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Over the past few years, former Wisconsin defensive coordinator Jim Leonhard has been one of the hottest commodities on the coaching market. And that’s in both the NFL and college coaching ranks. Just a few minutes before the Super Bowl was about to kick off on Sunday, ESPN’s Dan Graziano reported that Leonard is headed to the NFL to coach for the Denver Broncos, where he’ll coach their secondary.
He spent last season working as a senior football analyst for the Illinois Fighting Illini.
More must-reads:
- Dolphins' Tyreek Hill stirs up drama, calls for teammate to be benched in certain situations
- 'Most likely scenario' for Terry McLaurin revealed
- The '250-strikeout MLB seasons' quiz
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Training Camp Today: Competition, Consistency, & Creativity. Al Davis Would Be Proud
HENDERSON, Nev.—The Las Vegas Raiders' 2025 NFL Training Camp has offered its fair share of storylines after eight practices. I would like to offer you some bold observations from this camp so far, and several specifically from today's recently concluded eighth practice. From that insider’s perspective, here are my bold observations:. This camp is predicated on the three C’s: Compete, Consistency, Creativity. Compete Interior Offensive Line I am not God, and I certainly don’t have access to the offensive mind of OC Chip Kelly, but I find it hard to imagine that Jackson Powers-Johnson is not one of the top-three IOL in this team. With that said, the battle between JPJ Alex Cappa, and Jordan Meredith is fun to watch. They are all competing at such a high level, and then turning around and helping one another. That is what Pete Carroll craves. The responsibility to compete for the best role you can win, while at the same time prioritizing being a good teammate. The Raiders are better having those three men, and they are better for this position battle. 2. Wide Receiver There is no pretending that Jakobi Meyers isn’t WR1. To me, it is settled that Tre Tucker and Dont’e Thornton round out the starting three. But Jack Bech is having an impressive camp, as is Alex Bachman, and while there is a long way to go until the end of camp, I think those are the five WRs locked in. Does someone emerge to convince the team to take a sixth? Competition will tell the story. 3. Tight End Battles There is no speculation that Brock Bowers is TE1; he is the best on the team and in the NFL. There is also no doubt that Michael Mayer is TE2. It would appear TE3 is also settled with Ian Thomas. But, and this is a big but, the Raiders keep four TEs, and that would be unprecedented; there is a big battle with Carter Runyon and Qadir Ismail. I have reported that while unprecedented, there is consideration for the team to carry four. 4. Running Back We know that Ashton Jeanty is RB1, and RB2 is Raheem Mostert (Who was back at practice after his wife had a baby), but the battle for RB3 is intense. I thought Zamir White had inched ahead, and after today, I believe Sincere McCormick may have taken the spot. Regardless, I believe both men make the 53-man roster, but watching who ends up as RB3 is a battle worth watching. Consistency 1. The Second String Struggles The second-string offense and defense had a great day yesterday, but today was not a good performance. They were at times sloppy and made numerous mistakes. I understand that there is still a long way to go, but with the coaching staff craving completion, some of them missed some real opportunities today, in my opinion. 2. Defensive Back Jakorian Bennett is battling. The battle isn’t close to being over. Now, in year three, the money year, he needs to demonstrate to this staff his ability to be consistent every day. He doesn’t have to be perfect, but right now, Decamerion Richardson, Eric Stokes, Darnay Holmes, and rookie Darien Porter have moved ahead of him for one reason: it isn’t speed, talent, or character; it is simply consistency. Creativity 1. Old School Raider Football Is Back Throughout my childhood, the Silver and Balc were defined by toughness and creativity. You never had a clue what they were going to do next. On offense or defense, this storied franchise was the pacesetter in the NFL for new conventional wisdom and thought. That is not what I have seen over my six years in the desert, until this year. Pete Carroll has taken the Raider Nation out of the proverbial box, and has unleashed OC Chip Kelly, STC Tom McMahon, and DC Patrick Graham to think outside the proverbial box, and to experiment and do things the way old school Raiders will remember fondly. I can make you one promise for the 2025 team, expect the unexpected. As I have said many times, I can’t and won’t give away schemes, but in all three phases of the game, the Silver and Black are experimenting and tinkering. Al Davis would be proud. An Extra Point New Raiders minority owner Tom Brady was watching practice today. It was apparent when players noticed. He still commands the respect as the greatest player of all time (GOAT), and when the players saw him, it was a big deal to many of them. We'd appreciate it if you would follow us on X @HondoCarpenter and IG @HondoSr , and let’s talk about the Silver and Black’s training camp and these comments.
