It's the end of May. NFL free agency is done.
Trades are mostly done (looking at you, A.J. Brown ).
The draft is done. Even the second wave of postdraft free agency is wrapping up, with players like Jauan Jennings and Dante Fowler Jr .
committing to teams. Save for the supplemental draft in late June (which might end up mattering this year with Brendan Sorsby ), all of the big offseason events for player acquisition are complete.
With the dust settled, I listed the 10 positional groups I think improved the most from the end of 2025 to kickoff of the 2026 season, specific to teams. Plenty of groups that made big acquisitions failed to make the cut, as their standard of play from last season was too high to begin with.
For instance, Alex Anzalone and Josiah Trotter make a great new linebacker duo in Tampa Bay, and I admire how well the Buccaneers filled that hole. But they had such a great need only because they lost Lavonte David to retirement , and he was a great player right until the end.
I'm focusing more on the biggest net gains from last season to now, not just the best additions. As such, here are my 10 groups that have taken the biggest leap over the past few months -- and what we can expect from them moving forward.
Jump to a position improvement for: ARI | CIN | CLE | LV | LAC LAR | NYG | TEN | WSH 1. Arizona Cardinals running backs In: Jeremiyah Love , Tyler Allgeier Out: Michael Carter , Emari Demercado Five running backs had at least 40 touches for the Cardinals last season, which is too many running backs.
Injuries to James Conner and Trey Benson forced Arizona into a three-man rotation with Carter, Bam Knight and Demercado. Carter and Knight were the early-down ball carriers, while Demercado was the third-down scatback.
Carter and Knight were also two of the six worst rushers by yards over expectation last season, per NFL Next Gen Stats. Carter averaged 0.8 fewer yards than expected per rush; Knight was just above him at 0.7.
Demercado, hilariously, was the league leader in rushing yards over expectation per carry at 2.5, thanks in large part to a few explosive third-down draws. Of course, one of those ended with a self-inflicted fumble at the 1-yard line, such that Demercado ended up with one of the worst EPA per carry numbers of the season.
The returns of Conner and Benson from injury will help this group out some. But Benson has failed to move the needle in his first two years as a pro and has endured two leg injuries in two years.
Conner, who joined the Cardinals with an injury reputation but has been generally healthy, suffered a gnarly foot/ankle injury in 2025 and returned to the Cardinals only on an adjusted contract . (He was a cut candidate otherwise.) In need of a more trustworthy primary ball carrier, the Cardinals signed Allgeier in free agency from the Falcons.
A bruiser between the tackles, Allgeier was a 1,000-yard rusher before the Falcons drafted Bijan Robinson in 2023, at which point he became a thunderous change-of-pace back. For a moment, it looked like he might reclaim the lion's share of the carries with the Cardinals ...
until they drafted Love with the third pick. At this point, the Love and Allgeier combo makes the Cardinals' RB room one of the league's most improved positional groups, hence the No.
1 ranking here. Love has the lightning-quick speed and tackle-breaking ability to pair nicely with Allgeier's gristly style, and he catches the passes on third down that Allgeier doesn't want to see.
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