Conor Orr’s 100 Bold Predictions for the 2026 NFL Season

From the Super Bowl champion to the performance of new coaches and more: envisioning award winners, breakout candidates and two Hollywood movies.

We are now just inside 100 days from the start of the 2026 NFL season. Before the country’s premier entertainment product occupies the entirety of the zeitgeist, you must complete the following tasks: 

• Refresh your mulch, seed your lawn and plant new perennials.

• Complete the reading of at least seven volumes of poetry, deep philosophical novellas, nuanced nonfiction books on World War II or multiple works by the Bronte sisters.  

• Discover at least 13 ways to cook and serve chickpeas. 

Time is running out to fulfil the part of your life that is not satiated by wall-to-wall professional football, which is now available every day of the week and in more countries than the upcoming World Cup. I am not complaining, of course. Life is just a series of decisions as to how you want to spend your time, and sitting in a Denver press box in January, watching the little world turn into a snow globe, I closed my laptop and encouraged everyone around me to be quiet for five minutes as we took in the totality of what was happening around us. We can tussle with the ethics of football and the business of football, but out on the field there is still something totally captivating that cannot be tainted by the hands of a billionaire (or prospective billionaire). 

Anyway, to celebrate the 100-day mark, I am once again here to offer you 100 predictions for the upcoming season. Who is going to win the Super Bowl? Who is going to win every major award? Which teams will make and miss the playoffs? Which quarterback will make a bid for Comeback Player of the Year? Join us as we answer these questions and many, many more. 

Of course, not until you finish Jane Eyre. Seriously. There’s going to be a pop quiz.

Michael Hickey/Getty Images (Rodgers); Lauren Leigh Bacho/Getty Images (Love); Alika Jenner/Getty Images (Burrow); Kevin Sabitus/Getty Images (Harbaugh); Michael Allio/Getty Images (Crosby); Logan Bowles/Getty Images (Anderson)

1. The Texans will defeat the Seahawks in Super Bowl LXI, 23–21

The Texans and the Seahawks both have among the league’s best net rest differentials, and Houston has one of the 10 easiest schedules in terms of opponent win percentage (which, while a faulty measurement tool, does indicate that the Texans’ path is less arduous than it was a year ago). I got turned on to Houston’s true successes from 2025 after realizing that the Texans and Rams were the only two teams with one of the five hardest schedules that managed to reach the postseason. This was despite an offense that is still in the developmental phase. Meanwhile, I predict the Seahawks will again win their division thanks to the Rams being slammed by the league’s ruthless Jigsaw House of a schedule and minus-seven net rest differential, which does no favors for an aging quarterback whose replacement was just selected. The Seahawks have a much better relative rate of rest between games and the advantages created by Mike Macdonald and rising star defensive coordinator Aden Durde are still very much in place. 

2. Joe Burrow will win the MVP award

Either in print or online, I have predicted Joe Burrow to be the NFL’s MVP every year since 2022. This Mayan Calendar/End of Civilization approach is bound to be correct at some point. And each year I seem to be able to intellectualize it. But this year? C’mon. Cincinnati has the fourth-easiest schedule in the NFL, has maybe two daunting out-of-division road games, depending on how good the Commanders are, and a defense that can finally play complementary football and help the Bengals hold onto some of their leads. This is officially the last time I am picking Burrow to win the MVP award. I promise. And I hope that his victory provides a finality to our long, national nightmare (and a new MVP projection in 2027).

3. Comeback Player of the Year will come down to a battle between two quarterbacks

And, honestly, it will yield a Johnson-Goldwater landslide, at least in the forum of public opinion. Jayden Daniels will eventually edge out Deshaun Watson, though the point is that both of these quarterbacks will have a major reversal of fortune in 2026. The more surprising, of course, is Watson, who seems to be cementing a vice grip on the Browns’ starting quarterback job in 2026 under new head coach Todd Monken. While this development feels surprising, given that the Watson trade is understood as one of the worst in NFL history thanks to his slew of injuries, poor play and unsavory path to Cleveland, there is also the acknowledgement that Monken is far more accustomed to working with a quarterback of Watson’s skill set than former Cleveland coach Kevin Stefanski was. Meanwhile, Daniels now comes under the tutelage of rising young star coordinator David Blough, who will elevate the Commanders’ offense and place Daniels in a position to hunt for more explosive plays. 

4. BTS will appear at the 2027 Super Bowl LXI halftime show

As a precursor to the league’s push for an international game in Asia and the further eastern expansion of football—an experiment that was soft-launched in 2026 with the Australia game in a market that is just an hour behind Japan and two hours behind Beijing—the NFL will book the massively popular South Korean boy band, which conveniently does not have a Feb. 14 date on its massive global tour. (Though currently BTS is scheduled to play in Australia on Feb. 13 and would have to effectively fly overnight across the Pacific to make it in time, which isn’t that wild when you consider what the NFL does to the 49ers in the season opener.) 

