The 2026 NFL schedule isn’t messing around: It starts with a Super Bowl rematch between the New England Patriots and Seattle Seahawks on Wednesday night, and then turns to the remade Los Angeles Rams, who will debut their stacked roster Thursday in a NFC West showdown with the San Francisco 49ers in Australia. By the time Patrick Mahomes and Bo Nix return from serious injuries to face off in an AFC West rivalry game Monday night, the NFL conversation will be filled with snap judgments and rash predictions. But why wait until then? The Athletic’s NFL writers and editors already submitted their season-long predictions and projections, weighing in on the most exciting rookies, the coaches with the hottest seats, the teams that are most likely to surprise or disappoint and whether anyone can stop those juggernaut Rams. Below are our consensus picks for MVP, Super Bowl champion, Offensive and Defensive Player of the Year and more. Forty staff members responded (with some opting not to answer everything, so some questions don’t have 40 responses). More than half of our voters picked the Rams to win it all. But eight other teams received at least one nod, and bear in mind that last year’s picks favored the Baltimore Ravens, Buffalo Bills and Kansas City Chiefs — while not a single staffer pegged the eventual champion Seahawks. Here are The Athletic’s staff picks for the 2026 season. !function(){"use strict";window.addEventListener("message",(function(a){if(void 0!==a.data["datawrapper-height"]){var e=document.querySelectorAll("[id='datawrapper-chart-63whH']");for(var t in a.data["datawrapper-height"])for(var r=0;r

Are the Rams inevitable? Is it finally Josh Allen’s turn? Our 2026 NFL predictions