if nothing else.
Campbell has already turned heads with some of his quotes, including his weird speech about biting kneecaps.
"“So, this team is going to be built on, we’re going to kick you in the teeth. And when you punch us back, we’re going to smile at you. And when you knock us down, we’re going to get up. And on the way up, we’re going to bite a kneecap off. And we’re going to stand up and then it’s going to take two more shots to knock us down. And on the way up, we’re going to take your other kneecap. And we’re going to get up and then it’s going to take three shots to get us down.” — Campbell’s quote on toughness via Chris Cwik of Yahoo! Sports"
Considering Campbell played and coached in New Orleans where Bounty Gate happened, he probably doesn’t need to use the “kick them in the teeth” and biting analogies. No, he’s not being serious, but it comes across as old school and cliche and people could trace it back to that if they want to connect the dots.
Maybe in the end Campbell will be successful but this feels like an odd hire and not the person this team needs to get them out of the cellar.
Green Bay Packers: Paying a running back
Teams continue to do it and it continues to fail. The Los Angeles Rams and Todd Gurley agreed to a four-year, $60 million deal with $45 million guaranteed in 2018. That same season, he missed time in the playoffs, and later there was a rumor he had arthritis in the knee. By 2020, he was on a new team and is still looking for his 2021 home.
That same year, David Johnson received a three-year, $39 million extension with $30 million guaranteed with the Arizona Cardinals. By 2020, he too was on a new team as the Cards traded him to the Houston Texans where he continued to struggle.
Devonta Freeman was another running back to drop off a cliff after being paid as he inked a five-year $41.25 million deal with the Atlanta Falcons in 2017. He lasted three years but that included a 2018 campaign where he missed 14 games and had just 14 yards total and a 2019 campaign where he averaged 3.6 yards per carry.
There was also Ezekiel Elliott getting paid in 2019 by the Dallas Cowboys only to see his production decline. There are just a few recent examples and we could look back to players such as Shaun Alexander, DeMarco Murray, and more who just fell apart after signing big contracts.
None of this is their fault, it’s just the fact that running backs don’t have long shelf lives in the NFL and they were down quickly.
Despite this fact, teams continue to pay running backs and they all think their guy is the one who is different. That’s the case with the Green Bay Packers who just gave Aaron Jones a four-year deal worth $48 million.
Their decision to pay Jones is even more confusing since they drafted A.J. Dillon in the second round of the 2020 NFL Draft, which gave them a young player capable of replacing Jones. Chances are the veteran running back will be fine this season, but the odds are not in his favor for that to continue for long.
Houston Texans: Not trading Deshaun Watson early in the offseason
When a franchise player wants out, it’s hard for a team to pull the trigger. That was the case for the Houston Texans when Deshaun Watson started to express his disdain for the franchise.
His frustration was understandable because they were simply run into the ground by Bill O’Brien. Despite O’Brien seemingly losing control of his team, the front office continued to give him more and more control.
Eventually, he was the only decision-maker and that led to him trading away one of the best wide receivers in the game, DeAndre Hopkins, for a second-round pick and an overpaid running back who has been struggling mightily in David Johnson. Later, it was revealed that B.O.B. even compared Hopkins to Aaron Hernandez which was clearly out of line.
Of course, Watson could be criticized for signing his extension after O’Brien started to make these wild moves but still, his desire to be traded made sense. Houston balked, but then a whole lot of reports surfaced accusing Watson of some terrible actions away from the field.
Nothing has been proven as of yet but the allegations have made his market non-existent. Now, Houston has a whole lot of quarterbacks in Tyrod Taylor, Jeff Driskel, and Davis Mills. They’re expecting Taylor to start and Mills could be the future of the team but as of now, they still have Watson and might not get the proper value in return.
It’s hard to fault them too much for waiting but unfortunately for them, it cost them this time.
Indianapolis Colts: Not adding another wide receiver
Overall, the Indianapolis Colts had a good offseason. They lost Philip Rivers and Jacoby Brissett which meant their quarterback room was going to look much different this coming season. They were also drafting much too late to try and get one of the starting-caliber rookies in the first round, so they went in a different direction.
Indy would end up trading for Carson Wentz who struggled the past couple of seasons in Philadelphia but had his greatest success while working with Frank Reich who is the head coach with the Colts. Reich knows what Wentz can do and Wentz knows what Reich expects, meaning this could be a very smooth transition.
