They all need two years minimum. Based on past data, CLE needs more than that due to projected disaster picks involving yet more QBs.
ARI needs to drop Murray. They made the mistake of extending this video-game addict. Time to give him all the time he needs for his habit. Sure, it will hurt for a season, but good news: no relegation in this sport. Owner still gets his return and that’s all that matters. If the fans revolt, there is always some other town willing to ruin its finances.
TEN looks best to improve, as long as they know what’s important. O-Line, in case they are stupid. In that sweet spot with cap space and young, inexpensive QB (as long as he/his agent doesn’t hold out for some of that sweet sweet cap cash).
LV is a high-variance choice. Geno is on the downside. No need to keep him much longer. Will LV smarten up? Guessing not.
NE went from 4-13 in Mayne’s rookie year to 14-3 in his sophomore year and Bears had a similar but smaller turnaround from 5-12 to 11-6 with Williams. Not saying that is typical but turnaround can happen fast in the NFL.
Following that model the Giants (Dart) and Titans (Ward) would be teams that could take a step forward next year. Not sure either will but out of that grouping those two would be the least surprising given thier QB situation and divisions they play in.
Cleveland, LV under Mark Davis and Arizona have all been bad for a while now. Unless they get lucky with a good GM I don’t see any of those 3 making quick turnaround.
Atlanta is obviously in a horrible division so possible they could be in OK position but they also have no 1st round pick.
So from could work out to unmitigated disaster I’d rank them
Raiders and #1 overall pick… what could possibly go wrong?
NYG were most like last year’s bears in terms of hanging with good teams and then finding a way to miraculously lose.
I actually think CLE is not bad. They’ve got some young talent, picks, Myles Garrett, NFC North Teams in decline and you would assume their bad luck at drafting a QB has to come to an end eventually.
I’m probably not as high on TEN. Lack of talent other than Cam Ward and their pro-bowl DT to build on. Owner who likes to fire people.
I think ATL’s cap situation isn’t great, but perhaps slightly better than this figure. Spotrac has ATL with about 4M in cap space, Over The Cap has them -4M. No idea why the two are that different.
Seems hard to believe they would keep Cousins when designating him a post 6/1 cut would free up $35M ($22.5M if it’s a pre June cut)
They also canned the GM, and moved Rich McKay (was CEO) out of the football side of Blank’s business. Blank said they will hire a new President of Football who will oversee the operation and the GM + HC will report to them. Reportedly that role might be filled by Matt Ryan.
i used the OTC “Effective Cap Space” which assumes the top 51 players signed count towards the cap AND they sign their likely draft class all picked at the current spots. ATL has 42 signed currently for 2026, so the 5 draft picks as slotted and another 4 at min salary get them to to -$14M. I can’t say why Spotrac is different, but am more inclined to believe OTC as that guy actually does the work
both teams hired someone who seemed to be VERY helpful to the organization. Vrabel has been awesomely competent and brought in a good OC in mcdaniels. Johnson has brought offensive scheme and promise to that team.
both greatly improved the OL leading into the year also. improved coaching plus improved OL gets a great chance for a a QB to shine.
The Athletic ranks the openings from best to worst as:
NYG
TEN
LV
ATL
CLE
Atlanta’s low ranking is largely due to limited draft capital this year and lack of cap space.
Meanwhile ATL renegotiated Cousins’ contract today. Seems like pure cap shenanigans. Guaranteed money didn’t change, and the revision virtually guarantees he’s cut with the start of the new league year. No chance of trade given the structure.
Good news is that 2026 has nothing to do with 2025. Some teams will get better, some will get worse, some will stay about the same. It’s all unpredictable anyway, even within a season. If you got the Colts in the first half of the year, poor you. If you got them in the second half of the year, LUCKY YOU!
Falcons restructure Cousins. Cap space next year up to $18.7M (from -$14M before).
He is almost certainly going to be released unless they somehow extend him with some fat insane guarantees, bc the floor is the $67.9M salary he has on paper for 2027 that is guaranteed as of 3/13.
New management has to just move on given his age and the hope that penix will return and be better. But the penix injury history is awful and he won’t be ready to start the year/camp anyway.
This team needs to make better choices starting as early as 2 years ago.
My Falcons wish list QB that I think could be realistic is Malik Willis. He’s a local guy here. Shouldn’t break the bank, and seems to be a serviceable backup that could possibly take the QB job.