AI-assisted summary
• Former NFL defensive tackle Kevin Johnson was found dead in Los Angeles at the age of 55.
• Police are investigating Johnson’s death as a homicide, citing blunt head trauma and stab wounds.
• Johnson was reportedly homeless and living in an encampment where his body was discovered.
• He played for the Philadelphia Eagles and Oakland Raiders during his NFL career in the 1990s.

Kevin Johnson, a former defensive tackle who had a brief NFL career largely spent with the Philadelphia Eagles and Oakland Raiders, was found dead in Los Angeles on Jan. 22, according to Newsweek. Johnson was 55.

Police are investigating Johnson’s death as a homicide, according to a record from the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner. The record cites ‘blunt head trauma and stab wounds’ as Johnson’s cause of death and listed his place of death as a homeless encampment.

‘Unfortunately it appears he was homeless,’ Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Lt. Steve De Jong said, according to Newsweek. ‘It looks like he was probably living there.’

USA TODAY Sports has reached out to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department for confirmation of Johnson’s death and the department’s homicide investigation.

Johnson, a Los Angeles native, played college football at Los Angeles Harbor College and Texas Southern before the New England Patriots drafted him in the fourth round of the 1993 NFL Draft. After the Patriots released Johnson that August, the defensive tackle made brief stops in Minnesota and Oakland as a practice squad member and training camp participant before the Eagles claimed him off of waivers in August 1995.

Johnson played two seasons for the Eagles, appearing in 23 games and starting six of them in the regular season with 54 tackles, one forced fumble and one fumble recovery, which he also returned for a touchdown. He also appeared in two playoff games in 1995. Philadelphia suspended, then released Johnson in 1996 after he missed a practice, according to Pro Football Reference and the Philadelphia Inquirer.

Johnson signed with the Raiders the following April, and he appeared in 15 games for Oakland, tallying seven tackles.

After Johnson’s release from the Raiders in 1998, he played four years in the Arena Football League, winning an ArenaBowl with the Orlando Predators in 1998.

Now I’m getting annoyed with these backhanded compliments, this transitive property explanation of the greatest sports story of our time. 

Stop saying if Indiana can win the national title, anyone can. Because they can’t.   

“It wasn’t some magic trick you can teach,” said Indiana center Pat Coogan. “You can’t replicate it.”

You can, however, minimize it — which is exactly what’s happening mere days after the fact.

Indiana was the worst program in college football history. Didn’t have elite high school recruits, or elite transfer portal additions.

Didn’t have the structure or framework, or history and tradition, blue bloods of the sport have used in the modern era to dominate year after year. So there has to be a reason, has to be something to explain this meteoric metamorphosis. 

It is here where the boogeyman NIL enters the room, The Tempter with the bling and zing and the easy road to everything you’ve dreamed. 

Only there is no easy road. Never has been, never will be.

Just because Indiana won the national title, it doesn’t mean Kentucky or Kansas or Wake Forest can or will. It doesn’t mean other lovable losers of the past can rise from the dregs of the sport and turn it sideways with a two-year run that defies logic ― by throwing NIL money at the problem.

Once we bend and make that absurd jump from rare to attempted reason, we’re completely ignoring the impact of, in no uncertain order: 

• Hoosiers coach Curt Cignetti.
• Evaluation and development from Cignetti and his staff, including offensive and defensive coordinators who have been with him for years.
• A core group of overlooked players — the unloved and unwanted of both the transfer portal and high school recruiting — playing at their ceiling and motivated to prove a point.
• Did I say Cignetti?

Beyond the unthinkable worst to first, rags to riches, cellar to thrown analogies, nothing underscores Indiana’s rise among a sport built by and for the elites more that this astounding reality: The last first-time national title winner was Florida in 1996. 

Buy IU championship books, prints

That’s 30 years.

Since 1996 and prior to Indiana’s record run of 16 wins, a total of 14 teams won national titles over three decades. There’s nothing random about a clique of schools who continue to win (and play for) national championships.

