On Friday, Unrivaled announced a player free throw challenge. As part of the challenge, the Unrivaled player who records the highest free throw percentage across the first five games of the season (January 5–19) will earn a $50,000 prize. Players are required to appear in a minimum of three games and attempt at least six free throws to qualify. Results are expected to be tracked live on Unrivaled’s Player Leaderboard.

The winning player will be announced in a Lunar Owls BC and Rose BC game on January 30 during a tour stop in Philadelphia. Free throws from Unrivaled’s first season are not currently available on the league’s website. Napheesa Collier (90.6%), Jackie Young (89.4%), Kelsey Plum (89.3%) and Paige Bueckers (88.8%) are among players participating in Unrivaled who had high free throw percentages in the WNBA.

Unrivaled begins its second season on January 5, 2026, with two new clubs and a player development pool, increasing the number of players from 36 to 54.

The NFL’s collective bargaining agreement (CBA) with the NFL Referees’ Association (NFLRA) is set to expire May 31. The league is pushing for a performance-based model as it continues negotiations ahead of the 2026 NFL season, according to a memo distributed to the league’s 32 teams.

The memo was sent by NFL vice president of football operations Troy Vincent and general counsel Larry Ferazani, according to ESPN. It explained the NFL has ‘engaged in bargaining with the NFLRA to extend the current agreement since the summer of 2024, and to date, those discussions have been unsuccessful.’

Vincent and Ferazani outlined that the NFL’s goal in negotiating the new referee CBA is to focus on ‘implementing changes to the agreement in ways that will improve the performance of our game officials, increase accountability, and ensure that the highest-performing officials are officiating our highest profile games.’

Most of the NFL’s notable proposed changes are performance-based. The league outlined its desire to tie compensation to performance in a way that would reward bonuses to only the highest-performing officials.

Additionally, the league seeks to change the way postseason assignments are dictated. The NFL wants more flexibility to put the top performing officials on the field during the postseason. The present CBA includes seniority as a factor when determining playoff assignments for officials.

The NFL is also bargaining for the following changes as part of its negotiations:

An extended probationary period to assess new officials and flexibility to remove those who are underperforming;
Access to more practice reps for game officials;
Creating a practice squad of officials to ‘develop a deeper’ bench.

It isn’t clear how far apart the league and the NFLRA are on these negotiations. The executive director of the NFLRA, Scott Green, declined to comment on the league’s memo when asked about it by ESPN.

‘We look forward to discussing that with them,’ Green told ESPN. ‘It’s not really helpful to do it by way of the media at this point.’

Should the NFL and NFLRA fail to agree upon a new CBA, the NFL could lock out its officials. That last happened in 2012, when the contract between the two parties expired and the NFL hired replacement officials for the upcoming season.

The replacement officials worked through Week 3 of the 2012 NFL season, struggling badly and earning the NFL universal criticism for its decision to lock out the league’s regular officials.

The NFL and NFLRA reached an agreement for the regular officials to return to the field beginning in Week 4 after the famous ‘Fail Mary’ game between the Green Bay Packers and Seattle Seahawks on ‘Monday Night Football.’

The next negotiating session between the NFL and NFLRA regarding the expiring CBA is expected to take place Dec. 30, per NFL Media’s Tom Pelissero.

Sherrone Moore, the former Michigan football coach fired on Dec. 10, was arrested hours after he was relieved of his duties.

Moore was taken into custody and booked into Washtenaw County Jail in Michigan at 8:30 p.m. ET on Wednesday, Dec. 10, according to online courts records. As of 10:30 p.m. that night, he remains in custody, and no charges are listed for Moore.

LIVE UPDATES: Latest news on Sherrone Moore’s firing, arrest

Police in Pittsfield Township, located just south of Ann Arbor where the University of Michigan is located, said in a statement that it responded to a location at 4:10 p.m. local time ‘for the purposes of investigating an alleged assault.’ The incident was approximately 30 minutes before the announcement Moore was fired. The Pittsfield Police Department said a suspect in the incident was taken into custody, but did not name the suspect.

‘This incident does not appear to be random in nature, and there appears to be no ongoing threat to the community,’ the statement read. ‘The suspect was lodged at the Washtenaw County Jail pending review of charges by the Washtenaw County Prosecutor. At this time, the investigation is ongoing.’

