Month: July 2020

Chiefs place OL Martinas Rankin on PUP list

Rankin also starts the season off on the PUP list.

The Kansas City Chiefs have also placed OL Martinas Rankin on the physically unable to perform (PUP) list according to the NFL’s official transaction report.

Rankin, 25, suffered a knee injury during the Chiefs’ Week 10 loss against the Tennessee Titans. We’d find out the following Monday that the injury was a season-ending injury. The only description we ever heard about Rankin’s injury is that it was to his patella.

The Chiefs acquired Rankin in trade with the Houston Texans, swapping RB Carlos Hyde ahead of the 2019 season.

Like Thornhill, who was also added to the PUP list today, Rankin can participate in Chiefs’ team meetings, do solo conditioning and work with the team training staff. He’s simply prohibited from practicing with the team while he’s on the PUP list.

Rankin can also be activated from the PUP list at any time during training camp. If he remains on the PUP list through training camp he’ll be sent to the reserve/PUP list to start the seasons. From there he’ll have to wait six weeks before he can return to practice. After those six weeks, another six-week window will open where he can resume practicing. If he doesn’t return to practice during that window, the Chiefs will be forced to place him on injured reserve.

This one is a real bummer because Rankin had some serious potential to come in and earn a starting job for Kansas City. He played really well filling in for Andrew Wylie at LG starting in Week 6 of the 2019 season. Now, he’ll likely be competing for a reserve job when he returns from the PUP list.

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WATCH: Lincoln Riley talks after first day of Oklahoma football practice

Despite not knowing what is expected with the 2020 season, Oklahoma football held its first football practice. Here is Lincoln Riley talking

The first day of football practice took place for Oklahoma despite fully knowing if it will be playing football a month from now.

“It’s a long time coming,” said Oklahoma head coach Lincoln Riley to Sooner Sports TV. “You could feel that in the atmosphere today. Guys are just eager to be out here (and) are very excited—maybe even more than a normal opening of camp—because they’re always fun, but this one had a little different feel to it.”

Here is Riley’s full interview after the opening practice.

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(credit: Sooner Sports TV)

“We’re in good shape. … I think they did a really good job while they were home, and as a lot of people know, we kept our guys home a little bit longer than most and they’ve done a good job…We didn’t have to pull off of them very much from what we would normally do on a day like today so that was a big positive.”

Paulo Costa: Robert Whittaker should fight Jared Cannonier in UFC middleweight title eliminator

Ahead of his first UFC title shot, Paulo Costa sees a particular way the top of the middleweight division could play out.

Ahead of his first UFC title shot, [autotag]Paulo Costa[/autotag] sees a particular way the middleweight division could play out.

Costa (13-0 MMA, 5-0 UFC) challenges champion Israel Adesanya (19-0 MMA, 8-0 UFC) in the main event of UFC 253 on Sept. 19, which still does not have an announced location. The division is stacked with contenders who are vying for a title shot, and several matchups have recently helped clear that picture up.

Jack Hermansson scored a first-round submission over Kelvin Gastelum at UFC on ESPN+ 30, and former champ [autotag]Robert Whittaker[/autotag] got back to the win column with a unanimous decision over Darren Till in the UFC on ESPN 14 headliner.

But considering [autotag]Jared Cannonier[/autotag] scored a second-round knockout over Hermansson last September, Costa thinks Whittaker (21-5 MMA, 12-3 UFC) should fight Cannonier (13-4 MMA, 6-4 UFC) to determine who’s next in line for a title shot.

“We have maybe three guys in line waiting for the winner of my fight,” Costa told MMA Junkie. “I don’t know what Dana White will do to solve that problem, but maybe a title eliminator can be good. We have Rob, Jared – I believe Rob and Jared need to fight to see.”

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Costa was not impressed by Whittaker-Till and shared those by calling it an “ugly fight.” While most spectators were raving at the technique display, Costa was expecting more from both guys.

“Not really good,” Costa said of the fight. “I was waiting for more action.”

Another middleweight clash that’s coming up on August 22 pits two of Costa’s former foes – Yoel Romero and Uriah Hall. Costa already beat both guys but is intrigued by the stylistic matchup.

