National Football League

National Football League

Would the Raiders entertain a trade for the No. 1 pick? I doubt it. It's hard to imagine the Raiders passing on Indiana's Fernando Mendoza, especially after ownership, including Tom Brady, attended the College Football Playoff National Championship. After Geno Smith's rough 2025 season, the Raiders need to bring in a young signal-caller who can grow with running back Ashton Jeanty and tight end Brock Bowers.

It's up to Stidham to be this year's Jeff Hostetler (New York Giants, Super Bowl XXV) or Nick Foles (Philadelphia Eagles, Super Bowl LII) and in so doing he'd bring a quartet of 49ers along for the ride. I'll admit to being a skeptic when Denver dropped big money on safety Talanoa Hufanga (three years, maximum of $45 million) and Dre Greenlaw (three years, maximum of $31.5 million).

A bonus was that they snatched him from Buffalo, where virtually every 2024 catch he made was either a first down or a touchdown. That hurt the Bills in a classic case of addition and subtraction. The big receiver continued his big-play ways for the Patriots in 2025. He notched 46 receptions for 550 yards, two touchdowns, and 28 first downs. He's also the Patriots' biggest wide receiver at 6'4" and 221 pounds. That creates matchup nightmares for any defensive back, especially shorter ones.

The Washington Commanders are taking their time before appointing their new defensive coordinator. But with several more vacancies opening around the NFL since Dan Quinn fired Joe Whitt Jr., the head coach would be wise to act swiftly to secure his preferred target. However, the Commanders' dream of luring Brian Flores to Washington seems to be fading rapidly amid growing buzz elsewhere.

For it to end like that is hard,

I wanted this job to be on the biggest stage of the biggest sport It had to be the right opportunity. This was the obvious one from the beginning.

Charbonnet opened the scoring with a 4-yard touchdown run and then made an all-time heads-up play on a 2-point attempt in the fourth quarter. As other players were starting to walk off the field, thinking Sam Darnold's screen pass had been batted down for an incompletion, Charbonnet wisely grabbed what turned out to be a live ball in the end zone. The successful try tied the score at 30-30, completing the Seahawks' improbable comeback from a 16-point deficit before they prevailed in overtime.

Alberto Mendoza reposted something else on his Instagram Story at roughly the same time - a media report that he plans to enter the NCAA transfer portal. A spokesperson for Indiana confirmed to The Athletic that the former three-star recruit has entered the portal. While the transfer portal closed for most players last Friday, players from Indiana and Miami are allowed to enter through Saturday because of their participation in the national title game.

all year, hitting him ferociously at every opportunity, sometimes right on the line of legality, if not past it. Indiana coach Curt Cignetti complained to ESPN's Holly Rowe about uncalled personal fouls against Miami, and he wasn't wrong, especially with regards to Jakobe Thomas's potential targeting hit on Mendoza in the first quarter; the Miami-raised QB was bleeding from the lip after Thomas's helmet smashed into his face, but, as was the case most of the night, the flags stayed in the referees' pockets.

If I was Miami Dolphins new general manager Jon-Eric Sullivan or new coach Jeff Hafley, I wouldn't sign Green Bay Packers backup quarterback Malik Willis to a multi-year free agent contract to be Miami's starter. We'll find out in a matter of weeks what Sullivan, the former Green Bay vice president of player personnel, and Hafley, the former Packers defensive coordinator, think of the athletic, 26-year-old Willis, who is eligible to become a free agent.