| IT’S SCHEDULE DAY! We will unwrap for you tomorrow and Monday.– – -Jordan Schultz has some schedule scoops: @Schultz_ReportSources: The #Seahawks will open the 2026 season at home with a Super Bowl rematch against the #Patriots. So, the 2026 NFL season will begin with the two teams that ended last season. 🔥🔥 @Schultz_ReportSources: The #Panthers will host the #Bears in Week 1, as a pair of former #1 overall picks in Caleb Williams and Bryce Young face-off. Both Carolina and Chicago won their divisions last year. 🏈 Other teams already “out” for Week 1 Dallas at GiantsBroncos – Chiefs site unknown And now we know about the Wednesday Eve game from ESPN.com: The Green Bay Packers will visit the Los Angeles Rams in the NFL’s first Thanksgiving Eve game, the league announced Wednesday. The game will take place on Nov. 25 at 8 p.m. ET and will be streamed on Netflix. It was also announced Wednesday that the Netflix will air the “NFL Honors” show during Super Bowl week, where the NFL’s individual awards and Pro Football Hall inductees are announced.– – –The added game on the week of Thanksgiving means there will be five stand-alone games that week before the regular Sunday slate. The league has played three games on Thanksgiving Day since 2006 and added a Black Friday game in 2023. The NFL has already announced one of the Thanksgiving Day games, revealing Monday that the Dallas Cowboys will host the Philadelphia Eagles at 4:30 p.m. (televised by Fox). The complete 2026 regular-season schedule will be announced Thursday at 8 p.m. ET. A two-hour primetime special will air on ESPN. This from Andy Herman helps us figure it out: AndyHermanNFLI don’t think people are correctly calculating how a Week 11 bye and Week 12 Wednesday game would work. The Packers would likely have a Sunday game, November 15th for Week 10. They would then have off Week 11 which would be the weekend of the 22nd. Then play Wednesday Nov 25 for Week 12, then wouldn’t play again until Sunday Dec 6 for Week 13. So play November 15th, have 9 days off. Play November 25, have 10 days off. Play December 6th. We suppose one of the teams (say the Packers) could play on Thursday night November 19 with the same rest as that opponent. Then play six days later the Packers play the Rams on the 25th, a six-day week. But then enjoy a bye at some other point in the season. Ozzy hears some more: @OzzyNFLBREAKING Dolphins at Raiders – Week 1 – 4:25 Fernando Mendoza will make his NFL debut at home, against Miami. He’s presuming that Mendoza starts Week 1, which we don’t think is a given. @OzzyNFL·30mBREAKING 🚨 Broncos at Steelers – Week 12 – Black Friday Game Game will be played at 3:00 PM ET on @NFLonPrime– – -The Chiefs have lobbied to host Thanksgiving night every year. Well, they will play on Thanksgiving night in 2026 – but in Buffalo. Josh Alper of ProFootballTalk.com: The Chiefs’ first visit to the Bills’ new stadium will reportedly close out the NFL’s Thanksgiving slate of games. Per NFL reporter Jordan Schultz, the Chiefs will be at the new Highmark Stadium on Thursday night in Week 12. The primetime game will be televised by NBC. The two teams have met at least once per season since the start of the 2020 season. The Bills are 5-1 in the regular season matchups, but the Chiefs are 4-0 in their playoff confrontations. With the game set for late November, Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes’s recovery from a torn ACL should no longer be an issue. There will undoubtedly be other injury issues that impact who will be on hand for the latest chapter in the rivalry headed by Mahomes and Bills quarterback Josh Allen, but both teams will hope they aren’t significant enough to rob the game of its usual luster. So Thanksgiving looks like this: Wed night – Green Bay at Rams (Netflix)Thurs Chicago at Detroit (CBS) Philadelphia at Detroit (FOX) Kansas City at Buffalo (NBC)Black Friday – Denver at Pittsburgh (Prime) With a Sunday night game and Monday night game – that leaves just nine games in the prime Sunday windows.- – -And – Netflix is getting two games on Christmas Day and a new Week 18 game at 1 pm on Saturday The Athletic spells things out: Netflix is expanding its NFL coverage this season by streaming five games. The NFL’s partnership with Netflix, which runs through the 2029-30 season, includes a Week 1 game, a Thanksgiving Eve game, at least one Christmas Day game (for the second year in a row, there will be two) and a Week 18 matchup. Netflix will also stream the NFL Honors show at the end of the season. Getting things started, Netflix will show the league’s first game in Australia in Week 1 when the Los Angeles Rams and San Francisco 49ers play at the Melbourne Cricket Grounds on Thursday, Sept. 10 at 8:35 p.m. ET. After that, Netflix is airing: • Green Bay Packers at Los Angeles Rams on Nov. 25 — the day before Thanksgiving: The Packers get the distinct honor that all coaches and players strive for of playing in the first-ever Thanksgiving Eve NFL game. Close friends Matt