The NFL considered multiple factors in scheduling its 2026 regular-season kickoff game with the Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks, and in picking the New England Patriots as the opponent, league executives insist the drama surrounding the Mike Vrabel-Dianna Russini scandal played no part in their choice.

So, yes, the league would have us believe it did not seriously weigh the sizeable elephant in the room.

“Look, we focused on the football game and the reach of the Super Bowl, and that alone is an incredible story,” NFL Executive Vice President Hans Schroeder said Friday during a league conference call.

Dianna Russini, left, and Mike Vrabel, right, are shown in a split composite image featuring Russini with an ESPN microphone and Vrabel on the Titans sideline wearing a headset. (Imagn Images)

CHARGERS TROLL PATRIOTS OVER VRABEL-RUSSINI SCANDAL IN SCHEDULE RELEASE VIDEO

Schroeder made the point that the NFL didn’t consider the enduring drama that has become a shadow over the Patriots this offseason following the publication of photos showing their head coach spending time with the former reporter for The Athletic holding hands and embracing on the roof of a private bungalow at a Sedona, Ariz., resort.

Those photos and others that followed eventually led to Russini resigning from her job, deleting all her social media accounts, Vrabel being asked about it multiple times in press conferences and missing the last day of the April draft in order to spend time with his family in Utah and get “counseling.”

“How do we deliver the best game into the best window?” Schroeder said, outlining the NFL’s thinking on setting a Super Bowl rematch as its kickoff game. “And in this case, it felt like that rematch is going to be the most exciting when you can start it out of the box.

“…We liked the idea of really celebrating the Seahawks, giving them a moment to start this year to celebrate their last year. And so we like the idea of opening on NBC on Wednesday, and really using that as a chance to celebrate the rematch, but celebrate the Seattle specifically.”

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell stands with the Vince Lombardi Trophy after the Seattle Seahawks vs. New England Patriots game at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California, on Feb. 8, 2026. (Simon Bruty/Sports Illustrated via Getty Images)

This, by the way, falls into line with the hands-off manner the NFL has viewed the entire Vrabel-Russini scandal. The league said early on that Vrabel was not subject to the Personal Conduct Policy as a result of the photos and the rumors they created.

Commissioner Roger Goodell said at the NFL Draft that it was a club matter for the Patriots to handle.

But while the league is declining to get involved in any way (perhaps rightly so) other clubs aren’t looking away and neither are fans.

FANS ROAST PATRIOTS FOR THEIR MOTHER’S DAY SALUTE IN LIGHT OF VRABEL-RUSSINI SCANDAL

It should be noted that both the Los Angeles Chargers and Minnesota Vikings referenced the relationship between the coach and former reporter in their schedule release videos on Thursday evening, with the Chargers getting significant attention around the league for their move.

The Patriots themselves suffered something of an embarrassing time on their own social media account when they posted a Mother’s Day salute on Sunday.

Some fans in the replies of that post pointed out, often in colorful ways, the apparent disconnect between a team lifting up moms while its coach has perhaps emotionally hurt the mother of his children.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

And this stuff is unlikely to stop.

The Patriots are past the draft and schedule release, and players being asked their opinion about their coach in press conferences. It’s also unlikely Vrabel will continue to be quizzed about the issue assuming no new photos or revelations become newsworthy.

But the Patriots will be playing preseason games and have nine regular-season away games in 2026. Those will give opposing fans the opportunity to spoof New England’s coach and the team by extension about the situation.

Unlike the NFL, those opposing fans might not be solely focused on football when thinking about the Patriots.

FOLLOW ARMANDO SALGUERO ON X: @ARMANDOSALGUERO

Garrick Higgo was late to his tee time on Thursday morning at the PGA Championship by “one second” and received a two-shot penalty for his tardiness.

On Friday afternoon, ESPN ensured he wouldn’t make it two days in a row … with the best troll of the golf season so far.

