The Washington Commanders are moving on from their lead back by sending him to an NFC team in search of backfield support.

The Commanders on Friday agreed to trade running back Brian Robinson Jr. to the San Francisco 49ers pending a physical, a person with knowledge of the deal told USA TODAY Sports’ Tyler Dragon. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the trade was not yet official.

ESPN’s Adam Schefter first reported the move.

Robinson, 26, eclipsed 700 yards rushing in each of his three seasons with the Commanders. But the team appeared to put him on the trade block last week and held him out of last week’s preseason game against the Cincinnati Bengals. Third-year ball carrier Chris Rodriguez Jr. and seventh-round rookie Jacory ‘Bill’ Croskey-Merritt – a training camp standout – took over the bulk of the work, and both could be in line for larger roles upon Robinson’s departure. Austin Ekeler and Jeremy McNichols round out the position group.

‘Going into training camp we thought this was a deep room,’ Commanders coach Dan Quinn said after the loss to the Bengals.

The 49ers, meanwhile, add depth behind Christian McCaffrey, who appeared in just four games last season after his 2023 Offensive Player of the Year campaign. Backup Isaac Guerendo returned to practice this week after a shoulder injury sidelined him for San Francisco’s first two preseason games, while fifth-round rookie Jordan James has also been sidelined with a broken finger.

• Iowa State and Kansas State play their season opener in Dublin, Ireland.
• Iowa State has done extensive logistical planning, including a detailed 1,083-line spreadsheet of equipment and supplies.
• Pre-trip visits to Ireland allowed staff to scout locations and customize menus for the team’s stay.

Greg ‘Skip’ Brabenec made a list and checked it more than twice, becoming well-acquainted with more than 10,000 pounds of inventory and all 1,083 lines on his spreadsheet.

It’s far from Christmas time, but Iowa State football’s 2025 season opener against rival Kansas State in the Aer Lingus College Football Classic in Dublin, Ireland, is a gift for Cyclones and Wildcats fans. The unique opportunity marks the first time that Iowa State is playing a football game outside of the United States and is the first Big 12 Conference contest to be conducted internationally. Also, with both teams ranked in the preseason US LBM Coaches Poll poll, the matchup will be the first Week 0 game to feature two ranked teams since 2002.

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With the added excitement comes added logistical hurdles and challenges for the schools as they prepare to play on the Emerald Isle.

Between securing passports for players, creating a list of items and equipment to pack for their trip across the pond, Brabenec — Iowa State football’s chief of staff — has been overseeing the school’s behind-the-scenes preparation since January.

‘Normally, no matter where we travel — whether it’s Utah, Florida, Arizona — our stuff’s going by truck,’ Brabenec said. ‘We got a big trucking company here in Iowa that are huge Cyclone boosters, donors and all that, and we’re contracted through them. We got our own football trailer and they’ll just kind of haul it wherever, so this is the first time since I’ve been at Iowa State that we’ve had to actually fly our equipment somewhere.’

Brabenec worked closely with equipment, technical, medical and nutrition support staff members to build the spreadsheet of inventory of what to pack.

For stateside road games, the Cyclones have their organized process and routine for preparation. Since they ship their equipment by truck and trailer, they can just load it up to whatever necessary capacity it can hold.

This week, with customs and air transportation involved, there’s a greater sense of detail involved and meticulous care needed.

‘It’s all detailed out to the number of pieces, monetary value of each piece, country of origin, where these things are from, dimensions of it, weight and where it’s going — whether it’s going to the hotel or the stadium,’ Brabenec said, referring to the spreadsheet and carnet that is required for shipping equipment and goods. ‘It’s pretty detailed as best as we can.’

The 1,083-line spreadsheet accounts for everything including practice and game-day equipment, ball driers, different outfit combinations for Iowa State coach Matt Campbell, medical supplies, Band-Aids, headsets, the exact serial numbers for the iPads they’re bringing, Frank’s Red Hot Sauce and Sweet Baby Ray’s barbeque sauce.

Each trunk or bin containing items and equipment is thoroughly broken down by its contents and weight.

Each line of the document likely mirrors the sets of eyes and number of times it was reviewed by Brabenec or another support staff member to ensure Iowa State has everything it needs for this unprecedented trip.

The inventory list was finalized in the weeks leading into the Ireland trip. An aircraft carrying all of the Cyclones’ equipment left from Chicago to Dublin a week before the team would arrive there for game week.

