New England Patriots Tried To Pull A Fast One On The NFL – Roger Goodell Made Them Pay With The Slickest Move

This article was originally published on Total Pro Sports.

The New England Patriots committed to star in HBO’s “Hard Knocks” for 2027. Coming off a Super Bowl appearance in 2025, the AFC East returned to the top of the league.

Their Super Bowl 60 opponents, the Seattle Seahawks, will star in this year’s summer edition. After several years of seeing top teams dodge the show, two of the best teams in the league will be featured in consecutive years.

As surprising as this was, the Patriots’ “decision” stemmed from Roger Goodell’s decision to take NFL teams at their word.

Roger Goodell Forced The New England Patriots’ Hands Into Doing Hard Knocks

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 has struggled in recent years 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,” Schefter continued. “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.”

How the NFL was able to procure Hard Knocks commitments from the Seahawks for this summer and the Patriots for next summer.

Cc: @DanStanczyk

🎧 https://t.co/SfbQGW2Y7A pic.twitter.com/oAolNFJM7M

— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) April 2, 2026

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