Perhaps you saw the story from Garrick Higgo’s disaster start at the PGA Championship on Thursday, when he was assessed a two-shot penalty after arriving less than a minute late for his tee time to start the second major of the season.

Higgo’s penalty was one of the rarer feats of major championship rules inanity. It is exceedingly unusual to see a player miss his tee time, even if, as he explained on Thursday afternoon, he was only a few seconds behind his scheduled arrival time.

“I was there at 7:18 and 30 seconds, you know what I mean?” he said after. “I don’t know. I don’t want to be there 10 minutes early. I know that five minutes is fine. I thought I had time. I was obviously too casual, yeah.”

Higgo showed impressive resiliency by shooting one under despite the penalty. Without the two-shot penalty he would have been tied for the first-round lead.

On Friday, he arrived not only with a chance to make the cut but with a chance to vault himself into an unlikely spot near the top of a crowded Aronimink leaderboard. Of course, he also arrived with a chance to show he’d learned a thing a two from his mistake on Thursday.

The latter seemed to attract the attention of ESPN’s golf broadcast team, which handles one of its lone events of the year annually at the PGA. As Higgo arrived on screen about 40 minutes into the network’s coverage of Friday’s second round, ESPN flashed a graphic on the screen that showed the fans at home they were paying attention to Higgo’s time management, too.

The two-time defending NJSIAA state champion Winslow Eagles’ football program has a new leader.

The Winslow board approved Jamal White as its next coach at its monthly meeting this week. White is known as an offensive guru, having served as an offensive coordinator at Timber Creek and, most recently, at Woodbury.

Advertisement

“Oh man, this it’s amazing,” White said. “This is definitely something I have been looking forward to for a long time now. For it to come up now and be in this position, especially at this place, is truly amazing. It is truly exciting. I mean, it is a lot, but it is great right now.”

White is a Triton High School graduate who went on to have a Towson University Hall-of-Fame career as a wide receiver. As an offensive coordinator, White contributed to three sectional titles at Timber Creek and three more, plus a true state title, in the same role at Woodbury.

White is a middle school special education teacher in Williamstown.

“I’ve been blessed to coach under some really good coaches like Rob Hinson and Anthony Reagan,” White said. “Continuing in the craft that those guys excelled at, learning the establishment of the same discipline and the culture and the love that they’ve shown for their players. Getting them into college and really showing them just true mentorship and true manly love. I’m excited about being able to now take some of the things they’ve taught me and implementing some of their ways and some of my own ways as well.”

Advertisement

The two-time Group 4 state champion Eagles finished 12-2 last season after an undefeated run in 2024. Former coach Bill Belton has since stepped down and accepted the same position at St., Augustine.

“I look forward to having an opportunity to address all the members of the team,” White said. “A lot of guys are doing other sports, which I completely encourage, and hope they continue to do. I got a chance to address a good nucleus of the team. We are still in the process of setting up one evening where I can meet with all the parents and address the guys that are thinking about coming out and be a part of this program that we want to continue to take to the next level.”

In White’s first head coaching position, he will be charged with maintaining a culture that builds winning football teams and productive members of the community.

“The biggest thing I’m looking forward to producing young men,” White said. “Getting them into college, and having them become valuable people in the community, not just football players. I look forward to developing like boys to become young men, and develop a good foundation with that.”

Advertisement

Tom Rimback grew up reading the Burlington County Times and Courier Post sports sections and began writing for the BCT in 1996. He has covered everything from Super Bowls and Final Fours to Tri-County Swimming but he’s happiest on a sideline interviewing South Jersey scholastic athletes. Follow him on twitter @Rimbacksports. Email him with story ideas at tomrimback@gmail.com and, most importantly, support local journalism with a subscription to the Courier-Post.

This article originally appeared on Cherry Hill Courier-Post: White embarks on new post as Winslow football coach

The NFL is increasingly moving games off Sundays to play them on other days of the week, when TV networks and streaming platforms will pay more money for them. And no team epitomizes the NFL’s changing approach more than the Seahawks.

