• The 49ers need help on the interior offensive line: The NFC championship game was nightmare fuel for defensive line coaches, who watched Philadelphia’s offensive line repeatedly erase Javon Kinlaw from the play.
• The Bears need everything: Chicago stripped its roster back to bare bones for 2022, and now they need to use the cap space and draft capital they acquired to build a team.
• The Cowboys need a WR2: Trading Amari Cooper away last offseason left Dallas yearning for a secondary threat to go alongside CeeDee Lamb.
Estimated reading time: 15 minutes
Only two teams are left to battle for Super Bowl 57, leaving every other NFL team to proceed in the team-building process as they look to reinforce their rosters for another assault on a championship in 2023.
Here is the biggest offseason need for every NFL team.
PFF's free-agent rankings by position:
QB | RB | WR | TE | OT | IOL | DI | EDGE | LB | CB | S
JUMP TO A TEAM:
ARZ | ATL | BLT | BUF | CAR | CIN | CHI | CLE | DEN | DAL | DET | GB | HOU | IND | JAX | KC | LVR | LAC | LAR | MIA | MIN | NE | NO | NYG | NYJ | PHI | PIT | SF | SEA | TB | TEN | WSH
Arizona Cardinals: Pass rush
J.J. Watt led the Cardinals in pressures (56) and pass-rushing snaps (523) in 2022, and he has now retired. And while Arizona has drafted pass-rushers recently, nobody has really stepped up to lead the line the way the team needs.
Markus Golden remains a steady presence and capable complementary piece, but this defense desperately needs an impact playmaker up front to help hide some of the deficiencies elsewhere.
Atlanta Falcons: Everything
In their first post-Matt Ryan season, the Falcons fielded an effective and entertaining offense. It was the most run-heavy system in football, calling run plays on over 50% of their snaps, but the defense was lagging way behind and needs a complete overhaul.
As a unit, the Falcons ranked 30th in expected points added (EPA) allowed per play and allowed a score on a league-worst 43.5% of their drives faced. There are a couple of players who belong, but there’s no level of the defense that doesn’t need an injection of talent.
Baltimore Ravens: Wide receiver
An injury limited former first-rounder Rashod Bateman to just six games and 28 targets in 2022, meaning that Demarcus Robinson led the team’s wideouts in targets (78), catches (50) and yards (507). Baltimore desperately needs to upgrade at the position, even if tight end Mark Andrews is the team’s true No. 1 receiver.
Buffalo Bills: Offensive Line
Buffalo’s playoff loss to Cincinnati highlighted a problem that had been brewing for the team all season — an offensive line in decline and reaching a problematic level of play.
The Bills offensive line ranked as low as 28th in PFF's offensive line rankings at one point this season, and they surrendered 211 pressures over the entire season.
While they could certainly use an extra receiver to complement Stefon Diggs, they need to ensure that the offensive line reaches a higher baseline of play in 2023.
Carolina Panthers: Quarterback
The Panthers have been relatively unfortunate with their quarterback situation recently. Trading for Sam Darnold was a gamble that was never likely to pay off, and while trading for Baker Mayfield was one that had a much higher probability of success, those results were every bit as bad.
Rookie Matt Corral was sidelined all year due to injury, meaning the Panthers are right back where they started: needing to find a solution at the most important position in the game.
Chicago Bears: Everything
Quarterback Justin Fields is still a work in progress, but this season he showed that he could be one of the game’s most electric playmakers with very little help around him.
Chicago stripped this roster back to bare bones for 2022, and now they need to use the cap space and draft capital they acquired to build a team.
There really isn’t an area that doesn’t need attention, so in a way, the Bears can do no wrong this offseason as long as they find good players. Every upgrade will make a difference.
Cincinnati Bengals: Offensive tackle
Cincinnati’s offensive line fell apart because of injuries late in the season but lost in all that was how poorly former first-round draft pick Jonah Williams played all season at left tackle. Williams tied for the most sacks surrendered by any tackle (12) in the regular season and earned just a 49.9 run-blocking grade.
