2026/2027 Season NFL Thread

[Thomkal]

So what happens when he fails his physical too?

[Ksyrup]

Seattle and Denver are the only teams not to make an external FA signing yet.

Someone looked it up, and the largest FA WR contract ever signed on a team coached by Sean Payton is Emmanuel Sanders for 2 years, $16M. But even beyond WR, this team ain't done nothin' yet except running it back with most of last year's team, including the worst TE room in the game.

Maybe they are planning a trade or two or a draft splash, I don't know. But this team needs playmaker upgrades at WR, RB and TE, IMO. But hey, we resigned Lil'Jordan!

[RainMaker]

Originally Posted by albionmoonlight

The Colts treating Daniel freakin' Jones like he's Pat Mahomes about to get away from them has been the funniest part of this offseason.

Is it worse than giving Alec Pierce $120 million over 4 years?

[JPhillips]

I think the hardest decision in sports is to let a guy walk who you can't replace, but who also is unlikely to get you a championship. I call it the Antoine Walker decision. No matter what you do as GM, it's probably going to cost you your job.

[Thomkal]

Kyler Murray signs a 1 year deal with Minnesota. Given the curse of the Cardinals, he will now go on to be healthy all season, start, and lead them into the playoffs.

[cuervo72]

Originally Posted by JPhillips

I think the hardest decision in sports is to let a guy walk who you can't replace, but who also is unlikely to get you a championship. I call it the Antoine Walker decision. No matter what you do as GM, it's probably going to cost you your job.

Eh, just call it the Daniel Jones decision, it's the same one the Giants had previously.

[albionmoonlight]

Broncos are trading for Miami WR Jaylen Waddle, per source.

Denver receives: Waddle and Dolphins’ 4th-round pick (11th in round) in this year’s draft.

Miami receives: Broncos’ 1st round pick (30th overall) along with their late 3rd and 4th round picks (30th in each round) in…

— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) March 17, 2026

Seems win/win. Broncos get a weapon. Miami gets to look to the future.

[AlexB]

I agree - although Waddle's numbers are good, he doesn’t quite pass the eye test (to me at least) as an elite receiver.

He’s definitely good, but the draft capital gained is better than a good/very good WR that ultimately won’t make any difference in a season when we will clearly not be competitive

However, trading Achane would be a different story: he does look the real deal and we should build around him

[Ksyrup]

I'll take it. At least we did something. I'd like a real TE too. Njoku? Anyone would be an upgrade. Not sure how deep the TE draft is.

[flere-imsaho]

Are you getting a WR1 at 30? Maybe a 50/50 chance? 25%? He probably ends up as a steady #1 WR. Not elite, but I don't think Payton's system needs an elite WR1, just above average and reliable.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

I'll take it. At least we did something. I'd like a real TE too. Njoku? Anyone would be an upgrade. Not sure how deep the TE draft is.

Reading a little tells me one first-rounder, a few day two mostly non-traditional types. Deep enough that day three might produce a lucky gamble that turns out to be productive.

[GrantDawg]

Falcons RT Kaleb McGary annouced he is retiring. He blew out his knee before the season started last year, and I guess decided it wasn't worth working his way back. He leaves something like $32 million dollars on the table. He was a fantastic run blocking tackle, but shaky on the pass blocking side. Considering the Falcons start and back up next year will be left handed, they might have need a change anyway. The guy that filled him for him last year was atrocious. That guy is you problem now, Arizona.

[RainMaker]

A lot of linemen retiring early it seems. Feels like the position is just brutal on the body. Probably not helping when you're over 300 pounds too.

[Ghost Econ]

So I guess Mike Vrabel is having an affair with a journalist who covers the Pats. Probably won't hurt him, but definitely not a good look for him or the team.

[NobodyHere]

Originally Posted by Ghost Econ

So I guess Mike Vrabel is having an affair with a journalist who covers the Pats. Probably won't hurt him, but definitely not a good look for him or the team.

They had 14 wins last season, Vrabel is going to be fine.

[Passacaglia]

Originally Posted by Ghost Econ

So I guess Mike Vrabel is having an affair with a journalist who covers the Pats. Probably won't hurt him, but definitely not a good look for him or the team.

Belichick's girlfriend is going to have to get another T-shirt.