Five biggest losers from the 2025 MLB trade deadline
The 2025 Major League Baseball trade deadline was 6 p.m. ET on Thursday. Some teams managed to get better in either a short-term or long-term outlook. Other teams did not. We've already gone over the five biggest winners, which featured some surprising teams. Here we are focusing on the five teams that were the biggest losers. Minnesota Twins The good news for Twins fans is the team did not trade outfielder Byron Buxton or starting pitcher Joe Ryan. The bad news for Twins fans is the team traded pretty much everybody else. The worst news is the Twins have pretty much sabotaged any goodwill the team had built up in recent years, including their 2023 trip to the American League Division Series. Since then the Twins collapsed late last season, did very little in the offseason and then completely gutted the roster over the past two weeks, including a straight salary-dump trade of Carlos Correa to the Houston Astros, his former team. This is going to be a long, slow climb back to the top. Pittsburgh Pirates The Pirates had a chance to have a potentially impactful trade deadline with some intriguing trade chips in what had become a seller's market. They ended up trading closer David Bednar, third baseman Ke'Bryan Hayes, starting pitcher Bailey Falter and relief pitcher Caleb Ferguson. They held on to pending free agents Isiah Kiner-Falefa, Tommy Pham and Andrew Heaney. What's so baffling about the trades they did make is that they gave up useful, productive players with years of team control still remaining, did not get a single highly-ranked prospect back in return and kept the players that are going to leave for nothing. The only winner here is owner Bob Nutting's bank account for all of the money he saved in the future by dumping Hayes' contract and potential arbitration years from Bednar and Falter. Chicago Cubs After paying a steep price to get outfielder Kyle Tucker in the offseason everybody in Chicago knew the clock was ticking on the Cubs to build a winner around him. He is a free agent after this season and seems determined to hit the open market for the highest bidder. Even though the Cubs have emerged as a contender, it was pretty clear as the season has gone on that they needed at least one more starting pitcher. They did not get one, and instead only added a utility infielder (Willi Castro) and reliever Taylor Rogers. While so many teams around them in the NL managed to get better, it's an underwhelming deadline performance for a team that should be going all in. Atlanta Braves It's not that the Braves did anything poor at the trade deadline that makes them losers. It's that they didn't do ... anything. At least not anything that they needed to do. None of their pending free agents were moved, no significant changes were made to a team going nowhere this season and the only move they did make was a marginal trade involving Rafael Montero. That is extremely underwhelming. Boston Red Sox The Red Sox were rumored to be in the market for a significant starting pitcher, including Minnesota's Joe Ryan. They did not make that sort of splash move, and instead added Steven Matz and Dustin May. For a team trying to hang in the American League playoff race, that is not really exciting. They also paid a steep price to get May, giving up one of the top prospects — outfielder James Tibbs III — they acquired in the Rafael Devers trade to the San Francisco Giants.
