The NASCAR Cup Series is set to debut its inaugural In-Season Challenge, in which 32 drivers are seeded and bracketed into a tournament, like March Madness or a tennis draw.

The In-Season Challenge, which will run for five weeks, is actually a series of individual races within five larger races. The drivers will not only be competing to win the weekly race as they normally would, but they will also be facing off in head-to-head matchups with the goal of finishing better than their opponent in the race and advancing to the next round.

The drivers were seeded based on their finishes at three previous races – at Michigan, Mexico City and Pocono – with the bracket placing the top two seeds on opposite halves of the draw. That means if the tournament holds to form, the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds would not meet up until the final, presuming they both advanced through each round.

The winner of the inaugural In-Season Challenge will take home $1 million.

The first round begins Saturday, June 28 at Echo Park Speedway (formerly Atlanta Motor Speedway) and features 16 head-to-head matchups among the 32 drivers. Beat your head-to-head opponent and you advance to the second round. Sixteen drivers will be eliminated after the first round.

Does that sound complicated? If so, we have you covered with the list of seeds, how the rounds work, every first-round matchup and where and when each of the five In-Season Challenge races will take place.

NASCAR In-Season Challenge seedings

Denny Hamlin, No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota
Chase Briscoe, No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota
Chris Buescher, No. 17 RFK Racing Ford
Christopher Bell, No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota
Chase Elliott, No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet
Ty Gibbs, No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota
Ryan Blaney, No. 12 Team Penske Ford
Alex Bowman, No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet
Bubba Wallace, No. 23 23XI Racing Toyota
Kyle Larson, No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet
Michael McDowell, No. 71 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet
John Hunter Nemechek, No. 42 Legacy Motor Club Toyota
Ross Chastain, No. 1 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet
Zane Smith, No. 38 Front Row Motorsports Ford
Ryan Preece, No. 60 RFK Racing Ford
Kyle Busch, No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet
Brad Keselowski, No. 6 RFK Racing Ford
William Byron, No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet
Austin Cindric, No. 2 Team Penske Ford
Erik Jones, No. 43 Legacy Motor Club Toyota
Josh Berry, No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford
AJ Allmendinger, No. 16 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet
Tyler Reddick, No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota
Daniel Suarez, No. 99 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet
Joey Logano, No. 22 Team Penske Ford
Carson Hocevar, No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet
Justin Haley, No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet
Austin Dillon, No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet
Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 47 Hyak Motorsports Chevrolet
Todd Gilliland, No. 34 Front Row Motorsports Ford
Noah Gragson, No. 4 Front Row Motorsports Ford
Ty Dillon, No. 10 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet

NASCAR In-Season Challenge matchups, rounds

The NASCAR In-Season Challenge puts the 32 drivers in a bracket, which begins with 16 first-round matchups.

The No. 1 seed faces the No. 32 seed in the first round, the No. 2 seed takes on the No. 31 seed, No. 3 matches up with the. No. 30 seed, etc. The losers of the head-to-head matchups will be eliminated, and the 16 winners will advance to the second round, where the winner of the No. 1 vs. No. 32 matchup will face the winner of the No. 16 vs. No. 17 matchup, the winner of the No. 2 vs. No. 31 matchup takes on the winner of the No. 15 vs. No. 18 matchup, etc.

Like March Madness, the tournament will move from a Round of 32 to a Sweet 16 to an Elite Eight to a Final Four and finally a championship race.

First round: 32 drivers in 16 head-to-head matchups; 16 drivers eliminated at end of race.
Second round: 16 drivers in eight head-to-head matchups; eight drivers eliminated at end of race.
Third round: Eight drivers in four head-to-head matchups; four drivers eliminated at end of race.
Fourth round: Four drivers in two head-to-head matchups; two drivers eliminated at end of race.
Fifth round: Two drivers in a head-to-head matchup; winner wins the in-season challenge.

TOURNAMENT: Full visual NASCAR In-Season Challenge bracket

NASCAR In-Season Challenge first-round pairings

Here are the pairings for the first-round race at Echo Park Speedway (formerly Atlanta Motor Speedway) on Saturday, June 28. The winner of each head-to-head matchup advances to the next round.

