Author: rb809rb

The 2026 Pro Bowl moved off its normal Sunday slot and fit in on Tuesday night in San Francisco leading up to Super Bowl LX.

It delivered plenty of prime-time fun, all of which Green Bay Packers edge rusher Micah Parsons basked in. His ACL recovery didn’t stop him from joyfully rolling around on his motorized scooter throughout the night.

AFC head coach Steve Young gave his team an inspired pregame speech about how his players are now participating in a sport that will be part of the 2028 L.A. Olympics.

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While not all the players had a handle on the rules, they did give effort, which hasn’t always been guaranteed in the Pro Bowl.

The AFC climbed out of an early hole to establish an 18-point lead. But Jerry Rice’s NFC came all the way back to win 66-52.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers safety Antoine Winfield Jr. earned the game’s Defensive MVP honors after recording an interception that helped his conference seal the deal.

Dallas Cowboys wide receiver George Pickens collected Offensive MVP honors following an impressive display of body control and end-zone footwork, including on his game-winning touchdown catch.

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Confused how this all went down? Here’s a rundown of the game’s key rules and top highlights.

Key Rules

• 7 players on field for each team

  • Center was eligible to receive passes

• Drives began at teams’ own 5-yard line

• Teams had to cross midfield for first downs

• Touchdowns gained 6 points

  • 1-point conversions were scored from 5 yards out

  • 2-point conversions were scored from 10 yards out

First-half highlights

• Cleveland Browns QB Shedeur Sanders’ pass ricocheted off Cincinnati Bengals WR Ja’Marr Chase’s hands, and Chicago Bears safety Kevin Byard was there to corral the deflection for an interception. Byard would have had a pick 6 had Philadelphia Eagles CB Cooper DeJean not committed a “screen block.” Sanders shook off that pick.

• Bengals QB Joe Burrow has underrated speed. He showcased it while receiving a double pass from Miami Dolphins RB De’Von Achane and then making Dallas Cowboys return specialist KaVontae Turpin miss en route to the end zone. That was the start of the AFC scoring 32 unanswered points after going down 14-0 early.

• Chase made up for the interception he caused — on defense. Playing some DB, the all-world receiver went low to vacuum a pick with his left hand. He had reservations for six, too. He arrived via backflip.

• Sanders capped a rhythmic AFC drive with a touchdown toss to Denver Broncos LT Garett Bolles, who made a convincing case for a big man to win the game’s Offensive MVP award.

• Speaking of reliable blockers, Baltimore Ravens FB Patrick Ricard also reeled in a scoring grab, and then Burrow located Bolles — a Protector of the Year finalist — for a one-point conversion to keep the jumbo theme going and hand the AFC a 32-14 advantage.

• Eagles QB Jalen Hurts hooked up with Cowboys TE Jake Ferguson for a pair of touchdowns, including one to end the NFC’s scoring drought.

• Sanders established a rapport with Houston Texans WR Nico Collins, who scored a catch-and-run touchdown on a pass from the rookie signal-caller that improved his stat line to 10-of-11, 118 passing yards, 2 scores and 1 interception.

• The Cowboys helped the NFC chip away at its deficit, thanks to QB Dak Prescott pushing the ball downfield to his everyday teammate, WR CeeDee Lamb. The duo connected for six after Lamb gobbled up YAC and dodged a flag-guarding penalty. At this point, the AFC was up 44-36.

• DeJean came up with a critical stop before the half. He appeared to pull the flag off Broncos WR Courtland Sutton just before the diving Sutton touched the pylon with the nose of the ball.

Second-half highlights

• Cincinnati Bengals QB Joe Flacco dialed up a touchdown pass to Chase at the start of the second half. Chase followed it up with a Griddy celebration.

• After Detroit Lions QB Jared Goff found Los Angeles Rams WR Puka Nacua for six, Pickens climbed the ladder in the back of the end zone for a toe-tapping, two-point conversion. That made it a one-score game.

• In the wake of Sanders being picked off again — this time by Bears CB Nahshon Wright — Hurts linked up with an unlikely partner-in-crime. He pitched the ball back to Prescott, who flung a touchdown pass to Turpin. Cue a two-point conversion from Atlanta Falcons RB Bijan Robinson that knotted things up at 52-52.

• Chase shockingly dropped a would-be go-ahead touchdown, setting the stage for the NFC to reclaim the lead. Prescott fired a missile to Pickens. His sideline scoring grab and subsequent two-point conversion got the NFC amped, namely Parsons.