Winning championships of any kind is difficult, winning the whole thing is damn near impossible unless you’re part of the clique. Even then, it takes good fortune and maybe even a few breaks, to get it done.

Cignettis don’t grow on trees, nor does the unique convergence of motivation and assimilation of transfer portal additions playing the best of their careers while being accepted and embraced by the rest of the locker room.

Before you start throwing around meaningless ideals of the change agent transfer portal, you might want to examine the thing. 

Two years ago, Florida State followed an unbeaten regular season by landing a Top-3 transfer portal class, according to the 247Sports composite ranking. The Noles then went out and won two games — one against Cal and some quarterback named Mendoza.

LSU signed the No. 1 transfer portal class in 2025, and coach Brian Kelly didn’t even make it to the end of the show. He was fired in late October, and the Tigers finished with all of seven wins. 

And those are two blue bloods, two with every advantage to winning big — falling flat on their faces. 

So now we’re supposed to believe any historical nobody of Division I football can not only find the right players, but get them to play with chemistry, and cohesively at the top of their games. With any ol’ coach. 

You’ve got to be kidding me. 

Indiana did this without a single blue-chip recruit on the roster, without a single player who — at some point in his development — was considered among the best in the game. The Hoosiers did it with a coach who bet on himself in his 50s, left the Nick Saban coaching nest at Alabama and started over in the NCAA lower divisions. 

Only to work his way back up to the FBS Power conference level at the losingest program in the history of the sport. Then completely turn around a ship dead in the water, and go full-steam with guns loaded at the blue bloods of the sport. 

And win 27 of 29 games. 

My god, the depths at which blue blood caretakers of the sport will go to minimize what just happened in Bloomington, Ind. 

First Indiana was playing a cake schedule, and when that didn’t work, the Hoosiers must have been cheating. Straight Connor Stalions stuff. 

When that didn’t work — days before the national championship game, no less — and after Indiana finally pulled the refurbished muscle car into the national champions garage without scratch, well, there was only one thing left to say. 

If Indiana can do it, anyone can.

Only they can’t.

They’re all the rage these days, with teams using them to free up their cash flow, players using them for long-term security and tax advantages purposes, and fans using the practice as reason to lash out at the Los Angeles Dodgers’ payroll.

Deferred contracts.

Teams love them.

Players manipulate them.

And Bobby Bonilla takes great pride in them.

Bonilla, 62, the six-time All-Star and World Series champion who once was the game’s highest-paid player, wasn’t the first player to receive a deferred contract – but none are more famous.

He has become known as the godfather of deferrals, with Bonilla and former agent Dennis Gilbert orchestrating an ingenious deal a quarter-century ago with New York Mets that has become a trend-setter.

Everywhere you turn these days, players and teams are negotiating contracts with massive deferrals.

Shohei Ohtani took it to a new level two years ago when he signed a 10-year, $700 million contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers, deferring a stunning $68 million a year without interest. The contract is reduced to $460 million in present-day value, saving the Dodgers $24 million a year in luxury taxes. And for Ohtani, it’s a savings of about $98 million, avoiding California taxes on the $68 million annual payments if he’s no longer a California resident in 10 years.

Free agent outfielder Kyle Tucker just signed a four-year, $240 million contract with the Dodgers, which not only included $30 million in deferrals, but a $64 million signing bonus that’s payable before he leaves for spring training. It’s a brilliant move considering the signing bonus won’t be subject to California taxes, saving about $9.2 million since he’s a Florida resident with no state taxes.

Tucker’s deal was a page out of Vladimir Guerrero’s playbook a year ago when he signed a 14-year, $500 million contract with the Toronto Blue Jays. He and his agents, Barry Praver and Scott Shapiro, negotiated an MLB record $325 million signing bonus. It allows Guerrero, a Florida resident, to be taxed at 15% of the bonus as opposed to the 53.5% of Canadian wages, saving him $123.5 million.

Veteran starter Max Scherzer still is being paid $15 million annually from the Washington Nationals in his original seven-year, $210 million contract, negotiated by Scott Boras in 2015.

