Sean Deveney

It was only two years ago that first baseman C.J. Cron belted 29 home runs and knocked in 102 RBIs, earning his first-ever All-Star nod while suiting up for the Rockies. That came on the heels of a year in which he hit 28 homers with 92 RBIs, and four years after he whacked 30 homers for the Rays. Cron can hit, and hit with power, and he appeared to be a solid bet to at least make the Red Sox as a bench player when he was signed by the team on March 3. Alas, Cron opted out of the minor-league…

It is an old-school NBA adage that perhaps gets lost somewhat in this era of load management, but it’s still valid: Games played is one of the most important stats on a player’s docket. Rest is one thing, but players who have a proclivity for injury are still subject to red flags around the NBA. And the series of injuries Knicks wing OG Anunoby has had in his career is certainly worthy of a red flag. What’s more, for Anunoby, the flags are coming at the worst possible time, just as he is head…

It was only one game, but it was apparently worth $10 million. When the 49ers signed quarterback Sam Darnold a year ago, the expectation was that he might need to start some games early in the season as Brock Purdy healed from elbow surgery. He was a comforting insurance policy. But Purdy was at 100% by the end of training camp and started the first 16 games for the 49ers. It was not until the season finale, in what was a meaningless game against the Rams, that Darnold finally took the fie…

After the Super Bowl loss to the Chiefs last month, it was obvious that for the San Francisco 49ers to move on with their main pieces intact in 2024, something would have to give. And on Sunday, something did, indeed, give, as plans for the release of star defensive tackle Arik Armstead were reported around the league, adding a surprise new free-agent piece onto the landscape. According to Jordan Schultz of Bleacher Report, the team, which is facing a cap crunch especially as it tries to sign…

There’s little reason to think the Phillies should not pick up where they left off last season, when they used a strong second half to win 90 games and earn the top wild card spot in the postseason. That’s true despite a mostly quiet offseason in which the Phillies re-signed Aaron Nola on a seven-year, $172 million deal, in an offseason in which contracts of that length were near-impossible to find. Uncharacteristically, Dave Dombrowski opted to do little else. It will be much the same Phi…

If anyone from the 2023 Cowboys appeared in line for a change of scenery, the most likely candidate would have been coach Mike McCarthy. But McCarthy is back in Dallas and many of the team’s frontline players will be back, too. But one that should, and most likely will, find himself elsewhere in 2024 is the Cowboys’ Michael Gallup, especially if ESPN has its way. In an article titled, “32 NFL players who need a change of scenery this offseason,” ESPN Cowboys writer Todd Archer picked Gallup a…

It would be a record commitment for college football, but the hot Michigan football rumors has head coach Jim Harbaugh sitting on a contract worth 10 years and $125 million to remain with the top-ranked Wolverines. That’s a $12.5 million-per-year payday that would make him the highest-paid coach in collegiate history. The current record holder for richest contract on a per-year basis is Nick Saban of Alabama, who makes $11.4 million. The Harbaugh contract, according to NFL Network insider…

The NFL draft combine in underway in Indianapolis, and we’ll soon have players rising up draft boards, contract extensions being discussed and front-office executives of all stripes chatting with the media in press conferences. It’s a busy week. But still, a bizarre story about the Cowboys’ Mazi Smith—the team’s first-round pick in 2023—has emerged, involving an abandoned storage unit and some surprisingly valuable University of Michigan merch that has cropped up on Tik Tok. Again, not wha…

For all the heaps of criticism taken by the 49ers Brock Purdy in the past year, despite his overall brilliant numbers, it’s easy to forget that he is just 24 years old and in his second season as an NFL quarterback. Yes, he’s been dubbed a system quarterback, a checkdown artist who thrives not so much on his own talent but on the talent of the stars around him. If that’s the case, though, he made the most of it: 267.5 yards per game, a league-best 7.0% touchdown rate, a league-best 113.0 quar…

Credit Klay Thompson’s camp. It was a wise maneuver, one day after he played off the bench for the first time since his rookie year—and scored 35 points in the bargain—to let it leak that Thompson would be open to testing the market in free agency, and that there could be interest from the likes of the Lakers and Heat. That’s a good way to keep up some pressure on the Warriors and make Thompson the big story of All-Star weekend. But we are still four months from the start of free agency, and…

