The offseason is a time for optimism among many NFL fan bases, but unfortunately, if there are “winners” on paper, then there also have to be “losers”, right? NFL Free Agency hasn’t been good to everybody and there are undoubtedly some teams that have gotten worse.
The 2023 NFL Draft is still looming, so there is time yet for teams to get better, but as of right now? It’s not looking great. Let’s take a look at five NFL teams that have gotten objectively worse so far in the 2023 offseason and free agent signing period.
5 NFL teams that have gotten worse in 2023 NFL Free Agency
5. Los Angeles Rams
Les Snead went from wearing a shirt that said “F*** Them Picks” to now completely having his hands tied during the 2023 NFL offseason. Typically one of the most aggressive teams in the offseason, the Los Angeles Rams have been anything but after a very disappointing, injury-riddled 2022 campaign.
Even after some retirement rumors, the Rams are bringing back head coach Sean McVay, quarterback Matthew Stafford, and defensive lineman Aaron Donald. It’s crazy to think there were retirement rumors for all of them, but that’s how weird of a calendar year it’s been in the NFL, I guess. Having those pieces back — along with the healthy return of Cooper Kupp — will make the Los Angeles Rams a better team in 2023, but this team did get worse so far in the 2023 offseason.
They traded one of their best overall players — cornerback Jalen Ramsey — to the Miami Dolphins for TE Hunter Long and a third-round pick. I figured the Rams would be able to get a lot more than that just for Jalen Ramsey’s name, but here we are. This team has made no substantial moves in NFL free agency. They have Allen Robinson on the block.
This is a roster whose primary upgrades will come in the 2023 NFL Draft, where they don’t have a first-round pick. For the time being, the Rams are one team that has gotten worse on paper this offseason.
4. Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Tom Brady retired, the Bucs are worse.
Do we need to say more?
Okay, let’s justify this one a bit. Not only did Tom Brady retire, but this is a Bucs team that is coming off of a disappointing 8-win season and has now lost Brady, left tackle Donovan Smith, offensive guard Shaq Mason, and running back Leonard Fournette (among others). The Bucs have made some solid moves in the 2023 offseason that are worth monitoring going forward, such as signing quarterback Baker Mayfield.
Actually, I really don’t hate that move at all.
But to think this team has gotten better in 2023? No, that’s not the case. At some point, you had to expect that this was a team that was going to get gutted. They were able to keep the core of the roster around almost completely after their 2020 Super Bowl run. After giving it another go in 2021, the roster slowly started to dismantle in 2022 and now in 2023, they are going to look vastly different.
The Bucs are poised to compete for the likes of Caleb Williams and Drake Maye in the 2023 season. They could contend for the worst record in the NFL, but at the same time, could they also be sneaky in a bad NFC South? There’s a chance. They were shockingly able to keep pieces like Jamel Dean and Lavonte David. They still have good pieces defensively when that unit is healthy, and I think offensively, we’re in wait-and-see mode on how well Baker Mayfield can perform with new offensive coordinator Dave Canales.
Overall though, I don’t think there’s really any denying that the Bucs have gotten worse up to this point.
3. Las Vegas Raiders
If whatever Josh McDaniels is doing in Las Vegas ends up working out, I’ll be the first to admit how wrong I was about his process of tearing down and rebuilding the Raiders. As a disclaimer, I consider myself to be one of the biggest Jimmy Garoppolo homers in all of football media. I think what Garoppolo has done to elevate the teams he’s played for has been tremendous, including helping the 49ers reach the NFC Championship game three times.
With all of that being said, I think the messy separation between the Raiders and Carr was uglier than it had to be. The Raiders barely got anything in return for Darren Waller. They may have upset Davante Adams throughout this whole process.
Ultimately, what this comes down to is whether or not you really think the Raiders got better or worse at the quarterback position. There are a lot of people out there who would prefer to have Derek Carr than Jimmy Garoppolo, and the Raiders clearly feel like Jimmy G. is going to be a better fit for their offense.
We’ll see what happens.
Josh McDaniels has undoubtedly put his stamp on the roster. There are certainly things to like about what the Raiders have done and beauty is in the eye of the beholder of some of these situations. I just don’t think this team is any better having gone from Derek Carr to Jimmy Garoppolo at this point while also taking away Darren Waller from the equation, even replacing him in the passing game by adding Jakobi Meyers and Austin Hooper.
The Raiders did well to bring back Josh Jacobs after his outstanding season but this team just feels incomplete right now leading up to the NFL Draft.
2. Arizona Cardinals
There’s very little doubt at this point that the Arizona Cardinals are poised to be one of the worst teams in the entire NFL in 2023.
The health status of Kyler Murray aside, I don’t know if any team has downgraded more than the Cardinals this offseason. Why did Arizona not get in on the backup QB market? Are they really that confident in Murray coming back quickly, or Colt McCoy playing well in the meantime?
The Cardinals will soon trade away DeAndre Hopkins for more draft capital. Great for them. They have Marquise Brown coming back as the WR1 after arguably the worst season he’s had as a pro in 2022.
Arizona hired Jonathan Gannon as their head coach, and he hired one of the most inexperienced staffs in the league to join him. This Cardinals roster is going to be young, there’s a lot of transition, their best players have injury concerns, and they watched a lot of good players walk in free agency (Zach Allen, Byron Murphy).
It’s too early to use the word “tank” but the Cardinals clearly seem to be trending toward a reloading phase for this roster with a new GM (Monti Ossenfort) saying out with the old, in with the new. We’ll see how well Kyler Murray comes back and plays after a devastating injury last year but with the supporting cast he’s fixing to have around him, I’m not expecting much at all out of this team.
1. Green Bay Packers
Nothing is official quite yet, but the writing is on the wall for the Green Bay Packers at this point, isn’t it? Aaron Rodgers is poised to join the New York Jets at some point in the next month. Jordan Love is finally going to be taking over the QB position for the Packers in his fourth NFL season, and I just don’t know how to really feel about that.
The Packers took a step back with Rodgers on the roster last year, so what’s going to happen to this team after he leaves? For decades, Packers fans have really only ever known elite quarterback play. The Brett Favre era transitioned right into the Aaron Rodgers era, and the Packers have just had an almost unprecedented stretch of elite level play at that position.
Now, as we look to the 2023 season, what is Jordan Love going to bring to the table? How much are the Packers going to be able to lean on the defense and the running game? Have Matt LaFleur and his staff done an adequate job of getting Love ready for this moment?
We’re going to find out a lot about this Packers roster going forward. We’re going to be able to see clearly over the next season just how impactful it is that Green Bay hasn’t done a good enough job of adding to the WR and TE positions.
How many flaws did Aaron Rodgers mask for this team?
Who knows — there might be a chance the Packers trade Rodgers and come out in 2023 like the Seattle Seahawks with an absolute vengeance. I wouldn’t bank on it, personally.