For a fifth straight year, the NFL salary cap is on the rise.
The league informed its clubs on Friday that the base salary cap will rise to $301.2 million for the 2026 season, a $22 million increase from 2025’s figure. This is the first time in the history of the NFL salary cap that it has crossed the $300 million threshold.
The salary cap has now risen 7.88% since last year’s league-wide limit of $279.2 million, marking the lowest rate of growth since 2020, when it rose 5.31% at the beginning of the COVID pandemic. Last season, the salary cap increased 8.69%.
While the salary cap is rising, so are the Eagles’ cap charges in 2026. According to Over The Cap, the Eagles will be sitting at approximately $13.8 million in cap space come the start of the new league year on March 11.
That rough figure does not include the space that will be required to sign the 2026 draft class, so the team’s effective cap space is likely lower.
Thus, general manager Howie Roseman will have to do some maneuvering if he wants to make free-agent additions this offseason. He already tempered expectations regarding potential external free-agent signings this offseason on Feb. 20, stating that it’s the team’s priority to attempt to retain its own players instead.
“It’s going to be hard for us, unless we make major moves to subtract, to really make some sort of splash move that costs money because we like the players we have drafted and want them as a big part of our next few years as well,” Roseman said.
The majority of those homegrown players in line for imminent extensions are on defense, including Jordan Davis, Jalen Carter, Nolan Smith, and Moro Ojomo. Other defensive players on rookie deals, such as Quinyon Mitchell, Cooper DeJean, and Jalyx Hunt, will have to be addressed in the coming years.
Carter and Smith, the Eagles’ 2023 first-round picks, are eligible to have their fifth-year options exercised this offseason. Now that the cap has been set, the NFL also reportedly shared fifth-year option amounts with clubs on Friday.
By making two Pro Bowls, Carter has solidified himself in the highest salary tier, potentially earning himself a base salary of $27.1 million in 2027 if exercised. Smith is in the lowest tier at $13.8 million.
Extensions for Jordan Davis (left) and Jalen Carter are expected to be on the Eagles’ radar.
Jalen Hurts could also warrant an extension or a restructure, given that his cap hit jumps to $32 million in 2026 (approximately 10.2% of the salary cap).
The Eagles have several pending unrestricted free agents that could be in line for paydays, either with the Eagles or elsewhere, including Jaelan Phillips, Dallas Goedert, Nakobe Dean, and Reed Blankenship. Given the team’s financial situation, it will be a challenge to retain any one of them.
Still, Roseman emphasized that attempting to keep some of the Eagles’ pending free agents will be at the top of his to-do list this offseason.
“I think from a big picture perspective, we want to build a team that every year has a chance to compete for championships, that drafts really well and signs their own players and just sporadically goes into free agency,” Roseman said. “That’s what we’re trying to do. And sometimes as much as you want to add from outside and you want to change it up, you got to make a decision to keep the players you know have played well and are part of your culture.”
Aramark will not be the official food, beverage, and hospitality provider at the new South Philadelphia arena where the 76ers, Flyers, and the city’s new WNBA team are expected to play.
Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment, which owns the Sixers, and Comcast Spectacor, which owns the Flyers and Xfinity Mobile Arena, announced that Levy Restaurants will take over food and beverage duties in the new arena, which is slated to open by 2030.
“Very few cities are as devoted to their teams as Philadelphia, the loyalty and passion are part of the DNA that make the community so special. It’s both an honor and an invigorating opportunity to help amplify the best of Philadelphia,” Levy CEO Andy Lansing said in a statement.
Smoked chicken cheesesteak is on the 2025-26 menu at the Xfinity Mobile Arena.
Aramark has overseen hospitality at the Sixers’ and Flyers’ arena since it opened in 1996. Lincoln Financial Field and Citizens Bank Park hospitality services are still operated by the Philadelphia-based food services provider.
A spokesperson for the arena said that the decision to go with a new provider was not based on Aramark’s performance, but was the result of a standard pitch process.
“We have a great relationship with our friends at Aramark,” Comcast Spectacor chairman and CEO Dan Hilferty told SportsBusinessJournal. “We have, on both sides, committed that while Xfinity Mobile Arena is still in operation, we’re going to deliver the best possible product.”
Aramark will continue its tenure at Xfinity Mobile Arena until the new arena opens. The new arena was announced last year after plans to build a Center City arena for the Sixers were abandoned in favor of a new building at the South Philly sports complex.
Xfinity Mobile Arena used to be known as the Wells Fargo Arena, from 2010 into August 2025.
“Our team is fully committed to delivering memorable game day experiences, and we are grateful for the many decades spent fueling the passion and energy of the fans,” an Aramark spokesperson said in a statement.
The hometown food service provider has come under fire in recent years over labor disputes with the thousands of people who work in the stadiums. Before Unite Here Local 274 won its latest contract, fewer than 100 workers represented by the union had year-round healthcare. The contract, signed last March, increased wages and brought hundreds of workers onto the union healthcare plan.
Levy’s portfolio includes nearly half the NBA/NHL shared arenas, such as Los Angeles’ Crypto.com Arena, according to a Sixers spokesperson. Levy, which has headquarters in Chicago, also provides services for such large events as the Kentucky Derby and the Grammys.
Trendon Watford inadvertently messed with Tyrese Maxey’s psyche during Tuesday’s win at the Indiana Pacers. After the All-Star guard sank his first two three-point attempts, Watford informed Maxey that he only needed four more to break the 76ers’ franchise record for career makes.
“I had no idea I was that close,” Maxey said. “… I missed every three after that [in that game].”
Maxey wasted little time achieving the milestone during Thursday’s 124-117 victory over the Miami Heat. He ripped off two in 12 seconds, thanks to a leaping interception between shots. He pulled up again in transition from the left wing at the 4-minute, 29-second mark, tying the record. Then, poetically, Watford pump-faked, drove, and dished to an open Maxey for the record-breaking splash that the longtime close friends will remember “forever,” Maxey said. He hit one more — on one of his quintessential stepbacks — before the first-quarter buzzer for good measure.
That first-quarter flurry pushed Maxey past Allen Iverson’s 885 career three-pointers, and he ended the night with 887 after going 5-of-12 from beyond the arc. During his five-plus NBA seasons, Maxey entered Thursday connecting on 38% of those long-range attempts. That it took Maxey only 375 games to amass that many makes — Iverson’s total occurred in 722 — partially is a product of the modern NBA, which thrives on creating and making three-pointers.
