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NFL free agency doesn’t officially open for a few more weeks. However, the Miami Dolphins helped kick off the transaction portion of the offseason on Monday. The Dolphins officially released wide receiver Tyreek Hill and are anticipated to let go of edge rusher Bradley Chubb. That’s just the start of what should be a busy month-plus ahead, as all 32 teams must be under the salary cap when the new league year begins on March 11. Free agency also opens on March 9, and teams will want to position themselves to land some of the top players on the open market. [2026 NFL Free Agency: The Top 100 Players Available and Potential Fits] For many NFL teams to get under the cap and free up space for new acquisitions, they’ll shed the worst contracts on their roster — these are usually players whose guaranteed money has run out, lessening the cap damage of cutting them. In some cases, teams will be willing to take on substantial “dead money” — that’s cap space devoted to players no longer under contract — to avoid paying out an undeserved salary.So, here are 25 names of players who aren’t free agents now, but seem likely to become available by March 11, joining a long list of pending free agents. Some of them are locks to be cut, others will hinge on how patient their teams will be. These could be starters and solid contributors for another team, just not on their current contract. 25. Mike Danna, DE, Chiefs Danna, 28, has gone full circle, from overachieving fifth-round pick to overpaid veteran. He had 17 sacks in four years on his rookie contract, including 6.5 as a full-time starter in 2023, but since signing a three-year, $24 million deal in 2024, he has just 4.5 sacks in two years, including one in 2025. It’s only $2 million in dead cap to move on from him, and you can’t pay $8 million for a player barely giving rotational production. 24. Grover Stewart, DT, Colts If I call him The Tackle at the End of This List, does anybody get that? Stewart, 32, has 109 starts in nine years with the Colts, but he dropped from 13th in 2024 to 70th in 2025 by PFF’s position rankings, and he’s due to make a non-guaranteed $12 million. As they seek more cap space to keep free agents, he could be a casualty. 23. Michael Carter, CB, Eagles Carter, 26, was acquired by the Eagles from the Jets in a pick swap during last season, but he had only 10 tackles in eight games, largely there as injury insurance. He’s due to make $10 million, so there’s no sense in keeping him unless they see him in a much larger role in 2026. He won’t draw nearly that as a free agent, but you could see him land with Robert Saleh and the Titans, who have ample cap space to upgrade their secondary. 22. Dalvin Tomlinson, DT, Cardinals Tomlinson, turning 32 later in February, signed a two-year deal with Arizona last year and is due to make $14 million in 2026. Going from Cleveland to Arizona, he dropped from 18 quarterback hits in 2024 to just three in 2025 despite starting all 17 games. PFF ranked him as the league’s 114th-best interior defender. Perhaps to Atlanta to rejoin Kevin Stefanski if they lose David Onyemata in free agency? 21. Joe Mixon, RB, Texans Mixon, 29, missed all of 2025 with a mysterious non-football foot injury, and he’s due to make a non-guaranteed $8 million in 2026, so it’s easy to see Houston moving on here. The Texans ranked 29th in yards per carry without him, but they’ll have to upgrade elsewhere. Mixon made the Pro Bowl with the Texans in 2024, rushing for 1,016 yards and 11 touchdowns, but his age and injury uncertainty will make for a limited market for him. Could he follow Bobby Slowik to the Dolphins for depth and a healthy reset there? 20. James Conner, RB, Cardinals Conner, 30, was limited by a foot injury to just three games in 2025. He had back-to-back 1,000-yard rushing seasons for Arizona in 2023-24, setting up a two-year, $19 million deal. But there’s no guaranteed money in 2026, so he’s likely cut. The Cardinals dealt with multiple running back injuries last year, but new coach Mike LaFleur will likely seek a younger backfield. Perhaps he lands as a backup in Dallas and reunites with Klayton Adams? 19. Taylor Decker, OT, Lions Decker, 32, has talked about retiring and could make the decision for Detroit. He’s played 10 years there and made 140 starts, but his Pro Football Focus grade in 2025 was his lowest since 2017. He’s due to make $18 million, and Detroit would have about $9 million in dead money if he didn’t return, but the savings could allow them to keep another free agent, or find his successor. 18. T.J. Hockenson, TE, Vikings Hockenson, 28, is the NFL’s fourth-highest-paid tight end at better than $16 million a year, and he’s totaled three touchdowns in the last two seasons while recovering from injury. Minnesota would have $12 million in dead money from cutting him, but it’s hard to see him being worth the $16 million he’s due to make. One potential landing spot? Jacksonville, which could use a proven target to pair with Brenton Strange, and he and Jaguars offensive coordinator Grant Udinski worked together in Minnesota. 