NFL training camps are well underway across 32 teams as we transition to preseason games. And if training camp is school for NFL teams before the 18-week-long exam of the regular season, then we can't leave school without giving out some yearbook superlatives.
Superlatives are, of course, rampant at this time of year, as training camp is a time to be superlative in our estimation of players and teams. Everyone is deserving of all the awards; every team will win every division. For these superlatives, I went after the true cream of the rising crop: the optimistic Bengals... the ever-dramatic Browns... and of course, the Branson Taylor-Kayode Awosika battle in Chargers camp.
I have 10 fun awards and recognitions to hand out. From "most likely to succeed" to "best shape of his life," these are the players and teams that have made an impression on me over the early days of 2026 training camp.
Jump to: Most likely to break your heart Best vibes | Biggest position battle Most cursed camp battle Most likely to succeed with new offense Most likely to succeed with new defense Best shape of his life Day 3 rookie everyone fell for Busiest medical tent | Preseason MVP
Most likely to break your heart: Aaron Donald and the Los Angeles Rams
Do I want to be the guy betting against the three-time Defensive Player of the Year and single best defensive player of my (and perhaps any) generation of football? No. But someone has to be the stick in the mud here.
Training camp inevitably generates towering expectations, and the Rams are perfectly primed to stand atop the preseason mountain. Offseason trades for edge Myles Garrett and cornerback Trent McDuffie added star power to a defense punching above its weight in 2025. Sprinkle a little Donald on there, and we have what...? The best defense in football? The best defense of the past decade?
Maybe -- but probably not!
First things first: Donald is not yet a Ram, and when he becomes a Ram, it is extremely unlikely he starts out playing 40 snaps per game. He is 35 years old. In the past five seasons, only Cameron Heyward and Calais Campbell have played at least 40 snaps per game as 35-plus-year-old defensive tackles. Widen it to 30 snaps per game, and you catch a John Jenkins year in 2024. Those guys were already at NFL-level conditioning, and it's going to take Donald (as unbelievably talented as he is) time to get there.
When Donald joins Garrett and McDuffie in the Rams' astronomical effort to improve their defense, he will do his part elevating them from... fourth in DVOA. The Rams were fifth in defensive success rate and sixth in defensive EPA per drive. This was a good defense last season. I admire the Rams' acknowledgement that it lacked star power -- a fact that did show up in the postseason -- and general manager Les Snead's willingness to take big swings to add blue-chip players to that side of the ball. But it's inaccurate to represent the Rams as a team that missed out on the Super Bowl because it lacked an elite defense. Los Angeles missed out because the Seahawks were very good and it lost in the brutally thin margins of professional football.