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College football purists, I have some bad news for you all. You all complain about how bad Notre Dame’s schedule is, but it really isn’t that bad. Especially when compared to other big-time programs.

Notre Dame’s Schedule

Three Big Ten teams:

While Purdue has been poor for a long time, Michigan State and Wisconsin are historically strong programs that are currently in down cycles. Notre Dame scheduled them expecting quality opponents. Yes, these three games are not going to be incredibility difficult but… that comes with a downside for the Big Ten.

Everyone loves to brag about how good the Big Ten is without bringing up how poor the depth of the conference is. Take a look at the conference standings. They have some legitimately terrible programs that shouldn’t be considered Power Four schools.

People have no issue saying the Big Ten opponents Notre Dame are playing are bad. But they don’t keep that same narrative when discussing how the good Big Ten programs benefit from the lack of depth in the conference and the number of easy games said lack of depth provides.

Six ACC matchups:

Four are against average or below-average teams, but one game is against Miami, who is one of the best teams in the country. And the other is against an SMU team that made the playoffs two years ago and is a pretty good program right now.

BYU:

BYU nearly made the playoff last year and was actually ranked as one of the Top 12 teams in the country in the final CFP rankings. They missed out on the technicalities involving conference champions and at least one Group of Five team making the playoff.

Two non–Power Four games:

Rice is a true patsy game but Navy is one of the best non-Power Four schools in the country and way better than most cupcake non-Power Four games other programs play.

Verdict:

Notre Dame’s schedule is by no means a gauntlet, but it is harder than people want to admit. All told they play 10 Power Four games – 3 of which are truly quality opponents that will likely be ranked to start the year – and one of the best non-Power Four teams in the country.

Penn State’s Schedule

Non–Power Four games:

Penn State faces three absolute cupcakes for its non-conference slate.

Key Big Ten matchups:

Washington, Michigan, and USC are good programs but not currently elite.

Six other Big Ten games:

These are largely against average or poor teams, reflecting the conference’s top-heavy nature.

Verdict:

Despite the Big Ten’s prestige, Penn State’s schedule has plenty of soft spots. If the Nittany Lions finish with the same record as Notre Dame, people will likely try to say they deserve to be in over ND due to “playing in the Big Ten.” Which, in this case translates to playing 3 tough games all year – the same number as Notre Dame.

Miami’s Schedule

Non-conference games:

Two against weak non–Power Four opponents to start the year. But… Notre Dame also appears on the schedule, giving Miami a big-time non-conference test.

One tough ACC matchup:

They are playing a Clemson program that had a down year, but I believe is still a quality opponent.

Eight other ACC games:

These are against average or below-average competition. Virginia Tech might improve under James Franklin, but results remain to be seen. And FSU is so volatile, they could be good this year or awful.

Verdict:

Miami has what looks like 2 tough games. I don’t hear people complaining about their schedule.

Two-Minute Drill

The common perception that Notre Dame’s schedule is soft doesn’t fully reflect the reality. If these three programs finish with the same record, it’s worth remembering that their strength of schedule is more similar than people will initially think.

Managing the NFL salary cap is a complex puzzle. Successful franchises like the Eagles and Rams are praised for their ability to “manipulate” the cap, while less aggressive teams, such as the Bengals, are often criticized for failing to take advantage of these tools. In this post, we’ll break down the main methods teams use to maximize their financial flexibility and stay competitive.

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1. Contract Incentives

One of the most common ways teams manage the salary cap is through contract incentives. Incentives come in two categories:

• Likely To Be Earned (LTBE)
• Not Likely To Be Earned (NLTBE)

The NFL determines these categories based solely on a player’s prior-year performance, regardless of circumstances like injuries.

Example:

• Saquon Barkley rushed for 1,140 yards last season. Let’s say theoretically his cap hit is $10 million this year.
• If the Eagles give him a $5 million incentive for reaching 1,100 yards next year, that incentive is LTBE because he surpassed that mark last year. His cap hit would immediately include the $5 million, totaling $15 million. If he hits the mark then all is well. If he doesn’t, the team gets $5 million credited to their cap space next year.
• If the incentive is set at 1,200 yards (which he didn’t hit last year), it is NLTBE, meaning the cap hit this season stays at $10 million. If he hits 1,200 yards, the $5 million counts against next year’s cap instead. If he doesn’t hit the mark then all is well.

