With the NBA trade deadline less than a month away, several names are floating around as potential targets, as is tradition.
One player who has been attached to trade rumors for almost a year is Anthony Davis, the former NBA champion and one of the best two-way big men in the league.
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You’d think most teams would love to acquire him in a major blockbuster deal, however the situation is far more complicated than that, to the point where teams should stay away. Far, far away.
Let’s get into it.
Lack of availability
Since getting sent to the Dallas Mavericks just under a year ago in a surprising trade that involved Luka Dončić, Davis has played just 28 games for the franchise and has dealt with numerous injuries along the way.
If this was just a recent development and the former All-Star had historically had good health, it’d be easy to disregard this as a minor blip.
However, Davis’ relationship with injuries is a long one, to the point where it’s impossible to ignore if you’re a team with interest in his services.
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After a surprising 76-game campaign in 2023-24, it became clear how much of an outlier that season was. He played just 51 games the following year, and in the previous seasons, he logged 56, 40 and 36 appearances, respectively.
Despite being an enormously talented player who is averaging 24 points and 10.7 rebounds per game for his career, the point of acquiring him becomes moot if he doesn’t play.
Major financial commitment
If Davis were on a contract that made it more tolerable for a team to acquire him and live with the idea that he was going to miss half a season every year, that’d be one thing.
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But the reality is far different.
Davis has two additional years left on his deal after the conclusion of this season worth a total of $121.2 million in future salary commitment.
(That’s not including the $54.1 million he’s earning this year, which represents 35% of the salary cap.)
It’s franchise-altering to add that type of money to your books for an NBA team.
In fact, the only way to justify it would be to immediately launch yourself into championship contention as a direct result of the acquisition, but given the aforementioned availability issue, that seems like a bit of a stretch.
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It would be irresponsible for any franchise to take on that enormous amount of money with the attached injury history.
Age is catching up
Adding another layer of concern is the fact Davis turns 33 in March and is looking less springy than he has in the past.
This signals the launch of what is an inevitability: a decline, which obviously will only sharpen more drastically as he ages.
An Anthony Davis who is slowly going through the process of becoming the athlete formerly known as Anthony Davis just isn’t an asset. If his production drops off, what then is the logic in relinquishing assets to acquire his services and years of big money to your cap sheet?
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A player who is approaching his mid-30s is also difficult to build around, as the timeline is moved up. A franchise has to win immediately and won’t have years to set up something around Davis, even if he were a pillar of health.
So what does it all mean?
Davis remains a highly impactful basketball player who — when healthy — adds a ridiculous two-way presence to any rotation.
It’s just all too risky.
All teams should look at the Mavericks and think, “As long as you have that problem on your hands, that’s one less team to worry about.”
That sounds harsh, but it’s true. Davis, as a human being, isn’t a problem. But the contractual obligation is. The lack of availability is. The physical decline is. The overall risk attached to his acquisition is.
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There simply isn’t any logical reason to trade for Davis, unless you’re a franchise that doesn’t care about being competitive and exclusively wishes to make big headlines, with the idea of getting people into the stadium on the rare nights he’s available, perhaps through the perspective of selling his arrival as the return of the prodigal son coming home.
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🚨 Headlines
🏈 Harbaugh out in Baltimore: The Ravens fired head coach John Harbaugh on Tuesday, ending an 18-season tenure that included 12 playoff appearances and one Super Bowl win (2013). The franchise stalwart coached the Ravens for more than half of their 30-year existence.
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🏀 All-Star voting update: Luka Dončić and Giannis Antetekounmpo remain their conference’s top vote-getters for next month’s NBA All-Star Game in Los Angeles. Voting ends on Jan. 14, with starters announced five days later.
⛳️ WTGL coming soon: Following the success of TGL, whose second season began last week, LPGA golfers are getting a league of their own. Women’s TGL is set to debut next winter at the same custom-built stadium in Florida where the men play.
🏁 NASCAR commish resigns: Steve Phelps, who was named NASCAR’s first commissioner less than a year ago, has resigned amid backlash over a series of inflammatory texts he sent that were revealed during a recently-settled lawsuit.
🎾 Record purse in Melbourne: The Australian Open, which begins in less than two weeks, announced a record $74.9 million prize purse for this year’s tournament, including $2.8 million each for the men’s and women’s singles champions.
🏒 The NHL’s best team has a problem
Nathan MacKinnon and the Avalanche have been dominant. Just not on the power play. (Chris Arjoon/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
The best team in the NHL has one glaring weakness — and it could end up costing them a chance at history.
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Alone at the top: The Avalanche were expected to be good this season, but no team is ever expected to be this good.
Their 31-3-7 record at the halfway mark was the best since the NHL moved to an 82-game schedule in 1995-96.
They’re the fourth team in NHL history to record multiple 10-game winning streaks in a season, and they currently have six more wins (and 11 more points) than any other team.
They score the most goals (3.95 per game) and allow the fewest (2.21), and the second-best team in each category (3.45 and 2.63) isn’t even close.
Yes, but: For all their success, there’s one area where the Avs struggle mightily: the power play. They’ve scored just 23 goals in 143 man-up opportunities, good for a 16.1% success rate that ranks 26th out of 32 teams — an extreme outlier for a first-place squad with championship aspirations.
