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Français (Afrique)John Harbaugh: I think prospects are high Dexter Lawrence remains with Giants
Defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence requested a trade this week, but Giants head coach John Harbaugh thinks the team will be able to work out a solution that keeps Lawrence on the roster.
Lawrence is looking for a new contract and his request came after initial talks with the Giants failed to result in an agreement. Lawrence has two years left on his current deal and would like a raise from the Giants or someone else that moves him closer to the top of the pay scale at the position.
The impasse led Lawrence to skip the start of the team's offseason program on Tuesday, which was a decision head coach John Harbaugh said he saw "coming a few weeks back" and that the team will "try to work through it" with Lawrence's agent. He also said he's confident that everything will work out in a way that allows him to coach Lawrence this fall.
"We’ll find out," Harbaugh said, via SNY. "I think the prospects are going to be high because we want Dexter here, I believe Dexter wants to be here. That’s a good formula, but there’s business involved."
Lawrence is a key player on the Giants defense and his departure would be a blow to Harbaugh's chances of immediately turning things around with his new team, but it remains to be seen if the two sides can get on the same page when it comes to finances.
Raiders bring back veteran tight end on one-year deal
Las Vegas us keeping the band together at tight end this season. With Brock Bowers and Michael Mayer as the top two tight ends, the Raiders already had arguably the best tight end room in the league. Now they have re-signed Ian Thomas to keep their top three tight ends from last season on the roster.
Free agent tight end Ian Thomas is re-signing with the Raiders on a one-year deal, per source.
— Jeremy Fowler (@JFowlerESPN) April 7, 2026
Thomas spent his first seven seasons with Carolina before joining Las Vegas in 2025. pic.twitter.com/Y0tHSVonWn
Thomas appeared in 15 games last season for the Raiders, starting ten. He caught all 13 passes thrown his way for 114 yards.
Prior to last season, Thomas has spent the first seven seasons of his career in Carolina where he caught 119 passes for 1062 yards and four touchdowns.
The former Indiana product is entering his ninth NFL season, having made his career primarily doing the dirty work as a blocker and special teams guy.
His return gives the Raiders five tight ends currently on the roster. Other tight ends on the roster include Carter Runyon and Albert Okwuegbunam Jr.
This article originally appeared on Raiders Wire: Raiders bring back veteran tight end on one-year deal
How Real Madrid beating Bayern Munich in Champions League quarter-finals will benefit La Liga
The UEFA rankings of various top European leagues decide the number of berths allocated to each country for the succeeding edition of the UEFA Champions League.
As it stands, the Premier League is in clear first-place with 24,791 points while La Liga sits second with 20,281 points.
As the two top-placed leagues, England and Spain are currently in a position to have the top 5 teams in the league qualify for the UCL.
The Bundesliga, however, follows La Liga closely with 19,428 points and are within touching distance of catching up.
Should they overtake La Liga, the German league will earn five spots while La Liga will only see the top four earn a spot in the UCL.
Real Madrid’s role
As reported by AS, Real Madrid’s game against Bayern Munich in the quarter-finals of the UEFA Champions League will play a direct role in shuffling the rankings and deciding which league gets the upper hand.
Real Madrid beating Bayern will benefit La Liga. (Photo by Florencia Tan Jun/Getty Images and Stuart Franklin/Getty Images)
La Liga, in that sense, needs Real Madrid to win and advance to the semifinal of the competition.
One Spanish team will certainly advance between Barcelona and Atletico Madrid, and Real Madrid eliminating Bayern will thus seal La Liga’s edge.
Should Real Madrid lose, however, the Bundesliga will be rewarded points on the rankings and close the gap even more. A lot will then depend on which league’s team progresses deeper in the event.
For Spain and La Liga, Real Madrid winning over the two legs thus offers the easy route to securing five berths in the event.
All eyes will thus be on Alvaro Arbeloa’s side tonight in a game where, for a change, they do not enter as favourites.
Why Cardinals' Jordan Walker's 1.014 OPS hot start is not a fluke
Why Cardinals' Jordan Walker's 1.014 OPS hot start is not a fluke originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
The St. Louis Cardinals are in the middle of a rebuild, but that doesn't mean that the roster doesn't have some intriguing players on it.
JJ Wetherholt is a fun young rookie, and he's off to a good start so far. But the more intriguing player so far this season has been outfielder Jordan Walker.
He has a 1.014 OPS so far, but with how much he's struggled before, there is some concern that this is a flukey start to the year. However, Mike Petriello of MLB.com highlighted why this isn't a fluke, but instead the norm for Walker going forward.
Jordan Walker's hot start isn't a fluke for 78.5 mph, 20.3% reasons
"It's meaningful to be good, early," Petriello writes. "Likely good news for: Believing in J. Walker's breakout..."
Walker has the third-best bat speed to begin the season, with a ridiculous 78.5 mph average bat speed per Baseball Savant, behind only Junior Caminero and Giancarlo Stanton, two of the best sluggers in the sport right now.
But, for Walker's sake, it's not just about the bat speed. When it comes to "Blasts," which is how often a player squares up a ball with a fast swing, Walker is third-place overall according to Baseball Savant with a 20.3% swing percentage for blasts.
More: Braves predicted to trade Bryce Elder for Lars Nootbaar
Walker's hot start has led to a ridiculous 1.014 OPS, and while he won't be able to keep up such ridiculous production all year, his breakout this season might not be a fluke.
The Cardinals' 23-year-old breakout star outfielder is third in all of MLB when it comes to average bat speed and Blast percentage.
Petriello found that those two statistics are a sign of things to come for a player. While it's still to be seen how good Walker can be this season, the numbers are on his side so far.
He's swinging faster than most players, and when he does swing, he's squaring up the baseball more than most hitters as well. He's the only one inside the top five in both categories, which is a good sign for Walker this season.
More MLB news:
- Jacob DeGrom is only 149 strikeouts from 2,000 for his career
- Three ways Pirates' Paul Skenes could lose NL Cy Young Award
- Giancarlo Stanton has an absurd 2-for-4 streak going on for Yankees
- Mets didn’t want to trade Brett Baty while White Sox didn’t want Mark Vientos in Luis Robert Jr. trade
- How Blue Jays' Kazuma Okamoto is connected to Rockies' Tomoyuki Sugano
- Marlins suggested to sign Max Kepler after Phillies’ OF was suspended for 80 games
- Red Sox never close on Astros’ Isaac Paredes trade
- Shohei Ohtani deemed more valuable than Aaron Judge in recent ESPN discussion piece
Big-time PG Zoom Diallo drawing heavy interest from Kentucky Wildcats
As Kentucky Basketball looks for its next point guard, a new target is emerging in the form of Washington Huskies standout Zoom Diallo.
According to KSR’s Jacob Polacheck, Kentucky is a serious player in the recruitment of Diallo, who is ranked 26th overall in the transfer portal by On3, 27th by 247 Sports, and 28th by USA Today Sports.
As a sophomore this past season, the 6-4, 180-pound Diallo averaged 15.7 points (48.9% shooting and 31.5% on 3s), 4.5 assists, and 3.9 rebounds across 29.6 minutes per game. He scored 21+ points in four of his last five games while dishing out 18 assists over his final two contests.
Between Diallo being a very good point guard option while also having two seasons of eligibility remaining, he’s going to be a highly coveted target for many schools within the transfer portal. It sounds like Kentucky is already making a serious push for him while also recruiting other point guards like LSU transfer Dedan Thomas Jr.
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