Dust settled on free agency weeks ago, but the talent pool wasn’t entirely drained.

Dallas found another receiver post-draft, agreeing to terms on a one-year deal with Marquez Valdes-Scantling on Monday, in a sign of life left in veteran free agency. “MVS” had 14 receptions and one touchdown last season. That’s not exactly the kind of production that brings teams knocking on your door in March.

But in Dallas, he was targeted to fill a clearly defined role that might include holdout insurance should negotiations with George Pickens shift from cordial to contentious as owner Jerry Jones’ history with holdouts suggests.

Here are a few other veterans capable of filling a role, big or small, despite their known shortcomings:

QB Aaron Rodgers

Week 1 Age: 42
Last season: 24 TDs, led Steelers to AFC North division title

Rodgers and Mike McCarthy are both wearing the knowing smirk we read as an almost obvious sign of the pending reunion of former Packers in Pittsburgh. Rodgers can still get the job done — he had only seven interceptions with a very modest skill-position group in 2025 — and starred in this system in his physical prime. Who else is bidding? Barring injury, most teams are not likely interest in the Rodgers Rodeo. Father Time can wipe away those facial expressions quickly, and Rodgers’ next IR trip if likely his last.

WR Deebo Samuel

Week 1 Age: 30
Last season: 72 receptions for 727 yards, five TD receptions with Commanders

Samuel’s lone season with the Commanders was a struggle and it’s hard to know how much of it was the revolving door at quarterback, a new offense, friction with jettisoned offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury or the physical toll of playing wide receiver like a running back. He has 406 career catches and could still hold down a role in the right scheme.

DE Joey Bosa

Week 1 Age: 31
Last season: Led NFL with five forced fumbles; had 16 QB hits in 16 games

Bosa had 54 pressures in his only season with the Bills, which is enough for a team to think about taking a flier on the longtime Chargers’ edge rusher. He had 5.0 sacks and would make sense for a handful of contenders, including the San Francisco 49ers, where little brother Nick Bosa wouldn’t mind the help. San Francisco’s abysmal pass rush to end last season was sans Nick Bosa because of a season-ending ACL injury, and didn’t get a lot of attention in the offseason.

RB Najee Harris

Week 1 Age: 28
Last season: 15 carries, 61 yards, season-ending Achilles injury Sept. 21 vs. Broncos

Harris isn’t to the magical downhill decline age for running backs but there’s no denying his mileage is high, making the return from a season-ending injury last September far larger than a footnote to his 2026 status. But the 21st pick in the 2021 draft had four 1,000-yard seasons in a row, 28 rushing TDs and never missed a game in four previous seasons with the Steelers before his wheels gave him issues with the Chargers last season.

WR Stefon Diggs

Week 1 Age: 33
Last season: 85 receptions, 1,013 yards with Patriots

Diggs is dealing with a legal headache and won’t be considered for sainthood as a teammate, which might have something to do with him playing for the Vikings, Bills, Texans and Patriots since 2019. A disappearing act in the playoffs won’t help his cause. Diggs had 14 receptions in four games but averaged 7.9 yards per catch and his inability to consistently separate was a problem. His longest playoff catch of 13 receptions before the contested, acrobatic grab in the Super Bowl was 14 yards.

Troy Johnston had an RBI single in the fourth inning and hit into the tie-breaking, run-scoring double play in the sixth Sunday afternoon for the visiting Colorado Rockies, who beat the skidding New York Mets 3-1 in the opener of a doubleheader.

Jose Quintana (1-2) tossed 5 1/3 solid innings for the Rockies, who have won the first two games of the three-game set to lock up their third series win of the season. Colorado finished 43-119 last season and didn’t win its third series until July 18-20, when it took two of three from the Minnesota Twins.

Jake McCarthy added an insurance RBI single in the seventh for Colorado.

Tyrone Taylor homered in the fifth for the Mets, who have lost 14 of 16.

Quintana allowed one run on two hits and two walks while striking out five. The 37-year-old left-hander, who played for the Mets from 2023-24, threw 31 pitches in the first, when he walked Bo Bichette and Luis Robert Jr. and allowed a single to Mark Vientos to load the bases with one out.

But Quintana wriggled out of the jam by striking out Marcus Semien and Brett Baty. That began a stretch of 11 straight batters retired by Quintana, who set down the final four batters he faced after Taylor’s homer.

Juan Mejia retired all five batters he opposed before the Mets threatened in the eighth against Jaden Hill, who gave up one-out singles to Francisco Alvarez and Bichette before walking Juan Soto. But Hill got Robert to pop out to first and struck out Vientos.

Victor Vodnik threw a perfect ninth to close out the four-hitter and earn his fourth save.

McCarthy and Edouard Julien had two hits each for the Rockies.

Nolan McLean (1-2) gave up two runs (one earned) on five hits and two walks while striking out seven over five innings.

–Field Level Media

Spencer Arrighetti worked seven strong innings, Christian Walker produced a three-hit game with a home run and the Houston Astros salvaged the finale of their three-game series against the visiting New York Yankees with a 7-4 victory on Sunday.

Arrighetti (3-0) remained unbeaten in three starts after opening the season with Triple-A Sugar Land. He allowed three hits, walked one and posted eight strikeouts on 96 pitches, 64 for strikes.

Walker finished 3-for-4 with four RBIs while Isaac Paredes went 2-for-4 with a homer, three runs and three RBIs. Yordan Alvarez also produced a multi-hit game, going 2-for-4 with a pair of runs.

Paul Goldschmidt doubled twice and scored for the Yankees, who rallied for three runs with two outs in the ninth but had their eight-game winning streak snapped.

Arrighetti retired the Yankees in order in the top of the first, fourth and fifth innings. He worked around a one-out single from Jazz Chisholm Jr. in the second and stranded two runners after issuing a hit-by-pitch and a two-out walk in the third. Arrighetti retired nine consecutive batters before Aaron Judge clubbed a two-out homer in the sixth. Judge hit his 10th home run on his 34th birthday.

The Astros quickly pounced on Yankees right-hander Luis Gil (1-2), with Walker firing the first salvo on a two-out, two-run homer in the bottom of the first that plated Paredes. Walker, who homered in his final plate appearance in the ninth inning on Saturday, delivered the Astros a 2-0 lead with his seventh homer this season.

Two innings later, Paredes smacked his third home run off the left field foul pole, plating Alvarez and doubling the Houston lead to 4-0. Alvarez rallied from an 0-2 hole against Gil that extended the inning before Paredes capped the two-out rally by driving a 1-0 sinker 364 feet.

Alvarez chased Gil with a double to right that pushed Carlos Correa, who walked leading off the fifth, to third base. Paredes greeted Yankees reliever Paul Blackburn with an RBI single that scored Correa, and Walker followed with a two-run double to left-center for a 7-0 lead.

Gil allowed six runs on five hits and three walks in four-plus innings.

–Field Level Media