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Seth Walder

@sethwalder

ESPN NFL Analyst. DMs open.

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Latest posts by Seth Walder @sethwalder

Preview
2026 NFL offseason trade grades: DJ Moore, Trent McDuffie We're handing out report cards on big offseason moves, including the Bears sending DJ Moore to the Bills.

Trade grades for all the deals thus far!

www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/...

05.03.2026 22:03 πŸ‘ 7 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

Trade grades are up for the DJ Moore trade!

Five trades in this offseason and I haven't handed out a single variation of a B once. Lots of good/bad trades so far!

www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/...

05.03.2026 19:00 πŸ‘ 9 πŸ” 2 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

It’s 4 years, $90 million. But because of the guarantees it is functionally:

1/40
2/64.5
3/73.5
4/90

And the Bills gave up a two-five swap for the right to pay that.

05.03.2026 18:17 πŸ‘ 15 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 5 πŸ“Œ 1

DJ Moore signed a four-year, $110 million extension prior to the 2024 season. Then he had a disappointing year in 2024 and a worse year in 2025.

You would think his stock would have dropped dramatically. But the contract the Bills are taking on is not that much cheaper...

05.03.2026 18:17 πŸ‘ 19 πŸ” 2 πŸ’¬ 5 πŸ“Œ 1

Per Adam Schefter, the Bills decided to guarantee $15.5 million of DJ Moore's *2028* salary.

This was already a bad trade for Buffalo given Moore's contract as it was but throwing in 2028 fully guaranteed money just because is bizarre and makes the deal worse.

05.03.2026 18:12 πŸ‘ 28 πŸ” 4 πŸ’¬ 6 πŸ“Œ 7

I was delinquent in adding this: in addition to the rankers (who do the hard work of ranking!) making a project like this possible, it's also only possible because @overthecap.bsky.social makes historical contracts so readily available (in R! Amazing!). So wanted to to shout Jason/OTC out!

05.03.2026 16:32 πŸ‘ 6 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

A data point we can compare to my contract model's prediction!

05.03.2026 16:19 πŸ‘ 19 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

oh it's totally different though.

transition tag is just right of first refusal if the player receives an offer elsewhere.

non-exclusive franchise tag means right of first refusal and two first-round picks in comp if player goes elsewhere.

04.03.2026 20:00 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

I'm sorry I don't follow?

04.03.2026 19:44 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

oh I like that idea!! I like it a lot. I'll test it.

04.03.2026 19:44 πŸ‘ 2 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

it was my first instinct too -- and if he gets $17M per year I'll be very critical of that deal -- though it feels like the buzz is he's going to get a lot of money so...maybe? Super Bowl MVP, after all.

04.03.2026 19:43 πŸ‘ 2 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

I haven't but I would say, like you mentioned, that's not the goal here.

Not forecasting what *should* they be paid, but what *will* they be paid. at least trying, anyway!

04.03.2026 18:51 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

yes! at least a guide post. that was the initial impetus.

04.03.2026 18:50 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

thanks! and yeppppp

04.03.2026 18:45 πŸ‘ 2 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

thank you! and agree!

04.03.2026 18:44 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

Curious to hear thoughts! To me the player I think the model is light on is Rasheed Walker. I bet he makes more than that.

04.03.2026 18:41 πŸ‘ 6 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 4 πŸ“Œ 0
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Here are past out of sample (leave-one-year-out) predictions for edge rushers. This is a particularly clean position, they aren’t all like that.

04.03.2026 18:40 πŸ‘ 6 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 2 πŸ“Œ 0

The model has a light negative bias for players at the very top. Have done some things to mitigate that but still a ~0-2 million bias against the very best players.

04.03.2026 18:40 πŸ‘ 3 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

Franchise tagged players are filtered out. At the moment the model is considering the existence of Kyler Murray but the chart is excluding him because not every outlet has a ranking for him yet. Also excluded Daniel Jones (transition tag) from the chart for the moment.

04.03.2026 18:39 πŸ‘ 3 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

It’s trained on 2020-2025 and also considers position, age and the depth of position in free agency class (so, for example, John Franklin-Myers gets a little boost because of weak defensive tackle class).

04.03.2026 18:39 πŸ‘ 2 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0
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New project I’m excited about: a model that forecasts free agent contracts based primarily on media rankings.

The model utilizes rankings from ESPN (Matt Bowen), NFL.com (@greggrosenthal.bsky.social), the Athletic (Daniel Popper) and PFF.

04.03.2026 18:38 πŸ‘ 75 πŸ” 7 πŸ’¬ 13 πŸ“Œ 2

I think I would have franchise tagged Alec Pierce and rolled the dice on Jones. Realize the latter is scary, but my ~pure guess~ is other teams wouldn't have been excited to pay Daniel Jones knowing he'd miss most of 2026. And then Colts could have brought him back for less / with 2027 in contract.

03.03.2026 20:06 πŸ‘ 32 πŸ” 2 πŸ’¬ 3 πŸ“Œ 0
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Why the Lions came out way ahead in the David Montgomery deal

03.03.2026 19:14 πŸ‘ 22 πŸ” 2 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

this rules

03.03.2026 16:29 πŸ‘ 4 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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Talked about the Tytus Howard trade and why I think it’s a misallocation of Cleveland’s resources

03.03.2026 14:21 πŸ‘ 17 πŸ” 2 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

The Colts promoted Ashleigh Prugh from Football Analytics Fellow to Football Data Analyst, per source.

02.03.2026 20:45 πŸ‘ 14 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 1

The Lions fleeced the Texans in the David Montgomery deal: www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/...

02.03.2026 18:47 πŸ‘ 24 πŸ” 3 πŸ’¬ 2 πŸ“Œ 0

it's not a fifth-round pick though, it's a fifth-round pick for the right to pay Tytus Howard $21M per year!

02.03.2026 17:05 πŸ‘ 12 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 2 πŸ“Œ 0
Preview
2026 NFL trade grades: Tytus Howard, Jermaine Johnson We're handing out report cards on big offseason moves, including Monday's trade for offensive tackle Tytus Howard.

The Browns spent a significant chunk of their limited resources on a below average starter in Tytus Howard. I'm not a fan of the trade!

www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/...

02.03.2026 16:54 πŸ‘ 23 πŸ” 3 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 2

I find it crazy that the NFL sets the salary cap so close to the start of FA.

Yes, I know teams know roughly what it will be, but they've also already started making 2026 decisions!

Like a dynasty fantasy league would not stand for cap not being set while cut decisions have already been made.

27.02.2026 18:11 πŸ‘ 28 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0