[Ksyrup]

Originally Posted by NobodyHere

They had 14 wins last season, Vrabel is going to be fine.

She might not. No wonder she's been pushing the AJ Brown to Pats rumors. She obviously has inside info.

[Ghost Econ]

So I guess the Jags decided that a fulltime corner was worth the 2nd pick in last year's draft and Travis Hunter is done playing 2 ways. If he isn't a generational CB, that seems like a colossal waste of a pick.

[albionmoonlight]

Seems like fulltime corner with a handful of gadget plays/packages on offense is where he'll end up.

[Atocep]

Originally Posted by Ghost Econ

So I guess the Jags decided that a fulltime corner was worth the 2nd pick in last year's draft and Travis Hunter is done playing 2 ways. If he isn't a generational CB, that seems like a colossal waste of a pick.

I said through the draft process he was massively overrated and this is exactly why. He was a mid to late first round pick on each side of the ball but there was no way he was playing both sides well enough in the NFL to justify going top 5.

This is gonna end up being a horrible trade for the Jags. Cleveland already has Mason Graham and Quinshon Judkins and they still have whatever they get from the 24th pick.

[Ksyrup]

Russini resigns from The Athletic. To not "lend it more oxygen." Sure, Jan.

[JPhillips]

Damn, the Bengals are trading the #10 pick for Dexter Lawrence.

[Atocep]

Supposedly the Giants really want Jordyn Tyson at 10

[JPhillips]

Makes a lot of sense for both teams. Let Harbaugh really start fresh and give Burrow the defensive star they need.

[bhlloy]

Dexter Lawrence is obviously a different player to Trey Hendrickson, and better, but I can’t help thinking if you wanted to improve the defense you had a very good player you could have held onto without giving up the 10th overall pick on a rookie contract.

[Lathum]

I like the move. Dexter was a great player for us, but this team needs a lot of help and I trust HArbaugh to not screw up the pick.

[JPhillips]

That relationship was over. Look at how he keeps taking shots at the Bengals. He's also 32 and I think it's an open question just how much he has left.

Lawrence, really the move to go all-in, has been what the Bengals refused to do for their entire existence. Maybe it doesn't work, but it's worth the try given the generational talent at QB.

[Ksyrup]

John Lynch admitting that he's using AI to evaluate draft picks and that the best thing about it is that you don't need to be an expert in drafts, saying it was similar to asking AI to create a travel itinerary, is ... a thing. Is there a reason he makes so much money if it's that easy?

[Passacaglia]

Can't wait to see him try to draft Treveyon Henderson and Malachi Moore.

[albionmoonlight]

I wonder if he’s using “AI” like just loading in the draft class and asking who they should draft.

Or is he using “AI” to, say, filter CB prospects by 40 time and sort them by games started. The sort of thing computers have done for decades, but you can now charge more if you call it AI.

[Ksyrup]

Well, he said "evaluate" which I took to mean a substantive dive into who they should take beyond just some review of numbers on a spreadsheet.

Just bizarre. Personally, I don't even trust the Gemini overview Google produces when I do a search of a stupid random topic. I suppose it's a good thing I hope to only be working another decade or so...

[Lathum]

The GMs of the future are likely going to be like Theo Epstein was with the Red Sox 20 years ago. Whomever can build the best AI parameters to evaluate talent is going to win.

[JPhillips]

I read a story a few weeks ago on the new wave of data being used by some NFL teams. It sounded like the way Trackman changed baseball. GMs can track just about anything in terms of speed, acceleration, force, etc. through the all 22 video. This story was related to the draft and how the combine data didn't matter given all they can track through game film. There's no need to care about the 40 when you have copious amounts of game film showing top speed.

[bhlloy]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

Well, he said "evaluate" which I took to mean a substantive dive into who they should take beyond just some review of numbers on a spreadsheet.

Just bizarre. Personally, I don't even trust the Gemini overview Google produces when I do a search of a stupid random topic. I suppose it's a good thing I hope to only be working another decade or so...

Problem is here you are confusing an LLM trained on a generic and massive training set and probably using the cheapest possible model on the backend with something that will be very specifically trained from the ground up and no expense spared on training and inference.

A specific AI model with the right harnessing can absolutely do better than a human in basically any task that has definable parameters you can think of at this point. There’s no reason at all that evaluating draft prospects isn’t one of those things. The only issue here is Lynch is probably being a bit too honest for his own good.

