The Denver Broncos return to the AFC championship game for the first time in 10 years in an exceedingly difficult spot.

Starting quarterback Bo Nix will miss the remainder of the season after suffering a broken bone in his ankle in Saturday’s divisional playoff win over the Buffalo Bills, Broncos coach Sean Payton announced.

That leaves Jarrett Stidham to take the reins to the Broncos’ offense for the tilt against either the New England Patriots or the Houston Texans with a trip to Super Bowl 60 on the line.

Here’s what we know about the outlook for Stidham and the Broncos:

Who is Jarrett Stidham?

A seventh-year veteran, Stidham is about to command a spotlight far more intense than he’s ever experienced.

The 2019 fourth-round pick out of Auburn began his NFL career as Tom Brady’s backup on the Patriots. His chance to become Brady’s successor never fully materialized, however, and he was traded to the Las Vegas Raiders in 2022.

All four starts in Stidham’s career came as teams were pivoting away from marquee veteran passers. First, he stepped in for the final two games of the Raiders’ 2022 season when Derek Carr was benched. Then, he did the same for the Broncos in 2023 as Payton and Co. sat Russell Wilson.

But even with Denver bringing on Bo Nix the following year to step in as the starter, Stidham hung around as a trusted backup for Payton. In March, Stidham re-signed to the team on a two-year, $12 million deal that included $7 million guaranteed.

“We’re excited Jarrett’s back,” Payton said at the NFL league meetings this spring. “He brings a veteran presence, but also a young presence about him. And I know how he feels about his own abilities. … I think the experience from Jarrett is helpful to Bo.”

Jarrett Stidham stats

• Completions: 117
• Passing attempts: 197
• Completion percentage: 59.4%
• Passing yards: 1,422
• Touchdown passes: 8
• Interceptions: 8

Broncos QB depth chart

• Bo Nix
• Jarrett Stidham
• Sam Ehlinger

Anthony Edwards produced a career-high night for the Minnesota Timberwolves on Saturday. Still, it didn’t result in a successful outing as they suffered a 126-123 loss to the San Antonio Spurs on the road.

Edwards reached 54 points after nailing a 3-point shot in the corner to make it a one-point game with 9.8 seconds left in regulation. He added one more free throw and finished the game with 55 points, a new career high.

The Timberwolves star scored 26 points in the fourth quarter after scoring 29 points through the first three quarters of play.

Victor Wembanyama led the way for the Spurs with 39 points.

Anthony Edwards stats vs. San Antonio Spurs

• Points: 55
• FG: 19-for-33
• 3PT: 9-for-16
• Free Throws: 8-for-10
• Rebounds: 4
• Assists: 3
• Steals: 0
• Blocks: 0
• Turnovers: 2
• Fouls: 4
• Minutes: 40

Anthony Edwards, Timberwolves vs. Spurs highlights

The Sacramento Kings could see the return of their All-Star power forward Jan. 16 in their Friday night game against the Washington Wizards.

Kings forward Domantas Sabonis is officially listed as questionable on the NBA’s Injury Report, but the team expects that he will suit up and play against the Wizards, according to ESPN.

Sabonis, a three-time All-Star, has missed the previous 27 games for the Kings with a partially torn meniscus.

He only appeared in 11 games so far this season, averaging 17.2 points and 12.3 rebounds.

In recent days, Sabonis was seen participating in shootaround during practices. Signs indicate he’ll rejoin the court with the Kings soon. And at a good time, too.

Sacramento has been rolling on a three-game winning streak at home, knocking off the Houston Rockets, Los Angeles Lakers and New York Knicks.

They’ll also get back Dennis Schroder, who missed that three-game stretch of wins after being suspended by the league for an altercation with Lakers’ star Luka Doncic after a Dec. 28 game at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles.

Sabonis trade market, contract status

Sabonis, in his 10th NBA season and year five in Sacramento, could be on the trade market.

Sabonis’ remaining contract includes three years and $136.3 million.

