If August disappeared while you were doing literally anything other than watching third-string offensive linemen fight for employment, good news, you picked an excellent month to lose.
The NFL preseason has finished, rosters have been hacked down to 53 players and the 2026 regular season is now less than a week away.
So, before football becomes a weekly obsession again, here is everything worth knowing from the month we have just missed.
Carolina won a surprisingly ridiculous Hall of Fame Game
The preseason began in Canton on 6 August with the Carolina Panthers beating the Arizona Cardinals 33-30.
And for a game largely populated by backups and players fighting for roster spots, it became considerably more entertaining than anyone had ordered.
Arizona rookie quarterback Carson Beck was one of the biggest winners of the night. He completed 15 of 19 passes for 188 yards, threw a touchdown without an interception and finished with a passer rating of 125.4.
Carolina veteran Kenny Pickett started the game, but rookie Haynes King produced the more dramatic performance. King completed 21 of 34 passes for 180 yards and two touchdowns before running in the winning five-yard touchdown with no time remaining.
Preseason football briefly forgot it was supposed to be meaningless.
Five legends officially entered Canton
Hall of Fame weekend then belonged to the Class of 2026:
Drew Brees
Larry Fitzgerald
Luke Kuechly
Adam Vinatieri
Roger Craig
It was an unusually heavyweight class.
Brees and Fitzgerald entered in their first year of eligibility, Kuechly finally received his gold jacket after becoming one of the defining linebackers of his generation, Vinatieri became permanently attached to Canton after an extraordinary career as the NFL’s most famous kicker, and Roger Craig entered as the senior selection.
For Panthers and Cardinals supporters in particular, the weekend was nicely symmetrical. Carolina opened the preseason while celebrating Kuechly, and Arizona did the same with Fitzgerald.
Then three weeks of preseason happened very quickly
The full preseason began on 13 August and finished on 29 August.
There were good performances, terrible performances, quarterbacks playing against people who may now be selling insurance, and approximately six billion declarations that somebody had “won the offseason”.
The actual results should be treated carefully. Coaches rested starters, experimented with personnel and deliberately avoided showing large chunks of their real playbooks.
The useful part was discovering which rookies were adjusting quickly, which position battles were genuine and which supposedly safe roster places were anything but.
Then came the brutal bit.
On 30 August every NFL club had to reduce its active roster to a maximum of 53 players. More than a thousand players were effectively squeezed out as practice squads, waiver claims and last-minute trades reshaped the league.
Aaron Donald has apparently decided retirement was boring
One of the biggest stories of the entire month did not involve a preseason game at all.
Aaron Donald is back.
The three-time Defensive Player of the Year has come out of retirement to rejoin the Los Angeles Rams on a one-year deal reportedly worth $20 million, potentially rising to $30 million with incentives.
Donald retired following the 2023 season and has now decided that three years away from having enormous NFL offensive linemen attempt to flatten him was quite enough.
That changes the Rams immediately.
They were already entering 2026 as serious contenders. Dropping one of the greatest defensive players ever made into the middle of their line is not an especially subtle reinforcement.
Patrick Mahomes could be ready for Week 1
Another major storyline concerns Kansas City.
Patrick Mahomes underwent surgery in December after tearing ligaments in his left knee, creating uncertainty over whether he would be ready for the beginning of the new season.
The answer increasingly appears to be yes.
Mahomes is currently on track to start Kansas City’s opener against Denver on Monday night.
Considering the injury and rehabilitation involved, merely having him available for Week 1 would be significant. Having Patrick Mahomes available is slightly more significant than having most human beings available.
Kirk Cousins gets the Raiders job
Las Vegas has also settled one of the league’s more interesting quarterback situations.
Kirk Cousins will begin the season as the Raiders’ starting quarterback.
That means first overall draft pick Fernando Mendoza begins his NFL career behind Cousins, with Aidan O’Connell also in the quarterback room.
It gives Las Vegas the option of allowing Mendoza to develop rather than immediately throwing him into the industrial washing machine that is an NFL pass rush.
How long that arrangement lasts could become one of the season’s more interesting stories.
Green Bay has problems before it has even started
The Packers have had a considerably less relaxing final week.
Micah Parsons has been placed on the reserve/PUP list and will miss at least the opening four games of the season.
Running back Josh Jacobs has meanwhile been placed on the Commissioner’s Exempt List and cannot currently practice or attend games.
Green Bay responded by trading for Steelers running back Kaleb Johnson, but the Packers will begin the year without two enormously important pieces.
Nobody said September would be peaceful.
And now the real football begins
Here is the excellent part.
We have not missed a single regular-season game.
The 2026 season begins with a very unusual Wednesday night opener in America as the Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks host the New England Patriots in a rematch of Super Bowl LX.
That is:
Patriots at Seahawks
Thursday 10 September, 1:20am BST
Then comes something completely new.
The NFL goes to Australia
San Francisco and Los Angeles meet at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in the first NFL regular-season game ever staged in Australia.
The 49ers face the Rams on Thursday night in the United States, which makes it another early-morning assignment for Britain:
49ers at Rams, Melbourne
Friday 11 September, 1:35am BST
For Australian supporters, however, this is glorious.
Actual NFL regular-season football. At the MCG. In daylight. Without setting an alarm for some hour usually inhabited exclusively by foxes and airport taxi drivers.
The league has nine international games scheduled across seven countries this season, with London also hosting three.
NFL Week 1: UK kick-off times
Then comes the enormous Sunday slate.
Sunday 13 September, 6pm BST
Chicago Bears at Carolina Panthers
Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Cincinnati Bengals
New Orleans Saints at Detroit Lions
Buffalo Bills at Houston Texans
Baltimore Ravens at Indianapolis Colts
Cleveland Browns at Jacksonville Jaguars
Atlanta Falcons at Pittsburgh Steelers
New York Jets at Tennessee Titans
Sunday 13 September, 9:25pm BST
Arizona Cardinals at Los Angeles Chargers
Miami Dolphins at Las Vegas Raiders
Green Bay Packers at Minnesota Vikings
Washington Commanders at Philadelphia Eagles
Monday 14 September, 1:20am BST
Dallas Cowboys at New York Giants
Tuesday 15 September, 1:15am BST
Denver Broncos at Kansas City Chiefs
The NFL’s official schedule confirms all 16 opening-week matchups.
How to watch in the UK
NFL Game Pass on DAZN remains the comprehensive option for UK viewers, offering live games alongside RedZone, NFL Network, replays and condensed coverage.
Which is useful because watching every game live would otherwise require abandoning conventional concepts such as employment and sleep.
We are caught up
That is essentially August dealt with.
Carolina won in Canton.
Five legends entered the Hall of Fame.
Carson Beck introduced himself.
Hundreds of players survived roster cut day and hundreds more did not.
Aaron Donald spectacularly unretired.
Patrick Mahomes appears ready.
Quarterback jobs have been decided.
And preseason football has now returned safely to its cupboard for another year.
More importantly, everyone is 0-0.
No playoff calculations. No disastrous losing streaks. No fanbase demanding its coach be fired after allowing a third-and-17 conversion.
For a few more days, every team can win the Super Bowl.
Then the games start.
Football is properly back.
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