• Dunne says ‘it’s kind of a natural transition for me into performing and acting on camera’
• Dunne relates to Taylor Swift’s experience as the girlfriend of a professional athlete
• Dunne’s advice to LSU commit and U.S. all-around champ Hezly Rivera is ‘be true to herself’

Former collegiate gymnast turned actor Livvy Dunne is just like us.

Dunne ‘of course’ tuned into Taylor Swift’s record-breaking appearance on the ‘New Heights’ podcast alongside Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce and his brother Jason Kelce on Aug. 13.

And Dunne can relate to Swift, in that the two of them have captured a lot of attention during their respective careers.

‘I can’t believe that I can even say I have something in common with Taylor’s Swift,’ Dunne told USA TODAY Sports ahead of the release of her Fanatics Sportsbook commercials. ‘We’re in a similar boat where we do have new eyes on us because of a new sports fan base.’

After finishing her eligibility at LSU last spring, Dunne is working on what’s next. A self-described sports ‘fanatic,’ she said she’ll ‘always be an athlete at heart.’ Whether she’s cheering on her Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher boyfriend Paul Skenes or keeping up with the U.S. national gymnastics team, Dunne isn’t too far removed from the game. And although she’s no longer showcasing her leaps and tumbling passes at LSU, she’s still performing.

‘To be able to be in the Rose Bowl, first of all is iconic, but it’s not every day you get to be in a bathtub on the 50-yard line shooting a commercial,’ Dunne said of her upcoming commercials with Fanatics Sportsbook. ‘I’ve always loved performing, whether it’s on the floor exercise or choreographing a routine. I feel like it’s kind of a natural transition for me into performing and acting on camera.’

USA TODAY Sports caught up with Dunne in a wide-ranging interview that touched her admiration for Taylor Swift, mentorship of budding Olympic gymnast Hezly Rivera and upcoming campaign with Fantatics.

Livvy Dunne relates to Taylor Swift: ‘I admire her’ 

Dunne was one of the 1.3 million viewers tuned into Swift’s highly-anticipated debut on ‘New Heights.’ Swift has brought a legion of fans to the NFL, but some sports fans have taken offense to how much attention the Grammy award-winning musician’s presence receives on the sidelines of Kansas City Chiefs games. Dunne said Swift’s experience ‘really resonated’ with her.

‘She’s a football fan and supporting her boyfriend that’s a professional athlete, and I’m supporting my boyfriend that’s a professional athlete,’ Dunne said. ‘That’s something we also have in common is the criticism that can come along with that. And I think she handles it with such grace.’

Being the partner of a professional athlete can be challenging. Dunne recently posted a social media video showing her various accounts being inundated with Skenes memes and GIFs. Despite the backlash, Dunne said it’s been ‘really cool to navigate through it and learn and be a big baseball fan,’ noting that she’ll take inspiration from Swift’s approach to football critics.

‘I admire (Swift) in so many different ways and how she handles the criticism with such grace and how she has her own success alongside her professional athlete partner,’ Dunne said.

Livvy Dunne hosted LSU gymnastics recruit Hezly Rivera

American gymnast Hezly Rivera — who won a gold medal with the U.S. women’s national team at the 2024 Paris Olympics, in addition to the all-around title at the 2025 U.S. National Gymnastics Championships — announced she’ll join LSU gymnastics after graduating high school in 2026. Dunne was competing with the Tigers when Rivera came to Baton Rouge, Louisiana, for her official visit.

‘I actually was there on (Rivera’s) recruiting trip. I was still a gymnast at LSU and actually the gymnasts are a huge part of the recruiting trip,’ recalled Dunne. ‘That’s why I went to LSU to begin with because the team dynamic was just amazing. It was better than any other school I visited’

Dunne, 22, recalled training alongside Rivera, 17, in their home state of New Jersey when Rivera was 8 years old. Dunne said she remembered Rivera being a ‘phenomenal gymnast’ then, just as she is now.

‘My biggest advice to Hezly would just authentically be herself and that’s why LSU recruited her,’ Dunne said. ‘What makes LSU so special, yes, it is the fan base. Yes, it is the amazing competitive atmosphere being a student athlete there, but the diversity and how different every individual is on LSU’s team is so special. And that’s what made us win the 2024 national championship. I think that diversity and the adversity we went through as individuals. So I would say be true to herself.’

Fanatics rented out Rose Bowl for Livvy Dunne commercial

Livvy Dunne’s next act starts now.

Fanatics CEO Michael Rubin is ‘either all or nothing,’ Dunne said. That mindset carried over in the making of her commercials with Fanatics Sportsbook as the sports platform rented out the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California, to shoot three cinematic ads titled, “Explained by Livvy Dunne.’ One of the ads features Dunne sitting in a clawfoot bathtub on the 50-yard line, channeling Margot Robbie in the 2015 film ‘The Big Short.’ Another ad shows her snacking on a turkey leg in the stands.

