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HOUSTON (AP) — After the beating C.J. Stroud took in Houston’s divisional playoff loss to Kansas City it was clear the team’s top offseason priority should be upgrading its offensive line.

Instead, the Texans traded five-time Pro Bowl left tackle Laremy Tunsil and 2022 first-round pick left guard Kenyon Green and released right guard Shaq Mason.

They added tackle Cam Robinson and guards Ed Ingram and Laken Tomlinson, but as the NFL draft approaches their porous offensive line remains the most glaring weakness of the team.

Though the Texans won’t say that they plan to use their first-round pick (No. 25) on an offensive lineman, they’ve said plenty about the need to better protect Stroud this upcoming season. Stroud led Houston to its second straight AFC South title last season despite being sacked 52 times, which was the second most in the NFL.

“Getting better protection for C.J. is definitely a main point of emphasis for us,” coach DeMeco Ryans said. “We know when C.J. is protected, he has a clean pocket, he’s a pretty good quarterback. … He’s capable of making any throw on the football field. But it’s just a matter of protecting him and giving him that comfort when he’s in the pocket.”

General manager Nick Caserio said he doesn’t believe they have to draft an offensive lineman next week.

“We feel like we have to add good football players to our football team,” he said. “That’s what we’re focused on. Whatever those positions entail, that’s what’s going to work. That’s how we’re going to approach it and handle it.”

Houston’s pick in the first round is one of seven selections it has in this year’s draft. The Texans return to the first round this season after not having a pick in the opening round last season because of trades, including the one to move up to get defensive end Will Anderson with the third overall pick in the 2023 draft.

Though the offensive line has several holes, Houston’s top priority should be drafting the left tackle of the future.

Robinson could protect Stroud’s blind side this season to give whichever player they draft a season to develop and learn behind him.

A couple of players who could be available when the Texans pick are Kelvin Banks from Texas and Oregon’s Josh Conerly. Banks was a three-year starter for the Longhorns and won the Outland Trophy as the nation’s best interior lineman last season. Conerly started 28 games at left tackle in the past two seasons for the Ducks and was a finalist for the Joe Moore Award given to the nation’s best offensive lineman.
Pick ’em

The Texans have two picks in the third round and two in the seventh this year after receiving the 79th and 236th overall picks from the Commanders as part of the trade for Tunsil.
Needs

Along with the offensive line, the Texans could use some help at receiver. Nico Collins, who has had consecutive 1,000-yard seasons, has developed into an elite option. But the Texans need a solid second option after they moved on from Stefon Diggs after one disappointing season that ended in a season-ending injury in Week 8.

They traded for Christian Kirk, but he’s coming off a tough season where he had a career-low 379 yards before breaking his collarbone in October. The Texans also don’t know when they’ll get Tank Dell back, with the receiver still recovering from a serious knee injury he sustained in December.
Don’t need

The Texans are set at running back after signing Joe Mixon before last season and having a reliable backup in Dameon Pierce.
Draft success

While Caserio has added some stars to the team with first-round draft picks including Stroud, Anderson and cornerback Derek Stingley Jr., he’s also had a knack for finding starters beyond the first round since joining the Texans.

Caserio nabbed Collins in the third round in his first draft with Houston in 2021 and added safety Jalen Pitre in the second round in 2022. He also found starting linebackers Christian Harris in the third in 2022 and Henry To’oTo’o in the fifth in 2023.

Last year he drafted cornerback Kamari Lassiter in the second round and safety Calen Bullock in the third. In their rookie seasons, Lassiter started 14 games while Bullock started 13.

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AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl

ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. (AP) — Cornerback Tre’Davious White is rejoining the Buffalo Bills after agreeing to a one-year contract worth up to $6.8 million, the player’s agent told The Associated Press on Thursday.

Agent Kevin Conner confirmed the agreement, which was first reported by ESPN.

The 30-year-old White returns to Buffalo a year after being part of the team’s salary cap-related purge of high-priced veterans in March 2024. He went on to sign with the Los Angeles Rams, where he had four starts, before being traded in November to the Baltimore Ravens, where he appeared in seven games.

In Buffalo, White has in-depth familiarity with the defensive system, and rejoins a secondary with a starting spot open opposite Christian Benford.

White’s production and playing time was slowed by major injuries sustained in consecutive seasons.

He missed a calendar year recovering from a torn right knee ligament sustained in November 2021. White then missed the final 13 games of the 2023 season with a torn right Achilles tendon.

