NFL training camp has been underway for around two weeks now, and news has been flying over the internet daily. It’s hard to keep up with every single story breaking every single day, so today we’ll round up the key news going on around the NFL.

With NFL preseason games kicking off this week, teams are starting to solidify basic game plans, depth charts, and coaching philosophies for the 2026 NFL season. Carson Beck and the Arizona Cardinals are storming the headlines coming out of the Hall of Fame game, but Haynes King isn’t far behind. That’s with just one NFL preseason game under our belts; imagine the rest of the league. Here are the important storylines coming out of camp.

Injuries

The entire NFC South

Every team in the NFC South has been affected by injuries, and we haven’t even reached mid-August yet.

Carolina Panthers 

The Carolina Panthers lost second-year edge Nic Scourton to a torn ACL and rookie wide receiver Chris Brazzell III to an LCL tear, ruling him out for the year. It’s an important year for the Panthers, who are trying to win the NFC South for the second year in a row, and the injury bug has already started to impact the team.

Quarterback Bryce Young has been impacted as well. The Panthers are down their two starting tackles in Ikem Ekwonu (recovering from a ruptured patellar tendon) and Taylor Moton (diagnosed with a blood clot in the lung). It’s already a next-man-up mentality for the Panthers with Rasheed Walker and rookie Monroe Freeling starting at tackle.

Atlanta Falcons 

The Atlanta Falcons invested heavily into the edge rusher position in the 2025 NFL Draft, and it looked promising after one season. Jalon Walker was coming into his own, and James Pearce Jr. finished third in Defensive Player of the Year voting.

Walker suffered a torn ACL in camp, and Pearce is facing legal issues that could sideline him for the majority of the season. Not how head coach Kevin Stefanski wanted to start his coaching tenure with the team.

New Orleans Saints and Tampa Bay Buccaneers 

The New Orleans Saints lost starting defensive lineman Bryan Bresee and offensive lineman Dillon Radunz to torn ACLs. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers haven’t suffered any major injuries just yet, but are currently dealing with a contract dispute with starting interior defensive lineman Vita Vea.

49ers battling the injury bug, yet again

Would you believe me if I told you the San Francisco 49ers have had 20 players pop up on the injury report during camp? Sounds crazy, but it is true. San Francisco has had a lot of injury issues that have derailed their entire seasons over the past decade, and fans hoped 2026 would be injury-free. So far, not so good.

The 49ers have some players who are still recovering from injuries sustained last season, including George Kittle, Mykel Williams and Nick Bosa. The major injury during the camp has been wide receiver Ricky Pearsall, who will have surgery on a PCL injury, sidelining him for the year.

While no other injury has been as major as that, there have still been some minor ones, like Mike Evans, Christian Kirk, Osa Odighizuwa, and Kaelon Black, all missing time at one point.

Trenches losing starters

We all know how important the trenches are to winning football games, but some teams are already at a disadvantage with losing starters early this season.

The Washington Commanders will be without star tackle Laremy Tunsil for the majority of the 2026 season due to a torn tricep. The Detroit Lions lost starting center Cade Mays to a wrist injury, and he just signed a three-year, $25 million deal with the team in free agency.

Breakout hopefuls stalled

Everyone on the planet (who watches football) is hyping up Chicago Bears wide receiver Luther Burden III to have a breakout year in year two with Ben Johnson. While he looked good early in camp, his progress has stalled. Burden suffered a groin injury during practice and is expected to miss the entire preseason, but be ready by the regular season.

The New York Jets’ first-round pick, Kenyon Sadiq, will miss time due to a previous hernia injury. Sadiq had hernia surgery in May, but suffered a setback in his recovery process. Jets head coach Aaron Glenn said the rookie should be ready for Week 1, but he’s going to miss crucial reps while on the sideline during training camp.

The Indianapolis Colts signed wide receiver Alec Pierce to a massive four-year, $114 million contract extension this offseason. With Michael Pittman Jr. getting traded, the expectation was for Pierce to be the No. 1 receiver for the team, signaling a breakout year. He hasn’t practiced yet. Pierce had left ankle surgery in March of this year and is still on the Physically Unable to Perform (PUP) list with no timetable to return.

Joint Practices starting shortly

In addition to preseason games, NFL teams should hold joint practice sessions with other teams to give players more action against opponents rather than just their teammates. These reps are vital to rookies, but also to veterans who won’t see much action during the preseason to manage injuries. These practices are controlled environments, and coaches love to set up game-like scenarios to see how their team will perform against someone who isn’t their teammates.

This week, there are six joint practices, with four kicking off on Tuesday.

Expect to see a lot of content and updates throughout the next couple of days of these practices. For all these teams, it’s the first time they’ll be lining up against someone else during training camp, so expect tempers to flare and competition to be high.

Standouts

There are always players who stand out during training camp, and we’ve already covered five last week. But with 32 teams, there are always more players to quickly highlight.

Ja’Kobi Lane – Baltimore Ravens

The Baltimore Ravens have to be excited about what they’ve seen from Ja’Kobi Lane during training camp so far. The third-round rookie out of USC packs a large build for a wideout at 6-foot-4 and 200 pounds. His calling card is being that contested-catch type of receiver, which is something the Ravens have been lacking during the Lamar Jackson era. He pairs perfectly with Zay Flowers and Rashod Bateman.

It’s unclear what type of role Lane will fully have in the offense as a rookie, but everything coming out of Ravens training camp is positive.  Lane routinely makes highlight grabs during team sessions.

Skyler Gill-Howard – Detroit Lions

The Detroit Lions’ sixth-round pick, Skyler Gill-Howard, went down with a left ankle injury in his final season of college football with Texas Tech. He’d be sidelined the rest of the season, limiting his draft stock. Detroit saw something in the previous tape, and so far, Gill-Howard has made an impact in camp.

Gill-Howard has slowly gotten back to how he felt pre-injury and has stood out when he’s had the chance to in camp. He’s gotten some first-team reps in team periods and reportedly gotten some clean pass-rush wins throughout the summer.

Jonathan Brooks – Carolina Panthers

The last player we’ll cover is Jonathan Brooks, and he deserves it. Brooks went down with a torn ACL in his last season of college football, but the Panthers still took a chance on him in the second round of the 2024 NFL Draft. He got back onto the field that season, but tore the same ACL in Week 14 of the 2024 season and was sidelined all of 2025.

Brooks is back and just needed the dice to roll his way. He’s surprised coaches during training camp and has shown he still has some speed in his legs to be the backup to Chuba Hubbard this season.

Contract Extensions for Everyone!

There have been plenty of contract extensions throughout camp as players are seeking long-term commitments from their teams. Not every dispute has been solved, but it seems like there has been a new contract every single day over the past two weeks.

Running backs are back! After Falcons star running back Bijan Robinson got his big extension, Jahmyr Gibbs and Jonathan Taylor shortly followed. Gibbs and Robinson now each have $51 million guaranteed in their contracts, with Taylor at $39 million. All three backs have been major facets of their offenses and were rewarded as such.