Sports

On October 28, at the Theatre du Chatelet in Paris, there will be a new winner of the Ballon d’Or, the highest individual accolade in men’s football.

By common consent, the leading contenders are Brazilian winger Vinicius Junior, who scored in Real Madrid’s Champions League final victory, and Spanish midfielder Rodri, who excelled in triumphant campaigns for both Manchester City and his national team.

Should Vinicius Jr, 24, win the award, he will be the first player born in the 21st century to do so. More remarkably, Rodri would be the first winner born in the 1990s. Either would be the first winner to be born since December 1987. Such was the dominance of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, who have respectively won eight and five of the last 15 Ballon d’Or titles, a run punctuated only by victories for two of their contemporaries: Luka Modric in 2018 and Karim Benzema in 2022.

Messi, Ronaldo, Modric and Benzema were all born in the mid-to-late 1980s. All were regarded as prodigious talents in their teens. All have excelled deep into their thirties and only now, in the twilight years of their careers, have they begun to wind down: Messi, 37, in Major League Soccer with Inter Miami, and Ronaldo, 39, and Benzema, 36, in the Saudi Pro League with Al Nassr and Al Ittihad. Modric, 39, is still going strong at Real Madrid.

Cristiano Ronaldo and Luka Modric, both born in 1985, competing in 2009 — both are still playing in 2024 (Glyn Kirk/AFP via Getty Images)

The brilliance of Messi and Ronaldo often overshadowed that of a group of players now in their early-to-mid thirties that includes Neymar, Toni Kroos, Kevin De Bruyne, Mohamed Salah, Virgil van Dijk, Harry Kane, Antoine Griezmann and the retired duo of Eden Hazard and Gareth Bale.

A new generation of superstars, proven or potential, has emerged, including Kylian Mbappe, Vinicius Jr, Erling Haaland, Jude Bellingham, Phil Foden, Jamal Musiala and Lamine Yamal. Of this group, Mbappe is the oldest at 25. The rest were all born since the turn of the century (as late as 2007, in the case of Yamal, the prodigiously talented Barcelona winger).

But what of those who came after Neymar, De Bruyne, Salah et al but before Mbappe? When it comes to the group born in the mid-1990s — a group who, logically speaking, should be around its collective peak — there is a gap, not necessarily in talent, but certainly in profile, recognition and, upon deeper analysis, representation in top-level football in Europe.

Nobody would describe the Ballon d’Or as the perfect barometer of individual performance, but take a look at this graphic that illustrates top-20 rankings by age group since 2008.

Away from the clustered centre of the graphic, what jumps out is that red area containing just a handful of dots. Selected findings include:

• Rodri finishing fifth in last year’s vote is the only top-five place for a player born between 1994 and 1997
• Beyond that, the only player in that age group to have earned a top-10 placing is Rodri’s Manchester City’s team-mate Bernardo Silva (ninth in 2019 and 2023)
• The only other top-20 placings in that age group have been Frenkie de Jong (11th in 2019), Raheem Sterling (12th in 2019 and 15th in 2021), Sebastien Haller (13th in 2022), Luis Diaz (18th in 2022) — none of whom was nominated this time — and Lautaro Martinez (20th in 2023)
• By contrast, from the younger age group, Mbappe has already recorded six consecutive top-10 placings while Haaland (twice), Vinicius Jr (twice) and Victor Osimhen have also finished in the top 10
• Of this year’s 30-man Ballon d’Or longlist, Rodri is one of just seven players born between 1994 and 1997. The other six are Ruben Dias, Hakan Calhanoglu, Artem Dovbyk, Alejandro Grimaldo, Ademola Lookman and Martinez, of whom only Dias and Martinez have been nominated previously.

Admittedly that is just the Ballon d’Or, an award voted for by journalists, drawing on subjective evaluations and, almost inevitably, coloured to some extent by players’ profiles as well as their performance. As a barometer of individual excellence, it is far from perfect — even if its less prestigious rival, the ‘Best’ FIFA award, has produced broadly similar results.

But it certainly tells you something about the way footballers are projected and valued. And when it comes to that group born in the mid-1990s, there is certainly a deficit.

In the cases of Rodri and Bernardo, highly sophisticated players who excel in understated roles at a club that lacks the media profile of the traditional superpowers, that has long seemed more a question of image than of quality. We will come back to that issue.

But there is more to this. Taken more broadly, that mid-1990s age group seems to be struggling for recognition — not just by fans or the media but within the game.

Bernardo Silva, born in 1994 and 1996’s Rodri have been key to City’s successes (Jacques Feeney/Offside/Offside via Getty Images)

When the FIFA technical study group, led by former Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger, published its report on the 2022 World Cup, it briefly mentioned the tournament had been “defined by the performances of young talents and experienced masters”.

Wenger cited the technical prowess, physical strength and mental fortitude of Musiala, Bellingham and Saka at one end of the spectrum and, at the other end, of the enduring quality of players in their mid-to-late thirties such as Messi, Ronaldo, Modric and Olivier Giroud.

“In the modern game the young players are ready to perform earlier on the biggest stage,” he said before turning his mind to a generation of players who had continued to excel well into their thirties. “This,” said Wenger, referring to the latter group, “did not happen 20 years ago, so it looks like there is an extension of the career at the highest level.”

What Wenger and the technical study group did not address was the relative lack of impact made on the tournament by players in the in-between age group.

That was reflected in the age distribution of players at that World Cup. Of the 832 players called up for the tournament, the highest representations by birth year were for 1997 (ie, aged 25) and 1992 (ie, aged 30). Those born in 1994, who might logically have been at the optimum age for a World Cup held in 2022, came in at seventh.

That might be a mere statistical quirk rather than anything deeper, but there follows a graph illustrating the number of minutes played in the Premier League from 2018-19 to 2020-21. The findings are mostly as you would expect: the dominant group is the one born between 1991 and 1994 — those who were between 23 and 27 when that cycle began and between 26 and 30 when the cycle finished. Think of it as the De Bruyne, Kane, Salah generation.