What would have made it even better is if Indianapolis would have landed another starting receiver option. Right now, they have T.Y. Hilton, Michael Pittman, Jr., and Zach Pascal as the top three options but behind that, there aren’t a lot of good options.
It would have been a good move for the Colts to bring in another player, especially with Hilton now two years removed from his last 1,000-yard season. He did still lead the team with 762 yards receiving last year but it’s hard to compete in this pass-happy NFL with a wide receiver by committee approach. Teams need that No. 1 guy to stretch defenses and right now, it’s not easy to say the Colts have that.
Jacksonville Jaguars: The Shaquill Griffin contract
Year after year, the Jacksonville Jaguars cough up big money for free agents, and year after year, they struggle. Yet they continue to try and hit a home run in the open market which they went for in 2021 with the signing of Shaquill Griffin.
The former Seattle Seahawks cornerback agreed to a three-year, $40 million contract with $29 million of that being guaranteed. But not everyone is sold on him being a star.
Chris Roling of Bleacher report even named him a potential free agency dud, pointing to his low grades with PFF and the fact that he’s surrendered a lot of touchdowns.
"“Whether Griffin can meet those is hard to say. He only graded at a 64.1 at PFF last year for good reason; he allowed a 62.1 completion percentage with six touchdowns on 87 targets last year. In fact, he’s allowed 15 touchdowns over his last three seasons. There’s still elite potential with Griffin, but the production hasn’t always been there. He’s joining an arguably worse defense though, with the possible inability to meet live up to the hype leading to disappointment.” — Roling, Bleacher Report"
Seattle had a terrible secondary in 2020 so breaking the bank for one of their corners doesn’t seem like the best strategy. And it’s one that could end up hurting the Jags.
Kansas City Chiefs: Kyle Long signing
It was really hard to pick something the Kansas City Chiefs did wrong this offseason. They needed to improve their offensive line and they did that by bringing in Joe Thuney and Orlando Brown. Say what you want about how much they paid them both, but the two offensive linemen will make life easier for Patrick Mahomes.
Even in their deal to get Brown, they surrendered a first-round pick but got back a second-rounder which was a steal when you consider they landed a franchise left tackle and dropped from No. 31 to No. 58 while giving up a third and fourth (and future fifth) to do so.
Also, with the 58th pick, they took Nick Bolton who should have no problem starting at linebacker. For good measure, they took Creed Humphrey with their own second-round selection, who should be a starting center one day.
So with all that being said, being forced to pick a worst move lands us on the signing of Kyle Long. The former first-round pick of the Chicago Bears back in 2013 was out of football in 2020 after retiring but Kansas City gave him a new place to play when he decided to come back.
Unfortunately, the 32-year-old has already suffered a knee injury which has them in a familiar spot — looking for someone to fill in for a starter.
Las Vegas Raiders: All of it
It was hard to pick a worst move for the Chiefs because they had a good offseason. For the Las Vegas Raiders, it’s hard because everything they seemed to do was so head-scratching.
Las Vegas blew up their offensive line which was a strength and then (once again) seemed to reach in the first round of the draft. Their moves have been bashed throughout the sports world, with many outlets blasting the moves made by Mike Mayock and Jon Gruden.
According to Marcus Mosher of Raiders Wire, Bill Barnwell says Vegas had the worst offseason out of all 32 teams. Mosher agreed with the free agency concerns but felt the Raiders did better in the draft than Barnwell and many others gave them credit for.
"“While it’s fair to wonder if the team could have better spent their free-agent dollars, the draft criticism doesn’t sit well. Alex Leatherwood is an All-American left tackle at Alabama who tested as a supreme athlete. While he might not have been as highly rated as other offensive tackles, he is a relatively safe prospect who should start from Day 1.” — Mosher on the Raiders draft"
Mosher is right that Leatherwood is a talented player but it seemed as though Las Vegas took him over better players simply because it’s customary for them to take Alabama players. They did have some other good picks such as Trevon Moehrig but then they took two other safeties while already having Johnathan Abram who is a former first-round pick.
On top of that, they just brought back Karl Joseph, another first-round pick who was constantly in Gruden’s doghouse and seemed to be a player they couldn’t wait to get rid of before he left in 2020.
Gruden was given an awful lot of money to turn this franchise back into a winner but so far, he has yet to secure a winning record and this was his most confusing offseason to date.
Los Angeles Chargers: Not getting better at RB
The Los Angeles Chargers lost Mike Pouncy this year as the former Miami Dolphins first-round pick decided to call it a career after missing 11 games in 2019 and the entire season in 2020. With him out, the Chargers line struggled overall and it became an area they were determined to fix.
