2026 NFL Season

[SeaBreeze341]

The 107th season of the National Football League gets going in 5 days as of this post.  Some of the biggest moves thus far in terms of Free Agency and eventually the Draft include the Rams getting Trent Mcduffie from Kansas City, and Diggs getting booted from New England.  Other pending moves include Crosby leaving Las Vegas to go elsewhere.  Chicago is favored to acquire him.

You can find several of the key dates right here from the NFL site.  It's not a great list, as it includes dates from the start of the calendar year up until training camp.  No key dates for the start of the season.

Still a nice resource, but the biggest key dates are March 11 for Free Agency moves becoming official, April 23-25 for the NFL Draft, September 10 and January 10 for the start and end of the regular season, and then the NFL postseason starting on January 16 and slated to end on Valentines Day

[Ccook]

Miami will cut QB Tua Tagovailoa and eat $99 million in dead money on top of what they owe him ($54 million this year).

UPDATE: Tua has agreed to a one-year deal with the Atlanta Falcons.

[SeaBreeze341]

I wish I caught where Kansas City was prior to their acquisition of Kenneth Walker, but they are currently favorites to regain the AFC West Title.  Currently K.C. has the third best odds to win the AFC (tied with Los Angeles), but they are in a tie for 7th best to win the Super Bowl with the Chargers & Detroit.  I imagine there wasn't much movement if at all.

Speaking of the former AFC West champions, Kelce is slated to return for his 14th season as their tight end

[Ccook]

Fresh from being cut from Atlanta, Kirk Cousins has signed with Las Vegas. He'll get $20 million guaranteed this year with a two-year option worth up to $80 million. Fernando Mendoza will likely be a Raiders first round pick, so he and Cousins vying for the starting QB spot should be interesting.

[SeaBreeze341]

The 2025 Heisman winner & CFB Playoff winner Fernando Mendoza, whose name is slated to be heard before anybody else, will be no-show when the Draft gets going one week from today (as of this post).  There was concern that the best players have opted to stay home with family several times over the past dozen years, which is the timeframe that the NFL Draft took place outside of New York.  Probably nothing more than a coincidence, but a pretty valid reason IMO. 

FWIW, the 2015 top 2 picks both skipped as did the 2020 first overall pick.  The 2015 Draft was the first one since the league moved out of Radio City, and the pandemic changed things in 2020.

The 2026 Draft isn't an ideal place to hold the event, so several may be better off staying home.  However, it's not going to be the worst thing either as speculated by several not too long ago.  While half a million people is a possibility that's the total throughout the whole even, not simultaneously (one night).  Probably 100,000 to 150,000.  Still a ton but fair enough.

[SeaBreeze341]

Didn't get a chance to mention that the Giants have 2 of the first ten picks (via a trade with Cincinnati)

[Ccook]

Atlanta drafts Zachariah Branch (WR-USC, Ga) in round two. Just this past early Sunday morning following the Georgia spring game, Branch was arrested in Athens for obstruction of a public sidewalk and obstruction of law enforcement. He was released after posting a $39 bond.