Armadillo Sports
Friday’s 6-pack
— Dallas 98, Utah 96— Mavericks win series 4-2
— Phoenix 115, New Orleans 109— Suns win series 4-2
— Philadelphia 132, Toronto 97— 76ers win series 4-2
— Brewers 3, Pirates 2— McCutchen knocked in all three Brewer runs.
— Marlins 3, Nationals 2— Washington has lost eight in a row.
— Cardinals 8, Arizona 3— St Louis had 15 hits, all singles.
Quote of the Day
“(Lamar) Jackson lost his No. 1 wide receiver Thursday night in Hollywood Brown, who was traded to the Cardinals.”
Jordan Dajani
Friday’s quiz
In the movie Draft Day, Kevin Costner was GM of the Cleveland Browns; who played the Browns’ coach?
Thursday’s quiz
Jon Voight played Ray’s father Mickey in the Showtime series Ray Donovan.
Wednesday’s quiz
Matthew Stafford was the first player taken in the 2009 NFL Draft; the Jets took the next QB, with the 5th pick in the first round. Who was it?
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Friday’s Den: My running diary of the first round of the NFL Draft
If I never hear the term “mock draft” again, it’ll be too soon. Seriously.
Welcome to my running diary of the first round of the 2022 NFL Draft, which is being held in Las Vegas. Originally, Las Vegas was supposed to host the 2020 Draft and I was supposed to be there, but the world had a different idea, with the pandemic and all, so here we are. I’m in my living room, a good place to be and a lot more affordable than Las Vegas this week.
Jacksonville has the first pick, thanks to the Urban Meyer debacle.
I’m watching the NFL Network feed; I’ll watch ESPN on Day 3 Saturday, in deference to Mel Kiper Jr but I’ve lost some enthusiasm for ESPN the last few years.
There are A LOT of people outdoors by the stage where I’m assuming the picks will be announced. A lot, as in maybe 100,000 or so.
8:06— Roger Goodell takes the stage, to mixed reviews. Can we start this already?
8:17— Jacksonville is on the clock; they hired Doug Peterson as their new coach, a huge upgrade from last year. With the first pick, Jaguars take Georgia’s Travon Walker, an edge rusher.
Why does Goodell get booed all the time? So what he makes $30M a year, as a spokesman for 32 really rich people. He seems like a decent guy.
Goodell trivia: When Robert Kennedy was assassinated in 1968, Goodell’s father Charles Goodell took Kennedy’s place as a US Senator.
8:21— Detroit Lions take edge rusher Aidan Hutchinson from nearby Michigan; the last time defensive players were the first two players taken in a draft was in 2000.
Lions haven’t made the playoffs since 2016; in the 56 years of the Super Bowl era, Detroit is 1-12 in playoffs, with lone win in 1991.
8:27— Houston takes LSU CB Derek Stingley Jr, whose dad played Arena Football for the Albany Firebirds; his grandfather Darryl was a terrific WR for New England whose career ended tragically when he was paralyzed in a 1978 preseason game.
8:34— Jets are up next; they take Ahmad Gardner, a DB from Cincinnati. The green room for this draft seems more like an auditorium than a room. Gardner took a wrong turn going from the Green Room to the stage. He is 6-2, almost 6-3, very tall for a corner.
First four picks are defensive players.
Hey there is Hall of Famer Kurt Warner on NFL Network; he made the Hall of Fame despite not being drafted coming out of Northern Iowa.
8:41— Giants select another pass rusher, Kayvon Thibodeaux from Oregon, who Daniel Jeremiah comps to Shawne Merriman, the old Chargers star. Since 2015, Thibodeaux is the 5th Oregon Duck to be taken in the top 7 of the draft.
Random question: When do the Super Bowl champs pick? Oh yeah, the Rams don’t have a first round pick until 2024- their last first round pick was in 2016 (Jared Goff).
8:46— Carolina Panthers have the wealthiest owner in the NFL, David Tepper, who is worth $16B or so. Thats billion, with a B. Carolina doesn’t have another pick until the 4th round; with the 6th pick, they take Ikem Ekwonu, an offensive tackle from NC State.
If you bet over 3.5 in quarterbacks drafted in first round, you might be in trouble.