There is a significant drop in the number of Premier League minutes in that time by players born in 1995, i.e. those aged between 23 and 27 over the period in question.

Again it could just be a wrinkle, indicative of nothing much. You would expect that age group to become more dominant over the next three-year period.

But they didn’t. As it transpired, that 1995 age group got barely more playing time between 2021-22 and 2023-24, a period during which they were between the ages of 26 and 29. The minutes played by those born in the early 1990s fell, as you would expect, but so did the numbers for those born in 1993, 1994 and 1995, who might otherwise have expected to become the dominant groups over that period.

Instead, the dominant age groups now were those born in 1996 and 1997 — those aged between 24 and 25 when the cycle began and 26 and 27 when the cycle ended. Those born in 1995 were drastically underrepresented. Even those born in 2001 (players aged between 20 and 23 over the period in question) came close to the total playing time of those born in 1995.

To put some names to the numbers, think of it in similar terms to England’s Euro 2024 squad selection, where players in their mid-to-late twenties such as Sterling (born in 1994), Kalvin Phillips and Jack Grealish (1995), Ben Chilwell and James Maddison (1996) and Marcus Rashford (1997) found themselves usurped by younger players such as Anthony Gordon (born in 2001), Cole Palmer (2002) and Kobbie Mainoo (2005)

It seems to reflect a wider trend. Using the same three-year cycles, the dominant age group in terms of playing time across Europe’s ‘big five’ leagues (Premier League, Bundesliga, La Liga, Serie A and Ligue 1) has shifted from those born in the early 1990s to those born from 1997 onwards. Again the mid-’90s group that theoretically should have been in the ascendancy over the past few seasons has been overtaken by a younger group.

Jose Chieira, who has been a scout for more than two decades at clubs such as Sporting Lisbon, Porto and Panathinaikos, considers the question before declaring, “I don’t believe in generational gaps” — at least not in terms of talent and quality.

But he believes market forces have created a gap. “In the last six or seven years, the strategies of the dominant forces in the market are increasingly based on a different logic,” he tells The Athletic. “It is increasingly a trading business — a typically American trading culture.

“Clubs don’t (today) go looking for players who were born before 2000. We’re already filtering for players under 23 years old. Any older and it’s not a good deal, it’s not attractive. And that has consequences for the way the market has evolved in terms of the talents or the profile of the players who dominate the game.”

As Chieira suggests, there has been a decisive shift as many clubs’ business models have moved towards developing and selling young players to those clubs higher up the food chain.

Of the 50 biggest transfers to Premier League clubs this summer, according to Transfermarkt, only eight involved players aged 26-plus (Tottenham Hotspur’s Dominic Solanke, West Ham United’s Max Kilman and Niclas Fullkrug, Arsenal’s Mikel Merino, Fulham’s Joachim Andersen and Sander Berge, Southampton’s Aaron Ramsdale and Newcastle United’s Odysseas Vlachodimos). Ten years earlier, in the summer of 2014, that age bracket accounted for eight of the 25 biggest deals. The market for players in their mid-to-late twenties is nothing like it was.

Tottenham bucked a trend by paying big money this summer for the then-26-year-old Dominic Solanke (Catherine Ivill – AMA/Getty Images)

Real Madrid’s Champions League-winning squad last season was dominated by a cluster of players born in the 1980s and early 1990s (Thibaut Courtois, Dani Carvajal, Nacho, Antonio Rudiger, David Alaba, Lucas Vazquez, Modric and Kroos) and a group of young stars born in the late 1990s and early 2000s (including Federico Valverde, Eduardo Camavinga, Aurelien Tchouameni, Vinicius Jr, Rodrygo and Bellingham). Again, that mid-1990s group was barely present: just backup goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga (1994) Ferland Mendy (1995) and Dani Ceballos (1996). When Nacho and Kroos moved on this summer, the incoming players were much younger, notably Mbappe (1998) and Brazilian prodigy Endrick (2006).

It is similar at Barcelona: a handful of players born either in the late 1980s (Robert Lewandowski) and early 1990s (Inigo Martinez and Marc-Andre ter Stegen) and a core of players born in from the late 1990s onwards. Between Ter Stegen (1992) and Dani Olmo (1998), there are just three players: Andreas Christensen and Raphinha (both 1996) and De Jong (1997).

An extreme example concerns Chelsea, whose strategy over the past couple of years has appeared to exclude almost any player born before 1997. Their squad last season comprised primarily of Thiago Silva (born 1984), Sterling (1994), Chilwell (1996) and a vast core of younger players, the majority of them born since the turn of the century. Sterling and Chilwell found themselves frozen out completely before this season began: big earners in their late twenties, said to be incompatible with the technical demands of new coach Enzo Maresca.

“This tendency to focus on trading in the talent market has been decisive in creating this apparent gap,” Chieira says. “It will become increasingly difficult to find players in that exact age range — between the ages of 24 and 30, say — who can be true standout players and reference points like Bernardo Silva and others are today. More and more clubs don’t really want to ‘waste time’ working with players over the age of 24 because there’s a commercial logic that tells from that, from 25 or 26, the player will lose value. Therefore the effort and financial resources are directed towards younger players.”

That has certainly appeared true of Chelsea. But there are notable exceptions.

One is Bayern Munich, whose core group includes Leon Goretzka, Joshua Kimmich, Joao Palhinha and Serge Gnabry (all born in 1995) and Leroy Sane, Kingsley Coman and Kim Min-jae (1996).

And there are the Premier League champions, Manchester City, who have John Stones, Mateo Kovacic and Bernardo (all born in 1994), Nathan Ake, Manuel Akanji and Grealish (1995), Rodri (1996) and Dias (1997).

In some ways, that seems instructive when it comes to the profile — technical and otherwise — of the more successful players in that age group.

Since calling time on a playing career that took him from Port Vale to Luton Town, Leicester City and Fleetwood Town, Joe Davis has launched a digital marketing agency that supports professional footballers and athletes build their brand.

He has studied that subject in depth from a commercial and a sporting perspective. “The Messi-Ronaldo era is unique,” he says. “They created this unrealistic expectation of what it means to be a football megastar. They redefined the ceiling, which has overshadowed much of the incredible talent that came next.”