• Chase dropped another pass … and that deflection resulted in an interception from Winfield. The NFC capitalized on the takeaway. On fourth-and-goal, Goff beat the blitz with a pitch to Hurts, who then whipped a game-clinching touchdown pass to Lamb. Then Hurts lined up for a tush push that he ran in slow motion before the clock hit triple zeroes.

SAN FRANCISCO — The ticket resale market is finally giving up some secrets about Super Bowl LX.

The early trend of buyers is shaping the crowd into a Seattle Seahawks home game. The New England area buyers have been slower to the table than their counterparts. And thus far, fans in general appear to be adhering to last season’s doctrine of patience when it comes to buying — which could send prices for the cheapest tickets even lower as we approach the weekend.

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That’s according to broader data across multiple platforms in the ticket resale market, which have seen “get-in” prices (the cheapest available seats to get into Super Bowl LX) dip considerably since the conclusion of the conference title games on Jan. 25. Get-in ticket pricing was as high as $6,200 near the end of last week, before sinking nearly 30 percent early this week into the $4,300 range — largely due to the market absorbing ticket inventory that bloated to nearly 4,200 seats just two days after the conference title games.

Those prices have now stabilized and rebounded slightly, fluctuating in the $4,900 to $5,000 range depending on the buying platform.

But an interesting trend from last year appears to be lingering: Showing patience in purchasing. Last season, several platforms saw more than 50 percent of their Super Bowl ticket inventory sell between Friday evening and Sunday’s kickoff between the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles. Some of those same platforms are now anticipating that it could be a similar trend this season, with Seahawks fans being patient due to their relatively close geographical proximity to San Francisco (thus allowing them to buy later and travel later), and Patriots fans potentially sitting the game out because of the significant travel expense from the New England area to Northern California.

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Whatever the factors, ticket marketplaces are watching inventory and buying trends closely as the midweek arrives — with some expecting that prices could duplicate last season’s Super Bowl and become more reasonable as available seats increase as Sunday approaches.

“We expect prices to continue to decline as the game approaches, while we anticipate demand to increase as well — mirroring trends seen in prior years,” said Michael Stock, the director of pricing and business strategy for ticket marketplace Gametime. “…We do not expect this year’s game to approach the record [average] prices of 2024 in Las Vegas. While this year’s game has increased to be more expensive than last year, we do not expect prices to continue to rise, and expect them to settle in-line with [the games in] 2022, 2023 [and] 2025.”

Heading into Wednesday morning, Gametime’s cheapest get-in ticket was $4,892 (including fees), while its most expensive ticket was a 10th row lower bowl seat behind the Seahawks’ bench for $39,041. Average ticket prices across multiple platforms have ranged in the $9,000 range (including fees) heading into Wednesday morning — which is nearly double the average price the last time the Seahawks and Patriots met in Super Bowl XLIX in 2015. Overall inventory on the market also continued to hover in the 4,000 range.

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When contrasting sales from the Portland/Seattle area to the Boston/New England areas, Gametime reported an early Seahawks sales lean of 5.5 to 1. Ultimately, the trend line is forecasting a game that will likely land in the top five in average historical Super Bowl ticket prices, but not quite reach the potential of what might have been achieved had the Buffalo Bills or San Francisco 49ers landed in the game.

“This year’s matchup, featuring two teams with recent Super Bowl success in the last decade or so, has seen fairly stable pricing trends,” Stock said. “In contrast, if teams like the Buffalo Bills or hometown San Francisco 49ers had made the game, we would have expected never-before-seen prices. When New England won the AFC, prices barely changed, and when Seattle won the NFC, we only saw modest price increases.”

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With get-in prices sinking to as low as $2,600 to $2,700 (before fees) late in the week for last year’s Super Bowl buyers, that stable trend and some patience could be good news for fans who appear to be once again willing to wait. For now, brokers are watching closely.

The Los Angeles Clippers reportedly dealt James Harden to the Cleveland Cavaliers for Darius Garland Tuesday in the biggest trade so far of what’s already been an active NBA trade-deadline week.

Not long after the deal, Harden spoke about it with ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne. He denied requesting a trade, per Shelburne. But he’s “excited” to make the move to Cleveland.

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Harden, who’s one of two top-10 all-time NBA scorers without a championship alongside Karl Malone, believes he’ll have a better chance to secure that elusive NBA title with the Cavaliers than with the Clippers.

