Where NFL teams with coaching vacancies go from here; gearing up for NBA trade deadline

Getty Images

This is an article version of the CBS Sports HQ AM Newsletter, the ultimate guide to every day in sports. You can sign up to get it in your inbox every weekday morning here.

Happy Tuesday once again! Brent Brookhouse here, writing my first Tuesday newsletter without a Monday Night Football game the evening before, marking a strange moment as I realize we are truly into 2026.

While my hopes are high and my nerves are frayed awaiting another NFL postseason that my beloved Bills can finally get over the hump and not only make, but win, a Super Bowl, I will soothe myself with a plethora of sports action this lovely Tuesday. With international soccer from the morning to the afternoon followed by college basketball, NHL and NBA action, there should be enough to distract me from worrying too much about the team who lost Super Bowl XXV, the first game I can remember watching as a child and the game that cemented me as a Bills fan.

Let's dig into all the news you need to know this Tuesday morning.

🏈 Five things to know Tuesday

Prepping for the NFL playoffs ... The NFL playoffs get underway this weekend and it's a rare year where everything feels wide open. We broke down each matchup to provide a ranking of the most intriguing games this weekend. The Seahawks are now the favorites to win the Super Bowl according to sportsbooks, while the 49ers implied chances dropped significantly, possibly because San Francisco lost yet another linebacker.
... and the NFL Draft. For those teams not fortunate enough to make the playoffs, attention has quickly shifted to the 2026 NFL Draft. Mike Renner's latest mock draft is now available, and there's no surprise as Renner believes the Raiders will us their top pick to take Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza, the odds-on favorite to go No. 1.
It's college basketball rankings time. While Arizona and Michigan held on to the No. 1 and 2 slots in the AP Top 25, respectively, North Carolina and Kansas tumbled. Meanwhile, in the coaches poll, Florida has dropped out of the top 25, while Nebraska has continued to climb, hitting No. 11 this week.
Predicting the College Football Playoff. The race for the national championship is down to just four teams. We are just days away from determining the two teams who will meet in the CFP finals. On Thursday, Miami will clash with Ole Miss, while Friday will see Oregon play Indiana. With so many upsets and surprising results in the first two rounds, the CBS Sports college football experts didn't predict the bracket correctly, so we gave them a second chance to predict how the rest of the CFP would play out. Also, we took a look at how Ole Miss could shake the Lane Kiffin drama to become national champions.
Bryce Underwood staying at Michigan. An ugly stretch of coaching drama in Michigan had many questioning whether quarterback Bryce Underwood would return to the school or enter the transfer portal. Underwood shut down all speculation with a social media post announcing his return to the Wolverines on Monday.

🎠 Do not miss this: NFL coaching carousel chaos commences

Four NFL head coaches were fired within 24 hours of the season ending, with the Browns firing Kevin Stefanski after six seasons, the Falcons saying farewell to Raheem Morris, the Raiders letting Pete Carroll go, and the Cardinals parting ways with Jonathan Gannon. The end of the NFL regular season can bring swift ends to coaching terms, and 2026 has proven no different, with six teams now seeking a new coach.

Jared Dubin ranked the six vacancies from most to least desirable, coming up with the following rankings:

Falcons
Giants
Titans
Raiders
Browns
Cardinals

We have a lot more for you to catch up on the various vacancies in the league:

🔄 Gearing up for the NBA trade deadline

The NBA trade deadline is now less than one month away. The Feb. 5 deadline marks the last moment for teams to make significant impactful changes to their rosters as they push for the playoffs. There is still another milestone to come, however, with the last batch of 2025 free agents hitting the market in just nine days.

With such an impactful time fast approaching, Sam Quinn took a look at the 10 biggest names who could be on the move at the deadline to figure out where -- if anywhere -- they could be traded. Among those big names is Giannis Antetokounmpo, who Quinn doesn't believe will be moved.

Quinn: "But with players of this caliber, logic often takes a back seat to emotion. Milwaukee doesn't want to admit that it's over, that the Bucks failed to adequately support the best player in franchise history. Antetokounmpo doesn't want to admit that it's over either, that for his competitive goals to be accomplishable, he'll have to pursue them outside of the only NBA city he's ever known. These aren't easy realizations to come to. So Antetokounmpo and the Bucks will take one more run at this thing. They'll probably make a token win-now trade at the deadline, likely taking in a bad contract they'll regret soon enough. And then, this thing will get settled once and for all over the summer."