The king of deferrals are the Dodgers, owned by Guggenheim, who have $1.0945 billion owed in deferrals to 10 different players from 2028-2047.

Look around, and virtually every major free-agent contract this winter has included deferrals.

• Tucker, Dodgers: 4 years, $240 million, $30 million deferred.
• Dylan Cease, Toronto Blue Jays: 7 years, $210 million, $64 million deferred.
• Alex Bregman, Chicago Cubs: 5 years, $175 million, $70 million deferred.
• Edwin Diaz, Dodgers: 3 years, $69 million, $13.5 million deferred.
• Devin Williams, New York Mets: 3 years, $51 million, $15 million deferred.

The clubs pay less in luxury taxes and have more disposal income to enhance their roster,  while the players are able to use it to negotiate a larger contract, while lowering their personal tax burden.

“You’re seeing it everywhere now in the large contracts,’ says Robert Raiola, director of the sports and entertainment group at PKF O’Connor Davies, a CPA and business consulting firm. “The deferred money allows teams financial flexibility for current payroll and luxury tax management.

“And for the players, it’s a savings, because most states are not going to tax deferred money as long as the players are not performing services in that state when they receive that deferred money.’

Certainly, Cease’s $210 million contract is a prime example benefiting the Blue Jays and himself. His deferrals reduce his contract to $184.63 million in present-day value, lowering the Blue Jays’ AAV for competitive balance tax purposes to $26.375 million instead of $30 million. And for Cease, he’s not only spared Canada’s stiff tax rate on his deferrals, but also on his $23 million signing bonus.

While players have now embraced deferrals, there’s an enormous difference between today’s deferrals and Bonilla’s deal from 2025. Bonilla was paid 8% interest on his $5.9 million buyout, paying him $1.19 million annually for 25 years through 2035. Bonilla, with the guidance of his former agent, turned $5.9 million into nearly $30 million.

The contract now has become legendary, with July 1 now being called “Bobby Bonilla Day’’ in baseball, the day he receives his annual check.

“It’s a beautiful thing,’ Bonilla tells USA TODAY Sports. “It gets so much publicity now, it’s become bigger than my birthday.’

Bonilla, 62, who was a special assistant for the Major League Baseball Players Association, now is a spokesman for the Players Trust, a non-profit arm of the union. They will have their annual Playmakers Classic event on Feb. 18 in Phoenix, sponsored by Fanatics, with proceeds from the event going towards youth development baseball programs across the country and abroad.

“What is there not to be excited about?’’ Bonilla said. “It’s going to be an awesome interactive event, and we get to see the retired and active players, have some nice wine, smoke some cigars, and then mingle with all the sponsors and everything. It’s just beautiful.’

Certainly, at some juncture during the event, Bonilla once again will be ask about the famous contract, particularly by players who may be considering deferrals in their next contract. Bonilla says he won’t hesitate telling them it was one of the best financial decisions he ever made.

“I wasn’t afraid to put the money away,’ Bonilla said. “Everybody’s wanting their stuff now. I wanted to make sure that I had money later on. I was really, was never extravagant. I wasn’t a hermit or anything. I bought what I wanted.

“I had a couple of cars.

“But I didn’t have 12 of them.’

Bonilla and Mets owner Steve Cohen have talking about having an event every year on July 1 to celebrate the occasion, a Citi Field “Bobby Bonilla Day,’ but for now, it remains on the backburner

“Me and Steve have talked about it,’ Bonilla said, “but he’s busy trying to bring a championship to New York. Steve’s going to do everything he can to make it happen. I know how badly Mets fans want that championship, but in this game, you just have to be patient.’

Bonilla was on that ’92 Mets team that resembled last year’s edition of the Mets with their star talent, bloated payroll, and miserable failures. They had several aging stars on their 72-90 team like 36-year-old Eddie Murray, but it also included a young 24-year-old second baseman.

Bonilla never envisioned the kid would one day wind up in Cooperstown, N.Y.: Jeff Kent.