Consider this: Colorado is on pace to become just the fifth team to win 60 or more games in a season. Here’s where the other four ranked in power play percentage:
2022-23 Bruins: 22.2% (12th)
2018-19 Lightning: 28.2% (1st)
1995-96 Red Wings: 21.3% (2nd)
1976-77 Canadiens: 24.89% (2nd)
Again, the Avalanche rank 26th. It’s hard to fathom such an otherwise dominant team struggling to this degree in man-up situations, especially when that unit typically features arguably the best player (MVP favorite Nathan MacKinnon) and defenseman (Norris Trophy favorite Cale Makar) in the league.
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And if they don’t find a fix, it will likely derail their shot at the regular-season wins record (65), and could hinder them in the playoffs when man-up situations often define a series.
Bottom line: The Avalanche have spent most of the season looking like one of the best teams of the century. But remove a player from the opposing team, and suddenly they look surprisingly bad.
💯 Big numbers
(Stefano Rellandini/AFP via Getty Images)
🥇 1 month
Tuesday marked exactly one month until the Opening Ceremony of the 2026 Winter Olympics in the northern Italian cities of Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo, where roughly 3,000 athletes from over 90 countries will compete for glory.
Athletes by country: The USA leads the way with 154 athletes, followed by Italy (151), Canada (117), Germany (103), France (99), Switzerland (95), Czech Republic (91), Sweden (91), Finland (78) and Norway (51).
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🏒 -7.34 GSAx
Devils goalie Jacob Markstrom was awful in Tuesday’s 9-0 loss to the Islanders, allowing nine goals on just 24 shots on net. In fact, his performance was the single worst in NHL history by goals saved above expected (-7.34 GSAx), which calculates the difference between goals allowed (9) and expected goals allowed (1.66).
GSAx, explained: Goals saved above expected measures how many more (or fewer) goals a goalie allowed compared to an average goalie facing the same quality and quantity of shots. In layman’s terms, Markstrom surrendered roughly 7 more goals than an average goalie would have.
⚾️ 21 of 50
21 of our top 50 MLB free agents remain unsigned despite spring training being just six weeks away. “The key word is methodical,” said one agent of the slow-moving market. “I just don’t see any urgency.”
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Who’s still available? OF Kyle Tucker (1), 3B Alex Bregman (2), SS Bo Bichette (4), OF Cody Bellinger (7), LHP Framber Valdez (8) and LHP Ranger Suárez (9) are all in our top 10 and remain unsigned. Others include RHP Zac Gallen (12), C J.T. Realmuto (23), 3B Eugenio Suárez (24) and RHP Justin Verlander (48).
The RedHawks celebrate Tuesday’s victory over Western Michigan. (Miami-Ohio Athletics)
🏀 6 undefeated teams
Six men’s college basketball teams are still undefeated, which is almost unheard of this late in the season. In fact, that’s the same number of unbeatens through nine weeks as in the last five seasons combined.
One is not like the others: Five of those teams are ranked power conference programs (No. 1 Arizona, No. 2 Michigan, No. 3 Iowa State, No. 9 Nebraska and No. 11 Vanderbilt). The sixth is Miami (Ohio), a mid-major that hasn’t been ranked since 1999 and hasn’t been to the NCAA tournament in two decades.
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🏈 25 straight losses
Colts QB Riley Leonard continued a truly astonishing streak with last week’s loss to the Texans, as former Notre Dame QBs have now lost 25 consecutive NFL starts over the past 14 seasons. The last one to get a win? Chiefs QB Brady Quinn in Week 13 of the 2012 season.
The full list: Quinn lost four straight games to end his career in 2012, Jimmy Clausen lost the final four starts of his career across the 2014 and 2015 seasons with the Bears and Panthers, DeShone Kizer went 0-15 for the Browns in 2017 and Ian Book lost his only start for the Saints in 2021.
⚽️ 4 points
A few Premier League teams at the top of the table stand out above the rest, but the middle class is as jumbled as ever with just four points separating fifth-place Chelsea from 14th-place Crystal Palace as the second half of the season gets underway.
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Fun fact: It took just 20 weeks for the Premier League to complete a “circle of parity,” indicative of a league in which almost any team can beat any opponent on any given matchday.
🏈 The legend of Trinidad Chambliss
Trinidad Chambliss is interviewed after leading Ole Miss to victory in the Sugar Bowl. (David Buono/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
Trinidad Chambliss has enjoyed a meteoric rise over the past year, going from a D-II backup in Michigan to a playoff hero in the Deep South. Will his legendary story continue for another season at Ole Miss?
From Yahoo Sports’ Ross Dellenger:
A couple miles off campus, across the street from a Super Walmart and adjacent to a Chili’s, there exists a Planet Fitness that served as the primary workout space for a newly added transfer football player for the Ole Miss Rebels.
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For a couple weeks in May, few if anyone recognized the former Division II quarterback from Ferris State as he swiped a fob for access to the Planet Fitness franchise’s Oxford location, where, every day, he lifted weights and performed conditioning work with the general public of this college town.
In a little-known fact, Trinidad Chambliss wasn’t ruled academically eligible at Ole Miss until well into the summer. “I couldn’t even work out with the team,” Chambliss told Yahoo Sports in an interview earlier this fall from the team’s football facility. “There was a point over the summer where they thought I had to go back to Ferris State.”
