Tag: aiden hutchinson

AFC North rival trades away star DE at deadline

The Cleveland Browns have traded away their star DE Za’Darius Smith to the Detroit Lions at the trade deadline.

While three-quarters of the AFC North continue to build up their rosters for potential playoff runs, the Cleveland Browns appear to be selling their 2024 seasonal aspirations, as the team has traded away one of their star players at the trade deadline.

Cleveland is sending DE Za’Darius Smith and a 2026 seventh-round draft pick to the Detroit Lions in exchange for a 2025 fifth-round and a 2026 sixth-round draft pick, per insider Ian Rapoport.

Considering how talented and established Smith is off the edge, the Lions have been gifted the deal of a lifetime. Detroit was in dire need of an edge rusher, as their elite DE Aiden Hutchinson suffered a season-ending broken left tibia in Week 6.

Will Cleveland continue to sell their 2024 roster as the 4:00 PM EST deadline inches ever closer? While it appears to be another case of Juju Smith-Schuster’s infamous line, ‘the Browns is the Browns,’ Pittsburgh is likely laser-focused on the trade deadline themselves, as the team has been linked to both wide receiver trade targets and defensive depth in recent days.

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Chris Olave named a finalist for 2022 Pepsi Rookie of the Year award

Chris Olave has been named a finalist for the 2022 Pepsi Rookie of the Year award, which Alvin Kamara won back in 2017. Via @RossJacksonNOLA:

In what is shaping up to be a highly-decorated career, New Orleans Saints wide receiver Chris Olave is getting consideration for major end of year awards in his rookie season. Olave has been selected as one of six finalists for the Pepsi Rookie of the Year award. The award is separate from the AP Offensive and Defensive Rookie of the Year awards, but is a high-honor in the NFL.

Olave is being recognized among an impressive field including New York Jets rookies cornerback Sauce Gardner (favorite for the AP defensive rookie of the year award) and former Ohio State teammate Garrett Wilson. He is also being considered alongside the 2022 NFL draft’s No. 2 overall selection, Detroit Lions defensive end Aidan Hutchinson. Here’s what the NFL said of Olave’s rookie accomplishments in a press release:

New Orleans Saints wide receiver Chris Olave led all rookies with 69.5 receiving yards per game, ranked second in receiving yards (1,042) and tied for second in receptions (72) in 2022. Olave became the third New Orleans rookie ever with at least 1,000 receiving yards, joining MARQUES COLSTON (1,038 receiving yards in 2006) and MICHAEL THOMAS (1,137 in 2016). He led all rookies with 12 games with 50-or-more receiving yards, tied for the third-most such games ever by a rookie, trailing only MICHAEL CLAYTON (14 games in 2004) and TERRY GLENN (13 in 1996.

Should he win this award, Olave would become the second Saints rookie to receive the honor. Back in 2017, running back Alvin Kamara became the first member of the black and gold to do so in a season where he also won the AP Offensive Rookie of the Year award. The explosive wideout has had his sites set on end of year rookie honors for some time and now he is one step closer to realizing his goal.

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1 most likely breakout rookie for all 32 NFL teams in 2022

Kenny Pickett, Aidan Hutchinson and Logan Bruss (!) top 2022’s breakout rookie candidates.

There’s a reason the sports world stops for the NFL over three days in the middle of spring.

The annual NFL Draft delivers bundles of low-cost talent to Sunday rosters across the league. A single player can change the fortunes of an entire franchise. A stellar draft class in April can lead to a decade of playoff runs and Super Bowl appearances.

Some of these players will need time to adjust to the machinations of the pro game. We’re not talking about those guys today (but if you’re interested, here’s a look at this season’s veteran breakout candidates). Instead, let’s discuss the impact rookies who’ll make their Sunday debuts this fall and have an instant effect that ripples across their new rosters.

2022 NFL Rookie of the Year: Kenny Pickett, Aiden Hutchinson lead early favorites

There’s plenty of value on the offensive side while the defensive odds look a lot like the draft order.

With the 2022 NFL Draft officially in the books, it’s time for bettors to take all the knowledge gained over the last few weeks and attempt to pick a Rookie of the Year winner on both offense and defense.

One is already looking like a more difficult challenge than the other.

On the defensive side of the ball, top picks Aiden Hutchinson and Kayvon Thibodeaux lead the way with +450 odds at Tipico. Offensively, quarterback Kenny Pickett (+500) and wideout Drake London (+700) lead the class. It’s certainly looking like oddsmakers care more about draft position when it comes to defense.

Here’s a look at the rest of the incredibly early odds for offensive and defensive Rookie of the Year.

All odds via Tipico

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Doug Farrar’s three-round ‘What I would do’ mock draft

In his final mock, Touchdown Wire’s Doug Farrar puts on his GM hat for the first 105 picks in the 2022 NFL draft.

There are almost as many ways to do mock drafts as there are mock drafts, which is saying something this time of year. There are the mocks that try and get into the heads of every team. There are the mocks that are more like big boards, that align the best players overall down the first round. And there are those mocks in which the Mocker in Charge puts his or her general manager hat on, and tries to anticipate the best moves for every NFL team.

This particular mock, for the most part, is one of those “What I would do” mocks, in which I try to marry the best overall prospects with teams and team needs through the first three rounds. There are no trades in this particular mock; it’s more about fits and situations.

So here, with a few explained exceptions, is how the first three rounds of the 2022 NFL draft might go were I in charge of the whole thing.

As always, thank your deity of choice that I am not.

