Tag: reaction

Evaluating Bears roster by position before 2023 NFL draft

Let’s take a look at where the Bears’ roster stands ahead of the 2023 NFL draft.

With the 2023 NFL draft just a couple days away, we’ll soon see how Chicago Bears general manager Ryan Poles addresses some big roster needs.

After trading the No. 1 pick to the Carolina Panthers before free agency, the Bears are sitting at ninth overall in the first round. They also have three other selections in the top 64.

The draft serves as the foundation of any NFL team, so it’s a good time to evaluate exactly where this roster stands before the new crop of Bears join the fray. Especially as Poles looks to fill some roster holes at positions ranging from offensive tackle to defensive line to cornerback.

Let’s take a look at where the Bears’ roster stands ahead of the 2023 draft.

Cooper McMurray named Collegiate Baseball’s National Player of the Week

He hit five homers in four games.

The recognition continues to roll in for Cooper McMurray as Collegiate Baseball named him the National Player of the Week on Monday. The award comes after he was named the SEC Player of the Week.

He homered in each of Auburn’s four games last week and hit five total. McMurray led the led conference in home runs and total bases (20) while tying for the league lead in runs (seven) and RBI (nine) for the week.

Three of his four home runs against Mississippi State opened the scoring for the Tigers as they won two of three games against the Bulldogs.

He had a career game Sunday when he hit two home runs and drove in five runs. His homers hit both foul poles and made him the first Auburn player to homer in three straight SEC games since Trent Mummey from April 17-23, 2010.

McMurray and the Tigers will return to conference play Friday when they travel to Columbia to take on the No. 2 South Carolina Gamecocks.

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Bears offseason recap: Every move leading up to 2023 NFL draft

Ahead of the 2023 NFL draft, here’s a look at every move the Bears have made so far this offseason.

The 2023 NFL draft is just around the corner, where the Chicago Bears will soon welcome a new crop of rookies to the roster.

It’s been an eventful offseason for the Bears, where they traded the No. 1 pick to the Carolina Panthers for a draft haul that included two first-rounders, two second-rounders and wide receiver DJ Moore.

In free agency, general manager Ryan Poles added some impact players, including linebackers Tremaine Edmunds and T.J. Edwards. Despite having roughly $100 million in salary cap space, Poles didn’t overpay for an offensive tackle or defensive lineman.

The 2023 NFL draft is upon us, where Poles will look to add some impact players as he continues to retool the roster.

As the Bears prepare for the NFL draft, here’s a look at every move Chicago has made so far this offseason:

Cowboys News: Late mocks new names, Deion’s players bolting, Howley’s HoF presenter named

From @ToddBrock24f7: The final mock drafts offer last-minute surprises, Bijan Robinson picks his ideal QB. Deion Sanders has a mass exodus on his hands at CU.

The last few mock drafts to sneak in under the wire saved the biggest surprises for the very end. We’ve got some names that might be new first-round possibilities as the picks are about to start for real. In other draft news, we’re using the team’s own words to guess at what they’re really thinking at tight end and offensive line, a top defender reveals what Dan Quinn told him about how he’d be used in Dallas, and a coveted running back picks his ideal quarterback… much to the chagrin of the Cowboys faithful.

Meanwhile, there’s a mass exodus happening in Boulder as dozens of Buffaloes players decide the Coach Prime circus isn’t worth sticking around for, the Cowboys explain how they’re viewing the new S2 cognition test, Coach McCarthy speaks on the players he’s expecting to make the proverbial jump in Years Two and Three, and the Pro Football Hall of Fame announces who will make the emotional presentation when Cowboys legend Chuck Howley is finally welcomed to Canton. That and more, right here in your News and Notes.

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Five potential landing spots for Jaxon Smith-Njigba in the NFL draft

We take a look at where Ohio State receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba could land in the NFL draft Thursday night. #GoBucks

With the 2023 NFL draft just days away, former Ohio State football star, Jaxon Smith-Njigba, is likely to be the first receiver off the board. He unfortunately missed most of last season with a hamstring injury, but his Big Ten record of 1,606 receiving yards in 2021 is more than enough evidence that he deserves to be a coveted prospect.

