2026 NFL season

This article is about the American football season in the United States. For the Gaelic football season in Ireland, see 2026 National Football League (Ireland).

2026 NFL season

Regular season
Duration	September 10, 2026 (2026-09-10) – January 10, 2027 (2027-01-10)
Playoffs
Start date	January 16, 2027 (2027-01-16)
Super Bowl LXI
Date	February 14, 2027
Site	SoFi Stadium, Inglewood, California
Pro Bowl
Date	February 2027
Site	TBD
← 2025 NFL seasons

Patriots

Bills

Dolphins

Jets

Bengals

Ravens

Steelers

Browns

Colts

Titans

Jaguars

Texans

Broncos

Chiefs

Raiders

Chargers

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AFC teams: West, North, South, East

Cowboys

Giants

Eagles

Commanders

Bears

Lions

Packers

Vikings

Falcons

Panthers

Saints

Buccaneers

Cardinals

Rams

Seahawks

49ers

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NFC teams: West, North, South, East

The 2026 NFL season is the upcoming 107th season of the National Football League (NFL). The regular season is scheduled to begin on September 10, 2026, with the NFL Kickoff Game, and end on January 10, 2027. The playoffs are then set to begin on January 16 and will conclude with Super Bowl LXI the league's championship game, at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California on February 14, making it the NFL's latest date to end the season.

Player movement

The 2026 NFL league year and trading period is scheduled to begin on March 11. On March 9, teams will be allowed to exercise options for 2026 on players with option clauses in their contracts, submit qualifying offers to their pending restricted free agents, and submit a Minimum Salary Tender to retain exclusive negotiating rights to their players with expiring 2025 contracts and fewer than three accrued seasons of free agent credit. Teams were required to be under the salary cap using the "top 51" definition (in which the 51 highest paid-players on the team's payroll must have a combined salary cap). On March 11, clubs will be allowed to contact and begin contract negotiations with players whose contracts had expired and thus became unrestricted free agents. ^[1]

Positions key

Offense	Defense	Special teams
QB — Quarterback RB — Running back FB — Fullback WR — Wide receiver TE — Tight end OL — Offensive lineman T — Tackle G — Guard C — Center	DL — Defensive lineman DE — Defensive end [a] DT — Defensive tackle [b] LB — Linebacker [c] DB — Defensive back CB — Cornerback S — Safety [d]	K — Kicker [e] P — Punter LS — Long snapper RS — Return specialist [f]
Sometimes referred to as an edge rusher (EDGE) Includes nose tackle (NT) Includes middle linebacker (MLB or MIKE), outside linebacker (OLB, WILL, SAM), and off-ball linebacker Includes free safety (FS) and strong safety (SS) Also known as a placekicker (PK) Includes kickoff and punt returners

Free agency

Free agency is scheduled to begin on March 11, 2026. ^[1]

Draft

The 2026 NFL draft is scheduled to take place in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on April 23–25, with events held at Acrisure Stadium, Point State Park, and other venues throughout the city. ^[2]

Regular season

The season is planned to be played over an 18-week schedule, beginning on September 10. Each of the league's 32 teams plays 17 games, with one bye week. The regular season is then scheduled to end on January 10, 2027; all games during the final weekend will be intra-division games, as it has been since 2010.

Each team plays the other three teams in its own division twice, one game against each of the four teams from a division in its own conference, one game against each of the four teams from a division in the other conference, one game against each of the remaining two teams in its conference that finished in the same position in their respective divisions the previous season (e.g., the team that finished fourth in its division would play all three other teams in its conference that also finished fourth in their divisions), and one game against a team in another division in the other conference that also finished in the same position in their respective division the previous season. ^[3]

The division pairings for 2026 are as follows: ^[3]

Four intra-conference games AFC East vs AFC West AFC North vs AFC South NFC East vs NFC West NFC North vs NFC South

Four interconference games AFC East vs NFC North AFC North vs NFC South AFC South vs NFC East AFC West vs NFC West

Interconference game by 2025 position AFC East at NFC West AFC North at NFC East AFC South at NFC North AFC West at NFC South

Highlights of the 2026 season are planned to include the following (with the full schedule expected to be announced in Spring 2026):

• NFL Kickoff Game : The season will begin with the Kickoff Game on September 10, 2026, hosted by the defending Super Bowl LX champion.
• NFL International Series : The first regular season game in Australia is planned to be held in 2026, with the Los Angeles Rams as the designated home team at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in Melbourne. ^[4] London, England will again host games at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium ^[5] and at Wembley Stadium. ^[6] Games will also be held at the Maracanã Stadium in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; ^[7] Allianz Arena in Munich, Germany; ^[8] and at Estadio Azteca in Mexico City, Mexico. ^[9]
• Thanksgiving : Three Thanksgiving Day games are planned to be held on November 26, with Detroit and Dallas expected to host traditional afternoon doubleheader, and a primetime game between opponents yet to be announced. Another game will be scheduled on the Friday afternoon after Thanksgiving. ^[10]
• Christmas : Christmas Day, December 25, lands on a Friday. When this happened the last time in 2020, that week's Thursday Night Football was played on Christmas Day instead of Christmas Eve.

