PHOENIX—Some quick notes to wrap up the second day of the NFL’s owners meetings …
• I don’t blame NFL EVP Peter O’Reilly for addressing the question on why Super Bowls LXII and LXIII, now set for Atlanta and Vegas roughly 23 and 35 months from now, don’t have exact dates yet. O’Reilly basically made it sound like this is standard operating procedure for the league, even though such ambiguity around the date generally isn’t.
O’Reilly is saying what he has to say.
Here’s the reality: Atlanta not having a date has been something city officials have quietly been grousing over for more than a year, because it means holding a lot of hotel space and convention space that might otherwise be booked out, which, of course, affects commerce in the 2028 Super Bowl city. And another reality associated with this is that the NFL is not doing it without reason.
The obvious one is they’re holding the extra dates for the possibility that the league goes to 18 games for the 2027 season, which could push the date of Atlanta’s Super Bowl further back in February 2028. I’d also say it’s pretty obvious that the NFL would’ve liked to have already gotten an answer on whether 2027 will be a 17- or 18-game season by now, but the NFLPA’s tumultuous year has made that impossible.
But we’re getting to it being go time for all that. O’Reilly did allow that it’s pretty vital that the NFL, and Atlanta, have a Super Bowl date for early 2028 by the start of the 2026 season. And now, the NFLPA has its new executive director, J.C. Tretter, in place.
So I’d expect to hear a lot in the coming weeks, once Tretter gets settled, about the NFL broaching the topic with the union, with the May meeting in Orlando being a logical point to advance the discussion—which will take discussion over extra bye weeks, and whether the season could start earlier, over Labor Day weekend, as well—towards a conclusion.
It’s hard to say, at this point, what the union’s appetite for going to 18 games will be.
But it’s pretty clear how badly the owners want to do it, and have wanted to get there for the better part of the last two decades or so.
• I’d pay attention to some of the Browns messaging on Deshaun Watson—I believe he’s a very real part of the team’s quarterback picture for 2026.
It’s logical, to me at least, that he would be too. Their investment in the former Pro Bowler is going to land at $235 million. And what would make the trade they did in 2022 look even worse is if they just made him sit on the bench in 2026, and then saw him pull a Sam Darnold or Baker Mayfield somewhere else in ‘27. So to me, it makes sense to get one last look at him this fall, and make that look last as long as he’s the best option for the team.
I still think, from a talent standpoint, it’d be tough to argue he doesn’t have the best chance of the guys currently on the Cleveland roster to make the Browns competitive in Todd Monken’s first year at the helm.
• Speaking of the Browns, they never thought their proposal to allow teams to trade draft picks up to five years out—which was withdrawn on Monday—was going to go through this year. The idea was to start the conversation, which they have. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Cleveland give that rule change another go in 2026.
In his first season with the Rams, Adams led the league with 14 touchdown receptions. | Scott Kinser-Imagn Images
• Sean McVay acknowledged that the Rams kicked around the idea of trading Davante Adams earlier in the offseason—and said that there was open dialogue with Adams on the idea, so a guy they really like wouldn’t be blindsided by any result.
My sense is it’s also a strong signal that A.J. Brown would only have come in (the Rams bowed out of the running on that one) if Adams was on the way out.
• Vikings interim GM Rob Brzezinski told reporters on Monday that Jordan Addison’s fifth-year option will be exercised. I’d bet Minnesota will get calls on his trade availability in the aftermath of that, with one massive receiver contract already on the team’s ledger. How the Vikings handle that will likely show their appetite for handing out another big deal at the position, to go with the one Justin Jefferson did two years ago.
• The NFL announcing the two Super Bowl teams as the next two participants in Hard Knocks shows a real commitment to trying to revive a series that’s become a little stale with the flood of team- and league-produced “all-access” shows out there. It becoming less unique than it once was means the NFL Films folks need more and more access to make it stand out. And that isn’t easy to get. Putting two really good teams, and really good franchises, in the show doesn’t really solve that. But this idea is worth a try, I guess.
• The Rams and Packers got out there as suitors for Kirk Cousins on Monday, and that makes sense. I’ve heard Cousins is looking at his situation this way—either go be a starter somewhere (Pittsburgh might be the last shot at that, and only if Aaron Rodgers doesn’t return), go chase a championship as a backup (L.A. and Green Bay can give him that, as well as familiarity with coaches), or wait to see if there’s an injury somewhere between now and Week 1. And if he’s waiting on that first option … well, it might take a bit.
• With Vegas in for Super Bowl LXIII, Nashville becomes a strong favorite for Super Bowl LXIV, which will be held at the end of the Titans’ third season in the new Nissan Stadium, which opens in 2027.
• Finally, with the NFL voting to give New York the power to oversee games officiated by replacement officials, if there is a lockout in the fall, on Tuesday, we’ve officially entered into the phase of this where the two sides are firing missiles at each other. What everyone needs is a deadline, so people start to show their cards. The problem is the real deadline, even with the CBA expiring May 31, isn’t until the doorstep of the regular season.
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