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2026 Offseason Thread

JoeyFlex5 said:
I just feel he had all the opportunity to get a shot last year, and that he didn’t get a shot because he’s not that guy

Ideally he’s not higher in your depth chart than 4th and we’re not a 4 wide team
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100% - was nice that he had a lot of hype in the preseason
but this guy's an ideal WR4 - legit elite trait (with his speed down the field), who can stress a CB in specific routes and packages but isn't going to play a ton of offence, but also is likely going to offer you solid-to-good special teams value

he's someone who will fit well as a sacrificial X when you need that guy to just run the top off the defence to open up space underneath, maybe hit a home-run ball off some strike plays as a Z every now and again

but yeah unless he develops significantly this offseason, WR4 is his ceiling which opens the door for those 2 rookies to take on major snaps in the offence
 
rmcjacket23 said:
Correct, most teams do have a Bateman. And for most teams, he's their #2 WR.
Where are the names? Who's the #2 WR (or even the #1) on the Bills, Patriots or Chiefs, and what metric did you use to determine they were better or worse than Bateman? Same exercise for the Steelers, the Texans, etc.

In the AFC alone (as of today):
Jets, Dolphins, Patriots, Browns, Titans, Colts, Raiders for certain don't have a second WR better than Bateman on their roster. And I'd easily suggest the Bills and Chiefs are basically "on par" in that area. So that's 9 out of possible 15 comparables where the #2 WR on that team is equal to or worse than Bateman.

The only teams that would definitively be better are the Chargers, Broncos, Steelers, Jaguars, Bengals and Texans. And I think the Texans are fringe because their second best WR is Tank Dell, who missed all of last season basically, so no idea if he's even still good or not.

In case it wasn't clear to people, the AFC is pretty weak from a WR perspective. The NFC has a ton of teams with loaded receiving cores, which largely doesn't matter for the Ravens, because they're only playing those teams once every four years, roughly.
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For most teams he is their number 3. Even your list of teams you think dont have better I would disagree heavily with several. Just as an example I would easily take both the Titans top 2 WRs over Bateman and its not close. Im going to just assume you forgot that they drafted Tate, who I would easily take over Bateman, because I know you are not going to argue that Bateman is better than Ridley Then there are some where I have to assume we are being very specific as for example for the Colts both Alec Pierce and Josh Downs are certainly better but Downs plays mostly the slot and I would probably take Bateman over Nick Westbrook but either way he is definitively the 3rd best WR on that roster, which is the exact situation of the Patriots after they get the AJ Brown deal done.

This is what I mean by fans overrating players because we see all their snaps and remember the good plays and think "if only they could do that more consistently". Also if you are going to have a weaker WR room, and you arent one of the tanking teams like the Dolphins and Browns are, then you better have a good OLIne to back it up and again Patriots, Chiefs, and Bills are all better on the OLine this year. Remember this is not last year's roster but this year's roster.
 
Adreme said:
For most teams he is their number 3. Even your list of teams you think dont have better I would disagree heavily with several. Just as an example I would easily take both the Titans top 2 WRs over Bateman and its not close. Im going to just assume you forgot that they drafted Tate, who I would easily take over Bateman, because I know you are not going to argue that Bateman is better than Ridley Then there are some where I have to assume we are being very specific as for example for the Colts both Alec Pierce and Josh Downs are certainly better but Downs plays mostly the slot and I would probably take Bateman over Nick Westbrook but either way he is definitively the 3rd best WR on that roster, which is the exact situation of the Patriots after they get the AJ Brown deal done.

This is what I mean by fans overrating players because we see all their snaps and remember the good plays and think "if only they could do that more consistently". Also if you are going to have a weaker WR room, and you arent one of the tanking teams like the Dolphins and Browns are, then you better have a good OLIne to back it up and again Patriots, Chiefs, and Bills are all better on the OLine this year. Remember this is not last year's roster but this year's roster.
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OK, but this idea that fans overvalue their own WRs is also true of fans overvaluing other teams WRs. I think you already knew you're overvaluing the Titans WR core before you posted it.
I'm giving zero credibility to rookies because neither one of us has any vague clue about whether they're actually good at football or not. Draft pedigree won't be a factor for me when you're comparing two players drafted in the same round. Especially in what I, and others, perceived as a very weak first round of WRs compared to prior years.

