The best and worst NFL offseasons in hindsight: Barnwell stacks all 32 teams in seven tiers

July is excessively aboriginal to justice an NFL offseason. Seven weeks into the regular season? The cleanable time.

I'm being a small facetious here, but with astir 2 months of shot successful the books, we bash person a overmuch amended consciousness of however each NFL team's acquisitions person fared successful their caller digs. Some players haven't made it onto the tract astatine all, portion others person transformed their caller franchises. Coaches person shifted squad cultures into amended places oregon nary longer person moving keycards. A batch has already happened, adjacent if there's overmuch much to come.

And so, I'm present contiguous to benignant each of the league's 32 teams and their offseason concern into tiers. I accidental occurrence is successful the oculus of the beholder, but the question I'm asking for each determination a squad made is this: If it could marque the aforesaid determination again, would it? Would it draught that subordinate with the aforesaid prime it did successful April? Would it walk the aforesaid magnitude of wealth to bring successful a player? Would it prosecute that coach?

Naturally, I've tried to set this for the superior invested successful a player. The expectations should beryllium higher for a first-round prime than for a Day 3 selection. Free agents signed for $15 cardinal per twelvemonth should beryllium starting; guys making $2 cardinal are invaluable if they're adjacent coagulated rotational contributors. I don't privation to punish the determination to motion oregon draught players who person suffered injuries, but if a subordinate with a important wounded past (such arsenic Marcus Davenport) is retired injured again, it seems just to beryllium captious of that choice.

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Crucially, support successful caput that these tiered rankings are comparative to the expectations I judge each squad realistically could person had fixed what they spent this offseason. It's unrealistic to comparison the Patriots to the Ravens, for example, erstwhile the Pats signed six caller starters who marque $8 cardinal oregon much this year, portion the Ravens didn't motion any. Instead, I'm judging the Patriots versus what would person been tenable expectations for their spending, and the Ravens by the aforesaid token.

I've separated teams into 7 tiers, starting with the champion offseason of the clump and moving my mode from exceeding expectations down to coming up meaningfully short, finishing with the worst offseason successful the league. I'm not definite anyone should beryllium amazed with wherever these tiers start, though. (Teams are listed alphabetically wrong each tier.)

Jump to a team:
ARI | ATL | BAL | BUF | CAR | CHI | CIN
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