8:53— Giants are up again, the first of eight teams with multiple first round picks; they take Evan Neal, a tackle from Alabama, so he is used to winning. Giants have made the playoffs once since 2011; they need guys who are used to winning.
Giants got this pick from Chicago last year, when the Bears wanted to draft Justin Fields.
Eight teams don’t have a first round pick tonight, including the hometown Raiders.
9:00— Atlanta Falcons are 35-46 since losing the Super Bowl in overtime 5+ years ago; they take USC WR Drake London, giving newly-acquired QB Marcus Mariota a target. They show London dunking a basketball in high school; he probably shoots free throws better than Ben Simmons.
Charles Davis comps him to Larry Fitzgerald, a pretty huge compliment.
Words you hear on draft night, but rarely any other time:
— Upside
— Catch radius
— Physicality
— creating separation
9:09— Seattle Seahawks are up next; right now their QB would be Drew Lock, but they obviously don’t have a game for four months. If I was a Seahawks fan, would I be happy that they traded Russell Wilson? I’m not a Seahawks fan, so its none of my business.
Seattle takes Charles Cross, another SEC tackle (Mississippi State); he goes from playing for Mike Leach to Pete Carroll. Maybe they should’ve drafted offensive linemen when they had Wilson, who is a Hall of Fame quarterback.
I like it better when the people in a team’s draft room aren’t all in shirts/ties; Seattle’s people are all dressed casually. It is a football team, not a damn hedge fund operation.
9:13— Jets are up again; 4 of the first 13 picks go to the Garden State. Jets were minus-13 in turnovers last year, which isn’t good. Jets made AFC title game in 2009 and 2010, the Rex Ryan era; they haven’t made the playoffs since then.
Jets take WR Garrett Wilson, a WR from Ohio State. Are teams in cold weather areas more likely to draft a player who has played in cold weather in college?
Good Lord, I forgot that the Saints gave Jameis Winston $28M for two years; no wonder Sean Payton quit. They have Andy Dalton as a backup, but Dalton is better than Winston.
9:21— New Orleans just traded into #11 slot; they traded a 3rd/4th round pick to Washington to move up from 16th to 11th, so whoever they pick here is a guy they really want.
Saints took WR Chris Olave, another WR from Ohio State; Buckeyes threw for 361+ yards in each of their last five games last year. Olave caught 65 passes for 936 yards, 13 TD’s; the guy the Giants drafted (Garrett Wilson) caught 70 passes for 1,058 yards, 12 TD’s.
NFL Network just had a commercial touting the 2022 schedule release, which is two weeks away. That’ll be a busy night for me, starting my handicapping. Thursday night games will be on Amazon Prime, which I actually never heard of until they announced that.
Tony Gonzalez just announced that Chiefs at Chargers is the Week 2 Thursday game, the first Amazon Prime game.
9:30— Lions just traded with NFC North rival Minnesota, dealing an extra 3rd-round pick to the Vikings, to move up from 32nd to 12th- they select WR Jameson Williams from Alabama. The 32nd pick Detroit dealt to Minnesota was the Rams’ pick that the Lions acquired in the Matthew Stafford trade.
It isn’t often division rivals make trades like that, but Detroit GM Holmes/new Minnesota coach O’Connell worked together with the Rams, so maybe that facilitated the deal.
9:40— Eagles traded with Houston to move up to #13, hopping over the Ravens; Texans get a 4th-round pick and two 5th-round picks to fall back two slots. Philly drafts Jordan Davis, a very large defensive tackle from Georgia.
This is Pete Prisco’s analysis of the Giants’ selection Kayvon Thibodeaux:
“He is the best pure pass rusher in this draft. He has the explosive ability the Giants badly need. The question with him now is his character. Does he love the game? But I think he will get past any of that talk and become a dominant edge player. I love this pick.”
Whenever I see scouts questioning a player’s love of the game, I get queasy.
9:47— Baltimore is up next; they take Kyle Hamilton, a safety from Notre Dame. He is 6-4, 220, a big safety. Ravens also traded with Arizona to acquire the 23rd pick.
Baltimore traded WR Marquise Brown and a 3rd-round pick to Arizona for the 23rd pick; Brown played college ball with Kyler Murray.
