Last Updated on August 3, 2026 1:06 pm by Erwin Noguera
The NFL Hall of Fame Game kicks off on August 6 in Canton, and for the next five weeks the league sorts out everything it left unresolved in the offseason. Six teams do not know who is starting at quarterback. Patrick Mahomes is coming off ACL surgery. Aaron Donald is reportedly close to ending a retirement that has lasted two full seasons.
Preseason football does not decide much. This year it will decide more than usual.
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Here is what actually matters between now and kickoff.
Aaron Donald and the Rams’ Dream Team
The biggest story of the summer might not involve a snap of football.
Aaron Donald retired after the 2023 season. He has been generating speculation about a return ever since the Rams traded for Myles Garrett, and he has stopped being subtle about it. “It for sure got me thinking,” Donald told Pat McAfee about the Garrett trade.
Reporting since then has moved it from speculation toward reality. Jason La Canfora wrote that a Donald return is now viewed as close to a done deal, with the three-time Defensive Player of the Year telling people inside the Rams organisation how hard he is leaning toward ending his retirement, specifically because he wants to play alongside Garrett.
Los Angeles is already the Super Bowl favourite at +550, the only team in the league under +1000, after adding Garrett and Trent McDuffie and extending Matthew Stafford on a one-year, $55 million deal. Adding an eight-time first-team All-Pro to a defensive front that already has Garrett would be close to unfair.
Watch for an announcement before the regular season. If it comes, the Rams’ odds shorten again.
Six Quarterback Competitions, and Almost None of Them Are Settled
This is the most unresolved quarterback landscape the league has had in years, and preseason snaps will decide most of it.
Minnesota: Kyler Murray vs. J.J. McCarthy. The assumption from the moment Murray signed was that he would walk into the job. Kevin O’Connell keeps insisting otherwise. “Training camp’s open,” he said. “I want to see these guys in very, very unique and difficult circumstances elevate their games to help the Minnesota Vikings.” McCarthy was a 2024 first-round pick who played poorly in 2025 and is getting one final chance. Most expect Murray to win it. Minnesota’s entire season rests on O’Connell resurrecting whichever one he picks.
Cleveland: Deshaun Watson vs. Shedeur Sanders. New head coach Todd Monken inherited the least appealing competition in football. Watson held the edge earlier in the offseason, and Sanders reportedly closed the gap through OTAs. Early camp reports say neither has separated, with Watson throwing multiple interceptions on two of the first four practice days. There is no version of this where Cleveland comes out ahead.
Atlanta: Tua Tagovailoa vs. Michael Penix Jr. Complicated by health rather than performance. Penix is still rehabbing the torn ACL he suffered in Week 11 and has not been cleared for full team activities. Atlanta cannot run a real competition until he is, which means Tagovailoa may win the job by default.
Las Vegas: Kirk Cousins vs. Fernando Mendoza. Cousins is expected to start Week 1, and the Raiders have a developmental plan for Mendoza, the first overall pick, that does not include throwing him in immediately. The interesting question is whether Mendoza plays well enough in August to force the issue.
Arizona: Jacoby Brissett vs. Gardner Minshew vs. Carson Beck. Brissett started 12 games in 2025, and returns as the incumbent, with Minshew added and rookie Carson Beck in the room. Tight end Trey McBride on Beck: “I don’t know about Week 1 unless something crazy happens, but he definitely has a chance to be a guy for sure.”
New York Jets: Geno Smith. Expected to start following his trade from Las Vegas, with fourth-round pick Cade Klubnik behind him. The concern is off the field; Smith’s offseason included a reported confrontation with police at a traffic stop, a domestic dispute investigation that cleared him, and a speeding citation.
Patrick Mahomes and the Knee
Mahomes tore his ACL in Week 15 last season. He has been cleared to practise. Andy Reid brought in rookies and quarterbacks early after last season’s collapse, and Mahomes is expected to be ready for Week 1, barring a setback.
Being cleared to practise and being cleared to be Patrick Mahomes are not the same thing. He may not be fully himself until later in the season, and how he moves in August is the single most important thing happening in Kansas City. The Chiefs sit 13th in most power rankings, a placement that looks absurd for a Mahomes team and entirely reasonable for one whose quarterback is nine months removed from a knee reconstruction.
Watch his mobility, not his arm. The arm was never the question.
Seattle vs. New England: The Super Bowl Rematch That Opens the Season
The NFL scheduled the kickoff game well. New England travels to Seattle on Wednesday, September 9 at 8:20 PM ET on NBC; a rematch of Super Bowl LX between the defending champions and the team they beat.
Both are different now. New England added A.J. Brown, which gives Drake Maye the elite receiver he did not have last season. Seattle lost Kenneth Walker III and has Zach Charbonnet recovering from a torn ACL, leaving rookie Jadarian Price carrying a heavy load at running back.
Preseason will tell you a lot about whether Seattle’s backfield holds up. If Price looks capable in August, the champions are back in the top two. If he does not, they have a problem they cannot solve in September.
The Hall of Fame Game Has an Actual Storyline
Arizona faces Carolina in Canton on August 6, and for once the matchup is not random.
The Class of 2026 is Drew Brees, Roger Craig, Larry Fitzgerald, Luke Kuechly and Adam Vinatieri. Two of the five spent their entire careers with a single franchise; Fitzgerald with the Cardinals, Kuechly with the Panthers. The league paired their teams for the opener.
The football itself will be what Hall of Fame Games always are. The ceremony is the point.
The Injury List Is Already Long
Several teams are entering August managing problems they hoped to have solved by now.
Micah Parsons will not be back for Green Bay until at least mid-October after tearing his ACL, which removes the defensive centrepiece for the first six weeks. Malik Nabers is returning from a torn ACL, and nobody at the Giants will commit to a timetable or mention Week 1, usually a bad sign. Carolina lost defensive end Nic Scourton to a torn ACL. San Francisco has injury concerns around both George Kittle and Nick Bosa.
And Kansas City’s Rashee Rice had knee surgery in June while serving a probation violation in jail, which is a sentence no team wants written about its top receiver.
The Unsigned and the Unresolved
Stefon Diggs, Deebo Samuel, Jadeveon Clowney, and Joey Bosa are all still free agents in August. That is a significant amount of proven talent sitting available while teams sort out their rosters, and injuries during preseason tend to move that market quickly.
The Brandon Aiyuk situation in San Francisco also remains unresolved and continues to generate noise. The 49ers have the pieces to contend at +1900. They do not need a distraction at wide receiver, and resolving it one way or another before Week 1 would help.
Rookies Worth Watching
Beyond Mendoza and Beck at quarterback, three early picks are fighting for immediate roles.
David Bailey, the Jets edge rusher, has a real path to snaps on a rebuilding defence. Jeremiyah Love arrives in Arizona at running back for a team with very little else. Carnell Tate joins a Tennessee receiving corps that was overhauled this offseason and could produce quickly if Cam Ward develops.
Preseason is where you find out which rookies are ready. For teams outside the playoff picture, that is the whole point of August.
Key Dates
August 6 — Hall of Fame Game, Cardinals vs. Panthers, Canton, 8:00 PM ET on NBC
August 13-15 — Preseason Week 1
August 20-22 — Preseason Week 2
August 27-29 — Preseason Week 3
September 9 — Kickoff Game, Patriots at Seahawks, 8:20 PM ET on NBC
Five weeks. Six quarterback jobs. One retirement that may not last. The season starts before the season starts.
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