Drake Maye went to the Super Bowl in year two. Romeo Doubs gives him a real target. The Patriots are still pursuing A.J. Brown. And Rodgers has until the end of the month.
I want to start this week with New England, because I think the conversation about what Mike Vrabel has built in Foxborough is not being had at the right level. Drake Maye completed 354 passes for 4,394 yards, threw 31 touchdowns, ran for 450 yards, and posted a 113.5 passer rating in his second NFL season. His team finished 13-4, won the AFC East, and played in Super Bowl LX — where they lost to Seattle, 29-13. That is a legitimately extraordinary outcome for a franchise that, two years ago, was looking at a full rebuild with a first-overall pick and no clear timeline.
McCarthy's roster additions say everything about the offense he wants to run. The quarterback question is still open. And Indiana just signed a stadium bill that changed the conversation in Springfield.
Week two of free agency opened Monday without the quarterback question in Pittsburgh being answered, and I want to spend this morning talking about why that unanswered question is the most interesting story in the league right now. Here is what Pittsburgh has done in the first week and a half of the new league year: they traded for Michael Pittman Jr. from Indianapolis and signed him to a three-year, $59 million contract. They signed Rico Dowdle, who rushed for 1,076 yards in Carolina last season, as their primary back. They re-signed Cameron Heyward on a two-year extension. They brought in Jamel Dean from Tampa Bay for the secondary. Pittman, notably, played under Mike McCarthy in Dallas.
The Indiana Senate voted 45-4. Governor Braun signed it within the hour. The Illinois House returns March 18. What happens in Springfield this week may determine where Chicago plays football for the next thirty years.
The Chicago Bears' stadium situation entered its most complicated phase over the weekend when two state legislatures acted on opposite sides of the state line, creating a parallel-track scenario that neither the organization nor its observers anticipated three months ago. In Indiana, the state senate passed the bill establishing the Northwest Indiana Stadium Authority in Hammond by a vote of 45-4. Governor Mike Braun signed the legislation into law within an hour. The bill creates a functioning legal framework for public financing of a potential stadium just across the Illinois border — not a planning document, not a committee approval, but a signed law with actual funding authority.
Brown stays in Philadelphia without resolution. Atlanta's 'compete' word keeps doing its work. Dallas gets specific about its window. And the teams left behind after seven days of free agency.
The first week of the new league year ends this Sunday without the story I most expected to have been resolved. A.J. Brown is still a Philadelphia Eagle.
The Bears' lakefront stadium proposal goes to Springfield. Negotiations are 'close but not final.' The outcome shapes whether Chicago has a new building before 2030.
The Illinois General Assembly is expected to take up the Chicago Bears' stadium funding proposal as early as the week of March 16, following months of negotiation between the team, city officials, and state legislators over the parameters of a public financing package. The Bears' proposal involves a new domed stadium on the Chicago lakefront, with a financing structure that blends private investment from the organization, tax increment financing from the city, and a state-funded infrastructure package. The specific terms of the state contribution have been the subject of ongoing negotiation. Legislators in both chambers have raised concerns about the size of the public commitment and the risk allocation for cost overruns.
The division's balance of power will be shaped by this week's decisions. Chicago has space and a clear identity. Detroit is prioritizing retention. Green Bay is patient, as always.
The NFC North's competitive window is driving aggressive behavior in the early hours of the negotiating period, with Chicago, Detroit, and Green Bay all reported to be in conversations with players whose additions would materially affect the division's balance of power. Chicago, entering its second offseason under Ben Johnson with real cap space and a clear organizational identity, has been connected to multiple defensive free agents. Johnson's first year produced an 11-6 record and a division title largely on the strength of an offense that functioned at an elite level. The staff's stated offseason priority is improving the defense's ability to stop the run, which was the unit's consistent vulnerability when tested by physical teams.