Sports blog information from USA TODAY.
Recapping our picks in the Saints Wire four-round collaborative 2023 mock draft, via @john_siglerr, @DillySanders, @RossJacksonNOLA, and @MaddyHudak_94:
What will the New Orleans Saints do on draft day? That’s an impossible question to answer so far out from the 2023 NFL draft, but that’s not going to stop us from trying. The Saints Wire staff got together and collaborated on a four-round projection using the Pro Football Network mock draft machine.
Here’s what we came away with in trying to mimic what we know about the Saints draft trends and likely team needs after free agency and a month out from this year’s selection process:
A three-round CBS Sports mock draft has the New Orleans Saints investing heavily in their defensive line, starting with Georgia Tech DE Keion White:
Mock drafts here, get your mock drafts: we’ve got the latest New Orleans Saints picks from a three-round projection by CBS Sports analyst Ryan Wilson, who took on the unenviable task of matching 100-plus draft prospects with all 32 teams.
It’s easy to see his vision for the Saints, though. Wilson has New Orleans invested a ton of resources in its defensive line, which could use the help after the unit lost three starters in free agency. Marcus Davenport is a Vikings, David Onyemata is a (very well-compensated) Falcon, and Shy Tuttle is a Panther.
The Saints have signed some replacements on the open market but an injection of fresh legs from the draft would do a lot to rebuild confidence in their defensive front. Let’s just hope they don’t forget to get more help offensively while they’re at it:
Saints mock draft roundup: Tennessee QB Hendon Hooker is popular in three-round projections
It’s important to remember that the NFL draft runs longer than just one round. That’s been big for the New Orleans Saints, who have done much better in rounds two and three than in the first round in recent years. Missing on high draft picks adds pressure to those that followed to compensate, and so far they’ve been up to the task.
So even though they’ll be on the clock at No. 29 overall in April, there are other picks at play. Let’s round up the latest mock draft projections to get an idea of who the Saints could be coming away with in the first two or three rounds this year:
Despite a tough road loss to Tennessee, The Crimson Tide stay put as a projected No. 1 seed.
Alabama basketball suffered loss No. 4 in the 2022-2023 season to Tennessee on the road. A sloppy game by the Crimson Tide’s offense led to the defeat.
Though it may sting, the outcome really doesn’t have much of an effect on the team for now. The Crimson Tide will make the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament unless the program somehow seizes to exist before it gets started. At this point, it’s all about seeding.
Well, ESPN’s bracketology expert Joe Lunardi dropped Alabama from being the overall top seed, but still has the Tide entering the tournament as a No. 1 seed.
— Joe Lunardi (@ESPNLunardi) February 16, 2023
Roll Tide Wire will continue to cover Alabama basketball and provide projection updates as March Madness approaches.
[lawrence-auto-related count=1]
[lawrence-auto-related count=1]
[mm-video type=video id=01gs6kwywd24a0fgawp4 playlist_id=01eqbz6mkdd99nyvkm player_id=01f5k5y2jb3twsvdg4 image=https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/video/thumbnail/mmplus/01gs6kwywd24a0fgawp4/01gs6kwywd24a0fgawp4-cc4dc58d18d4972573055fca1efefa51.jpg]
Contact/Follow us @RollTideWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Alabama news, notes and opinion. You can also follow AJ Spurr on Twitter @SpurrFM.
Projections are in favor of the Crimson Tide as the 2022-2023 regular season winds down.
With only seven games remaining in conference play, the Alabama Crimson Tide (11-0) stands two full games clear of the Texas A&M Aggies who are currently second in the SEC. The Tide has been incredibly dominant in SEC play winning games by an average margin of victory of 22.3 points per game.
Alabama is expected to win the conference by four games according to KenPom, which uses advanced data analytics to determine the most likely outcome for college basketball games and seasons and is one of the most reliable metrics in the sport.
If the Tide were to actually win the SEC by four games, it would be the ugliest SEC race since 2015 when the Kentucky Wildcats won the conference by five games. The Tide have looked completely dominant so far, but they will still have a few tough matchups before post-season play. The Tide still have to play Auburn twice, travel to Tennessee, and finish the regular season at Texas A&M.