[Ksyrup]

Originally Posted by bhlloy

Problem is here you are confusing an LLM trained on a generic and massive training set and probably using the cheapest possible model on the backend with something that will be very specifically trained from the ground up and no expense spared on training and inference.

Can you confuse 2 things if you don't know what either of them is?

[Lathum]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

Can you confuse 2 things if you don't know what either of them is?

just ask ChatGPT!

[NobodyHere]

Chris Ballard is wondering why you need advanced AI models or even basic scouting when you already have the RAS to judge players by.

[Ksyrup]

Originally Posted by Lathum

just ask ChatGPT!

I would, but then I'd just have to research the answer for myself to make sure it's right because I don't trust that bullshit!

[henry296]

teams have been using "AI" in terms of machine learning models to predict performance for years.

[Danny]

Originally Posted by henry296

teams have been using "AI" in terms of machine learning models to predict performance for years.

Al Davis used the term AI to describe the auto focus feature on his overhead protector

[QuikSand]

Originally Posted by Atocep

Supposedly the Giants really want Jordyn Tyson at 10

The betting markets are catching up, but my money is they want him badly enough to take him at 5, and to take BPA at 10. Over the last few days the odds have changed dramatically on Tyson to be the first WR taken, and to be taken in the top 5 slots. I bought as soon as I started hearing positive buzz after the Friday workout.

[albionmoonlight]

This struck me as something that folks here would be into:

- YouTube

30 minutes, but I found the whole thing fascinating.

[miami_fan]

I am pretty sure I am the one person on this board that just realized that the draft starts tomorrow. I came to this realization reading that the Cowboys are not going to talk long term contract with George Pickens. Wasn't it a foregone conclusion that Pickens was going to be the guy who the Cowboys were going to give the long term contract early instead of waiting until the last minute like they did everyone else?

[RainMaker]

I kind of hate the new draft setup. I get it makes more money in TV rights but miss the old days of just having a weekend full of draft coverage. Plus the draft coverage today sucks and is just ads, celebrities, and crap mixed in with like 10 seconds of background on a pick.

[NobodyHere]

Originally Posted by miami_fan

I am pretty sure I am the one person on this board that just realized that the draft starts tomorrow.

I didn't realize the draft was this week until yesterday. It's hard to get excited when your fav team doesn't have a 1st round pick and you know your 3rd fav team (Cleveland) is just days away from condemning a group of players to football hell.

[Swaggs]

Originally Posted by miami_fan

I am pretty sure I am the one person on this board that just realized that the draft starts tomorrow. I came to this realization reading that the Cowboys are not going to talk long term contract with George Pickens. Wasn't it a foregone conclusion that Pickens was going to be the guy who the Cowboys were going to give the long term contract early instead of waiting until the last minute like they did everyone else?

It still drives me nuts that the Steelers traded Pickens for a 3rd and 5th (swapped with a 6th from the Steelers), when they were in 'win now' mode last year. They could have teamed him DK Metcalf last year with Aaron Rodgers and let him leave for a comp 3rd (or franchised him like Dallas is doing). Such a setback from a team that had horrible 1st round picks from 2018 to 2023. Getting Pickens in 2022 at least offset some of the stink of the Kenny Pickett pick in round 1.

I'd assume the Cowboys are comfortable letting Pickens prove himself this year. They can either pay him or get back a decent FA comp pick for him next year if he leaves.

[GrantDawg]

Originally Posted by RainMaker

I kind of hate the new draft setup. I get it makes more money in TV rights but miss the old days of just having a weekend full of draft coverage. Plus the draft coverage today sucks and is just ads, celebrities, and crap mixed in with like 10 seconds of background on a pick.

It does really suck. I just generally keep up on social media. I don't watch any of the live broadcasts anymore. With the Falcons not having a first round pick i will barely even pay attention tomorrow.

[Thomkal]

Hard to get excited about the Cards pick because they have so many holes and likely will not take a QB until round 2. Be interesting to see if the new head coach wants to trade down or not.

[Ksyrup]

I usually watch the first round and then check in now and then for the rest of the draft over the weekend on picks.

[Kodos]

I get to see an IU player selected 1.1. I’ll watch tonight and that’s probably all.