‘I knew that this would be a perfect stepping stone into the onscreen acting career that I love and I want to pursue,’ Dunne added. ‘This was one of the first commercials and onscreen productions I’ve done that was that big and where I had to remember a script and honestly, it was so authentic… It was really just a match made in heaven. It was so creative and the production was so cinematic, and I’m so excited for everybody to see the commercial.’

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Ashton Jeanty’s fantasy stock plummeted after his preseason debut more than a week ago. After Saturday’s game against the San Francisco 49ers, the Las Vegas Raiders’ rookie running back’s stock should surge once again.

Jeanty, the No. 6 overall pick by Las Vegas in the 2025 NFL Draft, finished his first preseason game against the Seattle Seahawks with -1 rushing yards on three carries. On Saturday against the 49ers, the rookie from Boise State looked a lot more like the Heisman runner-up he was last year, trucking his defenders en route to a much more productive outing.

Here’s what to know about Jeanty’s performance in his second preseason outing:

Ashton Jeanty stats this weekend

Jeanty performed significantly better in his second professional outing with the Raiders, this time against the 49ers.

• Rush attempts: 7
• Rushing yards: 33
• Touchdowns: 1
• Longest rush: 13 yards
• Rush yards over expected: +6 (per Next Gen Stats)

Ashton Jeanty highlights

Jeanty’s biggest play of the day came on his 13-yard rush, his longest play of the day.

The rookie trucked nickel cornerback Deommodore Lenoir and nearly broke through safety Ji’Ayir Brown’s tackle with a stiff arm before Brown took him down.

Jeanty’s monster rush was the Raiders’ longest play on the ground in their second preseason game.

He also scored his first touchdown later on in that drive, punching it in from the 1-yard line through a couple of would-be tacklers to give Las Vegas its only touchdown of the game.

Said Jeanty after the game: ‘I’ve arrived.’

• Caleb Williams excelled in his first preseason game running Ben Johnson’s offense.
• Chicago looked great on both sides of the ball after what seemed like a highly successful offseason.
• Still, there are plenty of reasons fans should keep expectations in check for at least another year.

Savvy consumers of NFL football know better than to put too much stock into a preseason performance. Hopefully the same applies to anyone writing about the NFL for a living … though some of us have been known to get a bit too lathered up after, say, watching the Chicago Bears look like a potential juggernaut, steamrolling the Buffalo Bills, presumably a Super Bowl contender, 38-0 Sunday night in a nationally televised game.

Pump. The. Brakes.

And yet …

Chicago quarterback Caleb Williams made his game day debut Sunday, albeit in a contest that doesn’t count, in rookie head coach Ben Johnson’s offense. And Williams looked awesome. Finally.

Yes, he was in for all of two drives. Yes, he was facing Buffalo defenders likely vying for middle-of-the-depth-chart jobs (at best) in 2025. No, he likely wasn’t seeing exotic schemes designed to confuse and frustrate him. Sure, Chicago’s second possession stalled after six plays and resulted in a punt.

But did you see that first drive?

Maybe before we obsess over the moment, we should review the last 16 months or so.

It was just a year ago that optimism was soaring – raises hand – in Chicago, Williams, the No. 1 overall pick of the 2024 draft, seemingly landing in as favorable a situation as any top pick ever had considering the talent that would be surrounding him. But he didn’t. Turns out the guy picked after Williams, Jayden Daniels, was the one who instantly turned a woebegone franchise around and maybe had the best rookie season of all time while leading the Washington Commanders to the NFC title game − a performance that reset the bar for Williams.

While Daniels excelled, Williams was torpedoed by his own bad habits, a brutally tough division and an organizational infrastructure simply unable to cultivate him – no accomplished offensive coordinator, no wizened backup quarterback to lean on, apparently no one to advise him to just get rid of the damn ball and live to fight another play. Chicago went 5-12, head coach Matt Eberflus becoming the first in more than a century of Bears football to be fired before the completion of a season.

But this year already feels different, even if the scrutiny is somehow heightened.

Sure, there has been virtually a daily summer dose of social media clips, whether in proper context or not, of Williams struggling and venting his frustration during practice while trying to ingest his new playbook. He’s publicly welcomed Johnson’s unsparing approach and meticulous schemes even as the coach has attempted to temper expectations around his new quarterback and team – one that reeled one of the hottest coaching candidates in years, aggressively retooled (especially along the line of scrimmage) during free agency and seemingly had a strong draft engineered by GM Ryan Poles.

Then came Sunday.

