MODESTO, Calif. – Northern California sprint car racer Tony Gualda will pilot the PureCrop1-sponsored Kruseman Motorsports Midget in his first attempt at competing in the Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Nationals next month.
Gualda has attended the Chili Bowl in the past, but he’ll get his first taste of the Tulsa Expo Raceway inside the River Spirit Expo Center on Jan. 13-18.
“The Chili Bowl Nationals has always been an event I’ve wanted to compete at, so I can’t thank PureCrop1 and Kruseman Motorsports enough for making that a possibility,” Gualda said. “The Chili Bowl has truly become a who’s who of dirt track racing and motorsports in general. After getting my first laps in the PureCrop1 sponsored midget at the Hangtown 100 in November, I am excited to hit the track in Tulsa next month. Hopefully we can put some good results together and have some fun along the way.”
PureCrop1 is an organic crop science formulation serving the premium fruits, vegetable and agriculture industry. The company views dirt track motorsports as a great way to build the PureCrop1 brand and at the same time help build the awareness of dirt track motorsports.
“We are definitely thrilled to partner with Tony Gualda and Kruseman Motorsports at the Chili Bowl Nationals,” said Ray Drysdale, chairman of PureCrop1. “The Chili Bowl is a spectacular event and we couldn’t be happier to have Tony fly the PureCrop1 colors in Tulsa. With over 300 entrants and more than 15,000 spectators we feel it’s another great venue to get our PureCrop1 brand out there within the dirt track racing industry.”
Gualda picked up a trio of victories this past season in three different states, including his first winged 360 sprint car triumph early in the year at the Stockton Dirt Track. The now 20-year-old also finished fifth in the season standings with the Sprint Car Challenge Tour.
“I am really looking forward to having Tony run for us at the Chili Bowl as we show off some of our new colors with PureCrop1,” said team owner Cory Kruseman. “Being a two-time winner of the event, I know it takes great partners, a great driver and a great team to get the job done.”
SPEED SPORT’s Chili Bowl coverage is presented by MyRacePass, the official timing and scoring app of the 2020 Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Nationals. Fans can download the MyRacePass app on their phones to follow all the action during the Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Nationals. For more information on MyRacePass, visit www.myracepass.com and use the hashtag #GetTheApp on Twitter!
LINCOLN, Calif. – There is little doubt that Jordan Grabouski won more races in 2019 than anyone else.
The Beatrice, Neb., driver won an amazing 69 times, 33 while racing an IMCA modified and 36 in an IMCA stock car.
Added to his phenomenal season were two IMCA National championships and he had the type of season that will be difficult to top.
Grabouski had the benefit of racing in two divisions to compile those numbers. Who had the most wins while racing in one division?
Research reveals it was Cody Thompson from Sioux City, Iowa. The 23-year-old won 44 times at 14 different tracks in 92 races in his IMCA Northern Sport Mod, winning nearly half of his events.
Making his first appearance at a race track at the age of two weeks, Thompson was still five years away from starting his racing career. His father raced to lead to his growing up at a dirt track, and the younger Thompson first raced a motorcycle.
At 5 years old Thompson started in motorcycles, two years later he added go karts to his resume and he graduated to a sport compact at 12. His first full sized race track experience was at Park Jefferson Speedway, located at the north edge of Sioux City. Finishing ninth in the initial effort was soon improved upon when he won during his fifth night out in a sport compact, that coming at Raceway Park, which is across the road from Park Jefferson.
The following year at 13 was a full season in sport compacts and nine wins were recorded with track titles at Park Jefferson and Raceway Park. In six years of racing a sport compact Thompson won 42 times.
In 2016 he moved to IMCA Northern Sport Mods and after four seasons he has earned 75 wins. Showing how successful 2019 was for the full time racer, 44 of those 75 wins came in an eight month span season, ranging from Humboldt, Kan., to Peoria, Ariz.
His first sport mod win came in 2016 at Crawford County Speedway in Denison, Iowa, and was his seventh race in that class. This year three track titles at Park Jefferson, Alta, Iowa, and Columbus, Neb., were part of his first year of full-time racing. He did win some good paying races, but Thompson notes that without his sponsors his full-time effort would not be possible.
So what led to the huge growth is racing success this year?
