Biggest Winners: Los Angeles Rams
The Rams are coming off a season where they reached the NFC Championship Game and had just one real weakness on their whole roster at cornerback and they were somehow able to land both Trent McDuffie and Jaylen Watson?!? The other 31 teams in the league should be ashamed of themselves for allowing this to happen. McDuffie has already established himself as one of the most well-rounded top corners in football and he's not even in his late 20's yet (he turns 26 in September) while Watson is one of the most reliable #2 outside corners in the league when he's healthy. On top of their talent, these guys have the added bonus of established camaraderie as they played together with the Chiefs over the past 4 seasons and were the biggest reason their consistently strong corner group could afford to let guys like Charvarius Ward and L'Jarius Sneed walk.
Beyond these headline-grabbing additions, the Rams were relatively quiet but efficient with their moves. Extending Kamren Curl made a ton of sense as he's really helped stabilized their safety group over the past 2 seasons with his savvy play, bringing Tyler Higbee back ensures they retain the depth and dynamism that makes their TE room so dangerous and Grant Stuard is an established special teams piece that should help lead the needed overhaul in that group that really hurt them with their poor, undisciplined play at times last season. There's presumably a domino or two left to fall as their receiver room took a hit with the departure of vertical threat Tutu Atwell and Jimmy Garoppolo-whose served as Matthew Stafford's backup for the past 2 seasons-remaining unsigned (it's hard to believe that Sean McVay is going to entrust someone as green as Stetson Bennett to backup Stafford as he enters his age 38 season), so there's a chance that this offseason gets even rosier for this longtime NFC powerhouse.
Honorable Mentions: Carolina Panthers, New York Giants, Pittsburgh Steelers
Biggest Losers: Miami Dolphins
The Dolphins were one of only two teams in the league to fire their head coach and general manager this offseason. When new brass takes over a team, the expectation is that they will offer up some clear vision to retool or, in the case of the Dolphins, rebuild the operation after a period of underwhelming performances. We're barely even 2 months into the Jon-Eric Sullivan/Jeff Hafley administration in South Beach and they've already managed to mystify the football world with how they're approaching roster-building. Everybody knew that there was going to be some cap difficulties here after they released Tua Tagovailoa, Tyreek Hill and Bradley Chubb, but the baffling string of moves they've made following these cuts can't be attributed to a huge dead cap number limiting who they could sign.
When top free agent quarterback Malik Willis elected to sign here, there was some notable confusion as their roster situation wasn't as favorable as some of the other places he could've went to that presumably would've given him the opportunity to start (Vikings, Steelers, Cardinals). Early last week, Willis' decision to sign in Miami became even more confusing when they shockingly dealt Jaylen Waddle to the Broncos. They have since publicly come out and said that their star running back De'Von Achane is not available in trade, but can you really take them at their word when they just dealt away the only other young star player they had on their roster?
Waddle's shocking exit has lowered Willis' already pretty long odds of becoming a viable start with the Dolphins. Their receiver room is now headed up by Malik Washington-who posted a whopping 317 YDS on 46 receptions last season and a pair of free agent pickups (Jalen Tolbert, Tutu Atwell) who have exclusively been 3rd, 4th or 5th options throughout their careers, their already questionable offensive line added yet another shaky piece with the signing of Jamaree Salyer-who has been a key cog in the woeful play of the Chargers o-line over the past 4 seasons and is expected to start at right guard- and merely looking at defensive depth chart-especially in the secondary-could be enough to make someone nauseous. They're going to have to have themselves one hell of a draft for me to stop thinking that they're a completely aloof organization that is barreling towards another prolonged stint at the bottom of the league hierarchy.
Dishonorable Mentions: Los Angeles Chargers, Tennessee Titans, Atlanta Falcons
Best Individual Signing: Devin Lloyd to the Panthers (3 years/$45 mil/$25 mil guaranteed)
Despite ultimately finishing 8-9, the Panthers showed enough promise during Dave Canales' 2nd year on the job to start making some major investments in the roster. Lloyd in particular is the kind of player that could change the entire complexion of their defense-which was largely average on the whole but had some flashes of excellence during 2025. He's one of the few inside linebackers in the league that truly makes a huge impact against the run and in coverage and Ejiro Evero is the kind of creative defensive coordinator that could really unleash his full potential as a dynamic, electrifying weapon as he's set to enter his prime.
Honorable Mentions: Jamel Dean to the Steelers (3 years/$36.75 mil/$12 mil guaranteed), Kenneth Walker III to the Chiefs (3 years/$43.05 mil/$28.7 mil guaranteed), Jaylinn Hawkins to the Ravens (2 years/$10 mil/$5 mil guaranteed)
Worst Individual Signing: Mike Evans to the 49ers (3 years/$42.4 mil/$16.3 mil guaranteed)
After George Kittle's Achillies exploded in the second quarter of the 49ers Wild Card victory over the Eagles in January, a conspiracy started going around online that the electromagnetic fields emanating from an electrical substation that is located near their practice facility in Santa Clara was responsible for the notoriously high injury rates the team has dealt with in recent years. Whatever the cause may be, this team has been the face of the chronically injured ever since Kyle Shanahan took over as head coach back in 2017 and this admittedly hilarious conspiracy theory is only to going further popularize this sentiment.
With this mind, signing Mike Evans to a multi-year deal is a completely fucking insane move. Evans has a lengthy history of soft tissue injuries, missed over half of the 2025 campaign with a broken clavicle and is about to turn 33 years old. He might not even make out of camp with all of his limbs intact! Admittedly, the guarantees are small enough for the 49ers to come out of this deal relatively unscathed if Evans ends up in a full body cast before season's end but still, trusting an aging star player with real injury concerns to anchor a receiving corps that has serious problems with fielding healthy bodies in back-to-back seasons is the kind of loopy dice-roll this organization can't really afford to make as their championship window continues to shrink with each passing day.
Dishonorable Mentions: Wan'Dale Robinson to the Titans (4 years/$70 mil/$38 mil guaranteed), Quay Walker to the Raiders (3 years/$40.5 mil/$28 mil guaranteed), Zion Johnson to the Browns (3 years/$49.5 mil/$32.39 mil guaranteed)
Best Player Still Available: Jauan Jennings, wide receiver (2025 team: San Francisco 49ers)
Jennings is a tough, physical outside receiver whose ability to make contested catches and get in the endzone has endeared him to every quarterback he played with during his 6 seasons with the 49ers. While the potential that all of the bumps and bruises he suffered in San Francisco catching up with him as he heads into his age 29 season will almost certainly lower the term of whatever contract he ultimately signs, his special, unteachable skills would make him a valuable addition to any contending team's receiving room.
Honorable Mentions: D.J. Reader, Stefon Diggs, Kevin Zeitler
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