There’s a lot going on right now in the NFL. The fun of training camp is the bustling enthusiasm of the coaches, the players and the media. But it also makes it difficult to cut away the fiction from fact.
It’s hope season and hype season. It’s also the season for catastrophe and doom.
A perfect example? A.J. Brown dropped a pass in his first practice as a New England Patriot. Brown and quarterback Drake Maye then proceeded to struggle for a few days and on Boston sports radio and social media, it was like The Citgo Sign was falling.
Things turned around as soon as the pads came on. Brown and Maye have been beating up New England’s defense, even with superstar corner Christian Gonzalez in coverage.
So you get it. Things were horrible until they were incredible. There was nothing in between. (And I’ll have more on Brown, Maye and the Patriots.)
That’s happening in all 32 NFL training camps. So let’s do what we always do here with the Sound Smart column. I’m here to spin it forward, dive deeper, think outside the box and read between the lines.
1.
Patriots quarterback Drake Maye recognized the pressure coming off the right side. It was cornerback Marcus Jones, one of the fastest players on the field. The play came in a red-zone drill — 11 on 11 — in full pads last week on the practice fields at Gillette Stadium.
Whether or not Maye knew the blitz was coming before the snap, the QB knew exactly what to do with the ball when it hit his hands. He looked to his right to find A.J. Brown, who’d created just enough separation on a slant route. Maye fired the ball at the star receiver, acquired in June in a trade that included a first-round pick. Brown managed a catch-and-run that put the Patriots inside the 5-yard line.
I couldn’t help but wonder: What might that play have looked like without Brown? It doesn’t take that much imagination.
It was a series of corner blitzes that devastated the Patriots in the Super Bowl, when they fell behind against the Seattle Seahawks. Seahawks cornerback Devon Witherspoon finished with six blitzes, four pressures and one sack. One of the best cover corners in the league, Witherspoon made an effective — albeit shocking — pass-rusher. Maye never seemed to have an answer, not even deep into the game.
Seahawks cornerback Devon Witherspoon forces a fumble by Drake Maye during the fourth quarter of Super Bowl LX at Levi’s Stadium in February. (Photo by Focus on Sport/Getty Images)
But in camp, Maye did. And that’s especially important because … well, guess who the Patriots will see in Week 1. To open the NFL season. On a Wednesday.
Yeah, it’s the Seahawks. It’s also in Seattle, probably the least hospitable stadium in the league.
The last time they saw each other, the Seahawks owned the Patriots. But New England has upgraded its roster sizably since then. Receiver Romeo Doubs is an upgrade at WR2. Defensive lineman Dre’Mont Jones and guard Alijah Vera-Tucker aren’t flashy players, but they will be excellent starters at their respective positions.
Brown is the biggest upgrade. There’s no way around it. Offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels can build a system that gives Maye answers, but somebody has to make a play. Brown is showing the Patriots they can trust him to do just that.
“I want to say I’m 90 percent [comfortable in the offense],” Brown said last week at Pats camp.
A.J. Brown figures to be QB Drake Maye’s best friend in the Patriots’ offense this season. (Photo by John Tlumacki/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)
Brown struggled to connect with Maye in the early practices at camp. But that just goes to show how difficult it is to make a real evaluation after just a few sessions. Because Maye and Brown were firing when the pads went on.
I asked Brown if he had to change the way he played his position, depending upon his quarterback.
“You have to. You have to do what your quarterback likes,” Brown said. “As far as my game, my game will be my game. But as far as what he likes and what he needs, that’s the thing that I got to get on the same page with him and continue to work on.”
It’s surely no coincidence that, just 24 hours after delivering this quote, Brown caught a fade for a touchdown against Christian Gonzalez, the No. 1-rated cornerback in Madden 27. Brown gives the Patriots answers, especially against a defense as good as Seattle’s.
New England is currently a 3.5-point underdog for the season-opener. I’d say that underestimates the Patriots.
2.
This seemed — at least to me — to be a good year to pick the San Francisco 49ers to go to the Super Bowl. Their defense improved significantly over the offseason. Their offense got healthy and added veteran receiver Mike Evans. It just felt like this could be the year when they could make their own luck (or overcome their inevitable bad luck) and make a deep run.
But San Francisco seems to have nothing but bad headlines.
Most recently, there was the news about receiver Ricky Pearsall, whose PCL injury had not healed correctly and will need season-ending surgery after just a few practices. It seems like the 49ers have been preparing for this possibility — drafting receiver De’Zhaun Stribling in Round 2 and, immediately after the news broke about Pearsall, signing veteran receiver Deebo Samuel. But of course, Stribling is dealing with a hamstring injury.
Then there was coach Kyle Shanahan’s car accident. He crashed head-on into another car after taking his attention off the road by dropping his phone. He suffered three broken ribs, a broken left hand, a concussion and a head wound that required 40 stitches, per ESPN. Shanahan is participating on a limited basis at the training camp.
Finally, there’s receiver Brandon Aiyuk, whose behavior — so far as we can see from social media — is troubling. He has refused to report to the 49ers’ facility since he suffered an injury, and his outbursts on social media have rendered him totally untradeable. This has gone on long enough that Aiyuk is no longer much of a distraction. But even on the back burner, it’s still there — particularly as the team sorts through the drama at the receiver position.
This isn’t to say that the 49ers can’t overcome this tumultuous patch. We’re still over a month from a regular-season game. But in the competitive NFC West, a slow start feels like a bad start.
