10 Worst Offseason Moves of 2026 So Far
This article was originally published on Total Pro Sports.
The first week of the new NFL league year brought plenty of excitement: Stunning blockbuster trades, lucrative free agent signings, and surprise roster cuts. What more could you ask for this NFL offseason?
While many of these blockbuster moves already look like strokes of genius, other GMs have us wondering what in the world was going through their minds when they closed these deals.
With that, let’s dive into the 10 worst NFL offseason moves of 2026 so far.
Which moves have been deemed bad in the 2026 NFL offseason?
The Ravens-Maxx Crosby Saga
For the Baltimore Ravens, the Maxx Crosby saga should have been simple: Either make the trade, or don’t. They went about this in the worst way possible.
Days before the official new league year began, the Ravens reached an agreement on a blockbuster trade with the Las Vegas Raiders. Baltimore was to receive the superstar defensive end in exchange for two first-round picks.
But before the trade could become official, the Ravens changed their minds and nixed the trade after Crosby failed a physical. Just like that, the disgruntled five-time Pro Bowler was headed back to Sin City.
Reports indicated that the Ravens enraged multiple GMs around the NFL. They also reportedly kept Crosby in their facility for eight hours before telling him that they weren’t trading for him after all.
Yes, Baltimore got to keep its two first-round picks and snagged top free agent Trey Hendrickson on a four-year deal. But Crosby is the far better player than Hendrickson, especially on run defense. GM Eric DeCosta has burned a ton of bridges. And he’s going to have a heckuva time doing business going forward.
Just an all-around terrible look for the Ravens. In hindsight, they should have just never negotiated the trade in the first place.
Patriots Release Stefon Diggs
Make no mistake, the Romeo Doubs signing was a tidy piece of work by the defending AFC Champions this NFL offseason. But uh, this New England Patriots offense would look a lot scarier with a tandem of Doubs AND Diggs.
A month after helping them to a Super Bowl 60 appearance, Diggs was released by the Patriots with two years remaining on his contract. New England saved about $16.8 million by releasing the four-time Pro Bowler.
But Diggs was New England’s only productive receiver last year, catching 85 passes for 1,013 yards and four touchdowns. Now they’re asking Doubs to replace a consistent 1,000-yard weapon, even though the former himself has never hit the 800-yard mark.
If New England could have signed another stud free agent receiver like Rashid Shaheed, Mike Evans, or Wan’Dale Robinson, we would have understood the logic to cut ties with Diggs. But they just swapped him out for a less-productive Doubs, which isn’t the type of move a Super Bowl contender should be making.
Commanders Sign Odafe Oweh For $100 Million
If someone understands the Washington Commanders’ logic here, we’d love to hear it.
Not Trey Hendrickson, and not Jaelan Phillips. Nope, the Commanders paid superstar money to an above-average but not great pass rusher. Who exactly were they bidding against here?
After a strong finish to the 2025 season with the Los Angeles Chargers, Oweh agreed to a four-year deal with Washington worth $100 million. If you just started watching football last season, you’d assume that he’d be a multi-time Pro Bowler.
Fact check: Oweh has never earned a Pro Bowl or All-Pro selection.
He’s been an average to slightly above-average player by Pro Football Focus’ metrics since entering the NFL in 2021. Oweh had a career-high 10 sacks in 2024. After getting sent to the Chargers ahead of the 2025 trade deadline, he registered 7.5 sacks in 12 games.
Oweh is the model of inconsistency. The Commanders are paying him to take his career to another level. But in a completely different defensive scheme under rookie DC Daronte Jones.
Colts Overpay To Keep Alec Pierce
There are certainly some Indianapolis Colts fans who will disagree with our take here. But man, it just feels like GM Chris Ballard got too reckless in the early stages of free agency and the NFL offseason.