“In Cleveland I see an opportunity to win in the East,” Harden told Shelburne. “They got a very good team, coaching staff, all of the above.

“So as much as I wanted to stay in LA and give it a go, I’ve never won one before. As a basketball mind I think we have a bit better chance.”

Will Harden make the Cavaliers contenders?

Harden’s right. He joins a Cavaliers team that finished 68-14 last season for the best record in the Eastern Conference. They’ve already exceeded that loss total this season in a campaign in which Garland missed nearly half of Cleveland’s games with injury before being traded.

But they’ve still been competitive at 30-21, which was good for fifth place in the East as of Tuesday night. And the East is wide open. Swapping in a healthy Harden for a hobbled Garland has the potential to propel the Cavaliers toward the top of conference.

Is there a better backcourt in basketball?

In pairing 10-time All-Star Harden with six-time All-Star Donovan Mitchell, the Cavaliers have assembled arguably the best backcourt in the NBA. Both players are capable of dropping 50-plus points on any night. Mitchell’s an elite scorer in his prime. Harden’s a three-time scoring champ and and a high-level playmaker who’s twice led the league in assists.

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Good luck to opposing teams in deciding who to double in crunch time.

The Clippers, meanwhile, have returned to competitiveness at 23-26 following a brutal 6-21 start. But even if they’d retained Harden, this was not a team that was going to compete with the Thunder, Nuggets, Spurs or Rockets to get out of the Western Conference. The addition of Garland doesn’t change that equation.

The Cavaliers are going all in to compete for a title in Mitchell’s prime, and they might not be done making moves with nearly two full days remaining before Thursday’s trade deadline. The Clippers, meanwhile, remain in limbo.

“We had a hell of a two and a half years,” Harden said of his time with the Clippers. “We didn’t reach the goals that we all wanted to reach, but I think we built some great memories, had some great wins and fun moments for all of us.

“At the end of the day, it is a business, and I think both sides got what they wanted, are in a great place and are very happy.”

MILAN — The rink at Enterprise Center in St. Louis glowed a deep indigo. A spotlight found Tenley Albright, the gold medal-winning skater at the 1956 Olympics in Cortina, sporting the same crimson jacket she’d worn at those games. This day, the official announcement of Team USA’s Milan-Cortina skaters, marked a ceremonial torch-passing, a union of generations, and Albright drew the honor of welcoming America’s newest Olympian to the ice.

“Innovative, creative, a fiery spirit on the ice,” Albright began. Even though the entire arena already knew who she was talking about, the cheers rolled as Albright continued, “she has just won her third national championship…”

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Then 26-year-old Amber Glenn stepped from behind a curtain, embraced Albright, stepped onto the ice … and skated into her future.

Once they stop falling, children smile when they skate. Why wouldn’t you? Gliding at high speed across the ice is a joyful feeling. Why not let the world know how you feel, the way Amber Glenn did when she was learning to skate in the Stonebriar Centre Mall in suburban Dallas?

“I was lucky enough to be in the Dallas-Fort Worth area,” Glenn said recently, crediting the Dallas Stars with a role in her origin. “We were able to have many ice rinks built after they won [the Stanley Cup] in ‘99 and that really helped fortify a large skating community in Texas.”

Smiling is fine for the mall, but for competition, well … judges can frown on skaters’ smiles. The sport is undergoing a slow metamorphosis, but some of the old ways still persist: too much joy, too much exuberance unbalances the performance in the eyes of some judges.

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“Even as a kid, I think I was 10 years old, I was told to tone it down, because it wasn’t graceful,” she told NBC’s “My New Favorite Olympian” podcast recently. “I was skating to ‘Live and Let Die’ and classic old rock-and-roll songs that I love. Like, I’m not trying to be lady-like, I’m trying to enjoy my sport.”

Glenn’s mother Cathlene recalled judges suggesting ways for Glenn to fit the “Ice Princess” mold: cut carbs, be more graceful and, in the words of one judge, “don’t do that big smile anymore.” For a young skater who had already devoted her entire childhood to skating, home-schooling in order to focus more on the ice, the pressure and the walls around her were growing.

But Glenn kept skating, and more importantly for her career, kept winning. As her father, a policeman, took on overtime shifts and her parents scoured eBay for secondhand skates, she piled up victory after victory, locally, nationally and internationally. She claimed bronze in the 2013 ISU Junior Grand Prix in the Czech Republic, then won the U.S. Figure Skating Championships’ junior title the next year.

