Tag: 2020 Draft NFL

Odell Beckham Jr. sounds off after ESPN shows him kicking net during Giants days

“Can’t do anything but laugh at this point.”

Odell Beckham Jr. went off on ESPN for a video package the network used during its 2020 NFL Draft coverage. Before the New York Giants selected Andrew Thomas fourth overall, draft host Trey Wingo recapped the organization’s recent struggles, noting that the Giants have missed the playoffs in seven out of the last eight seasons – while leaving out that the year before that streak began, the Giants won the Super Bowl.

ESPN also showed a famous clip of former Giants receiver Odell Beckham Jr. kicking a net on the sidelines. Beckham Jr. reacted to the choice on Twitter, and wrote that on a night when so many positives are being celebrated, he was still cast in a negative light.

 

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Dave Gettleman put on a mask during the NFL draft, and confused everyone

Puzzling.

It’s the NFL draft, which means it’s also time for New York Giants general manager Dave Gettleman to do something inexplicable.

He took Georgia Bulldogs tackle Andrew Thomas at fourth overall in the 2020 NFL Draft, which surprised some (our Steven Ruiz gave the pick a D+). ESPN analysts Daniel Jeremiah and Louis Riddick had Thomas as the third or fourth-best tackle on the board. But that wasn’t what stunned NFL fans. Moments after ESPN announced the Giants’ pick, the television broadcast went to Gettelman’s home, where he was putting on a mask. Again, he did so in the comforts of his own home, where he appeared to be totally alone.

I’m not trying to make fun of a guy who is wearing a mask. That’s a good practice during a pandemic. Still, it’s not clear why this would be necessary in your own home.

Fans and media members on Twitter were completely puzzled. Yes, they had jokes.

One thing is for sure: Gettelman makes good TV.

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Kliff Kingsbury made everyone jealous with his lavish home NFL Draft setup

Kliff Kingsbury has an amazing view.

NFL staffers are stuck at home in their own individual NFL Draft war rooms on Thursday due to the coronavirus crisis, and there’s a wide range of setups across the league. San Francisco 49ers GM John Lynch is working in high-tech paradise, with five different computer monitors, three telephones and a television at his disposal. New York Giants GM Dave Gettleman, meanwhile, is using a single laptop and a massive binder.

The best draft setup in the NFL, though, may belong to Kliff Kingsbury. The Cardinals shared a photo of Kingsbury lounging in his beautiful home and casually enjoying the pre-draft coverage. If he gets bored waiting for the Cardinals’ pick at No. 8, he could just glance over to the stunning view outside his window. It’s good to be Kliff.

 

 

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A reminder that new Bengals QB Joe Burrow has very strong feelings about Cincinnati’s signature Skyline Chili

Joe Burrow is not a fan of Cincinnati’s famous Skyline Chili…

Joe Burrow is a quirky, cool dude with a great arm and swagger to go with it, and Thursday night, he became the No. 1 overall 2020 NFL Draft pick when the Cincinnati Bengals selected him first in the virtual event. But the 23-year-old quarterback has a smoking hot take specifically related to food and his new city.

This is your reminder that Joe Burrow hates Skyline Chili. And he’s well aware that people in Cincinnati might end up hating him right back for this.

Skyline Chili is a Cincinnati favorite from the restaurant of the same name and is often served over a heaping mountain of spaghetti and topped with an obscene amount of shredded cheese or on a hot dog and topped with an obscene amount of shredded cheese.

For The Win’s own review of Cincinnati-style chili in 2015 described it as “actually not bad.”

Chili
(USA TODAY Sports Images)

However, Burrow — who went to high school in Ohio — is not a fan. And he’s said and tweeted exactly that multiple times over the last few years. (As far as For The Win’s search can tell, these are Burrow’s only existing tweets about Skyline Chili.)

But after reiterating how much Burrow hates Skyline Chili, he also said in January that he “might learn to like it, but we’ll see.”

Skyline itself doesn’t seem to care and was, at least a few months ago, ready to welcome Burrow to town. That’s probably still true now that he’s officially the No. 1 overall pick.

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Jerry Jones, unfortunately, didn’t tell his scout team to leave him alone during the NFL Draft

Jerry Jones will be home alone, but he won’t be drafting alone.

Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones is also the team’s GM, which might explain why this franchise has won only three playoff games since 1996.

Jones, like all other GMs and teams around the league, will be handling this year’s draft from his house while doing everything virtually due to the coronavirus.

There was a tweet going around that said Jones had asked his scouting team to not bother him during the draft. If you’ve been on Twitter or the internet you know some things sound too good to be true and aren’t in fact true.

That’s what happened here, as many people and outlets fell for what would have been a juicy storyline:

That “just having fun” tweet didn’t gain as much attention as the first one, unfortunately.

But still, the thought of Jones working from home on this draft is so rich. Of all the GMs to have issues with technology you gotta think Jones is up there on the list, looking around his mansion for a new AOL CD to plug into his computer for more internet hours.

Things could also be great when it comes to Dallas’ pick at No. 17. Jerry will have the final say alone and while he’ll be on video conferences with the rest of the team’s front office and coaching staff, the pick will be his to deliver to the league. Remember back in 2014 when his son talked him out of Johnny Manziel? What if Jerry gets a gut feeling in his living room and decides to roll the dice on someone? It’s easier to make a gut decision when nobody is in the room to physically impose their will over your selection.

That would be fun.

We as sports fans need this NFL draft to be entertaining because we don’t have sports in our lives.

Come on, Jerry, let’s get weird tonight.

Let’s have some fun.

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Joe Burrow preemptively addresses critics of his NFL draft look: ‘None of the barbershops are open’

Will we see a shaggy Joe Burrow on Thursday night?

Joe Burrow’s draft day preparation is going much differently than he likely dreamed it would after winning the national championship with LSU, as he’ll be celebrating at home with boxes of Buffalo Wild Wings instead of riding a draft boat to shake Roger Goodell’s hand in Las Vegas.

Burrow is a lock to be the No. 1 overall selection on Thursday night, and he has a message for any would-be haters when he shows up on TV. Burrow tweeted that people aren’t allowed to comment on his appearance because he hasn’t been able to get a fresh haircut due to the coronavirus crisis. The official LSU football account responded with a photo of the look we can only hope Burrow is going for on Thursday.

 

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ESPN’s Todd McShay is recovering from coronavirus, will miss 2020 NFL Draft coverage

Todd McShay won’t be a part of ESPN’s NFL Draft coverage this weekend.

ESPN’s Todd McShay has become a staple of NFL Draft coverage on TV, but the analyst announced Thursday that he will not be able to work during the 2020 NFL Draft while he recovers from coronavirus.

In a statement released on Twitter, McShay thanked his colleagues and people in the NFL for their support, and joked that it’ll be up to Trey Wingo and the rest of the ESPN crew to “keep Kiper in line.”

“I also want to assure you I’ll be back, thanks to the tireless work of healthcare workers and first responders. You are truly our nation’s heroes. 
In the meantime, I’ll be watching and I hope you will be too. I also hope Wingo and crew will help me out and do their part to keep Kiper in line!”

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See the three players that moved into Mel Kiper’s top 5 in final NFL mock draft

What will the Lions do at No. 3?

Quarterback Joe Burrow and edge rusher Chase Young will be the first two players selected on Thursday night in the 2020 NFL Draft barring a shocking trade, but beyond Washington’s pick at No. 2, there’s very little consensus on what will happen next. Will a team trade up to No. 3 to take Tua Tagovailoa? Will the Lions use the pick on Ohio State star Jeff Okudah? Will the Patriots jump into the top 10?

ESPN draft expert Mel Kiper Jr. released his final mock draft on Thursday morning, and there’s some major movement inside his top five within the last week. In his mock draft 4.0, released April 14th, Kiper had Okudah, Isaiah Simmons and Justin Herbert going third, fourth, and fifth, respectively. All three players dropped in his 5.0.

Kiper swapped Herbert with former Alabama star Tua Tagovailoa, who had previously been at No. 6 to the Chargers. Instead, Miami gets one of the best QB prospects in the draft, and Los Angeles settles for a QB that our Steven Ruiz says teams should be avoiding.

