DAZN WEEKEND PREVIEW 2026: WEEK 1

Neil Dutton NFL

Football is back! The 107th season of NFL competition kicks off in the Pacific Northwest tonight (Wednesday), starting out on the road to Super Bowl LXI in Los Angeles from the place where the Lombardi Trophy currently resides. The opening slate of games doesn’t have many bigger than the first on the docket, as the New England Patriots travel to …

SMITH BLOW ROCKS COWBOYS BEFORE OPENER

Craig Llewellyn NFL

The Dallas Cowboys will begin the season without one of the foundations of their offensive line after Tyler Smith was ruled out for between four and six weeks with a thumb injury. Smith is scheduled to undergo surgery today (Tuesday) and will be placed on injured reserve with a designation to return. The move rules the three-time Pro Bowl left …

LAMB EXPECTS MORE FROM COWBOYS’ TANDEM

Craig Llewellyn NFL

CeeDee Lamb believes his partnership with George Pickens can become still more damaging after the Dallas Cowboys’ leading receivers combined for more than 2,500 yards during their first season together. Pickens will play the 2026 campaign under the franchise tag after emerging as Dallas’ leading receiver last year, while Lamb enters the third season of the four-year, $136m extension he …

WAIVER CLAIMS TRIGGER SECOND WAVE OF CUTS

Craig Llewellyn NFL

Joe Milton III, Max Brosmer and Xavier Restrepo were among the players removed from NFL rosters less than 24 hours after apparently surviving the league’s cutdown deadline. Fourteen teams successfully claimed 29 players on Monday, forcing another series of departures as clubs reconsidered the initial 53-player groups submitted on Sunday. Miami accounted for seven claims during an overhaul covered separately …

COWBOYS TAKE RECLAMATION SWING ON JONES

Craig Llewellyn NFL

The Dallas Cowboys have acquired offensive tackle Broderick Jones from the Pittsburgh Steelers, accepting considerable medical and contractual uncertainty in an attempt to strengthen their line immediately before the regular season. Dallas will send third- and sixth-round selections in the 2027 NFL draft to Pittsburgh in exchange for Jones and a fourth-round pick in the same year. The trade remains …

SANDERS TURNS UP HEAT ON WATSON

Craig Llewellyn NFL

Shedeur Sanders may not yet have won the Cleveland Browns’ quarterback competition, but the second-year passer made it increasingly difficult for Todd Monken to dismiss the evidence presented on Saturday. Sanders completed his first eight passes and directed the Browns’ only scoring drive during a 31–7 defeat by Buffalo. Working behind a reserve offensive line, he converted fourth down before …

NFL HITS COWBOYS, SAINTS WITH $1M BRAWL BILL

Craig Llewellyn NFL

The NFL has fined the Dallas Cowboys and New Orleans Saints $500,000 each after their joint practice in Oxnard produced repeated fights, ejections and discussions about ending the session early. Players left their assigned practice fields to join altercations elsewhere, punches were thrown and work had to be stopped several times. One player threw an opponent’s helmet, while Saints receiver …

MILLER COMES HOME AS COWBOYS REBUILD CONTINUES

Craig Llewellyn NFL

Von Miller’s long-running flirtation with the Dallas Cowboys has finally produced a deal after the veteran pass-rusher agreed to join his hometown team ahead of the 2026 NFL campaign. The Cowboys confirmed Miller’s arrival on Monday, although financial terms were not disclosed. The 37-year-old described the move as a ‘dream within a dream’ after growing up in nearby DeSoto and …

SIMPSON, BROWN LEAD SATURDAY STANDOUTS

Craig Llewellyn NFL

Ty Simpson and Camden Brown occupied very different places on their respective depth charts entering the weekend, but each emerged from Saturday’s preseason programme with his prospects significantly enhanced. Simpson produced an assured NFL debut for the Los Angeles Rams, completing 21 of 25 passes for 190 yards and two touchdowns in a 20–12 victory over Kansas City. Brown, meanwhile, …

LAWRENCE SETS END DATE ON NFL CAREER

Craig Llewellyn

DeMarcus Lawrence has confirmed that the 2026 season will be his last in the NFL, placing a finish line on a career that found its long-awaited championship reward only after he left the Dallas Cowboys. The 34-year-old will retire following his second campaign with the Seattle Seahawks, despite having another year remaining on the contract he signed in March 2025. …

COWBOYS REACH $15.5BN AS NFL VALUES SOAR

Craig Llewellyn NFL

The Dallas Cowboys’ failure to reach an NFC Championship Game for three decades has done little to inhibit their emergence as the most commercially powerful sporting franchise in the world. Sportico’s annual NFL rankings value the Cowboys at $15.5bn, an increase of 21 percent within a year and $2.8bn more than their nearest league rival. Dallas has now occupied first …

COWBOYS COMPLETE WILLIAMS GAMBLE WITH EXTENSION

Craig Llewellyn NFL

The Dallas Cowboys have completed the second half of their considerable investment in Quinnen Williams, agreeing a three-year, $105.9m extension with the four-time Pro Bowl defensive tackle. Williams already had two seasons remaining on the contract inherited from the New York Jets, with the new agreement tying him to Dallas through 2030, but the extension reportedly contains $101m in guarantees …