Vikings 2022 NFL draft preview: Where does Minnesota stand at DE?

The Vikings have Danielle Hunter and D.J. Wonnum. Now what?

The 2022 NFL draft is rich with pass-rushing talent, and that’s a good thing when considering the insatiable need to wreak havoc against opposing offenses.

Count the Minnesota Vikings among the teams looking to add another potential game-breaker to set the edge on defense.

A team can never have too many talented defensive ends on a roster. Particularly with the Vikings, with all of the uncertainty right now in the secondary, they’re going to need playmakers up front that can get home for sacks or—at the very least—disrupt the timing of offenses.

There are several players within reach for the Vikings that could do exactly that in this draft. Here is where the team stands right now at the defensive end position.

Assessing Jags’ top-7 positional needs for 2022 offseason

The Jags have to find a new head coach soon, but when that’s taken care of, the next staff is going to have a lot to clean up.

The Jacksonville Jaguars are going to have a busy offseason, which includes potentially naming a new head coach this upcoming week. However, when that coach takes the job, he will have a lot of work to do in terms of fixing the roster, which has many holes.

Luckily, the Jags are set to have an estimated amount of $59.6 million in available cap space, per Over the Cap, which could help them add a good bit of proven talent. They also have 13 draft picks to bolster the roster, too.

With this month set to be pretty busy for the Jags, let’s take a look at their top needs heading forward:

Jags leap Lions for No. 1 overall pick after Week 15 results

The #Jaguars didn’t look significantly better than they did under Urban Meyer Sunday, but they did manage to acquire the No. 1 overall pick due to a 30-16 loss to HOU and a Lions victory.

The Jacksonville Jaguars lost their sixth consecutive game Sunday after falling to the Houston Texans by a score of 30-16. However, that may not turn out to be a bad thing as the Detroit Lions stunned the Arizona Cardinals, putting them at a 2-11-1 record, giving the 2-12 Jags the No. 1 overall pick — at least for now.

If the Jags continue on the path that they are on, they would eventually end up with the No. 1 overall pick for the second consecutive time after earning it last season and taking Trevor Lawrence with it in April. However, this time around the No. 1 overall pick puts them in the driver’s seat for one of two elite pass-rushers in Michigan’s Aiden Hutchinson and Oregon’s Kayvon Thibodeaux.

While the Jags clearly could use more weapons around Lawrence instead of the two aforementioned pass-rushers, acquiring the No. 1 overall pick and drafting either still would be huge for the franchise and could get them back to their roots of playing defensive football. Then, in the second round, they could circle around and get a skill threat on offense.

Many fans have been vocal about adding a receiver early in the draft and a strong case could be made to do that in Round 2 instead of Round 1. The Jags have had great success in the second round, selecting names like Maurice Jones-Drew, Allen Robinson, Brad Meester, DJ Chark, and even one of their most recent second-rounders, Tyson Campbell, is looking solid.

All of that said, with a high draft pick up for grabs and a new head coaching search coming up, the Jags will be exciting to watch despite only having one more win than last season.

Opinion: Wisconsin’s most likely loss this regular season

After looking through the updated Big Ten only schedule for this season, there appears to only be one real test for the Wisconsin Badgers this year, the Michigan Wolverines. Michigan was not the powerhouse that it has tried to be last season because injuries, as well as a lack of depth at key positions, caused the Wolverines to finish the season at a mediocre 6-3. 

After looking through the updated Big Ten only schedule for this season, there appears to only be one real test for the Wisconsin Badgers this year, the Michigan Wolverines. Michigan was not the powerhouse that it has tried to be last season because injuries, as well as a lack of depth at key positions, caused the Wolverines to finish the season at a mediocre 6-3. 

With an entire offseason to get healthy on both sides of the ball, Michigan can return to pushing for the number one spot in the Big Ten East behind perennial powerhouse Ohio State. This season, the Wolverines will be returning Dylan McCaffrey from injury to be the future of this team that has been talked about since his commitment. McCaffrey is an excellent dual-threat quarterback, that with the right weapons, could be one of the best quarterbacks in the Big Ten this season behind Tanner Morgan and Justin Fields. 

Luckily, McCaffrey will have Ronnie Bell returning this season as well. Last year, Bell had a solid season filling in for the injured Donovan Peoples-Jones and Tarik Black, despite the insecurity at the quarterback position over the course of the season. He earned 758 yards and one touchdown with an outstanding average of 15.9 yards per catch in 2019. Bell can be a threat downfield and in the return game this season against Wisconsin. 

On the defensive side of the ball, Michigan will also be returning two of the top defensive lineman in the Big Ten in Aiden Hutchinson and Kwity Paye. These two are also ranked highly nationally and could provide matchup problems for the inexperienced Wisconsin offensive line this season. Another player returning for Michigan is defensive back Ambry Thomas, who is a favorite by many to be First-Team All-Big Ten this season. Thomas had a great year last year with 30 solo tackles, two fumble recoveries, three interceptions, and three pass deflections and will likely continue to improve in his senior season. 

Michigan is losing a lot of talent at wide receiver this season because of the transfer of Tarik Black to Texas and the loss of Donovan Peoples-Jones to the NFL, but the return of much of this team from injury will make Michigan the biggest threat to Wisconsin next year. The Wolverines have a stout defense with a scheme that has shut down the running attack of the Badgers in the past, and if Dylan McCaffrey can efficiently lead the offense with Ronnie Bell and Zach Charbonnet, this team could give Wisconsin a run for its money at “The Big House” in September.