Though La’el Collins was an upgrade at right tackle, his success primarily came from his work as a run-blocker, as he surrendered 34 pressures and put up a 44.2 pass-blocking grade.
Cincinnati’s work on the offensive line is not done.
Cleveland Browns: Interior Defensive Line
The ineffectiveness of the Browns' interior defensive line was remarkable this season. Three of the four players who played at least 200 snaps earned an overall grade of 41.6 or worse. Taven Bryan‘s 23 pressures from 359 pass-rushing snaps led the group.
Myles Garrett is one of the best defensive linemen in the game, but it barely matters because the rest of the defensive line offers nothing in support.
Dallas Cowboys: WR2
Trading Amari Cooper away last offseason left the team yearning for a secondary threat to go alongside CeeDee Lamb. Somebody exactly like…Amari Cooper.
Though the team decided they didn’t need Cooper’s contract on the books, they did need what he brought to the table. Playoffs included, Lamb accounted for 75 first downs this season, while no other Dallas receiver managed more than 34.
Dak Prescott had his worst season since the last time he didn’t have Amari Cooper to throw to, and Dallas once again came up short in the postseason.
Denver Broncos: Interior Defensive Line
Denver’s defense was elite this season, but the interior defensive line became a weakness after the team traded Shelby Harris as part of the deal to acquire Russell Wilson.
Seven different players played at least 165 snaps inside for the Broncos, and Dre’Mont Jones earned the highest PFF pass-rushing grade of the group at just 67.3. He produced 45 pressures on 448 rushes.
Theoretically, Denver’s pass rush still has plenty of teeth off the edge, but the side needs an upgrade inside to maintain the defense’s level next year.
Detroit Lions: Cornerback
The Lions cornerbacks combined to allow a 110.4 passer rating and 9.2 yards per attempt last season. And while the team's young pass-rushers really stepped up as the season progressed, the coverage on the back end never rose to meet them at that level.
The Lions have drafted several young corners in recent years, but they have yet to see a real return on that investment and need to keep swinging to continue this team’s positive growth.
Green Bay Packers: Tight end
A story as old as time itself — Green Bay and the need to add more weaponry for their passing game.
The only wrinkle this offseason is whether that weaponry is for Aaron Rodgers to use or to ensure Jordan Love has the best possible chance for success as the team's new starter.
The young wideouts showed promise in 2022, but tight end is an area that still needs a major upgrade. Robert Tonyan saw 63 targets this season but averaged just 1.27 yards per route run and moved the chains only 20 times.
Houston Texans: Quarterback
Davis Mills was given a transition year for the team to see if he could win the starting job and build on a surprisingly effective rookie year. He could not, and he got benched at one point in the year.
The Texans now head into the first real year of building with the capital gained from trading away Deshaun Watson in need of their next franchise quarterback. All signs point to that player coming in the draft, whether they stay at No. 2 overall or trade back up to the No. 1 spot they lost with a meaningless Week 18 victory.
Indianapolis Colts: Quarterback
Another team in need of a new franchise signal-caller, the Colts are likely to turn to the draft after repeated disappointments in their search for a veteran successor to Andrew Luck.
It was far from all his fault, but Matt Ryan finished the 2022 season with the worst PFF grade (63.8) of his entire career and the lowest big-time throw rate in the NFL (1.2%). The Colts are drafting at No. 4 overall but could be impatient enough to trade all the way to the top of the draft to secure their favorite player.
Jacksonville Jaguars: Secondary
Tyson Campbell had an outstanding season, but the investments the team has made at cornerback in recent seasons still aren’t paying off. Shaquill Griffin produced a 61.8 PFF grade from five games, and Darious Williams put up a mark of just 63.9.
Williams at least tallied 15 pass breakups, but Jacksonville needs to improve its secondary depth, particularly if Griffin can’t bounce back to his best form.