Flexible scheduling rules

This will be the fourth season of the league's flexible scheduling system that includes Thursday Night Football , Sunday Night Football , Monday Night Football , and increased the amount of cross-flexing (switching) of Sunday afternoon games between CBS and Fox. ^{[11] [12] [13]}

Postseason

The 2026 Playoffs are scheduled to begin with the Wild Card Round from January 16–18, 2027, with three games played in each conference. In the Divisional Round, scheduled for January 23–24, the top seed in the conference will play the lowest remaining seed and the other two remaining teams play each other. The winners of those games advance to the Conference Championship games scheduled for January 31. Super Bowl LXI is scheduled for February 14 at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California.

Head coaching and general manager changes

Head coaches

Off-season

Team	Departing coach	Interim coach	Incoming coach	Reason for leaving	Notes
New York Giants	Brian Daboll	Mike Kafka	TBA	Fired	Daboll was fired as head coach on November 10, 2025, with a 20–40–1 (.336) record (2–8 in 2025) after being hired in 2022 and appearing in the playoffs once in 2022. [14] Kafka, the team's assistant head coach and offensive coordinator, took over as interim coach. This was his first head coaching position at any level. [15]
Tennessee Titans	Brian Callahan	Mike McCoy	TBA	Fired	Callahan was fired as head coach on October 13, 2025, with a 4–19 (.174) record (1–5 in 2025) after being hired in 2024. [16] McCoy, the team's senior offensive assistant, took over as interim coach. This was his second NFL head coaching position, having previously been the head coach of the San Diego Chargers from 2013 to 2016, with a record of 27–37 (.422) and one playoff appearance. [17]

General managers

Off-season

Team	Departing GM	Interim replacement	Incoming GM	Reason for leaving	Notes
Miami Dolphins	Chris Grier	Champ Kelly	TBA	Mutual agreement	Grier and the Dolphins mutually agreed to part ways on October 31, 2025, after almost ten seasons as Dolphins' GM with a 77–80 (.490) record and three play-off appearances. Kelly, the team's senior personnel executive, was named interim GM. Previously, he was the interim general manager of the Las Vegas Raiders in 2023. [18]

Stadiums

This is planned to be the first season that the Buffalo Bills will play at the new Highmark Stadium. The team had played at the previously-named Highmark Stadium (originally Rich Stadium) since 1973. ^[19]

This is scheduled to be the final season in which the Tennessee Titans will play their home games at their current Nissan Stadium. The new stadium, also to be called Nissan Stadium, is scheduled to be completed by the start of the 2027 season. ^[20]

Due to scheduled renovations at their home EverBank Stadium, the Jacksonville Jaguars will temporarily relocate after the 2026 season to Camping World Stadium in Orlando, pending the approval of other league owners. Camping World Stadium previously hosted the Pro Bowl from 2017 to 2020, 2024, and 2025. ^[21]

Uniforms

Rivalries series

AFC South and NFC North teams are scheduled to unveil their "rivalries" uniforms in 2026, designed to be worn at one home divisional game per season. ^[22]

Media

National

ESPN and NFL Network's media rights are contingent on the pending ESPN–NFL Media merger and whether the deal receives regulatory approval prior to the announcement of the 2026 season schedule. Under the agreement announced in August 5, 2025, the NFL would take a 10 percent equity stake in ESPN in exchange for ESPN acquiring NFL Network (including taking over production of the NFL Network Exclusive Game Series ), television distribution rights to NFL RedZone and the RedZone brand, and the league's official fantasy football service. In addition, the league would no longer schedule Monday night doubleheaders and instead resell the rights to those four extra games to interested broadcasters. ^{[23] [24] [25]}

The league's other media deals would be unaffected. CBS, Fox, NBC, along with its Spanish counterparts Fox Deportes, and Telemundo Deportes, will be entering into the fourth season of their 11-year U.S. media rights agreements. CBS and Fox will continue to split afternoon Sunday and Thanksgiving games; and NBC will continue to will continue to air Sunday Night Football , the NFL Kickoff Game, and the primetime Thanksgiving game. ^[26] This will be the fifth year of a 12-year deal with Amazon Prime Video and Twitch to exclusively stream Thursday Night Football , ^[27] Peacock's fourth season of a six-year deal to exclusively stream one regular season game, ^[27] Netflix's third and final year to exclusively stream Christmas Day games, ^{[28] [29]} and the fourth season out of a seven-year deal that the NFL Sunday Ticket out-of-market sports package will stream on YouTube TV, as well as on YouTube's Primetime Channels service as a standalone subscription option. ^[30] Like in previous seasons, any additional one-year modifications to these rights are expected to be announced with the 2026 season schedule.