It also is a testament to Maxey turning a perceived weakness into a massive weapon in his arsenal as one of the NBA’s most dangerous scorers. He entered Friday ranked fourth in the NBA at 29.1 points per game.
“That’s a blessing, honestly,” Maxey said postgame of the record. “I’m just happy, man. … Thank God for the opportunity. I thank God for the Sixers organization for drafting me, trusting me, believing in me.”
Today, it seems outrageous that three-point shooting was the biggest critique of Maxey’s game entering the 2020 draft after he made only 29.2% of his attempts during his one college season at Kentucky. He remembers being constantly questioned about it during interviews with NBA decision-makers. Maxey’s father, Tyrone, recently recalled to The Inquirer a pre-draft workout in which Tyrese made 33 three-pointers in a row, and that team “still passed on him.”
The Sixers front office, however, believed in Maxey’s perimeter shooting mechanics and “secondary indicators” of NBA potential, president of basketball operations Daryl Morey told The Inquirer in 2021.
Once the Sixers drafted Maxey 21st overall, former coach Doc Rivers was flabbergasted that Maxey consistently made threes inside the practice facility but only 30.1% of his in-game attempts as a rookie. Former teammate Tobias Harris encouraged Maxey to keep shooting. So did superstar Joel Embiid, eventually declaring that Maxey should attempt 10 per game.
“I knew I could shoot the ball well,” Maxey recalled earlier this month.
His efficiency rose above 40% for consecutive seasons, from 2021 to 2023, even as that volume increased. That percentage temporarily dipped to 33.7% during the Sixers’ disastrous 2024-25 season, when Maxey often struggled as the top offensive option for an injury-plagued team, and then suffered a finger sprain that severely hampered his shooting.
This season, Maxey is back to making 37.6% of his 8.9 attempts per game, and was selected to participate in the three-point contest at All-Star Saturday before starting Sunday’s main event.
And coach Nick Nurse continues to push Maxey to fire even more three-pointers, and from farther away from the basket. The next layer to Maxey’s three-point assortment, Nurse said, is when he slams on the brakes in transition and launches off the dribble. Those attempts, Nurse said, are “so difficult to guard” and “[require] maybe the least amount of effort.”
“If you can get teams to have to pick you up that high,” Nurse said, “that’s just immediately going to help your offense and create space for everybody.”
Maxey said he “definitely” agrees with Nurse’s assessment, and coyly added that there are “a lot of things I want to try to work on” regarding his three-point shooting.
Yet to already pass the franchise legend Iverson “in anything” is an honor, Maxey said. He waved to the crowd when a video tribute between the first and second quarters formally connected the Hall of Famer to the franchise’s current star. And it was fitting that Maxey had the game-clinching assist on an Embiid three-pointer with 29.2 seconds remaining.
Then, Maxey brought the game ball to his postgame news conference. His mother, Denyse, keeps most of the memorabilia commemorating such accomplishments at their family home near Dallas.
Maxey hopes Mom will let him hang on to this memento, which signifies how he turned a perceived weakness into a record-breaking offensive weapon.
“He’s going to have some time to increase it,” Nurse said of the milestone. “Will be a tough one to beat by the time he’s done.”
It took a long time to seal the deal, but the Union finally have their new starting left back.
The team’s signing of Philippe Ndinga, a 20-year-old from Swedish first-division club Degerfors, became official on Friday. A source with knowledge of the matter told The Inquirer that the Union agreed a transfer fee of around $1 million, plus incentive-based bonuses.
“Philippe is a dynamic defender with the ability to play confidently with both feet, which gives us valuable flexibility in the back line,” Union manager Bradley Carnell said in a statement. “His aggressive style of defending fits our system well, and we’re excited to welcome him to the club.”
Because of Ndinga’s age, he qualified for MLS’s Under-22 initiative, which means the transfer fee won’t affect the salary cap. (Transfer fees usually count in the budget math for MLS teams, but under-22 players get preset cap hits of up to $200,000.)
3-1 Degerfors! Philippe Ndinga med en dunderträff 🎯
Ndinga was born in Libreville, Gabon, and spent his late teens coming up through French lower-league clubs. His international affiliation is with Congo, and he played three games for the country’s under-23 team last summer.
He took his first professional step last August when he signed with Degerfors of Sweden’s top flight. It didn’t take long for him to get attention from elsewhere, with suitors reportedly including Los Angeles FC, the Houston Dynamo, and Greece’s Panathinaikos.
Ndinga hasn’t finished all of the required visa paperwork, even though the contract is signed, so he can’t play in a game for the Union yet.
“I would say a couple of days still before we can welcome him here to Philly,” Carnell said in a news conference Friday afternoon, ahead of Sunday’s game against New York City FC (4:30 p.m., Apple TV). “Still a couple of things to iron out and a couple appointments to be had in Sweden. I don’t want to put days on it, but probably another week, week and a half.”
Carnell also referred to “dealing with visas, and applications, and timelines from embassies and governments and what have you.”
Ndinga also hasn’t played in an official game since Nov. 9, so he might need some time to get back to full fitness.
Welcome to Philly, Philippe!
Philadelphia Union have acquired defender Philippe Ndinga on a permanent transfer from Degerfors IF.
“We’ll put that in the hands of Ryan Cotter to do the baseline testing,” Carnell said, referring to the Union’s head of performance. He added that Cotter and Ndinga have already been in contact.
“If he now joins in 10 days’ time and then it takes a week or two to get up and ready — I mean, yeah, it’s possible to start [and] hit the ground running,” Carnell said. “We’ve seen it with players who’ve left into other leagues and not been match-ready and play already [in] games. So it is possible, just depending on the individual and depending how fit they are coming in.”
Frankie Westfield will stay atop the left back depth chart until Ndinga is settled in, though he’s currently sidelined with a minor hamstring injury. Once Ndinga gets going, Westfield will be able to switch to right back.
The Union loaned forward Markus Anderson to Brooklyn FC of the second-tier USL Championship. Midfielder CJ Olney also likely is going on loan there, a source with knowledge of the matter told The Inquirer.