The anecdote is yet another interesting piece in one of the most fascinating stories in the recent history of the sport. It’s a made-for-TV spectacle, a story with all the hallmarks for a Netflix documentary.
But a few days before Chambliss leads his streaking Ole Miss Rebels into a College Football Playoff semifinal against the Miami Hurricanes, the quarterback’s tale is overshadowed by its latest chapter: It is not clear whether his story will continue in college beyond this month.
Chambliss celebrates after leading Ferris State to the D-II national championship last December. (C. Morgan Engel/NCAA Photos via Getty Images)
Lording over Chambliss — and perhaps the entire college football quarterback transfer market — is a decision from the NCAA to grant him a sixth season of eligibility next year. Three days into the 15-day transfer portal, the association has not ruled.
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Chambliss — his legal representation, parents, agent and current school, too — is left in limbo while preparing for the biggest game of his life. “The unknown is uncomfortable,” says Trent Chambliss, the quarterback’s father.
While a half-dozen elite quarterback transfers make their future decisions and sign multi-million dollar contracts with a new school or their current program, Trinidad Chambliss is twisting in the winds of uncertainty, unable to officially strike a new deal.
That didn’t stop him overnight Sunday from agreeing to a new contract with the Rebels contingent on having the waiver granted, according to those with knowledge of the situation. The agreement sets up potential legal action if his waiver is not granted. Millions of dollars are now on the line.
Jaylen Brown has put the Celtics on his back this season. (Juan Ocampo/NBAE via Getty Images)
🏀 NBA on ESPN
Four teams firmly in the playoff picture take the court tonight as the second-place Celtics host the fourth-place Nuggets (7pm ET) and the second-place Spurs host the third-place Lakers (9:30pm).
Red-hot C’s: Since getting off to a slow 5-7 start, Boston has gone 18-5 behind MVP candidate Jaylen Brown, who’s averaging a career-high 29.6 points.
🏒 NHL on TNT
The Capitals host the Stars (7pm) in a heavyweight matchup, then it’s Blues at Blackhawks (9:30pm) in the nightcap.
More to watch:
🏀 NCAAM: No. 3 Iowa State at Baylor (8pm, Peacock); No. 13 Alabama at No. 11 Vanderbilt (9pm, ESPN2); Kansas State at No. 1 Arizona (9pm, FS1) … Iowa State, Vanderbilt and Arizona remain undefeated.
🏀 NCAAW: St. John’s at No. 1 UConn (7:30pm, truTV) … The Huskies (15-0) have won 31 straight games dating back to last season.
⚽️ Premier League: Crystal Palace vs. Aston Villa (2:30pm, Peacock); Manchester City vs. Brighton (2:30pm, Peacock) … Villa and City are tied for second, six points behind Arsenal.
Harbaugh walks off the field after Sunday’s loss in Pittsburgh. (Justin K. Aller/Getty Images)
John Harbaugh was the NFL’s second-longest-tenured head coach (18 seasons) before he was fired Tuesday.
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Question: Who is the only active NFL head coach who has been in his job longer?
Answer at the bottom.
🏀 Highlight of the night
(Giphy)
There are things Victor Wembanyama can do that no one else in the NBA can do. Or maybe no one else on Earth.
Exhibit A:See above. Did he just scissor kick basketballs stuck in a 10-foot basket? While nursing a bad knee? Yes. Yes, he did.
Consider this: The Guinness Book of World Records lists the highest unassisted martial arts kick (male) at 9 feet, 8 inches. Watch that GIF again… It certainly looks like Wemby’s foot gets within four inches of the rim, right? And he was only goofing off.
Trivia answer: Mike Tomlin (Steelers)
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You know the feeling. You’ve been sitting in traffic for what feels like an eternity, plodding along, always in the wrong lane. But then, miraculously, the traffic breaks up, and you have a free and clear open road ahead of you. What else is there to do but floor it?
You, in this scenario, are Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills, and the open road is this year’s postseason. No Lamar Jackson. No Joe Burrow. And, most significantly, no Patrick Mahomes waiting to wreck yet another Bills season.
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As the AP noted earlier this week, outside of Aaron Rodgers’ 11 playoff wins, no AFC quarterback has anywhere close to Allen’s seven postseason victories. CJ Stroud has two, Trevor Lawrence has one, and no one else in the conference even has one. Quarterback wins aren’t the most reliable metric — Rodgers does not exactly have the best odds to win the AFC — but they attest to a quarterback’s ability to survive and thrive under postseason pressure.
So yes, the road would seem to be clear for Buffalo … were it not for that retooled, reworked road rocket in an all-too-familiar red-white-and-blue paint scheme streaking up on the outside.
Six years after Tom Brady and Bill Belichick relinquished their hold on the AFC East, five years after Buffalo began stacking division titles again, and in the same season that the hated Chiefs finally played themselves out of the postseason … here come those damn New England Patriots again. There aren’t enough tables in Buffalo to cushion Bills fans’ agony.
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Buffalo surrendered the AFC East title to Mike Vrabel, Drake Maye and the resurgent Patriots in 2025 after holding it the past five seasons. This isn’t an inconsequential shift; losing their annual home-field advantage means Buffalo can’t freeze out visitors for at least one postseason game. The Bills’ Super Bowl window has been closing for years, but now here come the Patriots, trying to pound that window shut with both hands.
Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills split their series with the New England Patriots this season. (Sarah Stier/Getty Images)
(Sarah Stier via Getty Images)
But if the Bills are looking for hope, first off, they don’t need to look any farther than Week 15. In their crucial road rematch with New England, down 21-0 midway through the second quarter and 24-7 at halftime, the Bills rallied with three straight touchdowns and then traded punches en route to a 35-31 victory. It wasn’t enough to reclaim the division, but it was enough to make a serious statement.
Allen believed that the message coming out of that game was, “We’re not out of it. We’re going to continue to fight, one play at a time. No matter what the score is, if it’s in the third quarter, it’s in the fourth quarter,” he said after the victory. “Whatever it is, if we’ve got a chance and we’ve got the ball, we feel like we like our chances. That’s that.”
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He’s right; the Bills have made a habit of posting second-half comebacks to win. They set the tone back in the very first game of the season, rallying from 15 points down to Baltimore in the final four minutes of the game to win. In Week 14, Buffalo posted another flurry of fourth-quarter touchdowns — three in under five minutes — to flip a 10-point deficit to Cincinnati into a victory. And now that Foxborough win looms large in both teams’ minds.
Plus, there’s the theory of battle testing. Allen and the Bills have been here before — many times before, but let’s not belabor that point — while this is the first playoff journey for Vrabel, Maye and the rest of the Patriots as a unit.
And if you believe in the validity of regular-season tuneups, Buffalo had to face the they-were-good-at-the-time Ravens and Chiefs, while the Patriots drew the Raiders, Browns and Giants. (Both teams fattened up on the lower half of their division and the mostly easy pickings of the NFC South.)
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A potential Bills-Patriots postseason matchup wouldn’t happen until the AFC title game; Buffalo would face Denver next round if both teams win. But if the cards fell that way, it would be one hell of a game.
Both offensively and defensively, the Bills and Patriots finished the season with near-identical top-of-the-league numbers. New England averaged 379.4 yards of offense and 28.8 points per game; Buffalo averaged 376.3 yards and 28.3 points. On defense, Buffalo allowed 293.1 yards and 21.2 points, while New England allowed more yards, 295.2, but fewer points at 18.8.
Last season, after yet another playoff loss to the Chiefs — an AFC championship that was tied with less than four minutes remaining — Allen meditated on what went wrong once again. “You got to not just knock,” he said. “You got to kick the door down, and we didn’t do that.”
Belichick and Brady are gone, but Vrabel and Maye will be around for a long time to come. The time is now for Buffalo to kick the door down, regardless of who’s standing on the other side.
When Cleveland Browns kicker Andre Szmyt made a 49-yard field goal with no time remaining to defeat the Cincinnati Bengals 20-18 on Sunday afternoon, there were plenty of bettors with Bengals money-line wagers who were hurt by the result.
But it’s highly unlikely that anyone had as much on the line as Pete Tarsiewicz, who picked the Bengals as his Week 18 selection in Circa Sports’ $18.7 million NFL Survivor pool. As one of the six remaining entries, the game-winning kick cost him a chance at $3.12 million.
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The contest requires entrants to pick one NFL team each week of the season to simply win its game outright — and no team can be used more than once. Circa’s contest is unique in that it breaks out Thanksgiving and Christmas as separate weeks, so 20 correct selections are required to “survive” and make it all 18 weeks of the regular season.
This year, six entries (including Tarsiewicz’s) were still alive heading into Sunday’s games, meaning each one had an implied value of roughly $3.12 million. The $18.7 million prize pool — the largest prize pool in legal sports betting history — gets split by however many entires make it the full 20 weeks.
Tarsiewicz, a 30-something-year old married man with children living on the East Coast, was a former professional poker player and has made his primary income from daily fantasy sports and sports betting.
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This was only the second year he had entered Circa’s contest after hearing about it from a friend, and last year he flew out to Las Vegas for 24 hours to sign up. One of the multiple entries that he (and his two partners) had last season ended up making it all the way to the final week — only to select the Atlanta Falcons, and see them lose 44-38 to the Carolina Panthers in overtime as 8-point favorites.
“When I look at last year, I just have to laugh,” Tarsiewicz told Yahoo Sports on Tuesday. “We didn’t know what the hell we were doing. Our strategy changed multiple times as the contest went on. We weren’t happy that we had to take the Falcons because everyone who had them available was going to be on them.”
Tarsiewicz said he hedged on the Panthers money line before the Week 18 game last year, and added another $10,000-$20,000 on Carolina +500 at halftime after the Falcons scored a touchdown late in the first half to go up 24-17 and offer better odds on some more Panthers ML exposure.
Tarsiewicz watched the game from the comfort of his home and described his strategy going into the game as, “I had a certain amount I wanted to hedge but didn’t want to do all before the game. It sucked to lose, but I mean I was pretty well hedged there.”
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In all, 18 entries were competing for the $14.26 million prize last year, and Tarsiewicz’s was one of eight entries that went down with the Falcons. Two more lost with the Packers, resulting in eight winners of $1.78 million each.
Ahead of this season’s contest, Tarsiewicz removed one partner, replaced him with another one and had a similar result — a perfect 19-0 run in the contest, heading into the final week.
