Albert Breer’s Super Bowl Takeaways: Patriots’ Path Will Get Tougher in 2026

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New England Patriots
Offseason quarterback moves
C.J. Stroud
Mac Jones
Maxx Crosby
Jim Schwartz
George Pickens
Tom Brady
The Bay Area
Quick-hitters

SANTA CLARA, Calif. — For the final takeaways of the 2025 season, we’ll take one last look back with this season’s runner-up, and then look forward to 2026.

New England Patriots

The Patriots’ season, despite how it ended, was still a massive success story. New England goes forward now with Drake Maye going into Year 3, and Mike Vrabel going into Year 2, way ahead of schedule, with a proof of concept that will help them this offseason.

Now, part of this story is the path the Patriots took.

Consider the list of quarterbacks that Patrick Mahomes faced in his seven AFC title game appearances: Tom Brady, Ryan Tannehill, Josh Allen, Joe Burrow, Burrow again, Lamar Jackson, and then Allen again. And in the year that Mahomes faced Tannehill, his divisional-round opponent was Deshaun Watson when he was a top-five (or so) quarterback, and in that game Mahomes had to come back from a 24–0 deficit.

So the fact that Maye and the Patriots didn’t have to face Allen, Mahomes, Burrow or Jackson on their way to the Super Bowl is a stroke of good fortune that likely won’t happen again anytime soon in the AFC bracket.

But 17 wins is 17 wins, and New England turned its roster around quickly. That gives the Patriots a chance to prove this was more than the product of a shaky schedule.

That said, here are a few questions facing the franchise going into 2026:

• Who’s being rewarded? Christian Gonzalez is eligible for a new contract. So whether or not to pay him now—he played really well in the Super Bowl, and finished his season strong—at about $35 million per year is the biggest contractual decision the Patriots have coming.

There are also a few guys who were on one-year contracts or are at the end of rookie deals (Khyiris Tonga, K’Lavon Chaisson, Jaylinn Hawkins, Kayshon Boutte) who broke out and will be looking to cash in. And New England’s going to have to be smart in deciding who to reward. The Commanders ran everything back last year in a similar spot, and their bad luck could be a cautionary tale for New England in looking to build on 2025.

• How do the Patriots take advantage of having Maye on a rookie contract? The most obvious need the team has is for an edge rusher as a sort of final piece for a really good defense. And that could be where you see them putting resources this spring. A trade for Maxx Crosby, with Crosby having an affection for Mike Vrabel, might make sense. Or the team could go get Trey Hendrickson as a short-term stopgap (without having to surrender draft picks to get him).

The other logical thing would be to find a difference-maker in the passing game for Maye. A lot of folks will point to A.J. Brown on that one. And I’m sure, if Brown winds up pushing for a trade in Philly, he’d welcome the chance to reunite with Vrabel. But I’m just not sure that it’s in the cards. The Titans initially traded Brown, when Vrabel was the coach, because they were too worried about his knee to extend him. So, four years later, does Vrabel want to take that on? And if he does, would it stand to reason that maybe the Patriots would move on from Stefon Diggs?

• Where are the shifts that result from this season? There are fair questions here about some shifts in the personnel. With defensive coordinator Terrell Williams back, will Zak Kuhr retain defensive play-calling duties? Will the Patriots shift Jared Wilson to his natural position of center, and move on from Garrett Bradbury? And so on and so forth.

Again, it was a phenomenal season for New England. No one saw it going this far. The Patriots have the coach and quarterback. Now we’ll see what they do with that.

Offseason quarterback moves

Quarterback movement this offseason will be interesting. You can start with the number of teams that could be out there looking for a change, upgrade or significant augmentation at the position in 2026. My list: the Dolphins, Jets, Steelers, Browns, Raiders, Vikings, Saints and Cardinals. Then, you have teams like the Panthers, Texans and Buccaneers, where contractual decisions are coming that could affect the quarterbacks in place.

O.K., I just named roughly a third of the league.

