CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Dave Canales and his staff had their first look at the team’s rookies during a two-day minicamp earlier this month. Following the holiday weekend, they’ll get the whole gang together.

The Carolina Panthers’ offseason program ramps up to something more closely resembling real football Tuesday with the first of six scheduled OTA practices over the next two weeks. Those will be followed by a three-day mandatory minicamp from June 10-12.

The NFL allows for up to 10 OTA practices, but the Panthers are among 15 teams slated to use only six. As with the rookie camp, no live contact is allowed in the OTA or minicamp practices. But teams can stage 7-on-7, 9-on-7 and 11-on-11 drills, so it’s at least a start.

One OTA practice each week and the entire minicamp is open to the media. Here’s what I’ll be watching:

Wide receiver pecking order

A year ago, we were just beginning to document the Diontae Johnson experiment, which didn’t make it to Halloween. Johnson has been on three different teams since then, including two stints with the Baltimore Ravens.

Meanwhile, the Panthers bolstered their receiving corps by drafting Tetairoa McMillan with the eighth pick, adding former Colorado receiver Jimmy Horn in the sixth round and taking a flier on Hunter Renfrow, the former Clemson and Raiders receiver who was out of the league last year while dealing with ulcerative colitis.

McMillan figures to get the majority of his work at the X, with Adam Thielen and Xavier Legette lining up at the slot and the Z, respectively. But it will be interesting to see how the reps shake out among the receivers a little farther down the depth chart, a group that includes Jalen Coker, Renfrow, Horn and David Moore, who was re-signed to a one-year deal after a career resurgence last season.

Something else to track: Bryce Young’s touch passes to the 6-foot-4 McMillan, whose ability to high-point balls and get open on scramble plays should mesh well with Young’s skills in both of those areas.

Which edge rushers emerge

Jadeveon Clowney’s release leaves the Panthers with only a couple of proven edge rushers in D.J. Wonnum and free-agent acquisition Patrick Jones, a situational pass rusher in Minnesota who finished with a career-high seven sacks last year. But that was part of the point in moving on from Clowney: To open up playing opportunities for young players like second-round pick Nic Scourton and third-rounder Princely Umanmielen.

Besides their SEC backgrounds, the two outside linebackers don’t have much in common regarding their pass-rush arsenal. Umanmielen is a speed rusher with a good bend, while Scourton relied on a power repertoire and, at times, nearly ate his way into an interior position in college.

Neither lacks confidence.

Besides a “nasty demeanor” and natural leadership skills, Scourton pointed to his competitiveness when asked what sets him apart. “I’m not coming just to say I made it to the NFL,” he said. “I think I can add a lot to the defense, just by being myself, coming in and working hard, getting around the vets and just getting better.”

And Umanmielen believes he’s more than just a one-trick pass rusher. “I didn’t really have to use power against offensive tackles. I was winning with my moves, so there was no reason to convert to power,” he said. “There were times where I go power and it does show up on film a lot. I squat 700 pounds, so I know I have a lot of power.”

Checking on Derrick Brown and others in their rehab process

When Brown spoke with reporters in April, the Pro Bowl defensive end indicated his goal was Week 1 — not OTA practices in May — in terms of a timeline in returning from knee surgery. There’s no reason for the Panthers to be in a rush with Brown, whose loss was felt across the whole defense after he tore his meniscus in the season opener against the New Orleans Saints.

“We’re just kind of week to week, just seeing where he’s at with his confidence level, conditioning level and all that,” Canales said of Brown. “We’ll kind of just play that by ear.”

Brown said last month he’s following the doctors’ and trainers’ orders. “No rush, just trying to get back,” he said. “I would like to be able to be there when the team gets ready to play in September.”

Second-year linebacker Trevin Wallace is farther along in his recovery from offseason shoulder surgery and is expected to participate in OTAs and the mandatory minicamp. Wallace, last year’s third-round pick from Kentucky, started eight games as a rookie after Shaq Thompson was injured. Wallace totaled 64 tackles.

Panthers star defensive tackle Derrick Brown is coming back from a meniscus tear in 2024, with a goal to be ready by Week 1 against the Jacksonville Jaguars. (John Byrum / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

Second-teamers in the secondary

The starting secondary looks to be set after the Panthers re-signed cornerbacks Jaycee Horn and Michael Jackson and overhauled their safety room, where former Raider Tre’von Moehrig and fourth-round pick Lathan Ransom are replacing Xavier Woods and Jordan Fuller.