Top half of draw

No. 1 Denny Hamlin vs. No. 32 Ty Dillon
No. 16 Kyle Busch vs. No. 17 Brad Keselowski
No. 8 Alex Bowman vs. No. 25 Joey Logano
No. 9 Bubba Wallace vs. No. 24 Daniel Suarez
No. 12 John Hunter Nemechek vs. No. 21 Josh Berry
No. 5 Chase Elliott vs. No. 28 Austin Dillon
No. 13 Ross Chastain vs. No. 20 Erik Jones
No. 4 Christopher Bell vs. No. 29 Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

Bottom half of draw

No. 2 Chase Briscoe vs. No. 31 Noah Gragson
No. 15 Ryan Preece vs. No. 18 William Byron
No. 7 Ryan Blaney vs. No. 26 Carson Hocevar
No. 10 Kyle Larson vs. No. 23 Tyler Reddick
No. 11 Michael McDowell vs. No. 22 AJ Allmendinger
No. 6 Ty Gibbs vs. No. 27 Justin Haley
No. 14 Zane Smith vs. No. 19 Austin Cindric
No. 3 Chris Buescher vs. No. 30 Todd Gilliland

NASCAR In-Season Challenge races

All times Eastern

Round 1 — 32 drivers

Echo Park Speedway (formerly Atlanta Motor Speedway)
Saturday, June 28 | 7 p.m. | TNT, truTV altcast

Round 2 — 16 drivers

Chicago street race
Sunday, July 6 | 2 p.m. | TNT, truTV altcast

Round 3 — 8 drivers

Sonoma Raceway
Sunday, July 13 | 3:30 p.m. | TNT, truTV altcast

Round 4 — 4 drivers

Dover Motor Speedway
Sunday, July 20 | 2 p.m. | TNT, truTV altcast

Round 5 championship — 2 drivers

Indianapolis Motor Speedway
Sunday, July 27 | 2 p.m. | TNT, truTV altcast

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The lawsuit, obtained by USA TODAY Sports, was filed in Harris County, Texas. The plaintiff, Marisa Watley, demands a jury trial and economic, compensatory, and punitive damages.

According to the 18-page filing, Watley says she attended the New Year’s Eve party with two of her friends and that she was sexually assaulted while unconscious by Justice Armani Blackburn, who is Harden’s nephew.

Watley says her friends were later removed by Harden’s security, even though she was still inside the residence. The friends then contacted Watley’s sister, who in turn contacted Harden’s sister, who is the mother of Blackburn. The lawsuit says the sister submitted a photo of Watley to Harden’s security, who said that the woman inside was not Marisa Watley, despite the lawsuit alleging that Watley was indeed in the mansion at that time.

The negligence claim against Harden stems from the complaint alleging the conduct of Harden’s in-home security, which they say failed to act responsibly in response to outside calls for help and could have prevented the sexual assault. The lawsuit also says that Harden is ‘vicariously liable for the actions of his guards and their corporate employer,’ who were also named as defendants in the case.

“Since New Year’s Day, when I reported the rape by Mr. Blackburn to the police, I have remained puzzled by how Mr. Harden’s security behaved that day—it is painful to imagine that this all could have been stopped in time. I hope this complaint pushes security employees generally to act more responsibly when women are in danger,’ Watley said in a statement.

Harden, 35, a 11-time NBA All-Star and six-time first-team All-NBA selection, just completed his second season with the Clippers, averaging 22.8 points, 8.7 assists, and 5.8 rebounds per game.

“Ms. Watley has shown great strength and courage in coming forward to hold Mr. Blackburn and Mr. Harden accountable for what happened to her on New Year’s Day 2025 in Mr. Harden’s mansion.  This rape was immediately reported to the police, and we will bring Mr. Blackburn and Mr. Harden to justice through the civil justice system,’ Watley attorneys, Michael J. Willemin, John S. Crain, and Jay Ellwanger and Kaylyn Betts said in a statement.

The FIFA Club World Cup was supposed to be a bright light shining on the most popular sport in the world, giving Americans a chance to see the best footballers on Earth on American soil. Well, the bright light part has been true at least. Unfortunately, it’s also a burning light.

Though the Club World Cup has yet to reach the knockout stages, thunderstorms delayed several group stage matches last week, and now blistering heat is taking its toll on the tournament as well, with extreme temperatures causing major concerns for several clubs involved in the tournament.

On Saturday, June 21, Borussia Dortmund manager Niko Kovac told the media that he was ‘sweating like (he’d) just come out of a sauna’ following his team’s victory on TQL Field in Cincinnati. The temperature reached 89.6 degrees Fahrenheit, or 32 degrees Celsius. It was so hot that Dortmund’s subs weren’t even on the field during the game.

But it’s not just TQL that’s feeling the heat. The American Northeast in general has offered difficult conditions for many teams.

The heat wave is supposed to ramp up throughout this week as well. Clearly, the weather concerns that many fans had at the start of the tournament are starting to come to fruition.

