Ahead of the Minnesota Vikings preseason opener against the New York Giants this Saturday, I am ready to drop my Vikings predictions for the 2026 season.

Adam New’s Vikings Predictions for the 2026 Season

My predictions last year didn’t fare so well, as they were all about the Vikings’ offense, and it wasn’t a good year for that side of the ball in Minnesota. With that in mind I’ve made sure to get the defense involved this time around. Here are my Vikings predictions for 2026.

Kyler Murray Makes the Pro Bowl

The first of my Vikings predictions for 2026 involves the most important position on the team. Stay healthy and a good quarterback can get himself to the Pro Bowl in Minnesota. Kirk Cousins and Sam Darnold are proof of that, and it can be the same for Kyler Murray – who already has a couple of Pro Bowl appearances to his name from earlier in his career. Minnesota should have a strong offensive line and certainly an abundance of offensive weapons, with Justin Jefferson leading the charge. 

Kevin O’Connell likes to lean on his passing game as much as possible, so there will be ample opportunity for Murray. If Murray can get well over 3500 passing yards and 20+ touchdowns he can be in Pro Bowl contention. He has achieved that in every season where he has played at least 14 games. If he stays healthy he should be doing it in Minnesota.

Dallas Turner has 10+ Sacks

Dallas Turner getting 10+ sacks shouldn’t be a huge leap. He managed eight last season and he wasn’t a regular starter to begin the season. Now he is the leader of the Vikings’ pass rush but that does come with extra attention as opposing teams will be focused on stopping him. I’m confident that Turner has the talent and has shown the development to take on his increased role in 2026 and be a success. Reaching double figures in sacks should be well within his reach.

Charles Demmings is the Breakout Rookie

He might only be a fifth-round pick but Charles Demmings is showing up in training camp. He’s already being put up against the Vikings 1s and proving that he has the ability to compete.

Demmings is a physical man-to-man cornerback who loves to talk when he wins a rep, something this group has desperately missed in recent years. The man who goes by Chuck doesn’t lack confidence as shown when he swatted a pass away from Jefferson in camp and got chirpy. 

The next step for Demmings is to take the good work from training camp into the upcoming preseason games as he pushes for playing time when the regular season begins. The secondary is an area that rotation can be used giving him potential to get on the field. If he does he comes across as the kind of character who will make the most of his opportunities.

One and Done Again in the Playoffs

It’s all been positive so far with my Vikings predictions but this one is a mixed bag. I believe the Vikings will make it back to the playoffs this season, which is a positive after a disappointing 2025 season. However, I’m not seeing enough to convince me that O’Connell can lead the team to a first playoff win of his tenure as head coach.

If Minnesota makes the playoffs then maybe they get a favorable draw, but against the top teams I feel the team still has too many weaknesses or needs serious development – particularly in the trenches on both sides of the ball, the secondary, and the rushing attack.

Proud UK Viking. Family Man. Enjoy writing about my team. Away from football an advocate for autism acceptance.

Tim Bradley has named one man who could present Terence Crawford with an appealing opportunity to come out of retirement.

The sure-fire Hall of Famer called time on his career in December, just a few months after dethroning Canelo Alvarez for the undisputed super-middleweight crown.

In doing so, Crawford became a three-division undisputed champion and retired as one of the modern greats, having also claimed world titles in two other weight classes.

But while the unbeaten American seems content with his non-fighting lifestyle, there has been repeated talk of him returning to action for a clash with Jaron Ennis.

‘Boots’ became a two-division unified champion in June, dethroning Xander Zayas with a vicious seventh-round finish for the WBA and WBO world super-welterweight titles.

As a result, many feel that he is now the top dog at 154lbs, despite having not yet tested himself against fellow champions Sebastian Fundora and Josh Kelly.

Those unification matches do seem to be on his radar, though, and while the Crawford fight appears unlikely, Ennis has nonetheless expressed his interest in facing ‘Bud’ on multiple occasions.

In order for it to make sense for Crawford, however, Hall of Famer Bradley has said on his YouTube channel that Ennis would need to become the undisputed middleweight king.

