What NFL Camp and the Preseason Have Actually Told Us

Updated through Preseason Week 2 — August 22, 2026

Every August, somebody writes that this is the worst injury summer on record. Most Augusts that person is wrong. This one is different. Between the Hall of Fame Game and the second week of the preseason, the league has lost projected starters for the year in Chicago, Washington, Houston, Carolina, Atlanta, New Orleans, San Francisco and New York, and the position groups absorbing the heaviest fire — running back and wide receiver — are exactly the ones fantasy managers spend the first four rounds on.

That's the headline. But it isn't the whole story. Draft off a panic-scroll of your timeline and you'll end up fading the wrong guys and paying up for the wrong ones. Here's what actually happened.

The Good

Patrick Mahomes is practicing, eight months after tearing his ACL. He was fully cleared for camp and has looked the part. That is the single most consequential health development of the summer, and it deserves more airtime than it's getting. For contrast: Micah Parsons tore his ACL on the same day as Mahomes, is now in Green Bay, and is targeting a Week 6 return. Same date, wildly different recovery curves.

The rookie quarterback class is not a disaster. Drew Allar's debut in Pittsburgh was the cleanest tape of opening weekend — his throwing motion looks rebuilt and he stopped hunting off-script plays, which was the entire scouting knock at Penn State. Ty Simpson posted one of the best quarterback grades in preseason Week 1 for the Rams, which matters given how loudly the 13th overall pick was second-guessed in April. Fernando Mendoza is being asked to translate an RPO-heavy Indiana system into Klint Kubiak's West Coast offense in Las Vegas, and while Tom Brady would prefer this be a redshirt year behind Kirk Cousins, nobody who has watched Cousins the past two seasons genuinely believes he's making it to January.

Bo Nix looked sharp in his first action since breaking his ankle in the divisional round. Two drives, ten points, a wheel-route touchdown to RJ Harvey. Denver's real problem heading into the season is at center, not quarterback.

Rookie receivers are stepping into vacuums. De'Zhaun Stribling caught seven of eight targets in his 49ers debut and looked like a five-year veteran running an X-iso route tree — which matters enormously for a San Francisco receiving corps that just lost Ricky Pearsall for the year. Kaden Wetjen turned two catches into 79 yards and a touchdown for Pittsburgh. In Baltimore, third-round rookie Jalen Lane has been described as one of the best training camp performers for a Ravens rookie in recent memory, and he backed it up in preseason Week 1 with a touchdown that drew genuine praise from Lamar Jackson on the sideline.

The comeback stories are real. George Kittle's surgeon visit came back encouraging and he has a legitimate shot at Week 1. Tucker Kraft is off PUP and ramping. Malik Nabers is back in team drills after a torn ACL last season and appears on track. Jonathon Brooks — two ACL tears, no competitive football since 2023 — punched in a one-yard touchdown against Jacksonville in preseason Week 2.

The Bad

San Francisco is the epicenter and it isn't close. At one point in early August the 49ers had twenty players simultaneously unavailable. Nick Bosa hasn't practiced in weeks with tendinitis in his surgically repaired knee. Kittle is on PUP. Mike Evans is nursing a quad, Christian Kirk a calf, Jordan James a fractured rib, Malik Mustapha a hamstring. Kyle Shanahan himself is still recovering from injuries sustained in a car crash. And they open the season with a 32-hour round trip to Melbourne to play the Super Bowl favorite Rams.

New Orleans is a close second. Bryan Bresee's ACL is season-ending. Dillon Radunz is done for the year. Jordyn Tyson, the No. 8 pick, is looking at two months. Alvin Kamara went down in a joint practice with Dallas. The front seven has been shredded. Kellen Moore still has Chris Olave, Travis Etienne and Tyler Shough healthy, which is the thin margin between "swampy" and "genuinely cooked."

Joint practices are where a lot of the damage is happening. Kamara's MCL and Tyson's hamstring both occurred in joint sessions. The league fined Dallas and New Orleans $500,000 apiece for unsportsmanlike behavior in one of them. Teams have traded live preseason snaps for controlled scrimmages, and those scrimmages are proving to be less controlled than advertised.

