Category: Sports

SANTA CLARA, Calif. — It didn’t take long after the Houston Texans used the No. 33 pick in the 2006 NFL draft on linebacker DeMeco Ryans for everyone in the organization to recognize something special.

As fate would have it, that Texans coaching staff included a handful of future San Francisco 49ers coaches. A young Kyle Shanahan was in charge of wide receivers; Robert Saleh, the former Niners defensive coordinator, was a defensive assistant; and Johnny Holland, the team’s linebackers coach, held the same role in Houston.

Whenever the team would practice, Shanahan was struck by how quickly Ryans took charge, barking out playcalls, lining up teammates and making plays.

“He came in and ran that defense from day one as a rookie and that always stuck out to me,” Shanahan said.

Saleh was in his first year as a full-time NFL coach and working with the linebackers when Ryans arrived. As he learned the ropes of the job, Saleh couldn’t help but believe Ryans was already working at an advanced level.

“I always felt like he would make a really good football coach because of the way he prepared for and played the game,” Saleh said.

That preparation created plenty of success on the field, as Ryans earned Defensive Rookie of the Year honors in 2006, a first-team All-Pro nod in 2007 and Pro Bowl berths in 2007 and 2009. From 2006 to 2009, only London Fletcher posted more tackles than Ryans’ 518. Ryans finished a 10-year career with 970 tackles, 46 passes defended, 13.5 sacks and seven interceptions in 140 games.

Saleh’s suspicions that Ryans’ approach to playing would translate to coaching have also proved true. Ryans’ rise to become one of the NFL’s hottest head-coaching candidates seems meteoric on the surface.

Ryans spent one season as the quality control coach and two coaching inside linebackers before replacing defensive coordinator Robert Saleh, who left to become the coach of the New York Jets, in 2021.

But Ryans’ ascent to the doorstep of the NFL’s head-coaching fraternity has actually been brewing for much longer. His grandmother predicted it when Ryans was young, he got a small taste of it after an injury in 2010 and was completely sold late in his career when he embraced a mentorship role for the player drafted to replace him.

Along the way, Ryans has figured out how to use his playing experience to relate to players while asserting himself as a coach unafraid to tell players when they aren’t meeting the standard.

In Sunday’s NFC Divisional round meeting against the Dallas Cowboys (6:30 p.m. ET, Levi’s Stadium, Fox), Ryans will lead a defense that in two seasons with him as coordinator ranks second in the NFL in points (18.9) and yards per game allowed (305.3), fourth in ESPN’s defensive efficiency (60.7) and yards per play (5.04) and fifth in defensive EPA (67.02).

Ryans’ performance has earned him interview requests from the Arizona Cardinals, Denver Broncos, Indianapolis Colts, Carolina Panthers and Texans — every team with an opening for their vacant head-coaching positions. He’s slated to interview with the Broncos and Texans this week.

It’s also garnered unanimous praise from those who play for him.

“Just the way he is as a coach and a leader, he’s the best coach I’ve been around,” defensive end Nick Bosa said.

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ASK THOSE WHO have been around Ryans what he’s like and you’ll inevitably hear words like positive, calm and even-keeled. Ryans likes to tell players that “energy vampires” aren’t allowed, meaning nobody with a negative attitude is permitted in his meeting rooms.

It’s a character trait Ryans attributes to his mother, affectionately known in his hometown of Bessemer, Alabama, as “Miss Martha.” To support Ryans and his three older siblings, Miss Martha worked at a manufacturing plant in town during the day and a cleaning service in the evening, often returning home long after her kids had gone to bed.

“I think my mom is really quiet and low key,” Ryans said. “She can be just fine sitting in the house or being around everybody and not say much and just feel everything that’s going on. Everybody had tough situations, but she was always just steady through it all. And I think I just get that calming demeanor from her.”

Never did that trait come in handy more than Oct. 17, 2010, when Ryans tore his left Achilles tendon just before halftime of a loss to the Kansas City Chiefs. The following spring, as Ryans was rehabilitating the injury in Birmingham because of the NFL lockout, he caught up with former Alabama teammate Dennis Alexander.

Alexander had become the coach of Ryans’ alma mater, Bessemer City High, and asked Ryans if he was interested in helping out as defensive coordinator during spring football. Ryans first figured he’d pop over to Bessemer in the afternoons and be home a few hours later.

Instead, Ryans found himself sitting in his house until 9 or 10 p.m., drawing up schemes for a team that had only one spring game to play against an opponent.

It was Ryans’ first taste of coaching, though it had been foretold to him long before that it would someday be his passion.

“My grandmother always told me like, you’ll probably be a coach one day,” Ryans said. As it turned out, that one game, which Bessemer City won, was all it took for Ryans to see what a difference his football knowledge could make.

“To see how excited, how elated those kids were to see the looks on their faces from like being a part of it and just coaching them and putting them in position to make plays, I was like ‘Wow, that was cool.’ That always stuck in my mind.”

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FOLLOWING SIX SEASONS with the Texans, Ryans landed with the Philadelphia Eagles after a 2012 trade. When the Eagles hired coach Chip Kelly and defensive coordinator Bill Davis in 2013, that duo leaned on Ryans to lead the way.

After installing his defense in the spring, Davis said the Eagles were about halfway through training camp when he realized Ryans was learning the defense quickly. By the end of the season, Davis was ready to ask more of Ryans than any player he’d ever coached, with the exception of Hall of Famer Sam Mills.

On a given play, Davis would relay two calls — one if the quarterback was under center and one if he was in shotgun — with multiple fronts and coverages to Ryans. It was up to Ryans to identify the formation, keep an eye on any shifts, motions or potential checks and get his teammates lined up correctly to match the call.

“I look back at some of my game plans, I’m like, I wouldn’t even think about doing that right now,” said Davis, who spent 2022 as the Cardinals linebackers coach. “But it was because I had DeMeco that I could.”

As Ryans neared the end of his career in 2015, the Eagles spent a third-round pick on linebacker Jordan Hicks, with the idea of making him Ryans’ replacement. Ryans never shied away from helping younger players but was staring his football mortality in the face for the first time.

Ryans didn’t hesitate to show Hicks the way. The pair was so inseparable from the day that Hicks was drafted that Kelly dubbed Ryans “Mufasa” and Hicks “Simba,” a nod to the movie “The Lion King,” where Mufasa is the wise old lion teaching the young cub how to lead.

Hicks observed Ryans closely, noting everything from how he took notes to how he spoke. And while he recognized how much Ryans helped him in the moment, it wasn’t until more recently he realized the true impact of Ryans’ leadership.

In 2021, the Cardinals drafted Zaven Collins to replace Hicks. Hicks was so turned off by the move that he initially requested a trade but said after reflecting, he couldn’t help but think back to his time learning from Ryans.

“He was as good of a leader as he could possibly be,” said Hicks, who currently plays for the Vikings. “I really channeled that a lot. … I’ve tried to take that into every scenario, every situation, every year … and tried to share that light and spread as much knowledge as possible.”

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AFTER ANOTHER ACHILLES tear in 2014, Ryans began plotting his post-football career. During his final season in 2015, former Eagles running back Duce Staley was on Kelly’s staff. He and Ryans began talking about the pros and cons of coaching.

Ryans had heard the negatives — long hours and the constant possibility of moving your family. Ryans also realized that all those who talked bad about the profession were those who aren’t in it.

Staley, who is now the assistant head coach of the Detroit Lions, offered the positives and told Ryans to get into it as soon as possible while he’s still known around the league. About a year after his retirement, Ryans and his family had just moved into a new home in Houston when the phone rang.

It was Saleh, the new 49ers defensive coordinator under Shanahan, asking if Ryans was interested in coaching. He was, but any uncertainty he had was alleviated by Holland, just named the Niners linebackers coach, who told Ryans to give it a try to see how he likes it.

“I know he made some money as a player, so I never knew if we could get him out of Houston and have him come be here quality control here in California,” Shanahan said. “But he really was passionate about coaching and loved football and once he decided to do that, it was about halfway through the year that we realized he wasn’t going to be at quality control very long.”

That realization coincided with an important lesson Ryans learned from Saleh. Saleh says the transition from playing to coaching is usually difficult but Ryans had a “relentless mindset and passion to do it right.”

In theory, Ryans knew all there was to know about playing linebacker. He soon learned that didn’t mean much when it comes to coaching. Every player comes from a different background and takes coaching in different ways.

As Davis told Ryans, he needed to have an answer for every question every player could ask. Holland told Ryans he needed to understand the teaching process that would take a player from a 100-level class to their Ph.D. That wouldn’t happen overnight, and every player learned at their own pace.

“We knew he was going to be special when he asked questions about linebacker play and realized that he couldn’t coach the players the same way that he played the game,” Saleh said. “He took the time to relearn the linebacker position in a way that was teachable at the base level and how to teach different players different things that allow them to be successful in this league.”

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BY THE SPRING of 2018, Ryans was still settling into his new life as an NFL coach.

After one season as the defensive quality control coach, Shanahan promoted Ryans to lead the inside linebackers. Ryans still had plenty to learn as he adjusted to his new role, but if there was one thing he knew he had to impart on talented if uncertain rookie Fred Warner, it’s that when you speak to your team, you must do it with conviction.

So, when Warner, who was playing middle linebacker for the first time, stepped into the huddle after an organized team activity and meekly mumbled out a playcall, Ryans stopped the proceedings immediately.

“He grabbed me and he was mad,” Warner said. “He made sure that I knew that as the MIKE ‘backer I say it with authority every time you go out there. I need to take command of the huddle.”

While that was the day Warner found his voice as a middle linebacker, the same might be said for Ryans as a coach.

When Saleh departed for the Jets, there was plenty of speculation about outside candidates to replace him. Shanahan barely considered anyone else, recognizing early on that Ryans had what it took to be the coordinator and, eventually, a head coach.

For Ryans, the biggest adjustment was spreading his attention to the entire defense. The linebackers had been his sole focus for so long, he often had to remind himself to bounce between meeting rooms to make sure he could get time with the defensive backs and defensive linemen.

Those efforts have paid off as Ryans earns rave reviews from every level of the defense.

Defensive lineman Kerry Hyder Jr. lauds Ryans’ ability to treat his players like men while also getting his message across when someone isn’t doing his job. Linebackers Warner and Dre Greenlaw point to Ryans’ ability to eliminate gray area for every player’s assignment from play to play. Defensive back Jimmie Ward says Ryans can easily talk about everything that goes with being in the NFL.

“I think he’s taken the same approach he had as a player into being a coach in terms of just the thirst for knowledge,” Warner said. “He already came into this thing with so much to give because he played at such a high level playing the position. And not all players can go on and be great coaches and translate that knowledge that they have into being a good teacher. But he’s the most amazing teacher ever.”

In some ways, the 49ers were lucky to have Ryans for even a second year as coordinator. He was a strong candidate for the Minnesota Vikings job in 2021 but declined a second interview to remain in San Francisco.

Looking back, Ryans says he didn’t believe the timing was right for him and his family to make the move. This time, Ryans makes it clear he’s not going to jump at an opportunity just because it’s out there. He wants a head-coaching job to be the right match geographically and a fit with ownership and organizational philosophy for him and his family.