He signed a four-year, $186 million contract extension with Sacramento as part of a renegotiation-and-extend on July 6, 2023.

Domantas Sabonis highlights

If Kansas basketball’s win over Baylor on Friday, Jan. 16 proved anything, it was that Darryn Peterson is in fact one of the best players in men’s college basketball.

The freshman star guard took over in the Jayhawks’ 80-62 win over the Bears at Allen Fieldhouse with 26 points on 11-of-13 shooting from the field with two rebounds and three assists.

His 26-point outing gives him his fourth game of at least 20 points in Kansas’ last five games. It’s the sixth game this season that Peterson, who has missed some time with a hamstring injury, has reached that mark, as well.

And he could have had more: Peterson made his last basket with 16:41 to go and didn’t play at all in the final 8:01.

Here’s a deeper look into Peterson’s night against the Bears, including a look at his full box score:

Darryn Peterson stats vs Baylor

Here’s a look at Paterson’s stats from Friday’s game against Baylor:

• Points: 26
• Shooting: 11-for-13
• 3-point shooting: 2-for-4
• Free throw shooting: 2-for-4
• Rebounds: 2
• Assists: 3
• Steals: 1
• Turnovers: 0
• Minutes: 23

Darryn Peterson highlights

Here’s a look at a few highlights from Peterson’s night against the Bears:

Did Kansas basketball win today?

Yes, led by Peterson’s 26 points, Kansas picked up its third Big 12 win of the season with an 80-62 victory over Baylor on Jan. 16. The Jayhawks improved to 13-5 (3-2 in Big 12 play) on the season with the win.

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The Sacramento Kings could see the return of their All-Star power forward Jan. 16 in their Friday night game against the Washington Wizards.

Kings forward Domantas Sabonis is officially listed as questionable on the NBA’s Injury Report, but the team expects that he will suit up and play against the Wizards, according to ESPN.

Sabonis, a three-time All-Star, has missed the previous 27 games for the Kings with a partially torn meniscus.

He only appeared in 11 games so far this season, averaging 17.2 points and 12.3 rebounds.

In recent days, Sabonis was seen participating in shootaround during practices. Signs indicate he’ll rejoin the court with the Kings soon. And at a good time, too.

Sacramento has been rolling on a three-game winning streak at home, knocking off the Houston Rockets, Los Angeles Lakers and New York Knicks.

They’ll also get back Dennis Schroder, who missed that three-game stretch of wins after being suspended by the league for an altercation with Lakers’ star Luka Doncic after a Dec. 28 game at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles.

Sabonis trade market, contract status

Sabonis, in his 10th NBA season and year five in Sacramento, could be on the trade market.

Sabonis’ remaining contract includes three years and $136.3 million.

He signed a four-year, $186 million contract extension with Sacramento as part of a renegotiation-and-extend on July 6, 2023.

Domantas Sabonis highlights

AI-assisted summary
• Data shows Colorado coach Deion Sanders has altered his recruiting approach after a 3-9 season.
• This new approach mirrors the one used by Indiana coach Curt Cignetti, who has led his team to the national championship game.
• Unlike Cignetti, Sanders continues to rely heavily on the transfer portal instead of high school recruiting.

In an effort to revive his football program after a 3-9 season last year, Colorado coach Deion Sanders has developed a new blueprint for success.

It’s the same sort of blueprint that’s led Indiana to the national championship game against Miami on Jan. 19. It relates to recruiting new players and choosing “production over potential” when evaluating those recruits, even if it means recruiting players from the lower rungs of college football.  

This year, Sanders has received commitments from 23 transfer players who previously played outside of the spotlight of the Power Four conferences, including at Albany, Monmouth, Lafayette, New Mexico State, North Dakota State, Sacramento State and San Jose State.  But they’re productive college players with the game film to prove it, which often can be a better strategy than taking a backup player with “potential” from a big-time team in the Power Four.

“I know what I want,” Sanders said about recruiting recently on The Morning Run podcast. “I know how I want it. I know what we need and how we need it and the type of young man that we needed.”

