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TEMPE — Opening Day is less than a month away, and Arizona Diamondbacks All-Star Corbin Carroll is predictably pushing hard to return to action after breaking his right hamate bone earlier this month.
His progress led manager Torey Lovullo to say on Saturday that he would not be surprised to see Carroll play on Opening Day, which has been up in the air based on the typical timeline of the hand injury.
“I would not be surprised if Corbin is ready by Opening Day, that’s my gut feel,” Lovullo said. “The trajectory that he’s on, the success in which he’s having each and every day, he’s pushing as hard as he can.
“He’s still under the medical guidelines. Nobody will sign off on it until they all think that he’s ready. So we’ll probably have to pull him back a little bit, but I like that he’s feeling as good as he is. … If I know Corbin, he’s got it mapped out to the day about what he has to do and what he’s going to try to accomplish. But we’ve got to be smart.”
Carroll returned to Salt River Fields the day after surgery to remove his broken hamate and was seen throwing a weighted ball against the wall.
He’s since been out and about running the bases, swinging in the cages with one hand and continuing to built up his arm strength since the injury was to his non-throwing hand.
Opening Day at Dodger Stadium is on March 26. Carroll told the Foul Territory podcast on Feb. 18 that he was targeting the season opener.
Speaking of outfielders pushing to return from injury, Lourdes Gurriel Jr. is scheduled to hit off the Trajekt pitching machine on Sunday after hitting in the cages on Saturday.
“He is so far ahead of schedule that we’re trying to pull him back a little,” Lovullo said. “He’s just like Corbin. … They both want to play a game as soon as possible, but it kind of sets a tone for the rest of the guys. We’re here to work and get better. It doesn’t matter what you’re doing.”
Letting Carroll push is a bit different than Gurriel due to the latter’s injury (torn ACL). The Diamondbacks have an understanding with Gurriel that one wrong step and his progress takes a massive hit, but there continues to be encouragement with how far along he is. He will not be ready for Opening Day, but he does not look doomed to miss half the season as it appeared when he got carted off the field last September.
There is still no timetable for catcher Adrian Del Castillo to play games (calf), but he is ramping up his baseball activities. Del Castillo has been catching bullpens and hitting in the cages after Lovullo previously said his Opening Day status was in doubt.
“Del is starting to increase his volume,” Lovullo said. “What exactly does that mean time-wise? I don’t have that.”
Phoenix will take center stage as host of the NCAA Women’s Final Four on April 2-5, 2026, welcoming fans, families and the nation’s top athletes for an unforgettable weekend. From Tourney Town presented by Capital One to the Super Saturday Concert presented by AT&T, the city will be buzzing with free events and championship energy.
As the centerpiece of the celebration, the nation’s top teams will compete in the semifinal and national championship games at Mortgage Matchup Center in Downtown Phoenix, anchoring a weekend full of pride, passion and the power of women’s sports.
Learn more about all of the 2026 Women’s Final Four fan events in Phoenix.
Houston Rockets center Clint Capela clearly saw part of an ESPN article on Deandre Ayton where the Los Angeles Lakers big man was quoted yelling, “they trying to make me Clint Capela.”
The Suns’ No. 1 overall pick in 2018 did himself no favors with a follow-up performance to the story of just two points and four rebounds in Thursday’s loss to Phoenix.
Capela’s clap back Thursday only added to the optics.
“U got 2 of the best floor generals in the game my dawg. (Lock in),” the Rockets center said on Instagram.
The reaction comes after ESPN’s Dave McMenamin included a quote from Ayton centered around his frustration on his role with the Lakers.
After recording 21 points and 13 rebounds in a Tuesday loss to Orlando for his first 20-10 game since Jan. 30, Ayton didn’t hold back in the locker room.
“They’re trying to make me Clint Capela,” Ayton reportedly yelled postgame, “I’m not no Clint Capela!”
It’s one thing to randomly call out Capela, who is very much a reserve at this point in his career but has 12 NBA seasons under his belt. It’s another that Ayton couldn’t back it up the next game.
