The GIST: Week 2 was full of stunners, with a whole host of top dogs pushed to the brink by up-and-coming rosters. Those recent basement dwellers turned risers caught our attention because rebuilding a franchise from the ground up takes collaboration, vision, and a little luck.
📋 The blueprint: Whether a rebuild takes one season or 47, there are three basic steps a general manager must consider.
- 1️⃣ Identify who to build around: Which player will be the new face of the franchise? It’s often a young QB taken early in the draft — think a game-changing signal caller like the Chicago Bears’ Caleb Williams.
- 2️⃣ Acquire complementary talent: Filling out the roster isn’t as simple as inking the best available player. Fit matters along with long-term development. Take the Las Vegas Raiders, for example, who brought in a veteran to mentor their top pick.
- 3️⃣ Curate a new identity: Good coaches are integral to success, schematically and from a team culture perspective. A rebuilding squad was down bad for a reason: Something wasn’t working, and part of the process is solving that problem.
🩵 A 2026 case study: The Tennessee Titans have won six games the last two seasons — but they were this close to upsetting the perennial powerhouse Philadelphia Eagles in Week 2. Will Tennessee vie for the Super Bowl this season? Unlikely, but competing with teams like the Birds was a big step in their intentional multi-year rebuild.
- The Titans surrounded second-year QB Cam Ward with veteran running back Tony Pollard and wide receiver (WR) Calvin Ridley, while drafting high-end talent like 2026 No. 4 pick WR Carnell Tate and hitting on late-round picks like WR Elic Ayomanor.
- Coaching’s been less consistent in Tennessee, but for new head coach Robert Saleh and the Titans, it feels like a mutually beneficial fit. Glowing on up.
🤔 The rebuild reality: That said, even the best-laid plans don’t always pan out. Look no further than the Washington Commanders, where QB Jayden Daniels is expected to miss extensive time for the second straight season after dislocating his elbow on Sunday. Life’s not fair, and neither is the art of the rebuild.