Otherwise, White established himself as one of the NFL’s top cornerbacks since his rookie season after being selected in the first round of the 2017 draft out of LSU. He earned first-team All-Pro honors in 2019 and was voted to the second team the following year as a member of a stingy secondary that included former starting safeties Micah Hyde and Jordan Poyer.

Overall, White has 18 interceptions, all with Buffalo, and is credited with 73 passes defended in 93 games, including 86 starts.

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AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl

Klay Thompson has played in 33 NBA Finals games. Been to the playoffs nine times. Has four championship rings in his collection. He knows how the big stage feels.

Don’t tell him the play-in tournament doesn’t matter.

The play-in tournament ends Friday night with a pair of elimination games, win-or-go-home matchups that will have a Game 7 feel to them. In the Eastern Conference, it’s Miami going to Atlanta. And in the Western Conference, Thompson and Dallas visit Memphis. The winners go to the playoffs. The losers are finished.

“I know it’s not the NBA Finals or conference finals,” Thompson, in his first season with the Mavericks, said after Dallas extended its season Wednesday with a win at Sacramento that eliminated the Kings. “But shoot, we’re still alive and a lot of teams aren’t.”

That’s true. Right now, 14 teams are in the playoffs, 12 teams are done for the season and four are left to decide the last two playoff spots.

“I always say it’s like March Madness,” Heat center Bam Adebayo said. “Win or go home.”

For Atlanta and Memphis, these games are a second chance after both lost games where playoff berths could have been clinched on Tuesday. For Miami and Dallas, these games are a last chance to salvage a season and make a little bit of NBA history in the process.

No play-in team has ever won two road games in the same tournament, and this format — now in its fifth year, not counting a one-game play-in that was needed inside the bubble in 2020 — has never seen teams that entered as the 10th seed get into the actual playoffs.

Miami and Dallas can change that on Friday.

“We’re only halfway there,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said.

The Heat and Mavericks will be trying to stave off elimination for the second time in three days, after both got road wins Wednesday to keep hope alive; Miami ousted Chicago, Dallas ousted Sacramento. The Hawks and Grizzlies — both of whom finished eighth in the standings, which doesn’t guarantee a playoff berth anymore — wasted chances to make the playoffs on Tuesday; Atlanta lost at Orlando, Memphis lost at Golden State.

“We put ourselves in a position to have two games to get into the playoffs,” Hawks guard Trae Young said after his team lost to Orlando in a game that decided the No. 7 seed in the East. “Us being in the 8 seed, if this was the old school we’d already be in the playoffs. I’m glad they give us an opportunity to go home and get another chance. … That’s pretty much it. We’ve got another chance.”

It’ll be a quick turnaround for Friday’s winners. The Atlanta-Miami winner opens the playoffs at East No. 1 Cleveland on Sunday night, while the Memphis-Dallas winner opens the playoffs at West No. 1 and top overall seed Oklahoma City on Sunday afternoon.

They won’t be complaining.

“You’re looking at the bigger goal, the bigger picture, which is the playoffs,” Heat forward Andrew Wiggins said. “We’ve got to do whatever we can. Whatever we’ve got to do, we’ve got to do in that game.”
Miami at Atlanta, Friday, 7 p.m. (TNT)

Season series: Tied, 2-2.

BetMGM Sportsbook: Hawks by 1.5.

At stake: The winner is the No. 8 seed and opens the playoffs Sunday at No. 1 Cleveland. The loser is eliminated.

Outlook: Heat could get into the playoffs for the sixth consecutive season, which would tie a club record (it has happened on two previous occasions). Hawks went 2-0 against Miami at home this season, and all four games between the teams were decided by at least 10 points. The winner will become the first East team to go to the playoffs with a losing record (in a full 82-game season) since Boston did it with a 40-42 mark in 2014-15. Atlanta won the previous play-in tournament meeting between the clubs, topping Miami 116-105 in 2023 to earn the No. 7 seed. The Heat won the elimination game that year to claim the No. 8 seed — and start a run to that season’s NBA Finals.
Dallas at Memphis, Friday, 9:30 p.m. (ESPN)

Season series: Grizzlies, 3-1.

BetMGM Sportsbook: Grizzlies by 6.5.

At stake: The winner is the No. 8 seed and opens the playoffs Sunday at No. 1 Oklahoma City. The loser is eliminated.