Two franchises lost linchpin starters outright. Washington's Laremy Tunsil needed triceps surgery. He allowed just 15 pressures on 449 pass-blocking snaps in 2025; his likely replacement allowed 11 on 203. The gap there is enormous. Chicago is watching its rebuilt secondary disintegrate before September, with Kyler Gordon, Elijah Hicks and Xavier Woods all missing time on top of the skill-position issues at receiver and running back.

Marvin Harrison Jr. cannot catch the ball right now. Camp clips are a poor evidence base, and it's easy to construct a misleading narrative out of a handful of bad reps. But the drops have been constant, contested catching is essentially Harrison's entire primary NFL skill at this stage of his development, and new Cardinals head coach Mike LaFleur has said his starters are playing this August. If Harrison doesn't look right in live game action before September, the bust conversation begins in earnest for the former "can't miss" prospect.

The Ugly: Tua Tagovailoa and the Atlanta Quarterback Situation

No quarterback situation in the league has been messier in August, and Tua Tagovailoa is right in the center of it.

After six years and a release from Miami — during which the Dolphins are absorbing a staggering $99.2 million dead cap hit — Tagovailoa signed a one-year deal with Atlanta to compete for the starting job with Michael Penix Jr., who is still recovering from his ACL tear suffered last November. Day one of Falcons training camp, Stefanski walked out to meet the media and announced Tua wasn't practicing due to a back "flare-up." With Penix still not cleared for team activities, undrafted rookie Jack Strand was briefly the only healthy quarterback on the entire depth chart. The Falcons quickly signed Cooper Rush, who proceeded to throw two interceptions in the preseason opener.

When Tagovailoa did play in that opener against Denver — a 27-7 blowout loss — he went three-of-five for 22 yards, punted on both drives, and fumbled a shotgun snap. He was on the field for a grand total of two series. His postgame remarks were at least honest: "Definitely not up to standard. Not even up to par." Stefanski took a wider view and put the blame on the offense collectively, but the optics were rough. Analysts who have covered Atlanta called it a continuation of the limitations Dolphins fans already knew well — pocket discomfort, a career-high 15 interceptions in 2025, and a drop-off from his 4,600-yard 2023 campaign that never reversed.

The current read: Tagovailoa is still expected to start Week 1 against Pittsburgh, primarily because Penix hasn't been cleared for full team activities and has now suffered three ACL tears. Tagovailoa will get another look in the preseason finale against the Dolphins on August 28 — a storyline the league is already packaging — but the margin for error heading into the regular season is essentially zero. Atlanta's window of contention is now and the quarterback room is the least functional part of what was supposed to be a retooled offense under Kevin Stefanski.

Storylines Worth Your Attention

Cleveland's quarterback room. Deshaun Watson is the early leader, the first unofficial depth chart hedged with "or Shedeur Sanders," and Sanders threw an interception on just 11 attempts in preseason Week 1 while completing under 55 percent of his throws. Anonymous defensive coordinators have been brutal in evaluating him: one told ESPN he'd "sleep like a baby" getting to play against Sanders every week. Todd Monken has been explicit about what he needs to see — check-downs, timing, eliminating lost-yardage plays.

J.J. McCarthy's exit ramp. Kevin O'Connell named Kyler Murray the starter. McCarthy's remaining preseason snaps are now an audition for the other 31 teams, and his case is not strong after a season of 32nd-ranked EPA per dropback and behind-the-scenes reporting that was damaging. These three games could go a long way toward determining how long he's in the league.

The challenge flag delegation rule. The one actual rule change that could matter this season: teams can now designate any non-head-coach staff member to throw the red flag. It strips some of the "Kyle Shanahan timeouts" chaos from late-game situations. Expect the first miscommunication to generate enormous content.

Christian McCaffrey's "tightness." He stopped practicing on August 8 — days after Bijan Robinson and Jahmyr Gibbs reset the running back market and left the former highest-paid back at the position fifth in average annual value with almost no guaranteed money remaining. Ian Rapoport has since reported the injury is legitimate, not a contract play. He's 30 years old and led the NFL in touches last year. Monitor closely.