Brooklyn’s manager is former Union reserve team coach Marlon LeBlanc, so he knows both players well.
If you wondered why this Union game, out of all of them, landed on a good TV channel, you weren’t alone.
The answer wasn’t just because FS1 had some time to spare at the hour when the Union’s second leg against Defence Force FC kicked off. Or just because Fox wanted to showcase the Concacaf Champions Cup, though that’s always welcome.
No, the appeal was in televising (there’s that word again) Cavan Sullivan. He’s on the list of MLS players whom people want to see, and on Thursday, they could see him on a channel that also shows the Phillies and Villanova.
The game was another blowout win, 7-0, to make a 12-0 aggregate score. But the audience, including a sparse crowd at Subaru Park, got what it came for.
CAVAN SULLIVAN SCORES HIS FIRST GOAL FOR THE PHILADELPHIA UNION 🇺🇸👏
A fantastic night for the 16-year-old, who finished the match with a brace and two assists in his first start of the season. The USMNT might have a new star on their hands ⭐️pic.twitter.com/Ihi7kOuZl8
Sullivan scored his first two goals for the Union’s first team, and delivered two well-placed assists, too. Even better, not only were his parents, Brendan and Heike, and brother, Quinn, in the stands, but so were his uncle, Danny; cousin, Jackson; and grandparents, Kathleen and Larry — the latter the dean of Philadelphia soccer’s most famous family.
The goals will get the most attention, especially the first one. In the 76th minute, Sullivan teamed up with Ezekiel Alladoh to force a turnover off pressing, then ran into the open space with the ball and shot home. His second tally, in the 88th, was a close-range slide on the goal line to cap off a counterattack he led upfield.
But the assists bear highlighting because those plays were part of why the goals could come later. The first assist was a back-heel in tight space to Stas Korzeniowski in the 12th minute, and his second was a floated pass to Ben Bender in the 53rd. They were good plays, but, importantly, they were part of teamwide actions.
Last week, after Sullivan played very well in the first game of this series, Union manager Bradley Carnell said he had “seen a lot more maturity from Cavan over the last couple of weeks.” Thursday’s first hour or so was another example.
Sullivan mostly kept it simple with good passing and movement. He did the defensive work too, with a few tackles and the pressing that the Union demand from every player.
“I’m still very critical in certain moments,” Carnell said with a laugh, but he definitely was pleased. “You can see Cavan tries in the final third to make every moment a moment that counts, which is great, and we like that about Cav.”
The second goal also was part of a teamwide move and had Sullivan thinking about something he’d learned beyond the Union’s film room.
“It’s something I’m working on every day, just slowing the game down, learning when to drive and accelerate, and learning when to just find the safe space,” he said. “It’s something I work on with my dad a lot and with the coaches.”
Later in the play, the voice in his head became that of Lieutenant Larry, as generations of players from St. Joseph’s, Villanova, Father Judge, and Camden Catholic called him.
“Like my grandfather always says, ‘Get in the box,’” Cavan said, “and I was there to just tap it in.”
Yes, sir, and Larry was there to see it. Cavan spoke about that too, with some emotion.
“I think it embodies what us Sullivans are about, in being there for each other,” he said. “Being there when we’re down, but also when we’re up. I’m thankful that they were all here to watch me play, and I dedicate this to them because without them, I wouldn’t be here.”
Malik Jakupović’s first-team debut
Sullivan wasn’t the only big-time teen to play for the Union on Thursday. Striker Malik Jakupović made his first-team debut as a substitute in the 59th minute.
Though the 16-year-old is on a reserve team contract, Concacaf rules allow him to be on the Champions Cup roster. So the Union added Jakupović and 20-year-old outside back Giovanny Sequera, and the latter started at left back.
Jakupović has garnered media attention and continues to turn heads among scouts. His last game action before Thursday was with the U.S. under-17 national team earlier this month, where he scored eight goals in three games to lead the Americans through Concacaf’s World Cup qualifying tournament.
“We knew he was in a good way with us in preseason, and he goes and shows that with the national team,” Carnell said. “That’s what I said to him tonight, ‘I want to see a bit of what you showed with the national team for us as well.’ He came close once or twice and he worked well to come back in the game and found a good relationship with [Alladoh].”
Malik Jakupović tries a shot on goal that didn’t miss by much.
The next under-17 World Cup is in November in Qatar, and Jakupović could be on a first-team contract before then. He didn’t find the net in this game, but he showed his skill with a pretty cutback in the 69th for a shot that he put just over the bar.
“It’s good to be noticed really young, and now I’m just trying to fight every single day to get more and more, and try and to get better every single day. And at the end of the day, be with the first team fully,” Jakupović said, “… It’s surreal — I mean, I’m a professional, but not professional because I still have to do school and everything — but, yeah, I’m really happy.”
Sullivan and Jakupović got the most attention Thursday, but Korzeniowski also deserves some. In his third game for the Union’s first team, he scored his first two top-flight goals.
Two years ago, he was playing college soccer for Penn on an artificial turf field tucked between Walnut Street and the Amtrak tracks. Now the 23-year-old is making it as a pro.
“For me to go from there to where I am now, it’s a position not many people get to be in, and I recognize that privilege,” he said. “But I’m so excited to be in those positions, and I’m really not afraid by it. If anything I’m very encouraged, because there’s really nothing to lose. It’s just more experience, more opportunity, and to grow from that is all I want to do.”
As for the sparse crowd? That won’t be the case for Sunday’s first MLS home game of the year, a rematch of last year’s playoff game against perennial rival New York City FC. Nor will it be the case when the Union play in the next round of the Champions Cup later in March, against Mexican juggernaut Club América.
The first game of the series will be March 10 at Subaru Park, and the second will be March 18 in Mexico City.
As with the last time these teams met in the tournament, in 2021, the atmosphere should be vibrant and overwhelmingly pro-América. But that is for down the road. Thursday was about talented young players getting a shot, and they took it.
Although they didn’t gain any ground in the playoff race, as the New York Islanders and Boston Bruins each won, the Flyers remain in the hunt with their 16th comeback win of the season. Trailing 2-0, they beat the Eastern Conference’s worst team, the New York Rangers, 3-2 in overtime on Thursday.
As the minutes tick off to the NHL trade deadline next Friday at 3 p.m., here are three questions to ponder.
