Offseason Stealing Signals, Bears & Jaguars

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Ben Johnson and Liam Coen were the hot names in the coaching cycle last year, and both led their new franchises to the postseason in what can only be described as very successful first seasons. One of the things we saw from both of these teams in 2025 was the progression of an offense throughout the long 17-game season. I’ve talked about how full-season projections can be difficult because you’re dealing with a moving target. Player roles can change, based on who is available and what is working. I’ve been writing a ton about subpackages and rotational usage, and the further we get into this era of professional football, the more I think smart teams are going to build redundancies and intentionally plan for this type of flexibility. Let’s focus on the Jags’ WRs to drive this point home. Going into last year, Brian Thomas was a pick at the Round 1/2 turn in fantasy drafts, while rookie Travis Hunter was going in about Round 4 or 5. Some of what I was talking about at this time last year was Hunter’s receiving profile was good enough, and Thomas had taken a bit of a back seat to Malik Nabers at LSU, that we couldn’t write off that Hunter could just establish himself as the long-term No. 1 WR here, with Thomas being more of a secondary player and not the ascending Year 2 superstar his ADP suggested. That wasn’t true about Hunter, and yet the concern implied about Thomas actually did prove accurate. The season did mostly start with these two as focal points, but Hunter wound up injured, and Thomas had some vague health stuff of his own, but also some weird effort-related narratives as he also never really fit with Trevor Lawrence . By midseason, the Jags had acquired Jakobi Meyers via trade, and then late in the year it was a fourth WR, Parker Washington , who was the team’s No. 1 producer in the pass game, pretty clearly. They’ve since extended Meyers but still have everyone else under contract. They also extended tight end Brenton Strange , after they had gone ahead and drafted two new TEs this year, including a clear blocking TE and then probably my favorite underrated profile in this whole class, a Day 3 receiving TE that I frankly think is probably really good ( Tanner Koziol ). That incoming rookie TE duo feels like a pairing that could hold down that position for years if Strange wasn’t there, but like I said, the Jags also extended Strange, which is just another example of the redundancies being created here. But the 2025 shifts at WR are the best note to this point of uncertainty from Week 1 through the fantasy playoffs. And it makes the Jags very difficult to project for 2026. The Bears aren’t a lot easier, with young players set to step into bigger roles and make a big impact. In both cases, we expect the offenses (and players within) to be good, so getting the usage correct could pay big dividends. Today’s post will bring us to 20 teams covered. Links to the first 18, from most recent to oldest: Raiders and Cardinals , including contextualizing low-scoring offensive environments with rookie QBs for elite TEs and potential superstar young RBs Rams and Seahawks , including how sustainable the production is for two elite No. 1 WRs with massive per-route profiles Buccaneers and Titans , including some harsh words about Mike McCoy he’s apparently read (see comments). Whoops. Falcons and Colts , including long thoughts about the Colts’ new high-paid WR, Alec Pierce , and big opportunity in that passing game Broncos and Bills , includ…