The Green Bay Packers have moved to ensure they enter 2022 with the same edge-rushing duo who starred last season, re-signing Preston Smith but releasing Za'Darius Smith.

The pair had played together for two years following their 2019 arrivals, before Za'Darius Smith's back injury saw him spend the majority of 2021 on injured reserve.

He played briefly in the Packers' Week 1 loss to the New Orleans Saints and only returned following back surgery in the playoff loss to the San Francisco 49ers, in which he recorded his only sack of the year.

In Za'Darius Smith's absence, Rashan Gary stepped up to establish himself alongside Preston Smith.

Gary, who had only four career starts prior to 2021, led the Packers with 9.5 sacks, just ahead of Preston Smith (9.0), who matched his team-mate's two fumbles forced.

That breakout performance from Gary meant there were contrasting fortunes for Za'Darius Smith and Preston Smith three years to the day since they both signed with the team.

Za'Darius Smith, whose 26 sacks across 2019 and 2020 – in which he started 32 games – tied third in the NFL alongside Aaron Donald, had the option to stay with the Packers at this year's owed cash amount, ESPN's Adam Schefter reported, but instead agreed with the team's decision to move on.

Meanwhile, Preston Smith was granted a contract extension, with general manager Brian Gutekunst saying: "We are excited to have Preston continue his career with the Packers.

"Since coming to Green Bay, he has not only contributed with production on the field but has been a great presence in the locker room and a leader for this team."

All-Star shortstop Fernando Tatis Jr. could be sidelined up to three months with a fractured left wrist that will likely require surgery, San Diego Padres general manager A.J. Preller said on Monday.

The 23-year-old Tatis hurt his wrist earlier in the offseason, according to Preller, and the injury reappeared when he intensified baseball activities leading up to the start of spring training.

The injury is a major let-down for one of the brightest young stars in baseball on a Padres team hoping to make a return to the playoffs in 2022 after collapsing down the stretch last season, finishing 79-83.

Despite missing time in 2021 due to left shoulder inflammation, Tatis still managed to lead the National League with 42 home runs in just 130 games.

He hit .282, stole 25 bases and had the league's third-highest OPS at .975, finishing the year third in the NL in MVP voting.

The Padres are scheduled to begin the season on April 7 against the Arizona Diamondbacks, and will play their home opener a week later against the reigning World Series champion Atlanta Braves.

The Pittsburgh Steelers appear to have settled on Mitchell Trubisky as the successor to Ben Roethlisberger.

According to multiple reports, the second overall pick in the 2017 draft has agreed a two-year contract with the Steelers.

The former Chicago Bears quarterback spent last season as Josh Allen's backup with the Buffalo Bills having failed to live up to his draft status.

Trubisky will now get the chance to reinvigorate his career in Pittsburgh and has significant shoes to fill after future Hall of Famer Roethlisberger retired following his 18th season in the NFL.

The Steelers had been said to be in the mix for San Francisco 49ers quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo, who is available for trade as the Niners get set to start Trey Lance in 2022.

But they have instead avoided sending draft capital to another team and elected to bet on their ability to harness Trubisky's physical tools, something which the Bears largely failed to do.

The Bears traded up from the third pick to the second in 2017 to land Trubisky but, save for a 2018 season in which he was part of a team that won the NFC North only to lose in the Wild Card round to the Philadelphia Eagles, his time with the team was unsuccessful.

Chicago did get back to the playoffs in 2020, a season in which Trubisky and Nick Foles alternated at quarterback, but they suffered a meek Wild Card exit at the hands of the New Orleans Saints.

In his time with the Bears, Trubisky threw for 10,609 yards, 64 touchdowns and 37 interceptions. He also ran for eight touchdowns.

His final season with Chicago saw him record a pickable pass rate of 5.48 per cent, the fifth-worst among quarterbacks with at least 200 pass attempts.

Free agency was supposed to be the headline act of March in the NFL calendar.

But then a blockbuster Russell Wilson trade, the end (for now) of the Aaron Rodgers saga and the small matter of the unretirement of Tom Brady happened in a whirlwind week for the league.