Which venues are experiencing issues?

According to CBS News, the heat wave is strongest in the American northeast with some states recording record-high temperatures. Areas in the mid-Atlantic like Maryland and Virginia are also under extreme heat warnings. Meanwhile, states in the Midwest like Illinois, Michigan, and Ohio are facing blazing heat as well.

While other areas further south like Atlanta and Nashville are also suffering the affects of the heat wave, those cities are more used to temperatures in the 90s during the summer.

Here are the Club World Cup stadiums affected most (with the forecast for Tuesday, June 24 according to The Weather Channel)

TQL Stadium in Cincinnati – Highs in the mid 90s
GEODIS Park in Nashville – Highs in the upper 90s
Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta – Highs in the mid to upper 90s
MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey – High of 102 degrees
Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia – High of 101 degrees
Audi Field in Washington, D.C. – High of 101 degrees

The heat wave is expected to persist until the middle of next week in some areas, meaning the Round of 16 knockout matches will likely suffer from similar heat issues.

Will these same problems occur when the U.S. hosts the World Cup?

These heat issues have raised concerns for next year’s big event as well. The United States will host the 2026 World Cup, with the first games kicking off on June 11. Similar heat issues would create a terrible atmosphere for arguably the world’s biggest sporting event.

The New York Times reports that it is highly likely similar heat waves occur when the World Cup begins. Given that there were already struggles with heat during the 2024 Copa America, officials are right to be concerned with how this will affect players and fans. It will only be heightened by the fact that most of the games are scheduled for afternoon start times.

When do the knockout stages begin for the Club World Cup?

The knockout stage begins on Saturday, June 28, with the winners of Group A and Group C taking on the runner-ups in Groups B and D, respectively. Round of 16 matchups will continue through Tuesday, July 1, which could be around the time that the heat starts dying down.

Washington Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels had one of the greatest rookie seasons by a quarterback in recent memory, and his team’s addition of wideout Deebo Samuel might make his 2025 stats look even better.

During an appearance as a speaker at Fanatics Fest over the weekend, Daniels expressed his excitement to join forces with the speedy receiver, whom the Commanders traded for in March. If things work out as the second-year quarterback hopes, he will get the double benefit of more passing yards for less effort.

‘I’m excited to throw him a little screen and hopefully on the stat sheet it says a touchdown for 80 yards and I didn’t have to do any of the work,’ Daniels joked in a video posted by The Sports Place.

There is some truth in Daniels’ joke.

In 2024, Samuel averaged 8.3 yards after catch per reception – the third-highest average of any wide receiver in the NFL. Only Denver Broncos wideout Marvin Mims and the Detroit Lions’ Jameson Williams were better after the catch, according to Pro Football Reference.

That’s a skill set the Commanders will be happy to have in their passing offense to complement that of lead receiver Terry McLaurin.

McLaurin earned his second career Pro Bowl nod in 2024 as he continued to find success over the middle and in deep parts of the field. According to Pro Football Focus, his average depth of target was 13.9 yards – 14th-highest in the NFL – but his yards after catch average was 3.6 – 59th in the league.

Samuel, meanwhile, had an average depth of target of 6.9 yards per PFF (89th) but averaged his aforementioned 8.3 yards after catch per reception to make up for it.

He joins the Commanders with hope on both sides that a change of scenery will help enable him to return to his 2021 levels of production, when he caught 77 passes for 1,405 yards – leading the league with his 18.2 yards per reception. In the three years since, Samuel has not surpassed 900 receiving yards.

In 2024, Daniels threw for 3,568 yards on a 69% completion rate with 25 touchdowns and nine interceptions. He led Washington to a 12-5 record during the regular season and took them to the NFC championship game, where they lost to the Philadelphia Eagles, the eventual Super Bowl champions.

Samuel finished the 2024 season with 51 catches for 670 yards and three touchdowns in the air. He also had 42 carries for 136 rushing yards and an additional touchdown on the ground.

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Washington Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels had a rookie season to remember in 2024. And over the weekend, one of his biggest supporters spent half a million dollars to have a keepsake of the special season.

During last weekend’s Fanatics Fest, Commanders principal owner Josh Harris bought Daniels’ rookie card for $500,000. It is the most money ever spent on a Daniels football card, according to ESPN.

The card, a 1-of-1 numbered Black Finite Prizm card, was worth at least $200,000 before it even initially was discovered in a pack. Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian, who is also married to tennis star Serena Williams, had offered a bounty of $200,000 to whoever found the card.

