Category: Sport

Klint Kubiak will have the NFL Draft’s No. 1 pick in hand when he officially takes over as the Las Vegas Raiders’ next head coach.

The last time the Raiders had the No. 1 pick, they selected quarterback JaMarcus Russell in 2007. If they’re indeed in the market for a quarterback this time around, they’re hoping for a better result.

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Heisman Trophy winner Fernando Mendoza, a quarterback at Indiana, is the frontrunner to be the first pick in April’s draft. Yahoo Sports draft analyst Nate Tice wrote on Mendoza’s upside:

Mendoza is an accurate thrower to all three levels who constantly goes to the right place with the ball. The offense uses plenty of RPOs, but Mendoza is an efficient operator in true dropback situations like on third down and in the red zone. He’s also a solid athlete and creator.

Yahoo Sports draft analyst Charles McDonald in the latest mock said this of Mendoza’s fit with the Raiders:

The Raiders need a quarterback. Mendoza is the best one in the draft. Easy. He fits the profile of a top-10 pick with his ability to run the offense at a high level, strong arm talent and enough mobility to keep plays alive under duress. No one is confusing him for a Drake Maye- or Josh Allen-level athlete, but he’s not the stiff many have made him out to be. This is a fine and logical pick for the Raiders.

With the 2025 NFL season now officially in the books after the Seattle Seahawks’ win over the New England Patriots in Super Bowl LX, here’s a look at the order for the NFL Draft in April (with help from Tankathon.com).

(The Los Angeles Rams own the first-round draft pick of the Atlanta Falcons, who were eliminated in Week 14. The New York Jets own the Indianapolis Colts’ first-round pick via the trade for cornerback Sauce Gardner.)

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1. Las Vegas Raiders (3-14)

Strength of schedule: .538

Do they have a QB for the future? No, the Geno Smith-Pete Carroll reunion has been a colossal bust in a town known for them.

2. New York Jets (3-14)

Strength of schedule: .552

Do they have a QB for the future? No.

3. Arizona Cardinals (3-14)

Strength of schedule: .571

Do they have a QB for the future? No, as the sun appears to be setting on the Kyler Murray Experience.

4. Tennessee Titans (3-14)

Strength of schedule: .574

Do they have a QB for the future? Yes, although a shoulder injury in the season finale wasn’t a good way to end Cam Ward’s rookie season.

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5. New York Giants (4-13)

Strength of schedule: .524

Do they have a QB for the future? Yes, especially if Jaxson Dart learns how to slide and/or get out of bounds.

6. Cleveland Browns (5-12)

Strength of schedule: .486

Do they have a QB for the future? That’s a loaded question.

7. Washington Commanders (5-12)

Strength of schedule: .507

Do they have a QB for the future? Yes, despite a rough sophomore season from Jayden Daniels.

8. New Orleans Saints (6-11)

Strength of schedule: .495

Do they have a QB for the future? Tyler Shough is making a hard charge toward Offensive Rookie of the Year. It appears the Saints landed a Round 2 steal of the NFL Draft.

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9. Kansas City Chiefs (6-11)

Strength of schedule: .514

Do they have a QB for the future? Yes, although when Patrick Mahomes will be ready for the 2026 season remains to be seen.

10. Cincinnati Bengals (6-11)

Strength of schedule: .521

Do they have a QB for the future? Yes, and it’s a bummer we didn’t get Joe Burrow for the full season.

11. Miami Dolphins (7-10)

Strength of schedule: .488

Do they have a QB for the future? Apparently not, since the Dolphins benched Tua Tagovailoa in favor of Quinn Ewers for the last stretch of the season.

12. Dallas Cowboys (7-9-1)

Strength of schedule: .438

Do they have a QB for the future? Yes. Even Dak Prescott’s legion of doubters had to tip their hats to him this season. He wasn’t the problem for this failed campaign.

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13. Los Angeles Rams (12-5; pick was traded by Atlanta Falcons)

Strength of schedule for Falcons: .495

Do the Rams have a QB for the future? Beyond Matthew Stafford, no, but let’s not put limits on a legend.