The news of the arrest comes after ESPN reported Moore was detained and was turned over to the Pittsfield Township police.

Moore was fired for cause. In a statement, Michigan athletic director Warde Manuel said a university investigation found ‘credible evidence’ that ‘Coach Moore engaged in an inappropriate relationship with a staff member.’

Moore had just wrapped up his second season in charge of the Wolverines, taking over after Jim Harbaugh left to coach the NFL’s Los Angeles Chargers following the national championship winning season in 2023. Moore was an assistant on Harbaugh’s staff and was part of the program’s sign-stealing scandal that resulted in Moore getting suspended for three games – two in 2025 and another to be served in 2026.

Officials added authorities are prohibited from releasing additional details, and further details regarding the incident ‘will be released as soon as permissible.’

Head coach Mike Vrabel, in his first year as head coach of the New England Patriots, has led them on a 10-game winning streak after a 1-2 start.
The Patriots can win their first AFC East title since 2019 with a victory over the Buffalo Bills on Dec. 14.
Patriots players credit Vrabel’s experience as a former player and his consistent messaging for the team’s rapid turnaround.
Vrabel’s coaching style, which includes listening to player feedback, has been well-received in the locker room.

FOXBOROUGH, MA – No naps. 

Not literally, of course. If a member of the New England Patriots required one, and it didn’t hurt anybody else, head coach Mike Vrabel would likely allow some short-term shuteye. 

The metaphorical nap is what the three-time Super Bowl winner as a player here, and now first-year head coach of the Patriots, hopes to avoid. 

“In this league, if you take a nap, you’re going to get beat, and that’s just how it is,” Vrabel said earlier this season. “So, we’re not trying to take a nap.” 

Applying that logic, the Patriots haven’t slept since Sept. 21, when New England gave the ball away five times a 21-14 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers. The defeat dropped them to 1-2. They haven’t lost since and carry a 10-game win streak into a pivotal matchup against the Buffalo Bills; with a win, the Pats can claim their first AFC East title since 2019 and snap the Bills’ five-year streak atop the division. 

For an organization that won eight games over the last two seasons – one Bill Belichick’s final season in New England, the other Jerod Mayo’s disastrous standalone year at the helm – that is quite the turnaround. One person stands at the center of it, and it’s not even second-year quarterback Drake Maye, who is a bona fide MVP candidate. 

That would be the guy keeping his team awake – and already knocking on the door of the postseason. 

Turnaround timetable? Vrabel has Pats rolling in Year 1

Turnarounds in the first year of a regime change aren’t uncommon in the NFL. The last-place schedule helps. The amount of cap room – the Patriots entered free agency in 2025 – helps bring in well-paid veterans and, if managed properly, can lead to improved locker-room leadership. 

Players point to April 7 – the day offseason workouts started for New England – as the day the team’s mentality and expectations started moving in the right direction. 

“He’s been in our shoes before. He’s done it before at a high level, won some Super Bowls, caught some touchdown passes,” running back Rhamondre Stevenson said after the Patriots’ Dec. 1 victory over the New York Giants. “He’s done it all. So it’s easy to listen to him and follow behind his lead.” 

A linebacker, Vrabel made his bones sacking the opposing quarterbacks for Belichick’s defenses. But his 12 career touchdown catches cemented him in the lore of two-way part-timers.

In his book, “The Art of Winning,” Belichick – who led the Patriots to six Super Bowl victories over 24 years – wrote of Vrabel:

‘Everything he did was done with purpose and an edginess. Even joking. … Mike’s knife was always sharp, but it was never malicious – if anything, it made people feel like they were important to the organization if he targeted them. It also helped that he could take it as good as he gave it.’

Vrabel became head coach of the Tennessee Titans in 2018 after one season as the Houston Texans’ defensive coordinator. He went 54-45 in six seasons, with three playoff appearances for Tennessee, which decided to move on after the 2023 season. His replacement, Brian Callahan, was fired six games into this season. 

Vrabel spent the 2024 season around the Cleveland Browns as a special assistant. But like he prepared himself to be a coach during his playing career, he was readying for his next job. Cleveland special teams coordinator Bubba Ventrone, a teammate of Vrabel’s during their Patriots days, placed blue-collar-type shirts in each player’s locker both as a gift and to send a message. For Vrabel, who loves Christmas and enjoys giving gifts, doing the same in New England was a no-brainer. 