As such, many of the moves that are reported when the NFL's negotiating window opens may seem insignificant compared to the events of the last seven days.

However, the right acquisition on the open market can have a substantial impact for teams looking to contend for the Lombardi Trophy.

Just look at the Cincinnati Bengals, who were in touching distance of winning the title for the first time thanks in part to the defensive efforts of two free agent signings in edge rusher Trey Hendrickson and cornerback Chidobe Awuzie.

With the salary cap increasing to $208.2million, the first time in league history it has been over $200m, plenty of teams will be ready to loosen the purse strings.

Yet free agency is often not about making the big splash move, it is more a matter of finding the right fit between player and team.

Using advanced metrics, Stats Perform looks at six of the best potential fits for this year's free agency cycle.

J.C. Jackson to New York Jets

Jackson is in for a monster payday after the New England Patriots elected not to place the franchise tag on a cornerback coming off a second-team All-Pro season.

Though they are clearly not ready to contend in 2022, the Jets present the perfect marriage of positional need and cap space, of which they have the second-most in the NFL.

Only four teams allowed more yards per pass play than the Jets (7.11) last season, with the secondary a long-standing problem for New York.

Over the past three seasons, no player in the NFL has record more interceptions than Jackson's 22. His closest challenger is Xavien Howard (16).

Jackson finished 2021 having allowed a big play on 18.9 per cent of his targets, the eighth-best rate among corners with at least 50 targets.

Pairing him with a corner in Bryce Hall who had the best combined open percentage (14.61) across man and zone coverage of any player at his position in the NFL last season (min. 100 coverage matchups) would go a long way to shoring up the Jets' defensive backfield.

Terron Armstead to Cincinnati Bengals

It almost makes too much sense. The Bengals are in obvious need of help on the offensive line and will have the seventh-most cap space of any team in the NFL with which to acquire it, making Armstead an obvious fit.

Though injuries limited him to eight games for the Saints last season, Armstead remains one of the premier left tackles in the NFL.

Armstead's stunt-adjusted pass block win rate of 91.93 per cent was third among tackles with at least 100 pass protection one-on-ones in 2021.

That is exactly the kind of excellence in protection the Bengals need to ensure Joe Burrow can keep them in contention for Super Bowl titles in the coming years.

Tyrann Mathieu to Los Angeles Chargers

The Chargers have been mentioned as a potential destination for several free agents, which is unsurprising given they are in the top half of the league in terms of cap space and have a premier quarterback on a rookie deal in Justin Herbert.

They have already shown a desire to be aggressive in striking a trade to pair edge rusher Khalil Mack with Joey Bosa on the defensive line, yet there is no doubt the secondary would also benefit from an infusion of experience and added quality.

Mathieu would bring just that if the Chargers were able to lure him from the division rival Kansas City Chiefs. With free safety Nasir Adderley having so far struggled to live up to his status as a second-round pick, Mathieu's arrival would allow the Chargers to rotate him and former first-round pick Derwin James, who each possess the versatility to play free and strong safety and one on one with wide receivers and tight ends in man coverage.

Last year, Mathieu finished ninth among defensive backs with at least 100 coverage matchups across man and zone with a combined open percentage allowed of 20.3.

With another three interceptions added to a career tally that now stands at 26, there is no doubt Mathieu still has the playmaking ability and coverage skills to be an asset to any defense.

Von Miller to Denver Broncos

Everybody loves a reunion, and this would be a quick one after the Broncos dealt Miller to the Los Angeles Rams last season, with the veteran edge rusher going on to win his second Super Bowl title.

And after the Broncos struck a stunning trade to acquire Wilson from the Seattle Seahawks, bringing back Miller to boost a defense that will be run by former Rams secondary coach Ejiro Evero would be an ideal next move to make for a team clearly eyeing an immediate run at a Lombardi.

Miller ranked fifth among edge rushers with a stunt-adjusted pass rush win rate of 43.4 per cent in 2021, with that ability to generate pressure highly valuable to a defense that was a disappointing 30th in win percentage last year.