Now, the problem: There’s only one guy in the 2026 NFL draft seen as a real solution. There could be guys who rise later in the process, of course, or surprise as late-round picks, such as Brock Purdy. But as it stands, Indiana’s Fernando Mendoza is the only lock to go in the first round. In all likelihood, he’ll be gone to the Raiders with the first pick, leaving everyone else looking for answers at the position, which will force the teams in pursuit to get creative.

For some, I think that’ll mean giving a younger guy a little more of a chance than they usually would. That’ll be New Orleans with Tyler Shough, I’d bet. It could be Shedeur Sanders getting a real chance to compete for the starting job in Cleveland. If Aaron Rodgers retires, maybe Will Howard will even get a look under new Steelers coach Mike McCarthy.

For others, it’ll mean taking a chance at a reclamation project, which could create some musical chairs within the group. Would the Cardinals or Dolphins be willing to eat some money to facilitate offloading the Kyler Murray and Tua Tagovailoa contracts? Along those lines, the 49ers aren’t going to give Mac Jones away, but will get calls (particularly with a far more favorable contract attached to him). And Malik Willis will likely start somewhere next year.

Then, there’s the question of whether someone can connect on a big swing. The Bengals aren’t trading Joe Burrow, but teams no doubt will check on the stability of that situation. The same goes for the Ravens and Lamar Jackson, with another contract negotiation looming. Calls could also be made on C.J. Stroud, depending on how the Texans handle the coming weeks (we’ll get to that in a minute).

And that encapsulates the quarterback picture. There aren’t easy answers, or at least there aren’t if you’re not Tom Brady, John Spytek and Klint Kubiak running the show in Las Vegas. So it’s on all these teams to be a little like Seattle was in finding Sam Darnold, and think outside the box.

C.J. Stroud

The Stroud situation is fascinating. We’ve seen the high end (a successful

rookie year) and the low end (seven turnovers in two playoff games) with the No. 2 pick in the 2023 draft. And the juxtaposition leaves questions about where coach DeMeco Ryans, GM Nick Caserio and the Texans stand at quarterback.

The team can exercise the fifth-year option on Stroud’s rookie contract between now and the middle of May, which would lock Stroud in with the Texans at a fully guaranteed $26.5 million for 2027, and I’d expect they will. It’s a more than reasonable rate for a starting quarterback in the current economic environment.

However, extension talks will be interesting. After what Josh Allen and Dak Prescott received in 2025, a top-shelf quarterback deal going forward will be $60 million-plus, and it might be tough to get Stroud and his camp to take less than that. I’d also expect the team to move aggressively to lock down Will Anderson Jr., like they did Derek Stingley Jr. last year, which could create some awkwardness.

If Stroud’s contract negotiations get sticky, or the Texans prefer to punt them to next year—while rewarding Anderson—will there be friction? Could that impact the Texans’ offseason? Might someone swoop in to see if they could pry the wildly talented 24-year-old away?

These are questions other teams have certainly asked, as Stroud’s gone through his ups and downs. Along those lines, Houston’s September signing of Davis Mills to a one-year, $7 million extension got the attention of some of those same teams. Mills, who was in Caserio’s first draft class, has started 28 games in Houston, and went 3–0 this year, while Stroud was dealing with a midseason concussion.

Stay tuned on this one.

Mac Jones

The 49ers deserve credit on a couple of fronts for Mac Jones. And it actually starts with a little point of regret they had from two offseasons ago. They might’ve been able to get a pick for Sam Darnold had they signed him to a two-year deal, rather than a one-year deal, in 2023. Having learned their lesson from that—after Darnold signed with Minnesota—the Niners insisted on getting Jones signed for two years.

Badly wanting to play for Kyle Shanahan, Jones agreed to it.

Under the terms of his two-year, $8.4 million deal, he’s under contract for $4.67 million in cash in 2026. That’s a bargain for a high-end backup, let alone as someone’s starter. It makes him an incredible value in a trade vs. what you’d have to take on to trade for Tagovailoa ($54 million for 2026 is fully guaranteed) or Murray ($36.8 million this year is fully guaranteed, and another $19.5 million for ’27 is fully guaranteed).

