With the NFL draft firmly in the rear view, teams are looking ahead to roster moves for the 2025 season.

The Carolina Panthers are in year two of a rebuild under coach Dave Canales. They announced multiple moves on May 8, notably placing running back Jonathon Brooks on the PUP list – ending his season – and releasing edge rusher Jadeveon Clowney.

Clowney signed with the Panthers in 2024 as a free agent and was one of the most productive players on defense for Carolina. He led the team in tackles for loss with nine and tied for the team lead with 5.5 sacks despite missing three games.

The Panthers are the sixth team Clowney’s played for in the last seven seasons. He had his final season with the Houston Texans in 2018 before stints with the Seattle Seahawks (2019), Tennessee Titans (2020), Cleveland Browns (2021-22) and Baltimore Ravens (2023) before signing with Carolina.

He’s entering his age-32 season but hasn’t seen a drop-off in production. Clowney’s played at least 12 games in each of the last four seasons and has 26 sacks in that span.

Carolina selected edge rushers Nic Scourton and Princely Umanmielen with their Day 2 picks of the 2025 draft. Releasing Clowney means they’ll be relying on those rookies more than before.

Another team will likely come calling for Clowney’s services in 2025 given his production and pedigree as a former No. 1 overall draft pick. Here are five potential landing spots:

Jadeveon Clowney landing spots

Washington Commanders

The Commanders’ defense outperformed its talent in 2024 as the team made its first NFC championship game in decades. Washington spent in free agency and the draft to get upgrades at multiple levels of the defense but could use more reinforcements as it looks to build on a surprising 2024 season.

The Commanders didn’t use any draft picks at edge and are slated to start Dorance Armstrong and Deatrich Wise at that position at time of publishing. Both are in a similar physical mold to Clowney and he’d make for more depth at a potential weak spot for a team with playoff aspirations.

Detroit Lions

Detroit was hit hard by injuries on defense in 2024 during the season and lost coordinator Aaron Glenn after a loss to Washington in the playoffs. The Lions should get top edge rushers Aidan Hutchinson and Marcus Davenport back healthy after season-ending injuries last season.

Detroit is making another push for a championship in 2025 and spent their top draft pick on the interior defensive line by selecting Tyleik Williams in Round 1. They know the trenches lead the way on both sides of the ball so getting another veteran presence in the rotation could be a good safeguard against injury.

Like in Washington, Clowney fits the mold of a Lions edge rusher at 6-foot-5 and 266 pounds with a penchant for good run defense.

Baltimore Ravens

This one almost makes too much sense. There’s plenty of familiarity for the two parties as Clowney tied a career-high with 9.5 sacks with Baltimore in 2023. Baltimore spent a second-round pick at edge in the draft with Mike Green but that shouldn’t preclude them from looking for more depth in an ultra-competitive AFC.

Top conference foes Buffalo and Kansas City used the draft and free agent additions to bolster the defensive line both on the interior and at edge.

Clowney’s versatility against the run could be useful for Baltimore against both teams in the playoffs. If he’s looking for an elusive championship, there are few Super Bowl contenders ranked ahead of Baltimore.

Cincinnati Bengals

Cincinnati fielded its worst defense by yards and points allowed since 2019 last year. That led to a change in coordinator as former Bengals defensive assistant Al Golden took over for Lou Anarumo, now in Indianapolis.

The Bengals spent their first-round pick on edge Shemar Stewart but he’s viewed as one of the more raw prospects at the position with elite athletic tools. He could use a veteran like Clowney in the building to learn from with similar size and athletic abilities.

Cincinnati has a championship-caliber offense and needs to turn the tide on defense to make the most of it. Clowney could at least be a rotational piece who sets the edge in run defense well and provides enough pass rush opposite reigning NFL sack leader Trey Hendrickson.

New York Giants

Giants head coach Brian Daboll has more riding on the 2025 season than most coaches in the league. The same goes for general manager Joe Schoen.

New York’s quarterback options include Russell Wilson, Jameis Winston, Tommy DeVito and first-round pick Jaxson Dart, who may need time adjusting to the NFL. None appear to be above-average options at this point of the offseason.

That means it will fall on the defense to carry the Giants to an improved or winning season in 2025. The team selected Abdul Carter in Round 1, the top edge rusher in the class, and signed multiple free agents along the defensive line.

