Month: May 2018

Robert Griffin III promises to better protect himself by sliding

If Robert Griffin III gets a chance to play again, he promises to better protect himself. He will slide.

Griffin’s injuries began during his rookie season of 2012 with two different ligament tears in his knee. He had a dislocated ankle, a concussion and a fractured left shoulder sideline him for 34 games from 2014-16.

It just means that when I do run, I’ll be smarter about it, Griffin said at his introductory press conference, via Jamison Hensley of ESPN. I’ll slide earlier, get out of bounds when I have to, and when it’s time to run for 70 [yards], I’ll run for 70. It just is what it is. That’s what I more so learned by watching over the years. I’m excited about that.

Incidentally, Michael Kay finally may have succumbed to the ESPN virus. After Gardner’s opening day homer, he said, It’s his first of the year.

As for ESPN, Thursday it scrolled that Giancarlo Stanton is the first Yankee to have hit a homer in his first at-bat of the season, since Aaron Judge in 2016. Yes, it has been that long.

Thursday ended up being a very eventful day for the pending collusion grievance filed by free-agent quarterback Colin Kaepernick.

Charles Robinson of Yahoo Sports reports, and PFT has confirmed, that Kaepernick’s lawyers questioned Cowboys owner Jerry Jones on Thursday.

It’s George, though, who possesses game-dominating qualities, like those he flashed in Game 1. It was on both ends, with George suffocating Joe Ingles and disrupting the churning Utah offense while eviscerating any defender put in front of him. He had his devastating side-to-side crossover going, clearing airspace to launch from deep, yelling out, Can’t hold me! after one particularly ruthless step-back 3 in the second half.

George is known for his shooting streaks, and slumps, but over a longer-than-usual stretch of off nights in late March and early April, he openly questioned his mechanics and said his shot felt funny following a 5-of-19 shooting performance against the Golden State Warriors on April 3. A few nights later, the night before the Thunder took on the Houston Rockets in Texas, George spent more than an hour by himself shooting in the Toyota Center’s practice gym trying to work it out.

Baker Mayfield to Jets reportedly ‘a done deal’

The Baker Mayfield to New York Jets rumors are heating up to a boiling point, as every day that passes ahead of the 2018 NFL Draft brings more news on this front.

On Wednesday, just over one week before the prospects start flying off the board, NFL insider Tony Pauline shared this: One source, who has dealt with quarterbacks at the top of the draft the past five years, believes Mayfield to the Jets is a ‘done deal.’

It’s previously been reported that Mayfield is New York’s preferred quarterback, even over the likes of Josh Allen (who’s gotten a ton of buzz as the potential top pick) and Josh Rosen.

Without saying anything to get him entangled in tampering, Les Snead, the Rams’ charismatic general manager, made it known to The Post that Mara’s comment piqued his interest. This was Monday night, the day the wheeling-and-dealing Rams signed Ndamukong Suh to a one-year contract worth $14 million, and Snead — who shipped linebacker Alec Ogletree to the Giants a few weeks ago — pondered the Beckham inquiry with this: Haven’t we done enough? Then, he laughed.

Snead also said he told Gettleman they should make sure to exit one of the meetings and walk together, enwrapped in conversation, down the expansive and well-decorated hallways lined with members of the media looking to put two and two together. Snead got a good chuckle out of that one, as well.

Based on talent alone, it’s perhaps not surprising that Hageman would be given a second chance. The Falcons clearly had high hopes for Hageman after using the 37th overall selection in the 2014 draft on the ex-Minnesota standout, and the club’s coaching staff was reportedly enamored with his progress as recently as last offseason.

Edmonds is a fan of Gale Sayers, Barry Sanders, LeSean McCoy and Devonta Freeman, and draws inspiration from Antonio Brown, an undersized sixth-round pick.

Edmonds’ scouting report on himself goes like this: Vision, first and foremost, that’s the No. 1 thing a running back has to have, I believe … creativity, so when a play breaks down I can still make something out of nothing … versatility. You need running backs to really line up in the slot, get a bad matchup for a linebacker, I feel like I’m the best running back that can do that in this class.

He was the best of the running backs in the three-cone drill and 20-yard shuttle at the scouting combine.

He’s got explosive lateral speed, TEST Football Academy owner and CEO Kevin Dunn said.

There’s no question about when he gets into a camp he’s gonna turn some eyes, but then when he gets into a game he’s gonna be a gamer, TEST Director Geir Gudmundsen said.

Edmonds has a degree in broadcast communications and a 3-year-old daughter named Avery.

Lions express confidence in Jarrad Davis

The Lions have overhauled the linebacker position with one notable exception: They remain convinced Jarrad Davis is the centerpiece of their defense. The team expects last year’s first-round pick to fit right into Matt Patricia’s defense.

We were down on the scouting trail and numerous people, numerous coaches, kind of pulled us aside and were just kind of raving about him a year removed from when we took him, Lions General Manager Bob Quinn said, via Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press. So I think in Matt’s scheme — Jarrad can play in any scheme, but I think it’s going to be really, his skill set is going to be exemplified in what we’re doing now.

Patricia called Davis an outstanding player, leader, very hard-working type of guy that can carry a lot.

So the Lions expect a lot from Davis this season.

So let’s add to that what Tarik Cohen had to say on Wednesday about his early impressions of Nagy’s offense.

It can be dominant, Cohen said. … We have a whole lot of pieces on offense. It could get real crazy this year.