Meanwhile, Knicks owner James Dolan, who last spoke publicly three years ago, did a rare radio interview Monday evening and said that he was not aware of any attempt to get Antetokounmpo to New York. But Milwaukee's star is not the only NBA star who could wind up with a new address. There are rumors that a Trae Young to Washington deal would make sense for both the Hawks and Wizards.

👊 A playlist of great UFC fights to kick off the Paramount+ era

UFC's Paramount+ era kicked off on Jan. 1, with the iconic mixed martial arts program set to stream every event live on Paramount+, a move that also signaled the end of pay-per-view events. The partnership is a massive gamechanger for the sport, and it's likely that some of you reading this are not familiar with the sport.

With that in mind, I put together a playlist of 10 great UFC fights as an introduction to the sport. The choices stretch over two decades of action and feature nothing but the kind of fights that get your blood pumping. These fights are better than a cup of coffee to get you over a sluggish start to a day in the middle of the week. Here's a look at one of the entries.

Brookhouse: "Forrest Griffin vs. Stephan Bonnar, The Ultimate Fighter 1 Finale (April 9, 2005)
"What better place to start the playlist than with the fight UFC CEO Dana White credits with saving the UFC? The Fertittas and White had seen their attempts to grow the UFC stall out when they took a last-ditch shot in the most 2005 way possible: a reality show. 'The Ultimate Fighter' drew in viewers for the standard reality show drama, but it also allowed those viewers to connect with the type of men who enter into a cage to punch, kick, elbow, knee and twist another's limbs. The whole thing led to the live finale on Spike TV (the same network that aired the weekly episodes) and Griffin and Bonnar meeting in the light heavyweight finals. The two men went to war in a fight that generated a ton of buzz, led to a renewal order for the show on Spike and UFC contracts for both men. While it was briefly trendy for MMA fans to claim the fight wasn't great for lacking high-level techniques, it's a brutal example of the kind of fight that speaks to a primitive part of the brain."

👍👎 The best (and not-so-best) of the rest

Still stunned from a last-second loss to the Steelers that kept the Ravens out of the playoffs, Baltimore quarterback Lamar Jackson was not ready to speak about his future on Sunday night.
Meanwhile, Ravens kicker Tyler Loop said he simply mishit the ball on the field goal that could have won Baltimore the division.
Following Stefanski's firing, the future is uncertain for quarterback Shedeur Sanders. Sanders addressed his time working under his now-former coach.
Keeping things in the Sanders family, Deion Sanders is facing the most pivotal transfer portal window of his time coaching at Colorado.
The Steelers are getting wideout DK Metcalf back ahead of their wild card playoff game with the Texans, though Metcalf declined to discuss the incident with a Lions fan that resulted in a two-game suspension.
Ruben Amorim was fired by Manchester United. The club will move ahead for the time being with U18 coach Darren Fletcher taking over responsibilities during the search for a new manager.
After a disappointing season Dolphins signal caller Tua Tagovailoa 'would be good with' a fresh start elsewhere after being benched over the team's final few games.
Russell Wilson said he isn't planning to retire and we identified the top potential landing spots for the quarterback.
After his shocking return to the league to play for the Colts, Philip Rivers says he can coach at the NFL level, though he downplayed following that path.
Arsenal held on to the top spot in the CBS Sports Champions League power rankings.

📺 What we're watching Tuesday

⚽ Como at Pisa, 9 a.m. on Paramount+
⚽ AS Roma at Lecce, 12 p.m. on Paramount+
⚽ Juventus at Sassuolo, 2:45 p.m. on Paramount+
⚽ Nottingham Forest at West Ham United, 3 p.m. on USA Network
🏀 No. 2 Michigan at Penn State (M), 7 p.m. on FS1
🏀 No. 6 Duke at No. 20 Louisville (M), 7 p.m. on ESPN
🏒 Panthers at Maple Leafs, 7:30 p.m. on TNT
🏀 Heat at Timberwolves, 8 p.m. on NBC
🏀 No. 14 Texas Tech at No. 7 Houston (M), 9 p.m. on FS1
🏀 Mavericks at Kings, 11 p.m. on NBC