“Obviously, it’s super lucky to get the end,” he said. “But we felt more confident about strategy this year than last year.”
Two entries had selected the Minnesota Vikings (vs. the Packers), one had Atlanta Falcons (vs. the Saints), one had the Jacksonville Jaguars (vs. the Titans) and the other had the New England Patriots (vs. the Jets).
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The Vikings and Jaguars were relatively stress-free victories, while the Falcons held on for a 19-17 win over the short-handed Saints. That meant there were already four of the remaining six entries through in the early window (with the Patriots, who would later beat the Dolphins, remaining in the late window).
Much like last year, Tarsiewicz watched from the comfort of his home, but this time hedged the full amount he wanted on the Browns ML before the game. He was tempted to add more on the other side (Bengals ML) during the game, seeing how much Cincinnati was dominating everywhere except on the scoreboard, but decided against it since he had some much riding on a Bengals win already.
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He watched the game on Red Zone, but didn’t even catch the whole game, as he admitted that “once I decided I wasn’t going to hedge anymore, I was like, ‘I don’t really care about watching this game anymore.’ I used to sweat games pretty hard from my DFS days, but those days are behind me.”
He was also interrupted in the middle of the game by one of his daughters crying and so he spent some time with her. After he saw the final field goal go through the uprights, he told Yahoo Sports that his emotions were mixed.
“The result is the result,” Tarsiewicz told Yahoo Sports stoically. “I’m pretty disappointed that I don’t get the big check and get the ceremony and all that, but we hedged enough that financially it’s fine. To do it twice with my entry is hilarious to me, to go 19-1 back-to-back years, so you have feel a certain type of way. But once the decision has been made [on the pick], I’m OK with the result.”
He spent the rest of Sunday night with his family, and when Yahoo Sports spoke with him on Tuesday, he seemed to be at peace with the situation. He plans on entering the Circa Survivor contest again next year — and hopefully getting that coveted blazer, along with a little more cash for going 20-0.
“We can’t be too upset with the result. Just no checks [this year].”
Days after the Kansas City Chiefs’ Week 18 loss to the Las Vegas Raiders, star tight end Travis Kelce remains undecided about his future. Kelce addressed his playing status on the latest episode of the “New Heights” podcast, stressing he will take some time to see how he feels this offseason before making a decision.
“You know, I’ve talked to a few people in the facility already, having the exit meetings and everything. They know where I stand, at least right now. There’s a lot of love for the game that’s still there, and I don’t know if I’ll ever lose that.
“I don’t know. It’s a tough thing to navigate, but at the same time, if my body can heal up and rest up and I can feel confident that I can go out there and give it another 18-, 20-, 21-week run, I would do it in a heartbeat.
“I think right now it’s just finding that answer and seeing how the body feels after this game and kinda when it all settles down.”
Kelce’s brother, former Philadelphia Eagles center Jason Kelce, then asked Travis about some comments made by Chiefs defensive tackle Chris Jones, who said after Week 18 that he expects Travis to return for another year.
Kelce laughed off that quote, saying, “That’s why we love Chris. He’s very optimistic.” Kelce then very quickly transitioned from that topic, not wanting to address it anymore.
In many ways, Kelce experienced a bounce-back season in 2025. After a down year in 2024, Kelce hauled in 76 passes for 851 yards and 5 touchdowns this season. While those figures were down compared to his prime, Kelce had a higher yards per reception, more receiving yards and more receiving touchdowns compared to 2024.
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While that offered some proof Kelce can still play, it’s unclear if he’ll want to return for another year, especially with Patrick Mahomes looking at some missed time at the start of the 2026 NFL season. Mahomes tore his ACL in December, and will spend the entire offseason rehabbing from the injury. The team has not put a timeline on Mahomes’ return.
If Mahomes misses time next season, Kelce would open the year catching passes from Chiefs backups. That didn’t lead to a lot of success in Week 18, as Kelce hauled in just three catches for 12 yards in the contest. That was essentially how things went for Kelce once Mahomes got hurt. After Mahomes was lost for the season, Kelce failed to score a touchdown the rest of the way.
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In addition to his overall health, Kelce will have to take that into consideration when debating whether he wants to run it back for another season. The 36-year-old has already secured his place in Canton and has three Super Bowl rings, so there’s not much left for him to accomplish in the NFL.
If he does come back for another season, it will be because Kelce still loves the game. That’s a pretty good place to be, all things considered.
Alabama’ Ty Simpson is entering the 2026 NFL Draft, the redshirt junior quarterback announced on Wednesday.
The 23-year-old Simpson just completed his first full season as a starter after three seasons as a backup for the Crimson Tide. In 2025, he threw for 3,567 yards, 28 touchdowns and 5 interceptions in 15 games.
Alabama went 11-4 this past season and reached the College Football Playoff quarterfinals before falling to top-ranked Indiana at the Rose Bowl where he suffered a cracked rib during the third quarter of the 38-3 loss.
“Just how resilient these guys were,” Simpson said when asked following the Rose Bowl how he’ll remember the 2025 season. “How much it meant to everybody. Starting off losing the first game, losing my first start, all the doubt, all the scrutiny we all took, how we all came together and how we all were going to fight for each other. Everybody gets mad that nobody expected us to be here, but that’s kind of how it was. Started off 0-1 losing to Florida State. Now made it to the Rose Bowl. Didn’t end the way we wanted it to.”