“Boots ain’t got [anything] that Crawford needs, nothing at all. Well, Boots … if you go up to 160[lbs] and you wipe out the whole division and you win all the straps there, maybe that might be enticing.”

Ennis first attempted to challenge Crawford in 2023, when he was the IBF mandatory challenger at 147lbs and Bud had just stopped Errol Spence Jr in nine rounds.

Keely Hodgkinson came up just short of a coveted European 800 metres title hat-trick after Swiss favourite Audrey Werro won their hotly-anticipated showdown in Birmingham as the British Olympic champion settled for silver.

Hodgkinson started quicker, but was overtaken by Werro on the back straight was never overtaken after the first 200m.

Double-defending champion Hodgkinson was just behind as they rounded the final bend, but Werro would not be caught and crossed the finish in a championship record one minute, 54.81 seconds.

Hodgkinson claimed silver in 1:55.01 and the Netherlands’ Femke-Broeders Bol took bronze in a national record 1:55.54.

“A bit of mixed emotions,” Hodgkinson told the BBC. I think with that level of competition, any medal is a really good achievement and another one to add to my collection so I can never be disappointed with that. But I’m defending champion so I wanted to do that.

“I knew it was going to come down to the wire but I really thought I was going to win today. But it wasn’t meant to be. I didn’t do anything wrong, it was just one of those things.

“I’ve said all year it’s really motivating to be in such a competitive event. I love it, I think it brings out the best in me. Championship racing that’s what it’s all about, you don’t know how it’s going to go and some people can have a good day or a bad day. I think I had a pretty good day today but it just didn’t go how I wanted it to.”

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Cristiano Ronaldo’s mother and sisters were reportedly absent from his secret wedding, amid claims they had no warning.

Cristiano Ronaldo’s decision to keep his wedding to Georgina Rodríguez almost entirely private has raised another question after a Portuguese television presenter claimed that even members of his immediate family may have received virtually no notice that the ceremony was taking place.The claim comes after the couple’s marriage certificate revealed that Ronaldo’s mother, Dolores Aveiro, and his siblings Hugo, Elma and Katia were not present when he and Rodríguez married at their Cascais home on August 11. Only four witnesses and the couple’s five children attended the intimate civil ceremony.

‘30 seconds beforehand’

The extraordinary claim was made by Portuguese presenter Cristina Ferreira on the TVI programme Dois às 10 while discussing the absence of Ronaldo’s family from the ceremony, according to The Sun.“It will cause a lot of problems because the family wasn’t present,” Ferreira said. She then suggested that they may not even have known the wedding was happening until moments before it began.“And they shouldn’t even have known,” she said. “Or if they did know, it was 30 seconds beforehand.”Ferreira’s comments are a claim rather than confirmation from Ronaldo or his family, and her co-host Cláudio Ramos urged caution about drawing conclusions from what was visible publicly.“I really hope that what we said here, which had to do with the impressions we get from what exists on social media, did not actually cause sadness in the family, that things were not as they apparently seem,” Ramos said.

Ronaldo’s mother was not at the ceremony

The claim comes after Jornal de Notícias obtained and published the couple’s marriage certificate, providing the first detailed account of who was present.The document names Miguel Paixão, Ronaldo’s longtime friend, Ivana Rodríguez, Georgina’s sister, and Spanish jeweller José Rodríguez Sangil and his wife Mónica González Martínez as the four witnesses.Ronaldo’s mother and three siblings were not among them.That absence is particularly notable because Dolores publicly appeared to support the marriage after Ronaldo and Rodríguez announced it. She responded to her son’s Instagram post showing their wedding rings with a heart emoji.There is therefore no public indication from Dolores herself that she objected to the marriage, while the presenter’s comments have introduced a different possibility: that the ceremony was kept so tightly controlled that even Ronaldo’s family may have been informed only at the last moment.

