With the 2025-26 NFL season set to officially kick off in Philadelphia, as the Super Bowl champion Eagles raise their second banner vs. their longtime heated rival, the Dallas Cowboys.
Here are my official top ten predictions for the season.
1.) The Dallas Cowboys are gonna rue trading Micah Parsons: It’s bad enough that you trade away a potentially generational player on defense in Parsons, but to a team that has had your number over the decades (Ice Bowl, Dez Bryant) that also eliminated you in the postseason the last three years, and you see Parsons in Week 4.
Jerry is getting old and in the tooth, and can sell anyone, but trying to sell your own fanbase in needing to “stop the run” sounds like a case of “all hat, no cattle”
2.) Aaron Rodgers is gonna make the Steelers a dark horse contender: Something about Rodgers and Mike Tomlin teaming up smells of an under-the-radar Steelers team making a post-season run as a wildcard.
This is Rodgers’ last stop, and despite being forty-something, he has DK Metcalf, a rookie stud running back in Kaleb Johnson, TJ Watt, Jalen Ramsey and another Buckeye stud in Jack Sawyer likely to get some snaps on the other side.
Don’t ever count The Black and Gold out.
3.) Detroit is going to miss Ben Johnson and Aaron Glenn more than they realize: Yes, a team is only as good as its players and staff, but very few have to replace two highly regarded ones in offensive coordinator Ben Johnson defecting to the rival Chicago Bears and defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn going to Gotham.
Yes, the Lions will still be formidable and the third biggest threat to the defending champion Philadelphia Eagles after Green Bay, Los Angeles and Washington, but look for things to be a bit dicey to start the season for the Motor City Kitties.
4.) Josh Allen will win back-to-back NFL MVP awards: There is just something special brewing up in the Nickel City—aside from those ice COLD Rivalry uniforms!—Allen looks to be in his prime and at the peak of his career right now.
Thanks to Buffalo investing heavily in him, Kansas City seemingly in decline, Baltimore never seeming to quite get over the hump and Cincinnati always starting slow, Allen has a chance to jump out to an early lead in MVP voting.
5.) Mike McDaniel, Brian Daboll and Kevin Stefanski to be fired or resign: It’s a real mess in Miami, Cleveland and New York. No other way to slice it. In South Beach, you have a head coach who looks more like he came out of a South Beach nightclub at 5am in the morning instead of a NFL head coach, who has seemingly worn out his welcome in Miami.
Signs are that if the Dolphins don’t at least make a deep playoff run, owner Stephen Ross could look to make a change.
In Cleveland, the Browns are the Browns. Always trying to outsmart everyone, and yet can never get out of their own way. You have a team with FOUR quarterbacks, and are milking Shedeur Sanders for marketing and media exposure instead of letting him try to prove himself.
I like Dillon Gabriel. Photographed him his freshman year down at UCF, but to put it plainly, he is not built for the rugged and physical AFC North at 5’10 and 210.
And in the case of Big Blue, five words, one name; Saquon Barkley. Super Bowl Champion.
Period.
6.) Speaking of Shedeur…: With the likelihood of Arch Manning staying in Austin another year—thanks Ohio State!—and a good, but not awe-inspiring, tank-worthy crop of QB’s in the 2026 NFL Draft, look for the Browns to do some “player evaluation” and let Shedeur cook for the second half of the season.
Flacco is nearing retirement, and Gabriel isn’t built for the AFC North, plus we all know how much Jimmy Haslam LOVES to make a splash—Johnny Manziel, Deshaun Watson, etc—so why not let the son of Prime ball out.
7.) Cam Ward and Jaxson Dart will emerge as QB1 and QB2 of this year’s QB class: Please note that I only say this becuase of Ward being QB1 in Nashville and Dart, likely a Russell Wilson sack or bad pass away from getting yanked in New York. Both young quarterbacks have that “juice” that these two otherwise blase franchises desperately need to energize their fans.
8.) Jordan Love is gonna have an MVP-like season: What happens when a storied franchise FINALLY nabs one of the top and fastest wideouts in the draft. You get…..BREAKOUT SEASON!
This is what I feel is gonna happen for Packers quarterback Jordan Love and his new WR1 in Matthew Golden. Quickly, name the last Packers wide receiver who legitimately scared a defense and was a problem the second he lined up across from a DB that was already pre-cooked?
I’ll wait.
Look for the Love-Golden connection to be plentiful in Titletown.
9.) Don’t sleep on QB2 Tyson Bagent in Chicago: Not to channel my inner Pundit’s Pundit, but I am beginning to sour on Caleb Williams and his man-diva attitude for the Bears.
He asked for and got the coach he wanted in Ben Johnson, a legit WR2 in Luther Burden III, a rebuilt offensive line and arguably one of the best TE’s in the draft in Colston Loveland.
It’s getting late early for the 2022 Heisman Trophy winner out of USC, and if he can’t seemingly produce up to his expectations, then don’t be shocked if calls for Tyson Bagent, who did shine in preseason, and just recently inked a two-year $10 million contract extension.
Teams don’t usually sign undrafted backups to that kind of money, unless they don’t feel completely confident in the current QB1.
Just saying.
10.) Super Bowl I Rematch, Chiefs vs. Packers: How many times do you think the Chiefs watched that game tape of them getting bullied by the Eagles in New Orleans?
Once.
How much you want to bet that with this likely being the future Mr. Taylor Swift’s last ride with the Chiefs that Kansas City is motivated and locked in?
In what will likely be the “last dance” for Kelce and company, look for the Chiefs to come out with a vengeance this season. With WR1 Rasheed Rice out for six games, expect Kelce to be the focal point on offense early and often.
Expect the Chiefs to vanquish—you guessed it!—Buffalo in another AFC title game before meeting the upstart Green Bay Packers, led by Jordan Love and a ferocious defense headlined by Micha Parsons.
In what will be a back and forth classic, look for Kelce to play a big part in helping the Chiefs claim their fifth Super Bowl title, and fourth in six years before announcing his retirement and riding off into the sunset.
Can’t script it any better. WWE better take some notes.
Division winners: * = No.1 seed
AFC East: Buffalo Bills
AFC North: Baltimore Ravens
AFC West: Kansas City Chiefs*
AFC South: Houston Texans
NFC East: Philadelphia Eagles
NFC West: Los Angeles Rams
NFC North: Green Bay Packers*
NFC South: Tampa Bay Buccaneers
AFC Wild Cards: Pittsburgh Steelers, Los Angeles Chargers, Denver Broncos
NFC Wild Cards: Washington Commanders, Detroit Lions, San Francisco 49ers
Super Bowl LX: Kansas City vs. Green Bay
NFL MVP: Josh Allen: QB, Buffalo Bills
Offensive Rookie of the Year: Tet McMillan, WR, Carolina Panthers
Defensive Rookie of the Year: Abdul Carter, LB, New York Giants
Offensive Player of the Year: Baker Mayfield, QB, Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Defensive Player of the Year: Micah Parsons, LB, Green Bay Packers
Comeback Player of the Year: Nick Chubb, RB, Houston Texans
Coach of the Year: Jim Harbaugh, Los Angeles Chargers
Super Bowl LX MVP: Travis Kelce, TE, Kansas City Chiefs