The 2025 NFL Playoffs are underway and while the fantasy football season is over, we can still gather intel based off performances in the playoffs for 2026. Yahoo analyst Matt Harmon shares what each team eliminated in the Wild-Card round has to do this offseason to improve.
[Team takeaways: Chargers | Eagles | Jaguars | Packers | Panthers | Steelers]
Pittsburgh Steelers – No more half measures; let it go and rebuild
The Pittsburgh Steelers have become a staple of the first edition post-Wild Card weekend in this “What’s next for the eliminated playoff teams” series I write every year during the playoffs. New year, same story; moderately different details. The Steelers find a way rearrange the deck chairs every offseason, only for their ship to sink in duplicative fashion.
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Pittsburgh has now been outscored 131-58 over its last four playoff appearances. None of those four teams were any better than 10-7, no worse than 9-7-1 — but all were bounced in the Wild Card round.
Exactly one year ago, in last year’s version of this column, I listed the Steelers’ primary offseason objective as “stare into the abyss,” a far cry from others’ checklist items, which contained more specific agenda items for improving the team.
Pittsburgh’s groundhog day destiny in January is much more existential than any other near-annual playoff contender. It’s rather remarkable how little has changed when you revisit last year’s version of this article. Go ahead and swap out a few names, maybe alter some of the offensive metrics, but then tell me it doesn’t completely hold up:
Just like before, there were moments of slight fun in Aaron Rodgers’ 2025 season with the team. You could find some brief respites during the season where he scratched the itch of nostalgia for millennials in my age bracket who grew up as football fans in the time when Rodgers was at the height of his powers. But the word “brief” is the key term here. Outside of the most diehard Black and Gold homers among mankind, we can all admit that the fate the Steelers suffered on Monday night was sealed long before they signed Rodgers; adding him didn’t change it, and even during those little junctures of fun, we all knew what was coming. And so, here we are.
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I don’t really feel the need to eulogize Rodgers’ career at the moment, even though this might have been his final game in the NFL. For one, there are too many teams that will be desperate at quarterback — specifically, the Minnesota Vikings have a need, and there was a flirtation last season — while Rodgers is too well-known for dragging things out at this stage. Also, to me, he just can’t possibly be a part of the Steelers’ 2026 plans, no matter how much of a good time both player and franchise reportedly had together in the building during their one-year marriage.
The more interesting part of ESPN’s broadcast was not their willingness to address the legacy of Rodgers if he retires, but that Troy Aikman and Joe Buck were speculating unprompted about a possible departure for Mike Tomlin, including the possibility that he takes a broadcasting gig this upcoming season. This is not a new or singular idea that Aikman and Buck pulled out of nowhere — in fact, Tomlin himself reportedly stepped down from his position as head coach on Tuesday. The Steelers are now entering the head-coach hunt.
Let’s just say that this resignation is actually Tomlin pulling the same move Sean Payton did recently — “retire” from coaching, spend a year on TV and return to the game in short order as the belle of the coaching cycle ball, all in a nakedly transparent move to eject himself from a franchise stuck in a cycle of purgatory of which is in large part his creation — don’t allow yourself a second of shock.
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Even with Tomlin exiting, it doesn’t change what must be done this offseason.
It’s time to rebuild.
Frankly, that goes for both sides of the ball. An aging defense that cost Pittsburgh more money than any other team in the NFL in 2025 is in dire need of a refresh. However, specifically on offense, there’s just no way the team can replicate anything close to the Frankenstein mashup of what Arthur Smith’s system blended with the preferences of his hyper-specific, far-past-his-prime veteran quarterback, as has been the case each of the previous two years.
Pittsburgh has 12 picks in this year’s NFL Draft, including five in the top 100. It might not be the year to take a clear answer at quarterback with any of those selections but it can begin to restock the cupboard of a near-barren pass-catching corps and fortify a real offensive identity along an underrated offensive line. Then, perhaps next year, it can look to add the franchise successor it’s been wandering the wilderness without for years now.
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That isn’t fun. It probably won’t result in a winning season in 2026 but it’s past time that isn’t the standard for success any longer. It’s enough already; accept the rebuild.
Los Angeles Chargers – Structural offensive changes
The Chargers’ offensive line has suffered enough injuries to the point that it’s a barely functioning unit. Justin Herbert didn’t have his best day in the 16-3 playoff loss to the Patriots. All of that can be true and we can still acknowledge that what we saw Sunday night was the latest confirmation that the structure of the offense isn’t good enough for this team to take the next step.