Davis feels it is only as Messi and Ronaldo have begun to wind down, away from the intensity of the European football spotlight, that “we have allowed ourselves to recognise the talent of players like Haaland and Mbappe. It was the in-between group that, with Messi and Ronaldo in their prime, were overlooked for so long”.

Joe Davis competing with Adebayo Akinfenwa in 2012 (Pete Norton/Getty Images)

With his marketing head on, Davis wonders whether there was a commercial aspect to this, talking about the “immaturity of athlete branding” through much of the 2010s. The opportunities for the modern players to promote themselves are far greater, he says, which is one reason why “this new wave of young talent” — Mbappe, Haaland, Vinicius Jr, Bellingham, Musiala, Yamal and so on — “has become so big so soon”.

The word “wave” is apposite. Whether it is music, film, sport or just about anything else, we are conditioned to see such phenomena in those terms. Sometimes it takes one band, one star or athlete to force a way through and blaze a trail for others to follow. Sometimes there is a desperation to anoint new stars. Sometimes it is the opposition: a desperate refusal to look beyond the zeitgeist and its leading characters.

Did the long peak of Ronaldo and Messi overshadow the generation that came after them? (Ben Stanshall/AFP via Getty Images)

But away from off-pitch image and profile, Davis suggests another factor that has played into the hands of the new wave: a subtle shift in playing styles which he says has been “arguably more accommodating to ‘luxury’ players” — or at least to those such as Haaland and Mbappe, whose goalscoring talents are so extreme that, breaking into elite-level football, they were not encumbered with as many out-of-possession demands as, say they might have been had they been born five years earlier.

Davis cites his experience as a 20-year-old defender for Port Vale, playing against an 18-year-old Grealish, who was on loan to Notts County. “He was everywhere: tracking back, covering the full-back, pressing our winger, then getting back out to the byline to receive the ball,” Davis says. “At that time, making it wasn’t just about talent; it was also about hard work and discipline, that, ‘Don’t let us down’ mentality. You see it with Bernardo Silva as well — tremendous quality and intelligence but defensive intensity and adaptability as well.

“That era — my era — possibly had different values instilled in them during their breakthrough years, which is probably why they play their game a little more under the radar and in a more structured and workmanlike way. That naturally takes the limelight off them and places it on the more exciting, carefree, creative players — those that immediately capture the imagination of the casual fan.”

That makes perfect sense. That group of players now in their mid-to-late twenties broke into senior football when demands were changing due to an increased emphasis on the type of work they did off the ball — not just “tracking back” but closing down in a structured, organised way. Through the 2010s, the role of the traditional centre-forward seemed to be under threat, which is perhaps why, beyond Martinez, there are so few “pure” goalscorers in that age group.

Lautaro Martinez: a rare born-in-the-mid-1990s goalscorer? (Valerio Pennicino/Getty Images)

There is a strange paradox. In terms of profile and projection, the cult of the individual has grown over the past decade like never before, such has been the explosion of social media and global branding. At the same time, the cult of the individual on the pitch has diminished. In the past, leading teams might have been able to carry a “luxury” player or two. That changed Pep Guardiola and Jurgen Klopp built teams whose commitment to creative football came with non-negotiable physical and tactical demands on every player. It is easy to imagine that, if they were five years older or five years younger, Bernardo and Valverde might have been deployed as mercurial wingers or No 10s rather than cerebral, multi-functional midfielders.

But individualism seems to be back in vogue. So does what might be termed ‘main-character energy’. Mbappe, Haaland, Vinicius Jr, Bellingham, Musiala, Yamal… this is a generation of leading players who are encouraged to “do their thing” and play to their enormous strengths — which, in the cases of Mbappe and Haaland, has meant scoring goals at an extraordinary rate rather than worrying unduly about the structure of their team’s pressing game.

They are players whose rare talents merit indulgence — and all of the hype and adulation that comes with their exploits.

The brilliance of Kylian Mbappe

Maybe the story is less complicated than that. Maybe the development of top-class athletes is analogous to wine production. Some years, for reasons that can be hard to explain, yield better crops than others.

To put it in blunt terms, 1987 was a vintage year that brought Messi, Benzema and Luis Suarez; 1992 brought Neymar, Salah, Courtois, Son Heung-min and Sadio Mane; 1998 brought Mbappe, Osimhen, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Valverde and Martin Odegaard; 2000 brought Haaland, Vinicius Jr, Foden, Julian Alvarez and Aurelien Tchouameni.

By comparison, the mid-1990s age group is strangely underwhelming. Transfermarkt’s most valuable footballer born in 1995 is Ollie Watkins, whose career has been a slow-burner, coming up through the leagues with Exeter City and Brentford before establishing himself as a proven goalscorer in the Premier League with Aston Villa in his mid-twenties. The second-most valuable player born in 1996, behind Rodri, is Maddison, who, as he approaches his 28th birthday, has seven caps for England and is yet to play in the Champions League.

Ollie Watkins – 1995’s finest? (Neville Williams/Aston Villa FC via Getty Images)

It is fascinating to look back at the list of winners of the Golden Boy award, established by Italian football newspaper Tuttosport to recognise the best player under the age of 21 in each calendar year.

Early winners of the award include Wayne Rooney, Messi and Cesc Fabregas. The past four editions have been won by Bellingham, Haaland and the Barcelona duo of Gavi and Pedri. Before that, it was Joao Felix, Matthijs de Ligt and Mbappe.

For the 2014, 2015 and 2016 editions, which covered the age group we have been talking about, the winners were Sterling (then at Liverpool), Anthony Martial (then at Manchester United) and Renato Sanches (then at Bayern Munich) — exciting talents certainly, but even at that stage of their careers they did not command the same hype or expectation as a young Rooney, Fabregas or Bellingham, let alone a teenage Mbappe or Messi.

Neither did the other names who featured in the top three for the Golden Boy over those years: Rashford, Divock Origi, Marquinhos, Kingsley Coman and Hector Bellerin.