Deion Sanders’ new recruiting strategy

Data compiled by USA TODAY Sports shows how Sanders has changed his recruiting approach this year as the transfer portal closes on Friday, Jan. 16. He has commitments from 35 transfer players, only 11 of whom are from other Power Four teams in the Big 12, Big Ten, ACC or SEC, plus one from Notre Dame. The rest are from lower levels of competition in the Group of Five conferences and the Football Bowl Subdivision (FCS).

In Sanders’ three previous recruiting seasons, more than half of his transfer recruits came from Power Four teams.

His new transfer recruits include former San Jose State receiver Danny Scudero, who led the nation in receiving yards per game in 2025 with 108.1.

Players from lower levels like him are generally looking to play on a bigger stage where there’s also more money to be earned from name, image and likeness deals (NIL).

By contrast, transfers from other Power Four often are looking for more playing time because they didn’t get it at their previous school. But the risk with taking players like that is that there was a reason they didn’t get that playing time at their previous school — because they weren’t good enough.

Last year Sanders acknowledged he “missed” on a number of these recruits. Now he’s mirroring the approach taken last year by Indiana coach Curt Cignetti.

“It is clearly influenced by what Curt Cignetti has done,” said former Penn State tight end Adam Breneman, co-founder The College Sports Company. “This is the smartest counter to the current portal economy. You are buying proven production, not betting on upside. FCS and Group of Five starters have already shown they can handle volume, pressure, and accountability, while Power Four backups are still projections.”

How Deion Sanders’ strategy resembles Curt Cignetti’s

In one respect, it was Cignetti who first copied Sanders in 2024 when he brought 13 players with him to Indiana from James Madison, where he previously coached outside the Power Four. A year earlier, Sanders brought nine scholarship players to Colorado with him from Jackson State, where Sanders previously coached in the FCS. That included his quarterback son Shedeur and two-way star Travis Hunter, who won the Heisman Trophy in 2024.

That foundation led both to success — a 9-4 record for Colorado in 2024 and two College Football Playoff berths for Indiana in 2024 and 2025. But Cignetti appeared to take it a step further. In 2024, 23 of the 30 transfer players he signed came from lower levels outside the Power Four, including from Old Dominion, Kent State and Austin Peay. One of them was former James Madison receiver Elijah Sarratt, who leads Indiana with 15 touchdown catches this season.

That was Cignetti’s first year at Indiana, when he almost had to build his roster from scratch.

“We signed 22 guys that all have been two- or three-year starters with consistent production,” he told reporters Jan. 12. “I knew we had flipped the roster.”

In 2025, Cignetti signed nine out of 23 transfers from outside the Power Four.

He said he was especially fond of a certain type of player: “Older, mature guys that played a lot of football.”

‘Production over potential’ for Deion Sanders

Sanders is getting a number of those types of players this year, even some from the Power Four level. Texas starting wide receiver DeAndre Moore Jr. recently committed to joining Colorado. So did Vanderbilt safety Randon Fontenette, who started 24 games the past two seasons.

But Sanders also mined the lower levels to a greater extent for players like Albany defensive lineman Balansama Kamara, who ranked first on his team last season with 7.5 sacks. Sanders’ new offensive coordinator Brennan Marion even is planning to bring four players with him from Sacramento State of the FCS, where Marion served as head coach last year.

“The risk is fit and ceiling,” Breneman told USA TODAY Sports. “Not every productive lower-division player scales up the same way, especially physically and mentally. If your evaluation is lazy, you end up with a roster full of solid players but not enough difference-makers. Cignetti succeeds because he is elite at identifying which production translates. If others copy the idea without that eye, it will fail fast.”

High school factor for Curt Cignetti, Deion Sanders

Sanders’ strategy differs from Cignetti’s in one key respect — recruiting high school players. Cignetti has envisioned decreasing his volume of players from the transfer portal while high school recruiting builds up to replace it based on the success of his program. His transfer class has 17 commitments for 2026, down from his previous two seasons.