The Seahawks’ 2026 schedule features games on every day except Tuesday.

Advertisement

Seattle will host the first game of the 2026 NFL season, as is customary for the defending Super Bowl champions. But the major changes this year is that the game will be on Wednesday, September 9, rather than being played in the normal Thursday night opening slot.

The rest of the Seahawks’ schedule features 10 games on Sundays, a Thursday night game, two Monday night games, a Saturday game in Week 15, and the Christmas night game, which falls on a Friday this year. The Seahawks’ 17th and final game will be on either a Saturday or a Sunday.

The only other team in NFL history to play on six different days of the week was the 2024 Chiefs, who also were the defending Super Bowl champions and also played every day but Tuesday. No team has ever played on all seven days of the week, but with the way the NFL is changing its schedule, that will probably happen soon.

CHICAGO — The 2026 NBA Draft Combine has come to a close and while the measurements, drills, and games produced plenty of information for decision-makers and draft lovers to digest, the real value in this event continues to be in the intel gathering. When every major agency and NBA front office are clustered in the same gym and hotel for a full week, along with numerous members of the national media and high-major college coaches, it’s an undeniable networking event. Amidst those pleasantries and authentic opportunities to reconnect is a very steady exchange of information.

The most immediate intel of the week was focused on the first four picks in the draft and the domino effects of various scenarios there. The headlines will follow what the Washington Wizards, Utah Jazz, Memphis Grizzlies and Chicago Bulls do at the top of the draft with the four players widely expected to be the top picks – AJ Dybantsa, Darryn Peterson, Cameron Boozer, and Caleb Wilson.

But the draft really starts after those four players come off the board. As the week went on in Chicago, more and more information started to spread through Wintrust Arena and the connected Marriott Marquis.

NBA Draft Combine intel: AJ Dybantsa-to-Washington isn’t viewed as the lock everyone assumed

Adam Finkelstein

Advertisement

Will it be four straight point guards?

We may not yet know the order that the top four prospects will be taken in, but there is a large degree of collective confidence that when the Clippers pick at No. 5, Dybantsa, Peterson, Boozer, and Wilson will all be off the board. 

Many mocks, including the CBS Sports Big Board, list a quartet of freshmen point guards next. It’s Darius Acuff, Kingston Flemings, Keaton Wagler, and Mikel Brown, in various and differing orders. What I’m hearing from NBA scouts though, many of whom are engaging in their own mocks in order to forecast plausible scenarios, is real skepticism that four point guards will be taken consecutively, despite the fact that three of those four teams (Brooklyn at 6, Sacramento at 7, and Atlanta at 8) have a void at the point.

A spot for a trade in the top 10?

The Clippers are the one team here that does not have point guard as a positional need after acquiring Darius Garland at the deadline. But the fact that Los Angeles picks at No. 5 means they’re farther away from any other options and thus may have a harder time justifying taking someone else with this pick.

Could this be a place to look for a trade? Many people are wondering that out loud, especially amid so much uncertainty about the Clippers long-term assets as they await the results of the Aspiration investigation. If they are committed to Garland long-term, and the best prospects available don’t fit alongside him, it may be logical for them to explore turning this draft pick asset into multiple assets, whether that be by trading down and adding another pick or moving it for multiple other future picks.

One way or another, most scouts suspect that something will break up these four point guards. Exactly what, or which player, remains to be seen.

Michigan trio rising

If it is a player who cracks the top eight, Arizona’s Brayden Burries is the most likely candidate. Tennessee’s Nate Ament is a possibility, although there is still a wide range of opinions on him. Another option is Michigan’s Aday Mara, who continues to build momentum in this process. Mara’s combination of incredible size, rim protection, deceptive mobility, passing, and touch could fit with any of those four teams, but the Clippers and Kings would have the most obvious need. It remains to be seen if either would pull the trigger at 5 or 7, but it is no longer viewed as impossible, particularly in that latter scenario.