This allows teams to manage when cap hits occur, creating flexibility between seasons.

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2. Contract Restructures

Teams often restructure contracts to push cap hits into future seasons. Here’s how it works:

• A player has a $20 million salary.
• The team converts $18 million of that into a signing bonus and leaves $2 million as base salary.
• If he has three years left on his deal, the $18 million bonus is prorated over those years: $6 million per year.

Result:

• Original cap hit: $20 million
• New cap hit: $2 million (base) + $6 million (bonus) = $8 million
• Additional $6 million cap hit the next two year

The player typically prefers this since they get most of the money upfront as a lump sum. Teams can spread out the bonus over a maximum of 5 years.

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3. Void Years

When a player is in the final year of his contract, teams can still spread out bonuses by adding “void years.” These are fake contract years used purely for cap accounting.

Example:

• Player has 1 year left with a $20 million salary.
• The team converts $18 million of that into a signing bonus and leaves $2 million as base salary.
• Team adds 2 void years.
• The $18 million bonus is spread over 3 years ($6M each), reducing the immediate cap hit to $8 million this year: $2 million (base) + $6 million (bonus) = $8 million

When the contract ends, the remaining bonus owed in the void years becomes dead money against the cap immediately. Even with void years, teams can still spread out the bonus over a maximum of 5 years.

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4. Post-June 1 Designation

Cutting or trading a player after June 1 allows teams to split dead money over two seasons:

• Pre-June 1: Entire remaining bonus a team owes a player hits that season’s cap immediately as dead money.
• Post-June 1: Current year’s bonus counts this season, while the rest is deferred to the following year.

This approach gives teams short-term cap relief, which is especially useful for contending teams.

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5. Cap Rollover

Cap space can also roll over to the following year:

• If a team finishes $40 million under the cap, that amount can be added to next year’s spending limit.
• Teams must still spend at least 89% of the cap over a four-year period to prevent abuse.

This strategy is ideal for struggling franchises that want to save money for future free-agent spending sprees.

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The Big Picture

Salary cap manipulation is a balancing act. Successful teams push cap charges into the future to maximize their current rosters, but eventually, dead money catches up.

With all the talk around tech companies and streamers starting to get the rights to sports, I wanted to break down where each tech giant stands in terms of notable sports rights. All right below are for the United States, unless other wise noted.

Amazon via Prime Video

• NFL – Thursday Night Football, 1 Black Friday Game, 1 Wild Card Round Playoff Game
• NBA – Regular Season games, NBA Cup, Play-in tournament, and other playoff games
• UEFA Champions League – (UK, Ireland, and Italy)
• NASCAR – 5 races per year
• NHL – Monday Night Hockey (in Canada only)

Apple via AppleTV

• MLB – 2 games per week for Friday Night Baseball
• MLS – Primary provider of all games
• Formula 1 – Exclusive provider of all races

Google via YouTube TV

• NFL – Sunday Ticket

Netflix

• NFL – 2 Christmas Day games, 2026 NFL Australia Game, Thanksgiving Eve Game, Another Standalone game towards the end of the regular season, NFL Honors ceremony
• MLB – Opening Night, Home Run Derby, and Field of Dreams Game
• Boxing/MMA – Certain high profile fights like Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson or Ronda Rousey vs. Gina Carano

Teams need to be more willing to trade their star players, especially if the team in question is going nowhere. On Tuesday’s Podcast I talked about what the Cowboys have already gotten as a direct result of the Micah Parsons Trade:

• Kenny Clark – IDL
• Quinnen Williams – IDL
• Malachi Lawrence – Edge

And then two other players the Cowboys have gotten that they may not have had the draft pick or cap space to get had they kept Micah:

• Caleb Downs – Safety
• Rashan Gary – Edge

Trading one player has helped them get a good IDL, a great IDL, and a good Edge rusher who are known commodities. Downs and Lawrence are rookies so they are TBD, but Downs may be the best player from the 2026 Draft. And Lawrence joins a stacked defensive line where he will have time to develop as a first round pick.

All in all, the Cowboys will absolutely take those five players over just Micah Parsons. It’s a lesson for all front offices to prioritize getting as many good players as possible, rather than a few great ones.