The Athletic reported that the card finally emerged during a Fanatics Live stream on New Year’s Day, and the original owner eventually sold it to Florida-based trading card collectors Rothcards for more than $300,000 earlier this year.

Rothcards’ Josh Roth and Jacob Ramos initially asked for $2 million for the card during Daniels and Harris’ on-stage appearance at Fanatics Fest, citing the sale of Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Paul Skenes’ baseball card for more than $1 million in March. Fanatics CEO Michael Rubin negotiated down to a $500,000 sale to Harris in front of the crowd, and Roth agreed to make the sale.

Roth and Ramos also received a signed Daniels jersey as part of the deal, according to The Athletic.

Multiple outlets reported that Harris plans to display the unique card at Northwest Stadium, the home of the Commanders.

In 2024, Daniels threw for 3,568 yards with 25 touchdowns and nine interceptions and a 69% completion rate. He led Washington to a 12-5 record during the regular season and took them to the NFC championship game before losing to the eventual Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles.

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No play during the 2024 NFL season was more iconic than Philadelphia Eagles running back Saquon Barkley’s backwards hurdle in a game against the Jacksonville Jaguars. And now, one creative fan has leveraged his unique take on the play into tickets to the Super Bowl, World Cup Final and Wrestlemania 42.

Eagles fan JJ Nesheiwat showed up to last weekend’s Fanatics Fest wearing a Jaguars jersey and holding a mannequin wearing a Barkley jersey and Eagles helmet over his head in a ‘reverse hurdle’ posture. Thanks to the outfit, Nesheiwat got a chance to meet Eagles cornerback Cooper DeJean, who posed with him for a picture.

Fanatics announced via social media on Monday, June 23 that Nesheiwat’s costume also had won him the weekend’s ‘Best Dressed Fan’ award, meaning he’d also receive free tickets to the Super Bowl, World Cup final and Wrestlemania 42.

‘We saw thousands of amazing outfits at Fanatics Fest,’ the sports merchandise and collectibles company wrote on social media platform X, ‘but this one reverse hurdled over the rest.’

Time will tell whether Nesheiwat will get the chance to watch his favorite team attempt to repeat as Super Bowl champions in Santa Clara, California, next February. After that, he’ll need to make his way to Las Vegas for Wrestlemania 42 at Allegiant Stadium in April before going back to the East Coast for the World Cup final at MetLife Stadium in July.

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If you thought that the Dallas Mavericks finding themselves in position to pick Duke University superstar Cooper Flagg atop the NBA draft this Wednesday night is nuts – and it was a miraculous turn of events given the Mavs, a year removed from an NBA Finals appearance, only had a 1.8% shot to obtain the coveted selection in last month’s pre-draft lottery – can you imagine if the NFL enabled similar scenarios for its annual draft?

Seriously, consider the mayhem – in sports bars, on the internet and social media, within league circles – if the Dallas Cowboys had another good-but-not-great season in 2025 yet subsequently learned they’d won the NFL’s first draft lottery and secured first dibs on University of Texas quarterback Arch Manning, the next presumed prince from the league’s most royal bloodline, in 2026.

The debates would rage for weeks. Should Dallas keep the pick or try to trade it for a Herschel Walker-level return? What might they do with incumbent quarterback Dak Prescott? Would Manning’s grandfather, Archie, even allow it to transpire? Or might he try to steer Arch to, say, the hometown New Orleans Saints two decades after ensuring his son, Eli, would never play a down for the then-San Diego Chargers?

And was this whole thing completely rigged? The NFL media corps would just instantly redline into complete overdrive.

Naturally, such a tectonic outcome would presume a seismic change – geology is neat, folks – to the traditional mechanics of the NFL draft, which I’ve tried to toy with before. Presently, the 18 teams that fail to make the playoffs in a given season are slotted atop the draft order, the club with the worst record picking first and the one with the most wins parked in the 18th spot (strength of schedule breaks ties).

The current system is sensible but does have flaws.

Just reference Week 18 of last season, when the Buffalo Bills, locked in as the second seed of the AFC playoff field, all but threw a game in Foxborough to a New England Patriots squad that entered the weekend with a 3-13 record and spent most of the day playing rookie QB Joe Milton in his NFL debut. Yet the Pats won a getaway game for both clubs 23-16 … and instead of picking first in the 2025 draft, they slid to fourth.

Remember the 2011 Indianapolis Colts? A franchise coming off nine consecutive playoff appearances didn’t have injured quarterback Peyton Manning that season – inarguably a devastating setback … and apparently enough to suddenly render Indy the worst team in the league, one rewarded with the opportunity to draft Andrew Luck in 2012 and replace Manning permanently (for all the good it did). I’m not accusing those Colts of anything, just pointing out the remarkable circumstances surrounding what was otherwise a dominant operation − apparently predicated on one singularly sublime player.

