The NFL will enter its 107th season in 2026, and the league’s lineup of 32 teams looks a whole lot different than it did when pro football first took shape in 1920. Back then, there was no Super Bowl, no playoff bracket and no modern version of the league fans know now.
Most of the teams from those early years are gone. A handful, though, are still here - and one franchise has lasted longer than any other.
That distinction belongs to the Arizona Cardinals.
The Cardinals trace their roots all the way back to 1898, when the franchise was founded as the Morgan Athletic Club. By the time the NFL’s first season kicked off in 1920 - then under the name American Professional Football Conference - they were known as the Racine Cardinals and were one of the 14 original teams in the league. The only other club from that inaugural season still around is the Decatur Staleys, who became the Chicago Bears in 1922.
The Cardinals’ path has taken them through several cities and names. They became the Chicago Cardinals in 1922, moved to St.
Louis in 1960 and stayed there through 1987, then headed to Arizona in 1988. They were called the Phoenix Cardinals for five years before officially becoming the Arizona Cardinals in 1994.
Being the league’s oldest franchise hasn’t turned them into its most decorated. The Cardinals won championships in 1925 and 1947, both before the Super Bowl era, but they still haven’t won a Super Bowl. Their lone trip to the game came in Super Bowl XLIII, where they fell 27-23 to the Steelers.
The rest of the NFL’s oldest franchises follow a familiar pattern: early origins, name changes and, in some cases, moves to new cities. The Chicago Bears joined in 1920.
The Green Bay Packers, founded in 1919, came into the league in 1921. The New York Giants arrived in 1925, followed by the Detroit Lions in 1930, the Washington Commanders in 1932, the Philadelphia Eagles and Pittsburgh Steelers in 1933, the Los Angeles Rams in 1937 and the Cleveland Browns in 1946.
The Lions began as the Portsmouth Spartans in 1928 before joining the NFL in 1930 and becoming the Detroit Lions in 1934. Washington spent its first four seasons in Boston as the Boston Braves before moving to Washington in 1937.
The Rams became the first NFL team to move West when they left Cleveland for California in 1946, and later spent two decades in St. Louis from 1995 to 2015.
The Browns came into existence in the All-America Football Conference in 1946, then joined the NFL in 1950 after the AAFC folded in 1949. They made an immediate splash, winning the NFL championship in their first season in the league.
Expansion in the decades that followed was driven largely by the AFL and the eventual merger that followed. The league’s youngest teams are all much newer additions: the Houston Texans in 2002, the Baltimore Ravens in 1996, and the Jacksonville Jaguars and Carolina Panthers in 1995.
That makes the Texans the NFL’s youngest franchise - and the only team to join the league this century. Houston and Baltimore both entered after earlier franchises had left their cities, with the Houston Oilers moving to Tennessee and the Baltimore Colts heading to Indianapolis. The Jaguars and Panthers, by contrast, were brand-new NFL entries in new markets.
In Other News...
Cardinals QB Battle Just Took A Sudden Turn Around Brissett
The Cardinals quarterback competition has already taken a sharp early-season turn, and it came on the second day of training camp when Jacoby Brissett was not part of the 11-on-11 work. Gardner Minshew, Carson Beck and Kedon Slovis handled those reps instead, a setup that underscored how quickly the camp order can shift when a veteran is still trying to get comfortable in a new offense.
Mike LaFleur said there is no timeline for Brissett to catch up, which leaves Arizona with a real early sorting-out period at the most important spot on the field. The camp picture is already a little uneven beyond quarterback, with Paris Johnson and Josh Sweat starting on the physically unable to perform list and the organization also dealing with the indefinite suspension of personnel executive Ryan Gold under the NFLs gambling policy. [Read more 🡒]
Cardinals Just Lost Another Young D Lineman Before He Could Matter
Kaleb Proctors first NFL season is already on ice, another frustrating hit for a Cardinals rookie class that has been hit hard by lower-body injuries before it ever got rolling. The defensive lineman was placed on injured reserve, and Arizona is choosing to play it safe rather than try to squeeze any late-season value out of a player it wanted to develop into part of the rotation.
For a front that was counting on young depth to matter, the loss stings because it narrows the margin even more on the interior. The Cardinals will have to keep sorting through the rest of their defensive line group to absorb the snap load, but Proctors absence leaves one more unanswered question about how much of this rookie class will actually get a chance to contribute when the games start to count. [Read more 🡒]
Mike LaFleur Just Drew A Line Around Cardinals Pick
The Cardinals decision to take Jeremiyah Love third overall in the 2026 NFL draft was always going to invite debate, especially for a rebuilding team spending such a premium pick on a running back. But Mike LaFleur has been quick to frame the move around more than positional value, pointing to Loves maturity, his willingness to learn and the kind of presence he has already brought into the locker room.
LaFleur has also made clear that Arizona believes Loves background matters as much as his talent, praising the foundation that shaped him and the way he carries himself around veterans. For a team trying to change its culture as much as its roster, that kind of endorsement is part of the pitch, even if the outside criticism around the pick is not going away anytime soon. [Read more 🡒]