In Thursday’s 113-110 loss to the Suns, Ayton had a complete opposite stat line behind just two points on 1-of-3 shooting and four rebounds across 23 minutes. He was a -24 plus-minus.
Deandre Ayton is WORSE than Clint Capela š pic.twitter.com/gWdbF0uK11
— BrickCenter (@BrickCenter_) February 27, 2026
Capela’s social media post only added to the optics.
Ayton continues to try to find his footing following his departure from Phoenix to Portland via trade in 2023.
After five seasons with Phoenix, the center would last just two with the Trail Blazers before being bought out by the team.
He went on to sign with the Lakers last July and has started 50 games for the franchise. The big man is averaging 13 points on 66.5% shooting to go along with 8.9 rebounds in 28.1 minutes per game.
This is where contenders live.
Picks 29 through 32 belong to the final four teams on the board — organizations that didn’t just compete, but controlled the season. The Los Angeles Rams, Denver Broncos, New England Patriots, and Seattle Seahawks all won at least 12 games and enter 2026 with expectations of doing it again.
The mindset here is different.
There are no panic moves. No desperate reaches. No foundational rebuilds.
This is about sustainability.
Championship windows close faster than teams expect. Veterans age. Coordinators get poached. Depth gets tested. Contracts escalate. And the teams drafting at the end of Round 1 must balance two timelines:
Win now — and win later.
Do you reinforce a strength that carried you to 14 wins?
Do you patch the one weakness exposed in January?
Do you draft a successor before the roster demands it?
These are luxury picks — but they’re also strategic ones.
Late-first selections are often about long-term cap health, premium position succession plans, and maintaining a competitive edge in a conference that’s always hunting the top seed.
In this batch, we break down:
These teams aren’t chasing relevance.
They’re protecting it.
Wrapping up the team needs series with: the Los Angeles Rams, Denver Broncos, New England Patriots, and Seattle Seahawks.
Salary cap contract information provided by Spotrac.
2026 Free Agents
2027 Free Agents
Team Needs: OT, CB, WR, QB, DT
Matthew Stafford is going to return to the Rams for 2026, but it remains to be seen how many years he has left. LA has been rumored to be in the backup/development QB market, given that Jimmy Garoppolo will be a free agent.
A veteran name to watch? Zach Wilson. Played under the current Rams QB coach in New York.
Second-year tight end Terrance Ferguson will be a stud and possesses an extremely high ceiling. Tyler Higbee is an impending FA. Davante Adams is getting older and is a dark-horse potential salary cap cut candidate despite the Rams wanting him to return next season.
Davante Adams is overvalued in 2026 fantasy football:
-Career-low catch rate (53%)
-Career-low YAC per reception
-TD-dependent (15)
-Turns 33"When I look at the totality — the age, the injury, the TD regression, the declining efficiency — I see a player far more likely to…
— Andrew Erickson
(@AndrewErickson_) February 25, 2026
Nobody else is behind Puka Nacua in the Rams pecking order (neither Adams nor Nacua is under contract for 2027). We could very much see the Rams’ young TE make a major leap in 2026. His 20.8 yards per reception led all TEs in 2025, along with an extremely high average depth of target (17.6).
Per Next Gen Stats…Ferguson averaged 17.6 air yards per target this season, the most among players at his position with at least 25 targets by more than six full yards.
Ferguson was targeted on 12 of his 37 deep routes (32.4%), the highest rate among tight ends to run at least 15 such routes. He hauled in five deep targets for 144 yards and two touchdowns, good for the second-most deep receiving yards by a tight end.
The list of TEs that rank highly in yards/receptions and ADOT over the past several seasons includes: George Kittle, Kyle Pitts, and Juwan Johnson.
RT Rob Havenstein is retiring from the NFL after 11 seasons. Two more of the Rams’ depth tackles are also free agents. Then the entire interior OL is hitting FA in 2027. They won’t lose all of those IOL guys, but they might not be able to re-sign all three.
On defense, the obvious need is in the secondary at CB. That was the Rams’ Achilles heel in 2025. It’s a unit that just needs to improve overall.
Safety Kamren Curl is also an impending free agent (led team in defensive snaps in 2025).