In the 2021 NFL Draft, they took Rashawn Slater from Northwestern and he projects as the starting left tackle across from right tackle Bryan Bulaga. They also replaced Pouncey with Corey Linsley who was the No. 1 graded center in the NFL last season according to Pro Football Focus.
With the line improved, the Chargers are hoping that second-year quarterback Justin Herbert can take the next step as a starter — and if he does, he could become one of the better quarterbacks in the game because he was outstanding as a rookie.
However, there’s another area on offense they needed to improve but didn’t — running back. Autin Ekeler signed a four-year $24.5 million extension before the 2020 season but then he missed six games with a hyperextended knee and hamstring issues. Despite playing just 10 games, he led the team with 530 yards rushing.
Of course, Ekeler is more than just a runner as he had 403 yards on 54 receptions but the team’s inability to move the ball without him was an issue and they didn’t do anything to improve in that area which could be an issue if Ekeler struggles with health again in 2021.
Los Angeles Rams: Giving Leonard Floyd an extension and allowing John Johnson III to walk
It’s hard to figure out how the Los Angeles Rams make things work. This team absolutely despises first-round picks and would rather trade them all for veteran players — which they do. They don’t have a first-round pick for the next couple of seasons after trading a bunch of them (and Jared Goff) for Matthew Stafford.
Of course, not every trade they make involves sending a day one pick to the other team, but they do end up having to pay more for the players they land than they would for the younger options. They already had Goff under a huge contract and had to eat some of that while taking on Stafford’s big deal.
Then, there’s the pay for Robert Woods, Aaron Donald, and Jalen Ramsey. All those players are worth the money (excluding Goff which is why he’s gone) but then they have to make some tough decisions such as letting John Johnson III walk.
However, they could have kept Johnson who was developing into one of the best safeties in the NFL had they elected not to overpay for Leonard Floyd. A former first-round pick of the Chicago Bears, Floyd was released before the season and landed with the Rams.
He never lived up to his draft status with Chicago but in Los Angeles, he had 55 tackles and 10.5 sacks which led to a four-year, $64 million extension. The problem is, Floyd has not proven he can be a consistent edge rusher and likely owes a major thanks to the attention given to Aaron Donald which aided his success.
That’s just an awful lot of money to give to a player who isn’t the primary pass rusher and hasn’t been consistent in his career.
Miami Dolphins: Taking Jaylen Waddle over DeVonta Smith
It was clear that the Miami Dolphins were going to go after a wide receiver at No. 6 overall. They needed to add weapons for Tua Tagovailoa in the passing game and when they were on the clock, there were two possible players — both of which played with Tua at Alabama.
One was Jaylen Waddle who is an explosive deep threat and the other was DeVonta Smith who is arguably the more rounded player. He also just won the 2020 Heisman Trophy Award.
However, some NFL teams were still wary of Smith due to his slight frame. Listed at 6-foot-0, Smith weighed in at just 170-pounds. Waddle, on the other hand, was 10 pounds heavier despite being nearly three inches shorter.
The thin frame for Smith had some saying he could face durability concerns at the next level but he never dealt with injury problems at Alabama whereas Waddle did. Not only that but Smith crossed the 1,000-yard mark as a receiver twice in his career and had 117 catches for 1,856 yards with 23 touchdowns in his final season.
Those numbers nearly beat everything Waddle did in three seasons as he finished his career with 106 catches for 1,999 yards and seven touchdowns. His best season for the Tide was his freshman campaign whereas Smith improved every year.
This isn’t to say Waddle won’t make it as a pro, but it sure seems as though Smith was the player who is most pro-ready.
Minnesota Vikings: Signing Nick Vigil over Eric Wilson
It seems like the only moves the Minnesota Vikings made this offseason was to sign every cornerback they could. They added Patrick Peterson, Bashaud Breeland, and brought back Mackensie Alexander.
But they did make other moves as well, but the mistake they made was to let Eric Wilson leave and replace him with Nick Vigil. Chris Schad from The Viking Age agreed, saying he thinks they could have found a way to make retaining Wilson work.
"“Minnesota struck early in free agency to replace Wilson with Nick Vigil. Entering his age-28 season, Vigil has been in a reserve role during his five NFL seasons, but he posted a similar performance to Wilson in 2019 (111 tackles, one sack, one interception, one forced fumble). Saving the extra $1.75 million could have been the difference for signing Patrick Peterson, Xavier Woods, or any of the Vikings’ defensive upgrades this year. But it seems like a small price to pay for the younger Wilson.” — Chris Schad, The Viking Age"
Minnesota apparently decided that it was much more important to improve their secondary and the defensive line. In addition to the corners they added, they also signed defensive tackle Dalvin Tomlinson and safety Xavier Woods.
