Quick Hits

• NFL rookies trying to go back to college? After an NCAA eligibility ruling in Colorado, players who already signed NFL contracts are exploring a return to college football this fall — and 16 of them, including Buccaneers rookie Jack Pyburn, are suing for the right to do it, per CBS Sports.
• Caitlin Clark and Kelsey Mitchell set a WNBA record for a scoring duo Tuesday, combining for 53 points as the Indiana Fever beat the Tempo 101-95.
• Season-ending injury news: Texans wide receiver Jayden Higgins tore his ACL (a knee ligament) in a joint practice with the Raiders and will miss all of 2026, ESPN reports.
• The National League is dominating baseball — ESPN's power rankings have an all-NL top three — and the NL MVP race between Shohei Ohtani and Pete Crow-Armstrong is tightening by the day.
• The English Premier League returns Friday, with champion Arsenal opening its title defense against newly promoted Coventry City.

Minnesota Teams

Quiet mid-August for the locals, but ESPN dropped an early Timberwolves season preview, and the question is a big one: how will Anthony Edwards and LaMelo Ball mesh in Minnesota's rebuilt backcourt? The answer will decide whether the Wolves are a genuine threat in the Western Conference this season — no games yet, but this is the storyline local fans will be chewing on until tip-off this fall.

NFL

• The Texans lost second-year receiver Jayden Higgins to a torn ACL in practice, per ESPN — a real blow to a young offense before the season even starts.
• The Patriots are trying to bounce back from a Super Bowl loss, with heavy roster turnover and a tougher schedule ahead, ESPN writes. New England is leaning hard on "identity" as its answer.
• Don't bury the Lions yet. Dan Campbell insists Detroit's championship window "is not closed," and ESPN notes rival coaches like Sean McVay and Matt LaFleur seem to agree the Lions remain contenders.
• In Chicago, ESPN breaks down why Ben Johnson's Bears offense is more than just quarterback Caleb Williams — the system itself is the star.
• Stefon Diggs, the veteran receiver, lands with another young quarterback in Washington, where the Commanders hope his track record of boosting first-time starters pays off for Jayden Daniels, CBS Sports explains.

NBA

• The Fever's backcourt made history Tuesday: Kelsey Mitchell dropped 16 points in the first quarter alone, finished with 29 while sitting out the fourth, and Caitlin Clark added 24 in a 101-95 win over the Tempo — a combined scoring mark for a WNBA duo.
• The WNBA playoff race is wide open — five playoff spots are still unclaimed with a few weeks left, and ESPN ranks the most impactful remaining games.
• Off-court drama: Fever guard Sophie Cunningham publicly criticized WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert, saying the league needs a "bold" leader who is "not for themselves," per CBS Sports.
• The expansion Golden State Valkyries will host the 2027 WNBA All-Star weekend at the Chase Center in San Francisco.
• Feeling nostalgic? ESPN's Zach Kram is debating which moment from last season — the "Knicks in 5" Finals, or Bam Adebayo's 83-point night — will be remembered decades from now.

MLB

• ESPN's Week 21 power rankings have an all-National League top three, with Atlanta jumping Tampa Bay for No. 3, while the AL wild-card race (baseball's runner-up playoff spots) heats up.
• The NL MVP race is the talk of clubhouses: players around the league weigh in on the tightening duel between the Dodgers' Shohei Ohtani and the Cubs' Pete Crow-Armstrong, ESPN reports.
• The Orioles are angry at MLB's technology after Pete Alonso's deep fly ball was ruled foul and the call stood on review Wednesday night against the Yankees.
• Is Paul Skenes' season almost over? CBS Sports speculates the struggling Pirates ace's Wednesday start in Detroit could be his last of 2026.
• Fun one: ESPN profiles Little League World Series player Kinley Rasmus of Phenix City, Alabama, whose family tree includes a current teammate and three former major leaguers.

College Sports

• The eligibility saga, in detail: Following an NCAA ruling in Colorado, multiple NFL signees — including former Ole Miss starters Dae'Quan Wright, Zxavian Harris and Wydett Williams — were granted a temporary restraining order (a court order) clearing the way for a fifth college season. With NFL roster cuts looming, more players are eyeing the exit back to campus, CBS Sports reports.
• Yes, Indiana is the defending national champion in football — and yet, as CBS notes, the Hoosiers (along with Alabama and Texas Tech) didn't even crack college football's list of most expensive rosters this year.
• The rebuilt Pac-12 is back, adding six new teams, and ESPN says the conference looks "in a tier of its own" — Pac-12 After Dark returns.
• Sleeper watch: CBS flags eight unranked teams — including Florida and Boise State — that could crash the College Football Playoff.
• On the hardwood, college coaches polled by CBS like this season's upperclassmen, with Florida's Thomas Haugh and Michigan State's Jeremy Fears drawing buzz as the nation's best player.

Other Sports

• Golf's FedEx Cup playoffs continue at the BMW Championship in St. Louis, where the field shrinks from 50 players to 30 for next week's Tour Championship. Rory McIlroy, meanwhile, says Scottie Scheffler deserves PGA Tour Player of the Year honors with two events left.
• Also in golf: England's Jack Whaley won the U.S. Amateur at storied Merion after barely squeaking into match play, and Bryson DeChambeau committed to a December event in South Africa amid uncertainty about his LIV Golf future as he nears free agency.
• Soccer's biggest leagues are back: the Premier League opens Friday with Arsenal hosting Coventry, while CBS makes the case that Barcelona's signing of World Cup winner Rodri from Manchester City could finally end its Champions League drought. Newly promoted Coventry, Hull City and Ipswich Town top the relegation-risk list.
• In the UFC, rising light heavyweight Reinier de Ridder is teasing a fight with Paulo Costa as he eyes a fast track to a title at 205 pounds.