One of the most underappreciated storylines to come out of Super Bowl LX is the NFC conference’s recent dominance over the AFC. The Patriots looked noncompetitive against the Seattle Seahawks and fell 13-29. Drake Maye had one of the worst quarterback performances in recent memory. Just a year ago the Chiefs were blown out by […] One of the most underappreciated storylines to come out of Super Bowl LX is the NFC conference’s recent dominance over the AFC. The Patriots looked noncompetitive against the Seattle Seahawks and fell 13-29. Drake Maye had one of the worst quarterback performances in recent memory. Just a year ago the Chiefs were blown out by the Philadelphia Eagles 22-40. The game was never close. But the Chiefs did win the last two Super Bowls prior to 2024. They did so with three-point margins against each of the 49ers and Eagles. The NFC won the two world championships leading up to that point with wins by the Rams and Buccaneers. In short, four of the last six Super Bowl victories have gone to the NFC. The two most recent games features the largest point differentials, and those outcomes tipped heavily in the National conference’s favor. Rams at Seahawks was the real Super Bowl Did the story reach its climax in the championship weekend? I asked this question leading up to the Seahawks hosting the Rams, and it seems particularly apt now. We saw the two best teams in the NFL go toe-to-toe for a trip to the Super Bowl. It seemed at the time whoever finished on top would also lay claim to the Lombardi Trophy. That held true. Were the Patriots frauds? Not necessarily. They were just a year too early in terms of their roster build. This was an AFC conference without the Chiefs and Patrick Mahomes, and the Bengals and Ravens who battled injuries at the quarterback position for most of the season. It’s positive for New England that they were able to accumulate playoff experience for a young roster. 2025 was never going to be their year. What the future holds for Rams The path will remain more difficult on the NFC side for the foreseeable future. The Seahawks probably aren’t going anywhere. The Bears, Packers, Panthers, and new entrants should be tougher a year from now. We know the Rams have serious needs heading into the offseason. They need to rework their secondary in addition to reloading at receiver. Even if they patch these holes it will be an uphill battle to return to the NFC championship. That’s just how the NFL works. As a fan you must appreciate these moments because they are fleeting between eras. But hey, if the Rams do make it out of the NFC they should have the upper hand over the AFC team. See More: Los Angeles Rams News
The NFC has dominated the AFC of late
AP Mailbag: What is the Chiefs’ salary cap philosophy?
Welcome back to the Arrowhead Pride Mailbag! Throughout the offseason, watch for your opportunity to submit your Kansas City Chiefs questions in The Feed, which is found on AP’s home page. After Super Bowl LX, the NFL offseason is officially underway. Right now, the Chiefs appear about $58 million over the expected 2026 salary cap […] Welcome back to the Arrowhead Pride Mailbag! Throughout the offseason, watch for your opportunity to submit your Kansas City Chiefs questions in The Feed, which is found on AP’s home page. After Super Bowl LX, the NFL offseason is officially underway. Right now, the Chiefs appear about $58 million over the expected 2026 salary cap with 54 players signed. Let’s see what is on our readers’ minds about how Kansas City navigates the limit. OzarkEd asks: My question is very basic. To an outsider it appears to be a very complex calculation to determine a team’s total cap hit in a season. Yet, it also appears rather simple to restructure contracts to clear up needed cap space. What’s the point of having a salary cap if all a team that’s $50+ million over has to do is restructure a few contracts? The NFL introduced the salary cap in 1994, which then was an astounding $34.6 million per team. The league’s owners have done a remarkable job of spinning that it is good for competitive balance. The cynic in me suspects that, truly, the owners wanted to control spending and have a mechanism to police each other from letting contracts get out of hand. Initially, the