Simpson arrived in Tuscaloosa in 2022 and began his career playing for Nick Saban during the coach’s final two seasons. He played behind Bryce Young in 2022 and then Jalen Milroe in 2023 and 2024 before taking over the starting role this past season.
Last weekend, former Cincinnati quarterback Brendan Sorsby visited two campuses as he determined his next destination: LSU and Texas Tech.
Ultimately, he committed to the Red Raiders for a price tag of at least $5 million in annual compensation.
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Behind the scenes, the Big 12 and SEC programs battled for Sorsby in what is believed to be the highest-priced bidding war in college football history, at least since such compensation was legalized last summer.
The lofty money figure has left many within the industry asking a question.
How can a school remain under or even near the revenue-share cap of $20.5 million while paying a single player such a high salary?
While that answer is obvious to some — the use of third-party NIL marketing deals exempt from counting against the cap — there is now documented proof.
It comes in the form of a $3.5 million package offered to Sorsby through LSU’s multi-media rights partner, Playfly Sports Properties.
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The 11-page document between Playfly and Sorsby, obtained by Yahoo Sports, is unsigned and is only a proposed service agreement, but it offers a fascinating window into the new world of college athlete compensation, where schools are using multi-media rights partners, marketing agencies, corporate sponsors and apparel brands to, perhaps legally, exceed the industry’s new quasi-salary cap.
The one-year NIL agreement with Sorsby, in theory, is only a portion of his total compensation. In fact, language in the contract suggests that the school planned to compensate Sorsby through direct university revenue-share with an additional amount — likely at least $1 million — for a total payment competitive with Texas Tech’s offer.
The LSU Tigers were in the running for Cincinnati transfer QB Brendan Sorsby, but he ultimately signed with Texas Tech.
(Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
The $3.5 million is an NIL-related marketing guarantee struck with Playfly “on behalf” of NILSU MAX, an independent, self-sustaining entity formed in conjunction with LSU athletics and Playfly to “identify and secure NIL opportunities for Tiger student athletes,” according to its page on the university’s website.
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In essence, NILSU MAX, acting as a marketing agency, is charged with fulfilling the $3.5 million guarantee by landing sponsorship deals for Sorsby through Playfly’s corporate partners and affiliates — the act of either redirecting sponsorship dollars that in the past often only went to the athletic department or raising new sponsorship monies.
While this is a legitimate practice used across the country and a concept that is permitted as part of college athletics’ new revenue-share structure, none of the millions guaranteed to Sorsby had been approved through the industry’s new enforcement arm, the College Sports Commission, and its clearinghouse, NIL Go, which is charged with assuring third-party contracts have a “valid business purpose” and do not exceed an established “range of compensation.”
That’s where things get tricky.
Will these deals pass the clearinghouse?
While universities are prohibited from offering athletes third-party NIL guarantees, third parties themselves are permitted to do so.
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The Sorsby contract proposal shines a light on the method in which universities — not just LSU — are assembling financial packages for some athletes: with a portion of direct university revenue-share payments, plus a portion of NIL third-party guarantees that have been promised yet not cleared.
It could make for some anxious moments this spring, when the clearinghouse is expected to receive an influx in third-party contracts that have already been guaranteed to athletes. If a player accepts compensation from a deal denied by the clearinghouse, he or she is deemed ineligible barring a successful appeal through an arbitration system that, as of this point, hasn’t been utilized.
“There’s going to be some rude awakening when these deals start to be submitted,” says one college sports official who spoke to Yahoo Sports under condition of anonymity. “This is going to end with a lot of these guarantees not being met.”
Both Playfly and LSU declined to comment when reached this week about the proposed contract for Sorsby.
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In the past, LSU officials have been public about their work to adhere to new revenue-share policies and are in constant communication with officials at the College Sports Commission. The university has had just one submitted NIL agreement denied by the clearinghouse, one school official told Yahoo Sports.
Individual sponsorship deals secured by NILSU MAX would, presumably, each feature their own contract, money figure (that goes toward the $3.5 million) and a separate set of required deliverables from Sorsby that each must pass through the clearinghouse.
But what if NILSU MAX cannot fulfill the $3.5 million guarantee with sponsorships?
According to the contract, the agency would foot the bill by using Sorsby’s likeness in promotional materials as well as the quarterback performing a very limited amount of “services” — many of which are most similar to the deliverables featured in school-affiliated booster-collective contracts over the last four years (appearances, autograph signings).
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LSU’s proposed guarantee with Sorsby may have eventually cleared NIL Go. After all, he was ranked as one of the top quarterbacks in the portal playing at a powerhouse program under offensive-minded Lane Kiffin — all variables in driving up the commercial value of the player and improving the chance that the individual deals will pass the clearinghouse.
Over the last two seasons, Brendan Sorsby has thrown for 45 touchdowns and 5,600 yards and also has another 1,000-plus yards and 18 TDs on the ground. (Bryan Byerly/Getty Images)
(Bryan Byerly/ISI Photos via Getty Images)
But that’s not necessarily the case with all of these contracts.
