It’s been 15 months since wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk played in a game for the San Francisco 49ers. A divorce felt inevitable, and general manager John Lynch confirmed it Wednesday.
“I think it’s safe to say he’s played his last snap with the 49ers,” Lynch told reporters in his end-of-season news conference, according to The Athletic’s Matt Barrows.
But as the 49ers navigated other injuries across their roster this season, they reportedly grew increasingly frustrated with Aiyuk. The receiver, whom San Francisco selected No. 25 overall out of Arizona State in the 2020 draft, had failed to participate in meetings and other team activities, according to a Nov. 21 report from The Athletic, which noted that the 49ers responded to Aiyuk’s absences and lack of communication by voiding the guaranteed money in his contract for 2026.
That also paved the way for Aiyuk to be released at the end of the season. He told NFL Players Association reps that he didn’t want to file an official grievance against the move, per The Athletic.
Lynch and head coach Kyle Shanahan’s commentary about the Aiyuk situation Wednesday confirmed the behavior The Athletic’s report described, per David Lombardi of The San Francisco Standard. As for why Aiyuk’s relationship with the franchise waned?
“I wish I knew. I can’t help you,” Lynch said, according to Lombardi, who also reported that Shanahan added, “It’s confusing for all of us. … We still don’t understand it very well.”
The NBA trade deadline is Feb. 5. Let’s dive into the chatter and try to make sense of it all.
Morten Stig Jensen: All right, Kelly. The NBA trade deadline is just two weeks away, and we’ve already seen Trae Young change addresses, with Ja Morant and Anthony Davis rumored to follow suit.
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But instead of regurgitating those same two names, I’m wondering if we should identify teams that are just generally in need of doing … well, something!
Detroit is No. 1 in the East, and that’s obviously good, but I can’t escape the feeling they aren’t that heavy in the talent department.
Tobias Harris’ expiring contract, worth over $26.6 million, could be a big trade chip, and now is the time to do something as Jalen Duren is going to earn a new paycheck this coming summer.
Lauri Markkanen is a name often bandied about in connection with the Pistons, but should they even try to enter into negotiations with Danny Ainge?
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Kelly Iko: The Pistons are having a historic season, are loaded with young talent and have the league’s second-ranked defense. It would be an absolute buzzkill for them to stand pat before the trade deadline.
From an offensive standpoint, Detroit is kind of meh. They’re 26th in offensive rating since Jan. 1, 23rd in halfcourt points per possession, 26th in 3-point attempt rate and 22nd in 3-point makes.
In a perfect world, Cade Cunningham would be this prolific driver, drawing downhill gravity and spraying out to shooters on the perimeter who could either knock down catch-and-shoot looks or create their own if the defense adjusts. According to Second Spectrum, Cunningham is fifth in drives per game (16.8), but the difference between him and, say, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, is stark. Cunningham shoots 10% worse on drives and 10% worse at the free-throw line than SGA.
The playoffs are essentially a math problem and when the book is out on Detroit — swarm Cunningham at the point of attack and dare their role players to make shots — the issues could come quickly. Houston’s 2024-25 season comes to mind: exciting young core with a kick-ass defense that struggles in the halfcourt. That was a first-round exit.
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So yes, I think Markkanen makes sense in a lot of ways as a jumbo creator with uber-spacing ability. Ditto for Michael Porter Jr. and Trey Murphy. Yahoo Sports’ Kevin O’Connor recently put together a nice list of names the Pistons should be chasing, but the overarching theme is as awesome as Detroit has been for a refreshing storyline, this is anything but a perfect team.
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Back to you, Mort. Who’s second on your list and why? Perhaps a team out West …
Mort: Sir, if you’re insinuating that I should bring up the Spurs here, I shan’t disappoint. This team is just so far ahead of where most had them pegged at this stage, and that leads to a similar conclusion as you had with Detroit. It’d be a buzzkill if they didn’t do, well, something.
So let me throw something your way that’s proper insanity.
The Spurs need a more-than-solid wing big if they are to constantly go up against the Oklahoma City Thunder. We can sit here all day and talk about short-term solutions and who might come cheaper on the trade front, but let’s kill that noise and go all in.
