Green Bay Packers quarterback Jordan Love will miss Saturday night’s game against the Baltimore Ravens, the team announced Friday. Love is still recovering from a concussion he suffered during last week’s loss to the Chicago Bears. He’s also listed with a left shoulder injury.
Without Love, the 9-5-1 Packers will take on a 7-8 Baltimore Ravens team that needs the Pittsburgh Steelers to lose Sunday against the Cleveland Browns to have a chance at winning the AFC North.
The Ravens could very well be without their starting quarterback Saturday at Lambeau Field, too. Lamar Jackson is listed as doubtful for the Week 17 matchup as he deals with a back injury. Jackson hasn’t practiced all week. He missed three games earlier this season with a hamstring injury. He’s also battled knee, ankle and toe injuries.
Tyler Huntley is in position to make his second start of the season. After being elevated from the practice squad, Huntley helped the Ravens snap a four-game losing streak earlier this year. Replacing struggling backup Cooper Rush, Huntley got the nod in Week 8 and played a part in Baltimore returning to the win column with a 30-16 victory over the Bears.
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Huntley started 10 games in Jackson’s absence during his four-season stay with the Ravens from 2020-23, including a playoff game during the 2022 season. That season, Huntley went 2-2 down the stretch of the regular season and ended up earning a spot in the Pro Bowl.
If Baltimore wins Saturday, Pittsburgh loses Sunday and then the Ravens beat the Steelers in Week 18, the Ravens will sneak into the postseason as the division winner.
As for the Packers, they still have a shot to win the NFC North. But a Packers loss Saturday or a Bears win Sunday — they play on the road versus the San Francisco 49ers — would return the division crown to Chicago.
For some franchises, a campaign of 92 wins, a wild-card series victory and a well-fought, five-game NLDS loss would be dreamland stuff. During the regular season, Chicago’s offense was a legitimate wagon, the only lineup in baseball with six position players worth at least 4.0 bWAR: Nico Hoerner, Dansby Swanson, Ian Happ, Pete Crow-Armstrong, Michael Busch and Kyle Tucker. Wrigley Field, per usual, was packed and rocking for most of the summer as the Cubbies reached October for the first time since 2020 and won their first playoff game since 2018. There was a lot to like.
Yet at no point in the second half did the Cubs feel like legitimate World Series contenders. The gap between them and the eventual champion Los Angeles Dodgers was gargantuan. Milwaukee comfortably took the division crown. Kyle Tucker, for whom the Cubs traded away a haul last winter, was injured and underwhelming down the stretch and into the postseason. Chicago’s pitching was quite obviously substandard. There was a lot for fans to gripe about.
And halfway through the offseason, there still is, as president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer has done little this winter to quiet the noise. Because while the Cubs have signed more free agents so far this winter (6) than any other team, none of those additions is a true needle-mover. Five are one-year deals. Four are relievers. One was retaining Shota Imanaga on a qualifying offer. In short, the Cubs are not better today than they were the day they lost the NLDS.
Here are the three major questions that will define the rest of their offseason.
1. Will they try to replace Kyle Tucker?
That the Cubs seem entirely content to let Tucker, the market’s consensus top free agent, leave town remains one of this winter’s most underrated developments. Chicago parted with significant pieces to acquire him a year ago, yet the team appears to have zero interest in retaining his services moving forward. That says something about Tucker’s profile and the Cubs’ financial stinginess.
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With Tucker’s departure a foregone conclusion, the Cubs will need to replace that production somehow. Because for all the consternation over Tucker’s relatively underwhelming walk year, the 28-year-old posted an .841 OPS, banged 22 homers and won a Silver Slugger. Those types of players, as will soon be showcased by Tucker’s enormous contract, do not grow on trees.
At present, Chicago seems content to fill the void internally. Outfielder Owen Caissie, a 23-year-old who struggled in a brief, 12-game ristretto, has enormous power and prospect pedigree. That should earn the rookie a sustained look in right field at some point. The same is true for top prospect Kevin Alcántara. Seiya Suzuki DH’ed for most of 2025 but could slide back into right in order to give positionless rookie Moisés Ballesteros some DH at-bats.