Within college sports, the guarantees go beyond individual players. For instance, as part of LSU’s agreement to hire Lane Kiffin away from Ole Miss, the university verbally promised him a roster value of at least $25 million — roughly $5 million over the sport’s new revenue-share cap ($20.5M) meant to be spent on all athletes.
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LSU isn’t alone in any of this. During this year’s coaching cycle, multiple athletic administrators built in a roster guarantee as a way to attract their new head coach.
On the individual level, Sorsby’s contract is likely similar to dozens signed by quarterbacks and other high-profile players, either to remain at their current school or leave for a competitor. One agent recently told Yahoo Sports that the annual compensation for top-end seasoned power conference quarterbacks is as high as $7 million when factoring in incentives.
Many college sports stakeholders and legal experts say that deals eventually denied by the clearinghouse may result in challenges through the court system. One of those includes LSU’s own coach, Kiffin, who’s repeatedly said publicly over the last year that he expects the industry’s new system to be the subject of lawsuits.
The fear of athlete employment grips much of the industry.
For instance, the proposed NIL contract identifies Sorsby as an independent contractor, specifically noting that it is not an employment agreement. The same goes for revenue-share contracts issued from schools to athletes.
Sorsby’s proposed NIL contract includes individual incentives like many such coaching agreements with universities. The quarterback could have earned an additional $500,000 if he met all of the incentives, the biggest of which is winning the Heisman Trophy or Maxwell Award ($200,000). The incentives are built into the contract with the expectation that the player’s “branding opportunities” will increase with the success, according to the contract language.
Texas Tech’s deal for Sorsby, while remaining undisclosed, was expected to be structured in a similar way, using a combination of university revenue-share and NIL deals to reach, at the very least, the $5 million mark. The deal includes a significant investment from the school’s apparel partner, Adidas, sources tell Yahoo Sports.
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This is the sport’s new world.
Schools are employing multimedia rights partners, marketing agencies and apparel brands to use corporate sponsors to direct their distribution to athletes instead of to the school. Those in the industry term this as a “redirect of revenue,” and it has been at the center of recent discussions among college sports executives, some of whom want to prohibit such.
There’s a brewing bidding war unfolding among multimedia rights holders like Playfly, Learfield and JMI, as well as apparel brands like Nike, Under Armour and Adidas, each jockeying to offer schools the best NIL-centric contract to gain university partnerships.
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Multimedia rights partners are already paying schools millions in licensing agreements to sell their intellectual property, such as marks and logos, and apparel brands distribute millions in cash to the biggest school brands to outfit their teams.
Corporate sponsors want both — the marks plus the athletes — for the most lucrative NIL deals, Craig Sloan, the CEO of Playfly Sports, told Yahoo Sports in the summer. During that interview, Sloan said Playfly doesn’t guarantee schools a certain amount of NIL for their athletes, but, moreso, “shares a vision” with schools on a “need number” for NIL.
Learfield is approaching it in a similar fashion.
Last year, Learfield announced new NIL-related partnerships with several power programs, including Texas, Georgia and Oklahoma — all of these deals billed as a way to “unlock new revenue-generating opportunities” for athletes. Playfly, meanwhile, struck a 15-year, $515 million deal with Texas A&M last summer, believed to be one of the most lucrative multimedia rights contracts in the history of college athletics and one that offers NIL components.
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The market is ‘insane’
There’s something else muddying the portal compensation waters, though.
“The whole point of this was for us all to be playing by the same rules, but we are not,” Cincinnati coach Scott Satterfield said in July. “We are not playing by the same rules, particularly this past spring when everybody is apparently frontloading where others are having to now spend their [revenue-share] cap.”
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Sorsby’s going rate of $5 million is toward the top of the sport, but it’s not at all surprising.
Most veteran power conference quarterbacks are demanding at least $2 million. But it’s not only QBs. On Sunday, two days into the 15-day transfer portal opening, roughly one-fifth of FBS players were already in the system. Power conference edge rushers, offensive tackles, cornerbacks and receivers — all fetching the highest price among positions — are requesting well into the seven figures, those with knowledge of the negotiations tell Yahoo Sports.
“It’s insane,” says one college official.
But when comparing a football roster’s compensation to a football coaching staff, it becomes more sensible. For instance, at least a half-dozen head coaches will earn $10 million or more next year — a strikingly high figure when compared to their athlete counterparts. Most power conference schools are allotting roughly $13 million to $16 million of their revenue-share pool to football rosters this year, excluding any third-party NIL guarantees.
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Will all of these deals pass the clearinghouse?
A stiff test for the system looms this spring after transfer portal-related signings. But that assumes athletes will submit deals. Non-compliance is a concern among some college stakeholders, especially given the upstart nature of the new enforcement entity.
The College Sports Commission currently has nine employees, including two on the investigative team. The organization only just started in June.
Another issue arose last month that may hamper the CSC’s enforcement capabilities, when a group of power conference universities declined to sign the organization’s “participation agreement” geared to protect it from legal challenges from the school themselves. The agreement is in the midst of being modified with hopes to get all 68 power conference schools to sign in the near future.
Ohio State’s Caleb Downs is declaring for the 2026 NFL Draft.
The safety announced Wednesday that he would forego his senior season. The announcement was a foregone conclusion. Downs is considered a top-10 pick and could even be the first defensive back taken in the draft.