Over the weekend, legendary running back Emmitt Smith raised some eyebrows by saying he’d like to see the Cowboys make an effort at “stealing” Lions coach Dan Campbell. But in his conversation with Mike Florio and Chris Simms of Pro Football Talk, Smith was not shy about saying how he felt about the current state of the Cowboys and the direction of the team in general under longtime owner Jerry Jones. Buckle up. After a 12-5 season in which the Cowboys won the No. 2 seed and a home game to op…

It was a brutal injury for the 49ers’ Dre Greenlaw, not only because he tore his Achilles tendon, but also because of the scenario in which it happened. He was merely running onto the field during with 9:26 to go in the second quarter of Sunday night’s Super Bowl against the Chiefs, when his left leg gave out. It’s about as freak an accident as could happen on an NFL field. At the time, the 49ers were holding a 3-0 lead. They went on to lose in overtime, 25-22. Certainly, Greenlaw could have…

The 49ers’ loss to the Chiefs in Super Bowl 58 was not all that old when cornerback Charvarius Ward noted a tweet from Jets cornerback Sauce Gardner. To be fair, Gardner was not so much trashing the 49ers as he was giving a thumbs-up to the Chiefs and their ability to squeeze out wins when they look overmatched. Three times in this postseason, in fact, it looked like the Chiefs were not the better team, but walked away with wins over Buffalo, Baltimore and now, the 49ers. https://twitter.c…

Heading into the NFC Championship game on Sunday, the San Francisco 49ers will be eager to see just how much progress wide receiver Deebo Samuel can make as he attempts a quick turnaround following a shoulder injury that knocked him out of last week’s playoff game against the Packers. Samuel was limited in practice on Thursday, January 25, but the fact that he could practice at all was a positive. And one guy who is rooting for Samuel in particular is quarterback Brock Purdy. The 49ers hav…

Prior to being elevated from linebackers coach to NFL head coach with the Las Vegas Raiders—an improbable promotion, no doubt—Antonio Pierce had a scant level of head coaching experience. He’d run the program at Long Beach Poly high school, and had been on staff with Herm Edwards at Arizona State, but had not been anything close to the head coach of an NFL football team. Once he got the job running the Raiders as the interim coach, Pierce turned to a mentor for help, former Bengals coach Marvin…

There was much to celebrate for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers after the team ground out a remarkable playoff win over the teetering Philadelphia Eagles, the defending NFC champions, on January 15. There was little expected from the Buccaneers this season, and at multiple points in the year, it looked as though there would be little given. But quarterback Baker Mayfield completely changed the calculus for this franchise, and he will certainly reap the benefits. In fact, he will net a $250,000 bonus fo…

It was not even halftime, and already the calls were coming in for Mike McCarthy to be fired as head coach of the Dallas Cowboys. Facing his old team, the Packers, it was evident from the opening moments of the game that McCarthy’s team was not ready for this moment and was on its way to another distressing playoff flop. It’s very possible, in fact, that the Packers won the game on the coin toss. They elected to receive the ball to start the game, a somewhat unusual choice, but it was clear t…

No matter how things play out in the coming weeks for the Green Bay Packers, it has become clear that the team’s running game is due for a remake. A.J. Dillon is a free agent and though he is one of the most popular players on the team, he is probably heading elsewhere next year. Aaron Jones has a cap hit of $17 million next year, and could either be traded, take a pay cut (as he did this season) or be waived altogether as a post-June 1 cut. The good news, though, is that the Packers could land…

Depending on whom you’re listening to, you might think former Titans coach Mike Vrabel is no question the guy the New England Patriots are focused on hiring to replace the now-departed Bill Belichick. Or you might think that, no, Mike Vrabel has no chance of being the next Patriots coach, and they’re sticking with linebackers coach Jerod Mayo. We know, obviously, that Belichick is leaving New England. And there are reports that the team’s owner, Robert Kraft, will stick with the succession pl…

While the Carolina Panthers turned into a car crash followed by a dumpster fire, with four different coaches in the past two years, the only guy who actually did something decent with the team—Steve Wilks, who was 6-6 as the interim coach after taking over for Matt Rhule last season—was let go and brought on by the San Francisco 49ers as the team’s defensive coordinator. The 2-14 Panthers sure regret that. But now another team wants to pick off Wilks and make him the fifth 49ers assistant to be…