Yes, it’s already the first mock draft of the year (along with some network change news)

Do I have time to do this? No. So why am I doing it? I honestly don’t know. I think I just feel I should put a bit more into the offseason portion of my blog. I mean it is half the year and there have been times I have gone dark for like a month. What will people read? The newspaper? Get the fuck outta here.

Honestly, I feel that even though this blog will turn 11 in a few months, I haven’t tried enough to take it to the next level, so to speak. Maybe not more posts but better posts. More informative stuff. It almost feels like this may be a make-or-break twelve months for me. With all the shit I have to do to get my career to the next step, it means there will be less and less time to do stuff I enjoy, like this blog. I always have to remind myself why I started this in the first place: to organize my own college football viewing. It allowed me to watch more college football than ever before and be efficient with it as well, while still making time for my kids. Then again, I ended up separated four months after the blog started so…..yeah.

So let’s just get on with the first mock draft of who knows how many leading up to the draft and hey how about that, look who’s going first overall.

1	Chicago	Caleb Williams, QB (USC)
2	Washington	Jayden Daniels, QB (LSU)
3	New England	Drake Maye, QB (North Carolina)
4	Arizona	Marvin Harrison Jr., WR (Ohio State)
5	LA Chargers	Brock Bowers, TE (Georgia)
6	NY Giants	Byron Murphy II, DT (Texas)
7	Tennessee	Joe Alt, OT (Notre Dame)
8	Atlanta	Malik Nabers, WR (LSU)
9	Chicago	Rome Odunze, WR (Washington)
10	NY Jets	Olumuyiwa Fashanu, OT (Penn State)
11	Minnesota	Dallas Turner, OLB (Alabama)
12	Denver	Laiatu Latu, DE (UCLA)
13	Las Vegas	Bo Nix, QB (Oregon)
14	New Orleans	J.C. Latham, OT (Alabama)
15	Indianapolis	Nate Wiggins, CB (Clemson)
16	Seattle	Kris Jenkins, DT (Michigan)
17	Jacksonville	Quinyon Mitchell, CB (Toledo)
18	Cincinnati	Michael Hall Jr., DT (Ohio State)
19	LA Rams	Kamren Kitchens, S (Miami)
20	Pittsburgh	Jordan Morgan, OT (Arizona)
21	Miami	Troy Fautanu, OG (Washington)
22	Philadelphia	Jared Verse, DE (Florida State)
23	Houston	Kamari Lassiter, CB (Georgia)
24	Dallas	Brian Thomas Jr., WR (LSU)
25	Green Bay	Cooper DeJean, S (Iowa)
26	Tampa Bay	Xavier Legette, WR (South Carolina)
27	Arizona	Terrion Arnold, CB (Alabama)
28	Buffalo	Kool-Aid McKinstry, CB (Alabama)
29	Detroit	Cam Hart, CB (Notre Dame)
30	Baltimore	Xavier Worthy, WR (Texas)
31	San Francisco	Tyler Guyton, OT (Oklahoma)
32	Kansas City	Tallies Fuaga, OT (Oregon State)

I am firmly in the camp that says that the Bears will trade Justin Fields. Whether it’s before the draft, during the draft, or after the draft, I don’t know. I just can’t see them passing up on Williams when they could get him AND a really good receiver for their first two picks. On top of that, they could get more picks that will help them later in the draft or in the following year’s event. Not quite a win-win but damn near close. The Commanders and Patriots also need quarterbacks desperately so they will be watching what the Bears do very closely…and possibly even calling them to inquire about how much it would take to trade for that top pick of theirs. Other interesting notes from this first kick at the can:

• The first team that doesn’t need a quarterback is the Cardinals and they are very much hoping the Bears take Caleb Williams since it will mean that Marvin Harrison Jr. will fall into their lap. Pairing him with Kyler Murray could be quite something for a moribund Cards’ offense.
• The Chargers need almost everything that isn’t the quarterback position. If I am them, I nab Bowers, pick another receiver up later on, and bulk up the offense. Win games in true Big XII fashion this coming season. It may be their only hope at getting close to a playoff spot.
• Any potential steals here? Not really but the Saints nabbing Latham at #14 would be good value as would the Eagles picking up Jared Verse at #22.

Will I do more mock drafts? Of course. When? I have no clue.

Now let’s look at the changes coming to conferences and broadcast networks in the Fall. There really is only one major change but it does have a domino effect. The SEC is now fully on ABC/ESPN/SEC Network/ESPN2/ESPNU (if they absolutely have to be) and ESPN+ because they are contractually obligated to be once a season (at least that’s the way the previous SEC contract played out). With the SEC on ABC, they will easily get the majority of the Saturday night games. Not all, but with 14 weeks worth of games, the SEC will get no less than ten of those.

