July 16, 2026
Kirby Lee/IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect
Daniel Carlson is a pretty good kicker and he's looking for a job. 🤷‍♂️
Each year before the start of training camp, Howie Roseman tends to sign a veteran player to help bolster the team's depth. Obviously, it's July, so it's not exactly as if there are a bunch of world-beaters available. Recent examples include EDGE Ogbo Okoronkwo (2025), iOL Nick Gates (2024), OT Dennis Kelly (2023), and CB Steven Nelson (2021).
So, let's guess on a few guys who makes sense during this absolutely dead period of the offseason, yeah? Cool.
Let's start with a layup. Graham came out of retirement and played in the Eagles' last 10 games of the season (playoffs included). He only played 120 snaps (12 per game), but was a productive enough role player, making 8 tackles (2 for loss), and 3 sacks. He also filled in at times on the interior when the Eagles were thin there due to injury, and he played surprisingly well.
Graham is a great locker room guy, he played hard last season, and the Eagles could use more depth both on the edge and on the interior of their line. The hang-up is that teams around the league just aren't going to pay much money to guys who are barely cracking double-digit snaps, and for all Graham has done for the organization he rightfully doesn't want to play for veteran minimum-like pay. So, we'll see if the two sides can find some middle ground.
Daniels has played eight NFL seasons after he was the 39th overall pick in the 2018 NFL Draft. He played four seasons in Chicago, three in Pittsburgh, and then last season in Miami. When he was a prospect coming out of college, the Eagles brought him in for a pre-draft visit.
Daniels has appeared in 91 career games, with 85 starts. He has been a Week 1 starter every year he has been in the NFL, with the exception of his rookie season. He has also been a pretty good earner over his career. After he left Chicago to play for Pittsburgh, he scored a three year deal worth $26.5 million. When he left Pittsburgh to play in Miami, he got another three-year deal worth $24 million.
However, after suffering a season-ending Achilles tear after four games in 2024 and another season-ending pectoral injury after 3 snaps in 2025, Daniels is going to have to rebuild his value if he wants to continue playing in the NFL.
Though an injury risk at this stage of his career, Daniels is a versatile interior lineman who has played at least 500 snaps at every interior position:
|  LG snaps | C snaps | RG snaps |
| 1,626Â | 508Â | 3,437Â |
He also has ideal athleticism, or at least he did when he competed at the 2018 NFL Combine:Â
Daniels would provide some insurance on the interior in case Cam Jurgens and Landon Dickerson continue to struggle with their various injuries.
Carlson has been the Raiders' kicker since 2018. He was named Second-Team All-Pro in 2021 and First-Team All-Pro in 2022.
He is 37 of 51 (72.5%) from beyond 50 yards over the course of his career. He's 12 of 19 (63.2%) from beyond 50 the last two seasons, with a long of 60. By comparison, Jake Elliott is 5 of 15 from beyond 50 the last two years.
Carlson connected on 85.0% of his field goal attempts in 2024 and 81.5% in 2025. Those were down seasons for him. Elliott also had down seasons in 2024 and 2025, but was worse, at 77.8% in 2024 and 74.1% in 2025.
In fairness, Carlson's home stadium in Las Vegas was a dome, and Elliott kicks in a much more difficult environment in Philly. But, I mean, it feels a little ridiculous to just hand Elliott the kicking job after two downright bad seasons. At least give him some competition.
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