And if the right landing spot doesn’t come along this offseason, it won’t be because Ryans isn’t ready. In many ways, both on purpose and not, he’s actually been preparing for this his whole life.

“For me, with the head-coaching thing it’s like, ‘Are you ready man?’” Ryans said. “Yeah, I’m ready to go do it. … It’ll be the first time. But I figured out everything else. I’m pretty sure I’ll figure that out, too.”

— ESPN reporters Rich Cimini and Kevin Seifert contributed to this report

Now Tiafoe must figure out how to regulate two seemingly contradictory forces within his personality. There is the laid back, easygoing jokester with an electric smile, and the intense competitor who desperately wants to fulfill the potential that he and everyone around him knows he has.

“Frances has always had his way,” said Tommy Paul, who has trained and competed with Tiafoe since they were among the country’s top 9-year-olds. “He’s calm somewhere, but he’s Frances. It’s different.”

That it is.

Tiafoe’s courtside chair and its surroundings are usually a disorganized mess of towels, water bottles, rackets, tape and other equipment. He operates on his own schedule, which may or may not help him get a watch sponsorship, depending on a manufacturer’s perspective.

At the Laver Cup in September, where Tiafoe teamed up with Jack Sock to play Nadal and Roger Federer in Federer’s last competitive match, Tiafoe ran to the other side of the court to slap Nadal’s hand in the middle of the game after Nadal hit a masterful winner. After Team World beat the Europeans, he showed up characteristically late to the news conference, where he took out a bottle of water and a Budweiser from his jacket.

He was late again after the United States clinched the United Cup earlier this month in Sydney. His teammates, Taylor Fritz, Jessica Pegula and Madison Keys, sat at a table, waiting and shaking their heads.

“Oh, Frances,” Keys said, trying to hold in her laughter.

The casual approach has its benefits. Pegula and Tiafoe bonded at that United Cup in a way that male and female players rarely do, warming each other up before each match, a routine that they have continued during this tournament.

The 2022 NFL season‘s rookie class was truly impressive. Two running backs broke 1,000 rushing yards, while two receivers hit 1,000 receiving yards. Seven players scored at least five times from scrimmage. Twelve first-year defenders had three or more sacks, four had 100-plus tackles, and nine had three or more interceptions. Eight quarterbacks started at least one game, and one currently has his team in the divisional round of the playoffs.

So how did the rookies stack up this season? Let’s rank the top 10, taking only the regular season into consideration. We polled our own Matt Bowen, Jeff Legwold, Matt Miller and Jordan Reid for their personal lists and combined them to make a consensus ranking of the top 10 rookies. Our experts then weighed in on each player who made the list, along with a few who fell just short. Finally, they picked out a riser to watch, an underperforming first-rounder, an overperforming late-rounder and someone who could break out in their sophomore campaign. We begin with a fairly obvious top-ranked player.

Jump to:
Top 10 | Just missed
Big questions

Stats: 75 tackles, 2 INTs, 20 passes defended
Drafted: No. 4

Why he’s here: He is exactly who we thought he was during the lead-up to the 2022 draft. He is explosive and confident, has ball skills and shows the ability to bounce back quickly from the rare bobbles he had in his rookie season. His 20 pass breakups tied for the NFL lead with Jalen Ramsey. — Legwold

Going forward: Gardner emerged as one of the league’s best cornerbacks as a rookie, and there’s no reason to expect a drop-off in 2023. He has entered the conversation for the league’s best overall cornerback and is here to stay. — Miller

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Stats: 52 tackles, 9.5 sacks, 3 INTs, 2 fumble recovery
Drafted: No. 2

Why he’s here: This is what we expected from Hutchinson based on his college tape at Michigan. He’s a two-way defensive end with the ability to disrupt the pocket and set a hard edge against the run game. And the urgency he brings to the position creates more opportunities to track the ball and finish plays. His 46 pressures led all rookies this year. — Bowen

Going forward: Hutchinson has quickly become a leader of the Lions’ defense. A versatile pass-rusher who plays with a relentless nature, he doesn’t seem to have an off switch. He is constantly on the attack, managing to impact the games in multiple ways. His alignment versatility allows defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn to use his skill set at multiple spots in the defense, and he will continue to be a big part of what Detroit does defensively. — Reid

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Stats: 72 catches, 1,042 yards, 4 TDs
Drafted: No. 11

Why he’s here: Despite playing without a great quarterback, Olave posted more than 1,000 yards and became a go-to target with the Saints. Receiver is one of the hardest positions to transition from college to pro and have immediate success, but he proved he’s a player the Saints can build around. His 14.5 yards per catch ranked fourth among rookies, and he had just one drop all year. — Miller

Going forward: Olave had 78 more targets and 44 more receptions than the next New Orleans wide receiver, so the Saints need to find a way to get him some help and take a little of the focus off him. But even without a clear No. 2 receiver on the field, Olave authored just the third 1,000-yard season for a rookie in franchise history. There’s no reason more won’t follow if he gets a little stronger, allowing him to win even more often on contested catches. — Legwold

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Stats: 83 catches, 1,103 yards, 4 TDs
Drafted: No. 10

Why he’s here: Wilson has quickly shown that he can be a No. 1 option in an NFL offense. He managed to produce without any type of consistency under center, which is the sign of a big-time talent at the position. Wilson is a sudden and creative route runner who also has the flexibility to contort his body to make difficult catches. His 56 first-down catches led all rookies. — Reid

Going forward: Wilson can be a star in this league — if the Jets find an answer at the quarterback position. He is an easy and sudden mover at every level of the route tree. And Wilson has the dynamic ability to create game-changing plays. — Bowen

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Stats: 63 tackles, 6 INTs, 16 passes defended, 1 TD, 2 fumble recoveries, 1 blocked kick
Drafted: No. 153

Why he’s here: His combination of speed (4.36 seconds in the 40-yard dash at the combine) and length (a tackle-like arm span of 79 inches) are rare. And his route awareness, aided by three seasons as a wide receiver in college, keeps him in the right spot, even as he still learns the nuances of the position. His six interceptions tied for the NFL lead, and only four players had more defensive snaps (1,095). — Legwold

Going forward: Woolen is more than just a player taking advantage of a great scheme. He’s a fantastic all-around talent with the speed, length and instincts to quickly become a top-five NFL cornerback. — Miller

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Stats: 228 carries, 1,050 rushing yards, 27 catches, 165 receiving yards, 9 total TDs
Drafted: No. 41

Why he’s here: Walker paced the rushing attack for a playoff team, breaking off 29 runs for at least 10 yards (most among rookies). Rugged between the tackles with big-play juice on the edges, Walker finished the regular season with three straight games of 100-plus yards rushing. And no other rookie came close to his nine rushing scores. — Bowen

Going forward: Seattle clearly believes in running the ball at an efficient rate, and Walker quickly established himself as the No. 1 option in the backfield. He will continue to be a big part of this offense, no matter who is starting at QB for the Seahawks next season. — Reid

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Stats: 17 starts, 94.7% pass block win rate, 77.2% run block win rate
Drafted: No. 25

Why he’s here: Like Creed Humphrey did in 2021 with the Chiefs, Linderbaum immediately anchored and improved an offensive line as a rookie center. His pass-blocking alone made him an All-Pro candidate, and his 94.7% pass block win rate led all rookie offensive linemen. — Miller

Going forward: Linderbaum was actually far more proficient in the Ravens’ run looks than he was in pass protection, as some of the more powerful defensive tackles put him on his heels too often. But he’s instinctive and tough, and he will be one of the best centers in the league. — Legwold

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Stats: 41 catches, 611 receiving yards, 7 carries, 80 rushing yards, 9 total TDs
Drafted: No. 34

Why he’s here: Watson proved his ability over the final eight games of the season and is a clear building block for the Packers’ offense. He grew more comfortable in the offense as the year progressed and was a legitimate threat down the field, consistently placing stress on the third level of opposing defenses. Watson averaged 14.9 yards per catch (third among rookies), and his 6.4 yards after the catch per reception paced all first-year pass-catchers. — Reid

Going forward: The second half of the season tells us that the arrow is pointing up on Watson. With his vertical stretch ability and improved route running, the rookie will be a consistent threat to create explosive plays in the Green Bay offensive structure. — Bowen

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Stats: 220 carries, 939 rushing yards, 30 catches, 165 receiving yards, 5 total TDs
Drafted: No. 107

Why he’s here: If not for a season-ending ankle injury in Week 14, Pierce likely would have led all rookies in rushing. He still finished just 111 yards behind Walker and just 61 shy of 1,000 despite being limited to 13 games. Pierce runs with toughness and vision, and there’s a lot more production to come. — Legwold

Going forward: If Pierce is healthy, he should enter 2023 as the new coaching staff’s go-to back. There were times he didn’t get as many carries as a player of his talent warrants, and that should change in his sophomore season. Plus, Pierce should have a new quarterback to work with in 2023. — Miller

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Stats: 1,374 passing yards, 13 TD throws, 4 INTs, 65.3 QBR
Drafted: No. 262

Why he’s here: Purdy stepped in for an injured Jimmy Garoppolo, and the 49ers’ offense didn’t slow. He is poised and confident in the pocket, with the quick release and decision-making that allows him to produce within coach Kyle Shanahan’s system. And with more mobility than Garoppolo, the 49ers can use Purdy to attack the edges on boot play-action. His 65.3 Total QBR would have finished fifth in the NFL had it qualified. — Bowen

Going forward: Purdy is the latest passer to enter and thrive in Shanahan’s system. His decisiveness, calm demeanor and mobility have allowed that offense to unlock other dimensions, and Purdy is distributing the ball on the perimeter. His ability to diagnose and attack level concepts from the pocket has allowed Shanahan to use the entire playbook. — Reid

play

Ryan Clark: Brock Purdy has been 49ers’ best QB this season

Ryan Clark breaks down why the 49ers are the second-best team in the NFC with Brock Purdy at quarterback.

Just missed

Drake London, WR, Atlanta Falcons (No. 8 pick): He found some momentum in the Falcons’ run-heavy offense down the stretch. Over the final six contests, London averaged north of 13 yards per catch in four games and saw at least eight targets in five. He closed out the season with 120 receiving yards in Week 18. — Legwold

Jalen Pitre, S, Houston Texans (No. 37 pick): He has to clean up the missed tackles, but Pitre is consistently around the ball. He led all rookies with 147 tackles, and his five interceptions tied for second behind Woolen. — Legwold

Tyler Allgeier, RB, Atlanta Falcons (No. 151 pick): Allgeier set the team’s rookie rushing record (1,035 yards), and while he didn’t break tackles quite like Pierce did, his contact balance was evident week after week (2.6 yards after first contact per rush, tops among rookies). — Legwold

Also received votes: Jaquan Brisker, Abraham Lucas, Kenny Pickett, Jamaree Salyer, Kayvon Thibodeaux, Kerby Joseph, James Houston, George Pickens, Jack Jones, Travon Walker, Kyle Hamilton

Which rookie rose throughout the course of the season?

Legwold: James Houston, OLB, Detroit Lions (No. 217 pick). He was waived by the Lions after the preseason — the team’s only 2022 draft pick not to make the roster out of camp — toiled on their practice squad and played only in the Lions’ final seven games of the season. But he had eight sacks in those seven games, including three against the Bears in Week 17. That was second among all rookies for the whole season. Houston had 16.5 sacks in his final season at Jackson State, and he flashed that kind of production to close the year.

