NFL preseason Week 1 winners and losers: Steelers rookie QB shines, Rams’ future bright

The first week of the NFL preseason is complete. We got a small taste of the action last week with the Hall of Fame Game, but this week, things kicked into warp drive with 16 games going down between Thursday and Saturday. 

When it comes to the preseason, you never know what you’re going to see on the field. Some coaches kept their starters on the bench in Week 1, but that strategy isn’t for everyone. There are also plenty of coaches who like to see their starters get some action in the preseason. 

With that in mind, we’re going to start off this winners and losers list by naming every coach who played their starters a winner. Thanks for adding some excitement to the preseason. 

And now, let’s get to our full winners and losers list for Week 1 of the preseason. 

Winners

Broncos WR Courtland Sutton … and anyone who likes great catches

Courtland Sutton set the tone Friday evening, and apparently, the word got around: Let’s make some highlights. Sutton “Mossed” Falcons defensive back Mike Hughes on the opening possession and made a ridiculous one-handed snag on the next drive. Overall, he finished with three catches for 60 yards in very limited action.

Sutton’s size, strength and contested-catch ability are going to be great complements to trade acquisition Jaylen Waddle, whose game is more based on speed, verticality and yards after the catch. Bo Nix (who, like Waddle, didn’t play Friday night) is going to love having both on the field together.

Sutton’s catch was awesome, but let’s also shout out Dolphins rookie Caleb Douglas, who is making waves in training camp …

… and Garrett Wilson.

One of the beauties of the preseason is it gives less-heralded players an opportunity to shine, and a couple of former undrafted free agents did just that with one-handed touchdown catches. Hats off to Cowboys rookie Camden Brown and second-year Vikings receiver Myles Price for these spectacular grabs.

Steelers GM Omar Khan (For drafting Drew Allar)

With Aaron Rodgers set to retire at the end of the 2026 season, the Steelers need to find their quarterback of the future and they might have already done that. The team drafted former Penn State QB Drew Allar in the third round back in April and he was a one-man highlight show during the Steelers’ 28-9 win over the Packers on Thursday night. Allar didn’t get in the game until the second half, but once he was on the field, he absolutely took over: He finished 10 of 13 for 153 yards and three total touchdowns. 

Will Howard and Mason Rudolph also saw some action on Thursday and they were both good, but Allar was great. Khan’s decision to draft Allar — despite having Rudolph and Howard already on the roster — is looking like a smart one so far. Of course, Allar put up his numbers in the second half against the backend of the Packers’ defensive roster, so we still need to see what he can do against better competition, but this is a promising start. We broke down Allar’s full performance from Thursday and you can read more about that here.

Oh, and Friday, the Steelers and Keeanu Benton agreed to a four-year, $72 million extension, per ESPN. It’s another nice find for Khan: Benton was the 49th overall pick in 2023.

Packers kicker Trey Smack

The rookie kicker has struggled at times during training camp, but he seems to have put those struggles behind him. Smack had a huge game against the Steelers, scoring all nine of Green Bay’s points in the loss. Smack went 3-for-3 on field goal attempts and that includes hitting a 58-yarder just before halftime. 

Long field goals are notoriously difficult to hit at Heinz Field, so that’s an impressive kick. 

Smack actually Smacked TWO 58-yard field goals in the game, but one of them got taken off the board due to a Steelers penalty. The former Florida star was the ONLY placekicker selected in this year’s draft and the Packers’ decision to take him is starting to look like it might actually pay off. 

Cardinals quarterbacks

Earlier this year, we ranked the 10 worst QB rooms in the NFL and the Cardinals were near the top of the list. And I’m only telling you that because we might need to redo our rankings if the Cardinals quarterbacks keep playing like they did during the team’s 27-14 win over the Raiders on Thursday. Jacoby Brissett, Gardner Minshew and Kedon Slovis combined to go 26 of 30 for 212 yards and three touchdowns. Brissett and Minshew combined to go a perfect 15 of 15 in the first half and Brissett threw what might end up going down as the most impressive touchdown pass of the preseason. 

Brissett was on the field for just one possession, but he made the most of it, going 5 of 5 for 44 yards, including that TD pass to Marvin Harrison Jr. You never want to overreact to anything from the preseason, but if Brissett is going to be making throws like that all year, the Cards’ offense could surprise us this year. 

Fernando Mendoza hype

The Mendoza hype train has been going strong since April 23 when the Raiders selected him with the first overall pick in the NFL Draft. We finally got to see Mendoza in action on Thursday and he looked impressive. He wasn’t perfect — he completed 10 of 16 passes for 97 yards and a TD — but he showed flashes of what he could eventually become, and that’s exactly what you want to see if you’re the Raiders. 

