New England Patriots rookie running back Jam Miller will be competing for a backup role behind TreVeyon Henderson and Rhamondre Stevenson in 2026 after he was selected in the seventh round in April out of the University of Alabama, according to Evan Lazar of Patriots.com. New England doesn't have a clear-cut RB3 on its roster like they did last summer with veteran Antonio Gibson. Lazar suggests it will be a four-man competition between Miller, Terrell Jennings, Lan Larison, and undrafted rookie Myles Montgomery for what will likely be one spot on the 53-man roster. Miller is a compact runner with good straight-line speed, and his experience as a core special-teamer early in his career at Alabama should help his cause. His best path to playing time as a rookie with the Patriots will be if Stevenson misses time due to an injury, so Miller can be avoided in redraft fantasy leagues in 2026. In dynasty/keeper formats, Miller is strictly a stash candidate in his first year if you have either Henderson or Stevenson rostered
The New England Patriots will play hosts to the Pittsburgh Steelers in their 2026 home opener at Gillette Stadium, and to one of the best quarterbacks of all time. Aaron Rodgers will again be under center for the Black and Gold this season, a move that was made official on Saturday. As first reported by Tom Pelissero of NFL Network, Rodgers and Pittsburgh reached an agreement on a one-year contract. The deal will pay him a fully-guaranteed $22 million. This means that Rodgers will lead the Steelers on their trip to Foxborough in Week 2. The Sept. 20 game will be a rematch of last year’s Sept. 21 meeting between the two clubs. The visitors won that contest with a final score of 21-14, a loss that turned out to be the Patriots’ last one for almost two months. Rodgers completed 16 of 23 pass attempts (69.6%) that day for 139 yards and two touchdowns, while also tossing an interception to Patriots linebacker Robert Spillane . “They throw a lot of different things at you,” Rodgers said following the game. “Felt like they were kind of in a 2-shell to start the game. Ran it at them pretty good the first couple of drives, and they adjusted. Didn’t make enough plays. We had some penalties, some bad throws. They played how we thought they were going to play. They’re a tough group, they’re well coached, and they were sticky in coverage.” The win in Week 3 last year improved Rodgers’ career record against the Patriots to 4-2. He previously went 2-1 while quarterbacking the Packers , and split the series during his lone healthy season with the Jets in 2024. From a Patriots perspective, keeping Rodgers in check was not the main issue last year. Instead, it was the offense turning the ball over five times. Drake Maye threw an interception and lost a fumble, while Rhamondre Stevenson put the ball on the ground twice; Antonio Gibson also fumbled one possession away. The Patriots recovered from that loss and eventually advanced all the way to the Super Bowl. Rodgers and the Steelers went 10-7 in the regular season but were beaten by the Texans in the divisional playoff round
Editor’s note: Each day, Hogs Haven compiles a collection of articles, podcasts & tweets from around the web to keep you in touch with the Commanders, the NFC East, the NFL and sports in general, with a sprinkling of other stuff. Enjoy! The Athletic Stop the run. That’s been the key for Washington when facing the Eagles over the previous two seasons. In his past four games against the Commanders (including the NFC Championship in January 2025), Eagles running back Saquon Barkley amassed 546 rushing yards and eight total touchdowns. That’s an average of 136.5 rushing yards a game. The Commanders haven’t had a player top 136 rushing yards in a game in five years ( Antonio Gibson had 146 in Week 18 of the 2021 season). The Commanders revised their defense and will now operate in Jones’ system, which could look quite similar to Brian Flores’ defense with the Minnesota Vikings . But using a similar system doesn’t guarantee similar results. Last Man Standig In the spotlight Washington remains firmly on the national stage despite last season’s abysmal showing (0-8) in primetime or standalone games. This schedule includes at least five such contests, including the franchise’s first trip to London since 2016. The others include two Monday Night Football appearances, plus one each on Thursday and Sunday night. Fox Sports Record prediction: 6-11 Vacchiano: The Washington Commanders are counting on the healthy return of Jayden Daniels to vault them into contention, but even that could be tough unless the complete rebuild of their league-worst defense actually works. They’ll find out because they face six of the top 11 offensive teams from last season, plus two more teams ( Philadelphia Eagles , Cincinnati Bengals ) that could be in the top 10 this year. In fact, outside of road trips to Arizona and Tennessee , they don’t face anyone who doesn’t have a legit shot at the playoffs in 2026. Daniels’ return will surely give them a boost, but they are plugging in so many new pieces, including two new coordinators, that they might need time to figure it all out. But this schedule really doesn’t give them any breaks. Bullock’s Film Room Most people that posted this clip focused on first round pick Sonny Styles dropping back into coverage and catching an interception. But that part doesn’t really interest me. What interests me more is the schematics of the clip. They don’t have 11 players on the field, but what we do see is the skeleton of a 3-4 defense. You can see they have two edge rushers in rookie fifth round pick Joshua Josephs and second year rusher T.J. Maguranyanga, who made the team as part of the international pathway program last year. Behind them, Sonny Styles lines up next to Devin Harper , a tryout for the camp. You can also see undrafted free agent safety Malik Spencer just behind Styles prior to the snap. This clip shows some key principles to the 3-4 defense we’re expecting Jones to run. First, you’ll notice both edge rushers are trying to disguise their intentions pre-snap. They both walk back off the ball, telling you they’re playing outside linebackers in a 3-4 rather than staying on the line of scrimmage as 4-3 defensive ends. Then they suddenly walk up to the line of scrimmage just before the snap. As the ball is snapped, the offense doesn’t know if they’re rushing or dropping into coverage. As it turns out, Maguranyanga rushes off the left side of the line while Josephs drops off into coverage, which I’ll talk more about shortly. While Maguranyanga rushes, the other four players we can see in this clip all drop into zone coverage. This is another core part of the defense. The Vikings were aggressive blitzers last year but they played a lot of zone behind those blitzes and stayed in zone when they only rushed four. Jones shows that he’s bringing that idea here to Washington too. You can see both inside linebackers play hook-curl zones while Josephs sinks back to play the flat on his side and safety Malik Spencer
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The Patriots released Gibson (knee) on Monday. Gibson is still rehabbing a torn ACL, which he suffered in Week 5 of this past season. Prior to the injury, he rushed 25 times for 106 yards and one touchdown, while adding two catches for six yards on three targets. Gibson will turn 28 years old in June and has appeared in 83 career regular-season contests. In addition to his offensive duties, Gibson is also an experienced return man
Gibson (knee) was placed on injured reserve Friday. This move was expected after Gibson was diagnosed with a torn ACL following New England's Week 5 win over the Bills. He'll finish the campaign with 25 carries for 106 yards and one touchdown, as well as two catches for six yards on three targets. Terrell Jennings likely will be elevated from the practice squad to provide depth behind Rhamondre Stevenson and TreVeyon Henderson against the Saints on Sunday, while Jashaun Corbin is another backfield option on the practice squad