Veteran Nick Scott and second-year Demani Richardson are the backups at safety, while Chau Smith-Wade returns at nickel. But the rest of the depth chart looks a little shaky. The Panthers kept cornerback Shemar Bartholomew around all last season after claiming him from the New York Jets in August, so they see something they like in the 6-foot-1, 200-pounder.

The Panthers also have two other waiver claims at corner: Akayleb Evans, whom they acquired off waivers from Minnesota last year, and recent addition MJ Devonshire, who spent all of 2024 on the Raiders’ practice squad. Devonshire was a ballhawk and playmaker at Pittsburgh, intercepting eight passes (and returning three for touchdowns) over his final three college seasons.

Let the kicking competition begin

One of the storylines during OTAs last year was the absence of kicker Eddy Pineiro, who remained in Florida while looking for a contract extension that never came. After opting not to re-sign Pineiro, the Panthers brought in undrafted free agent Ryan Fitzgerald to compete with journeyman Matthew Wright.

Previous kicking battles didn’t begin in earnest until training camp, but Canales is eager to get going on finding a successor to Pineiro, No. 3 on the NFL’s all-time field goal percentage list but with questionable leg strength. “We’ll start kicking now,” Canales said recently.

Fitzgerald should be considered the favorite. The south Georgia native made all of his kicks during his final season at Florida State, including a 5-for-5 mark on field goals of 50-plus. He appears ready for the challenge.

“I think at this level, every year regardless of the team, it’s gonna be a competition. I love that. I’m a competitor,” Fitzgerald told The Athletic during rookie camp. “But the key to that is just focus on myself. It’s me versus the uprights, not me versus another guy. I’m sure that’s the same for Matt’s mindset as well. Just excited to get to work with the guys.”

(Top photo: Jared C. Tilton / Getty Images)

Ray Didinger joins Takeoff with John Clark to do a deep dive on the Tush Push Saga that saw a surprise development on Wednesday.

0:00 – Ray Didinger’s initial reaction to the Tush Push vote
4:00 – The irony of the Packers proposing the rule change
10:13 – Will the NFL vote again next year on the Tush Push?
14:23 – The psychological aspect of the play
18:29 – The technique involved in the Brotherly Shove
22:10 – Jason Kelce’s role in the Tush Push saga
24:28 – Ray’s takeaway from the schedule release
27:32 – The Eagles Encyclopedia: Champions II by Ray Didinger is available for preorder
30:35 – The Eagles enter 2025 in a very unique position

YouTube has released its first-ever Top 100 Podcasts rankings, which include several podcasts hosted by Black creators. Most of these podcasts are sports-related, with a few focusing on daily news, but many also have cultural significance within music, entertainment, and urban communities.

The rankings feature strong sports podcasts hosted by former Black athletes such as Shannon Sharpe, Gilbert Arenas, Cam Newton, Jeff Teague, and Carmelo Anthony.

SPORTS PODCASTS

Leading and dominating the space is HBCU legend Shannon Sharpe, who hosts two popular podcasts, with “Club Shay Shay” ranking at No. 7 and boasting 3.99 million subscribers. His other podcast, the rapidly growing “Nightcap Show,” holds steady at No. 28 with 1.76 million subscribers. Alongside co-host Chad “Ochocinco” Johnson, Sharpe engages in various discussions covering topics from sports and social life to relationship advice.

At No. 20, Gilbert Arenas hosts his Gil’s Arena Podcast, which boasts 1.06 million subscribers. The Underdog Fantasy app produces the show. Jeff Teague’s Club 520 Podcast ranks at No. 83 with 641,000 followers, while Carmelo Anthony’s 7 PM in Brooklyn is a rising star, currently at 404,000 subscribers.  

The former NFL Superman, Cam Newton, hosts two podcasts on the platform. Only “Funky Friday,” which ranks at No. 84, has made it into the Top 100. His other podcast, “4th and 1,” is not in the Top 100 list but has garnered over 370,000 loyal subscribers. Notably, it has been growing rapidly despite only having 52 episodes produced by Newton.