14. Baltimore Ravens (8-9)

Strength of schedule: .507

Do they have a QB for the future? Yes, although it feels like Lamar Jackson’s Super Bowl window is closing.

15. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (8-9)

Strength of schedule: .529

Do they have a QB for the future? Baker Mayfield is likely back next season, but the Bucs might want to keep their eyes on how this season finishes and the market next spring.

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16. New York Jets (3-13; pick was traded by Indianapolis Colts)

Strength of schedule for Colts: .540

17. Detroit Lions (9-8)

Strength of schedule: .490

Do they have a QB for the future? For now. The injuries have piled up for the Lions for the second straight year, especially along the offensive line. But as good as Jared Goff is in this system, his imperfections will draw only a hotter spotlight the longer Detroit goes without breaking through to a Super Bowl.

18. Minnesota Vikings (9-8)

Strength of schedule: .514

Do they have a QB for the future? It seems to vary week-to-week with J.J. McCarthy, who can’t seem to stay healthy.

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Playoff teams

19. Carolina Panthers (8-9)

20. Dallas Cowboys (7-9-1; pick was traded by Green Bay Packers)

21. Pittsburgh Steelers (10-7)

22. Los Angeles Chargers (11-6)

23. Philadelphia Eagles (11-6)

24. Cleveland Browns (5-12; pick was traded by Jacksonville Jaguars)

25. Chicago Bears (11-6)

26. Buffalo Bills (12-5)

27. San Francisco 49ers (12-5)

28. Houston Texans (12-5)

29. Los Angeles Rams (12-5)

30. Denver Broncos (14-3)

31. New England Patriots (14-3)

32. Seattle Seahawks (14-3)

The Seattle Seahawks routed the New England Patriots 29-13 in Super Bowl 60, easily covering the 4.5-point spread. The Seahawks were up 9-0 at halftime and never trailed. The game stayed under the total of 45.5, although it was threatened late.

Oddsmakers were rooting for a boring, low-scoring game and that’s pretty much what they got, as many a same-game parlay came up short without Jaxson Smith-Njigba or Kenneth Walker III finding the end zone.

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There were thousands of ways to bet on the big game, but here are five interesting prop bets that cashed:

Kenneth Walker III wins Super Bowl LX MVP (+550)

Walker carried the load for the Seahawks, racking up 135 yards on 27 carries, and 20 yards receiving. He was Seattle’s most consistent weapon on a night where star WR Jaxson Smith-Njigba had only four catches for 27 yards — even though Walker III didn’t find the end zone.

Walker had the third-most wagers and total dollars wagered at BetMGM to win the award, but wasn’t among the top-five liabilities because of the short price.

Walker is the first running back to win a Super Bowl MVP since the Denver Broncos’ Terrell Davis back in Super Bowl XXXII.

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Kenneth Walker III over 70.5 rushing yards

Walker’s rushing yardage prop was pounded by both sharp bettors early and public bettors as the days leading up to the Super Bowl went on. It opened at 78.5 at BetMGM and was bet down to 70.5 by kickoff, as 63% of bets and 77% of the total dollars wagered were on the under.

Walker went over that total in the second quarter, on his way to 135 yards rushing and the game’s MVP.

Total punts over 7.5

Not a bet that was too high on the public’s radar, but this one also cashed early on the way to a ridiculous 15 punts in the game. Seahawks punter Michael Dickson had a few beauties among his seven punts, downing three inside the 20-yard line. Patriots punter Bryce Baringer went over this number himself, punting eight times as a result of five New England three-and-outs (although Baringer didn’t punt in the fourth quarter).

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Mack Hollins over 25.5 receiving yards

This was a prop that moved significantly from an opening number of 30.5 receiving yards, all the way down to 25.5 off sharp action at a few sportsbooks. Still, there was far more public money on the over, as 90% of bets and 95% of the total dollars wagered were on the over.

Hollins ended up as New England’s leading receiver, catching four passes for 78 yards and easily eclipsed this number.