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Which first-rounder underperformed in 2022?

Miller: Evan Neal, OT, New York Giants (No. 7 pick). The 2022 first-rounders played as well as any class in memory, but if we have to pick one who disappointed a little, it’s Neal. He struggled in making the transition to right tackle, giving up 11 sacks in his rookie campaign.

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Which late-rounder overperformed in 2022?

Reid: Isiah Pacheco, RB, Kansas City Chiefs (No. 251 pick). A surprise contributor this season, the seventh-round pick led the Chiefs in rushing yards and touchdowns (830 yards, five TDs). He’s a determined runner who is difficult to bring down, and his vision and contact balance stand out. Pacheco is now a key part of coach Andy Reid’s offense.

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Who will break out in his 2023 sophomore season?

Bowen: Jaquan Brisker, S, Chicago Bears (No. 48 pick). The Bears will likely make some upgrades to their defensive front seven this offseason, helping provide Brisker with some breakout potential going forward. He’s a top-down disruptor with multidimensional traits. And in coach Matt Eberflus’ scheme, Brisker can be deployed at all three levels to finish on the ball. As a rookie, Brisker logged 104 tackles, one interception and four sacks. Look for those numbers to jump in ’23.

Watch Cristiano Ronaldo play his first game in Saudi Arabia against his greatest opponent as Lionel Messi’s PSG take on Riyadh All-Stars.

Ronaldo has had to wait for his first appearance since joining Al Nassr due to a FA suspension during his Manchester United days.

But his first game in Saudi Arabia will not be in Al Nassr colours as he joins a team of all-stars from Riyadh’s two big clubs, Al-Nassr and Al-Hilal, to take on Paris Saint-Germain.

That means Messi and Ronaldo will share the pitch for the first time since the latter’s Juventus side beat Barcelona 3-0 in the Champions League group stages in October 2020.

Messi and Ronaldo have met 36 times, with the PSG player winning 16 matches compared to just 11 victories for Ronaldo.

Who will come out on top this time? Click on the live stream above to watch the game.

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{{ timeAgo(‘2023-01-19 09:41:50 -0600’) }}
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San Francisco 49ers rookie quarterback Brock Purdy‘s journey from Mr. Irrelevant to undefeated starter has been quite the turnaround.

He has already etched his name in the NFL record books for a number of reasons, including being the lowest-drafted rookie quarterback to start and win a playoff game.

Now, he’s three games from reaching heights no rookie quarterback has ever achieved: the Super Bowl.

Read More: The backup blueprint: What 49ers’ Brock Purdy must do to join championship QB fraternity

His next test is against the Dallas Cowboys (6:30 p.m. ET Sunday, FOX) in a divisional-round showdown between the two storied franchises.

A win would put him in the company of four other rookie quarterbacks who have reached the conference-championship round:

Did Sanchez, the fifth overall selection of the 2009 NFL draft, throw more interceptions (20) than touchdowns (12) in his rookie season?

Yes.

Did he help the Jets win their first playoff game in five years?

Also, yes.

On the road in the wild-card round, Sanchez went 12-of-15 for 182 yards with a passer rating of 139.4 in his playoff debut against the Cincinnati Bengals.

After defeating the San Diego Chargers 17-14, Sanchez and the Jets made their first AFC Championship Game appearance since 1998. They managed to hold an 11-point lead in the first half but ultimately fell to Peyton Manning’s Indianapolis Colts.

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Flacco set 20 school records in two seasons with the Delaware Blue Hens before being drafted with the 18th overall pick — and it didn’t take long for him to make his mark in the pros.

Flacco earned the NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year award and helped lead the Ravens to a wild-card appearance where they beat the Miami Dolphins 27-9 for their first playoff win since January 2002. Baltimore beat the Tennessee Titans 16-13 in the following round and lost to the eventual Super Bowl champion Pittsburgh Steelers 23-14 in the conference championship.

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Ben Roethlisberger, Pittsburgh Steelers, 2004

Roethlisberger went unbeaten in 13 regular-season games as Pittsburgh’s starting quarterback and earned the NFL’s Offensive Rookie of the Year award, but his hot streak was quickly challenged in the postseason.

Roethlisberger eked out a win in his playoff debut despite tossing two second-half interceptions against the New York Jets — one for a touchdown and one with less than two minutes remaining in regulation.

Pittsburgh’s 15-game win streak came to a grinding halt against Tom Brady and the New England Patriots in the AFC Championship Game. Roethlisberger threw three picks, and the Patriots moved on to their third Super Bowl appearance in four years.

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King, a second-round selection, entered his first game in Week 12 after Trent Dilfer suffered a broken clavicle. He won four of his five starts to end the regular season, including a Week 17 win over the Chicago Bears that secured the NFC Central title.

The Bucs overcame a 13-0 deficit to beat Washington 14-13 in the divisional round. Despite keeping the “Greatest Show on Turf” in check for most of the NFC Championship Game, King & Co. fell to the eventual Super Bowl winners, the then-St. Louis Rams, 11-6.

WHILE CHATTING WITH players and coaches before a November matchup against the Texans, Howie Roseman, Philadelphia Eagles GM and executive vice president, spotted a group of Eagles fans in the first row of Houston’s NRG Stadium. The fans began chanting his name. Roseman, with noticeable swagger, walks slowly toward them, making a beeline for one fan in particular, a man wearing a Phillies jersey who is holding up a hand-drawn, poster board sign.

“Howie You Are Forgiven!” the top half of the sign read. On the bottom half, the name of Eagles wide receiver A.J. Brown, acquired in a trade by Roseman during the offseason, loomed large over the deleted names of previous Eagles wide receivers: Nelson Agholor, J.J.-Arcega Whiteside and Jalen Reagor. All Roseman draft acquisitions; all no longer with the team; and all universally regarded as busts.

Roseman, stone-faced, hushes the group of fans, then points his finger at the man holding the sign.

“I’m F’ing forgiven for your first F’ing Super Bowl?” Roseman quipped. “F you!”

The fans erupt with cheers. Roseman lets loose a massive grin. He even poses for a selfie before sauntering back toward the field. The video was posted to Twitter and became a viral moment of the best kind.

It’s hard to imagine, with any other NFL franchise, a frequently maligned general manager shouting F-bombs at fans without controversy erupting. Close your eyes and it’s easy to picture a tearful apology, or a carefully worded statement expressing contrition. But in Philadelphia, the exchange might as well have been an expression of familial love.

“Howie has been hated and loved, then hated again, then loved again,” Eagles center Jason Kelce says.”It just shows you that being the general manager is really hard. There are a lot of things that go into that job. But I’ve been really happy to see him persevere through all that. It’s tough, especially in this city.”

Philadelphia (14-3) enters the playoffs with the NFL’s best record and is one of the favorites to hoist the Lombardi Trophy next month. The league’s most temperamental fan base, one that was openly calling for his firing 21 months ago, has embraced its GM once again.

It is a development very few would have predicted in 2020, when the Eagles went 4-11-1, then cut ties with quarterback Carson Wentz and coach Doug Pederson, the two men handpicked by Roseman in 2016 to be the face of the franchise for the foreseeable future. Getting rid of Wentz despite having traded up to get him (and signed him to a large contract extension in 2019) would have cost most general managers their job. Instead, it jump-started one of the most unlikely rebirths in the history of Philadelphia sports. In the past two years, Roseman, who is 47, has assembled the NFL’s best roster.

He has earned (for the moment) the right to peacock.

Roseman is wary — to say the least — of taking a victory lap. ESPN reached out to him several times throughout the season hoping he would be willing to discuss the things that have shaped him during his eventful, volatile, mercurial 23-year tenure with the Eagles. He repeatedly declined.

“Howie is very sensitive to the unintended interpretations that can come from talking about yourself in a piece like this,” a team spokesperson said. “Humble and hungry is his goal right now.”

It was an understandable decision. After all, few NFL executives know better than Roseman does how quickly fortunes can change. It has even played out in miniature this season.

Although Philadelphia looked like the NFL’s best team for the majority of 2022, a shoulder injury to quarterback Jalen Hurts nearly cost the Eagles the No. 1 overall seed in the playoffs. Suddenly the juggernaut Roseman had expertly assembled looked vulnerable.

It might have been unsettling to some, but not to Roseman.

“He has died and came back many times,” says Philadelphia defensive end Brandon Graham, a 13-year veteran and one of Roseman’s original draft picks.

The story of Roseman’s rise — from never playing organized football growing up in Marlboro, New Jersey, to becoming one of the NFL’s most powerful executives — has been told countless times. It is the stuff of legend within league circles. The persistence of the teenage boy who handwrote notes begging every general manager around the league to let him get his foot in the door is still evident in Roseman’s personality today. But that story is also old hat. A general manager, ultimately, is only as good as his most recent transactions, a truism that got us thinking: What if the best way to explain Roseman, and all that he has learned, is strictly through the moves he made to rebuild the Eagles?

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April 24, 2020 — Eagles select Oklahoma quarterback Jalen Hurts with the 53rd pick

IT’S EASY TO forget, at the close of a season when Hurts has been one of the leading candidates for the NFL MVP award, how controversial it was for the Eagles to select him back in 2020. Wentz was coming off a 9-7 season in which he had led Philadelphia to a playoff berth and had recently signed the largest contract extension in team history. There were some internal concerns about Wentz’s attitude and his injury history, but from the outside, it looked like a baffling move.

On draft night, even Hurts had no inkling that he might be a Philadelphia Eagle. In a recent interview on Jason and Travis Kelce‘s podcast “New Heights,” Hurts mentions that when he saw a Pennsylvania area code pop up on his cellphone, he was convinced it was the Steelers reaching out to let him know he was headed to Pittsburgh.

Eagles fans were equally confused. Some were livid, lighting up the airwaves to share their misgivings and grievances. Why was Roseman grabbing a quarterback instead of addressing holes in the defense? Was he trying to undermine Wentz’s already-shaky confidence? Didn’t he grasp that it was exactly the kind of gamble that gets most general managers fired?

Roseman’s original mentor, former Eagles general manager Joe Banner, viewed it differently. It was proof that Roseman had internalized maybe the most important lesson Banner had tried to instill from the beginning: Don’t be scared to change course.

“You have to take your ego out of the equation and take out the fear of losing your job,” Banner says. “Those are the two things that not many people in the NFL can do. We tried to make it part of our culture, and I know it is something [Roseman] thinks is important. We’re all going to make a bunch of mistakes. And the question is: How costly are your mistakes? Are you willing to admit your mistakes and move on? He could have stuck with Carson Wentz and they would’ve probably struggled for two or three or four more years. Or he could have said, ‘I’m not sure this is the right answer. Let’s go grab Jalen Hurts.’ He understood the notion that if you fix a mistake reasonably quickly, then the price you pay for it is actually fairly small.”

It took time for the gamble to come to fruition. Wentz went 3-8-1 over his next 12 starts, was sacked a league-worst 50 times and threw 15 interceptions. He was benched for the last four games of the season, giving the Eagles a chance to see what they had in Hurts. (He showed flashes of promise but also considerable flaws.) By the time Roseman made the decision to fire coach Doug Pederson and trade Wentz to the Colts for draft picks, the calls for him to lose his own job in Philadelphia had reached a fever pitch. Ten days before the 2021 NFL draft, a thunderous “Fire Howie!” chant broke out during a Phillies home game.

