After months of speculation, Mike McCarthy won’t return to the Dallas Cowboys.

The coach and the team will part ways rather than work to pursue a contract extension, the team confirmed in a statement Monday.

‘Throughout Mike McCarthy’s tenure here, including the last several weeks, I have been very complimentary of the job he has done,’ owner Jerry Jones said in a statement. ‘That has applied to our record over that time period, our team unity and culture, Mike’s qualifications and track record of success, and on a personal level as a tremendous human being. I have great respect for Mike, and he has led the team through some very unique and challenging times during his tenure.’

Jones added that he spent the last week reviewing the past season with McCarthy, but ‘prior to reaching the point of contract negotiations, though, it became mutually clear that it would be better for each of us to head in a different direction.’

The Cowboys will begin their search process for McCarthy’s replacement ‘immediately,’ Jones said.

All things Cowboys: Latest Dallas Cowboys news, schedule, roster, stats, injury updates and more.

McCarthy now will be free to interview with other teams after the Cowboys denied the Chicago Bears’ request last week to speak with the coach about their vacancy.

McCarthy ended his Cowboys tenure with a 49-35 record and three postseason appearances in five seasons, including a 7-10 mark in his final year.

Amid speculation that he could pursue a job with another franchise given his expiring contract, McCarthy said after the Week 18 loss to the Washington Commanders that he preferred to remain with Dallas.

“Absolutely. I have a lot invested here, and the Cowboys have a lot invested in me,” McCarthy said. “And then there’s a personal side to all these decisions. They all point the right direction. I think anytime you invest your time, energy, your belief, the connection you have, the relationships that are in place here, the understanding of what the organization can do and is willing to do. Those are all positive attributes that you take into account.’

McCarthy’s standing had been under scrutiny for nearly a year, as Jerry Jones opted to bring the coach back for the final season of his contract despite a blowout wild-card loss last January to the Green Bay Packers. But he offered no extension and declared that the franchise would be ‘all in’ for 2024 after three consecutive 12-win seasons failed to result in the team breaking what was then a 28-year drought of reaching the NFC championship game.

Yet the Cowboys were dealt major blows early on, as the organization’s 16-game home winning streak in the regular season gave way to five losses at AT&T Stadium to start the season. The 47-9 loss to the Detroit Lions in Week 6 was the greatest deficit in a home contest in Jones’ tenure as owner.

Injuries also took a significant toll, with linebacker Micah Parsons, defensive end DeMarcus Lawrence and cornerbacks DaRon Bland and Trevon Diggs among those to miss significant stretches of time. When quarterback Dak Prescott underwent season-ending surgery in early November for a partially torn hamstring, many expected the team would extend a skid that eventually dropped Dallas to 3-7.

But the Cowboys would go on to win four of their next five, stirring speculation that McCarthy could remain with the franchise.

Jones was largely complementary of McCarthy throughout the fall and winter, though he stopped short of ever making a commitment to him.

This story has been updated with new information.

Now comes the real intrigue.

Yes, Mike Vrabel is back in Foxborough. As expected. A week after Jerod Mayo was fired just minutes after completing his one-and-done season as Bill Belichick’s successor, the New England Patriots made it official on Sunday and named Vrabel as the new coach.

So much for a long, exhaustive search. There was no forest of trees to shake. No bevy of bushes to beat. No search firms, no second interviews, no need to check more references.

Bob Kraft, the charismatic Patriots owner, got his man. And everybody knew this was coming. Even though Vrabel interviewed with the Chicago Bears and New York Jets, and the Las Vegas Raiders seemed like a potential dark horse because of his pal Tom Brady’s fingerprints, it always seemed like a matter of when, not if, he would return.

It’s also no wonder that Aaron Glenn, the hot Detroit Lions coordinator, turned down New England’s request for an interview/intel collection session.

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Vrabel will be introduced as Patriots coach at noon E.T. on Monday at the same plaza where he was inducted into the Patriots Hall of Fame in 2023, and the expectations are grand after back-to-back 13-loss seasons. So is the symmetry. A member of three of the franchise’s six Super Bowl champion units, the former linebacker comes back as an accomplished coach – he guided the Tennessee Titans to three playoff berths in six seasons – with presumably all the ingredients to make it work.