Hunter Henry -6.5 receiving yards vs. Anthony Edwards points

Cross-sport props are always fun in the Super Bowl, and due to Edwards’ subpar game with 23 points in 115-96 loss to the Los Angeles Clippers on Sunday afternoon, Henry just needed 30 receiving yards to win this prop.

Henry finished with 31 receiving yards on three catches to eke out the cash.

The Seattle Seahawks dominated the New England Patriots en route to a 29-13 victory in Super Bowl LX on Sunday. The effort was led by Seattle’s stifling defense and an efficient, mistake-free effort on offense.

We’ve collected a series of key numbers that truly tell the story of this matchup.

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0

The amount of points the Patriots scored in the first half. Zero is also the number of teams that have won the Super Bowl after getting shut out in the first half. Those teams are now 0-15 in Super Bowls.

1

The Seahawks are the first team in NFL history to win the Super Bowl while committing zero turnovers in the postseason.

2

The Seahawks collected their second Super Bowl title in franchise history. They are the 17th team to win multiple Super Bowls.

3

Seattle’s Mike Macdonald became the third coach in NFL history to: lead a No. 1 scoring defense as a coordinator, lead a No. 1 scoring defense as a head coach and win a Super Bowl as a head coach. The other two are Bill Belichick and Chuck Noll.

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5

Sam Darnold became the first Super Bowl champion quarterback while playing for a fifth different team. He previously played for the Jets, Panthers, 49ers and Vikings before signing with the Seahawks last year.

8

Before Kenneth Walker III won Super Bowl LX MVP, there were eight previous running backs to win the award. The last one was 28 years ago, when Denver Broncos RB Terrell Davis won it in Super Bowl XXXII.

9

The Seahawks lost three games this season by a combined nine points. Only six other Super Bowl champs have finished a season with a combined margin of defeat under 10 points for the season.

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12

Seattle improved to 12-0 on the season, including playoffs, when scoring first in a game. They led 19-0 in Super Bowl LX before allowing a Patriots touchdown in the fourth quarter.

28

The Seahawks’ quarterback pressures in the Super Bowl, their most in a single game in the NextGenStats era. Patriots tackle Will Campbell gave up 14 of those pressures, a single-game high for any player in the playoffs or regular season this season, according to NFL Network’s Jack Andrade.

1 million

By winning the Super Bowl, Seahawks QB Sam Darnold cashed a $1 million contract incentive. It’s a cherry on top of a storybook season for Darnold, who signed a three-year, $100 million deal with Seattle last offseason.

New England Patriots wide receiver Kyle Williams found himself playing a little defense at Super Bowl LX.

In the fourth quarter of the Patriots’ clash with the Seattle Seahawks, a shirtless fan ran onto the field and evaded security enough to reach the open field at Levi’s Stadium. Normally, players just ignore field invaders unless the person enters their personal space.

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Williams had other ideas, chasing down the man until he slid to the ground quarterback-style. A mob of security personnel proceeded to tackle him.

The man was arrested and later booked on charges of misdemeanor trespassing and field intrusion, a Santa Clara Police Department spokesman told TMZ.

Williams was a third-round pick in the 2025 NFL Draft out of Washington State and posted 209 receiving yards and three touchdowns in his rookie year, along with 290 yards on 11 kickoff returns.

In the NFL scouting combine, he ran a 4.40 40-yard dash, in case you were curious what kind of speed that fan had running behind him.

The play preceded some good fortune for the Patriots, who were down 19-0 at that point in what was so far one of the worst offensive performances in Super Bowl history. New England quarterback Drake Maye proceeded to hit wide receiver Mack Hollins for a 24-yard gain, then a 35-yard touchdown pass to ensure the Patriots wouldn’t be the first team shut out in the Super Bowl.

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The Seahawks won 29-13 to collect their second Super Bowl title in franchise history.

The Seattle Seahawks entered Sunday’s Super Bowl one dominant performance away from establishing their defense as one of the greatest of all time.

Mission accomplished.

Anchored by a dominant defensive effort, the Seahawks rolled to a 29-13 win over the New England Patriots for the franchise’s second Super Bowl championship. While Kenneth Walker III and Sam Darnold did what was needed on offense, Seattle’s defense dominated the game and the highlight reel.