‘The main thing is when you pack, our goal was to pack as if we won’t be able to buy it,’ said Marshall senior associate athletics director Mike Valentine, who previously oversaw Northwestern’s equipment room preparation process when the Wildcats played in Ireland against Nebraska in 2022. ‘There were some things we had to go out and adjust on. Power, electricity and power strips, and the converters, that was the big one. We brought a whole bunch and we ended up having to buy some because they would just get fried and you could smell it.’

There are no Wal-Marts or Targets in Ireland. Superstores aren’t as common in Dublin as they are in Des Moines.

‘For a bowl game, (equipment) is on a truck, so we just kind of throw everything on the truck and go,’ Brabenec said. ‘If we miss something, we can probably just go to the sporting store and get it before a game or something like that. With this, we really can’t go to the sporting store and go buy football cleats or something like that, so we definitely made sure that we pack everything and extras of certain things.’

As for passports, Iowa State made sure to get a jump on the process as early as possible. For the Cyclones, that meant waiting until after the December transfer-portal window closed. Although there was another transfer window during spring football, that winter window helped narrow down which players would likely remain on the roster for the 2025 season.

For many of the Cyclones, this is their first international trip. Brabenec said approximately 40 players on Iowa State’s 120-man roster already possessed a passport.

‘We worked with them to make sure they can start getting their passport, whether it was in Utah or here in Iowa, just making sure they knew what they could do and how to get that,’ Brabenec said. ‘If they weren’t able to do it on their own, we just made sure they brought their stuff with them when they got here. And to be honest, it was a fairly easy process.’

In addition to the stateside preparation that the Cyclones have done, they also took a few trips to Ireland to scout out the land.

Brabenec and the nutrition staff toured the team hotel earlier this year and sampled food to customize the menu for their time in Ireland.

‘Last summer, I got a chance to at least go over there and see the space for two or three days, personally,’ Campbell said. ‘Kind of go on the same three-day trip that our players are about to go on, so it gave me a great lay of the land. My whole mission is, how do we try to keep everything as normal as we possibly can?’

Aug. 23 will be anything but normal, but the Cyclones are hopeful that their preparations and research will have them ready for a smooth trip to Ireland and back.

‘A lot of effort has gone into it, and I really appreciate what they’ve done to kind of give us a platform to get over there and try to get into normalcy as fast as we possibly can,’ Campbell said.

Eugene Rapay covers Iowa State athletics for the Des Moines Register.

• Jaxson Dart’s preseason stats (372 yards, 3 TDs, 0 INTs) are impressive.
• Jaxson Dart is reminiscent of a young John Elway.
• Russell Wilson’s time as the Giants’ starting quarterback could be brief.

Yes, we know Jaxson Dart in the preseason was going against future plumbers and Canadian Football League players. (Not that there’s anything wrong with that. Plumbers make a lot of cash and Canada is lovely this time of year.) Yes, we know it’s preseason. Yes, things will be different when he goes against real NFL defenses. Yes, yes, yes.

All true but just, for a moment, look at these numbers for all of Dart’s preseason:

32 of 47 passing.

372 passing yards.

Three passing touchdowns.

Zero interceptions.

Six rushes for 52 yards and a score.

In 12 drives.

Sorry to go all single paragraph on you with the stats, but that’s a monster preseason. I’m not saying he’s John Elway, but he reminds me of a young John Elway.

Mike, what the hell are you doing? Keep Elway’s name out of your mouth. It’s preseason. Take a Xanax.

I’ve tried to stay calm, but in watching Dart closely this preseason you see in him what you do with young players who eventually become good in the NFL. Or great. There’s a comfort Dart displays that is almost uncanny. He doesn’t get rattled and looks like he’s been in the league for years.

It was clear that Dart was a good athlete. We saw that in college. But many times that athleticism doesn’t translate into the pros. Even in the preseason. But, hoo boy, is it translating for Dart.

New York Giants coach Brian Daboll has insisted that Russell Wilson is the starter, but yeah that won’t last. There’s almost zero chance Wilson starts the entire season, injuries or no injuries. It would be stunning if Wilson lasted past Week 5.

Dude, calm yourself. Calm. Yourself.

You calm down. I’m just telling you what’s going to happen. This is incredibly predictable, and if I’m wrong I know you people won’t hesitate to remind me.

In all seriousness, what he’s done is impressive. He started against the New England Patriots in the team’s Thursday preseason finale and made an impact early when he scrambled and found Gunner Olszewski on a short pass. Olszewski ran for 50 yards. That drive ended with Dart throwing a 7-yard touchdown pass.