No doubt, Kraft’s sentiments are something like: Come fix this!

The intrigue, however, will be revealed with the power structure. To get Vrabel, I’m guessing that he gets a lot more personnel clout than Mayo (a first-time coach and former Patriots linebacker, too) worked with.

After all, Vrabel was in his position with the Titans long enough, and with a degree of success, to know what the alignment needs to be between the personnel and coaching wings. While it’s a major plus that he inherits a promising young quarterback in Drake Maye, how Vrabel meshes with the existing (and/or altered) personnel department looms as a huge component to his chances for success.

Take it from Tedy Bruschi, the former teammate and close friend of Vrabel’s. During ESPN’s ‘Sunday NFL Countdown,’ Bruschi dropped some serious knowledge about the dynamics of the changeover from Mayo to Vrabel.

“When they hired Jerod, at the press conference a big word that was used was ‘collaboration,’ ” Bruschi, the star analyst, said on the pregame studio show. “Everybody’s input and all that stuff. Well, I don’t know how much it is that anymore. And I think that’s a good thing.”

The Patriots don’t have a general manager and haven’t had anyone carry that title during Kraft’s ownership reign. Belichick, though, was viewed as essentially his own de facto GM, given his autonomy in running the football operation – a generation after Bill Parcells’ differences with Kraft included his desire to “shop for the groceries.”

After Belichick’s departure, Eliot Wolf was promoted to executive vice president of personnel from scouting director, with the power of having the final say on personnel moves. He’s flanked by senior personnel executive Alonzo Highsmith, who joined the Patriots last year.

The bulk of the personnel staff, however, are holdovers from the Belichick era – which is panned for the results in the latter years that left the Patriots with a depleted talent base.

Key question: Will Vrabel have the final say on personnel?

“In my opinion,” Bruschi added on ESPN, “there are some people in the front office that need to be told, ‘You don’t know what you’re doing and you need to take a step back.’

“Vrabel isn’t going to joke around. Vrabel is going to tighten the screws.”

Which is exactly why Vrabel is such a good hire. Sorry, Mayo. The process that the Patriots took to get here, though, not so good.

Start with the hiring of Mayo last year. Kraft chose Mayo as Belichick’s successor in 2023, writing a clause into his contract that assured as much. Kraft reasoned that with other teams showing interest in the linebacker coach, he wanted to lock him up long term.

Yet that ultimately prevented the Patriots from conducting a thorough search to replace Belichick. Then Mayo was ultimately undermined because of the weak commitment to stick with him, knowing that it would take a rebuilding job, given the holes in talent.

Here’s to hoping that Mayo, a victim of circumstance with the Patriots, eventually gets another shot at becoming a head coach. Also, another example of a pattern where Black coaches are held to a tougher standard than white coaches – since the Rooney Rule was instituted in 2003, nearly 31% of minority coaches were one-and-done, while less than 10% of white coaches during that span were fired after one season or less – Mayo certainly didn’t get the patience or support that Vrabel’s successor, Brian Callahan, has received from the Titans after finishing 3-14 in his first season.

Of course, Kraft – who could have pursued Vrabel last year if he didn’t already have an agreement with Mayo – opted out of his rookie coach because of the chance to lure one of the most coveted candidates on the market.

It should provide a lesson for any and all team owners: Be very careful in determining your next head coach. Conditions change. The market changes.

With the Patriots, the path to Vrabel also comes with the slew of questions about their quick compliance with the Rooney Rule. On Tuesday, two days after Mayo was fired, they conducted two former coordinators, Pep Hamilton and Byron Leftwich, who haven’t coached in the NFL since 2022. Were they legitimate candidates?

Perhaps Hamilton and Leftwich have aligned themselves as serious options to become coordinator or assume some other role on Vrabel’s staff. We’ll see. There’s also speculation that Josh McDaniels, the former Patriots coordinator who bombed in head coaching shots with the Denver Broncos and the Raiders, could return to Foxborough.

In any event, in finalizing the multi-year deal with Vrabel on Wild-Card Weekend, the Patriots achieved something during the playoffs that, since Brady left, is no longer the norm.