17. Marshon Lattimore, CB, Commanders Lattimore, 29, has been injured and ineffective since Washington gave up third- and fourth-round picks to get him from the Saints at the 2024 trade deadline. He’s due to make $18 million and there’s zero dead money in cutting him, and he ranked 95th among corners by Pro Football Focus last season. The Commanders need a full makeover on defense and he’ll be part of it. Where does he land? Would the Bears and Dennis Allen take him for depth if they lost Nahshon Wright in free agency? 16. Mekhi Becton, G, Chargers Becton, 26, has played out the full arc of NFL highs and lows — a first-round pick, didn’t work out with Jets, bounces back with Eagles in a championship season, lands a big deal as a free agent, now soon to be cut. He’s due to make $10 million and was 77th out of 79 guards by Pro Football Focus last year. The Chargers were missing both tackles due to injury, but his play dropped off enough that he could be part of an overhaul to their interior offensive line. With Jeff Stoutland gone, the Eagles seem like less of a match to return. 15. L’Jarius Sneed, CB, Titans Sneed, 29, was a huge signing from the Chiefs two years ago — $19 million a year — but after missing only three games in his final three seasons in Kansas City, he’s played only 12 games in two years in Tennessee due to quad and knee injuries. No interceptions and a full regime change mean he’s likely done with the Titans, who have plenty of cap space but can move on here. Going back to the Chiefs on the cheap could help their difficult cap decisions. 14. Cole Kmet, TE, Bears Kmet, 26, had his role reduced with the arrival of rookie Colston Loveland this past season, finishing with 347 yards, his lowest total since his rookie year, and only two touchdowns. His contract isn’t that bad — he’s due $10 million this season, so there’s a chance the Bears could find a trade partner for a late-round pick or pick swap. It’s just hard to pay a No. 2 tight end that much, and his touchdowns have dropped from 7-6-4-2 in the last four seasons. If cut, could he be an Isaiah Likely replacement with Declan Doyle in Baltimore? 13. Kenny Clark, DL, Cowboys Clark, 30, was part of the return from Green Bay on the Micah Parsons trade, so it’ll seem like a bad cut, but you don’t need three $20 million defensive linemen on one defense, let alone the worst defense in the NFL in 2025. Quinnen Williams is staying and it’s smarter to keep Osa Odighizuwa. There’s also zero dead cap for cutting Clark, so it’s $20 million in cap savings to address the rest of the defense. He spent nine years with the Packers, so if he doesn’t go back, you could see him follow Joe Barry to Miami. 12. Geno Smith, QB, Raiders There are quarterbacks with enormous contracts and dead-money hits we’re not including here like Miami’s Tua Tagovailoa and Arizona’s Kyler Murray, thinking that those teams will eat considerable salary to facilitate a trade to avoid paying it all out. That could be the case for Smith, 35, who struggled in Las Vegas and has $18 million guaranteed in his 2026 salary. There’s a Cousins-Penix vibe to keeping him as an expensive backup, but it seems more likely they lessen the distraction for a rookie starter and just cut Smith loose. Smith is entering Russell Wilson territory as a former star relegated to bridge-type roles with no guarantee of starting. 11. Patrick Queen, LB, Steelers Queen, still only 26, was a top free agent signing two years ago. He made the Pro Bowl his first year in Pittsburgh and had 120 tackles in 2025, but Pro Football Focus had him ranked 79th out of 80 linebackers, so it’s hard to see the Steelers paying him $13 million this season. Could he land back in Baltimore with Jesse Minter and Anthony Weaver, or with John Harbaugh and the Giants? 10 Bryce Huff, edge rusher, 49ers Huff, 27, got a big contract after a 10-sack season with the Jets in 2023 — $17 million a year — but he had only 2.5 sacks with the Eagles in 2024, got traded for a fifth-round pick and managed four sacks (and two forced fumbles) for San Francisco last season. He has a $15 million option bonus coming, but hasn’t played close to that value. Soft place to land? How about a reunion with Jeff Ulbrich in Atlanta, where the Falcons might need pass-rush help due to James Pearce Jr.’s recent arrest. 9. Calvin Ridley, WR, Titans Ridley, 31, was a bad miss for the Titans, getting $23 million a year and totaling four touchdowns in two seasons. He missed half of 2025 with leg and ankle injuries and is almost certainly gone. Cutting him means $13 million in dead money, but they shed a $21 million salary as they rebrand under Robert Saleh. It would also make it easier to find a legit No. 1 receiver for Cam Ward. Could he take a one-year prove-it deal with the Commanders and his old Falcons coach, Dan Quinn? 