“Hard work in the shop, paying attention to the race tracks, trying different things, and write that stuff down in a notebook so you know for next time,” Thompson said.
“I lived off of that notebook, luckily I made a pretty good notebook, and I was able to use it to help win a ton of those races.”
He has been working on a car, getting ready for an earlier start to his season when he tows to Cocopah Speedway, south of Yuma, Ariz., for a series starting Jan. 9.
He will be in Arizona until the IMCA Arizona Mod Tour finishes in mid-February, then he’ll be off to Texas for the Lone Star Tour, including an event at Texas Motor Speedway’s dirt track, which will include the North vs. South Sport Mod battle.
Thompson drives a Razor chassis and believes that has helped his program. He expects to spend 2020 in a Northern Sport Mod and will not chase track points, instead traveling to experience different tracks, race against different drivers and continue his learning process.
TULSA, Okla. – Tony Stewart closed out the year by sweeping last weekend’s indoor midget races at Fort Wayne, and it’s always well received when a former USAC legend or old schooler returns to their roots and gives the paying customers a show.
David Byrd doesn’t drive race cars and obviously can’t draw a crowd or sell tickets like Stewart, but his passion and business acumen has made him a player in open-wheel racing.
Byrd is going to kick off the 2020 racing season in next month’s Chili Bowl with a three-pronged effort that will get IndyCar some much-needed publicity during its six months of darkness.
He’s teaming with Scott Petry, the man whose company built The Dirt Track at IMS, for Conor Daly’s second run in the midget classic at Tulsa, Okla.
After fielding cars at Indianapolis twice for James Davison, Byrd has the Aussie lined up for his Chili Bowl debut with a car from Flea Ruzic’s Team Ripper Racing stable.
And Santino Ferrucci, one of the most exciting newcomers on four wheels this past season in the NTT IndyCar Series, will be wheeling a Byrd-supported Boss midget for Jody Rosenboom when practice begins on January 13.
“You know how strongly my family has always felt about USAC, short tracks and the Indy 500. It’s incredibly difficult these days to get a short-track guy to Indianapolis, so we’ve decided to go the other way and take some IndyCar drivers to short tracks,” said Byrd, whose late father Jonathan owned, entered, and sponsored Indy cars for 17 years, and made sure USAC great Rich Vogler had five good rides for the biggest race in the world.
“I just love the fact that we’ve got some guys who like to take on a challenge.”
The 42-year-old Phoenix resident, who operates the Byrd Hotel Group, followed his father’s lead in 2015 and 2016 when he helped bring Bryan Clauson back to Indianapolis, after the USAC star made his Indy 500 debut in 2012 for Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing.
After Clauson lost his life in 2016 during a midget race, Byrd came back to IMS with Davison in 2018 in a partnership with A.J. Foyt Racing, and they made the show with the smallest budget in Gasoline Alley.
While jumping from car to car as an IndyCar super sub, Daly first tried his hand in a Landon Simon midget at the inaugural BC39.
He struggled to get comfortable in his first dirt-track action, but was determined to improve, running the Junior Knepper 55 in DuQuoin in December of 2018 before hitting midget racing’s biggest stage in January, running both races in a Byrd-supported car owned by Jody Rosenboom.
The second-generation driver was serious about improving, and after running better in the 2019 BC39 in a Petry Motorsports entry, Byrd and Petry took Daly to Arizona earlier this month for a USAC national midget doubleheader at Arizona Speedway.
Daly made the A-main both nights, transferring through his heat race on night one and then charging from the back of the B-main on night two, finishing just behind Rico Abreu.
This past year, Davey Hamilton and Byrd had a plan to get USAC dirt star Kevin Thomas Jr. some pavement experience in a Silver Crown car, with the eventual focus on an Indy Lights ride at IMS (like Byrd has done for USAC champ Chris Windom the past two Mays).
But when the Salem round conflicted with the Knoxville Nationals, Thomas had to take a pass, and that’s when Byrd asked his Indy 500 driver if he wanted to try a USAC Silver Crown car at Salem.
Let’s see. Debut in a long, powerful, front-engine car on one of the most treacherous half-mile tracks in the country? Sure, sign me up, said Davison.
Davison finished ninth in his Silver Crown debut at Salembefore coming back to Lucas Oil Raceway, where he earned all kinds of respect and a fifth-place finish.
