Sports
Matthew Stafford's MVP, return announcement highlights NFL Honors
Jan 25, 2026; Seattle, WA, USA; Los Angeles Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford (9) walks on field before the 2026 NFC Championship Game against the Seattle Seahawks at Lumen Field. Mandatory Credit: Steven Bisig-Imagn Images Matthew Stafford played it coy minutes before the NFL Honors event kicked off Thursday night by saying he still had to figure out if he would return for an 18th season.
Less than two hours later, Stafford was narrowly named NFL Most Valuable Player and was on the stage in San Francisco, surrounded by his four daughters.
It was time to reveal the secret he was keeping as he addressed his daughters.
“You are unbelievable cheerleaders for me and I appreciate it,” Stafford said to the girls. “I am so happy to have you at the games on the sideline with me and I can’t wait for you to cheer me on next year when we’re out there kicking ass.”
Stafford then looked toward the audience as Rams coach Sean McVay jumped out of his chair in celebration.
“I will see you guys next year,” said Stafford, “and hopefully I’m not at this event and we’re getting ready for another game (Super Bowl LXI) at SoFi.”
Stafford edged New England Patriots quarterback Drake Maye in the MVP balloting and was the biggest winner at the annual awards showcase that leads up to Sunday’s Super Bowl LX between the New England Patriots and Seattle Seahawks at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif.
Defensive end Myles Garrett of the Cleveland Browns was the unanimous Defensive Player of the Year after his record 23-sack season.
Mike Vrabel of the New England Patriots was named Coach of the Year after guiding the club to a 14-3 regular-season record and a Super Bowl berth in his first season with the team.
Washington Commanders veteran linebacker Bobby Wagner was named the Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year.
San Francisco 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey was named Comeback Player of the Year.
Carolina Panthers receiver Tetairoa McMillan won Offensive Rookie of the Year honors and Cleveland Browns linebacker Carson Schwesinger took Defensive Rookie of the Year honors.
Guard Joe Thuney of the Chicago Bears won the inaugural Protector of the Year award.
Stafford received 24 of 50 first-place MVP votes and 366 total points to beat out Maye, who had 23 and 361, respectively. Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen, the 2024 MVP, received two first-place votes and Los Angeles Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert had one.
Allen was third in the balloting with 91 points. McCaffrey (71) was fourth and Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence (49) was fifth.
It marks the first time Stafford has won the award in 17 NFL seasons, the first 12 with the Detroit Lions and the last five with the Rams.
Stafford, who turns 38 on Saturday, hadn’t previously committed to return for 2026.
Stafford led the NFL with 4,707 yards and 46 touchdowns in 2025 despite playing through back issues. He didn’t miss a game and was intercepted eight times in 597 attempts.
The big disappointment was the Rams falling to the Seahawks in the NFC Championship Game.
“This team was really special and it didn’t end the way we wanted it to but I will never forget it,” Stafford said.
To the surprise of nobody, Garrett was a runaway winner of the Defensive Player of the Year award. His record-breaking season allowed him to win the top defensive player honor for the second time in the past three seasons.
“It doesn’t start with me,” Garrett said. “It starts with great teammates, a great organization, great coaches and I’m thankful for every one of my teammates who got me up here. It’s not possible without them and their blood, their sweat, their tears.”
The other finalists were defensive end Will Anderson Jr. of the Houston Texans, linebacker Nik Bonitto of the Denver Broncos, defensive end Aidan Hutchinson of the Detroit Lions and defensive end Micah Parsons of the Green Bay Packers.
Vrabel earned the top coach honor over a stellar group of finalists that included Liam Coen (Jacksonville Jaguars), Ben Johnson (Chicago Bears), Mike Macdonald (Seattle Seahawks) and Kyle Shanahan (San Francisco).
“It’s an honor to be recognized amongst the great coaches of our league,” Vrabel said in a video. “Ultimately, my name will go on this award, but this award belongs to a building and a staff and ultimately it belongs to the men in the locker room who believed even when they couldn’t see it.”
Wagner earned the Man of the Year award for his charitable work, specifically his work toward helping identify signs of a stroke. His mother died in 2009 from complications of a stroke.
“She is and will forever be my rock,” Wagner said. “She’s the reason why I’m standing here. She’s a person that had confidence in me when I didn’t even have confidence in myself.”
McCaffrey was limited to four games in 2024 due to Achilles and knee injuries. He was injury free in 2025 and rushed for 1,202 yards and 10 touchdowns and caught 102 passes for 924 yards and seven scores.
