The NFL is a less patient place than it’s ever been. The success of the Rams and Buccaneers, and their respective, aggressive, for-today team-building approaches—even if there’s a lot more that’s gone into their construction than that—has led to widespread perception that, in 2022, you can microwave yourself a Super Bowl champion.
Likewise, the Broncos, Packers and others have pushed money into the future, and thrown the sort of caution you’d uniformly see five or 10 years ago to the wind to try and keep up.
And then, you have the Falcons. They aren’t alone in being more deliberate in today’s breakneck environment.