8. Jawaan Taylor, OT, Chiefs Taylor, 28, played every snap in two Super Bowls for the Chiefs, winning one, but he’s due to make $20 million in 2026 and the Chiefs are way over the cap, so he makes sense as one of their cuts. He’s led them in penalties in each of his three years in Kansas City — 41 accepted penalties in all — and the Chiefs have invested draft picks in their line to get ahead of this. Could he follow offensive coordinator Matt Nagy to the Giants? Pro Football Focus ranked him 76th out of 80 tackles this past season. 7. Justin Fields, QB, Jets Fields, 26, has $10 million of his 2026 salary guaranteed, so cutting him means a rough $30 million for nine starts and two wins. Fields has 21 total touchdowns in 15 starts with the Steelers and Jets, so he’s likely no more than a bridge quarterback in 2026, a one-year stopgap hoping to reset himself in the right opportunity. Where does he land? He’s from Kennesaw, Georgia, so could he be a reasonably priced match for the hometown Falcons as they seek a veteran to hedge their bet on Michael Penix? 6. Stefon Diggs, WR, Patriots Diggs, 32, had a productive regular season with 1,013 receiving yards. But he only had four touchdowns before going quiet in the playoffs with 110 yards and one touchdown in four games, which is not what you pay a receiver $23 million to do. Diggs has no guaranteed money in 2026, and cutting him would result in $8 million in dead money, but it saves his $21 million salary to focus on keeping other free agents. Diggs averaged nine touchdowns a year in four Pro Bowl seasons in Buffalo from 2020-23. Will he ever get back to that level of production again? 5. Marlon Humphrey, CB, Ravens Humphrey, 29, is due to make $19 million this year but saw a significant dropoff in 2025, going from the Pro Bowl and a first-team All-Pro nod in 2024 to ranking 103rd out of 112 corners by Pro Football Focus’ grading. He has 10 interceptions in the last two seasons, so he’ll have a solid demand for his services. He’s played his entire career for John Harbaugh, so the Giants should be in play. 4. Michael Pittman, WR, Colts Pittman, 28, is due to make $24 million this season, but it’s not guaranteed, so cutting him results in only $5 million in dead money, setting up a tough call for the Colts as they decide on several key free agents. Pittman had a career-best seven touchdowns last year, but 800 yards isn’t what you’re expecting for the money he’s paid. Cutting him makes it easier for the Colts to keep Alec Pierce (at a similar cost), so if he’s cut loose, Pittman could end up on a lesser deal, perhaps reuniting with Frank Reich and the Jets. 3. Rashan Gary, edge rusher, Packers Gary, 28, had 7.5 sacks after seven games, making the most of the attention Micah Parsons was drawing from opponents. Then he went the rest of the season without a single sack or tackle for loss, so his future is very uncertain. He’s due to count $28 million against the cap in 2026, and cutting him would still leave $17 million in dead money. But it’s possible Green Bay pivots to younger rushers like Lukas Van Ness and Kingsley Enagbare and uses the cap savings to get help elsewhere. Could he follow Jeff Hafley to Miami? 2. Brandon Aiyuk, WR, 49ers Aiyuk, 27, got a massive $30 million-a-year deal less than two years ago, but the 49ers were able to void his remaining guarantees as he rehabbed from a major knee injury. He missed all of 2025 with the injury, so his value is tough to ballpark. How likely is a new team to get 2023 Aiyuk, who had 1,342 receiving yards and seven touchdowns? He’s been mentioned as a match for the Commanders, as he and Jayden Daniels were teammates at Arizona State, and general manager Adam Peters was with the 49ers when they drafted him. If he resets on a one-year deal, does he even get half what his last contract paid per year? 1. Kirk Cousins, QB, Falcons Cousins, 37, restructured his deal with the Falcons to set up a cut ahead of free agency, and Atlanta will have $35 million in dead money counting against their 2026 cap after cutting him. He played well when he filled in for Michael Penix following the second-year quarterback’s season-ending knee injury, going 5-3 and throwing 10 touchdowns against five interceptions. So, he bounced back after leading the NFL with 16 picks in 2024. With limited quarterback options in free agency or the draft, he’ll have a market at a reduced rate. Could he return to the Vikings and Kevin O’Connell? Minnesota might be on the market for a quarterback this offseason after J.J. McCarthy’s struggles in 2025.Latest Sports News from FOX Sports
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Trauma leaves its mark. Childhood trauma most of all.