3.
By all accounts, the Cowboys’ offense is humming in training camp.
Best of all, there’s no ho-humming.
At this time last year, we were waiting for the tension to resolve between superstar Micah Parsons and team owner Jerry Jones. And it didn’t with Jones trading Parsons in a massive blockbuster after the All-Pro edge rusher posted regularly on social media to provide updates around the failed contract talks with the Cowboys.
It felt like history might repeat itself, with All-Pro receiver George Pickens set to play on the franchise tag. Pickens could’ve fought for a new long-term deal and caused unrest in many of the same ways as Parsons. And Pickens would be justified in doing so.
Instead, the receiver has been torching the Cowboys’ defense alongside Dak Prescott and CeeDee Lamb. And Pickens is remaining patient and confident that his agent and the Cowboys will get a deal done.
The offense could be even better than it was last year. So if the defense is better — and it should be, given the additions of safeties Jalen Thompson and Caleb Downs and edges Rashan Gary and Malachi Lawrence — then the Cowboys could win their division.
But Prescott has bigger plans. He’s thinking about the Super Bowl.
He invited discussion by wearing a Super Bowl XXX shirt (when the Cowboys last won it all) to the team hotel to start camp.
When he faced a question about it, Prescott spoke freely.
“The tone’s been set,” he said. “I knew you [reporters] would like it. Didn’t know how many of the teammates would see it. It’s just the manifesting thing. We want stuff in life a lot of times, but then when people start talking about it, you kind of hesitate. Should I say that if they’re going to hold me to it? Well, absolutely. Playing in this organization, being in it 10 years, going into Year 11, I’m not going to shy away from it.
“When you don’t have it, it sucks. When you don’t get to play for it, when you’re watching other teams play in the playoffs, there’s nothing worse than that. I said I’d be the quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys when I was 6 years old, and said I’d be in the NFL, and I got here. A lot of things in my life, I said I’d do and I did it. And so why shy away from that now? Why shy away from asking people to hold me to the same standard that I believe that I can accomplish and this team can accomplish?
“I don’t know if the T-shirt was [saying], ‘This is it.’ … It was an energy thing.”
4.
The Chiefs will almost definitely start cornerback Mansoor Delane at CB1 after trading up to draft him in Round 1. But that move — pushing draft pieces into one big acquisition — might normally mean that a draft class is less likely to produce a handful of instant-impact players.
Yet early in camp, the Chiefs are giving youngsters every opportunity to prove themselves.
Edge R Mason Thomas appears to have a direct path to a starting spot, getting plenty of work with the first team. It’s something of a surprise that a second-rounder has earned the trust of defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo so quickly.
But there’s an even bigger surprise: rookie receiver Cyrus Allen.
The Chiefs took Allen on Day 3 of the draft. And he has been sensational, according to reporters on the scene — and the social-media video clips that have leaked out of camp.
“The quarterbacks trust him,” Andy Reid told reporters.
Most importantly, Patrick Mahomes trusts Allen.
Cyrus Allen may have been a fifth-round pick, but he’s turning heads in Chiefs camp. (Photo by Scott Winters/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
Kansas City doesn’t exactly have proven entities at receiver, even with Xavier Worthy having his first-round status and even with Rashee Rice producing when he’s on the field. (Because Rice can’t seem to stay on the field between his injuries and his suspension.) It’s early. But Allen is making a surprising push to get a real workload and target share.
And then there are other names popping into the starting lineup, per The Athletic’s Jesse Newell. The Chiefs are experimenting with tackle Kahlil Benson and receiver Andrew Armstrong, among others.
It’s likely that the Chiefs are thinking about the long haul of the season. That probably means the rookie work is to 1) rest veterans and 2) give young players exposure in the event of an injury.
But given the way GM Brett Veach has a tendency to find draft gems beyond the first round, it’s likely that we’ll see the Chiefs get major contributions from rookies, perhaps even relatively unknown ones.
For all you fantasy football owners out there, Allen might just be one of those guys to monitor — and draft.
5.
When it comes to the 2025 quarterback draft class, Jayden Daniels has turned into the forgotten man.
There’s all this hype about Drake Maye, who is fresh off a Super Bowl appearance. There’s all this hype about Bears QB Caleb Williams, appearing on the Madden cover after nearly taking down the Rams in overtime. There’s hype for Bo Nix, whose ankle injury left us wondering “what if” as the Broncos might’ve been capable of winning the AFC Championship if they’d only had their QB.
Even J.J. McCarthy is holding up against Kyler Murray in a QB competition in Minnesota. And McCarthy — as rough as he was last year — is stirring national conversation.
Daniels — who missed 10 games in 2025 due to a dislocated left elbow, a knee sprain and a hamstring strain — isn’t really making headlines. Expectations are low for him — and his Commanders. I’m not here to say that Washington is going to shock people this year, but I do wonder what Daniels can do for this offense under new OC David Blough. Daniels doesn’t have a proven weapon on offense other than two-time Pro Bowl receiver Terry McLaurin.
How much can Daniels do?
The good news is that Washington’s defense looks totally rebuilt — and with legitimate starters. So I’d at least hope the Commanders can be pesky, in part because of their rebuilt defense — but also because their young QB will have reinserted himself into the discussion as one of the league’ elite signal callers, like he did at the end of the 2024 season (and playoffs).
