Should I do a Draft Recap?

Yeah, why not. Not like I am stupidly busy with life.

Alright we made it through all seven rounds (and the various undrafted signees over the following 48 hours). It was a slog at time but there was some very interesting spots during the three days, especially night one. Let’s just do this point form, shall we? I don’t feel like putting a ton of effort into something that is done in a much more thorough fashion by some websites who go as far as rating EVERY PICK. Yeah I’m not doing that.

• The most stunning development of the draft, by a country mile, was the Atlanta Falcons and their pick at the #8 spot in the draft. I wondered if they would pick J.J. McCarthy in my final mock draft to back Kirk Cousins up for a season and then see where things are. I was right…the Falcons did draft a quarterback. That quarterback’s name, though, was Michael Penix Jr. People were stunned. Hell, Cousins was stunned. He certainly DID NOT LIKE THAT. This has all the makings of a three-ring circus so we shall see how things progress down in the heart of Georgia.
• Speaking of stunning, how about Penix being one of the six quarterbacks picked in the first 12 spots of the draft. Incredible. Easily a new record for the draft.
• Hey, look at me! I got the first four picks absolutely correct…as did I think almost everyone. It was almost a no-brainer as to who the first four selections would be and in what order they would go in.
• Now, as for the first stretch of the draft I would go with Penix at #8 since I figured he would go much later in the first round. As for bigger stretches, how about Ricky Pearsall at #31, Max Melton at #43 (again with those Falcons) and Ben Sinnott at #53 who I had going sometime after the third round. Yikes.
• Over 700,000 fans were at this draft. 700,000. I mean it wasn’t 700,000 different people but still. That’s an insane amount of people. And let’s be honest here: other than the people under the structure and close enough to be maybe caught on camera once, is it really that fun an experience? It looks awful to be part of unless you are close enough and feel like you are part of the “action” for lack of a better term. At least it doesn’t cost anything to go there so you could come and go as you please (as far as I know).
• I perused all three shows on Night One. Gotta say, Nick Saban was a breath of fresh air. Honest insight and gave you info that always seemed to be missing from previous draft broadcasts. NFL Network did their usual solid job. And if you want to know how ESPN did, as soon as I went over to that broadcast, the first thing I saw is Mel Kiper basically yelling right in Booger McFarland’s face. So yeah, I would go 1) ABC 2) NFLN 3) watching people on Twitter bitch and complain about all things draft-related but at least picks weren’t getting tipped early unless you were looking for it 4) ESPN.

Let’s get to the winners and loser of this draft:

Winners

• As I usually do, I will preface this with the fact that it is really too soon to truly understand the ramifications of this draft. Many pundits have been wrong. No one thought Tom Brady would be what he ended up being after being drafted 199th back in 2000.
• Da Bears – Caleb Williams was the no-brainer first overall pick. Getting Rome Odunze to pair with him eight picks later was a big pick. Then to pick Tory Taylor in the fourth round was a coup. Overall, a great draft from Ryan Poles.
• Da Vikings – This seems to be a bit more polarizing. As a friend of mine stated, he just wanted the Vikings to have a plan and stick with it. So if it’s taking J.J. McCarthy, then take J.J. McCarthy and don’t overthink it. Which they did. Then they moved up to get Dallas Turner in one of the best trade-ups of the draft. Including Khyree Jackson as their fourth-round pick means they actually got a lot of value with some of their picks, something many teams can’t say.
• Philly – Their secondary is going to be something to deal with. Quinyon Mitchell and Cooper DeJean were drafted lower than many thought they would be (including myself). And now with Vic Fangio running the defense? Watch out.
• Indy – They got quite the haul with their 2024 draft. And Adonai Mitchell actually picked around where he was supposed to be picked (if not a little later which makes him a bit of a steal). How about that?

