Manchester City can expect summer departures but this speculation is … — and more

Manchester City have largely put last season’s disappointments behind them as Pep Guardiola pivoted during the summer to not only introduce a slightly different style of play, but significantly shake up options available to him through an expected rebuild.

Reducing the average age of the squad, moving on stalwarts and those more on the fringes failing to live up to their earlier billing and fees, and bringing in new talent from across the globe has worked out pretty well for the 55-year-old former defensive midfielder.

For the more confident City fan during pre-season, they would have picked the best 1xbet website odds predictions suggesting a good year lay ahead and they would have been right to.

With 27 games played so far in the 2025/26 campaign, Manchester City are comfortably in second spot in the Premier League table and Guardiola will be demanding that the gap to Arsenal is cut given the game in hand held over Mikel Arteta’s side – who have begun wobbling and showing signs of ‘bottling’ it again.

Whilst City fans understandably have eyes on what happens in the remainder of the season with the fixture calendar at the business end of the year, there will be those who are not only wondering whether or not Guardiola will remain at the Etihad Stadium for the 2026/27 season, but also what kind of second stage rebuild will be seen – whether he stays or not.

Fans are already beginning to see some predictably nonsense stories doing the rounds as the press and media trawl the bottom of the speculation transfer window rumour mill ahead of the summer.

Even though we are barely into a new week, there have already been strong – but in reality baseless – claims that Barcelona are preparing a blockbuster move for Norwegian superstar Erling Haaland, and now there are claims that the La Liga giants are sniffing around Rodri.

On the Haaland front, the claims come from Joan Soler – who has been part of Joan Laporta’s board since 2021 and has just stepped down with the president re-contesting the upcoming election.

He also claimed they were going to sign Julian Alvarez and it appears he is telling anyone who will listen how Laporta single handedly kept Lamine Yamal at the club, so we think we can guess his motivations and truthfulness here.

As for Rodri, some outlet’s are peddling that Real Madrid also have the 29-year-old at the top of their wish list for the summer and City can expect a bidding war. This is unlikely as one side favours free transfers and both sides have incredibly well-known financial problems and constraints hanging over their heads.

Not least it was only the other week that Guardiola effectively doubled down on Rodri remaining at the club irrespective of whatever else may happen, and with a contract until the summer of 2027 no one is in a position to force the club’s hand here unless Rodri himself wants to investigate pastures new.

That is unlikely given his recent injury issues and the player simply focused on getting back to his true best, and of course, pretty much from day one in Manchester he has been linked with both Spanish clubs and nothing ever comes of it.

There is no reason to think this round of speculation is any different.

The Detroit Lions are heading to Germany this fall and there’s one star receiver particularly excited.

By now, most people know star wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown’s mother, Miriam, is from Germany and he fluently speaks the language. He’s consistently reaching out to fans in Germany and been a part of a number of youth football education camps there.

So the Lions left it up to Miriam to announce the big news.

“You know, you’ve got a lot of fans in America, but you’ve also got quite a few in Germany, and they’re going to be very happy this year  because you—or you with your Lions—are playing Munich,” she said.

Amon-Ra immediately began clapping, and said he had a suspicion that’s what his mom was calling about.

“I knew there was something because you texted me very early and I thought this could be something, I think we’re playing in Germany,” he said, with a big smile on his face.

His mom said that many people are going to be happy about the news, especially their family. 

Amon-Ra had a personal message for Lions fans the team posted on X.

“Finally, the time has come. We have a game at home in Munich—a dream come true. Lions fans, we are here, let’s go,” he said.

The game, which is a part of the NFL International series, will be played at FC Bayern Munich Stadium. Date, time, and opponent will be announced during the NFL schedule release, which typically happens mid-May.

For fans thinking about going, the Lions are offering official fan travel packages with priority access available now. Per detroitlions.com, fans who place a deposit get access to an exclusive pre-sale for tickets with “front-of-the-line access to choose premium game seating.” The deposit, which begins at $500 a person, is fully refundable and applies to the total balance of your final package selection. They say packages can also include travel accommodations, pregame hospitality, and excursions.  

And onto the rest of your notes.

• Speaking of international fandom, Aidan Hutchinson helped surprise the 2025 International Fan of the Year with a custom jersey. Congrats to Betina from Brazil!

• It’s combine week and the Lions are reaching into the files to find combine headshots from some of your favorite Lions.

• Registration for Detroit Lions 2026 Youth Football Camps begins at 12 a.m. March 1. Meant for both boys and girls, the camps involve interactive drills on offense, defense and special teams positions, skill competitions and NFL Flag scrimmages. You can check out the schedule, prices, and locations here.

• The Lions are also looking for some coaching help for those youth football camps.

