We all know what Las Vegas Raiders defensive end Maxx Crosby is worth. Quite a lot. We are a mere weeks from when the Raiders had multiple suitors for Crosby and ultimately agreed to send the Pro Bowl edge rusher to the Baltimore Ravensin exchange for first-round picks in 2026 and 2027. The trade fell through due to alleged medical concerns.

According to Pro Football Focus’ John Kosko, Crosby is still the most valuable trade chip that the Raiders have on their roster.

“His value is easy to understand. Over the past four seasons, Crosby has accounted for 33% of the Raiders’ total sacks and 27% of their pressures. Even with a slight dip in production by his standards over the past two years, he still recorded twice as many sacks as the next closest defender, Tyree Wilson.”

Crosby would command a hefty price tag in a trade despite the Ravens backing out of their deal to acquire him. The former two-time second-team All-Pro honoree is a game-changer on defense. He led the league in tackles for loss in consecutive seasons from 2022-23. Crosby also recorded double-digit sacks for the fourth time in his career last season with 10.

Given the fact that he was the biggest name involved in trade rumors in the NFL this offseason prior to the botched deal, he is unquestionably the player that carries the most worth in the trade market for Las Vegas.

This article originally appeared on Raiders Wire: Maxx Crosby Raiders most valuable trade chip this offseason per PFF

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina and men’s basketball coach Hubert Davis part ways after five seasons leading the tradition-rich program.

BYU football is fully in spring-ball-mode as we enter the final week of March. Fresh off of a fantastic 12-2 season, the Cougars look to build off that campaign with a set of new faces at key positions.

Kalani Sitake, with a minted new extension, still is the head man along with offensive coordinator Aaron Roderick. However, Kelly Poppinga takes over on defense as Jay Hill departed for Michigan

Along with some coaching turnover, BYU will break in new starters and impact players on both sides of the ball.

Let’s highlight the three biggest newcomers that will impact the 2026 team. Newcomers could mean transfers or incoming freshmen.

Cade Uluave, LB (Transfer from Cal)

If you’re asking yourself “how can BYU replace Jack Kelly on the defense?” look no further than Uluave. He is the clear consensus top newcomer and ESPN’s top 2026 addition for BYU. The 6-1, 235-pound Uluave led Cal with 100 tackles, 12 TFL, and earned first-team All-ACC honors. He brings a similar sideline-to-sideline speed as Kelly, with pass rushing ability to match. He has earned early praise in camp for his leadership, despite being a new face in Provo. Being paired with veteran leader Isaiah Glasker could mean this is the best linebacker duo in the Big 12 next season.

Don’t be surprised if he is named a captain this fall, despite barely coming over from Berkley this offseason.

Walker Lyons, TE (Transfer from USC)

The athletic tight end is already living up to the hype with speed, blocking, and route-running that creates lanes for QB Bear Bachmeier. OC Aaron Roderick has called him one of the offense’s best players; he’s running with the first team. Last season, the Cougars unlocked Carsen Ryan after he struggled to break through at UCLA and Utah. Lyons comes in with a much higher ceiling. Lyons is a former four-star recruit that had SEC offers before choosing USC initially. He likely begins fall camp as the top pass-catching option at tight end.

Lyons projects as a more athletic tight end than Ryan was last season. He could become BYU’s best tight end since Isaac Rex.

Kyler Kasper, WR (Transfer from Oregon)

It’s obvious the Cougars wanted to upgrade the passing game via the transfer portal. With Lyons and Kasper, they did just that without having to even cross the Rocky Mountains to do so. At 6-6, 210 pounds, Kasper is BYU’s tallest receiver in years. His specialty is contested-catch situations, red zone packages, and providing a big target for QB Bear Bachmeier down the field. BYU needed to fill two big holes in the receiving corps after Chase Roberts ran out of eligibility and Parker Kingston was removed from the program and school due to being arrested and charged with first-degree felony rape.

Kasper could rise to becoming the top receiver if he can quickly develop in-game chemistry with Bachmeier. Kasper is consistently running with the first-team offense alongside Jojo Phillips and Cody Hagen, showing the coaches’ trust in him already.

The Hubert Davis era in Chapel Hill is over after days of speculation about his future. The decision to part ways comes after the Tar Heels blew a 19-point lead against VCU to get bounced from the NCAA Tournament in the Round of 64. Rumors that Davis would not be head coach for the upcoming year started nearly immediately with reports of internal meetings and concerns from boosters about the state of the program.

