2026 NFL Free Agency: Secret Superstars on defense 

In every free agency cycle, there are those transactions that move the needle in a big-story sense, and there are those transactions that make the most difference in a purely football sense.

As we all know over time, those two kinds of deals don’t always match. For every big-ticket free-agent signing that the teams and (possibly fired) executives pull off to their eternal regret, there are more of the kind that make bad teams good, good teams great, and great teams of championship caliber.

These are the signings of underrated players constructed by those franchises that do things the right way, by paying just as much attention to the bottom third of the roster as they do to the top five players at any given time. Those types of hyper-valuable players are available at the beginning of every league year; it’s just up to which shot-callers are smart enough to realize they are.

Now that the 2026 cycle will begin unofficially on Monday, March 9, and officially on Wednesday, March 11, here are five Secret Superstars of free agency on the defensive side of the ball — players whose exploits do not get the credit deserved, and are now ready to help turn their next stops into better places to be.

Most of these players were part of our Secret Superstars list during the 2025 season; now, it’s time for the proof in the 2026 season and beyond.

DL John Franklin-Myers

Was he a Secret Superstar? Yes.

If you’re in the market for a star-level interior defensive lineman, you’re better-served waiting for the draft than hanging out in this particular free agent class. For the most part, it’s a hodge-podge of interesting rotational guys, and some specific role-players, as opposed to that one Hog Molly who can change the face of your defensive line.

The one exception to that could very well be John Franklin-Myers.

Selected in the fourth round of the 2018 draft by the Los Angeles Rams out of Stephen F. Austin (Go Lumberjacks!), Franklin-Myers didn’t make it past final cuts in L.A. in 2019, and the New York Jets picked him up on waivers. JFM immediately became a pressure generator for Gang Green, with 50 or more total pressures in every season from 2020 to 2023, which got him a four-year, $55 million contract extension with nearly $15 million guaranteed in 2021. When that contract was up, the Denver Broncos signed him to a two-year, $15 million contract with $8 million guaranteed that proved to be quite the bargain.

This was especially true in 2025, when JFM proved to be a key cog in Vance Joseph’s killer defense. Franklin-Myers tied his career high of eight sacks that he established the year before, adding 15 quarterback hits, 26 quarterback hurries, 11 solo tackles, 18 stops, and seven tackles for loss.

At 6’4” and 288 pounds, Franklin-Myers can destroy blockers and harass ballcarriers everywhere from nose tackle to the edge, and in an NFL where gap versatility is more important than ever, he has is in spades. Franklin-Myers’ underrated status in the court of public opinion should be superseded by the fact that he’s the best guy on the impending open market who does what he does.

EDGE Odafe Oweh

Was he a Secret Superstar? Yes.

Well, that was a weird trip.

The Baltimore Ravens selected Odafe Oweh with the 31st overall pick in the 2021 draft out of Penn State, and in 2024, it looked like he was living up to that with a 11-sack, 55-pressure season in which he showed what he could do at the NFL level. However, after a five-game stretch in 2025 where he had no sacks and 12 pressures, Oweh was traded to the Los Angeles Chargers for safety Alohi Gilman and a 2026 seventh-round pick.

It was one of those deals that worked well for both teams.

Because in Jesse Minter’s Chargers defense, Oweh came alive as never before. He matched his 11-sack total from the year before, with 39 total pressures, in just 247 pass-rushing reps. From the moment he joined the Order of the Lightning Bolt, Oweh was suddenly one of the NFL’s most impactful pass-rushers.

Now, coming into his sixth season, Oweh has the speed, technique, and arc-bending ability to be a true edge threat at all times. And who’s to say that a Baltimore reunion is out of the question? After all, Minter — who saw Oweh at his absolute best — is now the Ravens’ head coach.

EDGE K’Lavon Chaisson

Was he a Secret Superstar? Absolutely.

Oweh wasn’t the only edge-rusher who saw his status rise in a major way last season. K’Lavon Chaisson was selected with the 20th overall pick in the 2020 draft out of LSU by the Jacksonville Jaguars, did very little of import for that team over a four-year stretch, had an interesting six-sack, 29-pressure cup of coffee with the Las Vegas Raiders in 2024, and then signed a one-year, $3 million contract with the New England Patriots in 2025… the value of which he exceeded by about Week 5.

Overall in the 2025 season, Chaisson had 12 sacks, 74 total pressures, 24 solo tackles, 29 stops, 14 tackles for loss, three forced fumbles, and along with other undervalued veterans like linebacker Robert Spillane and cornerback Carlton Davis III, helped make New England’s defense Super Bowl-ready at the perfect time.

You’ll want to watch Chaisson’s 2024 season with the Raiders if you’re under the impression that he’s a one-year wonder; just because it didn’t work in Duuuuuval doesn’t mean that his production now is any sort of fluke. Especially with his speed around the edge, Chaisson has proven to have squared away the nuances of the EDGE position, and he should be paid accordingly.

CB Jamel Dean

Was he a Secret Superstar? Yes.

Jamel Dean has been underrated for a long time. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers took him in the third round of the 2019 draft out of Auburn, and outside of a weird 2023 season in which he lost his coverage acumen, Dean has been a plus-level pass defender, and that was never more true than in 2025. That’s when he allowed 25 catches on 54 targets for 311 yards, 105 yards after the catch, one touchdowns, three interceptions, five pass breakups, and an opponent passer rating of 47.7 — the NFL’s lowest among all cornerbacks who played at least 50%of their teams’ defensive snaps.

What makes Dean such a lockdown guy at age 29 is that he has equal acuity with press and off coverage, and he’s just as good in zone coverage as he is in man. Ask receivers like Drake London, Amon-Ra St. Brown, and Tetairoa McMillan, all of whom were negated more often than not by Mr. Dean when he went up against them.

The Buccaneers have a lot of things to fix with a defense that ranked 18th overall last season, and 20th against the pass, and if they lose Dean to the vagaries of free agency, that task will be all the more difficult.

CB Jaylen Watson

Was he a Secret Superstar? No, but he should have been.

Now that the Kansas City Chiefs have traded Trent McDuffie to the Los Angeles Rams, it behooves general manager Brett Veach to do his level best to retain the services of Jaylen Watson, who was selected in the seventh round of the 2022 draft out of Washington State, and who became arguably the Chiefs’ best pass defender in 2025, even with McDuffie on the field.

Last season, Watson put it all together for the first time in his NFL career, allowing 35 catches on 59 targets for 447 yards, 153 yards after the catch, no touchdowns, two interceptions, four pass breakups, and an opponent passer rating of 69.0. He also had two sacks last season, which should come as no surprise, because Chiefs defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo loves nothing more than to blitz his defensive backs, especially on third down.

The Chiefs have a lot of offseason work to do, and a roster with some serious holes for a franchise that has been so successful for so long. They may not have the cap space to keep Watson with what Watson will justifiably receive on the open market. The good news is that this organization is so good at developing young cornerbacks… as Watson has proven.

So, Chiefs fans, maybe it s about waiting for the next Jaylen Watson to arrive.