“He loved it,” reported Byrd. “At Salem, James said he hadn’t worked that hard in a race car in a long time, and that he never had as much fun driving a race car.”
The third piece of this story started at the airport after this year’s Brickyard 400, just after the BC39.
“Santino asked me how Conor got to run the midget, and I told him because he was one of the only IndyCar guys willing and able to give it a shot,” Byrd noted. “Santino said he wanted to do it, too.”
So, earlier this month at Canyon Speedway Park in Arizona, Ferrucci ran nearly 100 laps in a 410 sprint car, as did Davison, and is looking forward to Tulsa Town next month.
Byrd has a number of loyal partners and sponsors that help fund his racing program, and he’s going to run Davison again this May at Indy, as well as the Daytona 500 and the four IMSA endurance races.
But that doesn’t mean his dirt support is going anywhere.
“The Byrd/Petry midget is open to any IndyCar driver who wants to try it,” said Byrd. “I like doing interesting things that bring additional attention to short-track racing. I even had a former F-1 driver and Le Mans winner lined up for the Chili Bowl, but scheduling conflicts derailed that plan.
“I keep seeing how much Fernando Alonso likes to try different cars, so maybe we’ll go after him for 2021.”
But not everyone you'd expect to see on the ice in St. Louis on Jan. 25 was named (and we aren't talking about Alex Ovechkin, who opted to skip the weekend of festivities). Our NHL experts crew each picked out a big snub -- and then listed who they'd select as the "Last Man In" for each division. So who was wrongly left off the All-Star rosters? Let's dive in.
Who is the biggest snub among the NHL All-Star Game selections?
What a bizarre decision by the NHL to have neither Sebastian Aho nor Svechnikov on either the Metropolitan Division All-Star Game roster or on the "Last Man In" option. (No disrespect to potential "last man" Teuvo Teravainen intended.) Aho got his All-Star moment last season, so it should have been Svechnikov's turn after 17 goals (two of them lacrosse style!) and 21 assists in 39 games. Having him replace Ovechkin would have been both appropriate and poetic. -- Greg Wyshynski, senior NHL writer
Have we ever had an eventual Hart Trophy finalist purposefully snubbed for that same season's All-Star Game? Only McDavid and Draisaitl have more points than Marchand, and yet the Bruins' game-changer isn't even included on the "Last Man In" ballot. It's absurd. What's worse, next month's gathering in St. Louis will be altogether a lesser event without the league's most notorious villain involved. -- Victoria Matiash, fantasy hockey analyst
Marchand -- a legitimate MVP candidate -- is the biggest snub, no doubt about it. But I'm also peeved to not have Perron in the mix. The Blues have a league-high three players representing, and rightfully so, as they are hosting the event and are the defending Stanley Cup champs. But it feels weird that the team's leading scorer isn't among them. Perron is on pace for a career year at age 31. I'd love to see him get rewarded for it. -- Emily Kaplan, national NHL reporter
Since there's enough consideration already here over a certain Boston forward, I'll go in another direction and maybe a little off the board. Markstrom has had a quietly strong season, and he is a big reason the Canucks have been better than most of us projected. His win-loss record isn't great, but he's fifth in the league in save percentage among starters at .919 and is seventh overall in goals-saved above average, per Natural Stat Trick.
Vegas needed an entry, and Marc-Andre Fleury is a lot of fun, but I would have liked to see Markstrom, especially amid personal hardship in losing his father in November. He deserved a nod. -- Chris Peters, hockey prospects analyst
It certainly doesn't hurt that he gets to play with Mark Stone, but dynamic duos are all the rage in the league these days, and there are plenty of players on the list who aren't exactly doing all of the heavy lifting themselves anyway. Pacioretty is quietly trekking toward a career season, on an 82-game pace of 31 goals, 78 points and 330 shots. To put those figures into perspective, he's 15th in raw points, tied for 13th in primary points with Ovechkin and Jake Guentzel, and third in shots behind just Ovechkin and Nathan MacKinnon. That's decent company. -- Dimitri Filipovic, hockey analytics writer
As a defenseman, he's the second-leading scorer on an Avalanche team that currently has the second-most points in the Western Conference -- not to mention the fact that he's a rookie playing just over 20 minutes per game at almost a point per game pace. His 29 points in 31 games puts him eighth in defensemen scoring. The All-Star Game is meant to showcase the very best the NHL has to offer, and that should include the league's best rookie. -- Rick DiPietro, radio host and former NHL goalie
Braden Holtby is one of the top goalies in the NHL, but his numbers aren't even the best on his own team this season (see: Ilya Samsonov) -- and Holtby's .908 even-strength save percentage is tied for 42nd in the league among goalies with 10-plus appearances. Columbus' Joonas Korpisalo has admirably stepped into the starter's net, keeping the Blue Jackets in games this season ... and I know there's that whole "someone from every team" thing.