Behind the scenes, Roseman continued maneuvering.

“Really good general managers and head coaches don’t get stuck on trying to prove themselves,” Banner says. “They get stuck on getting it right and winning.”

Sept. 11, 2021 — Eagles sign tackle Jordan Mailata to a $64 million extension

If Banner hadn’t taken a chance on Roseman when he was fresh out of Fordham Law School in 2000, it’s not a stretch to suggest his NFL career likely never would have happened. At the time, he was viewed as little more than a nuisance.

“I remember I was literally receiving a letter daily from this person, Howie Roseman, and I had no idea who it was,” Banner says. “I’m not even sure how, but I was in a conversation with Mike Tannenbaum, who at the time was the [director of pro player development] of the Jets, and somehow we realized that we were both getting a letter from this guy every day. We had a kind of humorous conversation: Is he the most driven person we’ve ever met, or is he a crazy person? At that point we weren’t really quite sure.”

But Roseman had unknowingly reached out to a kindred spirit in Banner, who also had never played football at a high level, working as a sports producer and clothing store owner before he was hired by Philadelphia in 1994.

“Maybe that left me more open-minded than others because I’d experienced it personally,” Banner says. “I probably thought he had the same qualities that were helping me be successful.”

It wasn’t just Banner who helped educate Roseman. It was also coach Andy Reid, the two men constructing what would eventually become one of the greatest incubators for executive talent the NFL has ever seen. In addition to Roseman, the Eagles would mold the futures of four other eventual NFL general managers: Brett Veach (Chiefs), Ryan Grigson (Colts), Tom Heckert (Browns) and Jason Licht (Buccaneers).

“Andy built this environment where people were willing to speak up and challenge each other, as long as it was done in a respectful way,” says Veach, who worked as an assistant coach under Reid and then as a scout under Roseman during his time in Philadelphia.

“I think that’s the biggest thing we all learned. If you believed in something, you shouldn’t be afraid to speak up. I think the opposite side of that is a room where everyone is quiet because they’re all trying to keep their jobs. Andy and Howie didn’t want that.”

Traces of that philosophy can be found in numerous moves Roseman has made over the years, but none is more obvious than the discovery of Mailata, one of the NFL’s most improbable unearthed gems.

Six-foot-8, 348-pound Mailata was a rugby league player from Australia and had never played organized football before he showed up at the NFL’s International Player Pathway Program pro day. But based on the strong recommendations of Brandon Brown, then the Eagles’ assistant director of pro scouting, and offensive line coach Jeff Stoutland, Roseman traded up 17 spots in the seventh round to take a chance on him with the 233rd pick.

Philadelphia knew Mailata was the very definition of taking a flier on a raw prospect. Improbably, over the next two seasons, it became clear the team had found its left tackle of the future. He became a starter at the beginning of 2021, inspiring Roseman to lock him up with a $64 million contract extension that now looks like a bargain. Mailata was an alternate to the Pro Bowl in 2022.

“Howie has been nothing but great to me,” Mailata says. “I’ve got nothing bad to say because of the opportunities he’s given me and the patience he had with me when I was struggling my first two years. He told me ‘You have to be patient.’ I was learning the game and trying to be patient at the same time, but you bet your ass I was nervous.”

Roseman earned the reputation early in his career for being prickly with certain players, particularly after poor performances, but current Eagles say he has matured in recent years.

“After I played poorly in our Thursday game, I walked past him and he said, ‘Stop beating yourself up,’” Mailata says. “I said, ‘What are you talking about?’ He said ‘I know you. You’re beating yourself up. You’re a great player. Just go back out there and start doing your thing.’ I thought, ‘You’re F’ing right, Howie! You’re right.’”

Nov. 22, 2021 — Eagles sign linebacker T.J. Edwards to a one-year extension

It’s not hard to find legitimate criticisms of Roseman. The airwaves in Philadelphia have been filled with them during his tenure with the Eagles, with fans frequently fixating on his somewhat-spotty record in the draft. Mention names like Danny Watkins, Marcus Smith or Jaiquawn Jarrett to any Eagles fan and it likely will elicit audible groans.

Roseman’s draft record might be mixed, but his penchant for finding cheap talent elsewhere, through free agency or trades, might be the most underrated aspect of his legacy with the Eagles. His ability to find overlooked players who can fill lineup holes is dynamic and is as good as that of any executive in football.

“I know he’s missed on some draft picks, but nobody is going to be 100% on that,” Jason Kelce says. “The thing that I’ve been the most impressed with is how quickly we move on from down years or bad salary-cap situations. That guy is so good at moving the cap around, so good at finding value. All these things are strengths of his that people are looking past over the years because people tend to focus on hitting on draft picks. There are not many teams that can get out of a salary-cap issue in one year. All of a sudden he does it.”

Edwards is the best recent example of this. Despite being an All-American at Wisconsin, he went undrafted in 2019, with most teams convinced he wasn’t big enough or fast enough to be an NFL starter. But the Philadelphia scouting department saw something beyond his measurables and signed him as a free agent. Over the next three years, the team watched him grow from a special teams demon into a starter and, eventually, a team leader who calls the signals for the defense.

Just as Edwards was blossoming, Roseman signed him to a contract extension worth $3.2 million, securing his services for the 2022 season, an absolute bargain for one of the NFL’s leading tacklers.

“I actually thought it was a trick, but it was true,” Edwards explains when talking about Roseman’s initial call. “It actually felt like a place that cared. Everyone from the top down makes you feel like they are truly in this together and they want the best for you. I think that’s pretty rare.”

March 14, 2022 — Eagles sign free agent linebacker Haason Reddick to three-year, $45 million contract

If Brandon Graham squints a little, he can look across the locker room at Reddick and almost see a version of his younger self.

Both men were drafted in the first round, each at No. 13, and both men initially struggled to find their footing in the NFL. Graham battled injuries; coaches couldn’t figure out whether Reddick should play linebacker or defensive end. Both men were, for a time, labeled draft busts.

But as their careers evolved, each player blossomed. Graham emerged as an All-Pro in his seventh season (2016); Reddick, who was signed by Roseman as a free agent after stints with the Cardinals and Panthers, earned second-team All-Pro honors this season.

At 34, Graham is now a part-time player and likely is nearing the end of his career. Reddick, 28, was named the NFC Defensive Player of the Month for December, and his 16 sacks ranked second in the NFL this year behind Nick Bosa. But together, they are part of one of the most lethal pass rushes in the game. In 2022, the Eagles became the first team in NFL history to have four players with 10-plus sacks: Reddick (16), Graham (11), Josh Sweat (11), Javon Hargrave (11).

“Howie is a good dude,” says Graham, whose 11-sack season was a career best. “For him to stick with me this long, I got nothing but respect. People mature and evolve, and he has too. Look at me, going from a starter to from off the bench, I look at it a different way. I’m the knockout punch coming in. People know what I can do. Now I can do it faster because I ain’t out there all the time. I got to live it just as much as I say it. It’s maturity as much as situational.”

Graham admits he wasn’t always sure he was going to be part of Philadelphia’s climb back to the top of the NFL, even though he authored one of the most memorable moments in Eagles history: the strip sack of Tom Brady at the end of Super Bowl LII. One of Roseman’s strengths is that he’s not sentimental, but in 2021, the Eagles elected to sign Graham to a one-year extension to help bridge the gap between eras.

“All players want to know is that you’re doing everything you can to win football games. That needs to be the emphasis, and Howie does that,” Kelce says. “I don’t think he gives up on people, though. I’ve had downs throughout my career when he could have given up on me, but they’ve navigated really well when it’s time to move on and when it’s time to continue to give a guy an opportunity.”

As Graham has aged, he has grown to understand Roseman’s roster-building philosophies.

“One thing I know, he’s not comfortable,” Graham says. “He’s still making moves. I’m prideful too, and I try not to let it kill me. But I can tell that he takes a lot of pride in putting together a real good team and being strategic. I mean, look at how we got A.J. Brown. That was hype! This whole year has been hype because it’s the most trades I’ve seen since I’ve been here. It’s blockbuster stuff happening every month. It’s fun to see.”

April 28, 2022 — Eagles acquire AJ. Brown via trade with the Tennessee Titans

Earlier this season, ESPN reached out to one of Roseman’s contemporaries — also a current league executive — to ask whether people around the league trust the Eagles general manager. In a survey of NFL agents done by The Athletic in 2021 and 2022, Roseman was voted the executive they trust the least two years running. The relationship between agents and general managers, of course, is bound to be contentious. Did the same hold true for rival executives?

The contemporary — who agreed to speak candidly on the condition of anonymity — intimated that it was true, Howie isn’t widely trusted. But maybe that wasn’t a bad thing.

“How many people around the league and in the building trust Bill Belichick?” the executive says. “Probably it would be very low. How many people trust what he’s doing for the team? Probably very high. It’s the same with Howie. When you’re so smart, and you make the smart decisions, you don’t have a lot of trust in the building.”

That hasn’t stopped other front offices from making deals with Roseman, even though he has had a knack for coming out ahead of late. The trade for Brown — which cost the Eagles only the 18th and 101st picks in the 2022 draft — now looks like such a fleecing that it might have played a role in costing Titans general manager Jon Robinson his job.

Despite Tennessee never having finished worse than 9-7 since Robinson took over, and even though he had signed a contract extension at the beginning of the year, ownership fired him the week after Brown caught eight passes for 119 yards and two touchdowns in a 35-10 Eagles win over the Titans. It was impossible not to connect the dots, particularly after Brown said he had been hoping he might retire a Titan.

“I wanted to make them regret that decision,” Brown told reporters after the game.

Roseman admitted, months after the acquisition of Brown, that part of what motivated him to take a big swing was a mistake he had made in trying to find a No. 1 receiver.

In the 2020 draft, the Eagles had the 21st pick in the first round and grabbed Jalen Reagor, a speedy wideout from TCU. Reagor never found much success with Philadelphia, catching only three touchdowns in two seasons before being traded to Minnesota. But what made the pick even more painful — particularly for Eagles fans — is what came right after it. The Vikings, picking 22nd, selected LSU’s Justin Jefferson, then watched him bloom into the NFL’s best wide receiver.

“I think one of my many weaknesses is that I spend more time thinking about my mistakes than I do any of the successes we may have had,” Roseman said in September in an interview with 94WIP, a Philadelphia radio station. “I think it continuously motivates me to get better. Whenever we do something like that, I go back and I look at the process and how we came to that decision. It’s obvious, I’m not going to sit here and lie, we’d love to have that moment back. … That’s on me, 100 percent. At the end of the day, I’m responsible for all of that. But I also promise you one thing, if I make a mistake, I’m going to do everything in my power to make it up.”

In Week 18, Brown broke the Eagles’ single-season record for receiving yards with 1,496, a mark that had held up since 1983.

“This place has been everything I expected,” Brown says.

Jan. 21, 2021 — Eagles hire Nick Sirianni to be their next head coach

One thing had become clear by the end of Doug Pederson’s tenure with the Eagles: The team’s analytics department and its coaching staff were no longer seeing eye to eye. Collaboration and communication were, at best, strained. The Philadelphia media were filled with leaks hinting that Pederson was frustrated at constantly being second-guessed by ownership, and the scouting department didn’t feel its analysis was being taken into consideration when it came to personnel decisions.