Giants receivers dropped five passes, and it didn’t matter to Dart. Learning experience.

Once, he got carried away on a scramble, didn’t go out of bounds, and got hit from behind. Cameras caught Daboll telling Dart: ‘Slide.’ Learning experience.

Preseason is to regular season what a starship is to a shuttlecraft. In preseason, no defensive coordinator is spending the week hardcore game-planning against you. Dart isn’t seeing sophisticated blitzes and schemes. He’s facing complete blandness and not even close to what the NFL has to offer in terms of defensive athletes.

But when I watch him, I don’t feel like the game is above him. Or too difficult, and I think he can adapt.

He’ll make mistakes, sure. He’s a rookie. Dan Marino made mistakes. So did Elway. (There you go with Elway again.)

There will be ups and downs and risks but what he did in the preseason was fairly telling.

Looking at the Giants schedule, the team seems unlikely to start him in the season opener against Washington. That would be a little much. Then come games against Dallas, Kansas City, the Chargers and the Saints. If Wilson is struggling, that Saints game might be a place to make a change.

Yes, we know Jaxson Dart in the preseason was going against future plumbers and CFL players. But watch out, Russell Wilson.

Watch out.

AI-assisted summary
• NBA free agent Malik Beasley is no longer the target of a federal gambling investigation, according to his attorneys.
• The investigation stemmed from alleged bets placed during the 2023-24 season while Beasley played for the Milwaukee Bucks.
• A potential three-year, $42 million deal with the Detroit Pistons stalled after news of the investigation surfaced.

NBA free-agent forward Malik Beasley is no longer the target of the federal gambling investigation, his attorneys told ESPN.

Authorities from the Eastern District of New York were looking at the 28-year-old Beasley for allegations stemming from bets placed during the 2023-24 season when Beasley played for the Milwaukee Bucks.

Beasley was never charged with a crime, but he was the third NBA player that the federal government looked at after gambling allegations arose.

‘Months after this investigation commenced, Malik remains uncharged and is not the target of this investigation,’ Beasley’s attorney Steve Haney told ESPN. ‘An allegation with no charge, indictment or conviction should never have the catastrophic consequence this has caused Malik. This has literally been the opposite of the presumption of innocence.’

Beasley played last season for the Detroit Pistons, where he averaged 16.3 points, 2.6 rebounds, and shot 41.6% from 3-point range while playing all 82 games. Detroit was set to offer Beasley a three-year, $42 million deal, but the deal stalled after news of the federal probe leaked.

One of the best running backs in NFL history says the league told teams not to select Shedeur Sanders in the 2025 NFL Draft.

Pro Football Hall of Famer Eric Dickerson spoke with Fred Roggin and Rodney Peete on the ‘Roggin and Rodney’ show on AM 570 LA Sports. The longtime Los Angeles Rams star said he thought the Rams should’ve selected Sanders in the draft.

He added what he heard about messaging to teams ahead of the draft about the Colorado standout.

‘I tell you this much, what I heard from someone that’s in the NFL that the NFL told [teams] don’t draft him, do not draft him,’ Dickerson said. ‘We’re going to make an example out of him. And this came from a very good source, a very good source.’

Dickerson’s source also said that league officials called the Cleveland Browns during the draft after Sanders fell much further than anticipated to change the prior messaging.

The Colorado product was widely viewed as a first-round prospect but was still available by the start of the fifth round where the Browns took him at No. 144 overall.

‘He said that – I won’t say who – somebody called the Cleveland Browns and said ‘don’t do that, draft him,” Dickerson said. ‘Because they weren’t going to draft him either… They were forced into drafting him because somebody made a call to them.’

‘So what was the objective? He doesn’t get picked, he’s an undrafted free agent?’ Roggin asked.

‘That’s exactly what was going to happen,’ Dickerson said. ‘They were going to have him not get drafted to basically show you ‘this is what happens when you do this.’ I mean, look, [Roggin], the NFL’s got all kinds of power, they do all kinds of stuff. You know it and I know it too.’

Sanders was the second quarterback the Browns selected in the draft after taking Oregon’s Dillon Gabriel in the third round, No. 94 overall. Sanders was the team’s final draft selection.

He played well in the Browns’ preseason opener against the Carolina Panthers. He completed 14 of 23 passes for 138 yards and two touchdowns in the 30-10 win.

An oblique injury kept him out of the Browns’ second preseason game against the defending champion Philadelphia Eagles but he should be good to go for the team’s finale against the Rams.

