The 2026 NFL preseason is over, the roster cutdown deadline has passed, and several teams are heading into the season already leaning on replacements. PFF singled out players who will need to take on bigger jobs immediately because injuries and other absences have pushed established starters to the side.
That makes Marvin Harrison a timely search, but the most immediate pressure is on the players around him in the leaguewide depth-chart shuffle. The Commanders are trying to rebound after finishing 5-12 in 2025, yet Laremy Tunsil went down with a torn triceps in early August, leaving Coleman to handle left tackle duties with 1,240 career snaps there and a 62.9 overall PFF grade over his first two pro seasons. Coleman did show a 76.3 PFF pass-blocking grade in the preseason, which is the sort of number that keeps a coaching staff hopeful when the calendar turns to the regular season.
The Bears are in a different spot after reaching the NFC divisional round in 2025, but they are still entering 2026 with a hole in the secondary. Coby Bryant is expected to miss most of the year with a knee issue, so Woods was signed to start next to first-round pick Dillon Thieneman. Woods had a 65.5 overall PFF grade across 526 snaps with the Titans last year, along with a 70.3 PFF coverage grade that ranked in the 83rd percentile, which is why he was the obvious bridge to the opening left by the injury.
The Lions may be asking the most of a reserve with the least margin for error. Both Kerby Joseph and Brian Branch are still working their way back from season-ending injuries in 2025 and are on the physically unable to perform list, which means the starting safeties are out for at least the first four games. Detroit missed the playoffs, and Maddox is now being counted on anyway after posting a 79.1 overall PFF grade over 342 snaps last year, with grades above 75.0 in both coverage and run defense while mainly working as the team’s true free safety.
That same strain runs through the Panthers, who lost both starting tackles for the opening weeks of the year, and Nic Scourton is out with a torn ACL. The first month of the season is often where these injury charts become real, not theoretical, and that is where PFF’s list lands: not on star power, but on the players who are suddenly expected to hold together a lineup before October.
The next hard date is the start of the 2026 regular season, when these replacement jobs stop being projections and become the season’s first test. For teams already short-handed, the question is not whether the depth chart has changed. It is how long they can keep it together.