But what am I missing with Varlamov? He's 13-3-3 with a .930 even-strength save percentage. His Islanders are second in the Metropolitan Division, once again soaring past expectations, in part because of his play. The only thing holding Varlamov back might be the fact that his netmate, Thomas Greiss, plays nearly half the time at nearly the same level. But Varly deserves All-Star status this season, and I wouldn't be surprised to see this wrong righted as an injury replacement for Korpisalo. -- Ben Arledge, NHL editor
Bishop trails Binnington and Connor Hellebuyck in wins but has been the more efficient goalie on the ice, holding edges in save percentage (.926) and goals-against average (2.34). Despite a recent slump by the Stars over the past month, Bishop's rates have still remained strong at .921 and 2.56 for December, has had a save percentage of .900 or better in seven of his nine starts this month and notched a 41-save win Saturday. The hometown goalie Binnington has to be there, but I would have picked Bishop for the second netminder spot in the Central. -- Sachin Chandan, fantasy hockey editor
Manchester United midfielder Paul Pogba is not leaving the club, says his agent Mino Raiola.
Pogba has been repeatedly linked in the media with a move away from United, but Raiola told Sky Sports on Monday that the midfielder will be staying at Old Trafford.
"Paul has always respected Manchester United just as Manchester United has also always respected Paul. And the only one that talks for Manchester United and for Paul is Ole [Gunnar Solskjaer]...
"I go by what he [Solskjaer] says. He [Pogba] will not move, and that's OK. We are good with them.
"As long as Paul is at Manchester United he wants to win trophies... he wants to give it 100%.
"Paul is struggling a little bit with his injury that we tried to resolve and I think that's our main interest now."
Pogba is set to return for their Premier League visit to Arsenal on New Year's Day after sitting out Saturday's 2-0 win over Burnley as a precaution, Solskjaer has said.
The France international returned from a long injury layoff as a substitute in a 2-0 defeat at Watford on Dec. 22 and played 45 minutes in the 4-1 win over Newcastle on Boxing Day.
Pogba felt pain in his ankle after the Newcastle game but Solskjaer said the 26-year-old would be ready for Arsenal.
"He's been out for a long while and he didn't feel right," Solskjaer told reporters. "When you've been out for such a while it's always going to take time until you're 100%.
"He wasn't ready [to face Burnley] because he's not really done too many games and he's had two in a few days and he just needed another day's recovery."
United midfielder Scott McTominay damaged knee ligaments in the win over Newcastle and Solskjaer said the 23-year-old could be out of action for about a month.
"I wouldn't expect him to be back within a few weeks," the Norwegian added. "I don't know if it's three or four weeks ... We've just got to find a way through it."
United's win over Burnley lifted them to fifth in the table, while Arsenal dropped to 12th after losing to Chelsea on Sunday.
Nearly a decade ago, LeBron James turned the next step of his career into a television spectacle. "The Decision" drew 13 million viewers at its peak and ended with James announcing he'd be "taking his talents to South Beach."
With a bit more entrepreneurial thought (some might say vulgarity), Erling Haaland might have done the same, such was the dogfight for his services. Unlike James, he wasn't a free agent, strictly speaking, but the €20 million release clause in his contract amounts to the same thing. You didn't need to negotiate with FC Salzburg to secure the teenage phenom; you just had to write a check. All you had to do was convince the boy (and his dad, Alfie, and his advisor, Mino Raiola, and whomever else he listens to) that you were the right step for the next phase of his career. And that's where he'd be taking his talents.