They scored a big victory.

Follow USA TODAY Sports’ Jarrett Bell on X @JarrettBell.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers appeared to gain control of their wild card game against the Washington Commanders. Their defense came up with a crucial goal-line stand – stopping two goal-to-go plays from the 1-yard line – while leading 17-13 early in the fourth quarter and forcing a turnover on downs.

However, Tampa Bay’s offense failed to capitalize on its defense’s success. Just four plays after the defensive stand, Buccaneers quarterback Baker Mayfield and wide receiver Jalen McMillan failed to connect on a simple jet sweep run.

The ball hit the turf and was recovered by Commanders veteran Bobby Wagner, setting the Washington offense up with its best field position of the day and swinging momentum in their favor. The Commanders scored on the drive, which helped them earn a 23-20 win over the Buccaneers.

Mayfield was credited with the fumble – which was the game’s lone turnover of the traditional variety – and he accepted responsibility for the critical error during a postgame news conference.

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‘That comes back to me, just timing it up correctly,’ Mayfield said. ‘First one all year that it happened on. So obviously the timing of it not great, being backed up. Defense had done a hell of a job getting us the ball, another fourth-down stop and yeah, unfortunate, but that falls on me.’

Fumbles were one of Mayfield’s bugaboo’s during the 2024 NFL season – his 13 were tied for the most in the league with benched Atlanta Falcons quarterback Kirk Cousins – but the turnover wasn’t the only mistake his unit made in the fourth quarter.

Tampa Bay also had a chance to convert a third-and-1 from the Washington 14-yard line with just under six minutes in regulation. A first down would have given the Buccaneers a chance to position themselves for a late, go-ahead touchdown.

Instead, rookie center Graham Barton snapped the ball early because he thought a player jumped offsides, as Mayfield detailed after the game. Few moved at the start of the snap as a result, and Bucky Irving was tackled for a 2-yard loss on the play. That forced Tampa Bay to settle for a game-tying field goal, after which they never got the ball back.

That’s why Mayfield felt like the game ‘just came down to errors on the offense,’ for which he took blame.

‘Just some dumb stuff today that cost the team,’ Mayfield said when analyzing his performance. ‘That’s going to wear on me for a while.’

Despite the team’s ‘disappointing’ end to the season Mayfield expressed confidence that the Buccaneers are on the right track after making the playoffs for a fifth consecutive season.

‘I believe we have the talent, the coaching staff and everybody around us to be able to go far,’ Mayfield said. ‘But looking back, trying to take a step back, big picture – this group fought, there was a lot of people that stepped up throughout the year, a ton of guys that stepped up into huge roles, and so there’s a lot to be proud of.

‘In this moment that’s hard to see,’ Mayfield added. ‘but there’s a lot of young guys that are going to be on this roster next year that had to step up and did in a big way. That should build confidence in those guys, knowing who they are as players and as men in adversity situations, to be able to step up like they did – that’s something to be proud of. It just goes back to being disappointing and not making the plays when we needed it the most.’

Baker Mayfield stats vs. Commanders

Mayfield may have been disappointed with his performance, but he still posted strong numbers during the contest. He completed 15-of-18 passes (83.3%) for 185 yards and two touchdowns. That was good for a 146.5 passer rating while he added 23 rushing yards on seven carries.

The lone blight on Mayfield’s stat line was the fumble. He will have an entire offseason to rue that play as he looks to prepare the Buccaneers for a deep postseason run next year.

The International Olympic Committee will replace the 10 medals that American swimmer Gary Hall Jr. lost when the California wildfires destroyed his home last week, IOC president Thomas Bach said in a statement Sunday.

‘We are in full solidarity with the citizens of Los Angeles and full of admiration for the tireless work of the firefighters and the security forces,’ Bach said. ‘Currently the full focus must be on the fight against the fires and the protection of the people and property.’

Hall, 50, won five gold medals, three silvers and two bronzes in his three Olympic appearances from 1996 to 2004. He told the Sydney Morning Herald that the medals – along with almost all of his other possessions – were destroyed when the home he was renting in Pacific Palisades, California caught fire last week.