I agree with the Oline concept. Hence the emphasis on improving it. This years Oline rates to be significantly improved from last years. Of course I can't prove that because it hasn't happened yet, nor can I prove any other team has a great Oline today because that hasn't happened yet either.
 
rmcjacket23 said:
OK, but this idea that fans overvalue their own WRs is also true of fans overvaluing other teams WRs. I think you already knew you're overvaluing the Titans WR core before you posted it.
I'm giving zero credibility to rookies because neither one of us has any vague clue about whether they're actually good at football or not. Draft pedigree won't be a factor for me when you're comparing two players drafted in the same round. Especially in what I, and others, perceived as a very weak first round of WRs compared to prior years.

I agree with the Oline concept. Hence the emphasis on improving it. This years Oline rates to be significantly improved from last years. Of course I can't prove that because it hasn't happened yet, nor can I prove any other team has a great Oline today because that hasn't happened yet either.
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I also dont put a ton of stock in rookies but I do assume that a highly rated top 5 pick considered the best prospect at his position will be better than one of the worst number 2s in the league. In the same vein I also assume Vega (and Simpson who will be playing RG) will be better than both Vorhees and Faalele. I'm willing to plant that flag. Also Bateman was never anywhere near the prospect Tate was and already has failed to live up to where he was drafted anyway.

Also I think the opposite is true when it comes to other teams players. People overvalue the mid level Ravens players while undervaluing the mid level players on other teams. Sure the stars will be highly praised by other team's fans but the mid level guys are often ignored.
 
I know everyone is down on Bateman, and probably rightfully so. The onus is on him of course, but it's also hard not to argue that this offense is tailor made for him if it's anything like what we saw in Chicago and even Detroit. Prime opportunity for him to show he's the 2024 guy again.
 
Adreme said:
I also dont put a ton of stock in rookies but I do assume that a highly rated top 5 pick considered the best prospect at his position will be better than one of the worst number 2s in the league. In the same vein I also assume Vega (and Simpson who will be playing RG) will be better than both Vorhees and Faalele. I'm willing to plant that flag. Also Bateman was never anywhere near the prospect Tate was and already has failed to live up to where he was drafted anyway.

Also I think the opposite is true when it comes to other teams players. People overvalue the mid level Ravens players while undervaluing the mid level players on other teams. Sure the stars will be highly praised by other team's fans but the mid level guys are often ignored.
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Depends on the team. Mid-level players on good teams, like the Ravens, frequently do well when it comes to things like FA. Mid-level players on teams like the Titans, in recent years, not so much.
 
Simba said:
I know everyone is down on Bateman, and probably rightfully so. The onus is on him of course, but it's also hard not to argue that this offense is tailor made for him if it's anything like what we saw in Chicago and even Detroit. Prime opportunity for him to show he's the 2024 guy again.
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I'm not putting an ounce of Bateman's struggles on Monken. Dudes' been here 5 years, he is who is.
 
Baltimorican said:
Exactly, so his struggle aren't on Monken. He gets knicked every year and disappears for long stretches. His 1 good year he was a replacement level #2 wr.
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I'm not blaming Monken at all. Just think his skillset is tailor made for what Doyle will conceivably do and it's an opportunity for him to show that 2024 is the real version of him. Not saying he actually will rise to that level, but it's not like he's guaranteed to be the 2025 version of himself either.
 
rmcjacket23 said:
Depends on the team. Mid-level players on good teams, like the Ravens, frequently do well when it comes to things like FA. Mid-level players on teams like the Titans, in recent years, not so much.
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Are we really going to call into attention the Ravens ability to evaluate WRs? Its not a very pretty picture. I would trust most other teams and their evaluations before I went with the Ravens.

Its also unrelated as Tate was considered that guy by just about everyone to the point where the debate was over who was the 2nd best WR in the class. I am willing to say that guy is better than low end number 2 WR. I certainly would much rather have him in my WR room than Bateman and if they were on the same roster he would start over Bateman.
 
rmcjacket23 said:
Correct, most teams do have a Bateman. And for most teams, he's their #2 WR.
Where are the names? Who's the #2 WR (or even the #1) on the Bills, Patriots or Chiefs, and what metric did you use to determine they were better or worse than Bateman? Same exercise for the Steelers, the Texans, etc.