The Broncos are set up to contend, and a return to Denver would potentially give Miller the chance to compete for further titles while ending his career where it started.

Cordarrelle Patterson to San Francisco 49ers

The 49ers have a host of more important needs than a wide receiver-turned-running back, and given San Francisco possesses the gold standard in that regard in 'wide back' Deebo Samuel, signing Patterson would be a luxury move rather than a necessity.

Yet the thought of head coach Kyle Shanahan having both Samuel and Patterson to work with is an extremely enticing one.

Among running backs with at least 150 carries in the regular season, only James Conner (22.7) produced a higher percentage of big plays on targets in the passing game than Patterson (22.6).

Putting him with the play-caller who arguably does the best job of getting offensive players in space would be a match made in heaven.

Christian Kirk to Indianapolis Colts

It's not clear who will be playing quarterback for the Colts in 2022 following the Carson Wentz trade to the Washington Commanders, but that signal-caller will need receiving help beyond 2020 second-round pick Michael Pittman Jr.

With T.Y. Hilton on the downswing of his career and injuries preventing Parris Campbell from making any sort of discernible impact, the Colts are light on legitimate pass-catching weapons.

Kirk could stock the cupboard in that regard, giving Indianapolis a legitimate deep threat who fell 18 yards shy of 1,000 receiving last season and has 11 touchdowns over the past two campaigns.

He registered a burn, which is when a receiver wins his matchup with a defender on a play where he is targeted, on 66.4 per cent of targets (the average for receivers with at least 100 targets was 62).

Among receivers to meet that target threshold, Kirk was fourth in the NFL in 2021 with a burn yards per target average of 13.2, with his ability to separate much needed by an offense that heads into the offseason in questionable shape.

Ireland will have to do without James Ryan and Ryan Baird in their crunch Six Nations showdown with Scotland on Saturday.

Ryan was unable to return to the field after he was floored by a dangerous tackle from Charlie Ewels only 82 seconds into Ireland's 32-15 win over England at Twickenham last weekend.

Ewels was shown a red card for clashing heads with Ryan, who failed a subsequent head injury assessment.

Lock Ryan will not be available when Andy Farrell's side do battle with Scotland at the Aviva Stadium on the final day of the tournament.

Fellow second row Baird also missed the encounter in Dublin due to a back injury, so Ross Molony and Joe McCarthy have been called up to train with the squad.

Second-placed Ireland are two points adrift of leaders France and must win to keep their hopes of winning the title alive, with Les Bleus facing England in Paris later in the day.

Ralf Rangnick has no concerns over Cristiano Ronaldo's powers of recovery as Manchester United prepare to face Atletico Madrid three days on from his match-winning performance against Tottenham.

Having missed the Manchester derby due to a hip flexor injury, Ronaldo's hat-trick lifted United to a crucial 3-2 win at Old Trafford as they chase a place in the Premier League top four and Champions League football for next season.

Their attention now turns to this campaign's Champions League competition and the second leg of their last-16 tie with Atletico on Tuesday.

United drew 1-1 in the first leg in Madrid, and the emphasis is likely to be placed on Ronaldo to secure their place in the quarter-finals.

Ronaldo has netted 13 goals in his last 15 home games against Atletico across all competitions.

That figure includes a pair of hat-tricks in his four most recent such meetings with the Rojiblancos, both of which came in the Champions League.

He scored a hat-trick against Atletico in the 2017 semi-finals for Real Madrid and repeated the feat for Juventus in the round of 16 in 2019 as the Bianconeri completed a remarkable second-leg turnaround.

Rangnick is unsure whether Ronaldo has another treble in his locker this time around, but is confident the 37-year-old will be ready to try to fire the Red Devils into the last eight.

He told a media conference on Monday: "I'm not worried that he has not been able to recover so far. He's always been a person who looks quite a lot after himself, his body, he exactly knows what to do so I'm not worried about that.

"If he can score another three goals we will see. It's not so easy to score three goals against this team at all. His overall performance was just good [against Tottenham], if not even very good, and this is obviously what we hope to get from him again tomorrow night.

