Training camp season is finally here. Before we know it, it’ll be pre-season…and then the ACTUAL NFL season!
We now know how all 32 teams’ 53-man rosters will look come Week 1. The draft is over, and most big-named free agents and trade candidates have found new homes. With that all said, let’s dive into the 5 biggest winners and the 5 biggest losers of the 2023 NFL offseason.
Winner: New York Jets
When you acquire a four-time league MVP and true franchise quarterback, you’ll always be an offseason winner.
Such is the case with the Jets, who managed to complete a trade for longtime Green Bay Packers’ signal-caller Aaron Rodgers. Adding gravy on top of this whole thing? The Jets didn’t really have to give up a whole lot for him.
They swapped 2023 first-round picks, and the Jets landed the No. 170 selection as well in exchange for the No. 42 and No. 207 picks plus a 2024 conditional second-rounder that can become a first.
So there it is. The Jets finally have a bonafide superstar at quarterback who can lift this franchise to relevance.
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That’s not all, of course. The Jets brought in speedster Mecole Hardman and ex-Packers Allen Lazard and Randall Cobb to further bolster a pass-catching corps led by rising star Garrett Wilson and Corey Davis.
Oh, and bringing in Rodgers’ close friend Nathaniel Hackett to serve as the OC was another tidy piece of work by GM Joe Douglas. That should make the transition from Green Bay to New York that much easier for A-Rod.
Star defensive tackle Quinnen Wililams got his long-term extension, and ex-Packers safety Adrian Amos was brought in to bolster an already deep secondary.
With a deep mix of veteran stalwarts and young studs on both sides of the ball, these Jets are ready for takeoff in 2023 – pun intended.
They won seven games last year with Joe Flacco, Zach Wilson and Mike White as their QBs. The sky’s the limit with an all-time great in Rodgers now manning the offense.
Loser: Arizona Cardinals
The Cardinals were the NFL’s third-worst team last year. Amazingly, they somehow got a lot worse on paper this year.
For starters, the Cardinals lost their top two pass rushers — JJ Watt to retirement and Zach Allen to the Denver Broncos in free agency. Respected veteran wideout AJ Green also called it quits. Starting corner Byron Murphy left for the Minnesota Vikings.
But wait, there’s more! Pro Bowl safety Budda Baker requested a trade from the organization. Looks like someone’s on borrowed time there in The Desert!
Oh, and after failing to find a trade for their liking, the Cardinals simply released superstar wideout DeAndre Hopkins and took on a $22.6 million dead cap hit for his services. Someone make it make sense, please.
Starting quarterback Kyler Murray is also recovering from surgery on a torn ACL he suffered last year, and he’s expected to miss a large chunk of the 2023 season.
Other than that…it hasn’t been the WORST offseason for a franchise that always seems to find itself in complete disarray, we suppose…
Winner: Seattle Seahawks
The Seahawks were one of football’s biggest surprise teams of 2022, finishing as the No. 7 seed in the NFC with a 9-8-0 record.
That was thanks to the efforts of quarterback and Comeback Player of the Year award winner Geno Smith, and a stacked rookie class headlined by Tariq Woolen, Kenneth Walker, Charles Cross and Abe Lucas.
Well, the rich got richer alright this offseason. A whole lot richer.
John Schneider won free agency by bringing back old friend Bobby Wagner following the latter’s one-year run with the Los Angeles Rams. To bolster the pass-rush, he also signed ex-Bronco standout Dre’Mont Jones.
Then Schneider further crushed the offseason by winning the draft. He snagged Illinois corner Devon Witherspoon —widely viewed as the best defensive back in this draft — at fifth overall and Jaxon Smith-Njigba at No. 20 overall. Like Witherspoon, Smith-Njigba could easily emerge as the best player at his position for this class.
So Geno Smith now has DK Metcalf, Tyler Lockett, Smith-Njigba AND Walker as his main weapons. An already promising D brought in two stud veterans in Wagner and Jones plus a future Pro Bowl corner in Witherspoon. As if Woolen, Coby Bryant, Quandre Diggs and Jamal Adams weren’t already scary enough in that secondary.