Inconsistency continues to plague Flyers goaltender Sam Ersson.
Will the real Sam Ersson please stand up?
The Flyers’ goalie situation has been a mix of emotions for years, and for most of this season, there has been a question mark around the play of Sam Ersson. No longer the Flyers’ No. 1 goalie, can he even be the Flyers’ No. 2? Inconsistency has plagued the Swedish netminder.
In the first two minutes of the game, Ersson made two ridiculous saves. First, he robbed Rangers defenseman Adam Fox with the glove after a neutral zone turnover led to a four-on-one with just Travis Sanheim back. Travis Konecny tried to hit Christian Dvorak, but the puck was picked off by Mika Zibanejad, who found Fox charging backdoor less than 30 seconds in.
Around a minute later, he stopped a Noah Laba shot from above the circle, which he shot as Emil Andrae knocked him down. That wasn’t the big save; that was two seconds later when Brendan Brisson drove around Denver Barkey to get the rebound. Everyone looked behind Ersson — including Ersson — but he had made the save.
“I think the first 10 minutes of the first period, we were kind of running around, just giving them pop turnovers and ‘Biggie’ made a ton of great saves for us,” said forward Trevor Zegras.
But then, around the halfway mark of the period, Ersson allowed a weak goal to Sam Carrick. The forward sent a quick turnaround shot on goal from the half-wall that went five-hole on the Swedish netminder. And in the second period, Alexis Lafrenière scored to make it 2-0 — although the 2020 first-overall pick was left wide-open after Noah Cates lost him in the corner.
Ersson then clamped down and stopped the next 15 shots on goal — each save bigger than the next. He tracked the puck well, kicked the pad out, flashed the leather, and as coach Rick Tocchet said, he battled.
“He dug in there. … And even going down 2-0, this is where you’ve got to have that resolve. We’ll kind of give him some more of that confidence; we’ll get him in there again, and we’ll see how he goes,” Tocchet said.
Is Matvei Michkov poised for another strong finish to the season?
Can Matvei Michkov find his joy?
Like Ersson, questions have swirled around the young Russian winger, too. For Michkov, those are about his conditioning, his production, his ice time, and his lack of overtime play.
There’s a good chance a lot of those were answered on Thursday.
Last year, after the 4 Nations Face-Off Tournament break, Matvei Michkov scored 10 goals and 27 points in the final 25 games of the season. Two games into the final 26 this season, he has two goals — both coming against the Rangers.
His first goal cut New York’s lead in half when he scored on the power play midway through the second period. Owen Tippett had the puck along the left wing boards, evaded New York defenseman Will Borgen, and passed the puck to Cates in the left circle. The centerman then sent it quickly to Michkov sitting backdoor at the right post for the slam-dunk goal past Igor Shesterkin.
It was his 14th goal and third on the power play this season.
“I thought the one he scored for us, the first one, was a timely one, and it kind of helped us calm down and get us back into it,” forward Travis Konecny said. “And, it was good, yeah, he’s playing great. He looked fast. He looked confident with the puck.”
After doing two-a-days off the ice for seven days during the break — one session focused on strength and another on conditioning and stamina while he stayed off the ice — Michkov looked stronger. It was notable in the dwindling minutes of the third period, when he made a move between his own legs to get around Fox and drive to the net. The only problem? He then continued into his countryman, Shesterkin, and was called for goaltender interference with nine seconds left in regulation, with the score tied.
His teammates killed off his penalty, and Michkov, who entered the game with the 10th most minutes in the extra session, finally got some time — granted, it was four-on-four. There was a mad scramble for the puck after Ersson stoned Zibanejad and tried to cover up, but the puck eventually popped out to Sean Couturier in the Flyers’ end, and he fed Michkov.
The forward carried the puck down into the zone and blew by J.T. Miller — yes, his skating stride looked great, unlike an earlier overtime session this season. And yes, he carried it down the left side two days after he said he was “happy” playing on the right side — before beating Shesterkin again. After scoring three overtime game-winners last season, he got his first of the year on Broadway to give the Flyers their third overtime win in 11 games this season.
“Anytime he gets a good look like that, when you can get him clear cut — you watch him in practice — he’s going to have a pretty good chance to score a goal,” said Konecny, who seemed to offer words of encouragement to Michkov after the game-winner.
Added Tocchet: “That was a [heck] of a goal, that second goal; Shesterkin’s a [heck] of a goalie. He went five-hole there. He sold it, you know, that’s the stuff that he can do … He had some confidence yesterday [against the Washington Capitals] so he’s getting some confidence here.”
Will Flyers defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen be on the move by the trade deadline?
Where do things stand one week from the trade deadline?
Two games into their return, and like most of this season, the Flyers struggled to put in a complete 60-minute effort. On Wednesday in Washington, D.C., they came out jumping but couldn’t sustain it. On Thursday, the Rangers had the energy early as they skated in their first game back.
It makes it hard to gauge if the Flyers should be sellers or buyers, but they do still trail by eight points in the race for the final Metropolitan Division spot and the last wild card.
But as Konecny said, they “just kept battling back,” like they’ve done all year. The game marked the 39th time the opposition scored first.
“I guess where we’re at in the standings, the last 25 I guess — yesterday, 26 — are all playoff-type games for us, and we got to do something special down the stretch to get in,“ Zegras said.
”And I think we all know that. Yesterday, I thought, for the most part, played a good game, just gave up a couple of weak-side goals that we’ve been trying to clean up.”
The scouts were out, however, for the last two days. On Wednesday in Washington, D.C., eight teams were represented, with one being the Dallas Stars, a team rumored to be interested in defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen. The Rangers do not identify team affiliates for scouts who are present at home games, and while there were many, The Inquirer could identify a scout from the Vegas Golden Knights, New York Islanders, Tampa Bay Lightning, Anaheim Ducks, Edmonton Oilers, and Winnipeg Jets.
Not everyone was there to see Ristolainen, and several are regulars, but ‘tis the season.
INDIANAPOLIS — Mike Vrabel’s recent comments about A.J. Brown may not qualify as tampering, but they are reflective of a certain preoccupation those associated with the Eagles have had with the wide receiver’s future at the scouting combine this week.
And, to some degree, the rest of the league shares that preoccupation — elite receivers still in the prime of their careers rarely are available.