There will be plenty of OSU stars that either parade across the stage beginning Thursday night or get a phone call of a lifetime, but Smith-Njigba’s case is an interesting one with the skills he possesses and what we didn’t get to see from him last season.

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Because of that, the NFL mock drafts and projections are all over the place, and we’re doing our best to sort it all out. These five teams stand out as the most likely destinations for the star wide receiver.

Draft Wire evaluates former Georgia TE Darnell Washington

“He looks like he was built in a factory and his athletic profile does not lag too far behind.”

Former Georgia tight end Darnell Washington will turn heads no matter where he is.

The 6-foot-7, 270 pound pass-catcher is simply a freak, who can be a huge difference-maker at the next level if used correctly.

Ahead of the 2023 NFL draft, USA TODAY’s Draft Wire wrote a piece evaluating the Las Vegas native.

The former five-star prospect clocked a 4.64 40-yard dash (sixth among tight ends) with a 4.08 20-yard shuttle (first).

Washington caught 28 passes for 454 yards (16.2 average) and two touchdowns in 2022.

Even though he’s been labeled primarily as a blocker, Washington’s catching ability was on stage at the combine and he didn’t disappoint.

Via Draft Wire:

While not heavily involved in the passing game at Georgia, that is not due to a lack of talent, and while Washington does not have elite movement skills or high-end speed he is athletic enough in his body to be considered a threat anywhere on the field and especially in the red area. He uses his body well in boxing out defenders and catches through contact. With the ball in his hands, he is good at turning his body upfield and using his athleticism and size to churn out extra yards including just straight-up bulldozing defenders.

Blocking is where Washington shines most. While he isn’t as foundationally as secure as an offensive lineman, he does use his body well and is often able to match up with edge defenders as an almost swing tackle. He moves well downfield as a lead blocker and is quite the sight to see in momentum running at defensive backs. He is very bought-in as a blocker and gives max effort on each play. He was a key contributor to Georgia’s dominant running attack.

ESPN NFL draft analyst Matt Miller recently released his seven-round mock draft, which saw Washington go at No. 56 overall in the second round to the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Draft Wire provided its projection as well:

Washington is one of the more intriguing prospects in the draft just based on his skill ceiling. His blocking is excellent already as well, and will likely go as high as any other tight end because of it.

Projection: Top 40 Pick

The draft takes place April 27-29.

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Softball: SEC power rankings through seven weeks of conference play

Here’s a look at where each SEC team stands with two weekends remaining in the regular season.

After seeing a good bit of movement last week, not much changed in the SEC power rankings this week.

The Tennessee Volunteers still sit at the top of the league and have a big road contest against the Arkansas Razorbacks this weekend.

Some other high-profile SEC series taking place this weekend include the No.  14 LSU Tigers at the No. 16 Alabama Crimson Tide and the No. 17 Auburn Tigers at the South Carolina Gamecocks.

Again, every team has an overall record better than .500.

McCarthy excited to see which second-, third-year Cowboys make ‘the jump’

From @ToddBrock24f7: The new draft picks will get the attention, but it’s the Class of ’22 and ’21 who are about to take the biggest leaps in their pro careers.

By the end of the weekend, 259 young men will have seen a dream come true by being drafted into the NFL. Another couple hundred will have gotten the call to join a team as an undrafted free agent. For all of them, life is about to change dramatically.

But no one- not even this year’s wide-eyed rookie class- will see more growth over the next few months of minicamps, OTAs, preseason, and roster cuts, than another group. These are the guys whose teams are expecting them to make the much-ballyhooed jump, the transition that happens- or doesn’t- that separates the players who flame out of the league early from the ones for whom it clicks and cements their place on an NFL roster.

