50 days to kickoff, 50 things you should know going into the 2026 NFL season

No need to keep it 100 – believe it or not, the 2026 NFL regular season is only 50 days away.

If you check out of the league’s 24/7/365 news cycle during the alleged "offeason," then you’ve missed a lot – including major trades in June, some new scheduling wrinkles, an averted strike by the officials, politics briefly encroaching on one young team’s locker room and an apparent football version of "Fatal Attraction" hovering over one of last year’s Super Bowl entries … to say nothing of the typical roster churn stirred by free agency and the draft.

In the name of a refresher prior to the widespread opening of training camps – and the defending champion Seattle Seahawks hosting the New England Patriots seven weeks and a day from today – here are 50 things you need to know 50 days ahead of the first kickoff of the 2026 campaign that counts:

From NFL plays to college sports scores, all the top sports news you need to know every day.

1. In case you’d also tuned out the Worldwide Leader of late, Super Bowl 61 will be the first broadcast by ESPN in its 47-year history. Super Sunday will also fall on Valentine’s Day for the first time in its existence while also taking its maiden voyage on Presidents' Day weekend – meaning the Super Bowl is basically now a bona fide national holiday that even allows for sleeping in on Monday morning.

2. The Super Bowl will also be played at SoFi Stadium for the second time since the venue opened in 2020, the Los Angeles Rams defeating the Cincinnati Bengals 23-20 in Super Bowl 56 to cap the 2021 season. Rematch, anyone?

3. Calling a Week 1 game a rematch seems a bit overblown seven months after the Seahawks embarrassed the Patriots in Super Bowl 60. But it will be just the third time that the most recent Super Bowl participants square off in the subsequent season opener and first since the Denver Broncos and Carolina Panthers kicked off the 2016 season.

4. Sticking with the Super Bowl theme, only four of the NFL’s 32 teams still have not played in one. A year removed from being the NFC’s No. 1 playoff seed, can the Detroit Lions – the only franchise to go 0-for-60 on the Super Bowl front – get to L.A. next February on the heels of a last-place finish in 2025? Might they even face the Houston Texans or Jacksonville Jaguars, playoff teams last season? Stranger things have happened … though we’re going to preemptively count out the Cleveland Browns. Again.

5. Super Bowl 60 MVP Kenneth Walker III left Seattle in March to join the Kansas City Chiefs, joining three-time Super Bowl MVP Patrick Mahomes in his new backfield. Walker’s presence should buoy what’s become a stagnant K.C. run game – the Chiefs haven’t had a 1,000-yard rusher since 2017 – while relieving some of the burden on Mahomes, who’s targeting a Week 1 return but might not be fully himself for some time in the aftermath of the season-ending knee injury he suffered last December.

6. Yet history doesn’t bode well for Walker, the fourth Super Bowl MVP to join another team prior to the subsequent season. The others were Larry Brown, Desmond Howard and Dexter Jackson, none of them especially impactful following their Super Sunday heroics.

7. What are the odds the Patriots become the first franchise to win seven Super Bowls at the end of this season? (According to BetMGM, +2000.) Why so long? Plenty fell into place for the Pats during their worst-to-first turnaround in 2025. However only three teams have ever won a Lombardi Trophy the season after losing a Super Bowl … though the Tom Brady-led 2018 Patriots were one of them, the only one to turn the trick in the past five decades.

8. Yet despite their much-anticipated June 1 acquisition of WR A.J. Brown, the Patriots will have to hope the Dianna Russini scandal that has dogged reigning NFL Coach of the Year Mike Vrabel all offseason doesn’t bubble into an even bigger distraction once the season starts.

9. The number of teams that have repeated as Super Bowl champions. The Seahawks aim to be the 10th – but only the second in the past two decades, following the 2022-23 Chiefs.

10. The number of new head coaches in 2026, tied for the most changes ever in one offseason. The Bills, Browns, Cardinals, Dolphins, Falcons, Giants, Raiders, Ravens, Steelers and Titans are all under new on-field leadership.