The Rams’ two big 2027 defensive free agents are EDGE Byron Young and DT Kobie Turner (both 2023 3rd-round picks).
But with this team in full-blown “win now” mode, I’m not sure they have to use high-end draft capital on either DT/EDGE unless it’s BPA. Would probably lean toward DT…as I don’t think they will let Young walk after a career 2025 campaign.
They already paid DT Poona Ford last offseason.
The Rams have two first-round picks (Nos. 13 and 29, thanks to Atlanta). Therefore, it would make sense for them to just grab the most immediate impactful players (or player).
The Rams have some notable coaching changes this offseason, including the promotion of Nathan Scheelhaase to OC. Spent time in college at Iowa State. Former Commanders OC Kliff Kingsbury was also brought in as assistant HC. Former Rams WR Robert Woods was also brought in as an assistant WR coach.
2026 Free Agents
2027 Free Agents
Team Needs: RB, TE, LB, OG, DT
Veteran gamers know better than anybody to never take HC Sean Payton on face value for fantasy football purposes. Who will be his “Joker”, etc.?
Spoiler…he is still looking for that RB or TE with those certain traits.
But we do know he loves to use RBs in the passing game. And technically, what he says about certain player usage actually holds less weight in 2026 compared to previous years, given he will no longer be calling plays.
Davis Webb was promoted to offensive coordinator and will call plays. Two potential winners that make the most sense based on the switch? Evan Engram and Marvin Mims. Engram and Webb were former Giants teammates. And Mims – we all know – has suffered at the hands of Payton’s dreaded WR rotations. If Webb decides this guy is too talented to come off the field…well, we are cooking with gas.
Still, Payton can’t be left out entirely. He acknowledged Denver’s top needs at the NFL Combine: Running back, linebacker, and tight end stand out as the biggest roster needs for the Broncos heading into the player-acquisition period.
Sean Payton said today that running back, linebacker and tight end stand out as the biggest roster needs for the Broncos heading into the player-acquisition period.
“You have to take the (internal) free agents out of the equation. … So those are positions that stand out.”
— Nick Kosmider (@NickKosmider) February 25, 2026
Makes sense considering J.K. Dobbins, Adam Trautman, and Alex Singleton are their top in-house free agents at those three positions. They also have players at these positions hitting FA in 2027.
GM George Paton was adamant about bringing back his linebacker room. Also called RJ Harvey, a three-down back.
RJ Harvey
Weeks 1-10 (pre Dobbins injury): 10 G, 8.7 FPPG, 29.1 RBTouch%, 5.2 YPT, 4.3 YPR, 2 G2G RuATT
Weeks 11-18: 7 G, 13.7 FPPG, 64.5 RBTouch%, 4.3 YPT, 3.4 YPR, 9 G2G RuATT
We can hope all we want, but calling him "definitely safe" to repeat post-Dobbins use is foolish https://t.co/O3qFlddv2Y
— Jake Ciely (@allinkid) February 25, 2026
I do think the Broncos will add somebody else to the backfield, but Harvey’s role as the primary pass-catcher should remain intact from his rookie year.
The offensive line was arguably the best in the NFL last season, and everybody is returning for 2026.
LG might be the one area they look to add more depth. Ben Powers was injured last season and is in the final year of his contract (a potential cut candidate per The Athletic). The same goes for OG Matt Peart.
On defense, DEs John Franklin-Myers and Eyioma Uwazurike might both be gone as soon as 2027.
CB Riley Moss is also entering a contract year (but Denver did draft a CB in the first round last season).
Denver’s roster is very well built and is in a window to “splurge,” given the cost-friendliness of a rookie QB’s salary.
They can and should swing for the fences on a plug-in play piece to get them over the top. Paton mentioned there’s a possibility of adding more playmakers on offense.
2026 Free Agents
2027 Free Agents
Team Needs: OT, OG, EDGE, WR, TE, S, LB
Austin Hooper is a free agent in 2026. Hunter Henry will be a free agent at the end of the season at age 32. Wide receivers Mack Hollins, Kayshon Boutte, and DeMario Douglas will also need new contracts.