Vrabel didn’t bring up Brown on his own. The Patriots coach first was asked about his relationship with his former player during a news conference on Wednesday and then about possibly trading for him during an interview session with New England-area reporters shortly afterward.
“I think that we’ll look at everything that we can possibly look at to add to our roster,” Vrabel said in answering the second question. “There’s a lot of back-and-forth. Taking on compensation. And so, I’m sure there’ll be a lot of opportunities for us to talk about trades, not only this week, but as we prepare and get closer to the draft.”
Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel has expressed his affection for A.J. Brown, but how that translates to a potential deal remains unknown.
It was a rather innocuous response, and Vrabel made sure not to mention Brown by name, as that could be considered tampering with a player under contract with another team. But the former Titans coach, who drafted the receiver in 2019 and coached him for three seasons, didn’t avoid going into detail about how close he remains to Brown.
“I think the relationship with players — and, specifically, you asked about A.J. — has meant a lot,” Vrabel said earlier from the combine media center podium. “I watched him grow. I watched him mature. I’m proud of him, proud of the father that he is. I’m proud of the husband. And that has nothing to do with where he plays or where he played.
“So those are the things that are important. We reach out, text each other during the things that happen good to each other. And sometimes things don’t go so well for the people that you’re close with and you text those, as well. So it’s been a two-way street of support and reminders of what got us to where we are here today.”
There’s little wrong with what Vrabel said, as it’s been consistent with his comments about Brown since the Titans traded him to Philly almost four years ago. Just last January, after he was hired in New England and as the Eagles were in the middle of their Super Bowl run, Vrabel said the following about Brown on Boston radio:
“I love him to death and I have a very, very close relationship with him.”
A lot has changed around Brown’s Eagles and Vrabel’s Patriots a year later. And with Eagles general manager Howie Roseman unwilling to shut the door on Brown being obtainable for the right price, Vrabel’s openness about his communication with the 28-year old could be characterized as flirtatious.
Not that Roseman should take any issue with his remarks, as they could help spur activity and give the general manager the type of leverage he would need to receive compensation for an All-Pro-caliber receiver whose exit would leave a giant hole on offense and trigger significant salary cap repercussions.
A.J. Brown (left) eventually warmed to Mike Vrabel’s coaching in Tennessee, though it was Vrabel’s Titans who ultimately dealt Brown.
And that is why a decision on Brown seemingly will be made sooner — as in the next 10 days ahead of the official start of the “legal tampering” period on March 9 — rather than later. At least that’s the sense sources close to several Eagles with uncertain futures have gotten from their conversations with the team this week.
Roseman should be compelled to make a decision in the immediate future. Moving or keeping Brown impacts almost every other personnel decision he will make this offseason in terms of free agency, contract extensions, and the draft. It’s not an imperative, but waiting would make putting the roster puzzle together more difficult.
Roseman’s messaging has been consistent since the end of the season.
“It’s really hard to find great players,” Roseman said last week to Eagles beat reporters. “I think A.J. is a great player. I think that, from my perspective, we’re looking to improve in all areas, and you don’t do that by subtracting.”
Eagles coach Nick Sirianni tweaked his initial response to questions about Brown after he said he couldn’t “guarantee” the receiver’s return — based on the notion that nothing in life is guaranteed — during his media rounds at the combine on Tuesday. Sirianni avoided the phrasing and said he expects and wants Brown back.
But Roseman will make the final call and he will be the one entertaining offers. And that’s exactly what he has made obvious to interested teams every time he’s been asked about Brown: We’re open for business. Give us your best shot.
“I think you go into the league year listening to offers for everything and anything,” Roseman said last week. “I don’t think that you can go into any conversation with anyone and just shoot things down without hearing what they have to say, because you never know.”
What Roseman is doing here is creating momentum and building a market that would draw in competing offers. All he needs is two interested teams to create leverage. Three teams could get him closer to the finish line, depending upon the value he has assigned to Brown.
Roseman’s tactics are renowned. He’ll set the cost much higher than prevailing wisdom says it should be. One NFL executive said he heard the Eagles were seeking a return that included a first- and second-round draft pick. Whether accurate or not, the price tag is already being floated within league circles.
Teams will check in, some with more interest than others, but Roseman will get a sense of who is serious by their initial offers. He’ll then whittle down their counter-arguments until he grinds out what he views as suitable compensation.
If he doesn’t get that compensation, he won’t trade Brown, even if the receiver has told the Eagles he wants out of Philly. The cap hit — about $45 million — is just too steep. And even if the teams have a handshake deal to wait until June 1 so the Eagles can spread the charge over two years, Roseman probably won’t take anything less than a conditional second-rounder.
Brown may seem to be on the decline. He may have a chronic knee condition that hurt his stock as far back as the pre-draft process. He might be emotional and the occasional headache. But he’s still better than most receivers and seemingly anyone who will be available in free agency.
The draft is another animal. But teams like the Patriots, Bills, and Ravens might be only a Brown away from getting over the championship hump. All three teams have picks in each of the first two rounds. The Patriots have Nos. 31 and 63, the Bills have Nos. 26 and 60, and the Ravens have Nos. 14 and 45.
The Eagles have eight projected picks with one first-rounder (No. 23), one second-rounder (No. 54), and two third-rounders (No. 68 and a No. 98 projected). It’s possible Roseman would accept a 2027 first-rounder in return for Brown.
Howie Roseman acknowledged that nothing is off the table when it comes to trade talks. But he has a history to suggest he won’t be fleeced.
But it seems inconceivable that the Eagles would take anything less than what the Seahawks got for receiver DK Metcalf last offseason — essentially a second-rounder — or the Bills got for receiver Stefon Diggs — essentially second- and fifth-rounders — two offseasons ago.
A trade partner would have to be willing to take on the remaining amount of the three-year, $92 million extension Brown signed two offseasons ago — at about $25 million per over the next two seasons. But that isn’t a backbreaking commitment for a player who turns 29 in June.
The Patriots have a need at the position, even if Diggs reached 1,000 yards receiving in his first season in New England. It was clear in Super Bowl LX that quarterback Drake Maye, despite his deficiencies, was lacking a true No. 1 target.