“This year we’ll take a few less than we took last year, and we took a few less last year than we took the year before,” Cignetti said of the transfer portal.

By contrast, Sanders has been a pioneer of flipping his roster with transfer players since his first season at Colorado in 2023. He still recruits so few high school players that it’s become an issue in the state. For 2026, he signed only 11. His strategy is based on the notion if the high school recruit isn’t good enough to play right away, why sign him when he’ll leave for more playing time somewhere else after sitting on the bench at Colorado?

His incoming transfer class currently was ranked No. 18 by 247Sports, as of Jan. 16.  More than 30 scholarship players from 2025 are transferring out of Colorado at the same time, including star offensive tackle Jordan Seaton and standout safety Tawfiq Byard.

‘We’re intentional,’ Deion Sanders says

Some have questioned this approach after two losing seasons in three years.

“We’ve got no continuity in the locker room,” former Colorado linebacker Chad Brown told USA TODAY Sports in November. “There’s no continuity on the coaching staff. And so how do you build something when it’s all restarting every single year?”

Sanders hopes the answer this time is fewer “misses” and more “production over potential,” as seen by the way Cignetti built his program in just two years.

“We’re intentional with everything we do,” Sanders said on the podcast.

Meanwhile, the undefeated Hoosiers play for their first national title Monday night in Miami.

Follow reporter Brent Schrotenboer @Schrotenboer. Email: bschrotenb@usatoday.com

(This story was updated to add new information.)

The wham-bang contract agreements forged by Kyle Tucker with the Los Angeles Dodgers and brand new New York Met Bo Bichette in the span of roughly 15 hours suddenly swept the board clean of franchise players younger than 30 – and curtailed the destinations of a few players still out there.

Bichette’s three-year, $126 million agreement resets the perception of the offseason for multiple teams, players and fan bases. With that, let’s take a look at the winners and losers from Bichette’s Citi Field foray:

Winners

Bo Bichette

Nah, it wasn’t the $300 million deal one might have envisioned for Bichette both earlier in his career and as he put together an outstanding platform season in lifting the Blue Jays to the AL East title. But lest we forget, Bichette produced a .225/.277.322 line over 81 games just one year ago, worth -0.1 WAR. He finished this regular season with an injured knee, but a gallant World Series return reminded the world how impactful a player he can be.

At second base. Yeah, Bichette had to swallow some pride and will now likely be a second or third baseman the rest of his career, his defensive metrics being what they are. Yet with all that, he will command a $42 million salary – and be able to opt out next winter, when he’s just 28.

Pete Alonso and Alex Bregman showed how swimmingly that can work out. And Bichette is both younger and more positionally diverse than both of them. He may yet near a $300 million total guarantee once he signs his next deal.

New York Mets

Had ’em all the way, eh, David Stearns?

The Mets’ unflappable president, empowered by bottomless-pocketed owner Steve Cohen’s megabucks, nearly fumbled it all away this winter – letting Alonso walk without so much as a courtesy offer, declaring he’d pass on the elite starting pitching market, losing peerless closer Edwin Diaz by just a few bucks, the eh acquisitions of infielder Jorge Polanco, second baseman Marcus Semien and closer Devin Williams.

Bichette does not cure all. There’s still a gaping hole in left field where Brandon Nimmo once stood, and there’s tons of ambiguity surrounding how much trust and how many plate appearances the Mets will invest in several young players.

Still, Cody Bellinger remains on the market if they want to go big in left, and tweak the Yankees at the same time. Stearns’ notion of going economy on the rotation looks wise – a glut of fairly trusty veteran starters remain on the market.

And Bichette’s ability to ‘flat-out hit,’ as they say – he’s twice led the AL in hits and is in the 86th percentile in K rate – will create a suffocating 1-2-3 atop the lineup with Francisco Lindor and Juan Soto.

Still not ideal. But far from the cataclysmic winter hyperventilating Mets observers envisioned.

The AL East

Whew.