The fact that there was no negotiation with his club, only with the player and his advisors, is one of the elements that sets this apart from the last teenage transfer of this magnitude, when Kylian Mbappe moved from AS Monaco to Paris Saint-Germain in 2017.
When a buyer negotiates with a player and a selling club, there is the opportunity for triangulation: in other words, to play one off the other. PSG had to beat Real Madrid (and others) to the Mbappe deal but equally, Monaco needed to cash in. That delicate balance guided the deal. Not here. Haaland had all the leverage not just in terms of wages and contract, but in conditions and career planning. It's not a coincidence, either.
Haaland is a kid whose path has been meticulously planned. The added bonus of having a footballer father -- Alf Inge Haaland played for, among others, Leeds, Manchester City and Norway -- meant the best networks and contacts were only ever a phone call away. And in football, as in life, who you know is almost as important as what you can do.
Before even moving from his hometown club Bryne to Norwegian powerhouse Molde, Haaland had visited more than a dozen top clubs around the continent. He was on everybody's radar but chose Molde, then coached by Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, as a natural stepping stone. Eighteen months later, he was on the move again, this time to Salzburg, part of the Red Bull footballing empire. Another calculated move: Salzburg are at the cutting edge of football development, and though breaking through there would be a challenge, it was a manageable one. He'd be virtually guaranteed playing time, he'd experience a very different style of football and he had a shot at better exposure whether in the Europa League or, as it turned out, in the Champions League.
The most crucial decision in all of this was the release clause. Haaland accepted a wage that was considerably lower than you'd expect for a double-digit goal scorer, and far less than he could have earned elsewhere as a blue-chip prospect. Growing up as the son of a professional footballer (and therefore financially comfortable) he had the luxury to make that choice, but it was also a case of betting on himself. If he succeeded, Salzburg would quadruple the return on the 5m they invested on him. If he didn't, he'd get a top footballing education and could look to relaunch his career elsewhere.
Few would have expected his development to progress so quickly or that he'd bang in so many goals on the big stage so soon. Haaland and his father retained the services of Raiola to advise him, and by November, the two dozen or so clubs who had expressed interest in him had been whittled down to three: Leipzig (thanks to the Red Bull connection), Borussia Dortmund and Manchester United. He chose Dortmund after meeting top club brass and immediately the spin began.
United, as reported by my colleague Mark Ogden, were put off by Raiola's demands, in particular for a release clause to be inserted in his contract and possible a share of a future sell-on as well. Leipzig felt they were always outsiders given the size of the other two clubs and they too were uneasy about dealing with Raiola.
As for Dortmund, they spun the tale of the perfect stepping stone. They are a massive club with 80,000-strong crowds, they have the Yellow Wall, they are in a position to compete for the Bundesliga title most years, they have Champions League pedigree and they have a tremendous record in developing youth: witness the rise of Jadon Sancho and Christian Pulisic.
Spin? Sure, it's spin. All three clubs are playing plenty of youngsters this season, not just Dortmund, and as for the latter's record of developing kids: look a little closer, will you?
First off, there's a difference between joining Dortmund at 16 and spending time in the youth team (as Pulisic did) or at 17 and spending a year coming off the bench (like Sancho) and coming in as the most hyped teenager in the world on starter wages.
Second, a look at the promising youngsters they signed in the past few seasons and their development (or lack thereof) suggests it's not quite automatic: witness the likes of Abdou Diallo, Marius Wolf, Manuel Akanji, Mahmoud Dahoud and Dan-Axel Zagadou. Not to mention the last tall Scandinavian target man who came to Borussia Dortmund, Alexander Isak. At 17, he was the most expensive player in the history of the Swedish league, failed to progress, went on loan and, two and a half years later, was sold at a loss to Real Sociedad. (To be fair, he's still just 20, and while he's not been starting, could yet develop.)
Haaland's camp made a big deal out of meeting Dortmund boss Lucien Favre. That's great and all, but the reality is that he was on the verge of being fired six weeks ago and could still be gone in the summer. For that matter, so could Solskjaer, part of the big draw of moving to Old Trafford. If coaching stability was such a factor, then Leipzig and Julian Nagelsmann would have been a no-brainer, but it was only a piece of the puzzle.
What were the other pieces?