So just as Shanahan and the coaches deserve a ton of credit for maximizing Jones as a player—and he played great for them this year, going 5–3 in place of Brock Purdy—the coach, GM John Lynch and EVP of football operations Paraag Marathe deserve applause for getting a second year on the deal.

The result will leave the team with the flexibility to have Jones on an incredible deal as a backup next year, while surveying any trade options that might be presented.

Maxx Crosby

The Maxx Crosby situation bears watching. Discussion surrounding the Raiders’ star is percolating, so it’s worth addressing the situation. To recap what happened at the end of this year, which caused the escalating discord …

• Crosby initially hurt his knee on Oct. 19 against the Chiefs and had to be managed through every practice week thereafter. Everyone knew he’d eventually need surgery. The question was whether he could continue to play before shutting it down. Pain management was a big piece of it, and what Crosby was enduring led to a new set of scans on Dec. 23, when the Raiders advised the five-time Pro Bowler to shut it down.

• Crosby then sought two second opinions, wanting to finish the season. As a guy who has been in one playoff game in seven seasons, he takes pride in being out there every week and playing at the highest level of the sport. So he wanted to do all he could to finish the season with two games left. The doctors gave him the O.K. Team brass stuck to its guns, shutting him down anyway, which led to a blowup that week between him and the team, and raised his own suspicions that the decision was part of a plan to tank for the No. 1 pick.

• Crosby’s loyalty to the Davis family, and his loyalty to and identity with the Raiders’ organization matter to him, which probably kept that situation from getting worse. But Brady and Alex Guerrero, Brady’s longtime body coach and now a Vegas executive, were involved in all of this from the Raiders’ end (Guerrero’s involvement in communicating all this was part of it). So there’s some fence-mending that’ll be needed on that end, for sure.

• New head coach Klint Kubiak’s arrival this week, and his eventual hire of a defensive coordinator, should be factors in all this, too. Obviously, the new coaches come with a clean slate, not having been around for any of the December drama.

Crosby holds the cards here. His contract is tradeable. He could say he wants to stay. He could say he wants out, and it’d be tough for the front office to saddle its new staff with a team leader who doesn’t want to be there. He’s still only 28 years old.

Where this goes, of course, will be a big story in the coming weeks. It could come to a head at the combine, which kicks off two weeks from Monday in Indianapolis.

Jim Schwartz

Jim Schwartz is no dummy. The former Browns defensive coordinator tendered his resignation to new Cleveland coach Todd Monken a few days ago, following through on a promise he made to those around him that he would only be back in Cleveland if Jimmy Haslam made him the head coach. Those who know him weren’t surprised in the least, of course, because he can be principled and stubborn, and wasn’t happy when he didn’t get the job.

So what’s next?

Well, the Browns interviewed their linebackers coach Jason Tarver and safeties coach Ephraim Banda on Saturday. They talked to Texans passing-game coordinator Cory Undlin (who goes back to 2009 and ’10 in Jacksonville with Monken) over the weekend, too.

And Schwartz has communicated to people that he’d take the year off. The Raiders have already sniffed around on him. But the Browns have him under contract for 2026 and hold a team option for ’27, which means anyone interested will have to go through them. There’s also the thought that he’d go back to Philadelphia in ’27, with the possibility that Vic Fangio walks away after the ’26 season (he almost did this year). Schwartz has maintained a strong relationship with Eagles GM Howie Roseman, who loves him.

The bottom line: Schwartz wants another shot at being a head coach, and the understandable logic here is that if Cleveland wasn’t going to make him one, given the opportunity, then maybe it was time for everyone to move on.

But this story has a few epilogues to it that have yet to be written.

George Pickens

The Cowboys’ decision to use the franchise tag on George Pickens was a no-brainer. Would I pay Pickens around $29 million on a franchise tag, after his 93-catch, 1,429-yard, nine-touchdown season? Yes, 100%, I would.

The reason why, first and foremost, is that he’s really, really good.

Another reason: The Cowboys have to be careful about paying him.

Last year, he found himself in a situation fighting for his career. Dumped by the Steelers, he had a reputation for being a bad apple that was earned over three years, a time in which his team decided that it couldn’t trust him enough to give the big second contract every young player is after (they instead traded for and paid DK Metcalf). So Pickens had every reason to straighten up and fly right—and to his credit, he did.