“Interesting fight,” Costa said. “If Romero comes to fight, I believe it can be a very good fight. Both guys I beat in different ways. Uriah Hall is very fast, he has good striking skills, and Romero is a kind of guy who’s more grappling, but he’s tough. It’s not easy to knock him out. Interesting fight. I want to see that fight.”

Packers release OL Cole Madison, FB Jordan Jones from roster

The Packers released two players on Friday, including 2018 fifth-round pick Cole Madison.

The Green Bay Packers began shaving down their roster towards the 80-player limit on Friday, and one of the roster casualties was a 2018 draft pick.

The team announced the release of offensive lineman Cole Madison and fullback Jordan Jones.

Jones was an undrafted free agent from Prairie View A&M and a likely long shot to make the 53-man roster. Madison, however, was a fifth-round pick in 2018 who actually made the roster to start last season.

The Washington State product sat out his rookie season due to personal issues and then tore his ACL during a practice last season. Now, he’s off the Packers roster before real football even begins.

GM Brian Gutekunst used three draft picks on interior linemen during April’s draft: Jon Runyan, Jake Hanson and Simon Stepaniak, who all likely lessened the chances of Madison making the roster.

The Packers need to be down to 80 players by Aug. 16. The team already lost receiver Devin Funchess, who opted out of the season. They also claimed H-back John Lovett, but he hasn’t passed a physical yet and isn’t on the official roster.

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Locked on Longhorns Podcast: LSU game cancelled, Big 12 plans

Friday’s Locked on Longhorns podcast discusses the LSU-Texas cancellation and what are the Big 12’s plans moving forward?

Friday’s Locked on Longhorns is packed full of schedule news, recruiting and who should be on the Mount Rushmore of Big 12 running backs and more.

  • SEC officially announces a conference only schedule, LSU-Texas now cancelled.
  • Big 12 virtual media day cancelled.
  • What will the Big 12 do in terms of the schedule and when will it be announced?
  • Jake Smith and Tarik Black will have new jersey numbers in 2020
  • The NCAA will allow social justice patches
  • New helmets
  • Which Longhorns are featured on the Mount Rushmore of Big 12 running backs?
  • Tom Herman’s ambiguous tweet
  • Texas earns blue chip commitment for 2022

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QB Nick Foles feels ‘right at home’ in Bears offense

Perhaps the biggest reason the Bears brought QB Nick Foles to Chicago was because of his familiarity with the offense.

The Chicago Bears were clear from the beginning of the offseason: They needed to bring in an experienced, veteran quarterback to challenge Mitchell Trubisky, who was coming off a season where he regressed. But when the Bears traded for Nick Foles, the move was met with some criticism, given general manager Ryan Pace had shelled out $21 million guaranteed and a fourth-round compensatory when there were more affordable options still on the market.

But one of the biggest reasons that the Bears were so gung-ho on bringing Foles to Chicago was because of his familiarity with the offense and the coaching staff. Not only has Foles worked with head coach Matt Nagy, offensive coordinator Bill Lazor and quarterbacks coach John DeFilippo in the past, he’s also operated in an offense similar to what the Bears run in Chicago.

Foles told reporters that he feels “right at home” in Nagy’s offense. An offense that is similar to the one he ran during his impressive postseason run in 2017 with the Philadelphia Eagles that culminated in a Super Bowl victory.

Considering back in March there were concerns about an unconventional 2020 season, the Bears knew that bringing in someone that was already familiar with the kind of offense the Bears run was best.

Given the absence of offseason workouts and preseason, it certainly helps having someone that’s already familiar with the offense that can challenge Trubisky for the starting job. But one of the disadvantages for Foles entering this QB battle is that he lacks the familiarity that Trubisky has with Chicago’s skill position players.

Now, Chicago’s most important position battle comes down to just training camp reps. Although the Bears will find creative ways to challenge Foles and Trubisky. Nagy has made it clear that he’s going to be upfront with both quarterbacks — that he won’t be afraid to tell them if they’re “playing like crap.”

Well, it certainly helps that both are already familiar with the offense.

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Joe Judge stressing personal responsibility in unusual season

Joe Judge met the media for the first time since camp opened.

On Friday, New York Giants head coach Joe Judge held his first media session since the team opened camp. The presser, like every other in this country these days was hosted virtually.