When Dove Cameron was just a little girl, her friend was murdered.
This terrible tragedy should never have happened. And Dove should never have found out the way that she did.
This horror has left a lingering mark upon her psyche for life.
A vicious crime and a trauma that will always follow her
During a recent episode of the Call Her Daddy podcast, Dove opened up about a life-altering childhood trauma.
When she was 9 years old, her childhood friend, Hayley, died.
Hayley’s father, Steve, killed both of his daughters and himself.
Both girls grew up in Bainbridge Island, Washington.
Dove had known Hayley from the time when both girls were only 2 years old. Losing a friend of 7 years would be a horror for anyone, but for a 9-year-old, it’s essentially her entire life.
“Some little girls they meet each other, and they’re like, ‘Oh, that’s like you, and it’s funny,’” Dove recalled of their childhood similarities.
Growing emotional multiple times during the interview, the actress and singer admitted that she “rarely talks about this.”
Dove clarified: “Not because it’s a problem to talk about, but just like it’s so not the first thing that people usually ask me.”
She remembers Hayley’s parents going through a “messy” divorce. The girls still hung out, but even as a child, she could tell that something was wrong.
“I had stayed with her dad for like quite a lot of the summer before [the murder] happened,” Dove described. “And I think even at 8, it was like a dark energy. He was a very angry man.”
She wasn’t supposed to learn about the murder this way
Dove was home sick from school as a third grader and picked up the landline phone, overhearing a call that her parents received from Hayley’s school’s principal.
“She basically said like, ‘This is going to be a really, really disturbing call. Hayley and [her sister] Kelsey are gone. Steve is gone, and he took the girls with him,’” Dove recalled.
“I think they heard me like express some sort of child noise, like a gasp,” she admitted.
Dove continued: “And then I they came in and and we just like didn’t get out of bed for two days.”
She acknowledged: “It was so impossible to process.”
At the time, Dove’s parents tried putting her in therapy to cope with the trauma of her friend’s murder.
“I was very very very very very disturbed by knowing someone for all that time and being like raised around them,” she described.
“And,” Dove continued, “then realizing that they are capable of doing something so harrowing,”
She characterized the trauma of losing her friend by saying that it had “fissured” her brain, forever altering how she processes things.
“I still have issues,” Dove acknowledged.
What happened?
On November 22, 2004, Steve Byrne murdered his daughters, Kelsey and Hayley.
Police found both girls in their bed without an immediately apparent cause of death. Their killer had taken his own life with a gun.
One of the biggest motives for family annihilators is a sudden loss of control. Children growing up and changing, a divorce, losing a job. Sometimes, there is an element of revenge against a survivor — like an ex-wife.
According to Byrne’s attorney, he believed that the legal system was unfair to fathers. He was also apparently furious about his ex-wife’s move following their acrimonious divorce.
There is a depth of evil in people that most never suspect until it springs to the surface.
Dove Cameron Details Murder of Childhood Friend, Lasting Trauma was originally published on The Hollywood Gossip.
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Maryland Gov. Wes Moore’s national political ambitions could be stymied by Democrats in his own backyard.
