The 2026 NFL offseason has not been quiet. A franchise is seriously exploring a new state. The best defensive player in football was traded across the country. The best quarterback in football just reworked his deal into the first contract in league history worth more than half a billion dollars. And one of the most decorated coaches in NFL history walked away.
Here is everything that mattered.
The Rams Are All-In
No team made a bigger statement this offseason than the Los Angeles Rams.
The headline move was the trade for Myles Garrett. The Cleveland Browns, accepting a rebuild, sent the two-time Defensive Player of the Year to Los Angeles in exchange for Jared Verse, a 2027 first-round pick, a 2028 second, and a 2029 third. The Rams gave up significant future capital and one of their best young defenders to acquire the most dominant pass rusher in the league. When a franchise makes that kind of move, it is not building for the future. It is trying to win right now.
They had already added Trent McDuffie. Kansas City traded its lockdown cornerback to LA, where he agreed to a deal initially reported as four years and $124 million, the headline figure that made him the highest-paid cornerback in football. Later contract breakdowns put the practical value closer to four years and $107.5 million, but the football point remains the same: Garrett on one side, McDuffie across the field, and a Rams defense built to suffocate offenses in a way few units in recent memory have been designed.
For Cleveland, the math made sense on paper. Verse is a legitimate pass rusher in his own right, and the draft capital gives a rebuilding franchise multiple shots at reshaping its roster. The Browns also promoted from within on defense, hiring Mike Rutenberg as their new defensive coordinator after Jim Schwartz resigned in the wake of the trade.
But make no mistake: this offseason belonged to Los Angeles.
The Bears Are Leaving Chicago. Maybe.
This one is complicated, which is exactly why it is worth paying attention to.
The Chicago Bears' Board of Directors voted on June 5 to advance a stadium development project in Hammond, Indiana, a short drive across the state line from Chicago. Indiana already has $1 billion in taxpayer incentives approved and waiting. The state of Illinois, meanwhile, failed to pass a stadium financing proposal before lawmakers adjourned their spring session. The Bears had been patient. When the bill died, they stopped waiting.
Hammond's mayor is confident the move happens. The Bears are evaluating three specific sites in Hammond, including the Lost Marsh Golf Course near Wolf Lake. Indiana Governor Mike Braun, asked whether the team would become the "Hammond Bears," was direct: "That would be obtuse." The name stays Chicago Bears regardless of address.
Here is the catch: Bears officials themselves said the June 5 vote does not mean a move is a done deal. Illinois lawmakers, stung by the development, are already drafting counter-legislation, including a renewed push around Arlington Heights. The tug-of-war is not over.
What is clear is that the Bears' leverage is different now. For years, the threat of leaving Chicago was the negotiating tool. That tool has now been used. Whatever Illinois comes back with has to be compelling enough to reverse a board vote, and that is a very different conversation than preventing one from happening in the first place.
A franchise that has played in Chicago for over 100 years is closer to leaving than it has ever been.
Mahomes Gets Half a Billion
The number does the talking: $504.75 million.
Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs reworked his contract, extending the deal through the 2033 season and making him the first NFL player with a contract worth more than half a billion dollars. The new structure averages roughly $63 million per year, with some reports rounding the annual value closer to $64 million.
This is not surprising. Mahomes is the best player in the sport and the Chiefs' dynasty runs entirely through him. But the scale is staggering. The contract will reset the quarterback market for years and has already begun a chain reaction. Every young franchise quarterback in the league now has a new ceiling. How the Bears handle Caleb Williams' eventual extension, for example, just got a very different reference point.
AJ Brown to New England
The Philadelphia Eagles traded AJ Brown to the New England Patriots for a conditional 2028 first-round pick and additional selections. Brown, one of the most physically dominant wide receivers in football, now gives the Patriots a genuine playmaker for the first time in the post-Brady era.
New England has struggled to find offensive identity since Brady's departure. Brown does not fix everything, but he is the kind of player who makes whatever quarterback is under center look functional just by winning one-on-one matchups. Combined with the Seahawks' Super Bowl LX title and the league-wide offseason reshuffling, the Patriots feel like a franchise trying to announce that its rebuild is over. Whether the quarterback situation catches up remains the question.
Kyler Murray Signs with the Vikings for the Minimum
This one deserves a moment of reflection.
In 2022, Kyler Murray signed a five-year, $230.5 million contract extension with the Arizona Cardinals, one of the most lucrative deals in NFL history at the time. In March, Arizona cut him, absorbing $46 million in dead cap money as the price of moving on. Murray signed with the Minnesota Vikings for the veteran minimum.
He will compete with J.J. McCarthy for the starting job.
Murray's fall from a $230 million man to a minimum-salary roster battle is one of the starker stories of this offseason. Injuries, inconsistency, and a relationship with the organization that deteriorated over time combined to make one of the league's most expensive contracts one of its most regrettable. The Vikings are a low-risk flier on a talent that, when healthy and motivated, can still make things happen. But the circumstances of his arrival are a reminder of how quickly a quarterback's standing can shift.
Quick Takes
Mike Tomlin stepped down after 19 seasons in Pittsburgh, ending one of the most remarkable tenures in NFL coaching history: never a losing record in nearly two decades. The Steelers replaced him with Mike McCarthy, the Pittsburgh native who previously coached Green Bay and Dallas.
John Harbaugh is now with the New York Giants after Baltimore fired him following 18 seasons with the Ravens. He signed a five-year deal as New York's new head coach, while Baltimore hired Jesse Minter as its new head coach.
DK Metcalf was suspended two games after a physical altercation with a fan during a game in Detroit. He appealed, lost, and the suspension voided $45 million in guarantees from his contract. The Steelers stood by him publicly anyway.
The Big Picture
The Rams have assembled a defense built to win a championship in 2026. The Bears are navigating an identity crisis that has nothing to do with football. Mahomes' contract sets a new ceiling for every quarterback negotiation for the next decade. And a handful of teams, including New England, Minnesota, and Cleveland, are making moves that tell you exactly where they think they are in their rebuild cycles.
The season does not start until September. But the offseason has already told us plenty about who is serious and who is still figuring it out.
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