The harmony fostered during the Super Bowl season had completely faded. Although he was initially expected to return, after a series of tense meetings with Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie and Roseman on how to reshape the future of the franchise, Pederson was fired.

Sirianni, a former Indianapolis Colts offensive coordinator, turned out to be the savior few predicted. He wasn’t among Philadelphia’s initial targets, and after he got the job, the reviews weren’t particularly glowing. Several outlets implied that Roseman was installing Sirianni as a puppet who would let him and Lurie involve themselves in the game plan.

In two seasons, Sirianni has gone 23-11 and made the playoffs twice. Along the way, he has earned a reputation as one of the league’s most player-friendly coaches. A building once filled with strife is (for the most part) harmonious again. Most importantly, he has turned Hurts into an MVP candidate.

“The relationship with Jalen, I just really appreciate the quarterback-head coach relationship that we have and how it’s grown,” Sirianni says. “We know more and more about each other, not only in football but in our personal lives, too. That’s what’s so important to me in coaching and playing; the relationships that you have and the connecting that you have.”

Aug. 30, 2022 — Eagles acquire safety C. J. Gardner-Johnson from the Saints in exchange for draft picks

Gardner-Johnson never thought of himself as someone who needed a dose of humility. His swagger felt like part of his DNA. In his mind, it helped him thrive in the cutthroat world playing cornerback, first at the University of Florida, then with the Saints. But after a promising rookie season, Gardner-Johnson’s standing with New Orleans became tenuous.

He was involved in a fight with a teammate during practice. He got into another altercation during a game. He became frustrated over his contract situation, held out during training camp and eventually stopped speaking to coaches. When Roseman called to inquire about his availability, the Saints were happy to let him go for a fifth-round pick and two sixth-round picks.

It could have been a risk, bringing in a malcontent and asking him to play a major role on one of the NFL’s best defenses. But Gardner-Johnson saw it differently. With cornerback Darius Slay on one side and James Bradberry on the other, there wasn’t going to be a spot for him in the lineup unless he humbled himself and committed to playing off the ball as the Eagles’ deep safety. In New Orleans, he had played mostly in the slot.

“I mean, I ain’t even gonna cap with you, you got two other corners [in Philadelphia] that can cover better than me,” Gardner-Johnson says. “I think I was covering all down in New Orleans, but when I got a chance to play with some lockdown corners, I just figured I’d play my role.”

The result? He tied for the league lead in interceptions (6) despite playing only 12 games because of a lacerated kidney. He played every defensive snap in the Eagles’ regular-season finale against the Giants.

“I get treated very, very, very, very, very, like, better than I was in New Orleans,” Gardner-Johnson says. “And I ain’t saying nothing bad. I’m just, you play better ball when you’re around better guys and you’re around better athletes. This is the result of it.”

Roseman is no stranger to the idea that a little humility can lead to a rebirth, something every veteran player knows well. In 2015, then-Philadelphia coach Chip Kelly won a power struggle with Roseman, gaining final say over the roster, including having final decision-making power over the draft and free agency. Publicly, the team announced that Roseman was being promoted to the role of executive vice president of football operations, still overseeing the salary-cap and scouting departments, but neither the media nor the players bought it. Around the league, the move was widely viewed as a demotion.

Most NFL executives would have taken the hint, punched up their résumé and tried to rebuild their reputation elsewhere. But Roseman put his head down, trudged into the office each day, studied the salary cap and made phone calls around the league, asking for advice about how he might grow from the setback.

“I give him credit for his resilience,” agent Leigh Steinberg says. “I talked to him several times during that period. Even though he’d lost his power, he never lost touch with a lot of people in the game. He stayed on the phone. I think he wanted to learn from what happened and do a brutal self-assessment. And he handled himself with dignity and class, and as a result, I think a lot of people were rooting for him to come back.”

When Kelly was fired by Lurie near the end of the 2015 season, it wasn’t a huge surprise that Roseman gradually reclaimed his old role, although he wouldn’t officially be named general manager for a second time until 2019. He had earned his second chance. When the Eagles won the Super Bowl in 2017, Kelce couldn’t resist addressing the elephant in the room during the celebratory parade, declaring that Roseman had returned “a different man” and “an underdog.”

Roseman’s arc is, in many respects, the perfect Philadelphia story.

“In this city, you’ve got to have thick skin,” Kelce explains. “And you have to be self-confident. And self-aware. The city can be very loud telling you when you’re great and when you’re bad, but you have to be firmly aware of what you think is right, what the coaches think is right and what the players think is right. It’s a city that can be hard for a lot of reasons, but I truly believe it’s going to make you better.

“Every day in this building, you better come ready to go, every time you step on the field, you better come ready to go. Because it doesn’t matter if you’re undefeated, if you have a s— game, somebody is going to let you know. You ain’t just coasting through a season like you’re the Chargers. There is a sense of urgency here on the East Coast, and in Philadelphia, with sports teams. It can be hard. But it can also be incredibly rewarding.”

Joseph Parker admits he needs a dominant victory over Jack Massey to stake his claim for a revenge fight against heavyweight rival Dillian Whyte.

The Brit inflicted just the second defeat of Parker’s professional career five years ago, although the New Zealander did put down Whyte in the final round of the contest.

The former WBO champion is on the comeback trail, having been stopped by another Brit Joe Joyce in the 11th round of their punishing bout last September.

However, the 31-year is optimistic that a statement win over Massey on the Eubank Jr vs Smith bill, live on Sky Sports Box Office, could persuade Whyte to accept the rematch.

Speaking at the media workout, he told Sky Sports: “Dream fight would obviously be to fight for a world title, but I want to fight Dillian Whyte again. It was a great, tough first fight, he got the win, awesome for him and I’d like to avenge that loss.”

Should he be unable to secure the desired rematch, Parker has no issue with facing some of the other leading names in the heavyweight division, saying: “You’ve always got an eye on other fighters.

“Get past Jack Massey, there’s Michael Hunter calling me out. If no-one wants to fight Joyce, I’ll fight him again, but I have to take care of business first.”

Parker’s opponent Massey has only recently moved up to heavyweight, having previously fought at cruiserweight.

He’s emerged victorious from 20 of his 21 fights so far, with his only defeat coming at the hands of Richard Riakporhe, who is also featuring on Saturday’s undercard against former two-time world champion Krzysztof Glowacki.

Despite not quite knowing what to expect from the Englishman, Parker is refusing to underestimate him in what he acknowledges is a must-win fight.

“I’m approaching it like every other fight, like it’s the championship of the world. When you approach a fight like that and you take every fight seriously, you’re going to be in the best condition and that’s what I’ve done in this camp.

“It’s a bit of the unknown what he’s going to come in as weight-wise. I’m respecting him because a fighter who’s going to come up is confident in themselves.

“There are a lot of cruiserweights that have done great, I’m not saying he’s one of them but there’s potential to do some good stuff in the heavyweight division.

“Every fight you want to look good and you want to make a statement but when you go looking for it, it doesn’t really happen. I want to go out there, enjoy myself and just execute what I’ve been doing in camp.”

Chris Eubank Jr vs Liam Smith is on Saturday January 21, live on Sky Sports Box Office. Book it now if you are a Sky TV subscriber or a Non-Sky TV subscriber. Buy tickets here.

For as much as Luka Doncic does for his team on the court, his team does that much less when he’s not on the court. The Dallas Mavericks have recentered themselves in the Western Conference playoff picture courtesy of their young superstar, but they have failed to gain momentum despite Doncic’s nightly MVP performances.

The Mavericks are one of the few teams in the Western Conference playoff picture that have not seen first place. The streaky West has seen nine other teams spend a day in first place so far this season, per ESPN Stats & Information research, and many of which don’t boast a talent like Doncic.

Now the door might be closing for Dallas to make a run to the top of the conference, as the Denver Nuggets and Memphis Grizzlies are putting their feet on the gas with six and 10-game winning streaks, respectively.

The Boston Celtics might also be outpacing anyone in the Eastern Conference. The team that has spent much of the year with the NBA’s best record has put together a seven-game winning streak and has returned to its early-season form.

Note: Throughout the regular season, our panel (Kendra Andrews, Tim Bontemps, Jamal Collier, Nick Friedell, Andrew Lopez, Tim MacMahon, Dave McMenamin and Ohm Youngmisuk) is ranking all 30 teams from top to bottom, taking stock of which teams are playing the best basketball now and which teams are looking most like title contenders.

Previous rankings: Week 1 | Week 2 | Week 3 | Week 4 | Week 5 | Week 6 | Week 7 | Week 8 | Week 9 | Week 10 | Week 11 | Week 12 | Week 13

1. Boston Celtics
2022-23 record: 33-12
Previous ranking: 1

After being 27th in offensive rating in December, Boston has catapulted back up to sixth in January, thanks in part to their shooting normalizing again. With space opening up between them and Milwaukee and Philadelphia in second and third, respectively, it’s starting to look like the Celtics will have the opportunity to run away and hide in the race for the top spot in the conference. — Bontemps

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2. Denver Nuggets
2022-23 record: 31-13
Previous ranking: 2

Nikola Jokic is making a serious case for his third consecutive MVP with how he is leading the Nuggets, but Denver proved against the Los Angeles Clippers that they can still be successful without their triple-double machine center. That should make the league scared of what the Nuggets could continue to do this season. — Andrews

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3. Memphis Grizzlies
2022-23 record: 30-13
Previous ranking: 3

Desmond Bane wants to see how he fares when his minutes get pushed into the upper 30s before declaring himself fully back from the toe injury that sidelined him for more than a month, but Bane’s shooting has certainly returned to form. He has averaged 22 points in the last five games while shooting 51.9% from the floor and 59.4% from 3-point range. The sizzling Grizzlies are winners of 10 in a row and have outscored opponents by 19 points per 100 possessions with Ja Morant, Jaren Jackson Jr. and Bane on the floor this season. — MacMahon

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4. Milwaukee Bucks
2022-23 record: 29-16
Previous ranking: 5

Giannis Antetokounmpo missed his fourth straight game on Tuesday against the Raptors with left knee soreness as Milwaukee wanted to remain cautious with their star, but the Bucks do not play their next game until Saturday night. Antetokounmpo has gone through his usual pregame routine despite not playing in recent games. — Collier

5. Brooklyn Nets
2022-23 record: 27-16
Previous ranking: 4

It feels like deja vu all over again for the Nets, who just aren’t the same without Kevin Durant. The Nets come into Thursday’s game against Phoenix having lost three straight after winning 18 of 20 with Durant healthy. The offensive rhythm hasn’t been there, and the defense has been inconsistent without one of its key players on the floor. The Nets went 5-16 without Durant last season while he rehabbed an MCL injury in his left knee. They appear headed for a similar fate unless things turn around quickly as he rehabs an MCL in his right knee this year. — Friedell

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6. Philadelphia 76ers
2022-23 record: 28-16
Previous ranking: 7

Don’t look now, but Philadelphia is sitting at third in the East, and has gone 27-12 since a 1-4 start to the campaign. What was supposed to be a huge game against Brooklyn next week has lost some luster with Kevin Durant going down with an MCL sprain, but the 76ers are looking like every bit of the threat to make a deep playoff run they hoped to be when the season began. — Bontemps