“I got one in brown last year. I thought it looked better in blue, so we got the guys some of those shirts,” Vrabel said. “I thought it would be fun. I liked it. They liked it in Cleveland, so that’s kind of what it was.” 

Center Garret Bradbury said Vrabel can hone his coaching style through a unique lens. 

“He’s like ‘What would I want as a player?’ or ‘I’ve been a head coach before’ and what worked and didn’t work,” Bradbury said. “This whole player-friendly thing gets thrown around quite a bit. I’ve played for a few head coaches. I like what Coach Vrabel does a lot.” 

The little things that mean a lot to Vrabel, using another example he referenced the week of the second Bills game, could be something like receiver Mack Hollins reacting to a tackle on the opening kickoff of the game. Vrabel has been clear with what the expectations are – the primary goal for the 2025 season, preached from that first day of OTAs, was to win the division. The players have appreciated that consistency behind the message.  

During training camp, Vrabel wanted to eliminate a mental tools meeting in an effort to give players more rest and allow them to come in later. But the veteran player leadership group said that it was an important 25 minutes of the week – Vrabel had to find another way to make his players happy while accomplishing a coaching goal.

“I love coaching these guys,” Vrabel said. “It’s fun. They make coming to work a lot of fun.” 

Handshakes and hugs

Vrabel isn’t the only coach in the NFL who greets each player with a hug and a meaningful handshake as they enter the locker room after a win. But that doesn’t make it any less special to his players. 

“It means a lot … he’s someone that connects to his players really well,” rookie running back TreVeyon Henderson told USA TODAY Sports. 

Detroit Lions head coach Dan Campbell does the same, cornerback Carlton Davis said. 

“Great coaches do that,” Davis told USA TODAY Sports. “Great minds think alike. It’s just a part of who they are and what they do.” 

Vrabel’s reasoning for it is that if he says something to a player leading up to the game and it turns out how he predicted, then he sees it as a chance to remind them of that conversation “and thank them for understanding what it is we’re trying to get done.”

“There’s a lot of things that are good that you take from people, and there’s some things that you come up with on your own that’s good, and then there’s some ones that are clunkers,” Vrabel said. “When they’re clunkers, you own it, change it and fix it.”

“Clunkers” is not a bad way to describe (most of) the post-Tom Brady seasons of the New England Patriots.

Owned? Changed? Fixed?

An AFC East title in the first year of Vrabel’s tenure would go a long way in that regard. Just don’t hit snooze on that alarm. 

The faceoff between Jake Paul and Anthony Joshua last month during their lone press conference told a story.

A horror story, if you’re pulling for Paul when the two men square off for an eight-round boxing match Dec. 19 at the Kaseya Center in Miami.

Paul contends his quickness and nimble footwork will help offset Joshua’s size, which generates immense power. But it’s hard to escape the images of that faceoff Nov. 21.

Joshua looked all of 6-6, his official height, while Paul seemed shorter than 6-1, his advertised height. As usual, Joshua was built like Adonis and is expected to weigh 245 pounds when he steps into the ring. Paul, who is not built like a Greek god, is expected to weigh in at no more than 220 pounds.

What impact will the size discrepancy have when Paul, the former YouTuber, takes on Joshua, the former two-time heavyweight champion?

“I think skills is what pays the bills,’’ said Hasim Rahman, the former heavyweight champion, also noting that Terence Crawford moved up two weight classes before beating Canelo Alvarez. “So I really don’t think the emphasis should be on the weight.’’

When it comes to skills, Rahman suggested, Joshua has a sizable advantage against Paul.

Joshua faces weight restriction

Joshua will be required to weigh in at no more than 245 pounds the day before the fight. This is widely viewed as an advantage for Paul because Joshua has weighed in as heavy as 255 pounds and no lighter than 250 pounds during his past five fights.

But Joshua recently told TMZ he thinks the weight restriction of 245 pounds will work to his advantage.

“On fight night I may come in a couple of pounds heavier,’’ Joshua said. “If I’m honest with you, I really do like this weight, you know. It’s actually been a blessing in disguise…because I feel good. I look back and I think, what was I doing carrying that weight?’’