The Pacific Palisades Fire is one of several wildfires that have spread across the Los Angeles area over the past week, leaving homes and businesses in ruins and at least 24 people dead.

‘I did think about the medals. I did not have time to get them,’ Hall told the Sydney Morning Herald. ‘Everyone wants to know did the medals burn? Yeah, everything burnt. It’s something I can live without. I guess everything is just stuff. It’ll take some hard work to start over. What can you do?’

Bach said the IOC will be giving Hall replica medals in an attempt to replace the ones that were lost. The IOC usually maintains a reserve of non-engraved medals from each iteration of the Olympic Games, which can then be engraved and distributed at a later date. Medals are most commonly reallocated following positive doping cases. Most recently, 10 athletes received reallocated medals in a special ceremony held during the 2024 Paris Olympics last summer.

Hall has relocated to San Diego with family since the fire, according to a GoFundMe page created to support him. The page had raised more than $75,000 as of Monday morning.

‘Thank you again to so many people,’ Hall said in a statement posted to the page. ‘I feel the love. It means so much.’

Hall made his Olympic debut at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, where he won a trio of gold medals as part of U.S. swimming relays. He went on to win gold in the 50-meter freestyle at both the 2000 Sydney Olympics and 2004 Games in Athens.

Contact Tom Schad at tschad@usatoday.com or on social media @tomschad.bsky.social.

The NHL’s 4 Nations Face-Off is less than a month away.

The league will shut down in February so the international tournament can be played from Feb. 12-20 in Montreal and Boston as an appetizer for the NHL’s return to the Olympics in 2026.

The countries’ full rosters were announced on Dec. 4. Here’s a look at how players on the U.S. team are faring this season (through Sunday’s games):

USA 4 Nations Face-Off roster

Initial six players

F Jack Eichel, Vegas Golden Knights
F Auston Matthews, Toronto Maple Leafs
F Matthew Tkachuk, Florida Panthers
D Adam Fox, New York Rangers
D Quinn Hughes, Vancouver Canucks
D Charlie McAvoy, Boston Bruins

Rest of the roster

F Matt Boldy, Minnesota Wild
F Kyle Connor, Winnipeg Jets
F Jake Guentzel, Tampa Bay Lightning
F Jack Hughes, New Jersey Devils
F Chris Kreider, New York Rangers
F Dylan Larkin, Detroit Red Wings
F J.T. Miller, Vancouver Canucks
F Brock Nelson, New York Islanders
F Brady Tkachuk, Ottawa Senators
F Vincent Trocheck, New York Rangers
D Brock Faber, Minnesota Wild
D Noah Hanifin, Vegas Golden Knights
D Jaccob Slavin, Carolina Hurricanes
D Zach Werenski, Columbus Blue Jackets
G Connor Hellebuyck, Winnipeg Jets
G Jake Oettinger, Dallas Stars
G Jeremy Swayman, Boston Bruins

Team USA injury report

Kreider and Faber are out but could be back this week. Matthews has been out twice with injuries since being named but he’s playing again.

How are Team USA players faring?

Goaltending

Hellebuyck just picked up his sixth shutout of the season and his second against the Colorado Avalanche, who rocked him in last season’s playoffs. He’s leading most goaltending categories and is a front-runner for a second consecutive Vezina Trophy and third overall. Oettinger has a five-game winning streak. Swayman had a five-game losing streak, but ended it with a 40-save victory against the Panthers.

Defensemen

Werenski and Quinn Hughes are in the mix for the Norris Trophy as the No. 2 and 3 scoring defensemen in the league. Hughes recently missed four games with an injury. Fox ranks sixth in scoring and his play is picking up as the Rangers start to turn around a long slump. McAvoy’s plus-minus took a hit during the Bruins’ recent slump, but he remains a plus player. So is every defenseman on the U.S. team.

Forwards

Connor, Eichel and Jack Hughes rank seventh through ninth is scoring among league forwards. Guentzel and the Tkachuk brothers are the only other Team USA forwards in the top 40. Matthews would likely be up there if injuries hadn’t limited him to 29 games. He has 31 points, eight of them in the first four games of his latest return. Larkin has taken off since the Red Wings’ coaching change with 11 points in eight games. Nelson recently went 17 games without a goal but has scored in his last two games.