Brown was rooting for the Patriots, having been a fan since he was young. He went on the Dudes on Dudes podcast hosted by former Patriots Julian Edelman and Rob Gronkowski before the title game and spoke about his affinity for the team and for Vrabel, the coach he said he didn’t initially like in Tennessee.
The Patriots, of course, lost to the Seahawks. The podcast did not air until Feb. 18, however, so Brown’s chumminess with an enemy team might have come off as brash to some Eagles fans. Edelman ended the show by saying, “Just remember, we’re all Patriots. You know that, right?”
Brown winked, as if to suggest that he would become a Patriot, but quickly rebounded and said, “No, no, no. I’m trolling.”
The constant media attention on a potential Brown trade may seem like trolling to Eagles fans reluctant to see the star receiver leave after four dominant seasons. But the prospects are real. Whether it happens or not, the answer could come in a matter of days.
Bill Koch was in a hospital bed for 10 days, imagining this to be how his coaching career would finally end. A doctor sent him immediately to Fox Chase Cancer Center in the fall of 2019 after an annual colonoscopy. Koch had colon cancer. They operated on Koch the next day, stitched his stomach, and left him planning for rounds of chemotherapy and radiation.
Koch (pronounced “Cook”) has been an assistant on Father Judge’s basketball staff since 1979 and has helped the football team even longer. He worked at Judge for more than 30 years as a nonteaching assistant, doing everything from monitoring the lunch periods and substitute teaching to helping kids find a college.
And the 76-year-old is still at the all-boys school in Holmesburg nearly every day, washing the basketball uniforms and making sure everything is just right before another practice begins.
Koch graduated from Judge in 1967, grew up near Holme Circle, and still lives in the Northeast. He helps the football team in the fall and the basketball squad in the winter. Koch was there Sunday when Judge won a second straight Catholic League boys’ title, sitting on the bench as an assistant coach just like he has for the past 47 years.
But for 10 days, Koch wondered whether his time on the sideline was up. Then the doctor returned to his room and sent him home. No chemo. No radiation. It was rare, the doctor told Koch, but the cancer was gone.
“I almost got stopped,” Koch said.
Judge’s mascot is the Crusader, but it can be argued that the school’s symbol is Mr. Koch.
“He’s a lifer,” said basketball coach Chris Roantree. “People associate Mr. Koch with Father Judge and Father Judge with Mr. Koch. He’s been a part of Father Judge for 50-plus years. He’s the ultimate Judge Guy in my eyes in terms of everything he’s done for kids.”
Father Judge assistant coach Bill Koch (left) during a timeout against Roman Catholic during the Catholic League boys’ semifinals on Saturday at the Palestra.
Home on Solly Avenue
Koch didn’t play football at Judge, but he did know how to tape ankles, which was enough for football coach John “Whitey” Sullivan to ask Koch in 1974 to coach the freshman team. Five years later, Bill Fox — often Koch’s teammate in two-on-two at Pollock Playground — added him to the basketball staff.
Koch coached JV hoops for 30 seasons, won 606 games, and never thought about going elsewhere. A basketball program usually changes JV coaches every few years, but not Judge.
Fox, who died of ALS in 2021, once told the Daily News that Koch “bleeds Father Judge blue.” Koch worked basketball camps every summer with the top college coaches and had chances to be an assistant somewhere. He was at home on Solly Avenue.
Judge had more than 3,000 boys when Koch was a student — “If you turned the wrong way, you got bounced,” he said — so there wasn’t any room on the basketball team for a 5-foot-11 kid.
“What are you going to do? I thought I was going to make it,” Koch said.
He hit a growth spurt in college and played on a team at St. Francis in Loretto, Pa., with future NBA players Kevin Porter and Norm Van Lier. He played in the summer with guys from La Salle and St. Joseph’s and said his 50 points at Pollock are still a playground record. He worked after college as a machinist and a roofer before going to work at Judge. He has never left.
“I gave up all the other jobs and I was making good money back then,” Koch said. “But this is something I love. Some people think I’m crazy, but hey, you can’t look back.”
Bill Koch is “the ultimate Judge Guy in my eyes in terms of everything he’s done for kids,” says Father Judge basketball coach Chris Roantree.
Where’s Mr. Koch?
Judge’s basketball team was in San Diego last season when someone stopped the coaches. The man said he was a graduate and then asked to see Koch.
“We always run into someone who says, ‘Where’s Mr. Koch?’” said Jim Reeves, one of the team’s assistants. “The list is endless of people he knows.”
Reeves played a season of JV ball for Mr. Koch, who called the big man “Crazy George” — a reference to an old basketball trickster — every time Reeves grabbed a rebound and started dribbling. Koch kept things loose, let his players play, and made sure they hustled.
“My big thing is it doesn’t take talent to hustle,” Koch said. “So my kids hustle.”
Koch coached Roantree in the 1990s and helped him land a football scholarship to Lycoming College. So of course, Roantree planned to keep Koch as an assistant in 2021 when he took over the program. But Roantree didn’t really have a choice.
Koch keeps stats during games, logs the minutes each player plays, oversees the student managers, and makes sure the practice uniforms are ready. He does the things people often don’t see, Reeves said.
The players — some of whom are more than 60 years younger than Koch — call him “Pop Pop” and develop secret handshakes with him. They put him on TikTok earlier this season and sit with him before practice at the scorer’s table.
“He might not be showing them how to do a drop step, but it’s about the relationships that he forms,” Reeves said. “People couldn’t believe that Chris kept Mr. Koch on. It’s like, ‘Why wouldn’t we leave Mr. Koch on?’ You can see the bond he creates. It gives you a past and present. It bridges the gap from the old Judge to the new Judge.”
Koch said the only time he gets in trouble is if he messes up the clock during practice.
“I think sometimes he dozes off when he’s doing the clock,” Roantree said. “He still does a lot for the program. He’s there every day.”
Father Judge celebrates winning the Catholic League championship over Neumann Goretti on Sunday.
Not done yet
Judge once relied solely on nearby parishes like St. Matthew’s, St. Timothy’s, and St. Jerome’s for enrollment. The basketball team was a bunch of kids from Northeast neighborhoods. But that’s no longer the case as students can now come to Judge from anywhere. Some basketball players, Roantree said, leave their home at 6:30 a.m. to get to school.
The roster isn’t constructed the same way it was in 1998 when Roantree, Reeves, and current assistant Brian Bond won it all.