In Moneyball parlance, Hoyer and Co. will seek to replace Tucker in the aggregate. That’s a reasonable strategy, given the glut of internal options and the holes on the pitching side.
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2. How will they reinforce the rotation?
Chicago’s 2025 pitching staff was far from a catastrophe. The quintet of Matthew Boyd, Cade Horton, Shota Imanaga, Jameson Taillon and Colin Rea was capable, sufficient and, as a unit, right around league average. Horton, in particular, was a revelation. The rookie dominated for the Cubs down the stretch, and his absence due to injury in October played a significant role in Chicago’s NLDS exit. As volatile as pitching can be, Horton looks like a real frontline arm.
Behind him, however, there are myriad questions. Boyd, a first-time All-Star at 34, was a wonderful story but ran a 4.63 ERA after the break and didn’t reach five innings in any of his three postseason starts. In fact, not a single Cubs pitcher worked past the fifth in the team’s eight playoff games. Taillon was effective in his two starts, yet the club clearly didn’t feel confident pushing him. Rea and Imanaga were both utilized after openers.
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Imanaga returned to town on the qualifying offer after a convoluted series of contractual maneuvering, but barring an unforeseen, late-career velocity jump, he’s probably a mid-rotation arm moving forward.
It doesn’t take a professional prognosticator to see that this rotation could use some help. Another frontline arm to pair alongside Horton would work wonders. Thankfully for Chicago, the starting pitching market has been slow-moving. Framber Valdez, Tatsuya Imai, Ranger Suarez and Zac Gallen all remain available. All four would be reasonable upgrades for the Cubs. However, all four will also require a significant financial outlay, the type Chicago has been hesitant to make of late. Speaking of which …
3. Are the Cubs really going to be this cheap?
If the season started tomorrow, the Cubs would enter 2026 with a payroll just over $200 million, good for 11th in MLB. For such a profitable, historic, popular franchise, that is an embarrassingly paltry figure. In no world should the Chicago Cubs trail the Arizona Diamondbacks in big-league spending. Wrigley Field and all the real estate that surrounds it is a piggy bank, yet Chicago’s ownership group continues to operate like small-market paupers.
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The Cubs have gone above the luxury tax just once since tearing down the Bryant-Báez-Rizzo core. That was in 2024, when Chicago surpassed the threshold by less than $3 million. Currently, the Cubs are projected by Spotrac for an outlay $43 million under the tax. Presumably, that should give Hoyer and Co. room to spend big on a free agent or two. However, all reporting out of Cubs World suggests that such a splash is far from a given.
Given the state of Chicago’s roster, that would be a shame.
In 2025, Alonza Barnett III became the Sun Belt Player of the Year and quarterbacked James Madison to a conference title, as well as the College Football Playoff. In 2026, he’ll likely play elsewhere.
Barnett announced Friday that he plans to enter the transfer portal after spending four seasons at JMU. The dual-threat signal-caller has one year of eligibility remaining.
“The moments I’ve experienced, in and outside of Bridgeforth Stadium, will be ones I’ll cherish forever.”
He later added: “JMU holds a special place in my heart and will forever be HOME. It always has been, and it always will be.”
Barnett described the opportunity to graduate from JMU as a blessing as well, and he noted his belief in new Dukes head coach Billy Napier, who is taking over the program from Bob Chesney.
The Dukes made the 12-team playoff as one of the five highest-ranked conference champions. They were one of two Group of Five teams to earn an automatic bid this season, the other being American champion Tulane.
JMU went down 34-3 in the first half against Oregon, but Barnett finished with 318 total yards of offense (273 passing and 45 rushing) to go with his three total touchdowns (two passing and one rushing) in a 51-34 defeat at Autzen Stadium.
In 2025, the 6-foot, 217-pound playmaker was responsible for 23 passing touchdowns and 15 rushing touchdowns. The latter tied for fourth-most among quarterbacks. Barnett completed 58.4% of his passes while throwing for 2,806 yards this season.
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Barnett has played under Chesney and now-Indiana head coach Curt Cignetti. He helped JMU continue its ascent after the program made the jump to the FBS in 2022 with Cignetti at the helm.
