Kevin O’Connell lived up to his word. The skipper said Caleb Banks would be ready for the beginning of training camp and that proved to be true.

Seeing the hulking defensive lineman get onto the field should be understood as being very positive. Recent years have seen the Vikings fall short of expectations in large part due to the young lads not contributing a ton. Put simply, that trend needs to reverse if the Vikings are going get to where they want to go in 2026 and beyond.

The Vikings: Caleb Banks is Practicing

The Vikings’ social media understands that getting the 1st-Round selection onto the field is a major development. Check out the brief clip:

Of course, there’s not a ton that can be gleaned from just the brief moments. Nothing overly spectacular gets included but seeing Banks explode into the bag is a reminder of his power. Any lineman needs to be able to uncoil his hips to give his mitts power. Banks, in theory, should be a force in this regard given his unusually impressive build.

Consider what his upside looks like from the perspective of the pre-draft assessment.

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The analysis from Lance Zierlein on the NFL’s website: “Big-framed, long-limbed interior defender whose play needs more polish to consistently match his traits. Banks has a quick first step. He can stun/control single blocks when his hand strikes are timely and accurate, but he needs faster disengagement to increase his tackle count.”

Further from Zierlein: “His high center of gravity allows double teams to generate displacement, so a move to odd-front end could be in his best interest as a run defender. Like a grappler without submission knowledge, Banks is still learning to unlock his physical advantages so he can turn them into sacks. His traits and flashes at the Senior Bowl make him an enticing prospect, but injury concerns are a potential stumbling block for him.”

— READ MORE: OL Gets Nice Boost as Vikings’ Star Left Tackle Said to be Ready —
— READ MORE: The Vikings Brought 9 Players to Town for a Workout —
— READ MORE: Jadeveon Clowney is Becoming Popular, So it’s Time for Vikings to Call —

Part of the concern with being hurt is the lost reps for “polish.”

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Consider, as a clarifying example, the development of J.J. McCarthy. The young passer doesn’t lack for raw talent but his mechanics have sometimes been off. As a result, the play at quarterback hasn’t always been up to the Vikings’ standard. How often have Minnesota’s decision makers pointed toward the missed practice time as the reason for McCarthy’s Sunday struggles?

Similarly, the Vikings are betting on a 1st-Round selection with great athletic ability in Caleb Banks. He, too, is coming to the Twin Cities with a pile upside but in need of further refinement. Getting Mr. Banks onto the field to soak up that ultra-specific coaching from Ryan Nielsen is a great update for the Vikings.

Two things remain uncertain: can the kid stay healthy and can he snatch away a starter’s job in time for Week 1? Only time can offer certainty here.

The surest bet along the defensive line can be found in Jalen Redmond. He’s no longer just a good story (but he is still that). Rather, he has become a weekly difference maker who is looking to get recognized around the NFL instead of just in the Minnesota area. Think those early Adam Thielen days before he started getting love around that league. That’s where Redmond finds himself.

Don’t be surprised if Redmond earns a Pro Bowl spot after the 2026 season.

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Otherwise, the main names to know belong to Levi Drake Rodriguez, Ty Ingram-Dawkins (possibly more of an edge rusher now), Domonique Orange, and Elijah Williams. Can the unheralded fellas — Eric Johnson, Smith Vilbert, Isaiahh Loudermilk, Taki Taimani, and so on — assert themselves in the coming weeks?

Caleb Banks, 23, stands at 6’6″ and 325 pounds. Health permitting, Banks will become a very good player.

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Senior Editor for Vikings Territory & PurplePTSD . Twitter & Bluesky: @VikingsGazette. Email: k.joudry[at]vikingsterritory[dot]com. Canadian. Jude 1:24-25.

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A hot potato: Since PC gaming went pretty much fully digital many years ago, some console gamers have bragged about their machines’ ability to play physical discs and the advantages that brings. But a new report illustrates how just because a game is on a disc, it doesn’t guarantee you won’t need an internet connection to play it.

From Sony’s decision to end production of discs for new PlayStation games in 2028 to the Xbox network outage that stopped some disc-based titles from working, there’s been a lot of conversation about physical media recently.

One topic revolves around the many discs that don’t work (to different degrees) without an online connection, usually to fix a game-breaking bug. The testers at Does It Play (via Ars Technica) found that most disc games are “plug and play,” but a sizable minority can’t be played as intended straight from the disc.

The results show that 27% of all the physical releases the site has tested require some sort of download to fix game-breaking bugs or obtain core game content not stored on the disc.

On the PS5 specifically, 34% of tested disc releases are not fully playable as intended without a patch. Half are beatable but have serious bugs or are missing content, while the other half require a download to play properly or at all.

It’s a much worse picture on the Xbox Series X. Only 50% of tested physical releases were complete and playable as intended from the disc. Another 12% could be beaten but were too buggy or missing content, leaving 38% that required some form of download.

