Sean Mannion took over a high-profile job this offseason when he was named the offensive coordinator of the Eagles in the wake of their disappointing 2025 season.
The Eagles offense failed to recapture the heights of their Super Bowl run and there were weekly reports about the dysfunction behind the scenes. Most included mention of quarterback Jalen Hurts and wide receiver A.J. Brown, whose relationship deteriorated to the point that the Eagles are expected to ship Brown out of town the moment the calendar flips to June.
Hurts will still be there and Mannion touched on how things are going with the quarterback during a Thursday press conference.
“Jalen’s been awesome,” Mannion said, via a transcript from the team. “I really think he can do anything we ask of him. He’s accurate. He’s a great athlete. He really attacks the fundamentals. That’s what’s been really fun to watch these last two weeks of phase two. He’s always wanting more things to work on, wanting more things regarding fundamentals, timing, understanding the scheme. He’s hungry for more. Those are the guys that are really fun to work with. In terms of skillset though, he has great arm strength, great accuracy, obviously a tremendous athlete and he really attacks the game. He has a great process in the meetings. He always asks really, really thought provoking questions. He’s detailed and attacks his fundamentals. He’s always a guy who stays after practice and is working on things. Those are the guys you love to work with.”
The question with Hurts has not always been whether he’s capable of doing things, but whether he’s willing to do it. Reports about Hurts’s unwillingness to conform to parts of the offensive plan popped up more than once last season and were seen as a leading reason for the team’s offensive dysfunction. That means many will wait to see what happens in the fall before any declarations that calmer times have arrived in Philadelphia.
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New Titans head coach Robert Saleh made an immediate change in Tennessee when he got the job four months ago: He ensured that players wouldn’t eat seed oils at the team facility.
“One of the first things we did here was get rid of all the seed oils in the building, which I think the players appreciate,” Saleh said.
There’s a growing movement, led by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., to get seed oils (oils extracted from plants, such as corn oil and canola oil) out of Americans’ diets. Many fitness influencers claim that seed oils lead to obesity and heart disease. The majority of nutrition scientists, however, agree with the American Heart Association’s stance that there’s no reason to avoid seed oils.
Saleh said that the Titans have a great staff who have provided the players with first-rate nutrition.
“I’ve been in six different buildings and I’d put this staff up there with the best of them,” Saleh said. “The product they put out in the cafeteria daily is outstanding.”
By rule, NFL offseason practices are non-contact: No tackling, no blocking, no physical pass coverage, certainly no touching the quarterback. That makes it hard for the players to get the competitive juices flowing.
But Giants coach John Harbaugh says he still wants to see players looking competitive. He just wants them competitive with themselves, trying to get better every day than they were the day before.
“There’s no there’s no contact at all,” Harbaugh said. “You got to work with the guys that do that because guys get fired up, they want to go and you got to make sure that you can’t get near the quarterback. You can’t pull and push guys. There’s no physical contests out here. There’s no competition in the sense of you’re competing one-on-one to make a play because there’s no contact, and football is a contact sport. So, it’s more about I’m competing against myself, my technique, my assignment, my ability to execute really fast.”
Harbaugh says he’s impressed that players manage to avoid contact as well as they do.
“I think one of the things that’s amazing to me, I tell these guys this. . . . You’re standing right here on the sideline and you’re seeing how fast these guys move, right? And how big they are. And there’s 22 guys intersecting full speed. I’m just surprised that there’s not more more collisions in the intersection which goes to show you how talented these guys are. And I think it’s across the league in the NFL. For them to practice fast like this on a no-contact basis and not run into each other is just an incredible thing and it’s a testament to their abilities,” Harbaugh said.
Harbaugh said quarterback Jaxson Dart is a good example of a player who’s competing with himself, demanding nothing but completions when he knows the defense isn’t really competing.
“We are competing against ourselves, against execution,” Harbaugh said. “The offense should complete most passes because passes aren’t being contested at the catch point right now. So if we’re executing and doing things the right way, we should be completing passes out here. The ball shouldn’t hit the ground too often. He understands that and that’s why he wants things to be right, play after play.”
After three straight years with no playoff appearances, the pressure is on the Bengals in 2026. Quarterback Joe Burrow’s assessment of the improvements the team has made since a disappointing 6-11 performance in 2025 will only increase the expectations.
Making the bar even higher is the fact that, for now, the Bengals are favored in 15 of their 17 regular-season games.
Via DraftKings, the Bengals are the underdogs only in Week 2 (+2.5, at Texans) and Week 7 (+3.5, at Ravens). The Bengals’ over-under for their win total is currently 9.6.
All of the lines can, and most will, change. But the current assessment of the Bengals is that they will be serious contenders in 2026. Which will set the stage for potentially significant changes if they fail to make the playoffs for a fourth straight year.
The most obvious change, if the team misses the postseason, would happen on the coaching staff — starting at the top. The more pressing question would become whether Burrow will fully commit for an eighth season, or whether he’d seek a mid-career change of scenery.
The Bears are where we thought they were.
Despite a suggestion that the Bears have been dangling the possibility of building a new stadium in Chicago, the team has issued a clear statement closing the door on remaining in the city where they have played for more than 100 years.
“The Chicago Bears have exhausted every opportunity to stay in Chicago, which was our initial goal,” the team said in a statement issued on Thursday, via the Associated Press. “There is not a viable site in the city. As a result, the only sites under consideration are in Arlington Heights and Hammond.”
The new statement is stronger than the statement the team issued on Wednesday to the Chicago Tribune: “The team has been clear with the city of Chicago and state leaders there are only two viable stadium locations under consideration, Arlington Heights and Hammond, and a decision is expected between the two later this spring or early summer.”
