Monthly Archives: April 2017

3 Texas natives went in the top 6 of the 2017 NFL draft

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Another year, another example of Texas recent ineptness to get the right talent in the door in Austin.

Second, a lack of being able to get any player worthwhile under center besides Colt McCoy in the post-Vince Young era was perplexing. Texas is a hotbed of college talent, and the Longhorns should always have the pick of the litter at all positions. While Texas didnt formally offer Manziel, Will Muschamp did say they considered him as a DB.

Browns tenuous job security was the reason that Jamal Adams went to LSU over Texas coming out of high school. Adams forgoed an incredible pedigree of recent Texas safeties to go play for the Tigers, which of course has its own DB stable. But Adams defection was yet another example of the problems that have permeated Texas for most of the last decade.

And yet! It will always be true that WMU had a player drafted 11 picks before the first Alabama player in the 2017 draft. This should be a proud moment for the MAC.

Davis is an exciting pick for Tennessee, too. It was a bit surprising to see him go so soon, but he had a real case as the drafts best receiver. Davis drops passes sometimes, but his physical talent isnt deniable. He can fly, and he can sky.
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Davis should go on to a really strong NFL career. So should the Bama guys, and all of them have a national title to their resume. Davis will always have an incrementally higher NFL draft placement, however, and thats not nothing.

The recent record for top-five NFL picks out of the MAC is mixed. Eric Fisher of Central Michigan was the first overall pick by the Chiefs in 2013, and that didnt go well. But Khalil Mack from Buffalo went fifth the next year, and that sure did.

Taco Bell should sponsor Taco Charlton and Byron Bell’s Cowboys camp battles

The Dallas Cowboys took defensive end Taco Charlton with the No. 28 pick in the draft on Thursday night, and shortly following the pick, the team realized how incredible its training camp battle would be:

Line of the night from Stephen Jones: We’ve got Taco, and he’s gonna get to go against Bell.

This is every dream we could ever have rolled into one. You couldn¡¯t find a more perfect offensive lineman to have Charlton play against when he hits the NFL. It¡¯s almost … too perfect. Dropping 17 picks should¡¯ve netted the Bills more than a third-round pick this year and a first-rounder in 2018. But White is a legitimate first-round talent who could end up being one of the best cornerbacks of the draft. The Bills needed a cornerback too to slot in opposite Ronald Darby and White is a cornerback who can start right away.
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The Cardinals probably would¡¯ve liked to get a quarterback here. Or at least, that¡¯s the best guess based on the two trades that happened in the three picks prior. But Reddick is a solid consolation prize considering his huge potential and athleticism. Pairing the young linebacker with Chandler Jones gives some serious kick to a front seven that is beginning life without Calais Campbell.
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The Saints need to invest on defense, and this is a good way to do it. Lattimore is the top cornerback on the board and, while he comes with injury concerns, he¡¯s a big win for the Saints if they get him at full strength. It¡¯s risky, but it¡¯s the swings that the team needs to make if it hopes to squeeze another Super Bowl out of the Drew Brees era.

Speculating on whose booth Blandino lands in is fun.

The regular season kicks off in just under five months, preseason games in four months, training camp in three months … and minicamps next month. The offseason is when teams, players and coaches get schooled and acclimated to new rules, new emphasis and new procedures. New, like somebody off-site reviewing replay.

The NFL had a tight window to get this right. On their side was the presence of someone who, for better or worse, was used to being the face of accountability and transparency. Who has had to live with more than a year of “Dez caught it” as well as multiple versions of “The ref was standing right there” and “If that was A-Rod instead of Cam, that would’ve been a flag” and “Do these guys even know the rules?”

Now, Blandino isn’t there, either to personally implement a new system apparently built around him, or for the fan base to kick around.

Speculating on whose booth Blandino lands in is fun. Who replaces Blandino in front of the NFL replay monitors — or if they replace something in the replay system besides him — affects the game much, much more.

Running back Rashaad Penny. Pumphrey gained at least five yards on 40 percent of his carries and averaged 6.7 highlight yards per opportunity last year. In about 10 carries per game, Penny hit 42 percent and averaged 9.8 highlight yards.

And in about four carries per game, sophomore Juwan Washington hit 38 percent and 12.4. SDSU’s greatest offensive strength was that they could pummel opponents with Pumphrey, and then his backups did just as well. There’s never any guarantee that backups will maintain their averages as starters, but Penny’s career line — 7.1 yards per carry, plus five kick return touchdowns — suggests his upside is massive. And at 5’11, 220, he could form a fun combination with the 5’7, 175-pound Washington.nike_jaguars_571

This cat delayed a baseball game in Japan, and the photos are majestic

It turns out cat invasions arent exclusive to the U.S.