Adding some type of lottery mechanism to the NFL draft could neutralize any appearance of chicanery between the lines – not to mention the likelihood of yet another layer of explosive interest during the weeks and months following the Super Bowl.

“It’s a really interesting idea,” Mike Tannenbaum, an ESPN analyst who was formerly the general manager of the New York Jets and later the executive vice president of football operations for the Miami Dolphins, told USA TODAY Sports.

“From a fan perspective, it’s a lot of fun – it would make for really fun offseason conversations.”

Yes, Mike, that’s virtually irrefutable – from the occasional chaos that would ensue after a lottery, to the likelihood more players and picks would be traded. Yet the chance it comes to fruition seems rather remote, particularly in a league typically open to incremental changes but rarely massive ones, and here are three reasons why:

Tanking doesn’t seem to be an NFL problem

The NBA implemented its lottery in 1985 to curb the notion its teams were purposefully losing games in order to position themselves for top draft picks and prospects. However tanking rarely arises as a concern in the NFL, and the reasons are multiple.

NFL players rarely last more than four seasons. Good luck asking one to put a bad year on film – effectively any player’s football résumé.

Putting five substandard players on a hardcourt, especially in a game so reliant on superstars, is going to lead to poor results in basketball. It’s near impossible for an NFL team to field 22 bad players simultaneously, aside from any necessary coordination they’d need to lose intentionally.

Tanking in the NFL would almost unquestionably have to be an organizational decision – and one that would undermine any coaching staff and/or front office trying to imbue or maintain a winning culture. Not only that, football coaches rarely survive 3-14 seasons that result in premier draft picks. The Arizona Cardinals fired Steve Wilks after one season – he went 3-13 – before drafting Kyler Murray No. 1 in 2019. In their lone season under Lovie Smith, the Houston Texans won a seemingly meaningless regular-season finale in Indianapolis 32-31 with a touchdown and two-point conversion in the final minute – no tanking there – which cost them the No. 1 pick and Smith his job. (Houston still wound up with QB C.J. Stroud in the 2023 draft.) The Chicago Bears took Caleb Williams as the apparent prize of the 2024 draft, yet coach Matt Eberflus didn’t even survive Williams’ rookie season.

If tanking means playing less than your best, then ask any football player about one of the likeliest ways to get injured. He’ll probably tell you the risk is inversely proportional to the effort expended – it’s among the reasons why most veterans don’t want to go through the motions and play half-speed in preseason contests.

Even if NFL teams could successfully lose as a means to an end, think about the players many fan bases in recent years have urged their teams to tank for: Reggie Bush, Trevor Lawrence, Tua Tagovailoa, Luck and Williams, among others. Bush helped the Saints win a Super Bowl, but he was hardly the second coming of Gale Sayers. Luck’s promising career was scuttled by injuries while the man he perhaps should have never replaced, Peyton Manning, led the Denver Broncos to two Super Bowls. Lawrence, Tagovailoa and Williams are all in the early stages of their careers, but you’d mistake none of them for John Elway. And did anyone ever suggest tanking for Joe Montana or Tom Brady or even Patrick Mahomes? Football is … just different.

“I was part of the National Football League for almost 30 years,” former Oakland Raiders CEO Amy Trask, now an analyst for CBS Sports, told USA TODAY Sports. “In all those years, I never ever knew, knew of or observed any player who had any interest whatsoever in tanking. Never, ever, ever.

“Players in the National Football League take the field to win. And irrespective of any discussions that are going on in the ether, they step on that field, and they play to win. I don’t think anyone should be concerned about that in the NFL.”

Go back to Week 17 of last season, when the seemingly lifeless New York Giants beat the heavily favored Colts 45-33 – Indianapolis was chasing a wild-card berth but had no answers for Giants backup Drew Lock, who threw four touchdown passes. Ultimately, the Colts would barely miss the postseason. Meanwhile, the win directly cost the Giants the No. 1 pick of the 2025 draft.

“There are too many variables in our sport,” says Tannenbaum. “Teams are going to be competitive. Backup players that get chances – that opportunity could (extend) their career.”

Parity is paramount in the NFL

The league loves the notion that almost every season begins with nearly every fan base believing their team has a legitimate shot at the Super Bowl – and those hopes are elevated by the fact that teams routinely go from last place to first year over year while the playoff field annually undergoes significant changes.

