You know how it goes: The best NFL players almost never make it to free agency. It’s rare for even an average quarterback to get there.

We could see exceptions to both rules in the spring of 2018, based on a relatively monster list of players whose contracts are set to expire. Some of them could sign contract extensions during the season or before the market opens with their current teams. Others might receive the franchise tag, and a few could retire.

But a fella can dream, can’t he? For the moment, at least, let’s consider the futures of 20 pending free agents, ranked roughly in order of intrigue:

Cousins is playing under the franchise tag for the second consecutive season. There is unlikely to be a third, given the enormous cost of nearly $34 million in cash and cap space. Conventional wisdom suggests that Cousins, having come this far, will test free agency to find out his true market. That deal, from the Redskins or someone else, should break NFL records.

After turning down a long-term offer this summer, Bell is playing on a $12.1 million franchise tag. It would cost the Steelers around $15 million to franchise him again in 2018. Would they really pay him so much? That figure is nearly twice the highest average salary for a running back other than Bell (Devonta Freeman, $8.25 million). A word to the wise: Free agency is often a disappointment for veteran running backs. By next spring, Bell will have five NFL seasons’ worth of wear and tear on his body.

The Patriots deflected multiple trade offers last spring and held on to Garoppolo, whose preseason and brief regular-season outings suggest he is a genuine heir apparent to Tom Brady. But there is no indication that Brady plans to retire anytime soon. He will turn 41 next summer. After four years as a backup, Garoppolo will want to play somewhere in 2018. The Patriots could use the franchise tag, even though it would cost about $22 million, to buy one more year of insurance.

Brees remains the best thing about a franchise that is 23-29 the past four seasons. It’s hard to imagine the Saints moving on without him, absent his own decision to retire. But they’ll still have to pay big for a quarterback who will be 39 when the 2018 season starts. Brees’ current deal averages $24.25 million per season. Would he settle for less?

As he showed in Week 1, Bradford can be quite effective when healthy and surrounded by a balanced set of weapons. But his knees continue to hold back sustained success, and the Week 5 debacle at Soldier Field made clear he is still injured. Unless he makes a quicker-than-expected recovery and finishes the season strong, he’ll enter the market as damaged goods. On the plus side, he will have earned nearly $115 million by the time he turns 30.

Graham has never matched the elite production he gave the Saints, an unsurprising development considering the difference in schemes. After 51 touchdown receptions from 2010-14 for the Saints, he has managed nine in 2¼ seasons with the Seahawks. He’ll turn 31 in November and would need to target a pass-first offense in free agency in order to maximize his skills.

The Rams have used the franchise tag on Johnson in consecutive years, guaranteeing him $30.7 million for 2016-17. Many consider that a generous sum for a cornerback who has never made a Pro Bowl or All-Pro team. He opened this season with a pick-six in the Rams’ blowout of the Indianapolis Colts, but you would figure his time under the tag will come to an end. He’ll be 28 by the start of free agency, young enough to generate strong value from a cornerback-deficient team.

The subject of trade rumors this past offseason, Butler notably did not receive a contract extension despite developing into the Patriots’ most reliable cover man in recent seasons. The Patriots’ decision to sign free agent Stephon Gilmore instead in the spring suggested they might have decided to let Butler depart via free agency. Whatever his imperfections, the dearth of competent and available corners will work in his favor.

Bridgewater’s future is as murky as that of any player on this list. He is 13 months past a catastrophic knee injury that threatened his career and one week away from being eligible to resume practicing. Will he be ready? No one knows for sure. If he is ready, will Bradford keep him on the bench? Bridgewater’s contract is set to expire after this season, but the Vikings could freeze — or “toll” — his contract if he does not play this season, making him ineligible for free agency. Stay tuned.

The Lions picked up their fifth-year option on Ansah but haven’t signed him to a long-term deal. At this point, Ansah would be smart to hit the market, where pass-rushers are almost always rewarded. The Lions could make a late play to re-sign him. But now that quarterback Matthew Stafford’s contract extension is complete, they also could use their 2018 franchise tag on Ansah. After a disappointing two-sack performance in 2016, Ansah’s four sacks this season put him closer to the pace that pushed him to 14.5 sacks in 2015.

It’s fair to wonder if Fitzgerald is playing his final season. His contract expires in the spring, and he will turn 35 this summer. His early-season production — he’s on pace for a third consecutive 1,000-yard season — suggests that he could be in play for 2018 if he wants to be. But he already is one of the most well-compensated receivers — and, really, non-quarterbacks — in NFL history. Through a series of unique cap circumstances, Fitzgerald’s contracts will have paid him more than $150 million by the end of this season, according to Spotrac tracking.

Pryor bet on himself last spring, turning down a multiyear offer from the Browns to sign a one-year deal worth $6 million with the Redskins. With a far more accomplished quarterback in Cousins, the thinking went, Pryor could dramatically raise his value for 2018. That effort is off to a slow start, however, with 13 receptions for 186 yards and one touchdown in four games.