11. As for Pittsburgh? Mike Tomlin might have departed after 19 (all non-losing) seasons, but good bet his Sunday night analysis this season on “Football Night in America” will become the latest iteration of “Must See TV” on NBC.

12. Tomlin won’t be the only new component to NFL viewership in 2026. For the first time, the league will play a game on Thanksgiving Eve – Netflix streaming Packers-Rams on Wednesday, Nov. 25.

13. And that won’t be the only Wednesday game, the calendar falling in such a way – Labor Day on Sept. 7 – to force the Seahawks-Patriots kickoff slot into the first Week 1 Wednesday opener since 2012.

14. The league’s first-ever regular-season game in Australia – 49ers vs. Rams in Melbourne – is also adding havoc to Week 1, those teams taking the Thursday window ahead of the opening weekend in a contest that will kick off at 10:35 a.m. local time (8:35 p.m. ET). Little wonder that San Francisco coach Kyle Shanahan is salty about playing this one and flying all those literal miles – the Niners typically get at least as much support as the Rams during games played at SoFi between the NFC West foes – at a time when he’d like to reduce figurative miles on his stout but veteran-laden (and often brittle) team.

15. A record nine games will be played internationally in 2026, when the league will also showcase its first regular-season contest in Paris, when the New Orleans Saints “host” the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday, Oct. 25.

16. The number of consecutive seasons the New York Jets will miss the playoffs if they fail to qualify this season – which they will. It’s the longest current drought among NFL, MLB, NBA and NHL teams, the NYJ no longer linked with hockey’s Buffalo Sabres after they ended their 14-year hex earlier this year.

17. Is this the year an NFL kicker hits a field goal from at least 70 yards that counts? Jacksonville’s Cam Little drilled one in preseason last year before connecting from 67 and 68 yards during the season, the two longest in league history. Officially. Dallas’ Brandon Aubrey is also a legitimate threat. The league record holder with the most career field goals of 60+ yards (6), Aubrey hit a trio of those in 2025 to establish the single-season mark.

18. League-wide, there were a record 12 fields goal in the 2025 regular season that covered at least 60 yards. There were four in the 20th century.

19. The Miami Dolphins don’t have a quarterback on their roster who’s completed 50 passes in a season nor a wide receiver who’s caught 50 balls in a season. What could possibly go wrong?

20. This season will mark 20 years since the Saints came back to New Orleans following their Hurricane Katrina-induced absence in 2005. Their return will be marked by a Week 4 Monday night game against the Atlanta Falcons, whom the Saints beat 23-3 on the “MNF” stage in 2006, sparked by Steve Gleason’s legendary blocked punt minutes into the game – which was also newly elected Hall of Famer Drew Brees’ first in the Big Easy as the Saints’ quarterback.

21. No team is further removed from its last NFC North title than the Green Bay Packers, who last won it in 2021 – Aaron Rodgers’ final MVP season.

22. Could be tough for the Pack to regain the throne of a tightly contested division in 2026 given OLB Micah Parsons isn’t expected on the field until October and might not be 100% all season as he recovers from surgery following the knee injury he suffered last December.

23. The last quarterback drafted No. 1 overall whose head coach wasn’t fired during his rookie season? The Cincinnati Bengals’ Joe Burrow in 2020. Good luck to Las Vegas Raiders’ first-year HC Klint Kubiak, who is “saddled” with top pick Fernando Mendoza this year.

24. Zac Taylor remains the only coach Burrow has ever had and, heading into the 2026 campaign, is the only AFC North HC not in his first season.

25. In 2025, the NFC West became the first division in league history which had three teams win at least 12 regular-season games.

26. The NFC South, which didn’t have a team finish above .500 in 2025, hasn’t had a single 11-game winner since Brady’s Bucs went 13-4 in 2021.

27. After OLB Nick Herbig’s recent extension, the Steelers are the only team with three pass rushers who have contracts averaging more than $17 million annually. Sure seems like T.J. Watt and/or Alex Highsmith could be following retiring Rodgers out of the Steel City after this season.