They were right to prioritize those positions but they also could have found a way to make up the savings elsewhere to keep Wilson.
New England Patriots: Changing their identity
Bill Belichick has forgotten more about football than 99 percent of the people in the world will ever learn. The New England Patriots head coach has been at it for 21 years with the Pats and won six rings in that time. He also hadn’t suffered a losing season since the year 2000 or missed the playoffs since 2008.
Then in 2020, he had to switch things up when Tom Brady left for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Without his star quarterback, Belichick turned to Cam Newton but it was a decided step backward. New England ended up missing the postseason and went 7-9, marking their first losing campaign in 20 years.
With that happening, it’s understandable that Belichick wanted to mix things up but he and the Patriots went a little overboard. They wound up going after just about everyone in free agency throwing caution to the wind and changing their entire identity.
This isn’t a team that was known for making several splashy signings but they elected to do that as they added the top two tight ends in Hunter Henry and Jonnu Smith. They also picked up Matt Judon, Davon Godchaux, and then they overpaid for Kendrick Bourne and Nelson Agholor.
Will they be better than they were in 2020? Probably. But will it be enough to win a title? No. Not only that, but it could make it hard to continue to build their roster since they used so much capital in one offseason.
New Orleans Saints: Releasing Janoris Jenkins without a good No. 2 CB
Things are going to be weird in the Big Easy this year. Drew Brees finally decided to call it a career and for the first time since 2006, the New Orleans Saints will enter the season without No. 9 under center for them.
Brees joined the Saints after five seasons with the San Diego Chargers and came in the same year as head coach Sean Payton. They have had a ton of success together and Brees was 142-86 as a starter for them and won a Lombardi Trophy.
With him gone, they will turn to either Taysom Hill or Jameis Winston. Both have had their share of success in the NFL but Winston fell out of favor quickly in Tampa Bay and Hill’s success was a very small sample size which occurred in 2020 while Brees was injured.
As for the rest of the team, there are some holes and areas of concern — mainly at wideout at cornerback. Due to cap concerns, those positions got even thinner in 2021 as Emmanuel Sanders and Janoris Jenkins were both released.
Sanders being cut wasn’t ideal but they do at least have Tre’Quan Smith who can take over some of the slack. At corner, they really don’t have a solid second option which could be a problem considering they play teams such as the Bucs twice per season who are loaded with wideouts.
New York Giants: The Adoree’ Jackson contract
In need of some help at wide receiver, the New York Giants went to work and added Kenny Golladay, Kadarius Toney, and John Ross. That gives them a much better unit than they had last season but there were some concerns.
One is how much they paid Golladay, but if he lives up to his potential no one will care. Another was the selection of Toney who has a lot of talent but very little experience — and there were other options such as Rashod Bateman who could have been a better pick.
Still, the move that could hurt them the most was the signing of Adoree’ Jackson who got a pretty sizable contract despite having durability concerns according to Cody Benjamin of CBS Sports.
"“If you’re still upset we didn’t knock Gettleman for dumping cash on Golladay, you’ll find reprieve here. Jackson is an intriguing find, just 25 and supremely athletic, and he’ll make the Giants defense better opposite James Bradberry. But he has been far from durable as of late, and New York is paying him almost as much as Bradberry ($14.5M), Marcus Peters ($14M) and Xavien Howard ($15M).” — Cody Benjamin, CBS Sports"
Overall, New York had a very good offseason but this is the one move that could end up being an issue for them. If he remains healthy, they will get their money’s worth but there is that “if” that came along with it.
New York Jets: Overvaluing Zach Wilson
Zach Wilson could end up being a very good quarterback in the NFL. There’s no denying that the BYU product was one of the top prospects at the position and it was also a foregone conclusion that he would be taken in the top-10.
But as the draft got closer, the New York Jets had made it clear that they were ready to make Wilson the face of their franchise. In a normal season, it would have been understandable for him to go second considering he went for 3,692 yards with 33 touchdowns and only three picks in his final season. However, this was no normal season.
This year, there were several big stars at the position headlined by Trevor Lawrence who everyone knew was going to be the No. 1 overall pick. After that, there was Wilson, Justin Fields, Trey Lance, and Mac Jones.