Michigan officials have signed Utah coach Kyle Whittingham to a five-year deal, sources told Yahoo Sports’ Ross Dellenger on Friday. Whittingham is expected to join the team in Orlando for its Dec. 31 Citrus Bowl game against the Texas Longhorns, Dellenger reported.
Whittingham, 66, was 177-88 at Utah after taking over for Urban Meyer at the end of the 2004 season. The Utes won at least 10 games in eight seasons during Whittingham’s tenure and have had just three losing seasons. None of those seasons have featured fewer than five wins.
Hiring Whittingham brings a sudden December coaching search to a close just over two weeks following the dismissal of Sherrone Moore. The second-year coach was fired with cause on Dec. 10 after Michigan found evidence of an inappropriate relationship with a staffer.
Moore then allegedly went to that staffer’s residence and allegedly threatened to take his own life while telling her that she ruined his life. Moore has been charged with felony home invasion and two misdemeanors for that incident and has a January court date.
Whittingham had been a Utah football lifer since playing linebacker at BYU. He was a grad assistant with the Cougars for two seasons and then coached at Eastern Utah and Idaho State for seven years. He became Utah’s defensive line coach in 1994 and has coached for the Utes ever since. He became the school’s defensive coordinator in 1995 and held that job until Meyer left to coach Florida in 2005.
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Morgan Scalley was already announced as Whittingham’s successor at Utah after he had been named the team’s coach-in-waiting. Scalley is now expected to coach the Utes in the Las Vegas Bowl on Dec. 31.
Additionally, former co-offensive coordinator Matt Weiss is facing over 20 felony federal charges for allegedly accessing the accounts of female student-athletes across the country. Weiss, who was fired from his job at Michigan for alleged “computer access crimes,” was the Wolverines’ co-offensive coordinator with Moore in the 2022 season.
Before Michigan’s search turned to Whittingham, Alabama’s Kalen DeBoer and Arizona State’s Kenny Dillingham were mentioned as potential candidates. DeBoer issued a statement saying that he wasn’t interested in speaking with another school and Alabama’s win over Oklahoma in the first round of the College Football Playoff also threw a wrench in any Michigan hopes of hiring him.
With leading wideout Le’Meke Brockington not playing in Friday’s Rate Bowl, Minnesota needed someone to step up in a relatively thin receiver room.
Jalen Smith leaped at the opportunity. The redshirt freshman dove for a pair of touchdown catches, the second the game-winner in overtime.
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With a 20-17 victory, the Golden Gophers (8-5, 5-4 Big Ten) improved to 7-0 in bowl games under head coach P.J. Fleck and denied New Mexico (9-4, 6-2 Mountain West) its first 10-win season since 1982.
Smith came into the day with only two touchdown receptions this season. He matched that total while recording six catches for 64 yards.
His classmate, quarterback Drake Lindsey, gave him a chance in the end zone on third-and-8 in overtime after New Mexico started the extra frame with a 36-yard field goal.
Lindsey threw off his back foot. As the ball reached the paint, Smith lifted off. He extended in front of a Lobos defensive back to reel in the pass before securing the 12-yard score when he hit the ground.
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The first Lindsey-Smith connection was even more impressive. It also came on third down, this time on third-and-4 with less than two minutes left in the first half. New Mexico was leading 6-0 at that point.
That was, until Lindsey floated a pass to the back corner of the end zone. Lindsey put it only where Smith could get it, away from three trailing Lobos defenders.
The 10-yard touchdown pass hung in the air for what felt like a minute. Smith tracked it perfectly and laid out for the score.
Minnesota, which entered third nationally in fewest penalties per game (3.3), had nine penalties for 87 yards against New Mexico.
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The Golden Gophers survived those mistakes as well as a 100-yard kickoff return touchdown by Lobos senior running back Damon Bankston early in the fourth quarter.
Bankston came into the matchup averaging 30.4 yards per kickoff return this season and had already ran one back for six.
On Friday, New Mexico turned his house call into eight points. A trick play was behind the conversion. Running back Scottre Humphrey took a direct snap and handed it off to quarterback Jack Layne, who faked a pitch reverse and then threw over the middle to a wide-open Keagan Johnson for a two-point conversion that tied the game 14-14.