They have had long and successful careers; Marquinhos is captain of Paris Saint-Germain and has won 91 caps for Brazil; Coman has won the Champions League with Bayern Munich and played for France in the 2022 World Cup final; Origi scored for Liverpool in a Champions League final.

But even if Martial, Renato Sanches, Rashford and Origi can be accused of falling short of their potential, we are not being wise after the event to suggest they were exciting teenagers whose promise was pockmarked with inconsistencies, rather than dead certs to thrive at elite level. Maybe, for reasons that defy explanation, these were just non-vintage crops.

The ‘lost generation’ phenomenon is far starker and far more unambiguous in men’s tennis. The dominance of the ‘Big Three’ of Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic was so extreme that they won 53 out of the 61 Grand Slam tournaments held between June 2005 and June 2020.

There were break-out victories for Andy Murray and Stan Wawrinka (three majors each) and Juan Martin Del Potro and Marin Cilic (one apiece), but all four of those players were in roughly the same age bracket as Nadal and Djokovic.

How Federer, Nadal, and Djokovic reconfigured tennis

The real lost generation in men’s tennis was the one that that came later and, sharing the circuit with players whose genius was matched by their powers of endurance, found there was no way through. Austria’s Dominic Thiem (born in 1993) and Daniil Medvedev (1996) are the the only men born between 1989 and 2000 to have won a Grand Slam.

The latest ATP rankings tell a story: beyond Djokovic (1987) in fourth place, Bulgaria’s Grigor Dimitrov (1991) is the only player in the top 20 who was born between 1988 and 1995. It is Carlos Alcaraz (2003) and Jannik Sinner (2001) who are leading men’s tennis into the post-Big Three era.

Federer, Nadal and Djokovic (Julian Finney/Getty Images for Laver Cup)

The idea of a lost generation is certain to be far hazier in a team sport such as football, where individual performance is so much harder to quantify. The term does not truly fit when a) we are talking about a period spanning four years or so and b) almost every top-level game you watch features high-performing players from that age group, one of whom, Rodri, would have a claim to be considered the most influential player in world football over the past three or four years.

But it seems unarguable that, as a collective, the players born in the mid-1990s have been overshadowed by the group that went before and, increasingly, by the group that has emerged since. The Ballon d’Or rankings will never tell the whole story but they help illustrate the deficit of big personalities and show-stopping talents that command the greatest attention and recognition.

The absence of a Ronaldo/Messi figure is entirely normal, but it is also a group that is strangely short of A-list goalkeepers, central defenders, wingers and centre-forwards. Almost without exception, the best players in that age group are sophisticated, adaptable ‘system players’ rather than marauding box-to-box dynamos and mercurial playmakers.

Beyond that, market forces have begun to conspire against them as the focus has switched decisively towards youth. What might have expected to be the pre-eminent age group in 2024 has begun to struggle for playing time and to be squeezed out, particularly where wages or wage demands are deemed excessive. Adrien Rabiot, 29, has been unable to find a new club since leaving Juventus in June. Memphis Depay, 30, found numerous avenues in Europe closed and ended up joining Brazilian club Corinthians. It is not clear where Sterling, 29 and surplus to requirements at Chelsea, would have ended up had Arsenal not offered him a lifeline on transfer deadline day

And Sterling, while his returns have diminished over recent seasons, has certainly been one of the standout performers in his age group: a Golden Boy winner as a teenager at Liverpool, four times a Premier League champion at Manchester City, 82 England caps and, yes, a couple of top-20 finishes in the Ballon d’Or rankings, which is more than almost any other player in that mid-1990s age group.

Should his former Manchester City team-mate Rodri be crowned the best player in men’s football in 2024, it would represent a departure in terms of profile, playing style but also age. In many ways, Rodri would be the perfect choice, the quietly brilliant standard-bearer of an age group that has largely gone unheralded.

Unshowy, undemonstrative and, this sudden, long-overdue wave of Rodri appreciation notwithstanding, largely unheralded — fanfare, at last, for football’s jilted generation.

(Top photos: Getty Images; graphic: Meech Robinson)

Texas starting quarterback Quinn Ewers is questionable for the Longhorns’ game this weekend against Louisiana-Monroe, coach Steve Sarkisian said on Monday.

Ewers, who suffered a strained oblique in the second quarter of the Longhorns’ 56-7 win over UTSA, left Saturday’s game early in the second quarter and didn’t return. Redshirt freshman Arch Manning relieved Ewers with four touchdown passes and a touchdown run and would make his first career start on Saturday if Ewers can’t go.

Ewers had been playing some of the best football of his career before the injury. He has completed a career-high 73.4 percent of his passes this season, threw for 691 yards, eight touchdowns and two interceptions and averaged 8.7 yards per attempt in eight-plus quarters of action. Entering last weekend, Ewers was the betting favorite to win the Heisman Trophy, per BetMGM.

Sarkisian said the injury was non-contact and Ewers felt pain as he threw a corner route for a 49-yard completion to Gunnar Helm. He tried to continue to play but had to come out of the game after the next snap.

“On the release, he just feels it, you know?” Sarkisian said of the play on which Ewers was injured. “I think what he thought was it was just going to kind of go away, so he stayed in for one more play and then realized, ‘I probably need to get this looked at, this doesn’t feel right.’”

If Ewers is unable to go, it will be the third consecutive season that he has missed a game with an injury. He missed three games in 2022 with a clavicle injury and missed two games last year with an AC joint sprain.

Sarkisian said they’ll monitor Ewers day-to-day and see how he feels. But based on how the quarterback handled his past two injuries, he’s confident that Ewers will effectively use any downtime he has and be ready once he’s cleared to return.

“He’s always staying dialed in,” Sarkisian said. “He’s also diligent with his recovery, and that’s why when he comes back, he comes back and performs at a high level.”

Regarding Manning’s performance on Saturday (he finished 9 of 12 passing for 223 yards), Sarkisian said the young quarterback looked “poised and composed.” Sarkisian said Manning made good decisions and was getting the ball to the right receivers when making his reads.