It’s tough to lose both your starting tackles; most teams don’t just come back from that. However, if you’re one of the elite offensive minds in the NFL, you can at least adjust your approach to work around the loss of Rashawn Slater and Joe Alt. What we’ve seen from Greg Roman and this staff is a complete inability to adjust the unit to address the issues. In fact, on Sunday night, the protection plan up the middle of the line was a bigger problem than the play at tackle. The interior of the line was the trio of Zion Johnson, Bradley Bozeman and Mekhi Becton, the same group to start this season. That group couldn’t pick up a stunt or blitz to save their lives. Bozeman at center, who played under Roman in Baltimore, has been the biggest problem on the line all season and it was obvious that this would happen based on his play for the 2024 Chargers.
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Personally, I don’t think Roman is an offensive play-designer or play-caller; he just clearly has limitations and when his offenses don’t feature a quality line, it’s over before it starts. That’s a theory that’s only been proven out more and more as this season came to an end for Los Angeles. The fact that this team was still running their top receiver, who is an A-tier separator, in Ladd McConkey on these long-developing intermediate and deep routes down the stretch, tells you all you need to know. Especially when getting the ball out of Herbert’s hands quickly was at a premium.
I didn’t want to put a ton of effort and energy into theorizing what a coordinator change would look like for this team because I didn’t expect Harbaugh to have any appetite toward making the move to fire Roman. After all, these guys were together for years back at Stanford and San Francisco, Roman has worked for Jim’s brother John with the Ravens, and they even shot a buddy-buddy RV documentary-style video where they could be seen cheers’ing sodas about their reunion and shared offensive vision when Harbaugh hired Roman to be the offensive coordinator of the Chargers. My instinct was that Harbaugh’s long-time loyalty to Roman would win out.
And yet, the head coach surprised me with this response when questioned about his play-caller’s status after Sunday’s loss.
I read that quote and thought, “It’s over.” You don’t say that unless you’re at least contemplating a change, and if you’re thinking about it, you’ve already set the future in motion. And I was right. The Chargers reportedly parted ways with Roman on Tuesday.
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Jim has clearly reached the same conclusion as his brother once did about Roman’s offense: it’s good enough to get you to a certain point and might even be helpful in setting a quarterback on the right path. Herbert was more experienced than Lamar Jackson was when the latter worked under Roman but he also had some bad habits to work through brought on by his previous coaching staff. Credit to Roman, he got Herbert less check-down happy, more willing to push the ball down the field and take off as a scrambler. But just like in Baltimore, the Chargers have reached a stumbling block that Roman can’t navigate them through. Big games and playoff contests just make it obvious.
I’m not saying that Herbert was perfect in Sunday’s loss, and no blame can be laid at his feet. That’s not what this is about. We’re looking forward, not backward. The reality is that this team is simply too talented both at quarterback and in the skill-position department to be as lifeless as it was late this season. Harbaugh, who makes no reservations about his affinity for Herbert as a quarterback, knows it and is ready to choose that player’s potential over loyalty to a friend.
Now that the play-caller change is made, there will be even more reason to believe that this is one of the best bounce-back offensive ecosystems to invest in for fantasy football next season.
Philadelphia Eagles – Scrap the entire offense
I don’t really root for game outcomes in my line of work. That being said, I’m pretty pleased that as a result of Sunday’s loss, I will never have to talk about the 2025 Eagles offense ever again. My guess is that there are no Eagles fans on Earth who would disagree with that sentiment.
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I’m also completely convinced that there is no way Philadelphia can run it back from what they offered in 2025 and expect to be taken seriously. This is a unit to completely scrap and start over from a structural and design standpoint.
Yes, that begins with moving on from Kevin Patullo as the offensive coordinator. It’s been clear all season that the design of this offense wasn’t weaponizing the players and conceptually wasn’t creating any schematic advantages. That doesn’t excuse some players from a lack of execution, either on Sunday or in other moments this season, but you can’t expect your players to be perfect every single snap. You have to make their lives easier at some point and that never once happened for this Eagles offense.
You’re kidding yourself if you think that’s the cure-all move.