salary cap closely resembled actual team budgets. Over the last 30 years, however, lucrative national broadcast contracts have put the league’s teams on equal footing. As such, teams have been freer over the last decade to push the boundaries of the salary cap. Significant signing bonuses used to be rare outside of football’s elite talent. Now, the first year of almost every free agent deal is built around a signing bonus — that can be spread over up to five years — to manage the cap. Void years that make a two-year deal look like a five-year pact on paper for cap purposes will be covered later. I am not one to say the cap is fake, but it has proven easily manipulated. One area that teams have had less success skirting is the league’s funding rule, which requires owners to immediately secure most future guaranteed salary on contracts via deposit in an escrow account. Every team has proven willing to test the limits of the salary cap. Not every ownership group is eager to repeatedly shell out needed cash for excessive spending. The funding rule, more than the salary cap, is the reason for the currently perceived haves and have-nots. nmt1 asks: I’d like to understand why the Chiefs seem to be constantly in cap trouble whereas other teams always seem to be able to pretty much do whatever they want. I just don’t understand why some teams, like the Chiefs, are always strapped and others never seem to be. To refer to the previous question, the Chiefs appear to have a firmer cash budget than some of the teams that are annually cited as free agency’s biggest winners. General manager Brett Veach’s approach to the salary cap has been somewhat clear since the big money on quarterback Patrick Mahomes’ extension started kicking in around 2023. The Chiefs value flat contracts. Examples are tackle Jawaan Taylor’s contract, paying exactly $20 million each year in Kansas City, or linebacker Nick Bolton’s deal that pays him $15 million annually. The earnings on the first year of each contract are mostly via a signing bonus that spreads the first-year earnings over the life of the contract. Thus, most of Kansas City’s big-money free agents see the salary cap impact of the contract’s second year increase dramatically. The Chiefs also tend to spend their salary cap space a year ahead of time. Later in the week, we will cover the moves I expect Kansas City to make to get under the cap and have some room to add free agents. Spotrac estimates that the team has about $80.8 million in hypothetical 2027 salary cap space. Much of that will be allocated this spring as free agents are added. This process has repeatedly led to the Chiefs rarely having significant salary cap space to roll into the next season and annually looking stretched thin financially. However, Veach and his crew have been good at stacking contracts (and having multiple restructure avenues) in a way that avoids any true salary cap crisis. EdPodolak asks: Why don’t the Chiefs like to use voidable years? Are the Chiefs being consistently low on “dead money” part of that? For definition, void years are fake seasons added onto a contract to spread out signing bonuses that nullify at the start of a given league year. A player can sign a two-year contract for $30 million. A team can then designate most of the earnings as a signing bonus. The team could then add three “void” years onto the contract to greatly reduce the initial cap hit. The downside is that the rest of the signing bonus will accelerate when the player reenters free agency and be charged as “dead money” on the salary cap, even though the team would owe no more actual money to the player. The Chiefs have not jumped on this trend that the Philadelphia Eagles seem to excel at. Time will tell if the yearly increases to the cap are enough to keep the Eagles’ bills from coming due in a way that puts them into a horrific cap situation. While Kansas City generally avoids pushing cap charges into the future via void years, the post-2027 portion of Mahomes’ 10-year contract mostly serves the same purpose. Unless you believe Mahomes will willingly play in 2028 for less than $28 million (he won’t), the remainder of his deal serves little current purpose other than
AP Mailbag: What is the Chiefs’ salary cap philosophy?