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Here are the five plays that defined Seattle’s Super Bowl victory:

Derick Hall’s second sack leads to turnover

While Seattle had thoroughly dominated the game through three quarters, the outcome wasn’t settled. Thanks to failing to score a touchdown, Seattle’s lead was limited to two possessions at 12-0 as the third quarter wound down.

Derick Hall helped ensure that Seattle’s defensive efforts wouldn’t go to waste. With the Patriots facing third-and-5 near midfield in the final seconds of the quarter, Hall beat right tackle Morgan Moses and tracked down quarterback Drake Maye in a collapsing pocket.

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He poked the ball loose for a fumble that defensive tackle Byron Murphy II recovered.

The sack was the second of the game for Hall, who set the tone in the first quarter with a sack of Maye on New England’s first possession that ultimately forced a punt. Now he’d forced the first turnover of the game at a critical juncture in the second half.

Seahawks capitalize with Sam Darnold’s only TD

Seattle hadn’t done much with the ball up to that point while tallying four field goals through three quarters. But Sam Darnold and Co. capitalized on Hall’s strip sack.

Five plays after the turnover, Darnold found tight end AJ Barner for a 16-yard touchdown pass to extend Seattle’s lead to 19-0.

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In the end, it was Seattle’s only offensive touchdown of the game. It was enough to secure the win as a late New England scoring surge fell short.

Darnold didn’t have his best game while completing 19 of 38 passes for 202 yards with 1 touchdown. But he didn’t collapse or even make a notable mistake, which was all the Seahawks needed from him Sunday night.

Drake Maye’s bad interception

The Patriots responded to Darnold’s touchdown pass with their first score of the day on a quick-strike touchdown drive that covered 65 yards on three plays, keeping pressure on the Seahawks.

But on New England’s next possession, Seattle took the ball right back. With a chance to cut their deficit to one possession, the Patriots drove near midfield with momentum on their side. But Maye offered an underthrown ball into traffic that safety Julian Love intercepted and returned 35 yards.

Before the pick, that was New England’s best chance to make it a game.

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Seahawks score on defense

If Maye’s first interception didn’t ice the game, his second did. With Seattle holding a 22-7 lead late in the fourth quarter, Maye wound up for what was intended to be a deep pass. It barely moved forward. Cornerback Devon Witherspoon hit him as he released the ball.

Linebacker Uchenna Nwosu snagged it and took it 45 yards for what initially looked like a fumble return for a touchdown.

Scorers ruled the play an interception instead of a fumble and recovery.

No matter. The result of the play was the same: a Seattle touchdown and a 29-7 lead.

Kenneth Walker’s big runs keep Seattle moving early

We’re cheating here a bit. This is two plays.

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But Kenneth Walker III’s back-to-back big runs early in the game kept an otherwise stagnant Seattle offense moving.

With Seattle holding a 3-0 lead early in the second quarter, Walker broke containment around the left edge and ran 30 yards down the sideline to get into New England territory.

After a Darnold incompletion on the ensuing first down, the Seahawks went back to Walker. He delivered again, this time with a 29-yard run up the middle and toward the right sideline to the New England 17.

Walker’s two runs accounted for more than the 55 yards Seattle gained on the drive and set up Jason Myers for a 39-yard field goal and a 6-0 Seattle lead.

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In the end, Walker’s efforts added up to 135 yards on 27 carries (5 yards per carry). And his two big first half runs were a big reason he won Super Bowl MVP.

DeMarcus Lawrence was right all along.

Lawrence and the Seattle Seahawks rolled to a win over the New England Patriots in Super Bowl LX on Sunday night in Santa Clara, California. That marked the franchise’s first championship in more than a decade, and the first of Lawrence’s career.

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But Lawrence knew that wasn’t going to happen for him with the Dallas Cowboys, the team that selected him with the No. 34 overall pick back in 2014. That’s why, after 11 seasons with the franchise, Lawrence opted for a change in free agency last offseason.