Davis’ tenure as head coach started off as strong as humanly possible. He notched big wins over Duke in Coach K’s last game in Cameron and again in the Final Four. Looking back, the big blown lead in the national championship game against Kansas was maybe a bigger sign of trouble than we knew at the time. It is a problem that would come up several more times in the years since. The very next year Carolina came into the season ranked #1 before failing to make the tournament. The Tar Heels either did not make the tournament or didn’t make it past the Round of 64 in three of Davis’ five seasons at the helm.

UNC will now turn their attention to finding a new head coach that will hopefully be able to get the program back to the levels expected of Carolina Basketball. It will undoubtedly be an attractive opening for coaches who may be looking for a change of scenery. Hopefully Bubba Cunningham and Steve Newmark will be able to make a hire on the merits without interference from meddling Board of Trustee members in order to land the best candidate for the job. With no good options to turn to when it comes to former players in the coaching tree, it’s a near certainty that the new hire will come from outside the Carolina Family.

The transfer portal opens on April 7th.

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Hubert Davis is out as the head basketball coach at North Carolina, according to multiple reports.

Davis’ exit ends a five-year run for the former North Carolina shooting guard as the head coach of his alma mater. Davis was a longtime assistant under Roy Williams and took over the program upon the coaching legend’s retirement following the 2021 season.

In his first season as head coach, Davis guided the Tar Heels to the 2022 Final Four and two of the most iconic wins in program history. North Carolina defeated rival Duke in head coach Mike Krzyzewski’s final home game at Cameron Indoor Stadium. It then beat Duke again in the first-ever meeting between the programs in the Final Four.

That run by an 8 seed before a loss to Kansas in the national championship game signaled a promising start for Davis in his first season as a head coach at any program. But each of North Carolina’s four subsequent seasons have ended in disappointment, most recently with Thursday’s first-round NCAA tournament loss to VCU.

UNC has failed to live up to high standards

The sixth-seeded Tar Heels held a 19-point second-half lead over No. 11 seed VCU, but faltered down the stretch and ultimately lost in overtime.

VCU’s win marked the sixth-largest comeback in NCAA tournament history and the largest-ever in the first round. The loss for North Carolina featured multiple player and game-management miscues down the stretch. It evoked memories of the 15-point halftime lead UNC surrendered in the championship-game loss to Kansas.

Prior to this season, North Carolina missed the tournament altogether in 2023 after starting the season ranked No. 1 in the country. It rebounded in 2023-24 to win the ACC regular season and earn a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament. But it suffered a loss to Alabama in the Sweet 16.

Now the Tar Heels have failed to advance out of the first round of the NCAA tournament in two consecutive seasons. And they’ve fallen behind Duke in the annual race for ACC supremacy.

For a program with six NCAA championships that expects to compete for a title every year, this is not the standard. And North Carolina has made the difficult decision to part with a beloved former player to seek a new head coach.

Who will replace Davis?

The question now in Chapel Hill becomes who will take over? North Carolina has prided itself in keeping the job in the UNC family and done so since the retirement of legendary coach Dean Smith in 1997.

Smith’s assistant Bill Guthridge succeeded him as head coach for a three-year stint before retiring in 2000. After initially failing to lure Williams from Kansas, North Carolina hired former player and then-Notre Dame head coach Matt Doherty to take over for Guthridge.

Following Doherty’s failed three-year stint, North Carolina did hire Williams, a UNC alumnus and former assistant and Smith disciple. Williams took over in 2003 and righted the program, winning three national championships and advancing to five Final Fours before handing the reins to Davis upon his retirement.

But UNC may be forced to take a different route in a 2026 landscape revamped by the transfer portal and NIL. Now that Davis is out, there will be pressure in Chapel Hill to extend its search beyond the North Carolina family to get the program back to national title contention.

The fallout from Real Madrid’s derby clash with Atlético Madrid continues, with the Spanish refereeing authorities stepping in to defend the game’s most debated moment: the red card shown to Federico Valverde for a foul on Alex Baena.

The incident, reviewed extensively, has now been formally upheld by Spain’s Technical Committee of Referees (CTA), who supported referee José Luis Munuera Montero’s on-field call.

