Bill Barnwell Oct 26, 2026, 08:05 AM ET

Close

Bill Barnwell is a senior NFL writer for ESPN.com. He analyzes football on and off the field like no one else on the planet, writing about in-season X's and O's, offseason transactions and so much more.

He is the host of the Bill Barnwell Show podcast , with episodes released weekly. Barnwell joined ESPN in 2011 as a staff writer at Grantland.

Seven weeks isn't a long time, but it might as well be an eternity in football. Seven weeks ago, we were wondering whether the Chargers might have the most explosive offense of the 2026 NFL season , if anybody would be able to stop the Rams from marching to the Super Bowl and whether the Browns were actively tanking to land Arch Manning with the first overall pick in next year's draft. A lot has changed.

Of course, in a league where each week can feel monumental and significant, actually separating the passing trends from what's really meaningful is both difficult and important.…