The governor’s power play to redraw the state’s congressional lines and snare Democrats a single House seat has earned him accolades from progressive activists and party leaders in Washington, raising his profile as he weighs a 2028 presidential run. But Moore also has been outmaneuvered at times by members of own party, particularly those in the Maryland Senate where his gerrymander blitz is facing an unceremonious death.
The redistricting gambit is one of the first big political tests Moore has faced that has national implications and could elevate him further within the party — or expose weaknesses as he positions himself as a counterweight to President Donald Trump.
Critics say Moore hasn’t been aggressive enough in using bare-knuckle tactics to push through his agenda. Supporters say the first-term governor is focused on redistricting because he sees it as vital to his future national ambitions. Some national Democrats question whether Moore can lead the nation if he fails to bend lawmakers in a solidly blue state with a Democratic-controlled Legislature to enact his policy priorities. POLITICO spoke to almost two dozen state and federal lawmakers and Democratic strategists for this story.
David Turner, Moore’s senior adviser and communications director, said the governor spearheading Maryland’s redistricting effort is not about furthering his political career.
“Anyone who thinks this is about national ambitions isn’t paying enough attention to the damage being done in 2026,” he said. “The Governor has been clear: at a time when other states are discussing mid-decade redistricting, Maryland needs to as well.”
Moore’s inability to convince enough Maryland Democratic senators to go along with redrawing maps has drawn unfavorable comparisons to California Gov. Gavin Newsom, another likely 2028 White House contender who successfully pushed through a major redistricting effort in his state. After California voters approved the state’s redistricting proposal, Newsom urged other states, including Maryland, to “contribute a verse” in the party’s gerrymandering push.
“If he did kind of match Gavin in terms of that effectiveness, being able to take this issue, win on it and kind of help build his image, I think that would [have been] a great opportunity for him,” said Paul Mitchell of Moore. Mitchell is a redistricting expert and architect of the newly adopted California congressional maps.
While Moore championed bills to raise the state’s minimum wage, worked to reduce Baltimore’s homicide rate to near 50-year lows and helped Marylanders cover soaring energy costs, in December, Maryland Democrats overrode at least 16 of the governor’s vetoes — tying his predecessor, GOP Gov. Larry Hogan, for the most he had in a single year during his two terms. That included one override veto over an issue that peeved many Black lawmakers months earlier: Moore’s blockage of the formation of a commission to study reparations in the state.
Weeks after his reparations veto, Moore traveled to an early presidential primary state to deliver the keynote remarks at the South Carolina Democrats Blue Palmetto Dinner, where he said: “Gone are the days when we are the party of bureaucracy, multi-year studies, panels and college debate club rules.”
It is a stark illustration of the criticism that’s followed Moore since he cruised to victory in his first-ever election four years ago: that he’s using the governor’s mansion as a springboard to Washington instead of doing the work of building relationships in Annapolis to get his bills across the finish line.
“Truly, Wes Moore is a great candidate…He has the pizzazz and the swagger that some folks wish they could have,” a Democratic strategist who has worked on state, local and presidential campaigns said and granted anonymity to offer an unvarnished assessment of Moore. “But the operations of his political tentacles are weak. His inside political network is weak.”
Moore addressed some of this criticism head on last week, where the tension was palpable during a joint address of the General Assembly.
“I will not stand here and tell you that I have gotten it all right,” Moore said in his State of the State address Wednesday. “It’s taken time to build relationships. It’s taken time to learn Annapolis. I am an outsider at heart, and I don’t see that changing,” he said before ramping up to a central theme of his remarks – and pressuring Senate Democrats to take up a congressional redistricting bill.
He characterized his months-long public tussle with Maryland Senate President Bill Ferguson as “a very principled disagreement.”
Though the Maryland House of Delegates approved legislation Moore backed to redraw the seat of the state’s lone Republican, House Freedom Caucus chair Rep. Andy Harris, Maryland’s gerrymandering effort is still being blocked in the state Senate.
Ferguson has maintained he will not bring the bill up for a vote, saying there is not enough support for it in his chamber, it’s legally risky and adopting the new maps would jeopardize Maryland’s current 7-1 advantage.
Many national Democrats have pressured Ferguson and other holdouts, including former Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, who in an interview with CNN on Sunday suggested he would travel to Annapolis to meet with Ferguson.
