{"id":255166,"date":"2025-11-18T14:30:10","date_gmt":"2025-11-18T19:30:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/?p=255166"},"modified":"2025-11-18T00:23:00","modified_gmt":"2025-11-18T05:23:00","slug":"hell-have-a-nice-market-top-2026-free-agent-jaylen-watson-may-depart-after-season-is-over","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2025\/11\/18\/hell-have-a-nice-market-top-2026-free-agent-jaylen-watson-may-depart-after-season-is-over\/","title":{"rendered":"“He’ll Have a Nice Market” – Top 2026 Free Agent May Depart After Season is Over"},"content":{"rendered":"

While it looks like the Kansas City Chiefs could miss the playoffs for the first time in several years, top free agent cornerback Jaylen Watson may depart once the 2025 season concludes. The Chiefs haven’t looked the same since coming off that embarrassing Super Bowl loss to the Eagles, and now, at 5-5, they have plenty of talent that will become a free agent this upcoming offseason. Unfortunately, it will come down to Watson and other standout cornerback Trent McDuffie<\/a>, which leads many to believe that Watson could receive major interest<\/a> come free agency in March. The Chiefs’ secondary continues to find ways to pave the way for younger talent, while losing L’Jarius Sneed and Justin Reid in back-to-back offseasons, and Watson is likely the latest to be heading out the door.<\/p>\n

Top 2026 Free Agent Jaylen Watson May Depart After Season is Over – 3 Possible Next Teams<\/h2>\n

Originally selected in the seventh round of the 2022 NFL Draft, the former Washington State product isn’t the most glorious prize possession, but any team could reap the benefits of the Chiefs’ former talent. Despite being held as a competitor to other cornerbacks like Joshua Williams and Nazeeh Johnson, Watson was able to keep his ground and win the starting job. McDuffie is their primary contributor for the secondary unit, and he’s in line for a monster deal. Watson could earn his next long-term contract with these three teams.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

1. Dallas Cowboys<\/h3>\n

Despite having the hottest offense all 2025 season, the same can’t be said about this secondary unit. The Cowboys have been able to lock in DaRon Bland to a long-term contract extension, but Trevon Diggs doesn’t look like a defender who wants to stick around. After suffering an unusual injury in his own home<\/a>, you have to think that Diggs is finding ways to find his way out the door of Dallas. Once Micah Parsons was gone, the soul of this defense was lost, even though they traded for Quinnen Williams and Logan Wilson to make up for it.<\/p>\n

Either way, the Cowboys had the worst secondary unit in the league. Dallas must do something to address the issue, and the draft won’t cut it. Rookie Shavon Revel Jr. has yet to adjust to the league, and recently acquired Kaiir Elam hasn’t been able to stay consistent. Watson could change things around if the Cowboys are looking to make a difference, other than focusing on the defensive line.<\/p>\n

\"cowboys
Main Photo: Scott Kinser-Imagn Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

<\/p>\n

2. Detroit Lions<\/h3>\n

The Lions were embarrassed last postseason, and part of that was due to a battered secondary. This is why they acquired DJ Reed this past offseason, but he’s dealing with injuries, which has become the storyline for the Lions’ defense. They have some depth out of Amik Robertson<\/a> and Arthur Maulet, but it’s hard to imagine they roll into the upcoming offseason without making a change. Watson taking over could help settle the stress for Reed’s return next year.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Detroit Lions cornerback Amik Robertson (21) celebrates an interception in the second quarter of the NFL Week 5 game between the Cincinnati Bengals and the Detroit Lions at Paycor Stadium in downtown Cincinnati on Sunday, Oct. 5, 2025.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

<\/p>\n

3. Carolina Panthers<\/h3>\n

With the team being 5-5 and still in play for at least a wild-card spot, the Carolina Panthers might be motivated to acquire more defensive talent similar to this past offseason. After extending Jaycee Horn<\/a> and Michael Jackson, the team also signed safety Tre’Von Moehrig to add more ferocious firepower in their secondary. Watson coming in and possibly joining the Panthers might be the final primary piece to having a blockbuster season.<\/p>\n

\"Jaycee
Dec 22, 2024; Charlotte, North Carolina, USA; Carolina Panthers running back Chuba Hubbard (30) celebrates with guard Damien Lewis (68) and cornerback Jaycee Horn (8) and tight end Tommy Tremble (82) after scoring a touchdown to win the game in overtime at Bank of America Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Bob Donnan-Imagn Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Kansas City Chiefs are 5-5 this 2025 season, but this could lead to several key free agents leaving the team in 2026. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4795,"featured_media":255167,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[36,30,19,24,16,6431],"tags":[7739,7811,7422,7467,32032,7489,32682,7466,7661,9107,5267],"class_list":["post-255166","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nfl-news","category-panthers","category-cowboys","category-lions","category-chiefs","category-nfl-teams","tag-carolina-panthers-news","tag-chiefs-featured","tag-dallas-cowboys-news","tag-detroit-lions-news","tag-dj-reed","tag-jaycee-horn","tag-jaylen-watson","tag-kansas-city-chiefs-news","tag-panthers-featured","tag-trent-mcduffie","tag-trevon-diggs"],"modified_by":"Anthony Palacios","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/255166","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4795"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=255166"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/255166\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":255171,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/255166\/revisions\/255171"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/255167"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=255166"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=255166"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=255166"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}