Dante Moore will not be entering the NFL in 2026.
The Oregon quarterback announced that he will be returning to school for another season. Moore led the Ducks to the college football semifinals, but they lost to Indiana last Friday.
Indiana’s quarterback Fernando Mendoza is the favorite to be the first player selected in April’s draft given the Raiders’ need for a long-term answer at quarterback. Moore was seen as a contender to be the next player drafted given the Jets’ need for the same, but Wednesday’s decision opens the field up to a number of possibilities at that spot.
With Moore staying in school, names like Ty Simpson and Trinidad Chambliss will now jockey to be the second quarterback off the board.
The Jets are heading into the offseason with serious questions about their quarterback position and they’re moving to add one option to the roster ahead of the new league year.
Tom Pelissero of NFL Media reports that the team is going to sign Bailey Zappe to a future contract. The pact will give Zappe a spot on the 90-man roster for the offseason.
Zappe spent the 2025 season on the Browns’ practice squad. He started for the Browns in Week 18 of the 2024 season and made eight starts for the Patriots over the previous two seasons. He is 208-of-335 for 2,223 yards, 11 touchdowns and 12 interceptions over his entire career.
Justin Fields, Tyrod Taylor, and Brady Cook all started games for the Jets in 2025. Fields and Cook remain under contract for 2026.
During his two-year detour with the Jets, quarterback Aaron Rodgers had plenty to say about the culture of the organization. On Thursday, he had something else to say about his most recent former team.
The comment was made while Rodgers was expressing appreciation for the leadership provided in Pittsburgh by coach Mike Tomlin.
“One thing I really love — and it’s kind of the antithesis of where I was — is there’s not really any leaks in the boat,” Rodgers told reporters. “Every year, you have difficulties and adversity, both on the field and off the field, and to go through a season like this, and to be able to focus on football and not have a lot of other little bullshit out there has been really nice.”
The “other little bullshit” wasn’t quite so little, as Rodgers saw it, in New York.
In December 2023, Rodgers (who was rehabbing his torn Achilles tendon at the time) sounded off on leaks that quarterback Zach Wilson was reluctant to resume playing after being benched during Rodgers’s absence.
“What is your impetus, what is your motivation to try and bury someone like that?” Rodgers told Pat McAfee. “And that’s a problem with the organization. You know, we need to get to the bottom of whatever this is coming from and put a stop to it privately, because there’s no place in a winning culture where — and this is not the only time. There’s been a bunch of other leaks.”
Added Rodgers at the time: “I think it’s chickenshit at its core, and I think it has no place in a winning organization.”
But the Jets aren’t a winning organization. For various reasons. Most of which trace to the very top of the pyramid.
The success in Pittsburgh has been about more than the absence of leaks. Rodgers himself has wisely avoided contributing to the “other little bullshit” by not appearing on McAfee’s show every Tuesday. Rodgers often got way too comfortable in that setting, saying things that became fodder for scrutiny and more reporting.
With the Steelers, Rodgers has kept his media appearances to the minimum. He has chosen to focus on football, fulfilling his weekly obligations to speak with reporters and nothing more.
The results speak for themselves, thanks in part to a missed 44-yard field goal that would have kept Rodgers and the Steelers out of the playoffs.
Regardless, they rebounded nicely from an embarrassing 26-7 home loss to the Bills. They’re back in the playoffs. And they have a chance to notch their first postseason win since January 2017.
At the time, none of the other 13 playoff coaches were coaching their current teams. (Sean McVay had been hired by the Rams three days earlier, and Kyle Shanahan would be hired by the 49ers three days later.) Only one of the other 2025 playoff quarterbacks was in the NFL (Matthew Stafford, with the Lions).
Now, the coach and the quarterback who were on the opposing sidelines in Super Bowl XLV will join forces in an effort to win their second career Lombardi Trophies. Can they pull it off?
Crazier things have happened. Especially since there’s a non-zero chance that Pittsburgh’s Flex Sealed boat is floating in an ocean of holy water.
With six vacancies (other than the Ravens) and seven teams calling former Ravens coach John Harbaugh after his dismissal on Tuesday, at least one team without a vacancy made the call.
So which team(s) called? (It’s possible that more than one team without an opening called, if at least one of the teams currently looking for a coach did not.)
Here’s a look at the possibilities. And don’t blame us for doing it; Harbaugh’s agent lit the fuse by disclosing that seven teams called.
Jets: By all appearances, first-year coach Aaron Glenn lost the locker room. The final five games, with a minus-137 point differential (27.4 per game), was arguably the worst stretch ever for a franchise with plenty of rough spots. Still, owner Woody Johnson has shown no inclination to fire Glenn — and to owe him more than $40 million to not coach the team.
Dolphins: Michigan man Stephen Ross once pursued Michigan man Jim Harbaugh while the Dolphins still had a coach under contract. Why wouldn’t Ross make the call about Harbaugh’s brother, given the currently tenuous status of Mike McDaniel?
Bills: What if the Bills lose this weekend? Is it crazy to think the Bills would consider making a change? That said, swapping out one coach who failed to get to the Super Bowl during the prime years of a generational talent for another coach who failed to get to the Super Bowl during the prime years of a generational talent seems odd.
Steelers: If the team thinks Mike Tomlin, who seems to have a TV offer in his back pocket, could be leaving after the playoff run ends, it needs to be thinking about the next coach. Why not Harbaugh?
Bengals: There’s no way Mike Brown will finance Zac Taylor’s buyout and pay whatever it would take to get Harbaugh.
Colts: Owner Carlie Irsay-Gordon has said Shane Steichen will be back. Could she view Harbaugh as an upgrade who may not be available if a change is made in 2027?
Chiefs: Andy Reid will be back for 2026. The phone call (if it happened) may have been as simple as, “Keep us in mind if you’re thinking about taking a year off and returning in 2027.”
Cowboys: See the Chiefs.
Commanders: Dan Quinn’s team badly regressed in 2025. Why wouldn’t owner Josh Harris at least consider the possibility of an upgrade to Harbaugh?
Packers: New team president Ed Policy made it clear in June that it’s an up-or-out year for coach Matt LaFleur and G.M. Brian Gutekunst. Could Policy have wanted to let Harlan (the son of former Packers CEO Bob Harlan) know that there may be a reason to let the wild-card round play out before making any decisions?
Buccaneers: There’s a vague sense still lingering that ownership could make a coaching change. Harbaugh’s availability could be the thing that pushes the Bucs off the fence.
At least one of those teams made the call. Maybe more than one. And if one of those teams fires its head coach in the coming days, it could be the first step toward hiring John Harbaugh.
At a time when all numbers are up for the NFL, one number is down.
Attendance.
Sports Business Journal reports that average crowd size dropped for the first time since the pandemic ended, with 69,055 per game.
The percentage of available inventory sold to fans dropped from 98.3 percent to 97.6 percent, with 12 teams selling 100 percent of their tickets.
Three teams were under 93 percent: the Jaguars (91 percent), the Jets (90.8 percent), and the Titans (85.2 percent). The Titans had the biggest drop in attendance, by 9.1 percent. The Jets saw a 5.1-percent decrease, and the definitely not dysfunctional Browns had a 3.9-percent reduction.
The 69,055 average attendance remains the fifth highest since Sports Business Journal began tabulating attendance in 2004.
