RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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Hello football friends, and welcome to the Thursday edition of the Pick Six newsletter!
After 179 days of waiting, football is finally back. Have I been counting down since February? Yes, and yes, I clearly need a hobby.
The Hall of Fame Game kicks off tonight, and sure, there's a good chance that you won't be able to name a single player on the field in the fourth quarter, but that's the beauty of preseason football . If you need a reason to watch tonight's game, don't worry, we're going to give you a few reasons why you should tune in. With that in mind, let's get to the rundown.
The first game of the 2026 season is officially here, which is a good thing, because I was starting to experience football withdrawal symptoms. The game tonight will feature the head coaching debut of Arizona's Mike LaFleur, who was hired in January to take over for Jonathan Gannon.
The game will be kicking off from Canton, Ohio, at 8 p.m. ET on NBC and the fact that NBC has the game is one reason why you should be watching. Tonight's game will mark the NBC debut of former Steelers coach Mike Tomlin, and it will be interesting to see how he handles his new job.
Besides Tomlin, here are a few other things to know heading into tonight's game and a few reasons why you might want to watch:
Breech's pick: Cardinals 20-17 over Panthers (Cardinals cover +1). It's the bottom of the Panthers roster against the bottom of the Cardinals roster, so it's hard to pick a winner here, but I'm going with Arizona, only because I think Mike LaFleur would like to start his career off with a win.
The Hall of Fame Game is just an appetizer when it comes to the festivities this weekend. The main course will be coming on Saturday with the enshrinement of the Pro Football Hall of Fame's class of 2026. If you're planning to watch induction ceremony this weekend, you better clear your schedule on Saturday afternoon because that's when the ceremony will be kicking off. After years of holding the enshrinement ceremony in prime time, the Hall of Fame moved the ceremony to noon ET in 2022, and that's where it will be once again this year. (The ceremony will be televised by both ESPN and NFL Network.)
The Hall of Fame's Class of 2026 consists of five players, including a KICKER. Let's take a look at the class:
Vinatieri is just the third pure placekicker ever to make the Hall of Fame, joining Jan Stenerud and Morten Andersen. One other notable fact about this weekend is that Kuechly will become the second-youngest Hall of Famer ever when he's inducted on Saturday. The 2013 NFL Defensive Player of the Year just turned 35 in April. The only player who was younger at the time of his induction was Gale Sayers, who was 34 when he was enshrined in 1977.
If you're wondering who might make the Hall of Fame in the future, Bryan DeArdo went through and identified one active player from each team who could eventually end up in Canton and you can check that out here .
After ranking the top 10 head coaches in the NFL earlier this week, you might have thought that we were done ranking things, but we're not, we're never done. Today, we're going to rank the top offensive and defensive play-callers in the NFL.
We rounded up 12 of our NFL experts and had them vote on the top play-callers and I'm going to unveil our ranking for the top 10 defensive play-callers.
1. Mike Macdonald ( Seahawks head coach) 2. Steve Spagnuolo ( Chiefs defensive coordinator) 3. Jesse Minter ( Ravens head coach) 4. Vic Fangio ( Eagles defensive coordinator) 5. Brian Flores (Vikings defensive coordinator) 6. Robert Saleh ( Titans head coach) 7. Chris Shula ( Rams defensive coordinator) 8. Vance Joseph ( Broncos defensive coordinator) 9. Anthony Campanile (Jaguars defensive coordinator) 10. Matt Burke ( Texans defensive coordinator)
It's kind of crazy to think that Macdonald and Minter were on the same staff in Baltimore for four seasons (2017-20).
As for the top ranked guys on the offensive side of the ball, you'll have to check out our full story here if you want to see that part of the list.
If there's one thing you can count on every year in the NFL, it's that your going to see multiple new playoff teams during the upcoming season. There have been at least four new playoff teams in every season played since 1990, so it almost feels like a lock that we'll once again see that happen this year.
With that in mind, Zach Pereles decided to take a look around the AFC to try and figure out which teams might make the postseason this year after missing out last year.
Here are the top three teams on his list:
Pereles also made a prediction on several teams that could take a step back after making the playoffs last year and you can check out that list here .
NFL owners aren't allowed to gamble on the NFL, but apparently, they can tell you what they would bet on if they were allowed to gamble and that's what Jimmy Haslam did recently.
The Browns owner has apparently been paying close attention to the Over/Under total that his team has been given and we know that because he specifically mentioned it during a recent press conference.
"I would say this, and we never do this, but I think the odds are for us to win five and a half games," Haslam said. "I'll take the over."
Taking the over on the Browns might seem slightly crazy, but I think I actually agree with him and there's one big reason why: The schedule.
I'm not sure if I've gone completely crazy, but I do think the Browns will top 5.5 wins in 2026. You can read my full breakdown of the situation here .
It's been a busy few days around the NFL, and since it's nearly impossible to keep track of everything, I put together a quick roundup for you.
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