Cleveland named veteran Joe Flacco their starter for the 2025 NFL season. It’s now a battle to be his backup between Sanders, Gabriel and fellow veteran Kenny Pickett.

Serena Williams is opening up about her experience with GLP-1 medications. The 43-year-old tennis star has lost 31 pounds on the drug Zepbound, a type of medication typically prescribed for diabetes and now also used for weight management. 

Williams’ struggles with body image began with postpartum changes after she gave birth to her first daughter, Alexis Olympia, in 2017, and continued after her second daughter, Adira River, was born in August 2023. She lost “a lot” of weight in the two weeks after River’s birth, she told People, but afterwards, “never lost another pound.” 

The tennis star’s candor may help to dispel the pesky health inaccuracy that weight loss is a simple matter of exercise. While an active life and healthy eating can help with the process, new research suggests that outside factors like genetics may play a bigger role than previously thought. As arguably one of the world’s greatest athletes, Williams’ decision to share her journey with GLP-1s may help to reshape the image of the drugs.

‘A misconception is that it’s a shortcut,’ she said in the interview. ‘As an athlete and as someone that has done everything, I just couldn’t get my weight to where I needed to be at a healthy place − and believe me, I don’t take shortcuts.’

Female stars struggle under the spotlight 

In a 2018 interview with Teen Vogue, Williams shared details of the body shaming she’d experienced throughout her career: “People would say I was born a guy, all because of my arms, or because I’m strong. I was different to Venus: she was thin and tall and beautiful, and I am strong and muscular − and beautiful, but, you know, it was just totally different.”

In March 2025, Meghan Trainor also opened up about struggles with body image postpartum. The Grammy winner, 31, told USA TODAY she had been looking forward to getting breast implants since she was a teenager, but pregnancy and two C-sections intensified the desire. 

“It was tough to look at my body,” she said at the time. “I’m always singing about loving myself, and it got harder and harder with all the scars and stretch marks. And then after losing weight, too, these boobs were just purely empty, just flat and just felt like skin on my body.”

Likewise, rugby champion Ilona Maher has used her platform to become a revolutionary body-positive activist and an inspiration for younger generations of women and athletes. 

Williams says it’s important to teach people to be confident at any size, like she tries to be. 

“The size I was before, there was nothing wrong with it. It’s just not what I wanted to have,” she clarified. “I just knew that I wanted to be where I personally felt comfortable.”

“Weight loss should never really change your self image,” she said. “Women often experience judgment about their bodies at any size, and I’m no stranger to that. So I feel like you should love yourself at any size and any look.” 

While the rise of GLP-1s brings a myriad of valid concerns − such as its contribution to disordered eating and promotion of thinness as the ideal body type − Williams’ outspokenness is a crucial, balanced example of healthy and transparent GLP-1 usage.

Celebrities should be transparent about their weight loss

We’re not just in a period of rapid, GLP-1 induced weight loss, we’ve also entered the “undetectable era” of plastic surgery. Cosmetic procedures and filler are no longer obvious on celebrities’ faces, rather more celebrities simply look like they haven’t aged. 

Mental health experts agree that celebrities sharing what work they’ve had done, or how they’ve gone about transformative weight loss journeys, can help fans maintain healthy, realistic beauty standards. The undetectable era may bring less transparency − making it more crucial than ever for people to stop comparing their looks to celebrities’. 

‘It may establish an unattainable ideal, and I think that the more we get comfortable with who we are, the less that becomes an issue,’ psychotherapist Stephanie Sarkis previously told USA TODAY. ‘We tend to not compare ourselves with others when we are feeling OK about ourselves.’

Williams wants to have an ‘honest conversation’ about GLP-1s

While the drugs, which have skyrocketed in popularity and ripped through Hollywood, offered Williams the extra boost she needed, she told Vogue she was aware of how much of a stigma remained.

‘I’m not saying any of this lightly, which is why it’s so important to have an honest conversation about this topic,’ she said. ‘I’m the mom of two girls, and I wanted to be very honest about what I’m doing so they can always be the same with me and we can have an open relationship.’

The medications, which work by targeting certain hormones to suppress appetite, have made Williams feel ‘sexier’ and ‘more confident,’ she said. And as for those who say if you work hard enough in the gym, you won’t need the drugs, Williams says they’re misinformed.

‘Sometimes you need help. Your story is your story, and it’s okay to make that choice to do it if you want to,’ she told Vogue. ‘I did, and I’m really happy with it.’