Welcome back to the Arrowhead Pride Mailbag! Throughout the offseason, watch for your opportunity to submit your Kansas City Chiefs questions in The Feed, which is found on AP’s home page. After Super Bowl LX, the NFL offseason is officially underway. Right now, the Chiefs appear about $58 million over the expected 2026 salary cap […] Welcome back to the Arrowhead Pride Mailbag! Throughout the offseason, watch for your opportunity to submit your Kansas City Chiefs questions in The Feed, which is found on AP’s home page. After Super Bowl LX, the NFL offseason is officially underway. Right now, the Chiefs appear about $58 million over the expected 2026 salary cap with 54 players signed. Let’s see what is on our readers’ minds about how Kansas City navigates the limit. OzarkEd asks: My question is very basic. To an outsider it appears to be a very complex calculation to determine a team’s total cap hit in a season. Yet, it also appears rather simple to restructure contracts to clear up needed cap space. What’s the point of having a salary cap if all a team that’s $50+ million over has to do is restructure a few contracts? The NFL introduced the salary cap in 1994, which then was an astounding $34.6 million per team. The league’s owners have done a remarkable job of spinning that it is good for competitive balance. The cynic in me suspects that, truly, the owners wanted to control spending and have a mechanism to police each other from letting contracts get out of hand. Initially, the salary cap closely resembled actual team budgets. Over the last 30 years, however, lucrative national broadcast contracts have put the league’s teams on equal footing. As such, teams have been freer over the last decade to push the boundaries of the salary cap. Significant signing bonuses used to be rare outside of football’s elite talent. Now, the first year of almost every free agent deal is built around a signing bonus — that can be spread over up to five years — to manage the cap. Void years that make a two-year deal look like a five-year pact on paper for cap purposes will be covered later. I am not one to say the cap is fake, but it has proven easily manipulated. One area that teams have had less success skirting is the league’s funding rule, which requires owners to immediately secure most future guaranteed salary on contracts via deposit in an escrow account. Every team has proven willing to test the limits of the salary cap. Not every ownership group is eager to repeatedly shell out needed cash for excessive spending. The funding rule, more than the salary cap, is the reason for the currently perceived haves and have-nots. nmt1 asks: I’d like to understand why the Chiefs seem to be constantly in cap trouble whereas other teams always seem to be able to pretty much do whatever they want. I just don’t understand why some teams, like the Chiefs, are always strapped and others never seem to be. To refer to the previous question, the Chiefs appear to have a firmer cash budget than some of the teams that are annually cited as free agency’s biggest winners. General manager Brett Veach’s approach to the salary cap has been somewhat clear since the big money on quarterback Patrick Mahomes’ extension started kicking in around 2023. The Chiefs value flat contracts. Examples are tackle Jawaan Taylor’s contract, paying exactly $20 million each year in Kansas City, or linebacker Nick Bolton’s deal that pays him $15 million annually. The earnings on the first year of each contract are mostly via a signing bonus that spreads the first-year earnings over the life of the contract. Thus, most of Kansas City’s big-money free agents see the salary cap impact of the contract’s second year increase dramatically. The Chiefs also tend to spend their salary cap space a year ahead of time. Later in the week, we will cover the moves I expect Kansas City to make to get under the cap and have some room to add free agents. Spotrac estimates that the team has about $80.8 million in hypothetical 2027 salary cap space. Much of that will be allocated this spring as free agents are added. This process has repeatedly led to the Chiefs rarely having significant salary cap space to roll into the next season and annually looking stretched thin financially. However, Veach and his crew have been good at stacking contracts (and having multiple restructure avenues) in a way that avoids any true salary cap crisis. EdPodolak asks: Why don’t the Chiefs like to use voidable years? Are the Chiefs being consistently low on “dead money” part of that? For definition, void years are fake seasons added onto a contract to spread out signing bonuses that nullify at the start of a given league year. A player can sign a two-year contract for $30 