Outlook: Maybe it’s fitting that these two teams play the last game going into the playoffs. The Mavericks traded their franchise player in Luka Doncic in February, the Grizzlies fired their all-time winningest coach in Taylor Jenkins with nine games left in the regular season. Even after Doncic got traded, Kyrie Irving got hurt and the franchise encountered — to put it mildly — some negativity, the Mavericks need to win just one game to get back to the playoffs. Meanwhile, the Grizzlies are trying to ensure that a 48-win season doesn’t go for naught in what would be a stunning collapse. Of the other 549 teams to go 48-34 (or better) in an NBA season, 545 of them made the playoffs.

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AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/NBA

No. 2 Houston Rockets (52-30) vs. No. 7 Golden State Warriors (48-34)

Season series: Warriors, 3-2 (includes one NBA Cup game).

Story line: Experience vs. inexperience. Let’s put this into perspective. The entirety of the Rockets’ roster, combined, has 2,380 playoff points and 110 playoff starts. Golden State’s Stephen Curry — by himself — has 3,966 points in 141 playoff starts, and that doesn’t even add Jimmy Butler (2,534 playoff points, 116 playoff starts) and Draymond Green (1,825 playoff points, 140 starts) to the total. But these Rockets are confident, aggressive and hang their hat on defense. And they do have home-court advantage, which they surely think counts for something.

Key matchup: Curry vs. Amen Thompson. In the teams’ most recent meeting on April 6 in San Francisco, Thompson led an astounding defensive job on Curry — holding the greatest shooter ever to a 1-for-10 night. Expecting more 1-for-10s would be a mistake, but if the Rockets can slow Curry they’ll have a real chance.

Prediction: Warriors in 6.
No. 3 Los Angeles Lakers (50-32) vs. No. 6 Minnesota Timberwolves (49-33)

Season series: Tied, 2-2.

Story line: LeBron James and Luka Doncic, together in the playoffs for the first time. Will it be enough? The Lakers won the title in 2020 and have won only two series since then, getting ousted by Denver in 2023 and 2024 — and now having to face the team that went into Denver and won a Game 7 to end the Nuggets’ reign last season. The Timberwolves will rely on Anthony Edwards as always, and he’s shown in previous playoff runs (and last summer with USA Basketball) that he isn’t afraid of the moment.

Key matchup: The Timberwolves’ size vs. the 1-2 punch of James and Doncic. Do the Lakers have an answer for the waves of bigs — Rudy Gobert, Julius Randle, Naz Reid, etc. — inside? No. Do the Timberwolves have a way to stop both James and Doncic? Of course not, because nobody does. The team that exploits its clear advantages the most wins the series.

Prediction: Lakers in 7.
No. 4 Denver Nuggets (50-32) vs. No. 5 Los Angeles Clippers (50-32)

Season series: Tied, 2-2.

Story line: The Clippers roll into the postseason as one of the hottest teams in the NBA, winning their last eight games and 18 of their final 21. Denver won its final three after firing coach Michael Malone and general manager Calvin Booth to match the Clippers at 50-32 and got home-court advantage via a tiebreaker. Neither had it last time the teams met in the playoffs: Denver overcame a 3-1 deficit to beat the Clippers in 2020 at the Walt Disney World resort.

Key matchup: Nikola Jokic vs. Ivica Zubac. No team has an advantage at center against the Nuggets, with Jokic averaging 29.6 points, 12.7 rebounds and 10.2 assists to become the third player to average a triple-double for a season. But the Clippers would have one against many other teams after Zubac’s excellent season in which he averaged 16.8 points and 12.6 boards, leading the NBA in total rebounds.

Prediction: Clippers in 6.

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AP NBA: https://apnews.com/NBA

The Dallas Stars have skidded into the playoffs on a seven-game losing streak.

Mason Marchment and other players say that skid doesn’t matter, and coach Pete DeBoer knows that the Stars will ultimately be judged on what they do in the playoffs.

“No concern,” Marchment said. “We’re not going to worry about the regular season. It’s behind us now. … We’re going to turn the page and ramp it up here.”

The Stars have no choice if they want another long playoff run after making it to the West final each of the past two seasons. Dallas, still the No. 2 seed in the Western Conference, opens the postseason Saturday night with Game 1 at home against rested Central Division rival Colorado. The Avalanche finished their regular season last Sunday.

“We’ve got to figure it out. I mean, you know, Saturday’s the first time in probably three weeks where we’re playing basically with our season back on the line again,” DeBoer said. “So our desperation level has to be there, our execution has to be there. … We’ve got to make sure we’re ready for that.”