28. Before the Seahawks host the Patriots in the 2026 kickoff game, the Arizona Cardinals and Carolina will initiate the preseason in the Pro Football Hall of Fame Game at Canton, Ohio, on Aug. 6.

29. This year’s HOF class includes Brees, Roger Craig and Adam Vinatieri, plus Cardinals and Panthers legends Larry Fitzgerald and Luke Kuechly, respectively.

30. The number of years since the Dallas Cowboys last reached the Super Bowl – or even the NFC championship game. But could a team that allowed the most points in the league in 2025 – but added more defensive reinforcements post-Parsons – be set up for a deep run now given its offensive firepower?

"That's the one thing I truly love about the Cowboys organization and the fanbase is it's (Super Bow) or nothing," Dallas QB Dak Prescott said last week.

"That's what being a competitor is, if that's not how you're wired, if that's not how you think, whether you're a fan, whether you're a player, whether you're a coach, then I think you're in the wrong business, and, honestly, I don't want you on my team. I love those expectations."

31. Prescott, who turns 33 next week and needs six TD passes to overtake Tony Romo (248) as the franchise's all-time leader in that category, is entering his 11th season. But, like his predecessor Romo, Prescott still only has two playoff wins to his credit.

32. Does any GM-coach duo enter the 2026 season on a collectively warmer perch than the Indianapolis Colts’ Chris Ballard and Shane Steichen, respectively? Despite ending last season on a seven-game slide, Indy owner Carlie Irsay-Gordon kept the pair even though the Colts haven’t reached the playoffs since 2020 – Irsay-Gordon declaring, “I'm pissed” despite retaining her brain trust. A vote of confidence like no other.

33. No coaching hire in 2026 arguably had more fanfare than John Harbaugh’s shift northward on I-95 from Baltimore to New York, where he takes over the Giants. He went 11-5 in his first year with the Ravens way back in 2008, but what does he do now for a franchise that hasn’t won 11 games in a decade? (At least he's able to tamp Donald Trump issues in his own locker room.)

34. A major corollary of the coaching turnover this year is the widespread change at offensive coordinator throughout the league, many of the new ones hired by head coaches who remained in place. And teams seem to be casting a wider net than ever looking for the next great play caller.

35. In Washington, the Commanders have pivoted to rookie OC David Blough, who was a quarterback in the NFL as recently as 2023. He’s merely charged with getting QB Jayden Daniels back on track after his injury-plagued 2025 regression followed perhaps the greatest rookie season ever in 2024.

36. In Philadelphia, the Eagles have pivoted to rookie OC Sean Mannion, who was a quarterback in the NFL as recently as 2023. He’s merely charged with getting QB Jalen Hurts back on track after Philly’s failed title defense in 2025 plus the speculation that Hurts couldn’t co-exist with Brown, a three-time team captain in Philly. The Eagles will likely be as scrutinized as any team in 2026 – what else is new? – given the expectation Hurts will have to adjust to an offense that will force him to be under center more often, use more pre-snap motion and make quicker decisions, not necessarily the ingredients that made him a Super Bowl MVP a year ago.

37. In Denver, the Broncos have pivoted to rookie OC Davis Webb, who was a quarterback in the NFL as recently as 2022. He’s merely charged with following Sean Payton, the team’s head man and one of the most renowned offensive masterminds in league history, while helping QB Bo Nix and the Broncos take the next step after they faltered in last season’s AFC title game, which Nix missed with an ankle injury.

38. In Baltimore, the Ravens have pivoted to first-year OC Declan Doyle, who’s never been a play caller. However, the 30-year-old assistant has apprenticed under Payton and Bears coach Ben Johnson, and two-time MVP Lamar Jackson has been effusive about working with Doyle, saying his offense is “mind-blowing.”

39. In Seattle, the Seahawks have pivoted to rookie OC Brian Fleury, who’s been a football assistant at various levels since 2003 but never a coordinator at the pro level. Poached from San Francisco’s staff after seven years with the 49ers, Fleury could be the champs’ biggest X-factor as he tries to provide a smooth transition to Sam Darnold and Co. following Kubiak’s and Walker's departures.