That resulted in him signing a three-year, $32.5 million deal with the Seahawks and, now months later, a Super Bowl ring.

While he wasn’t completely mean to the organization on his way out the door in Dallas, Lawrence didn’t hold back, either.

“Made my home there [in Dallas], my family lives there,” he said in March, in part. “I’m forever gonna be there, but I know for sure I’m not going to win a Super Bowl there.”

Those comments didn’t land well in Dallas, either. Former Cowboys star Micah Parsons, who is now with the Green Bay Packers, called them, “clown s**t.”

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Lawrence ended up with 53 total tackles and six sacks this season with the Seahawks. He earned his fifth Pro Bowl nod, too. The 33-year-old had two total tackles, one of them on his own, and both a pass deflection and a quarterback hit in the team’s 29-13 win over the Patriots on Sunday at Levi’s Stadium.

The Cowboys, after Lawrence left, went 7-9-1 and failed to make the playoffs for a second straight campaign. While the Cowboys have won five championships in the past, the team hasn’t been to a Super Bowl since 1996. Though Lawrence undoubtedly would have helped the Cowboys defense this past season, something it desperately needed, he just wanted to move on.

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That decision, it turned out, paid off not even a full calendar year later. With the Lombardi Trophy in hand, it’s hard to imagine Lawrence has any regrets about that move.

Nate Tice, Matt Harmon & Charles McDonald are LIVE reacting to Super LX. The Seattle Seahawks dominated the New England Patriots 29-13, and the trio join forces to recap the game, discuss what went wrong for Drake Maye and Josh McDaniels, where the Patriots go from here, where the Seahawks defense ranks all-time, Sam Darnold’s incredible comeback journey and much more.

(2:45) – Seahawks defense dominated the day

(14:45) – Sam Darnold & Kenneth Walker III’s big days

(40:30) – More thoughts from Super Bowl Week

🖥️ Watch this full episode on YouTube

Puka Nacua couldn’t help himself Sunday night.

But, in the midst of celebrating their Super Bowl win over the New England Patriots, Ernest Jones IV immediately shut him down in a way that only he could.

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Jones, after seeing a social media post by the Los Angeles Rams wide receiver made appearing to make fun of Seahawks quarterback Sam Darnold, clapped back perfectly.

“Ain’t you at home?” Jones wrote. “Goofy ass.”

Nacua, as the Rams fell to the Seahawks in the NFC championship game, was in fact watching Super Bowl LX from somewhere other than the field at Levi’s Stadium on Sunday night. So any criticism he may have of Darnold, at least in the eyes of Jones, is irrelevant. Darnold helped lead the Seahawks to their first Super Bowl title in well over a decade.

Darnold went 19-of-38 passing for 202 yards with a touchdown in the team’s 29-13 win over the Patriots. Darnold found AJ Barner for a 16-yard score early in the fourth quarter for the game’s first touchdown, which put them up 19-0 at the time.

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It was Darnold’s best season to date. The former No. 3 overall draft pick signed a three-year, $100.5 million deal with the Seahawks this past summer — which marked his fifth stop in eight seasons in the league. He’s now the first starting quarterback to win a Super Bowl in history after playing with that many teams.

While Nacua is coming off a great season of his own — he had a career-high 1,715 receiving yards and 10 touchdowns on a league-high 129 catches while averaging an NFL-best 107.2 yards per game — he does not yet have a Super Bowl ring to his name. Both Darnold and Jones have him beat there.

SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Sam Darnold, Super Bowl champion quarterback.

Whatever other chapters that are yet to be written about Darnold’s career — keep in mind, he’s still just 28 years old — what happened in Super Bowl LX will be the biggest part of it. Not being called a bust with the New York Jets and Carolina Panthers. Not even the year when he was very good with the Minnesota Vikings but that was washed away due to two bad games to end an otherwise fantastic season.

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We remember the quarterbacks who win Super Bowls. Darnold is in that club now after the Seattle Seahawks beat the New England Patriots 29-13.

Darnold said after Sunday’s victory, he had an emotional moment with his parents and his fiancée.

