The NFL never sleeps, not even in the deepest recesses of the league calendar. 

$.01--The Aaron Rodgers saga plays on, but there is now a finite ending to the long-running drama surrounding the future Hall-of-Fame quarterback. Rodgers, after a self-serving dramatic pause, announced his intentions to return to the Pittsburgh Steelers for the 2026 season. 

Rodgers’ return is surprising only to those living in the lightless retreat where the mercurial quarterback spends some of his “me time” in the offseason. The minute the Steelers hired Mike McCarthy as the new head coach cinched that decision. While Rodgers and McCarthy didn’t always see eye to eye during their years together in Green Bay, both men are smart enough to realize they were better together than apart. That’s certainly true for Pittsburgh in 2026. 

A quick perusal of the Steelers’ depth chart at quarterback indicates the team certainly expected a Rodgers return. Will Howard and Drew Allar are battling with Mason Rudolph for supremacy. With no Rodgers in Pittsburgh, the winner of that battle royale would almost certainly qualify as the NFL’s weakest starter--and that’s with some optimism for youngsters Howard and Allar. The concept that Rodgers would walk away with any potential for the perception that he wasn’t superior to that QB cadre seems insanely naive. 

The more surprising development was Rodgers declaring that 2026 will be his final season. It’s proper to be skeptical of such a proclamation, but Rodgers is smart enough to recognize his reality. No quarterback with at least 200 pass attempts had a lower average air yards per target than Rodgers in 2025. Some of that was undoubtedly a function of the old Steelers’ regime, but anyone watching Rodgers--especially late in the season--saw a quarterback who just doesn’t have the arm he used to. At 42, it’s understandable. It’s also unrealistic to expect an aging Rodgers to recapture the strong-armed derring-do of his prime. 

The Steelers didn’t really have a better option, not after sitting out the free agency spin cycle. Their relative passivity in free agency, as well as their lip service supporting Howard’s potential, was a clear sign that Pittsburgh always expected Rodgers to return. Envisioning a return to the postseason with Rodgers at the helm is a proposition the Steelers, with their aging but still talented roster, had to make with native son McCarthy taking over in Pittsburgh. 

$.02--Detroit Lions linebacker Jack Campbell signed a four-year contract extension that will keep the first-team All-Pro in Detroit through at least the 2030 season. It’s a deal worth $81 million, or $20.25 million per season. That figure is reflective of an interesting off-ball linebacker market and also one of the most egregious snafus in the NFL today. 

One of the reasons Detroit extended Campbell now is due to the fact the team did not pick up the fifth-year option on his rookie contract. A first-round pick in the 2023 NFL Draft, Campbell had to have that fifth-year option exercised by the Lions before May 1st. Detroit wisely declined to pick it up, but not because of any dissatisfaction with Campbell or lack of desire ot keep him long-term. It was all about the antiquated, incomplete language of the fifth-year options. 

Campbell plays linebacker and plays it quite well. But he’s not a pass-rushing linebacker like Micah Parsons or T.J. Watt or Will Anderson, who signed a three-year, $150 million extension in April. Despite the obvious disparity and divergence in their positions and usage, the NFL still considers all “linebackers” as the same, at least contractually. 

The success Campbell had in his first three seasons escalated his fifth-year option, regardless of what position he plays. Being named a first-team All-Pro, as he earned in 2025, elevated Campbell’s option into the franchise tag value for all linebackers. Again, because all LBs are lumped together, that value for Campbell would have exceeded $21.9 million--an astronomical number for an off-ball backer. No off-ball LB has ever made that kind of money. 

Campbell came relatively close with his $20.25 million, but it’s still over $1.5 million per year less. That’s not an insignificant amount of money for a team like the Lions, who must still extend star RB Jahmyr Gibbs, Pro Bowl TE Sam LaPorta and Pro Bowl S Brian Branch in the coming months (if they choose). 

The fact that the NFL considers Campbell, or Fred Warner or Devin Lloyd or Roquan Smith, to be the same position as Anderson or Maxx Crosby or Campbell’s Detroit teammate, Aidan Hutchinson, remains one of the most ludicrous oversights by the league and the NFLPA. Be it options or franchise tags or postseason awards, the NFL is decades behind the times in making all linebackers the same on paper. It’s a very simple fix: separate off-ball LB and EDGE the way most every outlet has done for at least 15 years. At this point, there’s no valid reason not to make the necessary change. 

$.03--The New York Giants had an eventful week, albeit in a way that many fans would have preferred not to experience. 

We’ll start with the worst news first, and that’s the unfortunate update on the wounded knee of star wide receiver Malik Nabers. Reports indicate that Nabers, who tore his ACL in Week 4 last fall, had to undergo an additional surgery to clear up some complications from the initial surgery performed last October. While the second procedure isn’t a major one, the surgical correction tacks on months of added rehabilitation to Nabers’ return timeline. 

