At this point in the season, some NFL teams are no doubt regretting the decisions they didn’t make in the offseason.
Maybe that’s the case with Colts controlling owner Carlie Irsay-Gordon after not firing GM Chris Ballard after a seven-game losing streak to end 2025. That decision finally arrived on Monday morning.
Perhaps the Seahawks are wondering whether they made a mistake in not re-signing running back Kenneth Walker III, who has racked up a league-high 665 rushing yards with the Chiefs. Or maybe the Commanders are kicking themselves for letting Kliff Kingsbury leave the organization. Clearly, quarterback Jayden Daniels hasn’t looked the same without his former offensive coordinator.
Let’s examine these situations in this week’s NFL Fact or Fiction.
The Seahawks should have no regrets about letting Kenneth Walker go
I know it looks bad. The Seahawks’ offense doesn’t look the same without Walker in the backfield, but the team shouldn’t regret letting him walk in free agency.
Even if Seattle had re-signed Walker, this offense might still struggle because former offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak is now coaching the Raiders. That may be an unfair assumption because Kubiak’s replacement, Brian Fleury, had a balanced attack with rookie running back Jadarian Price. It’s not his fault that Walker’s replacement, Price, sustained a chest injury and hasn’t been available since Week 3.
The Seahawks have decent offensive numbers (24.7 points per game), but generating production isn’t the problem. Seattle is too predictable and relies too heavily on Jaxon Smith-Njigba, who again must be considered a front-runner for Offensive Player of the Year, along with his former teammate now in Kansas City. Opposing defenses simply aren’t respecting the rushing attack the way they did when Price was on the field. That has contributed to Sam Darnold throwing seven interceptions in his four completed games this season. Or maybe Darnold just isn’t himself because he rushed back from the glute injury he sustained in the season opener against the Patriots.
Plenty of factors could explain why Seattle’s offense has regressed, many of which don’t involve Walker signing a three-year, $45 million deal with the Chiefs.
Again, it looks bad not to keep the Super Bowl LX MVP who’s now the rushing leader with the Chiefs. But Walker didn’t always play up to that level in his four seasons with the Seahawks. Seattle drafted Zach Charbonnet in the second round in 2023, months after Walker had an impressive rookie year. Yes, that happened under former coach Pete Carroll. Still, current coach Mike Macdonald was around when the offense went back and forth between the two backs and opted for a more conservative approach that relied on complementary football. It doesn’t look as pretty as Chiefs coach Andy Reid’s offense, but both formulas have won Super Bowls.
Walker is in a good situation in Kansas City, and Seattle had to make tough decisions after getting to the mountain top with a well-balanced roster that got too expensive. The Seahawks did keep Smith-Njigba, Rashid Shaheed, Devon Witherspoon, Leonard Williams and other notable players who recently received extensions.
Shaheed hasn’t worked out as a wide receiver (14 catches, 162 yards), but he’s a difference-maker on special teams, and his explosive returns played a part in Seattle winning it all last season. In turn, they rewarded him with a three-year, $51 million contract extension.
It’s hard to find a special-teams weapon of that caliber. The Seahawks chose to go with a cheaper, younger option at running back then used their 2026 first-round pick on Price. They couldn’t have known he would get hurt so soon and for this long.
Manzano’s view: Fact
Jayden Daniels isn’t the problem in Commanders’ rough start
Daniels shouldn’t always have to mask the glaring holes on the Commanders’ roster. Yet he did that in his rookie season, and for whatever reason, that signal-caller who elevated others’ games and guided the franchise to the NFC title game hasn’t shown up in quite some time.
In a way, that memorable 2024 season has hurt the Commanders in the long run. GM Adam Peters aggressively gave up draft capital in trades for Laremy Tunsil, Deebo Samuel Sr. and Marshon Lattimore with hopes of those moves one day paying off with a Super Bowl before Daniels’s affordable rookie contract expires.
However, the franchise is now in a worse position, with a 1-4-1 record and a dire roster. The Commanders endured a five-win 2025 season; Samuel and Lattimore are no longer around; Tunsil will likely miss the entire ’26 season due to injury; and the team will need to decide whether to pay Daniels handsomely in the offseason. That’s how quickly windows close.
The Commanders will probably give Daniels a lucrative extension, but it’s no longer a no-brainer decision. His play has regressed, and he has struggled to stay on the field, battling two significant elbow injuries in the past year. Either opposing defenses have figured him out, he misses Kingsbury’s play-calling, or Daniels is no longer extending plays because he’s afraid of getting hurt. Perhaps it’s a combination of all three, and it might be affecting him mentally, because Daniels has had a few mental lapses the past few weeks, including killing the clock that led to the ugly tie with the Giants in Week 5.
Daniels used to be a big reason why the Commanders made it work despite a middling roster. Now his middling production is a major reason the team desperately needs better players around him. To make matters worse, Washington just lost star receiver Terry McLaurin to a season-ending knee injury.
Peters now has to build a better roster while navigating Daniels’s pending contract extension. His job is about to get much harder.
Manzano’s view: Fiction
Colts should have fired GM Chris Ballard a year ago
More questions remain about Irsay-Gordon deciding now is the right time to fire Ballard, who made several franchise-altering moves in the past year.
This move needed to happen now because of the lack of wins, but it should have occurred a year ago. Now the next GM will have to work around all the recent moves Ballard made that might have set back the organization a few seasons.
Irsay-Gordon signed off on Ballard trading two first-round picks to the Jets for cornerback Sauce Gardner at the trade deadline last season. Maybe that move is understandable because everyone was caught up in the moment with the Colts starting 8–2. However, all the decision-makers doubled down and re-signed Daniel Jones (after a torn Achilles) and wide receiver Alec Pierce after the team endured a seven-game losing streak to end 2025. That skid should have been enough for Irsay-Gordon to clean house and begin the rebuild this past offseason. By that point, Ballard had already been there nine seasons with only one playoff win.
But at least Ballard gave Jones a short-term contract, and the team could potentially get out of his deal after one season. Still, the team gave Jones $60 million guaranteed on his two-year, $88 million extension.
Many mistakes have been made since Irsay-Gordon took over, but it’s better to be late than never. The Colts need to have a fire sale before the Nov. 10 trade deadline.
Manzano’s view: Fact
The NFC North will get four teams in the playoffs
This has become an annual question: Will the NFC North get four teams in the postseason?
Currently, all teams in the division are in the NFC playoff picture. All of them are over .500, as was the case through six weeks last year and the year before. In 2025, Minnesota and Detroit missed the postseason, and in 2024, Chicago was the lone team to miss the playoffs.
Right now, it’s difficult to pick which team won’t make the playoffs, but I’m willing to bet not all four will get in. Despite Minnesota’s spotless 5–0 record, these aren’t perfect teams, and they will continue to beat each other up during divisional games. The Bears (4–2) and Lions (3–2) are struggling on defense. The Packers (4–2) have a shaky offensive line for Jordan Love, and the Vikings continue to struggle scoring touchdowns.
And yes, the NFC East and NFC South have just one playoff representative. Still, it’s too soon to give up on the NFC West that was expected to be much better this season. Perhaps the 3–3 Seahawks can prevent the NFC North from having all four teams advance.
Manzano’s view: Fiction
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