“I think that’s what got me a little bit,” Darnold said. “Me and my dad don’t cry very often.”

Darnold’s legend resonates, particularly with his teammates.

“Unbelievable story. I don’t know if there’s a quarterback in NFL history that’s done what he’s done. ” Seahawks receiver Cooper Kupp said. “To go through the things he had to go through the first, whatever, five years. To believe in himself, to overcome everyone who told him he wasn’t that guy anymore, to say he couldn’t be a starter or productive quarterback, to come back to work and commit to his process, and then go out there in the biggest moments this year, over and over again, show up.

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“It’s an unbelievable story.”

Darnold admittedly wasn’t at his best Sunday against the Patriots. He was just 19 of 38 for 202 yards. But he was good most of the season, including a 346-yard, three-touchdown game in the NFC championship game that helped Seattle get to the Super Bowl.

After the long odds Darnold faced just to be a regular starter again, much less a Super Bowl champion on his fifth team in eight seasons, the white Super Bowl champions hat and black Super Bowl champions T-shirt he wore after the game fit just fine.

“The reason I’m here is because of my journey,” Darnold said. “Because of the ups and downs, especially the downs I went through early on in my career. I learned so much about myself, about football.

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“It’s funny how it works.”

Sam Darnold keeps believing

Things were bleak for Darnold’s career. Usually quarterbacks who fail in their first two stops and then hit the backup phase of their career don’t rebound to have success stories. But Darnold said, in that moment after the game, he let his parents know how important they were to his comeback story.

“I’m here because of their belief in me,” Darnold said. “They believed in me throughout my entire career, and that’s why I was able to believe in myself. Some people called me crazy throughout for believing in myself so much and having so much confidence, but it was because of my parents.”

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Sunday wasn’t Darnold’s finest moment, and he admitted that. Neither the Seahawks nor Patriots scored a touchdown until the fourth quarter, but his 16-yard touchdown to A.J. Barner gave the Seahawks a 19-0 lead.

Darnold struggled to generate much offense, but he also didn’t turn it over during a game in which his defense was stifling.

“Offense, I feel like we didn’t play as good as we could have,” Darnold said. “I certainly didn’t play as good as I could have.

“I didn’t have my best stuff but our team had my back.”

Darnold joins a select list

The list of quarterbacks who have started and won a Super Bowl is fairly small and serious football fans remember every name. There have been some very good quarterbacks through the years who have been forgotten, but names like Trent Dilfer, Jeff Hostetler, Nick Foles, Doug Williams and Brad Johnson will always be associated with their Super Bowl championship teams.

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That will be Darnold from now on, and he still has plenty of time to add to his legacy. And it’s a pretty good Seattle team he’ll be associated with. The Seahawks went 14-3 in the regular season, with the losses by a combined nine points. They punctuated the season with a dominant performance over the Patriots. That win was driven by Seattle’s defense, but don’t diminish what Darnold meant to the Seahawks all season just because he didn’t have a great Super Bowl.

“Put some respect on it! He’s the best!” Seahawks receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba said, cutting into a Darnold interview in the locker room. “We’re not here without that guy.”

Many of Darnold’s teammates through the week and after Super Bowl LX talked about how easy he is to root for, understanding the adversity he went through.

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“Everyone in that locker room believes in me,” Darnold said.

Darnold has plenty of critics who won’t let go of the reputation he built early in his career, after he didn’t pan out as the third overall pick to the Jets. When this season is brought up they’ll mention that he was carried by a great defense and in the Super Bowl he didn’t have the type of performance we typically equate to the winning quarterback.

And, who cares? Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson haven’t been to a Super Bowl yet. Neither has Justin Herbert or Dak Prescott. Joe Burrow hasn’t won one. Some of the greatest quarterbacks ever, like Brett Favre, Drew Brees and Aaron Rodgers, won only one Super Bowl. Dan Marino, Jim Kelly and Dan Fouts are among the great quarterbacks to never win one.

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Darnold has one. That’s all a legacy needs.

“I don’t think it’s really hit me yet,” Darnold said. “But it’s special.”