Free agency and the draft are in the books. While there are still some notable free agents left who could address the biggest need each team has remaining, by and large, teams are who they are at this point. Any changes from this point are more likely to be tweaks than trajectory-altering moves. 

That makes it a good time to look back and assess which teams did the best at improving this offseason and which didn’t do as well. It’s easy to be optimistic this time of year and all 32 teams are confident they got better. Once the regular season starts, though, there have to be winners and there have to be losers. 

Consider this column an early look at who the potential losers might be, as the seeds of a disappointing season usually are planted in March and April. These are the five teams that, in my opinion, had the worst 2026 offseason. 

Arizona Cardinals

Free agency grade: D

Draft grade: B-

The tanking word gets thrown around NFL circles when discussing the Cardinals’ offseason, because otherwise it becomes hard to tie all their moves together into a coherent story. Last season was supposed to be a jump year for Arizona since it was the third year under GM Monti Ossenfort and HC Jonathan Gannon. It was also the third straight year in the system for QB Kyler Murray. Instead of pushing for a playoff spot, though, the Cardinals regressed hard, finishing 3-14. 

The flop cost Gannon and eventually Murray their jobs. For Gannon, the 15-36 record speaks for itself, as does the 488 points allowed by the defense he ran. Murray got hurt early in the season and that’s when things felt like they truly started going off the rails. Even if he hadn’t been injured, though, it seemed like the organization’s patience for him wore thin and something else would inevitably have precipitated a change. Ultimately Arizona had to cut Murray because of his contract and wasn’t able to get any trade compensation. 

That left Ossenfort, who survived the purge despite being equally culpable for the team’s failings, needing to hit the reset button at quarterback with the input of first-year HC Mike LaFleur. It was a bad year to need a new starting passer but even so, Arizona’s plan at the position doesn’t inspire a lot of confidence. Talks with Jimmy Garoppolo to come over from the Rams fell through, so the Cardinals signed Gardner Minshew to back up Jacoby Brissett. They never had a real shot at Ty Simpson, so they pivoted to Carson Beck in the third round as a dart throw. 

The Cardinals weren’t the only team to kick the can at QB with an eye on a 2027 pool that should be much stronger. But compared to the other teams, their vision is less clear. The Dolphins swallowed as much dead money as possible and loaded up on minimum contracts apart from a flier on QB Malik Willis. If he doesn’t pan out, they’ll have plenty of money to go after a replacement or build the team around the one they draft. The Jets focused on building up draft capital and fortifying the defense to evaluate HC Aaron Glenn in Year 2. 

Meanwhile, Arizona looks like it just wants to sim through the season and get to 2027 as fast as possible with a high draft pick and over $120 million in cap space. They didn’t do anything to move the needle in free agency this year, signing mostly veteran Band-Aid types. Their biggest deal was a three-year, $31 million pact for 32-year-old G Isaac Seumalo. Their second-biggest deal was a two-year, $12 million deal for RB Tyler Allgeier, who they proceeded to make an incredibly highly-paid handcuff by drafting first-round RB Jeremiyah Love at No. 3 overall. 

Love brings some juice to a juiceless organization but there are practical concerns with the rest of the roster. Targeting win-now veterans while failing to add a win-now quarterback is basically spinning your tires. Trying to build up the roster before dropping in the quarterback as a final piece is a viable path for teams, but the Cardinals ignored needs at premium positions like tackle and edge rusher that they’ll still need to fix in 2027. 

Expectations are not particularly high for this team, with the betting line set at 4.5 wins most places — last or tied for last among all 32 teams. Ossenfort and LaFleur may have received some assurances about getting a mulligan year in 2026 (they sure seemed to act like it with some of their moves) but no owner likes losses and bad headlines, so that will be tested. Maybe they have a better long-term plan behind the scenes than what their roster moves so far indicate. 

Atlanta Falcons

Free agency grade: C

Draft grade: B

The Falcons are on this list because, like the Cardinals, I’m not sure what the master plan is. Unlike Arizona, the Falcons did a clean sweep of the previous regime, with owner Arthur Blank signing off on a search firm-endorsed restructure of the entire football operations department. He ousted GM Terry Fontenot and HC Raheem Morris while reassigning long-time team president Rich McKay. Blank hired HC Kevin Stefanski fresh off being fired by the Browns and poached GM Ian Cunningham from the Bears — but not before hiring former Falcons QB Matt Ryan as team president and the final say on all football operations. 