“The league is designed on the concept of parity,” says Trask. “If you institute something of this nature (a lottery), you’ve got to factor in the prioritization of parity.”

And a lottery would undoubtedly interject an X factor that would compromise that.

Despite last season’s controversial trade of Luka Dončić to the Los Angeles Lakers, the Mavericks – with Flagg aboard and assuming injuries don’t derail them again – will very likely contend for another NBA championship next season. It takes you back to when the Orlando Magic Powerballed the 1993 lottery, the year after they won the Shaquille O’Neal sweepstakes, and thrust their championship window wide open.

Giving a solid team like the Cowboys the opportunity to draft a prospect like Arch Manning – or the ability to incite a bidding war for him – could certainly upset the competitive balance the NFL strives so hard to maintain.

“I don’t think we’ll ever see it is my sense,” Tannenbaum says of an NFL lottery, noting it would take the approval of 75% of the league’s ownership to install.

“I don’t think the owners would ever want to see the team that just lost out on making the playoffs getting the franchise quarterback. Like, the hope of the NFL world is if you have a terrible season, you’re lined up and ready to get Andrew Luck, Trevor Lawrence, whomever.”

Transparency beats conspiracy

The Giants and Patriots knew what was at stake last season, when their late-season victories damaged their draft positions. So did everyone else given the top of the draft order evolves for all to see over the final weeks of the season. And maybe that’s the way it should be.

Ever since the first NBA draft lottery in 1985, when the New York Knicks won that year’s can’t-miss savior (Georgetown center Patrick Ewing), the league has been routinely accused of fishy outcomes. Even LeBron James, the No. 1 pick in 2003 – yes, that was the year the Akron, Ohio, wunderkind was drafted by his local team, the Cleveland Cavaliers – was one of many NBA players this year hinting at a conspiracy theory after the lottery, when highly touted Flagg, who made a name for himself in practices against Team USA’s 2024 Olympics squad, fell into the Mavs’ laps.

If Arch Manning does indeed blossom into the franchise-altering prospect many forecast him to be and headlines the 2026 or ’27 NFL draft, it’s probably for the best that the preceding season effectively determines his destination. Because even though the NFL would surely strive to be at least as aboveboard as the NBA has always claimed to be with its lottery security, many would cry foul regardless – whether Manning went to the Cowboys, or one of his uncles’ teams, or the Saints, or maybe, most deliciously, the Chargers, whose fans are owed a Manning more than two decades after being snubbed by Archie and Eli.

And just imagine if the announcement came as the capstone of, say, the annual scouting combine, when so many casual fans have had their first exposure to that year’s draft market.

“There are certainly positives associated with doing (a lottery),” admits Trask. “It would just enlarge the conversation.”

Alas, for now, an NFL draft lottery is probably a solution in search of a problem.

The 2025 NFL season won’t begin until September, but already a handful of coaches across the league are feeling pressure.

Most of these coaches are members of teams that underachieved in 2024. Their squads either bottomed out or failed to make the playoffs despite being viewed as a potential contenders within their respective conferences.

As such, they are facing pressure to win and get back toward another potential playoff run. If they can’t, they could find themselves on the chopping block.

The same can be said of a handful of coaches on playoff teams that haven’t quite lived up to expectations in the postseason. Teams that either haven’t been able to win playoff games or get past certain opponents could face difficult decisions about their leadership if the same issues should arise again.

Which coaches are on the hot seat entering the 2025 NFL season? USA TODAY Sports breaks them into tiers, from those already on the hot seat to those perched on ice-cold ones.

Hot seat

1. Brian Daboll, New York Giants

The Giants kept Daboll entrenched as their coach for 2025, but owner John Mara said he has ‘just about run out of patience’ with his coach in a postseason news conference. The Giants have gone 9-25 in the last two seasons under Daboll, and he will be tasked with getting the most out of quarterbacks Russell Wilson, Jameis Winston and Jaxson Dart as he tries to save his job.

2. Mike McDaniel, Miami Dolphins

McDaniel led the Dolphins to back-to-back playoff appearances to start his coaching career. Last season, they went 8-9 and missed the playoffs. McDaniel will be under pressure to earn his first playoff win in 2025 and could find himself in trouble if he can’t find more ways to support – or succeed without – Tua Tagovailoa.

3. Zac Taylor, Cincinnati Bengals

The Bengals have notoriously gotten off to slow starts under Taylor. Last year, they began the season 0-3 and missed out on the playoffs despite a five-game winning streak to close the regular season. Joe Burrow is in his prime, so the Bengals could move on from Taylor if he can’t get the team over the hump this season.

