In many ways, the all-access, all-the-time NFL has evolved past Hard Knocks. But the annual infomercial masquerading as a documentary persists.
This year, the league broke new ground by announcing not only this year’s team that will be the focal point of the series but next year’s, too.
Via Sam Neumann of Awful Announcing, Adam Schefter of ESPN recently explained that the decision to lock in the next two seasons of preseason Hard Knocks resulted from the fact that teams often say “next year” when asked to serve as the subject of the show.
This year, the NFL reacted to the Patriots saying “next year” by saying, “Sold!”
That’s obviously not the best way to program the series. If the league wanted to revive the box-checking project that (if nothing else) keeps HBO in line as to any content the NFL may not like (a new-age Playmakers would be awesome), it would decide that no one can ever say “no” — and that the assignment would be determined based primarily if not exclusively on the question of which team will create the most interest in any given August.
Of course, this assumes (ass, you, me) that the NFL and its teams have genuine interest in giving the fans truly interesting content. The best Hard Knocks run in years came from the Giants in the 2024 offseason. But the reality show was a little too real for Big Blue, making it impossible for any other team to volunteer to have its building invaded by cameras and microphones for offseason strategizing that could become more than a little embarrassing.
It all comes down to what the NFL wants Hard Knocks to be. For now, it’s a perfunctory “wish you were here” postcard from camp, with far more style than substance.
Take 2026, for example. The Seahawks have just won the Super Bowl. There’s no drama. No tension. No awkward camp battles or contract issues or hot seats or anything that will make Hard Knocks must-see TV. Ernest Jones IV saying “fuck you” to the doubters will eventually stop packing much of a punch, especially as the list of doubters shrinks.
For the Seahawks, the biggest question is whether they can become the first team to win back-to-back Super Bowls since the 2022-23 Chiefs. That’s hardly compelling content.
(That said, if the Seahawks have a brash and dynamic new owner by August who is intent on fixing what isn’t broken, that would be worth the price of subscription. Assuming that angle would even be covered by Hard Knocks.)
Other than hardcore Seahawks fans who crave anything Seahawks-related they can find, will anyone be interested in an inside look at the Super Bowl LX champs?
Give us the Eagles, who seem to be at a six-way intersection of crossroads and who have plenty of compelling personalities (starting with Big Dom). Give us the 49ers, who are openly salty about being tapped for the Week 1 game against the Rams in Australia — and who’ll train in the shadow of an electrical substation that has prompted many players to wonder whether it contributes to injuries.
Give us the Jets, where Geno Smith is back and the pressure is on head coach Aaron Glenn. Give us the Bills, where the clock is ticking on Josh Allen’s prime and a new coach is trying to pick up where Sean McDermott left off. Give us the Ravens, where Lamar Jackson has a new head coach and offensive coordinator and (for now) no new contract.
Give us the Giants, where John Harbaugh is coaching a new team for the first time since 2008. Give us the Chargers, where Jim Harbaugh has hired Mike McDaniel to get the most out of Justin Herbert.
Give us the Dolphins, where Jeff Hafley is trying to turn the page on a team that can’t perform in the cold. Give us the Steelers, where Mike McCarthy and Aaron Rodgers may be together again.
Give us the Browns, where Shedeur Sanders and Deshaun Watson apparently will be battling for the starting job. Give us the Vikings, where Kyler Murray and J.J. McCarthy absolutely will be.
Give us the Lions, who are trying both to rediscover their edge and to show that Dan Campbell’s message after the 2023 NFC Championship (“this may have been our only shot”) was less Nostradamus than Knute Rockne. Give us the Bengals, where Joe Burrow seems to be thinking seriously about whether he’ll ever get the most out of his skills and abilities. Give us the Packers, where Matt LaFleur has resolved to improve communications with his players. Give us the Bears, where Ben Johnson will be constantly having something to say about Matt LaFleur, and where George Gervin may decide to stop by.
Give us the Raiders, where Kirk Cousins is the veteran and Fernando Mendoza will be learning the ropes and Tom Brady possibly will make a cameo appearance, if he can fit it into his schedule. Give us the Cowboys, where Jerry Jones inevitably will repeat his obsession with “gloryhole,” possibly while receiver George Pickens is holding out.