There’s a need for a WR/TE upgrade in New England, so I expect the Pats to make a move for a potential true alpha pass-catcher. A.J. Brown is the top guy that comes to mind through trade at the WR position. DJ Moore also might be a decent fit, given that he played with the former Bears OC, Thomas Brown (Pats passing game coordinator).
Because there’s no guarantee that Stefon Diggs is a lock for the 2026 roster (no more guaranteed money, ongoing off-field issues, bloated contract).
But don’t overlook tight end as a sneaky area of need for NE’s offense. I’d be surprised if they didn’t draft one in a deep TE class.
OL Will Campbell isn’t expected to kick inside to guard, so the Patriots won’t be adding another left tackle this offseason (at least not with high-end capital).
Eliot Wolf notes that LT Will Campbell’s lower-body strength didn’t look the same post-knee injury, but he liked the way Campbell played prior to the injury.
— Mike Reiss (@MikeReiss) February 24, 2026
However, they still need a long-term solution at RT, given Morgan Moses‘s age (35).
Two of their backup tackles are also free agents: Vederian Lowe and Thayer Munford Jr.
De facto GM Eliot Wolf stated at the NFL Combine that tackle is a need. Also mentioned off-ball linebacker as a draft target and improving overall WR depth (more playmakers).
Some additional interior depth across the offensive line also makes sense. G Mike Onwenu is in the last year of his deal. Last year’s center, Garrett Bradbury, is a potential salary cap dump per The Athletic. If the Pats kick Jared Wilson inside to center to replace Bradbury, they will need a new left guard.
On defense, the Pats may not bring back K’Lavon Chaisson after his 12-sack season. If he departs, they will need more pass rush juice. Mike Vrabel said in his opening presser at the NFL Combine that they have met with a bunch of the edge players in this year’s class.
DT Christian Barmore also has some ongoing legal issues, but the way his future was talked about compared to Diggs was much more in favor of the defensive tackle sticking around (he is two years into his four-year extension).
Final takeaway: If the Patriots don’t reinvent themselves this offseason, they will end up like the 2025 Washington Commanders. They won’t be as lucky when it comes to their schedule or positive injury luck (fewest total points lost by injury per Sports Info Solutions) in 2026.
2026 Free Agents
2027 Free Agents
Team Needs: CB, RG, RB, WR, EDGE, S
At the time of this writing, the Seahawks won’t have either of their top two RBs from last season ready for Week 1. Kenneth Walker is a free agent (Seattle won’t use the franchise tag on him, forcing them to sign him long-term or let him walk), and Zach Charbonnet is coming off a very poorly timed ACL injury on January 19th (surgery a month later on February 20th). Although the discourse surrounding Charbonnet’s injury has been generally positive. And they would ‘love’ to have Walker back.
One free agent running back with whom new offensive coordinator Brian Fleury is familiar: Brian Robinson. Fleury was the run-game coordinator for the 49ers in 2025. J.K. Dobbins could be another option, given his Baltimore overlap with Mike Macdonald.
Part of the Seahawks’ offensive identity was running the football. 3rd-lowest pass play rate (50%).
Unless the new offensive coaches view this run game as “broken” with different backs…I’d imagine they want to keep an emphasis on establishing the run (maintaining what worked so well under Kubiak, while adding in 49ers wrinkles).
Seahawks head coach Mike Macdonald doesn’t expect much change in his offense with new OC Brian Fleury taking over. “It’s going to be built on the same principles, but how it comes to life and the exact plays we’re going to run, I can’t answer that yet.” pic.twitter.com/1OEKzbSgp8
— Eric Williams (@edubnfl22) February 25, 2026
Fleury also added that running the ball in the “red zone” tends to lead to the most offensive success. I’d also acknowledge that he also served as the 49ers’ TE coach from 2022-2025. George Kittle‘s TDs spiked during this stretch. Before 2022, Kittle had zero seasons with more than 6 TDs. He never had fewer than 6 TDs after the 2022 season.
AJ Barner TE1 szn?