“There were some learning curves in there, a couple things to learn from, but at the end of the day, I thought he played at a high level,” Sarkisian said.

Sarkisian said they’ll adjust how many practice reps Manning gets with the first team as they monitor Ewers’ status. True freshman Trey Owens, the Longhorns’ third-string quarterback who made his career debut against UTSA, will also see increased work this week. Owens would serve as the backup to Manning if Ewers is unable to go.

Required reading

(Photo: Tim Warner / Getty Images)

Enjoy the next three years of watching Sidney Crosby play for the Pittsburgh Penguins. Breathe it in. Cherish it. Get a little sentimental, if necessary.

Never in your lifetime will you see his kind again.

I’m not talking about the hockey, the backhand, the vision, the power, the tenacity — you know, all of the stuff that has made him one of the greatest hockey players of all time.

No, this is about Crosby the person, an unselfish figure at a time when sports is infiltrated with such greed that professional athletes are even further from reality.

Oh, sure, Crosby will make more money next season than the vast majority of us will ever see in our lives. He’s not living in a studio apartment anytime soon. His new contract, however, illustrates so much about Crosby the person and Crosby the captain.

GO DEEPER

Penguins re-sign Crosby to new 2-year contract

By signing a two-year contract that kicks in after this season on Monday, Crosby once again turned down more money to remain compensated at his regular salary-cap hit of $8.7 million per season. While his countless superstitions are the stuff of legend, we make far too much out of them. More than anything, he isn’t greedy and cares about the fortunes of this franchise.

Kyle Dubas had no leverage. The Penguins general manager and president of hockey operations is very well compensated and just as powerful, but he’s not more powerful than Crosby.

It wouldn’t be like that in other cities and on other teams, but this is different. In Pittsburgh, the hockey stars are bigger than the franchise. And Crosby isn’t just another star. He’s one of the most important hockey players of this century and one of the best. He’s still going strong and easily could have commanded many more millions annually. Dubas would have given him whatever he wanted. He had no choice.

Crosby never chooses Crosby, though. His kind and unselfish persona illustrates the real person. There is nothing phony or insincere about him. Winning is the only thing that drives him, which has been the case since he emerged as a 17-year-old 20 summers ago.

By my estimation, Crosby has left roughly $43M on the table taking $8.7M every season since 2008-09. https://t.co/JRn4vKFkLO

— dom 📈 (@domluszczyszyn) September 16, 2024

The contract’s two-year term is every bit as noteworthy as the money.

This deal will take Crosby through his age-39 season, a couple of months shy of his 40th birthday. Is this the final contract of Crosby’s career? Maybe. Forty is a nice, round number, and by that time, more than half of his life will have been spent as Penguins captain. That will also mark the conclusion of his 22nd NHL season. That’s a lot of hockey, and it’s not like he has anything left to accomplish.

The two-year term has some implications. Let’s break it all down:

• At a minimum, you get to watch Crosby for at least three more seasons. That should provide great comfort for those of you dreading his retirement.

• The Penguins are not going into a “full rebuild” for at least three more years. As Dubas has noted, they’re unlikely to be a bottom-five team at any point with Crosby still on the roster because he’s too good. We’ll see a mini-rebuild or a reload instead.

• Crosby could have asked for more years. The Penguins would give the captain as many years as he wanted. He opted against it because he didn’t want to hamstring the team. What if he had signed to play for five more years, but after the first couple of years, realized his passion for the game had evaporated? Or maybe his play will decline. That seems like a foreign concept because he’s the most consistently great superstar in the history of the sport. He appears to be ageless. But I assure you, he is not. He’ll turn human at some point. Crosby knows that and doesn’t want to negatively impact the Penguins if it happens soon.

The worst-case scenario is that Crosby will play in a Penguins uniform for three more years, the team doesn’t make the playoffs, Crosby retires in 2027 and Dubas has a boatload of money — and young assets — to give him the freedom to turn the Penguins into a winner in a hurry.

So, at worst, you get to see Crosby until the very end. You get to enjoy his farewell tour. And all the while, you’ll know a new wave of Penguins players is learning to be a pro from one of the greatest captains in hockey history.

That’s the beauty of the two-year contract: It’s long enough to enjoy him for a few more years but not so long to paint himself and the Penguins into a corner.

If he’s still great at 39 and wants to play longer, well, that’s even better. No one has to show Crosby the door. And by then, the Penguins might be ready to win. Dubas is doing what he’s supposed to be doing. He’s fiercely committed to developing talented young players, nothing like the occasional call-up from Wilkes-Barre that we’ve seen over the past few seasons.

The best-case scenario would be if Crosby, who is still one of the five or 10 best players in the league, can maintain that level of play for a few more years, just as all of these young assets suddenly blossom.

Crosby’s final act with the Penguins could be special if those two possibilities converge. Watching him make a final run or two at a championship with a bunch of kids who will carry the torch would be something.

It’s hardly unimaginable. Much of this will be made possible by the deal he signed. It saved the franchise significant money to spend on other players and assets. It keeps Crosby in everyone’s life for a while, but not for too long, just in case the time to retire is near. If he’s still great and hungry at 39, he’ll sign another short-term deal. Why not?

It’s so practical, unselfish and intelligent. It’s so Crosby.

He will rightfully receive enormous amounts of love from all of Pittsburgh and Penguins fans around the globe. It’s deserved.

But with this deal, Crosby reciprocates all of that affection right back.

He really is one of a kind.

(Photo: Steph Chambers / Getty Images)

Canadian hockey legend Sidney Crosby has a contract extension with the Pittsburgh Penguins ahead of the upcoming NHL season.

The club announced the two-year extension Monday, saying it carries an average yearly value of $8.7 million for the Cole Habour, N.S., native — matching his No. 87 jersey.

“There are no words to properly describe what Sidney Crosby means to the game of hockey, the city of Pittsburgh and the Penguins organization,” Penguins general manager Kyle Dubas said in a statement.

The announcement comes as Crosby is set to enter the final season of a 12-year, US$104.4-million deal signed in June 2012 — which, of course — carries an annual salary of $8.7 million.