Basically, give us something good. Something compelling. Something that will make Hard Knocks appointment viewing. Something that sets the bar higher than George Costanza did when pitching to Russell Dalrymple a show about nothing.
In its current form, Hard Knocks has essentially become a show about nothing. Whatever the benefits to the NFL for continuing to do the show, the real question is whether the NFL should continue to produce something that falls short of the standard the league has seemingly set for everything else it touches.
Patriots Clips
Offseason programs will start getting underway around the NFL next week.
The ten teams that hired new coaches this offseason will be eligible to start working with their players on Monday, April 6. The Ravens are the only team that has set that as their first day of work while the Cardinals, Falcons, Bills, Browns, Raiders, Dolphins, Giants, Steelers and Titans have set Tuesday as their opening day.
All of those teams will also be able to hold a voluntary minicamp later in the spring. Every team is also scheduled to hold a rookie minicamp and a mandatory minicamp over the course of the next few months.
The first two weeks of work for all teams is limited to meetings, strength and conditioning, and physical rehabilitation only. The three-week second phase allows for on-field work, but no full-speed team drills while the third OTA phase allows for team drills, but there is no live contact allowed at any point in the offseason.
Most of the 22 teams with returning coaches will be opening their offseason programs on April 20 or 21. The Broncos have set May 4 as their first day.
Free agent cornerback Stephon Gilmore announced his retirement on Thursday.
He posted the news on social media.
Gilmore, 35, has not played since 2024 and did not sign with a team last season.
The Bills made him the 10th overall pick in 2012, and he played five seasons with Buffalo, four with New England and one each with Carolina, Indianapolis, Dallas and Minnesota.
He was Defensive Player of the Year in 2019 with the Patriots when he led the league with six interceptions and 20 pass breakups.
In his career, the five-time Pro Bowler totaled 617 tackles, 32 interceptions, 149 pass breakups, eight forced fumbles and a sack.
The Bengals are adding to their secondary.
Cincinnati has reached a one-year agreement with safety Kyle Dugger, ESPN’s Adam Schefter reports.
Dugger, 30, spent the second half of last season with the Steelers, starting nine games after being traded from the Patriots. He tallied 42 total tackles with five passes defensed and two interceptions.
A second-round pick in 2020, Dugger spent his first five-plus seasons with New England. He’s appeared in 90 career games with 78 starts, recording 11 interceptions with 29 passes defensed.
Patriots quarterback Drake Maye dealt with a right shoulder injury in the postseason, but he doesn’t expect it to be an issue for him heading into the 2026 campaign.
Maye did not miss any playing time, but was on the team’s injury report heading into Super Bowl LX and he said after the loss to the Seahawks that he took a painkilling injection ahead of the game. Maye was 27-of-43 for 295 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions while also losing a fumble in Santa Clara.
While at a charity event on Tuesday, Maye said the shoulder “shouldn’t be an issue” when he gets back on the field.
“Shoulder is feeling good. Feeling great. You know, I think just having some time off and being able to get back into throwing and lifting,” Maye said, via Christopher Price of the Boston Globe.
Maye was sacked six times in the 29-13 loss to Seattle and keeping him from getting hit quite so often will be a good way to ensure he remains in good health in the future.
The Patriots will exercise the fifth-year option on Christian Gonzalez’s contract, according to coach Mike Vrabel, but the team is negotiating a long-term extension for the cornerback.
Gonzalez would make $18.1 million for the 2027 season on the fifth-year option.
“Yes,” Vrabel said about picking up Gonzalez’s option, via Mark Daniels of masslive.com. “If we haven’t picked it up, we should pick it up.”
Exercising the fifth-year option was a foregone conclusion, but the Patriots want Gonzalez signed beyond 2027.
“We want to make sure that we draft extremely well, and then we identify the guys that we want to keep with us and that have earned long-term extensions with us,” Vrabel said. “And Christian, Gonzo is certainly one of those players, but I can’t comment on the negotiations.”
