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Ben Solak
Multiple Authors
We all watch the NFL draft with bated breath. Prospects with their phones perched on the table, as their dreams are one call away from realization. Fans with group chats firing and highlight reels loaded, ready to fall for the next late-round star who will catapult their favorite team to the Super Bowl. And then there are the NFL veterans who are on tenuous footing, wondering whether their teams will draft their replacements or give them another year.
Rookies get new jobs coming out of the draft, while many established players can in turn lose them. The NFL is an unforgiving machine that churns talent relentlessly. As rookies are often reminded, NFL stands for “Not For Long,” and veterans who were at the peak of their games just a few years ago can suddenly find themselves a step too slow to hang with someone just coming into the league. Recent draft picks who were given a long runway to develop can be cast aside for a new rookie and new hope. And starters who were just average can abruptly have to compete against top-50 picks with high ceilings. It’s harsh, but it’s reality in the pros.
I highlighted 14 veterans who might be in jeopardy of a major role reduction — if not a loss of starting snaps outright — in 2026. While these losses might not be exclusively the result of the 2026 draft, I circled only those players with an obvious rookie waiting in the wings to replace them. I also focused solely on incumbent veterans: players who took at least 400 snaps for their team last season. It’s certainly the case that veteran receivers Jahan Dotson and Olamide Zaccheaus might fail to keep Zachariah Branch out of the No. 2 receiver job in Atlanta, but neither Dotson nor Zaccheaus were with the Falcons last season. I consider that job neutrally up for grabs, rather than a veteran’s secured position suddenly being in jeopardy.
In no particular order, here is my list of veterans on the hot seat this upcoming season now that the dust has settled on the draft.
Jump to:
B. Jones | X. Legette | I. Pola-Mao
T. Stevenson | M. Hughes | C. Valentine
C. Barton | C. Conner | A. Bradford
B. Brown | T. Jefferson | T. Togiai
C. Ruiz | M. Humphrey
This is an obvious one, so it’s a good place to start. Mere days before the draft, ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported that Jones had suffered a setback while recovering from his neck injury, and that his 2026 training camp and Week 1 availability were in question. Then the Steelers selected Arizona State tackle Max Iheanachor in the first round (admittedly after trying and failing to draft a receiver). One week later, the Steelers declined Jones’ fifth-year option.
It’s not hard to read the writing on the wall here. Jones’ play was already shaky enough that an early pick on a developmental tackle would have been more than justified. His 85.0% pass block win rate was 65th of 68 qualified tackles last season. But now that his long-term health is in question, the Steelers urgently needed a succession plan. Assuming Jones’ neck injury remains a factor, Iheanachor will likely get first-team reps in training camp and accordingly an inside track to start in Week 1. If he holds his water, it would be surprising to see Jones get back on the field as the starter once he finally returns to health.
Outside of metropolitan Charlotte, Legette enjoys some cover from Buffalo’s Keon Coleman among disappointing receivers from the 2024 draft class (Coleman was benched last season and then called out in a news conference by owner Terry Pegula). But Legette’s inability to consistently catch the ball, especially up against the sideline, has frustrated Panthers fans over his first two years in the league.
Legette was a late college breakout drafted largely for his size/speed profile. At first it looked like the Panthers’ receivers room would have plenty of space for his development — Legette was the Panthers’ leading target-getter as a rookie. But the emergence of undrafted free agent Jalen Coker and subsequent drafting of 2025 Offensive Rookie of the Year Tetairoa McMillan pushed Legette down to No. 3 on the depth chart … and now Chris Brazzell II has entered the building.
The Panthers made the Tennessee wideout the 83rd pick last month in large part because of his own size/speed profile. Brazzell is 6-foot-4 and 198 pounds, and he ran a 4.37-second 40-yard dash. He is a raw route runner from a system that translates poorly to the NFL, so it’s unlikely he immediately excels at the next level. That gives Legette time to entrench himself as a more reliable option. But if he continues to lose targets, the Panthers will consider promoting Brazzell to that rarely targeted field-stretching role.
Pola-Mao played more than 1,000 defensive snaps for the Raiders last season, and while defensive coordinator Patrick Graham has left for Pittsburgh, new coordinator Rob Leonard is an internal promotion. It’s rare to see a player used that heavily get completely benched for a rookie — and to be clear, I don’t think that will happen.