40. In Los Angeles, the Chargers have pivoted to former Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel, who had one of the league’s top offenses for much of his Miami tenure. Pairing him with QB Justin Herbert should add juice to a Bolts offense that’s been middling for most of Herbert’s career and for a team that’s more than seven years removed from its last playoff win … but also wouldn’t mind playing a Super Bowl in its own building.

41. In Tampa Bay, the Buccaneers have pivoted to Zac Robinson, their fifth OC in five seasons. Who knows, man?

42. As Nix and Daniels adjust to the new guys in their headsets, fellow 2024 first-rounders Michael Penix Jr. and J.J. McCarthy are fighting to simply get their QB1 roles back. The other two QBspicked in Round 1 two years ago – New England’s Drake Maye (runner-up for league MVP in 2025) and Chicago’s Caleb Williams – should enjoy far more continuity in their current situations and seem to have overtaken Daniels and Nix after finishing well behind them in Offensive Rookie of the Year voting. A meeting of the Bears and Patriots in Super Bowl 61 would hardly be a shock given the strides both organizations made in 2025, each winnings its division after a last-place finish the year before.

43. In Western New York, the Bills will be playing their first season at the new Highmark Stadium, which they hope will be akin to an East Coast version of Seattle’s raucous Lumen Field (but with natural grass). Good luck.

44. In Nashville, the Titans will be playing their final season in Nissan Stadium. Good riddance.

45. However, Tennessee already has unveiled its new uniforms and, the oil derrick logo notwithstanding, has gone almost completely back to its Houstonian glory.

46. The Falcons, Ravens, Rams and Commanders also have new threads in 2026, though none made drastic departures from their familiar looks – though Washington’s throwback route included the questionable decision to include an alternate logo that includes a spear embedded into the “W” insignia.

47. Who will be the league’s top free agent in 2027? If QB Kyler Murray can rehabilitate his career in Minnesota, which presumes he beats out McCarthy for the starting job − one of the few QB1 camp battles expected to transpire this summer − it will almost certainly be Murray given the Vikings can’t tag him after his one-year deal expires.

48. This season is also a big one for Carolina’s Bryce Young and Houston’s C.J. Stroud, quarterbacks taken with the top two picks, respectively, of the 2023 draft but who haven’t necessarily played well enough yet to reel in long-term extensions. Both led their teams to the playoffs in 2025 but failed to distinguish themselves in the postseason – notably Stroud, who had seven turnovers in two games while accounting for two TDs.

49. A fan of the Jets, Cardinals or Browns? Then you might want to spend your time scouting the University of Texas’ Arch Manning, Oregon’s Dante Moore or Notre Dame’s CJ Carr, quarterbacks who could be the top three picks of the ’27 draft … if those seemingly QB-deprived teams slot into the top three positions. And with three first-round picks at their disposal, it's a near certainty the Jets − some way or another − will come away with one of them.

50. Let’s end where we started – that upcoming Super Bowl set to be played in greater L.A. You never really know what’s going to happen in the NFL, but good luck finding a team that enters a season with greater expectations than the ’26 Rams. A fortunate bounce here or there in either of their visits to Seattle last season, and the Rams probably advance to and win Super Bowl 60. Since then, they’ve loaded up defensively – stunning the league with their June 1 trade for two-time Defensive Player of the Year Myles Garrett. (And imagine if they get a version of Aaron Donald back that's 75% of the game wrecker we became accustomed to for a decade prior to his 2024 retirement.) Arguably the league’s second-best team each of the past two seasons, the Rams are in full-on Super Bowl-or-bust mode in Garrett’s first season in Hollywood … and perhaps reigning league MVP Matthew Stafford’s last.

All the NFL news on and off the field. Sign up for USA TODAY's 4th and Monday newsletter.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 50 days to kickoff, 50 things you should know going into the 2026 NFL season