On Thursday, a Nippon Professional Baseball game was delayed by a cat invader. The Hanshin Tigers and Yokohama BayStars were in the top of the ninth when the feline friend majestically ran onto the field. Soon after, it jumped into the camera pit, never to be seen again — at least from the crowds point of view, because its probably chilling with a caring employee.
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I hope Mike is a Buc for life, general manager Jason Licht said in a statement. Today we picked up his option; it wasn’t a very tough decision. We’ll take it from there. I can promise you at some point, I can’t tell you when, but we’ll be contacting his agent to try to make him an offer that will make him a Buc for the long term.
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Evans, who made his first Pro Bowl last season with 96 receptions for 1,321 yards and 12 touchdowns, has surpassed 1,000 yards in each of his first three NFL seasons.

Tampa Bay added perimeter threat DeSean Jackson in free agency. The 10th-year veteran adds explosiveness to the offense, and should help free up space for Evans.

According to ESPN, the Bucs are also being considered for this year’s edition of HBO’s popular Hard Knocks. The decision could come before the NFL Draft later this month.

Most importantly, Houston was more than six points better per 100 possessions than their opponents in the 31 minutes per night when Gordon was on the floor. He impacted the game in tangible ways that reflected themselves in the box score and on the scoreboard.

Only one reserve had a higher net rating with at least 25 minutes of action: Andre Iguodala. While Iguodala didnt put up the box score numbers that Gordon and others did, the Warriors were more than 13 points better than their opponents per 100 possessions when he was on the court. Being the savvy veteran that he is, Iguodala paced himself early and hit his stride in the stretch run. He was one of the key players who allowed the Warriors to thrive without Kevin Durant in the lineup.

Junior slot men Sean Modster and Akilian Butler appear to have massive potential

“We’re always going to support each other. Not to say our teammates aren’t going to support us as well, but we’re family so it’s different. I’m going to be there for him no matter what.”

Bradley found inspiration in the way Thomas performed in Game 1.
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“It takes a lot of [guts] for somebody to go through that and still be able to come out and perform at a high level,” Bradley said. “Even though he wasn’t screaming or the usual Isaiah, he still went out there and fought hard. And it made us want to fight harder for him. We just made some mistakes that are fixable and we’ll have a chance to do it [in Game 2].”

Authentic Kids Joe Thomas Jersey The NBA on Monday rescinded a technical foul assessed to Thomas in the fourth quarter of Game 1 for dismissively waving at referee Kane Fitzgerald following a kick-ball violation. Jimmy Butler missed the free throw following the technical.

Hill鈥檚 job gets a little bit harder this fall. Continuity in the receiving corps is a major predictive indicator, and while Rypien returns, three of his top four targets do not. Thomas Sperbeck caught 80 passes for 1,272 yards (10.2 per target) out of the slot, while receiver Chaz Anderson and running back Jeremy McNichols combined for 68 catches and 876 yards.

Junior slot men Sean Modster and Akilian Butler appear to have massive potential, but Cedrick Wilson is the only returning X- or Z-receiver who caught more than two passes last year. Wilson is awesome 鈥?1,129 yards, 11.9 per target, and five 100-yard receiving games in 2016 鈥?and the combination of slot receivers and a glut of tight ends (seniors Alec Dhaenens and Jake Roh, juniors Jake Knight and Chase Blakley, sophomore Matt Pistone, redshirt freshmen Nick Crabtree and John Bates) should mean plenty of efficiency options.

This isn’t the best year to be in dire need of a quarterback.

The most recent quarterback experiment was Brock Osweiler. He signed a three-year, $72 million contract with $37 million guaranteed in 2016. The Texans managed to unloaded him and his massive cap hit onto the Cleveland Browns, via trade, a year later. They had to sweeten the deal with a second-round pick. Now, they’re left with just Tom Savage and Brandon Weeden on the roster.

Hoping for the best with Savage and Weeden isn’t a viable answer, and there’s not a great fit waiting for them in free agency. If the Texans want to upgrade at quarterback, they’re going to have to do it through the draft.

This isn’t the best year to be in dire need of a quarterback. There are a handful of talented prospects with long-term potential, but there’s not a single player who looks like Game Kids Zach Parise Jersey a surefire, immediate solution capable of taking over in Week 1 and carrying the team’s Super Bowl aspirations.

There aren’t any current models of point guards on good teams who can’t shoot at all. Below-average marksmen like Westbrook or even Dennis Schroder are far ahead of where Fox currently is. Terrible shooters like Elfrid Payton, Rajon Rondo, and Michael Carter-Williams haven’t been successful recently. It’s possible that a non-shooting point guard simply cannot succeed in today’s NBA. It is also possible that the right non-shooting point guard hasn’t come around recently.

At the beginning of his career, Tony Parker couldn’t shoot a lick, yet was an integral part of a championship-level Spurs offense. He was so darn quick and crafty that the Spurs built a Game Kids Spencer Paysinger Jersey team that worked to his strengths and played around his weaknesses. Fox is a better prospect than any recent non-shooting guard and might even be able to get by without a shot.