But Pola-Mao played 861 snaps at a safety alignment last season via NFL Next Gen Stats’ numbers, largely because the role of versatile box player was already occupied by Jeremy Chinn. Second-round pick Treydan Stukes played a ton of positions in college, but he finished his career at Arizona as a safety — and he was announced by the Raiders as a safety when he signed his contract. He can play the slot, but his body type and play style translates best to safety — specifically a deep middle safety. That’s Pola-Mao’s old job.
I think the Raiders will end up in some sort of three-safety rotation, depending on how much time Stukes plays at nickel (with Taron Johnson also vying for snaps) and how often Chinn is at linebacker (now that Quay Walker and Nakobe Dean are in town). Put simply, there are a ton of snaps up for grabs in what was a poor safety room last season, and Stukes might just be the best player in that group already. He’s certainly the future, as both Pola-Mao and Chinn are rising free agents. Stukes might lead the position in snaps by the end of the season.
A surprise faller to Day 3 of the draft was Texas CB Malik Muhammad. A multiyear starter and still just 21 years old, Muhammad has the profile of someone who gets drafted on Day 2. That’s especially true when you factor in his combine testing, where Muhammad had a 4.42-second 40-yard dash, 39-inch vertical jump and 10-foot-11 broad jump, all at 6-foot with arms over 32 inches. I still don’t know how that skill set made it to Round 4.
It was to the Bears’ benefit, as they snagged a potential day one starter with No. 124. Finding a depth cornerback to replace the outgoing Nahshon Wright was critical, as Stevenson’s volatile play alongside Jaylon Johnson‘s injury history all but guarantees the No. 3 corner will see time in Chicago. Stevenson in particular struggled last season, his first under defensive coordinator Dennis Allen; Stevenson’s 9.8 yards per target allowed ranked third worst among all cornerbacks (minimum 50 targets).
The Bears would much prefer Stevenson to play (and excel) over Muhammad. That’d mean Stevenson could walk in free agency, sign a huge deal elsewhere and give Chicago a nice compensatory pick in return. But if Muhammad shines in camp, the Bears might struggle to keep him off the field while Stevenson gets targeted opposite Johnson.
The Falcons rewarded Hughes’ strong 2024 season with a three-year extension. In the first year of that deal, Hughes underwhelmed. His yards per coverage snap allowed leapt from 1.0 to 1.5, and poor tackling in run support glared on their opponents’ biggest plays. It’s fair to expect a bounce-back season — Hughes dealt with neck and ankle injuries — but it’s also fair to be dubious.
Atlanta added an immediate contender for Hughes’ job in Avieon Terrell, the younger brother of incumbent star A.J. Terrell Jr. The younger Terrell is not a one-for-one replacement for Hughes, as he’s a smaller player who might be better destined for the slot. But 2025 fourth-rounder Billy Bowman Jr. was strong in the slot before a devastating torn Achilles during a November walkthrough. If Bowman isn’t back to form, Avieon Terrell might instead man the nickel position and keep Hughes in the starting lineup in 2026.
But Terrell was the earliest pick the Falcons had in the 2026 draft, and they had other more pressing needs on the table — that’s difficult to ignore. This isn’t some Round 4 toolsy prospect. This was a top-50 pick with already a ton of internal buy-in given his family name. I won’t be surprised when Terrell and Hughes are rotating first-team snaps in camp.
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What Avieon Terrell brings to the Falcons
What Avieon Terrell brings to the Falcons
Valentine’s starting job was already in question before the draft, as a bad 2025 campaign invited the signing of free agent corner Benjamin St-Juste. The Packers were still live to take a cornerback, and they apparently ranked the need (or the player) so highly that they drafted South Carolina’s Brandon Cisse with the 52nd pick (the team’s first selection of the draft).
The Packers are notoriously patient with rookies, and Cisse is far from a finished product. South Carolina rotated its corners, and Cisse often didn’t play full games, even in his final season. But the most favored outcome in the Packers’ cornerbacks room is certainly Cisse winning the job over Valentine, who surrendered a passer rating of 126.1 when targeted last season. Only five outside cornerbacks were worse.
Even if Cisse doesn’t win the starting job outright, I would not be surprised to see him enter a rotation with Valentine (and St-Juste). Valentine struggles more with larger receivers, and Cisse and St-Juste should match up better.
