The Seattle Seahawks just won their second Super Bowl title days ago, but can they go back-to-back? Will the Kansas City Chiefs rebound after a disastrous 2025 season?
I’m ready to plant the flag and predict the answer to both of those questions. The start of the 2026 NFL season might be seven months away, but we all know the league keeps on rolling. Draft season is already upon us, with mock drafts appearing this week and the NFL Scouting Combine later this month. NFL free agency will open less than a month from now and before you know it, it’ll be summer again and training camp will have arrived.
So, before things really got moving this offseason, it’s time to drop 10 bold predictions for the 2026 season. You might want to listen up as we correctly predicted the demise of the Chiefs and a breakout season for the Chicago Bears in last year’s bold predictions column. However, we missed on the Buffalo Bills finally hoisting the Lombardi Trophy.
As we strive for an even better year at prognosticating the NFL, here are 10 bold predictions for 2026.
Let’s see what’s in store for 2026.
The NFL will adopt a fourth-and-13 alternative onside kick
The league will reportedly bring back discussions about replacing the onside kick with a fourth-and-13 alternative play, with the new formation of the dynamic kickoff and the fact that you now must declare to the opposing team that you are going to onside kick. According to FOX Sports research, only five of 52 onside kicks were recovered (9.6%) during the regular season in 2025.
The UFL has used the fourth-and-12 alternative onside kick since the return of the USFL in 2022 with success. Last season in the UFL, teams converted the fourth-and-12 play at a 16.6% clip. Replacing the onside kick puts the best team’s players on the field for a crucial play in the game and adds more intrigue. Yes, I understand some might consider it gimmicky, but it should be a no-brainer for the league to adopt this rule.
The tush push lives
The NFL is expected to take a closer look once again at the tush push play made popular by the Philadelphia Eagles this offseason. The soonest the NFL’s competition committee might address the issue would be at the NFL owners meetings in March at the Biltmore Hotel in Phoenix.
A proposal to ban the play mustered 22 votes last year, falling two votes shy of the required 75% majority for a rule change. NFL referees struggled to accurately officiate the play at times last season, failing to see offsides in the close quarters of a scrum. However, defenses are doing a better job of defending the play and teams are converting the tush push at a lower rate, so I think the play stays as a viable option for teams to use in short-yardage situations.
Could the next Darnold already be on Seattle’s roster in Lock? The Missouri product was taken in the second round by the Denver Broncos in the 2019 draft and is 10-18 as a starter. However, Lock is just 29 years old. And like Darnold did behind Brock Purdy with the San Francisco 49ers, Lock has had a chance to sit back and learn behind quality starters like Geno Smith and Darnold.
Lock signed a two-year, $5 million deal to serve as the backup for Darnold, but none of his $2.25 million salary for 2026 is guaranteed by the Seahawks. It’s a weak quarterback class in the draft, so taking a flyer on someone like Lock could make sense for a quarterback-needy team. And the Seahawks have a No. 2 quarterback in waiting with Jalen Milroe on the roster.
“I think every quarterback in the NFL would look you in the eyes and say they believe they can be a starter,” Lock said in a scrum at Super Bowl Opening Night last week. “It’s just about the team you’re on, the opportunity you are given, and you have to be ready to pounce on it. You have to be ready to go out there and play.”
Fernando Mendoza leads Raiders to playoffs in rookie season
Las Vegas moved on from Pete Carroll after one disappointing season and believes the answer in the desert is former Seahawks offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak, hiring him as the team’s new head coach this week. After winning the Super Bowl with Darnold, Kubiak will see if he can have similar success with Mendoza, the likely No. 1 overall selection for Las Vegas.
Mendoza isn’t as talented physically as Darnold, but he’ll be a good fit for Kubiak’s offense and should give Las Vegas a chance to turn things around quickly. Even in the tough AFC West, paired with Ashton Jeanty and Brock Bowers on offense, the Raiders should be improved on that side of the ball and have a chance to compete for a postseason berth in Kubiak’s first year.
Prescott was briefly in the MVP conversation last season in his first year under head coach Brian Schottenheimer. The upward trajectory will continue for Dallas, as other teams take a step back in the NFC East and the Cowboys continue to build around Prescott by bringing back dynamic receiver George Pickens and adding new offensive pieces in the draft.
Prescott finished third in passing yards (4,552), fourth in passing touchdowns (30) and seventh in passer rating (99.2) during the regular season in 2025. If he stays healthy, Prescott should improve on those numbers and expect more wins for the Cowboys in the upcoming season.