LaFleur, Green Bay’s head coach, and Sean McVay, the Rams’ head coach, will face off for the sixth time in their current roles after sharing a staff in Washington back in the day. LaFleur and the Packers are 5-0 against McVay and the Rams, with four of those wins coming in the regular season and one in the playoffs. It will also be interesting to see what this means for the Packers’ rest days on either side of the rare Wednesday game. — Matt Schneidman • Two Christmas Day games again, kicking off at 1 p.m. ET and 4:30 p.m. ET • A Week 18 game on Saturday, Jan. 9 at 1 p.m. ET The NFL continues to prop up streaming. Netflix has the luxury of not paying for a full schedule of games, but it also receives some great matchups. The first-ever Thanksgiving Eve game shapes up to be a good one with the Rams and the Packers. It also gets to bookend the regular season with the second game of the season from Australia and then a game on the final Saturday of the regular season. Plus, the Christmas Day game doubleheaders. Netflix’s documentary “Quarterback” returns in 2026 and will feature Jayden Daniels, Baker Mayfield, Cam Ward and Joe Flacco. It basically gives Netflix everything it wants, as it dots across the entire season. The length of the deal at four years also shows a big commitment to continuing with the NFL and sets it up to potentially add more to come in the next decade. |
| NFC EAST |
| NEW YORK GIANTSThe Giants are downplaying a second surgery of the balky knee of WR MALIK NABERS. Andy Backstrom of YahooSports.com: The day the new face of the New York Giants seized command of the team’s offense, the unit lost its most lethal weapon. In Week 4 last season, quarterback Jaxson Dart made his first career NFL start and led a previously winless Giants squad to a victory over the playoff-bound Los Angeles Chargers. Malik Nabers’ season-ending ACL tear in the second quarter tainted that inspiring victory. While Dart continued to flash his dual-threat skill set last fall, Nabers’ absence was felt. His recovery is key to New York’s long-term plans and has been keenly monitored, although a potentially troublesome report from The Athletic’s Dan Duggan surfaced Wednesday. Nabers underwent a second surgery on his knee “multiple weeks ago” to remove scar tissue that was causing stiffness, per Duggan, who said the procedure was characterized as a “clean up” and isn’t expected to alter Nabers’ timeline. The Giants are still hoping the standout receiver will be available for their Week 1 “Sunday Night Football” showdown with the Dallas Cowboys, per Duggan. That said, the report naturally has raised the antennae of fans everywhere. Duggan’s report comes on the heels of ESPN’s Jordan Raanan suggesting on the “Giants Nation Show” last week that Nabers’ injury warrants inspection leading up to the 2026 season. “Malik Nabers’ injury is something we’ve got to keep a very close eye on,” Raanan said last Thursday. “The more I hear, the more I’m like, ‘Alright, Week 1 seems like that’s in serious question. We’ll have to monitor that all summer. Let’s see how that goes.’ “And even then, let’s be fair, he’s coming back from a pretty serious injury. We can’t expect him to come back and be playing at Malik Nabers’ top level right away. It’s probably gonna take him time. I’m starting to think that we might not see the best of Malik Nabers until four or six weeks into the season, maybe, at best.” Nabers initially underwent ACL and meniscus surgery on Oct. 28. By that point, exactly one month had passed since he was carted off against the Chargers. Leading up to the operation, the Giants waited for Nabers’ swelling to stop, and the LSU product did prehab, per ESPN. ACL tears typically don’t require more than a nine-month recovery. Nabers’ early-season injury in 2025 cut short his second go-around in the NFL. He was coming off an impressive rookie campaign, during which he earned Pro Bowl honors and ranked fifth in the league in receptions and seventh in receiving yards. Despite playing with three starting quarterbacks — Daniel Jones, Drew Lock and Tommy DeVito — Nabers piled up 109 catches, 1,204 receiving yards and 7 receiving touchdowns. Nabers made his early case as the best receiver in his draft class, which also featured Marvin Harrison Jr., Rome Odunze and Brian Thomas Jr. Nabers was selected second among that group of wideouts, sixth overall and two picks after Harrison went to the Arizona Cardinals. |
| AFC NORTH |
