Texas wide receiver Matthew Golden left Indianapolis as the offensive 40-yard dash king, as he ran it in 4.29 seconds at the 2025 NFL Scouting Combine. Prior to this weekend, Golden was viewed as a potential late first-round pick, but could his on-field performance skyrocket him up draft boards?
On Sunday, former New York Jets general manager and ESPN analyst Mike Tannenbaum said “there’s no doubt” that Golden will be the first wide receiver taken in the 2025 NFL Draft because of his speed and route-running ability. It’s fair to assume that Tannenbaum is not including reigning Heisman Trophy winner Travis Hunter in this discussion, since it’s unknown if he will play more at wide receiver or cornerback in the NFL, but it’s notable that Tannenbaum believes Golden has overtaken some of the other big names at wide receiver.
Matthew Golden
TEXAS • WR • #2
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Golden is currently CBS Sports’ No. 34 overall prospect and No. 4 wide receiver behind Ohio State’s Emeka Egbuka (No. 28 overall prospect), Missouri’s Luther Burden III (No. 13) and Arizona’s Tetairoa McMillan (No. 7). CBS Sports’ pro comparison for Golden is New Orleans Saints wide receiver Chris Olave, and his scouting report indicates this is a polished pass-catcher who should make an immediate impact at the next level:
“Matthew Golden is a versatile inside-out receiver with good burst off the line and in his routes. His speed plays best on the vertical route tree, where he excels on double moves. While not the sharpest route runner in change-of-direction situations, he’s far from stiff; he just lacks ideal flexibility.
Golden showcases strong body control and can make difficult sideline grabs outside his frame. He has quick feet to beat press coverage but lacks the strength to consistently fight through contact. After the catch, he’s more of a straight-line runner than an elusive playmaker, getting north-south efficiently but lacking lateral wiggle and contact balance.
His hands are solid, though not elite, and he holds up well in traffic. Overall, Golden is a polished, reasonably explosive receiver with a skill set that should translate well to the next level.”
The Texas speedster caught 58 passes for 987 yards and nine touchdowns in 16 games played last year. His nine receiving touchdowns were tied for the most in the SEC. Two of Golden’s best outings came in the postseason. He caught eight passes for 162 yards in the SEC Championship game vs. Georgia and then seven passes for 149 yards and one touchdown in the Longhorns’ thrilling Peach Bowl victory vs. Arizona State.
The Dallas Cowboys have several big-name free agents they will have to make decisions on, including star defensive tackle Osa Odighizuwa. It’s no secret that Jerry Jones would like to keep him in the fold following his career year. In fact, ESPN reports that the Cowboys plan to place the franchise tag on Odighizuwa if the two parties cannot agree to a long-term deal by the Tuesday, March 4 deadline.
If Odighizuwa were to play on the one-year tag, he would make a fully-guaranteed $25,122,000 in 2025, per Over The Cap. We have already seen one team utilize the franchise tag, as the Kansas City Chiefs slapped it on star offensive guard Trey Smith last week. Teams who utilize the tag will have until July 15 to reach a multi-year deal with the player.
player headshot team logo Osa Odighizuwa DAL • DT • #97 View Profile Odighizuwa recorded the second-most pressures among defensive tackles last season with 60, trailing only Chris Jones’ 74. Odighizuwa registered more pressures and a higher pressure rate than Philadelphia Eagles star Jalen Carter in 2024, to go along with 47 combined tackles, 4.5 sacks and 23 quarterback hits in 17 games played.
“Obviously Osa has done a terrific job for us,” new Cowboys head coach Brian Schottenheimer said last week, via The Fort Worth Star-Telegram. “He’s a terrific young player. He does everything right. As those communications keep going, it’s never done until it’s done. He’s a guy we would love to have back.”
The Cowboys selected Odighizuwa in the third round of the 2021 NFL Draft out of UCLA. In 67 career games played, he has recorded 13.5 sacks for Dallas.
