Five Worst 2026 NFL Offseason Grades

Player mentions

Article text

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 i…