From Gary: “KenPom is now projecting Alabama to win the SEC by four games. If it goes down that way, it'll be the most lopsided SEC race since Kentucky won the league by five games in 2015 before losing to Wisconsin in the Final Four.” https://t.co/ZULOWUXiwO
— Mike Rodak (@mikerodak) February 9, 2023
[mm-video type=video id=01gra9f3wvdk658k0wqb playlist_id=01eqbz6mkdd99nyvkm player_id=01f1jz1vgtfhzk6ner image=https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/video/thumbnail/mmplus/01gra9f3wvdk658k0wqb/01gra9f3wvdk658k0wqb-0393a843301c99dcf40f605d2c996663.jpg]
[lawrence-auto-related count=1]
[lawrence-auto-related count=1]
Contact/Follow us @RollTideWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Alabama news, notes and opinion. You can also follow Sam Murphy on Twitter @SamMurphy02.
The latest 2023 NFL draft projections connect the Saints to a lot of pass rushers and wide receivers after trading Sean Payton, including Ohio State’s Jaxon Smith-Njigba:
Wide receivers and defensive ends are popular with the New Orleans Saints in the latest mock drafts, but they have few options to invest in a first-round quarterback. This week’s big Sean Payton trade brought a first rounder to New Orleans, and mock draft experts and forecasters from around the NFL’s orbit have updated their projections to reflect the change now that the Saints are picking at No. 29 overall (or No. 30, if you’re counting the Miami Dolphins’ forfeited first-round selection).
But who do they have the Saints picking? Let’s survey the latest round of mock drafts and see who’s buzzing:
The Saints project to get a single compensatory pick in the 2023 draft after losing free agents Terron Armstead and Marcus Williams in 2022:
It’s still kind of bizarre that the NFL hides its compensatory draft pick formula from the public eye, but Over The Cap’s Nick Korte comes closest each year to accurately projecting how these comp picks are awarded. And for his final projection for the 2023 draft, Korte has the New Orleans Saints receiving a single comp pick in the seventh round after losing free agents Terron Armstead and Marcus Williams last year.
Both of those players signed contracts that would have brought third- or fourth-round comp picks to New Orleans, but the Saints negated the losses by adding free agents Andy Dalton and Marcus Maye. As Korte explained it, he has the difference between those contracts resulting in a net value compensatory pick:
“This results from the Saints seeing two players, Terron Armstead and Marcus Williams, depart for high value contracts ($15.95M APY and $14M APY, for compensatory pick purposes), while signing two players, Marcus Maye and Andy Dalton, for lower valued contracts ($7.5M APY and $4M APY). Armstead are ranked #98 and #144, generating points of 1,943 and 1,840, while Maye and Dalton are ranked #297 and #436, generating points of 1,747 and 1,595. The net value resulting from the differences of those sums, 3,842 and 3,342, is 505 points, well above the 300 point threshold.”
That’s better than nothing, right? But it’s really tough to argue Dalton or Maye brought as much value to the Saints in 2022 as Armstead or Williams would have. Dalton’s shortcomings at quarterback cost the Saints some games, and Maye’s durability issues were persistent. It would be disappointing to see the Saints lose two high-end starters and get maybe the last pick in the draft in return.
Korte has missed the mark before. Last year he predicted the Saints would receive comp picks in rounds four and six, having lost free agents Trey Hendrickson and Sheldon Rankins a year earlier, but they ended up with a pair of third rounders instead. Maybe the NFL will view things differently again this year and give the Saints better picks than we’re expecting.
[mm-video type=playlist id=01eqbyahgz6p2j3xp7 player_id=01eqbvhghtkmz2182d image=]
[listicle id=121186]
The #Chiefs are currently projected to receive three compensatory picks in the 2023 NFL draft thanks to Byron Pringle, Jarran Reed and Mikes Hughes.
The Kansas City Chiefs seem to have played compensatory pick formula well during the past offseason.
The latest compensatory pick projections from Over The Cap’s Nick Korte have Kansas City earning three compensatory picks for the 2023 NFL draft. The Chiefs, of course, traded away the compensatory pick they had remaining from the Bears hiring Ryan Poles as general manager. That pick now belongs to the New York Giants, who received it as compensation in the Kadarius Toney trade.