For a team looking to make a push in 2025, Clowney could be a good rotational piece who helps raise the floor of the defense. That may be enough to help both Daboll and Schoen stick around for another year.

Former NBA player and coach Byron Scott is facing a lawsuit from a woman who says he sexually assaulted her in 1987 during an event at her high school.

The accuser was 15 at the time, and Scott was 26.

According to court documents obtained by USA TODAY Sports, the woman accuses the now 64-year-old Scott of sexual battery and false imprisonment. The original lawsuit was filed in 2022 under the California Child Victim’s Act, which extended the statute of limitations for childhood sexual abuse survivors to file civil claims. Scott sought to keep his name out of the documents and requested to use ‘John Doe.’

The lawsuit says the Lakers were visiting the accuser’s high school, Campbell Hall High in Los Angeles, where she was taking summer classes, after which she ‘was sexually assaulted by Byron Scott in a locked janitor’s closet in the high school gymnasium.’ The team was at the school filming instructional basketball videos in the gym and met with the parents, students and teachers.

‘Our client is devastated by this complaint,’ Scott’s attorney Linda Bauermeister said in a statement. ‘Our client believed the plaintiff to be over 18 and had no idea she would claim otherwise until 35 years later. He respects girls and women, and the claims have blindsided him and his family.’

Bauermeister says her client thought the girl was of legal age and doesn’t deny that the sexual activity occurred.

Campbell Hall High School is also named as a defendant, and the lawsuit accuses the institution of negligence for not protecting the accuser. The lawsuit demands a jury trial and $25,000 for damages, payment of attorney fees, and loss of wages to be paid by Scott and the high school.

Scott played for the Lakers from 1983 to 1993, winning three NBA championships during the ‘Showtime’ era, and finished his career with the team in 1996-97. He was married to his first wife, Anita, with whom he had three children, at the time of the incident. He has since divorced and remarried.

He also played for the Indiana Pacers and then Vancouver Grizzlies, and after his playing days were over, coached with the New Jersey Nets, New Orleans Hornets, Cleveland Cavaliers and Lakers.

After winning just 12 of their first 38 games, the Pittsburgh Pirates have fired manager Derek Shelton.

Shelton, who was in his sixth year as the Pirates’ skipper, is the first manager to be fired this season.

The move comes as the Pirates began the year as a fringe playoff contender, thanks to a talented young starting rotation headed by 2024 NL Rookie of the Year Paul Skenes.

However, the offense has been the worst in the majors in the early going – averaging an MLB-low 3.11 runs per game. And the pitching staff has posted a collective 4.31 ERA, ranking 21st out of 30 teams.

“The first quarter of the season has been frustrating and painful for all of us. We have to do better,’ said Pirates chairman Bob Nutting. ‘There is a lot of baseball left to be played. We need to act with a sense of urgency and take the steps necessary to fix this now to get back on track as a team and organization.”

Bench coach Don Kelly – a Pittsburgh native who spent nine seasons in the majors with the Pirates, Tigers and Marlins – will take over as interim manager.

“Derek worked incredibly hard and sacrificed a lot over five-plus years,” general manager Ben Cherington said in a statement. “His family became a big part of the Pirates family, and we will miss that. He’s an incredibly smart, curious and driven baseball leader. I believe he was the right person for the job when he was hired. I also believe that a change is now necessary. I wish Derek and his family all the best in their next chapter.”

Shelton was hired prior to the 2020 season and went 306-440 as Pittsburgh’s manager, losing 101 games in 2021 and 100 in 2022, finishing 76-86 each of the past two years.

The Pittsburgh Pirates fan who fell 21 feet onto the warning track at PNC Park during an April 30 game against the Chicago Cubs gave an update on his condition for the first time on Wednesday.

In an interview with the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, 20-year-old Kavan Markwood described his injuries as ‘broken everything’ after he tumbled over the railing in right field while celebrating Andrew McCutchen’s go-ahead double.

“I’m all right,” he told TribLive.com. “I can’t really sleep. I have a lot of back pain.”

Markwood has been hospitalized for over a week as he recovers from injuries to his back and neck suffered in the fall. He took his first steps on Monday.

Markwood said he is grateful for the support he has received through a GoFundMe campaign to help with his medical bills. It has raised more than $53,000 as of Thursday morning.

“I’m happy to say that he’s progressed well; he’s at a point now where he’s off the breathing machine, he’s out of the intensive care unit and is preparing to move on to the next step, which will be physical therapy, rehab,” Philp said.

