Enduring Colts Foundation Makes Surprise Return To Relevance
In 2018, the Colts submitted one of the more memorable turnarounds in recent NFL history. After Andrew Luck missed all of the 2017 season with a troublesome shoulder injury, he soared to Comeback Player of the Year honors and piloted an Indianapolis divisional-round run. The Colts zoomed from 1-5 to 10-6, eliminating the Texans in Houston's traditional Saturday-afternoon wild-card slot.
Not unlike the Saints' 2017 draft class that catalyzed a late-career Drew Brees return to postseason bookings, the Colts' 2018 group positioned Luck for a reemergence after an injury-plagued period. The Colts hit on several core players in that draft, plugging five rookies into regular roles for a franchise that appeared poised to vault to a Super Bowl-contending perch alongside the quickly forming Patrick Mahomes-Lamar Jackson-Josh Allen troika that came to define the post-Tom Brady AFC years.
Luck's abrupt retirement obviously scuttled those plans, setting the Colts back years and bringing about a nonstop quarterback carousel that moved the franchise into mediocrity. As this space foreshadowed this summer, the Colts became just the second team since the 1970 merger to use eight different Week 1 starting quarterbacks in a nine-season span (Washington is the other, doing so from 2017-24). The player that moved Indy toward this solo tier, Daniel Jones, has, to the surprise of just about everyone, restored the Luck-era core to relevancy and has benefited from the foundation Chris Ballard stubbornly clung to in subsequent years.
The Colts have glided to 6-1, toppling two five-win squads (Broncos, Chargers). Jones following Geno Smith, Baker Mayfield and Sam Darnold's resurgent path has required quality showings from much of Ballard's core, one essentially deemed inconsequential after the organization's QB carousel finally crashed during Anthony Richardson's historically inaccurate season.
NFL Mailbag: Trades, Giants, 49ers, Stroud
This week's edition of the PFR mailbag touches on the wide receiver angle as it pertains to the trade deadline, the Giants' offseason outlook and the 49ers' and Texans' quarterback situations.
Ian asks:
If the Dolphins and Saints aren't posturing about keeping [Jaylen] Waddle and [Chris] Olave, which WRs are truly available at the deadline? Will the Steelers land one?
First off, I would agree in thinking neither Waddle nor Olave will (or should) be dealt. Both teams require an influx of young talent to rebound from where they are now. Trading away players in their 20s who have term remaining on their deals is the opposite of what Miami and New Orleans need to be doing.
With that in mind, let’s focus on pending free agents who have been mentioned as trade candidates. Jakobi Meyers is the top name to watch; he asked to be dealt this summer, the Raiders are (all but) out of playoff contention and he topped 1,000 yards last year. Teams have called about Meyers, and he would no doubt welcome the chance to help his market value on a contender as opposed to riding out the season in Vegas – something the team would apparently be onboard with as well.
NFL Mailbag: Hall, Ravens, Dolphins, Rattler
This week's edition of the Pro Football Rumors mailbag dives into a few trade-related questions in the AFC East along with a potential offseason Ravens coaching decision and the Saints' plans under center.
Kirk asks:
What teams do you think make sense for Breece Hall in trades? What do you think the Jets can expect for a return?
Whether or not Hall gets dealt will certainly be one of the top storylines to watch as the deadline approaches. Head coach Aaron Glenn has said on several occasions the team is not looking to trade him. Hall’s latest comments on the matter suggest he would not be averse to a change of scenery, although he has not formally asked to be moved.
In the absence of any known extension talks, Hall being one of the players New York could move on from will remain a talking point until more clarity emerges in his case. Presuming a trade is worked out – by the team’s current regime, which did not draft him – a relatively strong market could exist. At 24, Hall would be expected to serve as a starting back for years to come by any acquiring team.
Titans Latest Team To See HC-GM Misalignment Backfire
The steady Titans descent leading to Brian Callahan's ouster was certainly predictable given recent organizational decision-making. Owner Amy Adams Strunk has fostered an unstable environment, and the power structure left standing still invites questions. The impulsive owner, as is the case with several other dysfunctional organizations, remains the common denominator during this nosedive.
Tennessee went 4-19 under Callahan, the coach Adams Strunk insisted upon when not bothering to explore Mike Vrabel's trade value. Linked to such a trade effort late in the 2023 season, the Titans bailed on that plan due to Adams Strunk not wanting to potentially miss out on some of the 2024 cycle's candidates while dealing with Vrabel trade negotiations. The result: a 23-game head coach. Callahan matched Ken Whisenhunt's tenure for the franchise's shortest for a full-time HC in 50 years.
