NFL training camp: Top 5 storylines as teams report for duty
With NFL training camps set to open around the league, there are jobs to be won and lost and roles to be cemented for all 32 teams.
This will also be our first extended view of all the new faces in different places — from head coaches to coordinators, veteran players to rookies.
What are the big storylines with camps opening? Here are five of the more compelling around the league:
Quarterback battles heating up
There are three major quarterback battles entering training camp, along with a few other teams whose QB situations are at least somewhat in question. That's right in line with recent training camps, although this year feels more intriguing.
Kyler vs. J.J.
The Vikings signed Kyler Murray to a veteran's minimum deal, with about one-quarter of the salary-cap hit of 2024 first-rounder J.J. McCarthy, but that might not reflect how the battle will shake out. With Murray still earning dead money from the Cardinals, Minnesota was able to pry him on the cheap — and he just might be the clubhouse favorite for the job. McCarthy will still have his chance to rewrite his story after two turbulent seasons, but he appears to have ground to make up.
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Lefty vs. Lefty
Another intriguing story exists in Atlanta, where it's the battle of the dueling lefties — Tua Tagovailoa vs. Michael Penix Jr. Tagovailoa figures to be the headlong favorite to earn the Falcons' job, with Penix coming off an ACL injury, but new head coach Kevin Stefanski has proclaimed it an open competition. Both men are entering career-shifting seasons, with Tagovailoa seeking to rediscover his magic and Penix hoping, like McCarthy, to justify his team using a top-10 draft pick on him just two years ago.
DeShaun vs. Shedeur
The Browns, often finding themselves in this space, are undecided between longtime disappointment Deshaun Watson and Shedeur Sanders, who started the final seven games last season for the former staff. New head coach Todd Monken appears open to giving Sanders a fair shot, and Watson is returning from his second Achilles tendon tear, which wiped out his 2025 season. He's started only 19 games in five seasons in Cleveland, with highly uneven results, and it's been almost two years since his last live rep, but he can't be counted out.
Out in the deserts
There are also uncertainties in Arizona and Las Vegas. Cardinals starter Jacoby Brissett is at odds with the team over his contract, which could open the door for journeyman Gardner Minshaw or third-round rookie Carson Beck, who started the national title game vs. Fernando Mendoza, to steal the job. Mendoza almost certainly won't be the Raiders' Week 1 starter, with reports that Kirk Cousins will shepherd the position for now — and perhaps longer than most No. 1 picks typically wait these days.
Can Bears maintain foothold atop NFC North?
The NFC North flipped on its head in 2025. The defending division champ Lions fell from first to last place. The second- and third-place Vikings and Packers flipped spots in the standings. And the doormat Bears suddenly became the toast and talk of the division, thanks to Ben Johnson's vivid offensive imagination, the emergence of Caleb Williams and some rousing late-game heroics.
So how will football's deepest — and wildest — division shake out in 2026? It's anyone's guess.
The Lions might be the betting favorites to return to the top, but the Bears are the division's new darlings. The Vikings are a fascinating study with their fluid QB situation, and the Packers might be a mystery to some, but they've rarely not been in contention under head coach Matt LaFleur.
For the Bears to remain in contention, they'll have to prove last season's success (and specifically how they won many games) was not a fluke. Leading the league with 33 takeaways and a plus-22 turnover margin will be tough to replicate. So will their seven skin-of-their-teeth victories, although the team's 7-5 record in one-score games doesn't suggest a huge regression is imminent.
More than anything, it was how the Bears won some of those games and who they came against. A blocked field goal at the Raiders. A late meltdown by the Commanders. Terrible tackling by the Bengals. Close shaves against the Giants and Vikings. Several of those came vs. backup quarterbacks, too.
The Bears have earned a ton of credit for what they showed in 2025, and they're suddenly everyone's favorite new "fun" team to watch. But as a reminder, the Commanders were in that same spot basically one year ago; now they're lumped in with the also-rans, fairly or not.
Johnson and Williams are capable of magic, though, and this feels different than the last time the Bears generated some real buzz, behind Matt Nagy and Mitchell Trubisky. Yet in a stacked division and a what-have-you-done-for-me-lately league, the pressure is on to deliver in back to back seasons. And after facing one of the league's easier strengths of schedule last season, this season's path appears far thornier.
Loaded NFC West features 3 legit contenders, but who's on top?
Seven points is all that separated the league's two best teams last season, both of which played in the NFC West. The Seahawks and Rams faced off in three games in 2025. The Rams won the first game by two points, and the Seahawks won the critical second and third meetings by one and four points, respectively.
