Sadly, injuries have already become a significant part of the NFL preseason discourse.
Jaxson Dart continues to take big hits and spend time in the injury tent early in his Giants career. Top five pick Jeremiyah Love is going to miss the rest of the preseason and I suspect into the regular season after suffering a high-ankle sprain. The risk-reward calculus is at the heart of every decision coaches make this time of year, and with two more weeks of exhibitions to get through, we certainly hope the worst of this is over.
But overall, this 2026 rookie class is already making a splash. The first week, from the Hall of Fame Game, with quarterbacks Carson Beck (another injured Cardinal rookie) and Haynes King both putting on a show to undrafted quarterbacks forcing teams to reconsider their worth to sixth-round kickers booting 60-yard field goals. Who doesn’t love that?
With that in mind, these are the games I am most excited to watch in the second week of the preseason.
Atlanta Falcons at Indianapolis Colts
Could it be getting late for the Falcons already? Okay, I’m exaggerating, but Tua Tagovailoa needs to wake up and show up. I believe the Falcons have a real QB problem (Michael Penix is still coming back from serious injury) and execs and evaluators around the NFL feel the same way. No bueno.
The Colts are dealing with injury issues of their own, hence the signing of Keenan Allen as this Alec Pierce situation gives me pause (told both my sons to stay away in their recent fantasy drafts FWIW). How about Anthony Richardson last week? With his career seemingly on life support he put together a helluva game and now the Colts are talking like maybe he has a future there afterall.
With Daniel Jones coming back from injury, we suspect Richardson gets quite a run here.
Baltimore Ravens at Minnesota Vikings
Do you know who Joe Fagnano is? I don’t blame you.
But the undrafted rookie QB out of UConn, who began his college career at Maine, was far more composed and efficient than anyone could have expected against the Eagles. He played roughly three quarters, thrust into duty with vet Skylar Thompson a sudden IR case, hit 11 different pass catchers and produced at least two first downs on every drive. He was excellent operating under center — foreign in the college game — and ended up 22-of-28 for 224 yards and even his pick in the back of the end zone at the end of the first half wasn’t egregious.
The Ravens have a lot riding on their rookie class on offense and receiver Ja’Kobi Lane is flashing star potential and Elijah Sarratt can move the chains and they need their tight ends to get open, too. Baltimore’s entire identity is changing on offense, with a 30-year-old coordinator calling 30 under center runs to just six from the shotgun; Lamar Jackson has been in the shotgun more than any QB since taking over as a starter.
New Orleans Saints at Los Angeles Rams
Still thinking we could get some official word on Aaron Donald’s future by this weekend. I don’t think he’s going through all of this to opt to stay retired, and he also doesn’t have to be ready to go Week 1. This is about the Super Bowl in LA.
Ty Simpson was nearly perfect against the Chiefs last week. Sean McVay knows how to bring a QB along, but this was pretty ridiculous even for him. Hard to think Simpson could pull that off again. McVay tends to be very careful about who he plays and what he shows in the preseason and if Simpson does duplicate that outing, will he be put on ice till the regular season, too?
New York Giants at Miami Dolphins
Jaxson Dart doesn’t quite get how this works yet. If you are going to the ground after a big hit and you are grabbing your head, especially in these games that don’t even count in the standings, you are going to end up in the blue tent for a minute or two. John Harbaugh used to be a guy who didn’t dress anyone for the preseason, and I can only imagine what was going through his mind as a free runner trucked his QB in the middle of the field last week.
The Giants have a lot to navigate here with whatever is going on with Malik Nabors, and their left tackle tends to get hurt a lot, and the RB is coming off surgery, too. Everything about the Giants feels outsized and under a microscope now. Even Odell Beckham Jr.'s return. I just feel like one or two things are going to happen in this game that everyone will be talking about.
Philadelphia Eagles at New England Patriots
The Eagles have a Super Bowl résumé, and August doesn’t matter … But their offensive coordinators have been under fire and Sean Mannion is being expected to fix the pass game for Nick Sirianni and, yeah, the starters didn’t play … But they went 0-for-9 on third down and only ran 40 plays on offense and had like 165 scrimmage yards and 45 came on scrambles by their fourth-string QB in extreme garbage time.
The Eagles had 76 yards total through three quarters at Baltimore. Tanner McKee has been a summer star in the past and does he get more of a run here? Do they really need to see Andy Dalton? I have reservations about the Patriots shaking off the Lombardi Loser curse, although we're not going to find out too much about that here.
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