Sub prediction: If it’s not BTS, we’ll get the complete opposite. A trusted American rock outfit at least generally liked and respected by the masses who can deliver a 25-minute set of familiar classics and who generally fits the vibe of the location in L.A. That’s a combination of Blink-182 and Weezer, which is a naked nostalgia grab for the generation set to become the league’s longest-tenured and most loyal customers. This, too, was soft launched a year ago by having Green Day perform at Levi’s Stadium before Super Bowl LX. 

5. The Cardinals will get the No. 1 pick in the 2027 draft … and all that entails

I thought about getting cute here and imagining a 2011 Colts scenario where an established team loses its starting quarterback and absolutely falls to pieces, but it’s immensely difficult to imagine the Cardinals not having the No. 1 pick in the 2027 draft. No disrespect to first-year head coach Mike LaFleur, but this team is still struggling to sign its prospective starting quarterback, Jacoby Brissett, its backup plans are Gardner Minshew II and Carson Beck, and its schedule is beyond horrific. The overmatched Cardinals begin the season with the Chargers, Seahawks, 49ers, a cross-country trip to the Giants, Lions, Rams, Broncos, Cowboys, Seahawks, Rams and Chiefs. A critical three-game window in Arizona’s schedule—games against the Jets, Saints and Raiders from Weeks 15 to 17—will solidify the inevitability. 

I say “all that entails” because, let’s face it, the Cardinals are not viewed as an exemplary organization and the prospective No. 1 pick, Arch Manning, comes from a family of quarterbacks with a history of avoiding such organizations. We have renewed interest in this saga thanks to Eli Manning recently breaking his silence on turning down the Chargers back in 2004. 

6. Jaxson Dart will lead all NFL quarterbacks in rushing yards

Last year Josh Allen led all quarterbacks with 579 rushing yards, besting Justin Herbert by 81 and Dart by 92. Dart had more yards per game than Allen, but played three fewer games. After an offseason narrative browbeating Dart for his tendency to create with his legs and scramble, the Giants’ quarterback will remain curious and creative in the backfield despite a chorus of Giants fans wanting him to remain in the pocket. 

7. Dante Moore will end up playing for the Jets after all

And there he’ll reunite with his former Oregon teammate, first-round tight end Kenyon Sadiq. Moore returned to college for 2026 despite being an overwhelming favorite to get drafted behind Fernando Mendoza in this year’s draft. Assuming Arch Manning declares and heads to the draft, and the team at No. 1 will refuse the Jets’ three-pick king’s ransom for the pick, New York will be in a position to use those picks to slot in at No. 2 to land Moore.

8. The Lions will win the NFC North

One of the most underrated aspects of a team’s schedule, in my opinion, is the runway with which to build momentum. That momentum overpowers the basic fact that many of those wins were against opponents that the team should have beaten. Those wins create a false confidence those teams carry with them into more neutral matchups or matchups in which a team should be considered an underdog. I love the beginning of the Lions’ slate, even if Detroit has all of its road divisional games over the final weeks of the season. My thought: If the Lions can bank four wins from their opening stretch against the Saints, Bills, Jets, Panthers and Cardinals, they will be in a much better position to lose ground later in the season in Green Bay or Chicago. 

9. Nate Boerkircher and De’Zhaun Stribling will be, as it turns out, worth second-round picks

The two most controversial selections of the 2026 draft, which were weaponized against young Jaguars general manager James Gladstone and hot-and-cold 49ers general manager John Lynch, will actually become important parts contributors for two teams in playoff contention. Boerkircher, who went 56th to Jacksonville, will be one of the highest-graded run-blocking tight ends by Pro Football Focus. Stribling, who went 33rd to San Francisco, will finish higher than at least one first-round pick in receiving yards, receptions and touchdowns.

10. Kyle Hamilton will win the Defensive Player of the Year Award

While Chargers safety Derwin James has always been excellent, he became more of a complete force under Jesse Minter in Minter’s two seasons as defensive coordinator in Los Angeles. James broke a streak of Pro Bowls and second-team All-Pro nominations the year before Minter’s arrival and went on to restart that streak in addition to sharpening some already spectacular individual stats. Last season, James posted a career-low QB rating on throws in his direction. All of that to say that Kyle Hamilton is younger (25), a little more physically gifted and has what you could argue is a better surrounding cast for Minter to play with. 

11. The Panthers will finish with a top-10 defense

This won’t qualify as “bold” for those who aren’t Panthers fans and have not endured watching some of the absolute worst defensive seasons in recent NFL history. Carolina was a league-worst 32nd in 2024 and clawed back—depending on your metric of choice—to between 20th and 16th during last season’s surprise playoff run. Now, with the additions of playmakers such as Devin Lloyd and Jaelan Phillips, the Panthers are primed to weaponize their defense for the first time in the Dave Canales era. 

12. The Patriots will win fewer than 10 games

After a 14–3 season and a Super Bowl run comes the crash. While Patriots fans are going to see this as a tremendous insult, think back to the 2024 Lions, a team that won 15 games only to win nine and miss the playoffs the following season. In almost every conceivable way, that 2024 Lions team was much better than the 2025 Patriots team that actually reached the Super Bowl. Regression happens. Schedule-induced hangovers happen. What happened last year was a kind of impromptu rainbow of a season that occurred as a confluence of many unplanned events. This year, it will be far harder to replicate. 