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7. Cleveland Cavaliers
2022-23 record: 28-17
Previous ranking: 6

Darius Garland‘s 30 points and 11 assists in a win over a very good, albeit Zion Williamson-less New Orleans Pelicans team, was impressive, but the best moment from Monday’s game was hilariously captured by Richard Jefferson’s Instagram account. I guess that’s what reminiscing about the 2018 NBA Finals run looks like between Kevin Love and Larry Nance Jr. — McMenamin

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8. Miami Heat
2022-23 record: 24-21
Previous ranking: 14

Miami picked up back-to-back wins against the Bucks before dropping Monday’s game to Atlanta — in the middle of a tough week which includes two games against the Pelicans and a meeting with both the Celtics and Mavericks. Jimmy Butler appears to be finding a groove again as evidenced by the 23 points he’s averaging in January and the 34 points he scored in Monday’s loss to the Hawks. — Friedell

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9. Sacramento Kings
2022-23 record: 24-18
Previous ranking: 12

The Kings won all four of their games last week and scored no fewer than 132 in any of their wins, which makes sense since their offense leads the league in points per game. Their scoring makes up for their defense, but if they can figure that out, the Kings’ beam could shine even brighter. — Andrews

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10. Dallas Mavericks
2022-23 record: 24-21
Previous ranking: 9

With half of the rotation injured, the Mavs were running on fumes by the end of a five-game road trip. The lone win on the trip came in double overtime over the Los Angeles Lakers, when Doncic played a career-high 53 minutes. He was held to a season-low 15 points in a loss in Portland two nights later and sat out the second end of the back-to-back, as he’s done five times this season. — MacMahon

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11. New York Knicks
2022-23 record: 25-20
Previous ranking: 13

New York was a couple of inches away from a perfect 4-0 week, with Jalen Brunson‘s game-winning 3-pointer ending up just long in Monday’s wild matinee loss in overtime to Toronto. Still, the Knicks continue to sit in sixth in the Eastern Conference, and Jalen Brunson is averaging more points than anyone but Joel Embiid among East players in the month of January. Brunson could be representing New York in the All-Star Game next month. — Bontemps

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12. New Orleans Pelicans
2022-23 record: 26-18
Previous ranking: 8

Despite Brandon Ingram not playing since Nov. 25, and Zion Williamson and Herb Jones being limited to just 29 games this season because of injuries, the Pelicans are still 26-18 and in third place in the Western Conference. Staying near the top of the standings has a lot to do with the play of CJ McCollum. In the last 16 games, McCollum is averaging 27.0 points per game and shooting 47.9% from deep. In that stretch, McCollum has hit 70 3-pointers. Only Buddy Hield and LaMelo Ball (both at 71) have hit more. — Lopez

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13. LA Clippers
2022-23 record: 23-23
Previous ranking: 15

The Clippers got Paul George back from a hamstring injury that cost him five consecutive games. But George’s return was not enough for the Clippers to overcome the Sixers or some of the issues they’ve had in losing eight of their past 10 games. The Clippers’ offense stalls, they turn the ball over too much, can’t rebound at times and lack continuity. With John Wall (abdomen) out at least two weeks and Luke Kennard (calf) still out, the Clippers need Reggie Jackson, whose back tightened up Tuesday, to stay healthy. — Youngmisuk

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14. Golden State Warriors
2022-23 record: 22-22
Previous ranking: 11

The Warriors are stuck in a cycle: Put together an OK game and find a way to close out in the fourth quarter, then lose the next game and repeat. When asked why they haven’t been able to string together consistent play, no one seems to know the answer. Until they figure that out, they will continue to hover around .500 and just hope they turn a corner soon. — Andrews

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15. Indiana Pacers
2022-23 record: 23-22
Previous ranking: 10

Indiana is already finding out how difficult life without Tyrese Haliburton is going to be. They have dropped three games in a row since Haliburton injured his elbow last Wednesday and the Pacers are going to be without their emerging star point guard for at least two weeks. — Collier

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16. Atlanta Hawks
2022-23 record: 22-22
Previous ranking: 20

With Clint Capela dealing with a calf injury, Onyeka Okongwu made the most of his minutes in his absence. On Friday against the Indiana Pacers, Okongwu tied his season high with 18 points and set a new career high with 20 rebounds, besting his previous career mark by five. Okongwu had 18 points and 13 rebounds in the first half, marking the first time in his career he had a double-double in a single half. — Lopez

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17. Utah Jazz
2022-23 record: 23-24
Previous ranking: 21

According to the Elias Sports Bureau, rookie center Walker Kessler is the first player to average a double-double while shooting at least 70% from the floor in his first 10 starts since starters were first tracked on box scores in 1970-71. With his performance Monday against the Timberwolves — the team that traded him to Utah in the Rudy Gobert deal — Kessler joined Shaquille O’Neal and Alonzo Mourning as the only rookies since 1990 to have 20/20 nights while shooting at least 65% from the floor. — MacMahon

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18. Oklahoma City Thunder
2022-23 record: 21-23
Previous ranking: 25

Oklahoma City has won five of its last six games, and Josh Giddey has played some of his best basketball to date during that stretch. The 20-year-old is averaging 20.2 points, 8.2 rebounds and 7.8 assists in the last six games and capped that off with a 28-point performance in Sunday’s win against the Nets. The 28 points ties Giddey’s career high which he set last February against the Knicks. — Lopez

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19. Phoenix Suns
2022-23 record: 21-24
Previous ranking: 16

The wheels are starting to come off for last season’s leader in wins during the 82-game slate. Phoenix has lost nine out of its last 10, including a 29-point drilling in Denver and a 30-point blowout loss to Memphis. As if it wasn’t already urgent for the Suns to find a trade partner for Jae Crowder, help can’t come soon enough. — McMenamin

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20. Minnesota Timberwolves
2022-23 record: 22-23
Previous ranking: 17

The Timberwolves are still figuring it out, but they have won six of their last eight games. The thing is, they are still without Karl Anthony-Towns. Yes, he is their franchise player, but the chemistry between him and Rudy Gobert was absent to start the year. So, how will they mesh once he’s returned? — Andrews

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21. Portland Trail Blazers
2022-23 record: 21-23
Previous ranking: 18

The Blazers halted a five-game skid on the back of Damian Lillard, who led them to back-to-back wins at home against Dallas. Lillard is heating up with 35 or more points in four straight games. However, Lillard’s 44-point game wasn’t enough to upset Jokic in Denver. With the next six games at home, Portland has a chance to make up for its slide. — Youngmisuk

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22. Los Angeles Lakers
2022-23 record: 20-24
Previous ranking: 19

It wasn’t the loudest of endorsements, and it almost went unnoticed, as it came in the aftermath of a disappointing last-second loss to Philadelphia, but LeBron James acknowledged some growth in the Lakers this week. “We’re better than the start of the season,” James said. The Lakers are 18-14 since their 2-10 start and could be getting Anthony Davis back in the lineup in about a week. Maybe the dog days are over. — McMenamin

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23. Chicago Bulls
2022-23 record: 20-24
Previous ranking: 22

DeMar DeRozan, who missed the last three games with a right quad strain, said he plans to play during the Bulls’ lone game this week in Paris on Thursday against the Detroit Pistons. Chicago went 1-2 without their leading scorer, who is putting up another season worthy of All-Star consideration, averaging 26-5-5 on 51% shooting. — Collier

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24. Toronto Raptors
2022-23 record: 20-25
Previous ranking: 23

Toronto’s topsy-turvy season continued over the weekend, with disappointing losses in winnable games against Atlanta and a depleted Milwaukee team, sandwiched around a thrilling overtime win over the Knicks across the past few days. Time is running out for the Raptors to salvage their season before some hard choices will have to be made ahead of next month’s trade deadline. — Bontemps

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25. Washington Wizards
2022-23 record: 18-26
Previous ranking: 24

The Wizards have dropped five of their last six since Bradley Beal injured his hamstring early in Milwaukee on Jan. 3. Beal was ruled out before the Wizards’ last game against Golden State, so he could be nearing a return. Washington needs Beal back soon with six of the next seven games on the road. — Youngmisuk

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26. Orlando Magic
2022-23 record: 16-28
Previous ranking: 26

Orlando is finally home again after an up-and-down five-game West Coast swing. While Jokic broke their hearts by knocking a game-winning 3 at the buzzer on Sunday, the Magic continue to show signs of improvement. Markelle Fultz had 20 points in Sunday’s loss and is averaging 14.1 points, 6.3 assists and 4.1 rebounds over seven games in January. — Friedell

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27. Charlotte Hornets
2022-23 record: 11-34
Previous ranking: 28

The losses just keep piling up in Charlotte. The Hornets have dropped five straight games and have given up an average of 124.8 points per game over that stretch. A small bright spot? LaMelo Ball is averaging 28 points over his last four games. — Friedell

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28. San Antonio Spurs
2022-23 record: 14-31
Previous ranking: 27

The Spurs set a new NBA attendance record on Friday night with 68,323 people inside the Alamodome — the team’s former home. Unfortunately for Spurs fans, the Warriors were in town and played spoiler to San Antonio’s homecoming. The 144-113 loss narrowly avoided being the Spurs’ worst loss ever in the Alamodome (33 points to the Raptors in Feb. 1997), but it was the most points the team had ever allowed there in 354 games. — Lopez

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29. Detroit Pistons
2022-23 record: 12-35
Previous ranking: 29

Pistons guard Killian Hayes grew up in Cholet, France, and played professionally in France for two years before getting drafted in 2020. He returns to the court in his home country for Detroit’s game against Chicago in Paris on Thursday. — Collier

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30. Houston Rockets
2022-23 record: 10-34
Previous ranking: 30

Alperen Sengun has been a major bright spot for the Rockets in the midst of an 11-game losing streak. A few games after becoming the youngest player in franchise history to record a triple-double, the 20-year-old big man had 33 points on 14-of-17 shooting, 15 rebounds, six assists and four blocks in Monday’s loss to the Lakers. He joined Kevin Garnett, Karl Malone and Patrick Ewing as the only players to post 30-15-5 lines on 80% shooting since 1995, according to ESPN Stats & Information research. — MacMahon

FRISCO, Texas — The Dallas Cowboys still plan to have Brett Maher kick in Sunday’s divisional round matchup against the San Francisco 49ers, but signed Tristan Vizcaino to the practice squad on Wednesday as insurance.

Maher missed four extra points in Monday’s wild-card win against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. After the game, owner and general manager Jerry Jones said Maher would continue as the kicker, and on Tuesday, head coach Mike McCarthy and special teams coordinator John Fassel backed him as well.

But if Maher struggles when he kicks in practice on Thursday and Friday, the Cowboys will at least have Vizcaino ready. He spent part of the 2020 offseason with the club.

Vizcaino played in three games this season with the Arizona Cardinals and New England Patriots. He made two field goal attempts and three extra points in the Cardinals’ win over the Los Angeles Rams.

On Tuesday, Fassel said Maher was battling a case of the yips when he became the first player in any NFL game since 1932 to miss four extra points in a regular-season or playoff game, according to Elias, a span of 16,207 games.