4 Nations Face-Off schedule

(Times p.m. ET)

Wednesday, Feb. 12:  Canada vs. Sweden at Montreal, 8, TNT
Thursday, Feb. 13: USA vs. Finland at Montreal, 8, ESPN
Saturday, Feb. 15: Finland vs. Sweden at Montreal, 1, ABC
Saturday, Feb. 15: USA vs. Canada at Montreal, 8, ABC
Monday, Feb. 17: Canada vs. Finland at Boston, 1, TNT
Monday, Feb. 17:  Sweden vs. USA at Boston, 8, TNT
Thursday, Feb. 20: Championship game at Boston, 8, ESPN

The ownership group of the Philadelphia 76ers and Comcast Spectacor on Monday announced plans to build a new arena in South Philadelphia that will open in 2031.

The announcement of the new arena, which will be home to the NBA team and NHL’s Philadelphia Flyers, comes a day after the 76ers abandoned plans for a $1.3 billion arena in downtown Philadelphia. This arena is a 50-50 joint venture between Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment and Comcast, which will have naming rights to the arena.

Comcast is planning to take a minority stake in the 76ers and will join a bid with HBSE in hopes of bringing a WNBA team to the city, The Athletic reported.

‘Today’s announcement is great news for the City of Philadelphia,’ NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said in a joint statement.

In addition, the venture will include a 50-50 effort between HBSE and Comcast to invest in the revitalization of Market East in Center City, where the new arena was originally slated to be built.

All things Sixers: Latest Philadelphia 76ers news, schedule, roster, stats, injury updates and more.

Sunday’s decision was a surprise, coming weeks after the city council voted to approve the NBA team’s move to Center City. However, Chinatown residents and activists had protested the project.

‘By committing to both investments, the partnership will create thousands of jobs, generate billions of dollars in economic activity for the city, region and state, and enhance commitments to create economic opportunity in neighborhoods across Philadelphia,’ the joint statement reads.

The Sixers and Flyers currently play in the Wells Fargo Center, which is owned by Comcast Spectacor. Their lease expires in 2031.

The new arena in South Philadelphia will also host touring acts and special events.

Saquon Barkley didn’t break off many long runs in the Philadelphia Eagles’ wild card playoff matchup against the Green Bay Packers but appeared poised for a massive one to close the game.

The Eagles were leading 22-10 when Barkley took a second-and-6 carry behind the left side of Philadelphia’s offensive line. He found a big crease in the defense and burst through it, easily picking up the first down and having a clear path to the end-zone.

However, with just over one minute remaining in the game and the Packers being out of timeouts, Barkley opted not to take the carry to the house. Instead, he slid down after a gain of 17 yards – his longest run of the day – and set the Eagles up to end the game by taking a knee.

Barkley’s slide drew the attention of NFL bettors. The Eagles running back was one of the most bet anytime touchdown scorers at multiple sportsbooks, per ESPN’s David Purdum, so many had a vested interest in seeing Barkley find the end-zone.

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Naturally, Barkley had a much different thought process regarding the play. He explained after the game that he was happy to slide down to guarantee Philadelphia’s 12-point win.

‘[It’s] situational football,’ Barkley explained to reporters. ‘A first down ends the game.’

Barkley also detailed he wanted to make sure he and his teammates stayed healthy ahead of their divisional round matchup rather than scoring a touchdown that would simply run up the score.

‘You never know. I break that long one, I keep running [and] I pull a hammy,’ Barkley hypothetically posed. ‘Or someone’s chasing me [and] they pull a hammy, we lose a guy for next week. Get down, put a smile on your face and move on. That’s the thing that matters most.’

Barkley has been focused on winning throughout the 2024 NFL season, repeatedly giving up chances to chase personal milestones while approaching the season from a long-term lens.

Most notably, Barkley sat out the Eagles’ final game of the regular season despite needing just 101 rushing yards to break Eric Dickerson’s single-season NFL rushing record. Earlier in the year, he also decided to let his younger teammates play the final stages of Philadelphia’s 28-3 Week 7 win over the New York Giants rather than try to get the 13 yards he needed to break his personal-best rushing record.