But they played Sunday against Neumann Goretti in the Catholic League final like a bunch of hard-nosed kids from Mayfair. They hustled after loose balls, grabbed offensive rebounds, and did the little things to hold on to a lead down the stretch. The Crusaders, who play Saturday against Public League champ Imhotep for the city title, are still a team of Judge Guys. And maybe that’s because they have a coaching staff full of former players and a lifer on the bench.
“A lot of the kids we have, it’s almost like their parents would fit in in Northeast Philly because that’s what they are,” Reeves said. “They are from out of the neighborhood, but they have that same mentality.”
Koch eventually got out of his hospital bed during his 10-day stay, walked around Fox Chase Cancer Center, bumped into people he knew, and stopped in the chapel.
“There were people a lot worse off than I was,” Koch said. “I was grateful that I didn’t have to go through what other people have to go through. I’m thankful. I guess a lot of people said prayers for me.”
The doctor told him to return every six months for the next five years to make sure he was cancer free. Five years later, Koch was good. Ring the bell, the doc said.
“But they didn’t have a bell where his office was,” Koch said. “So it was make believe.”
He climbed a ladder on Sunday at the Palestra after Judge — the school he has devoted his life to — won it all. It may have felt like make-believe as Judge won one game in the season before Roantree was hired and went 27 years without a title before winning the last two. But this was real.
The Judge Guy cut down a piece of the net as the other Judge Guys cheered. He’s not done yet.
A new behind-the-scenes series on NWSL players features Voorhees native Riley Tiernan as one of the main characters.
NWSL: The Final Third is co-produced by ESPN and two firms the network knows well, Words + Pictures and Omaha Productions. The former has done many 30 for 30 documentaries — and women’s soccer content for other platforms like Netflix and Amazon’s Prime Video — and the latter has done a raft of shows with ESPN, including the Monday Night Football Manningcast. (Peyton Manning is one of Omaha’s co-owners.)
The three-episode set is centered on Tiernan, Angel City teammate Christen Press (in her last season as a pro), Kansas City’s Lo’eau LaBonta, and Washington’s Trinity Rodman, Hal Hershfelt, and Esme Morgan.
“I always say the key to making series like this successful is choosing characters who are excited by the opportunity and understand that there is a level of vulnerability that’s required,” said Marie Margolius, the show’s director, who’s a devotee of the sport and played at Harvard. “Riley, specifically, certainly understands that. And I think her trajectory in the league has sort of resonated with people because of her vulnerability and because she’s opened up about the challenged road that she’s had.”
Many viewers will pay attention to Press, a longtime U.S. national team star; and Rodman, the American game’s newest phenom. (Among the series’ fun stories is Rodman’s first-person account of how she met her boyfriend, tennis pro Ben Shelton.) LaBonta also is widely popular among women’s soccer fans, thanks to her vibrant personality and viral goal celebrations.
Tiernan isn’t as well-known yet, partially because last year was her pro debut. But this miniseries might help change that.
‘South Jersey is more gritty’
“It was such a cool opportunity,” Tiernan told The Inquirer. “I think any chance I’m given to do things like that is really important to take. They were great people, and they wanted me to just be as raw and authentic as possible, so I just tried my best to to do that.”
Riley Tiernan with some individual brilliance to shake her defenders and fire it home! pic.twitter.com/UgNbLjRZOh
— National Women’s Soccer League (@NWSL) May 25, 2025
We see Tiernan at her southern California apartment with her boyfriend, former Rutgers pitcher Gavin Stellpflug. They met when Tiernan played soccer for the Scarlet Knights, and he moved west to join her last summer.
“He’s been one of the most supportive people throughout my journey here, especially,” Tiernan said. “So just being able to have him not only be here with me in California, but to also want to be involved in all the opportunities I get, I think it shows how much he really cares and how he’s willing to show up for me — even in times where he might not feel super comfortable being on camera and stuff like that. But, yeah, I can’t thank him enough for just being there for me in every way possible through the good and the tough times.”
The show takes viewers through Tiernan’s rookie season in LA, but also back in time a bit through her growth in South Jersey and at Rutgers.
“I would say South Jersey is more gritty, putting in the dirty work,” Tiernan says in the show, amid a montage of old photos and video clips. It was an easy line for TV to seize, but also one of a few that could draw attention from casual viewers who might see the show and decide to tune in to games. The NWSL craves that audience as much as any other sports league does.
“I’m super wild and crazy and a little bit fearless too, so I think that helps me with sports a lot and difficult situations,” Tiernan says later.
The series includes one of those situations: surviving a preseason tryout with Angel City. That was the only way she could get there, since last year was the first after the NWSL abolished its college draft.
Her debut season included eight goals, the most by any rookie in the league, and a Rookie of the Year nomination. That drew praise from interviewees, including former U.S. women’s national team star Sam Mewis, who now hosts a popular podcast on the Men In Blazers media network.
“You may think she’s going to go out on the field and she’s going be dainty and fast, and she’s going to flick her ponytail,” Mewis says. “Riley is the toughest player on the field. … I just think it’s so impressive what she’s brought to a franchise that is really important to the league.”
Riley Tiernan's 8th goal of her rookie season was a beauty with the left foot 👏 pic.twitter.com/fO68aKZVbI
We also see Tiernan on the night of the NWSL’s inaugural awards show, where she was nominated for Rookie of the Year, though the award ultimately went to Gotham FC defender Lilly Reale.
“She’s a star,” Stellpflug says in one of his cameos. “It’s been crazy to watch. She has a look, she’s got the spirit, she’s got the hunger, the tenacity, and, of course, the talent.”
Julie Uhrman, one of Angel City’s cofounders and its CEO, consoled Tiernan at the event: “You will be MVP next year if I have anything to do with it. You’re amazing. You’re f— amazing. OK? You’re amazing.”
Uhrman will step down from the CEO job at the end of March, transitioning to an advisory role and a seat on the club’s board. But Tiernan isn’t going anywhere: last month, she signed a contract extension through 2028.
What happens next is beyond Hollywood’s control because sports is the ultimate reality show. The NWSL regular season starts March 13, Angel City’s opener is two days later, and from there, Tiernan will get to write her own story on the field.
