The NFL returns to action every year with the Pro Football Hall of Fame Game. This year, the Arizona Cardinals take on the Carolina Panthers on Thursday, Aug. 6 at the Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium in Canton, Ohio.
It will be a celebration of Larry Fitzgerald and Luke Kuechly, the two players from each respective team being inducted into the 2026 Hall of Fame class, as well as the other inductees being enshrined into Canton this year. That said, it’s also the first glimpse of NFL action we will have seen since the Super Bowl back in February.
As is the case with preseason games, neither the Cardinals nor the Panthers will play their starters much on Thursday, if at all. That means we’ll see a lot out of the backups, with particular focus coming on each team’s class of rookies from the 2026 NFL Draft.
Heading into the Hall of Fame Game, these are the biggest things to know about each team as the 2026-27 NFL regular season draws near.
Arizona Cardinals
New head coach Mike LaFleur will have his work cut out for him in 2026. The Cardinals are coming off a 3-14 season last year, and they play in arguably the most difficult division in the entire NFL. Each of the Seahawks, Rams, and 49ers are in win-now mode and feature some of the best rosters in the league. Arizona, on the other hand, has major flaws on both sides of the ball.
The Cardinals ranked No. 24 in the NFL in PFN Offense Impact Scoring and No. 29 in PFN Defense Impact Scoring last season, respectively. They weren’t big spenders in free agency, adding guard Isaac Seumalo, quarterback Gardner Minshew, running back Tyler Allgeier and receivers Kendrick Bourne and Devin Duvernay while leaning on the draft for their biggest additions. The bigger move was subtraction, as Arizona released Kyler Murray after seven seasons.
Arizona’s best defensive player is Josh Sweat, and he hasn’t been on the field all year. Teams have called about him and he’s made his unhappiness known since the Cardinals fired Jonathan Gannon, who coached him in Philadelphia, but Ian Rapoport reported in June that Arizona isn’t moving him. Sweat opened camp on the PUP list and hasn’t come off it, though Mike LaFleur says he expects him ready for Week 1.
Jacoby Brissett was the No. 25 quarterback in the NFL with a 72.8 PFN QB Impact Score in 2025, and at 33 years old, it’s clear he’s not the Cardinals’ long-term answer at the position. He’ll have a solid group of weapons to throw to, though, with an offense featuring Trey McBride, Michael Wilson, Marvin Harrison Jr., and Jeremiyah Love. The offensive line is a work in progress, and the defense is a ways away, but there are weapons.
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Specific to the Hall of Fame Game, the Cardinals have already announced that Jeremiyah Love will not play in this game. The No. 3 pick in the 2026 NFL Draft is coming off a year with a 91.9 PFN RB Impact Score for Notre Dame last year, but he’ll be battling with the likes of James Conner and Tyler Allgeier for touches early in his career. Love has the highest ceiling of the bunch, but being a rookie, the preseason could be a good chance for him to create separation from them.
How will second-round pick Chase Bisontis fare at guard in his first glimpse of NFL action? Can Carson Beck show enough flashes to eventually surpass Gardner Minshew on the quarterback depth chart?
Carolina Panthers
After winning the NFC South for the first time since 2015, the Panthers are hoping to retain their momentum and build something sustainable. They made the postseason at 8-9 last year, which arguably isn’t quite sustainable if they want to make the playoffs year over year, but they’re clearly trending in the right direction.
Carolina signed Jaelan Phillips and Devin Lloyd in free agency to boost their front seven, and those are two major additions to keep an eye on going into the new season. Neither seem likely to play much in the Hall of Fame Game, if at all, but they will look to improve a Panthers defense that improved from a 55.9 PFN Defense Impact Score in 2024 up to a 74.1 mark in 2025.
Kenny Pickett will be the starting quarterback for the Panthers on Thursday, but the big question going into the season is Bryce Young. The team picked up his fifth-year option after he led them to the playoffs last year, but he hasn’t developed individually as much as you’d hope from a former No. 1 pick. He hasn’t finished greater than No. 28 in the NFL in PFN QB Impact Scoring in a single season, placing No. 30 with his 70.3 score in 2025.
Carolina’s rookie class got pushed up the depth chart in a hurry. Monroe Freeling, the first-round tackle out of Georgia, was supposed to spend a year learning. Instead, GM Dan Morgan said he’d open camp at right tackle in place of Taylor Moton, who’s dealing with blood clots in his lungs, while Ikem Ekwonu works back from the ruptured patellar tendon he suffered in the wild-card loss to the Rams. Second-round pick Lee Hunter should see snaps along the defensive interior.
Don’t expect to see much of it Thursday. Dave Canales isn’t playing his starters, and that now includes Freeling. Kenny Pickett gets the ball first, with the reps behind him going to the bottom of the roster.
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Between their draft approach and their spending big money on Phillips, Carolina is showing that they want to build in the trenches. They have good offensive line depth even without mentioning Freeling, with former Packers starter Rasheed Walker projected to serve as a swing tackle and former Kansas State center Sam Hecht having been an A+ value in Round 5, per the PFN NFL Draft HQ. They should be on display on Thursday.
Injuries to Nic Scourton and Chris Brazzell II certainly hurt, but the Panthers still have plenty of young talent to watch heading into 2026. Their outlook for the upcoming season depends heavily on Young’s development. They have a capped ceiling if he stays at the level he’s been at the last three years, but if he takes a leap in Year 4, big things are possible.