Everyone knew that one half of their stud wideout tandem — Alec Pierce orMichael Pittman Jr. would have to go. The Colts chose to keep Pierce and gave him a four-year deal worth $116 million, the richest free agent deal ever for a wide receiver.
Indy traded Pittman Jr. to the Pittsburgh Steelers, with the two teams also swapping late-round picks. And despite safely issuing the transition tag to quarterback Daniel Jones, the Colts gave him a two-year extension worth $88 million.
The main issue here is cap management. Why did Ballard pay that much money to Pierce when he’s had one good season? And are the Colts sure he’s going to repeat a 2025 campaign in which he caught 47 passes for 1,003 yards and six touchdowns? It’s sure not happening if Jones proves to be a one-hit wonder.
The Colts could have saved a lot of money by keeping Pittman and letting Pierce go, and by playing Jones on the tag instead of giving him a two-year deal. Just terrible cap management by Ballard.
Saints Make Unnecessary Splash For Travis Etienne Jr.
If the New Orleans Saints were actual contenders, we’d understand this move. But it’s always difficult to comprehend when a rebuilding team spends unnecessary amounts of cash on a luxury player that really won’t move the needle that much.
New Orleans signed Etienne to a four-year deal worth $52 million in free agency. We know Alvin Kamara is past his prime, but he’s still a serviceable weapon in the backfield. At least, he’s good enough to justify New Orleans not spending so much on Etienne.
The 2021 first-round pick ran behind one of the league’s best run-blocking offensive lines. Opposing defenses also had to respect a passing game featuring Trevor Lawrence, Brian Thomas Jr., Parker Washington, and Jakobi Meyers. That meant plenty of holes for Etienne to exploit, both in the rushing and receiving game.
He goes to a New Orleans team with a weak run-blocking unit. Tyler Shough showed some promise in his rookie year, but he’s no T-Law. And New Orleans’ pass-catching corps cannot be compared to Jacksonville’s.
If GM Mickey Loomis wanted to spend, why didn’t he address the o-line, receiver, or cornerback rooms? Etienne is a luxury, not a necessity, on a team that’s a while away from returning to contention.
Bills Overpay Big Time For Bradley Chubb
Buffalo Bills GM Brandon Beane started out his NFL offseason nicely by making a blockbuster trade for Chicago Bears star wideout DJ Moore. If only Beane used the same level of genius in free agency.
Beane’s biggest move in the early days of free agency was to pay veteran edge rusher Bradley Chubb $43.5 million over three years. This is a guy with a tremendously long injury history, having missed the entire 2024 season, 10 games in 2021, and 12 back in 2019.
Chubb has also recorded double-digit sacks once since the 2019 season. He had 8.5 for the Miami Dolphins last year. How did it work when Buffalo signed oft-injured defensive end Joey Bosa, again?
Beane has done little to fix a defense that seems to get worse every year. His biggest move was overpaying for a guy with inconsistent production and a long injury history. You’d think Beane would have done more after somehow winning a power struggle over Sean McDermott.
Broncos Release Dre Greenlaw
Last year, the Broncos signed the San Francisco 49ers’ star do-it-all linebacker to a three-year deal worth $31.5 million. Denver had also picked up ex-49ers All-Pro safety Talanoa Hufanga in free agency, giving an already-dangerous two more explosive playmakers.
Greenlaw played only eight games in his first season with the Broncos due to injuries, not to mention his one-game suspension. Still, he was a difference-maker with an interception, two pass breakups, a forced fumble, and one sack.
His efforts helped the Broncos reach the AFC Championship Game, where they narrowly lost to the New England Patriots without Bo Nix. When you’re that-close to a Super Bowl, the goal should always be to keep the band together.
But in an early NFL offseason stunner, the Broncos released Greenlaw after one season. All of that to save $8.19 million in free agency. And which star players did Denver land in free agency with that extra cap space? NOBODY.