| CINCINNATIQB JOE BURROW’s campaign to get the Bengals an overseas game bore fruit. John Breech of CBSSports.com: When the NFL revealed Tuesday that the Cincinnati Bengals are headed to Spain for a game against the Atlanta Falcons this year, there’s a good chance no one was happier about that than Joe Burrow. The Bengals quarterback, who has been in the NFL since 2020, has never played in an international game. Burrow thought the Bengals were going to get one last year, but that didn’t happen. After getting passed over on the international schedule, Burrow made it clear he was disappointed his team wouldn’t be going abroad. As crazy as it sounds, that might have actually factored into why the NFL decided to send the Bengals to Madrid this year. Let’s break down what exactly transpired over the past 12 months. Burrow’s 2025 disappointmentIn February of 2025, the NFL announced that the Miami Dolphins would be playing the first game ever in Madrid. By March, there was speculation the Dolphins would face the Bengals. Those rumors reached Burrow, who let his 4.2 million Instagram followers know how he felt about the possibility of playing in Madrid. “Please be true,” Burrow wrote about the Bengals-Dolphins rumor. Unfortunately for Burrow, the Dolphins ended up playing the Washington Commanders in Spain instead. During an interview after the 2025 schedule came out, Burrow was asked if he had any scheduling requests. “Maybe an international game next year,” Burrow said. It was an unusual request, if only because most players don’t usually come out and ask for more international games. The fiercely private Burrow then revealed one reason he volunteered to be on Netflix’s “Quarterback” show was to help spread the game to more international fans. “Part of the reason I wanted to do the ‘Quarterback’ show, I wanted to help grow the game internationally, and so to not have a stage like that is a little disappointing,” Burrow said. “Because I feel like I’ve consciously worked hard to try to grow the game internationally over the last 18 months or so. So hopefully at some point in my career we can go over there.” The Bengals are one of just five teams — along with the Cowboys, Lions, Texans and Raiders — that have yet to play an international game this decade, so it’s easy to see why Burrow was a little frustrated. The NFL apparently heard Burrow’s complaintWhen a star quarterback says he’s disappointed about the schedule, the NFL definitely takes notice, and the league did exactly that in this situation. During an interview in April, the NFL’s vice president of broadcast planning, Mike North, was asked if the Bengals would receive an international game in 2026, and he admitted he was aware of Burrow’s complaint from 2025. “He’s been vocal about it,” North told Bengals.com. “I remember he was pretty disappointed last year when you guys didn’t go. I think that’s a real possibility for the Bengals this year.” North, the NFL’s scheduling guru, doesn’t usually offer blatant hints about the upcoming schedule, but he did this year by essentially tipping that Cincinnati would be headed to Madrid. He also credited Burrow’s popularity as one reason it made sense for the NFL to send the Bengals to Europe. “They’ve got one of those fan bases, thanks in large part to the quarterback, that resonates in Europe and across the planet,” North said. Burrow’s reaction to the international gameThe Bengals found out Tuesday they were being scheduled for their first international game since 2019, and fittingly, the team celebrated by photoshopping Burrow’s Instagram story from a year ago. One reason Burrow wanted an international game is because he believes the Bengals are the perfect team to help spread the game worldwide. “The game has a lot of room to grow,” Burrow said Tuesday, via the team’s official website. “Just like basketball did in the ’80s and ’90s. The Bulls kind of spearheaded that. Made it global, and hopefully the Bengals can do the same thing over the next couple of years for the NFL.” That sounds like a guy who’d like to play in a few more international games over the next several years. Burrow’s scheduling request from last year seemed to help the Bengals land an international game this year, so he sent out another request Tuesday — this time directed at the team: He wants to go to Spain early. “I hope we go out early in the week so we can experience it a little bit,” Burrow said. “Get acclimated to the time zone, have some team bonding out there. Expand my horizons a little bit.” It might not take much to convince Zac Taylor to head to Spain early. The Bengals coach sounded excited when he was asked about the possibility of playing an international game this year during a press conference before the official Bengals-Falcons announcement. “It’s a great opportunity to promote the game internationally,” Taylor said. “We have a tremendous team with a lot of high-end talent. To take center stage in the world would be exciting for everybody. To promote the Bengals’ brand internationally, I think, is awesome.” Taylor and Burrow will now look to lead the Bengals to their first international win in franchise history. This will be the Bengals’ third trip abroad, and they went 0-1-1 in their previous two games, making them one of just seven teams that has never won an international game. So the Raiders – with Fernando Mendoza poised to be the quarterback – are the only team not to have an overseas game scheduled this decade. We think they would be prime contenders for Mexico or Spain in 2027. |