Eagles headed for Chiefs-like slide
The vibes were bad all season last year, leading to the defending Super Bowl champs experiencing a first-round exit in the NFC Wild Card round. Well, the Super Bowl hangover continues for a second straight season, with the Eagles missing the playoffs altogether in 2026.
Quarterback Jalen Hurts will have a new offensive coordinator for the sixth time during his tenure with the team, with the Eagles moving on from Kevin Patullo and hiring 33-year-old Sean Mannion as the team’s new offensive coordinator. Mannion’s never called plays in the league. Defensive coordinator Vic Fangio had to be talked out of retirement. Whether A.J. Brown stays or goes is to be determined.
The popularity of Hurts among his teammates is a question mark. The popularity of head coach Nick Sirianni among the Philadelphia fans is a question mark. Feels like a swoon in the making for the Eagles.
Raiders’ star Maxx Crosby gets traded to 49ers
FOX Sports Insider Jay Glazer reports that Crosby wants out of Las Vegas. Crosby is 28 years old and signed through the 2029 season. The Raiders have the No. 1 overall pick and will be taking a quarterback of the future in Mendoza. The Raiders are in for a heavy roster rebuild and could use the draft picks to help remake the roster.
Yeah, that sounds like a blockbuster trade waiting to happen.
Maxx Crosby on beating Patriots in Week 1, where he stands with Raiders
San Francisco makes sense as a destination for Crosby, where he would give time for Nick Bosa to fully recover from a season-ending knee surgery. Without Bosa, San Francisco struggled to generate consistent pressure, finishing with a league-low 20 sacks. New San Francisco defensive coordinator Raheem Morris would know how to get the most out of a unique talent like Crosby, giving an aging San Francisco roster a better chance to chase a Super Bowl in the ultra-competitive NFC West.
Who’s the next Mike Vrabel? Robert Saleh
After an awful stint with an offensive-minded head coach in Brian Callahan leading them, the Tennessee Titans returned to what worked when Vrabel led them to three playoff appearances — a hard-nosed, defensive-minded head coach in Saleh.
He worked wonders in San Francisco by helping to lead a short-handed defense to the postseason. And Saleh brings a wealth of coaching experience with him, including defensive coordinator Gus Bradley and offensive coordinator Brian Daboll, who had success with Josh Allen, Daniel Jones and Jaxson Dart, and should be a boon for another big-bodied, strong-armed quarterback in last year’s No. 1 overall pick Cam Ward.
Bradley previously coached in the AFC South as head coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars and defensive coordinator of the Indianapolis Colts. For Saleh, he finds a home in one of the easier divisions in football.
Experienced special teams coordinator John Fassel remains in the fold. Tennessee has a talented defensive chess piece to build around on the roster in Jeffery Simmons. Saleh has been a head coach before with the New York Jets, and with a projected $105 million in cap space — the most in the league — expect the Titans make a turnaround like Vrabel’s Patriots last year, more than doubling Tennessee’s win total in 2026.
Chiefs return to playoff form, reach Super Bowl
Make way for the Patrick Mahomes revenge tour. The three-time Super Bowl champ should be properly motivated after suffering a season-ending knee injury and not reaching the playoffs for the first time in his NFL career. Andy Reid and general manager Brett Veach will restock the roster, Mahomes’ best friend Travis Kelce returns, and the Chiefs get their mojo back.
But the key for Kansas City will be Mahomes coming back healthy and defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo getting his unit to play at an elite level again, as he did during the time the Chiefs advanced to three straight Super Bowls.
But Seahawks repeat as Super Bowl champs
Only three of Seattle’s 24 starters are not under contract for the upcoming season. The top priority for the Seahawks will be bringing back soon-to-be unrestricted free agent running back and Super Bowl MVP Kenneth Walker III. Electric punt returner Rashid Shaheed, whom the Seahawks got in a midseason trade with the New Orleans Saints, should also be a consideration to return for Seattle.
Nick Wright’s Way-Too-Early Tiers: Super Bowl champ Seahawks look to run it back, Eagles will have an anxious regular season 👀
Seattle has the sixth-most cap space available and quarterback Sam Darnold remains under contract for a very reasonable $27.5 million in total compensation for 2026. Seattle’s 2023 first-round picks Devon Witherspoon and Jaxon Smith-Njigba are also eligible to receive contract extensions on their rookie deals, and general manager John Schneider could look to lock them up for the future as a signal to other teammates that the Seahawks will take care of their own players.
But Seattle’s Super Bowl roster, led by cerebral head coach Mike Macdonald, remains mostly intact. So, all the ingredients are in place for the Seahawks to be just the second team to repeat as Super Bowl champions over the last two decades.
