The NFL promises change. Impatient owners and general managers fire coaches after one or two years. Quarterbacks like the sound of new homes. Franchises embrace rebuilds with more frequency, and draft picks are traded like baseball cards on a school bus. And if Tom Brady can sign with Tampa Bay in 2020, then nothing appears off the table in 2022.
At the end of last season, we asked league executives and coaches to make predictions about what was next for the NFL in the coming year. That list included a surprising number of hits: Carson Wentz to Indianapolis, Alex Smith retiring, a potential Julio Jones deal, the 49ers keeping Jimmy Garoppolo but getting QB help and the Patriots drafting a quarterback high. Sure, the misses -- Mitchell Trubisky re-signing with Chicago and Sam Darnold to Pittsburgh -- were glaring. But this is less about the batting average and more about the canvas of topics people around the league discuss.
This year's edition -- predictions for 2022, from offseason movement to what happens on the field next fall -- will bring more of the same, with execs and insiders offering insights into league thinking as free agency and the draft approach. What's next for the NFL this year?
Here are 10 big things that people around the league think could happen in the next 12 months, starting with a big quarterback decision for an AFC team.
Jump to 2022 predictions for:
C. Wentz | J. Hurts | J. Garoppolo
C. Ridley | R. Wilson
A. Rodgers | B. Mayfield