There was Williams, opening the game by repeatedly feathering balls to his tight ends, reliable Cole Kmet and first-round rookie Colston Loveland. Then he zipped a pass to veteran slot man Olamide Zaccheaus, the catch-and-run resulting in a 36-yard touchdown reminiscent of the dozens and dozens Johnson had orchestrated while successfully lording over the Detroit Lions attack amid a high degree of difficulty and productivity over the previous three seasons.

But it wasn’t just Williams’ numbers – which included five completions on six throws for 97 yards during that initial march. He was accurate. He was decisive. He showed off his patented pocket mobility but didn’t overextend himself – a wise decision in the heat of relatively meaningless August action. He even dirted a ball at the feet of his lineman when a play failed to develop rather than hoping to make something out of nothing − gambits that often worked during a college career that included a Heisman Trophy but not so much against professionals.

“I think getting started fast is important, it was one of our goals coming into this game,’ Williams said during Fox’s broadcast. ‘Kinda set the tone for the team, the season.”

It was indeed a snippet of what would portend a successful 2025 Bears campaign.

“The challenge is to keep it headed in that direction,’ Johnson said Sunday.

Regardless, whether preseason or regular season, these are building blocks Chicago can build with on its new foundation. Williams will doubtless have to play hero ball at times in 2025, but it doesn’t need to be in the first quarter. He doesn’t need to absorb unnecessary punishment – he was sacked a league-high 68 times as a rookie – while reverting to jailbreak football, which Johnson will doubtless attempt to drill out of him.

The Bears have won nine NFL championships in their proud history but just one in the Super Bowl era, which began in 1966. Williams knows.

“You come to a place like this, with a lot of history, and you want to be able to make something of it,’ he said.

But he’s got time. Johnson has time. Poles has time. A young and promising roster has time. However it’s time to shine almost certainly won’t come in 2025.

A successful Bears season will require patience from the hard-driving Johnson as his new charges progress with his offense. If he’s not getting incessantly grilled on local talk radio the way predecessors like Eberflus and Matt Nagy did, then that’s a win. If Johnson isn’t making himself mad while his players master his system – no trick plays revealed Sunday – even though the Lions took off almost immediately during his first season as their play caller, then that’s a win.

A successful Bears season will include new coordinator Dennis Allen getting the defense back near the top of the heap − and pitching a shutout under any circumstances is a positive development. A successful Bears season will likely see second-year wideout Rome Odunze blossom into a No. 1-caliber target.

A successful Bears season might not result in anything better than a third-place finish in the NFC North, arguably the league’s toughest division and one that could realistically produce three playoff entries. A really successful Bears season would include at least a split with the hated Green Bay Packers.

But for a team nearly 15 years removed from its last playoff win but just one from picking its latest would-be savior and just seven months from hiring a man who might finally be a worthy successor to Mike Ditka? Third place, perhaps eight wins, and maybe the first 4,000-yard passing effort in 106 seasons would represent realistic progress – and maybe the appropriate kindling to fan legitimate Super Bowl flames in 2026.

Quarterback has become an increasingly critical position in fantasy football thanks to the rise of mobile quarterbacks.

Top dual-threat players like Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson can fundamentally change the look of fantasy lineups. As such, fantasy managers have increasingly targeted these players in the early rounds of their drafts.

Still, quarterback remains one of the deepest positions in fantasy football, especially in non-SuperFlex leagues. Every year, a top-10 scoring quarterback emerges from the group of streamers selected in the second half of fantasy drafts.

Those who choose to wait on quarterbacks will have no shortage of options in the draft’s mid-to-late rounds. But who are the best potential value picks to target? Below are a handful of signal-callers who could exceed expectations in 2025.

Best QB value picks for fantasy football 2025

Patrick Mahomes, Kansas City Chiefs

• ADP: 59.5
• Position rank: QB6

Mahomes’ ADP has nearly doubled between the 2024 and 2025 NFL seasons, which makes sense since he finished last season as the 12th-ranked fantasy quarterback while ranking 13th in fantasy points per game (FPPG).

That said, Mahomes saw plenty of opportunities to generate points. He averaged 36.3 passing attempts per game, good for the second-most behind Joe Burrow (38.4). The two-time MVP should maintain that type of volume in 2025 and could be more efficient with a healthy stable of playmakers at his disposal.

Mahomes threw just 26 touchdown passes in 2024, tied for his fewest in a single season as starter. A healthy Rashee Rice, Hollywood Brown and Xavier Worthy should help him improve upon that figure and could allow him to return to the top-five fantasy quarterback status he has enjoyed in four of his seven seasons as a starter.

Dak Prescott, Dallas Cowboys

• ADP: 108.5
• Position rank: QB12

Prescott disappointed fantasy managers last season by ranking 22nd in FPPG among quarterbacks, but volume wasn’t an issue. He averaged 35.8 passing attempts per game, fourth most in the NFL.

