The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are adding to their depth at cornerback with one-year contracts for free agents Chase Lucas and Kemon Hall, according to reports on Thursday.

Lucas, 29, has agreed to join the Bucs, per NFL Network, after recording nine tackles in 15 games last season for San Francisco. He played on 53% of the 49ers’ special teams snaps (204) and 10% of the defensive snaps (98).

He has played in 33 regular-season games for the Detroit Lions (2022-23) and 49ers (2025) as well as a total of four playoff games and has 15 career tackles.

Detroit selected Lucas in the seventh round of the 2022 NFL Draft out of Arizona State.

Hall, 28, is signing with Tampa Bay, per an ESPN report, after playing in four games last season for the Tennessee Titans and making nine tackles. He was in on 64% of the special teams snaps (70) and 30% of the defensive snaps (66).

He has played in 28 career games for the Los Angeles Chargers (2021-22), Dallas Cowboys (2024) and Titans (2025) and has 24 career tackles and one forced fumble.

–Field Level Media

Detroit Tigers center fielder Parker Meadows will be hospitalized overnight in Minneapolis after being carted off the field due to a scary collision in the bottom of the eighth inning of a game against the Minnesota Twins on Thursday afternoon.

Meadows was playing center field and Riley Greene was playing left field when Twins hitter Josh Bell hit a slicing fly ball toward the left-center field gap. Both outfielders converged on the ball, and Greene made the catch but his head clipped the side of Meadows’ face as the players collided.

Meadows fell to the outfield grass and remained still for a few moments as teammates and trainers came to check on him. He rolled onto his back as trainers attended to him.

“That was an ugly, scary one, and there’s a lot of concern for him,” Tigers manager A.J. Hinch said after Detroit’s 3-1 loss. “When we got out there, it looked like he had bit his lip or inside his mouth, so there was some blood, and he was pretty out of it. …

“Those are scary collisions. You don’t know what you’re going to get when you get there. Obviously we’re going to get him checked out for everything, but this one worries me.”

Eventually, Meadows was able to sit up and gingerly get to his feet. He walked slowly a few steps to a cart that trainers had requested to take him off the field.

Greene was deeply concerned after the contest.

“It was a terrible feeling,” Greene said. “I still feel terrible.”

Javier Baez moved from shortstop to center field to replace Meadows. Kevin McGonigle entered the game to play shortstop.

Meadows went 0-for-3 and is hitting .250 with two RBIs and three stolen bases in 12 games. The 26-year-old is in his fourth season with the Tigers.

The Tigers open a three-game series against the visiting Miami Marlins on Friday and it’s still to be determined if Meadows will be able to play during the series.

But Detroit right-hander Jack Flaherty knows it’s not too soon for everyone to pull for Meadows.

“You just hope everybody has thoughts and prayers with him, and he’s going to be all right,” Flaherty said. “He’s a tough guy. We continue to pray over him. Tough way to end the series. Just pray to God for Parker. He’s as good of a guy as they come. Scary situation.”

–Field Level Media

AUGUSTA, Ga. — Rory McIlroy admitted he hasn’t felt the same at “certain” golf tournaments since completing the career grand slam 12 months ago, but all the same old feelings came rushing back on the first tee at Augusta National on Thursday.

And that’s a good thing, in his estimation.

“It’s the Masters. If I felt absolutely nothing on that first tee, that’s not a good sign,” he said after carding a 5-under-par 67 on Thursday to take a share of the lead. “So, it was nice to feel my hand shaking a little bit when the tee went into the ground and struggle to put the ball on top of the tee.

“So, I knew I was feeling it. That’s a good thing. That’s why we want to be here. We want to be able to try to play our best golf when we’re feeling like that.”

McIlroy entered Thursday with an average opening-round score of 71.7 in 17 previous Masters appearances. He appeared to be well on his way in that direction while missing his first six fairways with his driver and relying heavily on his short game to save several pars.

Sitting at even par just off the fairway on the eighth hole, that’s when McIlroy said the pre-Masters champion version of him might have started to lose confidence in his swing.

“It started pretty scrappy. I was hitting out of the trees a little bit the first seven holes,” he said. “Sometimes here that would lead me to get tentative and a little ‘guidey,’ and I kept swinging, just trusting that I’m going to find it eventually.

“So, maybe that was a little bit different.”

Rather than trying to get all of a 5-wood from the first cut off the eighth fairway, McIlroy choked down on a 3-wood and rolled it up to the center of the green. He two-putted for birdie, and the momentum shift was on. McIlroy would go 5 under for his final 11 holes of the day.

He said earlier in the week that winning a Masters makes it easier to win a second one. McIlroy is now just the seventh Masters champion to hold at least a share of the first-round lead the following year. The list also includes Jack Burke Jr. (1957), Arnold Palmer (1961), Gary Player (1962), Jack Nicklaus (1966), Jose Maria Olazabal (1995) and Jordan Spieth (2016).

“It’s hard to say because there’s still shots out there that you feel a little bit tight with, and you just have to stand up and commit to making a good swing and not worry about really where it goes,” he said.

“But I think it’s easier for me to make those swings and not worry about where it goes when I know that I can go to the Champions Locker Room and put my green jacket on and have a Coke Zero at the end of the day.”

McIlroy has also said repeatedly that he has things he still wants to accomplish in golf. He has declined to provide specifics other than to say the goal posts “keep nudging a little bit further and further out of reach.”

Asked if repeating as Masters champion was one of those goals, McIlroy said that “certainly wasn’t at the forefront of my mind when I started 2026.” But he did admit that it was a good sign that those nerves returned on the first tee at Augusta National.

“I was nervous, I was anxious just like I always am on that first tee,” he said. “It’s the first round of the 16 most important rounds of the season. It would be worrisome if I didn’t feel that way, because it still means something to me.”

–Derek Harper, Field Level Media