Kansas City Chiefs: Edge Rusher
Somehow the Chiefs still have very little in the way of an edge threat outside of Chris Jones. They have taken several swings at the position, whether by trade (Frank Clark), first-round draft pick (George Karlaftis) or free agency (Carlos Dunlap), and while each player has made contributions, none has been the consistent threat Kansas City has been looking for.
None of the Chiefs' edge rushers posted a pass-rushing grade higher than 62.0 despite Jones wrecking shop on the interior and creating a huge volume of clean-up plays to be made.
Las Vegas Raiders: Quarterback
When the Las Vegas Raiders decided to unceremoniously dump Derek Carr as their starter, they moved to the front of the queue for teams in need of a new quarterback.
Carr has been an average to above-average starter for the Raiders, grading inside the top five over a season just once (2016), and the league trend is to eschew average to search for greatness. It remains to be seen where they find greatness in this current landscape, but the Raiders figure to be one of the league's most aggressive teams in pursuit of that solution this offseason.
Los Angeles Chargers: Interior Defensive Line
The additions of Austin Johnson and Sebastian Joseph-Day were supposed to fix this problem last offseason, but both players posted PFF grades in the 50s in their first season with the team.
The Chargers ranked dead last against the run, surrendering 5.4 yards per carry, and their only interior defender to record more than 20 pressures was Morgan Fox. The Chargers would love to find a true impact player on the inside to complement what they have on the edge in Joey Bosa and Khalil Mack.
Los Angeles Rams: Offensive line
The Rams' season went so badly that it’s difficult to rewind and pinpoint where the flaws were on the team before the entire thing fell to pieces and diagnosing the problems became like searching a burned-out ruin in an attempt to identify where the fire began.
However, the team allowed 23 total pressures and Matthew Stafford took seven sacks in the season opener, and unless this offensive line is repaired in a major way, the Sean McVay offense simply doesn’t have the same effect that it did previously.
Miami Dolphins: Offensive Line
A year ago, Miami did exceptionally well in repairing the worst offensive line in football. The group finished the campaign at No. 22 in PFF’s offensive line rankings, but work still needs to be done.
With Terron Armstead, Connor Williams and Robert Hunt, three-fifths of the line are in a good spot. But that leaves two weak links to be addressed this time around.
As much as they invested in Armstead, his extensive injury history means the team would be wise to have a viable contingency play in place for the games he will inevitably miss during any given year.
Minnesota Vikings: Defensive tackle
Minnesota’s edge-rush duo of Za’Darius Smith and Danielle Hunter combined for 156 total pressures this past season, though it remains to be seen if both will be retained for 2023 or whether the team will look to get cheaper at the position.
The real failings were at defensive tackle. Dalvin Tomlinson led the interior linemen with 30 pressures across 348 rushes, and the Vikings as a unit allowed 4.5 yards per rush, 21st in the league.
New England Patriots: Wide receiver
Jakobi Meyers was New England’s best receiver once again, and he now heads to free agency on the back of a season where he gained 803 receiving yards and averaged 1.9 yards per route run.
New England already addressed their biggest coaching problem with the addition of Bill O’Brien as offensive coordinator, so now they need to fix the lingering issue at receiver to give quarterback Mac Jones the best chance of actually taking the step forward they need from him.
New Orleans Saints: Defensive line
Marcus Davenport enters free agency having never really justified the aggressive trade the Saints made to move up and draft him. He produced just 34 pressures across 15 games this season and has never earned a PFF pass-rushing grade north of 82.0. He is also yet to play more than 550 snaps in a season.
With Cameron Jordan turning 34 by the time next season rolls around and the interior underachieving in 2022, the Saints need to reload on their defensive line in a big way.
New York Giants: Interior offensive line
The Giants overachieved in an impressive way this season, making the playoffs and beating the Minnesota Vikings before getting bounced by the Eagles in the divisional round.