The wedding was kept deliberately small

Ronaldo and Rodríguez married at 1.30pm on August 11 at their mansion in the exclusive Quinta da Marinha area of Cascais, with a registrar travelling from Porto to officiate.The couple had previously given the public almost no reliable information about their plans. Reports had even sent hundreds of fans and journalists to Funchal Cathedral in Madeira after it was wrongly claimed that Ronaldo would marry there.Instead, the couple married privately in Cascais and announced the news only afterwards, posting photographs of their wedding rings with the caption “C❤️G.”

Families say they’ve been ‘ripped off’ as the kids football camp came with an extra £350 picture cost while the City star was nowhere to be seen for most of the session

A family who paid £150 for their child to attend a football camp featuring an appearance from Jack Grealish have slammed the event as being an ‘absolute let down’ after saying the player ‘only appeared for an hour or so’ whilst young fans were charged for photos.

On Wednesday (August 12), the Manchester City FC footballer, who is currently on loan to Everton, appeared at a special youth camp for boys and girls aged between six and 16. The event was not arranged by the sports star and was instead organised by FlexWork Sports, who host similar sessions with leading sports stars around the world.

Held at the Armitage Sports Centre, on Mosely Road in Fallowfield, attendees were told ahead of the one-off event that it would be a chance to ‘learn skills from Jack and get a pic with the star’.

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But Julie Black, from Reddish, said she was ‘disappointed’ after hearing about the experience from her 12-year-old grandson who attended. She said her grandson didn’t get to meet the player at the event, which had originally been set to take place at 9am but then changed days earlier to 2pm due to Grealish’s club practice.

She claimed the player only turned up for ‘about an hour and a half’ during the four-hour session, and that taking photographs with Grealish or getting his autograph all came with additional costs. It is thought a family photo cost around £350. In addition to the cost of the £150 ticket, Julie claimed adults also had to pay £15 on the day to be able to supervise their children.

“My grandson is very disappointed and I don’t know what we can do about it,” Julie told the Manchester Evening News. “He is a big football fan and a big City fan so he was very much looking forward to being able to play with Jack, but that didn’t happen at all.

“It’s got Jack Grealish’s name on the event, so we expected him to turn up for the whole session and not to just pop up to kick a few balls and then charge his fans for his signature.”

One Facebook post advertising the Jack Grealish event said ‘athletes ages 6-16 will learn skills from Jack, get a pic with the star, get swag’ with no mention of any additional costs. However, organisers have said these optional extras had always been listed on the online check-out page.

The main event listing for the Jack Grealish camp is no longer online, but similar events, including a forthcoming one with Everton star Jordan Pickford, says that the star player will be joined by coaches ‘over the course of the day’ through interactive sessions and unique opportunities to ‘connect’.

“My grandson said he enjoyed being able to play football for a few hours, but I feel like he could have gone to kick a ball at the park instead and not been ripped off,” Julie said. “He said the rest of the event was a let down and that he wouldn’t go again. He got a T-Shirt saying Jack Grealish Football Camp, but the irony was that he was hardly there for it.

“I felt so sorry for him when he came back and said he didn’t even get the chance to meet him. He said Jack only played football with a small group of the kids, and then began taking photos with those who had paid extra.”

In a response, FlexWork Sports said they were ‘sorry to hear’ that the family’s experience ‘fell short’ of expectations, but said that Grealish ‘rotated through each group so every participant had the chance to be on the field with him’. Representatives for Jack Grealish declined to comment when approached by the M.E.N.

The organiser also said that photos and autograph opportunities had been listed as optional upgrades online, and had been included on the registration check-out page alongside spectator costs. However, it said it ‘recognised’ that this might not have been as clear as it could have been, and are ‘looking at how we communicate pricing’ better going forward.

In a statement, a spokesperson for Flexwork Sports said: “We’re sorry to hear that this family feels their experience with us fell short, and we take feedback like this seriously. Every camp we run is designed so kids leave with a great experience and a real memory of the day.

“The event’s window moved from its original 9am-1pm slot to 2pm-6pm due to a late change in club practice. This adjustment was communicated to all registered families ahead of the event, and all families who were not able to make the new time were refunded.