Gonzalez, the 17th overall pick in 2023, made second-team All-Pro in 2024 and the Pro Bowl in 2025. He has totaled 145 tackles, two interceptions, 24 pass breakups and a sack in three seasons.
Eagles General Manager Howie Roseman said some variation on “A.J. Brown is a member of the Eagles” in response to multiple questions about a possible trade involving the wide receiver this week, but those replies haven’t done much to quite speculation that the team will trade him later this year.
Waiting until after June 1 to make a trade is beneficial to the Eagles’ cap situation and most conjecture about where they’d look to send Brown has centered on the Patriots. Brown played for Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel in Tennessee and New England has an opening at the top of their receiver depth chart after parting ways with Stefon Diggs this month.
The prospect of New England trading for Brown came up again during Vrabel’s media session at the league meetings in Arizona on Tuesday. Per multiple reporters, Vrabel said that the Patriots will “try to do everything we can to strengthen our roster” and that they will look at all avenues to making those improvements.
That could signal that the Patriots will be adding to their receiving corps in next month’s draft, but any addition from that pool is unlikely to put an end to chatter about Brown going from a member of the Eagles to a member of the Patriots by the time Week 1 rolls around.
The NFL has picked the 2026 Hard Knocks team. It also has picked the 2027 Hard Knocks team.
For the first time ever, the NFL has announced the subjects of the long-running HBO docuseries for the next two installments. Via Adam Schefter of ESPN, it will be the Seahawks in 2026 and the Patriots in 2027.
Neither team has ever served as the subject of the show. And both, obviously, made it to Super Bowl LX.
Once upon a time, the NFL exempted from Hard Knocks consideration any team that had made it to the playoffs within the past two seasons. That factor is obviously now long gone.
The NFL also started in-season Hard Knocks several years ago. In recent seasons, it has focused on an entire division. Presumably, the 2026 installment won’t focus on the NFC West — and the 2027 version won’t center on the AFC East.
The league had a one-year run of offseason Hard Knocks. It was so revealing (in a bad way) for the Giants that the experiment ended after one year.
The Eagles and Patriots have been linked in trade speculation this offseason, but the two teams have not come together to make a deal this month.
They have been able to agree on something else, however. Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni said on Monday that his team will hold joint practices with Mike Vrabel and the Patriots during training camp this summer. Those practices will take place in New England.
Sirianni’s announcement came during a session that also saw him echo General Manager Howie Roseman’s answer to questions about wide receiver A.J. Brown’s status. Roseman said on Sunday that Brown remains on the Eagles’ roster when asked about trading the wideout and Sirianni said the same thing on Monday.
Trading Brown after June 1 would work out better for the Eagles for cap purposes and the Patriots have frequently been cited as a likely landing spot due to their need at the position as well as Brown’s history with Vrabel from Tennessee. If the trade does go down, Sirianni and company will still have a chance to catch up with the receiver in August.
An Eagles’ trade of wide receiver A.J. Brown has felt “inevitable” since March. The question seems more of when, not if, with a post-June 1 trade a possibility.
Eagles General Manager Howie Roseman revealed nothing on Sunday.
“I understand that there’s interest in the A.J. Brown story,” Roseman said, via Dave Zangaro of NBC Sports Philly. “Unfortunately, I don’t have a home under a rock. But my answer to any question on A.J. Brown is that A.J. Brown is a member of the Eagles. From my perspective, anything you ask me about A.J. Brown, I’m going to go right back to that answer. But I understand the interest. I put on TV and I see that there’s interest. But my answer is A.J. Brown is a member of the Philadelphia Eagles.”
Roseman proceeded to answer multiple questions about Brown with the same answer: “A.J. Brown is a member of the Eagles,” according to Eliot Shorr-Parks of WIP94.com.
The Eagles signed veteran wide receiver Hollywood Brown to a one-year, $5 million deal in March. He would join DeVonta Smith as the team’s top two wide receivers if Brown departs.
The Eagles also signed free agent wideout Elijah Moore.
The Patriots have been the favorite to eventually land Brown, who has not made the Pro Bowl in either of the past two seasons. He had 1,079 receiving yards in 2024 and 1,003 receiving yards in 2025.