Still, this roster needs major work. Perhaps the biggest area of need is on the offensive line, as the unit as a whole never ranked higher than 27th in PFF's offensive line rankings once it became apparent how poor they were. The Giants line allowed 212 pressures this season, third-most in the league, and their interior players accounted for 114 of those pressures.
Andrew Thomas is an elite left tackle, and Evan Neal will hope to follow his development on the right side, but the interior needs major attention.
New York Jets: Quarterback
Zach Wilson looks well on his way to being one of the biggest draft busts of all time, and a badly-timed rib injury robbed Mike White of valuable time to prove that he could be the future starter.
With a roster capable of making the playoffs right now, the Jets can’t roll into 2023 with a starting quarterback with fewer than 200 pass attempts on his resume. They need a new quarterback to take advantage of a winning situation.
Philadelphia Eagles: Cornerback depth
Signing James Bradberry for pennies on the dollar was one of the shrewdest moves the Eagles made last offseason. They were able to snare another team's cap casualty and bring in an impact player for a bargain price.
They could tie Bradberry to a much more lucrative contract, but if they value his low cost, cornerback becomes an area of need. Bradberry allowed just 46.8% of the passes thrown into his coverage to be caught this season for a passer rating of 51.4.
Pittsburgh Steelers: Cornerback
Pittsburgh doesn’t have a bad cornerback group, but they are missing someone who can go toe-to-toe with some of the elite playmakers the NFL has at receiver.
Cameron Sutton earned the best coverage grade of the group in 2022, allowing 50.0% of targets into his coverage to be caught. Levi Wallace has a great underdog story but gave up 15.8 yards per catch and over 600 yards over the season. The Steelers can still impact quarterbacks with their pass rush, but they need a cornerback group capable of enhancing that threat with better coverage.
San Francisco 49ers: Interior Defensive Line
The NFC championship game was nightmare fuel for defensive line coaches, who watched Philadelphia’s offensive line repeatedly erase Javon Kinlaw from the play. He finished the game with a PFF run-defense grade of 28.1 and highlighted the need for the 49ers to find an interior force that can match the threat they have on the edge. San Francisco’s defense was elite in 2022, but they had a notable weakness on the interior that could be solved with one critical addition this offseason.
Seattle Seahawks: Defensive line
The only member of Seattle’s defensive line to earn PFF grades of at least 70.0 in both run defense and the pass rush was free-agent acquisition Uchenna Nwosu. He also led the team with 62 total pressures, 19 more than any other Seahawks lineman.
The Seahawks need to add reinforcements alongside Nwosu, whether on the edge or the interior.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers: Quarterback
Whether or not Tom Brady is done playing in the NFL, it seems very unlikely that he will be playing in Tampa Bay in 2023 after the way last season went. And that leaves the Bucs searching for his successor.
Blaine Gabbert is a backup only, and Gabbert has kept Kyle Trask buried as a third quarterback showing little sign of being the heir apparent. This is a team very much in flux in a post-Brady world, so maybe the Bucs are in the market for a middle-of-the-road starter like Derek Carr.
Tennessee Titans: Offensive line
The Titans had the worst offensive line in the game in 2022, even if some of the damage was done through injuries. They ranked last in PFF’s pass-blocking efficiency and generated just 1.0 yards before contact per attempt in the run game. The offense had problems across the board, but this unit gave them no chance and needs to be completely overhauled for the team to succeed in 2023.
Washington Commanders: Quarterback
Though Washington was reportedly telling potential offensive coordinator candidates that Sam Howell is their starting quarterback for 2023, that would seem wildly optimistic before an offseason of quarterback movement has taken place.
Howell looked to have potential in his lone start, but Taylor Heinicke had one of the best playoff performances in recent memory before he repeatedly failed to find that play again as a starter.
Washington has weapons on offense and needs a quarterback capable of unleashing their potential. Heinicke isn’t that guy, and Carson Wentz showed no evidence of being that guy, either. Maybe Howell is, but all things being equal, Washington would love an obviously better option.
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