Instead, the issue was Prescott’s scoring capabilities. He averaged just 1.5 total touchdowns per game, well down from his average of 2.2 during the 2023 season, in which he finished as the No. 3 overall fantasy quarterback.

Prescott is due for some positive scoring regression, especially with George Pickens – a great contested-catch receiver and potential red-zone weapon – joining the team. That should allow Dak to reestablish himself as a top-10 fantasy quarterback, especially if he shows no ill effects from the hamstring injury that prematurely ended his 2024 season.

Brock Purdy, San Francisco 49ers

• ADP: 112
• Position rank: QB14

Many are projecting Purdy to take a step back in 2025 with Deebo Samuel no longer in San Francisco and Brandon Aiyuk likely to miss the start of the season as he recovers from a torn ACL. He could, but the 49ers still have enough weapons to form a formidable offense.

Jauan Jennings impressed while leading the 49ers in targets last season; Ricky Pearsall racked up 14 catches, 210 yards and two touchdowns over the final two games of his rookie season; George Kittle is as steady as they come at tight end; and Christian McCaffrey remains one of the NFL’s best receiving backs when healthy.

All that’s to say Purdy shouldn’t have any issues consistently generating yardage. After all, he averaged a respectable 257.6 passing yards per game and a solid, under-the-radar 21.5 rushing yards per game last season. Those numbers compare favorably to Bo Nix, who is coming off the board as QB8.

The only major difference between Nix and Purdy is that the former had 33 total tocuhdowns last year to Purdy’s 25. With some positive TD regression, Purdy could end up matching the Denver Broncos signal-caller and re-establishing himself as a top-10 fantasy quarterback.

Tua Tagovailoa, Miami Dolphins

• ADP: 153
• Position rank: QB21

If you’re looking for a consistent, late-round quarterback option, it could be worth investing in Tagovailoa. The 27-year-old ranked 15th in FPPG among quarterbacks last season and averaged 36.27 passing attempts per game, good for third in the league behind only Burrow (38.35) and Mahomes (36.31).

The Dolphins sport an explosive passing offense thanks to the presence of Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle, so Tagovailoa could emerge as a viable fantasy starter – and significantly outperform his QB21 ADP – if he can stay on the field. That has been the veteran’s biggest issue, as he has played more than 13 games just once in his five NFL seasons, including just 11 last season.

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The 2025 US Open returns to the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New York for another year of action.

The final major tournament of the year will have another talented field of men and women competing for the championship.

Jannik Sinner, the world’s No. 1 men’s singles player, is expected to be a part of the tournament. He also is expected to compete in mixed doubles, but will be in search of a new partner. He was originally expected to pair up with Emma Navarro before she withdrew from the competition.  Sinner will now partner with Katerina Siniakova, who is a 10-time major champion in women’s doubles.

Jessica Pegula and Jack Draper have also decided to partner up for the Mixed Doubles Championship tournament. Draper was originally paired with Paula Badosa and Pegula was set to partner with Tommy Paul. Paul, Badosa and Navarro were mentioned in a statement on the US Open’s official X account stating that they had withdrawn. 

Here’s everything you need to know about the 2025 US Open:

 When does the 2025 US Open start?

The 2025 US Open begins Monday, Aug. 18, with qualifying matches and will take place over the next three weeks, with the men’s singles final closing out the event on Sunday, Sept. 7.

How can I watch the 2025 US Open?

The 2025 US Open will be broadcast on various channels, including ABC, ESPN and can be streamed on the ESPN app.

Where will the 2025 US Open take place?

The US Open will be played at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center at Flushing Meadows in Queens, New York.

What is the schedule for the 2025 US Open?

• Men’s and women’s singles competition: Monday, Aug. 24 through Sunday, Sept. 7
• Doubles and mixed doubles competition: Begins Monday, Aug. 18, through Saturday, Sept. 6
• Mixed doubles final: Wednesday, Aug. 20
• Women’s doubles final: Friday, Sept. 5
• Men’s doubles final: Saturday, Sept. 6
• Women’s singles final: Saturday, Sept. 6
• Men’s singles final: Sunday, Sept. 7

➤ Visit USOpen.org for the complete tournament schedule.

What is the purse for the 2025 US Open?

Men’s and women’s singles

• Winner: $5,000,000
• Finalist: $2,500,000
• Semifinalists: $1,260,000
• Quarterfinalists: $660,000

Doubles

• Winner: $1,000,000
• Finalist: $500,000
• Semifinalists: $250,000
• Quarterfinalists: $125,000

Who were the men’s and women’s singles winners at the 2024 US Open?

At the 2024 US Open, Jannik Sinner held off Taylor Fritz, 6-3, 6-4, 7-5, to win his first US Open Championship.

In the women’s singles final, Aryna Sabalenka beat Jessica Pegula, 7-5, 7-5. Sabalenka reached the finals in 2023 but lost to Coco Gauff.