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The 2026 NFL regular season kicks off on Wednesday, so here’s the latest as we head into Week 1 …
New England Patriots
The Patriots reached agreement overnight with star corner Christian Gonzalez on a blockbuster four-year, $135 million extension. If you’re a nerd for the details, and I’ve become one over the years, you can see where the compromises came from for the team and Gonzalez to reach an agreement.
So let’s dig through that now, and the wins for both sides, based on what other players got earlier this offseason at the position.
First is with the big number: the new-money APY (average per year). This was a draw. Gonzalez got $33.75 million per year, another uptick on the market like what happened to Trent McDuffie ($31 million APY), Denzel Ward ($31.1 million) and Devon Witherspoon ($33 million APY) this offseason. But it wasn’t a total reset. One metric to look at is how Patrick Surtain II, the standard at the position, received a 14% raise over the market in 2024. Gonzalez’s was 12.5% above the pre-2026 market.
Second, you have the full guarantee, where the Patriots got a concession. Gonzalez came in at $53.928 million, well clear of McDuffie ($50 million), and well short of Witherspoon ($59.255 million). The twist, though, is that Witherspoon had more money left on his rookie deal. If you add it up, the raise Gonzalez received over the two existing years of his rookie contract, $33 million, is identical to Witherspoon’s bump.
Third, though, is that Gonzalez got the Patriots to go where the Seahawks wouldn’t with Witherspoon and where the Rams did with McDuffie: setting early vesting dates for the 2028 and ’29 guarantees, making those years virtually guaranteed. And since Gonzalez is due $35.81 million in cash in ’26, meaning his $33 million raise comes now (in a signing bonus), that’d be the penalty in either year for walking away before guaranteeing a third or fourth year (not happening).
And then, finally, the team won on the four-year number, $96.928 million, which is lower than the nine-figure totals McDuffie and Witherspoon landed over their first four years, part of which, again, is because Gonzalez was working off lower existing numbers.
One final piece where Gonzalez won: He got the Patriots to go without any per-game roster bonuses for the first two years of the deal.
In the end, the deal landed in a place where Gonzalez’s camp had been for over a week, with the team coming up on the average per year and guarantees on Monday, while getting rid of some of the per-game roster bonuses to meet their star where he was.
The deal is done now after a contentious negotiation. There was a point, to be sure, where Gonzalez was frustrated—and, as I’ve heard it, wondering why he was made to feel a way that his buddy Witherspoon never felt in Seattle, in just how a team handles its star. But the opener is on Wednesday, and the Patriots, after all of these years, have a premium homegrown player at a premium position sitting at the top of the market.
The best news for New England, in this new world of theirs, is that one of their best players has been rewarded the way that Mike Vrabel promised his guys would be as he built a new program.
And now, by the way, they’ve got an even bigger piece of business coming next year with their quarterback.
Quinyon Mitchell
As for who could be affected by Gonzalez’s deal, I’d say the first player that comes to mind is Eagles corner Quinyon Mitchell, who’s flashed high-end ability and was a second-team All-Pro pick for me last year in his second year in the NFL. Philadelphia is generally hyper-aggressive in taking care of its own, so Mitchell’s deal could come quickly after the coming season ends, as he becomes eligible for a second contract.
Mitchell’s teammate Cooper DeJean (who is primarily a nickel), Baltimore’s Nate Wiggins and Houston’s Kamari Lassiter would be three other 2024 draftees to watch.
More immediately, Pittsburgh’s Joey Porter Jr. is still seeking a new deal. The Steelers, who have a policy of not negotiating with players after the season starts, have a history of getting deals done to beat that buzzer. And, of course, good as Porter is, there’s certainly a chance we’ll see another market correction to Surtain’s deal down the line.
Atlanta Falcons
The Falcons’ decision to go with Tua Tagovailoa boiled down to the health and readiness of Michael Penix Jr. Medically, he was cleared for 11-on-11 on Aug. 22, and the doctors have signed off on him dressing for the opener. But this isn’t about that; it’s also about his ability to go and operate at a high level in an NFL game, coming off another torn ACL (he had two in college, both to his right knee; this one was to his left knee).