For a minute there, the Blue Jays and their Rogers Communications arsenal were starting to look like George Steinbrenner North. They struck quickly for ace Dylan Cease, and the notion of adding Tucker and retaining Bichette didn’t seem so farfetched at the outset of the season.

Under those circumstances, would the Yankees, Red Sox, Orioles and Rays be playing for second? Not quite, eh, but it would have been far less optimal.

Yet 2026 will bring no Tucker and no Bichette to the Blue Jays – or anyone else in the AL. The competitive balance of both division and league suddenly got a lot flatter.

J.T. Realmuto

The venerable Phillies catcher had been locked in a staring contest with his club, which just so happened to schedule a Zoom call with Bichette four days ago. Signing Bichette would have required moving several pieces around – and moving on from Realmuto.

Yet just hours after Bichette’s Mets agreement, team and club found common ground on a three-year, $45 million deal, ensuring their ironman backstop who turns 35 in March is back in the fold.

Losers

Toronto Blue Jays

You just hate to see it.

Sure, the re-signing of Vladimir Guerrero Jr. to a $500 million extension seemed certain to break up the organization’s power couple: Bo and Vladdy, together for a decade, legacy players and beloved in all of Canada.

Yet Bichette’s subpar 2024 dampened his value. His 2025 comeback did not totally send it into the stratosphere. Maybe the de facto brothers would be together forever.

Alas, it will be Vladdy going it alone, and suddenly the Jays’ $60 million signing of Japanese infielder Kazuma Okamoto looks all the more critical. His early performance will be watched warily, as Japanese hitters often need a greater adjustment time than pitchers.

So, too, will the Blue Jays’ many playoff heroes. Ernie Clement and Addison Barger and Andrés Giménez are now far more primary, rather than complementary pieces.

Sure, the Jays may yet forge a mini-dynasty in the AL. But it just got a lot tougher.

Cody Bellinger

For a minute there, it looked like he had the Yankees over a barrel. Maybe he still does.

But as he and the Yankees squabble over number of years on a contract, two of his alternatives – the Dodgers and Mets – spent big for Tucker and Bichette. Not to say the Mets won’t get back in the Bellinger game, and perhaps the Blue Jays will jump in, with money to burn and an upgrade over Nathan Lukes readily available.

We still believe the Yankees and Belli will find common ground somewhere between five and seven years. But it feels like the Yankees wield a little more clout in the power exchange now.

Mets corner infielders

Maybe someday, Mark Vientos and Brett Baty will get an unadulterated crack at a full-time job.

Unfortunately, they are developing players on a club that will be in perpetual win-now mode for the foreseeable future. And thus, Baty’s 3.1 WAR accrued in a 121-game 2025 campaign gets nudged to the side. Vientos’s backslide in 2025 after a second-half surge in 2024 might have slammed the door on any chance at a full-time gig going forward.

For now, the two third basemen are DH partners on paper, but with four projected regulars in their 30s, it’s not hard to imagine many of those at-bats will be gobbled up by veterans needing a day out of the field.

Perhaps a trade and a fresh start will be in the offing for one of them. For now, winter remains the time their playing time dreams evaporate.

Atlanta Braves

It’s getting increasingly difficult for one of the game’s best-run organizations to keep up with the Northeast behemoths.

The Braves were considered a solid candidate for Bichette’s services at the start of the winter. They opted to retain shortstop Ha-Seong Kim. Totally fine. Really good player.

Yet it will be hard to match the Mets’ and Phillies’ firepower, especially since Atlanta’s 2026 calculus likely bakes in bounceback seasons from the likes of Austin Riley and Jurickson Profar. Their margin for error is looking pretty thin.

It’s not like the Braves are paupers; listen to any old Liberty Media earnings call and you realize the Braves and The Battery are, as public equity bros might say, just printing. Still, they remain hesitant for big free agent splashes that upset the formula of retaining their own players.

From 2018 to 2023, when they ruled the NL East, that was fine. But it seems to get harder every year.