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That was a special play in a special New Mexico season that began with the Lobos bringing back just 34 players from the 2024 campaign, the fewest returners of any FBS team this season.
They were picked 11th in the Mountain West preseason poll. Then they finished 6-2 in conference play.
But in their first bowl game since 2016, they came up short in overtime versus a Minnesota team that just keeps winning this time of year under Fleck.
The announcement comes two weeks after Reaves first suffered a mild left calf strain, which caused him to miss three games. He was deemed ready to return last week, but left Thursday’s game against the Houston Rockets with another calf injury and will now be out for at least a month.
Austin Reaves has become the Lakers’ third star. (Photo by Jevone Moore/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
(Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
Reaves probably wasn’t one of those players Redick had an issue with. He has been one of the NBA’s breakout players this season, averaging career highs nearly across the board and supplying an effective complement for stars Luka Dončić and LeBron James.
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If Reaves can return in exactly four weeks from Friday, that’s 14 games he’ll be missing. The NBA trade deadline is not long after that on Feb. 5, which is significant given the trade speculation around him.
It can be hard to determine intent from a single social media post or fashion choice, but there are only so many ways to interpret Harper posting a video of himself on TikTok taking swings while wearing a shirt that says “Not Elite.”
That could obviously mean a few things. Maybe Harper is still peeved about Dombrowski’s comments. Maybe he’s become friendly enough with the executive that the elite question has become a joke to them. Maybe he’s decided to lean into the criticism and is now presenting it as motivation.
Still, it’s quite a choice to drag that argument back into the public sphere, especially during an uneasy offseason for the franchise.
There are a lot of things Bryce Harper could be saying with his “Not Elite” shirt. (Photo by Katelyn Mulcahy/MLB Photos via Getty Images)
(Katelyn Mulcahy via Getty Images)
In case you need a refresher, here’s what Dombrowski said about Harper in an end-of-season news conference:
“Of course, he’s still a quality player. He’s still an All-Star caliber player. He didn’t have an elite season like he has had in the past. And I guess we only find out if he becomes elite or if he continues to be good. I look around the league … Freddie Freeman. He’s a really good player, right? He still is a good player. Is he elite like he was before? Probably not to the same extent. Freddie’s a tremendous player. And, that to me, is Bryce. Can he rise to the next level again? I don’t really know that answer. I mean, really, he’s the one that will dictate that more than anything else, is what it comes down to.”I don’t think he’s content with the year that he had. And, again, it wasn’t a bad year, but when I think of Bryce Harper, you’re thinking elite, you’re thinking one of the top 10 players in baseball, and I don’t think [his 2025 season] fit into that category. But, again, very good player.”
Kon Knueppel went off before he went out on Friday night. The rookie guard erupted for 16 points in the first quarter of the Charlotte Hornets’ 120-105 win over the Orlando Magic (17-14), but the No. 4 overall draft pick suffered a right ankle injury late in the first half that sidelined him the rest of the game.
Head coach Charles Lee said afterward that it sounded like the X-rays on Knueppel’s ankle were negative, and that the Hornets (11-20) will get more information about Knueppel when the team returns home, as reported by The Charlotte Observer.
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With less than 30 seconds to go in the second quarter, Knueppel appeared to roll his ankle after landing on the shoe of Magic guard Desmond Bane on a contest in the paint.
While Knueppel was quiet in the second quarter before his injury, he turned heads with his first-quarter outburst, which saw him make all four of his 3-point attempts.
The Duke product has enjoyed record-breaking success from beyond the arc this season. Earlier this week, during a 139-132 defeat to the Cleveland Cavaliers, the 20-year-old Knueppel became the fastest player in NBA history to make 100 3s.
He needed only 29 games to do it, surpassing Lauri Markkanen, who reached the milestone in 41 games with the Chicago Bulls in 2017-18.
Knueppel came into Friday’s matchup in Orlando averaging 19.4 points per game on 47.4% shooting, with a 41.9% clip from long range.
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Like college teammate Cooper Flagg, Knueppel has swiftly translated his skill set to the NBA.
Knueppel’s injury is the latest the Hornets have taken on this season. They were notably down two of their top-three centers Friday, as both Ryan Kalkbrenner and Mason Plumlee weren’t available.
