Tag: reaction

Looking at the projected market value for Jalen Hurts, Darius Slay, and Eagles’ top free agents

With the legal tampering period just hours away, we’re looking at the projected market value for the Philadelphia Eagles’ top free agents

The NFL’s new league is less than four days away, and with the legal tampering period scheduled to start on Monday, Philadelphia will look to retool on defense, while making cost-effective decisions.

All-Pro quarterback Jalen Hurts and his contract is the biggest concern this offseason, but the Eagles will also need to navigate 19 looming free agents and the likelihood that they’ll lose C.J. Gardner-Johnson, Javon Hargrave and James Bradberry.

GM Howie Roseman has made it clear that he’s prepared to lose several key starters and he’ll retool via the draft with a handful of 2024 compensatory picks.

With the new league year just days away, Spotrac projected the market values for the top free agents, players in line for a new deal, or guys looking for a potential trade.

Below is the predicted market value for the Eagles’ top free agents, along with Jalen Hurts and Darius Slay.

Predicting the fates of Bears free agents in 2023

We’re predicting whether these Bears free agents will be back with the team or departing in free agency.

The Chicago Bears are in the midst of an important 2023 offseason, where general manager Ryan Poles will look to retool the roster and build a contender. That starts in free agency, which kicks off Monday with the legal tampering period.

The Bears are slated to have roughly $100 million in available cap space and a lot of roster holes to fill. With the most cap space (by a wide margin), Poles has plenty of resources to help retool this roster. And he’ll have some decisions to make about some in-house free agents.

We’re predicting whether these Bears free agents will be back with the team or departing in free agency.

2023 NFL draft: Eagles’ 6 picks officially set

Here’s a look at the updated 2023 NFL Draft order of picks for the Philadelphia Eagles

The Eagles are all set for the NFL draft and with six picks in the 2023 selection process, a big move to trade back could be in the works.

After revealing the compensatory picks for April’s selection process, the NFL officially announced that the Miami Dolphins will forfeit their 2023 first-round pick and 2024 third-round pick following an investigation into whether the team violated league policies pertaining to the integrity of the game.

The league then announced on March 9 that the Houston Texans will forfeit their 2023 fifth-round pick due to a salary cap reporting violation from the 2020 league year.

With NFL free agency and the new league year fast approaching, GM Howie Roseman and his staff will start prepping to have four of the first 100 picks.

The last time they made 4 picks in the top 100 was in 2013 when the franchise selected Lane Johnson, Zach Ertz, Bennie Logan, and Matt Barkley.

ESPN on how Georgia football will replace its biggest offseason loss

ESPN on how Georgia will replace its biggest offseason loss

ESPN recently evaluated how each of the top teams will replace its biggest loss next season.

For Georgia, ESPN identified Stetson Bennett as the Bulldogs’ biggest loss heading into the 2023 season.

Via ESPN:

Biggest loss: QB Stetson Bennett. This very well could have been defensive tackle Jalen Carter or any of the defenders departing, but Bennett guided Georgia’s offense to two national championships and was a Heisman finalist, throwing for 4,127 yards and 27 touchdowns — while running for 10 more — in 2022.

Despite losing a two-time national championship-winning quarterback, ESPN has Georgia ranked No. 1 in its spring top 25.

For the Dawgs to maintain that ranking, they will need more clarity at the quarterback position.

Here’s how ESPN thinks Georgia will move forward without Bennett:

Who will replace him? Georgia has some good options behind Bennett already in Brock Vandagriff, who was the No. 37 prospect in the 2021 class, and Carson Beck, the No. 234 recruit in the 2020 class. The coaches also signed Gunner Stockton, who was the No. 110 prospect in the 2023 class.

With Bennett gone, Kirby Smart has a decision to make at the quarterback position.

Will it be Carson Beck, Brock Vandagriff or Gunner Stockton lining up under Sedrick Van Pran, Georgia’s two-year starter at center?

If I had to guess right now, I’d expect Beck to be the starter when Georgia opens the season against UT-Martin in September. He was the No. 2 all year behind Bennett and is entering his fourth year in Athens.

