With the 2025 NFL draft receding into the rear view, the focus now shifts from assessing would-be prospects to young men who have officially become incoming rookies - many poised to push some far more established teammates (for now?) out the door.
The NFL is generally an up or out league, but it's certainly an environment where teams are always on the lookout for younger - and most certainly cheaper - talent. Some first-year players - think Tennessee Titans QB Cam Ward or Las Vegas Raiders RB Ashton Jeanty - will land atop their respective depth charts in permanent ink. But plenty of others will doubtless elbow their way into starting roles this season and beyond as well.
Here are 17 veterans who should probably consider themselves on notice, in some form or fashion, heading into the 2025 season:
Now 11 years since he was the No. 1 pick of the 2014 draft, Clowney was the best defender on the league's worst defense in 2024. But with pass rushers Nic Scourton (Round 2) and Princely Umanmielen (Round 3), coming aboard in Charlotte, it would hardly be a surprise if Clowney's peripatetic career takes him elsewhere in 2026.
Yes, he just signed a three-year, $100.5 million contract with his latest team. Yes, this is the 13-year anniversary of GM John Schneider signing Matt Flynn to be the starter in free agency before spending a third-round pick on Russell Wilson, who won the QB1 role shortly thereafter. Yes, Schneider just picked talented - but flawed - QB Jalen Milroe in Round 3. It seems unlikely Milroe, an exceptional threat as a runner but a project as a passer, would displace Darnold this season. But next year?
Since he signed a three-year, $39 million deal in 2024, he's caught 20 passes, missed seven games and watched the Jags take WRs Brian Thomas Jr. and Travis Hunter in successive drafts while signing WR Dyami Brown last month. Hard to believe Davis will make it to the third year of that contract.
He's halfway through a four-year, $52 million deal. He's also missed nine games the past two seasons, has picked off one pass during that period, and HC Todd Bowles said a few weeks ago that there's no guarantee Dean would retain his starting job. And that was before the Bucs took CBs Benjamin Morrison and Jacob Parrish in the second and third rounds, respectively.
He finally got the opportunity to start in 2024 and was making the most of it - before tearing his patellar tendon in the playoffs. Now Dean is charged with rehabbing from a very tough injury ... in the final year of his contract ... and at a time when fellow LB Zack Baun just signed a three-year extension ... shortly before the champs spent their first-round pick on LB Jihaad Campbell. Tough run for Dean.
He's missed 21 games over the past two seasons and has long had a reputation for making big plays ... but also surrendering them. Diggs has four years remaining on a $97 million extension with no guarantees beyond 2025. And with highly capable CB Shavon Revel Jr. arriving in the third round - a torn ACL last year cost him a much earlier draft call - and the Cowboys about to issue another mega contract to DE Micah Parsons ... well, worth wondering how much longer they can afford Diggs and/or fellow CB DaRon Bland, who could be a free agent next year.
He's entering the final year of his contract while coming off a season when he produced (by far) a career-worst 812 yards from scrimmage. One of this draft's more intriguing prospects was Jags fourth-rounder Bhayshul Tuten, who combines 4.3 speed with a muscular (5-9, 206) frame. Don't be surprised if he starts taking touches from Etienne and Tank Bigsby ... permanently.
Despite winning the league's Comeback Player of the Year award following the 2023 season, when his inspired play - off his couch - sparked the Browns to a surprise playoff run, no one's under the impression Flacco, 40, is going to win a second Super Bowl MVP. But he certainly is emblematic of what is now perhaps the most fascinating quarterback room in the league after his recent return, on top of the trade for 2022 first-rounder Kenny Pickett, plus the arrivals of third-rounder Dillon Gabriel and, most notably, fifth-rounder Shedeur Sanders in the draft. (And maybe Deshaun Watson will come around on his surgically repaired Achilles, but that seems doubtful.) Regardless, coach Kevin Stefanski now has to figure out how to divvy up the reps and who to play, though Flacco seems like the early frontrunner.
"Obviously you may not divide them 25, 25, 25, (25)," Stefanski said Saturday, "but we feel really confident that we'll have a plan that is fair to each player and fair to the team as well."
One can only hope. Of course, with an extra 2026 first-rounder now in the arsenal, too - and depending how the upcoming season transpires - it's worth wondering if any of these guys will be in Cleveland next year.
He's more than a year out from shredding his knee in the 2023 playoffs, an injury that cost Higbee most of last season. He's also 32, entering the final year of his contract and now has fleet second-round TE Terrance Ferguson nipping at his heels.
He arrived at moderate cost before last season's trade deadline. But Lattimore's inability to stay on the field followed him from New Orleans to the nation's capital - the four-time Pro Bowler has played in 26 regular-season games over the past three seasons and missed 25. With Trey Amos obtained in the second round, Washington could save a good chunk of change if it parts with Lattimore at some point before his contract expires in two years.
The team went to a great deal of trouble to obtain a second first-round pick in 2022, which it used on Penning. But despite opportunities at left and right tackle, he's never developed into a reliable player. And now that New Orleans has taken offensive tackles in Round 1 of consecutive drafts, including Kelvin Banks Jr. this year, it's pretty clear Penning is just about out of chances - especially given his fifth-year option for 2026 has been declined.
He's been decidedly expensive since signing a four-year, $80 million contract two years ago yet decidedly average - at best - since. Since the Chiefs O-line was overrun in Super Bowl 59, they've added OT Jaylon Moore as a cheaper (2 year, $30 million) free agency hedge before drafting highly promising Josh Simmons in Thursday's first round - his recovery from a torn patellar tendon likely the only thing to delay his entry into the starting lineup. Regardless, barring a dramatic turnaround, it's appearing increasingly doubtful that Taylor reaches the final year of his deal in 2026.
The No. 5 overall pick three years ago, he's been OK - 21 sacks in three seasons, though more than half came in the 2023 campaign. And Thibodeaux hasn't come close to reaching the statistical goals he's forecast for himself. The Giants are picking up his $14.8 million option for 2026, but Thibodeaux will need to turn it up if the team is to figure out a way to keep him, two-time Pro Bowler Brian Burns and highly acclaimed pass rusher Abdul Carter, the No. 3 pick of this year's draft, for the long term.
Teams don't draft kickers they intend to stash on the practice squad. With a sixth-round pick invested in Tyler Loop, it's pretty clear how the off-field investigation into the allegations dogging Justin Tucker, one of the greatest at his position in league history, is going to conclude.
It seemed like he might finally get the opportunity to be the man in the Steel City after Najee Harris left for the Los Angeles Chargers (and that could be a short stay for him after the Bolts drafted RB Omarion Hampton in Round 1). However