“I believe in the hot hand and I believe in the yips, absolutely,” Fassel said. “And you know, you wonder sometimes how you get into the yips and you wonder sometimes how you get back into the hot hand. I think it’s keep stepping up to the line and shooting that thing. We missed a couple of free throws [Monday] … He had a hot hand. Let’s face it, he only missed [six] kicks all season. The yips happen, so I expect a hot hand coming up.”

In the regular season, Maher made 29 of 32 field goal attempts, missing from 59 yards twice and 46 yards. He made 50 of 53 extra points but missed his final point-after attempt in the regular-season finale loss to the Washington Commanders, then four straight against the Buccaneers.

“Life happens, man. I mean, look at our first three plays. We all had three drops,” wide receiver T.Y. Hilton said. “It happens. And for him, man, like after the second one, I just went up to him and said, ‘Chin up. Hey, we got you. We OK. We good.’ Just continue to just let him get his confidence. All he needs to do is see one go in and he’s fine. But it happens, man. Bad stuff happens, but we got his back no matter what.”

PITTSBURGH — Matt Canada is returning as the Pittsburgh Steelers offensive coordinator, team spokesperson Burt Lauten confirmed to ESPN.

Canada, 50, signed a one-year contract extension last year through the 2023 season and will be the offensive coordinator for a third season. He was previously the quarterbacks coach for the 2020 season.

Though speculation of Canada’s status was rife outside the building, internally, a league source told ESPN, the expectation was that Canada would return and his job wasn’t in jeopardy.

“I thought he got better,” coach Mike Tomlin said in his end-of-year press conference last week. “Just like our team got better. … We got some work to do, but largely I thought he got better in the ways that we got better. It was encouraging.”

The Steelers finished the year averaging 4.2 yards per carry, a figure that ranks near the bottom of the league, but it’s an improvement from 2021 where they finished 28th with 3.8 yards per carry. The Steelers also finished last this season with 12 passing touchdowns, but rookie Kenny Pickett threw five touchdowns to just one interception after the Week 9 bye after throwing two touchdowns to eight interceptions in his first five appearances.

Pickett, who has known Canada since the former college offensive coordinator recruited him to play at Pitt, said he had a good relationship with the offensive coordinator.

“We’re open and honest on what I see, and he asks me all the time,” Pickett said Dec. 7. “I think that open line of communication is just going to continue to improve, and he’s very open to suggestions that we all have as players or staff. It’s a collective effort, and it’s definitely cool to have an OC that’s open to that and not just kind of closed-minded. So, it’s a pretty good relationship that he has with all of us.”

Canada and the offense drew intense scrutiny in the first half of the season when the team went 2-6 before the Week 9 bye and struggled to find a consistent rhythm or identity.

The Steelers scored just four touchdowns in the first three weeks, and searching for a spark, eventually benched Mitch Trubisky for Pickett at halftime of the Week 4 loss to the Jets.

Still, changing starting quarterbacks didn’t immediately jumpstart the offense, and it took a series of meetings between Tomlin, Canada and the entire team during the bye week to get everyone on the same page.

After that, offensive lineman Kevin Dotson said, the offense bought into and trusted Canada’s plan, and that led to the team finishing 7-2 for a 9-8 record.

“The bye week definitely opened up a lot of people’s eyes to his true vision because we had that sit down [talking about] what he expects and what he wants to happen in the future,” Dotson said last week. “And Tomlin supplemented that with his vision, and I think that helped us all.”

The ground attack showed the most improvement after the bye, and second-year running back Najee Harris went from averaging 45 yards per game in the first half of the season to 74 after the bye.

While the Steelers are retaining Canada, they are losing one offensive coach. Assistant wide receivers coach Blaine Stewart is departing for a job at West Virginia, a source told ESPN. Stewart, who spent four years on the Steelers’ staff, is the son of late WVU coach Bill Stewart.

The PGA Tour’s West Coast swing begins at The American Express in La Quinta, California, on Thursday.

These past two weeks might serve as a microcosm of what is to come on the PGA Tour.

South Korea’s Si Woo Kim, who won The American Express in 2021, returned to the winner’s circle at the Sony Open in Hawaii last week. He rallied from a 3-shot deficit over the final three holes to pick up his fourth PGA Tour victory, doing so against a leaderboard that didn’t include many familiar names.

None of the top 10 players in the Official World Golf Ranking stuck around for the second week in Hawaii, after most competed in the more lucrative Sentry Tournament of Champions to start 2023. The handful of star players who were there, including Jordan Spieth, Tom Kim, Gary Woodland and Billy Horschel, missed the cut.

Conversely, the field for The American Express, the tournament that Bob Hope made famous in the California desert, is absolutely loaded. Five of the top 10 players in the world and 10 of the top 20 are going to tee it up in the Coachella Valley. Scottie Scheffler is there. So is Jon Rahm, Patrick Cantlay, Xander Schauffele, Will Zalatoris and Cameron Young.

Changes to the $100 million Player Impact Program requirements have been a good thing for The American Express, which has perhaps its best field in at least two decades. The new PIP rules require players to compete in 20 tournaments, including 12 elevated events, The Players, the four majors (if they qualify) and three other tournaments of their choosing. Many chose to play in La Quinta.

“You want to beat the best, and I’m glad people are coming,” Rahm said during a news conference on Wednesday. “It’s good that more players are trying more events. I think it’s due to some of the new events going on during the year. The fact that we have all those big events that we have to play, if we want to earn that PIP reward.

“That opens up to all those, let’s say lower events, that you need to play. It opens people’s eyes to maybe some events they haven’t played in the past because your schedule changes a little bit. I know I’m one of those.”

Here’s what to watch in men’s professional golf this week:

What’s next on the PGA Tour

The American Express

When: Thursday-Sunday

Where: La Quinta Country Club, La Quinta, California

Defending champion: Hudson Swafford

Purse: $8 million

Three storylines to watch:

Where’s Mickelson?: Six-time major champion Phil Mickelson was the official host of the American Express the past three years. But like many of Mickelson’s longtime sponsors, The American Express severed ties with him after his controversial comments about the PGA Tour and the Saudi Arabian financiers of LIV Golf were published by author Alan Shipnuck in February 2022.

Another big change: The previous charitable arm of the tournament, the Mickelson Foundation, has been replaced by American Express’ Impact Through Golf, which will provide funding to local organizations.

Swafford, a two-time winner of the event, won’t be back to defend his title, either. He is among the PGA Tour players who were suspended by commissioner Jay Monahan for appearing in LIV Golf events without conflicting-event releases. Past champions and current LIV Golf players Patrick Reed and Pat Perez will be no-shows, as well.

Two World No. 1s?: Rahm and other players have criticized the Official World Golf Ranking’s new formula for awarding more points to watered-down (but larger) fields than smaller (but more elite) fields, like the Tournament of Champions.

Now, according to calculations by a popular OWGR guru on Twitter, there could actually be co-No. 1s in the new world rankings on Monday — if No. 5-ranked Cantlay wins the American Express and No. 2-ranked Scheffler finishes solo eighth. There have never been co-No. 1s in the OWGR.

🚨BREAKING

As things stand now, if Patrick Cantlay wins @theamexgolf and Scottie Scheffler finishes solo 8th, those two could share the No.1 place in the world rankings and Rory will drop to #3… #OWGR

(that will change if there are further changes in the field)

— Nosferatu (@VC606) January 17, 2023

Under that scenario, according to the OWGR guru, current No. 1 player Rory McIlroy would drop to third.

Scheffler, who spent much of last season atop the rankings, was asked about sharing the top spot on Wednesday during a news conference.

“That would be pretty funny,” Scheffler said. “I assume that’s never happened before. Yeah, it would be a little bit weird to have two No. 1s. Maybe have a putt-off or something to see who would be the real No. 1.”

Schauffele’s return: Schauffele, who was forced to pull out of the Tournament of Champions after the eighth hole of the second round because of an ailing back, is scheduled to tee off on Thursday. But he acknowledged his back is still bothering him.

“Yeah, it’s just a little sore,” Schauffele said. “I did nothing, and I had a lot of work done on it, so it’s a little sore. I’ve gotten in probably more swings than I wanted to in these last three days. So just more work to be done on it. I got to be a little bit more patient in my return.”

Schauffele said he probably spent too much time on the practice range over the past few days.

“More swings than I wanted,” he said. “I’m that golfer who is sort of like, ‘Just one more,’ and it’s like 50. You know what I mean? I’m that guy. I think all of us out here who are tour pros are those people and definitely guilty.”

PGA Tour Power Rankings

1. Jon Rahm
Rahm’s victory at the season-opening Tournament of Champions gave him at least one in seven straight seasons, which tied Justin Thomas for the longest active streak on tour.

2. Rory McIlroy
You can watch the reigning world No. 1 golfer compete next week in the Dubai Desert Classic.

3. Scottie Scheffler
He’ll have a chance to defend four titles before mid-April at the WM Phoenix Open, the Arnold Palmer Invitational, the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play and the Masters.

4. Patrick Cantlay
The California native has three straight top-10s in the American Express and leads players with a minimum five rounds at the event in scoring average (67.17) and birdies per round (6.17).

5. Tony Finau
Finau has three victories and six top-10s in his past eight starts. That’s a heater. He has 74 birdies or better at The American Express the past three years, most by any player.

6. Will Zalatoris
Zalatoris returned from a more than four-month hiatus because of a back injury and tied for 11th at Kapalua.

7. Justin Thomas
The reigning PGA Championship winner tied for 25th in his first start of 2023 at Kapalua, where he had won twice before.

8. Max Homa
How many times will Homa be asked about carding a 9-under 61 to set the Los Angeles Country Club North Course record as a Cal senior in 2013 between now and June’s U.S. Open that will be played there?

9. Cameron Young
The 2022 PGA Tour Rookie of the Year has the length to go very low this week, maybe low enough to pick up his first PGA Tour victory. He tied for 13th at Kapalua.

10. Tom Kim
A year ago, Kim made his fifth PGA Tour start at The American Express on a sponsor’s exemption. He was ranked 154th in the world. This week, he is 14th. He tied for fifth at the Tournament of Champions and missed the cut at the Sony Open.

LIV Golf’s TV deal looming?

“Coming up next, after another hour of ‘Jack Hanna’s Into the Wild,’ live coverage of the second round of the LIV Golf Invitational Mayakoba in Mexico.”

After months of speculation, it seems LIV Golf finally has a domestic TV partner. It’s probably not the cable network you imagined would broadcast the Saudi-backed circuit’s second season, but one that had been rumored to be in play for weeks. According to various reports, LIV Golf is on the cusp of signing a media rights deal with The CW Network, which is known more for re-airing episodes of “Bob’s Burgers,” “Family Guy” and “Divorce Court” than broadcasting live sporting events.

In fact, The CW currently has no other sports properties. It will reportedly share advertising revenue with LIV Golf, which will not receive TV rights fees in the deal. In March 2020, the PGA Tour reached a nine-year media rights agreement with CBS Sports, NBC Sports and ESPN that will pay the tour more than $6 billion over the life of the deal.

LIV Golf will continue to pay for production costs, as it did during its inaugural season, when tournaments were streamed on YouTube, DAZN and the circuit’s official website.