13. Mason Rudolph, Quinn Ewers and Tua Tagovailoa will start a combined 10 NFL games

But, please, let’s move to an 18-game schedule with one international game per club per season. 

14. Bettors will total record losses on NFL games this season

Because the internet is now almost 50% slop generated by faulty AI bots, so, too, is the content consumed by gamblers looking for an edge. 

15. John Harbaugh’s Giants and Robert Saleh’s Titans will have the largest win total improvement of the teams with new head coaches

The Giants (plus-three) and Titans (plus-three) will both look much improved in 2026. The Browns will come close to tying that three-win improvement number but ultimately fall short at 7–10.

16. Someone outside of the current betting top five will win Offensive Rookie of the Year

That means no hardware for Jeremiyah Love, Fernando Mendoza, Carnell Tate, Jordyn Tyson or Jadarian Price. 

17. The Lions will lead the NFL in regular-season wins

More accolades for the Lions, who have one of my favorite stats from the 2025 season: Despite finishing last in the NFC North and undergoing a midseason offensive coordinator change, the Lions had a plus-68 point differential. That was better than seven teams that made the playoffs. 

With Kyler Murray now in town, J.J. McCarthy will actually finish third on the Vikings in QB starts. | Yannick Peterhans / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

18. J.J. McCarthy will start fewer games than Carson Wentz

All three Vikings quarterbacks—Wentz, McCarthy and Kyler Murray—will play at some point this season. Murray will get the lion’s share of snaps while Wentz steps in during a critical two-game late-season stretch to keep Minnesota’s playoff hopes alive. 

19. Baker Mayfield will sign a contract worth more than $50 million per year before Week 1

Buccaneers general manager Jason Licht told reporters after the draft that Mayfield, who turned 31 in April, is always at the forefront of their minds. In a world of haves and have-nots at the quarterback position, Mayfield is far more than a bridge quarterback to another era. As the Buccaneers chart a path forward without Mike Evans, his leadership is more important—and expensive—than ever. 

20. Mike Evans will catch 10 touchdown passes 

Speaking of the longtime Buccaneers stalwart, he’ll become a red zone menace in a 49ers offense that no longer has to rely on Christian McCaffrey for the brunt of the dirty work.  

21. John Harbaugh will uncover a previously hidden wrinkle in Project Greek Island

With the Giants avoiding World Cup hustle and bustle, opting to spend the first two weeks of training camp at the historic Greenbrier Resort in West Virginia, Harbaugh will put both his love for history and game-changing reputation as a head coach into uncovering less savory details of Project Greek Island, which was a secret government operation in the 1950s and ’60s that made the Greenbrier the U.S. government’s de facto backup location after paranoia reached a fever pitch over the Cuban Missile Crisis. A blast shelter was installed underneath what was a false-flag first floor construction, providing the House and Senate a place to run the government in the event that the White House and other D.C. landmarks were destroyed. Hundreds of U.S. military personnel were enrolled in the operation as presumed television mechanics, who, in reality, were helping to shield the general public from realizing that this popular Appalachian vacation destination was really the site of a billion-dollar secret that would one day be exposed by reporting in the Washington Post. But was that really all that happened at the Greenbrier? If anyone is going to find out, it’s John Harbaugh. 

22. The Saints will keep Alvin Kamara

Combined, Alvin Kamara and Travis Etienne Jr. will generate more than 1,700 yards from scrimmage. Kamara wants to finish his career in one of the league’s premier cities and will find a role with Etienne to make the backfield tandem work. 

23. Sonny Styles will win the Defensive Rookie of the Year Award

The former Ohio State linebacker will finish the season in the top five in tackles, and log at least three interceptions in his first year playing under Dan Quinn for the Commanders. 

24. PFF’s top-graded rookie offensive lineman will be …

Jager Burton of the Packers. While Burton, a fifth-round pick out of Kentucky, is not a locked-in starter at this point, his guard-center versatility and a 100% league injury rate guarantees that he’ll eventually get a window of time to showcase his skills on a down-to-down basis with the Packers. 

25. A renewed interest will emerge regarding the NFL and steroid use

In a league where the best players are staying great and relevant longer than ever, and each offseason players emerge bragging about their outsized muscle mass at the start of every training camp, curious souls will wonder just how and why that happens. With a combative presidential administration seemingly interested in picking fights with America’s most popular sports league, the rounding up of a commission will be discussed and threatened before (surprise) it is ultimately not followed through on. 

26. Emeka Egbuka will lead all wide receivers in touchdown catches

It’s going to be a strange season in Tampa, but one success story will be undeniable: the second-year growth of Emeka Egbuka. With the loss of Mike Evans, the Buccaneers will be able to better spotlight Egbuka in the offense, and he won’t get swallowed up by the offense as he did toward the end of last season. Egbuka had seven or fewer targets in each of the last four games of the 2025 season, after having six touchdowns, three 100-plus-yard games and three 10-plus-target games over the first nine weeks. 

