The league continues to add regular season games on and around every major American holiday. The Thanksgiving week schedule has changed dramatically over the past decade, with a primetime game added to the Thursday slate and a Black Friday game tacked on for good measure in 2023. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said last year that he would like to add a second Black Friday game to the schedule.

For now, the Raiders are standing strong on their demand for multiple first rounders for any team interested in taking the perpetually disgruntled Crosby, 28, off their hands after the Ravens backed out of a trade for Crosby on Tuesday. Russini said Wednesday that Crosby’s short-term health prospects are “positive” while concern remains about the long-term outlook for his injured knee. Crosby is reportedly rehabbing in the Raiders facility today as he awaits word on where the Raiders will deal him ahead of the 2026 season.

Baltimore now has Maxx Crosby’s replacement roughly 12 hours after his trade fell through. Hendrickson had been holding out for a better deal to start free agency and the Crosby debacle created an opening for him. At just $28 million per year, Hendrickson isn’t quite paid like the top-tier EDGE-rushers, but he should still crack the top-10. He was injured for much of 2025 and totaled just four sacks, but his 2024 and 2023 seasons were enough to get him paid. Hendrickson tallied 17.5 sacks in both of those seasons. That was enough to lead the league two years ago. He will now be the centerpiece of first-year head coach Jesse Minter’s defense.

The Ravens “believed the risk was too high given the compensation it was giving up” and therefore backed out of a deal that would have sent Crosby from the Raiders to Baltimore. ESPN’s Adam Schefter said Tuesday night that “several” teams have already reached out to the Raiders about Crosby, one of the league’s premiere pass rushers, who has 32 sacks over the past three seasons in Vegas. Crosby has said he would refuse to suit up for the Raiders, meaning this saga is likely to drag on for weeks, if not months, ahead of the 2026 regular season. Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer said the Raiders are not “going to trade Crosby on a discount” this offseason.

The move lowers Goff’s 2026 salary cap hit from $55 million to just $15 million and adds a void year in 2030. It allows the team to get under the salary cap before today’s deadline. In 2024 Goff, 32, signed a four year extension that included $170 million in guaranteed money — one of the richest contracts in the history of the NFL. Since the start of the 2024 season, Goff ranks fifth among all QBs in EPA per drop back and sixth in completion rate over expected. He has at least 30 touchdown passes in each of this past three seasons in the Lions’ efficient offensive system.

A two-year extension for Jones, per Rapoport, could be done as soon as Wednesday. The team used the transition tag on Jones, who late last season tore his Achilles tendon. Though Jones reportedly wants around $50 million per year in a new deal, it seems unlikely he’ll get that much considering the nature of last year’s injury and his poor play over his final five games. Even if Jones is able to suit up for Week 1, he probably won’t be back to 100 percent health until later this season or sometime into 2027.

Speaking on the Rich Eisen Show on ESPN, Albert Breer reported that the hope in Kansas City is that Patrick Mahomes is “close to being himself” by Week 1 of the coming season. Well, that doesn’t sound promising. Mahomes didn’t have surgery on his torn ACL until the middle of December, with most athletes in the league today requiring a 9-12-month recovery timeline. The absolute front end of that window puts him back to football activities in the middle of September, while the back end means Mahomes would be looking at the Physically Unable to Perform list to start the 2026 season. We wouldn’t put it past Mahomes to hit the earlier end of his recovery timetable, but we also wound’t be counting on him for Week 1. Much yet to come out of Kansas City regarding their star quarterback.

The offseason Hendrickson saga continues to surge on through the first two days of legal tampering, with one of the top free agents on the market yet to sign - we now know why. Russini reports that he has offers on the table and will make a formal decision on Wednesday. It is not uncommon for teams to require a bit of salary cap magic prior to signing a player of Hendrickson’s magnitude, something that appears to be in the works behind the scenes as multiple franchises lobby for his services. Stay tuned.

The veteran linebacker notched 44 starts across 65 appearances for the Chiefs while on his rookie contract, a stretch that also included two Super Bowl wins. Chenal averaged 57 tackles and 1.8 sacks per season those four years and earns a significant raise with his new franchise. It is unclear where he is likeliest to play considering the team already has Frankie Luvu and Bobby Wagner, but the kind of money invested hints at significant playing time.

The Giants were reportedly the frontrunners to land Woolen’s services in free agency, with Howie Roseman scooping the veteran cornerback off the market for what appears to be a team-friendly deal. Woolen had been a consistent performer for the Seahawks during his four years with the franchise, although it is fair to say he never fully broke out as the team had planned. Perhaps there is further upside to be added to his resume under the aggression of Philadelphia defensive coordinator Vic Fangio.