The reason the NFL announced two Hard Knocks teams—the #Seahawks for 2026 and the #Patriots for 2027—is because the league often hears from teams, “We’ll do it next year,” as a way to decline and kick the can down the road.

So they actually held a team—the Patriots—to it and already locked them in for 2027, per @AdamSchefter.

It's the first time the NFL has ever announced a Hard Knocks team two years in advance.

#Seahawks this morning confirm they will be on NFL Films’ HBO ‘Hard Knocks’ series for training camp. Five episodes beginning on August. First time since inaugural series in 2001 a defending Super Bowl champ featured.

Details:

⁦@[email protected]⁩ https://www.thenewstribune.com/sports/nfl/seattle-seahawks/article315243802.html

It's gonna be the most open, public #Seahawks training camp in team history.

NFL decides the Super Bowl champions will be the team for NFL Films' HBO "Hard Knocks" series this summer.

First time for Seattle in the 25-year-old series: https://www.thenewstribune.com/sports/nfl/seattle-seahawks/article315243802.html @[email protected]

Announced tonight in a general session at the NFL Annual Meeting, per sources:

— Season 3 of “Quarterback” on Netflix returns in July

— 2026 Hard Knocks (Training Camp) on HBO: #Seahawks

— 2027 Hard Knocks (Training Camp) on HBO: #Patriots

#Seahawks HC Mike Macdonald didn’t watch the Super Bowl film until 5 days ago because he knew he’d critique it too much:

What did he see? “We could’ve taken the back to the flat a couple times. And the 2 TD passes were a bummer.”

The man is too intense 😂

(via @[email protected])