🏈 Biggest bet | Sports Daily Newsletter

Howie Roseman has made it clear that A.J. Brown is a member of the Eagles. However, his remarks were unlikely to quiet speculation about the possibility of the star wideout being traded.

As for Patriots coach Mike Vrabel, he took a different approach to answering questions about Brown at the NFL meetings in Phoenix. In response to a question about attempting to acquire the receiver, Vrabel said the team would do anything to bolster its personnel.

According to several reports this offseason, the Patriots have interest in adding Brown, and few NFL coaches are more familiar with him and his skill set than Vrabel, who was head coach of the Tennessee Titans when they drafted Brown in 2019.

But the Eagles’ biggest bet isn’t on the Brown trade or a new offensive coordinator, it’s how Nick Sirianni and Roseman continue to emphasize the talent already on the roster, more specifically Jalen Hurts.

Hurts, once again, will have the most to learn as he’ll be working with his sixth play-caller in his last six seasons. The Eagles are slated to return 10 of 11 starters on offense. But the unit regressed in 2025, so whether Brown leaves or not, the goal is to make sure that last season was an anomaly, writes Jeff McLane.

— Isabella DiAmore, @phillysport, sports.daily@inquirer.com.

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It’s too early to panic, and the Phillies are trying to keep everything in perspective. But the offense was 10-for-71 (.141) with just a .197 slugging percentage against left-handed pitching in four games entering Tuesday’s matchup against the Nationals.

It’s a small sample size at this point in the season, but still there are some troubling trends they’ll want to figure out sooner than later.

Andrew Painter lived up to the hype in his MLB debut, striking out eight and allowing one run across 5⅓ innings in the Phillies’ 3-2 win to snap a three-game losing skid.

The Nationals, too, were impressed by Painter’s debut. “He was as advertised,” said Nationals manager Blake Butera. “He’s going to be a really good pitcher in this game for a long time. That was pretty impressive stuff.”

Porter Martone is just the 12th player since 2000 to go directly from the college ranks to the NHL in the middle of the season in which he was drafted. He made his debut Tuesday against the Capitals in Washington, where he played 16 minutes and had five shot attempts in the Flyers’ 6-4 loss.

Coach Rick Tocchet doesn’t want to overload the rookie, but the right winger could help the Flyers in their race for a playoff push. Across 35 games with Michigan State, Martone was one of two freshmen to score more than 20 goals.

What to know who the 11 others were? Here’s a look at how they fared in the jump from college to the NHL.

The Sixers split key road games against the Charlotte Hornets and Miami Heat to remain in seventh place in the Eastern Conference standings. With the team finally at full strength, Tyrese Maxey admitted that the Sixers allowed Monday’s loss to the Heat to “kind of slip through our hand.”

They missed an opportunity to close the gap on the sixth-place Atlanta Hawks and fifth-place Toronto Raptors. However, Monday did reveal how the small details can decide such critical matchups. Let’s see if they can apply what they learned in the final seven games of the regular season.

There’s now a way to support New Jersey’s small-business community and possibly win tickets to the FIFA World Cup final for doing so.

The New York-New Jersey World Cup host committee introduced the Welcome World Rewards Program to help foot traffic through the region engage with the small-business community. Here’s how it works.

Speaking of soccer, the U.S. men’s national team had its final test last night against Portugal, and it was truly a test indeed, as manager Mauricio Pochettino went into the lab employing a wide variety of players and, apparently, formations.

And Union goalkeeper Andre Blake missed out on a chance to play in the World Cup following Jamaica’s 1-0 loss in extra time to the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Who holds the Phillies record for walks in a season with 129?

A) Lenny Dykstra — Joey M. was first with the correct answer.

We asked: What’s the best professional debut you can remember? Among your responses:

No question in my mind one the greatest was Allen Iverson scoring 30 points in his Philadelphia 76ers debut in 1997.And then there was Carson Wentz throwing for 300+ Yards and 3 TD’s in his first Eagles game in 2016. — Ronald R.

Without researching too hard Wilt Chamberlain in 1959-60 when he was not only rookie of the year, but also MVP, and then Dick Allen in 1964 who was NL ROY while leading the league in 3 or 4 categories. Unfortunately Philly had to lose both athletes, although Wilt would come back to lead the arguably best NBA team ever in 1967. — Everett S.

We compiled today’s newsletter using reporting from Jeff McLane, Olivia Reiner, Scott Lauber, Gina Mizell, Lochlahn March, Jackie Spiegel, Gustav Elvin, Isabella DiAmore, Kerith Gabriel, Jonathan Tannenwald, Mia Messina, and Ryan Mack.

By submitting your written, visual, and/or audio contributions, you agree to The Inquirer’s Terms of Use, including the grant of rights in Section 10.

Thanks for getting your Wednesday started with me, have a wonderful day. Kerith will be back in your inbox tomorrow. — Bella