This was a wild week, from the Myles Garrett trade to a Hall of Famer passing away to Nick Saban appearing before a Senate subcommittee. NASCAR great Ned Jarrett also passed away.
Here are things on my mind:
1. Okay. The Myles Garrett trade has to be front and center, right? Lordy. What I found odd is how two of the draft picks the Browns received are for two to three years down the road. How did they get agreed upon? Why did Andrew Berry say okay to that? I see the benefit for the Los Angeles Rams
in order to keep as much talent on their roster as possible. Cleveland is the poster child for losing high-round draft picks for years and ending up in the basement while the receiving team becomes their division winners. Lose your best player and then don’t get the residual until 2028 and then 2029?
2. Great time to be a sports fan, with watching the Stanley Cup Finals as well as the NBA Finals. I have always wondered why the pro basketball final series doesn’t have a cool name of its own. Baseball has the “World Series,” while the NFL uses the “Super Bowl,” and hockey has the “Stanley Cup.” Soccer has the “World Cup,” which begins next month. Pro basketball? The “NBA Finals.” That’s it? And notice none of the other leagues insert their actual league entity into the championship moniker except for the NBA. How about “The Crown of the Court Series” or “Lord of the Rim”? Or maybe a nod to the sport’s inventor, “The Naismith Championship Classic.”
3. I did a full profile on pass rusher Jared Verse once he became the player involved in the Myles trade. What stood out to me was his track background. In high school, he was already 6’-4” and weighed 254 pounds. Most big guys who participate in track end up tossing the javelin, discus, and/or the shot put. Verse did none of that. Instead, he ran the 4×100 relays, the 4×400 relays, the 100-meter, and 200-meter runs. Each of these events is a sprint event. As a senior, he came in third in the state in the 100 and 200 runs, and his team won the state championship in the 4×400-meter relays.
4. The Chicago Bears lost the vote in the Illinois spring legislative session to get them a ton of money to help build a new stadium. The Senate passed the “megaprojects” bill, but it died in the House. Then a new bill was proposed that the Senate again passed 37-17, but the House adjourned and never took a vote. Meanwhile, neighboring Hammond, Indiana, is offering up to $1 billion in tax incentives. The Bears own hundreds of acres in nearby Arlington Heights, just 36 minutes from downtown Chicago. Hammond is the same distance further south and a stone’s throw across the state line.
The Bears have maintained that they cannot build a stadium without property tax certainty, which Indiana passed legislation to ensure in February. Their lease at Soldier Field expires in 2033.
The franchise has a standing offer from Indiana to move across the state line to Hammond. And no, they wouldn’t become the Hammond Bears or the Indiana Bears. Almost half the NFL teams don’t play in the city they are named after. The Dallas Cowboys play in Arlington. The Miami Dolphins are in nearby Miami Gardens. The Las Vegas Raiders’ home games are in Paradise, Nevada. The New York Football Giants and New York Jets play in another state, so it’s been done. Moving for the Bears is nothing new, as they began in Decatur, Illinois.
5. I really believe the Browns need to bring in another running back. I did an article on perhaps making a trade with the Arizona Cardinals. They have a glut of running backs with six backs that have NFL starts. They drafted Jeremiyah Love with the third overall pick, so he will start. The only question is who will become his running mate. All eyes seem to be on Tyler Allgeier, whom they signed in free agency. He was a stud his rookie year before the team took Bijan Robinson in the first round. The Cardinals have both James Conner and Trey Benson coming off IR, and both should be ready for training camp. Benson was supposed to be the lightning to Conner’s thunder, but he hasn’t shown much yet. Conner is a beast and a thumper. Having Quinshon Judkins matched with one of these three, then throw in Dylan Sampson, would be a dominant group.
6. I am going to come out and say it. And understand, I am not a homer. I see things as they are and state my mind. I believe the Browns will go 12-5-0 this year. Look at their schedule with a clear mind, and you will see that the wins are already lined up. Split with Cincy, Pitt, and Baltimore. Finish one game out of first in the division behind the Ravens. The Rams and Texans are my Super Bowl guesses.
One thing you can count on with the Browns this year: They are a very young team. KC Concepcion, Harold Fannin, and Dylan Sampson are only 21-years old. Seven players are age 29, and only five are in their 30s. The eldest is now the new fullback, Michael Burton, at age 34.
7. Hated to see the news that Raymond Berry had passed away this week. He was a great one and came down the bumpy road. A Hall of Famer who was drafted in Round 20. When Johnny U finally arrived in Baltimore, he and Berry clicked because they both came from nothing and had to fight to win a roster spot.
Berry’s wife used to be his throwing coach. She would throw the football to Berry in the background with horrible throws to make it difficult to catch. It became known as “the bad ball drill” that every high school player who has played receiver has gone through. My greatest receivers of all-time: Jerry Rice, Don Hutson, and Raymond Berry.
8. Looking forward to seeing the QB competition this year in Browns training camp. I believe it will come down to Deshaun Watson and Shedeur Sanders. Most teams only keep three QBs on their main roster and stash a young buck on their practice squad. However, if Cleveland cuts either Dillon Gabriel or Taylen Green, somebody will claim them.
So, it may force them to keep all four, then place one on some kind of injury list, which will give them time to figure out how to retain that fourth body. I know the kid from Texas Tech, Brendan Sorsby, is coming out in the Supplemental Draft sometime in July, most likely, but I don’t see the Browns putting in a bid for him. He is talented, yes. But so are the four guys the team already has. Maybe if Deshaun starts, he can rekindle those elite skills he once had and give us a Michael Vick/Randall Cunningham-type comeback story.
9. The NFL has nine international games this year. Wow. That includes historic first-ever regular-season games in France and Australia. Have you ever wondered what the point of all that is? Number one, it takes away a home game from one of the two clubs playing in the faraway contest. And some of these games are key matchups. The Rams and 49ers will play in Melbourne, which is a good NFC West showdown matchup. Melbourne Cricket Ground holds 95,000 patrons, which neither the Rams nor the Niners’ home fields can match. Is it the goal of the league to bring the American Football game to the world?
Soccer is a worldwide sport; we all know this. Outside of North America, every little kid wants to be a soccer star when they grow up. And there are so many teams in the U.S. and Canada. MLS has 30 teams, while the women’s league, NWSL, has 16. Then, MLS has a developmental league called MLS Next Pro, which also has 30 clubs. The United Soccer League has four men’s divisions and two women’s divisions, for a grand total of 282 teams. And there are other pro leagues: NISA, MASL, MASL2, MLIS, PASL, and WISL. All of this means American Football isn’t going to ever outdistance soccer. Soccer is planet-wide; American Football isn’t.
10. Nick Saban recently testified before the Senate on protecting college sports. Some highlights of his testimony:
“I think the current system we have now in college athletics right now has gotten away from structure, discipline, and the need for coaching, academic support, accountability, and a better chance to be successful in life. We have moved from development to focusing on money. Somebody needs to tap the brakes. I think student-athletes should profit from NIL as long as those things are authentic endorsements. NIL has become ‘pay for play.’ We have also funneled money from operations into paying players. These are things that need to be addressed, and this bill takes a big leap forward in doing that.”
The bill that Saban is referring to and supporting is the bipartisan “Protect College Sports Act,” which was introduced by Texas Senator Ted Cruz. This bill focuses on regulating NIL, has limits for athletes to transfer from program to program, prevents coaches from leaving their teams in the middle of a season, and has financial caps on player compensation.
What different sports thoughts have you been mulling over lately?
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