“He was a great second baseman, just a wonderful player,’ Bonilla said. “I’m so happy for him. He was certainly worthy of getting in.’

Bonilla also played with 10-time Gold Glove center fielder Andruw Jones in Atlanta, who’s also being inducted into the Hall of Fame along with former Mets center fielder Carlos Beltran.

“He was so special, so gifted,’ Bonilla said of Jones. “This is how good he was: I’m in left field one day, and the first pop-up hit to me, I lose it. Andruw sees that I lost it, yells, “Don’t worry, Bo, I got it. I mean, I gave no indication I lost the ball, but he recognized that, flies over, catches it, and laughs. He saved my butt. That’s how good he was.’’

Still, as thrilled as Bonilla is for Kent and Jones, he hopes one day another former teammate and close friend will receive baseball’s greatest honor. Yep, Barry Bonds.

“You know how I feel about Barry getting in,’ Bonilla said. “He belongs. I don’t know what the hang up is with everybody leaving Barry off. I mean, statistically no one’s even close. He was just so good. He’s the best I’ve ever seen, and it’s just crazy he’s not in there. We all scratch our head.

“So, I’m going to keep advocating for BB because I want him in there so bad.’

In the meantime, if you ever need to talk contracts, and the financial advantages of deferred money, Bobby Bo is your man.

Sure, he won’t make the Hall of Fame, but that contract sure might.

Follow Nightengale on X: @Bnightengale

LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers’ comeback bid fell short in a 112-104 loss to the L.A. Clippers on Thursday, but the game felt secondary the moment it ended.

During his postgame availability, James was asked about a story by ESPN that questioned the relationship he had with the Lakers’ front office and, more specifically, team governor Jeanie Buss.

“I don’t care about an article,” James said. “I don’t care how somebody feels about me. If you know me personally, you know what I’m about. These guys know what I’m about.”

James indicated he doesn’t spend much time talking with Buss, but added he didn’t do so with the ultimate leaders of the other teams he played for during his NBA career. 

“I thought it was good, but someone might see it a different way,” James said when asked about his relationship with Buss. “There are always two sides to the coin.

“At the end of the day, how I represented this franchise and what I wanted to do to represent this franchise from when I got here until now was with the utmost respect, honor, dignity and loyalty.’

Buss released a statement hours after the ESPN story was published on Wednesday, Jan. 21.

“It’s really not right, given all the great things LeBron has done for the Lakers, that he has to be pulled into my family drama,” Buss said in a statement to The Athletic. ‘To say that it wasn’t appreciated is just not true and completely unfair to him.”

The story was centered around the issues within the Buss family, but also pointed to several incidents where Jeanie Buss had reportedly not been pleased with the team’s superstar.

The story said Buss felt James had failed to take accountability for how things worked out with Russell Westbrook and thought James appeared to be ungrateful after the team drafted James’ son, Bronny, in the second round of the 2024 NBA Draft.

• If you didn’t know better, you’d take USC football quite seriously. You do know better, because you’ve seen Lincoln Riley’s USC defenses.
• Southern Cal is reportedly targeting Gary Patterson as its defensive coordinator.
• Lincoln Riley says he feels ‘fantastic’ about USC’s defense, ahead of pivotal 2026 season.

If you didn’t know better, you’d be taking Southern Cal football quite seriously. The Trojans signed a robust recruiting class. They’re returning their starting quarterback, Jayden Maiava, on the heels of a nine-win season.

By now, we do know better than to take a Lincoln Riley team seriously — at least, not as a national championship contender or even a Big Ten frontrunner. In nine seasons coaching blue bloods, Riley never assembled an elite defense. He’s rarely even produced a good defense.

On cue, USC’s season ended in an Alamo Bowl loss in overtime last month after the Trojans missed four tackles while TCU running back Jeremy Payne turned a check-down pass into a winning touchdown on 3rd-and-20.

A touchdown. On a check-down pass. On 3rd-and-stinkin’-20.

That’s Riley football.