The Celtics swiped the No. 1 seed in the East from underneath the Cavaliers’ noses

As always, these over-unders seem so obvious in retrospect, but so very tough to choose from at the time. This year’s list is perfectly designed to make you have second thoughts and chew on your pencil before you make a decision. They’re courtesy of Bovada, and it’s almost like they’re designed to make you lose money.

The Celtics swiped the No. 1 seed in the East from underneath the Cavaliers’ noses, but a home loss to Milwaukee put Boston back in a virtual tie for first. Boston has one of the easiest remaining schedules in the league, so it’s entirely possible it holds onto that seed. Meanwhile, Toronto is closing hard on Washington for the No. 3 seed.

Current tiebreaker: Wizards-Celtics is tied at 2-2, and the Celtics have a three-game lead in conference record, so they will likely earn that tiebreaker. The Raptors have the head-to-head tiebreaker over Washington and Boston. Cleveland has a 2-1 lead on Boston with one game left to play.

Who has the toughest schedule? Washington by a long shot. The Wizards only have two home games left, and they’re in the middle of a five-game road trip that includes games against the Cavaliers, Clippers, Jazz, and Warriors.

Technically, WMU hired a former pro quarterback with six years of head coaching experience. But all of this experience happened on state roads instead of the interstate, so to speak.

If Lester’s up for this — and the fact that he had one losing season in six years at Saint Joseph’s and Elmhurst suggests he very well might be — then Fleck left plenty of toys in the toy box. The passing game has to be rebuilt following the loss of quarterback Zach Terrell and his top three receivers (including the incredible Corey Davis), but the run game could be dominant, and most of the defense returns.

So now we wait. Can Lester parlay D3 success into wins at a higher level? And if he does, will his hometown status lead to him staying a bit longer than the typical MAC coach?
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Would Orlando really trade Aaron Gordon for Dario Saric?

Limited Mens Scott Niedermayer Jersey The Orlando Magic signed rookie Patricio Garino on Monday and his agent took a photo of him signing his contract. Unfortunately, the agent later deleted the picture after it appeared to accidentally reveal team’s plans for the upcoming offseason.

Later Tuesday afternoon, ESPN’s Ed Werder reported that Jerry Jones and the Cowboys would be releasing Romo after all.

The NFL world has been waiting out the Romo saga for a month now. It was reported early in March that he would be released by the Cowboys, but that never came to pass. Instead, Dallas was reportedly pursuing a trade, even though the Broncos and Texans, his most likely suitors, made it clear that they weren’t interested in swap.

On Monday, the Cowboys told the rest of the league that they were free to contact Romo himself about a potential trade. Those calls won’t be necessary. Schefter’s report says that Romo has already informed Jerry Jones of his decision.

Behind the scenes throughout this, Romo was also mulling an offer to go into the broadcast booth. Peter King of the MMQB reported that Romo had turned down an offer from one unnamed TV network. Both FOX and NBC were said to be interested, but John Ourand reported that Tony Romo will replace Phil Simms in the broadcast booth on CBS, much to everyone’s delight.
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Officially, Romo will be designated as a post-June 1 cut. The move will give Dallas an extra $14 million in cap space this year, while leaving nearly $20 million on the books for 2017 and 2018.

PFT Commenter’s Week 11 NFL awards: NFL fans can learn a lot from Rob Ford

Limited Tuomo Ruutu Jersey It’s our obligation to remind you that these strong takes are presented as PARODY. For the literal-minded football fans, there’s the door. Sorry, not sorry. All spelling errors are intentional, we think. -Ed.

Not only did he give a press conference that needs to be cut up and synced into the next Coors Light campaing but then yesterday he demonstrated tremendos padlevel execution turning the corner and knocking down that old lady who looked suspiciously like Carson Palmer. If you want to check out a real solid analysis of Fords draft stock check out what Spnecer Hall wrote on it yesterday- I tend to think hes got more upside then this if he get get his hips half as fluid as his lungs folks.

Winston has presumably studied the issue. He leads an organization that鈥檚 charged with watching out for player welfare. His argument makes sense. What goes up must come down. If a player鈥檚 legs get caught while he鈥檚 leaping forward, his head鈥檚 going to the ground and the rest of his body鈥檚 following.

The leaping block is a little bit like the kickoff return. Kickoffs are almost never exciting, and they add injury risk to the game. The occasional TD return is awing, just like the occasional leap block. (And leap blocks can be fun even when they don鈥檛 work.)

Limited Bruce Carter Jersey But life鈥檚 about pros and cons, and that the NFL and college football are weighing them is good. It鈥檚 head-scratching that they haven鈥檛 come around to the same rationale on kickoffs, but progress is progress.

Leaping is a joy. The sport will miss it, but it won鈥檛 miss what might鈥檝e come with it.