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This 2025 Eagles offense has been the worst-designed unit in the Nick Sirianni and Jalen Hurts years, but all of the units from 2021 to now have generally lived in the same zip code. They don’t get under center much, their use of motion is minimal and they prefer to attack outside the numbers rather than over the middle of the field. Much of that is because it plays to the strengths and likely preferences of the quarterback. There’s nothing wrong with that but it just limits your menu. When this offense has had play-callers and designers like Shane Steichen and Kellen Moore, who are without question above the 80th percentile of NFL play-callers and designers, they can add enough wrinkles to dress up the operation and weaponize it. When they have had other offensive coordinators below that threshold, you get outcomes like the 2023 and 2025 seasons.
If this team retains Sirianni and the front office and ownership pick the play-caller again, as they have prior to 2025, there are options available who could construct an offense around Hurts. However, there will also be a handful who just won’t fit. That’s the reality of the world Philly lives in with Hurts entrenched as the starter on a mega-deal and it can all work out with an All-Star cast around the quarterback.
The deeper question this team has to ask itself is how long that final variable lasts. Saquon Barkley and A.J. Brown both turn 29 this offseason. Forget about Brown’s current lack of content with the team, coaching staff, whatever it is; neither player put the same elite film of season’s past out in 2025, even when you consider factors outside of their control that hampered their production. Right tackle Lane Johnson’s absence was felt in the back-half of the season and on Sunday but he’ll turn 36 years old in May and has been fighting through injuries more as the years go on. It is past time to consider a succession plan for one of the best right tackles in the history of the sport and that’s even more pressing after a disappointing showing from the interior offensive line this season. Dallas Goedert just turned 31 and will be a free agent this offseason after a strong campaign that came on the heels of offseason trade rumors.
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The coming change at offensive coordinator will get most of the attention but if you pop open the hood of this car and you suddenly see there are more matters that need your attention beyond a paint job.
The Jaguars won’t be interested in moral victories or pats on the back but nevertheless, they have to feel as if the back-half of the season and their performance in a wild-card loss validated their status as a team on the right track. Trevor Lawrence got rolling, skill-position players started popping and it was clear Liam Coen was pushing the right buttons as the play-caller and designer. This is an ecosystem to bet on, but the question now is: Who the primary skill-position options will be for this team in 2026?
In the backfield, it’s a rather simple equation. Travis Etienne Jr. ended up being the clear right answer for this team at running back. Bhayshul Tuten flashed some explosive ability but never pushed Etienne for the starting gig. The veteran back finished the year with 311 touches between the regular and postseason. In Sunday’s loss, he took 20% of his carries for 10-plus yards; you can make a real argument they should have gotten him more work.
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Etienne is a free agent after the team declined his fifth-year option. It would be hard to imagine that they just want to let him walk after a strong season. Perhaps they view his production as replaceable thanks to a well-designed ground game and want to see more of Tuten in Year 2. That’s a big variable this offseason.
The passing game, specifically the wide receiver room, is a tougher knot to untangle.
The Jaguars found a steadying presence in Jakobi Meyers at the NFL trade deadline and gave him a contract extension, while holdover Parker Washington became a huge hit as the team’s leading receiver from the slot. Washington isn’t some flash in the pan; this guy is a legitimate talent I’ve had my eye on for years, since before he was drafted in 2023.
With those two guys finishing the year as the top targets, the temptation will be to just pencil those guys right back into those roles in 2026. The conventional wisdom will be that Travis Hunter plays more cornerback than wide receiver in Year 2 once he’s healthy, and/or Brian Thomas Jr. will be traded to a team more ready to maximize him outside of the low-volume X-receiver role he was relegated to down the stretch in Jacksonville. Perhaps any or all of that is exactly what happens. However, teams absolutely invite regression when they just sit on their hands and don’t build on strengths in the early goings of new regimes.
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The 2025 Falcons are a good cautionary tale. They got an excellent value season out of Darnell Mooney and Drake London broke through in 2024. They added nothing to that room, and the offense suffered as London got hurt and Mooney had a bad season. Players aren’t metronomes; what has been is not always what will be.
Meyers is a good player but is more of a No. 2 receiver and turns 29 this year. Washington can absolutely start, as we’ve seen this year but relying on just those two to be exactly what they were this past season would not be wise. Getting more out of either, or both of Thomas and Hunter in 2026, can be a key in staving off similar regression.
The Jaguars receiver room will be a major offseason storyline to track. I don’t have the answers as to what will definitively happen with this group in the coming months but I can tell you for sure, no matter how ambiguous it might look on paper right now, it’s an offense I want to be invested in because there are good players and guys with higher ceilings than they showed in 2025, all playing for an ecosystem in my circle of trust under Coen’s watch.