That’s USC football.

That’s not serious football.

Buy IU championship books, prints

In what could be a make-or-break season for Riley, he didn’t do nearly enough in the transfer sweepstakes to substantially upgrade USC’s defense. That’s after the Trojans ranked 13th in the Big Ten in total defense, despite not facing either Indiana or Ohio State.

USC will play the Hoosiers and the Buckeyes in 2026 amid a Big Ten schedule that also includes Oregon, Penn State and Washington.

So, how’s Riley feeling about that defense ahead of this pivotal season?

“I feel fantastic” about the defense, Riley said after the bowl loss. “You know, we’ve made obviously documented strides the last couple of years statistically, but those that really study the game and watch the way that we’ve played and the way that we’ve been able to improve, the arrow is just pointing straight up.”

Um, sure.

It’s true the Trojans improved defensively — partly because USC played some of the worst defense in the country his first two seasons. His defenses went from bad to something better than bad.

In losses to TCU, Illinois, Notre Dame and Oregon, the Trojans allowed a total of 140 points.

Which direction is that arrow pointing?

But, hey, he’s got a new hand to fix it. USC is reportedly targeting former TCU coach Gary Patterson as its defensive coordinator.

If Gary Patterson can’t fix USC defense, can anyone?

Patterson’s Horned Frogs had some toughness to them, but he’s not had an on-field coaching job since TCU parted with him in 2021.

Patterson is used to being in charge. Not since 2000 has he worked under a coach as a defensive coordinator. There’s no telling how this might go.

He’ll be the fourth defensive coordinator to work under Riley, including his third at USC. The last coordinator to have much success running a defense for Riley was Alex Grinch at Oklahoma in 2020.

Riley’s teams are, in a word, sawwwffft. Softer than milk chocolate on a summer day at Hermosa Beach.

That doesn’t win championships in this era. That didn’t win championships in previous eras, either.

Consider the past five national champions: Georgia (twice), Michigan, Ohio State and Indiana. Each had a top-10 defense. If you accused a defensive lineman on one of those teams of being soft, you might find yourself consuming meals through a straw.

When Riley coached Oklahoma in the Big 12, he built playoff squads thanks to his ability to develop star quarterbacks. His defenses routinely got exploited in playoff losses. He scooted out of Oklahoma before it joined the more rugged SEC, only to find himself stuck inside the nation’s best conference, the Big Ten.

Riley’s offenses are always good enough that he never delivers a truly bad season. That’s his secret sauce. He’s 9-for-9 delivering winning records throughout his career. He’s never won a playoff game.

At USC, he’s 35-18. His best year was his first. That would get Riley fired from LSU. Ask Brian Kelly about that.

To Riley’s credit, he signed a No. 1-ranked recruiting class loaded with four-star talent. One wonders where those players will be a year or two from now, if Riley doesn’t accelerate his performance. Take it from Indiana: National championships are won with grown men, many of them transfers.

Lincoln Riley faces pivotal season in USC tenure

Curt Cignetti offered proof that patience is a loser’s battle cry, but a bit of patience can still be rewarded. Mario Cristobal didn’t get Miami into the playoff until his Year 4 breakthrough.

Riley enters his fifth season after being hired to a 10-year contract. If you consider the idea of a top recruiting class joining a nine-win team that returns its quarterback, you might think the Trojans are poised to join Miami as a name brand ready to reclaim their place of power.

Peel back the surface, though, and comparing USC to the 2025 Hurricanes becomes difficult. Miami had a sturdy defense, complete with the nation’s fiercest pass rush. The Hurricanes excelled at getting off the field on third down.

That just doesn’t sound like a Riley team, does it?

Third-and-20. Check-down. Touchdown.

“We have the personnel to” play great defense, Riley told reporters on Dec. 30. “We’re on an upward trend.”

If you didn’t know better, you might believe that.

Blake Toppmeyer is the USA TODAY Network’s senior national college football columnist. Email him at BToppmeyer@gannett.com and follow him on X @btoppmeyer.