Callahan did not appear deserving of a third season, and it took one of the most bizarre collapses -- Week 5 in Arizona -- in recent NFL history to give the Titans their win. The team's 83-point total represents the fewest points through six Titans/Oilers games since 1983. With Cam Ward development paramount, Tennessee's power structure pulling the plug makes sense. Though, Ward will debut next season -- barring an unexpected decision to retain Mike McCoy and Bo Hardegree -- with a third play-caller in 18 games. Not ideal for quarterback growth. Ward has nowhere to go but up, by his own admission, ranking dead last in QBR (by a wide margin) and EPA per play.
Although eventful due to the past two Tennessee iterations' performance, Callahan's tenure will be rather insignificant in the grand scheme. Adams Strunk's 10-plus-year run as controlling owner has included more notable impulse firings, with that list starting with Vrabel and GMs Jon Robinson and Ran Carthon. How the owner has operated will make hiring the next coach more difficult, regardless of any positive perception the Chad Brinker-Mike Borgonzi power duo generates around the league.
Joe Flacco Hail Mary Comes At Key Point On Bengals’ Timeline
Joe Flacco has enjoyed one of the more eventful late-prime periods for a non-star-level quarterback in NFL history. Despite going six years between appearances as a non-injury-related Week 1 starter and then being removed from that role four games into the season, The 40-year-old passer has now been traded three times will be asked to save a Bengals season careening off course.
Moreover, the Bengals -- after trading a 2026 fifth-round pick for Flacco and a sixth -- are entrusting a key stretch on their timeline to a player a largely dysfunctional organization just benched. The Browns backup-turned-Bengals starter will be asked to keep hopes alive while Joe Burrow rehabs. Cincinnati faces the ignominious reality of missing three straight playoff brackets during Burrow's late 20s.
As Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson have brought their respective franchises near-automatic postseason entry codes this decade, the Burrow era -- due to injuries and roster management -- is nearing a 2-for-6 start in terms of postseason qualification. That is, if Flacco cannot turn his own season around.
This promises to be one of the more interesting in-season QB acquisitions in many years, as the NFL's second-oldest active QB will go from being demoted by a team eyeing the 2026 draft class at the position to a division rival carrying historically elite weaponry. Jake Browning was squandering the receiver arsenal the Bengals deviated from their previous plan to pay. Plenty of subplots are present as Flacco begins a second in-season Ohio rescue effort.
NFL Mailbag: Cardinals, Steelers, Cowboys, Tua, Herbert, Dolphins
The debut of the Pro Football Rumors mailbag looks into the Cardinals' potential offseason moves, the Steelers' future under center, the question of whether the Cowboys can end their Super Bowl drought and Dolphins' Tua vs. Herbert debate.
Ben asks:
If the Cardinals continue on their current trajectory and definitively look like the worst team in the NFC West, this has to be considered a major disappointment after they entered the season with postseason aspirations.
Assuming they miss the postseason and finish around .500, what changes (or lack thereof) do you anticipate this offseason? Will they double down and invest more on pieces surrounding Kyler [Murray]? Could a rebuild be in the cards (including moving on from Murray altogether)?
Year 1 of the Monti Ossenfort-Jonathan Gannon regime resulted in four wins, but that figure doubled last year. That meant another step forward and playoff contention was a reasonable expectation for 2025, and I would agree falling short (at least by a wide margin) would be a notable disappointment. But the first five weeks of the year certainly suggest Arizona should be in the mix.
The Cardinals won two straight one-score games before their current streak of three consecutive losses on game-ending field goals. Sunday’s blown lead – especially given the Emari Demercado goal line fumble – cannot be repeated if Arizona is going to contend in the NFC West with the division's other teams starting a combined 10-5. Still, a wild-card berth will be in reach if the Cards wind up back on the right side of those close games moving forward.
Recent Broncos Extensions Highlight Post-Russell Wilson Recovery
The Russell Wilson miss remains a central part of the Broncos' roster construction, even though the now-well-traveled quarterback is two teams removed from his Denver stay. Year 2 of the Wilson contract's dead money albatross has undercut the Broncos' ability to build around Bo Nix's rookie contract.
