Bears

Bears QB Caleb Williams had a strong first year under HC Ben Johnson, where he continued to improve as the season went on. Although opposing defensive coordinators now have more tape on Williams for 2026, Johnson went into detail about how his improvisational play style will need to bail them out with more consistency when they get into scramble situations.

“That’s the beauty of Caleb Williams. It’s a little bit unpredictable,” Johnson said, via Adam Jahns. “And so as structured as we want to be at times, I think he does a great job of just his natural reaction being a very difficult thing to defend. And so I already alluded to it before, I’m actually not very happy with us as an offensive staff, our ability to get the primary receiver open. I don’t think it happened at a high enough clip, and so we have to do a better job in our game-planning process. And I put a lot of that on myself of making sure that we are doing that. And then that’s where Caleb comes in handy is he can bail us out when we are wrong, which we’re going to be wrong each and every game.”

“I’m going to miss-time some calls or they’re going to throw something at us that we weren’t prepared for. And that’s on him and his athletic ability to bail us out. And so that’s what I’m looking forward to, is we’re going to be able to have those conversations in the quarterback room of when can we hang in there and get this ball out to the primary or the No. 2 receiver, and when do we need to extend. And, naturally, I think we got to get better when we extend plays, capitalizing on those as well. Our scramble tape was not very good, and I think that’s something that Caleb can really sink in to. Just with his accuracy, with our ability to catch the ball, with our ability to separate down the field, I think we can make a huge jump there as well.”

Lions

The Lions are set to play one of their 2026 regular-season games in Munich, Germany. Detroit WR Amon-Ra St. Brown praised the league for expanding internationally when speaking at the NFL’s annual meetings.

“They asked if I wanted to come to this meeting, and I was like, ‘Hell yeah, I want to come,’” St. Brown said, via Colton Pouncey of The Athletic. “This is going to be a cool opportunity, being in front of all these people and talking to them. But just talking about being a global ambassador, being able to play in Germany, what it means and how important that is, spreading the game, not just in America, but nationally, internationally. … There’s so many different things going on, and I think the NFL is doing a great job of expanding, and I think they’re realizing it’s paying dividends for them.”

St. Brown said Germany is eager to watch the NFL and sees the “appetite growing fast.” 

“I think they’re starving for football,” St. Brown said. “I think the fans that even know a little bit about football, they’re so eager to learn about the sport, so eager to watch the games. … The appetite is growing fast, and I’ve seen it firsthand. I go out there and have my camps out there, and there’s people that actually recognize me in Germany. … I think it’s crazy because I know how big soccer is and I know how big that sport is over there, and for there to be fans and even jerseys in sports shops, like football jerseys, is crazy. I’m just grateful, I’m happy and I’m honored that football will be played in Germany and we’ll be part of that.”

As for playing under new OC Drew Petzing, St. Brown thinks it will be an “easy transition” into his system and expects him to run a similar system to former OC Ben Johnson. 

“It feels like really only two,” St. Brown said. “But I think it’s gonna be a good, easy transition for me. I talked to Drew a little when he first got hired. I’m not sure yet, but I think a lot of this stuff is gonna kind of be the same. A lot of stuff that we’re good at, that we do well, is still going to be what we’re going to be doing. I’m excited, I’m eager to get to the playbook and see what Drew has dialed up for us.”

Packers

Veteran Packers DT Javon Hargrave has jumped around in his career, and Green Bay will be his fifth team. He still believes that he is capable of playing at a high-level and is committed to putting another strong season on his resume.

“Man, just that challenge,” Hargrave told Bill Huber of SI.com. “I think right now, being later in my career, it’s the stink of, ‘Does he have it anymore?’ I don’t want to say it’s just trying to prove people wrong, but I just always loved challenges. I just want to show I’ve still got it – still got that juice, still got what it takes to play at a high level in this league. For me, that’s just been my focus is locking in this offseason, working out, eating right, and trying to have one of my better seasons.”

Hargrave admitted that he fears not having success and is looking forward to playing against the Vikings twice this upcoming season after they let him go in free agency.

“I feel like I’ve always got something to prove but, definitely, I’ve been cut two years in a row, so I feel like I got so much to prove still and I carry that chip on me,” he said. “Yeah, it’s definitely the business,” Hargrave added. “But you still take everything personally. It is what it is – it is the business. We’re in one of the craziest businesses, but it makes you work a little harder, though, to prove a lot of people wrong.”