After just 11 games, Davante Adams’ time with the New York Jets has come to an end. NFL Media reports that the Jets are taking trade calls on the three-time All-Pro pass-catcher. CBS Sports lead NFL insider Jonathan Jones reports that the overwhelming belief is that the Jets will end up releasing the 32-year-old.
There are two more years remaining on Adams’ current deal, and he carries cap hits of $38.3 million in both 2025 and 2026. If New York releases Adams OR trades him prior to June 1, the Jets would take on a $8,362,664 million dead cap hit in 2025 but save $29,978,002, per Spotrac.
player headshot team logo Davante Adams NYJ • WR • #17 TAR 141 REC 85 REC YDS 1063 REC TD 8 FL 0 View Profile The Jets traded for Adams prior to the trade deadline this past season, sending a conditional third-round pick to the Las Vegas Raiders to reunite Aaron Rodgers with his top wideout. The move didn’t help the Jets like the franchise hoped it would, as New York finished with a 5-12 record while general manager Joe Douglas and head coach Robert Saleh were fired.
In 14 total games played for the Raiders and Jets last season, Adams caught 85 passes for 1,063 yards and eight touchdowns. It marked his fifth-straight season with 1,000 receiving yards, and Adams’ 103 career receiving touchdowns are the sixth-most through a player’s first 11 seasons all-time.
While a release appears more likely than a trade, let’s analyze a few potential landing spots for the six-time Pro Bowler.
2025 NFL Draft rumors: Jets, Giants interested in trading with Titans for No. 1 overall pick Jordan Dajani 2025 NFL Draft rumors: Jets, Giants interested in trading with Titans for No. 1 overall pick Davante Adams landing spots By Garrett Podell
Green Bay Packers There’s been a public effort by the faces of the Packers to recruit Adams to return home to Green Bay. Packers All-Pro safety Xavier McKinney tweeted “Mannnnnnnnnn pull back up!” while tagging Adams’ account directly after he spoke about Green Bay’s potential desire to add a veteran receiver in the offseason on the “Up and Adams” show with Kay Adams. Adams himself highlighted a veteran wide receiver as one of Green Bay’s areas of need with the franchise fielding the youngest team in the NFL in both 2023 and 2024. Adams pointed out that wide receivers Romeo Doubs (suffered multiple head injuries, including one known concussion) and Christian Watson (torn ACL) are question marks in terms of health entering the 2025 season.
“You’ve got to see what’s up with Doubs and Christian. Obviously Romeo having a few plays this year where he ended up a little banged up and hit his head on the ground, you never know. It’s kind of that Tua situation where it could be a week, or it can extend out longer than that. We’ll see. I’m praying for him either way,” Adams said on the “Up and Adams” show.
“It kind of depends on the health of the team. It’s looking right now like obviously they might need some receiver help in one way or the other just based off what they have available. … Maybe a veteran or something in there, we’ll see.”
Packers Pro Bowl running back Josh Jacobs echoed the sentiment multiple times that Green Bay needs a veteran wide receiver on Radio Row at the Super Bowl in New Orleans. When quarterback Jordan Love was directly asked on the “Up and Adams” show about Adams, Love, who sat on the bench for the final two years of Adams’ Packers tenure, said he wouldn’t be mad at a Green Bay reunion.
“I’m not mad about it,” Love said. “Davante, that’s my guy. Obviously, I was with him for a good amount of time there in Green Bay my first couple seasons. I know exactly what type of player his. Phenomenal guy. … Just a great guy. You see it every week, the playmaking ability that he has. When I was with him, he dropped three passes in the years I saw him, so he is just a phenomenal receiver. Creates so much separation off the line, and then that’s his game. Killing guys off the line and making crazy catches and making big time plays. He’s a phenomenal receiver.”
This move makes a lot of sense. The Packers young receivers can learn a thing or two from one of the NFL’s most precise route runners, and Love gets a go-to target in crucial third-down and red zone situations.