According to a report in Gazzetta dello Sport, the fee for his advisors played a huge part. They claim his dad is getting a €10m commission, while Raiola carved out €15m for himself. Those numbers are unconfirmed, of course, but they're also far from implausible. The Football Leaks revelations shed plenty of light on the fees Raiola earned from the Paul Pogba deal (from both sides, no less) and before that, we found out how much Neymar Senior earned from his son's move to Barcelona. These figures are by no means out out of line. As for money to his father, it's his dad, for goodness' sake. It all flows to the same place.
Why Haaland chose Dortmund over Juventus & Man United
Shaka Hislop outlines the edge Borussia Dortmund had to get the signature of FC Salzburg's Erling Haaland.
Those who rail against the power of agents and family members are frankly misguided here. They do what clubs and players enable them to do. Raiola, famously, doesn't have written contracts with his clients. They can ditch him at any time. Some have (Romelu Lukaku), but most have stayed with him. Why? Not because they're stupid, but because they're happy with the work he does. FIFA are working to apply caps to commissions, but the simple truth of the matter is that most big clubs don't mind cozy relationships with certain super-agents, and the last thing they want is more oversight, more transparency and more regulation. After all, they're the ones who pay the mega-commissions and the outsized signing-on fees.
Haaland's camp likely negotiated a release clause -- whether official or something like the deal they struck over Henrikh Mkhitaryan -- just like the one they tried to get from United. Of course, this means they hold all the leverage once again provided Haaland continues to grow.
It's a good thing for Haaland and not necessarily a bad thing for Dortmund, all told: they still get the hottest teenage property in Europe at a price (even with the commissions) that is more than reasonable. But what the Haaland deal tells us, above all, is that there are very few gems to unearth at the highest level, there are very few secrets in traditional scouting and that even the best deals come with all sorts of strings attached.
And, most of all, if your agent is clever enough to turn you into a de facto free agent then, like LeBron, you're well placed to decide for yourself where to take your talents next.
Dobbins, a finalist for the Doak Walker Award, is ESPN NFL draft analyst Mel Kiper Jr.'s No. 3-ranked draft-eligible running back and the No. 24-ranked overall player according to Scouts Inc.
Dobbins rushed for an Ohio State-record 2,003 yards this season, including 174 yards against Clemson on Saturday in the College Football Playoff semifinal loss to Clemson. He finished No. 6 in the Heisman Trophy voting and picked up two first-place votes.
A native of La Grange, Texas, Dobbins cracked 1,000 yards rushing in each of his three seasons with the Buckeyes and finished his career with 4,459 yards on the ground.
TAMPA, Fla. -- One day after Jameis Winston became the first quarterback in NFL history to throw for at least 30 touchdowns and 30 interceptions in a season, Tampa Bay Buccaneers coach Bruce Arians said little to inspire confidence that Winston will be back next year.
When asked Monday if he believes the Bucs could win with another quarterback, Arians responded, "Another quarterback? Oh, yeah. [If] we can win with this one, we can definitely win with another one too. We're going to have this defense."
Arians came out of retirement, in large part, for the opportunity to coach Winston. They have known each other since Winston attended Arians' camps in Birmingham, Alabama, years ago.
And while Winston did become just the eighth quarterback in NFL history to pass for 5,000 yards in a season, he struggled with turnovers, which put significant strain on the Bucs' young defense. Opponents scored 112 points off Winston's turnovers this year -- the most in the NFL.
Arians said the Bucs weren't in position to bench Winston because of injuries and that he was given more slack despite his mistakes. Arians also indicated that should Winston return, he would be given less leeway.
"A big part of it was [backup] Blaine [Gabbert] getting hurt, and we had to find out [if] this was the franchise [quarterback]. We had to find out," Arians said.
Winston, the No. 1 overall draft pick in 2015, has completed his rookie contract. No immediate decision will be made on Winston's future, but Arians will meet with general manager Jason Licht and Bucs ownership in the coming weeks. Arians wants to spend time reviewing all 16 games. One of the things he'll do is determine who's at fault for every interception.
"It will be a while," Arians said. "I would think in a few weeks we will have a decision on which way we want to head. Will we let it out? Probably not. Because you lose your leverage on that one too. So it's 'stay tuned.'"