million. A team can then designate most of the earnings as a signing bonus. The team could then add three “void” years onto the contract to greatly reduce the initial cap hit. The downside is that the rest of the signing bonus will accelerate when the player reenters free agency and be charged as “dead money” on the salary cap, even though the team would owe no more actual money to the player. The Chiefs have not jumped on this trend that the Philadelphia Eagles seem to excel at. Time will tell if the yearly increases to the cap are enough to keep the Eagles’ bills from coming due in a way that puts them into a horrific cap situation. While Kansas City generally avoids pushing cap charges into the future via void years, the post-2027 portion of Mahomes’ 10-year contract mostly serves the same purpose. Unless you believe Mahomes will willingly play in 2028 for less than $28 million (he won’t), the remainder of his deal serves little current purpose other than
Highest-graded Seahawks, Patriots players from Super Bowl 60
PFF grades every player on every play in every game. For one last time this season, these were the week’s (Super Bowl’s) top players by PFF overall grade. Highest-graded Seahawks, Patriots players from Super Bowl 60 Abraham Lucas held down the right side of the Seahawks’ line: He earned an elite 90.2 PFF run-blocking grade in the game, paving the way for Kenneth Walker III to win Super Bowl MVP. Christian Gonzalez was a bright spot for the Patriots: A lot went wrong for New England, but it could have been far worse if not for Gonzalez, who broke up three passes and held Sam Darnold to a 40.4 NFL passer rating when targeted. 2026 NFL Draft season is here: Try the best-in-class PFF Mock Draft Simulator and learn about 2026’s top prospects while trading and drafting for your favorite NFL team. Estimated Reading Time: 9minutes 🏈 Draft Season 2026 Prepare for the 2026 NFL Draft with PFF+ Your complete draft preparation toolkit Subscribe For one last time this season, we’re looking at the highest-graded players for a week, this time for the New England Patriots and Seattle Seahawks in Super Bowl 60. These were the 10 highest-graded players from the game. To qualify, players needed to have logged at least 25 snaps. 1. T Abraham Lucas, Seattle Seahawks (89.9) Lucas kept the Seahawks’ running lanes clear all night. He finished second in impact-block rate (22.6%), behind teammate Grey Zabel (25.8%), while generating only a 6.5% defeated rate. Lucas earned an elite 90.2 PFF run-blocking grade for the game, performing equally well in zone (86.5) and gap schemes (79.0). Lucas also kept Sam Darnold clean, surrendering zero pressures and finishing with an 83.8 PFF pass-blocking grade. He is the only tackle from the Super Bowl with PFF grades above 80.0 in either blocking facet. The fourth-year man from Washington State graded out as the second-best offensive tackle throughout the postseason (91.0) and is one of two tackles to record a PFF overall grade above 90.0 (Jordan Mailata, 96.1). Lucas conceded just two pressures in pass protection, earning him a fourth-ranked 82.2 PFF pass-blocking grade. He was elite as a run blocker (92.4 PFF run-blocking grade), ranking in the top two among tackles in zone (90.4) and gap (93.2) schemes. He generated the eighth-best defeated rate (9.0%) while recording the fourth-best impact-block rate (21.3%). 2. CB Christian Gonzalez, New England Patriots (80.6) Gonzalez was one of the Patriots’ few bright spots in Super Bowl 60. He was the game’s only defender to record a PFF coverage grade above 80.0 (86.8). He was targeted five times, allowing one catch for 16 yards while breaking up three passes. He held Sam Darnold to a 40.4 NFL passer rating when targeted. The 17th overall pick in 2023, Gonzalez earned an 86.8 PFF overall grade in the playoffs. He was the third-best cornerback in coverage, surrendering 11 catches on 30 targets for 141 yards. A chunk of that came from a 52-yard bomb to Marvin Mims Jr. in the AFC Championship game, yet he still allowed only 4.7 receiving yards per target. Gonzalez forced seven incompletions (first) at a rate of 23% and picked off a pass. He also made 14 tackles in coverage with four stops and generated the fourth-lowest NFL passer rating when targeted (38.3). Open Gonzalez’s Profile 3. TE AJ Barner, Seattle Seahawks (79.1) Barner was one of the Seahawks’ standout players, catching all four of his targets for 54 yards and a score. He had two gains of 15-plus yards, including a 16-yard touchdown early in the fourth quarter where he found himself alone in the end zone against busted coverage. That play gave the Seahawks an 18-0 lead. Barner finished the game with a 77.9 PFF receiving grade and led all tight ends in PFF run-blocking grade (68.2). The second-year man from Michigan topped his rookie receiving numbers (30 catches, 245 yards, four touchdowns) with 58 catches in 2025 for 586 yards and seven touchdowns. He gained 31 first downs, recorded 11 explosive gains of 15-plus yards and secured six of nine contested catches. While Barner’s postseason PFF receiving grade dropped to 51.7 from 76.9 during the regular season, he excelled as a blocker, ranking as the top run-blocking tight end of the postseason (78.5). He shined in Seattle’s zone-blocking scheme (77.8 PFF grade), and he didn’t allow a single pressure in passprotection (70.5 PFF pass-blocking grade). 