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Still, despite the victories, Glenn struggled with a range of mental-health challenges throughout the 2010s, culminating in her most challenging battle at age 15.

“I had a mental-health crisis, and I had to stop absolutely everything,” she says. “I left skating for a while not knowing if I’d return or not, and had to prioritize surviving and making it to the next day for quite a while there. And it took many years to get to a place where I could healthily skate again.”

As she did, she began claiming parts of herself she’d given away. In 2019, she began skating to Madilyn’s cover of Papa Roach’s “Scars,” a song that’s a long way lyrically from the saccharine orchestral music that generally accompanies skating routines.

Our scars remind us that the past is real
I tear my heart open just to feel

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Later that year, she publicly came out as pansexual in an interview with the Dallas Voice. “The fear of not being accepted is a huge struggle for me,” she told the Voice. “Being perceived as [going through] ‘just a phase’ or ‘indecisive’ is a common thing for bisexual/pansexual women. I don’t want to shove my sexuality in people’s faces, but I also don’t want to hide who I am.”

“I thought, Oh, I’m just gonna kind of mention it in an article that was about someone else,” Glenn recalled recently. “It was about my training mates. And I thought, Okay, this is my little baby step, and barely anyone’s going to see it. It was a local newspaper. Yeah … it did not stay local.”

Glenn’s announcement sent shockwaves through the skating community, but from her very first event following the interview, she began seeing Pride flags in the stands. Supporters bring flags to every competition, every exhibition, right up to the U.S. Championships in St. Louis last month.

“It wasn’t something I was necessarily prepared for, but I was comfortable enough with my friends and family, and that’s all I really cared about,” she says. “And if people had an issue with it, then they had an issue with me, and I don’t need them in my life. So it was just, if you don’t like me for me, then that’s your problem, not mine.”

“She is so special and, I think, important for our sport, the way that she’s so open and vulnerable about her mental-health issues and struggles,” says Olympic gold medalist and NBC commentator Tara Lipinski, “and how she overcomes the doubts and the pressure that she faces.”

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Out and honest about her struggles, Glenn appeared on a direct trajectory toward the 2022 Olympic Games in Beijing. But she tested positive for Covid just before the 2022 U.S. championships, costing her a spot on the team. The next year, she suffered her second concussion and broken orbital bones … and still refused to give up and give in.

Glenn won the 2024 U.S. championships, then repeated the feat again in 2025 and this year in 2026, the first three-time winner since Michelle Kwan won eight in a row from 1998 to 2005. She’s the eldest of the new “Big Three,” along with Alysa Liu and Isabeau Levito, both of whom won national championships at a much younger age than Glenn.

Ranked third overall in the world, Glenn stands as one of the best bets to end American women’s long Olympic skating medal drought. No American woman has medaled in the Olympics’ figure skating singles since Sasha Cohen’s silver in 2006, and no American woman has won gold in figure skating since Sarah Hughes in 2002.

“Amber Glenn is an emotional favorite because of how much she’s been through,” says Olympian and NBC commentator Johnny Weir. “She really wears her heart on her sleeve when she performs, which makes it very welcoming to watch her.”

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Her openness about her mental struggles has, ironically enough, allowed her to redirect her attention to her performances. “Honestly, when I’m out there competing, I’m thinking about what I’m doing in that moment, because if I don’t, then I’m going to trip and fall on my face,” she says. “So I’ve got to think about what I’m doing in that moment, remembering to breathe, and just trying to enjoy the moment, because it is over fast.”

At that official Olympic announcement in January, after embracing Albright, Glenn skated an exhibition program to Lady Gaga’s version of “That’s Life,” a selection that surely was no coincidence. Glenn skated, long blond hair flowing free, as lines like “Each time I find myself flat on my face / I pick myself up and get back in the race” echoed through the arena.

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“I definitely peaked later in my career than most. I never thought that I’d still be skating at 26. I thought I’d be long done by now,” Glenn says. “I just keep doing it because I love it, and I’m getting better and better each passing day.”

It’s a long way from a suburban Dallas mall rink to the center of the skating universe, but Glenn is, at long last, about to finish the journey.

MILAN — On June 24, 2019, the International Olympic Committee voted to award Italy the right to host the 2026 Winter Games.

Nearly 2,500 days later, the Italians are still frantically racing to complete the arena that will host the most anticipated Olympic ice hockey competition in over a decade.