While Wilson deserved to be mentioned among those talented players, it was also just as easy to argue that both Trey Lance and Justin Fields were more talented prospects — especially Fields who is really the only player who deserved to be compared to Lawrence at all. They also seem better equipped to handle the pressures that will come with facing the New York media.
To be fair to the Jets, scouting quarterbacks is incredibly difficult and the draft itself is an inexact science. But it feels as though they were one of many teams to overthink things and rate a player ahead of Fields when they shouldn’t have been.
Philadelphia Eagles: Not taking Justin Fields
At this point, I sound like a broken record. But I will not make apologies for that.
Ohio State quarterback Justin Fields is an elite talent and for whatever reason, his name started to get sullied as the 2021 NFL Draft approached. People attacked everything about him including his diet — because apparently being vegan isn’t great for quarterbacks.
It’s crazy because he did nothing but succeed once he left Georgia for Ohio State (and even handled some ugliness at UGA with the utmost class). Then as he prepared for the draft, he also blew everyone away with his incredible 4.4 second time in the 40-yard dash.
Even so, he went after Trevor Lawrence, Zach Wilson, and Trey Lance with only Lawrence being the one who made sense to go before him. It worked out great for the Chicago Bears who took him at No. 11 overall but the Philadelphia Eagles should have never let this happen.
When they moved up from No. 12 to No. 10 in a trade with the Dallas Cowboys, they wound up taking DeVonta Smith who is a great prospect. Smith gives them a legit No. 1 receiver but that won’t matter if Jalen Hurts is unable to get the job done.
Apparently, the Eagles believe Hurts is the guy and want him to succeed but that doesn’t mean they should have passed on a talent such as Fields who comes in with a much higher ceiling than Hurts.
Pittsburgh Steelers: Bringing back JuJu Smith-Schuster
No team had a worse fall from grace at the end of 2020 than the Pittsburgh Steelers. After going 11-0, the Steelers started to implode and a lot of it was self-inflicted.
Their wide receivers started to give teams more reason to knock them down a peg with some crazy Tik Tok videos and terrible statements on social media. Chase Claypool was guilty of one of the quotes, famously saying “losing, never heard of her” before the team lost four of their next five games followed up by a postseason beatdown from the Cleveland Browns.
After that loss, Claypool was still talking trash about Cleveland but it was JuJu Smith-Schuster who started to give their divisional rival a reason to want to embarrass them as he called the Browns “nameless grey faces” before saying “the Browns is the Browns” — which is so grammatically incorrect that my computer nearly shuts down when trying to type it out.
Cleveland not only had billboards put up making fun of Smith-Schuster’s comments, but they also broke out with their own Tik Tok video where they did his dance to mock him after beating them in the playoffs.
Smith-Schuster was also guilty of dancing on opponents’ logos before games and this even led to him taking a nasty hit against Cincinnati in a game they were shocked in as the underdog Bengals without Joe Burrow beat the Steelers.
Even with all his extra-curricular activity, the Steelers decided to bring Smith-Schuster back, which could come back to haunt them unless he decides to finally focus on the game and not his social media following.
San Francisco 49ers: Samson Ebukam contract (edges out Kyle Shanahan’s depressing press conference)
Another club that really did well in the 2021 offseason was the San Francisco 49ers. They landed Trey Lance in the draft which gives them a solid quarterback to turn to but they also kept Jimmy Garoppolo since Lance doesn’t have a ton of experience.
While it seems counterproductive to keep a young quarterback on the bench since those reps are so valuable, there’s something to be said for having Garoppolo there while Lance learns the system and all — but they do need to start him if he is even close to Jimmy G’s level.
But here, we have to pick their worst move which ends up being the move to sign defensive end Samson Ebukam. A former fourth-round pick of the Los Angeles Rams, Ebukam was developing into a solid pass-rusher but he still has room to grow.
He’s also going to be converting from an outside linebacker in the Rams’ 3-4 defense to a defensive end in the 49ers 4-3. And while his two-year, $12 million contract isn’t a killer, that’s a solid chunk to give to a guy who is making the transition and has yet to truly break out.
That move just barely edges out Kyle Shanahan depressing us all when asked about Jimmy Garoppolo’s status on the team. The question posed was whether or not the coach could guarantee Garoppolo would be on the team after the draft and rather than giving us a simple no, he went all philosophical and said basically none of us was guaranteed to be alive then. Thanks, Kyle, and sorry we asked.
