Welcome back, NFL fans! As the title suggests, it was an exciting offseason around the NFL, and I have opinions about many of the moves that teams made to get more competitive or stay competitive this season. Therefore, it’s listicle time!!!
5. Jaylen Waddle to the Denver Broncos
My credentials for this pick include that I was born a Broncos fan and I will probably die a Broncos fan. For example, I remember chronicling the events of Super Bowl XLVIII in a little pink notebook at only six years old. Please don’t remind me of Super Bowl XLVIII at this time…
The reason I like this move is that it makes me hopeful. While I’m uncertain about how exactly Waddle will fit into the Broncos’ wide receiver room, our WR depth is pretty average at best. As far as WR1s across the league go, Courtland Sutton is really in the bottom 50%, but if he were to be considered as a WR2, his play would feel a lot more successful. The Broncos are in a stalemate right now: either elevate Sutton’s play to be worthy of a true WR1 with a damn good WR2 behind him, or take a chance on Waddle at WR1 himself, leaving Sutton to shine at number two. If nothing else, Waddle helps alleviate our injury concerns at least a little bit; come playoffs last year, our remaining WRs were dropping like flies. I worry about the injuries that came to guys like Pat Bryant and Troy Franklin, who have decent potential but absolutely HAVE to stay healthy for the Broncos to make an even deeper run this year, so I’m very hopeful that Waddle will also stay healthy. And of course, who knows what he could do in the NFL with a quarterback that isn’t Tua Tagovailoa?!
4. A.J. Brown to the New England Patriots
Author’s note: I wrote this article before the Seahawks-Patriots season opener, during which AJ Brown sustained a high ankle sprain and was placed on injured reserve to miss a minimum of four games. It seems that football magic does not care for my preseason takes.
This move should actually be higher on this list, but my own deeply personal and long-standing beef with the Patriots prevents it from moving any higher in my heart. With that being said, it might be controversial to Eagles fans right now, but I just can’t bring myself to hate A.J. Brown. As a self-proclaimed wide receiver lover, I appreciate his game and I appreciate the honesty he brings to the table. He went on record last season telling fans that if they had him in fantasy, it was time to drop him, because he knew he wasn’t playing to the standards that he and his team expected. As someone who did, in fact, have him in fantasy football, I actually think it’s not quite time to give up on him yet. As the current projected WR1 ahead of Romeo Doubs and Mack Hollins, I think he can have a resurging year with a new team around him. A change of scenery might be just what he needs, so anything is possible!
3. Kyler Murray to the Vikings
I actually surprised myself by adding this to the list, but again what I like about this move is that it makes me HOPEFUL for the player’s performance, just like the aforementioned Waddle and Brown moves. If this doesn’t pan out and the Vikings are just as shit as they were before, I’m not going to take it personally or be surprised. However, I think Kyler Murray has had flashes of at least solid brightness throughout his career, albeit not true brilliance. The risk of staying with any one team for a long time means you might become entrenched in one system or type of play, and if that doesn’t work around a quarterback, he’s obviously going to stagnate. I just think it would be nice for Murray to fit well in a new environment and have a bounce back year, especially after being limited to five games last season. Speaking of which, the other biggest concern here is obviously injury. Now, is he really going to have a better offensive line around him in Minnesota than he did in Arizona? Probably not, but I’m definitely crossing my fingers that Murray manages to stay healthy this year. Also, if nothing else, it’s okay to coast on mediocrity!
2. Trey Hendrickson to the Baltimore Ravens
This wasn’t going to be the biggest offseason move the Baltimore Ravens made this offseason, but I’m sure everyone saw the Maxx Crosby debacle in real time. If you didn’t, let’s recap: The Ravens traded for Crosby on March 6, then rescinded the trade four days later because of medical concerns during Crosby’s physical in Maryland. Crosby is now still in Las Vegas hoping for a turnaround year with the Raiders, and Baltimore had to pivot to a different plan. With that all taken into consideration, the Trey Hendrickson move is a bit of a gamble, but hopefully will be a good change for the Ravens, especially now working with a new head coach and replacements in all three coordinator positions. Their defense really struggled last season, coming in with the third fewest sacks in the league on the year. If Hendrickson can return to his sack numbers of previous years, this move will be a hit; however, if he continues to struggle with injuries and slowing down from age, he might not be as successful as Ravens fans would hope. Here’s to the former, because I think the Lamar Jackson era in Baltimore still has more to show than they’ve been able to produce so far.
1. Myles Garrett to the Los Angeles Rams
Look, me saying this is going to surprise absolutely no one, but I do say this with an asterisk. This move is mostly a slam dunk for the Rams, who made it all the way to the NFC Championship in 2025 with a defense that was just passable; notably, they allowed 10 touchdowns during the playoffs, the most of any team last year. The Rams also picked up Trent McDuffie, which is just fine, and Aaron Donald came out of retirement with a steel chair in the middle of my first draft! This move, too, is a gobsmacker for the Cleveland Browns, who had basically nothing going for them last season OTHER THAN MYLES GARRETT. Looking up their projected roster for the season kind of just made me sad. However, I do have to take the success of these moves with a healthy dose of skepticism for a couple reasons. First of all, I don’t care about Trent McDuffie, because my team has Pat Surtain II. Second of all, there’s no guarantee that throwing together a couple of rockstar guys will create perfect plays if the rest of the team is just average, as we’ve seen in plenty of teams over the years. I’ll give the Rams the benefit of the doubt on this one, since they won all three of their preseason games, and we’ll just have to wait and see.
Feature image: Betty Cavicchia’28
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