27. You’re finally going to commit to that nightly skin care regimen 

And, honestly, good for you. The act of simply washing your face and applying something that contains lavender or primrose oil is the perfect way to transition from the stressors of the day to a peaceful night’s sleep. 

28. Jalen Hurts will throw the fewest touchdown passes of any starting quarterback in the NFC East … and all that entails

New season, new offensive coordinator and no A.J. Brown. That means new challenges for Jalen Hurts, in addition to the old ones which never seem to have left him behind. I don’t think the Eagles will move on from Hurts after this season, but the team continues to add meaningful depth behind the Super Bowl champion. 

29. New Portland Trail Blazers owner Tom Dundon will clear the way for NFL teams to more freely cut costs

Dundon, who laid off dozens of team employees, encouraged staff to avoid late checkout fees in hotels and famously did not send two-way players on the road because he did not view road games as a “vacation,” may seem like an outlier. This was followed by en masse layoffs by the Los Angeles Lakers. But as private equity creeps more deeply into football, owners will start circling the wagon when it comes to paying less and increasing the bottom line. 

30. An NFL team will be outed for working with a foreign government to amplify its social media content and provide less pessimistic and sarcastic replies

Го Кардиналс!! I mean–Go Cardinals!!

31. The Colts and Titans will finish one win apart from each other

You can take this as a “buy low on the Titans” prediction and a “sell high on the Colts” prediction. That’s two predictions!

32. The Colts and Jaguars will both start the season 0–3

Jacksonville has an interesting and sticky Week 1 opponent, hosting the Browns, before visiting the Broncos and hosting the Patriots. Todd Monken is a total wild card offensively, with a wide breadth of plays he can draw upon, and Deshaun Watson may still have a few turn-back-the-clock weeks left in him before age and injury catch up. Meanwhile, the Colts kick off the season against the Ravens, Chiefs and Texans. Jesse Minter’s first game as head coach will provide a schematic pitfall for the well-coached Indianapolis offense. 

33. DJ Moore will not lead the Bills in receiving

After Buffalo traded a second-round pick for the former Bears and Panthers standout and guaranteed Moore future dollars, making another attempt at solving the wide receiver room without overcommitting draft capital, Josh Allen will continue to lean on Khalil Shakir for his most critical throws. Moore, 29, will have fewer than 70 receptions in 2026 as the Bills continue to lean more heavily on a run-first offense built around Allen. 

34. Malik Willis will finish with a higher EPA per play than Bo Nix

The stat, which essentially measures quarterback efficiency on a down-to-down basis, will favor the type of athletic small ball the Dolphins will try to play with their bridge quarterback in 2026, while the big-game hunting Nix will be taking more shots at new target (and former Dolphin) Jaylen Waddle. 

We think this is Jesse Minter. Unless it’s Nate Bargatze. | Lexi Thompson-Imagn Images

35. People will start talking a lot more about how much Jesse Minter looks like Nate Bargatze

I clocked this immediately. But I’m still only seeing a handful of memes. Not nearly enough to have people asking the hard question: Have you ever seen them together at the same time? 

36. Jaxson Dart will discover why most of the great New York captains never said a word about anything, including politics

This is not to say Dart shouldn’t have freedom of speech. This is merely a prediction that Dart will realize just how annoying it might be to exercise as an athlete in the world’s largest media market. Meanwhile, Derek Jeter wouldn’t even tell people what he was having for lunch and we didn’t know Eli Manning was interesting or funny until about six weeks ago. 

37. Sports Illustrated senior writer Albert Breer will factor heavily into Love is Blind Season 11

Breer is happily married, but the Boston-area heartthrob will take on a surprisingly outsized role in the popular reality series when it comes to his hometown. 

38. Jeremiyah Love will remain the NFL’s leader in guaranteed money for a running back by the start of the season

With new contracts coming due for Jahmyr Gibbs and Bijan Robinson at some point over the summer—both are in the final year of their rookie contracts before the club option—both will surpass the $20.6 million average per year salary threshold set by Saquon Barkley, but neither will touch the more than $50 million guaranteed that was funneled into Love’s bank account by virtue of the NFL’s preestablished rookie contract rates. 

39. Ashton Jeanty will not lead the Raiders in rushing touchdowns

The Raiders’ 2025 first-round pick will not be phased out by new head coach Klint Kubiak, but he will find himself in the middle of a far more crowded field of playmakers who are getting time in the new coach’s system.

40. Jerry Jones will push to silence curtain-based coverage during the World Cup

The old Texas rambler’s ridiculous glass house has to be covered in gaudy curtains during the largest sporting event in the arena’s history because it sits in the direct path of the setting sun. My guess is that the shadow commissioner of the NFL won’t take kindly to getting trampled on by a far more powerful global entity. 

41. Carson Beck will start a majority of the Cardinals’ games

With Jacoby Brissett (rightfully) refusing to spend another season as a human meat shield without better compensation, seeing what the team has in Beck, a rookie third-round pick out of Miami, will quickly become more appetizing than a prolonged stint with Gardner Minshew II under center.