The roast of Tom Brady may have been well done, but it was a rare ‘regret’ for the former quarterback.

In 2024, the former NFL quarterback and current minority owner of the Las Vegas Raiders was the subject of ‘The Roast of Tom Brady,’ streamed on Netflix. While the six-time Super Bowl champion was entertained by jokes and jabs surrounding him, some quips cut a little close to home.

On a recent episode of the ‘Impaulsive’ podcast, Brady detailed that the roast was ‘tough’ on his kids.

‘I do understand that, for my kids, it was really hard,’ he said. … ‘There are some things as a parent you (expletive) up, and you don’t realize until after, like, ugh, you know?

‘We’re not perfect parents. You’ll see as you grow up. There’s no perfect manual for it, and you gotta evaluate yourself as a parent, too, all the time.’

Brady added that his children were being ‘protective’ of their parents.

‘They’re protective, of their mom, of their dad, of everybody,’ Brady said. He added that his children asked, ”what was the point of that?” in regards to the roast.

It’s not the first time Brady has admitted that the roast has affected his family. Speaking on ‘The Pivot’ podcast in 2024, the passer said that the roast and its fallout was a ‘good lesson’ for him as a parent.

“I loved when the jokes were about me, I thought they were so fun. I didn’t like the way that it affected my kids,” Brady said on the podcast. “It’s the hardest part about – the bittersweet aspect of – when you do something that you think is one way, and then all of a sudden you realize, I wouldn’t do that again because of the way that it affected, actually, the people that I care about the most in the world.’

Brady said that he enjoyed the production as a whole despite the jabs surrounding his personal life.

‘I love laughing at myself, it felt like I was in the locker room,’ he said. ‘The harder people go at me, I’ll actually love it.’

Brady is currently a color analyst for Fox Sports in addition to owning a stake in the Raiders.

On the heels of collecting her first tournament title since becoming a mother, former world No. 1 Naomi Osaka rallied to victory Thursday in the third round of the Italian Open tennis tournament in Rome.

Osaka dropped the first set to Switzerland’s Viktorija Golubic, but came back for a 2-6, 7-5, 6-1 win.

Last week in Saint-Malo, France, Osaka rode a wild-card entry in the WTA 125 tournament to her first title since the 2021 Australian Open – and did it on arguably her worst surface.

‘That’s one of my favorite things about life though, there’s always room to grow and evolve,’ she wrote in a post on X.

Osaka, 27, returned to playing competitively at the start of last year after giving birth to a daughter in July 2023.

With the win, the four-time Grand Slam champion saw her world ranking jump to No. 48 in the May 5 update.

The 2025 PGA Championship will be missing one of its most colorful characters next week at Quail Hollow Golf Club in Charlotte, North Carolina.

John Daly, who first burst onto the PGA Tour scene when he came out of nowhere as an alternate to win the 1991 PGA Championship, won’t be in the field at the sport’s second major. He will instead play in a PGA Tour Champions event.

Daly, 59, plans to be at the Regions Tradition in Birmingham, Alabama, which is the first of five majors on the senior tour. He has a lifetime exemption into the PGA Championship as a past champion of the Wannamaker Trophy. He cited the scheduling conflict for the decision.

‘I can go there (PGA Championship) and miss the cut and get $6,000,’ Daly told the Associated Press. ‘But I’m playing Birmingham. I love Regions. They’re a great sponsor. But why are they scheduling Regions the same week as the PGA Championship, where I can see Brooks (Koepka) and all the guys?’

Since Daly’s memorable PGA Championship win at Crooked Stick in Carmel, Indiana 34 years ago, he has just one top-20 finish in this event. He hasn’t made the cut since 2012 and withdrew from last year’s PGA Championship.

Daly has struggled in four Champions Tour starts this season while returning from hand surgery, but remains undeterred and a popular figure when he’s on the course thanks to his unorthodox rise, eclectic outfits and everyman appeal. He has continued playing despite injury issues in recent years, and previously had to overcome alcohol and gambling problems that nearly took down his career.

Daly said he plans to miss next year’s PGA Championship at Aronimink Golf Club in the Philadelphia area, but wants to return in 2027 when the tournament is held at PGA Frisco in Texas.

‘I’m like Lazarus – I keep coming back from the dead,’ Daly said. ‘Waking up is a win for me.’