NEWS

The NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt ranks at No. 38, boasting 11.2 million subscribers. Holt has announced plans to scale back his daily duties later this year, and it remains to be seen if NBC can maintain its position without him.

At No. 78 on YouTube’s charts is Roland Martin with his show “Roland Martin Unfiltered.” He has a strong following of 1.8 million subscribers, which makes him one of the most influential and impactful news reporters and creators on the platform.  No one controls Mr. Martin.

Barry Cunningham, who transitioned from sports reporting, Barry Cunningham Podcasts And Live Shows that are currently thriving with 346,000 followers. His coverage of politics and special topics has contributed to the growth of his channel.

ENTERTAINMENT & CULTURAL

1. The Joe Rogan Experience
2. Kill Tony
3. Rotten Mango
4. 48 Hours
5. The MeidasTouch Podcast
6. H3 Podcast
7. Club Shay Shay
8. This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
9. Smosh Reads Reddit Stories
10. Dr Insanity
11. Shawn Ryan Show
12. The Pat McAfee Show
13. Timcast IRL
14. The Diary Of A CEO
15. CreepCast
16. Karen Read
17. Murder, Mystery & Makeup
18. The Tucker Carlson Show
19. The Megyn Kelly Show
20. Gil’s Arena
21. Reality Check with Ross Coulthart
22. Lex Fridman Podcast
23. It Is What It Is
24. Bad Friends Podcast
25. 60 Minutes
26. PBD Podcast
27. A Closer Look – Late Night with Seth Meyers
28. Nightcap
29. Just Trish
30. The Lets Read Podcast
31. IHIP News
32. Law&Crime Sidebar with Jesse Weber
33. Unsubscribe Podcast
34. The Bulwark Podcast with Tim Miller
35. The Philip DeFranco Show
36. The Yak
37. Smosh Mouth
38. NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt
39. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace
40. Breaking Points
41. Timcast News Stories
42. Cancelled with Tana Mongeau & Brooke Schofield
43. True Crime with Kendall Rae
44. Dark History
45. Julian Dorey Podcast
46. Authorized Account
47. StarTalk Podcast
48. Distractible
49. Serialously with Annie Elise
50. TigerBelly
51. The Joe Budden Podcast
52. Democracy Now!
53. Matt and Shane’s Secret Podcast
54. Triggernometry
55. On Purpose Podcast
56. rSlash
57. The 85 South Comedy Show
58. You Should Know Podcast
59. Power Hour
60. Royals
61. The Why Files: Operation Podcast
62. Flagrant
63. Crime Fix with Angenette Levy
64. Legal AF Podcast
65. The Benny Show
66. The Broski Report
67. Huberman Lab
68. Million Dollaz Worth of Game
69. Barry Cunningham Podcasts And Live Shows
70. Breaking News
71. Drink Champs
72. ScreenCrush
73. The Bald and the Beautiful with Trixie and Katya
74. Shane Dawson Podcast
75. Stories from the Bible
76. The Mel Robbins Podcast
77. Two Hot Takes
78. #RolandMartinUnfiltered
79. Bulwark Takes
80. Democracy Watch with Marc Elias
81. Pardon My Take
82. 2 Bears, 1 Cave
83. Club 520 Podcast
84. 7PM in Brooklyn with Carmelo Anthony
85. Funky Friday Podcast with Cam Newton
86. Impaulsive Podcast
87. Extra Anormal Podcast
88. Your Mom’s House w/ Tom Segura & Christina P
89. 520 in the Morning
90. The Intersection with Popok
91. Crime
92. Critical Role
93. The Matt Walsh Show
94. The Tim Dillon Show
95. Javier Ceriani
96. Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
97. The David Pakman Show
98. La Cotorrisa – Anecdotarios
99. The Yard Podcast
100. Crime Weekly

As mentioned earlier, this is the first ranking for YouTube. Sports dominate the platform, but with a consistent and strong subscriber base, podcasts can grow and become profitable for Black creators.

PODCASTS

HBCU LEGENDS PODCAST

This article was originally published on www.si.com/college/hbcu as YouTube’s Top 100 Podcasts: HBCU Legend Leads Black Podcast Creators In Rankings .

The English domestic season finished on Sunday with Chelsea beating Manchester United 3-0 in the FA Cup final to secure a treble in Sonia Bompastor’s first season as head coach.