“I think it is a very positive step in the right direction,” an agent with LIV players told ESPN on Wednesday. “I think it was critically important to the future of LIV Golf that they get some type of broadcast partner. At this point, getting eyeballs was critical to the ongoing success. I think this will undoubtedly get us eyeballs.”

The second LIV Golf season is scheduled to tee off at El Camaleon Golf Course in Mayakoba, Mexico, from Feb. 24 to 26. The league, which is fronted by two-time Open winner Greg Norman, has announced the sites of only seven of its planned 14 tournaments in 2023. Events also will be held in Arizona, Australia, Singapore, Oklahoma, Spain and West Virginia.

A full announcement of LIV Golf’s 2023 schedule and the 48 players on its 12 teams is expected in the coming days.

The CW, which is majority owned by Nexstar Media Group, is distributed to 123.5 million homes across the United States. While LIV Golf has vowed to grow the sport and reach a younger audience, The CW’s average viewer is 58 years old, according to Nexstar.

“The main thing is they’re now on network TV,” the agent said. “If the Lakers and Warriors are playing on TV, I don’t think people care if it’s on channel 8, 12, 24 or 36. They care that they can tune in and watch. They’re now on a channel that’s on everyone’s channel lineup, whether it’s a 14-year-old or an 85-year-old.”

The Sports Business Journal first reported the potential deal between LIV Golf and The CW. LIV Golf had reportedly been in talks with Fox Sports about broadcasting its tournaments on FS1 or FS2, with LIV Golf paying for airtime.

Best social media of the week

Storytime with Fred Couples is always fun.

Joe LaCava drove @fredcouplesgolf to every event for 22 years. 😳

All because of a mishap Fred made in the desert. pic.twitter.com/lwt1PXdld6

— PGA TOUR Champions (@ChampionsTour) January 17, 2023

And we thought Jim Furyk‘s swing looked confusing.

In this bag I’d go A or C. But I have a theory on this- if you grew up in the north, putter goes with the driver. In the south, it goes with the wedges. Just something I noticed as a kid….. https://t.co/QQmvdQI2DP

— Jim Furyk (@jimfuryk) January 17, 2023

Those trophies come with a couple of nice invitations too. Argentina’s Mateo Fernandez de Oliveira won the Latin America Amateur Championship, earning trips to the Masters, U.S. Open and The Open.

Gordita al agua?

A tee box Spanish lesson for Si Woo Kim with @Nicolas_Ech 😂 pic.twitter.com/FaJ6rnsMuS

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) January 18, 2023

Truth.

That’s a deep bunker.

Golf game video game coming

EA Sports is poised to release its first golf game on console since 2015 this spring, and it plans to reveal a deep-dive gameplay trailer of EA Sports PGA TOUR on Thursday.

First look at EA SPORTS PGA TOUR Gameplay 👀⛳️

Full deep dive on gameplay coming this Thursday at 11am ET 🗓️

Watch live ➡️ https://t.co/WShHGDEZq4 pic.twitter.com/d1BFNmKCxP

— EA SPORTS PGA TOUR (@EASPORTSPGATOUR) January 17, 2023

According to previous EA Sports news releases, players will get to compete in all four majors, FedEx Cup Playoffs and The Players, as well as additional tournaments in the LPGA, U.S. Amateur and Korn Ferry Tour.

Liverpool have climbed four places to third in the Deloitte Football Money League for 2021/22, putting them above Manchester United for the first time in the publication’s 26-year history.

Manchester City retain their place at the top of the Money League, which ranks the 20 highest revenue-generating clubs in world football, with Real Madrid (2nd), Manchester United (4th) and Paris Saint-Germain (5th) making up the rest of the top five.

Liverpool are the biggest movers in this year’s edition thanks to a revenue increase of almost 22 per cent, from £487.4m in 2020/21 to £594.3m in 2021/22.

Deloitte put Liverpool’s rise down to additional broadcast revenue generated by their run to the 2022 Champions League final and a particularly significant increase in matchday revenue.

This year’s Money League highlights the financial might of the Premier League, with Premier League clubs making up more than half of the 20 included, including two new entries in Leeds United (18th) and Newcastle United (20th).

Arsenal (10th) become the first new club to enter the Money League’s top 10 since 2018/19, rising from 11th thanks to a revenue increase of 13 per cent from £324.5m to £367.1m, but they remain behind Chelsea (8th), who made £481.3m and Tottenham (9th) whose total of £442.8m represents a huge 23 per cent increase on 2020/21.

West Ham (15th) are the next-highest Premier League club, their year-on-year revenue increase of 30 per cent, from £196.1m in 2020/21 to £255.1m in 2021/22, the largest of any club in the Money League.

The Money League’s new Premier League representatives, Leeds and Newcastle, meanwhile, climb into the top 20 having generated revenues of £189.2m and £179.8m respectively in 2021/22.

Leicester City (17th) and Everton (19th) are the only Premier League clubs in the Money League whose revenues have fallen, by roughly six per cent each, to £213.6m and £181m respectively, seeing them drop two places in Leicester’s case and one place in Everton’s.

The picture was less bright for clubs from Europe’s other major leagues.

Bayern Munich (6th) and Barcelona’s (7th) revenues rose slightly, by two per cent and five per cent respectively, to £553.5m and £540.5m, but that modest growth saw them drop three places each in the Money League.

Atletico Madrid (12th) and AC Milan (16th) fared better, revenue increases of 13 per cent and 17 per cent, to £333.6m and £224.4m, seeing them climb a place each, but Juventus (11th) and Inter Milan’s (14th) revenues dropped by roughly 12 and 11 per cent, while Borussia Dortmund’s (13th) only increased fractionally.

Premier League dominance explained

“For the first time, Premier League clubs fill the lion’s share of positions in Deloitte’s Football Money League,” said Tim Bridge, lead partner in Deloitte’s Sports Business Group.

“The question now is whether other leagues can close the gap, likely by driving the value of future international media rights, or if the Premier League will be virtually untouchable, in revenue terms.

“The Premier League was the only one of the big five European leagues to experience an increase in its media rights value during its most recent rights sale process.

“It continues to appeal to millions of global followers and its member clubs have a greater revenue advantage over international rivals.

“Commercial partner, fan and investor interest in the Premier League appears higher than ever before. While this suggests optimism for further growth, continued calls for greater distribution of the financial wealth of English clubs across the football system and the impact of a cost-of-living crisis makes it all the more important for the game’s stakeholders to keep a clear focus on their responsibility as stewards of leading clubs.”

Sam Boor, director in Deloitte’s Sports Business Group, added: “The Premier League’s financial superiority is unlikely to be challenged in the coming seasons.

“This is particularly apparent at a time when these clubs continue to attract international investment which often, in the best examples, encourages a focus on profitability, as well as on-pitch success.”

Man Utd second among women’s teams

For the first time, the Money League also reported revenues generated from the women’s teams of the Money League clubs.

Manchester United ranked second behind Barcelona, their women’s side generating £5.1m, followed by Manchester City (£4.3m), Paris Saint-Germain (£3m), Arsenal (£1.9m) and Tottenham (£1.8m).

Bridge added: “The women’s professional game is still near the start of its journey and revenues reported by top clubs at this early stage hint at the significant value women’s sides will generate in future seasons.

“Coupled with long-term and growth-focused decision making, we expect that the development of industry data analysing women’s sport will also support success in the women’s game.

“This will enable clubs and leagues to clearly demonstrate the value of their women’s sides and the fanbase that they’re attracting.”

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MONT BELVIEU, Texas — Just three weeks after signing a top three 2023 class, Texas added an integral part to its upcoming 2024 class with a commitment from Cy-Fair (Texas) quarterback Trey Owens on Jan. 11.

For Owens, the thought process behind locking it down early goes into being able to focus on his development going into his senior season as well as helping to recruit other 2024 prospects early on.

“I feel like it’s a big relief off my chest because now I can focus on school ball going into my senior season,” Owens said. “Leading into it, I sat down and talked with my family and kind of thought there was no reason to sit around and wait. They gave me everything I needed. I felt confident going into it and that’s why I made the decision.”

Owens’ commitment in 2024 comes on the heels of Texas signing former No. 1 overall prospect Quinn Ewers in 2022 as a transfer and current No. 1 overall prospect Arch Manning in the 2023 cycle, but the Houston-area product is looking forward to entering that room and learning from the quarterback talent in Austin alongside Steve Sarkisian.

“I know I have Quinn and Arch there, so it’s a big competition but it’s also gonna set me up for greatness,” he said. “I’ll work behind them two and potentially compete for a top spot after a couple of years.”

Going into his recruitment, Owens leveled the playing field from a program-basis, and it allowed him to find which fit was best for him.

“I would say I have grown closer to them,” he said. “I wouldn’t say that I was a Texas fan growing up, but it’s been there and it’s a really good school. I love Austin and it’s a nice place to be.”

The commitment from Owens comes on the heels of a strong junior season that earned him double-digit offers including his offer from Texas on Nov. 3. Going into his senior year, Owens is locked in on making the most of it with his teammates.

“Getting faster, bigger, stronger,” he said about his offseason goals. “I’m not gonna shy away playing my senior year in favor of college. I know a lot of people do that, but I still got a senior season and I owe it to all of my teammates that have worked for it.”

At 6-foot-5, 200 pounds, Owens is the No. 22 ranked pro-style quarterback in the country for the class of 2024, according to Rivals.

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{{ timeAgo(‘2023-01-18 15:56:24 -0600’) }}
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Adam Gorney
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Rivals.com

National Recruiting Director

SAN ANTONIO – Romin Seymour has hardly gotten his high school career off the ground and already the 2026 quarterback has landed two major offers.The Manvel, Texas standout has received offers from …

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Montreal Canadiens rookie winger Juraj Slafkovsky, who went No. 1 in last summer’s NHL draft, will be out for three months, the team announced Wednesday.

The Canadiens said the imposing Slovakian winger suffered a lower-body injury that will not require surgery. He went down Sunday against the Rangers.

Slafkovsky had four goals and 10 points in 39 games before he was moved to injured reserve.

Montreal general manager Kent Hughes talked about Slafkovsky’s growth in media availability Wednesday.

“We believe his development will happen in stages,” he said. “It’s not, ‘hey, we’ve got 10 things [for you to do]; go figure them out.’ Because I think when you do that, [the player] is on the ice thinking and not reacting. And I think sometimes this year we’ve seen him think on the ice and other times we’ve seen him react.

“But we’re not worried about the production side of it. We’re really worried about seeing the areas that we want him to improve on. Do we see progress in those areas? Because we know, or we certainly believe, that long term, if he makes [certain] changes to his game, it’s going to allow him to adapt to the North American style and be the most successful player he can be. He’s going to be a different style hockey player than another guy.”

Slafkovsky is the second Canadiens rookie to suffer a long-term injury this season. Defenseman Kaiden Guhle suffered a lower-body injury in late December that, at the time of his diagnosis, was slated to keep him sidelined for eight weeks.

Montreal also announced that goaltender Jake Allen, forward Joel Armia and forward Jake Evans are also injured. Allen has an upper-body injury that will keep him out for a week. Armia has an upper-body injury that will keep him out until the All-Star break, and Evans has a lower-body injury that will keep him out for eight to 10 weeks.

The Canadiens now have five players — Brendan Gallagher, Armia, Evans, Guhle and Slafkovsky — on IR.