Seattle Seahawks: Re-signing Chris Carson
It was already discussed why it’s never a good idea to give running backs another contract after they play out their rookie deals. It simply hardly works out and the times where a back lives up to the contract are seen as the anomaly, which is enough reason to take the chances that moving on will be a problem than vice versa.
Having said that, the Seattle Seahawks made sure when they re-signed Chris Carson that they didn’t break the bank. He agreed to a two-year deal worth just over $10 million and as long as he stays healthy, he will be well worth the investment.
The problem is, he’s already struggling with the durability part. In four seasons, Carson has yet to play a full season and missed four games in 2020 due to a foot injury. When he was on the field, they also limited his touches as he had just 141 carries for 681 yards.
Still, bringing back a ball carrier who already has injury concerns might be an issue. Not only could he end up getting hurt again but his presence kept them from picking up another player who would be able to carry the load.
Then again, since they only had three picks in the 2021 NFL Draft, they might have felt they had no choice. So maybe losing all their picks in trades should be the main complaint.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers: Keeping Leonard Fournette
What a season it was for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. After landing Tom Brady in free agency, they found themselves ending their postseason drought as they made it to the playoffs for the first time since 2007.
Then they won three road games which allowed them to play at home in the Super Bowl which was history in itself. Tampa Bay wasn’t happy just playing the title game in their stadium either and they ended up winning in convincing fashion over the Kansas City Chiefs.
After the game, they did the unthinkable as they kept all 22 of their starters which is something many Super Bowl winners struggle to do. Wide receiver Chris Godwin, tight end Rob Gronkowski, edge rusher Shaq Barrett, and defensive lineman Ndamukong Suh were a few of the free agents they were able to retain as they were all focused on winning once again in 2021.
Another player they retained was running back Leonard Fournette. A former first-round pick for the Jacksonville Jaguars, Fournette was up and down for Tampa Bay last season. He started to improve in the playoffs but his biggest issue was his inconsistency and his drops as a receiver (including some untimely ones in the playoffs). For the Bucs, it might have been better to try and bring in someone else for this role.
Tennessee Titans: Signing Bud Dupree
With Jadeveon Clowney not working out as a pass rusher for them in 2020, the Tennessee Titans elected to go in a different direction this year as they landed former Pittsburgh Steelers outside linebacker Bud Dupree.
Tennessee landed Dupree on a five-year deal worth $82.5 million which is a lot of money for any pass-rusher but especially for one who is coming off a torn ACL. He should be able to recover from the injury and it won’t impact him beyond this season (hopefully) but the Titans just had Clowney spend the second half of 2020 on the IR and now, Dupree could start 2021 on the sidelines.
That’s not the only concern here either as Dupree also wasn’t great until the past two seasons. He was far from a bust but he wasn’t living up to his draft status for the first four seasons with the Steelers.
Then in 2019, which was a contract year, he had career-highs in tackles (68) and sacks (11.5). Pittsburgh placed the franchise tag on him in 2020, wanting to see him repeat his success before giving him a long-term deal meaning he was again in a contract year in 2020 and had 31 tackles and eight sacks in 11 games before suffering the injury.
Dupree also benefited greatly from the presence of T.J. Watt across from him who was commanding double-teams. Without a player of Watt’s caliber to take the pressure off of him, Dupree will have to try and do it on his own, which might not work.
Washington Football Team: Over-drafting a linebacker
One of the dark horse teams to watch this season will be the one without a name. The Washington Football Team has built a rather strong roster which includes Ryan Fitzpatrick who they signed in free agency. Fitzpatrick has been a journeyman but has the talent to help them improve on offense.
As for their defense, that unit is complete with players such as Chase Young and Montez Sweat leading the way. They even added some help to that side of the ball with Jamin Davis from Kentucky who they took at No. 19 overall.
However, that seemed to be a bit of a reach — especially with players such as Rashod Bateman, Caleb Farley, and Christian Darrisaw on the board. All three of those players would fill a need and play positions that are much more valuable.
Again, it was still a solid offseason and they more than made up for any shortcomings with their first-day photos which were absolutely brilliant. The best was clearly Fitzpatrick who had the look of an annoyed first-grader despite his chalkboard stating he is 38-years-old.
https://twitter.com/espn/status/1402262936215863318?s=20
Another underrated move for Washington was simply putting Fitzpatrick on the same team as head coach Ron Rivera. These are two of the easiest people in the NFL to root for and that could make Washington a lot of fun to watch.
It could also make them back-to-back NFC East Champions if everything goes well.