“Jack rotated through each group so that every participant had the chance to be on the field with him. Additionally, Jack spent quality time with a group of campers from the Special Olympics Great Britain.

“Photo and autograph opportunities, along with adult spectator access, are optional add-ons that sit outside the standard camp ticket. The upgrades had their own registration page, and in addition to being available on-site, spectator tickets were a part of the standard registration check-out.

“The spectator fees are consistent across all FlexWork Sports events internationally to ensure the safety of campers, families and the host athlete by preventing overcrowding.

“We recognize this family felt that wasn’t clear to them before the event, and we’re always looking at how we communicate pricing so families know exactly what’s included before they arrive.”

Seven NFL preseason games are in the books, with seven more set for Saturday, but Friday’s three-game slate shouldn’t be overlooked with NFL DFS contests. It features the Broncos vs. Falcons, Buccaneers vs. Jets and Dolphins vs. Commanders, with all games starting at 7 p.m. ET. Your NFL DFS picks could gravitate towards new faces under center such as Tua Tagovailoa, Geno Smith or Malik Willis, or you can take a chance on a first-round rookie making his pro debut.

Jets wideout Omar Cooper was the 30th overall pick but was New York’s second pass catcher drafted, after 16th overall selection in tight end Kenyon Sadiq. However, injury is likely to keep Sadiq sidelined which could force the Jets to highlight Cooper more, making him more appealing in NFL DFS lineups. Before making any NFL DFS picks for this slate on sites like DraftKings and FanDuel, be sure to check out the NFL DFS lineup advice, strategy and player stacks from SportsLine NFL expert R.J. White.

White is an elite NFL betting handicapper who has cashed huge twice in the world’s most prestigious handicapping tournament, the Westgate Las Vegas SuperContest. He’s also SportsLine’s No. 1 all-time NFL ATS expert. In addition, he serves as CBS’s Fantasy expert, making him the ideal expert to dig deep on these rosters and make NFL DFS picks. 

Now, White has turned his attention to the 2026 NFL preseason Week 1 schedule for Friday, and just locked in his top daily Fantasy football picks. You can only see his picks and analysis at SportsLine.

Top 2026 NFL preseason Week 1 DFS picks for Friday

One of White’s favorite DFS picks for Friday, where every player on DraftKings is $5,500 and $6,000 on FanDuel, is Broncos QB Sam Ehlinger. Bo Nix will sit out on Friday as he continues his recovery from surgery, and outside of Ehlinger, Jarrett Stidham is the only other quarterback on Denver’s preseason roster. Thus, those two should see lots of action, and with Stidham the more established QB, Ehlinger will likely get more snaps so coaches can see what he can offer. The former Texas QB does offer upside with his legs as well, as he’s averaged 25 rushing yards across his three NFL starts. Broncos vs. Falcons also has the highest over/under (40.5) of the evening, so this is a great way to get exposure to that matchup.

White’s NFL DFS strategy also includes building around Commanders receiver Antonio Williams. The third-round rookie is among a handful of wideouts battling for the No. 3 job behind vets Terry McLaurin and Stefon Diggs. Coach Dan Quinn said last week that Williams was “ahead” of where fellow receivers Luke McCaffrey and Jaylin Lane were as rookies over the last two years. Williams was All-ACC each of his last two seasons at Clemson and led the conference with 11 receiving scores in 2024. You can see the rest of White’s NFL DFS picks here.

How to set NFL preseason Week 1 Friday NFL DFS lineups

White is also targeting another undervalued player who could explode for huge numbers on Friday. This pick could be the difference between winning your tournaments and cash games or going home with nothing. You can only see who it is, and the rest of White’s NFL DFS picks, at SportsLine. 

So who is R.J. White including in his optimal NFL DFS lineups for Friday, and which under-the-radar NFL DFS picks offer huge value? Visit SportsLine now to see optimal NFL DFS picks, rankings, advice, and stacks, all from a DFS expert who has cashed twice in a prestigious NFL handicapping contest, and find out.