“Her journey to being a contender for Rookie of the Year is one that is full of resilience and mental fortitude and physical strength that I think is really inspiring,” Margolius said. “She also just has this casual, fun vibe to her that I think is going to be really beneficial for the league and the sport. People are going to root for Riley Tiernan — everybody on the production team, by the end of production, was rooting for Riley Tiernan.”
All three episodes went live in ESPN’s streaming app on Wednesday. They will be televised on ESPN2 on Monday starting at 9 p.m. and will also be available to Disney+ subscribers from March 2-31.
These days, when traveling for WNBA coverage or big women’s college basketball games, a conversation with the Uber or Lyft driver may touch on the event.
To my surprise the dialogue often extends to my 40-plus years at The Inquirer, which culminated in the spring of 2010. The driver, especially if they’re knowledgeable of sports, may ask, what is your name?
When given, the immediate response might be Oh, I’ve read your stuff, or Yeah, I know you. You’re a legend!
Similar discourse may occur if I’m writing the overnight roundup for my blog on my iPad in a restaurant or sports bar.
And perhaps I shouldn’t be shocked when recognition comes up in Connecticut when covering the dynasty built by Norristown’s Geno Auriemma.
These are moments that would not have occurred long ago.
In fact, I might have mentioned employment at The Inquirer, but with little or no reference to women’s hoops, since those once involved with the sport were a limited sect of participants and other media, covering their own teams.
So now it’s the 50th anniversary of the Associated Press women’s basketball poll, begun by yours truly at The Inquirer.
Since there are now lots of years of involvement that include lots of tales along the way, many have urged me to author a book.
There’s no book yet, but what follows are moments along the way to becoming the trip lever to a sport now heavily attended and watched by millions on TV.
My interest in journalism in my formative years and time as a manager for the Temple men’s basketball team — in the heyday of the Big 5 when the Owls won the 1969 NIT — were backgrounds when applying for a copy boy slot at the paper down Broad Street, which a few days later turned into a promotion to an editorial clerk on the business page.
Inquirer sportswriter Mel Greenberg in 1981.
The thought of being in sports was nonexistent then since in those days beats were held by longtime veterans.
Now it’s the fall of 1975, and the late Jay Searcy becomes sports editor. He’d been writing a women’s column at the New York Times and was very aware of Immaculata, which was winning national titles, and he asks me to basically create the women’s beat.
A formal role on the writing staff came much later. My “day job” was in other duties, which is its own tale.
I used to joke with women’s basketball coaching legend C. Vivian Stringer, “I’m like you. I teach gym and coach, and all they’re interested in is make sure l’m on time in the morning for gym class.”
When time came to start the poll, I used the way presidential elections were covered on TV, making knowledgeable sources in the nine regions of the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women, which governed women’s sports before the NCAA took over.
Ed Jaworski, then the media contact for Queens College in New York, was my go-to.
He was so thrilled in the first month of the poll that he wrote a piece for Editor & Publisher, the weekly bible for newsroom executives, that became a two-page center spread under the headline “You May Ask, What is The Greenberg Poll,” which was a stunner to The Inquirer’s bosses when the edition arrived on their desks.
A clipping from the Sunday, November 28, 1976, edition of The Philadelphia Inquirer.
What the poll did initially, as I said at the time, was give teams an identity. That created an early impact: The day after Texas hosted Stephen F. Austin, now a top-five contest, a call came from the Lone Star State telling of the massive crowd at the annual game.
When I’d make calls in the early days, they’d start like, “Hi, my name is Mel Greenberg,” “Who?” “At The Philadelphia Inquirer.” That quickly evolved to a Hey, how are you doing? before I could finish my introduction.
In the spring of 1976, Penn State was hosting the AIAW’s 16-team national finals.
In spending hours writing a preview, I thought, If I’m going to get into this, I’m doing it for every writer coming after me who won’t go through the same agony.
This is still in the last stages in the world of typewriters.
I added my own top 20 and noted four key potential upsets in the first round.
That night, a call came from State College. All four had happened.
I thought, this is fun but if I’m going to do a poll, I need someone to blame it on — hence coaches because there wasn’t enough media to be weekly voters.
Five weeks into that first season, I wasn’t keeping records, which caused the late N.C. State coach Kay Yow to call and lecture me, saying I’m going to be the keeper of history moving forward.
Fortunately, a double floppy disc software program called Reflex came along. Those original files from me have migrated into thousands of lines on spreadsheets of Microsoft Excel that enable to note that this week, No. 901 in Year 50, UConn’s Auriemma passed retired Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer with 655 appearances. His Huskies have been ranked a record 622 consecutive weeks dating to preseason 1993-94, a year before their first national title season.
Two years into the rankings, the Collegiate Sports Information Directors Association urged the AP to start running the poll, which began the relationship, with my name attached, and appearing with stories in papers across the nation.
I once told coaches in the early days to be patient. Newsroom executives are getting younger and have daughters in athletics.
Things took a dramatic turn internally when Gene Foreman, our No. 2 in the newsroom, said his daughter, a swimmer at Virginia, also was going to be a trainer on the women’s basketball team, where she and North Philly native Dawn Staley became friends.
Soon, the nicknames started, mainly Mr. Women’s Basketball, but soon enough to Women’s Hoops Guru, the name of my blog, and just when in person, simply Guru.
I recently noted when accepting a special achievement award from the Philadelphia Sports Writers Association at the annual dinner, like Woody Allen in the movie Zelig being at many moments in world history, l’m the equivalent in women’s hoops.
I helped in the AIAW evolve the tournament into a Final Four format for better media and public understanding; together with retired St. Joseph’s coach Jim Foster and retired Villanova coach Harry Perretta, helped formalize women’s Big 5 play; saw the launch of ESPN and the WNBA; and remained deeply involved in the coming of NCAA women’s competition.
Players I’ve covered have become coaches such as Villanova’s Denise Dillon, St. Joe’s Cindy Griffin, and Drexel’s Amy Mallon, while younger media types have gravitated, too.
Yes, there’s much more to tell, but the word limit, even for the internet, is approaching, and so is the deadline.
In later years the many awards have been nice, but it’s the friendships that have made it all worthwhile.
Former Inquirer sportswriter Mel Greenberg (center) works the St. Joseph’s-Penn State women’s basketball game on Nov. 16. Current Inquirer Sixers beat reporter Gina Mizell is at right.