Thus, it’s no surprise Barkley remained consistent with his messaging following Philadelphia’s 22-10 win over Green Bay.

‘Whether we throw for 400 yards, we rush for 400 yards – if we win the game, 3-0. I don’t give a (expletive), to be honest,’ Barkley said. ‘I just wanna win.’

Sam Darnold picked the right time to have a career year. But in the coming weeks, that’s likely to create unique dilemmas for both the 27-year-old quarterback and the Minnesota Vikings.

A Pro Bowler for the first time this season, Darnold’s latest opportunity to build the case he’s finally blossomed into the franchise QB he was forecast to be when the New York Jets made him the third overall pick of the 2018 draft will come Monday night – when the Vikings play the Los Angeles Rams in the final wild-card game of the 2024 playoffs. It will mark the first postseason start for Darnold, who set an NFL record among quarterbacks by earning 14 wins in his first season with a team, Minnesota already the fourth of his seven-year career.

‘(I)t’s exciting, man, to be able to step into an environment like we’re gonna step into on Monday night,’ Darnold said Thursday.

‘All the guys in that locker room are very excited about it, but we know and we understand that we have to put the work in this week to be able to go out there and earn that excitement that we’re going to feel on Monday night.’

(However the feelings will be somewhat mixed for Darnold, a Southern California native and USC product who’s also felt the effects of the wildfires ravaging the Los Angeles area.)

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But regardless of Monday’s outcome, sooner or later the Vikings and/or Darnold must come to a decision about their relationship with his one-year, $10 million contract set to run out. He joined the team last March after spending the 2023 campaign as a backup for the San Francisco 49ers and was joined a few weeks later by J.J. McCarthy, whom Minnesota made the 10th overall pick of last year’s draft. Darnold earned rave reviews in the offseason before inheriting the starting job by default when McCarthy suffered a season-ending knee injury in preseason.

But good luck finding almost anyone who predicted what followed: Minnesota (14-3) tied for the league’s third-best record, largely propelled by Darnold’s breakthrough. His 4,319 yards and 35 TDs through the air plus a 102.5 passer rating were all career highs by an exponential deviation. Head coach Kevin O’Connell has regularly praised him as a leader, competitor and reliable decision-maker.

Soon enough, Darnold and the team will have to assess their relative options following a campaign that could be a one-year wonder, might be indicative that he’s put it all together, or perhaps something in between – the right player finding the right situation to maximize his talents. What’s not in doubt is the way Darnold, who’s typically been well liked by teammates regardless of disappointing results earlier in his career, has been embraced by this locker room and staff.

“Just to see how he’s ultimately been able to maximize everything about his opportunity, our football team loves him for it,” O’Connell said after last month’s defeat of the Green Bay Packers, in which Darnold threw for a career-best 377 yards and was mobbed by teammates and doused with water afterward in an uproarious locker room.

“I’ve had an absolute blast coaching him.”

So what’s next? Darnold and the Vikings are basically looking at three options – and there is some added variance – before landing on a resolution, though one seems to be the obvious choice:

Sam Darnold leaves in free agency

Perhaps the Vikings let him walk, and perhaps that would be his preference. McCarthy was clearly selected with the objective that he’d be the long-term replacement for Kirk Cousins, who departed for the Atlanta Falcons last year. The Michigan product displayed, albeit briefly, the athleticism and composure during his preseason action that would suggest he might just be capable to translate his championship-caliber résumé with the Wolverines to the NFL … at some point.

Meanwhile, with the quarterback crop in the 2025 draft seemingly far more limited than the previous one – McCarthy might well have been the No. 1 pick had he waited to go pro this year – Darnold could be highly coveted given the supply-and-demand dynamics of team sports’ most high-profile position. And while it’s highly unlikely he’d sniff the $60 million-per-year bar set by the Dallas Cowboys’ Dak Prescott last September, it’s quite probable that Darnold would significantly outstrip the mid-tier QB pact his 2018 draftmate and former Carolina Panthers teammate, Baker Mayfield, took while re-signing with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2024 for three years and $100 million.

