When my editor told me to write a “Way-too-early bold prediction” piece, at first I thought it was going to be a cake walk. After all, ya boy loves thinking outside the box and challenging group think. Easy peasy, I’ll knock this out in like an hour tops….
But then I do what I do and start going down rabbit holes… I start looking at projected cap space… examining pending free agents… postulating team needs, schematic fits, inside/outside run rates, slot/wide alignment, wait, what about potential OC changes??? And what about win totals? Should we really be investing in bad teams… Next thing you know, it’s New Year’s Day and I’ve spent about four hours researching the entire league for no good reason at all.
Advertisement
It’s a long way of saying, it would’ve been easy to just throw smashed bananas on the wall and come up with bold predictions that don’t make sense and could never happen, but what’s the fun in that? Here are five bold predictions for 2026 based on plausible spending and team needs:
Breece Hall signs with Pittsburgh, explodes for 1,500 yards and 10 TDs
Kenneth Gainwell only signed a one-year deal and while it’s possible the team re-signs him given his productivity, I wonder if they make a splashier move at a position that has been critical for Mike Tomlin-led teams. Interestingly, Jaylen Warren is a potential cut candidate given his contract.
Per Spotrac, Pittsburgh currently has the eighth-most projected cap space and you have to think they will spend some of that at running back.
Advertisement
A juiced-up version of Gainwell, Breece Hall is a perfect fit for the predominantly outside run scheme Arthur Smith deploys. And while Kenny G was good as a pass catcher too, Breece is down right electric as a receiver out of the backfield.
And let’s not forget, Tomlin is a legit king maker for this position. Le’Veon Bell, Willie Parker, Najee Harris, Rashard Mendenhall, James Conner and Deangelo Williams all posted seasons with…
..
[ad_2]