1st and North: Offseason moves and rankings
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New York Times
15 minutes ago
- New York Times
Drew Brees to be game analyst for Netflix's Christmas Day game years after NBC flameout: Sources
Future Hall of Famer Drew Brees, who was one-and-done at NBC but has expressed a desire to return to a top NFL booth, will be a game analyst for Netflix on Christmas Day, sources briefed on the negotiations told The Athletic. Brees will be on the domestic broadcast for either the Dallas Cowboys-Washington Commanders or Detroit Lions-Minnesota Vikings games. Brees worked the Netflix international broadcast last year. Advertisement CBS' Nate Burleson, who was a game analyst last year, will return in the same role, the sources said, while CBS' Matt Ryan is under heavy consideration. Netflix declined comment. The streamer has been faced with rival networks and streamers being less willing to loan out their top NFL announcers. Last Christmas, in its debut doubleheader, Netflix trotted out a small army of broadcasters, including big names, like Fox's Greg Olsen, CBS' Ian Eagle and ESPN's Mina Kimes. The other NFL broadcasting platforms have been more hesitant to help Netflix, which is increasingly considered a heavy competitor in sports. YouTube, whose timeline is even shorter with its Brazil game on Sept. 5, is facing the same issue for its Kansas City Chiefs-Los Angeles Chargers game. CBS is producing the games for Netflix, which makes it more amenable for it to loan out its broadcasters. Last year, Eagle, J.J. Watt and Burleson, all from CBS, called one game, while NBC's Noah Eagle and Fox's Olsen were on the other. Brees, 46, will have another chance to show he belongs in a big booth. When he went to NBC in 2021, he was viewed as a potential successor to Cris Collinsworth, but flamed out quickly. Brees called Notre Dame games and select NFL matchups with Mike Tirico. Brees struggled in his final NBC game, a playoff matchup between the Cincinnati Bengals and the then Oakland Raiders in January 2022. Last season, Brees appeared on a spot or two for ESPN, while Fox Sports has shown some interest in him as a game analyst behind Tom Brady and Olsen.
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Here are the biggest college football quarterback competitions ahead of the 2025 season
There are more than a few high-profile programs who haven't officially decided on a starting quarterback ahead of the 2025 season. And that includes the two teams that played for the national title in January. Both Ohio State and Notre Dame need to replace their starters from the national championship game, while programs like Alabama and Colorado are looking for successors for their 2025 NFL Draft picks and Michigan is simply wanting adequate QB play this season. Here's a look at the biggest quarterback competitions ahead of fall practices. Ohio State Lincoln Kienholz vs. Julian Sayin The Buckeyes will defend their national title with a third different starting QB in the past three seasons. Will Howard transferred from Kansas State ahead of the 2024 season after Kyle McCord was the team's starter in 2023. Howard was excellent in the College Football Playoff as Ohio State defeated Notre Dame for the national title. Kienholz is a redshirt sophomore who got playing time in the Cotton Bowl at the end of the 2023 season following McCord's departure. Sayin is a former five-star recruit who originally signed with Alabama in the 2023 early signing period. He transferred to Ohio State following Nick Saban's retirement. Buckeyes coach Ryan Day hasn't tipped his hand about a favorite just yet, either. Whoever wins the job will make his first start at home against Texas in one of the biggest games of the 2025 season. Alabama Austin Mack vs. Keelon Russell vs. Ty Simpson Ty Simpson is the clear frontrunner to start for the Crimson Tide at the moment. Coach Kalen DeBoer hasn't officially named Simpson his starter but has been clear in recent weeks that Simpson is currently in the pole position. 'We did make it known at the end of spring if we played a game at that point — wouldn't have changed it at this point because there's nothing that's happened as far as practicing — Ty Simpson would be the guy that would take the first snaps and be our starter,' DeBoer said at SEC media days. 'Challenged all of them at that time that they have to continue to take the strides, they got to continue in their own ways to improve. They've really worked hard to do that. Excited to see that progress two weeks from [Wednesday].' Simpson has been with Alabama the longest and was Jalen Milroe's backup in 2024. Mack initially signed with Washington when DeBoer was still with the Huskies and came to Tuscaloosa after DeBoer replaced Nick Saban. He was a four-star recruit in the class of 2023. Russell was a five-star recruit and the top player in the class of 2025. He flipped to Alabama over the summer of 2024 after initially committing to SMU. Michigan Bryce Underwood vs. Mikey Keene Michigan needs much better quarterback play if it's going to contend in the Big Ten and make the College Football Playoff. The passing game was downright disastrous for the Wolverines in 2024. Michigan QBs threw just 11 TDs against 13 interceptions while averaging fewer than 129 passing yards per game. Underwood is a Michigan native who initially committed to LSU before flipping his commitment