"It's not only about Cristiano, it's about the whole team. We saw in the first half in Madrid what we shouldn't do, how we should not play, this was obviously a big topic for us yesterday and today when we spoke pre-match about tomorrow's game.

"We have to know what it takes and what it tactically takes and the rest is all about energy. We were the team on Saturday against Spurs who just wanted to win that game and that was obvious.

"Our supporters played a vital role; they realised how much we wanted to win that game and tomorrow it will be similar."

Bruno Fernandes was said to be in a race to be available to face Atletico after contracting COVID-19. However, Rangnick confirmed he trained on Monday after testing negative.

Left-back Luke Shaw is a "small question-mark" for the game but trained on Sunday and Monday.

Jack Willis has been included in England's squad for the first time in over a year for Saturday's Six Nations clash with France.

The flanker suffered a serious knee injury against Italy in February last year and only returned to action for Wasps last month.

With Tom Curry ruled out of the contest at Stade de France with a hamstring problem sustained in the 32-15 defeat to Ireland, Willis has a chance of featuring.

Kyle Sinckler was also part of the 34-player squad named by Eddie Jones on Monday and will follow return-to-play protocols after being concussed against Ireland.

England are out of contention for the Six Nations title ahead of their final match of this year's tournament after winning two and losing two of their first four games.

Opponents France are top of the standings as they seek a first title and first Grand Slam since 2010.

Ravichandran Ashwin made ICC World Test Championship history as India wrapped up a series win over Sri Lanka with victory inside three days in Bengaluru.

Sri Lanka resumed play on Monday on 28-1 with the mountainous task of chasing down a target of 447, having been bowled out for 109 in their first innings in the day-night Test.

Dimuth Karunaratne (107) did at least give the tourists something to cheer as the skipper recorded a 14th Test century.

Yet his efforts were in vain as Sri Lanka crumbled to 208 all out, Ashwin taking four wickets to become the first bowler in Test Championship history to 100 as India claimed a 238-run success.

Kusal Mendis (54) was the sole batsman to provide Karunaratne with anything resembling significant support.

However, any hope of Sri Lanka even surviving the day went with Mendis when his partnership with Karunaratne was ended on 97 after being stumped by Rishabh Pant off Ashwin.

Only one other Sri Lanka batter, Niroshan Dickwella (12), reached double figures in the innings, Ashwin fittingly taking the final wicket when Vishwa Fernando top-edged him to Mohammed Shami.

Captain Rohit Sharma said of Ashwin: "It was personally my feeling [that he is an all-time great].

"Whenever we give him the ball, he comes up with match-winning performances. He's got a lot of years left in him. We have lots of occasions to look forward to."

Another stellar series for Ashwin

Ashwin's landmark performance also saw him finish with the most wickets (12) in the short series, in which he also bowled the most maiden overs (16).

Sri Lanka sorry with the bat

Sri Lanka's second-innings performance marked the first time in the series they surpassed 200, summing up their dismal form with the bat.

Mitchell Starc struck three times as Australia put themselves in a great position to win the second Test against Pakistan on day three at the National Stadium.

Pat Cummins declared with the tourists 556-9 in Karachi on Monday, their third-highest total in Pakistan.

Starc took 3-29 and Mitchell Swepson claimed 2-32 as the hosts were skittled out for 148 in reply.

Captain Babar Azam top scored with 36 in a dismal effort from Pakistan with the bat and Australia were 81-1 at stumps, leading by a mammoth 489 runs and scenting a 1-0 lead in the three-match series after Cummins opted against enforcing the follow-on.

Shaheen Shah Afridi dismissed Starc with the second ball of the day, but Cummins and Swepson put on 51 in quick time for the last wicket.

Swepson ran Abdullah Shafique out to end an opening stand of 26 and Pakistan collapsed from 60-2, losing six wickets in the afternoon session.

Babar fell to Swepson when he gave the spinner the charge and could only pick out Usman Khawaja in the deep as Pakistan crumbled to 118-9.