COWBOYS READY TO SPEND FUTURE ON PRESENT

Craig Llewellyn NFL

Jerry Jones has publicly invited trade conversations at the beginning of Dallas Cowboys’ training camp, declaring himself willing to surrender another premium draft selection for a player capable of improving the team immediately. The Cowboys owner and general manager revealed that he had spoken to another NFL owner during the preceding 24 hours and would consider sacrificing further draft capital …

NFL ‘BACK TOGETHER’ AGAIN

Craig Llewellyn NFL

The NFL will turn the opening weekend of August into a nationwide preview of the 2026 season as all 32 clubs take part in the sixth annual Training Camp: Back Together Weekend. Taking place across Saturday 1st and Sunday 2nd August, the league-wide initiative has grown beyond its original premise of reconnecting teams with their supporters at the beginning of …

KNEELAND POSTHUMOUSLY DIAGNOSED WITH CTE

Craig Llewellyn NFL

The brain of former Dallas Cowboys defensive end Marshawn Kneeland showed evidence of Stage 1 chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), according to researchers at Boston University’s CTE Centre, adding another sobering chapter to the sport’s long-running examination of repetitive head trauma. Kneeland died on November 6th, 2025, from a self-inflicted gunshot wound following a police pursuit in Frisco, Texas. The diagnosis …

ALDON SMITH DEAD AT 36

Craig Llewellyn NFL

Former San Francisco 49ers star Aldon Smith, one of the most dominant young pass rushers of his generation before a succession of off-field issues curtailed his career, has died at the age of 36. The 49ers announced Smith’s death on Saturday evening but, as yet, no cause of death was disclosed. “We are devastated by the sudden and tragic passing …

SCHEDULE 2026: SURVIVAL AMID THE SPECTACLE

Craig Llewellyn NFL

The NFL did not feel the need to hide its headline acts when revealing its full 2026 schedule. The new campaign opens, in line with recent rumours, with the defending champion Seattle Seahawks hosting the New England Patriots in a Super Bowl LX rematch, features nine international games and closes, as usual, with a full Week 18 divisional slate designed …

SCHEDULE 2026: RAMS WIN PRIMETIME

Craig Llewellyn NFL

The NFL leaned heavily into established contenders, major media markets and ascending young quarterbacks when deciding its 2026 primetime television allocations, essentially adving viewers who it believes will matter in January. The Los Angeles Rams lead the league with seven spotlight games, tying the NFL record previously shared by the 2025 Kansas City Chiefs and 2023 Buffalo Bills. Just behind …

SCHEDULE 2026: THANKSGIVING TO SPAN FIVE DAYS

Craig Llewellyn NFL

The NFL’s annual grip on the Thanksgiving holiday is set to become even stronger in 2026 after the league unveiled an expanded five-game slate stretching from Wednesday night through Black Friday as part of its latest schedule release. For the first time in league history, the NFL will stage a standalone Thanksgiving Eve game, with the Los Angeles Rams hosting …

SCHEDULE 2026: INTERNATIONAL SERIES SLATE REVEALED

Craig Llewellyn NFL

The National Football League has revealed the teams that will help push its international ambitions into unprecedented territory after unveiling a record nine-game overseas slate for the 2026 season. The overseas schedule was already known to stretch across four continents, seven countries and eight stadiums as commissioner Roger Goodell’s long-term vision of a truly global league accelerates, but now the …

SCHEDULE 2026: COWBOYS-GIANTS TO CAP FIRST SUNDAY

Craig Llewellyn NFL

The NFL will open its 2026 Sunday Night Football slate with one of the league’s most familiar rivalries after confirming that the Dallas Cowboys will travel to face the New York Giants at MetLife Stadium in Week 1. The September 13th match-up, announced ahead of the full schedule release later this week, marks the eighth time in the past 15 …

RAVENS FLOCK TO RIO FOR COWBOYS CLASH

Craig Llewellyn NFL

The NFL has confirmed that the Baltimore Ravens will face the Dallas Cowboys in the league’s first regular-season game in Rio de Janeiro later this year. Announced with the Ravens on the clock during night one of the 2026 NFL Draft in Pittsburgh, the Week 3 match-up will take place in primetime at the fabled Estadio Maracanã on Sunday 27th …

O-LINE LEADS WAY ON OPENING NIGHT

Neil Dutton NFL

In a first round that began with a quarterback taken first overall and a running back with pick #32, it was not surprising that the offensive side of the ball saw most of their ilk taken on the opening night of the 2026 NFL Draft. All told, there were 18 picks on offense and 14 on defense and, in keeping …

COWBOYS PAUSE ON PICKENS EXTENSION AS DRAFT LOOMS

Craig Llewellyn NFL

The Dallas Cowboys have made a definitive call on George Pickens’ immediate future, but the wider strategy only fully comes into focus when viewed through the prism of draft week. Executive vice president Stephen Jones confirmed the club will not pursue a long-term extension with their franchise-tagged receiver, instead opting for a familiar, if calculated, holding pattern. “We’ve made a …