“This is huge honor,” McCaffrey said. “Anytime you have to come back from injuries it’s extremely tough physically, emotionally and mentally.”
The other comeback candidates were Hutchison, Lawrence, New England Patriots receiver Stefon Diggs and Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott.
Smith-Njigba wasn’t in attendance with his focus on Sunday’s game. He led the NFL with 1,793 receiving yards while catching 119 passes, including 10 for scores, in his third season with the Seahawks.
The others finalists were Maye, McCaffrey, Los Angeles Rams receiver Puka Nacua and Atlanta Falcons running back Bijan Robinson.
McMillan had a strong rookie season with 70 catches for 1,014 yards and seven touchdowns. He was the No. 8 overall pick out of Arizona.
Scheswinger racked up 156 tackles — sixth most in the NFL — and had 2.5 sacks and two interceptions. He was a second-round draft pick out of UCLA.
The Protector the Year was a first-time award. Buffalo Bills star left tackle Dion Dawkins pushed hard to get it added to the list of accolades. Thuney took the honor in his first season with Chicago and 10th NFL campaign overall.
“I’m not a one-man operation,” Thuney said. “… I really appreciate all the former O-linemen who played in this league, the unsung heroes of the past who laid the foundation for those of us to play the game we love.”
NFL Honors award winners
Most Valuable Player
–Matthew Stafford, QB, Los Angeles Rams
Offensive Player of the Year
–Jaxon Smith-Njigba, WR, Seattle
Defensive Player of the Year
–Myles Garrett, DE, Cleveland
Offensive Rookie of the Year
–Tetairoa McMillan, WR, Carolina
Defensive Rookie of the Year
–Carson Schwesinger, LB, Cleveland
Comeback Player of the Year
–Christian McCaffrey, RB, San Francisco
Coach of the Year
–Mike Vrabel, New England
Assistant Coach of the Year
–Josh McDaniels, New England
Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year
–Bobby Wagner, LB, Washington
–Field Level Media
Sports
Cloud9 rally past LYON in LCS Spring opener
A custom gaming keyboard backlit with red LED lights waits for tactile input before Manual took on Boone County in a Rocket League match, which was streamed on YouTube on Thursday, March 5, 2020. Cloud9 recorded a 2-1 win over LYON to begin the regular season of the LCS Spring event on Saturday.
LYON posted a 35-minute victory on blue before Cloud9 bounced back with a 33-minute triumph on red and 30-minute victory on blue.
Canadian Philippe “Vulcan” Laflamme and South Korean Seung-gyu “Thanatos” Park were tabbed as MVPs for Cloud9, while Australian Jonah “Isles” Rosario earned the distinction for LYON.
Also on Saturday, Disguised overcame dropping the first map in 32 minutes to secure a 2-1 victory over Sentinels. The former capped the win with a 30-minute win on blue.
Canadian/Romanian player Christian “KryRa” Rahaian earned a pair of MVP honors for Disguised, while South Korean Yoo-jin “HamBak” Ham received the distinction for Sentinels.
Eight teams will compete in best-of-3 matches in the round-robin regular season before advancing to the playoffs, which will be contested in best-of-5 matches in a double-elimination format. The top two teams will qualify for the Mid-Season Invitational.
Regular season standings
T1. Cloud9, 1-0, 2-1
T1. Disguised, 1-0, 2-1
T3. FlyQuest, 0-0, 0-0
T3. Team Liquid, 0-0, 0-0
T3. Dignitas, 0-0, 0-0
T3. Shopify Rebellion, 0-0, 0-0
T7. LYON, 0-1, 1-2
T7. Sentinels, 0-1, 1-2
–Field Level Media
Sports
Renato Moicano snaps losing streak with submission victory
Jun 28, 2025; Las Vegas, Nevada, USA; Beneil Dariush (red gloves) fights Renato Moicano (blue gloves) during UFC 317 at T-Mobile Arena. Mandatory Credit: Stephen R. Sylvanie-Imagn Images Renato Moicano of Brazil snapped a two-fight losing streak with a rear-naked-choke submission victory over Scotland’s Chris Duncan at 3:14 of the second round in the lightweight main event of Saturday’s UFC Fight Night at the Meta APEX in Las Vegas.
Moicano (21-7-1) dominated the fight, allowing Duncan (15-3-0) just one second of control time while landing over twice as many strikes (62-30). Duncan had a four-match win streak snapped, taking his first defeat since Feb. 24, 2024.