Two more members of Michigan’s 2026 National Championship team also left Chicago trending. Yaxel Lendeborg’s dimensions, physical tools, and even basketball skills were already well known coming into this week. Some of the biggest questions centered around his maturity. He reportedly eased some of those concerns by making positive impressions in his interviews with teams, with particular credit given to his humility and unselfishness. That’s going to have positive implications on his stock.

NBA Draft Combine risers and fallers: The Big Three hold serve, Cameron Carr soars, Michigan, UConn flex

Isaac Trotter

Advertisement

Morez Johnson Jr. was also one of the combine’s biggest risers.  Sources told CBS Sports he’s now in play in the late lottery, and other teams with picks in the early 20s acknowledged that they no longer expect Johnson to be available there.

If all three players end up going in the lottery, it will mark the first time since 2007 that a college basketball program has produced three non-freshman lottery picks. Perhaps not coincidentally, the last team to do it, the Florida Gators, were also national champions.

Koa Peat is asking questions

Koa Peat’s struggles shooting the basketball this week were well-documented as his new mechanics seem to have backfired and erased whatever progress he made during the season. The unfortunate truth is that Peat’s issues were a popular subject of conversation in the gym on Monday, and while that doesn’t take away from all the other things Peat can do to impact winning, it is expected to have some impact on his draft stock.

Consequently, many now wonder if Peat’s shooting concerns could impact his decision to stay in this draft, with both a major NIL payday and another Final Four-caliber roster waiting for him at Arizona. Also, the 2027 NBA Draft has significantly less star power, which could allow him to be a much higher selection. Well, apparently Peat may be wondering that too. Multiple league sources indicated that during his team interviews, Peat reportedly asked executives themselves for feedback about whether he should stay in the draft. While gathering that type of direct feedback is the exact point of going through the NBA Draft process, and he should be credited for his willingness ask questions and get the best advice available, it does reveal that a final decision for Peat has not yet been made.

New strategy for late first or second draft picks, as they decrease in value

Speaking of stay-and-go decisions, for all of the talk about the increased NIL market pulling players back to college this year, we have started to see the impact on the other side this week. For an NBA team who own picks in the late first or second rounds, there’s real concern that those assets are not as valuable as expected, or once were. Ironically, it may be the late first-round picks in particular, because of their correlating salary guarantees, that could be viewed as almost a liability at this point.

Both teams drafting in the late first round and second round are clearly incentivized to get as many players to stay in the draft as possible in order to maximize the depth of the class, and consequently the value of their picks. That can result in almost a recruiting-type process where teams strongly encourage prospects to stay in, even with promises of fully guaranteed contracts if they can land them in the second round. That may not be enough to pull them away from the college NIL market, but it is providing them with options.

Players like UNC transfer commitment Matthew Able, who performed well in the five-on-five games, could be a prime target for these types of overtures. He wasn’t viewed as a likely first-round pick entering this week and might have a real chance to boost his stock by transferring to North Carolina next year. But it’s totally logical for a team to try to get him to stay in the draft, lock him into a long-term deal, albeit guaranteed, but at low money. We’ve seen OKC and Memphis take similar approaches with players like Ajay Mitchell and Cam Spencer in recent years, and those have blossomed into two of the most team-friendly deals in the NBA.

It’s something for colleges to be aware of, and may just end up driving the NIL price up.

The debate and manipulation of Malachi Moreno’s stock

Speaking of stock that could impact a stay-or-go decision, there were reports this week that Kentucky’s Malachi Moreno had attracted attention from teams in the mid to late first round. While that certainly may be true, many of those teams also hold second-round picks, and many of the scouts I spoke to expressed skepticism that Moreno would crack the first round this year.

Instead, those reports could be viewed as negotiating leverage with Kentucky in order to command the highest possible valuation for Moreno’s return to college and Lexington. The fact that Moreno chose not to play five-on-five, while higher-ranked bigs like Rueben Chinyelu, Tarris Reed, and Flory Bidunga all opted in, was also being viewed as an indication that Moreno’s representation was being very deliberate about controlling how the big man was being perceived.

