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Catching Up, Part 2: NFL’s biggest movers since February

We brought you up to speed on college football yesterday, so we’re hitting the pro game today. Here’s Jacob Robinson:

Our pre-training camp NFL Power Rankings went live earlier this week, with the most popular comment being this:

💬 “Remember, if your team is ranked too low, it’s not because the author hates them. It’s because the author hates you.”

That made me laugh. It also got me curious. Who did our Power Rankings authors hate at the end of 2025? What has changed since?

So I went back to our end-of-season Power Rankings, published not long after the Seahawks won the Super Bowl, and compared where each team sat in those rankings to our pre-training camp update. Three things stood out to me:

Seahawks down from No. 1 to … 5. Seattle returns 10 of 11 offensive starters, the core of the league’s top defense and a defensive mastermind at head coach. That’s the good news. The bad? The Seahawks lost running back Kenneth Walker III (the Super Bowl MVP signed with the Chiefs), and coveted offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak, now coaching the Raiders.
The Rams are top dogs. The Super Bowl favorites also hold the top spot in our rankings after ending last season at No. 2. How could they not? The league’s best offense is now paired with a defense that was among the top 10 before adding future Hall of Fame edge rusher Myles Garrett. And the Aaron Donald return might actually happen? Lord.
The Cowboys are better. Much better. It pains me to admit, but No. 13 Dallas (up from 21) should be more competitive than last year’s 7-9-1 record. The reason is simple: They actually have a defense. The Cowboys offense ranked seventh in points scored and second in yards gained in 2025, but 32nd and 30th in the defensive equivalent of those categories. Now they’ve got a new defensive coordinator, added No. 11 pick Caleb Downs at safety and have plenty more reasons to expect a breakout.

One other novelty for 2026: The Chiefs are underdogs. At No. 18, they are lower at this point than I’ve seen them since Patrick Mahomes’ first season.

Our full pre-training camp rankings explain the “why” behind these positions. I’ll have more on that in today’s NFL newsletter, which you can subscribe to here.

On to the news:

News to Know

Celebrini inks win-win extension
Sharks star Macklin Celebrini signed a five-year, $94 million extension yesterday, the richest contract in franchise history and one that will carry the highest average annual value in the NHL — at least for now, as the salary cap is set to rise in the 2027-28 season, when the deal kicks in. The 20-year-old’s contract is fairly team-friendly and got high marks from our graders, especially in light of the recent run of teams potentially overpaying for future superstars (see: the Ducks’ Leo Carlsson and Blackhawks’ Connor Bedard).

James Mirtle also makes the case that we’ve seen the end of long-term contracts for young NHL stars.

More news

A deal to renew Mauricio Pochettino as U.S. men’s national team coach is “close” but not done, multiple sources said yesterday. Very curious about the final details.
Chiefs offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy’s wife, Mia, is out of the ICU and “doing better” after being shot twice Sunday at the couple’s home, coach Andy Reid said.
A trade! The Angels sent catcher Logan O’Hoppe, once tabbed as the next face of the franchise, and reliever Chase Silseth to the Rangers. Full grades here.
Formula 1 will wait until September before deciding whether to hold its races in Qatar and Abu Dhabi, the final two events of the season. Contingency plans are taking shape, though.
The NCAA suspended Tennessee linebacker Arion Carter two games for accepting a $400 flight from an agent during the pre-NFL Draft process. Carter opted to return to school because of an injury, and the school said he repaid the money. Wait, what?
The Angels also released former All-Star starter Alek Manoah after a Triple-A stretch in which he put up a 24.23 ERA over his last five starts (just 13 innings). Oof.
Nebraska football players will receive $7.5 million from NIL deals that were previously denied by the new College Sports Commission. Backstory here.
Watch Guide

đź“ş Nationals at Braves
7:15 p.m. ET on ESPN
Washington, at two games back of an NL wild-card spot, is the draw here as the club finds itself in the liminal space between buyer and seller. This is the first game of what our Nats writer Spencer Nusbaum called “easily the most meaningful series for this franchise since it won the World Series in 2019.”

đź“ş WNBA: Lynx at Tempo
8 p.m. ET on Prime Video
The headliner tonight is Liberty-Aces at 10, to be sure, but the early game on Prime brings its own intrigue. Minnesota is the title favorite coming out of the All-Star break, while Toronto, with playoff hopes dwindling, is expected to be aggressive at the trade deadline. Worth checking out.

Pulse Picks

It’s been a quiet week so far ahead of the MLB trade deadline. With just a few days to go, Jim Bowden helpfully updated us on the buyers, sellers and everyone in between, and gathered the biggest storylines. We also have a fresh big board with insights on the players who could still move.

On a new episode of “Pablo Torre Finds Out,” the crew unpacks another oddity in the Kawhi Leonard saga, this time involving … a controversial Rhode Island soccer project. Huh. Watch it here.

Our Sabreena Merchant asked for readers’ WNBA trade proposals ahead of Sunday’s deadline. Today, she played GM and evaluated the best of them.

There is a reason sociologists have spent decades studying pickup basketball, as Rustin Dodd writes. It might be the secret to happiness. 

A professional thrifter (!) recently bought a Lakers warmup jacket with Wilt Chamberlain’s name on it for $3 at Goodwill. It resold at an auction last week for nearly $90,000. How does it feel to live my dream?

Most-clicked in the newsletter yesterday: The Comerica Park squirrel.

Most-read on the website yesterday: Bruce Feldman’s column on UNC’s Bill Belichick era reaching a crisis point.

📫 That’s all for now! Say hello at thepulse@theathletic.com, and check out our other newsletters.