Matt Johnson
While it’s still relatively early in the 2026 NFL offseason, a majority of the biggest moves around the National Football League that we’ll see this year have already happened. The 2026 NFL Draft will certainly deliver some of its own surprises, but for now we’re reflecting on some of the biggest head-scratching moves thus far.
Let’s dive into our list of the worst NFL offseason moves in 2026 thus far.
Indianapolis Colts Extending Daniel Jones
Placing the transition tag ($37.833 million) on quarterback Daniel Jones instead of the franchise tag ($43.895 million) was a smart move by the Indianapolis Colts. Jones is just a few months removed from surgery to repair a torn Achilles, and in a market that had Kyler Murray (on a veteran minimum deal) and Malik Willis available, quarterback-needy teams were basically going to ignore Jones on the open market. Indianapolis took that position of leverage and caved, signing Jones to a two-year contract worth $88 million, which includes $50 million guaranteed at signing. This is a dual-threat quarterback whose game relies heavily on his athleticism—which might not be the same after this injury. Let’s also keep in mind that he had a 6-5 TD-INT ratio, an 84.2 passer rating, and a 1-4 record in his final five games of the 2025 season. Instead, a general manager on the hot seat was allowed to push even more money and proverbial chips in on a bad bet.
Related: NFL Teams Seemingly Poised to Tank in 2026
Cleveland Browns Wildly Overpay Zion Johnson
This is what happens when you need to bring in an entire new offensive line in one offseason and you spend as fast as you can. The Cleveland Browns gave out the largest annual average value ($16.5 million) to a guard in NFL free agency, signing Zion Johnson to a three-year deal with $32.39 million guaranteed at signing. Except, Johnson wasn’t the best guard on the open market. David Edwards, Alijah Vera-Tucker and Isaac Seumalo are all vastly superior players with the last two signing after Cleveland reached a deal with Johnson. What is Cleveland getting in return for its $49.5 million investment? One of the worst starters from the Los Angeles Chargers offensive line of the last two seasons, a guard who is well below-average in pass protection. The wild thing is that this deal overshadows arguably the second-worst contract given out to an offensive lineman this offseason, that being the deal the Browns signed Elgton Jenkins to.
Related: Early Winners, Losers from First Week of NFL Free Agency
Las Vegas Raiders’ Signing of Kwtiy Paye
First off, we now can’t ignore the added context of Maxx Crosby returning to the Las Vegas Raiders because the Baltimore Ravens backed out on the trade. Las Vegas is now committing an average of $51 million per season to two edge rushers: one who may have some long-term concerns regarding his surgically repaired knee, and the other who is coming off an age-27 season where he netted just 4 sacks across 721 defensive snaps. Crosby is still an All-Pro when healthy, but Paye is truly more of a run defender who just moves the tackle backward a bit when attempting to rush the passer. The contract he received, $48 million over three years, feels even worse now that Crosby’s contract is back on the books.
Read More: Fantasy Football Winners, Losers from NFL Free Agency
Dallas Cowboys Give Up a 4th for Rashan Gary
Did the entire Dallas Cowboys front office go on a company retreat with no access to the outside world a week ago? Rashan Gary made it pretty clear with his farewell post on social media that he was going to be released by the Green Bay Packers; everyone around the league knew it was coming. Instead of waiting, Jerry Jones traded a fourth-round pick in the 2027 NFL Draft to the Packers to take Gary off the team’s hands. As Justis Mosqueda of AcmePackingCompany.com detailed at the end of December, Gary was the least-productive starting edge rusher in the NFL this past season. He was a non-factor after the Micah Parsons injury, and he had a minimal presence in the weeks leading up to Parsons’ ACL tear. Dallas burned a fourth-round pick on an overrated pass rusher it could’ve signed.
Read More: Worst Contracts from Day 1 of NFL Free Agency
Los Angeles Rams Prove Too Aggressive on Trent McDuffie
We understand that the Los Angeles Rams are going all-in, which means Les Snead doing everything he can for next season to try and win a second Super Bowl with Matthew Stafford. It also became apparent the moment that Los Angeles traded the 29th overall pick and a third-round pick in the 2027 NFL Draft that a contract extension for Trent McDuffie was coming. The problem? It gave McDuffie’s camp all the leverage in negotiations and that was used to land a deal that makes him the highest-paid corner in NFL history ($31 million AAV). Except, McDuffie isn’t in that upper-echelon of corners. He’s historically struggled against big-bodied wide receivers and he’s coming off a career-worst season, allowing a 95.5 passer rating in coverage. There’s a reason the Kansas City Chiefs were willing to move on from him. In time, we do believe the Rams will realize they were too aggressive with this move.
