Welcome back to The MMQB newsletter. The NFL has gotten some airtime at the Milan Cortina Olympics, with Myles Garrett on-site to support his girlfriend Chloe Kim as she claimed silver in snowboard halfpipe. The Browns' defensive end has stayed busy this offseason, also gracing the cover of Sports Illustrated's March Issue. Garrett sat down with Greg Bishop to talk about his record-setting campaign and the mind games he deployed to set the NFL's new single-season sack record.
In more offseason news, Conor Orr reported on the Bears' potential move to Indiana, which is looking increasingly likely. He also previewed the 2026 quarterback carousel, listing 24 players worth monitoring. He sorted the QB market into five categories, including established starters, high-upside prospects, consolations, veterans and more. Plus, Gilberto Manzano and Matt Verderame named one move every team should make this offseason, broken down by division. But we start first with Bishop's conversation with Garrett. |
Kohjiro Kinno/Sports Illustrated |
By Greg Bishop Myles Garrett had a dream five months ago. He has a lot of those, hundreds of dreams that descend nightly, random and pointed and pointless and inspirational and pure fantasy. Garrett remembers his dreams, too, which makes him a High Dream Recaller. HDRs, research says, display higher brain activity, tend to daydream and enjoy fantasy worlds, are creative and more open to experiences. That's him. Myles Garrett, The Dreamer. This dream: He's outside a hotel where he has never stayed, in a beautiful, wintry landscape; his girlfriend, snowboarder Chloe Kim, two-time Olympic gold medalist, is talking to him, but standing in front of him, her back turned. Garrett describes this in Los Angeles on Jan. 20. He's less than 48 hours removed from a flight from Switzerland to LAX. And he's describing how the moment in that dream, which he hadn't considered since the morning after, had happened IRL three or four days earlier, exactly as envisioned.
"I [get] déjà vu a whole bunch," he says. "Or, I guess, I [dreamed] it, and it's hard for me to recall that moment. Until it happens." |
Jeffrey Becker/Imagn Images |
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By Conor Orr It's time to get used to the Indiana Bears, even if the team would still go by its longtime Chicago moniker. According to a source close to the team's stadium relocation plan, the Bears' efforts in Indiana have gone from exploratory to something closer to inevitability, barring an unforeseen change of course by the state of Illinois. The Bears issued a public statement Thursday morning admitting as much, noting that, "The passage of SB27 [Senate Bill 27] would mark the most meaningful step forward in our stadium planning efforts to date. We are committed to finishing the remaining site-specific necessary due diligence to support our vision to build a world-class stadium near the Wolf Lake area in Hammond, Indiana." Indiana's governor, Mike Braun, also posted the following on social media Thursday: "Indiana is open for business, and our pro-growth environment continues to attract major opportunities like this partnership with the Chicago Bears. We've identified a promising site near Wolf Lake in Hammond and established a broad framework for negotiating a final deal. If approved, the proposed amendment to Senate Bill 27 puts forward the essential framework to complete this agreement, contingent upon site due diligence proceeding smoothly." |
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By Andrew Brandt With the NFLPA releasing its report cards every year, fans and media gravitated toward focusing on the failing grades of certain teams for whatever deficiencies they had: facilities, medical treatment, food, etc. It became a public shaming for teams such as the Jets and Bengals, and sometimes showed some surprisingly low marks for successful teams, even the Chiefs while they were winning Super Bowls. No more, at least legally. The NFL brought the matter to an arbitrator, who ruled for the league in mandating that while the union could keep having the report cards, they could only be used internally and not sent out to the media. While that win for the league brought a loud boo from the public, I think the league would rather accept that than face more public humiliation from the cards. We will now see a couple of things, specifically whether the public shaming that brought on positive change from teams will continue, and/or the leaking to the media will continue, with denials by the NFLPA that they were the source of the leaking. I am not sure about the first one, but I have little hope that the future report cards will stay in-house. A final note: Maybe the NFLPA, currently without a long-term leader, should spend more time fighting things like the imposition of a 17th game (or an 18th game) than publicizing report cards. |
Joe Camporeale/Imagn Images |
By Conor Orr Welcome to the 2026 NFL offseason. With respect to the quarterback position specifically, we have learned three critical lessons from the 2025 season: It's important to hoard, it's important not to let one's own status as a quarterback whisperer inspire hubris, and it is especially important to create an environment that veteran quarterbacks deem attractive, as keeping one in the holster in case of emergency can be an absolute job-saver. This is why we're already seeing Kyle Shanahan say Mac Jones is unlikely to be traded, making Jones one of the most valuable assets in the NFL. Dependable, low-cost quarterback play is very hard to come by. Jones now knows the 49ers' system and, in 2025, went 5–3 as a starter with a completion percentage near 70% and a touchdown to interception ratio of better than 2:1. In terms of the market itself, I'm conservatively looking at anywhere from nine to 12 teams that are going to be actively looking at the position this offseason, and that's not counting teams like the Rams, who could re-sign Jimmy Garoppolo but are a destination for veteran quarterbacks either searching for career rehab or a one-year stint in a wonderful locale with a head coach who can use them effectively in spot duty. The Rams should be considered as serious contenders as, say, the Steelers, Cardinals or Jets, given that most quarterbacks would probably prefer to enhance their stock for 2027 with Sean McVay than get railroaded by the clearly rebuilding Jets and their puzzling assemblage of coaches. With that in mind, let's break the market into a few categories and examine what might happen next. |
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Junfu Han /USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images |
By Gilberto Manzano A few notable trades could occur in the NFC North, with all four teams having rosters good enough to win the competitive division. The Lions need defensive help for Aidan Hutchinson and there could be a star edge rusher available in Las Vegas. The Vikings need help at quarterback after how poorly things went for J.J. McCarthy in his first season as the starter. Minnesota could find viable quarterback competition from a divisional rival. Green Bay needs to re-sign a few notable players, and the Bears have to find creative ways to improve the defense. Here's one move every NFC North team should make. |
Sam Greene/The Enquirer/USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images |
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By Matt Verderame The AFC North has long been a bastion of stability, but no more. This offseason, three teams changed coaches, including two who had been with their organizations for 19 and 18 years, respectively. Mike Tomlin and John Harbaugh are out. Mike McCarthy and Jesse Minter are in. The Browns also changed coaches, moving on from Kevin Stefanski after six years and two playoff appearances. Then there are the Bengals, who are sticking to the status quo with coach Zac Taylor despite missing the postseason in five of his seven years at the helm. Of course, Taylor has the cover of Joe Burrow, who unfortunately missed significant time for the third season in his six-year career. But we start in Baltimore, where the Ravens are attempting to rebound after a disappointing campaign. |
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