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The 37-year-old made the playoffs for 16 straight seasons, but missed out on the last two springs as the team tries to retool with an aging core led by Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Kris Letang and Erik Karlsson.

Crosby — a three-time Stanley Cup winner and two-time Olympic gold medallist — scored 42-goals and had a total of 94 points in the last season.

This marks the hockey superstar’s 20th season in the NHL, all with the Penguins. He has been team captain for 18 seasons.

—  with files from The Canadian Press

&copy 2024 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

Two weeks into the NFL season, no team has looked better than the New Orleans Saints, last year’s MVP is 0-2 and the Pittsburgh Steelers are undefeated despite scoring just one touchdown across their first eight quarters of football.

Aaron Rodgers has his first win as a New York Jet — his second if you ask him, though he didn’t have much of an impact in last year’s season-opening win over the Buffalo Bills in which he saw all of four snaps.

Jim Harbaugh already has the 2-0 Los Angeles Chargers looking and playing like a different team.

In Arizona, Marvin Harrison Jr. has arrived for the Cardinals. And his quarterback, Kyler Murray, is starting to look like one of the league’s top playmakers again.

C.J. Stroud and the Houston Texans got the best of Caleb Williams and the Bears Sunday night. For the second straight week, Chicago’s defense was mostly excellent; it was the offense that looked awful. And the rookie quarterback struggled.

The game of the day took place in Kansas City, where the Chiefs needed a pass interference call on fourth-and-16 in their own territory to keep their chances alive against the Cincinnati Bengals. Four plays later, Harrison Butker was good from 51 yards, the fifth lead change of the second half. The Chiefs’ 26-25 win moves them to 2-0, while the Bengals sink to 0-2 for the third straight year.

Here’s what we learned in Week 2 of the NFL season:

Williams looks like a rookie

The Bears defense was again quite good Sunday night in Houston, especially against a deep and dangerous Texans offense. And Williams was certainly better than his bumpy debut against the Titans a week ago. But he’s still a rookie quarterback making rookie quarterback mistakes.

The flashes are there, the potential that made him the No. 1 pick last spring, but his game remains raw. He holds onto the ball too long. He misses short throws. He’s too long on some deep ones. And he took several big hits from a Texans pass rush that sacked him seven times.

Some of those mistakes should be cleaned up soon. But for now the Bears have to live with them, and Williams’ two second-half interceptions cost them their best chances at a comeback Sunday night.

Chicago’s offense took over trailing by 6 with 1:37 left and no timeouts. But after a 27-yard completion to Rome Odunze, Williams threw incomplete, was sacked, scrambled for 1 yard and threw incomplete on fourth down.

Williams finished 23 of 37 for 174 yards and two picks. Stroud connected early and often with Nico Collins and finished 22 of 36 for 260 yards and a touchdown.

Saints sizzling

In mid-January, Saints general manager Mickey Loomis sat before reporters and defended his decision to retain coach Dennis Allen, who was 16-18 in two seasons after succeeding Sean Payton. Loomis cited the rocky starts of Bill Belichick in Cleveland, Tom Landry in Dallas and Bill Walsh in San Francisco. He even noted that Payton, the winningest coach in franchise history, stumbled to records of 7-9 and 8-8 during his second and third seasons in New Orleans.

It wasn’t time to panic, Loomis vowed. He knew a good coach when he saw one. Still, most outside the Saints’ building remained skeptical. Before the season, Allen was among the betting favorites to become the first head coach fired in 2024. The Falcons and Bucs were popular picks to win the NFC South. The Saints were an afterthought.

Two games do not make a season, but they can certainly set the tone for a turnaround. So far, no team in football has looked more complete than the Saints, who’ve been flat-out dominant in a pair of resounding wins over Carolina and Dallas. Sure, it’s one thing to beat up on the hapless Panthers — who’ve taken the early pole position for next spring’s No. 1 pick and aren’t likely to give it up — but it’s another to rout the Cowboys, 44-19, in Dallas’ home opener at AT&T Stadium.

Remember, this was a Cowboys team that looked excellent last week in an easy win over the Browns.

So far, Allen’s new hire at offensive coordinator, Klint Kubiak, looks like a budding star — the Saints scored on their first 15 possessions of the season, including six straight touchdowns to open Sunday. Their 91 points are the most by a team in its first two games of a season in 15 years and tied for the fourth-most in NFL history. Their margin of victory so far is a combined 62 points. Derek Carr has thrown for five touchdowns and Alvin Kamara has accounted for six, including four on Sunday.

It’s time to rethink what the Saints are capable of this season: They’re not just contenders in the NFC South, but maybe in the conference, as well.

Surprise unbeatens

Beyond the Saints, no one is stunned that the Chiefs and Bills are 2-0. Same goes for the Texans. But the rest of the league’s undefeated teams? That’s where it gets interesting.

Start with the Steelers, who named Russell Wilson their starting quarterback in late August and have since opened with a pair of victories without him. Justin Fields hasn’t been great — it’s T.J. Watt and the defense that’s carrying this team right now — but no matter: this is Pittsburgh’s best start in four years. With the Steelers atop the AFC North, it’s getting tougher to see them making a change at QB whenever Wilson is healthy.

The Vikings have opened with two straight victories without their rookie first-round QB; in this instance, J.J. McCarthy is out for the season. Minnesota’s 23-17 upset of the 49ers on Sunday speaks to the potential Sam Darnold has had since he entered the league as the third pick in 2018, not to mention the job Kevin O’Connell has done keeping the Vikings competitive. Darnold’s bomb to Justin Jefferson for a 97-yard touchdown was one of the best plays of the week.

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The Bucs were almost eight-point underdogs heading into Sunday’s game in Detroit and left with a 20-16 victory in a rematch of last year’s divisional playoff game. Tampa Bay has started 2-0 in all three seasons under Todd Bowles.