Still, Charlotte found a way to win on the road. Seven different Hornets scored in double figures. LaMelo Ball led the charge with 22 points and splashed four 3s, albeit with six turnovers attached to his stat line. Collin Sexton, in just his second game back from a quad injury, chipped in 13 points off the bench.
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The Hornets have been playing better basketball of late, but losing Knueppel for any significant amount of time could stunt that progress.
The New York Jets have reconsidered their decision to disqualify a fan from a $100,000 kicking competition after a considerable backlash on social media.
The team was reported by the New York Post on Thursday to have canceled season ticket-holder Ashley Castanio-Gervasi’s spot in the finals of its “Kick for Cash” competition this weekend due to her work as a high school soccer coach.
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Castanio-Gervasi told the Post the team reached out to her after seeing her kick at a tailgate in September and asked her to join the competition, without asking if she was a coach mentioning any rules banning coaches. Castanio-Gervasi also reportedly told the employees she was a Division I soccer player in college, playing goalkeeper for Stony Brook University from 2010 to 2014.
Her recollection, from the Post:
“These two workers for the New York Jets kind of chased me down and invited me back to get into this competition,” she recalled. “The one question I was asked was if I played college soccer, and how long ago.”
Castanio-Gervasi went on to qualify for the final — the lone woman to do so — by making a 20-yard field goal in October, with the team even promoting her appearance with local media. The Long Island Herald picked up the story and identified her as a coach in the second paragraph. It wasn’t until last week, however, that Castanio-Gervasi was informed about a rule prohibiting recent players and coaches from Olympic, college, and high school soccer, rugby, and football teams.
The Jets initially stood by the policy when reached by the Post:
“In accordance with competition rules and regulations, one individual who successfully made the qualifying kick will not be able to advance to the final stage of the challenge,” the team said in a statement to The Post.“We understand the disappointment associated with this and have made an effort to provide an alternative benefit to show our appreciation,” the Jets statement added.
The team reportedly attempted to mitigate the situation by offering Castanio-Gervasi a consolation custom jersey, a $100 Visa gift card and a donation to Esophageal Cancer Education Foundation. The latter was significant as Castanio-Gervasi was hoping to donate part of the winnings to the foundation in honor of her father Frank, who died of esophageal cancer in 2011.
The Jets have somehow turned a field goal into an own goal. (Photo by Justin Casterline/Getty Images)
(Justin Casterline via Getty Images)
The team also reportedly offered to cover the cost of the tickets purchased by at least 15 friends and family members who were going to see Castanio-Gervasi kick.
“We realized there was an unfortunate misunderstanding regarding Ashley’s eligibility for the contest. In an effort to remedy the situation, we are allowing her to kick this Sunday for an opportunity to win the prize. We value the passion and loyalty of our fans and are committed to creating memorable experiences.”
It’s unclear what the team means by “misunderstanding,” but it can definitely expect more interest than usual for the “Kick for Cash” contest this weekend. The Jets are scheduled to play the Patriots on Sunday at 1 p.m.
In the latter part of Kyle Whittingham’s 21-year run at Utah, his name practically disappeared from the coaching rumors that seem to be part and parcel of having success at a non-traditional program.
It wasn’t that bigger schools were any less interested. If anything, Whittingham’s reputation had only grown over time as he shepherded Utah from Mountain West domination to the Pac-12 championships to a 10-2 redemption this year after an exceedingly rare losing season in 2024.
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But Utah was home. And at age 66, it seemed like the time for one more move was in the rear-view mirror. When Whittingham announced on Dec. 12 that he was stepping down, the immediate reaction and the tributes from Utah, where he had spent 32 years in total, made it look like a retirement.
You know how schools often hire the opposite of the coach they just fired?
In replacing the undisciplined, inexperienced, offensive-minded Sherrone Moore with a tough-nosed, Medicare-eligible, defensive-minded ball coach who hasn’t missed a workout in decades, Michigan is flipping the narrative around its program overnight.
Kyle Whittingham is reportedly the target of Michigan’s head coaching search. He went 177-88 in 21 seasons at Utah. (Scott Winters/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
(Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
Nobody will question Whittingham’s seriousness. Nobody will question his competence in managing the program. Nobody will have to wonder whether he’s doing things in his off time that will embarrass the school.