Arians said a big part of the decision will hinge on who's available in free agency and in the draft. He said it would not be an issue if he had to bring in another quarterback to learn his system. The Bucs are slated to select 14th overall in the NFL draft. They're also projected to have nearly $89 million in salary-cap space -- third most in the NFL.
The big priority will be keeping the Bucs' defensive front seven together. The Bucs' sack numbers jumped from 38 in 2018 to 47 in 2019. The team would like to keep both Shaq Barrett -- who registered a league-high 19.5 sacks this year -- and Jason Pierre-Paul.
"Free agency -- who's available? What's behind Door No. 2? I think that's the first question," Arians said. "And as you evaluate for the draft, that's another question. Are they better than what you have? And then you evaluate and that's when you make your decisions."
FRISCO, Texas -- While the Washington Redskins appeared to be closing in on a new coach and the New York Giants opted to move on from their head coach, Jason Garrett remains the Dallas Cowboys' coach -- at least for now.
Garrett met with Jerry Jones after the coach and owner/general manager briefly met with the players around lunchtime Monday, but by the end of the business day, it was passed on that there would be no news conference at The Star, regarding the coach's future and the owner's potential plan for 2020.
Garrett is scheduled to meet again with Jerry Jones and his son, Stephen, Dallas' executive vice president, on Tuesday, a source told ESPN, confirming a report by the Dallas Morning News.
With talks ongoing, Monday felt like any other wrap-up to a Cowboys' season with players stuffing giant gray trash bags with their belongings, saying goodbye to their teammates, meeting with their position coaches and undergoing exit physicals.
"It's tough. Tough to take," said veteran linebacker Sean Lee, who is among the more than 20 players set to become free agents in March. "We didn't accomplish the goals we wanted to, didn't play up to the standard that we wanted to. You know these teams change every year, and so saying bye to some guys and knowing that you may never [again] be teammates with some guys, it can be very tough."
Garrett's future, however, remains the Cowboys' most pressing issue.
His contract expires on Jan. 14, but after Sunday's 47-16 season-ending win against Washington, Jones said he did not have a timetable for a decision and did not seem to care that other teams, particularly in his division, would have a chance to start the hiring process before the Cowboys if he opted to move on from Garrett.
The Cowboys have not had a full-blown coaching search since 2007, after Bill Parcells retired. Jones interviewed a number of candidates back then, including Garrett, before settling on Wade Phillips. Assistant coaches such as Baltimore's Greg Roman, Kansas City's Eric Bieniemy and San Francisco's Robert Saleh have received head-coaching interest from other teams with the Ravens, Chiefs and 49ers off for the wild-card round of the playoffs.
A large portion of Cowboys assistant coaches have expiring contracts as well and can begin seeking jobs. Passing game coordinator Kris Richard is set to become a coaching free agent of sorts and ESPN's Josina Anderson reported he would interview for the Giants head-coaching vacancy Thursday. Defensive coordinator Rod Marinelli, special-teams coordinator Keith O'Quinn, tight ends coach Doug Nussmeier, running backs coach Gary Brown, safeties coach Greg Jackson and linebackers coach Ben Bloom are among the assistants without contracts for 2020.
Garrett is 85-67 as Cowboys coach but won only two playoff games since 2011. While he has had only one season with a losing record (4-12 in 2015), the 8-8 finish in 2019 was the fourth of his career. He entered the season knowing he had to win but could not get the Cowboys into the playoffs.
After the Washington game, Garrett said he wanted to be the Cowboys' coach but had "no idea" if he would be given that chance.
A day later, his players still did not know.
"In reflection, I'm very fortunate to have spent the time that I did with coach Garrett," Pro Bowl center Travis Frederick said. "Whether he's here next year or somewhere else, the group of men that he's going to be in front of will be better men and better players because of it."
Lee was a rookie when Garrett took over for Phillips as an interim coach midway through the 2010 season.
"For me, it's a guy who's an unbelievable coach, unbelievable person, put his heart and soul into coaching, believed in his players with his entire heart, forced us to be better than we could be in a lot of situations," said Lee when asked what Garrett's legacy would be if he did not return. "Made me believe I could come back from a lot of injuries, from the knee, from the toe, from the neck. A guy who inspired me and really made me a better football player than I thought I could be.
"So from my standpoint, an unbelievable coach, an unbelievable guy and a guy that I love."
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