Ultimately, most still expect him to return to school.

Brio Northgate has reopened following a £12 million refurbishment

The upgraded facility includes a new gym, studios, sauna and steamroom

Energy-saving upgrades include LED lighting and additional solar panels

More than 3,000 members continued using the centre during the refurbishment

Brio Northgate – formerly Northgate Arena in Chester – has officially reopened following a £12 million refurbishment. When built in the 1970s, it was the largest leisure centre in Europe.

The refurbishment was carried out by Read Construction and supported by Cheshire West and Chester Council and operator Brio Leisure, a local authority trading company established in 2011.

Improvements include a fully refurbished gym with state-of-the-art equipment and versatile studio spaces, including a cycling studio. Sauna and steamroom facilities have been added and the changing areas refurbished.

The swimming pool has also been overhauled, with the addition of a new flume, while improvements have been made to the squash courts.

A library is now part of the offering.

LED lighting will help save more than 90 per cent in energy usage, while the pool plant systems have been upgraded with higher-efficiency circulation pumps. An additional 125kWp of solar panels added to the existing scheme will save around £34,000 annually.

The centre remained partially open during the refurbishment, with a temporary gym and racquet sports operating in the sports hall, alongside more than 74 fitness classes each week. More than 3,000 members continued to engage in regular activity.

“We’re really excited about the new site and look forward to getting back to full member capacity,” Matt Parker, managing director of Brio, told HCM. “We really want to make a shift and have a greater impact across the community as a whole. We want more people to be moving more and think we’ve got a vital role to lead within that.”

Home-game victories are the foundation of a college football program’s success and often correlate with teams at the top of the standings.

The tables below show the wins, losses, and win percentages for the region’s top programs over the last 10 seasons.

Oregon leads the way, followed by Boise State, Washington, Utah, and USC.

Home Winning % and Records by Program from 2016-2025

Dave Allen has delivered on his promise to come into his clash with Filip Hrgovic in decent shape.

The fan favourite Brit has blown hot and cold throughout his career, often revealing after defeats that he could have trained harder and prepared better.

This weekend, he looks to claim the biggest scalp of his campaign in Hrgovic, the world-level, well-schooled and durable Croatian, whose only defeat has come against new world champion Daniel Dubois.

Despite still viewing a headline slot at London’s O2 Arena against Lucas Browne as the greatest achievement of his career, Allen will fight in front of 10,000 home fans at the Keepmoat Stadium in Doncaster, and the significance of that has not passed him by.

He has clearly trainer hard, tipping the scales at 248.8lbs. It is an impressive drop from the 271 he weighed in his last outing – a first round blowout of Karim Berredjem in February. In fact, it is the lowest weight Allen has registered since his 2019 loss to David Price.

Speaking on the transformation, ‘Dazzling’ Dave said:

“I’ve just ate less chocolate, less sweets … People talk about sacrifice but I’m very fortunate really. I spend a lot of time with my family, my kids and I box for a living. Everyone in here doing 9-5, that’s a sacrifice. It would be unfair to me to talk about sacrifice, I live my dream every day. Sometimes in the gym it’s hard, sometimes I want to eat stuff, but I’m gonna walk out to 10,000 people in Doncaster against one of the best heavyweights in the world. That was my dream and I’m about to live it.”

Regardless of his shape, most see Hrgovic as too big a mountain to climb for Allen. He is aware of that, but believes he can produce one of the biggest upsets ever seen on UK shores.

“He’s a great fighter, but I’ve got no fear of him. All week he’s trying to tell me I don’t want to look at him. I couldn’t care less about Filip Hrgovic. It’s a boxing match.

“On paper I shouldn’t even be in the ring with him, but I just feel like tomorrow, in Donny, it’ll be a special night and I’m gonna get one of the biggest upsets in British boxing history.”

Should Allen fail to upset the odds, and Hrgovic comes out with the win unscathed, he is widely expected to face Moses Itauma in August.