When the Seahawks won Super Bowl LX, there were nine potential options for the Week 1 season-opening game in Seattle. The list is now down to four.
All NFC teams have nine home games this year. The Seahawks are due to host the 49ers, Rams, Cardinals, Giants, Cowboys, Chiefs, Chargers, Bears, and Patriots.
With the 49ers and Rams set to play in Australia on Thursday, September 10, with the Cowboys and Giants slated for Sunday night, September 13, and with the Chiefs hosting the Broncos on Monday, September 14, only four options remain to be the road team on Wednesday, September 9: Cardinals, Chargers, Bears, and Patriots.
A Super Bowl rematch wouldn’t be unprecedented. Ten years ago, the Panthers and Broncos crossed paths in the first game of the season, after Denver beat Carolina in Super Bowl 50. The Broncos held on to win the game, 21-20, when Panthers kicker Graham Gano missed a 50-yard field goal with nine seconds to play.
Unless the league announces the opponent before then, the team that will be present for the Seahawks to hang their latest banner will be known on Thursday night at 8:00 p.m. ET.
When Romeo Doubs signed with the Patriots in March, he moved to the top of their depth chart at wide receiver but he may not be there at this time next month.
The Patriots are expected to trade for Eagles wide receiver A.J. Brown after June 1 and that would move Doubs down the pecking order in the first year of the four-year, $68 million deal he signed in New England. That might not have been exactly what Doubs had in mind after years in a crowded Packers receiver group, but he said on Tuesday that “love to have [Brown] here.”
“I was true to my word when I came here that there is no No. 1 guy in this offense,” Doubs said, via Mark Daniels of MassLive.com. “So, whatever it is I have to do, whether it’s playing into the strength more or playing on the backside every here and now, or even having [revolving roles], which I’m really familiar with because I’ve done it in Green Bay also. I’m open to all roles. That’s just part of this league. You know, the more you can do, the more you can do for the team, the more you show for yourself, just things of that nature.”
Stefon Diggs led the Patriots with 85 catches for 1,013 yards on their way to an AFC title in 2026, but a Brown/Doubs combo might unlock even more space to grow the passing game this year.
As the saying goes, it’s better to seek forgiveness than ask for permission. As it relates to the annual team-by-team schedule-release videos, the NFL does not require that permission be obtained.
“Upon request, the league will review club videos,” a league spokesperson said via email. “There’s no mandate to submit their videos in advance. The league provides best practices and insights to the clubs during ongoing all-32 club meetings.”
That’s always been the case. However, last year’s video from the Colts was quickly deleted because the Minecraft-themed presentation lacked advance authorization from Microsoft, which holds the copyright to the Minecraft property. Also, this year’s schedule release comes at a time when plenty of teams that play the Patriots (and plenty that don’t) will be tempted to make an express or implied reference to the story of the offseason, especially after ESPN’s Inside The NBA did so in clear and obvious fashion.
Before Inside The NBA went there, it was our understanding that the Chargers — who are the masters of the schedule-release game and who play the Patriots this year — would refrain from addressing the situation. Given that Inside The NBA addressed the issue and the world continues to spin, maybe the Chargers will revisit their position.
The Patriots are filling out their roster with a defensive player.
New England has agreed to sign edge rusher Xavier Holmes, according to agency Exclusive Sports Group.
Holmes was a tryout player for New England at its rookie minicamp.
Holmes played the 2025 season at James Madison after spending four seasons at Maine. He registered 7.5 tackles for loss, 6.0 sacks, and an interception for JMU last season.
Social media is bad enough when the vitriol spewed there is reasonably rooted in objective fact. Nowadays, certain accounts will fabricate quotes for engagement. Some will hide behind the notion that it is a “parody” account, even when the supposed joke is far from obvious.
That happened recently to Patriots running back TreVeyon Henderson.
An account called “FootballCravee” posted a message with a screenshot of a tweet attributed to Henderson. The post included a biblical quote about marriage and adultery, with no specific reference to coach Mike Vrabel.
The only problem? Henderson never posted it.
Henderson has since pushed back, with this message: “I have never made a public statement on the Vrabes situation. Respectfully, please stop misspreading [sic] false information.”
The mere fact that Henderson interpreted the post as referring to Vrabel when it doesn’t even mention him is telling, but not surprising. It reconfirms how the story has lingered, and mushroomed, in the month or so since it first surfaced.
Roughly a week before the initial images of Vrabel with NFL reporter Dianna Russini were published, Vrabel addressed Henderson’s habit of posting quotes from the Bible on social media.