The bigger surprises in Kiper’s top 5, though, come at No. 3 and No. 4. Instead of Okudah, Kiper has the Lions selecting Auburn’s Derrick Brown, who was sixth on our consensus big board, behind Okudah at third.

At No. 4, Kiper has the Giants selecting Iowa’s Tristan Wirfs. Last week, Kiper was projecting Clemson’s Isaiah Simmons to New York. Wirfs ranked 10th on our big board, well behind Simmons at fifth.

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2020 NFL Draft: What time will your favorite team pick in the first round?

Only interested in seeing your team’s pick? Here’s what time you need to tune in.

The 2020 NFL Draft will begin Thursday night with the first round, and for the first time ever, the league will be holding a virtual draft due to the coronavirus crisis. NFL GMs and coaches from around the league will be in their own personal war rooms at home for the duration of the draft – and some teams ran into some technical issues during mock draft test run just a few days ago.

The draft is a marathon three-day event, and the first round alone will likely stretch nearly four hours on Thursday night. If you’re not up for watching the entire event just to see your team make its pick, we’re here to help.

Using the broadcasts from recent years as a guide, we can approximate when every team will be making their first round selections. If you only want to see your team’s selection, you can use the times below to have a general idea, give or take a few minutes, of when to tune in.

The 2020 NFL Draft will begin at 8 p.m. ET on ESPN, ABC and the NFL Network.

1. Cincinnati Bengals – 8:19 p.m. ET

2. Washington Redskins – 8:29

3. Detroit Lions – 8:39

4. New York Giants – 8:49

5. Miami Dolphins – 8:59

6. Los Angeles Chargers – 9:07

7. Carolina Panthers – 9:15

8. Arizona Cardinals – 9:23

9. Jacksonville Jaguars – 9:31

10. Cleveland Browns – 9:39

11. New York Jets – 9:47

12. Las Vegas Raiders – 9:54

13. San Francisco 49ers – 10:01

14. Tampa Bay Buccaneers – 10:07

15. Denver Broncos – 10:13

16. Atlanta Falcons – 10:19

17. Dallas Cowboys – 10:25

18. Miami Dolphins – 10:31

19. Las Vegas Raiders – 10:37

20. Jacksonville Jaguars – 10:43

21. Philadelphia Eagles – 10:49

22. Minnesota Vikings – 10:55

23. New England Patriots – 11:00

24. New Orleans Saints – 11:05

25. Minnesota Vikings – 11:10

26. Miami Dolphins – 11:15

27. Seattle Seahawks – 11:20

28. Baltimore Ravens – 11:25

29. Tennessee Titans – 11:29

30. Green Bay Packers – 11:34

31. San Francisco 49ers – 11:38

32. Kansas City Chiefs – 11:43

2020 NFL Draft: The biggest needs for all 32 teams

What does each team need most heading into the NFL Draft? We made some picks.

It’s impossible to know what’s going on inside the head of an NFL GM — let alone know what outside pressures might put weight on his decisions. Owners tend to have opinions, as do head coaches. So trying to predict what a team sees as its biggest needs heading into the draft can be difficult. And even so, what a team thinks it “needs” might be influenced by who’s still available — at least in the first and second round.

Still, we thought it would be valuable to look, from an outsider’s perspective, at the places where teams are weak and attempt to envision a reasonable selection who might fix the problem.

We’ve listed every team, in the order they’ll make their first selections (several teams have multiple first-round picks; the final six on this list aren’t scheduled to pick until Round 2.)

1. Cincinnati Bengals

Biggest needs: Everything, including QB, LB, OL
Pick based on need: Joe Burrow, QB, LSU

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With Andy Dalton on the roster, the Bengals probably have bigger needs than quarterback. But even when there’s a minor need at quarterback, it can feel like a gaping hole. Cincy needs help all over the offensive line. They need help all over the defensive line, too. The quickest path to winning more games, however, is to upgrade at quarterback. And Joe Burrow helps them do just that. They’ll begin to fill around him once they get him in the building.

Interestingly, the arrival of Burrow may not exactly settle them at the quarterback position. The team will likely release or trade Dalton, which means they’ll be in the market for a good backup. Will they look to someone like Josh McCown? Or perhaps, the Bengals will be happy with Ryan Finley, their 2019 fourth-rounder.

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