Ryan was working at CBS before this and has no front office experience, so it was a curious hire. And while he has the final say contractually, Cunningham and Stefanski both have a lot of input as well, so it’s muddy on how exactly the decisions are made and the vision orchestrated. 

As far as the actual moves, the Falcons have had a fairly understated offseason. Their biggest contract in free agency was a two-year, $15 million deal for WR Jahan Dotson. They franchised TE Kyle Pitts at $15 million, spent $9 million over two years for K Nick Folk, then largely focused on cheap, one-year prove-it contracts, including a minimum deal for QB Tua Tagovailoa after he was cut by the Dolphins. The Falcons were limited in the draft by not having a first-round pick after Fontenot traded it away last year to move up for OLB James Pearce Jr., who still faces a major suspension despite being able to work out a plea deal to avoid felony charges. 

Atlanta did take on $43 million in dead money this year, half of which was from releasing QB Kirk Cousins after just two years and 22 starts, but that shouldn’t have stopped them from being more aggressive if they wanted to. The lack of activity is probably telling in that regard. This feels like a transition year for the team, primarily to evaluate what exactly they have at quarterback. Tagovailoa will compete with incumbent QB Michael Penix Jr., the former surprise No. 8 pick in the draft who tore his ACL for the third time in his football-playing career last season. 

Ryan, Stefanski and Cunningham have all glaringly refused to commit to anything with Penix, so the jury is very much out on his Atlanta tenure despite him having just 12 starts. Because of Penix’s recovery putting him behind the eight-ball in getting on the field, Tagovailoa might have the upper hand to be under center to start the season. It seems likely that both quarterbacks will play, with the timing depending on health and performance. 

From there, the Falcons’ master plan can proceed and we might be able to start judging it on its merits in 2027. Right now, they just feel like a team stuck in neutral. Time is precious in the NFL and it’s hard to feel confident about teams willing to waste it without a plan. 

Seattle Seahawks

Free agency grade: C

Draft grade: C+

I was a vocal Seahawks doubter last year and that did not turn out well for me at all, so you’d think I’d have learned my lesson. Seattle’s roster is overall still in really strong shape, too, so including them here is not a prediction that they’ll miss the playoffs (yet). 

It’s tough to look at all the notable departures from the team this past offseason, though, and not think the Seahawks might have gotten a little worse. Gone are RB Kenneth Walker, OLB Boye Mafe, S Coby Bryant and CB Riq Woolen. All of them got deals that were too rich for GM John Schneider’s taste. Some defections were inevitable, but it felt like Schneider could have pushed harder for Walker or Bryant and been able to keep a little more of the team together. 

The Seahawks did work out deals to keep WR Rashid Shaheed, CB Josh Jobe and LB Drake Thomas. They turned to the draft for replacements for Walker, Bryant and Woolen, selecting first-round RB Jadarian Price, second-round S Bud Clark and third-round CB Julian Neal. The defending champs will have to lean on those rookies from the jump, or on development from someone else on the roster. The Seahawks made almost no exterior free agent signings of note, with the exception of the recent addition of veteran OLB Dante Fowler to replace Mafe’s rotational snaps. 

It’s not on the player side, but the loss of OC Klint Kubiak is also potentially massive. Seattle hit gold by revamping the offense last year, jettisoning OC Ryan Grubb and QB Geno Smith while signing QB Sam Darnold and hiring Kubiak, who had coached him with the 49ers. That familiarity and Kubiak’s offensive prowess helped lead to a career year for Darnold and a Super Bowl trophy. Kubiak got a well-earned shot as a head coach with the Raiders, while Seahawks HC Mike Macdonald had to hire his third play-caller in as many seasons. 

He settled on 49ers TE coach Brian Fleury, who doesn’t have any play-calling experience but has been with the 49ers since 2019 and is well-versed in the offense Darnold plays best in. Macdonald’s process is understandable, but it’s just tough for teams to replace offensive play-callers. Macdonald is one of the fastest-rising coaching stars in football and he’s only 50-50 so far on his OC hires. And while Darnold is coming off two strong years, they have both been with elite play-callers. If Fleury ends up being just ordinary, is Darnold’s improvement real enough to withstand that? 

Overall, there are just a lot of headwinds working against the Seahawks in their quest to repeat. Even with all the personnel and coaching losses, I would consider the Seahawks on a short list of favorites in the NFC heading into 2026. I just don’t think they got better the last few months and that they could have done a little more to head that off. 