Another recent trade that illustrates this is the Matthew Stafford – Jared Goff trade. This has been a rare win-win trade. The Rams got their QB and won a Super Bowl while still being contenders.

The Lions were likely going nowhere with Stafford and got their own Franchise QB, who was much younger. They were also able to build their roster with the following players as a direct result of the trade:

• Jahmyr Gibbs – RB
• Sam LaPorta – TE
• Jameson Williams – WR

In addition, the Lions drafted a whole slew of great young players in the subsequent drafts after the trade, which they may not have gotten if not for the trade.

The Lions will be better in the long term with Goff, Gibbs, LaPorta, and Williams than they would be with just Stafford.

A final one to mention. The Chiefs traded WR Tyreek Hill to the Dolphins. The Chiefs proceeded to win back to back Super Bowls and make a third in a row. As a result of the trade, the Chiefs got:

• Trent McDuffie – CB
• Rashee Rice – WR

McDuffie was one of the best players for the Chiefs on all three of those Super Bowl winning/appearing teams. The Chiefs just traded him for multiple picks, including a very talented first round DT from Clemson named Peter Woods, who could be a star for the next decade.

Rice played a big role in the 2023 Super Bowl victory and is the best WR on the team right now.

While getting rid of Hill, they also got addition by subtraction. Not only did they save a ton of cap room, but Hill has had multiple off-the-field incidents that the Chiefs no longer have to deal with.

Don’t be afraid to trade your stars.

Edge rushers are overvalued. Don’t get me wrong, they are important to an NFL team, but a bad value position when you look at how much teams win with the highest paid edge rushers.

Edge rusher is the flashy defensive position that racks up gaudy stats and commands high salaries. But does that contribute to winning?

Of the past ten Super Bowl Champions, just 2 had an edge rusher in the top ten in cap hit for their position. 6 teams didn’t even have a player in the top 20.

Team	Highest Cap Hit Rank of Edge Rusher On The Team
2025 Seattle Seahawks	18th
2024 Philadelphia Eagles	21st
2023 Kansas City Chiefs	33rd
2022 Kansas City Chiefs	6th
2021 Los Angles Rams	24th
2020 Tampa Bay Buccaneers	9th
2019 Kansas City Chiefs	34th
2018 New England Patriots	44th
2017 Philadelphia Eagles	16th
2016 New England Patriots	57th

Paying star edge makes it hard to fill other positions with quality players. The approach of building a strong, well-rounded defense rather than focusing on a single high-paid edge rusher has proven successful. While drafting a great edge rusher can be beneficial, it’s not necessary to sacrifice significant capital to draft, sign, or trade for a star edge rusher. Teams should aim to find solid, reliable players who can contribute without breaking the bank.

1. Andy Reid and Patrick Mahomes – Kansas City Chiefs
2. Sean McVay and Matthew Stafford – Los Angeles Rams
3. Mike Macdonald and Sam Darnold – Seattle Seahawks
4. Mike Vrabel and Drake Maye – New England Patriots
5. Jim Harbaugh and Justin Herbert – Los Angeles Chargers
6. Sean Payton and Bo Nix – Denver Broncos
7. Kyle Shanahan and Brock Purdy – San Francisco 49ers
8. Dan Campbell and Jared Goff – Detroit Lions
9. Matt LaFleur and Jordan Love – Green Bay Packers
10. Ben Johnson and Caleb Williams – Chicago Bears

Honorable Mention:

Nick Sirianni and Jalen Hurts – Philadelphia Eagles

Liam Cohen and Trevor Lawrence – Jacksonville Jaguars

Name the four QBs to lose their first Super Bowl start then win one later in their career.

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HINT 1

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One is an all-time great player who lost his first three Super Bowls, then won two at the end of his career.

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HINT 2

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One did it very recently. This QB beat the team he had lost to and won SB MVP.

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HINT 3

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The last two are both Hall of QBs who played in some of the earliest Super Bowls. One made it to three in a row, losing his first, then winning his next two. The other QB lost the first ever Super Bowl, then went on to win his next appearance.

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ANSWERS BELOW:

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John Elway, Jalen Hurts, Bob Griese, and Len Dawson

Offensive Line

As the postseason showed, our biggest area of need is offensive line. No one on the o line is so bad that they must be replaced, but no one is good enough that they could not be replaced if we find a better player.

