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The nephew of an NBA legend has committed to play football at Oregon.
Jett Washington, who is Kobe Bryant’s nephew, announced on Thursday that he has committed to Oregon. Washington is a five-star safety recruit who is ranked the No. 18 overall prospect in the class of 2026 by 247Sports.
Washington chose Oregon over USC and Alabama. The 6-foot-5, 210-pound defensive back currently plays at Bishop Gorman High School in Las Vegas, Nevada. He had 38 tackles and five interceptions as a junior.
Washington also plays basketball at Bishop Gorman and helped lead the school to a second consecutive Nevada Class 5A state basketball title earlier this year, according to the New York Post.
Bryant’s oldest sister, Sharia Washington, is Jett’s mother. His father, Jerrod Washington, was a running back at Virginia and was drafted by the New England Patriots in 1994.
Jerrod said in an interview last year that Jett was close with both Kobe and Kobe’s daughter Gianna, who died in a helicopter crash in 2020.
“Jett was Kobe’s guy,” Jerrod Washington said. “Kobe used to tell me, ‘I need him every summer to come work with me.’ He would give Jett words of wisdom. Anytime Jett would play in something, he’d send his uncle a clip, and Kobe would make a comment. Kobe would send him back emojis or tell him to make this adjustment or that adjustment. They were close.”
Washington is now Oregon head coach Dan Lanning’s top-ranked defensive commit for the class of 2026.
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New DJ Lagway update may have big impact on Florida's 2025 season
Florida Gators quarterback DJ Lagway has all "the goods" to be a superstar. That's not a question. What has been a question this offseason has been Lagway's health. Lagway has been limited with a shoulder injury (this past spring) and a calf injury (suffered in fall camp) and has been a question mark heading into Florida's Week 1 game against Long Island. If Lagway wasn't 100 percent, or close to it, this may have been a good game to sit him out to give him more time to heal, but the latest update coming out of Gainesville suggests the Gators have a ton of reason to be optimistic. On Monday, head coach Billy Napier revealed that Lagway will start on Saturday. The sophomore quarterback has been a full participant in recent practices, and that's huge for Florida. Per Napier, the Willis, Texas, product has also learned a lot from the challenges of being injured. "A lot of times things happen to you that you can't control, so there's opportunities to get better as a result of what he's going through," Napier said on Monday, according to Andrea Adelson of ESPN. "He's learned a lot about himself. This won't be the first time he's gone through something like this. You play the game, you're going to get injured, so how you manage that not only physically but mentally ... for him that's been a bit of a challenge, but I think it's been healthy for him." Again, this game may have been a good opportunity for Florida to keep Lagway back if he wasn't fully ready to play, so the fact that he's getting the start in this one is a huge indication that his injury issues in 2025 may be behind him now. Now, instead of another week to rest, this game against Long Island becomes an opportunity for Lagway to tune up. This should be an easy win for Florida, but challenges are on the horizon. After a game against South Florida in Week 2, the Gators have a brutal stretch that sees them play No. 9 LSU, No. 10 Miami, No. 1 Texas and No. 19 Texas A M, all before mid-October. The Gators need a healthy Lagway to win those games, and for the sake of Napier's job, the Gators need to win those games.
Canucks Eye Popular Young Center as Second-Line Option
The Vancouver Canucks entered the offseason with a clear goal: add a second-line center to strengthen their top-six forward group. That objective, however, has yet to be realized and it’s looking more and more like they’re going to be stuck heading into the season with what they have. Trade activity across the NHL has been slow, and the Canucks have shown minimal interest in remaining unrestricted free agents, including Jack Roslovic. That leaves few options left, but Patrick Johnston of The Province notes there might be one long-shot option still on the table. “It’ll be expensive, but it will also be very expensive not to get one,” president of hockey operations Jim Rutherford said in April. The player Johnston hints Vancouver might be looking at is Anaheim Ducks center and unsigned RFA Mason McTavish. To date, Vancouver’s two bigger offseason additions have been wingers who don’t address the second-line center vacancy — Evander Kane and defenseman Pierre-Olivier Joseph. That has placed a young, talented center Mason McTavish on the Canucks’ radar. The 22-year-old is viewed as a potential top-six contributor with the ability to slot in between Kane and Conor Garland. The problem is, no one seems to know what’s going on between McTavish and the Ducks. There is interest from multiple teams should Anaheim entertain trade offers, but the Ducks want to get McTavish signed. The sticking point is term as GM Pat Verbeek isn’t keen on going long term yet. McTavish wants what he feels he’s earned based on comparables in a rising salary cap environment. Could the Canucks Land McTavish? Things are cordial between the Ducks and the McTavish camp, but for how long remains to be seen. It was reported McTavish tried to get an offer sheet, but to no avail. Now, he waits. This situation can’t drag out much longer before questions are asked about his future there. The Canucks can, and will be ready. However, as Rutherford mentioned, the organization is aware that acquiring and signing McTavish will be an expensive decision. They’ll have to give up key pieces in a trade, plus also make a contract offer that McTavish feels inclined to sign. There is little to suggest anything on this front is imminent. Unless the Canucks make a move during training camp or the preseason, their projected lineup appears set. Elias Pettersson would center Brock Boeser and Jake DeBrusk on the first line, while Chytil would take the second-line center role between Kane and Garland, with Raty likely centering the third line.