That was a short-and-quick rebuild in Seattle. Watch them return to Super Bowl contention in 2023. They’re ready to continue rocking in the post-Russell Wilson era.
Loser: Minnesota Vikings
The defending NFC North champions surely aren’t operating like a team looking to build off an unexpected 13-win season…
They released four-time Pro Bowl running back Dalvin Cook, which is puzzling for a team that’s trying to win now. They had football’s fifth-worst scoring defense in 2022, and their only big moves to address it was to sign an above-average corner in Byron Murphy and an oft-injured defensive lineman in Marcus Davenport.
The Vikes traded star pass-rusher Za’Darius Smith to the Cleveland Browns and cut well-respected veteran linebacker Eric Kendricks. Patrick Peterson, their top corner of 2022, signed with the Pittsburgh Steelers.
How can the Vikings get anywhere close to 13 wins again without their second-best offensive weapon in Cook and three of their key starters on what was already an atrocious defense?
As currently constructed, nine wins feels like the ceiling for this team.
Winner: Derek Carr
In Carr’s nine seasons with the Black and Silver, they made the postseason on just two occasions and failed to win a game.
That is not an indictment on Carr, who single-handedly kept the Raiders semi-relevant following a decade of misery from 2003 to 2013. Without him, the Raiders would’ve been an annual contender for the first overall pick.
But it was clear that the Raiders’ new brass of Josh McDaniels and Dave Ziegler didn’t buy Carr as their long-term QB. So one year after signing him to a $121.5 million extension, the Raiders wound up releasing Carr — immediately making him the top QB available on the market.
Carr went on to sign a four-year deal with the New Orleans Saints worth $150 million. And boy, is he going to love his tenure in The Big Easy.
For one, he goes from the unforgiving AFC West division to the laughable NFC South. With Tom Brady retired, Carr is automatically the best QB in that division.
He won’t be short on weapons, either. Chris Olave, Michael Thomas, Alvin Kamara, Jamaal Williams and Juwan Johnson give Carr more than enough playmakers to work with. The Saints also boast a top-10 offensive line AND defense, giving Carr valuable support on both sides of the ball.
He never had a good defense in Oakland slash Vegas. That won’t be a problem in New Orleans, and with the Saints having the second-easiest strength of schedule for 2023, the pieces are there for him to have an MVP-like career.
The Raiders were going nowhere, even with Carr. Now he gets a chance to actually compete for championships on a contender with a stellar supporting cast and the pathetic NFC South. That’s an offseason winner in our books.
Loser: Las Vegas Raiders
Carr may be a winner, but his ex-team sure ain’t.
It’s very difficult to comprehend what the Raiders’ long-term plan is here. We understood the idea of releasing Carr and starting afresh at quarterback…but they really think Jimmy Garoppolo is going to be the needle-mover? Huh?
The Raiders signed Jimmy G to a three-year deal worth $67.5 million, which is interesting considering his inconsistent play and long injury history. That’s a lot of money for a guy who’s only played a full season once…
The Raiders did land ex-New England Patriot Jakobi Meyers in free agency, but they traded away star tight end Darren Waller to the New York Giants…so that’s essentially a wash if you look at it.
Las Vegas’ secondary has always been an issue, and yet they did nothing to address it. So essentially, they’re asking Garoppolo and Meyers to be a giant upgrade over Carr and Waller? How does that make sense?
Mark Davis just seems to be okay with mediocrity. There’s no other way around it. At least Vegas fans can continue to celebrate the Golden Knights’ 2023 Stanley Cup championship?
Winner: Chicago Bears
With Justin Fields already in their laps, the Bears were content to trade away the first overall pick to a QB-needy team. They wound up trading that pick to the Carolina Panthers, who took Bryce Young.
With that haul, the Bears got a bonafide WR1 in DJ Moore. With their first-round pick, they addressed the franchise’s organizational need for an offensive tackle by snagging Darnell Wright.
Chicago also got 2024 first and 2025 second-rounders as part of the haul for the top pick, giving them plenty of young assets to help this rebuild.
In free agency, they fixed up the league’s worst scoring D by signing TJ Edwards, Pro Bowl linebacker Tremaine Edmunds and DeMarcus Walker. They signed running back D’Onta Foreman to form a 1-2 duo with Khalil Herbert.
