HENDERSON, Nev. (AP) — Las Vegas Raiders (4-13)
Sick of getting further away from his father's championship legacy, owner Mark Davis handed much of the organizational control to minority owner Tom Brady. The seven-time Super Bowl winner had a big hand in hiring 73-year-old Pete Carroll as the coach and his former Michigan teammate, John Spytek, as the general manager. With the new regime in charge, the Raiders traded for quarterback Geno Smith — who played for Carroll in Seattle — and drafted running back Ashton Jeanty with the sixth pick. They also moved on from defensive tackle Christian Wilkins over a dispute regarding his recovery from a broken foot. The Raiders likely will be more competitive but they also play in an AFC West with Kansas City, Denver and the Los Angeles Chargers. All three made the playoffs last season. The Raiders last appeared in the Super Bowl in the 2002 season and haven't won a playoff game since then, something unthinkable when Al Davis was winning three Lombardi Trophies. There are reasons to believe Las Vegas is finally heading in the right direction as Carroll — who coached the Seahawks to two Super Bowl appearances and one championship — puts his stamp on the franchise and gives it a long-missing identity. Success for this season likely would mean contending for a playoff spot and perhaps even sneaking into the field. A fourth Super Bowl title? That's going to require a lot more work and a lot more time.
QB Geno Smith, RB Ashton Jeanty, WR Dont'e Thornton, WR Jack Bech, G Alex Cappa, DT Thomas Booker IV, LB Germaine Pratt, LB Elandon Roberts, LB Devin White, CB Darien Porter, CB Eric Stokes, S Jeremy Chinn.
QB Gardner Minshew, RB Alexander Mattison, RB Ameer Abdullah, C Andre James, DT Christian Wilkins, LB Robert Spillane, LB Divine Deablo, CB Nate Hobbs, CB Jakorian Bennett, S Tre'von Moehrig.
Defensive end Maxx Crosby is fully recovered from ankle surgery that hampered and eventually ended his season last year. He was dominant in training camp, again looking like one of the NFL's fiercest pass rushers. Second-year pro Brock Bowers already might be the league's best tight end, a true game-breaker who helped wide receiver Jakobi Meyers reach 1,000 yards last season for the first time by giving him more one-on-one opportunities. Jeanty is the favorite at BetMGM Sportsbook for AP Offensive Rookie of the Year. Smith finally gives Las Vegas needed stability at the sport's most important position.
This is a top-heavy team, and injuries at just about any position could expose the lack of depth. For all the weapons at the offensive skill positions, it remains a big question whether the line will do enough to help those players succeed. Crosby is an elite player, but he isn't surrounded by many on his level on the defensive side. If others don't step up on the defensive line, opponents will feel even more freedom to send double teams Crosby's way and limit his impact. Key losses at linebacker and at cornerback might be too difficult to make up.
Second-year pro Jackson Powers-Johnson was expected to be the starting center, but Jordan Meredith beat him out for the position. Powers-Johnson switched to right guard and is battling Cappa for that spot. Porter appeared to grab hold of one of the cornerback spots, but Kyu Blu Kelly is giving him a fight. The Raiders' acquisition of Booker has helped make defensive tackle a competitive spot as Las Vegas looks to replace Wilkins.
Jeanty would be worth a look based on his running ability alone given the Raiders likely will make him a major focal point of the offense. The Raiders also have worked to make him a multipurpose threat by involving him in the passing game. That makes him particularly valuable to fantasy owners. It's especially true for those involved in keeper leagues where Jeanty could be an integral part of the roster for years.
Win Super Bowl: 100-1.
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San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy (13) throws a pass as Las Vegas Raiders defensive end Maxx Crosby (98) closes in during the first half of a preseason NFL football game Saturday, Aug. 16, 2025, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/David Becker)
WASHINGTON (AP) — Most American presidents aspire to the kind of greatness that prompts future generations to name important things in their honor.
Donald Trump isn't leaving it to future generations.
As the first year of his second term wraps up, his Republican administration and allies have put his name on the U.S. Institute of Peace, the Kennedy Center performing arts venue and a new class of battleships that's yet to be built.
That’s on top of the “Trump Accounts” for tax-deferred investments, the TrumpRx government website soon to offer direct sales of prescription drugs, the “Trump Gold Card” visa that costs at least $1 million and the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity, a transit corridor included in a deal his administration brokered between Armenia and Azerbaijan.
On Friday, he attended a ceremony at his Florida home to mark the renaming of a 4-mile (6-kilometer) stretch of road from the airport to his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach as President Donald J. Trump Boulevard.
“That’s a very important stretch," Trump said as he thanked local officials for the dedication.
“When people see that the beautiful sign is all lit up nice at night and it says ‘Donald J. Trump Boulevard,’ they’ll be filled with pride. Just pride," Trump said. “Not in me. Pride in our country.”
It’s unprecedented for a sitting president to embrace tributes of that number and scale, especially those proffered by members of his administration. And while past sitting presidents have typically been honored by local officials naming schools and roads after them, it's exceedingly rare for airports, federal buildings, warships or other government assets to be named for someone still in power.
“At no previous time in history have we consistently named things after a president who was still in office,” said Jeffrey Engel, the David Gergen Director of the Center for Presidential History at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. “One might even extend that to say a president who is still alive. Those kind of memorializations are supposed to be just that — memorials to the passing hero.”