This is also before any potential additional compensatory picks related to the NFL’s rules on hiring minority coaches or front-office members. If Eric Bieniemy were to finally get a head coaching job this offseason, the Chiefs would get additional third-round comp picks in the 2023 NFL draft and the 2024 NFL draft.
According to Korte’s projections, the Chiefs had six qualifying free agents lost and just three qualifying free agents gained in 2022. Compensatory picks that would have been earned from losses of CB Charvarius Ward (49ers), C Austin Blythe (Seahawks) and DE Melvin Ingram (Dolphins) were canceled out by additions of S Justin Reid, WR Marquez Valdes-Scantling and WR JuJu Smith-Schuster.
The contracts, consistent play and performances of Bears WR Byron Pringle, Packers DT Jarran Reed and Lions CB Mike Hughes have the Chiefs set to earn three compensatory picks in 2023. Pringle is set to earn Kansas City a sixth-round compensatory pick and Hughes is set to earn them a seventh-rounder. Reed originally was slated to earn the team a seventh-round comp pick, but an incentive earned for playing at least 65% of the defensive snaps in Green Bay has that upgraded to a projected sixth-round draft pick for the Chiefs.
That leaves the Chiefs with the following 12 projected picks in the 2023 NFL draft:
[mm-video type=playlist id=01eqbwa53mtds520q2 player_id=01eqbvhghtkmz2182d image=]
[listicle id=144662]
How will the CFP Rankings look come Tuesday night?
Week 13 was certainly a memorable one as the 2022 regular season came to an official end. Sure, the conference championships come our way next weekend but few things compare to rivalry weekend in college football and this one certainly lived up to the hype.
Michigan rolled Ohio State for the second season in a row, this time in Columbus. LSU fell to Texas A&M as the Tigers dream of becoming the first two-loss College Football Playoff team ended. And USC came up huge in their home victory over Notre Dame as the Trojans are knocking on the door of their first CFP appearance.
After a day that saw four top 10 teams in the College Football Playoff rankings fall, how will the new rankings look on Tuesday?
Here is our best guess at what the new-look top 25 will look like.
Updated bowl projections for the Crimson Tide with the College Football Playoff out of the picture.
Since the inception of the college football playoffs in 2014, the Alabama Crimson Tide essentially had an annual invite. However, for only the second time since it began, the Tide will likely not be taking part. With the LSU victory over Arkansas this weekend the Tigers clinched the SEC West eliminating the Tide’s final path to the playoffs.
No two-loss team has ever qualified for the playoffs, and I don’t see that changing this year, but this Alabama team isn’t like other two-loss teams. Despite their flaws, the Tide still has the greatest coach to ever live, the reigning Heisman Trophy winner at quarterback, and the only two losses came on the road against Tennessee and LSU, both of which are top-10 teams. So while it may not be a national title, Alabama will be playing in a meaningful bowl in January and aim for another ten-win season.
USA TODAY Sports has released its updated bowl and playoff projections ahead of Week 12. As things stand, the Crimson Tide are expected to meet the Clemson Tigers in the Orange Bowl on Dec. 30. This would be the fifth post-season meeting between the two sides since 2016, and some would even consider it to be a blooming rivalry.
The playoffs are currently predicted to be Georgia vs. TCU in the Peach Bowl and Ohio State vs. Oregon in the Fiesta Bowl. With rivalry weekend and conference championships coming in the following weeks, buckle up for a wild finish to the season.
[mm-video type=video id=01gheqbhdq7gkmwj7g0t playlist_id=01eqbz6mkdd99nyvkm player_id=01eqbvp13nn1gy6hd4 image=https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/video/thumbnail/mmplus/01gheqbhdq7gkmwj7g0t/01gheqbhdq7gkmwj7g0t-1c0afdc86e83a47a8c8c5519ea377b7d.jpg]
[lawrence-related id=59338]
[lawrence-related id=59256]
Contact/Follow us @RollTideWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Alabama news, notes and opinion. You can also follow Sam Murphy on Twitter @SamMurphy02.
Let us know your thoughts, comment on this story below. Join the conversation today!