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Deni Avdija.
The Blazers have zero — and I mean ZERO — interest in moving off their 26/7/7 wing, who should make his first All-Star team this season.
As such, the Spurs need to make what we rarely see anymore: the Godfather offer.
Kelly Olynyk for salary-matching and damn near every tradable pick under the sun, in particular the juicy ones, such as Atlanta’s 2027, a future Kings swap option and some of their own in the 2030s.
They’re clearly moving off Jeremy Sochan, and while Harrison Barnes is one of the best role players in the league, he’s getting up there in age. There’s going to be a need for a wing big who can play power forward, and they need someone who can shoot, handle the ball and initiate plays in such a role.
Why not make a play for a guy who fits the timeline, is dirt cheap ($13.1 million in 2026-2027 and $11.8 million in 2027-28) and could realistically catapult you into championship contention this very season?
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At the very least, the Blazers can receive the offer. If they wish to stick with Avdija, which I think we both could understand, then so be it. But it’d show some aggressiveness on behalf of the Spurs in trying to fulfill their mission as soon as possible and while Victor Wembanyama is still young and (relatively) healthy.
(I don’t want to put the injury hex on him, but let’s be real. Human beings who are 7-feet-5 and play professional sports historically play fewer years than, say, smaller lead guards.)
Iko: Love the idea of Avdija in San Antonio. So much of what the Spurs do — from a non-Wemby and offensive balance vantage point — revolves around the proficiency of their guard play. Bringing in a taller initiator with legit three-level scoring ability would give them an added wrinkle while still keeping their spacing in Devin Vassell and Julian Champagnie.
Here’s my devil’s advocate question for you, though. We just named two teams that could benefit from pulling the trade trigger. But what about the teams that would be letting these assets go? Is there a world where the Blazers ponder what Avdija looks like next to a healthy Damian Lillard? Is there a world where the Jazz start to actually build around Markkanen and Keyonte George? Or are those teams destined for NBA purgatory and should flip their hot commodities while they still can?
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Mort: I usually want teams in NBA purgatory to not go all in, as that often insinuates they don’t have their leading man.
(Neither the Blazers nor Jazz are in purgatory due to their situations, but it’s fair to wonder if their ultimate ceiling is capped as none of Avdija, Markkanen or George projects as a Tier 1 superstar.)
However.
Allow me to just bring up the Bulls for a second. We don’t assume competence on their part, and probably rightly so, but have you seen the situation they’re in?
If new leadership were to take over, it’d be licking its chops: an enormous bundle of expiring contracts, upward of $80-plus million, control of all of their picks and even some youngsters with trade value.
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Is this a team that should take a step back and build even more draft equity? Probably, but that’s never been its favorite song. Instead, this leadership has a history of buying and leaning into some questionable upgrades, such as Nikola Vučević at the trade deadline in 2021, when they then followed up in free agency by acquiring both Lonzo Ball and DeMar DeRozan.
Is this on-the-fence team one we should keep an eye on?
Generally speaking, I’m curious how teams with numerous trade assets will decide to act before Feb. 5. Do they see this as a means of buying low on, say, Zion Williamson or Ja Morant?
Williamson is reportedly off the table in trade negotiations, but excuse my French when I say, “Baloney!”
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Personally, I don’t think it’s a smart strategy, but reasonable people can disagree, and we must at least acknowledge there is star quality attached to both names.
Iko: Ironically, we talked about Chicago prior to the season. These sneaky Bulls always mosey their way into the conversation.
I’m generally wary of anything going on in the Windy City (DJ Moore routes included), but if I’m in the Bulls’ front office and I’m pondering whether to make a move for Morant or Williamson, why not just go for both?
It sounds ludicrous until you actually give it some thought. Health and availability is obviously the biggest factor in moving for either of these players, but they’re still young enough (Zion, 25; Morant, 26) where you could sell a core along with Matas Buzelis, who’s been a bright spot and showcased some underrated defensive versatility. Again, this only works if you can guarantee that both play in at least 65 games (big if), but I’m tired of the Bulls being boring. Shoot for the oft-injured stars.