| CLEVELANDThe Browns have drafted well, at least the last two years. And in 2026, they are being hailed with the NFL’s easiest collection of opponents. And that’s saying something because they don’t play the Browns. Before we see how those opponents are lined up in the actual schedule, Nick Pedone of SI.com has some thoughts: The Cleveland Browns will learn their full 2026 schedule on Thursday, but they’ve known their opponents for this upcoming season for quite some time. Based on last year’s winning percentage, the Browns will have the easiest schedule in the NFL next season. Of course, that’s welcomed news for a team that has won just eight games over the last two seasons. A softer schedule will help new Browns head coach Todd Monken acclimate to the first year on the job with one of the youngest rosters in the league. At the end of the day, finding a way to win, regardless of opponent, should be all that matters. Browns winning games in 2026 is all that matters, regardless of opponentAfter the Browns fired Kevin Stefanski following his sixth season with the team, Browns owner Jimmy Haslam expressed that the team was talented enough to have won more than just eight games over their last two seasons. In 2025, the Browns won five games and Stefanski was let go. Monken will need to be much better in 2026, especially with back-to-back stellar rookie classes assembled by Browns general manager Andrew Berry. Last year, the Browns were a tough watch. But major contributions from Mason Graham, Carson Schwesinger, Quinshon Judkins and Harold Fannin Jr. made the team watchable each week. In 2026, Monken will need to get similar production out of Spencer Fano, KC Concepcion, Denzel Boston, Emmanuel McNeil-Warren and a few other youngsters to build on last season’s momentum. It’s great that the Browns have a softer schedule on paper. But they’ll need to extract the most out of the young talent throughout this roster in order to stack victories. Because the Browns don’t seem to have a long-term answer at quarterback, some fans will cringe at the idea of having a soft schedule, winning too many games, and taking the team out of the sweepstakes for a top passer like Arch Manning or Dante Moore. But the Browns don’t seem as concerned about that. They hired a 60-year-old head coach with the desire to win games and develop talent. They spent big time free agent dollars on veteran offensive linemen to better protect and support whoever starts at quarterback. Their first three draft picks were at positions of need at left tackle and wide receiver. Not to mention, even though the Browns lost defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz, they returned much of last year’s top-ranked defense. If Monken’s offense can take some strides, even with inconsistent quarterback play, the Browns should be much improved in 2026, and getting back to that winning culture is the only thing that should matter. |
| PITTSBURGHIn The Athletic, veteran scribe and Cal alumnus (like his subject) Michael Silver expounds on how QB AARON RODGERS is playing the Steelers: After all the drama, all the drawn-out decisions and changes of heart and relentless speculation about his legendary quarterback’s intentions, Mike McCarthy finally snapped. It happened during an afternoon practice at Clarke Hinkle Field, where the Green Bay Packers were staging one of the NFL’s most surreal training camps of the 21st Century. I was among the thousands who witnessed that choppy, sloppy session back in August of 2008, part of a days-long Summer of Favre sojourn that dominated my journalistic reality. By the time I left Titletown, Brett Favre had been traded to the New York Jets, allowing the Aaron Rodgers Era — at last — to proceed as planned. That resolution was a direct result of McCarthy’s frustration, an emotion enunciated by the third-year coach in a consequential team meeting that took place a few hours after the “lousy” practice that pushed him over the edge. Eighteen years later, McCarthy is a far more unflappable man. That’s fortunate, given his current situation. Less than four months into his tenure as the Pittsburgh Steelers’ fourth head coach since 1969, McCarthy must once again navigate the uncertainty surrounding a legendary quarterback’s plans. This time, of course, Rodgers is the one responsible for the melodrama, albeit a far tamer manifestation of it than the madness Favre generated in his final days in Green Bay. Then again, there’s another important difference between the Summer of Favre and the second consecutive A-Rod Spring. In 2008, the Packers had a viable fallback plan: a willingness to hand the ball to a former first-round draft pick who’d spent three years developing into an heir apparent. The 2026 Steelers? Not so much. They’re praying Rodgers, who’ll turn 43 this season, will get back in the ring to take another swing. Otherwise — at least on paper — they don’t seem to have a puncher’s chance of getting back to the playoffs. Chances are, it will all work out. Last year, the