Bryce Young and the Panthers will total 8,740 air miles during the regular season, by far the lowest mark in the league. The 49ers are slated to lead the NFL with more than 38,000 air miles thanks to east coast trips and an international game. Though Carolina found their way into the postseason last year, they struggled through much of the season, finishing 24th in point differential, below the Falcons and Steelers, among other teams. The team continues to “talk through” a potential extension for Young, who over the past two seasons ranks 33rd out of 43 qualifying quarterbacks in EPA per drop back.
“They are re-uploading their own methods and fundamentals and mechanics,” Pryor said, adding that McCarthy and the team’s QBs coach were “very intentional” with Allar during rookie minicamp, focusing on footwork and basic throwing mechanics. McCarthy is hoping to get Allar to widen his stance and get off of his toes in the pocket. “That’s something that will help him process even more and just move faster as he gets acclimated to the NFL,” Pryor said. A third-round pick in the 2026 NFL Draft who threw 49 touchdowns over the 2023 and 2024 seasons at Penn State, Allar could see significant playing time this season if Aaron Rodgers doesn’t show up this summer. Even if Rodgers eventually decides to report to the Steelers, a lost season for Pittsburgh could put Allar under center down the final stretch of the regular season.
It’s a matchup of two potentially high-powered offenses for the NFL’s annual Munich matchup. This will mark the Pats’ second trip to Munich — they played in the first-ever Munich regular season game — and the organization’s sixth overall international game. Drake Maye will look to continue his hyper-efficient ways in 2026 while Jared Goff and the Lions look to bounce back from a down 2025 campaign in which the team ranked ninth in EPA per play and 12th in success rate, just behind the Bengals and Bears.
Jalen Hurts and the Eagles will take on the Jaguars in Jacksonville’s annual trip to London, where they are 7-7 since the 2013 regular season. Hurts, facing internal criticism this offseason following a difficult 2025 campaign, will look to get back on track in the run-heavy Philly offense that last season ranked 13th in EPA per rush, behind the Commanders and Giants. The Jaguars will look to build off a strong 2025 season, Liam Coen’s first as the team’s head coach. The Jags had the fourth best point differential last season, trailing only the Seahawks, Patriots, and Rams.
The Kyler Murray experiment should be well underway by late November as Kevin O’Connell and the Vikings look to recover from their failed dalliance with J.J. McCarthy as the team’s starting quarterback. Murray will lead a quietly loaded Minnesota offense against Kyle Shanahan’s EPA-maximizing Niners offense. The last time Brock Purdy faced the Vikings defense he threw for 319 yards, one touchdown, and one interception in a Week 2 2024 loss. Purdy took a season-high six sacks in that game.
Penix is nearly six months removed from a torn ACL he suffered in Week 11 of the 2025 season. The team was uncertain of his status heading into camp, but the good news for Penix is that he “is participating in Phase 2 of the Falcons’ offseason program”, a team spokesperson told ESPN’s Marc Raimondi. Per NFL rules, this means Penix can participate in “individual and group instruction and drills but not a full-fledged practice with 11-on-11s or 7-on-7s.” The 26-year-old has now suffered three torn ACLs over his college and pro career and may be competing with Tua Tagovailoa for the Falcons’ starting job. Participation in parts of the Falcons’ offseason program is a good sign for Penix while he ramps back up to full health.
The Saints will host the Steelers in a Paris matchup, the inaugural Paris game for the NFL at the Stade de France. The Saints did not play an international game in 2025 while the Steelers will play overseas for the second straight year, defeating the Vikings in Ireland last season. The game will be during Week 7 of the 2026 season, potentially meaning a bye for both teams before or after the game.
In an appearance for NFL Network, Morgan stated the Panthers are talking through an extension for Young and will be in touch with his agent. The Panthers picked up the quarterback’s fifth-year option this offseason, putting him under contract through 2027. Morgan was noncommittal on an extension happening this offseason, saying “when a contract happens, we’ll see about that.” Young has faced his own ups-and-downs throughout his Panthers tenure and his 2026 campaign will define his contract beyond 2027.
Hurst has gotten much attention out of Bucs rookie minicamp as a true X receiver in the offense. Robinson praised the versatility of Jalen McMillan, Emeka Egbuka, and Chris Godwin Jr., but said having a true X receiver is “an absolute threat.” Whether Hurst is a legitimate threat as a deep target or is simply running a go-route as a “sacrificial X”, Robinson seems to like having the option of a tall receiver to stretch the defense. Hurst is still outside the top-three on the pass-catching pecking order in Tampa Bay, but could certainly be worth a dart throw with boom-or-bust upside running outside deep routes as an X receiver.
The NFL announced that the Bengals and Falcons will play in Madrid for Week 9 of the 2026 season. It is the NFL’s second time having a game in Madrid, reaching a deal earlier this year to play more games at Bernabeu Stadium, home of the Real Madrid soccer club. Burrow will play his first career international game, the Bengals’ first in seven years. Meanwhile, Bijan Robinson and the Falcons will return overseas after playing in Berlin last year. Both teams will hope to be contending in their division at this halfway-point in the season after both missed the playoffs last season.
An unfortunate string of injuries has prevented Trice from becoming a full-time contributor to the Steelers’ defense. He played in six games in 2024, but knee and hamstring injuries led to zero games played in 2025. The Steelers waive Trice after a failed physical and the 25-year-old will look for a new offseason team.