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On a more serious note, I appreciate how each team approaches this time of the year. The rumor mill can get a bit mundane, but at least if you sift through enough, you’ll get an understanding of individual organizational goals and objectives. It should be a fun two weeks.
Bayern Munich joined Arsenal in the Champions League Round of 16 with a 2-0 victory over Belgian side Union St.-Gilloise.
Harry Kane — who else? — netted a brace in a three-minute span early in the second half and the German side, despite going down to 10 men following Kim Min-Jae’s 63rd-minute dismissal after a second yellow card, cruised to a win and is now 6-0-1 and in second place in the table.
Three points behind Bayern Munich sits Liverpool, which handled Marseille 2-0 at Stade Vélodrome. Dominik Szoboszlai opened the scoring in first-half stoppage time with an under-the-wall free kick before Jeremie Frimpong forced a 72nd-minute own-goal to wrap up the points.
It was a good Wednesday for the Premier League sides as Newcastle and Chelsea joined Liverpool as Matchday 7 winners.
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The Magpies dispatched PSV 3-0 with goals from Yoane Wissa, Anthony Gordon and Harvey Barnes. They will now advance to at least the knockout playoff round, but could secure an automatic Round of 16 place if next week’s results go their way.
Chelsea, meanwhile, needed a Moises Caicedo header in the 78th minute to finally breakthrough against Pafos for a 1-0 victory.
It was a tricky first half for Barcelona during their 4-2 win over Slavia Prague. Fermin López is up to five Champions League goals this season after a brace, but a Robert Lewandowski 44th-minute own-goal saw the game even after 45 minutes.
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As Barça were just getting over Pedri exiting the match with a hamstring issue, his replacement, Dani Olmo, scored in the 63rd minute to put them up for good.
Lewandowski would put one in the opponent’s net seven minutes later to extend Barcelona’s lead to 4-2. He now has 106 career Champions League goals and trails only Cristiano Ronaldo (140) and Lionel Messi (129) all time.
Elsewhere, Nico Serrano and Robert Navarro scored four minutes in the second half apart to help Athletic Club top Atalanta 3-2; USMNT midfielder Weston McKennie scored for the third straight UCL match as Juventus blanked Benfica 2-0; Camilo Durán and Bahlul Mustafazada scored in the 80th and 94th minutes as Qarabağ beat Entracht Frankfurt 3-2; Galatasaray and Atlético Madrid had to settle for a 1-1 draw after Marcos Llorente’s 20th minute own goal erased Atleti’s early lead.
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Here’s how all the action on Matchday 7 went down live:
Live coverage is over49 updates
Yahoo Sports Staff
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But it’s not enough as the final whistle blows and Athletic Club gets the 3-2 win on the road.
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Sean Leahy
Sean Leahy
Yahoo Sports Staff
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And it all started with this clinical finish from Gorka Guruzeta:
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Yahoo Sports Staff
The USMNT midfielder scores in this third straight Champions League match after the dime from Canada’s Jonathan David. The CONCACAF connection is alive and well in Italy.
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The Spanish midfielder scored a beauty just minutes coming off the bench. What a goal!
Sean Leahy
3-0 to the Magpies, who could find themselves in the top eight by the end of Matchday 7.
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Pedri, one of Barcelona’s key players, was just subbed out of the game with an injury. A potentially catastrophic loss for Hansi’s Flick’s side.
Thomas, an eight-time All-Pro and 10-time Pro Bowl former left tackle for the Browns, posted this on social media Wednesday:
“I could be wrong,” Thomas wrote. “But I’ve heard that communication is a 2-way street and there are no laws against you [Baker] sending Stefanski a text or calling him after you got traded.”
Stefanski was recently hired as the head coach of the Atlanta Falcons following six seasons as Cleveland’s head coach.
On Tuesday, Atlanta Journal-Constitution writer D. Orlando Ledbetter wrote a story on Stefanski and tweeted that “Stefanski had a dumpster fire at quarterback in Cleveland” and that Mayfield “failed” as the Browns’ starting quarterback.