42. Maxx Crosby will not be leading the Raiders in sacks at the trade deadline

The days and weeks leading up to the trade deadline provide the next most logical time for the Raiders to attempt to revisit the failed move to ship Crosby to the Ravens. Crosby will be the Raiders’ top-graded run defender and lead the team in pressures, but Kwity Paye will have six sacks to Crosby’s 4.5. 

43. 32-personnel (three running backs, two tight ends) will become the new 13-personnel (one running back, three tight ends), which took the league by storm last season

With about a third of the NFL lacking a dynamic passing option and, thus, minimizing the impact of a dynamic receiving option, there will be a harder lean into three-running-back sets, or a more modernized version of the wing T. The offense is a bit of a failsafe and rewards teams that have both a dynamic receiving back and power running back, along with a fullback or H-back type player. 

44. The theory about the 49ers’ electrical substation will take a major hit as Kyle Shanahan and John Lynch receive an award from a local magazine related to aging well 

Bay Area Lifestyle magazine will laud Shanahan, 46, and Lynch, 54, for the way they have embraced the salt-and-pepper phase of life. The glowing feature, which includes pictures of the pair sharing a hot yoga studio and drinking a deeply green kale juice, puts to rest the rumors of possible deleterious effects from the team’s nearby substation. 

45. Former Panthers tight end and No. 2 Fox analyst Greg Olsen will become the next broadcaster to join the ranks of an NFL franchise

Carolina will absorb its legendary tight end (and the true No. 1 NFL color analyst) for an undetermined role in which Olsen helps further shape the very forward-thinking Panthers front office. 

46. Tre’ Harris will see his targets, catches, yards and touchdowns more than double in 2026

The 2025 second-rounder is going to be one of the most noticeable beneficiaries of the Mike McDaniel–Justin Herbert mind meld. While the partnership will obviously reward Ladd McConkey for being the perfect anticipatory pass catcher for a quick-release system, Harris will get carries out of the backfield and step into the explosive play detonator role in McDaniels’s offense. 

47. Omarion Hampton will lead the NFL in rushing yards

Boy, are we fully back on the train that everything seems great with the Chargers and we should move forward like they aren’t going to fill our heads with incredible ideas again only to completely destroy our hearts, minds and bodies. Such is life. But Hampton gained 545 yards and averaged 4.4 yards per carry in a Greg Roman system that is going to get a much needed creativity overhaul this offseason. 

48. None of the analysts will pick your team in the game, and you’ll save the screenshot of that and tweet it to all of them after your team wins

Got their asses, bro. Nice. 

A.J. Brown will be wearing a Patriots jersey moving forward. | Bill Streicher-Imagn Images

49. A.J. Brown will post the following numbers as a Patriot: 

111 targets, 1,024 yards, 8 touchdowns. The trade, which will become official as soon as Brown passes a physical, will help bolster a Drake Maye MVP bid in 2026 that weathers a more difficult schedule.  

50. “Bryce Young is more vocal” will become one of the most forgettable and predictable NFL storylines of the past millennium

Buried underneath stories about “the game slowing down” for second-year quarterbacks and veterans who “honestly feel like a rookie” after a new offseason diet based almost exclusively on plants, comes the Panthers’ fourth-year quarterback starting to demand something of his teammates. The world awaits. 

51. Philip Rivers will take a meaningful step toward coaching in the NFL

After an interview with the Bills this offseason and a short-lived stint as the Colts’ emergency starter, Rivers will start fielding actual offers commensurate with the Josh McCown express coaching track. Whether that is a special offensive analyst role or an invitation to coach the quarterback position in 2027 remains to be seen. 

52. Five or fewer NFL head coaching jobs will open this offseason

After a year of massive upheaval revealed just how thin the coaching pipeline really is, NFL teams will opt to stand pat, with just a handful of obvious regime changes becoming apparent by mid-December. 

53. Dak Prescott will break the Cowboys’ single-season touchdown record

Which was previously set by … Dak Prescott in 2021. Prescott’s 38 touchdowns will be good for a top-three finish and another Pro Bowl berth for Dallas’s soon-to-be-33-year-old quarterback. 

54. The Bills will win the AFC East

With half of the division in rebuilding mode and the Patriots in regression mode, the most talented quarterback will win out and lead the Bills to another division title with a comfortable two-game margin over New England.

55. Travis Kelce will get tapped to star in a more body-positive remake of the classic film Heavyweights 

While it never gets off the ground, the project will soft launch Kelce into a career of Hollywood’s next lovable behemoth; an outsized character that serves as comic relief in PG movies. 

56. Younghoe Koo will get his groove back

After the botched kick that was so hilarious it saved a man with a brain tumor, Koo finished the 2025 season with his worst career extra point percentage and a third consecutive season with an approximate value (a single number applied by Pro Football Reference based on the kicker’s kicking points above average) of zero. Koo will return to form this season after a strong preseason with the Jets catapults him into at least two prime-time game-winning situations with another team that picks Koo up after the Jets downsize their roster. 

