The Tennessee Titans announced Wednesday they have released center Lloyd Cushenberry and safety Xavier Woods.

Cushenberry started 15 games for the team in his second season in Tennessee, while Woods made 11 appearances (10 starts) in his first year with the club.

Cushenberry, 28, joined the Titans in 2024 after spending his first four NFL seasons with the Denver Broncos. He has made 80 appearances in the league — starting each game — and played 99% of the Titans’ offensive snaps when available in 2025.

Woods, 30, recorded two interceptions and a sack to go with 39 tackles for the Titans. He had stints with the Dallas Cowboys (2017-20), Minnesota Vikings (2021) and Carolina Panthers (2022-24) as a starting safety before inking a two-year contract with Tennessee last offseason.

–Field Level Media

Arizona Diamondbacks right-hander Merrill Kelly will miss his scheduled Opening Day start because of an intercostal nerve irritation, the team said on Wednesday.

Kelly was scheduled for additional testing Wednesday, including a CT scan, after he was scratched from a throwing session against hitters last week because of mid-back tightness.

Kelly, 37, was scheduled to start for the Diamondbacks in the regular-season opener against the host Los Angeles Dodgers on March 26.

“We’ve done pretty much every test under the sun that we can think of and everything’s coming back clear, which is a positive,” Kelly said on Wednesday. “Structurally wise, we’ve looked at the spine, we’ve looked at the ribs, we’ve looked at the muscles, we’ve looked at the tendons, we’ve looked at everything back there, and that’s all coming back good, which is a positive, obviously. But there’s still something going on back there. Still feel something. So we’re just trying to turn over every rock and kind of look wherever we can to see what we can figure out about it.”

Manager Torey Lovullo has not named a replacement starter for Opening Day, nor has he placed a timeline on Kelly’s return to action.

“I saw it as kind of my one shot to throw Opening Day,” Kelly said. “And obviously that’s disappointing, but injuries are part of it, and all I really care about at this point is being able to throw again and then be ready for the team whenever, whether it’s Opening Day or the last game of the rotation, doesn’t really matter at this point as long as I’m back for it.”

Kelly was a combined 12-9 with a 3.52 ERA in 32 starts for the Arizona Diamondbacks and Texas Rangers last season. He was moved to the Rangers at the trade deadline before he re-signed with the Diamondbacks in the offseason on a two-year, $40 million contract.

In seven major league seasons, the majority of which have been in Arizona, Kelly is 65-53 with a 3.77 ERA in 172 regular-season appearances (all starts).

–Field Level Media

Weston McKennie’s busy year continues to take flight with ESPN reporting Wednesday that the United States men’s national team midfielder is close to a contract extension with his club Juventus.

With Juventus since 2021, including a short loan to Leeds United in 2023, McKennie’s contract was set to expire at the end of the current season in Italy’s Serie A. His new deal reportedly will go 2030.

McKennie has scored 15 goals in 161 appearances since 2021 for Juventus. In 62 games with the national team, since 2017, he has 11 goals.

Born in Washington, McKennie grew up in Texas but also spent time in Germany as his father was as an officer for the United States Air Force. McKennie came up in the FC Dallas system before a transfer to FC Schalke 04 in Germany.

McKennie is expected to play a pivotal role for the USNMT during the World Cup this summer, with all U.S. games set to be played on home soil.

–Field Level Media