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Mayfield took umbrage at this. And he used the opportunity to bring up old beef with Stefanski, whom he’ll now face twice a season:
“Failed is quite the reach pal,” Mayfield wrote in response to Ledbetter. “Still waiting on a text/call from him after I got shipped off like a piece of garbage. Can’t wait to see you twice a year, Coach.”
“Pal,” in this instance is Ledbetter. “Coach” is Stefanski. And Mayfield is clearly still steaming over his Browns tenure.
To be clear, Stefanski didn’t say or do anything to provoke Mayfield. Not recently or publicly, at least. But Ledbetter’s comments opened old wounds for Mayfield, who’s not pleased with how his time in Cleveland ended in 2022, four seasons after the Browns selected him with the No. 1 pick in the draft.
And now the stage is set for some more bad blood in an NFC South that’s never lacking for spice.
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At its core, this is lingering Browns beef. And Thomas is as Browns as it gets.
Thomas, a 2023 Pro Football Hall of Fame inductee, played his entire 11-season NFL career with the Browns and retired after the 2017 season. He didn’t play with Mayfield (drafted in 2018) or play under Stefanski, who coached his first year with the Browns in 2020.
But before Myles Garrett, Thomas was unquestionably the best player in modern Browns history since the franchise returned to the league in 1999. His voice carries weight in Cleveland.
As for moving forward, this will surely be revisited the first time the Bucs and Falcons play next season — if not sooner.
Darian Mensah’s departure from Duke is getting messier.
One day after Duke filed a suit against Mensah in North Carolina state court in an attempt to prevent him from transferring away, a temporary restraining order says Mensah can enter the transfer portal — but can’t play for another school before the judge’s ruling at an injunction hearing on Feb 2.
According to Sportico, Duke contends that “enrollment at another school and commitment to play football at that school” would violate the terms of the NIL deal he signed with the Blue Devils and that the contract he signed with the school stipulates that “no other school can use Mensah’s NIL.”
Duke’s suit is not the first time a school has taken legal action involving a transferring player. Wisconsin sued Miami in June over Xavier Lucas’ transfer from the Badgers to the Hurricanes. Wisconsin contended that Miami tampered with the defensive back to get him to break his NIL deal with the Badgers. Miami contends it did nothing wrong and that family reasons led Lucas to transfer.
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Earlier this offseason, Georgia’s athletic association said in a legal filing that Missouri DE Damon Wilson owed the school the balance of the NIL contract he signed at the end of the 2024 season. A month after Wilson signed his NIL deal with Georgia, he entered the transfer portal and signed with Missouri.
Neither of those cases, however, have the potential to be as high-profile as the legal fight surrounding Mensah. He transferred to Duke early in the 2025 offseason after a breakout season at Tulane in 2024. Mensah’s arrival in Durham was one of the biggest QB moves of the offseason — along with Miami’s addition of former Georgia QB Carson Beck — and the Blue Devils won the ACC title as Mensah threw for 34 touchdowns.
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After Duke capped a 9-5 season with a victory over the Sun Bowl, Mensah announced he would be staying for the 2026 season. But with Miami and other schools potentially in need of a quarterback for the 2026 season as the quarterback transfer carousel slows down, Mensah announced his intention to transfer days before the national championship game.
The Denver Broncos will be significantly shorthanded in Sunday’s AFC championship game without starting quarterback Bo Nix. But there may be some good injury news on the way in the offensive backfield.
After opening the practice window for starting running back J.K. Dobbins to return from injured reserve on Monday, he was back in practice on Wednesday for the first time since going down with a foot injury.
Now there’s a chance that he can play in the AFC championship game Sunday against the New England Patriots. And whether he plays or not this week, he’d also be eligible to play in the Super Bowl if the Broncos advance and he receives medical clearance.
His return would provide a boost to an offense that needs one with the news that Nix’s season is over due to a fractured ankle sustained late in Sunday’s playoff win over the Buffalo Bills. Backup Jarrett Stidham will start against the Patriots on Sunday with a trip to the Super Bowl at stake. He hasn’t thrown an NFL pass since the 2023 season.
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That means the Broncos could lean more heavily on the run game. If healthy, Dobbins is Denver’s No. 1 option out of the backfield.