'Most likely scenario' for Terry McLaurin revealed
A recent report indicated that teams potentially interested in acquiring Washington Commanders wide receiver Terry McLaurin learned that the club is "not trading" him before the 2025 season begins. The 29-year-old, who is in the final year of his current contract, may have responded to this news by requesting a trade on Thursday. However, ESPN's Bill Barnwell shared Friday that he doesn't "think there's a strong chance McLaurin gets traded" before September. "There's been no suggestion from the Commanders' side that they're looking to deal him, even after his request," Barnwell wrote. "Trading him now would likely result in landing 2026 draft picks, which won't help the Commanders in a season in which they're hoping to compete. And there just aren't many teams with the cap space or cash budget at this point of the offseason to give him the sort of deal he appears to want." McLaurin allegedly does not want to accept less money than DK Metcalf, who received a five-year, $150M deal from the Pittsburgh Steelers in March. Whether or not McLaurin "deserves" such an extension is irrelevant as it pertains to his importance to Washington and the market for players at his position. McLaurin finished the 2024 campaign with team highs of 82 receptions and 1,096 receiving yards as quarterback Jayden Daniels guided Washington to the NFC Championship Game and earned Offensive Rookie of the Year Award honors. Additionally, McLaurin was second in the NFL with 13 touchdown catches. As of Friday morning, DraftKings Sportsbook had Washington sixth among the betting favorites at +1800 odds to win Super Bowl LX in February 2026. That shows why Barnwell and others are convinced that acquiring future draft assets for McLaurin makes little sense for the win-now Commanders. "The logical thing is for McLaurin to stay with the Commanders, for the two sides to come to terms on a new deal or some sort of raise, and for Daniels to have his best pass catcher on the field in Week 1," Barnwell concluded. "It's still the most likely scenario." On Thursday, Nicki Jhabvala and Dianna Russini of The Athletic noted that "several teams that called Washington about [McLaurin] before his trade request on Thursday were told the team will not trade him." Commanders general manager Adam Peters seems to understand he still has plenty of time to work something out with McLaurin before Washington opens the regular season against the New York Giants on Sept. 7.
Malik Nabers Rejuvated By NY Giants New Culture, Team Additions
Like his teammates last year, New York Giants receiver Malik Nabers was worn down by the end of the 2024 season from all the losing and pitfalls the team fell into. But the further away the Giants get from a franchise-worst 3-14 record, the brighter the outlook becomes in East Rutherford, especially given all the fresh faces general manager Joe Schoen brought in to help bolster the culture and improve the team’s chances of being more competitive. “The people we put in this building this year… adding a few more quarterbacks from Jameis (Winston), (Jaxson) Dart, Russell (Wilson), Jevon Holland, (Paulson) Adebo,” Nabers told Kay Adams during her recent training camp stop for her Up Adams podcast. “So having those athletic guys, having those leaders that's on defense and offense… we’ve been seeing a lot of leadership from those guys, so we’re moving in the right direction.” Wilson, in particular, is going to be instrumental for Nabers as he seeks to deliver an encore of last year’s franchise record-setting (receptions) performance. Thus far in training camp, Nabers, who sat out of the spring drills thanks to a toe issue, and Wilson look as though they have been playing catch for years instead of just over a week. “I try to get as much information out of him as possible,” Nabers said, adding that the relationship between him and Wilson is ‘dynamic. “He's been very helpful throughout my journey. With the leadership he has added to the quarterback role, the offense, the receivers, you know the sky is the limit for us, and I hope we reach that.” "He's an animal!" Besides the new faces at quarterback, Nabers is particularly impressed with the addition of first-round pick Abdul Carter, who so far has been living up to his pre-draft billing. “That dude is an animal,” Nabers said of the 2024 All-American. “I don’t really see it until I go home and watch it, but when you watch the explosiveness, the ability for him to work his body, twerk his body, spin his body, I can't wait for people to actually see him when he's playing alongside us.” One thing that specifically stood out to Nabers when it came to Carter was his athleticism and deep bag of pass-rushing moves. “He’s doing crazy moves,” Nabers said. “ Like a lot of guys have one specific move that they do at the d-line; he's got an arsenal in his package and I can’t wait for him to unleash it.” Adams then playfully asked Nabers if he intended to give his buddy, Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels, a heads up about Carter. “I’m not going to tell him nothing; I’ll let him see in person,” Nabers said with a smile. “I’mma let everybody see (him) in person.” What happens next with the NY Giants? Find out! Follow and like us on Facebook. Visit our YouTube channel for the latest videos. Want to send a question in for our mailbag? You can do so here.
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