Steelers announced that Rodgers had agreed to a one-year contract in early June, less than a week before the start of the team’s mandatory minicamp. If Rodgers follows that same timeline in 2026, he’ll get his deal done in late May and report for the minicamp that begins June 2. Yet as with all matters concerning Rodgers in the latter stages of his outstanding career, things have gotten a little weird. Nothing too extreme thus far — no darkness retreat, ayahuasca journey or draft-night hijacking — but still, enough to make the Steelers feel just a bit uneasy. Back in late March, Pittsburgh owner Art Rooney II told reporters he expected Rodgers to decide on his future by the NFL Draft. When that didn’t happen, the Steelers made a seemingly bizarre procedural move, placing the seldom-used “unrestricted free agent tender” on the quarterback. The tag sets up the team for a compensatory draft pick should Rodgers decide to sign elsewhere, permits Rodgers to play only for Pittsburgh once training camp begins and, if unsigned by Week 10, precludes him from playing anywhere in 2026 absent a finding of “extreme hardship” by an independent arbitrator. Boxing him in felt a bit aggressive, in light of the previously expressed optimism from organizational sources. And given that no other team has been credibly linked to Rodgers, the transaction piqued a lot of people’s curiosity. The intrigue grew last Thursday when a Pittsburgh radio station, 93.7 The Fan, reported that Rodgers would be in the city over the weekend and was expected to sign with the Steelers, with NFL Network quickly confirming the visit. The next day, during an interview with Westwood One radio, Pittsburgh general manager Omar Khan said, “I don’t know where, specifically, Aaron is.” Good times. Essentially, according to a team source, the Steelers’ powers that be were caught off guard by reports of Rodgers’ apparent visit to Pittsburgh, as no plans for a meeting had been made. They claim to be out of the loop. And now, they wait. It’s a familiar position. Last offseason, Rodgers explored the possibility of signing with the Minnesota Vikings, who ultimately decided against making the move. He spent months communicating with McCarthy’s predecessor, Mike Tomlin, before settling on the Steelers as his next destination. At training camp last summer, Rodgers told me his connection to Tomlin — and the coach’s empathy and patience as the quarterback struggled with some off-the-field trauma — was the primary reason he’d chosen to return for a 21st season. It wasn’t always pretty, but the partnership proved to be a productive one. Though not nearly as mobile as he was during his heyday, the four-time MVP went on an impressive late-season run, leading the Steelers to four victories in their final five regular-season games, including a dramatic, AFC North-clinching victory over the Baltimore Ravens on “Sunday Night Football.” Then, in the playoffs, it all came crashing down: The Houston Texans’ defense swallowed up Rodgers and the Steelers, setting up what looked like an inglorious exit. Tomlin’s subsequent decision to step away, after a 19-year run without a losing season, made Rodgers’ return appear even less probable. The aging Steelers, nearly a decade removed from their most recent playoff victory, seemed poised for a reboot. They could have hired a promising coach in his 30s — as they had with Chuck Noll, Bill Cowher and Tomlin — and had faith that he’d grow into the job and hoist a Lombardi Trophy. They could have traded star edge rusher T.J. Watt and undergone a roster overhaul. Instead, they stayed in win-now mode and hired the 62-year-old McCarthy. That injected a new dynamic into a potential Rodgers return. Though the two men clashed semi-frequently during their highly successful, 13-season partnership in Green Bay — I once compared them to the “two visionaries” depicted in an iconic “This Is Spinal Tap” scene — time away seemed to increase their appreciation for one another. Early signs pointed to a reunion. McCarthy said he was in regular communication with the quarterback, and the team’s actions over the past two months have suggested confidence that he’ll return. The tell is the lack of a contingency plan. The Steelers could have protected themselves against the possibility of Rodgers not coming back in a variety of ways, from trading for a younger player (Malik Willis, Mac Jones) to targeting an established veteran (Geno Smith, Kirk Cousins) to moving up in the first round to draft Alabama’s Ty Simpson. They did none of that, meaning that the current options beyond Rodgers are veteran backup Mason Rudolph, 2025 sixth-round pick Will Howard and former Penn State quarterback Drew Allar, who Pittsburgh selected in the third round of last month’s draft. In other words, the prospects of breaking that seven-game postseason losing streak — or even getting to the playoffs — look pretty bleak if Rodgers isn’t back in (yellow and) black. McCarthy, with 12 playoff appearances and a Super Bowl