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‘Big-boy ball’ awaits transfer Brian Battie at Auburn

Battie was a 1,000-yard rusher in 2022 at South Florida. Now, he has the chance to prove his talents against SEC competition.

After Tank Bigsby announced his intentions to declare for the NFL draft following his junior season, Auburn’s running back room remained stacked with talent, but a question mark arose in the form of experience. That all changed the day that [autotag]Brian Battie[/autotag] arrived on campus.

Battie, a 1,000-yard rusher last season at South Florida, brings in three years of starting running back experience to mesh with the returning talent of [autotag]Jarquez Hunter[/autotag] and [autotag]Damari Alston[/autotag]. Mixing in those three with incoming freshman [autotag]Jeremiah Cobb[/autotag], and Auburn potentially owns one of the SEC’s top running back units.

Running backs coach [autotag]Cadillac Williams[/autotag] says that Battie will bring a natural running style to the Tigers’ offense.

I know he’s a smaller guy, man, but if you watch his film, he always falls forward,” Williams said of Battie. “He has that natural running style where he makes guys miss. Very seldom does one guy tackle or the first guy ever tackles him so he’s a guy you get him out in space, he breaks tackles, but he also is a guy who can run between the tackles.”

Hunter is also impressed by Battie’s mentality and talents and says that he will work just as hard as the other running backs on the roster.

“He’s going to make us work harder because everyone is competing for a spot,” Hunter said. “He comes out and works hard, does what he’s got to do and does everything Coach tells him.”

Battie had the chance to showcase his talent at South Florida, but now he will have a shot to prove his worth against SEC competition, which has Williams feeling excited.

“I mean, he is a guy who rushed for over 1,000 yards last year. He was a dangerous kickoff returner. Now, his whole thing is he gets to come here and have an opportunity to define his role and play big-boy ball,” Williams said.

Battie joins Auburn’s running back room with three years of experience, where he rushed for 1,842 yards and 10 touchdowns.

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Nets’ Jacque Vaughn reacts to team starting to find its identity

Jacque Vaughn reacts to the Nets starting to form an identity as the end of the regular-season approaches.

Brooklyn Nets head coach Jacque Vaughn has to be trying to figure out a lot of things with this new roster on the fly. He has been trying to figure out his playoff rotation while trying to figure out how this team should play, the strengths/weaknesses, etc. It seems that he and the team are starting to figure all of that out.

In Friday’s 124-123 overtime win over the Minnesota Timberwolves, it was another display of how the Nets must play if they want to be competitive. In the first half, Brooklyn had a tough time keeping up with Minnesota as they had trouble scoring as well as defending the Timberwolves effectively. At one point, Minnesota made 13 of 14 field-goals as Brooklyn was a step slow for most of the first half.

In the second half, the Nets were able to tighten things up on both ends of the floor. The offense went into Spencer Dinwiddie and Mikal Bridges breaking down their man off the dribble and either scoring off that action or finding an open teammate while their defense was them switching and gang-rebounding at the basket. Vaughn reacted to how the Nets are starting to form their identity:

“Yes, it’s been interesting to see like the metamorphosis of this group kind of thing. We at the beginning thought okay, how are we going to score? We can’t play ISO ball like we did previously in the past. Are we going to be able to have multiple people who can handle the basketball and have multiple double scores? Been able to produce and score enough and then, we struggled on the defensive end. So, then we had the challenge that group to shift their mentality of not thinking you have to score but first of all, let’s be a defensive oriented team. I think we’ve responded, started to form an identity with this group. And, hopefully they realize that.”

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Nets’ Royce O’Neale gives team credit for rebounding as a unit

Royce O’Neale gives his teammates props for rebounding as a team to limit the impact of Rudy Gobert.

Brooklyn Nets forward Royce O’Neale has had to adapt to a lot of different roles depending on the situation ever since the NBA trade deadline essentially relegated him to the bench. Most of the time, O’Neale has to fill in as a pseudo-big whenever Nic Claxton gets into foul trouble or when head coach Jacque Vaughn decides to play small.