to Michigan in the fall of 2024. He was a five-star recruit and the No. 3 player in the class of 2025. He's set high goals for himself with the Wolverines and was coached in high school by Connor Stalions, the infamous man at the center of the Wolverines' alleged advanced scouting scheme. Michigan is Keene's third school after he spent two seasons at UCF and two seasons at Fresno State. He's been productive throughout his college career and has completed over 67% of his passes in each of the past three seasons. In his two seasons with the Bulldogs, Keene was 560-of-815 passing for 5,868 yards with 42 TDs and 21 interceptions. Notre Dame CJ Carr vs. Kenny Minchey The player who many believed would start for the Fighting Irish in 2025 is now at Syracuse. Steve Angeli spent the 2024 season as Riley Leonard's backup but transferred during the spring. His move to replace Kyle McCord at Syracuse whittled the Notre Dame quarterback competition down to two. Carr is the grandson of former Michigan QB Lloyd Carr and was a four-star recruit in the class of 2024 as the top player in the state of Michigan. Minchey signed with Notre Dame a year earlier and was also a four-star recruit. Neither player threw a pass in 2024 for the Fighting Irish and whoever wins the job will make his first start on the road against a Miami team that has serious hopes of making the College Football Playoff. Tennessee Joey Aguilar vs. George MacIntyre vs. Jake Merklinger The Volunteers have a quarterback competition in the wake of Nico Iamaleava's spring transfer to UCLA. And Tennessee coach Josh Heupel didn't even wait for questions at SEC media days before talking about his team's quarterback situation. 'I know when I open it up for questions, the first one will be about our quarterback situation,' Heupel said. "So I'm going to touch on that a little bit here as I get started. We will have a competition at the quarterback position. The three guys inside of that room, really proud of what they've done.' Aguilar came over from UCLA after Iamaleava arrived in Westwood. He had transferred to UCLA himself during the spring from Appalachian State and was the Bruins' presumed starter before Iamaleava left Tennessee. Merklinger spent the 2024 season as Iamaleava's backup while MacIntyre was a four-star recruit in the class of 2025 and the No. 4 player in the state of Tennessee. Colorado Julian Lewis vs. Kaidon Salter Colorado coach Deion Sanders was very clear at Big 12 media day that he did not know who his starting quarterback was going to be. Both Salter and Lewis were among the Buffaloes' player representatives for the team's media session and Sanders explained why in his news conference. 'We brought both of them because I don't know which one is going to start,' Sanders said. Salter is a transfer from Liberty who had a down season in 2024 as the Flames couldn't match the success they had in 2023. Salter threw for over 2,800 yards and rushed for over 1,000 two seasons ago as Liberty went undefeated in the regular season. Last year, he failed to crack 2,000 yards passing and had just 579 rushing yards. Lewis is a five-star recruit who committed to the Buffaloes in the early signing period over a host of other teams. He's the best QB prospect Colorado has signed in Sanders' tenure by far and the clear quarterback of the future as Salter has just one season of eligibility left. Can he win the job right away? Or will Salter's experience give him the edge to be the Week 1 starter? BYU Bear Bachmeier vs. Treyson Bourget vs. McCae Hillstead The Cougars are looking for a new starter following Jake Retzlaff's recent departure. Retzlaff won the starting job ahead of the 2024 season and played well as BYU finished in a tie for first in the Big 12. But he recently withdrew from school in the wake of a civil suit against him for an alleged sexual assault in October of 2023. The suit was dismissed on June 30 — Retzlaff contended that he and his accuser had consensual sex — but Retzlaff's admission that the two had sex was an honor code violation and he was facing a suspension during the 2025 season. Without Retzlaff on the roster, BYU's likely 2025 starter won't have played a game in 2024. Bachmeier is a transfer from Stanford, while neither Hillstead or Bourget played a season ago for the Cougars. Bachmeier is also the brother of former Boise State, Louisiana Tech and Wake Forest QB Hank Bachmeier, while Bourget is the brother of former Arizona State quarterback Trenton Bourget. North Carolina Max Johnson vs. Gio Lopez One of Bill Belichick's first big decisions at North Carolina will be his starting quarterback. Johnson opened the 2024 season as UNC's starter but suffered a season-ending leg injury in Week 1 against Minnesota. He announced in January he was returning to Chapel Hill for a sixth season of college football. The son of former NFL QB Brad Johnson spent the first two years of his college career at LSU and then was at Texas A&M for two seasons. Overall, he's played in 31 games over five seasons and has completed 61% of his passes with 47 TDs and 13 interceptions. Lopez started at South Alabama in 2024 and was very efficient. He was 206-of-312 passing for 2,559 yards and 18 TDs to just five interceptions. He also rushed 83 times for 463 yards and seven touchdowns. North Carolina hosts TCU in Week 1. The Horned Frogs finished the 2024 season at 9-4 after winning six of their last seven games.