I think we should target a new RT as Morgan Moses will be 35 next year. LT Will Campbell looked good before he got injured towards the end of the year. Coming back from the injury and playing versus great defenses in the postseason, Campbell really struggled. I think he should get one more year at LT and if that doesn’t work out, then move him inside. However, if they were to have the chance at a star LT, I would say get that star LT now and move Campbell inside to guard.

If they can find any great interior linemen, they should try to add them too. Any improvement will benefit the team.

Skill Players

I also think it would be great to try to get another high end wide receiver or tight end. That will help solidify the passing game much more.

Coaching

Figure out how to blend Terrell Williams and Zak Kuhr. Hopefully Williams will be healthy enough to return as DC next year. Kuhr was so great calling plays, you’d like to see him stay in that role. Ideally, there is a way to retain both of them, without demoting either one and keeping continuity with our defense.

Below, I will evaluate how my Pat’s season goals from before the season ended up doing this year.

• At least double their win total (at least 8 games) and contend for playoffs: Blew this out of the water. More than tripled their win total in the regular season and if you include the playoffs, they more than quadrupled their win total from last year. They won the division, made the playoffs as the number 2 seed, and made it to the Super Bowl. No team had more wins than them.
• Drake Maye starts looking like a top 10 QB: Blew this out of the water. Maye was an MVP candidate and is an undisputed top 10, borderline top 5 QB in the league. A franchise QB we can build around.
• Young offensive skill players break out and look like future players we can build on: I would call this a goal achieved. TreVeyon Henderson played great this year. Kayshon Boutte and DeMario Douglas played pretty good as well. The one guy I would have liked to see being used more is Kyle Williams. He looked explosive when used, but only had 10 catches all year.
• Will Campbell looks great and Oline plays well: This is an up and down one. Campbell specifically looked good before he got injured towards the end of the year. Coming back from the injury and playing versus great defenses in the postseason, Campbell really struggled. I think he should get one more year at LT and if that doesn’t work out, then move him inside. However, if they were to have the chance at a star LT, I would say get that star LT now and move Campbell inside to guard. As for the whole offensive line, they were much improved from last year, but still have a long way to go. No one is so bad that they must be replaced, but no one is good enough that they could not be replaced if we find a better player.
• Defense is top 10 in the league: Absolute grand slam. Our defense was great this whole year and played their best in the playoffs.
• Milton Williams lives up to contract while Christian Barmore and Keon White continue to improve giving us a great front 4: This mostly panned out. Milton Williams was a stud and so was Barmore. White ended up getting traded, as he wasn’t being used much. Our front 4 was great overall when Williams was healthy.
• Christian Gonzalez gets into discussion as best CB in league and gets extension after the season: Gonzo was our best defensive player this year and is a top 3 to 5 CB in the league. He absolutely deserves a contract extension that puts him at or near the top of the CB market.

The NFL is making significant strides in its global expansion. In the 2024 season, the NFL played five international games, including their first game in Brazil. This momentum continued in 2025, as the league had seven games, including its first games in Ireland and Spain. Looking ahead to 2026, the NFL has confirmed nine games. New locations for these international games are Australia and France, as well as a return to Mexico.

Goodell has expressed a vision of hosting 16 international games annually within the next five years, a move that could significantly boost the NFL’s revenue. This expansion is not only beneficial for the league’s financial health but also for fans in the United States. The introduction of more international games could lead to the creation of a new TV package, with standalone times for these games. This would not only increase the NFL’s revenue but also potentially raise the salary cap, allowing teams to pay players more and attract higher-quality talent.

The NFL’s strategy to expand internationally is a smart move, given the sport’s entertainment value and its suitability for television. Since it is mainly an American sport, it also has so much room to grow abroad.

The potential for an 18 game season, with each team playing one game internationally, would ensure that fans in the U.S. won’t lose any games, maintaining the current 17-game US schedule, while adding an international game.

The NFL’s financial success is evident in the rising salary cap, which is expected to exceed $300 million for the first time this year, marking a $20 million increase from the previous year and a nearly $100 million rise since 2022. Since 2016, the salary cap has nearly doubled, reflecting the league’s ability to generate substantial revenue through TV deals and other ventures. This financial growth underscores the NFL’s prowess in business and its ongoing efforts to expand its reach and influence in the world.