Jim Harbaugh said something noteworthy last spring, vowing that in a league dominated by quarterbacks, receivers and pass-catching tight ends, his Chargers still viewed offensive linemen as “weapons.” Two games in and the Chargers look remade, a reflection of Harbaugh’s old-school football DNA. After Sunday’s easy 26-3 win over the Panthers, Harbaugh’s team is 2-0 for the first time in 12 years. The dominance up front has been the difference: running back J.K. Dobbins, the chief benefactor so far, has run for 266 yards and two touchdowns. He’s the first Charger to have back-to-back 100-yard rushing games in eight years.

Before Sunday, no coach in Seahawks history — no, not even Mike Holmgren or Pete Carroll — began their career 2-0. Mike Macdonald is the first after Seattle outlasted the Patriots 23-20 in overtime. Geno Smith made some terrific throws on his way to a 327-yard passing day and led two drives late that ended in field goals to spoil Jerrod Mayo’s bid to start his own career in New England 2-0.

Ravens need to find mojo

That the Giants, Titans and Broncos are 0-2 isn’t all that surprising.

As for the Colts, this seems to happen every season. After a dismal performance in Green Bay — the defense was gashed for 164 rushing yards in the first quarter — Indy’s off to another sluggish start. The Colts weren’t just outplayed but outcoached as well: the Packers’ Matt LaFleur put together a masterful gameplan for backup quarterback Malik Willis, and he was efficient when asked to be (12 of 14, 122 passing yards and a touchdown with no turnovers) while Josh Jacobs (151 rushing yards) handled the rest. Colts’ defensive coordinator Gus Bradley might soon be on the hot seat in Indy.

“We have to look ourselves in the mirror,” coach Shane Steichen said. “It’s not panic mode, but we have to be better.”

The Jaguars, meanwhile, haven’t looked right since the middle of last season. With Sunday’s 18-13 loss to the Browns, Trevor Lawrence has now lost seven consecutive starts.

No team has looked worse than the Panthers, who’ve been outscored by a combined 60 points in Weeks 1 and 2. Bryce Young hasn’t improved from last season, and you have to wonder how long it will take to get him on track — or if that ever happens. Two starts into his sophomore campaign, the 2023 No. 1 pick has thrown for 245 yards and three interceptions and been sacked six times. His passer rating is a dismal 45. Wins are going to be really hard to come by for Dave Canales’ team in 2024.

The Rams lost in overtime last week in Detroit, running out of gas late against the Lions’ rushing attack. It was an encouraging start, all things considered. Sunday was precisely the opposite: Sean McVay’s team was routed by the Cardinals, 41-10, in a game that was never even competitive. The Rams need to get their secondary shored up and fast: Murray and Harrison torched that group. The Cardinals defense also sacked Matthew Stafford five times.

For the Bengals, it’s the same old story this time of year: Joe Burrow is now 1-9 over Weeks 1 and 2 games in his career. But this looked far more like the Cincinnati team we expected to start the season, not the one we saw in a Week 1 loss in New England.

Joe Burrow and Patrick Mathomes played another classic on Sunday. (Jamie Squire / Getty Images)

For a while Sunday, it looked like Burrow (258 passing yards, two touchdowns) was going to win his fifth career game against Patrick Mahomes, something no other QB in football can say. But that was before the fourth-down penalty gave the Chiefs new life. It was Mahomes’ 76th win in 98 career starts, tied with Tom Brady and Roger Staubach for the most by a QB in his first 100 starts.

The biggest surprise of the 0-2 bunch are the Ravens, who won a league-best 13 games last season and hosted the AFC Championship Game just nine months ago. A narrow loss in Kansas City to open the year was understandable; blowing a 10-point third-quarter lead to the Raiders Sunday was not.

Most striking is how uncharacteristic this is of Baltimore: John Harbaugh’s team was whistled for 10 penalties, costing it 109 yards. Punter Jordan Stout shanked one, and even the great Justin Tucker missed a field goal. There were missed tackles and blown assignments and a costly interception from Lamar Jackson, who hasn’t quite rekindled his MVP form from a year ago.

The Ravens beat themselves, which is not something we see often. “We got to find our mojo,” Jackson said. “That’s not us at all.”

It’s the first time in three seasons Jackson has lost consecutive games he’s started and finished, and the first time since 2015 the Ravens have opened a season 0-2.

Murray, Harrison put on a show

Tapped as one of the most polished wide receiver prospects coming out of college in years, Marvin Harrison Jr. showed why on Sunday. Just weigh the rookie’s first-quarter stat line: four catches, 130 yards, two highlight-reel touchdowns. That’s Randy Moss-type stuff.

Put simply, he looks like a Pro Bowler already.

And it was nice to see the Cardinals make Harrison a focal point a week after he caught just one pass for four yards in a loss to the Bills. In fact, Harrison’s first touchdown of the day, a 23-yard snag in the back of the end zone, was Next Gen Stats’ most improbable touchdown of the season so far. Harrison had 0.7 yards of separation and was 0.7 yards from the back line when the ball arrived. He dominated as if he were still at Ohio State.

And with Harrison’s downfield potential, Murray started to look like the playmaker he was when DeAndre Hopkins was still in Arizona. Murray carved up the Rams, throwing just four incompletions on his way to 266 yards and three touchdowns. He finished with a perfect passer rating, completing every one of his deep passes (20-plus air yards).

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One of Harrison’s fellow rookies, Jayden Daniels, secured his first win as an NFL starter after the Commanders outlasted the Giants 21-18. Daniels has been solid in two starts so far in Washington, and his 132 rushing yards are the most ever by a quarterback two games into his career (he passed former Washington QB Robert Griffin III). The story of this one was kicker Austin Seibert, who was signed by the team on Monday after Washington cut Cade York. Seibert converted all seven of his field goal attempts, including a 30-yarder as time expired to deliver the win.

(Photo of Chris Olave and Alvin Kamara: Sam Hodde / Getty Images)

Editor’s note: The Athletic 134 is a weekly ranking of all FBS college football teams.

You sometimes have to sit in awe of what Georgia has done. The Bulldogs now have 43 consecutive regular season victories. Until this past Saturday, none of them had come by a three-point margin or smaller.