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Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena remained an active construction site on Wednesday, just 24 hours before the venue is scheduled to open its doors to the public for a women’s hockey game between France and Italy. At the same time as the French men’s team practiced on the ice, construction crews and arena workers scrambled to finish 11th-hour projects on the concourse or to remove dust and debris created by recently finished ones.

Men in orange construction vests were busy building a merchandise stand in one section of the concourse. Arena staffers in dark blue Milano Cortina 2026 jackets scrubbed layers of dust off stanchions that will soon be used to direct the flow of crowds. Elsewhere, workers scraped and spackled walls, stocked concession stands and set up portable tables and signage. The beeping of forklifts and the smell of fresh paint constantly assaulted the senses.

Even areas of the arena that are ready for the public had the feeling that they were completed only days ago. Manufacturing labels adorned every sink in one bathroom. Messages scribbled on post-it notes or painters tape hung from doors. Large wires poked out of walls, shoes left footprints in construction dust and paint splatter was visible on walls and floors.

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Thankfully, the seating bowl as a whole and the playing surface in particular appear to be in far better shape. That’s why Olympic Games Executive Director Christophe Dubi felt comfortable reassuring reporters earlier this week that he’s “absolutely certain” the venue will be ready in time.

“One thing we’ve been clear about for a number of days is you’ll have a number of areas where you’ll be very impressed,” Dubi said. “When you walk into the venue, the seating bowl is dramatic. It’s black. Ice is ice.

“Now, do we have every single space in that venue finished? No. And is it absolutely needed for the games? No. So no one’s experience will be tainted by anything that needs to be painted or carpeted after the games. Let’s be very clear. Anything that is public facing … is absolute top.”

The only people apparently unconcerned about the unfinished state of Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena are the hockey stars who will be competing there. Reporters have peppered NHL players with questions about whether they’re concerned the arena won’t be ready. The vast majority have said they’re just happy to have the chance to partake in a Winter Olympics after the NHL opted not to interrupt its schedule to allow players to participate in Beijing (2022) or PyeongChang (2018). 

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Last week, American winger Brady Tkachuk insisted that he “could really care less about” the arena controversy. The mindset of U.S. players, according to Tkachuk, is not to waste time worrying about anything outside their control.

“All that stuff always works itself out,” Tkachuk said. “Whether ice is good ice or not good ice, it doesn’t really matter. What matters is the opportunity to be playing in the Olympics and going out there and competing to win the gold medal.”

To Olympic organizers, the evolution of Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena is more minor miracle than cause for concern. It was less than two months ago that NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly threatened to pull out of the Olympics amid construction delays and concerns whether the ice surface would be playable.

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“If the players believe that the ice isn’t safe, then we’re not going to play,” Daly told reporters. “It’s as simple as that.”

Construction of the Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena was supposed to begin in 2022, but a lawsuit filed by an order of Roman-Catholic nuns delayed the project by roughly a year. The nuns unsuccessfully argued that construction would encroach on their property and violate noise ordinances.

The problems continued even after shovels hit dirt. The ice surface at the arena is a little more than three feet shorter than those in NHL buildings, leaving players less space to maneuver. The agreement between the NHL, NHL Players’ Association, IOC and International Ice Hockey Federation called for the ice surface to be built to NHL standards.

The crews constructing the arena also moved painfully slowly despite promises from the IOC that it would be ready in plenty of time. Whereas organizers of previous Winter Olympics held test matches at their hockey arenas at least a year ahead of time, those didn’t happen in Milan until less than a month ago. The test matches revealed a venue still under construction and nowhere near Olympic-ready.

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The upper two levels of the venue were covered in sheets of plastic and off limits to spectators. Plans for concession stands on the arena concourse had been scrapped. Many locker rooms were nowhere close to being finished. Neither was the adjacent practice rink.

If there was a silver lining, it was that the ice quality exceeded expectations despite multiple large gaps in the exterior walls of the venue that made it difficult to regulate conditions inside. Florian Wieser, a second-division Italian league player who participated in the test event, was one of many “surprised how good [the ice] was” despite a small hole in the playing surface during one game that required a watering can to fix.

“Was the ice perfect?” Wieser wrote on social media. “No, it was on the softer side and the small hole was of course a bad look. But we expected much worse and the ice didn’t affect the game negatively.

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“The ice quality will improve drastically when people are skating on it and when the ventilation starts to work.”

The rest of the building remains a work in progress just one day before hockey will be played and just two days before the Opening Ceremony. There will be construction dust and paint splatter, but there will also be hockey.