Everyone will be talking abut the Class of 2023, but it will actually be the Classes of 2022 and 2021 that Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy will be watching most intently.

“I’ve always felt that the most improvement that I’ve felt, the teams that I’ve coached,” McCarthy said this week at the pre-draft press conference, “are the people that are already here working. It’s your second-, third-year players that will take that jump.”

For the Cowboys, it’s a group that has already had a huge impact and shown tons of promise and potential.

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Auburn football ranks bottom-tier in USA TODAY’s post-spring power rankings

How quickly can Hugh Freeze right the ship at Auburn?

The spring season has come to a close, and now head coaches around the country can begin putting pieces together for the upcoming season that is set to kick off in just over four months.

How much did each SEC team impress Paul Myerberg of USA TODAY Sports this spring? He revealed his picks, as well as each question surrounding each SEC program on Monday.

Auburn has gone through a rough patch over the last several seasons, and this season’s abbreviated A-Day game did not do any favors to the team, who wants to show signs of improvement under new head coach, [autotag]Hugh Freeze[/autotag]. Due to recent history, and the lack of performance at A-Day, Myerberg has ranked the Tigers near the bottom of the conference at No. 12.

Here’s a look at Myerberg’s power rankings now that spring practice has concluded around the conference:

  1. Georgia
  2. Alabama
  3. Tennessee
  4. LSU
  5. Texas A&M
  6. Ole Miss
  7. Kentucky
  8. Arkansas
  9. South Carolina
  10. Mississippi State
  11. Florida
  12. Auburn
  13. Missouri
  14. Vanderbilt

When it comes to Myerberg’s one question surrounding Auburn, he looks to offense. Auburn improved its offensive coaching staff by adding [autotag]Philip Montgomery[/autotag] and [autotag]Kent Austin[/autotag] to the staff, as well as keeping [autotag]Cadillac Williams[/autotag] on. But the Tigers have not had a top-five offense since 2014. Can [autotag]Hugh Freeze[/autotag] push the offense in the right direction?

There’s going to be a learning curve and some growing pains as the Tigers transition to a third coaching staff in four seasons. Unlike the hire of Bryan Harsin, however, Auburn’s decision to tap former Mississippi and Liberty coach Hugh Freeze seems to work on multiple levels. The question this spring is how quickly he can turn around an offense that hasn’t ranked in the top five of the SEC in yards per play since 2014.

Auburn will continue working towards building a successful 2023 campaign, starting on Saturday, Sept. 2 when they host UMass to kickoff the season.

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Kyrie Irving says Nets would have won 2021 NBA title if he stays healthy

Kyrie Irving says that the Brooklyn Nets would have won the 2021 NBA title if he doesn’t get hurt against the Bucks.

Dallas Mavericks guard Kyrie Irving said on Twitter on Tuesday that the Brooklyn Nets would have won the NBA championship for the 2020-2021 season if he doesn’t get hurt along the way. The series that Irving is referring to is their Eastern Conference Semi-Finals series against the Milwaukee Bucks that Brooklyn went on to lose in seven games. The Bucks went on to win the title.

The play in particular that Irving was reacting to was a play in Game 4 of that series in which Irving sprained his right ankle after landing on Bucks superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo’s ankle following a drive to the rim. Irving left the game and did not return. To make the injury worse, Irving was unable to come back for any of the following three games to end the series and Brooklyn still had a chance to win the series, but Kevin Durant’s foot was famously on the line during what he thought was a three-point attempt.

This conversation came to light due to the fact that the Bucks (top overall seed in the playoffs) are currently down 3-1 to the Miami Heat (eighth seed in the Eastern Conference) in their first-round series this season. Antetokounmpo suffered a bruised back in Game 1 after falling down during a drive to the basket. He went on to miss Games 2 and 3 and when he came back for Game 4, Milwaukee was already down 2-1. Now, as some Brooklyn fans are seemingly putting it, it looks like the Bucks are getting a taste of their own medicine this time around.

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