Those Xbox results come from just 78 entries, compared with 792 for the PS5, so the difference should be treated cautiously. The Nintendo Switch 2 performed better, with 75% of its tested releases complete and beatable without a download, although its sample was even smaller at 48 entries.

Reliance on downloads weakens what was once physical media’s biggest selling point: long-term access. Once servers close, missing files and essential patches may become impossible to obtain, creating a major problem for preservation. Then there are players who buy a game requiring a download but have no internet connection to obtain it.

Physical copies still offer advantages, of course. They can be resold, lent to friends, and are often much cheaper than digital versions. It was recently reported that some physical PlayStation games cost up to 90% less than their digital counterparts.

But as the recent Xbox outage demonstrated, owning a disc doesn’t always protect players from server failures. Microsoft said disc-based entitlement checks should not have blocked games and is preparing a fix, though it still hasn’t fully explained why some valid discs failed.

Help and support:

Chancellor John Healey has announced the date of his first Budget will be Wednesday, 28 October.

In a video message,  he said: “This will be a Budget that moves money and power out of Westminster, and into every postcode around Britain.

“It will be built on fiscal discipline. It will meet our fiscal rules. It’ll give businesses and families some of the stability they need to plan for the future. Now, let’s get on with the job.”

Prime Minister Andy Burnham has said his government will stick to Labour’s fiscal rules on spending and borrowing as well as the party’s 2024 manifesto pledges not to increase income tax, VAT or national insurance contributions.

Burnham also said he will honour the fiscal rules imposed by Healey’s predecessor Rachel Reeves, which include a pledge to balance day-to-day spending with tax revenues by the end of the decade.

An influential think tank said earlier this week that the prime minister only has a small margin of error to do this, and that Healey may have to cut spending or raise taxes to meet Burnham’s policy priorities such as such as extra defence spending and better social care.

Healey was Defence Secretary under Keir Starmer, but resigned after a row over defence spending commitments – saying he was “certain” that Britain shouldl lift its spending to 3% by 2030.

But questioned about funding on Thursday, Burnham’s Defence Secretary Wes Streeting repeatedly refused to commit to that target.

“Before we set out specific spending commitments, we will also set out how we pay for them at the same time,” he said.

Bitcoin slipped Friday and tested its weakest levels in more than two weeks as market participants pushed risk assets toward the end of the monthly trading window. According to TradingView data, BTC/USD dropped about 3.5% to trade near $62,369 on Bitstamp, a price zone last seen on July 14.

While crypto did not seem to receive the same tailwind as parts of Asia’s equity rebound, the day’s macro cross-currents were hard to ignore. QCP Capital pointed to the outsized role of semiconductor and AI-related exposures in driving swings across regional markets—an environment that appears to be feeding back into crypto liquidity and positioning.

Key takeaways

• BTC/USD fell roughly 3.5% to around $62,369 on Bitstamp, the lowest level in over two weeks.
• US stocks weakened around the monthly close, contrasting with Asia’s rally—especially South Korea’s KOSPI.
• QCP Capital linked crypto activity to the relationship between equity positioning, regional tech sentiment, and crypto liquidity.
• Analysts at CoinGlass showed July ended with strong gains, but at least one trader warns August could bring a rollover similar to 2022.
• Rekt Capital highlighted the 50-month EMA around $65,820 as ongoing resistance after failed breakouts since mid-June.

BTC drifts lower as US equities soften into month-end

TradingView indicated BTC/USD lost ground during Friday’s session, moving toward $62,000 amid broader pressure into the monthly close. The move came despite a rebound elsewhere earlier in the day, when parts of Asia stabilized after a semiconductor-led sell-off.

According to the same macro framing cited by QCP Capital, semiconductor stocks drove both the decline and subsequent recovery because major indices remain heavily weighted to the global AI and memory-chip cycle. That concentration helps explain why an equity catalyst can quickly translate into shifts in sentiment—and potentially liquidity—across correlated markets, including crypto.

QCP Capital added that crypto trading activity increased around the KOSPI’s sharp swings, describing it as evidence of a growing relationship between crypto liquidity, regional equity positioning, and broader technology-sector sentiment. The firm’s argument is less about a single day’s price and more about how the plumbing of liquidity may be changing alongside technology-driven equity narratives.

Asia rebounds while the US turns cautious

US stocks traded red at the open before leveling out, which diverged from the earlier rebound seen in Asia. South Korea’s KOSPI index finished the day up 17.9%, its largest single-day gain on record, according to figures referenced in the market commentary.

The day’s backdrop also included currency and rate dynamics. The commentary noted that both Japan and Korea reportedly engaged in currency interventions on Thursday, while Japan’s central bank kept benchmark interest rates at 1.0% after the US Federal Reserve decided to hold steady earlier in the week, following the US PCE inflation update.