References

1. "2025–2026 Important NFL Dates". National Football League. Retrieved October 16, 2025.
2. "Pittsburgh to Host 2026 NFL Draft". National Football League. May 23, 2024. Retrieved October 16, 2025.
3. "2023 National Football League Record & Fact Book". National Football League. 2023. Archived from the original on June 27, 2023.
4. "Melbourne to host first-ever NFL regular season game in Australia in 2026; Rams designated team". NFL.com. February 5, 2025.
5. "Tottenham Hotspur will host NFL matches at new stadium". BBC Sport. July 8, 2015. Retrieved September 27, 2025.
6. Harvey, Demetrius (October 13, 2024). "Will Jaguars keep playing in London each year? Mark Lamping says negotiations 'well underway'". The Florida Times-Union. Retrieved October 2, 2025.
7. "Rio de Janeiro to host NFL regular-season game in 2026". NFL.com. September 26, 2025.
8. "NFL to play regular-season games in Munich, Germany in 2026 and 2028". NFL.com. December 10, 2025.
9. "Roger Goodell: NFL to launch professional flag football leagues ahead of 2028 Los Angeles Olympics". NFL.com. October 2, 2025.
10. "Prime Video to stream 'Black Friday' NFL game in 2023". NFL.com. October 18, 2022. Archived from the original on October 24, 2022. Retrieved October 23, 2022.
11. "NFL flex scheduling rules gives CBS and Fox more power to protect games". Awful Announcing. May 13, 2023. Archived from the original on May 15, 2023. Retrieved May 22, 2023.
12. "NFL may use flexible scheduling to move Sunday afternoon games to Monday night". NBC Sports. May 12, 2023. Archived from the original on February 4, 2024. Retrieved February 4, 2024.
13. "NFL shortens time needed for Thursday night flex to 21 days". ESPN. March 31, 2025.
14. Benjamin, Cody; Sullivan, Tyler (November 10, 2025). "Giants fire Brian Daboll, ending a turbulent four-year run that began with early promise". CBS Sports. Retrieved November 10, 2025.
15. "Brian Daboll relieved of duties; Mike Kafka to serve as Giants' interim head coach". giants.com. November 10, 2025. Retrieved November 10, 2025.
16. Wyatt, Jim (October 13, 2025). "Titans Part Ways With Head Coach Brian Callahan". tennesseetitans.com. Retrieved October 13, 2025.
17. Wyatt, Jim (October 13, 2025). "Titans Name Mike McCoy Interim Head Coach". TennesseeTitans.com. Retrieved October 13, 2025.
18. "Miami Dolphins and Chris Grier mutually part ways". Miami Dolphins . October 31, 2025. Retrieved October 31, 2025.
19. Miller, Ryan. "Buffalo Bills are moving to a new stadium: Opening season, details". Democrat and Chronicle. Retrieved September 21, 2025.
20. "Tennessee Titans, Nashville mayor unveil details of $2.1B stadium deal". tennessean.com. October 17, 2022.
21. "Jaguars reportedly planning to play 2027 home games in Orlando, pending NFL owners approval". CBS Sports. November 7, 2025.
22. "NFL, Nike launch Rivalries program with new uniforms, fan gear inspired by communities". NFL.com. April 25, 2025.
23. Marchand, Andrew (August 1, 2025). "NFL deals Red Zone, NFL Media assets to ESPN in blockbuster billion-dollar agreement: Sources". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved August 2, 2025.
24. Karp, Austin (August 6, 2025). "NFL Media-ESPN deal may not close until end of 2026, but both sides pleased with pact". Sports Business Journal. Retrieved August 6, 2025.
25. Rumsey, David (October 20, 2025). "ESPN's 'MNF' Doubleheaders Will End—If NFL Equity Deal Clears". Front Office Sports. Retrieved November 9, 2025.
26. "NFL Announces TV Deals ESPN ABC NBC CBS Fox Amazon". ESPN.com. March 18, 2021. Retrieved March 18, 2021.
27. "NFL completes long-term media distribution agreements through 2033 season". NFL.com. March 18, 2021. Archived from the original on October 11, 2021. Retrieved March 23, 2021.
28. Spangler, Todd (May 15, 2024). "Netflix Scores Two NFL Christmas Day 2024 Games Under Three-Year Deal With League". Variety . Retrieved May 15, 2024.
29. Lewis, Jon (April 1, 2025). "NFL returns to Christmas tripleheader next season". Sports Media Watch. Retrieved April 1, 2025.
30. Flint, Joe; Kruppa, Miles (December 22, 2022). "YouTube Cements Its TV Shift With NFL Sunday Ticket Deal" . Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on December 22, 2022. Retrieved December 22, 2022.