But does that mean he’s permanently turned the corner? The track record of players like this in positions like this is very spotty.

So if Dallas intends to wait at least until the mid-July deadline to extend him, to see how he conducts himself, I think they’d be doing the right thing. And I’d understand if they wanted to wait until after the 2026 season to see if everything that went right in ’25 was sustainable. And, maybe, they’d eventually get to the point where they feel good about paying him.

If I were the Cowboys, I wouldn’t be there yet.

Tom Brady

Dumb storyline of Super Bowl week: Tom Brady’s rooting interest. The legendary quarterback said this past week that he had no “dog in this fight.” People got pissed. Predictably.

And I do get it. People invested a lot of time rooting for him.

That said, he’s a Raiders minority owner, a Fox broadcaster and he’s competitive as hell. Doing those two jobs at a high level requires detaching from previous allegiances. It’s also human nature to want your little brother to do well, but not too well.

In the end, this all won’t change his place in New England lore. Or change much of anything significant, other than what a bunch of people yapped about last week on radio row.

The Bay Area

I love San Francisco as a Super Bowl host city. Yes, the teams are far away. And that part stinks for us as reporters. Also, the Tenderloin neighborhood is bleak and situated near a bunch of hotels.

But if you know where to go, it’s an awesome place. If you eat or go out and drink in North Beach, the Marina, Pacific Heights or Chinatown, you’ll understand how I feel about San Francisco. Or get a burrito at La Taqueria in the Mission, or something from Hot Cookie in the Castro (my wife’s favorite when she lived here) and you’ll see. Or go see a game at the gorgeous new Chase Center (I went Tuesday night to see the Warriors vs. Sixers).

Anyway, it has its problems like a lot of places.

But it’s still one of America’s best cities.

Quick-hitters

And now, our final set of quick-hitting takeaways of the 2025 season …

• The James Pearce Jr. situation is sad and a mess, but he was off a lot of teams’ draft boards last spring. So this is another example of how critical the character assessment is predraft.

• While we’re there, the Falcons’ decision to move on from Kirk Cousins was made when they adjusted his contract last month. No surprise that they’ll be cutting him, though Kevin Stefanski’s arrival in Atlanta made it worth considering whether they could reverse course.

• I like Bears coach Ben Johnson promoting Press Taylor to offensive coordinator. He has coordinator experience and institutional knowledge from working with Johnson last year. It’s not the time for Chicago to flip the apple cart.

• I’ve said my piece on Bill Belichick and Robert Kraft not making the Hall of Fame. That said, I hope it doesn’t take away from Roger Craig, who’s very deserving. The NFL’s first 1,000–1,000 player (yards rushing and receiving in 1985), he was a truly transformative player for the sport, and the forerunner for Thurman Thomas, who was the forerunner for Marshall Faulk, who was the forerunner for a lot of today’s best backs.

• It’ll be interesting to see, with Matthew Stafford back in the saddle and several key players approaching the end of their rookie deals, how aggressive the Rams are this offseason. They’ve done such a good job resetting and getting younger coming out of their Super Bowl championship from five years ago, that now might be the time to go all-in again.

• If Texans DBs coach Dino Vasso doesn’t take the Cardinals’ DC job (and there’s some merit to him staying put), I think new Arizona coach Mike LaFleur ought to take an honest look at bringing in Wink Martindale, the godfather of the scheme that the Ravens, Giants, Chargers and Seahawks will run in 2026.

• I don’t think Derek Carr is done playing football.

• And I don’t see a scenario where Daniel Jones is anything but an Indianapolis Colt next year. But remember, he used his leverage very wisely the last time around.

• One surprise for me: How much coaches thought of Cam Ward when considering the different available jobs. I’ve heard it was a big piece to the puzzle in Brian Daboll deciding that Tennessee was the place for him.

• Finally, I really love the pairing of Matt Nagy and Greg Roman with the Giants, under John Harbaugh. Both guys are pros, and bring so much experience to the table.