For crypto traders, the practical takeaway is that “risk-on” can appear in pockets while “risk management” remains active in other major venues. When that happens, BTC can still underperform even as some regional equities bounce—particularly when liquidity flows are being reallocated quickly between markets.

July strength sets up a test for August

Even with Friday’s pullback, BTC’s monthly performance has looked constructive. CoinGlass data referenced in the article showed BTC/USD was up 8.5% for the month as of the end of the monthly candle, its strongest July showing since 2022.

That improvement mattered because earlier positioning had already shifted toward the idea of a relief bounce extending into August. The comparison traders were drawing was specifically to the 2022 bear-market structure: a rally that ultimately transitioned into a subsequent move toward a next longer-term bottom.

Rekt Capital—one of the analysts cited for that 2022 mapping—forecast that any bullish attempt might not hold immediately. In an X post on Friday, he wrote that price could try to “maintain these highs in the early stages of August,” but that history suggests a rollover similar to what occurred in 2022.

Technical resistance remains in focus near the 50-month EMA

Rekt Capital also pointed to a technical level that has limited follow-through. He reiterated that Bitcoin’s 50-month exponential moving average (EMA), currently around $65,820, has continued to act as resistance. In his view, that has been visible through two failed breakouts since mid-June.

For investors and traders, the implication is straightforward: even when BTC can put together a strong July, the next phase depends on whether it can clear longer-term trend resistance rather than merely bounce within an existing range. Levels like the 50-month EMA tend to attract both systematic and discretionary attention because they represent a longer horizon for trend definition.

That context also helps reconcile the mixed picture on Friday. BTC weakening toward the low-$60,000 area may be consistent with traders taking profits or reducing exposure as the market transitions from a month-end catalyst period into a new monthly cycle—especially if macro uncertainty and equity volatility persist.

Going forward, readers should watch whether BTC can reclaim and hold above the mid-$60,000 resistance area highlighted by the 50-month EMA and whether August follows through on the “rollover” scenario traders cite from 2022—or instead breaks the pattern and sustains higher levels despite the month-start shift.

Ian Bohen is known for his role as Ryan on Yellowstone — but is there a chance he could reprise the character on Dutton Ranch with his onscreen love interest Lainey Wilson?

“It would be interesting to see where Abby and Ryan are within that world,” Bohen, 49, exclusively told Us at the red carpet premiere for Lioness, another of Taylor Sheridan‘s hit Paramount+ series, on Wednesday, July 29, in New York City.

Bohen didn’t rule out the possibility.

“They got one season under their belt and they’re figuring out their future and their arc for the next several seasons,” he noted. “Maybe there’ll be a spot for those two people to show up and contribute. That’d be great.”

Related: Meet the Star-Studded Cast of Yellowstone‘s Spinoff ‘Dutton Ranch’

Kelly Reilly and Cole Hauser have made the move from Yellowstone to their own show — but who else makes up the cast of Dutton Ranch? The Paramount Network show, which premiered in 2018, introduced viewers to the fictional Dutton family. Yellowstone came to an end in 2024, expanding its universe with Luke Grimes‘ CBS […]

The hit Paramount+ franchise started with Sheridan’s hit series Yellowstone, which premiered in 2018.

Fans got to know Kelly Reilly and Cole Hauser’s characters, Beth Dutton and Rip Wheeler, who had a decades-long relationship enduring peaks and pitfalls. The original show came to an end in 2024, later expanding its universe with Luke Grimes‘ CBS show Marshals and now Dutton Ranch.

Bohen, for his part, has continued to work with Sheridan, 56, on other TV projects. He joined season 3 of Lioness, which premieres on August 2.

Created by Sheridan, Lioness is a spy thriller that follows the leader of a CIA team that enlists female operatives — known as Lionesses — to go undercover in the war on terror.

“Taylor’s words are extraordinary — of course — on the page. As far as an on the day collaborator, he’s attentive and he listens and he’s a very good communicator,” the actor told Us. “When you talk with him about what you’re doing on set and a scene and a direction, he makes you feel like you’re important.”

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Related: ‘Yellowstone‘ Cast: Where Are They Now Amid Multiple Show Spinoffs?

The Yellowstone cast has continued to find success after the hit Paramount Network show came to an end — with some even scoring spinoffs. Yellowstone, which ran from 2018 to 2024, became an overnight success for its story about the conflicts along the shared border of a large cattle ranch, the Broken Rock Indian reservation […]

Bohen called getting to keep appearing in Sheridan’s shows a “treat,” adding, “It’s like working with a really good buddy. So I’m blessed to continue to work with him and I look forward to continuing that in the future.”

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When asked by Us whether Bohen would want to be in Sheridan’s other existing shows — such as Landman — Bohen showed his support.

“From your lips to God’s ears,” he said. “But also who knows what the future holds.”

Lioness returns to Paramount+ on Sunday, August 2.