At this time of the year, just about every player and coach is naturally excited by the prospect of a fresh start on a new season, especially with a new regime taking over. But these aren’t empty platitudes put forth by the players who’ve been available to the media this week.

Cohen said one of the first things he saw after the Bears hired Nagy was that the Kansas City Chiefs, while running his new coach’s offense, had two 1,000-yard pass-catchers (Tyreek Hill and Travis Kelce) and a 1,000-yard running back (Kareem Hunt).

Cardinals know price is steep if they want a top QB in NFL draft

Trying to pry tangible information out of an NFL general manager and head coach about their pick intentions in the days leading up to the draft can be about as fruitful as asking a teenager to clean up his room. You can ask all day without getting any results.

Cardinals General Manager Steve Keim admitted as much on Wednesday when he and first-year coach Steve Wilks met with reporters for a pre-draft news conference.

Arizona has eight picks in the draft. In addition to the No. 15 selection, the Cardinals have one in the second round (47th overall), two in the third (Nos. 79 and 97), and one each in the fourth (134), fifth (152), sixth (182) and seventh (254).

It wouldn’t be the first time one of the NFL’s biggest-name quarterbacks was thrust into the Stormy Daniels vs. Donald Trump feud, however. In a 2011 interview with In Touch magazine that released in January, amid reports of Trump’s lawyer paying $130,000 for Daniels to keep quiet, the former actress said Trump made the Pittsburgh Steelers’ Ben Roethlisberger promise to take care of me and walk her to her hotel room after she and the former reality TV star allegedly shared a private evening together.

What does Tom Brady have to do with a former porn star’s alleged affair with the United States president? Everything, according to Twitter. Stormy Daniels, the ex-adult actress engaged in a legal dispute with President Donald Trump over a 2006 affair she’s detailed in various interviews, took to ABC’s The View on Tuesday morning to reveal a composite sketch of the man she says threatened and demanded her to stay silent about the incident.

The initial contact. The strike.

The fact that he wants to hurt you.

The aggression I put behind it, he says. The grit. There’s just so much that I bring behind it. I bring out the passion, the hatred, everything that comes with every time I hit somebody. I want to make everybody feel it.

OK, so scouts and coaches haven’t been grilling him about the lack of a hand. It’s been all X’s and O’s, and that’s encouraging. Still, Griffin has mastered the art of reading body language. He can sense when a coach doesn’t believe. He remembers pleading his case to that first UCF staff and hearing gibberish back—answers just for me to leave the room—and, sure, there are hints of doubt in the rhetoric from some NFL teams.

I knew that before I even got to this point, Griffin says. I knew it’d be like that at every level. The only thing I need is one team that does. One team that does. That’s all that I need. I’m not worried about everybody else.

I’ve never dealt with horses, he told the Wall Street Journal. Hopefully I can get a ride on the horse…. I’m not trying to ride it for a full speed ride. I just want to get the feel of what it’s like to be on top of one. Maybe I’ll go for a full speed ride once I get comfortable.

Joking (hopefully) aside, it only makes sense that Gronkowski the player and Gronkowski the horse would cross paths at some point. Whether it becomes a good omen during this year’s Run for the Roses remains to be seen.

Joe Montana and Jerry Rice. Peyton Manning and Marvin Harrison. Deshaun Watson and DeAndre Hopkins ?

Watson has played only one season — and barely that — with the Houston Texans , but Hopkins is already convinced that their quarterback-wide receiver duo will be the best in the league next season.

And yet he wasn’t even invited to the NFL scouting combine — until he wowed scouts with a standout performance in the Senior Bowl and got the last-minute tap to come to Indianapolis.

Griffin, whose brother Shaquill was drafted by the Seahawks in the third round last year, ended up being the star of the combine in Indianapolis, where he ran a 4.38 in the 40 (said to be the fastest time a linebacker had run since 2003). He also did 20 225-pound reps on the bench press while using a special prosthetic strapped to his left arm.

Bills G.M. Brandon Beane: We have to draft best player available

Fresh off their first playoff appearance in nearly two decades, the Buffalo Bills will look to find a way to take the next step forward.

General Manager Brandon Beane will be the man tasked with finding the pieces necessary to get the franchise their first playoff win since 1995. In an interview with the team’s website, Beane said he doesn’t see the Bills as having massive areas of need that require pointed addressing during the draft.

We can’t just go say, ‘Hey I’m going to take this guy in the first and this guy in the second and now we’ve checked those boxes.’ We have to draft best player available. We’ve checked a decent number of boxes, but we still have work to do.

Gonzalez does speak the truth. The Patriots have winning Super Bowls nailed to a tee. And, Bryant would be smart to want to jump aboard the New England train while quarterback Tom Brady is still healthy and playing.

Like Williams, a typical nose tackle doesn’t necessarily have to be an athletic wunderkind. They are generally shorter and heavier, with a good 10-yard split. South Florida’s Deadrin Senat (3.54) and Arkansas State’s aptly named Dee Liner (5.75) fit the mold.

Two players who measured poorly, but have draftable tape, are Florida State’s Derrick Nnadi (1.02 RAS) and Virginia Tech’s Tim Settle (0.77). While no interior defensive lineman has ever made a Pro Bowl with a score that low, former Lions third-round pick Jerry Ball (1.43) had solid NFL production despite his own poor metrics, even if it was in a different era.

On the other end of the spectrum, there are developmental players on Day 3, such as Sam Houston State’s P.J. Hall (8.73) and Texas’ Poona Ford (8.45). Former mid-rounders like Atkins and Henry Melton (9.15) were able to cultivate their superior athleticism into meaningful production.