57. The Titans will suffer an outbreak of disease related to the banning of seed oils 

Seed oils, while demonized, are a source of Vitamin E. Vitamin E is part of an important group of fat-soluble compounds that attack free radicals within the body. By Week 9, Cam Ward will be covertly sneaking various bagged snacks, frozen dinners, chicken nuggets and mass-market condiments into the facility at a critical juncture during the season. 

58. Jadarian Price will outpace Jeremiyah Love in every meaningful rushing category in 2026 but …

Love will have more receptions. While Love is the superior player, Price is going to be showcased on a Super Bowl–caliber roster with a new offensive coordinator from the Kyle Shanahan tree (Brian Fleury). 

59. Kevin Byard III will finish the season as the league’s active interception leader

Byard is three picks behind Harrison Smith and is reuniting with his former Titans head coach Mike Vrabel in New England. Vrabel has been excellent in picking off veteran defenders on affordable contracts and maximizing their remaining years. Byard is also coming off a seven-interception season with the Bears. 

60. Patrick Mahomes will be fine (and start 17 games)

As it turns out, when you have millions of dollars, the heft of support from a billion-dollar organization, and it’s your job to stay healthy, eat well and recover, really fascinating things can happen to the human body. 

61. The Ravens will win the AFC North

Yes, I have Joe Burrow winning the MVP, but Jesse Minter will roll in his first year as a head coach with new energy and a weaponized defense. Lamar Jackson will play at least 15 games, and for the first time in two years, Baltimore will feel like a real contender again. 

62. The Seahawks will be sold to a billionaire or consortium of billionaires that will not change your life or enhance it in any meaningful way

Just eat at Wild Ginger before the game and avoid the inevitable price hike at concession stands. 

63. The AFC West standings will finish in the following order and with the following records: 

• Chargers: 13–4
• Broncos: 11–6
• Chiefs: 11–6
• Raiders: 7–10

64. The Jets will win their season opener against the Titans

They will then lose five consecutive games against the Packers, Lions, Bears, Browns and Patriots. 

65. An anonymously sourced report clearly coming from inside the 49ers’ facility will complain about long runway wait times on the way home from San Francisco’s season opener in Australia

Flying 15 hours to Melbourne is torture enough. Having to sit on the runway because of a kangaroo-related incident with the baggage handling carts? Now that is straight-up bollocks! Crikey! 

66. Speaking of Australia, the NFL will shamelessly appropriate Bluey characters as promotional tools for the game at Melbourne Cricket Ground 

You want to take Chilli, Bandit, Bingo or Bluey? Fine. They’re played out anyway. But if this money-hungry monolith of a sports league starts touching the deeper catalog and pretending Lucky’s Dad would actually give a flying you-know-what about American football, that’s where I draw the line. 

67. Jets and Giants players will be equally humbled by their distant placement from the floor at upcoming Knicks NBA Finals games

Oddly, Cam Skattebo will be the closest player from any team to touching the actual floor, but still nine rows back and behind half of the cast from the new Nathan Lane–led ensemble of Death of a Salesman on Broadway. It’s a big town, fellas. 

68. The Vikings will surpass their current projected Vegas win total

Topping 8.5 wins feels manageable for a team that finished last year with nine wins despite a markedly worse quarterback situation. In fact, I’m bold enough to say that this team will have four wins by its Week 6 bye. 

69. The next Hallmark NFL movie will feature two teams: the Jets and the Giants

A provincial, intracity love affair blooms between an unbelievably symmetrical, tall, hot and single toymaker from the suburbs of Candytown, New Jersey and his love interest, a suspiciously single owner of a successful pie company from nearby Sugarfield. Both families were involved in an incident at the 2011 regular-season meeting between both teams in which Victor Cruz scored a 99-yard touchdown that propelled the Giants into the playoffs and ultimately destroyed the Jets’ tenure under Rex Ryan. Cruz makes an appearance in the movie and gives a salsa dancing lesson at a winter carnival. 

Rob Gronkowski spent nine seasons playing for Bill Belichick in New England. | Winslow Townson-Imagn Images

70. Bill Belichick and Rob Gronkowski will get voted into the Hall of Fame together

Gronkowski, one of the greatest tight ends ever, will get the nod alongside his coach, Bill Belichick, as the football writers make up for a catastrophic mistake last year that has their voting power and responsibility hanging by a thread. 

71. The Ping-Pong table will be removed from the Cowboys’ locker room

A year after the incredible ascent of the Ping-Pong table, players will be reminded that these toys are a privilege and not a right. Brian Schottenheimer will pull one of the most important coaching levers available at his disposal, and personally pack and fold the Monarch Navigator table, wheel it down the hallway, load it into the service elevator and store it in a closet underneath the Cowboys’ training room, where it will collect dust for the next year and a half until fun is allowed again. 

72. The drumbeat for Marcus Freeman to jump to the NFL will grow louder 

Freeman, who was in consideration for multiple NFL jobs this offseason but never interviewed, is seen as the most likely candidate for the next college coach to make the leap. However, Notre Dame has the second-best odds of winning a national championship in 2026 and is returning a potential top-10 pick at quarterback, CJ Carr. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for Freeman, who, like Jim Harbaugh, could flee once the core of this roster graduates to the NFL. 