“Hats off because it started really late,” Dubi said. “What they’ve pulled off in just a few months is really, really outstanding.”

It’s been a year of comeuppance for key members of the New England Patriots’ dynasty. Team owner Robert Kraft and former head coach Bill Belichick were both reportedly snubbed by Hall of Fame voters, and legendary quarterback Tom Brady fears he could be next.

Brady cast doubt on his first-year Hall of Fame chances Tuesday, saying he should “be a little concerned” about missing the cut once he gets his name on the ballot.

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Brady made those comments during an appearance on “The Herd with Colin Cowherd” on Tuesday. Brady was asked about both Belichick’s and Kraft’s reported snubs, and took issue with both men missing out on the Hall of Fame in their first years of eligibility.

Near the end of his response about Kraft, Brady added, “Maybe it’s not trending so well for ex-Patriots. Maybe I should be a little concerned here.”

That comment drew laughs from Cowherd, but there could be some truth to it. Based on his numbers, Brady is a no-doubt first-ballot Hall of Famer. His trophy case is full. Brady has seven Super Bowl rings, made 15 Pro Bowls, is a three-time All-Pro selection and a three-time league MVP. He holds the all-time NFL records for starts, completions, attempts, passing yards, passing touchdowns and first downs. He’s widely considered one of the best — if not the best — quarterback of all time.

Surely, all of that is enough to get Brady into the Pro Football Hall of Fame on the first ballot, right?

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Well, that’s exactly how it looked for both Belichick and Kraft. Both men have resumes that suggest they should have waltzed into the Hall during their first years of eligibility. But that didn’t happen. In Belichick’s case, the coach may have been penalized for his involvement in both Deflategate and Spygate. Kraft may have been similarly punished for both scandals happening while he was the team’s owner.

If Hall of Fame voters follow suit, Brady could actually find himself in trouble when he’s eligible for the Hall of Fame in 2028. While Brady may not have played a big role in Spygate, he was a central figure in Deflategate, in which he was accused of intentionally deflating footballs to make them easier to grip and throw. Brady was eventually suspended by the NFL for four games for his role in the scandal. If those scandals were truly the reason Belichick and Kraft were snubbed, Brady should be worried about getting into the Pro Football Hall of Fame on the first ballot.

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But, as Brady said when discussing Kraft and Belichick, there’s little doubt both men will get into the Hall eventually. Given all they’ve accomplished in the sport, it seems extremely likely Belichick and Kraft will cruise into the Hall of Fame the next time they are eligible.

If Brady does get snubbed during his first year of eligibility, it’s essentially guaranteed he’ll follow that same path. A Pro Football Hall of Fame without Brady doesn’t make a whole lot of sense.

The New York Jets have reportedly hired former Carolina Panthers and Indianapolis Colts head coach Frank Reich as their next offensive coordinator, Ian Rapoport of NFL Network reported Wednesday.

Reich joins the team after spending the 2025 season as an interim head coach with Stanford. The team eventually brought on Tavita Pritchard to be the full-time option, and Reich was expected to serve as an adviser moving forward. That will no longer be the case now that Reich took the Jets’ job.

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Prior to coaching at Stanford, Reich was a head coach in the NFL. He has six years of experience in the role, five of which came with the Colts. Indianapolis went 40-33-1 under Reich, making the playoffs twice.

After being fired by the team during the 2022 season, Reich joined the Panthers in 2023. His time with the franchise was short, as he was fired just 11 games into the 2023 season. The Panthers were 1-10 when Reich was fired.

Reich will now be tasked with leading the Jets offense forward after a tumultuous campaign — and no answer at quarterback in sight amid the struggles from 2025 free-agent signing Justin Fields.

After an abysmal 3-14 season that landed the organization the No. 2 overall pick in the 2026 NFL Draft, New York decided to retain head coach Aaron Glenn, though there were plenty of shakeups elsewhere on staff.

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Those shakeups started with defensive coordinator Steve Wilks, who was fired one day after the team’s 48-20 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars in Week 15. The defense ranked 31st in points allowed per game in Wilks’ lone season as DC. The defense finished the year by making unfortunate history, becoming the first team in NFL history to go an entire season without forcing a single interception.

In late January, reports indicated the team would also be parting ways with quarterbacks coach Charles London, pass-game coordinator Scott Turner, defensive assistants Roosevelt Williams and Alonso Escalante, defensive line coach Eric Washington and linebackers coach Aaron Curry.