Two Moore aides, granted anonymity to discuss internal strategy, also point out that top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), who previously served in the Maryland Senate, penned a letter to state lawmakers this week calling it a “clear and present danger” not to act. Raskin also sought to undercut Ferguson’s legal justification for not acting, pointing to recent decisions by the U.S. Supreme Court allowing both Texas and California to use their redrawn maps ahead of the midterms. But the Senate leader appears unswayed.
“I think the miscalculation is that a lot of people are being led to believe that it’s only Bill who doesn’t want the map,” said one Maryland Legislative Black Caucus member granted anonymity to discuss internal party dynamics.
Maryland’s Feb. 24 candidate filing deadline is quickly approaching — the date Ferguson and supporters say any changes beyond that date will be too late and overly disruptive to the state elections calendar.
The two Moore aides argued that it is an arbitrary deadline and pointed to legislation working its way through the Maryland House pushing the filing deadline to late March.
A December poll by University of Maryland, Baltimore County found just 27 percent of Maryland residents said redrawing maps was a top issue, signaling affordability and quality education were top of mind.
Maryland-based Democratic strategist Len Foxwell said Moore’s attempts so far to win over voters in the state have been too focused on cable television and podcast appearances, adding the governor’s redistricting push never gained steam because he and his team “botched the rollout so badly.”
Instead of engaging in the kind of aggressive public relations campaign that Newsom launched to sell voters on the need to gerrymander, Moore created an advisory commission to solicit public input. Its meetings were held virtually and typically at odd hours, with most proceedings taking place late on Friday afternoons. The outcome of whether the commission was going to recommend new maps was never in doubt.
“The work of the commission was a rather dreary exercise in muscle-flexing,” Foxwell said. “The clear message was that we are doing this because we can do it. And I don’t think that was a message that was satisfying.”
Moore hasn’t deployed scorched-earth tactics against Ferguson, unlike the kind Trump encouraged where he threatened to primary Indiana Republicanswho wouldn’t support his attempt to gerrymander in the Hoosier state. Indiana Senate Republicans ultimately blocked Trump’s push.
Jeffries, who could become the nation’s first Black speaker should Democrats take back the U.S. House this fall, said during a hastily arranged press conference in the U.S. Capitol in late January that Marylanders “deserve an up or down vote.” Moore, standing shoulder-to-shoulder with Jeffries, looked on as the Democratic congressional leader directed his disdain toward Ferguson, though he never named him.
Behind the scenes, Jeffries and other top Democrats backing Moore are working around Ferguson by leaning on the Black Caucus to force a rarely-used state Senate procedure to discharge the redistricting bill out of the chamber’s Rules Committee. If it’s successful it will force a floor vote on the House-passed bill. But just one member of the Black Caucus is openly supporting that tactic and the prevailing thought is the legislation will sit in purgatory until the General Assembly session ends in April.
The Maryland Legislative Black Caucus member added that while Moore is seen as a rising Democratic star on the national stage, there is work to be done by the governor in Annapolis.
“I think it’s that his folks are trying to insulate him from some things,” the lawmaker continued. “Because if he starts to have those relationships, then he’s going to start to hear that some of these ideas that he has are not necessarily the best, and that becomes a problem for some of his national aspirations.”