Nauman Ali (20 not out) and Afridi (19) produced a final-wicket stand of 30 before Swepson removed the left-arm paceman.

Hasan Ali saw the back of David Warner for only seven after Cummins elected to bat again, but the in-form Khawaja (35no) and Marnus Labuschagne (37no) combined for an unbroken partnership of 61 to extend Australia's huge lead.

Starc swings Australia into complete control

With Pakistan weary after so long in the field, Starc conjured up some swing to strengthen Australia's grip on the match.

The left-arm paceman had Azhar Ali caught by Cameron Green at second slip for only 14 and followed that up by trapping Fawad Alam leg before from the next delivery.

Starc also removed Sajid Khan, caught by wicketkeeper Alex Carey, as the tourists ripped through Pakistan.

Swepson makes his mark

Spinner Swepson had a long time to wait for his Test debut, having first been called up five years ago.

The tweaker made an unbeaten 15 in an unbroken final-wicket stand with Cummins of 51, before running Shafique out.

Swepson then made Babar his first Test scalp when the Pakistan captain was taken by Khawaja in the deep and finished the innings by snaring Afridi leg before wicket.

Russia have been replaced by Serbia in the Davis Cup and Australia in the Billie Jean King Cup, the International Tennis Federation (ITF) has confirmed.

Russia, who won both competitions in 2021, have been suspended from competing in international team events following the country's invasion of Ukraine.

As the highest-ranked losing semi-finalist from last year, Serbia will take Russia's place in the Davis Cup Finals.

The wild card previously handed to Serbia will now go to one of the 12 nations knocked out in the qualifiers that took place earlier this month.

Likewise, as the highest-ranked side among the 2021 losing Billie Jean King Cup semi-finalists, Australia will replace Russia in that competition.

Australia were due to take part in April's qualifiers, but opponents Slovakia will now receive a bye and advance directly to the Finals.

Belarus have also been barred from competing in both events, meaning Belgium will receive a walkover in their qualifying match and advance to the Billie Jean King Cup Finals.

Barcelona technical director Jordi Cruyff has said "we will see" about the future of Ousmane Dembele after the France international put in another impressive showing in the 4-0 home win against Osasuna on Sunday.

Dembele has been unable to agree an extension to his contract, which is due to expire at the end of this season, and spent a spell on the sidelines in January as the winger became an unpopular figure with fans at Camp Nou.

The 24-year-old did not secure a move away from Barca in the January transfer window, and head coach Xavi has slowly reintroduced him to a team in form.

Dembele registered two assists and made five key passes, the most of any Barca player, during the win against Osasuna.

Following the victory, which lifted the Blaugrana to third in LaLiga, Cruyff talked to SPORT about the former Borussia Dortmund man's future.

"The situation regarding Dembele's renewal is not easy. I think the most important thing is that he continues to help the team and the rest, we will see," Cruyff said.

"He has played a good game, like many players who end their contract with the future already done and others who are looking for a better contract. [It is important] that he continues helping the team to achieve the maximum objectives, and the rest we cannot control."

Dembele has five assists in his past four LaLiga appearances, as many as he managed in his previous 45 league games for the club.

Cruyff also had words of praise for Ferran Torres, who scored twice after coming in for criticism for missing a series of chances in previous games.

On the January arrival from Manchester City, Cruyff added: "There was more noise outside than inside... Nobody at the club had any doubts."

Eder Militao will miss Real Madrid's LaLiga's trip to Real Mallorca on Monday.

Madrid revealed on the morning of the game that Militao will play no part when Los Blancos go in search of a fifth consecutive win in all competitions.

The LaLiga leaders did not specify why the Brazil centre-back will not feature in the match.

"Militao is not available for Real Madrid's LaLiga matchday 28 game this evening at the Visit Mallorca Stadium," a Madrid statement said.

Carlo Ancelotti's side are riding on the crest of a wave after beating Paris Saint-Germain 3-1 to reach the quarter-finals of the Champions League.

Madrid are seven points clear of Sevilla at the top of LaLiga ahead of their game in hand at Mallorca.