Barton played 1,061 snaps last season for the Titans — every single possible snap available to him. And now, he might be out of a job.
He wasn’t terrible for Tennessee last season. His coverage metrics were actually quite good: 53.0 passer rating allowed and only 4.8 yards against per target. But Barton has always been more wily and assignment sound than he is athletically talented, and the lack of speed impacted his ability to beat blockers to the point of attack and get involved in plays at the sidelines. For new coach Robert Saleh, who needs his linebackers to flow fast, Barton’s current legs might be disqualifying.
Second-round linebacker Anthony Hill Jr. has that sort of speed, but critically, he was a multiyear signal-caller at the heart of the Texas defense. He seems better suited to slide into Barton’s shoes at mike linebacker than Cedric Gray‘s spot at will linebacker, but I would wager both jobs are up for grabs in different combinations as Saleh explores the best version of his roster in 2026. If Barton is indeed shelved for Hill, expect trade calls.
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What Anthony Hill brings to the Titans
What Anthony Hill brings to the Titans
The Chiefs’ penchant for developing defensive backs from outside the first round is well known (Juan Thornhill, Jaylen Watson, L’Jarius Sneed, Bryan Cook). They’ve tried to do the same in the slot over the past few seasons with Conner, a 2023 fourth-rounder out of Virginia Tech who became the starter in 2024 when Trent McDuffie bumped outside. But over the past two seasons, Conner has surrendered 0.11 EPA per target in the slot (11th worst among DBs with at least 50 slot targets) and a success rate of 53.8% — only 2025 rookie Jacob Parrish was worse.
Conner simply does not make enough plays at the catch point to play a permanent coverage role. Enter Jadon Canady. Like Conner, Canady is a fourth-round pick who spent time at safety in the college ranks. But his best play was in the slot, where he finished his career at Oregon. Canady had 19 passes defensed combined over his last two years and will — along with free agent signing Kader Kohou — immediately challenge for the slot job.
Conner might not lose snaps so much as he could end up displaced into more traditional safety alignments — the Chiefs already started to do that last season. But with incumbent youngster Jaden Hicks and free agent acquisition Alohi Gilman, safety is also a crowded room. Conner’s 1,021 snaps from last season are unlikely to be repeated.
As the Seahawks’ Super Bowl season materialized, it looked like their Achilles’ heel might be the play of Bradford. He started the season unbelievably rocky, giving up seven quick pressures (pressures in under 2.5 seconds) in the first six games. He was steadier over the next seven games (one such pressure surrendered), but then the playoffs hit: nine quick pressures against in the last seven games. Highly volatile play is a bearable trait at other positions, but along the offensive line, it’s unacceptable.
The Seahawks got by with Bradford last season and did not invest early or aggressively in the position during the draft. But eventually they did make a move, with Iowa guard Beau Stephens in the fifth round. That draft capital is insufficient for Stephens to immediately see first-team reps during training camp, so Bradford’s job is likely safe for Week 1. But if he continues to be the weak chain in an otherwise solid O-line, the Seahawks will look into playing the rookie.
Like most Day 3 picks, Stephens has unspectacular measureables. But like 2024 UDFA Jalen Sundell, who won a starting job at center in 2025, Stephens is a strainer with good hands and the upper-body power to survive just long enough against physically superior opponents. The issue with Bradford is the quick losses; Stephens’ losses tend to be much more laborious.
Brown technically does not hit our 400-snap cutoff — he played only 370 last season. But the Panthers signed him to a three-year, $21 million contract in 2024 free agency, clearly with the intention of him stepping into a sizable defensive role. A’Shawn Robinson kept him stuck in the rotation, but then the Panthers released Robinson this offseason, so it seemed like Brown’s role would grow.
Then the Panthers drafted the mountainous Lee Hunter out of Texas Tech with the 49th pick. And there goes Brown’s role again.
Brown just does not have the range that modern defensive tackles need to create plays. He’s late getting off blocks and struggles mightily when tasked with beating reach blocks laterally. He doesn’t eat up the space a nose tackle needs to occupy to survive.
Hunter has moments of remarkable first-step quickness and upfield disruption for a player carrying 320 pounds, and he still has plenty of room to grow in his frame. Hunter, Derrick Brown and Tershawn Wharton will almost certainly be the primary rotation of defensive tackles this season, with Brown once again struggling to see more than 40% of the snaps in a given game.