Prior to his injury, Dobbins was off to a strong start in his first season with the Broncos. In 10 games, Dobbins tallied 772 yards and 4 touchdowns on 5 yards per carry.
His backup, rookie RJ Harvey, has taken over the lead back role in his absence. Harvey tallied 540 rushing yards and 7 touchdowns on 3.7 yards per carry while playing in all 17 regular-season games.
The winner of Sunday’s game will advance to face the NFC championship game winner between the Seahawks and Rams in the Super Bowl.
USC is expected to finalize a deal with Patterson to make him the program’s next defensive coordinator in the near future, according to ESPN’s Pete Thamel. It marks Patterson’s first step back to the sidelines in a top role since he was fired from TCU during the 2021 campaign.
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Patterson spent 22 seasons with the Horned Frogs, and was the second-longest-tenured head coach in the sport when he was fired during the 2021 season. He trailed only Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz, who has been with the Hawkeyes since 1999.
Patterson turned the Horned Frogs into a football powerhouse, first in both CUSA and the MWC before the program made the jump to the Big 12 in 2012. Patterson finished with a 181-79 record, which made him the winningest head coach in school history, and frequently had the Horned Frogs in the national conversation. They won the Rose Bowl in 2010 over Wisconsin, too. But the school fired Patterson midway through the 2021 campaign, which marked their third straight without reaching a bowl game.
Patterson has since spent time as a special assistant at Texas and a consultant with Baylor, though he left that job ahead of the 2024 season.
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The 65-year-old will now join Lincoln Riley at USC, where he’ll replace D’Anton Lynn as the Trojans’ defensive coordinator. Lynn left last month to join Matt Campbell’s staff at Penn State in the same role after two seasons. The team gave up fewer points per game in each of the past two seasons under Lynn’s leadership, but struggled badly on that side of the ball in each of their three road losses that eventually knocked them out of the College Football Playoff conversation. The Trojans went 9-4 last season after falling to TCU in overtime at the Alamo Bowl.
While he’s not in charge of a program anymore, and it’s unclear if he wants to do that again, Patterson is back running a defense after several years away. A fresh, veteran presence there should undoubtedly help Riley as he enters his fifth season with the Trojans.
During a nine-game win streak to end the regular season, the Houston Texans committed only five turnovers.
In two playoff games, they were responsible for a total of eight giveaways. Third-year quarterback C.J. Stroud accounted for all but one of those, throwing five interceptions and losing two fumbles.
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Stroud coughed up the ball three times in a 30-6 wild-card win over the Pittsburgh Steelers, but his four picks in the Foxborough snow, rain and cold ultimately proved insurmountable in a 28-16 divisional-round loss to the New England Patriots.
Stroud has owned up to his uncharacteristic ball-security issues. His head coach, DeMeco Ryans, has stood by him in the aftermath of a disappointing playoff exit.
As for general manager Nick Caserio, he’s looking at the body of work more than anything.
“Look, he’ll be the first to tell you: He didn’t play well on Sunday, alright. I’m not going to sit here and tell you he played well, either. He knows that,” Caserio said of Stroud.
“In the end, you got to learn from it. What can we do better? And then we’re moving forward. You look at his body of work, this guy’s been a damn good quarterback in this league for three years. I mean, it’s the truth.”
During his end-of-season news conference Wednesday, Caserio, who just finished his third season with the Texans, repeatedly emphasized the importance of examining “everything in totality.”
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Caserio and Ryans came in 2023, and they’ve authored the most successful three-season stretch in the young franchise’s history. They placed their faith in Stroud when they drafted him No. 2 overall out of Ohio State before the regime’s first season.
Stroud starred immediately, winning NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year, earning a Pro Bowl nod and guiding the Texans back to the playoffs after a three-season postseason drought. But in the two seasons since, he hasn’t achieved the same explosiveness and efficiency through the air.
That said, this season he kept his turnover numbers down.
Although his 1.9% interception rate was still higher than the 1.0% mark he registered in that category as a first-year NFL quarterback, it was lower than the one he posted during his sophomore campaign. He threw just eight picks and didn’t lose either of his fumbles in the regular season.