Green Bay Packers

Free agency grade: C+

Draft grade: B-

At about this point in outlining the article, I realized that I’ve either been a slightly soft grader this offseason or not that many teams had truly awful offseasons. Green Bay’s two grades here put its GPA toward the bottom but I don’t think the Packers have fared that poorly. This year was always going to feature more exits than arrivals with the number of expiring contracts the Packers had, plus the big deals they had to account for with players like QB Jordan Love and OLB Micah Parsons. The Parsons trade also left them without a first-round pick to address needs in the draft. However, the Packers should get four compensatory picks in 2027 for the free agents they lost. 

The critiques I have for the Packers are twofold. First, I think they could have done more to address what I and many others see as their biggest roster need at cornerback. Green Bay signed Benjamin St-Juste in free agency and used its first pick on Brandon Cisse in the second round. They’ll compete with Keisean Nixon and Carrington Valentine for the two starting spots outside, with S Javon Bullard likely locked in as the nickel defender. 

Unless Cisse is a Day 1 star or there’s a big jump from someone like Valentine or St-Juste, that room still looks questionable. The Packers have consistently been higher on their incumbents like Nixon than outside observers, and Nixon would be just fine as a No. 2 option. However, he can be in over his head as a No. 1 in certain matchups, and it doesn’t help that he turns 29 in June. There will also be even more of a magnifying glass put on the secondary with Parsons set to miss time to start the season, and he could potentially still be working his way into peak shape for longer. 

The second critique is more structural. The Packers are a draft-and-develop team historically, and that has remained the case under GM Brian Gutekunst. His record isn’t spotless, but he tends to do well building depth across the roster, especially on the offensive line. Part of that is a focus on acquiring more picks, either by letting free agents walk to acquire comp picks or trading veterans past a certain age. This has been especially true following the transition from Aaron Rodgers to Love, as Rodgers was much more insistent on having veterans he trusted on the roster. 

As a result, the Packers have consistently been one of the youngest teams in football over the last three years. In that stretch, they have 29 wins and three playoff appearances, but all as a low wild card seed with no NFC North titles. They haven’t advanced past the divisional round and in 2025, a fanbase that was losing patience with HC Matt LaFleur was hammering him for being solid, not great. 

I think all of those things are related. In his zest to build a youthful roster loaded with ascending players on rookie contracts, I think Gutekunst may have lost the balance of necessary veteran experience that can help push over the hump late in the season when the stakes get higher. I think LaFleur has had some challenges coaching a young team at times as well, and could benefit from a more player-led group that is capable of taking the initiative and course-correcting when needed. 

That may have come up in the team’s self-scouting, with a couple moves like signing veteran DT Javon Hargrave and trading for LB Zaire Franklin seemingly aimed at correcting that blind spot. We’ll see if it ends up being enough or if the hot seat talk about LaFleur kicks back up again by the end of the year. 

New England Patriots

Free agency grade: B

Draft grade: B

The Patriots have done a decent job in free agency and the draft this year, so that’s not why they’re on this list. They didn’t go on as big a spending spree as last offseason but they did add a few quality veterans with a nice mix of experience and upside to try and build on last year’s success. In the draft, it felt like they tried to get on base more than they tried to hit home runs, which could prove to be a prudent approach with this particular class. If you account for a (probable?) A.J. Brown trade, you could probably bump New England up half a letter. 

The elephant in the room is obvious, though. Ordinarily a coach’s infidelity would have little impact on the season, even if made public, as it’s a common issue in the NFL. But HC Mike Vrabel’s entanglement with former Athletic reporter Dianna Russini has been front-page news for weeks, becoming a real-deal distraction that the organization has to deal with. Vrabel left the team for the third day of the draft to do counseling with his wife, so this situation is already impacting him and the football team more than a lot of people thought it would given he didn’t violate any formal NFL code of conduct rules. 

It’s also abundantly clear that, much as the team might hope, this is not a story that is going away. This is going to get tied into the narrative of whatever happens this upcoming season and amplify any rough patches the Patriots go through — and the history of the “Super Bowl hangover” suggests the Patriots are inevitably going to face some issues. The schedule will get harder, they won’t sneak up on teams anymore and they had less time to recuperate and recover than 30 other teams. 

Vrabel may have hoped to squash this at a couple of different points; first when he issued his initial, dismissive denial, then when he addressed his players and reporters at the beginning of OTAs. But this is a battle he’s going to be fighting in the public eye this whole season and he’ll be under a microscope unlike anything he’s experienced in his career (and he won three rings with the dynasty Patriots). 

To put it another way, the vibes aren’t good in New England and it doesn’t have a whole lot to do with any signings, trades or draft picks the team did or didn’t make.