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Lunchbreak: FOX Sports Ranks Top 100 Free Agents

Feb 10, 2026 at 01:27 PM

Rob Kleifield

Editorial Assistant

The post-Super Bowl countdowns are underway.

Firstly, club personnel and invited draft prospects will mingle in 13 days in Indianapolis for the NFL Scouting Combine, which runs Feb. 23-March 2. Then, on March 11, the new league year will launch, opening the contract-signing period for free agents. And in 2.5 months (72 days) the offseason will peak at the 2026 NFL Draft.

The annual event that brings the next class of college standouts into the pros is practically the offseason Super Bowl. The phase beforehand, however — the several weeks that see many veterans switch teams — is equally if not more relevant to the immediate success of a franchise. See: Seattle and New England.

The Seahawks, of course, were quarterbacked by former Viking and 2025 free agent Sam Darnold. He became the second QB all-time after Tom Brady in 2003-04 to post back-to-back seasons of 14 victories. His experience helped him shrug off an NFL-worst 20 turnovers in the regular season and protect the football as well as anyone in the history of the game with zero turnovers keying a perfect postseason.

Meanwhile, the Patriots defense was anchored by defensive lineman Milton Williams, who won Super Bowl LIX with the Eagles and was considered one of the best players available in 2025 free agency. He made millions of dollars look like a bargain with three sacks in four playoff contests this year. (He was the lone Patriot to sack Darnold on Sunday in Santa Clara; he had two sacks in the big game last February.)

The conference champions obviously benefited from good, young cores, as well — rosters helped immensely by strong performances from players in their first, second or third seasons. See: New England QB Drake Maye, and Seattle's studly secondary, featuring CB Devon Witherspoon and S Nick Emmanwori.

Furthermore, the Patriots had 416 games played by rookies in 2025, good for the most by any organization to make the Super Bowl in history, per Next Gen Stats. In comparably impressive fashion, the Seahawks' starting OL was totally homegrown — all five players were drafted by the team or joined as an undrafted free agent out of college. The 2006 Colts, 2010 Packers and 2016 Patriots were the only three previous teams to win the Super Bowl with such a unit since free agency began in 1993 (h/t NGS).

Accordingly, evidence suggests building a team that's capable of raising the Lombardi Trophy can and really should be done via both channels — i.e. the spectacle that is the NFL Draft and the open market.

The latter has been especially fundamental to Minnesota's M.O. the past two seasons, in which the Vikings have acquired the likes of outside linebackers Jonathan Greenard and Andrew Van Ginkel and linebacker Blake Cashman, in addition to running back Aaron Jones, Sr., and cornerback Isaiah Rodgers.

Over the next handful of weeks, teams including the Vikings will be vetting potential free agents who may hit the market, while balancing decisions with the positional depth of the 2026 draft class in mind.

As you digest all that, here's a rundown of the Top 100 impending unrestricted free agents determined by Greg Auman of FOX Sports. Disclaimer: Minnesota has 14 players headed for unrestricted free agency — not to mention five more set to be restricted or exclusive rights free agents — but none made the cut.

Auman's Top 10 are Cowboys WR George Pickens, Colts QB Daniel Jones, Jaguars LB Devin Lloyd, Bengals EDGE Trey Hendrickson, Ravens center Tyler Linderbaum, Seahawks RB Kenneth Walker III, Chargers EDGE Odafe Oweh, Colts WR Alec Pierce, Packers backup QB Malik Willis and Eagles EDGE Jaelan Phillips.

In case anyone is wondering, we counted the positions to gain a better feel for the range of what's out there. The deepest groups in Auman's eyes are edge rusher (15 players), offensive line (14; half are guards) and safety (12). There are also double-digit cornerbacks (11), off-ball linebackers (10) and wide receivers (10). The thinnest two, non-specialist position crops are interior d-line (6) and quarterback (6).

Since Head Coach Kevin O'Connell wants a competitive QB room, we'll note the FA options laid out in Auman's Top 100, with their rank and age at the start of next season: Jones (No. 2; 29 years old), Willis (9; 27), Aaron Rodgers (12; 42), Russell Wilson (71; 37), Marcus Mariota (72; 32) and Joe Flacco (98; 41).

Auman included Vikings LB Ivan Pace, Jr., as his seventh-best restricted free agent in a bonus list of 10.

The more you know

Cashman is the easy answer to What NFL player attended Eden Prairie High School? but not the only.

The Pro Football Reference database has seven players E.P. directed to the NFL pipeline: Cashman, Jermaine Johnson II, Carter Coughlin, Ryan Connelly, Benny Sapp III, Mark LeVoir and Jay Foreman.

There really ought to be another register outlining all other team personnel, granted that's a daunting and maybe impossible research task. Anyhow … Eden Prairie was actually well represented in Sunday's game, just not in the typical sense. Years ago, the Eagles freshman football program was assisted by coaches Todd Downing (1999-2000) and Brian Eayrs (2002). Their names are a bit more recognizable now, as Downing, a former Vikings assistant, is the Patriots wide receivers coach and Eayrs the director of football research for the Super Bowl champions. Eayrs' father Mike has been credited with "popularizing data science in the NFL in the 1980s," an impactful run that included time with the Vikings.

The beginnings on the sidelines of the Minneapolis suburb by Downing and Brian Eayrs were spotlighted this past weekend by Patrick Reusse of the Minnesota Star Tribune. Reusse included insights from E.P. dynasty builder coach Mike Grant — yup, one of the sons of Pro Football Hall of Fame coach Bud Grant.

Reusse set the stage with the following:

The numbers of boys and young men wanting to become part of the Eden Prairie football machine for a couple of decades starting in the mid-1990s was phenomenal. Arriving a few hours early for a home game, there were various youth games being played outside the main stadium on perhaps a half-dozen fields. Somewhere in that tangle of youthful hopefuls, two football staff members involved in the Super Bowl on Sunday [won 29-13 by Seattle], were getting a start at this extra-low level of a coaching tree.

Check out the whole article, which touches on the backgrounds of Downing and Eayrs, here.