If the Vikings don’t want to be in a more expensive neighborhood than that, they can turn over the keys to McCarthy, reap a third-round compensatory pick in 2026 – maybe keep reclamation project Daniel Jones around as the McCarthy insurance plan – and let Darnold leave for what might or might not be greener pastures if almost assuredly a greener bank account.

Sam Darnold re-signs with Vikings

The depth of Minnesota’s playoff run will doubtless heavily influence Darnold’s future with the franchise – particularly after his disappointing performance in the Week 18 loss at Detroit cost the Vikes the NFC North title and No. 1 playoff seed.

“He just kept proving himself,” former New York Giants vice president of player personnel and longtime NFL scout Marc Ross told USA TODAY Sports. “If they go on a nice run, and he balls out again, they gotta lock this guy up.”

And given how the Mayfield marriage with the Bucs has flourished, why not? While the appeal of building a roster around a quarterback on a rookie contract is alluring, so is the prospect of a young passer who can be in town for a protracted period – without necessarily commandeering the salary cap – assuming the staff and front office are comfortable he’s a reliable commodity vis-à-vis McCarthy, who’s never taken a regular-season snap and hardly had to carry a talented Michigan squad for two seasons.

“I think the level of confidence that that group has in their quarterback and the level of confidence the quarterback has in the 10 guys in the huddle is significant,” O’Connell said last month.

Sam Darnold and the franchise tag

It makes a lot of sense on a lot of levels and seems like the only logical decision, at least in the near term – even if it’s just the catalyst in a multi-step sequence.

Franchising Darnold, presumably with the non-exclusive tag, opens up a world of possibilities:

He doesn’t depart for well below the market rate of a Pro Bowl-caliber QB1.

Darnold would be guaranteed, at minimum, the biggest payday of his career – something in the neighborhood of $40+ million for the 2025 season, and that’s likely only a starting point.

If the Vikings don’t intend to retain him and operate completely from the standpoint of their own self-interests, the tag could incite a bidding war and outside offer sheet – which would return two first-round picks if Darnold signs and Minnesota doesn’t match it.

Minnesota could also leverage Darnold and help him simultaneously, the tag also permitting GM Kwesi Adofo-Mensah to simply shop his services to interested suitors – especially ones Darnold might prefer – and still getting a handsome return on the investment, whether it’s players, draft picks or a combination thereof.

As with most players who are tagged, the mechanism could merely be the opening move of a longer process which still ends with both parties agreeing to a multi-year extension.

And it could also simply mean one more season for Darnold in the Twin Cities while further assessing McCarthy’s progress.

One other compelling route the tag can potentially create is a trade market for McCarthy – again, the 2025 draft is not expected to be a bountiful one when it comes to quarterbacks – while talks with Darnold can unfold in parallel.

“At the very worst, you’re going to keep (Darnold) in some kind of way. Franchise him, that’s the floor for him. Judge the market, and see if they can get a haul for him,” says Ross.

“With the dearth of quarterbacks in the draft, teams are gonna be desperate as can be. I mean, Sam Darnold’s gonna be the guy, you’re gonna have people fall over themselves to get him. That only works into the Vikings’ favor.’

And should only fuel one of the more fascinating offseason quarterback quandaries in years.

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Follow USA TODAY Sports’ Nate Davis on X, formerly Twitter, @ByNateDavis.

In the wake of a second loss to Oleksandr Usyk, British boxer Tyson Fury has announced his retirement.

This isn’t the first time Fury, 36, has said he’s stepping away from the sport. However, it comes this time after the former unified heavyweight champion lost his rematch last month with Usyk by unanimous decision in his bid to reclaim the title.

‘I’m gonna make this short and sweet,’ Fury said. ‘I’d like to announce my retirement from boxing. It’s been a blast. I’ve loved every single minute of it.’

If this is indeed the end, Fury finishes his career with a record of 34-2-1 after previously losing a split decision to Usyk in May.

The move apparently thwarts a potential bout against countryman Anthony Joshua in what would likely have been the biggest-ever British boxing event.