Bengals offensive tackle Orlando Brown Jr. represents himself in negotiations, and he confirmed another successful deal completed to stay in Cincinnati on a two-year contract extension.

Brown shared the news Thursday via X, posting, “Represented myself on this deal lol it’s a 2 year extension.” The Bengals also announced the agreement, but neither side disclosed the financial aspect.

Represented myself on this deal lol it’s a 2 year extension

— Orlando Brown Jr. (@ZEUS__57) March 12, 2026

The 29-year-old Brown has played eight seasons with the Ravens, Chiefs and Bengals. He joined Cincinnati in 2023 on a four-year, $64 million contract after two seasons and a Super Bowl championship in Kansas City. He originally was a third-round pick of Baltimore in 2018.

Brown, a four-time Pro Bowl selection, is signed through 2028 and called the agreement to stay in Cincinnati a “dream scenario.”

“Having that stability. Being somewhere I want to be. I think the feeling is mutual from upstairs down,” Brown told Bengals.com of the contract extension.

“The deal creates a sense of stability for myself and the organization. I didn’t necessarily feel the need to reset the market. We have great players in this locker room. It’s rare for a player to say, but making it team friendly … The way that I see it, it puts me and my family and the organization in a good spot.”

–Field Level Media

Bryson DeChambeau and Jon Rahm are among four players tied for the lead at 4-under par following the opening round of LIV Golf Singapore on Thursday, but the leaders should feel far from comfortable.

Lee Westwood of England and Canadian Richard Lee, an LIV wild card, also shot first-round 68s, giving the group a one-stroke lead over seven players tied for fifth place and 10 more who are two back and tied for 12th.

The golfers had to contend with hot and windy conditions at the Sentosa Golf Club, and DeChambeau said a primary goal is “staying competitive with that leaderboard. It’s about hitting better iron shots, better drivers and making sure I’m on those uncomfortable holes comfortable.”

Despite the number of players under par — 30 — the course was made tougher by the wind. Only two golfers played a bogey-free round.

“There’s a lot of trouble out there,” Westwood said. “You don’t have to get much out of position for it to become tricky. Obviously you do get it in the rough, the rough is not that long, but it is flying rough. You lose a lot of control over the golf ball.

“But the golf course is in incredible condition. The greens are some of, if not the best I’ve ever seen, certainly in Asia but anywhere, really. There’s no excuse for missing putts on these greens. You start them on line, they really do hold the line and stay true.”

He was pleased with his no-bogey round.

“I started last week with no bogeys the first round. It’s a good habit to get into, really, first round with no bogeys,” he said. “But this week feels better because the golf course is so demanding.”

Rahm, who had five birdies and a bogey for his round of 68, said putting and accuracy will be the keys this week.

“This golf course is not easy. The greens are firm. They’re very, very good. They’re rolling great,” Rahm said. “So if you’re feeling good with the putter, you can have a lot of good chances. But it’s not easy. You’ve got to hit fairways and be really accurate with the mid-irons.”

Lee won LIV Promotions in January to earn one of three wild-card spots in the league this season. The best finish ever by a wild card is a T12.

“That could possibly change this week,” he said. “I mean, I’ve played this course so many times on the Asian Tour, and I think I have a bit of an advantage on this course knowing where the slopes are and where to miss it. I think it’s going to be a great week.”

The group that stands one shot back after rounds of 69 includes South African Louis Oosthuizen, Tyrrell Hatton of England and Charles Howell III.

Joaquin Niemann of Chile posted a five-stroke win last season in the Singapore event. On Thursday, he shot a 70 to finish in the group of 10 golfers who are two shots off the lead. Others in the group include Tom McKibbin of Northern Ireland, Cameron Smith of Australia and Anthony Kim, who won LIV Golf Australia last month.

In the team competition, Rahm’s Legion XIII is at 11-under, based on his play as well as the scores of McKibbin and Hatton. DeChambeau’s Crushers GC is six strokes back at 5-under.

–Field Level Media

Thanks to Italy beating Mexico on Wednesday night, the United States gets another chance in the World Baseball Classic.

What looked like a potentially disastrous early exit for Team USA manager Mark DeRosa and the boys turned out to be nothing more than substantial worry and significant embarrassment for about 24 hours.

It remains to be seen if the U.S. really wants to win badly enough for the reprieve to matter, as if it’s just a switch they can flick. But there is little reason for Team USA fans to be optimistic.

The Americans’ attitude and behavior have been all over the place when it comes to their opinion of the WBC’s value. It’s no Olympics, after all, as slugger Bryce Harper would prefer. How important is the WBC to the U.S.? Less important than it is to the other teams in the tournament.

Team USA didn’t appear to compete with urgency against Italy on Tuesday, playing as if it already had qualified for the quarterfinals. And it wasn’t just overconfidence. The players mimicked the leadership of DeRosa, who operated as though he were just trying to get through a mostly meaningless game.

Only, the U.S. hadn’t qualified yet. DeRosa seemed to get lost in the WBC’s tiebreaking procedures, which in itself is understandable if you don’t know how to work an abacus and slide rule. But someone on his staff should have figured out that the Italy game mattered before DeRosa went on TV and said the U.S. already had punched its own ticket for the next round.

If Mexico had beaten Italy on Wednesday, or if Italy hadn’t scored the right amount of runs, or if everything went sideways in extra innings, we’d be talking about the U.S. getting its ticket punched in a bad way.

DeRosa said later that he only “misspoke,” but it was more like he misunderstood completely. He assembled a questionable lineup and made questionable pitching decisions, leading a collective effort that appeared to gain clarity and urgency only in the final third of the game. Did someone finally figure out what the dugout hadn’t figured it out?

Team USA next plays Canada on Friday night in Houston, a game the hosts should win — although that’s what everyone said before the U.S. scraped by Mexico and got stomped like a grape against Italy.

But even if the U.S. team reaches the semis, then what? Italy, Puerto Rico, Japan, South Korea, Venezuela and the Dominican Republic are the other teams still alive in the knockout stage. All of those teams have something in common not shared with the U.S.: They manage to play with intensity and joy.

The Americans can be intense. Earlier in the tournament against Mexico, U.S. catcher Cal Raleigh refused a handshake overture from opponent Randy Arozarena. They are teammates on the Seattle Mariners, but Raleigh reacted as if Arozarena were asking for his computer passwords, replying as if to say: “Don’t bother me, Randy, this is a big game and I’m in the zone!”

It’s possible the only memory anyone will have of the U.S. acting as if they cared about winning the WBC is Raleigh making a miscalculation about the optics of a fist bump.

It’s probably too late to do anything this time, but what can the U.S. do to give itself a chance to win the next WBC?

The best chance is to move the tournament to mid-summer, during a break in MLB’s regular season that doesn’t exist yet and likely won’t soon. But in June or July, all of the best pitchers are in midseason form, and the Americans would have a big talent advantage on the mound. Paul Skenes and Tarik Skubal wouldn’t be limited to a game here or three innings there. They would be able to really pitch, and they would dominate.

That’s the only way for the U.S. to show the world who’s best. Because the Americans are not going to do it the way Japan and the Dominican Republic are doing it now. The Americans don’t have the intensity-joy combination. Their day jobs are just too important to them.

–David Brown, Field Level Media