Dallas has been locked into a playoff spot since March 29, and the first-round matchup against the Avs has been anticipated for even longer than that. They met in a second-round series last year that the Stars won in six games against the then-defending Stanley Cup champions.

The Stars have gone 0-5-2 since getting their 50th win of the season April 3 at home against Nashville. They were outscored 34-18 while being outshot by an average margin of 10 a game in that stretch that culminated with a 5-1 loss at the Predators on Wednesday night.

“It doesn’t really matter. You’d like to be going into the playoffs in a different way. We went in the playoffs last year like 10-2 and lost the first two games,” Tyler Seguin said. “This year we’re going in oh-and-whatever. All that matters is the puck drop on Saturday, so we’ll move on pretty quickly.”
Streaking the wrong way

Dallas is only the ninth team in NHL history to enter the playoffs on a winless streak of at least seven games, according to SportRadar. The record of eight is shared by the 1987-88 Chicago Blackhawks and 1991-92 Montreal Canadiens.

The last team to do it was the New York Islanders with an 0-3-4 stretch to end the 2019-20 regular season that was suspended that March and never resumed because of the COVID-19 pandemic. They were part of the modified playoff that began about 4 1/2 months later in a Canadian-based bubble, and lost in the Eastern Conference Final.

Only the 2001-02 Detroit Red Wings went on to win the Stanley Cup after skidding into the postseason with that long of a winless streak — a seven-gamer than included two ties. They were also the last team before the Islanders to even make the playoffs with that kind of finish to the regular season.
Stars injuries

Seguin returned for the Stars’ regular-season finale after missing 58 games following hip surgery in early December. He had the secondary assist on Marchment’s goal only 16 seconds into the loss at Nashville.

The 33-year-old Seguin has 21 points (nine goals, 12 assists) in the 20 games he has played this season.

In the same game that their six-time All-Star returned to the lineup, top goal scorer Jason Robertson (35 goals) played only six minutes before exiting with a lower body injury. His status for the playoff opener is uncertain.

Dallas is still without standout defenseman Miro Heiskanen, who missed the last 32 regular-season games since after injuring is left knee against Vegas on Jan. 28. He later had surgery and hasn’t yet returned to practice.

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AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl

The puck drops on the first round of the NHL playoffs Saturday when Winnipeg hosts St. Louis followed by the must-see matchup of Colorado and Dallas.

The other six series get going next week, from the Toronto-Ottawa Battle of Ontario to Tuesday’s opener of another cross-state showdown between Tampa Bay and defending champion Florida.

An infusion of young talent fresh to the league in recent weeks, a handful of veterans in their mid-to-late 30s chasing the Stanley Cup and the best goaltender in the league this season looking to change his reputation are among the things to watch as the playoffs unfold.

“There’s a million different storylines that I love,” retired tough guy Paul Bissonnette said.
New guys

Just like Chris Kreider did for the New York Rangers in 2012, Tom Wilson for Washington in 2013 and Cale Makar for Colorado in 2019, a handful of teams have added top prospects just in time to make a difference at the most important time of year.

The class of 2025 is headlined by Montreal’s Ivan Demidov, St. Louis’ Jimmy Snuggerud, Minnesota’s Zeev Buium and Washington’s Ryan Leonard. The hype around Demidov — one podcast even had a livestream of him arriving off his flight into Canada — has been the hottest because the 19-year-old Russian winger was considered the best young player not in the NHL.

“There’s a 19-year-old kid that played his first game (Monday night), Ivan Demidov,” longtime forward-turned-ESPN color analyst Ray Ferraro said. “He scored a goal and an assist. The building almost fell over in Montreal. It was amazing to watch.”

Snuggerud got his first goal for the Blues on Tuesday night. Leonard slid his into an empty net the same night Alex Ovechkin tied Wayne Gretzky’s record. Buium debuted in the Wild’s season finale.

“Not only Demidov but also Ryan Leonard coming in, Buium, it just seems like this young wave of players (are) getting to come in and potentially make an impact,” said Bissonnette, now an NHL analyst on TNT.

Demidov and Leonard will face off in the Canadiens-Capitals first-round series.
Older guys

Blues defenseman Ryan Suter is 39 and has played 1,526 regular-season games — the most of anyone currently in the NHL who has not won the Stanley Cup. Carolina’s Brent Burns, also 39, is next at 1,496.