Although Mendoza was good, Raiders coach Klint Kubiak stated the starting QB job was still Kirk Cousins’ to lose, so don’t look for the rookie to be starting in Week 1. If you want a deeper dive into Mendoza’s first start, we’ve got that here. 

49ers WR De’Zhaun Stribling

Kyle Shanahan made the decision to bench most of his starters against the Titans on Thursday, which makes sense because training camp has been a battle of attrition for the 49ers. Everyone is injured. However, Stribling is healthy and he might have been the best offensive player on the field for the 49ers. He caught seven passes for 63 yards against the Titans and he did all of that in just one half of play. 

If you have a fantasy draft coming up, you might want to think about taking Stribling. With Ricky Pearsall out for the season, Stribling could definitely make a name for himself in San Francisco as a rookie. 

Bengals WR Dohnte Meyers

If you need someone to root for this year, make it Dohnte Meyers. Going into training camp, the Bengals receiver looked like a long shot to make the roster, but he’s slowly been proving that he belongs. In Thursday’s game against the Lions, not only did he catch three passes for 29 yards, but the human Swiss Army knife also had one rush for 13 yards and a punt return for 11 yards. 

After the Bengals’ 16-14 win, Joe Burrow revealed that Meyers drove seven hours overnight from Atlanta to Cincinnati just to attend an offseason throwing session with the QB. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to his unlikely story. 

The 26-year-old Meyers, who spent some time in the CFL, has never played a down in an NFL regular-season game, but that could soon change, as it’s increasingly likely he’ll make the roster.

Rams’ future

Not many people foresaw the Rams using their first-round pick on a quarterback, given that Matthew Stafford is fresh off an MVP season and most of the team’s other offseason moves were oriented around winning big in 2026. The decision to take Ty Simpson at No. 13 overall could prove astute in the long run, though, if his preseason debut is any harbinger. Simpson went 21-for-25 and racked up 190 yards and two touchdowns against the Chiefs.

Simpson’s work came against players fighting to make the Kansas City roster, not those who will open the season on the top couple of lines on the depth chart. But he did everything the Rams could have asked of him. Molding him into a future starter would give Los Angeles a clear succession plan in the eventual post-Stafford era.

Bears WR coach Antwaan Randle El

A major part of the preseason is giving opportunities to people who would not normally receive them. In some cases, that extends beyond just players and includes coaches, too. Bears wide receivers coach Antwaan Randle El — a former All-Pro receiver and a 2006 Super Bowl champion — took advantage of his chance to call plays in the second half of Saturday’s 34-10 rout of the Browns.

The Bears scored 24 of their 34 points with Randle El calling the shots. Head coach Ben Johnson, who ceded the duties to his assistant at halftime, raved after the game about Randle El’s potential to shine as a future offensive coordinator. That is meaningful praise from one of the most esteemed play-callers in the NFL.

Antwaan Randle El takes over play calling duties and Bears offense comes to life in preseason win over Browns

Bryan DeArdo

Losers

Atlanta Falcons

Last week, the Falcons lost 2025 first-round EDGE Jalon Walker to a torn ACL in practice. It was a crushing, sudden blow.

Friday, Atlanta took another major hit in the pass-rushing department, though this one had been in the works. The NFL handed down an eight-game suspension to edge defender James Pearce Jr., a 2025 first-round pick. The suspension stems from a Feb. 7 incident with ex-girlfriend (and current Chicago Sky standout) Rickea Jackson that originally led to three felony charges against Pearce: aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, fleeing and eluding police and resisting an officer with violence to his or her person. All three were dismissed as part of a pre-trial agreement, but Pearce’s violation of the personal conduct policy means he won’t play until this season is nearly halfway done.

Somehow, things didn’t get any better when the Falcons took the field. Tua Tagovailoa fumbled his second snap of the game, and with Michael Penix Jr. (knee) still unable to play, this isn’t exactly the quarterback competition Kevin Stefanski was hoping for. The Falcons got bulldozed 27-7 by the Broncos, by the way. 

Titans QB Cam Ward

Going into his second year, the Titans were probably hoping to see some progress from Ward in this game, but that definitely didn’t happen against the 49ers. Ward was on the field for three offensive possessions and it was a boom-or-bust performance: He went just 5 of 12 for 57 yards with 46 of those yards coming on just three completions, so he went 2 of 9 for 11 yards on his other throws. His accuracy was off and his decision-making wasn’t great. 

There’s still plenty of time for Ward to improve, but the Titans can’t be thrilled with his performance, which came against a 49ers defense that didn’t really have any starters on the field. 