victory in his 18 seasons as an NFL coach, doesn’t have time or tolerance for protracted uncertainty at the sport’s most important position, nor should he. The Steelers, because they essentially stood pat, need Rodgers — and that means they have little choice but to wait this out and hope for the best. Essentially, Rodgers has the leverage, and this will play out on his timeline. If money is at the root of his indecision, well, I’m inclined to take the quarterback’s side. He played for just $13.65 million in 2025, a vastly below-market deal. The unrestricted free-agent tender established a roughly $15 million salary for 2026, but the team can — and should — offer him significantly more given his value and the lack of a viable alternative. Pay the man, and if you’re lucky, he’ll show up for at least a slice of the offseason program. Steelers quarterback Aaron Rodgers smiles during a mandatory minicamp in June, 2025.Aaron Rodgers was on the field for the Pittsburgh Steelers’ 2025 mandatory minicamp.Joe Robbins / Icon Sportswire via Getty ImagesAnd if he doesn’t? McCarthy has seen a lot of drama during his career, most recently a five-year run as the Dallas Cowboys’ coach that included three consecutive 12-5 seasons. At this stage, it takes a lot to make him flinch. Yet if the uncertainty surrounding Rodgers drags on and he senses the team is being disrupted, it may evoke memories of that surreal summer of 2008. McCarthy’s breaking point — a terrible practice he traced to his own distractedness — was a clarifying moment for him and his players. One of them, future first-ballot Hall of Famer Charles Woodson, told me pointedly on that fateful Tuesday afternoon, “I think (the drama surrounding Favre) should end today. We should be talking about the team; instead, we’ve talked about one guy for the last five minutes. This is a situation unique to itself, and it has become its own monster.” That night, McCarthy acknowledged as much to his players, apologizing for having missed the previous night’s meeting (while attempting to hash out a resolution with Favre and general manager Ted Thompson) and promising that the worst was over. The next day, the Packers had a much crisper practice, Favre boarded a flight to Mississippi and, within hours, Green Bay completed the trade with the Jets. I can still recall the exasperation in McCarthy’s voice as he walked off the practice field that morning and, for the next 15 minutes or so, reviewed the craziness of the previous several days. “I’m a football coach,” he said. “I know (talking to the media) is part of my job description, and I don’t mind doing it, but I have no desire to stand out there and answer all the political questions. I’m going to tell the truth, and that’s that. I’m not going to be politically correct. I’m sick of it.” This time, I suspect, McCarthy will be far more patient. What other choice does he have? |
| AFC EAST |
| MIAMIHoping for a fast re-build, the Dolphins have given a big contract to RB De’VON ACHANE. Marcel Louis-Jacques of ESPN.com: Highest APY In Current RB ContractsPlayer Team APYSaquon Barkley Eagles $20.6MChristian McCaffrey 49ers $19.0MDe’Von Achane Dolphins $16.0M – The Miami Dolphins and running back De’Von Achane agreed to a four-year contract extension worth $64 million, a source confirmed to ESPN on Wednesday, keeping the Pro Bowler in South Florida through the 2030 season. The deal includes $32 million guaranteed, and the $16 million average annual value makes Achane the third-highest-paid running back in the NFL. Bonuses could push the total value to $68 million. It marks the first major extension under general manager Jon-Eric Sullivan, who called Achane a “pillar” of what the Dolphins are looking to build moving forward. “He’s dynamic. I mean, there’s plays that you’re not even blocked right for and he gets 6 or 7 yards,” Dolphins coach Jeff Hafley said in March. “His vision, his acceleration, the way he can catch the ball out of the backfield, he’s so hard to defend. I’m glad [Sullivan] said that.” Achane rushed for a career-high 1,350 yards in 2025 and was named to his first Pro Bowl. Since entering the league in 2023, he leads all qualified running backs with 5.6 yards per carry and is tied with Derrick Henry and Jonathan Taylor for the second-most rushes of at least 50 yards. The third-round pick has also been highly productive as a pass catcher, with 172 receptions and 13 receiving touchdowns during his first three seasons. Though the Dolphins traded or released several of their core stars this offseason in an effort to get younger and cheaper, the team has maintained Achane’s importance to its long-term plans. Sullivan said the running back was not available for trade prior to the draft, calling it Miami’s priority to sign Achane to an extension sooner rather than later. During his introductory news conference in February, Hafley said the Dolphins intend to run the ball effectively in 2026, and their personnel moves this offseason have reflected that goal. Miami