NFL Insider Talks Through His Early Panic Meter

Not all 0-2 starts are created equal.

But they all are a cause for concern in the NFL, where before you know it the season is a quarter over and historically anybody hanging out around 0-4 is certifiably doomed. A solid quarter of the teams in this league are winless after two weeks, and the level of panic and concern and imminent doom isn’t the same all around. But life is getting uncomfortable in many of these team headquarters, already, and it’s not too soon to start clustering these organizations in terms of alarm, from most intense to nothing-to-see-here.

They Are Cooked:

Colts: Big picture wise, this regime might already be cooked. They haven’t won since last November and they have their lone deep threat, Alex Pierce, hurt again, and their possession receiver was recently arrested for DUI and now they have an equally desperate Texans team with a relentless early schedule. The owner put the coach and GM on notice last January that their jobs were on the line. It’s getting late early for them. One longtime personnel exec, who is keeping a very close eye on teams with likely openings next season, told me, "they are at the top of the death list, that’s going to open up. I think those guys know it, too."

Commanders: Guess which team is number two in this evaluators list of teams that will be looking for a new coach? It was set up for head coach Dan Quinn to fail, they are already 0-2 in the NFC East and QB Jayden Daniels has a dislocated elbow and the defense is not going to be very good. The sequence at the end of the first half, where they should have just kicked a field goal and instead got cute with the play calling and Daniels got hurt near the goal line without even threatening the endzone gets people fired. "What the hell was the (offensive) coordinator doing at the end of the half?" said an advance scout. "Just take the (stinking) points."

Chargers: At this point scouts and execs are making side bets about how many weeks pass before head coach Jim Harbaugh either strips new coordinator Mike McDaniel of play calling duties or just fires him. QB Justin Herbert is playing poorly, they aren’t scheming up anything downfield despite facing two totally rebuilding teams in the Raiders and Cardinals and at least two other teams in their division (KC and Denver) are better than them. The interior offensive line is not good. All they have coming up are the Bills, Seahawks, Broncos, Chiefs, Rams, Texans and Ravens. "McDaniel won’t make it to their bye," the GM told me. That comes in Week 7.

Buccaneers: QB Baker Mayfield groused and complained his way into a last-second contract extension just before the season began when it looked like talks has collapsed. In a league where guys who also lacked ideal size and have been beat up like Tua Tagovailoa and Kyler Murray signed an immediately regrettable extension, talk is already starting about $55M/year for Mayfield costing people jobs there. He isn’t making plays downfield and he isn’t protecting the football and injuries were blamed for his falloff in 2025. "I really think they’ll regret doing that deal with Mayfield," one GM told me. A player who thrives when he thinks he’s being slighted playing out a contract year – with a franchise tag still at the Bucs’ disposal – might have been more ideal. And the NFC South actually looks stout.

They’ll Be Okay:

Texans: This will still be a top five defense. CJ Stroud is managing to at least rack up yards in the pass game while dealing with serious wide receiver injuries. They came damn close to beating the Bills Week 1 and have faced a daunting schedule. Now, this weekend against the Colts is big game, but when you can rush the passer like this and win in coverage like this, you can salvage a season later than any of the other teams on this list.

What Did You Expect?

Falcons: Perhaps some were not as down on Atlanta as the execs and evaluators I trust the most. No one I probed about the Falcons liked their offseason even a little bit and all believed they had major quarterback issues. Former QB Matt Ryan is new to this whole football operations thing and it showed. But as bad as I expected them to be, losing to a division opponent by 30 points in the second game of the Kevin Stefanski regime is suspect at best. Paying out huge money in extensions to a RB, WR and TE without having a QB is going to make for a lot of unhappy campers. This was never a playoff team.

Titans: People can try to jump all over second-year QB Cam Ward if they want, but this kid has no chance to success. There is zero evidence Robert Saleh is an NFL head coach, there is zero evidence this ownership group gives a damn about truly winning and the AFC South is not a joke anymore. "Robert Saleh is a defensive coordinator, he’s not a head coach," another GM told me this summer. Titans are going to find that out real quick.

Dolphins: They aren’t even pretending that 2026 matters to them. Smart people in this league believe in this coach and GM, and I do too. It’s a long-term plan.