So that domino effect…SEC had every evening ESPN game last year. I can’t see that being the case since that would compete directly with the game on ABC. So they should get a lot less of those and they should get filled with the ACC and Big XII. The American might end up actually getting more games on ESPN with this new arrangement which seems crazy but with the ACC and, to a lesser extent, the Big XII getting hurt by this from a Disney/ESPN perspective, the American Conference is ready to pick up a few pieces here and there.

The Big XII won’t cry about this though. For everything they will end up losing from ESPN/ABC, they will gain more than that quite possibly from the FOX side of things. Sure, the Big Ten will get many of the Big Noon Kickoff games. But beyond that? Remember, the Big Ten has a game a week on CBS, a game a week on NBC and eight games on Peacock. Also, you might see a couple of late night Big Ten affairs on the Big Ten Network. So there will be plenty of spots on FOX and FOX Sports One for the Big XII to fill in since there is no more Pac-12. The other conference that wins here? The Mountain West. They should get a lot more FS1 games with how things are shaking out.

So even though the SEC and Big Ten will start to dominate the landscape of college football, we might get more chances than ever to watch other conferences. Now if they can just figure out how to get FS1 games up here legally and Canadians won’t have any reason to complain about access to CFB games in the future ever again (other than the one Notre Dame game a season on Peacock and weird stuff like the Hawaii Tests).

Alright more posts to come but no football for over a month. The UFL starts in late March and I’m…honestly not that excited about it but it’s football so I am sure will watch some at some point since it’s football and I love football. Better than watching the news, right? Have a good weekend everyone!

Time for the Superest of Bowls (in theory)

Let’s be honest: this is not the Super Bowl matchup that most wanted. Most wanted the darlings of the NFL, the hapless Detroit Lions, to finally ascend the big game for the first time in franchise history. Who did many want as their opponent? Not the Kansas City Chiefs. It wouldn’t have mattered who the Chiefs were up against, most would have wanted the other team to win. Alas, neither thing happened

The Ravens decided to play their worst game of the season at the most inopportune time, abandoning their running game in rainy weather because…well I don’t know why. Some say the Chiefs had the Ravens number but Baltimore ran the ball only sixteen times. Idiots. The Lions, on the other hand, allowed a pretty damn big comeback from the Niners to lose their shot at glory. Now, we can all debate whether Dan Campbell’s penchant for being uber-aggressive and going for it on fourth down twice was the right call (I lean to the second time, at least, being a spot where you try the field goal, if not both but that’s just me). In the end, however, they missed on both of those plays, the Niners took advantage and Mr. Irrelevant gets a chance to hoist the Lombardi Trophy. Which isn’t a bad backup feelgood story, no?

Anyway, last year I did a bit of a Super Bowl preview post. Then again, I was off work at the time so I had plenty of time to do so. But…..let’s just do another one, for old time’s sake. (Short) Breakdown of the game:

Offense – Very close. Both teams have arguably the best offenses in the league. They can be fun to watch and tough to defend. I think the Chiefs have the slight edge with the better offensive line but this is almost a push.

Defense – Not quite as close but maybe closer than you think. The Niners have the better defense but the Chiefs looked awfully good against the Ravens a couple weeks back.

Special Teams – Tough call here. Harrison Butker is one of the best kickers in the league but the Niners have a great return game. Call it a wash once again.

Coaching – It’s Andy Reid, folks. Despite his sometimes questionable clock management skills, he is still one of the best coaches of all-time. Kyle Shanahan is good too but has already lost once to Reid and everyone remembers the Falcons debacle back at Super Bowl LI.

So what did we learn? Absolutely nothing. This should be a close one. The Bossman’s prediction…

*drum roll please*

Niners 30 Chiefs 28.

Now watch it be a blowout. Anyway, where can you watch the game? It’s on CBS this year so you get some “Hello, Friends” along with a lot of “I DON’T KNOW JIM!” from our pals Nantz and Romo. For people who are just itching to see what Tim Horton’s has done for the next mediocre commercial, the game is on all CTV affiliates and all the TSNs (including TSN+) except the ugly duckling, TSN2.

Then…that’s it. No more football. Well, that’s not true. The new UFL starts late next month and then the CFL starts in early June. I’m sure there’s some arena football in there too and I see there’s even a European League of Football that we probably can’t get here (legally). So we won’t be totally starved of football but it is a long six-and-a-half months until the start of the college football season. So savour this one final game of the year, even if it does end up sucking. For the final time this season, enjoy the game everyone.