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
"They are going to have some explaining to do to" - Brian Windhorst reckons the Pacers stars are furious with the team letting Myles Turner go to their rivals
"They are going to have some explaining to do to" - Brian Windhorst reckons the Pacers stars are furious with the team letting Myles Turner go to their rivals originally appeared on Basketball Network. After a remarkable postseason run that culminated in a Game 7 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder in the NBA Finals, the Indiana Pacers have been weakened by the departure of their sentinel inside the shaded lane, Myles Turner, who signed a four-year deal with the Milwaukee Bucks that would reportedly pay him $107 million. With superstar point guard Tyrese Haliburton expected to miss most, if not all, of next season due to the Achilles tendon tear he suffered in Game 7, the Pacers suddenly don't look like the formidable team they were last season. ESPN reporter Brian Windhorst suggested that the team's front office will need to address this decision with its core players, as it's likely the news was not well-received. The Pacers' longest-tenured player Turner is beloved within the Pacers organization, which drafted him 11th overall in the 2015 NBA Draft out of Texas. A 6'11" center who's able to draw opposing big men away from the paint with his deft shooting touch (he shot a career-high 39 percent from three-point land last season) while also being a dependable rim protector (2.0 blocks per game this season), Myles was a substantial reason why the Pacers made it all the way to the finals this past season. Although Turner had made it known he wanted to remain a Pacer and had his representatives try to get a deal done as soon as possible, it appears Indiana's decision-makers were hesitant to pay the luxury tax, thus paving the way for the Bucks to swoop in and sign him. Windy said the front office's hesitation and subsequent decision to let Myles walk will not go well with the Pacers' locker room. "I can't imagine how furious I would be if I was one of the Indiana Pacers core players or their fans right now. If Myles Turner was being paid like twice his value or something like that, I would get it. But this is not a place to draw a line when you're the Eastern Conference champions," Windhorst said on "First Take." "So the Pacers are now going to face this fallout. They are going to have some explaining to do to their star players. The Pacers have been weakened both this season and into the future. They don't have another player on their roster who can fill in here," he centers don't grow on trees While NBA teams continue to thrive in the pace-and-space era, there's no question regarding the crucial role NBA big men play. As the Thunder showed in their run to the title, having two centers in Isaiah Hartenstein and Chet Holmgren allowed perimeter defenders like Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Lu Dort and Alex Caruso to play more aggressively on the ball. Turner did precisely that for the Pacers as he accumulated a franchise record 46 blocks in their recent postseason run. ESPN's Tim Bontemps stressed that, as close as the Pacers were to the Larry O'Brien trophy a few weeks ago, they've now drifted far away from it. "They had a chance to win the first NBA title. Now they feel farther away from it than ever," Bontemps expressed. "You have Tyrese Haliburton now out for the season. You have Myles Turner now leaving. And let's, Brian just called it. This is a cheap move by the Pacers." "That is a hard thing to swallow if you're a Pacers fan, if you're a Pacers player on a team that had finally come together in this remarkable way, had this unbelievable run in the playoffs, all these great plays, Tyrese Haliburton making all these shots, Myles Turner having a great playoffs up until the NBA finals, and now they feel like they're back to square one," he added. Money will always matter in professional sports. Despite Haliburton being out for next season, the Pacers had a chance to retain their core players and make another deep run. However, with Turner leaving for greener pastures, the team's future is now story was originally reported by Basketball Network on Jul 2, 2025, where it first appeared.
