The San Francisco 49ers signed veteran kicker Eddy Piñeiro after waiving Jake Moody.
Moody was released following a game where he missed two field goals against the Seattle Seahawks.
Piñeiro previously played for the Panthers, Jets, and Bears and is one of the most accurate kickers in NFL history.

The San Francisco 49ers spent less than a day finding a new kicker.

After waiving former third-round pick Jake Moody this afternoon, the 49ers signed veteran kicker Eddy Piñeiro, per multiple reports. The signing ensures San Francisco will have a placekicker on the active roster for Week 2 against the New Orleans Saints.

Piñeiro spent the last three seasons with the Carolina Panthers following one-year stints with the New York Jets in 2021 and the Chicago Bears in 2019.

The 49ers waived Moody following a tough opening week for the 2023 third-round pick. He missed two field goals in Sunday’s win over the Seattle Seahawks; one off the upright from 27 yards out and a 36-yard kick that the Seahawks blocked.

Piñeiro played under current 49ers special teams coordinator Brant Boyer with the Jets in 2021. He’ll celebrate his 30th birthday on Saturday ahead of his 49ers debut against the Saints on Sunday.

Eddy Piñeiro stats

Piñeiro is the fourth-most accurate kicker in NFL history behind Justin Tucker, Harrison Butker and Chris Boswell. The former Florida Gator shook off a tough first season in Chicago to be one of the more reliable kickers in the NFL.

2019 (16 games): 27 of 29 (93.1%) on extra points, 23 of 28 (82.1%) on field goals
2021 (5 games): 9 of 10 (90%) on extra points, 8 of 8 (100%) on field goals
2022 (17 games): 30 of 32 (93.8%) on extra points, 33 of 35 (94.3%) on field goals
2023 (15 games): 17 of 20 (85%) on extra points, 25 of 29 (86.2%) on field goals
2024 (17 games): 33 of 35 (94.3%) on extra points, 22 of 26 (84.6%) on field goals

Piñeiro’s career long is from 56 yards out in 2023 with the Panthers.

Why did the 49ers release Jake Moody?

The 49ers released Moody after his two misses on Sunday in Seattle but issues trace back much further than that.

Moody’s been one of the least-accurate kickers in the NFL since entering the league in 2023. Of the 42 kickers with at least 10 field goal attempts since Week 1 of the 2023 season, Moody finished 37th in field goal percentage at 76.3%.

In Super Bowl 58 against the Kansas City Chiefs, Moody made three field goals but missed an extra point early in the fourth quarter that loomed large later on. Kansas City faced a three-point deficit on their final drive of regulation instead of four points and a Butker kick sent the game to overtime. The Chiefs eventually won the game 25-22.

Only one of the players with a lower percentage is on a team in 2025: Graham Gano with the New York Giants.

Tyreek Hill’s lawyer on Monday said domestic-violence claims made by the Miami Dolphins wideout’s estranged wife ‘are nothing more than an attempt …. to shake Mr. Hill down.’

Lakeeta Vaccaro Hill said in new court filings, per TMZ, that Hill became violent on eight separate occasions during their marriage. In one alleged incident, Vaccaro claimed Hill spat on her; she also alleged the five-time All-Pro threw a marijuana cigarette at her before leaving for the 2024 Pro Bowl on Feb. 7 of that year.

Hill’s attorney, Julius Collins, released a statement to USA TODAY Sports denying the claims, saying that Vaccaro and her team only amended the initial petition for separation.

‘The new allegations that Ms. Vaccaro and her counsel have decided to allege are all unsubstantiated, untrue and an attempt to generate bad media coverage for Mr. Hill and therefore extort a large settlement offer from Mr. Hill, of which we believe Ms. Vaccaro is not entitled in this 17 month (sic) marriage,’ the statement read.

Hill’s lawyers said he gave Vaccaro $500,000 ‘to do as she wished and needed’ considering they share a child and offered an additional $100,000 to purchase a vehicle. In her latest court filing, Vaccaro is requesting $1,100,857.51.