WR Rashid Shaheed is also a free agent. After trading for him last season, I’d imagine they would want to bring him back (unless the Las Vegas Raiders try to reunite him with Klint Kubiak). Second-year WR Tory Horton would likely take on the “Shaheed role” if he doesn’t return to Seattle in 2026.
Across the offensive line, there is still a weakness in the interior at the right guard and potentially the center spots. G Anthony Bradford and C Olu Oluwatimi will be free agents in 2027. Starting center Jalen Sundell missed time last year with a knee injury.
Part of why the Seahawks’ defense was so great in 2025 was their vast depth on the defensive line. Boye Mafe is hitting free agency, and somebody will likely pay him more than his two-sack production from 2025. So just continuing to add to the DL/EDGE will remain a top priority for Seattle (specifically, guys who line up outside the tackle).
The true biggest defensive need is at CB. Josh Jobe and Tariq Woolen are both in need of new deals.
Safety Coby Bryant is also a free agent, but Seattle has strong depth. Ty Okada made the team as an undrafted FA and finished 10th in snaps (second-most at free safety). Might be a cheaper option than bringing back Bryant. Ranked 16th out of 75 safeties per PFF.
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Cut, trade or keep?
Technically, all three options are on the table when it comes to Arizona Cardinals quarterback Kyler Murray.
Realistically, there’s just one avenue at this point: an outright release.
And it’s exactly what Murray reportedly wants in his expected divorce from the franchise.
Given the back-and-forth that’s picked up this week, stoked by general manager Monti Ossenfort’s comments at the NFL Draft Combine, Murray suiting up for the Cardinals in 2026 seems even more dead and buried.
The optics from last year only solidified that thinking. Same with some of the offseason tells.
While Murray went to social media following Jonathan Gannon’s firing, expressing how much he “loved going to war” with the former Cardinals head coach, he’s been quiet regarding the Mike LaFleur hire. And if Murray really was in the equation for next year, there would have been much more than text messages sent between the two, as LaFleur has now referenced a couple of times since taking the job.
Not being at Arizona’s groundbreaking ceremony for its new performance center and team headquarters is another example that this thing has run its course between the 2019 No. 1 overall pick and the franchise. Of the many engraved names on the shovels, Murray’s was nowhere to be found. The absence makes his comments on hoping to be in Arizona to see its completion stick out like a sore thumb.
At this rate, it would be more surprising if Murray remained on the roster than anything else.
Trading Murray is a close second in the surprise department.
It marks the best-case scenario for Arizona financially — even if it has to eat some of the dead money to facilitate a deal. Getting Murray off the books via a pre-June 1 designated trade against an outright release would mean $17.9 million in dead money compared to $54.7 million in dead money, according to OverTheCap.
It would also result in some sort of draft compensation. Any deal would likely mean a later-round pick, but hey, it would be better than nothing.
The biggest issues here, though, center around the Cardinals finding a team desperate enough to bite on a Murray trade and working around the quarterback’s reported preference to be released.
Murray’s bound to have some say in any trade, too. If he doesn’t like the prospects of another team, his camp is going to let it be known. Would an NFL GM want to sign up for a disgruntled QB before he even got to town? I don’t think so.
Not only was Murray sidelined in what was already a make-or-break year for the quarterback in his third season under Ossenfort and the previous coaching staff, he was outplayed by backup Jacoby Brissett. The offense, which had to make up for a nonexistent run game and inconsistent offensive line, opened up much more with Brissett running out of play action and under center.
The wins weren’t there for Brissett last year. He went 1-11 compared to Murray’s 2-3 mark, but the writing was on the wall that a permanent change was likely on the horizon.
For any team that might want to kick the tires on Murray, why waste draft capital and take on Murray’s current contract when you can potentially wait and negotiate a prove-it-type deal? Unless a GM has been living under a rock, most if not all have envisioned a split since Murray went down with a midfoot sprain in Week 5 and never returned.
Murray also gets much more of a say as a free agent. There’s bound to be more suitors, too, without the thought of having to facilitate a trade to bring him aboard.
That’s what makes a release the most logical and unceremonious end to the Murray era in Arizona.