The timeline is still unclear, but Nabers' ability to play in Week 1 is now in real peril. The Giants remain optimistic, but good vibes don’t always expedite healing. Nabers is New York’s top offensive weapon; missing the young dynamo for any period of time will not help Jaxson Dart and the Giants passing game--especially with top 2025 wideout WanDale Robinson now in Tennessee. 

Dart was in the news for the wrong reasons as well. The quarterback introduced President Trump at a gala, and that didn’t sit well with at least one Giants teammate. EDGE Abdul Carter, like Dart a first-round pick in the 2025 NFL Draft, chided his rookie classmate on social media for his association with the polarizing President. 

The two young standouts quickly smoothed things over, at least publicly. That’s important for the future of the Giants, which leans heavily on both becoming all they can be in New York. Behind closed locker room doors? The Giants aren’t the only team dealing with fissuring politics. The average fan would likely be surprised and, depending on their political leaning, either dismayed or encouraged by how many NFL players support Trump and his politics. That the pot boiled over in New York, of all places, with two building blocks for a young Giants team doesn’t help new head coach John Harbaugh at all. 

Finally, the Giants organization issued a multi-year contract extension to GM Joe Schoen. The GMs tenure has been a decidedly mixed bag, with some excellent draft picks (Dart, Nabers and Carter included) but also some disastrous decisions. From the 2023 Draft class that might not exist in New York after this summer, to letting Saquon Barkley walk to a division rival, to handing a king’s ransom to Daniel Jones, Giants fans know all too well the agony of Schoen’s bad moves. 

Many GMen faithful expected Schoen to hit the unemployment pavement with former coach Brian Daboll, as the two were hired together. Schoen survives and will be in charge of the Giants through at least 2030. Well, they’ll be paying for Schoen that long, anyway. Financially and perhaps metaphorically…

$.04--Quick Hits

• The Rams and veteran QB Matthew Stafford agreed on a one-year contract worth $55 million. Presuming Stafford plays through the end of the contract in 2027 --and why wouldn’t he?-- it makes the decision to draft his eventual replacement, Ty Simpson, even more curious. Burning a top-15 pick on a player with no use ot the team for two years doesn’t help Stafford lead the team to the promised land again.

• Keep a close eye on what happens with Texas Tech QB Brendan Sorsby and his lawsuit to keep his college eligibility. Sorsby admitted to betting on games early in his college career, and the NCAA has denied his claims to keep playing. If Sorsby can’t play in college, he’ll immediately enter the NFL’s supplemental draft. Sorsby would grade very similarly to Ty Simpson for me--a statement more about Simpson than Sorsby, perhaps. But for a team looking to add a No. 2 QB with impressive upside, he’s a no-brainer of a supplemental choice. As long as the team can withstand the stench of Sorsby’s gambling controversy. 

• The Browns continue to spin Deshaun Watson’s name as their potential starting quarterback. They’re doing so while also not dampening any enthusiasm for Shedeur Sanders, and also seeing rookie Taylen Green earn massive praise from onlookers in OTAs. God only knows who will prevail to be Cleveland’s Week 1 starter. But what’s abundantly clear is that Dillon Gabriel, a third-round pick in 2025, isn’t in the mix. The weak-armed Gabriel was a ponderous choice to even be drafted, let alone in the third round, and the Browns have learned that lesson the hard way. Which appears to be how GM Andrew Berry prefers to run his organization’s Sisyphean quest to find a quarterback…

• Only three of the 16 teams playing internationally in 2026 will get a bye week following their games abroad. It’s going to be interesting to see if that preference of playing immediately after an international game instead of taking the bye week for travel sticks. 

$.05--Folds of Honor

On this Memorial Day, I wanted to share a moving experience from the past week. As part of my radio duties here in West Michigan with the Huge Show, I spent this Thursday at the American Dunes Golf Course in Grand Haven.

American Dunes is the flagship course of the Folds of Honor program. Founded by Lieutenant Colonel Dan Rooney, the Folds of Honor Foundation is a scholarship program for the families of service members and first responders killed in the line of duty. 

Each hole at American Dunes honors a fallen service member with a plaque and the story of their journey. As you walk into the course, you pass through a commemorative wall of honor. It’s a powerful reminder of those who sacrificed their lives to allow us the privilege to enjoy being an American. 

At 1 p.m. every day, all the golf stops. A rousing rendition of Taps plays as all eyes focus on the massive American flag in the middle of the 18th fairway. It’s done in such a way that evokes reverence for the fallen. Playing there and experiencing the honor on Memorial Day weekend is something truly special. It wasn’t lost on me how fortunate we are to be able to pay respect to those who gave their lives in combat, the spirit of Memorial Day. 

If you ever happen to be in the Grand Rapids area, it’s worth a trip to Grand Haven to experience American Dunes and the spirit of the Folds of Honor. Aside from being a fantastic Jack Nicklaus course with an excellent in-house restaurant, it’s a great place to reconnect with the true meaning of Memorial Day.