‘These new allegations are further proof that Ms. Vaccaro and/or her counsel are set on partaking in a smear campaign in hopes that Mr. Hill will settle and give she and her counsel an unreasonable and unwarranted amount of money,’ Hill’s representation wrote. ‘Mr. Hill will not be moved by this and awaits his day in Court to present his evidence.’

Vaccaro filed for divorce on April 8, 2025, one day after the Sunny Isles Beach Police Department responded to an incident at their home. They were married in November 2023 and Vaccaro gave birth to the couple’s child late in 2024.

In an email to USA TODAY Sports, Vaccaro’s lawyer, Evan Marks, wrote that her amended petition is ‘verified – meaning that she has sworn that the allegations contained therein are true and correct.’

‘Evidence will be presented to a jury who will then decide whether Ms. Vaccaro is entitled to be compensated for the damages that she sustained due to the conduct of Mr. Hill as alleged,’ Marks wrote.

A Zoom hearing is scheduled for Monday, Sept. 15, one day after the Dolphins host the New England Patriots in Week 2 of the 2025 NFL season.

The 31-year-old Hill has been involved in a litany of litigation and events that escalated to the response of the authorities in recent years. There was a physical altercation with a South Florida marina employee in June 2023. A separate lawsuit alleges he broke a social media influencer’s leg that same month.

The Seattle Storm have punched their ticket to the 2025 WNBA playoffs.

The Storm clinched the eighth and final postseason bid Tuesday after defeating the Golden State Valkyries, 74-73, in the team’s regular-season finale at Seattle’s Climate Pledge Arena. It will be the Storm’s third playoff appearance under fourth-year head coach Noelle Quinn. Erica Wheeler knocked down a go-ahead jumper with 19.2 seconds remaining to win.

The eighth-place Storm and ninth-place Los Angeles Sparks were vying for the final playoff spot entering Tuesday, Sept. 9, with the Storm needing the win to claim the final playoff spot. The Sparks needed a win over the Phoenix Mercury — which the team notched on Tuesday — in addition to a Storm loss. The Storm’s victory officially eliminated the Sparks, marking the fifth consecutive year Los Angeles missed the postseason.

Seattle returns to the playoffs for the second consecutive year, but didn’t make it easy. The Storm emerged as one of the top teams in the league during the first half of the season and were in fourth place in the standings entering the 2025 WNBA All-Star break, where the Storm had three All-Star selections, tied with the Indiana Fever for the most in the league. But the Storm faltered in the second half of the season and slid down the standings after losing nine out of 12 games, including a six-game losing streak that threatened their playoff hopes.

The Storm were able to rebound in the final stretch and won six of their next nine games to make the playoffs, including Tuesday’s victory over the Valkyries, in which Wheeler had a team-high 17 points off the bench. Nneka Ogwumike added 16 points and eight rebounds.

Although the field has been set for the WNBA postseason, playoff seeding is coming down to the final games of the regular season. The sixth-place Valkyries have one game remaining against the league-leading Minnesota Lynx on Thursday.

The Storm will be seeking to win their fifth WNBA championship and first since 2020.

The USA TODAY app gets you to the heart of the news — fast. Download for award-winning coverage, crosswords, audio storytelling, the eNewspaper and more.

But his fans were, and Terence Crawford discovered that the loud way.

At Grand Arrivals for the two fighters, Crawford was greeted by loud boos on Tuesday, Sept. 9 at Fontainebleau Las Vegas hotel — early evidence Crawford will be treated like the villain when he and Alvarez fight on Saturday Sept. 13.

As the boos continued, Crawford smiled.

“This ain’t nothing different than when I went to Scotland and fought Ricky Burns,’’ he told boxing analyst Max Kellerman during the livestreamed event.

Crawford was referring to 2014, when he traveled to Scotland to fight Scottish boxer Ricky Burns for the WBO world lightweight title. At the time, Crawford said he would silence the crowd on fight night. He did just that, beating Burns by unanimous decision and winning his first world title.