73. Stefon Diggs will sign with either the Chiefs or the Rams

The 32-year-old veteran, who played 17 games last season, caught more than 85 balls and scored four touchdowns for the Patriots, will be a valuable WR3 option for Sean McVay’s offense or a trusted fill-in for the Chiefs as the team navigates the increasing unreliability of Rashee Rice. 

74. Jordan Love will lead the NFC North in all major passing categories except for yards

Love will outpace Jared Goff, Caleb Williams and the combination of Kyler Murray, Carson Wentz and J.J. McCarthy in touchdowns and completion percentage. But Williams will lead the NFC North in passing yards. 

75. Myles Murphy will play his way into a second contract with the Bengals 

Cincinnati recently declined the fifth-year option on its 2023 first-round pick, but Murphy, who played some of his best football down the stretch in 2025 and logged the majority of his quarterback hits and sacks over the final eight weeks of the season, will finally find a home in a deeper, rotational Bengals defense. 

76. Fernando Mendoza will start a game before the end of October

I’m currently eyeing sometime after the Raiders’ Week 5 cross-country trip to the Patriots, which would be far too rich in symbolism as Tom Brady trots his No. 1 pick across the country to duel against his former franchise. It’s also not lost on me that the Raiders have three consecutive home games after their late Week 13 bye, but it’s very hard to believe Mendoza would be sitting on the bench for that long. 

77. Bijan Robinson will have his best season as a Falcon

Buoyed by new offensive line coach Bill Callahan, Atlanta’s run game will crack the top 10 in total efficiency, as Robinson comes within a handful of yards of Omarion Hampton, the NFL rushing champion. Robinson will score more than 10 rushing touchdowns and outpace 2024’s 60.2% rushing success rate. 

78. Troy Aikman will finally finish The Alchemist by Paolo Coelho 

The allegorical masterpiece will deepen Aikman’s spiritual journey, eliciting several on-air mentions of ancient philosophical texts, the urge to walk barefoot more often and multiple instances late in Monday Night Football blowouts in which Aikman comfortably questions the futile nature of existence and how much of what we seek is already ours. In an interview with Awful Announcing, Joe Buck will mention that Aikman has been talking a lot about mindful eating. 

“A bowl of soup will take Troy, gosh, an hour and a half to two hours now. It’s really something to watch,” Buck will say.

79. Nik Bonnito will lead the NFL in sacks 

The Broncos’ edge rusher will fend off the Texans’ Danielle Hunter in a sack-for-sack faceoff that comes down to the final week of the season. 

80. Mac Jones will sign a contract worth more than $30 million per season this offseason

The 49ers’ backup quarterback, who was given a small pay raise after vastly outplaying his deal last season, will become a top free-agent target for teams that need a quarterback but have finished too far outside striking distance for a rising college quarterback in this year’s draft. 

81. Trent Williams will win the NFL’s Protector of the Year Award

The award, which, in its infancy, will still serve as a combination of legacy acknowledgment alongside recognition of great individual play throughout a season, will acknowledge the incredible staying power of Williams, who will turn 38 just before the start of training camp. 

82. Aden Durde will become the first NFL head coach who was born outside of the United States and developed most of his foundational understanding of the sport in another country

You can read more about the Seahawks’ defensive coordinator in this piece I wrote during last year’s Super Bowl week. 

82. Declan Doyle and Christian Parker will be finalists for Assistant Coach of the Year

Parker, the new Cowboys defensive coordinator, and Doyle, the new Ravens offensive coordinator, will be taking on major roles with quality teams that underperformed significantly in 2025. Parker, reviving a Cowboys defense that now has more than half the unit occupied by new starters (including the universally loved first-rounder Caleb Downs), is a likely candidate to achieve an overall performance upgrade worthy of award consideration. 

83. Aaron Rodgers will not reach the playoffs in what he says is his final season … and this will not be his final season, anyway

With gap-year needs potentially developing for the Rams and Vikings, among other teams with head coaches Rodgers admires and would like to work with, the quarterback will walk away from Pittsburgh after a nine-win, nonplayoff campaign and into a summer of exploring other interests before eventually landing in training camp with either the Packers, Rams, Vikings, 49ers or Cardinals. 

84. America will soon adopt this writer’s stance on international games

As we enter an NBA Finals where the entry price to Madison Square Garden would make a C-suite executive at J.P. Morgan blush, the focus on the relative unaffordability of all manner of live entertainment has spilled out into the public consciousness. Regular-season NFL games, while still relatively pricey, are one of the few attainable luxuries for the common man. But those games are getting shipped to tony foreign enclaves, narrowing the pool of home games and, you guessed it, making them more expensive in the process. The war on international games is just beginning, but there is no limit to the amount of outrage I can drum up on this particular subject. 

85. George Kittle will not fly with the 49ers to Australia 

Despite his valiant efforts to recover from a late-season Achilles tear, the prospect of sending one of the team’s most valuable players on a 15-hour flight to Melbourne feels less than responsible. 

