The NFL preseason is – mercifully – over.
The league’s 49-game summer exhibition slate wrapped Saturday, Aug. 29, with the Chicago Bears defeating the Tennessee Titans 24-15 in the final preseason game to be played in Nashville’s Nissan Stadium.
How much did we learn from these dozens of games that don’t count in the standings, particularly since some teams shield all their best players from in-game August reps entirely? Arguably not much – and, don’t forget, the better teams (think the Bill Belichick New England Patriots) sometimes have the luxury of extending some of their preseason proclivities into September as they work the kinks out.
Still, it was natural to glean some takeaways and observations over the past three weeks, and we’ll know soon
enough whether they were miraculous, mirages or even memorable. So, while trying to discern the noteworthy from the nothingburgers, here are your 2026 preseason winners and losers:
WINNERS
Dallas Cowboys
When was the last time August Super Bowl vibes in Big D felt this legit? Jerry Jones isn’t preparing to deal away his best player? There are no simmering contract disputes. No devastating injuries. A revamped defense seems sufficiently prepped to relieve some of the load on what should be one of the league’s best offenses. Wildly talented backup QB Joe Milton III played wildly well this month. The Cowboys even belatedly picked up some nice pieces, namely former Super Bowl MVP Von Miller and just acquired OT Broderick Jones. Dallas may not be the favorite to win it all, mired in a conference that includes the reigning champion Seattle Seahawks and Los Angeles Rams, presumptive favorites to win Super Bowl 61. But the Cowboys, who haven’t even reached the NFC championship game since the 1995 season, are a clear and present danger themselves.
Patrick Mahomes
He didn’t play in a game this month, but the three-time Super Bowl MVP is expected to start the Kansas City Chiefs’ Monday night opener on Sept. 14 – exactly nine months after a shredded knee ended Mahomes’ 2025 season. Next question: Can the prohibitive favorite to be Comeback Player of the Year spark a K.C. comeback after the dynasty’s disastrous ’25 campaign?
Bo Nix
His Denver Broncos knocked Mahomes’ Chiefs off their long-held AFC West perch last season – and it would have happened even if Mahomes had survived the season – and might have knocked off everyone else on the way to a Super Bowl 60 crown … had Nix’s ankle not cracked at the end of Denver’s divisional round playoff victory over Buffalo. But, after multiple surgeries, Nix also appears ready to go, and so does this squad.
Running backs
The Detroit Lions’ Jahmyr Gibbs, Atlanta Falcons’ Bijan Robinson and Indianapolis Colts’ Jonathan Taylor, who play a position that’s been taken for granted – especially financially – in recent years, all signed deserved extensions that made them the first backs in NFL history with contracts that average at least $22 million in compensation annually.
Los Angeles Rams
Your 2026 NFC champions? They won all three of their preseason games – thanks entirely to backup players – didn’t suffer any major injuries and seem ready to embark on a season weighted with heavier expectations than any in recent memory, especially for a team that fell short the year before. And just think how fresh Aaron Donald will be when he’s ready to return.
Buffalo Bills
Your 2026 AFC champions? They have a new head coach (Joe Brady), new stadium, new WR1 (DJ Moore) and, seemingly, a new lease on life. QB Josh Allen and Co. looked awesome in camp this month, and the 2024 MVP appeared to be in midseason form during his preseason cameo. In what projects as a wide-open AFC – Brady is one of seven first-year HCs in the conference – Buffalo seems as well positioned as anyone for a Lombardi breakthrough.
De'Zhaun Stribling
He wasn’t getting the love when the San Francisco 49ers made the wideout the first pick of Round 2 in the draft earlier this year. But after showing out in training camp and two preseason games, Stribling is a darling in Silicon Valley and in fantasy drafts around the country. And the Niners will surely need him with veteran WRs Mike Evans and Cristian Kirk battling injuries most of the summer and Ricky Pearsall (knee) already out for the season. For a team that needed a bright spot this summer, Stribling certainly delivered.
Rookie quarterbacks
The Las Vegas Raiders’ Fernando Mendoza, Rams’ Ty Simpson, Arizona Cardinals’ Carson Beck, Pittsburgh Steelers’ Drew Allar and New York Jets’ Cade Klubnik, the only QBs drafted in the first four rounds this year, all – generally – bolted from the preseason gate like gangbusters. For whatever it’s worth, the early production lived up to the potential.