So for Crawford, who’s from Omaha, Nebraska, Las Vegas suddenly feels a little like Scotland.

Not for Alvarez.

The Mexican star is about 1,500 miles from his birthplace of Guadalajara, and once again his fans are expected to flock, this time to watch him defend his undisputed super middleweight championship. The bout will take place at Allegiant Stadium, home of the NFL’s Las Vegas Raiders, and be livestreamed by Netflix three days before Mexican Independence Day.

“They’re all going to be quiet come Saturday,’’ Crawford told Kellerman, and he later remarked, “I’ve been booed before. Hey, listen, they can’t fight for him, so it don’t matter.’’

Alvarez arrived about an hour later and there was no need to talk about boos.

In Spanish Alvarez told his backers, “I’m super grateful for all the support that you always provided to me.’’

Less than three weeks remain in the 2025 Major League Baseball regular season and while the field is largely set in stone, at least three division races will go down to the wire and the Seattle Mariners and New York Mets will have to fight off challengers for the final wild card spots.

The Philadelphia Phillies have buried the Mets in the NL East, while New York’s four-game losing streak opened things up for the Giants, Reds, Diamondbacks and Cardinals to get within 4.5 games for the NL’s final wild card spot.

Meawhile, the Texas Rangers have been red-hot and enter Wednesday trailing the Houston Astros by just one game in the AL West.

The regular season ends on Sunday, September 28, with the best-of-three wild card series beginning two days later. The top two division winners in each league advance directly to the Division Series.

Here’s a look at the latest standings and bracket:

Through games played Tuesday, Sept. 9

MLB playoff bracket if season ended today

American League

Byes: Blue Jays, Tigers
AL wild card series

Mariners at Astros
Yankees vs. Red Sox (virtual tie, Red Sox hold head-to-head tiebreaker)

National League

Byes: Brewers, Phillies
NL wild card series

Mets at Dodgers
Padres at Cubs

AL wild card standings

Top three reach playoffs

New York Yankees (80-64): +3.5 games
Boston Red Sox (81-65): +3.5 games
Seattle Mariners (77-68)
Texas Rangers (76-70): 1.5 games back
Cleveland Guardians (74-70): 2.5 GB
Kansas City Royals (73-72): 4 GB
Tampa Bay Rays (72-72): 4.5 GB

NL wild card standings

Top three reach playoffs

Chicago Cubs (82-63): +6 games
San Diego Padres (79-66): +1 game
New York Mets (76–69)
San Francisco Giants (74-71): 2 GB
Cincinnati Reds (73-72): 3 GB
Arizona Diamondbacks (72-74): 4.5 GB
St. Louis Cardinals (72-74): 4.5 GB

AL East

Toronto Blue Jays (83-61)
New York Yankees (80-64): 3 games back
Boston Red Sox (81-65): 3 GB

AL Central

Detroit Tigers (83-62)
Cleveland Guardians (74-70): 8.5 GB
Kansas City Royals (73-72): 10 GB

AL West

Houston Astros (78-67)
Seattle Mariners (77-68): 1 GB
Texas Rangers (76-70): 2.5 GB

NL East

Philadelphia Phillies (85-60)
New York Mets (76-69): 9 GB

NL Central

Milwaukee Brewers (89-57)
Chicago Cubs (82-63): 6.5 GB

NL West

Los Angeles Dodgers (81-64)
San Diego Padres (79-66): 2 GB

Jalen Carter was fined $57,222 for spitting on Dak Prescott, the NFL announced.
The NFL said in its release that it deemed Carter’s ejection as a one-game suspension given that he missed the entirety of the season opener.
Neither Carter nor the NFL Players Association will appeal the punishment.

Philadelphia Eagles defensive tackle Jalen Carter is paying an even heftier price for spitting on Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott in the NFL season opener.