He was told in the same tone that the children in The Simpsons episode “Team Homer” played tag whilst wearing the grey uniforms. Brissett remains absent from early offseason work while he seeks a new contract, but this at least should shift the comfort level on drafting Cardinals wideouts a bit in early best ball leagues. Brissett is set to earn $4.88 million in the final year of his contract, well below what a starting quarterback makes, so it’s not a surprise that he’s holding out for the time being.
“During rookie minicamp, the former Penn State quarterback worked his two- and three-step drops at an almost robotic-like pace. That was intentional,” DeFabo writes. Perhaps it all clicks later in the offseason, but we’d be surprised to see Allar as a real option in-game this year based on this observation.
This probably isn’t overly concerning just yet. It was reported that Irving had offseason shoulder surgery after playing through the issue late last year. “Time will tell if he is able to get cleared to see the field during OTAs or if the team will hold off until training camp,” reports the venerable Bucs-focused website. If Irving’s absence continues to drag on, the Kenneth Gainwell train will begin to gain steam again in 2026.
Chris Ballard has emphasized lately that he “still thinks Richardson has something to offer.” We can certainly see the logic behind the Colts not doing another team a favor by letting Richardson become a free agent, but if there’s no market here, it seems likely that Richardson will likely just be the team’s third quarterback this season behind Daniel Jones and Riley Leonard.
Vaughn has now washed out of Dallas and Denver over the past calendar year, and didn’t record a carry for the Broncos in 2025 while hanging on the practice squad. The 24-year-old will look to resurface elsewhere.
Bond finds himself on a stacked depth chart and will most likely wind up on IR or the practice squad for his rookie season. The 22-year-old has a chance to develop into a real option with time, but any potential paths to playing time would probably depend on one of Jaylin Noel or Jayden Higgins falling out of favor or getting injured.
Fellow EDGE Nick Bosa (also knee, also ACL), who suffered his injury six weeks earlier, is expected back for Week 1. It sounds like Williams is in more doubt. Based on that, it’s certainly possible the second-year EDGE player starts training camp on the PUP list. 49ers beats saw Williams doing side-to-side movements and working with resistance bands at rookie minicamp, so he’s certainly active, but he still has several hurdles to clear in his rehab before a return is on the table.
Omar Cooper Jr. is primarily a slot player, and the Jets didn’t bring in real competition at outside receiver for Mitchell. That doesn’t necessarily mean big things are afoot for Mitchell’s fantasy value — between Cooper and Kenyon Sadiq, there would appear to be more mouths to feed in an offense that starved many last year — but it does mean he should at least see the majority of the snaps this year.
(Deep sigh.) “The word ‘“aura”’ has been thrown around — including by running back Breece Hall — after a slo-mo video of Klubnik walking out to practice on Thursday,” Rosenblatt writes. Klubnik also gathered Jets rookies at the team hotel to run through plays in a weight room even though the receivers were running “three-yard routes” in Klubnik’s words. We suppose there’s a low bar for excitement on the Jets quarterback front. It’s plausible that Klubnik rebounds from a down final season at Clemson that claimed the draft stock of both himself and several of his teammates. We’d be surprised if he made a real push to play this year without injuries ahead of him.
Someone has to catch passes here, and the Raiders don’t have a single receiver who has cracked 700 yards in an NFL season. Both GM John Spytek and Kubiak have touted the idea of playing in bigger personnel. It’s certainly possible that Mayer gets more of a role in 2026, but with Brock Bowers ahead of him in the pecking order, Mayer probably belongs in the low-end TE2 pecking order until we see a firm role.
Egbuka floundered a bit down the stretch for fantasy managers after a strong first half of the season — some of that was Mike Evans coming back from injury, some of it was Baker Mayfield apparently playing through several injuries on his own. Still, based on what he did in the first half of the season, it’s plausible to believe he could challenge for a low-end WR1 fantasy ranking in his second season. Robinson certainly had no problem loading up his best receiver (Drake London) with targets last year.
Bell likely profiles as a potential deep sleeper in 2026, but he would have some real fantasy value if he found a real role in Buffalo’s offense. Keon Coleman hasn’t exactly endeared himself to anyone and Joshua Palmer had a lackluster first season with the Bills. With Tyrell Shavers also likely out early after tearing an ACL in the playoffs, Bell should be on the radar in the late second or early third round of rookie drafts.
You can never quite rule out the Browns quarterback situation just taking a weird turn towards Green at some point in the season — the situation is that unsettled — but it appears like this would be the easiest way for the 182nd overall pick to get involved early on in his career. Todd Monken said it’s “probably too early to tell that,” but added that “there would be a possibility of him (in) short yardage ... maybe some third down stuff that we could utilize.” Green is a name to remember for fantasy managers because his athleticism would seem to be an easy key to fantasy points if he can figure out the rest of the quarterback position, but he’s probably just a lottery ticket at this point.
Miller will clearly have a chance to step in right away as the bookend on the other side of Penei Sewell, it did seem like the Lions were leaning towards having Sewell play left tackle this offseason. Rookie tackles are not exactly a dependable source of solid play right away, but Miller’s career at Clemson leads us to believe he’ll have a decent floor right away, which should help the Lions pass protection and run game this season.