Sports blog information from USA TODAY.
The NFL Draft is here and the first round order is set, barring trades.
The first round of the NFL Draft is upon us. Coverage will be from 8-11:30 p.m. ET, Thursday. You can watch or listen via ABC, ESPN, NFL Network, ESPN Deportes, and ESPN Radio.
Zac Taylor went 2-14 as a rookie NFL coach and his reward is the top pick in the 2020 NFL Draft, which starts Thursday.
Bill Belichick, Bill O’Brien and Bruce Arians are among the NFL coaches under the heat lamp heading into 2020.
The NFL Draft will help shape rosters for the 2020 season. However, decisions made by some coaches already have put them squarely in the spotlight for the upcoming season. Some of these may not be on the proverbial hot seat — yet — but they definitely will have interested eyes feasted upon them.
Adam Gase didn’t win any popularity contests in his first year with the Jets. If the former Miami Dolphins coach checks in with another below .500 season, he could be checking out as head coach of Gang Green.
Mike Curtis, who famously clobbered a fan during a Baltimore Colts game, has died at age 77.
Mike Curtis, who provided one of the most memorable cult moments in NFL history, died at the age of 77.
The former Baltimore Colts linebacker provided an unforgettable memory when he clocked a fan who ran onto the field during a game against the Miami Dolphins in 1971.
When criticized, the Hall of Famer responded: “[The fan] shouldn’t have been out on the field,” Curtis said.
Curtis also helped set up Jim O’Brien’s game-winning field goal in Super Bowl V with an interception in the final minute.
Curtis played 11 seasons with the Baltimore Colts before joining the Seattle Seahawks expansion team and then for two more years with the Washington Redskins. He wore No. 32 because the Colts drafted him as a fullback out of Duke before converting him to linebacker.
The players who became the NFL draft’s Mr. Irrelevant
Troy Aikman, Eli and Peyton Manning, and Terry Bradshaw are No. 1 overall picks who played on Super Bowl winners.
NFL teams hope they will find a diamond with the top pick in the draft, especially given the losing it usually takes to be in a position to make that selection. However, it is no guarantee of a Super Bowl championship. These are the top picks who managed to wrangle a ring since the common draft began. Jim Grabowski (Dolphins, 1966) and Buck Buchanan (Chiefs, 1963) were No. 1 overall picks by AFL teams who won rings. Paul Hornung (Packers, 1957) was a No. 1 pick out of Notre Dame by Green Bay, and was on the first Super Bowl title team.
The Colts grabbed Bubba Smith out of Michigan State in 1967. He was part of the team that won Super Bowl Super Bowl V.
Mr. Irrelevant is a tribute to the player chosen last in the NFL Draft.
The last pick in the NFL Draft is honored as Mr. Irrelevant. He is feted in Southern California as if he were the first pick. Thanks to Mrirrelevant.org we can back at the players and what became of them.
Kelvin Kirk was drafted by the Pittsburgh Steelers in the 17th round of the 1976 NFL Draft, making him the first Mr. Irrelevant. He wound up playing seven seasons in the Canadian Football League with the Toronto Argonauts, Calgary Stampeders, Saskatchewan Roughriders and Ottawa Rough Riders. Kirk worked as an artist for the Ottawa Citizen before his sudden death by heart attack while playing a pick–up game of basketball in 2003.
The New England Patriots are no longer the favorites in the AFC East, according to one sportsbook’s future odds.
Caesars Sportsbook fed the appetite Thursday of bettors looking for any sort of action. The sportsbook released its odds package for the upcoming NFL season. One of the more intriguing opportunities has the New England Patriots no longer as the favorites in the AFC East. That honor goes to the Buffalo Bills. Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are 17-1 when it comes to winning the Super Bowl.
Odds to win NFC: 20-1
Division: 6-1
Over/under: 7.5
Odds to make playoffs: Yes +245, No -290
How have teams with the No. 1 overall pick fared the next season?
How have NFL teams done the year after they made the first selection in the NFL Draft?
The first pick in the NFL Draft guarantees a college star … and not much else. A look at how the teams did in the first season after they kicked off the selection process. Did they improve, falter, or run in place?
The NFL’s expansion team that would start play in 1967, the New Orleans Saints, swapped the No. 1 pick to Baltimore eight days before the draft. The Saints got backup quarterback Gary Cuozzo and Baltimore landed Michigan State defensive end Bubba Smith. The Colts had gone 9-5 in the 1966 season. They followed with an 11-1-2 mark in ’67, the only loss occurring in the final week of the regular season to the Los Angeles Rams.
51 Pro Football Hall of Famers from small schools