The Dallas Cowboys are in Indianapolis to officially kick off the 2026 draft process. A ton of business will be done this week, both veteran and draft related. In between meeting with other team's general managers and agents who represent the veterans, the Cowboys' front office and staff will be taking a closer look at draft prospects eligible for April's event.

While the media will focus on 40-yard dash times and the underwear Olympics ranging from official measurements to on-field drills, the true litmus test for these prospects is how they represent themselves when meeting with team officials one-on-one. Especially for a team like Dallas which comes with so much aside from being able to cut it between the white lines, the mettle test is just as important as anything else.

Here, we'll try to keep track of which prospects the Cowboys have met with, or will meet with, throughout the week and into the next few weeks if scheduled for a later time. We'll sort by position, readers should continuously check back to find out the latest updates.

Quarterback Meetings

Running Back Meetings

Wide Receiver Meetings

Tight End Meetings

Offensive Line Meetings

Defensive Interior Meetings

• Clemson DI Peter Woods (Combine)
• South Carolina DT Nick Barrett (Combine)

Edge Rusher Meetings

Linebacker Meetings

• LSU LB Harold Perkins Jr (Combine + March 22 Pro Day)
• Arkansas LB Xavien Sorey (Combine)
• Missouri LB Josiah Trotter (Combine)
• Texas Tech LB Jacob Rodriguez (Combine)
• Ohio State LB Arvell Reese (Combine)
• TCU LB Kaleb Elarms-Orr (Combine)
• Georgia LB CJ Allen (Combine)
• Oklahoma LB Kendal Daniels (Combine)

Cornerback Meetings

Safety Meetings

This article originally appeared on Cowboys Wire: Live 2026 Scouting Combine: Cowboys-Draft Prospect Meeting Tracker

McDonald, who won the Big Ten's Defensive Lineman of the Year award, is projected to be a first-round selection. At 6-foot-3 and 326 pounds, he is expected to hear his name called in Pittsburgh on April 23.

Buffalo's offseason will involve Brandon Beane restructuring some current player contracts to free up cap space.

The Bills' GM and President of Football Operations got the ball rolling this week, restructuring offensive tackle Spencer Brown’s contract as a measure to open salary cap space before the new league year opens on Mar. 11

The NFL informed teams that the salary cap will rise significantly, with the 2026 cap expected to be between $301.2 million and $305.7 million. Prior to the restructure, the Bills entered the offseason $10 million over the cap, per Spotrac, and Brown was set to count $19.3 million against it.

When a player's contract is restructured, it takes most of the money that's owed to that player in the current year and converts it to a prorated bonus. That bonus can be spread out evenly over a maximum of five years, and the base salary in the current year is the veteran's minimum plus any amount that's been prorated. Because of this, restructuring has become a cap space and savings measure to free up needed money.

Another method is to include void years that push the prorated bonus money back so it's due when the contract expires in which the contract expires.

Without adding extra void years, here are the Bills' current restructuring candidates after Brown:

QB Josh Allen

Allen's current contract was designed to be flexible for these types of adjustments in order to field a competitive roster. His base salary can be prorated over the next five years to create $12.16 million in cap savings.

OT Dion Dawkins

Dawkins is the next member of the O-Line after Brown, who can help the Bills and similarly free up what would be $10.624 million in cap savings. He and Brown led the team in penalties last season.

DT Ed Oliver

Oliver could help free up $8.55 million and, like fellow veteran leader and lineman Dawkins, set an example of helping the team.

TE Dawson Knox

Knox is also a vet and a leader on the team, who, despite being one of Allen's top and longest tenured targets in the passing game and part of the Bills' elite TE room and blocking group, has been floated by the media as a cut candidate due to his cap hit. A restructure instead could free up $6.9 million.

WR Josh Palmer

Palmer has not been with the Bills a long time, but has missed time due to injury. He offers $6.5 million in potential savings with a restructure in goodwill toward the front office that signed him to a three-year deal in free agency.

CB Taron Johnson

Johnson's quality as a person off the field and talent on it that rise to the top of his position group in the league should keep him in Buffalo despite the scheme changes in new DC Jim Leonhard's defense, provided the economics are worked out in a reworked deal that could free up $5.56 million.

DE Michael Hoecht

Hoecht's first season in Buffalo after inking a multi-year deal did not go as either side planned or expected, and that's putting it lightly. He missed the beginning of the season with a suspension and won fans and coaches over in limited action, showing the relentless play for which the front office signed him to the team. Unfortunately, he was lost to a season-ending injury, but he could help create $3.619 million in a restructure this offseason.

DE Greg Rousseau

Another leader on offense, Rousseau, can help chip in and do his part to help the cause by freeing up $2.964 million in savings. Groot and the defense need some help in the pass rush, and helping the cap situation first could support bringing that help to the trenches.

This article originally appeared on Bills Wire: More Bills contract restructure candidates after Spencer Brown