Warm seat

4. Kevin Stefanski, Cleveland Browns

Stefanski has been put in a terrible position by the Deshaun Watson trade, but he still has just one winning season in his last four. If the Browns struggle again and the young trio of Kenny Pickett, Dillon Gabriel and Shedeur Sanders doesn’t show much growth, Cleveland could consider making a change.

5. Shane Steichen, Indianapolis Colts

Like Stefanski, Steichen has been dealt an unfavorable hand at quarterback. If he can’t start to tap into the raw potential of Anthony Richardson, the Colts – now under new ownership following Jim Irsay’s death – could decide to bring in a new regime to restore the team to its status as a playoff contender.

6. Mike Tomlin, Pittsburgh Steelers

Tomlin has been put on the proverbial hot seat for the better part of the last decade. Despite that, he has never logged a losing season and has led the Steelers to playoff appearances in four of the last five campaigns.

Why could this year be different? The Steelers haven’t won a postseason game since the 2016 NFL playoffs and Aaron Rodgers is coming to town. If Tomlin and the 41-year-old veteran can’t mount a playoff run and get a win, the Steelers may decide that it’s finally time to change things up despite Tomlin’s successful run replacing Bill Cowher.

Neutral seat

7. Brian Callahan, Tennessee Titans

Callahan led the Titans to a league-worst 3-14 record in his first season, earning them the No. 1 pick in the 2025 NFL Draft. The 41-year-old coach will now be tasked with developing Cam Ward into a quality starting quarterback. Callahan should be afforded the time to do that, but 2025 is crucial for the coach to start turning in wins.

8. Raheem Morris, Atlanta Falcons

One would think Atlanta would have a longer leash with Morris, but the team believed it would be a playoff contender in 2024 and finished with an 8-9 record. Arthur Blank turns 83 in September, so if he doesn’t see enough growth from second-year quarterback Michael Penix Jr. in 2025, he may consider moving on from Morris in favor of an offensive-minded coach.

9. Sean McDermott, Buffalo Bills

The Bills continue to be unable to get past the Chiefs in the NFL postseason. If they can’t do it again, Buffalo brass may try something different despite McDermott’s success as the team’s coach (he has an 86-45 regular-season record across eight seasons).

10. Matt LaFleur, Green Bay Packers

LaFleur is in a similar position to McDermott. He has thrived during the regular season, posting a 67-33 record, but hasn’t yet been able to get his team over the postseason hump, where he is just 3-5. If the Packers can’t do better than the NFC’s No. 7 seed, which they have earned in back-to-back seasons, new Green Bay president Ed Policy will have a tough decision to make about the team’s future leader.

11. Kyle Shanahan, San Francisco 49ers

Can Shanahan win a Super Bowl with the 49ers? He has two runner-up finishes and is coming off a 6-11 season. The 49ers are a prime bounce-back team, but if they fail to do so after losing a lot of talent during the 2025 offseason, San Francisco could consider an organizational shake-up.

12. DeMeco Ryans, Houston Texans

Ryans has led the Texans to back-to-back playoff appearances in his first two seasons. Growth from C.J. Stroud under a new offensive coordinator should help to safety entrench Ryans as the team’s coach for years to come. However, a step back could lead Ryans’ seat to start warming up.

13. Dave Canales, Carolina Panthers

Canales led the Panthers to a 5-12 record in his first season, but Bryce Young saw his passer rating improve to 82.2 after being 73.7 in his rookie season. If Young takes a step back, Canales’ footing could get shakier, but the 44-year-old coach appears to be on the right track for now.

14. Jonathan Gannon, Arizona Cardinals

Gannon oversaw a four-win improvement in his second season while his defense made strides with better personnel. Arizona continued to improve its roster during the offseason which should allow Gannon’s squad to take another step forward.

15. Mike Macdonald, Seattle Seahawks

Macdonald led the Seahawks to an impressive 10-7 record in his first year as coach. That established him as a strong, up-and-coming coach. He will now need to prove that wasn’t a fluke while installing Sam Darnold as his starting quarterback.

First-year coaches

16. Brian Schottenheimer, Dallas Cowboys

The Cowboys have never had a one-and-done coach, but Schottenheimer wasn’t on the radar of many as a potential coaching candidate this offseason. Dallas is expected to improve after going 7-10 with Dak Prescott missing half the 2024 season, but if the Cowboys fall short of those goals, Schottenheimer could come under pressure.