Patriots kicker Andy Borregales 

The Patriots kicker had an impressive rookie year, but he didn’t look great on Thursday night against the Colts. The game ended in a 13-13 tie, but the Patriots would have won if Borregales had made his kicks. He missed three field goals in the game and that’s something that Mike Vrabel definitely wasn’t happy about following the tie. 

“We’re expected to make them. That’s pro football,” Vrabel stated of the wayward kicks. “They’re banging them in from 60 yards. They got two kickers on the roster, so Andy knows that we have to make those field goals.”

Borregales’ misses came from 49, 55 and 56. 

The 49-yard miss came with 13 seconds left to play and would have won the game for the Patriots. New England is working in a new long snapper, so that could possibly be having an impact on their kicking game, but no matter what the issue is, it’s a situation that the Patriots need to get figured out quickly. 

Lions WR Isaac TeSlaa 

As a rookie last year, TeSlaa came up with some big plays for the Lions, but he wasn’t able to do that against the Bengals on Thursday. The Lions receiver was targeted three times in the game and he came away with zero catches. There were two passes he probably should have caught, including one that led to an interception. 

With the Lions driving down the field against Cincinnati’s first-team defense on the opening possession of the game, Detroit QB Luke Altmyer threw a pass to TeSlaa, and that’s when things got ugly. The ball went through TeSlaa’s hands and into the waiting arms of Jordan Battle. 

Later in the first quarter, Altmyer targeted TeSlaa on a fourth-and-3 play in Bengals territory, but the receiver wasn’t able to come down with the ball. TeSlaa caught six touchdown passes last year and the Lions would love if he turns into a consistent playmaker, but if this game was any indication, he still has some work to do before that can happen. 

Colts QB Riley Leonard 

With Daniel Jones coming off a torn Achilles, the backup QB job is an important one in Indianapolis this year, and if Thursday night was any indication, Leonard might have just fallen behind Anthony Richardson. Leonard played the entire second half, which came against the Patriots’ defensive backups, and he wasn’t overly impressive. He completed less than 50% of his passes (10 of 21) and he threw an ugly interception in the third quarter on a badly underthrown pass. 

On the other hand, Richardson, who started the game, had a much stronger showing. The former fourth overall pick finished 11 of 14 for 145 yards and although he also threw an interception, it wasn’t his fault (The pass went through the hands of the receiver). Leonard is expected to start Indy’s second preseason game, which will come against the Falcons on Aug. 22, and he’s going to have to play much better if he wants to win the backup job. 

Chargers QB Trey Lance

Lance was the backup QB for the Chargers last season, but he might not keep the job in 2026. The former No. 3 overall pick in the 2021 NFL Draft was outplayed on Thursday night by DJ Uiagalelei. Lance was off target at times, especially in the second quarter, when he threw this interception. 

He did throw for 164 yards against the Texans and he did show flashes at times, so there’s still plenty of time for him to battle back and keep his job, but Uiagalelei is certainly doing his best to make things interesting. The former Florida State QB went 6 of 9 for 120 yards and a touchdown in the Chargers’ 27-7 win over Houston. The Chargers backup QB battle will continue into the team’s second preseason game, which will take place on Aug. 20 against the 49ers.

Browns QB Shedeur Sanders

The quarterback competition in Cleveland will carry on through the preseason with both Deshaun Watson and Shedeur Sanders getting run with the No. 1 offense. Watson started on Saturday, Sanders will start next week and one or the other could get another look in the final tune-up game.

Sanders needs to shine next week because Watson outplayed him in the first outing. While Sanders was solid to begin his day, things went downhill and led to a 6-for-11, 79-yard performance with an interception and a mere 39.6 passer rating. Watson, in comparison, went 11-for-15 with 126 yards and led two scoring drives to begin the game.

Cardinals IOL Chase Bisontis and other injured players

Injuries are an unfortunately unavoidable element of training camp and the preseason. The goal is simply to limit their frequency and severity. Unfortunately for Cardinals second-round pick Chase Bisontis, the severity factor for the knee issue he sustained on Thursday is significant. The offensive lineman tore his MCL against the Raiders and reportedly requires surgery, which puts his entire rookie season in jeopardy.

Commanders backup quarterback Marcus Mariota also injured his MCL, but it was a sprain rather than a full tear, which gives him a more optimistic timeline for a return. While the ailment is likely to keep him on the sideline for the rest of the preseason, coach Dan Quinn is hopeful that Mariota will be available come Week 1.

Adding to the list of knee injuries, Vikings safety Jamal Adams was carted off the field with one of his own. Kevin O’Connell stated it is “not good” for the veteran defender and that Adams will undergo further testing to determine the extent of the issue.