Right now, it's hard to imagine either being out of contention, barring something unforeseen. Then you have the third-place 49ers, who beat both of those teams on the road and had a strong season despite losing starting QB Brock Purdy for a big chunk of the season.
Those three teams combined for six playoff victories, too. If we're strictly talking top threes, there might not be a tougher division in the NFL this coming season. (Sorry, Cardinals.)
The Seahawks didn't go hog wild this offseason adding talent, but the Rams certainly did with the additions of Myles Garrett, Trent McDuffie and Jaylen Watson, and there also has been growing buzz that a certain No. 99 could be tempted out of retirement. Don't forget that the 49ers added future HOF Mike Evans to a revamped receiver group and will return several key players from injury.
Are the Rams the favorites, or should the defending-champion Seahawks be considered the top dogs? And can the Niners crash the top two with better health? BetMGM currently lists the Rams (+300) and Seahawks (+550) as its two favorites to win the conference, with the 49ers (+900) tied with the Lions for third.
With numbers like those, it wouldn't be a shock if these three teams return to the postseason, but we saw how critical winning the division was for Seattle, turning it into the franchise's second Super Bowl victory.
Lamar Jackson entering crucial year in new-look AFC North
Another interesting division is the AFC North, which landed only one team in the 2025 postseason. That was decided on a wild finish between the Ravens and Steelers, with Tyler Loop's missed field goal handing the Steelers the division and leading to the firing of John Harbaugh. A week later, Mike Tomlin was out as Steelers head coach.
Change is the operative word in the division, but some familiar faces still should have big imprints on the division, starting with Joe Burrow and Lamar Jackson. Burrow has plenty to prove after another injury-plagued season, but he remains under contract for several more years.
Jackson, however, is entering a critical season — with clear financial ramifications. He's in the penultimate year of his deal, and the two sides have discussed an extension, but nothing has been finalized. Jackson turns 30 years old in Week 18, is coming off arguably his worst statistical season, especially as a runner, and will be playing for a new head coach for the first time in his career.
It feels like he's hit a junction in his career.
But it also feels like the talk of Jackson being in decline has reached semi-ridiculous levels, especially considering what he accomplished in the 2023 and 2024 seasons while healthy. Assuming Jackson can avoid bad injury luck, the stage appears set for his and the Ravens' revival this season, bolstered by better depth at receiver and on the offensive line.
Who knows what to expect from 30-year-old play-caller Declan Doyle, but if Doyle can pump life back into the Ravens' offense the way his boss last year, Ben Johnson, did for the 2025 Bears, it should be a darned fun season to come in Baltimore.
Write off Jackson at your own risk. Burrow will have his say, the Aaron Rodgers-Mike McCarthy pairing in Pittsburgh can't be written off, and even the Browns might slowly be inching back toward respectability with the roster they're building. But a return to the limelight also could be in Jackson's forecast this season, with another big contract extension possibly to go along with it.
Which new head coaches can have early success?
There were 10 new head coaches hired this offseason. That's nearly one-third of the league's teams making major changes at the top. And as with any coaching cycle, some will provide instant results, and others will struggle.
Just look at last year's seven new head coaches. Mike Vrabel, Ben Johnson and Liam Coen all delivered big results in their respective first seasons, earning double-digit victories and making the playoffs (Johnson and Vrabel each won at least one postseason game). The same can't be said for Pete Carroll, who was fired by the Raiders after the season, and Aaron Glenn, whose Jets debut was a dud. The Saints' Kellen Moore and the Cowboys' Brian Schottenheimer landed somewhere in the middle of that group.
Our 2026 crop of new coaches is a diverse mix of former Super Bowl winners (John Harbaugh and Mike McCarthy), other former head coaches in new spots (Kevin Stefanski and Robert Saleh), former college head coaches (Jeff Hafley and Todd Monken) and four first-time head coaches (Joe Brady, Mike LaFleur, Jesse Minter and Klint Kubiak).
Of this group, Monken, LaFleur, Kubiak and Hafley could have the toughest Year 1 assignments based on their respective teams' recent lack of success and the divisions in which they play.
McCarthy, Brady and Minter also landed in tougher divisions yet will face early pressure to win, boasting strong QB play and more developed rosters. Harbaugh, Stefanski and Saleh might be in that middle ground, with talented teams but more questions than typical contenders.
History suggests 3-4 will have strong first seasons with their new clubs, another 3-4 will struggle, and the remaining will fall in that middle ground. And will there be a one-and-done among them, a la Carroll?
