Player procurement is always best viewed in hindsight because you can't grade a free agency class without knowing how the pieces fit together on game day. Which is why we want to start this look at turnaround candidates for 2026 by first looking back at 2025. Also, we want to take a victory lap.
We hit the bullseye on our top two turnaround picks a year ago -- naming the Bears and the Patriots as the leading candidates -- but even we couldn't have imagined just how dramatic the U-turns would be. Both teams made the playoffs and the Patriots, astonishingly, went from a four-win team to a Super Bowl team. The Jacksonville Jaguars didn't even make the list, and they went from four wins to 13 and won the AFC South title.
That's the good news. The bad is that we named five turnaround candidates. The other three -- the Bengals, Raiders and Browns -- all managed to get worse in 2025, which proves just how inexact a science football forecasting is.
Nevertheless, we'll try again. Here's our ranking of the teams primed for a rebound. A few caveats, first. This is not the same as a ranking of how teams performed in free agency. The Rams, for instance, were superb, filling needs with signings and trades. But you can't have a turnaround from narrowly losing the NFC Championship Game to the eventual Super Bowl champ. And this is also not a playoff prediction. Turnarounds are often steps in rebuilds. Those take time, but they are still worth recognizing.
Yes, two first-round draft picks would be useful for a rebuild. But there is no way to view Maxx Crosby being on the roster as a bad thing for the Raiders in 2026, unless he returns from a torn meniscus a diminished player. When Crosby returned to the Raiders after the Baltimore Ravens pulled out of the expected trade, he rejoined a different Raiders team. The team had spent a lot of money in the few days he was gone; on the defense alone, it added the likes of Kwity Paye, Nakobe Dean, Taron Johnson (via trade) and Quay Walker. Its headline signing, though, was center Tyler Linderbaum, which is all about making things as comfortable as possible for presumed first overall draft pick, quarterback Fernando Mendoza. No, the Raiders are probably not going to the playoffs yet, especially because they reside in the difficult AFC West. But they will be a more respectable, more competitive and much more interesting team in 2026. That’s a big step in the right direction.
Likewise, a turnaround is relative for the Jets, who last year won three games and on some days looked even worse than that record indicates. A successful turnaround this year might simply be competence, and they took steps that should help them get there, bringing in veteran players like Demario Davis, Minkah Fitzpatrick and quarterback Geno Smith to upgrade the skill level while also upgrading the badly-needed leadership. The Jets are banking that Smith’s poor 2025 was more a symptom of the Raiders’ dysfunction than a cause and that he will benefit for the Jets having a much better offensive line than the Raiders did. And they are certainly counting on new corner Nahshon Wright to be a disruptive force in the defensive backfield and break the interception drought. The Jets also have the second overall pick in April's draft. The Jets still have a long way to go -- the franchise quarterback is still not on the roster, for one thing, and likely won’t be this offseason -- and Aaron Glenn might be coaching for his job, but it’s hard to imagine the Jets not looking a lot more functional this season than last.
You can plainly see the blueprint the Titans are trying to follow this offseason: hire a new head coach who should be a culture changer, spend aggressively to increase the talent level of the roster and continue to build around a promising second-year quarterback. Sound familiar? That formula worked spectacularly for the Patriots in 2025. Head coach Robert Saleh and his offensive coordinator Brian Daboll surrounded themselves with familiar faces from their respective New York days -- John Franklin-Myers, Jermaine Johnson (via trade), Solomon Thomas, Wan’Dale Robinson, Cordale Flott and Daniel Bellinger. If Cam Ward continues to ascend, the Titans should again be competitive in the rapidly improving AFC South.
New coach John Harbaugh has made clear he wants to make the playoffs in his first year with Big Blue, and the roster is certainly improved with the arrival of players like tight end Isaiah Likely, who followed Harbaugh north from Baltimore. Likely will be a reliable weapon for Jaxson Dart and Darnell Mooney should stretch the field. Tremaine Edmunds and Greg Newsome II should upgrade the defense and the makeover of special teams with kicker Jason Sanders and punter Jordan Stout is welcome news for a team that suffered from a lack of consistency there. The Giants probably need more on the offensive line, but there was already talent on the New York roster. Harbaugh’s hiring was one of the most significant offseason moves in the entire league. Contending for a playoff spot would not be a surprise.
Their regression last season was startling. With a free agency blitz, they remade their defense, bringing on Odafe Oweh, K'Lavon Chaisson, Leo Chenal, Amik Robertson, Nick Cross and Tim Settle. On offense, they got Rachaad White and Chig Okonkwo. They probably need more around Jayden Daniels, especially with a receiver to pair with Terry McLaurin, but if Daniels can stay healthy -- admittedly, a significant question -- the Commanders should have a bounce-back season. It was only a year ago when the Commanders made a surprising run to the NFC Championship Game. These additions should at least make them competitive for a playoff spot.