Losers

• I don’t care what anyone thinks but drafting Michael Penix Jr. at #8 is a terrible choice. I mentioned it above and I am not going to go over it again. There’s a GM overthinking things and it was interesting watching him try to basically justify the pick to Arthur Blank (or at least that’s what it looked like).
• The Raiders – Now the Raiders, they needed a quarterback. Gardner Minshew and Aidan O’Connell are not the answer unless one of them plays out of his mind this season. So did they trade up? No. They did get Brock Bowers which is a good pick but they need someone to throw him the fucking ball.
• Buffalo* – I put an asterisk here. When they didn’t trade up to grab Brian Thomas Jr. I thought, OK maybe they aren’t go to draft a receiver. Then they trade with the Chiefs to move down to #32 which is kind of weird. The Chiefs picking Xavier Worthy is so much less of a deal than many made it out to be, it’s laughable. According to some, Worthy is nine Puka Nacuas rolled into one. Get the fuck outta here. The Chiefs reached for Worthy according to almost everyone’s thoughts going into the draft so cut it with the “he’s a sure-fire HOFer with Patrick Mahomes” horseshit. THEN, the Bills trade down AGAIN to get out of the first round altogether. Sure, the Panthers also reached with their receiver pick but still, what was Brandon Beane trying to accomplish? And please, moving up on Day 3 of the draft means very little, admit it. So after all this, what do the Bills do? DRAFT A RECEIVER! Are you kidding me? I mean the guy is hilariously entertaining but trading down twice to do what you could have done the previous night all to move up some of your later picks? Oh yeah, real big brain stuff. Again, get the fuck outta here. Over………thinking. And that kind of thing pushes general managers out the door.

OK I have to calm down. Enough of the draft. I was getting pretty pissed off there at the end. Maybe it’s the residual from the Leafs losing in heartbreaking fashion…again. Being a Leafs fan and a Bills fan I should know the pain is coming. But even though I do, it still sucks. Big time.

Were there other winners and losers at this draft? Sure. I don’t have the time, energy or inkling to even go into that. Not my forte, so I dip my toe in the water and steer clear of the “experts” who do this for a living.

Now a little blurb about what is happening with Rogers and their NHL contract. Remember what I said years ago about it? Let’s step into the way-back machine and take a look, shall we?

My opinion was that Rogers would rue the day they made that deal. Not the cost (although it was a ton) but the length of the deal. Twelve years at the time. Now it took longer than I thought it would (and that’s because Rogers couldn’t do this before now becuase there was no interest) but Rogers is selling off the Monday Night NHL game package to Amazon. Yep, it’s only the last two years of the twelve-year contract but still, I had a feeling it would happen. I don’t think Rogers is getting the return on investment they desired and that’s obvious with this move. I am guessing they will be much less of a major player when the Canadian rights come up in 2026. Feels good to be right at least some of the time, especially when others don’t quite agree with you. Then again, I live in the middle of a hockey-mad country that just watched the first- or second-most popular team (depending on who you ask) get bounced from the playoffs….OK I’m not going back to that well. It’s done. Over with. Stop it, Bossman.

Soon enough I will get back in the groove of things. Most important games lists. Conference predictions. My (probably shitty) Heisman ballot. I know it’s only May but with the new college football video game coming out soon I am starting to feel it. College football is in the air (kind of). Have a great week everyone!

It’s the Final Mock Draft!

…..the final Mock Draft!

Yep, not kidding. This is it. I’m not going to do like four in a matter of six days or something ridiculous like that. I have a job and a life (sort of) outside of this blog. I also know things may change on the day of the draft (or more like opening day of the draft). Nothing I can do about that. Let the experts deal with it. Between ESPN and the NFL Network there has to be about 70 mock drafts ready to go in the half hour before the draft begins. So without further adieu, let’s get to l’ébauche finale:

First Round

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	Malik Nabers, WR (LSU)
6	NY Giants	Dallas Turner, EDGE (Alabama)
7	Tennessee	Terrion Arnold, CB (Alabama)
8	Atlanta	J.J. McCarthy, QB (Michigan)
9	Chicago	Laiatu Latu, EDGE (UCLA)
10	NY Jets	Joe Alt, OT (Notre Dame)
11	Minnesota	Bo Nix, QB (Oregon)
12	Denver	Brock Bowers, TE (Georgia)
13	Las Vegas	Olu Fashanu, OT (Penn State)
14	New Orleans	Rome Odunze, WR (Washington)
15	Indianapolis	Quinyon Mitchell, CB (Toledo)
16	Seattle	Troy Fautanu, G (Washington)
17	Jacksonville	Taliese Fuaga, OT (Oregon State)
18	Cincinnati	J.C. Latham, OT (Alabama)
19	LA Rams	Kool-Aid McKinstry, CB (Alabama)
20	Pittsburgh	Byron Murphy II, DT (Texas)
21	Miami	Jer’Zhan Newton, DT (Illinois)
22	Philadelphia	Jared Verse, DE (Florida State)
23	Minnesota	Chop Robinson, EDGE (Penn State)
24	Dallas	Amarius Mims, OT (Georgia)
25	Green Bay	Cooper DeJean, S (Iowa)
26	Tampa Bay	Michael Penix Jr., QB (Washington)
27	Arizona	Darius Robinson, EDGE (Minnesota)
28	Buffalo	Brian Thomas Jr., WR (LSU)
29	Detroit	Jackson Powers-Johnson, G (Oregon)
30	Baltimore	Graham Barton, G (Duke)
31	San Francisco	Tyler Guyton, OT (Oklahoma)
32	Kansas City	Jordan Morgan, OT (Arizona)