But every once in a while, Georgia has a weird performance, usually against Missouri or Kentucky. This year, it was Kentucky’s turn. Georgia won 13-12 in Lexington and needed a fourth-quarter comeback to do it, one week after Kentucky lost 31-6 to South Carolina and cost itself “College GameDay” hosting honors. Welcome to the weirdness of college football.

As a result, Texas moves up to No. 1 in this week’s edition of The Athletic 134, the third different No. 1 team we’ve had in four weeks. The Longhorns lost Quinn Ewers to injury against UTSA, one week after the quarterback’s dominant performance at Michigan. But his replacement Arch Manning didn’t miss a step, and actually took many himself, with four passing touchdowns and a 67-yard touchdown run. Only time will tell on Ewers’ status, but the Longhorns are rolling in all phases right now, even with the backup quarterback on the field. So they take the top spot.

But guess what? Almost exactly one month from today, we’ve got Georgia vs. Texas in Austin.

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Why Texas is the right No. 1 over Georgia: Behind the AP Top 25 ballot

These rankings are starting to find their level now. Almost every team has played at least one notable opponent. The wild swings will be fewer, though there are some this week (hello, Georgia State). The head-to-head results still play a heavy role at this point. The deeper into the season we get, the less transitive things will become.

Here is the Week 4 edition of The Athletic 134.

1-10

Along with Texas’ move up to No. 1, there are some slight tweaks here. Tennessee leapfrogs Miami to No. 5 because the Canes’ opening win against Florida doesn’t look as good as it did at the time. Tennessee’s win against NC State looks better now. Penn State also falls to No. 10 after Oregon got right in a 49-14 win at Oregon State and Missouri beat Boston College at home, a good win for the Tigers. Penn State’s win against West Virginia has also lost its shine as the Mountaineers are now 1-2.

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What we learned about the CFP in Week 3: How underrated is Tennessee?

11-25

Without many ranked matchups or upsets in Week 3, there are also only a few moves in this group. LSU slides up one spot to No. 14 after coming back to beat South Carolina on the road, while Kansas State beat Arizona 31-7 to move up to No. 15. Oklahoma drops two spots to No. 16, and the Sooners’ offensive issues are concerning, especially in the pass game, though the defense has been stout. Tennessee travels to Norman this week.

Welcome to the top 25, Illinois and UNLV. Both have wins over Kansas. The Illini have really taken care of business through three weeks, while the Rebels are 2-0 in Big 12 play with wins against Houston and KU.

26-50

Here come the shakeups. I really wanted to put Memphis in the top 25. They’ve played really well all season. They’re right there. But a win against Florida State just doesn’t mean what it used to (sorry, Noles — more on you later). Iowa slips to No. 29 after needing a second-half comeback to get past a winless Troy team.

Washington State shoots up to No. 34 after beating Washington to move to 3-0. The Cougs have two Power 4 wins, and quarterback John Mateer is a whole lot of fun. Louisville remains at No. 35 because the Cardinals have only played Austin Peay and winless Jacksonville State. UCF pushes up to No. 36 after a big comeback win at TCU.

Indiana fans were very upset the Hoosiers didn’t move much after putting up 77 points on a bad FCS team. I said I just needed to see them play better competition, like Louisville. Well, a 42-13 win at UCLA was what I wanted to see, so the Hoosiers jump from No. 82 to No. 38. Pitt makes a similar jump up to No. 39 after another fourth-quarter comeback win, this one against West Virginia, to move to 3-0.

Georgia State rockets up from No. 116 to No. 42 after beating Vanderbilt. I have a feeling this is Vandy falling back to earth, but with a limited sample size, this is what happens. So although Virginia Tech handled Old Dominion, the Hokies drop because that loss to Vandy was so recent. (Georgia State’s loss is to Georgia Tech.) Welcome to the top 50, No. 48 Toledo, after whipping Mississippi State 41-17.

51-75

I realize Liberty keeps winning and keeps dropping. The Flames, now at No. 52, just haven’t been playing up to their ranking. They didn’t play great against Campbell, needed a comeback against New Mexico State and were pedestrian against UTEP. Fresno State, meanwhile, beat New Mexico State 48-0 on Saturday. Texas State only slips one spot to No. 58 after a three-point home loss to Arizona State.

Wisconsin drops to No. 66 after a 42-10 loss to Alabama. I know it’s a steep drop for a loss to Alabama, but the Badgers have just not been good at any point this season, and they don’t get any benefit of the doubt. Duke is 3-0 but drops a few spots to No. 60 after needing a fourth-quarter comeback to beat UConn. Florida tumbles to No. 67 after an ugly loss to Texas A&M and its backup quarterback. Appalachian State falls to No. 69 after needing a second-half comeback against East Carolina in a 21-19 win.

GO DEEPER

Billy Napier doesn’t blame Florida fans for boos as his prove-it season deteriorates

76-100

Baylor moves up a few spots to No. 76 after beating Air Force. No. 79 Houston may be rounding into competent form after following up a good performance against Oklahoma with a 33-7 win against Rice. Mississippi State looks like one of the worst Power 4 teams after getting drubbed by Toledo at home and dropping to No. 81. The same goes for UCLA, now at No. 86 after the blowout loss to Indiana to go with a last-second win against Hawaii.

But it’s even more true for Florida State, now at No. 87 as the only 0-3 team in the Power 4. The only reason the Seminoles aren’t lower is because they’ve played three pretty decent teams. But don’t lose to Cal next week and make it 0-4.

Western Kentucky is up to No. 88 after beating Middle Tennessee 49-21, looking like the WKU of old. Sam Houston continues to look improved after beating Hawaii and is now up to No. 94.

GO DEEPER

Navarro: Florida State’s 0-3 debacle is a product of poor evaluation, development

101-134

Not much change in this group, including at the bottom. Kent State was already No. 134, and the Golden Flashes might stay there for a bit. Trailing Tennessee 37-0 after one quarter and 65-0 at halftime, coming off an FCS loss, is as ugly as it gets.

The Athletic 134 series is part of a partnership with Allstate. The Athletic maintains full editorial independence. Partners have no control over or input into the reporting or editing process and do not review stories before publication.

(Photo: Tim Warner / Getty Images)