Chelsea swept all before them domestically, going unbeaten in the Women’s Super League (WSL) and winning the League Cup. With Arsenal versus Barcelona in the Women’s Champions League final on Saturday, now seems like a good opportunity to reflect on some of the campaign’s outstanding performances.

The Athletic’s team of experts have been voting for their 2024-25 award winners, covering the WSL and European competition.

We have also announced our winners from the men’s game — you can read about those here — but here are the players and managers we are recognising for their achievements this season in women’s football…

WSL Player of the Season: Alessia Russo (Arsenal)

Alessia Russo shared the WSL’s Golden Boot award with Manchester City’s Khadija Shaw — whose injuries limited her to 10 starts from 14 top-flight appearances — on 12 goals each and, although Arsenal colleague Mariona Caldentey deserves a special mention, this season more than ever highlighted the importance of the collective rather than the individual.

Chelsea are the first WSL side to go unbeaten through a 22-game league campaign but with Sam Kerr yet to return from her January 2024 knee injury, they only had four players among the league’s 25 leaders for goal contributions (goals and assists) — Aggie Beever-Jones (13th on nine), Guro Reiten, Catarina Macario and Johanna Rytting Kaneryd (joint-18th on eight). They were a classic example of a team being greater than the sum of its parts.

Russo had a good mid-season run of form (seven goals in six games, five of them wins), helping turn around Arsenal’s fortunes after a disrupted start to the campaign.

Charlotte Harpur

WSL Young Player of the Season: Olivia Smith (Liverpool)

The story of the summer will be whether Olivia Smith remains at Liverpool or gets poached by one of the WSL’s ‘big four’ (Chelsea, Arsenal and the two Manchester clubs).

It is a remarkable narrative arc for a player who only arrived in England as a teenager last summer and was relatively anonymous outside Canada. But Smith, now 20, has a knack for showing up and lighting leagues on fire, having done it back home for North Toronto Nitros in 2022 and then in Portugal.

The WSL was always going to be her biggest test, having been signed after a single 16-goal season with Sporting CP in Lisbon. Yet, as far as debut years go, Smith smashed the assignment, all while playing out of position (it wasn’t until coach Matt Beard’s sacking in late February that she was moved out wide) in a team who underperformed massively in terms of creating attacks over the first half of the campaign.

As the campaign progressed, Smith showed strength and conviction that belied her age, as well as an ability to produce goals entirely on her own. That has not gone unnoticed, with many now asking: what is Smith’s ceiling, if given the proper structure to flourish?

Megan Feringa

WSL Manager of the Season: Sonia Bompastor (Chelsea)

Chelsea’s sixth WSL title on the trot felt like a procession, which is precisely why Bompastor deserves to win this category.

Before the season started, the narrative was that Chelsea were at their most vulnerable following the summer departure of the hugely successful Emma Hayes, now head coach of the United States women’s national team. Bompastor would surely struggle to adjust and conquer, particularly while implementing a new style of play.

She has led Chelsea to a treble in record-setting, invincible style, claiming the league with the most wins in a season (19) and becoming the first undefeated champions since Hayes’ 2017-18 side, who won 13 and drew five of their 18 league games.

To not only maintain Chelsea’s winning DNA but to, in almost every way possible, augment it is a triumph.

Megan Feringa

WSL Team of the Season

Chelsea’s collective strength is second to none, as their sixth successive league title shows but the top-four sides produced some cracking individual displays this season, and our WSL Team of the Season reflects that.

Phallon Tullis-Joyce helped Manchester United record 13 clean sheets across the 22 matches, the joint-best record this season alongside Chelsea’s Hannah Hampton. The 28-year-old United States international curated a stellar highlights reel as she seamlessly replaced England No 1 Mary Earps in the United goal. Of the 77 shots on target Tullis-Joyce faced, she boasted an 83 per cent save rate. Comparatively, Hampton saved 79 per cent of 62 shots on target. That United will play Champions League football next season is in many ways down to Tullis-Joyce.

Emily Fox and Katie McCabe regularly stood out at full-back for Arsenal, with the latter particularly displaying her quality in attack as she finished the season with the league’s highest expected assists number, a measure of the quality of chances a player makes (7.3).