How Browns feel about Deshaun Watson amid unsettled quarterback situation
Deshaun Watson has become somewhat of a forgotten figure regarding the Cleveland Browns' unique quarterback situation that could involve the club having starter Joe Flacco, Kenny Pickett, 2025 third-round draft pick Dillon Gabriel and 2025 fifth-rounder Shedeur Sanders on the roster for its Week 1 game against the Cincinnati Bengals on Sept. 7. For an article published on Monday, Browns insider Mary Kay Cabot of the Cleveland Plain Dealer noted that Watson will miss at least the first four games of the 2025 season after he suffered a torn Achilles last October and then tore the Achilles again during his recovery. However, it sounds like the Browns haven't yet completely closed the door on Watson returning to the active roster before Week 18 wraps up. "He’s coming along well in his rehab from his re-torn Achilles repair and could be ready to go later in the season," Cabot wrote about Watson. "Whether or not the Browns will activate him remains to be seen, but they’ve been happy with how he’s attacked his rehab and how he’s helped the other QBs, especially Gabriel and Sanders." Watson has made just 19 regular-season starts with the Browns since he received a fully guaranteed five-year, $230M contract from the club in March 2022. He served an 11-game suspension related to allegations of sexual misconduct during massage sessions to open his first campaign with Cleveland. His 2023 season ended prematurely because of a shoulder issue. He then lost six of seven starts last season before he went down with the initial Achilles injury. It was suggested earlier this month that Watson could essentially force the Browns to move him to the 53-man roster if he's cleared to play this coming fall. Such a scenario theoretically would result in Cleveland having to part ways with a different signal-caller. While the previously mentioned Sanders is clearly fourth on Cleveland's current depth chart, Cabot wrote that the Browns like the rookie "a lot and will continue to develop him." Cabot added that "the Browns have always planned to keep four quarterbacks and will only pivot if someone makes them an offer they can’t refuse." Pickett presumably would become the odd man out regarding such a potential trade. Still, he first needs to fully recover from the hamstring injury he picked up on July 26 that kept him from playing in any preseason games. Meanwhile, Watson will continue his recovery behind the scenes after Browns owner Jimmy Haslam said earlier this year that Cleveland "took a big swing and miss with Deshaun." The Browns reportedly could escape Watson's deal next offseason.
Commanders shopping former first-round pick
Noah Igbinoghene was among the Cowboys to follow Dan Quinn to Washington, and the former first-round pick carved out a role for himself last season. But his place on the Commanders’ 2025 roster is not assured. The Commanders are gauging teams’ interest in Igbinoghene as a trade asset, The Athletic’s Dianna Russini reports. This comes after Igbinoghene’s most active (by far) NFL season. The ex-Dolphins first-rounder played 818 defensive snaps. Part of a Cowboys CB swap (for Kelvin Joseph) in 2023, Igbinoghene caught on under Quinn and then-Dallas DBs coach Joe Whitt. The duo signed a few ex-Cowboys contributors to start their Washington tenures last year, and Igbinoghene was among them. The 2020 draftee then re-signed on a one-year, $1.5M deal this offseason. Washington used Igbinoghene as its primary slot corner last season, giving him 582 snaps inside. That nearly doubled his usage at any defensive position in a season, as the former No. 30 overall pick’s previous career-high snap count was 287 — as a rookie in 2020. The Dolphins did not see much from Igbinoghene — the third of their three 2020 first-round picks — before trading him straight up for Joseph. Even as the 5-foot-11 CB posted a career-best usage rate, Pro Football Focus viewed him as one of the NFL’s worst corners in 2024. The advanced metrics site ranked him 115th out of 116 qualified options at CB. The Commanders made offseason changes at corner, signing Jonathan Jones and using a second-round pick on Trey Amos. The team has Marshon Lattimore and Mike Sainristil coming back. Sainristil arrived in Washington as a slot option, while Jones made his name as a Patriots slot before finishing his New England run as more of a boundary player. While both Jones and Sainristil have NFL perimeter experience, each can man the slot as well. This would leave Igbinoghene set for a role reduction.
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