Like Pryor, Jeffery took a one-year deal to reset his market value for 2018. He’s earning $9.5 million from the Eagles with a chance to cash in next spring. But as with Pryor, the numbers have come slowly for Jeffery. He has 20 receptions for 246 yards and two scores in the Eagles’ first five games.

Rejected by the Buffalo Bills’ new regime and shipped to Los Angeles this summer, Watkins hasn’t really turned over his underachieving résumé. The No. 4 overall pick of the 2014 draft has 14 receptions in five games for the Rams’ high-flying offense, and he recently implied dissatisfaction via his Twitter account. But with a supportive coaching staff and creative scheme, Watkins still has a chance to make himself into a high-level free-agent commodity.

Frank Gore, RB, Indianapolis Colts

Carlo Ancelotti got the sack Thursday, and for all the talk of his failings at Bayern Munich, the state of a rapidly aging squad is largely being overlooked.

Critics of the affable Italian point to a penchant for leaving jobs in or around the second year in charge, while others identify just four league titles in nearly two decades in charge of some of Europe’s biggest clubs as a sign of Ancelotti’s shortcomings.

Related: Bayern Munich sacks Ancelotti after defeat at PSG

Often the scapegoat for underperforming squads, managers like Ancelotti fall on the sword as a facile alternative to widespread squad overhaul, and while most of the talk Thursday will focus on the gaffer’s missteps, the players deserve some of the blame.

Age is more than a number

Talismanic leaders Philipp Lahm and Xabi Alonso both retired in the summer, and a core of Robert Lewandowski, Thomas Muller, Franck Ribery, Arjen Robben, Mats Hummels, Jerome Boateng, and Arturo Vidal are all either 30 and in the decline of celebrated careers or rapidly approaching it.

That’s not to say world-class footballers can’t excel beyond their 30th birthdays, though it’s worth noting amid countless comparisons between Ancelotti and his beloved predecessor Pep Guardiola: The Catalan gaffer had a dynamic squad rife with youthful vigour that had just won the treble under Jupp Heynckes. Ancelotti, the only manager with three Champions League crowns, not so much.

With age comes the increased possibility of injuries, and like a bee sting on a rash, one problem compounds the other.

First-choice centre-back pairing Boateng and Hummels both missed chunks of last season, as did Robben and Ribery, and the issue of long-term ailments to key players has carried over to this season with skipper Manuel Neuer’s protracted absence due to a broken foot.

In the wake of Wednesday’s thrashing at Paris Saint-Germain, Bayern CEO Karl-Heinz Rummenigge said: “It’s a very painful defeat, a defeat we have to analyse and after which we’ll have to talk about clearly and draw the consequences because what we saw was not Bayern Munich.”

The consequence is that Ancelotti is out of work, but considering the state of a squad in the infantile stages of transition and the failure to adequately replace those who have retired or are in decline, perhaps it’s time Rummenigge considers his role in the current state of Bayern Munich.

A scarcity of academy products

The task of replacing Lahm and Alonso is like substituting salt for sugar in your morning coffee. Even so, Joshua Kimmich and summer signing Corentin Tolisso have been pegged as successors to the influential pairing, and only time will tell if the young duo can fill their boots.

Colossal centre-back Niklas Sule, Sebastian Rudy, and James Rodriguez were all brought in to refresh the squad’s make-up, and the hope is that Kingsley Coman can bounce back from an injury-riddled campaign to merit his permanent move from Juventus.

These additions appear underwhelming, and with a rapidly aging squad, some attention should be turned towards the academy.

For the sake of a topical comparison, PSG has also experienced a shortage of academy graduates, shipping off the likes of once-promising budding talents Jonathan Ikone and Odsonne Edouard. For Wednesday’s victors in the French capital, the failure to promote means very little when hundreds of millions can be splashed on a teenager like Kylian Mbappe.

Bayern is opting for a comparatively modest approach, and despite five league titles on the trot papering over the cracks, it’s simply not working, and that’s not entirely Ancelotti’s fault. Again, fingers should be pointed at Rummenigge, general manager Uli Hoeness, and the rest of the Bayern brass.

Going forward

There appears to be a deeply rooted institutional issue at Bayern Munich that is being overlooked in light of Ancelotti’s sacking. Comments in the press from the likes of Lewandowski and Ribery point to an attitudinal headache, while a string of recent additions hint at abating ambitions.

Willy Sagnol will take the reins on an interim basis, and if reports that the club’s marquee players forced Ancelotti out have any veracity, anticipate an upswing in form both domestically and on the continent paired with smiles on the faces of Bayern’s most discontent.

It was never going to be easy to succeed Guardiola, and had Bayern not gotten the wrong end of several decisions during last year’s Champions League semi-finals with Real Madrid, an alternate history could have favoured Ancelotti.

Regardless, on Thursday Ancelotti became the scapegoat for a European heavyweight mired by a relative hiccup when really the blame should arrive at the doorstep of several of the club’s high-profile pieces.