The first unofficial depth charts of the 2026 NFL season already gave us a few eyebrow-raisers, and a couple of them came in the quarterback rooms where things are usually the least forgiving.
Start in Arizona, where the Cardinals’ top pick, Jeremiyah Love, is not listed first at running back despite going No. 3 overall in April and already sitting atop the NFL’s guaranteed-money hierarchy at the position. Instead, Tyler Allgeier gets the RB1 spot on the unofficial chart for Sunday’s opener against the Chargers, with Love slotted behind him.
That setup comes with an obvious asterisk: Love is working back from a high ankle sprain suffered in the Cardinals’ second preseason game, and Mike LaFleur has already said the offense is headed toward a running back-by-committee plan. LaFleur put it plainly this summer: “Not one running back can take all 65 snaps,” he said this summer.
“We’ve seen that story when guys are a little bit overloaded, and whether it hurts them. … [We want to] be able to split those guys up, one, to keep them fresh throughout that game, but two, to keep them as healthy as they can for 17 games is the appropriate way to go.”
Love should still be a major part of the offense once the games count. For now, though, the chart says Allgeier is first.
Minnesota’s quarterback picture is even stranger. J.J.
McCarthy, who lost the Vikings’ starting job to Kyler Murray in training camp, has now been pushed all the way to third string behind veteran Carson Wentz. Kevin O’Connell made the call clear on Wednesday: “Carson will be the backup on Sunday,” coach Kevin O’Connell told reporters on Wednesday.
“And J.J. will obviously be the third guy. I’m looking at that as a week-to-week thing.
Carson has got almost 100 career starts; what he was able to do last year, from a standpoint of very limited repetition but being able to apply a career’s worth of experience-that’s kind of what you need to do as a backup quarterback. … This gives us the best chance to win this Sunday.”
McCarthy was taken with the No. 10 pick in 2024, and two seasons later he’s on the third-team offense while much of his draft class is doing well elsewhere.
New England’s situation at punter is messy in a different way. Bryce Baringer made the initial 53-man roster despite an undisclosed lower-body injury suffered in the preseason, only for the Patriots to place him on injured reserve two days later.
That leaves him out at least four games. To cover the gap, the Patriots signed Mitch Wishnowsky to the practice squad, and for now they don’t have a punter on the active roster.
The roster mechanics matter here, too. Teams can elevate a practice-squad player only three times, which gives New England three games with Wishnowsky before it has to make another call before Week 4. The Patriots also brought in Matt Haack during training camp before cutting him during final roster moves, so he remains a possible fallback until Baringer is ready.
Houston’s surprise comes on the other side of the ball. After the Texans traded for Kayshon Boutte from the Patriots last month following Jayden Higgins’ season-ending torn ACL, Boutte has already climbed into a starting spot on the unofficial chart. He’s listed with Nico Collins and Xavier Hutchinson as one of Houston’s first-string receivers, ahead of Jaylin Noel and Jared Wayne.
DeMeco Ryans sounded pleased with how quickly Boutte has settled in. “Kayshon is learning the playbook very well, and we’re throwing it all at him,” Texans coach Demeco Ryans said of his team’s new pass catcher this week.
“He’s a smart guy; he’s picked up on what we’ve asked him to do. … We’re throwing him out there.
We’re trying to go win a football game. We traded for the guy for a reason; I think he’s a really good playmaker, so I wanna see that show up on Sunday.”
And then there’s Philadelphia, where the only sure thing is Jalen Hurts. Behind him, the Eagles’ backup quarterback situation is intentionally vague.
Andy Dalton and Tanner McKee are both listed as second-string options, while rookie Cole Payton fills out the room. Nick Sirianni said that ambiguity is by design.
“We don’t have to make that decision quite yet, or announce that decision, I think, for competitive reasons,” he explained on Wednesday. “Again, I don’t want them to be able to study one guy over the other.
I’m not saying we don’t have an answer of who that is yet. I don’t have to share that quite yet publicly.”
Against the Commanders on Sunday, the Eagles will likely carry only two quarterbacks and make one the emergency third QB. The real answer, as ever, will wait for the inactives list 90 minutes before kickoff.
In Other News...
A.J. Browns Patriots Debut Created An Eagles Concern Nobody Wanted
A.J. Browns Patriots debut was supposed to be one of the more watched storylines of the opening week, but it ended with an early exit that immediately shifted the conversation from production to health. Before leaving with an injury in Seattle, Brown had three catches for 26 yards as the Patriots came up short in a 13-10 loss, a frustrating start for a receiver expected to be a major part of the offense.
The concern only grew after Brown was seen in a walking boot following the game, leaving a team already trying to find its footing with Drake Maye under center to monitor a situation it could not afford to see linger. Maye finished 23 of 33 for 178 yards with one touchdown and three interceptions, including a costly late turnover, and now New England heads into matchups with Pittsburgh, Jacksonville and Buffalo with more questions than answers around one of its most important players. [Read more 🡒]
A.J. Browns Patriots Debut Brought Back A Familiar Eagles Concern
A.J. Browns first game with the Patriots offered a quick reminder of why Philadelphia spent so much time worrying about his availability. After being traded away from the Eagles, Brown got on the field for New Englands season opener, but his afternoon ended in the third quarter when an ankle injury forced him out of the game. Before leaving, he managed three catches for 26 yards, and he did not record a completion on any throw that traveled 10 or more air yards.
For Eagles fans, the scene carried a familiar unease because Browns talent was never the issue in Philadelphia, his durability was. His time with the Eagles was marked by injuries that kept him from being the steady, full-strength presence the offense wanted, and his early exit with the Patriots puts that concern right back in the spotlight. The next question is less about whether Brown can produce when hes healthy and more about how often hell actually be able to stay there. [Read more 🡒]
Eagles Finally Settled A Safety Battle That Matters For Fangio
Vic Fangio has finally settled the most consequential safety question on the Eagles defense, and the answer points to veteran Marcus Epps as the Week 1 starter. Epps beat out Michael Carter II for the job, a competition that had lingered through camp as Philadelphia worked to sort out the role left open after Reed Blankenship departed in free agency.
Epps is expected to handle about 75% of the defensive snaps, giving Fangio a more defined presence on the back end as the Eagles open the season. Carter, meanwhile, still figures to have a useful place in the defense as a versatile backup who can move into multiple roles, which keeps the depth chart flexible even with the starting decision now made. [Read more 🡒]