The player next in line behind McCabe for that metric? Arsenal team-mate Caldentey (6.0). The Spain international enjoyed a standout season on and off the ball, finishing joint-fifth in goals scored (nine) despite often being deployed in a far deeper midfield position. She is arguably unlucky to lose out to colleague Russo in our Player of the Season vote.

Further back, Chelsea’s Millie Bright and Laia Aleixandri of Manchester City both produced solid seasons in their respective defences, while Erin Cuthbert and Wieke Kaptein were influential figures in midfield for the champions.

Despite injuries ultimately hampering her season, Shaw still finished with 12 goals from her 14 matches, level with Russo, who made seven more appearances. Smith’s inclusion in this team is evidence of her rising stock.

Megan Feringa

WSL Goal of the Season: Johanna Rytting Kaneryd (Chelsea) vs Tottenham Hotspur

One of those goals you could watch on repeat.

Centre-back Bright looks up and sails a long cross towards the back post. From some angles in videos of this screamer, Bright seems to have thumped her pass into the no-man’s land of Spurs’ defence. But then Rytting Kaneryd arrives, leaping mid-air with her right leg in full ninja power mode to meet the ball with perfect, volleyed precision.

It’s a stunning goal that epitomised Kaneryd’s standout performance in a 5-2 Chelsea win — 10/10, no notes.

Megan Feringa

European Women’s Player of the Season: Aitana Bonmati (Barcelona)

Aitana Bonmati continues to be the benchmark for Barcelona, who are determined to prolong their great run of success both domestically (it’s now six titles in a row) and in Europe (they go for a third straight Champions League title against Arsenal on Saturday in Lisbon). She is the team’s compass, setting the tempo of a game and orchestrating every move.

Winner of the past two Ballons d’Or, Bonmati is a player who always rises to the occasion in big games. In this season’s Champions League, she was instrumental in the semi-final against Chelsea, who are proving to be her favourite victims —after a 4-1 win at home, she scored the first goal of the second leg at Stamford Bridge to squash any remaining hopes of a comeback.

Laia Cervello Herrero

European Women’s Young Player of the Season: Melchie Dumornay (Lyon)

We have known for a while that Melchie Dumornay has the potential to become the world’s best player, and Lyon had snapped her up even before she impressed for Haiti at the World Cup two years ago. After a decent first season with France’s biggest club, she exploded into a top-class attacker in this one, scoring at a rate better than a goal every 90 minutes.

Her sensational dribble and finish in the first leg of their Champions League semi-final against Arsenal was a good example of her directness.

At her best, Dumornay seems unstoppable and the 21-year-old will surely continue to improve.

Michael Cox

European Women’s Manager of the Season: Pere Romeu (Barcelona)

When Pere Romeu accepted the position of women’s head coach at Barcelona, the challenge was considerable. Jonatan Giraldez left the club last summer at the top, winning the second treble in their history — four 2023-24 titles if you count the Supercopa de Espana.

Taking over the team that achieved all that was not easy. If you continue with the project, you do not create the impression of someone achieving success for the first time, and anything less than matching the extraordinary achievements of the previous season will be seen as a failure.

Sure enough, the start of Romeu’s tenure had its sticky moments. The 2-0 away defeat against Manchester City in their Champions League group-stage opener in October set alarm bells ringing. The fear is not so much that Barca will struggle in Spain, where they have no rivals, but about losing momentum in Europe against WSL teams collectively stepping up their game.

La Liga losses against Levante and Real Madrid in February and March brought the critics out again but the end of the season and, especially, the team’s performances in the Champions League knockout rounds against Wolfsburg and Chelsea, have vindicated a coach who has Barcelona back in the Champions League final and is close to a second straight treble after winning La Liga and qualifying for the Copa de la Reina final on June 7.

Laia Cervello Herrero

(Top photos: Getty Images; design: Eamonn Dalton)

Matt Jones and Ethan Westerman discuss the Razorbacks’ NCAA softball regional win over Oklahoma State. They also talk about Boogie Fland’s transfer to Florida, Wehiwa Aloy’s SEC baseball player of the year award and Maria Jose Marin’s win at the NCAA Women’s Golf Championships. 

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Matt Jones and Bubba Carpenter look back at Arkansas’ series win over Tennessee that all-but clinched the Razorbacks home field advantage for the NCAA Tournament. They also discuss Arkansas’ run of 20-win SEC seasons and give picks for All-SEC and yearly awards. 

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