Green Bay Packers – Fix the running game
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Head coach Matt LaFleur is facing tons of heat after another disappointing playoff exit, especially with this year’s edition coming at the hands of a comeback win from their division rival. That’s the price of the job.
My biggest critique of LaFleur this season, and this isn’t hindsight from Saturday’s loss as I’ve said it before on my shows, is that he hasn’t always had a good grasp on the strengths and weaknesses of his offense. Namely, he’s been overly conservative in relying on a ground game that just doesn’t offer any dynamism and hasn’t all season.
Saturday night provided a good example of what I’m talking about. The Packers saddled up Josh Jacobs for 19 of 21 running back carries in the game. Just two of them went for more than 10 yards and none went for over 15. A whopping 57% of his carries in the second half went for zero or negative yards and he sported a 14% rushing success rate. If you don’t think that’s a huge reason why this team couldn’t close out a 21-3 lead, you’re kidding yourself. It’s not a shock, either, as Green Bay ranked 19th in EPA per running back rush in 2025 after a 10th place finish the year prior.
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The Packers have made big investments in both Jacobs and the offensive line — commitments too large financially and draft equity-wise to be so lifeless on the ground. I’m not sure it’s all on Jacobs’ shoulders but he did dip from 5.0 yards per touch in 2024 to 4.5 this past season. While he deserves admiration for being a warrior and playing through injuries, you have to wonder if he hurt the run game’s efficiency by doing so, much less if he’ll be able to reverse course as he turns 28 years old next month. Jacobs’ deal is a four-year agreement but is more of a true year-to-year commitment. Perhaps he is a cap casualty this offseason but regardless, I don’t think Green Bay can just roll into next season and assume Jacobs will be ready to grind out a workhorse role again. Even if he’s back with the team, I’d expect a complementary and more explosive threat added alongside him to weaponize this ground game again.
Again, the issues also go beyond Jacobs’ play. I’m not sure they have more than one above average starter on that offensive line penciled in for 2026 — and that player, Zach Tom, didn’t play in the wild-card loss. Aaron Banks has been a huge letdown as a free agent guard and Round 1 selection Jordan Morgan hasn’t caught on. This is another area where the Packers can’t afford to sit on their hands.
All of this might sound wild considering Jacobs has been a fantasy machine in Green Bay on the back of touchdowns. However, there’s no way you can come away from this season happy with the ground game if you’re invested in the team’s success.
Carolina Panthers – Add to the offensive line
Much of the oxygen this offseason will surround Bryce Young and what the ceiling of this team truly is with him under center. It’s probably wise to add a backup quarterback a little more capable than Andy Dalton, who will turn 39 in October, of taking over if Young falters. However, Young will be the starter on this team, and building an ecosystem around him to elevate his play while he hopefully improves as a pre- and post-snap processor to paper over some of his physical limitations is a must.
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All eyes should turn to the offensive line in this regard this offseason. The Panthers turned this unit from a withering weakness to a real strength two years ago. Now, they must refurbish this group once more. Austin Corbett, Yosh Nijman, Cade Mays and Brady Christensen all played over 200 snaps for this team as injuries forced rotations and are all unrestricted free agents this offseason. Mays is likely the biggest priority to retain as he emerged as a quality starting center. The others are backups and Christensen is coming back from a torn Achilles but depth will be key for this team once again in 2026. Starting left tackle Ikem Ekwonu ruptured his patellar tendon in the first quarter of the loss to the Rams, which makes him a long shot to be ready early this coming season. That’s a huge loss and should change the course of the Panthers’ offseason plans.
Featuring a plus-offensive line is a must for both Young and Dave Canales. For Young, having quality protection matters given his height and preference for working over the middle. While those starters along the interior make the biggest difference, tackle play is also a big deal, considering he likes to move in the pocket and through the C-gaps to readjust his throwing platform.
With Canales, we know he wants to base his offense around a strong running game. I’m quite confident in the wide receiver tandem of Tetairoa McMillan and Jalen Coker — although more depth and a better tight end room are needed — and believe the aerial attack can take on a bigger burden in 2026. Yet, Canales will still want to control games and set the tone with a multi-layered rushing unit. There’s no way they can let the offensive line talent wither and expect to get that level of output going forward.
Panthers players like McMillan, Coker and Chuba Hubbard, with Rico Dowdle likely moving on, will be popular and possible even value fantasy picks this summer. I’d be much more willing to click all options if they fortify the front-five during the offseason.