[Get more Jets news: New York team feed]

Days later, it was announced the team would also be parting ways with offensive coordinator Tanner Engstrand. Engstrand was with the Jets for just one season, having joined the staff after five seasons with the Detroit Lions, most recently as their passing game coordinator. The Jets ranked 29th in offensive yards and 29th in points in 2025.

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Reich will have his hands full as the organization continues on the road toward a full rebuild. In addition to the No. 2 overall pick, the Jets hold the 16th overall pick, which originally belonged to the Indianapolis Colts. That pick was acquired when New York traded All-Pro cornerback Sauce Gardner; the Jets also hold the rights to Indy’s 2027 first-round pick.

That will provide the organization with some solid draft capital with which to rebuild. But time will tell if that (and the $80-plus million in projected cap space) will be enough to fill the roster with enough talent to stay afloat in a competitive AFC East.

The 2026 NFL Draft is approaching and fantasy football managers in dynasty formats are likely looking ahead to their first-year player draft. One prospect who enters with intrigue is Washington wide receiver Denzel Boston, who is projected to be among the top five wideouts taken in the draft. Matt Harmon and Nate Tice discussed Boston’s outlook at the next level and brought up a pretty lofty comparison on the latest episode of the Yahoo Fantasy Forecast.

While Boston doesn’t profile as a complete receiver at this point, he can do one thing: get North. The Huskies WR excels at getting downfield and winning vertically, though his ability to make plays after the catch leaves plenty to be desired, according to Tice.

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Tice likes Boston’s ability to beat zone coverage, his catch range is good and he’s consistent. He had almost identical seasons in 2024 and 2025, catching 63 passes for 834 yards and nine TDs in 2024, and following that up with 62-881-11 this past season. Boston also returned punts for the Huskies and even scored a TD on a punt return in 2025, impressive for a player who stands 6-foot-4, 209 pounds.

Boston going to the Rams is what Tice is hoping for because, well, wouldn’t that be a lot of fun? A big vertical receiver joining Puka Nacua, Davante Adams and (hopefully) Matthew Stafford in Sean McVay’s offense. It might create the world’s biggest receiver trio.

Harmon gets into comps and has a take he wants to uncork. He almost never compares players to this “one-of-one unicorn” but Harmon sees some of Bucs’ future Hall of Famer Mike Evans in the young receiver. When Boston runs routes, Harmon sees Evans. So, of course Tice chimes in with the fantastic line: “Diet Coke Mike Evans is great.”

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Harmon doesn’t think Boston will go on to have that type of career and post 1,000 yards each season. But a lite version of Evans, given their physical comparisons and route running, isn’t wild to think. Being the Diet Coke version of a HOFer isn’t half bad.

Lost in the shuffle of all the major trades that went down Tuesday, with James Harden moving to Cleveland, Jaren Jackson Jr. ending up in Utah, and Jaden Ivey going to Chicago, the Bulls made another trade that saw a former All-Star center change addresses.

Nikola Vučević is now a Boston Celtic, as the organization took on Vučević and a second-round selection for Anfernee Simons and a second-round selection.

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(Confused about the second-round swap? We’ll get to it.)

Let’s get into some trade grades.

Chicago Bulls: B

The Bulls did Boston a solid by easing its tax burden, taking on over $6 million in salary in the swap.

You’d think lowering Boston’s tax bill would be worth a second-rounder outright, but apparently not in this economy.

That said, the Bulls did move up, and significantly so.

The Celtics relinquished a second, courtesy of the New Orleans Pelicans, which is currently slotted to land at No. 32, and the Celtics walk away with a 2027 second via Denver, which is expected to be low.

It’s unclear if Simons will play a role in Chicago moving forward. His expiring contract, worth $27.6 million, is a number he’s highly unlikely to receive again in free agency, meaning the Bulls could possibly get him back at a decent price.

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For the rest of this season, Simons does work within Chicago’s fast-paced offense in which it shoots a lot of 3-pointers and has a keen focus on offensive volume.

Will he get minutes alongside the recently acquired Ivey? Time will tell, but the Bulls currently have one of the deepest backcourts in the league from an offensive perspective.

Boston Celtics: B+

Look, this team needed a center, especially one who can stretch the floor. Vučević can do that. He’s hit 39.1% of those shots over his last 121 games and is getting them up at a decent volume (4.5 per), which fits well with how Boston plays.

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Vučević also provides the team with strong rebounding (10.4 for his career) and can string together nice passing patterns.