After the Moore debacle, the full culture reset Whittingham will provide is just what Michigan needs. And given how limited the options were with so many coaches having already taken other jobs or signing contract extensions, Michigan is making a responsible decision here rather than taking a shot in the dark.
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But will he win?
That’s a more interesting question.
Michigan fans should not be troubled by Whittingham’s age. Even if he would be a so-called bridge hire with more yesterdays than tomorrows in his coaching career, there’s no point for any program these days to look beyond a five-year window. This is the transfer portal era for players and coaches. The kind of two-decade run Whittingham just had at Utah isn’t realistic anywhere nowadays.
“I did not want to be that guy who overstayed his welcome with people saying, ‘Hey, when’s this guy gonna leave?’” Whittingham told the Salt Lake Tribune last week. “That was not my intention — ever. I hope I didn’t do that. I’m sure with some people I did do that. To me, the timing was right.”
It’s understandable if Michigan fans are wary of the high-profile older guy making one last move. It hasn’t worked out with either Mack Brown or Bill Belichick at North Carolina, didn’t work for LSU with Brian Kelly and didn’t work for UCF recently with Gus Malzahn.
But it would be a shock if Whittingham, of all people, treats this opportunity like a highly paid semi-retirement gig. After being at the same school since 1994, having this unexpected opportunity at the end of his career to coach at a place with almost unlimited resources would surely invigorate him.
And it’s not like Whittingham was tailing off in the first place. Utah made back-to-back Rose Bowls in 2021 and 2022. Yes, the combined 13-12 record over the subsequent two years was ugly, but it was mostly the product of bad injury luck at the quarterback position. Utah bouncing back with a 10-2 record this year showed definitively that Whittingham could still get it done in the transfer portal/NIL era.
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His style of football should work in the Big Ten. Every one of the elite teams in that league, including Indiana, Oregon and Ohio State, are built from the line of scrimmage out. That’s what Whittingham did at Utah, he’ll just have access to a lot more talent.
The biggest question for Whittingham at any job other than Utah, of course, is how his recruiting will translate. It’s especially pertinent for someone whose rosters have relied on overlooked players from the Mountain and Pacific time zones now having to battle for four- and five-star talent in the Midwest and all across the country because that’s what the Michigan job demands.
But Michigan’s NIL infrastructure is among the best in college sports, showing its force in landing top-rated freshman quarterback Bryce Underwood last year. Assuming Whittingham is adept at forming the right relationships among Michigan’s donor class, the recruiting component should mostly take care of itself.
It’s the culture piece, though, where Whittingham should be able to get Michigan on track. As much success as Jim Harbaugh had in the later part of his career, the program was just too messy. Connor Stalions. Matt Weiss. Sherrone Moore. Too many infamous names were associated with that regime. A lot of time and money was wasted trying to deal with horrible behavior.
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Michigan needed a clean break. It also needed a coach with enough gravitas to keep the ship afloat amid more turbulent waters to come. Though athletic director Warde Manuel has led the coaching search, the school has hired a white-shoe law firm to conduct an independent review of the athletic department. Given the multiple scandals that have taken place on his watch, it wouldn’t be shocking if he’s swept out, too.
Michigan fans should be thrilled with Whittingham becoming the face of that athletic department alongside men’s basketball head coach Dusty May. Sometimes you just need an adult in the room, and by adding Whittingham the Wolverines would have two.
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Nobody really knows how a hire is going to turn out until you see the product on the field. Whittingham, just like he did at Utah more than two decades ago, will have to prove that his style works at the highest level in the sport.
But Michigan is also a place where an unfocused, replacement-level coach went 9-3 this season before running his career off the rails. It’s a great job with a high floor, and anyone with a baseline level of competence should be able to contend for College Football Playoff berths.
Fans will have questions about Whittingham’s age, his offense and his geographic fit. That’s all fair. But they should remember there were plenty of ways for a mid-to-late December coaching search to be a disaster with a weakened athletic director and no permanent school president.
Instead, Michigan is taking the first step toward healing.