The August Casualty Report — Status as of Preseason Week 2

Some Concern

• Jeremiyah Love (ankle) — Cardinals. High ankle sprain on his 14th touch against the Raiders. Arizona is hopeful for the Sept. 13 opener. High ankle sprains for running backs are the classic trap: teams always say Week 1, and Week 1 often becomes Week 3.

• Kyle Monangai (knee) — Bears. Hyperextended knee, expected to miss multiple weeks, Week 1 status in doubt. D'Andre Swift is the beneficiary in Chicago.

• Chuba Hubbard (hamstring) — Panthers. Dave Canales called it a "legit hamstring," listed week-to-week while hoping for the opener. Last season a Hubbard hamstring cleared the way for Rico Dowdle to take over. This time Jonathon Brooks, two years removed from his own ACL, is next in line.

Worth Watching

• Christian McCaffrey (tightness) — 49ers. No practice since Aug. 8. Legitimate per Rapoport reporting. He's 30, coming off a massive touch load in 2025, and the team is in no rush to risk making it something worse.

• Emeka Egbuka (toe) — Buccaneers. Todd Bowles has him day-to-day/week-to-week and won't commit to Week 1. Chris Godwin Jr. and Jalen McMillan are the names to watch if this drags.

• Breece Hall (groin) — Jets. Two to three weeks, expected back for the opener. Braelon Allen is the required handcuff in any format.

• Luther Burden III (groin) — Bears. Out for the preseason, targeting Week 1. Bumps Rome Odunze, who is currently being drafted about ten picks later on most platforms.

• Tyler Warren (upper leg/groin) — Colts. Missed the Falcons preseason game but is expected ready for Week 1 per Ian Rapoport.

Trouble

• Alec Pierce (ankle) — Colts. Has not practiced at all this camp following offseason ankle surgery, sitting on a $114 million extension. The expectation is that he comes off PUP within the next week, which would put Week 1 in play — but the silence has lasted a long time and this market should be approached cautiously.

• Alvin Kamara (knee) — Saints. MCL sprain in the Dallas joint practice, four to six weeks. Travis Etienne is the clear lead back in New Orleans now.

• Isiah Pacheco (knee) — Lions. MCL sprain, but Dan Campbell has been consistent and public that he expects Pacheco for the opener. Jahmyr Gibbs remains the bell cow; Pacheco's injury is a situation to monitor, not panic over.

Big Trouble

• Jordyn Tyson (hamstring) — Saints. Approximately two months, likely opening the season on IR. This is his second hamstring issue, hamstrings were the pre-draft medical knock, and he's now the No. 8 pick potentially missing the first two months of his rookie year.

• DJ Giddens (hamstring) — Colts. This one is increasingly about his roster spot as much as his health. He's been battling the hamstring for most of camp, and sixth-round rookie Seth McGowan has been outstanding in his absence, pushing hard for the RB2 job behind Jonathan Taylor. Giddens returned to practice Aug. 19 but needs live action.

Done for the Season

• Ricky Pearsall (knee) — 49ers. PCL surgery, done for 2026. San Francisco signed Deebo Samuel Sr. in response. De'Zhaun Stribling's debut looks considerably more important now.

• Jayden Higgins (knee) — Texans. Torn ACL confirmed, on IR, out for the year. Opens the target tree for Jaylin Noel, Xavier Hutchinson and Tank Dell, with a small bump to Dalton Schultz.

• Chris Brazzell II (knee) — Panthers. Initially reported as an eight-week absence; a second opinion found a moderate LCL tear requiring surgery. On IR.

The Bottom Line

Cutdown day is August 30. The first real snap is September 10 in Melbourne. Between now and then, half of the names above will change tiers — some upward, some not. A handful of players nobody is discussing right now will end up mattering more than anyone on this list.

If you're a subscriber, you don't need to track any of this. Our rankings are updated continuously as news breaks — every practice report, every PUP activation, every second opinion, every change in backfield pecking order. That's the entire point. Draft the rankings, not the timeline.