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Plus, he completed a career-high 64.5% of his passes.
It’s also important to note that he didn’t have to take as many chances, given that the Texans boasted the second-ranked scoring defense and top-ranked total defense in the league.
“C.J. had a really good season,” Caserio said. “He’s done a lot of great things, done a lot of great things for his team, a lot of great things for this organization.”
Against the Patriots, however, Stroud was too careless with the football. It didn’t help that he was without wide receiver Nico Collins, and that tight end Dalton Schultz got hurt — and that Houston’s run game was ineffective. But his first half was undeniably abysmal.
“When you go back and look at the game the other day, you can’t turn the ball over five times,” Caserio said of the Texans’ latest divisional-round face-plant.
“We control that. I’d say the three touchdowns that New England scored, we didn’t play the coverage or the technique the right way on calls that we’ve done countless times. So in the end, we’ve proven that we could do it, but in games of that magnitude, the margins are as small as any, and you either make the plays and do the right thing or you don’t.”
The Texans are now 0-7 all-time in the divisional round. That’s where each of their past three campaigns have ended.
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Caserio told reporters that he anticipates first-year offensive coordinator Nick Caley returning next season after the positive signs he saw down the stretch of the regular season.
Now 24 years old and entering his fourth offseason, Stroud is eligible for a contract extension for the first time in his career. He’s signed through 2026, and Houston has a team option for 2027 it can pick up.
Caserio was asked Wednesday if signing Stroud to an extension is a front-office goal at the moment. He declined to talk about players’ contracts and gave similar answer when a reporter inquired about defensive end Will Anderson Jr., whom the Texans took a pick after Stroud in the 2023 draft.
“Every year you kind of start from scratch. So everybody is focused on individual improvement,” Caserio said later in the news conference.
“C.J.’s played a lot of good football, won a lot of games … and I think all of us are excited about the opportunity in front of us for the ’26 season. It’s a year-to-year league. We’re focused on the 2026 season, trying to put the best team together and hopefully put ourselves into position so that we can go out there and play pretty good football and win a bunch of games.”
After wining the national championship game, Fernando Mendoza ran to LinkedIn. (LinkedIn)
“Monday night, my teammates and I had the honor of raising the National Championship trophy and bringing a CFB title back to Bloomington, Indiana, for the first time in history,” he wrote, in part. “With the guidance of our coaches and the unwavering support of Hoosier Nation, our band of brothers made the unbelievable believable.
“Here’s what winning a National Championship taught me about B2B sales 🏆 (kidding…kinda)”
While Mendoza appears in on the joke, at least a little bit, LinkedIn has been the only social media platform that he’s kept on his phone during the season.
“LinkedIn, it’s a positive site,” he told ESPN before the championship game. “I’ll post clips throughout the season whenever something big comes up like a career update, if an award happens or we have a huge win.”
He’s done just that. Even after winning the Heisman Trophy, Mendoza added it to his “Honors And Awards” section. The national championship win is there, too.
While he may want to branch out with his social media usage as he turns pro, LinkedIn is just fine for now. It’s doing the job.
“I don’t think it has the same detriment of scrolling through an Instagram or Twitter, but I do love … I’m not going to lie to you, I still do need my scrolling,” he said.
Matt Harmon and Justin Boone are back to look ahead to the 2026 fantasy season. Boone offers up his top candidates to be breakout fantasy stars in 2026 and why it could be career years for these 24 players in fantasy. Harmon and Boone also answer your ‘Dynasty Debates’ questions from the mailbag to end the show.
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(1:00) – Fantasy reaction to the latest Buffalo Bills, Keon Coleman drama
(13:15) Early 2026 NFC breakout candidates
(32:45) Early 2026 AFC breakout candidates
(49:15) Dynasty Debates
Matt Harmon and Justin Boone are back to look ahead to the 2026 fantasy season. Boone offers up his top candidates to be breakout fantasy stars in 2026 and why it could be career years for these 24 players in fantasy. Harmon and Boone also answer your ‘Dynasty Debates’ questions from the mailbag to end the show.