The defense is fixed, and Fields now has Moore, Darnell Mooney, Chase Claypool and Foreman and Herbert as his weapons. This isn’t to say the Bears will be a playoff team in 2023, but they’re finally on the right path to long-term contention.
After more than a decade of mostly irrelevance, the Bears are actually building something special here. Can you believe it?
Loser: Green Bay Packers
You can argue all you want that Rodgers’ departure was necessary and inevitable. But at the end of the day, his exit doesn’t help the Packers in the short term.
Green Bay did not exactly get great value in return for the future Hall of Famer. Even if Jordan Love ends up being the real deal, the Packers should be kicking themselves for not getting a better return for him. Pure and simple.
We didn’t like Green Bay’s inactivity in free agency or their draft, either. The front seven is a strength as is, but they used their first-rounder on Iowa edge-rusher Lukas Van Ness? How about an offensive tackle or a weapon for Love?
Green Bay used second and third-round picks on Luke Musgrave and Tucker Kraft. Sorry, but on what earth do you need to use two early-round selections on tight ends? When has Matt LaFleur ever prominently featured tight ends in his offense?
Green Bay refused to go all-in during Rodgers’ prime years. And they’re doing very little to help Love develop for his first full year as a starter. What’s the end goal here?
Winner: AFC North
When do you see an entire division win the offseason in the same year? Welp, all four AFC North clubs sure did.
The Baltimore Ravens finally got Lamar Jackson under contract long-term, signing him to a five-year extension worth $260 million. Fixing the passing game was a necessity, so they signed Odell Beckham Jr. and Nelson Agholor while also grabbing speedy Zay Flowers in round one.
Now, the Ravens are ready to roll on all fronts.
The Cincinnati Bengals addressed their biggest problem at o-line by signing Pro Bowler Orlando Brown Jr., once a mainstay on their rivals in the Kansas City Chiefs. Getting Myles Murphy with the No. 28 pick to bolster their d-line was a huge coup, too.
Even the Cleveland Browns did well. They got some valuable receiving depth by trading for Elijah Moore and by drafting Cedric Tillman in round three.
Needing to upgrade the defensive line around Myles Garrett, they acquired Za’Darius Smith and signed Dalvin Tomlinson and Ogbo Okoronkwo. Bringing ex-Chiefs’ safety Juan Thornhill in free agency was also a smooth move on Andrew Berry’s end.
The Pittsburgh Steelers won the draft by getting offensive tackle Broderick Jones and Joey Porter Jr., the son of the ex-Steelers’ star linebacker. Signing future Hall of Famer Patrick Peterson to shore up the secondary was grade-A work by Omar Khan, too.
So the Steelers, who won 9 games a year ago, are set to go on defense. On offense, they can expect major growth from Kenny Pickett and George Pickens. Everything is trending up in Steel City following a short-term rebuild.
Let the race for the AFC North begin. All four teams are locked, loaded and ready to dance!
Loser: Running Backs
If you didn’t believe the notion that the running back is a devalued position, you better believe it now.
Dalvin Cook, a four-time 1,000-yard rusher and four-time Pro Bowler: Released by the Vikings and spent well over a month on the open market.
Two-time rushing champion Ezekiel Elliott. Released by the Dallas Cowboys in a cap-saving move. Despite being good for over 800 rushing yards and double-digit TDs a season, he spent more than four months on the open market.
2017 rushing champion Kareem Hunt, one of the best No. 2 backs in the NFL, unsigned.
Saquon Barkley and Josh Jacobs: Hit with the franchise tag because their respective franchises didn’t believe in investing them long-term. even though they were the MVPs of their teams last year.
Austin Ekeler sought a trade from the Chargers after a contract dispute. They ultimately agreed to add incentives to his deal, but nothing else. Even 1,000-yard rusher and rushing TDs champion Jamaal Williams only signed a bargain three-year deal worth $12 million with the Saints.
That’s the life of an NFL running back now, folks. They don’t value you the way they used to. A cold-hard reminder.
Who were some of the other big winners and losers of the 2023 offseason?