17. Kellen Moore, New Orleans Saints

Moore is fresh off a Super Bowl with the Eagles but will be tasked with remaking a New Orleans offense that lost Derek Carr to retirement. Moore should get leeway for what may be a longer rebuild; his placement within this tier is more an indication of how hard it may be to win with the Saints short-term.

18. Aaron Glenn, New York Jets

Glenn will likely be given time to implement a culture change in New York. That said, Woody Johnson isn’t exactly known for his patience, so if New York’s offense has a bumpy season, Glenn could find himself facing early questions from the owner.

19. Ben Johnson, Chicago Bears

Johnson was one of the most coveted coaching candidates on the market and is being tasked with developing Caleb Williams into a quality starting quarterback. The former Lions offensive coordinator will likely be given time to reshape the offense in his image, a process that has already begun this offseason.

20. Liam Coen, Jacksonville Jaguars

The Jaguars fired general manager Trent Baalke to ensure they could land Coen, highlighting their commitment to former Buccaneers offensive coordinator. That should make him the safest of the first-time coaching hires.

21. Mike Vrabel, New England Patriots

Vrabel posted a 54-45 record with the Titans but earned a reputation for routinely getting the most out of his available talent. He is the Patriots’ third coach in as many seasons, and Robert Kraft figures to have more patience with the proven veteran than he did first-time coach Jerod Mayo last season.

22. Pete Carroll, Las Vegas Raiders

Carroll, 74 in September, is the NFL’s oldest coach. While he may retire in the not-so-distant future, the Raiders didn’t hire him to make him a one-and-done. He will be tasked with getting the Raiders back on the right track in full for the first time since the tumultuous end to the second Jon Gruden era.

Cold seat

23. Dan Quinn, Washington Commanders

Quinn turned the Commanders from a 4-13 team to a 12-5 NFC runner-up in his first season with the team. It’s a small sample size, but Washington’s best season in decades should give Quinn plenty of security, especially if Jayden Daniels can build upon his star rookie season.

24. Dan Campbell, Detroit Lions

Campbell has created a winning culture in Detroit but will be tested in 2025 after losing both his coordinators – Ben Johnson and Aaron Glenn – to coaching jobs. The Lions figure to give Campbell a long leash, but his seat could move from cold to neutral if they take a step back amid their organization changes.

25. Sean Payton, Denver Broncos

Payton helped the Broncos snap an eight-year postseason drought and turned Bo Nix into a solid starter as a rookie. If Denver takes another step forward in 2025, Payton will continue to move toward having an ice cold seat.

26. Todd Bowles, Tampa Bay Buccaneers

The Buccaneers have made the playoffs in each of Bowles’ three seasons with the team despite having three different offensive coordinators and two different starting quarterbacks. Tampa Bay is just 1-3 across those four postseason games, but the team has established itself as the NFC South’s best under Bowles’ leadership.

27. John Harbaugh, Baltimore Ravens

The Ravens have won double-digit games in six of Harbaugh’s last seven seasons while Lamar Jackson is perennially playing at an MVP level. Baltimore needs to find a bit more postseason success for Harbaugh to avoid coming under scrutiny, but the coach – who has a 172-104 career record – appears to have the team on the right track.

28. Jim Harbaugh, Los Angeles Chargers

Both Harbaughs are in good standing with their organizations, as younger brother Jim led the Chargers to an 11-6 record and a wild-card berth in his first season with the team. Justin Herbert posted a career-best 101.7 passer rating under Harbaugh and should only get better entering their second year together.

29. Kevin O’Connell, Minnesota Vikings

O’Connell just led the Vikings to a 14-3 record with Sam Darnold as his quarterback. If he can achieve similar results in J.J. McCarthy’s first season as a starter, he will continue to confirm his status as one of the league’s top quarterback gurus.

Ice cold seat

30. Sean McVay, Los Angeles Rams

McVay has had a winning record in seven of his eight seasons running the Rams and led them to a Super Bowl 56 win. He is only entering his age-39 season, so Los Angeles will be happy to continue employing the offensive innovator, especially as Matthew Stafford enters the twilight of his career.

31. Nick Sirianni, Philadelphia Eagles

The Eagles have made two of the last three Super Bowls and blew out the Chiefs in Super Bowl 59. That was thanks in no small part to Sirianni, who has led the team to a 48-20 record in his four years in charge of the team.

32. Andy Reid, Kansas City Chiefs

Reid has led the Chiefs to three consecutive Super Bowls with the Chiefs and has won three with Patrick Mahomes as his quarterback. The 67-year-old is one of the greatest NFL coaches of all time and should be entrenched as Kansas City’s leader as long as he wants to continue coaching.

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