“Wearing the scarlet and gray means committing to excellence and chasing the ultimate goal,” Downs wrote. “Being part of a team that brought a national championship home is something I will always be proud of. Competing for Ohio State these past two years, alongside my teammates, and upholding this tradition has been one of the greatest honors of my life.”
In Yahoo Sports’ latest mock draft, Charles McDonald and Nate Tice had Downs go No. 9 overall to the Kansas City Chiefs as the second defensive back taken.
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Downs played two years at Ohio State after transferring from Alabama following Nick Saban’s retirement after the 2023 season. He was an immediate starter for the Crimson Tide after being a five-star recruit, and led the Crimson Tide with 107 tackles while also grabbing two interceptions.
At Ohio State, he anchored a defense that helped lead the Buckeyes to a national title a season ago. Despite losing to Oregon and Michigan in the regular season, Ohio State won the first 12-team playoff with its national title game victory over Notre Dame.
Downs had 81 tackles, 7.5 tackles for loss and two picks a season ago and was named an All-American. This season, he was a back-to-back All-American selection and finished ninth in the Heisman voting with 68 tackles, five tackles for loss, a sack, two interceptions and two forced fumbles.
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He helped lead a defense that allowed fewer than 10 points per game. Miami beat Ohio State 24-14 in the Cotton Bowl and, thanks to the help of a Keionte Scott pick-6, became the first team to score more than 16 points on Ohio State all season.
We’re back hoops fans with another Yahoo Fantasy x Arena Club drop for Week 12. Yahoo Fantasy Basketball Slab Packs are a brand-new weekly drop featuring real, graded trading cards of the hottest fantasy performers in the NBA.
If you’re new to Arena Club, here’s the lowdown. Arena Club is the premier online marketplace for sports cards, giving collectors a way to rip packs virtually, buy and sell graded cards and track their entire collection — all in one place. Whether you’re in it for the hobby, the thrill or the chase, Arena Club brings the excitement directly to your screen.
Each week, Arena Club curates real, graded NBA cards and builds two types of Yahoo Fantasy Slab Packs:
Every pack contains a graded card of an active NBA player — but the real treasure is the weekly Chase Cards, featuring some of the top fantasy basketball performers from the past week. These limited-edition hits can reach values up to 20x the cost of the pack.
Weekly NBA Slab Packs go live every Wednesday at 1 p.m. ET and remain available through Friday at 1 p.m. ET (or until they’re gone). It’s the ultimate mid-week boost for fantasy hoopers and collectors alike.
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To top it off, use promo code YAHOO at checkout for 20% off your first slab pack or card purchase on ArenaClub.com or the Arena Club app.
This Week’s Featured Players
Rip a slab pack today for a chance to pull one of the week’s biggest fantasy basketball stars:
Tyrese Maxey, Sixers
Maxey rang in 2026 in style with 74 fantasy points on a 34-8-10 line with two steals and two blocks in a win over the Mavericks on New Year’s Day last week.
Chet Holmgren, Thunder
After a slow start to the season, Holmgren is starting to heat up. Toward the end of 2025, Holmgren posted three straight double-doubles and is averaging 41.9 fantasy points per game over the past seven days.
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Paolo Banchero, Magic
Last week, Banchero posted four straight games with at least 53 fantasy points in Yahoo High Score. One of those performances was a 23-15-10 triple-double.
LaMelo Ball, Hornets
Ball has struggled with consistency and injuries this season, but is starting to post ceiling games. He posted 51 fantasy points on New Year’s Eve against the Warriors.
Amen Thompson, Rockets
Thompson continues to improve in Year 3 in the NBA and is playing big minutes for the Rockets, who are among the best teams in the Western Conference this season.
Weekly Drops. Real Cards. Real Value. Real Thrill.
With new cards releasing every week based on real fantasy performance, the Yahoo Fantasy x Arena Club partnership delivers a constantly refreshing lineup of NBA stars — and the chase cards you’ll be talking about all season.
Don’t miss this week’s release.
Rip your slab pack, hit a chase card, and upgrade your collection today!
Amid Indiana’s remarkable undefeated college football season, IU alumnus Mark Cuban is raising the stakes by donating more money to the athletic department.
Hoosiers athletic director Scott Dolson decides how to handle the funds, Cuban explained to “FOS,” but he did not reveal the amount he donated this time.
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“Let’s just say they are happier this year than last year,” Cuban wrote.
While Indiana’s dream season continues, the college football transfer portal opened on Jan. 2, and the Hoosiers quickly put Cuban’s funds to good use. Indiana has already added TCU quarterback Josh Hoover, who is expected to replace Heisman winner Fernando Mendoza at the position.
The Hoosiers have also signed Boston College running back Turbo Richard and Michigan State wide receiver Nick Marsh, two highly rated players available in this year’s portal.
Before Dec. 2024, Cuban had never donated directly to Indiana’s athletic department. Cuban told CBS Sports in October that he gave “a big number” to the athletic department, and said his connection with head coach Curt Cignetti influenced that decision. Cignetti and Cuban both have Pittsburgh-area roots and were born in the same hospital three years apart.
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Cuban was present for IU’s Rose Bowl blowout victory over Alabama, which advanced the Hoosiers to the College Football Playoff semifinals. Indiana will face Oregon in the Peach Bowl on Friday for a chance to play in the national championship game on Jan. 19.