With MLB struggling to get their season going in this summer of COVID-19 outbreaks, Judge spoke about following protocols and being personally responsible. Player and coaching contingency plans in place, but evaluations on potential adjusted structure still ongoing. Also says wearing a mask, social distancing and staying home is a fair trade-off for playing in the NFL.

“The first thing we have to all understand is, everyone at this level has sacrificed to get here,” Judge said. “We’re going to have to make some more sacrifices, whether that’s socially away from the game, how we interact with friends and family members throughout this season. But we have to make the right decisions. The biggest thing is everyone has to understand that all of our decisions directly impact each other. It’s not fair for me to go out and do something and put myself at risk and come in here and get players sick. That’s not my right. I’m not entitled to do that. We have to all make the right decisions, both in the building following the protocols and away from the building. I think ultimately as a league, we just need to trust that the plan in place that the league put, make sure we adhere to the protocols, make sure we wear the PPEs. Let’s be careful, let’s be cautious, but we can operate aggressively if we just follow the plan in place.”

The Giants have had one player opt-out of the season (veteran Nate Solder) and another placed on the reserve /COVID list (second-year wide receiver David Sills). Judge, like all of us, is taking things in stride, letting the professionals do their jobs.

“I have a lot of confidence in the way that our medical team has set up these protocols and how they’re handling everything going forward,” he said. “I think our players will as well. We’re taking every possible step to make sure our players are coming into work every day and focused on football, but knowing that they’re safe if they follow the protocols and the plan we have in place. The biggest thing for us is any player who cannot be with the team on a daily basis due to any kind of illness is we can extend the meetings through Zoom like we did in the spring. The one thing is it’s not something foreign for our players now. They’ve already gone through an entire spring of it, so if they can’t be in the meeting room with us, they can be in a hotel room with whatever their personal situation is and still participate in the meetings and not fall behind on the mental aspect that day.”

It is the beginning of what promises to be the most unusual season in the history of American team sports.

Lydia Ko changes swing instructor yet again, this time to Sean Foley

Lydia Ko has been known to shake up her team a time or two, and she has done it again.

TOLEDO, Ohio – Lydia Ko has been known to shake up her team a time or two. That was the case again over the LPGA’s extended coronavirus break when about a month ago she started working with swing instructor Sean Foley.

Ko said Foley “hasn’t ripped anything apart.”

“He asked me the question, ‘Hey, if somebody asks you what are you working on, what are you going to say?’ ” said Ko. “I was like … we’re just getting into a position at the start of the swing to make sure that I can hit it freely and not, like, manipulate it.”

Ko’s list of former instructors is nearly as long as her caddie list. She was with Jorge Parada prior to Foley. She told Golfweek back in May of 2019 that she’d asked Chris Mayson and Foley to take a look at her swing. She ultimately went with David Whelan. Prior to that she’d been with Ted Oh, Gary Gilchrist and David Leadbetter. As an amateur, she worked with New Zealand’s Guy Wilson.

It’s a dizzying list for a 24-year-old who once made everything look so effortless.

Karen Stupples, an LPGA major winner who has followed Ko’s entire career both as a player and broadcaster for Golf Channel, weighed in on Ko’s swing coach carousel before the start of the LPGA Drive On Championship.

“We talked so much about how great she is around the green,” said Stupples, “how she visualizes how she’s feeling shots that not everybody has. She’s just magnificent with a wedge in her hand.

“My fear, and I think we’ve seen it over the last few years, she’s lost a little bit of that skill that she has because she’s so concerned with technique… If you make changes in your swing, it’s hard to not have those thoughts go through your head even on the shorter swings and the shorter shots because it just takes a while to work everything through the whole bag.”

Stupples will be pleased then to learn that Ko has recently taken a trip down memory lane.

“I’ve been looking at lots of my videos or swing videos,” she said. “Kind of weird to Google or YouTube yourself, but I’ve been doing that to just see my swing as an amateur.

‘He’s I think gotten me not to think too much about the lines of everything. I’ve tried to change my mindset of not trying to take a video of my swing every single time I’m on the driving range.”

And then this kicker: “It doesn’t need to look like a perfect swing for me to just play golf.”