4. S Coby Bryant, Seattle Seahawks (79.0) Bryant was everywhere in Super Bowl 60, recording two tackles in run defense (71.2 PFF run-defense grade) and forcing an incompletion in coverage. He nearly came away with an interception on the fourth-quarter play, racing across the field to break up the pass. Bryant finished the game with a 72.6 PFF coverage grade, best among all safeties. A fourth-round pick by the Seahawks in 2022, Bryant graded out as the fourth-best safety this postseason (77.7). He earned the fifth-best coverage grade at the position (71.4), allowing only one catch on three targets for nine yards. Although that play went for a touchdown (NFC Championship game), he forced incompletions across his other two targets, limiting quarterbacks to an 81.9 NFL passer rating. 5. T Charles Cross, While Abraham Lucas manned the right side of the offensive line, Cross held down the left side, allowing only one hurry on the night (72.4 PFF pass-blocking grade) and earning a 76.0 PFF run-blocking grade. Cross recorded 70.0-plus PFF blocking grades in both zone (70.2) and gap (77.4) schemes while generating a 19.4% impact-block rate. New England’s defensive line couldn’t get around him, as he matched Lucas with a 6.5% defeated rate. The ninth overall pick by the Seahawks in the 2022 NFL Draft, Cross graded out as the third-best tackle this postseason (84.7). He earned 80.0-plus blocking grades in run blocking (80.9, sixth best) and pass protection (81.8, fifth), standing out especially in zone-blocking schemes (80.3). Cross surrendered four hurries across 96 pass-blocking snaps and ranked in the top seven among tackles in impact-block
Mock drafts are popularizing this pick for Rams
It’s mock draft season! We are roughly two months out from the event of the offseason. Anticipation will be high for the Los Angeles Rams. They hold two first round picks. After LA fell just short of reaching the Super Bowl, they could be in place to contend again with a few right moves. One […] It’s mock draft season! We are roughly two months out from the event of the offseason. Anticipation will be high for the Los Angeles Rams. They hold two first round picks. After LA fell just short of reaching the Super Bowl, they could be in place to contend again with a few right moves. One popular pick that is picking up steam for the Rams at #13 overall—the selection received from the Atlanta Falcons in last year’s draft day trade—is quarterback Ty Simpson of Alabama. Todd McShay most recently pointed out the match in his first round mock version 2.0: 13. Los Angeles Rams (via Atlanta): QB Ty Simpson, Alabama Wait for it. If the draft were today, I wouldn’t put Simpson in this spot. But history tells me that he will rise. Simpson’s smart, he stayed for four years at Alabama, and he’s the son of lifelong football coach Jason Simpson, who’s been the HC at UT Martin for the past 20 years. Much has been made of his lack of starting experience, but this guy grew up around ball and knows the game better than most quarterbacks at this career stage. On the field, I love Simpson’s pocket manipulation, anticipation as a passer, toughness, smarts, fast eyes, and competitiveness. He also has a stronger arm and is more mobile than people give him credit for. Plus, his tape through nine games was the best of any QB in the country—and I’ll debate that with anyone. I’ll be honest: I want this for Simpson. Sean McVay is a proven quarterback developer, and Simpson would have time—with at least a season to sit behind Matthew Stafford—to watch and learn. Maybe it will be later in the first round at pick 29. Maybe it won’t happen at all. But I love this fit. The NFL Stock Exchange podcast from Trevor Sikkema and Connor Rogers also pointed out that the pairing of the Rams and Simpson make sense. You watch see the full mock here: It shouldn’t be surprising that draft analysts are matching the Rams and Simpson. Even when LA acquired the additional first round pick last year it seemed like the intent was to accumulate draft capital to one day move up for the heir to Matthew Stafford. Did Les Snead expect the Falcons’ pick to land at #13 overall? Probably not, but it was more likely than Atlanta probably wanted to believe. Now the Rams’ future quarterback may fall into their lap without requiring a trade up. It’s a worthwhile gamble if the team does believe that Simpson has a worthwhile NFL future. See More:
ESPN projects Colts to re-sign emerging free agent safety
According to ESPN’s Aaron Schatz, he projects the Indianapolis Colts to re-sign free agent safety Nick Cross, who just completed his second season with the franchise as a full-time starting safety: Big prediction for the offseason: The Colts will give a big extension to 25-year-old safety Nick Cross. He did well in my coverage DVOA metric and […] Big prediction for the offseason: The Colts will give a big extension to 25-year-old safety Nick Cross. He did well in my coverage DVOA metric and was involved in 14.0% of Colts defensive plays, fourth among safeties in 2025. His average run tackle came after a gain of just 4.3 yards (ranked third among safeties with at least 20 run tackles). — Schatz Despite having just completed his 4th season, the former 2022 3rd round pick of the Colts is still only 24-years-old, and when going right, offers a tantalizing combination of speed, athleticism, range, and hard hitting ability. Since becoming a full-time starter on the backend of their secondary in 2024, he’s started 34 straight games for the Colts defensively. He’s fresh off a 2025 season for Indianapolis in which he recorded 120 tackles (72 solo), 5 tackles for loss, 5 passes defensed, an interception, 2.5 sacks, and a forced fumble. Per PFF, Cross earned a +59.8 overall grade, which ranked 68th of 98 qualifying safeties. However, he earned a +72.0 run defense grade, as he excelled in run support. While starting quarterback Daniel Jones and wideout Alec Pierce project to be their top free agent priorities, Cross still seems to be a young player that the Colts would presumably like to potentially bring back behind them. However, given his youth, and as one of the top free agent safeties in this year’s class, it’s possible he could garner a larger multi-year deal elsewhere. In that case, Indianapolis could shift its focus to upgrading at edge rusher instead and hope that veteran defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo can recreate some magic at safety next to Cam Bynum next season, with 2025 7th round pick Hunter Wohler a potential internal replacement candidate. Currently, Spotrac projects Nick Cross to earn a 4-year, $24.3 million contract, but honestly, given that his best football appears to be still ahead of him and the somewhat recent breakout, it seems likely that his next contract number should be higher than that in the early frenzy that has become modern NFL free agency. The Colts presumably would like to retain him, but it’s very possible that his next contract number may go beyond what they’re willing to realistically pay, with other more pressing roster priorities to focus on elsewhere. See More: Indianapolis Colts Free Agency
Klint Kubiak makes it clear: He wants to coach Maxx Crosby
The future of Las Vegas Raiders’ star defensive end Maxx Crosby will be one of the major storylines of the NFL offseason. Tuesday, though, new Raiders head coach Klint Kubiak didn’t waste any time letting his feelings about Crosby be known — he wants him to be a Raider moving forward. “We want him to […] The future of Las Vegas Raiders’ star defensive end Maxx Crosby will be one of the major storylines of the NFL offseason. Tuesday, though, new Raiders head coach Klint Kubiak didn’t waste any time letting his feelings about Crosby be known — he wants him to be a Raider moving forward. “We want him to be part of our success moving forward,” Kubiak said during his press conference, announcing his hiring. “There’s no doubt about that.” Kubiak said he had coffee with Crosby at the team’s facility on Tuesday morning. Kubiak said he was “fired up” that Crosby was the first person in the building Tuesday as he rehabs from a knee surgery. Kubiak said he is looking forward to having more conversations with Crosby in the future. Crosby was reported to be among the players who attended Kubiak’s press conference. Raiders owner Mark Davis also said he wants Crosby to return. There have been reports that Crosby wants to be traded and has told Raiders’ part owner Tom Brady he has no intentions of playing for the team again. ESPN reported this week the Raiders would rather keep Crosby, but could get to the point where they listen to trade offers. Tuesday, Kubiak and Davis made it clear they want to keep their superstar. Time will tell if Crosby has the same interest. See More:
Who will be the NFC’s surprise team in 2026?