Greenlaw returned to the 49ers on a one-year deal. The Broncos’ defense is now devoid of a game-wrecking linebacker who proved to be a valuable fit in Vance Joseph’s defense. Just to save a few dollars in cap space that they didn’t bother using.
Hard to understand the logic here. Isn’t the goal to get better, not worse, when you’re in the early stages of a championship window?
Lions Cut Taylor Decker
The Detroit Lions’ offensive line was one of the NFL’s premier position groups from 2021 to 2024. They rode that unit to a surprise NFC Championship Game run in 2023 and to an NFC-best 15 wins in 2024.
But boy, did that unit take a major step back in 2025 after four-time Pro Bowl center Frank Ragnow stunned everybody by announcing his retirement at age-29. You would think that the Lions’ goal would be to keep one of the last remaining studs from the o-line.
But nope. In a totally mind-numbing move, the Lions released fan favorite and Pro Bowl offensive tackle Taylor Decker at the start of free agency. That saved them $11.6 million against the cap….but also left another mega void at tackle.
And so, Penei Sewell is the last actual stud remaining on Detroit’s offensive line. Of course, GM Brad Holmes did little to fix his roster in free agency, so the money he saved by cutting Decker has become meaningless.
Teams in win-now mode should not be cutting their best players without lining up an adequate replacement. You can’t help but get the “Same Old Lions” feel with this move.
Packers Give Away Rashan Gary To Cowboys
We have a lot of problems with this transaction from a Green Bay Packers perspective.
It wasn’t a shocker when they traded Gary, who was never going to return unless he agreed to a massive pay cut. Fair enough. But giving him away to a heated rival like the Dallas Cowboys for the low price of a 2027 fourth-round pick is…an interesting decision this NFL offseason.
Not only did Green Bay help out one of their biggest NFC foes here. They created another roster weakness. All to save just $10.98 million against the cap. Then they hardly did anything in free agency.
Micah Parsons led the team with 12.5 sacks last year. He’s recovering from a torn ACL he suffered in December, so who knows what condition he’ll be in? Gary was second with 7.5 sacks. Quay Walker, who was fourth, just signed with the Raiders.
That’s a whole lot of question marks on Green Bay’s front seven now. Are they sure the $10.98 million saved was more important than keeping their second-best pass-rusher? So much for bolstering a roster that’s supposed to be competing for a Super Bowl.
Oh well, at least they gave the Cowboys a nice way-too-early Christmas gift.
The Titans’ Free Agency Spending Spree
When you’re in rebuilding mode but have bundles of cap space, why not spend some of it like there’s no tomorrow? The New England Patriots did that last year, and it led to a surprise Super Bowl appearance.
The thing is, the Patriots knew they were getting good players when they brought in guys like Stefon Diggs, Milton Williams, Carlton Davis, Harold Landry, and Morgan Moses. The Titans just threw a lot of money at average players this NFL offseason.
Thus, we decided to group their 2026 free agent class into one entry here.
Their biggest move was signing ex-New York Giants wideout Wan’Dale Robinson to a four-year deal worth $72 million. Yes, he caught 92 passes for 1,014 yards and four touchdowns. He was also targeted a ridiculous 140 times. And yes, his stats would have been much worse if Malik Nabers hadn’t torn his ACL in Week 4.
Remember how that Calvin Ridley contract has panned out? Tennessee is staring at a similar issue here with Robinson.
The three-year, $63 million deal for John Franklin-Myers was fair for a guy with 14.5 sacks over his last two seasons. No complaints there.
But $103 million combined to cornerbacks Alontae Taylor and Cordale Flott? Big money for guys who finished as the 44th and 54th-ranked cornerbacks by Pro Football Focus in 2025, respectively. Taylor has also yielded a 91.8 passer rating when targeted for his career. Good luck with that, Tennessee.
Even that three-year, $24 million deal to ex-Giants tight end Daniel Bellinger is funny for a guy who’s never topped 30 catches or 268 yards in a season.
