New England Patriots tried to pull a fast one on the NFL — Roger Goodell made them pay with the slickest move

In a clip of his eponymous podcast, NFL insider Adam Schefter explained why the NFL announced the next two editions of Hard Knocks right away.

“Let me tell you why there was a double announcement, which we’ve never seen before,” Schefter said. “Because the NFL in recent years has struggled to get teams to do 'Hard Knocks.' And when the NFL has asked teams to do 'Hard Knocks' during the summer, the answer that they’re commonly told is, ‘We’ll do it next year.’ ...

“So what the NFL did this year is when the New England Patriots said, ‘We’ll do it next year,’ they said, ‘You’re in! You’ve got 2027. Congratulations! Next year.’ And so, they’ve taken two Super Bowl participants — the Seahawks this summer in ’26, the Patriots next summer in ’27 — and they held their feet to the fire. And they said, ‘Next year? Next year it is.’ Next year, they will be on 'Hard Knocks.'”

The addition of the Seahawks and Patriots can help the show get more audience. Perhaps that can also prompt other teams to participate.