- Khalil Mack still has some gas left in the tank to help a contender: After returning from injury midseason, Mack finished 15th among edge rushers in total pressures from Week 8 until the end of the regular season.
- 2026 NFL Draft season is here: Try the best-in-class PFF Mock Draft Simulator and learn about 2026's top prospects while trading and drafting for your favorite NFL team.
Estimated Reading Time: 6minutes
🏈 Draft Season 2026Prepare for the 2026 NFL Draft with PFF+
Your complete draft preparation toolkit
Mock Draft Simulator 2026 NFL Draft Big Board Big Board Builder NCAA Premium Stats SubscribeThe list of NFL players who have given so much to the game over the past decade without ever reaching the mountaintop is extensive.
The relative dominance of just a handful of franchises over the past 10-plus years has left many of the league’s most talented individuals without even an appearance in a Super Bowl, much less a victory on the NFL’s biggest stage.
When free agency rolls around for these ringless veterans, their financial future is largely secured. All that’s left for them to do in this great sport is to raise the Vince Lombardi Trophy. That narrows their options from 32 teams to often as few as six or eight contenders they feel have a genuine opportunity to secure glory within the calendar year.
For this list, we are looking exclusively at free agents aged 32 or older. It’s unlikely that any of the players below sign for anything beyond a one-year deal. It’s equally unlikely that any of these players are interested in signing for the lower quartile of franchises in Super Bowl 61 odds, aside from the scenario of returning to a former team.
The two highest-ranked players older than 32 in PFF’s NFL free agent rankings have already claimed Super Bowl success. 13th-ranked Mike Evans and 17th-ranked Isaac Seumalo won rings in Super Bowls 55 and 52, respectively.
We will, however, begin with the next true veteran on the rankings, and perhaps the most deserving player in the entire league.
DI Calais Campbell
The ageless wonder is in search of his sixth NFL team, and if he finds a suitor, he’ll enter the 2026 regular season as the only 40-year-old on the defensive side of the ball.
Campbell logged his 13,000th career snap this past season and posted his 14th straight overall PFF season grade above 72.0. Campbell posted multiple pressures in 10 different games this past season, including six of his last seven games to close out the year.
Whoever signs Campbell won’t be doing so out of sympathy for a likely future Hall of Famer; they’ll be acquiring a genuine asset on the defensive line still capable of offering 30-plus snaps per game.
The Green Bay Packers are a team with legitimate Super Bowl aspirations next season who have needed additional beef on the defensive interior ever since trading away Kenny Clark before the season. Without a first-round pick to address the need, a one-year rental of Campbell makes sense for all parties.
ED Khalil Mack
There may not be a more accomplished player in the NFL today without a Super Bowl on their résumé than Mack.
His nine Pro Bowl selections, four first-team All-Pro nods and Defensive Player of the Year award from a decade ago are enough to make him a serious contender for the Hall of Fame someday, but a Super Bowl ring to round out his career would be the icing on the cake.
Mack previously made a good choice on paper as a free agent four years ago. The Los Angeles Chargers looked like a perennial Super Bowl contender with a promising quarterback, yet nothing other than wild-card round disappointment has followed. Mack is now searching for the next team most capable of helping him reach the promised land.
While retirement is certainly on the table for the 34-year-old, a return to the Chicago Bears has also been floated out there. A completely different team from the one he left at the end of 2021, the current Bears share many of the same characteristics that made Los Angeles such an attractive landing spot back then, namely a budding superstar at quarterback entering his third season.
After returning from injury midseason, Mack finished 15th among edge rushers in total pressures from Week 8 until the end of the regular season. He posted an elite 90.2 overall PFF season grade as recently as 2024, and when healthy and available, he is still up there with the top edge-setting run defenders in the sport.
G Joel Bitonio
Another player who could very easily hang up his cleats with nothing to be ashamed of, Bitonio has been a loyal servant of the Cleveland Browns organization ever since they drafted him in 2014.
Just two of Bitonio’s 180 career games have taken place in the playoffs, and after enduring 12 seasons of cold-weather football in Ohio, the Los Angeles native may look favorably upon a return to the West Coast to close out his illustrious career.
Luckily for him, all three California teams reached the playoffs this past season, and all three are projected to return.
After three straight seasons of diminishing grades from 2021 to 2024, Bitonio showed signs of life this past season with improved grades in both pass protection and the run game. He was the only Browns offensive lineman to surpass 1,000 snaps on the season, and his 75.7 PFF pass-blocking grade ranked eighth out of 87 guards this past year.
LB Demario Davis
Davis is entering uncharted territory as a linebacker. With 14 NFL seasons already under his belt, retirement doesn’t even seem to be a consideration for the 37-year-old chasing his first Super Bowl ring.
Davis managed to set his career-high in tackles last season with the New Orleans Saints, while also registering the highest PFF run defense grade of his career (88.9). He led the Saints defense in snaps played and still projects as an every-down “quarterback of the defense” wearing the green dot on his helmet — ideal for a young squad in need of a veteran leader.
There has been plenty of buzz around Davis potentially heading north to rejoin former coach Dennis Allen on the Chicago Bears defense. However, it’s also easy to forget the Saints went 4-0 in December and showed real signs of future potential down the stretch. They may not scream immediate Super Bowl contender, but neither did the Seattle Seahawks at this stage last year.
Whoever ultimately lands Davis is getting one of the most reliable linebackers in the league. Having not posted an overall season grade above 63.0 in the first five years of his career, Davis has yet to drop below 73.0 in nine seasons since. It’s as if his career truly began in 2017, not 2012, and Davis plays like a linebacker five years younger than what the birth certificate says.
DE Jadeveon Clowney
Clowney is searching for his eighth team in nine years, but he continues to prove his worth as a valuable edge piece year in and year out.
The former first overall pick was used more sparingly in Dallas than with previous teams after signing late in the process to fill part of the gaping Micah Parsons-shaped hole in the Dallas Cowboys defense.
While he was only tasked with 17 pass-rushing snaps per game on average, Clowney finished the season with an eye-watering 19.1% pressure rate, bested only by Myles Garrett and Will Anderson.
This past year proved to be the fourth-highest graded season of Clowney’s 12-year NFL career. He may have proven he’s ready for one last stint with a team bearing genuine Super Bowl aspirations.
It’s unclear whether or not Clowney will once again wait until later in the process to find a partner — he may prefer to secure a more beneficial contract in March, as he clearly outperformed his $3.5 million deal in Dallas. PFF’s free agent rankings have projected Clowney to receive as much as $10 million for a one-year rental.