86. The light will come on for Marvin Harrison Jr. 

Say what you will about incoming Cardinals offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett, but one of his strengths as a coach has been relaying concepts and helping players find a way to understand the game more fluently. Arizona’s offense may struggle to overcome deficiencies on the offensive line and at the quarterback position, but Harrison will set career highs in receptions, yards and catch percentage in 2026. 

Let’s see the Bosa brothers on the field together. | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

87. Joey Bosa and Nick Bosa will play at least five games together in 2026

While Nick recently said his almost-31-year-old older brother is working on his golf game, San Francisco’s still-needy pass rush and the lingering desire to play alongside Nick will draw Joey out of his long, veteran summer. The 49ers make sense schematically and have the effective cap space to accommodate a slightly more sizable veteran salary. 

88. Luther Burden III will have a better statistical season than all but one of the wide receivers drafted before him in 2025

Obviously, if Emeka Egbuka leads all NFL receivers in touchdown catches this year (No. 26), Burden cannot best the former Ohio State standout in that category. However, he will outpace Tetairoa McMillan, Matthew Golden and Jayden Higgins in a star-cementing 2026 campaign. 

89. Jeremiyah Love’s full 2026 statistics will look like this: 

225 carries, 898 rushing yards, five rushing touchdowns, 38 receptions, 269 receiving yards, three receiving touchdowns.

90. John Harbaugh will have the Giants playing well in tough games

In the Giants’ four toughest nondivisional games—Rams, 49ers, Lions and Seahawks—the team will win one of those games and have an average margin of defeat under three points in the others. 

91. A friend of yours from an early 2000s fantasy football league who was declared legally dead will reappear in your life

Bryan Willitz jumped off a tire swing into a local rock quarry filled with water, a week after a 2002 draft where he selected Dolphins running back Ricky Williams with the No. 4 pick. After hours of combing the waters, authorities were called in, search parties were organized and a town vigil was held. Willitz, however, was not dead. He says he made his way to the other side of the quarry via an underground rock cave of sorts, was picked up by a truck driver and hitchhiked his way to the Florida Keys, where he started a successful cash-only boat and yacht cleaning business that never necessitated the use of a social security card or formal identification. Ready to once again assume fantasy football play, he will reach out to you via Instagram and invite you to a dynasty league, which is a hard sell given his tendency to disappear. It may also not be Bryan because he’s asking that the league fee be paid in iTunes gift cards and Bitcoin? That’s messed up if it’s not Bryan. Grok, can rock quarries have caves? Can you swim through them?

92. Jordan Stout will once again lead the NFL in net punting

Despite the whistling, swirling winds of his new home, MetLife Stadium, Stout will find a way to master the craft once again. 

93. Nearly every kicker will have a designer knuckleball kick in his arsenal in 2026

We wrote last year about the slow creep of knuckleball kicks leading up to the 2025 season, in which special teams changed forever. Now, every kicker has had an offseason to develop something truly sinister. 

94. The NFL’s total points leader in 2026 will be …

The Lions, who are admittedly a big winner in this year’s 100 bold predictions. Detroit had an abysmal schedule and a coordinator who needed to be replaced mid-stream, yet still scored just two fewer points per game than the Rams and totaled roughly 400 fewer yards. The indicators are there. 

95. Travis Hunter will play 90% of his snaps at cornerback

I don’t think the Jaguars are ready to say that Travis Hunter will never play offense again, especially at a moment when Jacksonville could have really used a first-round pick to help offset losses in free agency. That would look disastrous. But I do think the Jaguars will try to specialize Hunter after watching him struggle to find an identity on the field before his injury last season. Hunter clearly looked more pro-ready on defense and could join the turnover-hungry Anthony Campanile crew that helped power the Jaguars’ surprising run in 2025. 

96. On Giving Tuesday, I will ask you to make a donation

To the Greater Newark Holiday Fund, an organization that I am very proudly the president of for another campaign this year. We support social service agencies across New Jersey, providing food, housing, medicine, continuing education, mental health services and much more. Learn about us here, or drop me a line. 

97. The Jets, now heavily touting their AI-first approach throughout the front office, will use Microsoft Copilot to help hire a new head coach in 2027

Congratulations to Mack Tomlin! 

(In all seriousness, I asked AI to name a great NFL coach that is not yet a head coach, and the information returned was … Ben Johnson! Man, I’m so glad we’re plowing down fields and siphoning water supplies for this red-hot tech!)

98. The Seahawks will win the NFC West for a second consecutive season

The division will finish as follows: 

• Seahawks: 12–5
• Rams: 12–5
• 49ers: 11–6
• Cardinals: 2–15

99. The Colts will miss the playoffs

Despite clawing to another nine-win season with multiple quarterbacks logging serious snaps, the Colts will fail to capitalize on an incredibly aggressive offseason. 

100. Through the stress, the long nights, the days that seem too long and the years that seem too short, you will realize just how exceptional you are … and just how exceptional everyone else is, too. 

It all comes back to love. Enjoy the 2026 NFL season. Thank you for letting me be a small part of that. 

---