Carter, who was ejected just six seconds into the Eagles’ 24-20 win last Thursday, was fined $57,222 – the equivalent of a full game check – by the NFL on Tuesday for the incident, the league announced. He did not, however, receive an additional suspension, leaving him free to play in the upcoming Super Bowl 59 rematch against the Kansas City Chiefs. USA TODAY Sports’ Jarrett Bell confirmed Saturday that Carter would not face any further ban.

The NFL said in its release that it deemed Carter’s ejection as a one-game suspension given that he missed the entirety of the contest.

Neither Carter nor the NFL Players Association will appeal the punishment. Despite the incident technically meeting the terms of a suspension, the Eagles agreed not to void the guarantees in Carter’s contract or try to reclaim his signing bonus, according to multiple reports.

Before the first offensive play of the game, Prescott appeared to spit at the ground between himself and Carter, who then walked toward the Cowboys’ huddle. The two players met face to face and appeared to exchange words before Carter spat on Prescott. The quarterback gestured to an official, who immediately threw a flag.

Carter was then ejected for what referee Shawn Smith called in a pool report a ‘disqualifiable foul in the game. It’s a non-football act.”

After the game, Carter offered little explanation for what transpired but did take responsibility.

‘It was a mistake that happened on my side, and it just won’t happen again,’ Carter told reporters at his locker. ‘I feel bad for just my teammates and the fans out there. I’m doing it for them.’

Prescott said he first noticed Carter ‘trying to mess with’ Cowboys rookie offensive guard Tyler Booker, which prompted the star signal-caller to step forward. Carter then accused the quarterback of trying to spit on him, Prescott said, and things escalated from there.

‘At that point, I mean, I felt like he was insulting me,’ Prescott said in a news conference. ‘I wouldn’t spit on someone. I’m damn sure not trying to spit on you. We’re about to play a game and I’m wondering why you’re trying to mess with the rookie.’

Eagles coach Nick Sirianni said he would not divulge any internal discussions or repercussions but ‘we needed (Carter) out there today and he wasn’t out there.’

‘I coach with emotion, and I want them to play with emotion,’ Sirianni said in a news conference. ‘That’s what I say all the time. But you have to do it within the rules of the game, because we need everybody out there to help us be successful.’

The Cowboys would go on to score two touchdowns and a field goal on their first three drives. Prescott, who acknowledged the offense changed its plan and blocking scheme after the expulsion, was not sacked and was hit just once on the night with the Pro Bowl interior disruptor ruled out.

Undisciplined play dogged the defending champions throughout the matchup, with Philadelphia recording nine penalties for 110 yards. In 2024, the team ranked third in average penalty yards per game with 45.7 and never eclipsed 100 in a single contest.

Maintaining composure has also been a problem for Carter, who was flagged four times last season for unnecessary roughness.

The first week of the NFL season is always the most chaotic – both on the field and on the fantasy football waiver wire that follows.

We can’t really be sure if what we just witnessed is a fact or fluke until we have more corroborating evidence. For example, is the Detroit Lions offense a shell of its former self without former offensive coordinator Ben Johnson … or is the Green Bay Packers defense really that good?

Additionally, are the Buffalo Bills and Baltimore Ravens in trouble on defense … or did they both look bad because they were facing the NFL’s two best quarterbacks?

The best we can do after one week’s worth of games is make educated guesses with the information we have available.

Fantasy football players to add for Week 2

Due to the wide variance in types of leagues and individual team needs, especially this early in the season, no roster rates are included this week. So be sure to check if the players are available in your league. (Suggested bid values based on $100 free agent acquisition budget for the season.)