Wilson remains the top single-player cap hit on Denver's payroll -- by a wide margin. Although the Broncos absorbed the larger blow last year by taking on $53MM in dead cap, Wilson's $32MM 2025 number leads the Denver payroll by nearly $10MM. Right tackle Mike McGlinchey's $23.78MM sits second. The historic miss, though somewhat overshadowed by the Browns' cataclysmic Deshaun Watson decision (which occurred barely a week later in March 2022), has handicapped Sean Payton's team. But the Broncos have built a 2025 contender regardless.
A mix of investments from Payton's time in control join players brought in during GM George Paton's two years at the controls, while left tackle Garett Bolles and wide receiver Courtland Sutton remain from John Elway's GM tenure. The Broncos are 3-2, having become the first team to hand the defending Super Bowl champion Eagles a loss in a game Jalen Hurts finished since Week 4 of last season. Reaching this place amid the reality of the record-setting Wilson dead money hit reflects well on the Payton-Paton partnership, one that certainly did not look like a long-term fit.
Chargers’ Minimalist Defensive Blueprint Proving Effective
The Chargers' defense made a surprising transformation last season, rocketing from the bottom quartile to No. 1 in points allowed. Los Angeles managed this without making many additions of note to join Tom Telesco-era staples Joey Bosa, Derwin James and Khalil Mack.
That trend continued this offseason, and the Chargers entered Week 1 with their most notable defensive move being a subtraction (the Bosa release). Early in Week 2, they lost Mack to a dislocated elbow. The team still held the Raiders to nine points and the Broncos to nine first downs, showing no signs of confirming their unexpected 2024 resurgence was fluky.
Twenty games into Jesse Minter's defensive coordinator tenure, his Bolts work appears quite legitimate. While the former Jim Harbaugh Michigan DC came up as a potential 2025 HC candidate, no team chose to interview him during this year's cycle. Even in a league that prioritizes offensive-oriented candidates, this qualified as surprising given the turnaround Minter steered last season. There is almost no chance the 42-year-old staffer goes interview-less in 2026, and this 20-game pace points to the Chargers needing to look for a new DC next year.
Examining The Misses Affecting Chiefs’ Offensive Decline
Patrick Mahomes is both a player carrying one of the great early-career résumés in NFL history and one whose production since the start of the 2023 season has not aligned with his reputation. The all-time quarterback talent has not led impressive offenses since his 2022 MVP season, but the Chiefs' success in this period has masked this alarmingly unexciting unit's work.
Kansas City slipped to 15th in scoring offense in 2023 but won Super Bowl LVIII anyway. The Chiefs' first-stringers managed to go 15-1 in 2024, also doing so with the NFL's No. 15-ranked offense. Through two games this season, the team's hopes of a reignition on that side of the ball -- perhaps the central organizational talking point this offseason -- appear misplaced.
While the Chiefs will certainly improve once Rashee Rice's six-game personal conduct suspension ends, that is unlikely to be a cure-all. Personnel misses have created deficiencies here, and Mahomes has gone from a player on pace to be the greatest ever at his position to one struggling to remind consistently of his early artistry.
This is not to say the Chiefs' offense is talent-less outside of its quarterback; the team has an All-Pro center (Creed Humphrey) and a Pro Bowl right guard (Trey Smith). It also has seen promising early work from first-round left tackle Josh Simmons. While many teams would envy that O-line foundation, other issues have dragged the Chiefs into offensive mediocrity despite employing the league's biggest star.
No NFLPA Grievance Expected Over Broncos’ Russell Wilson Situation
The Broncos' season began with questions about Russell Wilson's long-term future within new head coach Sean Payton's scheme. His contract was also a talking point, and that is once again the case given the recent decision to bench him. 
While the move to start Jarrett Stidham was based in part on the lack of consistency Denver produced on offense with Wilson at the helm, the latter's 2025 injury guarantee was a factor as well. Wilson was approached midseason and asked to move the date at which his $37MM for that season became a full guarantee. Denver threatened to bench the nine-time Pro Bowler midseason if he refused to alter his contract, which remains intact.
Wilson was demoted to backup, but only after the Broncos' postseason chances were essentially extinguished. Now, his future in the Mile High City is very much in doubt, although he has expressed a desire to finish his career in Denver. With respect to the situation surrounding his contract, no action from the player's association is expected to take place, something which could help lead to an amicable split or a reconciliation.