The 2026 regular season begins where the 2025 postseason ended — with a game between the Patriots and Seahawks.
During a Friday press conference regarding the newly-released schedule, NFL Media executive V.P. and COO Hans Schroeder explained the decision to start the year with a Super Bowl rematch despite the fact that the Super Bowl was lopsided.
“I think one of the things to go back to last year is, you’ll remember in Week 2, we actually replayed the Super Bowl — similar Super Bowl dynamic from a couple years ago, in that that Philly-K.C. game in New Orleans wasn’t necessarily a particularly close one,” Schroeder said. “But we saw that rematch, I think, did 33 million viewers in that second week doubleheader game.
“So coming out of that, and to the point of always learning and trying to see what we can learn from the data and the information we get, we thought it’d be really exciting to come back. A Super Bowl relevant rematch is never going to be more relevant than in Week 1, and sort of pick up this year where we ended off last year, had a really neat symmetry or connection to it. So we really love that idea. We looked at, you know, a number of opponents for Seattle in that window, but we think [the kickoff game is] a really big window. It’s one of those places where we think we can continue to build the audience higher and just love the idea of opening the season where we left it last year with another chance for the Patriots or the Seahawks and that game in particular.”
An immediate Super Bowl rematch has started the season only twice before, with the Panthers and Broncos meeting in the opening game of 2016 and the Vikings and Chiefs squaring off in Week 1 of the 1970 season, the first year of the merged AFL and NFL.
Since 2016, there have been four other Super Bowl rematches in the next regular season. In 2017, the Patriots hosted the Falcons in Week 7. In 2023, the Eagles visited the Chiefs in Week 11. In 2024, the 49ers and Chiefs met in Kansas City in Week 7. And, as Schroeder mentioned, the Chiefs hosted the Eagles in Week 2 last year.
This will be the fourth straight season featuring a rematch of the prior year’s Super Bowl.
Some have suggested that the NFL opted for Patriots-Seahawks as a way to lean into the story of the offseason. It’s hard to believe the league would specifically want to do that, since it’s not exactly the kind of thing the NFL would want to affirmatively showcase.
Then again, if the goal is to have the biggest possible audience for the opening game, starting the year with Patriots-Seahawks will attract plenty of the folks who may not be football fans, and who may have curiosity about New England coach Mike Vrabel, given his repeated mentions in TMZ and Page Six.
And, like a Super Bowl rematch, that storyline will never be more relevant than it will be in Week 1.
With voluntary offseason workouts in full swing, one key member of the Patriots’ offense hasn’t been volunteering to show up.
As noted by Mike Reiss of ESPN, Boutte has been working out on his own.
Yes, it’s not mandatory (except for the annual mandatory minicamp). But it makes sense to be there; if a player suffers a serious injury while working out on his own, the team has the prerogative to deem it a non-football injury and not pay him.
It’s unclear why Boutte isn’t there. The sixth-round pick in the 2023 draft is currently eligible for a new contract, and he’s entering the final year of his rookie deal at a base salary of $3.674 million. He’s possibly withholding services while he angles for a financial reward.
Boutte has had his moments, even if he’s never had more than 589 receiving yards in any of his three NFL seasons. He had three catches for 75 yards and a touchdown during the divisional-round win over the Texans in January.
The arrival of Romeo Doubs via free agency will complicate Boutte’s attempt to have the kind of fourth season that will set him up for a solid free-agency deal. The expected trade for A.J. Brown will only make things more difficult for Boutte.
Whatever the reason(s), Boutte isn’t there for voluntary workouts. Whether he’ll be there beyond the 2026 season remains to be seen; it’s entirely possible that, once Brown arrives (if a trade with the Eagles happens after June 1), the Patriots will make Boutte available to any other interested team.
Tom Brady has spent the past two seasons working as a broadcaster for Fox. He has yet to call a game in New England.
That will change this season.
Fox announced that Brady will be in the booth for the Patriots’ Week 9 game against the Packers, which is set for a 4:25 p.m. kickoff.
“He’s backkkkk,” Fox wrote in a social media post.
It seems a certainty that the Patriots will honor Rob Gronkowski at that game. The former tight end was recently elected into the Patriots Hall of Fame, and the team announced last month that the date of Gronkowski’s induction would be announced at a later date.
Brady spent 20 seasons with the Patriots, winning six of his seven Super Bowls there. Gronkowski played with Brady for nine seasons in New England and two in Tampa.
Brady retired in the 2023 offseason.
If you had the over on 2.5 references to the Mike Vrabel-Dianna Russini situation in the Chargers’ release video, go get your money.
The Halo-themed presentation by the Chargers makes three references to the story of the offseason.
In the portion of the video devoted to the Week 12 Sunday night game against the Patriots, a road sign says “Next Photo Dump 1 mile.” Then, a box emerges in the lower right corner of the screen that says this: “NYPost has sent you a message.”
Finally, the credits include a reference to the Spotify playlist that Internet sleuths discovered last month. “Operation Playlist” expands from a series of options, with a reference to the date on which the playlist emerged: December 18, 2022 — one day after Vrabel’s Titans lost their fourth game in a row.
To the Chargers.
The video also includes a reference to the final score of the game: 17-14.
It’s no surprise that the Chargers found a way to make the point, without making it too obvious or overtly embarrassing to anyone involved.
It’s on brand for the Chargers to treat nothing as being off limits. And the Vrabel-Russini situation could not be ignored, Dan.
Yes, the 2026 NFL regular season opens with the same game that ended the 2025 postseason. It’ll be a Super Bowl rematch in Seattle, with the Seahawks hosting the Patriots on the night the defending champions hang a banner.
It’s an interesting choice, to say the least. The Super Bowl wasn’t close. And that was at a neutral site. In Seattle, what will happen?
The Seahawks have opened as 3.5-point favorites at DraftKings. Our guess is that will move in Seattle’s direction.
Beyond the game, the selection of the Patriots will bring into focus the Mike Vrabel-Dianna Russini situation. It will require NBC to deal with the issue, at some point during the broadcast.
It also opens the door, frankly, for a potential sit-down by Russini with Oprah (or whoever) on Tuesday, September 8.
Look at it this way. Memorial Day is coming. Things will slow down during the summer months. Labor Day lands on Monday, September 7. With the Patriots-Seahawks game only two days later, Tuesday night becomes the perfect time to attract maximum attention — and to create maximum chaos.
Russini may not decide to tell her story on the record. If she does, Tuesday, September 8, has instantly become the perfect night to do it.