WR Marquise ‘Hollywood’ Brown, Kansas City Chiefs

With Xavier Worthy’s shoulder injury likely to sideline him for several weeks (and Rashee Rice suspended), Brown steps up as the top receiving option in Kansas City. He had a league-high 16 targets in Week 1, catching 10 for 99 yards. Travis Kelce’s disappointing showing until a late TD catch only boosts Hollywood’s box office score potential. (Suggested FAAB bid: $15)

RB Quinshon Judkins, Cleveland Browns

The second-round pick avoided being charged in an offseason altercation and just signed a contract before the season started. Still subject to an NFL suspension, he will be available to play as early as this week. Jerome Ford’s lackluster showing as the starter opens the door for Judkins and fellow rookie Dylan Sampson (12-29 rushing, 8-64 receiving) to take a larger share of the touches. Judkins was drafted to be the lead back so the ceiling is high. But so is the risk level. (FAAB bid: $12)

WR Quentin Johnston, Los Angeles Chargers

The Chargers’ Justin Herbert finished as the QB5 in Week 1, showing off a surprising affinity for the air. Johnston was the main beneficiary, catching a pair of touchdown passes among his five receptions for 79 yards. Fellow wideout Keenan Allen also had a good game (7-68, TD) so he could be a fallback option, especially if L.A.’s run game doesn’t improve. (FAAB bid: $9)

WR Kayshon Boutte, New England Patriots

An under-the-radar name here with some decent immediate value. Boutte led all Patriots receivers with eight targets on Sunday, catching six for 103 yards. However, like the Chargers, the Pats weren’t able to run the ball very well. So QB Drake Maye ended up throwing 46 passes. Perhaps the best news is that the Miami Dolphins defense is up next. (FAAB bid: $8)

WR Cedric Tillman, Cleveland Browns

As long as Joe Flacco is the quarterback, the Browns will be a threat in the passing game. Flacco threw the ball 45 times in a one-point loss to the Bengals, with Tillman targeted on eight of those. He caught five for 52 yards and Flacco’s lone TD. There’s still a lot to sort out in the Browns offense, so don’t go overboard just yet. Heck, rookie tight end Harold Fannin Jr. had seven catches for 63 yards. (FAAB bid: $8)

TE Juwan Johnson, New Orleans Saints

What a mess Week 1 was for tight ends – with Brock Bowers, George Kittle and Evan Engram all leaving early with injuries. Johnson, meanwhile, was one tight end who flourished. He led the position with 11 targets, and finished with eight catches for 76 yards. The Saints will likely be playing from behind a lot this season, so Johnson could be one of 2025’s early-season breakouts. (FAAB bid: $7)

QB Aaron Rodgers, Pittsburgh Steelers

Are you a believer yet? The 41-year-old led all quarterbacks in Week 1 with four touchdown passes in his Steelers debut, looking a lot like the four-time MVP that he is. Having a game-breaking target like DK Metcalf certainly helps, but those TD passes (against what was supposed to be a decent New York Jets defense) went to Calvin Austin, Ben Skowronek, Jaylen Warren and Jonnu Smith. Has A-Rod found the Fountain of Ayahuasca? (FAAB bid: $3)

RB Kenneth Gainwell, Pittsburgh Steelers

Several backup running backs saw their stock rise after Week 1. Gainwell is seemingly ahead of rookie Kaleb Johnson on the depth chart (behind starter Jaylen Warren) after getting seven carries and four targets. He didn’t do much with those opportunities (23 total yards) but could be a useful bench option for the time being. (FAAB bid: $3)

RB Bhayshul Tuten, Jacksonville Jaguars

The Jaguars backfield just got less competitive for snaps with Tank Bigsby traded to Philadelphia. Travis Etienne (156 total yards) was marvelous in the opener so that may have played a role, but Tuten could emerge as a worthwhile backup, given Etienne’s injury history. (FAAB bid: $3)

TE Jake Tonges, San Francisco 49ers

For those in realllllly deep leagues, Kittle’s hamstring injury will likely keep him out for at least a month, opening the door for Tonges to take over the role. The Niners receiving corps had already been decimated before Kittle went down, and WR Jauan Jennings also left early Sunday with a shoulder injury. Tonges caught three passes for 15 yards, but one of them was the game-winning touchdown. Look for him to be a larger part of the offense in the interim. (FAAB bid: $1)