In the co-main event, Virna Jandiroba (23-4-0) came away with a unanimous-decision victory (30-27, 29-28, 29-28) over fellow Brazilian Tabatha Ricci (12-4-0) in a strawweight fight. It was a bounceback for Jandiroba after she had a five-fight win streak snapped in a title-fight loss to Mackenzie Dern last October.
Abdul-Rakhman Yakhyaev of Turkey also had a rear-naked-choke submission win on the main card, beating Brazil’s Brendson Ribeiro (17-10-0) 2:52 into the opening round to improve to 9-0-0 in the light heavyweight division.
Ethyn Ewing (10-2-0) came away with a third-round KO/TKO bantamweight victory to hand Brazilian Rafael Estevam (14-1-0) his first MMA loss. Before that, Tommy McMillen (10-0-0) won his UFC debut in the featherweight division with a first-round KO/TKO via a series of blows culminating with a knee strike which took Italy’s Manolo Zecchini (11-5-0) to the mat.
In the main-card opener, Jose Delano (17-3-0) of Brazil won via unanimous decision (30-26, 29-27, 29-27) over Poland’s Robert Ruchala (11-3-0) in his UFC debut.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Padres, Red Sox chasing first series win of season
Mar 30, 2026; San Diego, California, USA; San Diego Padres starting pitcher Walker Buehler (10) delivers during the first inning against the San Francisco Giants at Petco Park. Mandatory Credit: Denis Poroy-Imagn Images With both starting pitchers seeking bounce-back outings for their new teams, the Boston Red Sox and visiting San Diego Padres face off to close a three-game weekend series on Sunday afternoon.
The Padres scored a 3-2 victory on Saturday after Ramon Laureano’s two-out RBI single in the ninth inning. San Diego now turns to a familiar sight on the Boston mound in Walker Buehler (0-1, 6.75 ERA) for his second start.
Buehler, who began last season with the Red Sox before he was released in September, will face Boston left-hander Ranger Suarez (0-1, 8.31). Both teams are searching for their first series victory of the season.
“Laureano has been doing that the last few years, so you’ve got to tip your cap to them,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said. “Gotta regroup and get ready for (Sunday) to win the series.”
Though the Padres entered Saturday hitting a National League-worst .192, Laureano continued a strong early-season run with the big hit. He now boasts a .308 batting average and has reached base safely in six of his first seven games.
“I think Laureano has had the best results and best at-bats we’ve gotten so far, so we’ll probably see him more at the top of the lineup going forward,” Padres manager Craig Stammen said.
A two-time World Series champion with the Los Angeles Dodgers, who signed a free-agent contract in February, Buehler made his Padres debut Monday against the San Francisco Giants, allowing three runs on five hits across four innings.
“Our hope is that he kind of returns to who he’s been in the past,” Stammen said last week. “And that we have somebody that was a former All-Star pitcher, someone that was a thorn in our side as the Padres, and becomes a thorn in the side for other people.”
Buehler’s only career start against the Red Sox came in the 18-inning marathon Game 3 of the 2018 World Series. He started and went seven scoreless innings.
The Red Sox were in position to win the series on Saturday, holding a one-run lead with Aroldis Chapman taking the mound in the ninth looking for his second consecutive save. Andruw Monasterio’s pinch-hit RBI fielder’s choice had tied the game for the Red Sox in the eighth.
Instead, Boston fell to a major league-worst 2-6 for the first time since 2019 and has now lost all three of its one-run games this season.
Cora’s offense has also struggled, scoring two or fewer runs for the fourth time in eight games and going 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position.
“We have to make sure when we are ahead in the count, get a pitch you can handle. If not, pass the baton,” Cora said.
The Red Sox had an 8-7 advantage in hits on Saturday, with Roman Anthony (triple) and Ceddanne Rafaela each recording a pair.
Suarez looks to deliver an improved start in his first Fenway Park outing for Boston. He allowed four runs, including a pair of home runs, in 4 1/3 innings Monday against the Houston Astros.
“I feel very good physically,” Suarez said. “I missed a couple (pitches), but I’ll just keep working for the next outing.”
Suarez, who is 3-1 with a 2.39 career ERA in eight appearances (five starts) against the Padres, is coming off back-to-back seasons with double-digit wins and recorded a career-high 151 strikeouts in 157 1/3 innings in 2025 with the Philadelphia Phillies.
–Field Level Media
Larry David Said He Would Never Write Another Finale, Then He Did The Funniest Thing Ever
Cloud9 rally past LYON in LCS Spring opener