White House spokeswoman Liz Huston said the TrumpRx website linked to the president's deals to lower the price of some prescription drugs, along with “overdue upgrades of national landmarks, lasting peace deals, and wealth-creation accounts for children are historic initiatives that would not have been possible without President Trump’s bold leadership.”
"The Administration’s focus isn’t on smart branding, but delivering on President Trump’s goal of Making America Great Again," Huston said.
The White House pointed out that the nation's capital was named after President George Washington and the Hoover Dam was named after President Herbert Hoover while each was serving as president.
For Trump, it’s a continuation of the way he first etched his place onto the American consciousness, becoming famous as a real estate developer who affixed his name in big gold letters on luxury buildings and hotels, a casino and assorted products like neckties, wine and steaks.
As he ran for president in 2024, the candidate rolled out Trump-branded business ventures for watches, fragrances, Bibles and sneakers — including golden high tops priced at $799. After taking office again last year, Trump's businesses launched a Trump Mobile phone company, with plans to unveil a gold-colored smartphone and a cryptocurrency memecoin named $TRUMP.
That’s not to be confused with plans for a physical, government-issued Trump coin that U.S. Treasurer Brandon Beach said the U.S. Mint is planning.
Trump has also reportedly told the owners of Washington’s NFL team that he would like his name on the Commanders’ new stadium. The team’s ownership group, which has the naming rights, has not commented on the idea. But a White House spokeswoman in November called the proposed name “beautiful” and said Trump made the rebuilding of the stadium possible.
The addition of Trump’s name to the Kennedy Center in December so outraged independent Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont that he introduced legislation this week to ban the naming or renaming of any federal building or land after a sitting president — a ban that would retroactively apply to the Kennedy Center and Institute of Peace.
“I think he is a narcissist who likes to see his name up there. If he owns a hotel, that’s his business,” Sanders said in an interview. “But he doesn’t own federal buildings.”
Sanders likened Trump's penchant for putting his name on government buildings and more to the actions of authoritarian leaders throughout history.
“If the American people want to name buildings after a president who is deceased, that’s fine. That’s what we do,” Sanders said. “But to use federal buildings to enhance your own position very much sounds like the ‘Great Leader’ mentality of North Korea, and that is not something that I think the American people want.”
Although some of the naming has been suggested by others, the president has made clear he’s pleased with the tributes.
Three months after the announcement of the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity, a name the White House says was proposed by Armenian officials, the president gushed about it at a White House dinner.
“It’s such a beautiful thing, they named it after me. I really appreciate it. It’s actually a big deal,” he told a group of Central Asian leaders.
Engel, the presidential historian, said the practice can send a signal to people "that the easiest way to get access and favor from the president is to play to his ego and give him something or name something after him.”
Some of the proposals for honoring Trump include legislation in Congress from New York Republican Rep. Claudia Tenney that would designate June 14 as “Trump’s Birthday and Flag Day," placing the president with the likes of Martin Luther King Jr., George Washington and Jesus Christ, whose birthdays are recognized as national holidays.
Florida Republican Rep. Greg Steube has introduced legislation that calls for the Washington-area rapid transit system, known as the Metro, to be renamed the “Trump Train.” North Carolina Republican Rep. Addison McDowell has introduced legislation to rename Washington Dulles International Airport as Donald J. Trump International Airport.
McDowell said it makes sense to give Dulles a new name since Trump has already announced plans to revamp the airport, which currently is a tribute to former Secretary of State John Foster Dulles.
The congressman said he wanted to honor Trump because he feels the president has been a champion for combating the scourge of fentanyl, a personal issue for McDowell after his brother’s overdose death. But he also cited Trump’s efforts to strike peace deals all over the world and called him “one of the most consequential presidents ever.”
“I think that’s somebody that deserves to be honored, whether they’re still the president or whether they’re not," he said.
More efforts are underway in Florida, Trump’s adopted home.
Republican state lawmaker Meg Weinberger said she is working on an effort to rename Palm Beach International Airport as Donald J. Trump International Airport, a potential point of confusion with the Dulles effort.
The boulevard dedicated to Trump on Friday is not the first Florida asphalt to herald Trump upon his return to the White House.
In the south Florida city of Hialeah, officials in December 2024 renamed a street there as President Donald J. Trump Avenue.
Trump, speaking at a Miami business conference the next month, called it a “great honor” and said he loved the mayor for it.
“Anybody that names a boulevard after me, I like,” he said.
He added a few moments later: “A lot of people come back from Hialeah, they say, ‘They just named a road after you.' I say, ‘That’s OK.’ It’s a beginning, right? It’s a start.”
Supporters wave flags as President Donald Trump motorcades through West Palm Beach, Fla., along Southern Boulevard, the stretch of road being dedicated to him, Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
Attendees wait for President Donald Trump to arrive at a dedication ceremony for a portion of Southern Boulevard, which the Town of Palm Beach Council recently voted to rename,"President Donald J. Trump Boulevard," Friday, Jan. 16, 2026, at his Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
FILE - A sign for the Rose Garden is seen near the Presidential Walk of Fame on the Colonnade at the White House, Jan. 13, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, File)
FILE - President Donald Trump speaks with reporters as a flag pole is installed on the South Lawn of the White House, June 18, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)
FILE - Workers add President Donald Trump's name to the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts, after a Trump-appointed board voted to rename the institution, in Washington, Dec. 19, 2025. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)
FILE - A poster showing the Trump Gold Card is seen as President Donald Trump signs executive orders in the Oval Office of the White House, Sept. 19, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, file)