In the AFC alone (as of today):
Jets, Dolphins, Patriots, Browns, Titans, Colts, Raiders for certain don't have a second WR better than Bateman on their roster. And I'd easily suggest the Bills and Chiefs are basically "on par" in that area. So that's 9 out of possible 15 comparables where the #2 WR on that team is equal to or worse than Bateman.

The only teams that would definitively be better are the Chargers, Broncos, Steelers, Jaguars, Bengals and Texans. And I think the Texans are fringe because their second best WR is Tank Dell, who missed all of last season basically, so no idea if he's even still good or not.

In case it wasn't clear to people, the AFC is pretty weak from a WR perspective. The NFC has a ton of teams with loaded receiving cores, which largely doesn't matter for the Ravens, because they're only playing those teams once every four years, roughly.
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looking across the 2 divisions this is what I've got looking at the quality of WR2s:

AFC:
6/16 definitely better than Bate
9/16 probably better than Bate
14/16 probably at least as good as Bate
2/16 definitely worse than Bate

NFC:
8/16 definitely better than Bate
10/16 probably better than Bate
14/16 probably at least as good as Bate
2/16 definitely worse than Bate

you're looking at Bate as a top 15 WR2 in most likely best-case scenarios
in actuality you're probably looking at him as a top 20 WR2 in a decent season
but also the difference between him as a potential 19th best WR2 and being 28th best WR2 is not very big at all...

would suggest he's likely an average to below-average WR2 in the league - doable but most teams would be looking to improve on him as their WR2 option if he was there
 
RaineV1 said:
Another Giants player, WR Olszewski, just went down with a possible achilles tear. Harbaugh really was cursed.
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It's his practice style, everything Zay said was correct about his practices and how it led to so many injuries. Now Giants fans are going through it with Harbaugh.
 
Simba said:
I know everyone is down on Bateman, and probably rightfully so. The onus is on him of course, but it's also hard not to argue that this offense is tailor made for him if it's anything like what we saw in Chicago and even Detroit. Prime opportunity for him to show he's the 2024 guy again.
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Trade Bateman to the Giants.

Sign Diggs.
 
Adreme said:
Are we really going to call into attention the Ravens ability to evaluate WRs? Its not a very pretty picture. I would trust most other teams and their evaluations before I went with the Ravens.

Its also unrelated as Tate was considered that guy by just about everyone to the point where the debate was over who was the 2nd best WR in the class. I am willing to say that guy is better than low end number 2 WR. I certainly would much rather have him in my WR room than Bateman and if they were on the same roster he would start over Bateman.
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I think in a better receiving class, or a more "normalized" one to one's prior, Tate goes nowhere near as high as he did. Most likely a teens to 20s guy.
I certainly don't think the Ravens evaluation of WRs is good. I'm suggesting that the teams that pretty consistently beat you have the same struggles in the same area. Which basically equates to "that's not the reason you're losing to them".
 
Davesta said:
Trade Bateman to the Giants.

Sign Diggs.
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1. We've talked about the trade scenarios before, but moving Bateman this year doesn't make a lot of sense financially. Doesn't create much cap savings, pushes dead $ into next year (when you have a ballooning cap hit for Lamar and less ability to restructure), and doesn't really help your roster at all, since the pick you're getting isn't until next year.
2. Diggs is a locker room cancer. There's a reason he's still unsigned. If you really wanted him, you wouldn't need to trade Bateman to get him.
3. In that scenario, the Giants would be better off just signing Diggs and not trading for Bateman.
 
JO_75 said:
It's his practice style, everything Zay said was correct about his practices and how it led to so many injuries. Now Giants fans are going through it with Harbaugh.
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I mean, in this case, that's pretty much impossible.
It's OTAs. They can't hit each other, they can't tackle, they're not even wearing full pads, they can't be on the field for more than two hours a day, and they can't be in the facility for more than six.
Everybody's "practice style" looks the exact same this time of year.
 
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