The best football & NFL newsletters of 2026

Hark’s top 10 football & NFL newsletters

Hand-ranked by the Hark News editorial team on breadth of coverage, original reporting, publisher authority, publishing frequency, and track record. Every one is free to read, or has a real free tier.

1. 01

   Until Saturday

   FreeFrequentThe Athletic / The New York Times

   The Athletic's college football coverage brings beat writers on every major program plus national columnists, and its newsletter surfaces the best of it: reporting, features, and analysis with real sourcing. It is depth over volume. Best for fans who want reporting on their team and the sport together.

   Best for College football fans who want reporting and features from beat writers on every major program plus national columnists, depth over volume.

   • College Football
   • The Athletic
   • Beat Reporting
2. 02

   Pick Six

   FreeDailyCBS Sports

   Pick Six is CBS Sports' daily NFL newsletter, written by its NFL staff with news, picks, and analysis in a quick conversational format. It has run for years and survived CBS's periodic newsletter prunings, which says something. A reliable free daily for the general NFL follower.

   Best for General NFL followers who want a reliable free daily: news, picks, and analysis from CBS Sports' NFL staff in a quick conversational format that has outlasted years of newsletter cuts.

   • Daily
   • Picks
   • CBS Sports
   • Free
3. 03

   MMQB

   FreeMondays and ThursdaysSports Illustrated

   This is the direct successor to the entry it replaces: SI relaunched its newsletter slate in May 2025 and brought the MMQB brand back as its NFL letter. It runs twice weekly during a Monday/Thursday rhythm built around the NFL week, with breaking news and analysis from SI's football staff. The dedicated signup page loads and confirms it is free.

4. 04

   Morning Bark (NBA)

   FreeDailyYardbarker

   Yardbarker's Morning Bark is a free daily NBA email built from ranked headlines and links rather than original prose. As a story-selection signal it works: scan it and you know what the league is talking about. Just do not expect analysis.

5. 05

   Extra Points

   Freemium2-3x weeklyMatt Brown

   Extra Points, by Matt Brown, covers the business and politics of college sports: NIL, the House settlement, conference realignment, and media rights, with FOIA-powered original reporting nobody else does. It is the authority on the money side of college athletics. Best for fans who want the off-field forces explained.

6. 06

   Pro Football Reference Newsletter

   FreeSports Reference LLC

   Pro Football Reference is the standard reference database for NFL stats and history, and its email list is how the Sports Reference team announces new features, data additions, and notable stat findings. It is free, low-volume, and written by the site's own staff.

7. 07

   Split Zone Duo

   Freemium2-3x weeklySplit Zone Duo (Kirshner, Johnson, Godfrey)·19k readers

   Split Zone Duo pairs an independent college football podcast with written analysis from Alex Kirshner and Richard Johnson, covering the whole sport with scheme detail, insider reporting, and humor. It is the rare college football outlet with no team or conference agenda. Best for fans who want coaching and X's-and-O's depth beyond the score.

   Best for College football fans who want scheme detail, insider reporting, and humor from an independent outlet with no team or conference agenda.

   • College Football
   • X's and O's
   • Podcast
8. 08

   The 33rd Team Newsletter

   FreeThe 33rd Team

   The 33rd Team was founded by longtime NFL executive Mike Tannenbaum and staffs former league executives and coaches. Its homepage carries a 'Sign Up For The 33rd Team Newsletter' form (email, name, company, interests); the site has pivoted from a fan-facing media hub toward football analytics and consulting, including its Zenith reporting dashboard. Newsletter cadence and content mix are not stated on the page.

9. 09

   Footballguys Daily Update

   FreeDaily (May through NFL season)Footballguys

   Footballguys is one of the longest-running fantasy football operations, and its free Daily Update condenses 15 to 30 NFL stories a day, each with a paragraph on the fantasy implications. It starts in May and runs every day through the NFL regular season. Best for fantasy managers who want expert depth daily.

   Best for Fantasy managers who want expert depth daily, wanting 15 to 30 NFL stories a day each paired with a paragraph on fantasy implications, from one of the longest-running fantasy operations.

   • Fantasy Football
   • Daily
   • NFL News
   • Expert Depth
10. 10

    A to Z Sports NFL Newsletter

    FreeFrequentA to Z Sports

    A to Z Sports covers all 32 NFL teams plus college football, and its NFL newsletter lands multiple times a week in-season, tracking the schedule with game previews, recaps, trade-deadline and playoff-picture analysis. Recent editions are written by staffers including Adam Zientek and Wes Roesch. The site also runs team-specific newsletters if readers want a single-team feed.

More football & NFL newsletters

The rest of our ranked football & NFL newsletters, #11 through #14.

11. 11

    FootballScoop Newsletter

    FreeFootballScoop

    FootballScoop has tracked the coaching carousel since 1999 and is read inside the profession, with channels like The Scoop, High School Scoop, Strength Scoop, and Jobs Scoop; Doug Samuels is among its primary writers. Signup runs through a free account registration at footballscoop.com/subscribe rather than a simple email form.

12. 12

    Between The Hashmarks

    FreemiumFrequentMatt Lombardo

    Lombardo, a veteran NFL reporter with league-wide sourcing, publishes multiple times a week on beehiiv, mixing reported pieces like his '4 Downs' column and training-camp reports with podcast episodes co-hosted with football writer Mike Tanier. Free and paid tiers are offered, and the community extends to a mobile app with chat.

13. 13

    On3 Newsletter

    FreedailyOn3

    On3 (now merged with Rivals) runs one of the main college recruiting and transfer portal databases, and its daily newsletter carries that coverage: portal entries, commitment news, recruiting rankings, and NIL valuations. There is no portal-only letter, but portal tracking is core to the daily send, which is the closest live match for a defunct transfer-portal newsletter. Signup is an email form at on3.com/newsletter/join/.

14. 14

    Scoop City

    PaidWeekdaysThe Athletic (NYT)

    Scoop City is The Athletic's free NFL newsletter, pairing insider Dianna Russini's reporting with Jacob Robinson's writing for a briefing on the league's news, rumors, and storylines. It is the closest free approximation of an NFL insider's feed in prose form. Runs weekdays during the season.

    Best for Readers who want the closest free approximation of an NFL insider's feed: Dianna Russini's reporting paired with Jacob Robinson's writing on league news and rumors, weekdays during the season.

    • Insider Reporting
    • Free
    • Season Only
    • The Athletic

Hark’s Picks for Football & NFL newsletters

The Hark editorial team researched each football & NFL newsletter to recommend the strongest pick for every kind of reader, from a quick daily overview to deeper reporting and analysis. These picks reflect Hark’s independent editorial judgment: publishers cannot pay for placement. Updated September 2026.

Recommended bundles for football & NFL newsletters

Hark’s bundles make it easier to follow the news that matters to you without sorting through dozens of newsletters or hearing the same stories repeatedly. Each bundle brings together complementary football & NFL publications, selected by Hark’s editors to provide a useful mix of breaking news, original reporting, expert analysis and important perspectives. Whether you are looking to get ahead in your job or a curious student looking ahead for your career, our bundles are an efficient productivity hack to stay up to date and constantly learn.

Every morning, Hark takes the most important stories from all the newsletters in a bundle, removes the duplicates, and turns them into one short audio briefing: all the top stories in about five minutes. Tap a bundle and its newsletters come pre-selected when you start your free trial; add, drop, and compare until the mix fits.

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