used a first-round pick on Alabama tackle Kadyn Proctor, who said he’s excited to clear running lanes for Achane. “It’s going to feel so good, man,” Proctor said. “Knowing that you’re blocking for a guy that makes your job easier, you just sustain your block for as long as you can and give effort and have that grit and toughness. He’s going to make plays. He’s a great running back, fast as hell, and I can’t wait to block for him.” Achane is the latest running back to receive a sizable contract this offseason. Travis Etienne Jr., Breece Hall and Kenneth Walker III signed contracts worth $48 million, $45.75 million and $43 million, respectively. With Achane signed, the Dolphins will turn their attention toward extending their other two “pillars,” center Aaron Brewer and linebacker Jordyn Brooks. Achane’s agreement with the Dolphins was first reported by NFL journalist Jordan Schultz. |
| NEW YORK JETSThe Jets have signed WR TIM PATRICK per Rick Cimini of ESPN.com: Adding much-needed experience to their wide receivers room, the New York Jets have agreed to terms with free agent Tim Patrick, a source told ESPN. Patrick, 32, who visited the team facility Wednesday, will sign a one-year contract for about $1.5 million, slightly above the NFL’s veteran salary benefit. The Jets bolstered the receiving corps in the draft, selecting former Indiana star Omar Cooper Jr. in the first round (30th) after trading up from the top pick in the second round (33). But they wanted to add a veteran presence to a young group. Their top three receivers are Garrett Wilson and Isaiah Williams, who are 25, and Adonai Mitchell, 23. Patrick played last season for the Jacksonville Jaguars, who acquired him in a 2025 trade with the Detroit Lions. He played 336 snaps on offense for the Jaguars, finishing with 15 receptions, 187 yards and three touchdowns in 16 games. He started three games when Brian Thomas Jr. was injured. Jets coach Aaron Glenn is familiar with Patrick; Glenn was the Lions’ defensive coordinator in 2024. Before he was with Detroit, Patrick spent six seasons with the Denver Broncos. Jets general manager Darren Mougey was a Broncos executive over that span. |
| THIS AND THAT |
| AI AND THE NFL SCHEDULEMore on the computer that spits out the NFL schedule from Jayna Bardahl of The Athletic: Formulating the NFL’s 272-game regular-season schedule has grown more complex as the league continues to add streaming partners, international contests and holiday features. But an underrated element to the schedule-making process is accounting for everything besides football that impacts viewership trends. Airbnb prices, weather, local sporting events and even the economy each have some pull on an NFL fan’s likelihood to spend their Sunday (or Monday or Wednesday or Thursday for that matter) tuning into a game. And to maximize viewership, the NFL partners with Recentive Analytics to help predict the impact of even the most niche scenarios. “Where we really try to focus all of our efforts is everything that has nothing to do with the NFL,” said Andy Tabrizi, founder of Recentive Analytics. “That may sound really strange to say when we’re talking about forecasting NFL viewership, but the reason why our model is so accurate is that we’ve really been able to figure out the NFL as a function of everything else.” Tabrizi first started experimenting with prediction models in middle school to help him hustle his friends in fantasy football. He founded Recentive Analytics in 2013 and, four years later, began working with the NFL to forecast ticketing behavior for local clubs and marquee events like the Super Bowl. After a few months, that partnership extended to the broadcasting department, where Tabrizi’s company helps the league forecast viewership across every TV window, broadcast channel and matchup. Recentive’s platform uses data from more than 1,200 sources and is accessed by NFL executives who can select from many factors to simulate game scenarios. Even for the biggest football fans, Tabrizi said, tuning in to watch seven hours of football on Sunday is still just a fraction of time compared to the rest of the week. That’s why Recentive Analytics powers its model with minuscule and hyper-specific external factors. “While some (factors) may be less than a point of impact, when you’re talking about many, many, many of them, it really does start to move the needle,” Tabrizi said. “Oftentimes, people really take a step back and realize the NFL, like everything else, is a part of my life, and it’s not the entirety of it. So as a result, we try and think about the entirety of it.” So, what exactly does the economy have to do with NFL viewership? Tabrizi broke that one down to a friend recently. “When times are really good, you may have some kid down the street that you’re paying a hundred bucks to mow your lawn. And as a result of that, you have a free Sunday afternoon, and thus you’re whatever percentage points more likely to watch an NFL game,” Tabrizi said. “But when things