Tag Archives: 2026 NFL season

NFL Offseason

Second- and third-year breakout candidates for the 2026 NFL season – Defense edition:

Back for the second half of this annual series. With us being in the true dead period of the NFL offseason, with training camps set to start partially about a week from now, we’re talking about young breakout defenders across the league. Yet again, we’ll be looking at seven different players on the other side of the ball.

Defining the term “breakout” can be somewhat volatile, so here are the guidelines I typically set for the defensive players – no front-seven defenders who recorded double-digit sacks or tackles for loss, players who intercepted 4+ passes, earned a Pro Bowl/All-Pro nomination, or are just generally considered one of the better performers at their respective positions. Moreover, I typically stay away from guys who have barely seen action in the pros up to this point. This, for example, makes names like cornerback Travis Hunter (Jaguars) and defensive tackle Walter Nolen (Cardinals) ineligible.

Among last year’s group, Laiatu Latu finished top 20 in total QB pressures with the Colts, Payton Wilson made some key plays as one of the starting linebackers for the Steelers to help them make the playoffs, and Browns safety Ronnie Hickman was credited with only one touchdown allowed on well over 1000 defensive snaps, compared to his nine passes defensed. Here’s who made the list this time around:

 

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NFL Offseason

Second- and third-year breakout candidates for the 2026 NFL season – Offense edition:

It’s that time of the year. We’re in the depths of the offseason, with NFL training camps starting off in a couple of weeks. We’ve spent a lot of time discussing the movement of players and construction of rosters, before examining burning questions for all 32 teams at this stage. So now, let’s bring back my annual two-part series on young breakout players across the league. Once again, we’ll be looking at seven different players on offense and defense each.

To avoid questions around what constitutes a “breakout”, here are the guidelines I set for myself – no 1000-yard rushers or receivers, players that have scored double-digit touchdowns, earned a Pro Bowl/All-Pro nomination, or are just generally considered one of the better performers at their respective positions already. That’s why you won’t see someone like Bears tight-end Colston Loveland show up here. Also, I typically try not to include such players who have barely seen the field as pros, although I did make one exception here.

Drake Maye ended up as the runner-up for league MVP, Rome Odunze and Ricky Pearsall showed promising flashes when healthy, and Tanor Bortolini established himself as a quality starter at center for the Colts, as guys who made the list a year ago. Let’s get to the 2026 version:

 

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NFL Offseason

One burning question for each AFC team ahead of the 2026 season:

In the second half of this little mini series, we ask and somewhat try to answer one question on my mind for each AFC team. Once again, this can revolve around certain position groups, schematic details and or any other things that come to mind.

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NFL game rankings

My top 25 games on the 2026 NFL schedule:

I went through the entire 2026 NFL schedule and here are my top 25 games on the slate! 📋

I didn’t include any week 17/18 matchups without fixed starting times or knowing the implications they might have. And I could’ve thrown in a few more divisional matchups (no singular NFC South game quite made it, but the division should be more interesting overall).

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