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What Lee Hunter brings to the Panthers
What Lee Hunter brings to the Panthers
I hate to do it to Jefferson, everyone’s favorite veteran at the heart of the Chargers’ defense. He stepped up tremendously in 2024 (when injuries hit the safety room) and 2025 (when the midseason trade of Alohi Gilman left a big void). But he actually retired in 2023 before returning! He’s 34 years old and returned on a one-year, $2 million deal. That isn’t starter money.
Jefferson was fending off only RJ Mickens last year. But in the fourth round of the 2026 draft, the Chargers added Arizona’s Genesis Smith, a deep safety with speed for days. Smith simply covers far more ground than Jefferson does at this stage. While Mickens played well for a sixth-round rookie last season, Smith has superior range and ball tracking. If Smith gets the playbook under his belt quickly, it’s hard to see either incumbent safety keeping him off the inside track for day one starts in the deep middle.
Togiai was a spark for the Texans’ defense in 2025. He earned his spot in the rotation over Tim Settle and Mario Edwards Jr., and when both were lost for the season (foot and pectoral injuries, respectively), he took on an increased workload with aplomb. Next Gen Stats had Togiai’s 9.7% stop rate — that’s a tackle which ends in negative EPA for the opposing offense — as the highest among all defensive tackles last season. He was valuable, and I’m confident the Texans felt OK entering next season with Togiai and Sheldon Rankins as their starters, with perhaps a Round 3 or 4 rookie fighting for snaps behind them.
Then Ohio State’s Kayden McDonald started to fall in Round 2. The Texans traded up, leapfrogging the Giants (who had just traded Dexter Lawrence II) to secure McDonald.
Togiai was so good last year that McDonald might end up biting more into Rankins’ snaps than Togiai’s reps. But Togiai spent far more time lined up between the guards than Rankins did, and those snaps figure to go to McDonald, a premier run defender who will strengthen the spine of the Texans’ already ferocious defense. Togiai could in turn take some of Rankins’ snaps at 3-technique, but it isn’t guaranteed that he continues his shocking splash play from last season. Ideally, this is a rotation of three quality players, each with slightly different skill sets.
Count me among the big believers in Auburn guard Jeremiah Wright, who used a strong Senior Bowl to climb into early Day 3, where the Saints selected him with the 132nd pick. Wright split his time between the offensive and defensive lines for his first few years at Auburn and is accordingly underdeveloped technically. But when his hands land, they land with thunder. He has good flexibility for a 331-pound player and can uproot NFL-sized defensive linemen with rolling power. I’d want to run the ball behind this guy.
The Saints’ offensive line has been reloaded into an ascending unit. With the addition of free agent guard David Edwards, this might be a top-five line should center Erik McCoy stay healthy (he has failed to finish the past two seasons) and right tackle Taliese Fuaga take the next step.
The weakest point is Ruiz at right guard. He simply does not move people in the running game the way the other four starters do. Ruiz has struggled with inconsistent pass protection for his entire career, so there isn’t much payoff for his lack of power. If the Saints’ offensive coaching staff can get Wright up to speed quickly, I’d expect them to have a quick hook on Ruiz to finish the offensive line facelift and really start running people into the ground.
Humphrey has been a lifelong Raven and generally one of the most underappreciated defenders in football. But Humphrey turns 30 this summer, and with that age typically comes athletic erosion and limited roles. In three-cornerback sets last season, Humphrey bumped into the slot for the Ravens, playing 264 snaps at that alignment. Among slot defenders with at least 30 targets, he was third worst in coverage success rate.
The Ravens need a better nickel option, and that’s Chandler Rivers, the fourth-rounder out of Duke. An undersized but feisty jitterbug cut from the same cloth as D’Angelo Ponds (now with the Jets), Rivers is exactly the sort of player who excels as a 10-year NFL slot corner. If he hits, he bumps Humphrey back outside, where the veteran was much stronger last season (61.5% coverage success rate relative to the 46.9% he posted inside).
So Rivers is not exactly taking Humphrey’s job — just the half of it that Humphrey isn’t as equipped to do anymore. Humphrey wouldn’t compete with Chidobe Awuzie on the outside but would instead immediately slide into that full-time role. His play at his age, however, is something to watch closely.