Indiana is ready to roll. Illinois is working on a package that would help the Bears build a new stadium on property the team owns in Arlington Heights. And the Bears seem to be very intent on building in one of those two locations, and nowhere else.
Michael Wilson caught 85 passes for 1,113 yards and seven touchdowns over his first two seasons. The Cardinals wide receiver had 78 receptions for 1,006 yards and seven touchdowns last season.
It’s how he got there that makes becoming one of only 19 pass catches with 1,000 yards even more impressive.
Through the first five games, Wilson had eight catches for 52 yards and a touchdown. Jacoby Brissett replaced Kyler Murray in Week 6, and Marvin Harrison Jr. and Zay Jones went out with injuries in Week 11.
Wilson’s 593 routes for the season were the third-most in the NFL.
“If myself from February could have went back to myself in October and said, like, ‘Hey, man, you’re going to have a thousand,’” Wilson said, via Josh Weinfuss of ESPN, “I probably would have been like, ‘Jesus Christ. I don’t know what would have happened for me to get a thousand, but some pretty cool stuff would have had to happen.’
“And, so, yeah, I’m still proud of myself for that.”
Wilson is eligible for a contract extension, but he said it’s business as usual.
“I don’t want that to affect how I show up every single day because ultimately that stuff is going to take care of itself,” Wilson said. “What I did last year, I can’t change. Like, that’s my resume, that’s what we’re going off of.
“But as soon as Week 1 starts and we’re playing against [the] L.A. Chargers, contract stuff, that stuff doesn’t matter. What I did last year doesn’t matter. I need to make sure I’m taking care of what I can now, tomorrow, the next day after that. That’s going to help me sort of replicate that season and build upon that.”
USA Football soon will step into the spotlight, when it comes to figuring out the members of the 2028 Olympics flag football team. To assist that process, USA Football has made a key hire.
The sport’s national governing body announced on Thursday that former NFL fullback Marcel Reece has become the group’s Senior Vice President of Football Strategy & Operations.
Per the press release, USA Football explains that Reece now oversees the “football operation, driving the strategy, vision and success of the organization’s national team programs, Olympic and high-performance pathways, scouting and talent identification, athlete development and grassroots growth, as well as USA Football’s events portfolio.”
“In a short time with USA Football, Marcel has already made meaningful contributions to our organization,” USA Football CEO Scott Hallenbeck said. “With the Olympics on the horizon and the game growing at every level, this is exactly the right time to bring him on board full-time. His background as both a player and an executive brings a perspective that is truly unique and will strengthen everything our team has built, positioning us well for 2028 and beyond.”
A three-time Pro Bowler, the 40-year-old Reece primarily played for the Raiders. He spent three years working in the Raiders’ front office.
“Flag football’s Olympic debut in Los Angeles is a historic moment for the sport, and I’m proud to be part of this organization as we prepare for it,” Reece said.
USA Football plans to announce its selection process for the men’s national team for the 2028 Olympics later this year. Reece will now be heavily involved in that process.
The Lions announced earlier in the day that they have signed linebacker Jack Campbell to a four-year extension. Now, details of the deal have emerged.
Ian Rapoport of NFL Media reports that the extension is worth $81 million, with $51.5 million guaranteed. Campbell’s $20.25 million annual average ranks second for an off-ball linebacker behind only Fred Warner, whose deal with the 49ers pays him $21 million a season.
Campbell is now under contract through 2030.
The Lions declined the fifth-year option for the 2027 season that would have paid Campbell $21.925 million.
Campbell, the No. 18 overall pick in 2023, has appeared in 51 games with 46 starts.
In 2025, Campbell earned All-Pro honors for the first time after totaling 176 tackles, nine tackles for loss, five sacks, four passes defensed, three forced fumbles and two fumble recoveries.
Four weeks after drafting quarterback Matthew Stafford’s potential eventual replacement, the Rams have reached a new deal with the latest NFL MVP.
The Rams have announced that Stafford and the team have signed an extension.
Adam Schefter of ESPN reports that the one-year extension has a base value of $55 million. It can be worth up to $60 million with incentives.
Stafford, 38, had been under contract for one more year, with a total compensation package of $40 million.
The Rams and Stafford have been operating on a year-to-year arrangement. It’s currently unclear whether the Rams have made a firm, two-year commitment. Even if the Rams can feasibly exit the deal after 2026, Stafford’s commitment keeps him from becoming a free agent after the upcoming season.
The structure will be the key. The amount of guarantees for 2027 will reveal whether the Rams are continuing to play it one year at a time, while also managing to keep Stafford from walking away, if he so chooses.
The first overall pick in 2009, Stafford has earned more than $400 million during his NFL career. He was traded by the Lions to the Rams in early 2021. In his first season in L.A., the Rams won the Super Bowl.
Giants General Manager Joe Schoen lost a significant amount of internal influence when the team hired coach John Harbaugh. Schoen’s willingness to adapt has helped secure his future in New York.
The Giants have announced that Schoen has signed a multi-year extension.
Schoen, we’re told, had been entering the last year of his contract with the team.
The move necessarily means that Schoen has made a solid impression on new coach John Harbaugh. The long-time Ravens coach’s arrival transformed the long-time reporting structure with the Giants. For decades, the G.M. ran the show, with the coach reporting to the G.M. Now, the coach and G.M. separately report to ownership.
It’s no surprise that ownership was willing to make a major change to the way they do business. The Giants have struggled since winning Super Bowl XLVI, 15 years ago. They’ve had a revolving door at coach and G.M. Harbaugh instantly has stabilized the organization — and he has determined in less than five months that he’ll be happy to partner with Schoen in the coming years.
