NFL free agency 2023: Ranking the top 25 offensive players with quarterbacks taking top five spots

The 2022 NFL season is over and the Kansas City Chiefs are world champions. While free agency won’t officially open until next month, the race to overtake the Chiefs has already begun. Teams are building their free agent boards, reviewing the draft, and figuring out how they can bridge the gap between themselves and the league’s elite.

With that in mind, over the next couple of days we’ll be looking at the best players available this off-season. Today we’ll start on the offensive side of the ball, where there won’t necessarily be star-level players, but there will be plenty of talent that can help teams become more efficient and explosive.

The pinnacle of the free agent market is the quarterback position. Former MVP Lamar Jackson is undeniably the best player available… you know, if he becomes available. It’s highly likely that even if the Ravens decide to get away from Jackson, they’ll use the franchise tag on him first to get something for him in exchange. Daniel Jones could also be on his way to the tag if he and the Giants can’t come to an agreement on a long-term deal. This makes it likely that Carr and Garoppolo will be the top passers. Neither necessarily delivers an ultra-high ceiling, but teams with better lineups and poor center play (*cough* New York Jets *cough*) might be interested at the right price. It looks like Jeno Smith will make some sort of mid-term deal to stay with Seattle, even if the Seahawks don’t necessarily go all-in on him as their future quarterback.

The free agent offensive lineup is pretty good, though not necessarily chock-full of stellar talent. This is mainly because stellar talents in the lane rarely achieve free will. That’s why you usually have to pay big money up front for mid-range production. But between Brown, Taylor, McGlinchey and McGary, there are some mid-range or better quality talent available on both sides of the line. (Steele is a restricted free agent and thus highly likely to return to Dallas.) In addition, Powers has been one of the best blockers this season, Seumalo has developed into a very reliable starter, and Hernandez, Risner and McGovern have had enough experience.

In addition to being a supposedly strong running back in the NFL Draft, there is a ton of talent in the free agent market. Jacobs completes the All-Pro season. Pollard finally fell short of 50% of snaps in Dallas and outplayed Ezekiel Elliott sharply. We know that Barkley has an amazing talent, although in the last few years it has shown up only in fits and starts. (He also seemed to have worn himself out last season due to a heavy workload.)

There are bottlenecks between Schultz and Engram for whatever type of game you like, whether it’s athleticism (Engram) or hidden reliability (Schultz). It’s not the best set of wideband receivers, but besides Meyers, Juju and Odell, there’s also Michael Thomas, Allen Lazard, Noah Brown, Darius Slayton, DJ Chark, Richie James, Nelson Agolor and Mekol Hardman. This gives teams the ability to search for whatever type of extension they want and hopefully not have to pay too high a price to find it.