The Los Angeles Rams missed their best chance at a second Super Bowl under Sean McVay thanks to an expected run from the Seattle Seahawks. Who will be the next surprise NFC playoff team in 2026? According to FanDuel Sportsbook, the Seahawks have +750 odds to repeat next year, followed by the Rams at +800. […] The Los Angeles Rams missed their best chance at a second Super Bowl under Sean McVay thanks to an expected run from the Seattle Seahawks. Who will be the next surprise NFC playoff team in 2026? According to FanDuel Sportsbook, the Seahawks have +750 odds to repeat next year, followed by the Rams at +800. Five of the teams with the highest Super Bowl odds reside in the NFC, yet as this season has proved, anyone could come out of nowhere. The conference also featured four different playoff teams from a year ago, including the top-seeded Seahawks, and No. 2 seed Bears. New Orleans is a possible contender, as they won four of their last five to finish the season, and play in the painfully bad NFC South. The Saints will play a last-place schedule and have a chance to tee off against weaklings like the Browns, Cardinals, Raiders, Giants and of course, their dreadful division. They already have some believers out there. The Giants are also a strong possibility, given they hired former Super Bowl champion coach John Harbaugh this offseason. While Harbaugh suffered a heartbreaking end to his time in Baltimore, brighter days seem to be ahead for him in the Big Apple. Before New York hired him, the sentiment around the league was that Big Blue was an elite head coach away from making some noise. With loads of promising young talent already on the roster, it’s hard not to feel that way. Who do you think will be next year’s surprise NFC playoff team? Will it be the Saints, Giants, or someone else? Let us know in the comments! See More: Los Angeles Rams News
It’s Starting Already
We are not quite 48 hours into the 2026 offseason in the National Football League, and we already have our first idiotic Minnesota Vikings trade rumor centered around the guy that most idiotic trade rumors concerning the Minnesota Vikings seem to center around. Over at CBS Sports, Jordan Daijani has put up ten crazy predictions […] We are not quite 48 hours into the 2026 offseason in the National Football League, and we already have our first idiotic Minnesota Vikings trade rumor centered around the guy that most idiotic trade rumors concerning the Minnesota Vikings seem to center around. Over at CBS Sports, Jordan Daijani has put up ten crazy predictions for the 2026 offseason, and right up at the very top of the list is the speculation that the Vikings will trade wide receiver Justin Jefferson to the Buffalo Bills for a “package of picks.” We haven’t even hit Valentine’s Day, and I’m already tired of this. Let’s ignore the fact that if the Vikings were to trade Jefferson, they would have to eat a $46 million dead cap hit, as though that wouldn’t be reason enough to dismiss the idea of a trade entirely. For starters, there isn’t a compelling enough package of picks or players, short of multiple first-round picks and then some, that the Bills (or any other team) could offer that would even begin to move the needle on a potential Jefferson trade. There just isn’t. Seriously, what are the Bills offering in this “package of picks” that’s going to make Rob Brzezinski say, “Wow, that sounds like a really great deal! That’s definitely worth pissing off the entire fan base for! Let’s call this into the league office before the Bills change their minds!” Nothing, that’s what. Then there’s what Jefferson means to the Vikings on and off the field. He’s the face of the franchise, he’s been nothing but outstanding even in the face of the team’s struggles this season, and he’s still on a very short list of the best receivers in the NFL. Without Jefferson, the Vikings’ wide receiver corps is basically Jordan Addison, who’s one 3:00 AM drive away from a lengthy suspension, and. . .ummmmm. . .I don’t know, Tai Felton, I guess? Gonna try to keep developing J.J. McCarthy? Yeah, you’re gonna want Justin Jefferson here. Want to try to attract a solid veteran option in free agency? Yeah, you’re gonna want Justin Jefferson here. Is Kevin O’Connell planning on keeping his job past this season? Yeah, he’s gonna want Justin Jefferson here. There is literally nothing about a potential Justin Jefferson trade that makes any sense in any way, shape, or form for the Minnesota Vikings on any level. Not from a football perspective, not from a money perspective, and not from a public relations perspective. But that’s not going to stop folks from trying to project one anyway. I say this every time one of the Really Smart Football People™ brings up the idea of the Vikings dealing Jefferson away. It’s got to be exhausting for them to try to find ways or excuses to get Jefferson off of the Vikings and on to one of the seven or eight NFL teams they actually care about. Regardless of what the situation with the Vikings has been during his career, Jefferson has never once given any indication that he’s wanted out of Minnesota. Not while his camp was working out a contract extension with the Vikings, not while he was hurt in 2023, not when the offense was struggling this past season. He’s been the absolute definition of leadership and class through all of it. If people in the media are going to suggest that the Vikings are going to trade their franchise player for several piles of garbage and a handful of magic beans, they should at least give some sort of reasoning as to why the Vikings would be compelled to make that kind of a move. I’m sure this won’t be the last one of these we see this offseason, but since it’s the first one, I’m planting the flag and getting this out of the way early. See More:
Miami Dolpins Fans Share Their Concerns With The New Regime
This past week, I asked the following question: Now that our Miami Dolphins have hired the new GM and nearly filled out the entire coaching staff, what concerns do you still have about either or both? Is it an individual coach that you believe could hold the team back, or is there another concern about […] This past week, I asked the following question: Now that our Miami Dolphins have hired the new GM and nearly filled out the entire coaching staff, what concerns do you still have about either or both? Is it an individual coach that you believe could hold the team back, or is there another concern about the new makeup of the front office or the coaching staff as a whole? Or…maybe you think this is nearly perfect for what we want to see. Please let us know that and why as well. Below are some of your thoughts and answers- Luvs2drnk just hopes this isn’t a case of wash-rinse-repeat. My only concern right now is that we’re doing the same thing we’ve been doing for the past 21 years and expecting a different result. coluccim knows that being mediocre is not acceptable. Same concern as before – the acceptance of mediocracy MiamiItaliano is concerned about the dire financial situation the team is in, cap-wise, due to horrible decisions made by the previous regime. The concern is how Sully can build a team with so much dead money against the cap. It’s already at $35 million, before the 2 post-June 1st cuts. Assuming it’s Tua, that’s $67 million this season. Assuming it’s Chubb, that’s $10.9 million. Then there’s Tyreek, who’s probably getting cut ASAP with no post-June 1st designation. That’s $28.2 million dead cap. A total of $142 million of money the Dolphins can’t use this year. That means Sully has to absolutely nail the draft every year until they get out of cap hell. TheRoo1 hopes that the new regime sticks to the long game this time. Concerns? That while Sully and Haf have said the right things, now that they have the keys to the car, they decide to take a joy ride, and stray from the long game that they talked about. USMCFinzFreak hopes the new guys aren’t just fill-ins for now. My concern is if the staff is just a bridge staff, considering the cap space hell they inherited. I hope not, but we fans are impatient (and rightly so), especially after so many decades of mediocrity. We’ve been on an endless search to find our franchise quarterback, so I hope we can get out of quarterback purgatory soon, but first, the team needs to build a formidable OL before we bring in a QB. Chicken or egg, which one comes first? Sorry for the ramble…… SlayerNation1 is concerned about the culture and if the owners’ priorities are in the right place. The concern until proven otherwise: the “Dolphins’ Culture” overwhelms/brainwashes any regimes ability to break through the “Glass Ceiling of Mediocrity” If the Dolphins were an SAT analogy: High NFLPA Player Grades are to Ross, what AFC Championships and Lombardis are to some owners. 👆that’s my concern, different names=same net results Ejplaya is concerned about the lack of talent on the roster and the lack of cap or a high enough draft pick to make an immediate difference. The biggest concern is have with the staff is their lack of ammunition. They have very little talent on the roster, no cap space, and a first round draft pick outside the top 10. Tough to turn things around quickly without those things. MIAMI235 is concerned about the new regime having to learn as they go. Concern: Too much “ On The Job Learning “, as we have watched through the years. sdphinsfan wants to know whether they can walk the walk, not just talk the talk. Is also concerned that they will be able to compile the right level of talent. Execution. Haf and JES look and sound the part. Their background is just what you want. But you have to get the “right” players because for as much focus as we put on the FO and the coaching, it’s a players game and the players are what makes it happen. If you have the right players, its easier to go from 4 wins to 14 than it is to go from 7 to 11. When you’re stuck in the middle, it’s harder to make the changes you need to make because you think you are closer than you really are. Urthling has multiple concerns, inclusing the getting the culture right and the quarterback problem. Also, we are impatient. Damn right we are! With an impatient fanbase and sometimes mercurial owner, will Haf and Sully get a fair shake to turn Miami around? With the current QB, cap and roster situations it looks like it could take a few years. There’s also the secondary concern of creating a “winning culture”, that might be difficult to accomplish if the next 1-2 seasons we pile up more losses than wins, unless the players feel that significant progress is being made. That’s a laundry list, and every one of those concerns seems more than legit. Clearly, we are all concerned about the lack of a quality quarterback, a strong team culture of winning, and the overall lack of talent in the right positions on the roster. Let’s hope that they got it right this time, or it’s going to be another long, ugly ride for us in the fanbase. As always, thank you to each of you who come into our posts nearly every evening or the next morning and answer our question of the day. See More: Miami Dolphins News