Joshua also said he’s derived benefits by pushing himself with his cardio training to get down to 245 pounds.

“That means I’m getting fitter,’’ he said, adding, “It’s not even like I tried to make the weight. We just upped the cardio.’’

The Kryptonite theory

Paul contends that fighting smaller men is Joshua’s Kryptonite. The supposed evidence:

Andy Ruiz Jr., who is 6-2, stunned Joshua by seventh-round TKO in 2019. But Ruiz weighed in at 268 pounds, about 20 pounds more than Joshua did before that fight.

Oleksandr Usyk, who is 6-3, beat Joshua twice – once by unanimous decision and once by split decision. Usyk weighed in at 221 pounds for those fights, about 20 pounds less than Joshua did. But Usyk is undefeated and the world heavyweight champion, whereas Paul has fought as a heavyweight once — in 2024 against Mike Tyson, 58 at the time of the bout.

Daniel Dubois, who is 6-5, knocked Joshua down four times and finished him off by fifth-round TKO in 2024. Dubois weighed 248 pounds, four pounds less than Joshua did. He was not an appreciably smaller man.

But trainer Buddy McGirt doesn’t think Paul will need Kryptonite.

‘Jake can punch,’ McGirt said. “He can punch, but at the same time, he hasn’t been in there with anybody like Joshua. So I’m just going to say … give it a 50-50 shot (of Paul winning the fight). I learned this a long time ago, when you got two guys over 200 pounds, anything could happen.’’

We’re just two months away from the most hotly anticipated hockey tournament since 2014, the last time NHL players competed at the Olympics. 

Team USA assembled a formidable roster for the 4 Nations Face-Off but fell just short of its ultimate goal. Some people will blame a lack of good fortune for the championship final overtime loss to Team Canada, while others will point to roster deficiencies and demand change.  

With more projected rosters being consumed than chicken wings on NFL Sunday, we’ve decided to focus on five NHL players who could be omitted from the U.S. Olympic roster after making the 4 Nations team.

Which U.S. 4 Nations players might not make the Olympic team?

5. Colorado Avalanche center Brock Nelson

Brock Nelson was included on the 4 Nations roster for his wealth of experience, leadership qualities and defensive wherewithal. He also played left wing.

However, Team USA has too much offensive talent to include Nelson this time around. 

The Avalanche’s second-line center will be an asset for his NHL team in the playoffs. Still, the 34-year-old will likely have to make way for a more productive forward, such as Jason Robertson or Utah captain Clayton Keller.

4. New York Rangers left wing J.T. Miller

J.T. Miller is more dispensable for Team USA than he was at this time last season. With 18 points in 29 games, the 32-year-old left winger’s point production is down significantly. 

Miller notched close to a point per game last season and averaged more than that in the previous three years. His point production has regressed as much as his speed, which won’t fly for a team that can assemble arguably the fastest on offer. 

3. Anaheim Ducks left wing Chris Kreider

The first three players on this list are all similar archetypes: experienced power forwards who can muck it up in the corners while creating a net-front presence. 

Kreider, 34, has continued to play at a high level since joining the Ducks, with 21 points in 25 games. Unfortunately for him, Team USA has younger and more productive players from which to choose.

The most apt like-for-like replacement would be Robertson or Matthew Knies. 

2. New York Rangers center Vincent Trocheck

Vincent Trocheck’s chances of making the cut are even less likely, considering he had no points in the 4 Nations Face-Off and the centers he’s up against.

The 32-year-old faces the daunting prospect of competing against Dylan Larkin, the currently injured Jack Hughes and 4 Nations snub Tage Thompson for the bottom two center spots. Hughes is expected back in the next month, leaving more than enough time to be ready for Italy. Thompson brings size and lots of goals.

1. Vegas Golden Knights defenseman Noah Hanifin

Last season’s Calder Trophy winner, Lane Hutson, is waiting in the wings, and so is Stanley Cup champion Seth Jones. With 24-year-old Jackson LaCombe impressing in Anaheim, Hanifin is seemingly the odd one out. 

Hanifin’s play hasn’t helped his cause, with six points in 19 games and a minus-6 rating.