Pittsburgh Steelers The Pittsburgh Steelers were in hot pursuit of San Francisco wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk last offseason before he re-signed with the 49ers on a four-year, $120 million extension just before the start of the 2024 regular season. Van Jefferson wasn’t able to provide nearly enough veteran juice alongside youngsters in George Pickens and Calvin Austin this past season. Adams could help Pickens get his head on straight while teaching both him and Austin some finer points on route-running. Adams could also serve as a safety blanket for whoever the Steelers move forward with as their quarterback in 2025, perhaps Rodgers, with both Russell Wilson and Justin Fields set to become free agents.
Washington Commanders Washington reached agreement on a trade for Deebo Samuel this week, but the work at receiver may not be done. The two non-Terry McLaurin starting wide receivers — Dyami Brown and Olamide Zaccheaus — are free agents this offseason. Washington is also equipped to enter the 2025 offseason with the sixth-most effective cap space in the NFL. That gives them plenty of resources to utilize after quarterback Jayden Daniels’ 2024 Offensive Rookie of the Year of season, a year in which Daniels set the NFL rookie records for completion percentage (69%) and rushing yards (891).
Washington was a few pieces short of reaching the Super Bowl in the first season of Daniels’ career, falling against the Philadelphia Eagles in the NFC Championship game. Adams could provide the Commanders young quarterback another Pro Bowl-caliber option alongside McLaurin.
Denver Broncos Denver Broncos rookie quarterback Bo Nix and Daniels are the only rookies in NFL history with at least 10 wins (10), 30 total touchdowns (34) and 4,000 total yards (4,207). Nix’s 29 passing touchdowns are the second-most in league history by a rookie, trailing only Los Angeles Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert’s 31 from the 2020 season. Head coach Sean Payton has his guy at the quarterback position, so maybe he looks to supply Nix with more firepower.
Los Angeles Chargers Los Angeles returned to the playoffs in the first season under head coach Jim Harbaugh with an 11-6 record before faceplanting 32-12 in the opening round against the Houston Texans. Quarterback Justin Herbert threw a career-high four interceptions as the Texans secondary blanketed his receivers. The Chargers have two young wide receivers in 2023 first-round pick Quentin Johnston and 2024 second-round pick Ladd McConkey, but they could use a veteran, Pro Bowl-caliber option to complement the two youngsters. Los Angeles also possesses the fifth-most effective cap space in the NFL entering the offseason, according to OverTheCap.com. They have the room to get a redone contract done with Adams.
With nearly a month of basketball now in the books, the league has kicked off its newest regular-season event: the NBA Cup. On Tuesday, the league’s second annual in-season tournament began. There are six more games on the NBA Cup schedule Tuesday night. All 30 teams — split into six five-team groups — are participating and the tournament will once again culminate with a final four in Las Vegas in December. The Lakers won the first iteration of the event in 2023 and will try to defend their title.
So, what do you need to know before the action begins? I’m so glad you asked. Below we’ll explain everything there is to know about the NBA Cup to get you ready for what the league hopes will become an autumn fixture moving forward.
NBA Cup format The 30 NBA teams have been divided into six groups of five. Those six groups feature three groups of Western Conference teams and three groups of Eastern Conference teams. Each team will play each team in its group once, and once group play concludes, the six group winners along with one wild card team per conference will advance to the knockout stage. All games from this point forward are single-elimination. The quarterfinals will be played in home venues. The semifinals and finals will be held in Las Vegas. Sounds simple enough, right?
How do they decide who advances? In a perfect world, it would get settled completely organically with six undefeated group champions and a single 3-1 team in each conference. Realistically, though, there will be ties to be broken, and the league has set up tiebreakers to be used exclusively for the tournament:
If two teams are tied in the same group, head-to-head record splits their tie. Point-differential in group play is the second tie-breaker. Total points scored in group play is third. Record from the 2023-24 season is fourth. If all of those tiebreakers fail, a random drawing will be used. While this is not a tiebreaker, it should be noted that the two conferences will be kept separate until the finals. Teams will play teams in their own conference in the quarterfinals and semifinals.
Who’s in each group? The groups were determined by a combination of random drawing and record from last season. Teams within each conference were put into one of five pots: one for the teams with the three best records in that conference last season, one for the next three best teams, and so on. Each group features one team from each of the five conference pots. Below are the five groups, as revealed by the league over the summer.