It’s been more than two years since Ko, a 15-time winner on the LPGA, hoisted a trophy. She’s a two-time champion of next week’s Marathon Classic. At the opening round of the LPGA Drive On Championship, Ko carded a 3-under 69 at Inverness Club to sit three shots back of leader Danielle Kang.

Ko, who like Foley is based in Orlando, Florida, played quite a bit of golf over the LPGA’s extended break at Lake Nona with fellow tour players Lindy Duncan and Anne van Dam. Instead of playing for money, they’d make each other do push-ups after a lost hole.

“We used to play for 10 push-ups,” she said, “but now we play for five because we were like, ‘Man, we can’t do like 40.’ ”

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J.K. Dobbins’ goal is to help the Ravens to the Super Bowl, not to sit on the bench

Former Ohio State running back J.K. Dobbins has a goal of helping the Baltimore Ravens to the Super Bowl, not riding the bench.

To say it was surprising former Ohio State running back J.K. Dobbins fell to the second round and was the fifth running back taken in the 2020 NFL Draft would be an understatement. Sure, maybe head coaches, executives, and scouts didn’t think he was a complete fit for the scheme and system they run, but the tape simply didn’t lie.

Dobbins has an uncommon blend of vision, speed, strength, and character that doesn’t come along very often. It all worked out just fine for the Baltimore Ravens though, as they jumped at the chance to grab Dobbins despite already having more than one running back on the roster capable of toting the mail in the NFL.

And that wasn’t lost on Dobbins. He knows that he has to fit into a team concept initially and prove himself, but it won’t be easy. Dobbins has had early success at every level he’s been. He was at La Grange High School in Texas and broke out his sophomore season, rushing for 2,243 yards and 37 touchdowns.

When he came to Ohio State, he immediately broke the school’s freshman rushing record. He then split time with Mike Webber his sophomore season, then broke the single-season Ohio State rushing record in 2020.

Our sister site, Ravens Wire was there at the video press conference where Dobbins laid the groundwork for how he feels about fitting in, and what he wants his future role to be.

“I don’t know how patient I can be,” Dobbins said in the video press conference Friday. “My thing is, I’m just trying to work hard, I’m trying to play, I’m trying to get on the field someway somehow. My goal ain’t to be patient.”

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Dobbins knows he has his work cut out for him and that he’s probably not going to be the starter right away, but he’s hoping his work ethic and production sets him up as the future of the position in Baltimore.

“I’m not saying I’m going to start or anything but I feel like if I just work hard enough and show the coaches I can play at this level then I’m going to be on the field,” Dobbins said.

And he wants to be a part of things immediately, not as an afterthought or mop-up duty development.

“My goal is to help the team win a Super Bowl, not sitting on the bench,” Dobbins said.

Knowing what we know about Dobbins and his character, I would bet against him. He’s got all the tools to be one of the best backs in the NFL, it just might not happen immediately.

 

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Nets need to re-evaluate after rough loss to Magic

The Brooklyn Nets received a rather startling wakeup call on Friday at the hands of the Orlando Magic.

The Nets entering Friday as the No. 7 team in the Eastern Conference. Before the end of the day, Brooklyn was the eighth seed.

The new No. 7 in the East is the Orlando Magic, who knocked off the Nets in their first seeding game, 128-118.

Brooklyn had the early 39-36 edge as both teams shot well in the first quarter. But the Nets’ defense was non-existent in the second and third quarters.

Brooklyn did surge back in the fourth quarter, scoring 37 points or Orlando’s 16, but that was mostly a battle of reserves.

Now, the Magic have some quality players on their roster (i.e. Nikola Vucevic), and the Nets are, of course, without multiple major contributors. But this is the group Brooklyn is rocking with in the bubble, and Orlando certainly isn’t the best team featured on their eight-game slate.

Even though the depleted, ninth-ranked Washington Wizards are up next on Brooklyn’s schedule (Sunday at 2 p.m.), the Nets need to reassess pretty much everything they did on Friday.

Caris LeVert finished with 17 points and seven assists in the loss, though it was Timothe Luwawu-Caborrot who led the nets in scoring with 24 points.

Both Jarrett Allen and Joe Harris scored 14 points apiece for the Nets. Allen also had five boards, second on Brooklyn’s roster to only Rodions Kurucs (six).

Tyler Johnson scored 11 points off the bench and had four assists in his first regular season game for the Nets.