Biggest offseason fixes for every NFC team: Packers, Cowboys, Eagles and more

There are only four teams left on the NFC side of things: The Rams, the Bears, the Seahawks and the 49ers. But who cares about them anyway? Twelve other teams are on the sidelines, fully in offseason mode, where they hope to make changes, come back, and not be terrible next year.

So what are their biggest fixes? Let’s go team-by-team and see how they can get back to business. And we'll do it by NFL Draft order because that’s the only order that matters anymore.

Arizona Cardinals

You can go either way on whether or not the Cardinals should trade Kyler Murray. They could trade him, be quarterback-less, and be dead in the water. Or they can keep him and be dead in the water. The biggest thing for them is to nail their head coaching hire. When they hired Jonathan Gannon, he was coming off a Super Bowl loss that was almost entirely his fault. Predictably, everything went poorly. 

Their new head coach is going to come into a terrible spot, so it’d be better if they get a guy who’s not an up-and-comer, and instead, a guy who’s got an established system and a staff that he can bring with him. The problem is that there are a bunch of teams that need head coaches, and this is entirely unattractive to those kinds of guys.

Just don’t be super dumb about it, and it’ll be a good start. 

New York Giants

On Wednesday night, the Giants hired John Harbaugh as their new head coach, which is a great start toward not being a complete joke of a franchise anymore. However, Joe Schoen is still their general manager. 

You have to imagine that Giants fans wanted their new head coach to do what Liam Coen did to the Jaguars last season: reject the job unless the GM gets fired, and then take the job once he does. That didn’t happen, and they still have a mega-bonehead running the whole operation. 

The next thing the Giants need to get right is their offensive line. Andrew Thomas was their only consistently good player in that unit, and he missed a handful of games. They need to rebuild that through free agency, just like the Bears did last season. 

Washington Commanders

Somehow, the Commanders need to find a way to get draft picks. They had the oldest team in the NFL last year, seemingly on purpose. They traded a bunch of picks for Laremy Tunsil and Deebo Samuel, and they’re paying for it. They only have six picks in the 2026 draft: A first, a third, a fifth, two sixths and a seventh-round pick. That’s entirely too few to restock everyone that they’re losing/can’t be starting in 2026.

They’ve put themselves in a hell of a hole, and now they’re going to have to trade some talent or future picks to get young guys in the building. 

New Orleans Saints

The Saints traded Rasheed Shaheed to the Seahawks on November 4th. Rasheed Shaheed was the Saints' second leading wide receiver on the season, and Tyler Shough threw for 2,080 yards after that. They need to change Shough’s options for pass catchers so that he can actually develop into a real and sustainable quarterback.

Also, they need to go all in on Devin Neal or make a move to get a better running back (Breece Hall, Travis Etienne, etc.). All in all, they ended the season on a really high note.

Dallas Cowboys

Defense. Everything about the defense. They need a defensive coordinator who knows what he’s doing. They need more people on the defensive line. They need more cornerbacks. They need more safeties. They need more linebackers. They need everything, everywhere. Get guys in the building and see who works. It could not be any worse than it was last season.

But it’s Jerry Jones, so they’ll just do something dumb while he talks about glory holes.

Atlanta Falcons

The Falcons are in a particularly terrible spot this offseason: Michael Penix is going into his third season in the NFL, coming off his third knee injury, and doesn’t have much experience. Also, they don’t have a first-round draft pick and they have to sell that to a potential new head coach and new general manager.

They need to go after a starting quarterback, probably via trade, and it’s going to be that front office’s first move ever. That’s rough.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

The Buccaneers' defense was about as bad as we’ve seen it in the Todd Bowles era. The smart move would’ve been to let him go, but they decided to run it back one more time for some reason. Whatever.  

If they’re not going to make changes with the defensive staff, then they’re going to need to make changes with the players. Unfortunately, that's a pretty broad category. Also unfortunately, it’s completely correct. Antoine Winfield, Vita Vea, and Yaya Diaby are all great, and it’s good to have players at every level who are great, but other than those guys? Not a whole lot. They need more talent, plain and simple. 

Detroit Lions

You never want to be the guy after the guy. Ben Johnson was the guy for the Lions. When he left last offseason, you knew that their new offensive coordinator was going to be in an extremely tough spot. They promoted John Morton. It was bad, and Dan Campbell put on his reading glasses and took over play-calling. That is absolutely not what you want him to do; you want Dan Campbell to bash the nerds who wear glasses, not become one of them.

The Lions need to get an offensive coordinator who has Ben Johnson-type creativity while also being a guy that Dan Campbell trusts. Also, have the players start stretching, or drinking more water, or something like that. They’re always super injured. 

Minnesota Vikings

The very obvious issue with the Vikings is J.J. McCarthy. Last year was essentially his rookie season, and he played like a ding-dong for most of it. Maybe they want to stick with him and let Kevin O’Connell try to work his magic, or maybe they go after another guy.

Another thing that they really need to work on is their offensive line. For the majority of the season, those guys were either hurt or just playing terribly. That unit has got to be mostly or partly rebuilt, regardless of who the quarterback is. 

Carolina Panthers

We’re seeing Bryce Young get more and more comfortable in the NFL, which is kind of cool. He used to do this thing where he’d ignore pressure and get smoked in the backfield. He’s been getting better and better at avoiding that pressure and making plays.

But what if they just had a good offensive line? Wouldn’t that be crazy? If they can get consistency up front, then they’ll get the consistency from Young. If they get the consistency from Young, then they'll win more games. 

Green Bay Packers

Losing to your divisional rival in the Wild Card round of the playoffs will set back any team. This year, that just so happens to be the Packers. 

On one hand, Matt LaFleur is a good head coach who runs a good offense, but on the other hand, he pukes on himself whenever things get tough. Do you want him gone because of his lack of postseason success? Yes. Do you want him around because he’s got a good offensive mind, and there’s not another head coaching candidate who can promise you that? Also, yes. 

I’m not a mechanic, but I know when a car is on fire. I’m not a general manager, but I know when a team looks broken. The Packers look broken, and something operational needs to change.

Philadelphia Eagles

The Eagles have already fired their offensive coordinator, Kevin Patullo. That’s a great start in fixing the whole situation. Is it the biggest change they need to make? Not really. Their offense was downright terrible in 2025. If they were just a smidge better than “downright terrible,” they would have been able to win more games. Anyone they hire for their next OC is going to be better and give them that bump up a smidge. That’s an easy fix and a big change, but it’s not the biggest change.

The change they need to make is with their offensive mindset. Nick Sirianni and the gang built the NFL’s first Prevent Offense: When the Eagles got a lead, they shut it all down and killed clock. 

Two minutes left in the first half, three time-outs, and Jalen Hurts has the ball on the 50? Kill clock. The other team scored three consecutive times, and now you’re clinging onto a three-point lead? Kill clock by running and wasting plays. You have a three-point lead in the second half of the Wild Card game? Run on second-and-20.

They never tried to show off how much of an offensive powerhouse that we knew they could be, and their season ended because of it. I don’t know if Nick Sirianni needs to get brainwashed or if bringing in a new OC who gets complete control over the offense would change that, but it needs to change.

That and they need a new center. Cam Jurgens stunk this year.