Suter’s team is a long shot to win it all. Burns’ team has a better shot at getting through the East to have a chance at the Cup. There’s also Ottawa’s Claude Giroux at 36 and 1,262 games played and Dallas’ Jamie Benn at 35 and 1,192 games hoping to finally reach hockey’s mountaintop.

“One that I’d love to see win is Jamie Benn,” said 2003 Cup champion Mike Rupp, who now works for NHL Network. “He’s had some really good years. He’s had some years where he’s been in question and he’s been through some stuff as far as just, ‘Is that a good contract? Does he still have anything left in the tank?’ And I thought he’s really answered that the last few years.”

Want some other greybeards without a ring? Toronto’s Max Pacioretty, Minnesota’s Mats Zuccarello and Tampa Bay’s Luke Glendening and Cam Atkinson all fit the bill.
‘Helly’ in the spotlight

Winnipeg’s Connor Hellebuyck just finished a second consecutive season that should win him the Vezina Trophy as the NHL’s best goaltender, which would be his third. He went 47-12-3 with a league-best 2.00 goals-against average and a .925 save percentage that’s the highest of any netminder with more than 35 starts.

He also might win the Hart Trophy as MVP. But now his play is really in the spotlight after developing a recent reputation for turning into a different (worse) goalie in April.

Hellebuyck over the past two playoffs has a 4.28 GAA and an .875 save percentage, which is the worst of anyone in that time with at least 10 appearances.

“I think the book is still out,” Bissonnette said. “If he’s able to get past that first round, it’ll do a lot for his psyche and his confidence, so if I’m a betting man, I’m betting on Hellebuyck this playoffs.”
Injury concerns

Even before the grinding toll of the playoffs gets underway, the wear and tear of the regular season and some bad luck has caused some injuries that could tip the balance of series.

The Stars won’t have No. 1 defenseman Miro Heiskanen for at least the start of their series against the Avalanche, more than two months since he had knee surgery. There’s also concern about scorer Jason Robertson, who left the regular-season finale with an apparent right leg or knee injury.

“Heiskanen makes such a huge difference on that back end.” TNT’s Anson Carter said. “When you have to go against (Nathan) MacKinnon every single night and have (Cale) Makar coming down the other way, you want to have someone that could equalize that. … You can’t replace a Heiskanen.”

The Capitals have their own questions, since starting goaltender Logan Thompson and 30-goal-scoring forward Aliaksei Protas were injured in early April. Edmonton won’t have top defenseman Mattias Ekholm for at least the first round, the Oilers’ fourth consecutive year opening the playoffs against Los Angeles.

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AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl

Lee Corso’s nearly four-decade run on ESPN’s “College GameDay” is coming to an end.

Corso, the longtime ESPN broadcaster and folksy former coach widely known for his endearing expressions and elaborate headgear picks, is set to retire after a career with the show that began in 1987, ESPN announced Thursday. His final broadcast will be Aug. 30 — Week 1 of the 2025 college football season — and the network said additional programming to celebrate Corso is also planned.

“My family and I will be forever indebted for the opportunity to be part of ESPN and ‘College GameDay’ for nearly 40 years,” Corso said in a statement to ESPN. “I have a treasure of many friends, fond memories and some unusual experiences to take with me into retirement.”

Corso, who turns 90 in August, began his popular headgear segment in October 1996 at a game at Ohio State. Since then, he has gone 286-144 in 430 selections wearing everything from helmets and mascot heads to dressing up as the Fighting Irish leprechaun from Notre Dame, the Stanford tree and historic figures James Madison and Benjamin Franklin.

“Not so fast, my friend” is one of his most well-known comments and his good humor alongside Kirk Herbstreit, Rece Davis and Desmond Howard and many others going back more than three decades helped make Corso and the show a beloved staple for millions on college football Saturdays.

“Almost 30 years together. I have enjoyed sitting next to you, watching you do your thing,” Herbstreit said in a video on social media. “So much fun and so many great moments on the show and off the show. This is a celebration for everything you did. You’re an icon and once in a lifetime person. It has been a special time for all of us. You’ve earned this retirement.”

Corso’s career has lasted through a health scare in 2009, when he suffered a stroke that left him unable to speak for a while. He returned to “College GameDay ”later that year. Though he hasn’t joined his colleagues as much on the road in recent years, Corso was at the site of last year’s national title game between Ohio State and Notre Dame in Atlanta.

Corso was a college and pro football coach for 28 years before transitioning to broadcasting. He coached 15 years in college at Louisville, Indiana and Northern Illinois.

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