In Friday’s 124-123 overtime win over the Minnesota Timberwolves, O’Neale had 12 points and 15 rebounds as he had to help Claxton deal with the likes of Rudy Gobert in the paint. Even with Claxton on the floor, the Nets still lack a big who has the size of a player like Gobert so anytime the team faces someone like him, it is a tough task.

That is why it’s important for Brooklyn to rebound as a unit to make up for the lack of size. The Nets did that after the first quarter as three different player had more than right rebounds and O’Neale did the most on the inside to help out Claxton. O’Neale also brought some value to the table by still being a threat from three-point land and he was able to push the ball in transition whenever Brooklyn had a numbers advantage. O’Neale reacted to the team rebounding together as a collective unit:

“You know, everybody’s being collective rebounding, coming together. I mean, playing small ball, we know, it’s gonna take all of us and we were lucky that was good enough to get all those rebounds.”

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10 biggest salary cap hits for Bears in 2023 after trading for DJ Moore

With the Bears landing DJ Moore in a trade for the No. 1 pick, here’s a look at their biggest salary cap hits heading into the 2023 season.

The Chicago Bears are trading the No. 1 pick in the 2023 NFL draft to the Carolina Panthers for a massive haul, which includes two first-rounders, two second-rounders and wide receiver DJ Moore.

The addition of Moore finally gives quarterback Justin Fields a No. 1 wide receiver, who will elevate the passing game immediately. Moore signed a three-year extension worth $61.88 million last March, which keeps him in Chicago through 2025.

Where things will stand after the acquisition of Moore, the Bears are expected to have roughly $75 million in cap space in 2023, which is still the most in the league.

Here’s a look at the 10 biggest cap hits currently on the books for the Bears in 2023, after the addition of Moore.

Salary cap numbers courtesy of Spotrac

Auburn QBs rank near bottom of College Football Network’s SEC rankings

Robby Ashford and T.J. Finley will have plenty to prove this season under the direction of Hugh Freeze.

Auburn’s most scrutinized position in the spring continues to make its’ national rounds.

College Football Network recently projected how each SEC quarterback would perform this season. The battle between incumbent [autotag]Robby Ashford[/autotag] and [autotag]T.J. Finley[/autotag] will be a strong one throughout the spring and into summer workouts, so College Football Network made sure to include both names in their rankings by placing them No. 11 out of 14 quarterbacks.

College Football Network’s case for Finley is that he has a chance to have the best season of his college career under what is considered to be the most competent staff he has ever worked under.

For Finley, his third year in the program should be his best, even if his career arc would indicate otherwise. With a clean slate in terms of coaching staff and scheme, the big man could rely on his athleticism to give him an advantage over Ashford if he can stay healthy and keep the ball on the right side of the field.

As for Ashford, College Football Network suggests that he needs to improve as a playmaker in order to lead Auburn to a bowl game this season.

For Ashford, he’ll have to prove he can sustain drives with his arm and not just his legs if he wants to keep or even earn the starting nod at this point. He struggled with consistency both from a decision-making and an accuracy standpoint in 2022 and relied too heavily upon his legs to garner first downs.

No matter who wins the starting quarterback role, College Football Network feels that the competition will make both players better. The good news is, despite their low ranking, Auburn’s quarterback situation ranks higher than programs looking to fill the shoes of celebrated quarterbacks, Alabama and Georgia.

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2023 NFL mock draft: Shakeup at No. 1 after Panthers trade up with Bears

The Bears and Panthers made a blockbuster trade for the No. 1 pick, where Carolina moves up for their franchise quarterback.

The Carolina Panthers pushed all their chips to the center of the table and acquired the No. 1 overall pick from the Chicago Bears in a blockbuster trade ahead of free agency.

In doing so, Chicago receives the No. 9 overall pick, the No. 61 overall pick, Carolina’s first-round pick in 2024, a 2025 second-round pick and wide receiver DJ Moore.

How will this change the landscape of the NFL draft? Here is our latest mock draft following the trade.