Tag: Tiimely

Countdown to Kickoff: Adam Prentice is Saints Player of Day 46

Countdown to Kickoff: Adam Prentice is Saints Player of Day 46. He must bounce back in a big way to hold onto his starting job at fullback

There are only 46 days to go until the season kicks off for the New Orleans Saints. This means the Saints’ player of the day is fullback Adam Prentice. The fullback position isn’t a glamorous one, but they serve an important role in the offense.

  • Name (Age): Adam Prentice (27)
  • Position: Fullback
  • Height, weight: 6-foot-0, 245 pounds
  • Relative Athletic Score: 5.66
  • 2024 salary cap hit: $1,130,000
  • College: South Carolina, Colorado State
  • Drafted: Undrafted in 2021 (Denver Broncos)
  • NFL experience: 4th year

After going undrafted in 2021, Prentice ended up signing with the Denver Broncos. The Broncos waived him that same year, and the Saints claimed him off waivers. This is where Prentice has been ever since. He recently signed a one-year, $1,130,000 contract to return to the team in March.

This past season he had just two carries for 12 yards while catching two passes for another dozen yards, but he had an untimely fumble and a bad drop. Prentice ended the 2023 campaign with a 38.1 Pro Football Focus player grade. He is going to compete with Zander Horvath, who signed with the Saints in free agency, to be the team’s fullback this season.

But both of them could be sidelined by Taysom Hill if the versatile playmaker can execute the same assignments while wearing all of his other hats. Prentice needs to bounce back in a big way to hold onto his starting job.

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On this date: Lakers officially acquire Kobe Bryant

On July 11, 1996, Kobe Bryant officially became a Laker, and the storied franchise had its newest legend and icon.

The summer of 1996 was an inflection point that forever changed the fortunes of the Los Angeles Lakers.

Five years after Magic Johnson announced he had tested positive for HIV, the team had remade itself into a young and exciting squad while missing the playoffs only once. But something was missing.

The team wasn’t close to being a championship contender, and it lacked a true superstar.

In ’96, the biggest and baddest of superstars, Shaquille O’Neal, was available, and the Lakers went all-in on him.

That meant clearing cap space to get him, necessitating trading Vlade Divac, their starting center.

In the meantime, general manager Jerry West worked out a 6-foot-6 high school player from the Philadelphia area named Kobe Bryant. At first, it was merely as a favor to friend and agent Arn Tellem, but West brought the 17-year-old in for a second workout and saw he was special with a capital S.

The executive decided to kill two birds with one stone by trading Divac for a draft pick high enough to net Bryant. West finally found a taker in the Charlotte Hornets, who had the 13th pick.

After a brief scare from the New Jersey Nets, who had interest in Bryant with the eighth pick, the Hornets agreed to draft Bryant as part of the deal.

On July 11, 1996, the deal became official, and Bryant became a Laker.

At first, he seemed like nothing more than a by-product of going after O’Neal (who signed with the Lakers days later). But no one, other than perhaps West himself, knew the team had just acquired arguably its greatest player ever.

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