Shedeur Sanders
Did he win the Cleveland Browns’ QB1 battle? Based on what we saw on the field this month? Probably. Based on organizational logic? Definitely … if only the Browns adhered to such things. Based on who the fans feel? Abso-fricking-lutely … FWIW. The bet here is that Sanders is still taking the first snap for the Browns’ home opener against the Carolina Panthers in Week 3.
LOSERS
Deshaun Watson
If he didn’t look shot in his first appearances in nearly two years since undergoing multiple Achilles surgeries, then he certainly didn’t look anything like a franchise quarterback nor one that has a viable future in Cleveland as he enters the final year of his franchise-debilitating contract … not that these were unknown issues. But the fact that Watson apparently hasn’t undergone the requisite personal growth to be more circumspect at the podium after being booed by Browns fans? Sad. But, whatever the organization’s reasons, he’s QB1 in Week 1 and probably Week 2. But the bet here is that Sanders gets his deserved shot at the job much sooner than later.
Rookie quarterbacks
With the exception of Simpson – who’s probably ticketed to be the Rams’ QB3 this season – it pretty much went south for all of them after their encouraging debuts, Beck’s rib injury costing him the remainder of the preseason after he played so well in front of the country during the Hall of Fame Game. And that’s fine. Aside from Mendoza, expectations should be tempered for all of these youngsters, and even Mendoza is expected to sit and watch for at least a chunk of this season after veteran Kirk Cousins got most of the first-team snaps in Raiders camp this summer.
“It's the NFL. There are monsters on the other side of the ball, and you need to get the ball out quick,” Mendoza said after a spotty preseason finale. “It teaches you, you need to play on time, and there's less margin for error. So I think it's a great experience having that heat and duress because diamonds are built under pressure.”
Mendoza will likely be the first QB drafted No. 1 overall to start the season on the bench since Baker Mayfield in 2018. And nothing at all wrong with the Raiders’ approach – it’s worth waiting for diamonds.
NFC South
QB Michael Penix Jr. and OLB Jalon Walker in Atlanta. LB Nic Scourton, WR Chris Brazzell II and OTs Taylor Moton and Ickey Ekwonu. Rookie WR Jordyn Tyson and DL Bryan Bresee in New Orleans. WR Emeka Egbuka in Tampa. A division that perennially struggles to reach average has already taken quite a few body blows that will further lower collective expectations, particularly at the start of the season.
Tua Tagovailoa
Booed by Dolphins fans during his return to Miami – again, this is preseason – Friday. Tough. Unable to, thus far, officially lock up the Falcons QB1 job even though Penix hasn’t been healthy enough to challenge him. Rough. Playing on a one-year contract in Atlanta, it’s already worth wondering how many more Tagovailoa will sign in the NFL if he can’t quickly reverse his recent trajectory.
Brandon Aiyuk
Amazingly, he’s still festering on San Francisco’s reserve/left squad list – purely a testament to Aiyuk’s unwillingness, maybe incapability, to take control of his career and chart a new path … one that may never materialize at this rate. Here’s hoping he’s able to take the reins and rekindle a once-promising career.
Washington Commanders
Whether in games or practices, their tattered offensive line has appeared incapable of protecting QB Jayden Daniels, who’s long had to fight the perception, stoked anew in 2025, that he struggles to protect himself by taking imprudent on-field risks. A worrisome sign for a team installing a new offense and set to face the Eagles, Cowboys and Seahawks in September.
J.J. McCarthy
The 10th overall pick of the draft just two years ago, the Minnesota Vikings’ 23-year-old quarterback didn’t even make it to the preseason opener before officially losing the team’s quarterback competition to Kyler Murray, who’s in the Twin Cities on a one-year deal. A few weeks later, it’s not clear how safe the roster spot of McCarthy – he missed his rookie year with a knee injury before muddling through the 2025 campaign – is with Carson Wentz and youngster Max Brosmer in the backup mix. And given the GM who picked McCarthy, Kwesi Adofo-Mensah, has already been deposed, it appears increasingly likely that this would-be face of the franchise never will be.
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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: NFL preseason winners, losers: Who hurt or helped their cause?
