The Rich Top 5: the 2026 NFL Season’s Biggest Burning Questions

Rich came back with a Friday Top 5 list of the NFL questions still burning over Memorial Day weekend, despite having just spent two hours hearing answers from Tom Pelissero. The point, as he framed it, was the answers are still smoldering.

Number five was Brandon Aiyuk.

"Why is Brandon Aiyuk still a 49er?" Rich asked. The Washington Commanders, in the league's read, are the most likely landing spot. Aiyuk has been disconnected from the San Francisco facility for months. The team and the player both seem to want the same outcome. The trade has not happened. Rich speculated June 1 could be the trigger date for that one too.

Number four was the quarterback recovery list. Patrick Mahomes coming off his knee injury. Michael Penix Jr. coming off another ACL. Daniel Jones coming off whatever the Colts are not telling anyone publicly. All three could be ready for training camp. None of the three has officially confirmed it.

"We're going to go through the OTAs and the mini camps and it'll be like, 'I did a little bit of this, did a little bit of that, let's see it,'" Rich said. He pantomimed Mahomes saying "I'm working on it." He noted Daniel Jones rarely answers any question directly.

Number three was the league's quarterback competitions. Specifically, which of them are actually competitions.

Minnesota, Rich said, is in name a competition between Kyler Murray and JJ McCarthy. In practice, it is Kyler at $1.3 million holding the keys.

Atlanta is a competition if Penix is healthy. If not, Tua Tagovailoa is the starter, also at $1.3 million.

Cleveland, Rich said, is Deshaun Watson's job, despite new head coach Todd Monken's effusive comments about Shedeur Sanders earlier in the week.

That set up number two on the list, which Rich anchored to a Todd Monken press conference clip the room cannot stop replaying.

The new Cleveland head coach had been asked whether he had met face-to-face with Myles Garrett. His answer was "Myles? Yeah. No."

"What is up with Myles Garrett in Cleveland?" Rich asked. The Browns recently restructured Garrett's contract to push a payment date deeper into the summer. The cast joked about Monken's habit of leaving "Myles?" hanging in the air like he wasn't sure he had the right name. They invoked Brad Garrett, Leif Garrett, Garrett Morris, and Jason Garrett before realizing Garrett Hedlund was the only Garrett left.

The unresolved part is Garrett's actual status. He has not met the head coach. The contract pushed real money out. Whatever is brewing there is, in Rich's read, the second-most-flammable storyline in the league heading into the summer.

Number one was simple. AJ Brown.

"Is AJ Brown going to be a Patriot in the next few days?" Rich asked. The June 1 cap window opens Monday. Pelissero had told the room earlier in the morning that he expects the deal to land within the window. Rich considers this the question most likely to be answered first of any on the list.

The cast asked whether AJ Brown would wear 11 in New England, since today is Julian Edelman's birthday. Rich said that was a tall order.

The bonus question, the one Rich said may not even still be smoldering, was Max Crosby in Las Vegas. The dust from the offseason trade-and-return saga has settled. Crosby is back with the Raiders. Vegas opens Week 1 at home against Miami.

"Are we seeing Max Crosby trying to track down Malik Willis in his Raiders uniform or not?" Rich asked. He acknowledged the trail had cooled. Crosby has been quiet beyond his podcast. The structural answer most likely is yes. The question, Rich said, is whether the answer comes with energy or with a player whose first reaction to the offseason chaos has been to quietly stop talking about it.

The five questions, plus the Crosby bonus, form a usable map of NFL May-into-June. By the time training camps open in late July, Rich noted, most of these should have answers. The ones that don't will define the August storylines.