In that regard, the team felt like he needed more time, which is why he’ll be inactive for the opener against the Steelers, and Cooper Rush will be the backup to Tagovailoa.
I wouldn’t take this as Tagovailoa, who was shaky this summer, beating out Penix. And I do think Penix will get an extended run, as the new leadership group of Matt Ryan, Ian Cunningham and Kevin Stefanski try to get a clearer picture of their quarterback situation through their first year working together (which will obviously color the picture beyond that).
Baltimore Ravens
Similarly, I wouldn’t take the Ravens going with Jovaughn Gwyn, who came over from Atlanta with line coach Dwayne Ledford, as their starting center as a final decision.
Yes, Gwyn has a shot to win the job. But the staff really likes Ethan Pocic, and what he’ll be able to do for Declan Doyle as Doyle goes into his first year as a play-calling coordinator. Pocic, the Browns’ starting center over the past four years, has great experience and know-how, and needs a little more time coming back off a torn Achilles.
Kansas City Chiefs
The Josh Simmons situation in Kansas City looms as an issue, with Jaylon Moore, a big free-agent addition last year, and Kahlil Benson, an undrafted rookie out of Indiana who was a revelation through camp, in the mix to replace him for Week 1. Simmons’s back issue cropped up during camp and has lingered (it’s not related to last year’s absence), and there’s uncertainty over when he’ll return.
Going with Benson would create the least disruption. Going with Moore would mean having to replace him at right tackle, probably with Benson or newly acquired fellow rookie Diego Pounds. Neither solution, of course, is ideal with Nik Bonitto coming to Arrowhead Stadium on Monday.
New York Giants
Two things stick out to me on the Giants’ decision to release veteran receiver Darius Slayton a year after giving him a three-year, $36 million deal.
The first is obvious: No one from the prior era is on scholarship anymore with John Harbaugh now in charge. The second speaks more to the NFL’s rules—if Slayton were on the roster through Week 1, then his $12.25 million base salary for this year would become fully guaranteed, so it was the team’s last chance to get out from under it.
Brandon Graham
Happy trails to Brandon Graham—who’s retiring again, this time he says for good, after 16 NFL seasons. Making it to 10 is an enormous accomplishment, so to get to a decade and a half is remarkable. To spend that whole time with one team is even more impressive.
It’s also another chance to note how rare what the Eagles had with their core—having had a pair of offensive linemen (Jason Kelce, Lane Johnson) and a pair of defensive linemen (Fletcher Cox, Graham) together in one place for over a decade—really was. It wouldn’t surprise me if I never see that again covering the league.
NFL Kickoff Game
Finally, a note for Wednesday night. Before the Super Bowl, I had a really smart coach who knows both New England and Seattle say to me, “Tell me how many snaps the Seahawks’ three safeties play together, and I’ll tell you who wins the game.” In the end, Nick Emmanwori, Coby Bryant and Julian Love played 70 of 71 snaps.
The premise was that if the Patriots couldn’t run well enough to force Seattle out of the look, the Seahawks could play with two high safeties the whole game, and New England was cooked.
It held true.
Seven months later, for the rematch, Bryant’s gone, his replacement, Ty Okada, seems unlikely to play, and Emmanwori’s probably out, too. So file all that away.
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ALBERT BREER
Albert Breer is a senior writer covering the NFL for Sports Illustrated, delivering the biggest stories and breaking news from across the league. He has been on the NFL beat since 2005 and joined SI in 2016. Breer began his career covering the New England Patriots for the MetroWest Daily News and the Boston Herald from 2005 to ’07, then covered the Dallas Cowboys for the Dallas Morning News from 2007 to ’08. He worked for The Sporting News from 2008 to ’09 before returning to Massachusetts as The Boston Globe’s national NFL writer in 2009. From 2010 to 2016, Breer served as a national reporter for NFL Network. In addition to his work at Sports Illustrated, Breer regularly appears on NBC Sports Boston, 98.5 The Sports Hub in Boston, FS1 with Colin Cowherd, The Rich Eisen Show and The Dan Patrick Show. A 2002 graduate of Ohio State, Breer lives near Boston with his wife, a cardiac ICU nurse at Boston Children’s Hospital, and their three children.
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