aren’t as good, and you don’t have those luxuries, and now you’re mowing the lawn yourself on Sunday afternoon, well, that’s one less possible viewer that could watch an NFL game.” The NFL averaged 18.7 million viewers per game during the 2025 regular season, which was the second-highest since audience averages began being kept in 1988, according to the Associated Press. The league’s record-setting viewership has led to lucrative media rights deals that have expanded from traditional networks to streaming platforms like Amazon’s Prime Video and Netflix. When considering everything outside the NFL bubble, some of the predictions Recentive Analytics has provided have seemed surprising at first. Take the 2020 COVID-impacted season, when some predicted NFL viewership would reach new heights as fans looked for a distraction or way to keep busy during quarantines. Recentive’s model predicted the opposite. “Media consumption is pretty much a zero-sum game. If something is going up in viewership, it pretty much guarantees that something else is going down,” Tabrizi said. “In that period of time, whether it was because of the election or COVID or the economy, whatever it was, cable news consumption was up by several multiples. “A lot of other things have to go down to account for that, and obviously, one of the things that’s going to go down is discretionary interests like watching sporting events.” As it turned out, viewership for the 2020 regular season decreased 7 percent from the year prior, according to Nielsen. The 15.4 million viewer average that year was the lowest for the league since 2017. The league refers back to Recentive’s models throughout the season and playoffs to flex games into the most optimal windows. Last season’s Chicago Bears-Green Bay Packers wild-card playoff game was flexed to Saturday night on Prime Video, which caught some grumblings from fans. Traditionally, the marquee wild-card matchup has fallen into the late Sunday afternoon matchup. However, in this scenario, Recentive’s model showed that the gravitational pull of the NFC North showdown was enough to flex it to a less-traditional TV spot. “Through our forecast, we were able to show, ‘Hey, that game is so interesting to fans, that you’re not going to lose any meaningful audience just because you’re going from Sunday afternoon to Saturday night,’” Tabrizi said. “(The NFL is) interested in getting the biggest overall (number). So over the course of all of those games, putting that Chicago game on Saturday night, maybe (results in) a little bit of a drop-off on Sunday, but an aggregate between those two windows, the (NFL) ended up in a better place.” The numbers followed. The Bears-Packers game was the most-streamed game in NFL history with 31.6 million viewers. Meanwhile, the San Francisco 49ers-Philadelphia Eagles game Sunday afternoon also set a record as the most-watched wild-card game on any network since 2022, with 41 million views on Fox. Forecasts can be more important — and complicated — when predicting for new factors like broadcast channels or international destinations. Tabrizi said he has found viewership for international games is more heavily tied to game quality than matchups played during traditional timing windows. Scarcity has also been a topic of discussion lately in NFL scheduling. The NFL has long stood out for its condensed season that prioritizes Sundays, but new streaming partners, an increased presence around Thanksgiving and Christmas and regular-season expansion have spread the calendar open. The 2026 NFL season will kick off on a Wednesday for just the second time in league history. Tabrizi said to account for the increased cadence of games, there’s been more of a focus on setting up the season holistically. That means looking at which late-season matchups might have the most at stake versus which teams might fizzle out of the postseason picture earlier. “There is always a tipping point with any business for anything at which point supply exceeds demand,” Tabrizi said. “I certainly don’t think the NFL is there or close to it, but the reality is, if you used to have six games on a Sunday afternoon and now you’re taking one of those games off and moving it to a Tuesday night or whatever, it has to impact what Sunday afternoon does. “The real question is: Is the trade-off worth it because we’re still getting more incremental viewers on Tuesday? The answer so far has been yes.” The NFL will unveil the full 2026 regular-season schedule Thursday at 8 p.m. ET. It will include a record-high nine international games and, if it matches last year, nine broadcast channels throughout the 18 weeks. And, off the field, there’s even more to consider. “You can’t really maximize something if you’re not able to forecast; otherwise, you’re just rooted in opinions and feelings,” Tabrizi said. “What we help (the NFL) really understand is everything on the margins, the incremental value of going with option X versus option Y, and all the trade-offs in between.” |