Group play games will be played on Tuesdays and Fridays from Nov. 12 until Dec. 6. Quarterfinal games will be played at home venues on Dec. 10 and 11. The semifinals will be played in Las Vegas on Dec. 14. Finally, the championship will be played on Dec. 17 in Las Vegas. Meanwhile, the 22 teams that don’t reach the knockout stage will play two more regular-season games against opponents that haven’t yet been determined on Dec. 12 or Dec. 13 and Dec. 15 or Dec. 16, while the four losing quarterfinal teams will play one more regular-season game on one of those dates.
Well, we can start with the name. It’s the In-Season Tournament no more. Now, it’s officially the Emirates NBA Cup. But, more noticeably, the courts also got a redesign. Last year’s courts were specially designed to make them stand out for the tournament, and while the league is using unique courts again this year, they won’t feature the runway across the middle of the court. They will still feature the tournament’s trophy at center court, and they will all feature the home team’s colors, but instead of the runway, they will feature concentric circles in slightly different shades.
New York Knicks NBA Cup court 2024 NBA What is the prize? You’ll see plenty of the tournament’s trophy as it will, again, be featured at center court for all 30 teams during tournament games. However, players can also earn money based on how far their team advances. Players on the winning team receive a $500,000 bonus. Losing in the championship game nets a $200,000 bonus, while the semifinals ($100,000) and quarterfinals ($50,000) earn slightly less from there. Finally, a media vote after the championship game will determine the tournament’s MVP as well as an All-Tournament Team.
The Cleveland Cavaliers (15-0) and the Boston Celtics (11-3) link up in a heavyweight Eastern Conference showdown on Tuesday as part of the 2024 NBA Cup. Cleveland’s 15-0 start is the second-best win streak to begin a season in league history. On Sunday, the Cavaliers defeated the Charlotte Hornets 128-114. Meanwhile, Boston has won four of its past five games. On Nov. 16, the Celtics beat the Toronto Raptors 126-123 after Jayson Tatum hit a game-winning 3-pointer. Max Strus (ankle) and Dean Wade (ankle) are out for Cleveland with Caris LeVert (knee) and Isaac Okoro (ankle) questionable. Kristaps Porzingis (leg) remains out for Boston.
Tip-off from TD Garden in Boston is set for 7 p.m. ET. Boston is a 5.5-point favorite in the latest Celtics vs. Cavaliers odds via SportsLine consensus, while the over/under for total points scored is 235. Boston is a -246 favorite on the money line (risk $246 to win $100), with Cleveland at +200. Before locking in any Cavaliers vs. Celtics picks, make sure to check out the NBA predictions and betting advice from the SportsLine Projection Model.
The SportsLine Projection Model simulates every NBA game 10,000 times and has returned well over $10,000 in betting profit for $100 players on its top-rated NBA picks over the past six-plus seasons. The model enters Week 5 of the 2024-25 NBA season on a sizzling 109-74 roll on all top-rated NBA picks dating back to last season, returning more than $3,000. Anyone following at sportsbooks and on betting apps has seen huge returns.
Now, the model has simulated Cavs vs. Celtics 10,000 times and just revealed its coveted NBA picks and betting predictions. You can head to SportsLine now to see the model’s picks. Here are several NBA odds and NBA betting lines for Celtics vs. Cavs:
Cavaliers vs. Celtics spread: Boston -5.5 Cavaliers vs. Celtics over/under: 235 points Cavaliers vs. Celtics money line: Boston -246, Cleveland +200 BOS: 7-7 ATS this season CLE: 11-4 ATS this season Cavaliers vs. Celtics picks: See picks at SportsLine Cavaliers vs. Celtics streaming: FuboTV (Try for free) Why the Celtics can cover Tatum is a fearless scorer for the Celtics. The 26-year-old is third in the NBA in scoring (29.7) while leading the team in rebounds (7.9) and assists (5.9). In his last outing, Tatum finished with 24 points, 11 rebounds and nine assists. He’s also made at least five 3-pointers in five of his last seven games.