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The next college football game is still more than six months away, but you might already have a sense of which programs are moving in the right direction. At least that’s what FOX Sports lead college football analyst Joel Klatt believes. In the most recent episode of “The Joel Klatt Show,” Klatt shared three teams he thinks are trending in the right direction and three teams that are trending toward taking a step back in 2026. As Klatt iterated, this isn’t necessarily a list of teams that he thinks will or won’t make the College Football Playoff. Rather, it’s a list of teams that are either building momentum or have lost some control this offseason. So, let’s take a look and see which teams Klatt likes at the moment and who he thinks might need a reality check. Trending up USC Klatt is optimistic about USC because of its foundation. “I think it’s time to get a little bit bullish on USC,” Klatt said. “This is a team that has the experienced quarterback coming back. I think we all now understand that’s what it takes to be successful in college football. So, you’ve got Jayden Maiava back. “Here’s the part that I actually think is more impactful: How about getting the entire offensive line back? Now, we’re talking because you’ve got a quarterback, offensive line and the entire backfield back. King Mack, who had to fill in after Waymond Jordan was injured, is back, and you have both him and Jordan back in the backfield. So, you’ve got what I believe to be, at least the potential of, the best running game Riley has had since his OU days. You remember those old Trey Sermon, Rodney Anderson days when they were just running roughshod over everybody? I think USC can be a dominant run team.” To Klatt’s point, that run game helped USC rank sixth in the Big Ten in rushing last season. Klatt believes that continuity will help the Trojans fill the void left by wide receiver Makai Lemon going to the NFL, as he also praised USC’s recent defensive coordinator hire. “Lincoln Riley lost D’anton Lynn, the defensive coordinator whom I was a big fan of, but he brings in Gary Patterson,” Klatt said. “I really love the idea of having Gary Patterson here for Lincoln Riley. He built a winner at TCU. He’s a defensive-oriented guy, he’s got high energy and a wealth of experience Lincoln can use and bounce things off of. That’s a win. Now, I think Lynn is great. So, I’m not saying this is an upgrade or a downgrade. But it’s a win for Lincoln Riley and USC to get Gary Patterson. UCLA Klatt isn’t predicting UCLA to make the CFP next season. However, he thinks the Bruins can have a “decent year,” play in a bowl game and possibly do “more” than that because of new head coach Bob Chesney.” “I think UCLA is clearly pointing in the right direction and pointing up,” Klatt said. “Bob Chesney’s a very good football coach. The reason I know that is because when Curt Cignetti left James Madison, a lot of those players left. It’s not like Chesney was left some war chest at JMU to continue to win. Guess what he did? Continue to win. Nine wins in his first season post-Cignetti, and Cignetti took 13 players with him to Indiana. Then, he took JMU to the playoff in Year 2. He went 21-6 in two seasons. He knows what it’s about. He’s a very good football coach.” Chesney’s two seasons at JMU were actually his first two years coaching in Division I. Prior to that, Chesney was one of the top coaches in the lower levels of college football. He went 111-46 over 14 seasons between his stops at Salve Regina, Assumption and Holy Cross. In addition to Chensey’s pedigree, Klatt also believes UCLA is in a great spot at quarterback entering 2026. “[Chesney] doesn’t have to start over at the most important position. He has a two-year starting quarterback — one at Tennessee, one at UCLA — and Nico Iamaleava is 25 starts in and he’s a five-star player,” Klatt said. “I know Tennessee fans don’t like this guy and maybe a lot of fans don’t like him because of everything that happened last offseason, but the fact remains that was not a good football team, except for him. He was the one that would give them a chance. Now, you surround him with some better players.” Virginia Tech Similar to UCLA, Klatt has Virginia Tech here because he likes their head coach and quarterback. “I think Virginia Tech made a great hire with James Franklin,” Klatt said. “That’s a good football coach who just kind of capped out with his ceiling at Penn State. You can’t argue with what he was able to accomplish at Penn State. The guy was successful, very successful. He didn’t win some of the bigger games and they ran him out, which is fine. I’m not saying they shouldn’t have. Candidly, I would’ve admitted that it was time for a change. But he was a very good coach. He goes to Virginia Tech, which is a place that I think he can fit and he’s recruited that area very well over his career.” Franklin has proven that point to be correct. He quickly helped Virginia Tech’s 2026 recruiting ranking improve to No. 30, while the Hokies’ transfer portal class ranked 19th this offseason, per 247 Sports. One of the highlights of that transfer portal class was quarterback Ethan Grunkemeyer, whom Klatt shared an interesting anecdote about. “I hope he doesn’t get mad at me for telling this, but Grunkemeyer played really well against Indiana and Penn State,” Klatt said. “After the game, I was texting with Indiana defensive coordinator Bryant Haines in preparation for future games and I was like, ‘Credit to that offensive line, they ran the ball well.’ He texted back, ‘I was so impressed by their quarterback.’ One of the two or three defensive coordinators I respect the most in college football is Haines, and when he tells me that a guy was unbelievable and hard to stop, that tells you something.” Stock down Alabama Klatt’s reasoning for placing Alabama as a team with its stock down is simple: It isn’t on the same level as the two elite teams in the SEC, Georgia and Texas, which is a new reality in Tuscaloosa. “The reality is, they’re coming off back-to-back four-loss years,” Klatt said. “The best part of their team was Ty Simpson — by a wide margin — and they’re losing him. I don’t love what’s going on down there. They got blown out by Georgia in the SEC Championship Game. They got blown out by Indiana. Indiana did whatever they wanted to do. They ran the ball 50 times straight at Alabama. This is not the Alabama of two, three, four or five and certainly not 10 years ago. Alabama has been trending down and I think that trend is going to continue.” As Kalen DeBoer has gone 20-8 in his first two years at Alabama, Klatt has concerns for him at quarterback and across the roster. “They have got to figure out their quarterback for next year. Is it going to be Austin Mack or Keelon Russell? They’ve got zero starts between them in an era where experience is everything you need at that position,” Klatt said. “When you look at Alabama’s portal, it was OK. I don’t think it was great. To me, it was a trajectory thing for Alabama. They’re on a trajectory that is down. I don’t think that’s going to stop. It has to level out at some point in order to go back up. But I don’t sense that moment of Alabama leveling out soon.” Alabama had the 17th-best transfer portal class in the country, but only the sixth-best transfer portal class in the SEC, per 247 Sports. The Crimson Tide also lost a few starters in the portal, watching wide receiver Isaiah Horton go to Texas A&M and defensive linemen Qua Russaw and James Smith go to Ohio State. Florida State It’s been a rough couple of years for Mike Norvell at Florida State after the Seminoles went 13-1 in 2023, posting a 7-17 record in the last two years. Klatt doesn’t see that changing any time soon for a myriad of reasons. “It’s hard for me not to put Florida State on this list,” Klatt said. “Florida State was down bad and there really isn’t any light at the end of that tunnel. What happened after Week 1, beating Alabama, did not go well. Quarterback looks like it’s going to be Ashton Daniels, who bounced around and was Auburn’s backup last year and played at the end of the season after starting out at Stanford. Is that the answer you want? I don’t know. “Then, late in the coaching carousel process, Gus Malzahn, their offensive coordinator, decides to retire. I like Mike Norvell. I think Mike Norvell’s a pretty good football coach. I think that’s a challenging place. They went the portal route and then once you miss in the portal route, it’s like trying to get back on the merry-go-round when it’s going really fast. It’s tough to do. It hasn’t worked out for them.” While Florida State had the 15th-best recruiting class and 27th-best transfer portal class this offseason, per 247 Sports, Klatt doesn’t believe that’s going to lead to a sudden turnaround. “In the last two years, they’re 0-9 on the road. Is it going to get better next year? If you just base it off who they brought in, both in the high school level and from the transfer portal, I question it,” Klatt said. “Now, how good is the ACC going to be? I don’t know, but they’ve been good enough to beat Florida State.” Utah Finally, Klatt has Utah among his teams trending in the wrong direction, even though he doesn’t blame the Utes for the way they handled former head coach Kyle Whittingham’s departure. After going 11-2 this past season, Klatt thinks Utah will take a step back this year due to the coaches and talent it lost to Michigan. “Not only did Kyle Whittingham jump back into the coaching ranks, but he did so at a blue blood, where it was going to be incredibly enticing for those loyal to Kyle at Utah to join him and take a run at this thing. That’s exactly what happened,” Klatt said. “Jason Beck, who was outstanding for Utah as the offensive coordinator, leaves, and now he’s at Michigan. A couple of Utah’s best players, defensive lineman John Henry Daley and cornerback Smith Snowden, are gone to Michigan.” Klatt continued to iterate that he thought Utah did “everything right” with its succession plan, naming defensive coordinator Morgan Scalley its head coach in waiting ahead of the 2024 season. But he thinks Whittingham’s decision to go to Michigan will put a halt to the momentum the program built in 2025. “It had been setting things up for a number of years, and that might be what hurt Utah in this whole carousel,” Klatt said. “Utah had been setting this up for Morgan Scalley, the defensive coordinator, to take over for Kyle Whittingham at the right time. It was going to be the Bob Stoops to Lincoln Riley and the Urban Meyer to Ryan Day handoff. Then, it wasn’t. I’ve got to tell you, it concerns me for Utah.”Latest Sports News from FOX Sports
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