According to the CTA, the decision to send Valverde off was based on the nature of the challenge itself. In their assessment, the Uruguayan midfielder made contact with Baena ‘without any realistic attempt to play the ball’, doing so with a level of force that crossed into dangerous territory.

The committee also clarified VAR’s role in the situation. After examining the replay from multiple angles and at varying speeds, video officials determined that the contact, intensity, and overall action aligned with serious foul play. As a result, they saw no grounds to overturn the original decision, concluding there was no “clear and obvious error” from the referee.

In essence, both the on-field call and the VAR review were deemed correct.

During the match, Munuera Montero had already explained his reasoning to Real Madrid coach Álvaro Arbeloa, emphasizing that Valverde approached from behind, made no attempt to play the ball, and committed the foul solely to stop the opponent with excessive force.

Despite the backlash, the CTA expressed strong support for the referee’s overall performance in the derby. Internally, there was a sense of surprise at the level of criticism directed toward the officiating, with the committee viewing Munuera Montero’s display as not only correct in key decisions but also of a very high standard throughout the match.

Tonight, ESPN’s Jeff Passan broke the news that Cubs fans have been waiting for.

We have no details as of yet on the length of the deal or how much money Pete Crow-Armstrong will get. Bob Nightengale reports that it will be more than $100 million, which is a safe report, honestly.

Most observers have used the extension that Corbin Carroll signed with the Diamondbacks before the 2023 season as a point of reference: eight years and $111 million. However, there has been three years of contract inflation since then and PCA has accomplished more at this point than Carroll had before 2023, so I’d expect whatever Crow-Armstrong signed to be north of that.

Crow-Armstrong has said before that he loves Chicago and that he wants to be a Cub long-term. The Cubs have indicated that they’d like him around for a while. It looks like both sides got their wish.

UPDATE: We now have the terms of the deal.

So this may not be as extensive as some of us may have hoped. It’s quite similar to what Ian Happ and Nico Hoerner signed back in 2023, although those were three-year deals. Basically, the Cubs get cost certainty over Crow-Armstrong’s arbitration years and they buy out two years of free agency. There are some escalators which complicate things from the Cubs point of view. Crow-Armstrong will be a Cub through the 2032 season. It also doesn’t put them on the hook for a ton of money after PCA turns 30, which, presumably, will be his decline years.

For Crow-Armstrong, he gets a guaranteed deal with life-changing money and can still hit free agency at age 31.

Of course, this deal also gives the Cubs and Crow-Armstrong six more years to come up with a second extension if they wish. It will also give more time for the Cubs and PCA to establish what those years past 2032 should be worth. We could be in a completely different economic framework by then.

But for Cubs fans, the good news is that Crow-Armstrong should be patrolling center field for the next six seasons.

Tonight, ESPN’s Jeff Passan broke the news that Cubs fans have been waiting for.

We have no details as of yet on the length of the deal or how much money Pete Crow-Armstrong will get. Bob Nightengale reports that it will be more than $100 million, which is a safe report, honestly.

Most observers have used the extension that Corbin Carroll signed with the Diamondbacks before the 2023 season as a point of reference: eight years and $111 million. However, there has been three years of contract inflation since then and PCA has accomplished more at this point than Carroll had before 2023, so I’d expect whatever Crow-Armstrong signed to be north of that.

Crow-Armstrong has said before that he loves Chicago and that he wants to be a Cub long-term. The Cubs have indicated that they’d like him around for a while. It looks like both sides got their wish.

UPDATE: We now have the terms of the deal.

So this may not be as extensive as some of us may have hoped. It’s quite similar to what Ian Happ and Nico Hoerner signed back in 2023, although those were three-year deals. Basically, the Cubs get cost certainty over Crow-Armstrong’s arbitration years and they buy out two years of free agency. There are some escalators which complicate things from the Cubs point of view. Crow-Armstrong will be a Cub through the 2032 season. It also doesn’t put them on the hook for a ton of money after PCA turns 30, which, presumably, will be his decline years.

For Crow-Armstrong, he gets a guaranteed deal with life-changing money and can still hit free agency at age 31.

Of course, this deal also gives the Cubs and Crow-Armstrong six more years to come up with a second extension if they wish. It will also give more time for the Cubs and PCA to establish what those years past 2032 should be worth. We could be in a completely different economic framework by then.

But for Cubs fans, the good news is that Crow-Armstrong should be patrolling center field for the next six seasons.