Guard Jaylen Brown is Tatum’s running mate. Brown is another sho creator and athletic force on both ends of the floor. The California product averages 25.6 points, 7.1 rebounds, four assists and 1.1 steals per game. He’s finished with at least 25 points in three straight games. In the win over the Raptors, Brown had 27 points, six rebounds and seven assists. See who to back at SportsLine.
Why the Cavaliers can cover Guard Donovan Mitchell is the No. 1 weapon on the offensive end. Mitchell has great athleticism to finish with force, while also having a crisp jumper. He leads the team in points (24.6) with 4.4 rebounds and 4.1 assists per game. The five-time All-Star also shoots 42% from downtown and logs 1.5 steals per game. In his last contest, Mitchell had 37 points, seven rebounds and went 7-of-13 from beyond the arc.
Forward Evan Mobley gives the Cav a force in the frontcourt. He has a soft touch around the rim and will be an asset on the boards. The USC product averages 18.8 points, 8.8 rebounds and shoots 57% from the field. He has five double-doubles this season. In the win over the Hornets, Mobley had 23 points and 11 rebounds. See who to back at SportsLine.
How to make Cavaliers vs. Celtics picks SportsLine’s model is leaning Under the total, projecting 229 combined points. The model also says one side of the spread hits well over 50% of the time. You can head to SportsLine to see the model’s picks.
The Milwaukee Bucks picked up a critical victory on Monday over the Houston Rockets, but did so in controversial fashion. Entering the game with a 4-9 record, Milwaukee needs every win it can get, and with 3.2 seconds left on the clock, Damian Lillard delivered by making a driving layup that put the Bucks up 101-100. That wound up being the clincher as the Bucks won by that score.
The problem? Milwaukee never should have had possession of the ball in the closing seconds.
Let’s turn back the clock. With around 22 seconds remaining, Giannis Antetokounmpo blocked an Alperen Sengun shot that would have put Houston up by three. Brook Lopez secured the rebound and quickly passed the ball back to Antetokounmpo with Antetokounmpo’s left foot still visibly on the baseline.
If you freeze the video with exactly 20 seconds left on the clock, you’ll not only see Antetokounmpo step out of bounds, but the official who is meant to be monitoring the baseline looking up court. Sure enough, the Last Two Minute Report released by the NBA on Tuesday confirmed that Antetokounmpo should indeed have been called out of bounds, giving the ball back to Houston.
GIANNIS BLOCK AND DAME FOR THE WIN!!! 🔥 pic.twitter.com/Jin9TBcodS
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) November 19, 2024 The game wouldn’t have explicitly ended had the call been made correctly. Houston would have gotten the ball back with around 20 seconds remaining, and the game would have turned into a free-throw contest at that point. Instead, the ball was pushed ahead to Lillard for what proved to be the winning shot.
Had the play been called correctly, Houston would have been heavily favored, but a missed free throw or a 3-pointer from the Bucks could have closed the gap and potentially forced overtime.
Still, this is a disheartening loss for the Rockets on a number of levels. This wasn’t a subjective missed call like a foul would be. Antetokounmpo stepped on the line. It’s visually evident and was simply missed. The Rockets entered the game at 10-4, and a win would have taken them above the 9-4 Los Angeles Lakers for the No. 3 seed in the Western Conference early in the season. Seeds in November don’t mean much, but every win counts in the West.
Last season, for instance, the difference between the No. 1 and No. 3 seeds as well as the No. 4 and No. 5 seeds was only a single win. The Suns made the playoffs at 49 wins while the Pelicans, who also won 49, were forced to participate in the Play-In Tournament because of a tiebreaker, and another tiebreaker between the Sacramento Kings and Golden State Warriors gave Sacramento home-court advantage in their Play-In matchup.
Losing a game anywhere on the schedule due to such an egregious officiating error can have enormous consequences down the line, and now, Houston can only hope it manages to avoid any more of them over the remaining 67 games on its schedule.