He’ll give the Celtics an interior offensive boost they’ve lacked for a while, all while the organization saves money on its tax bill.

Yes, the Celtics did give up a high second in what could be an absolutely loaded draft, but if that means solving an issue and getting a more streamlined cap sheet, so be it. That should be worth it at the end of the day.

The coaching carousel has been as active as ever this offseason, with over half of 2025’s play-callers being replaced for next season. Of the 17 spots to fill, 15 of the play-calling roles are set, with a unique group of three (two of whom are former NFL quarterbacks!) who have never called plays in the NFL before. Fantasy football analyst Joel Smyth breaks down what we should expect from the offenses built by the first-time play-callers.

Sean Mannion – Philadelphia Eagles

In early 2024, Sean Mannion was still on an NFL practice squad as a veteran quarterback. Two years later, and he’s the offensive coordinator and play-caller for one of the most talented offenses in the league. The former QB and third-round pick in 2015 spent his career as a backup in the league, including two years with Sean McVay in Los Angeles and is looking to make his mark in the NFL as a coach following his playing career. Mannion spent his last two seasons in Green Bay working as an offensive assistant before becoming the Packers’ quarterback coach in 2025. He helped develop Jordan Love and, perhaps more impressively, Malik Willis this season, who surprised with his play at the end of the year.

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Matt LaFleur has not had many direct disciples go on to become play-callers, but he is part of the vast coaching tree of Kyle Shanahan and Sean McVay. Nathaniel Hackett went from LaFleur’s offensive coordinator to the Broncos head coach, leading Denver to only outscore two offenses in 2022. In the last three seasons without Aaron Rodgers, the Packers identity has been built on running the ball while being creative in the passing game. The biggest difference in Mannion’s offense compared to the Eagles’ 2025 play-caller, Kevin Patulla, could be the high rate of motion.

The Packers offense, as well as the whole Shanahan/McVay tree, uses plenty of motion, while the Eagles ranked 28th in 2025, a stark difference compared to their 2024 season. Kellen Moore moved on after that one brilliant season in Philadelphia to become the Saints’ head coach and play-caller. As the Eagles fell to the bottom in motion, the Saints ranked fifth.

Although it’s nowhere near a guarantee, the potential Mannion provides to the Eagles is high. Saquon Barkley can stay in a high-volume offense, while Jalen Hurts can receive easier opportunities in a more creative attack. The biggest benefactor may be A.J. Brown after his stagnant role in 2025. The Eagles used Brown on the outside at an extreme rate, making his role more difficult in a low-motion offense.

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Declan Doyle – Baltimore Ravens

At 29 years old, Declan Doyle is easily the youngest play-caller in the NFL. However, unlike the other two first-timers on this list, Doyle did serve as an offensive coordinator last season when he joined Ben Johnson’s regime in Chicago.

If Doyle is able to recreate Ben Johnson’s success in the slightest, it will become a great move for Baltimore.

Johnson’s and Doyle’s offense was known for its play-action passing. Caleb Williams made great progress in Year 2 in a largely unfamiliar offense that included 34% of its passing attempts coming via play action, second only to Sean McVay’s Rams. So the question becomes: how is Lamar Jackson in the play-action game?

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In his marvelous QB1 overall season in 2024, Jackson averaged the highest fantasy points per snap on play-action passes. However, in a struggling 2025 season … still No. 1. Seventeenth in fantasy points per game, but the best in play action passing.

The Ravens’ personnel and overall tendencies were largely similar to Chicago’s in 2025. Doyle, especially as a coach who’s the same age as his QB, has a low floor like most first-time play-callers, but his path to Baltimore has been what you want to see in a new hire.

David Blough – Washington Commanders

The true wildcard of the play-caller carousel is David Blough. Another former quarterback — who was coaching quarterbacks for only two seasons — but this time, he’s an internal hire. Kliff Kingsbury is out in Washington, and with him, one of the more unique offenses to grace the NFL. His one-of-one offense would place star WRs solely on one side of the field, run no-huddle two times as often as any other team and have nearly no plays under center. Although it’s often mirrored in college, I’d be surprised to see Blough try to recreate the Kingsbury way.

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The Commanders offense had its weaknesses, but it provided plenty of fantasy production with a healthy Jayden Daniels in 2024. The risk is similar to that of Philadelphia, but this time, with less to model after and more to create from scratch. It will be an extremely difficult task for a young coach with a young quarterback.