Second Round

33	Carolina	Xavier Legette, WR (South Carolina)
34	New England	Kingsley Suamataia, OT (BYU)
35	Arizona	Nate Wiggins, CB (Clemson)
36	Washington	Zach Frazier, C (West Virginia)
37	LA Chargers	T.J. Tampa, CB (Iowa State)
38	Tennessee	Patrick Paul, OT (Houston)
39	Carolina	Ennis Rakestraw Jr., CB (Missouri)
40	Washington	Troy Franklin, WR (Oregon)
41	Green Bay	Chris Braswell, EDGE (Alabama)
42	Houston	Ruke Orhorhoro, DT (Clemson)
43	Atlanta	Ladd McConkey, WR (Georgia)
44	Las Vegas	Christian Haynes, G (UConn)
45	New Orleans	Marshawn Kneeland, EDGE (Western Michigan)
46	Indianapolis	Xavier Worthy, WR (Texas)
47	NY Giants	Cooper Beebe, G (Kansas State)
48	Jacksonville	Adonai Mitchell, WR (Texas)
49	Cincinnati	T’Vondre Sweat, DT (Texas)
50	Philadelphia	Kamari Lassiter, CB (Georgia)
51	Pittsburgh	Edgerrin Cooper, LB (Texas A&M)
52	LA Rams	Kamren Kinchens, S (Miami)
53	Philadelphia	Ricky Pearsall, WR (Florida)
54	Cleveland	Michael Hall Jr., DT (Ohio State)
55	Miami	Keon Coleman, WR (Florida State)
56	Dallas	Trey Benson, RB (Florida State)
57	Tampa Bay	Ja’Lynn Polk, WR (Washington)
58	Green Bay	Sedrick Van Pran, C (Georgia)
59	Houston	Cam Hart, CB (Notre Dame)
60	Buffalo	Kris Jenkins, DT (Michigan)
61	Detroit	Javon Bullard, CB (Georgia)
62	Baltimore	Roman Wilson, WR (Michigan)
63	San Francisco	Austin Booker, DE (Kansas)
64	Kansas City	Braden Fiske, DT (Florida State)

Third Round

65	Carolina	Cedric Gray, LB (North Carolina)
66	Arizona	Payton Wilson, LB (NC State)
67	Washington	Bralen Trice, EDGE (Washington)
68	New England	Jonathan Brooks, RB (Texas)
69	LA Chargers	Ja’Tavion Sanders, TE (Texas)
70	NY Giants	Caelan Carson, CB (Wake Forest)
71	Arizona	Leonard Taylor III, DT (Miami)
72	NY Jets	Tyler Nubin, S (Minnesota)
73	Detroit	Adisa Isaac, EDGE (Penn State)
74	Atlanta	Brandon Dorius, EDGE (Oregon)
75	Chicago	Christian Mahogany, G (Boston College)
76	Denver	DeWayne Carter, DT (Duke)
77	Las Vegas	Mike Sainristil, CB (Michigan)
78	Washington	Junior Colson, LB (Michigan)
79	Atlanta	Justin Egoigbe, DT (Alabama)
80	Cincinnati	Max Melton, CB (Rutgers)
81	Seattle	Tommy Eichenberg, LB (Ohio State)
82	Indianapolis	Calen Bullock, S (USC)
83	LA Rams	Spencer Rattler, QB (South Carolina)
84	Pittsburgh	Roger Rosengarten, OT (Washington)
85	Cleveland	Kiran Amedagije, OT (Yale)
86	Houston	Malachi Corley, WR (WKU)
87	Dallas	Jermaine Burton, WR (Alabama)
88	Green Bay	Blake Fisher, OT (Notre Dame)
89	Tampa Bay	Cole Bishop, S (Utah)
90	Arizona	Zak Zinter, G (Michigan)
91	Green Bay	Nehemiah Pritchett, CB (Auburn)
92	Tampa Bay	Javion Cohen, G (Miami)
93	Baltimore	Jaylen Wright, RB (Tennessee)
94	Kansas City	Blake Corum, RB (Michigan)
95	San Francisco	Elijah Jones, CB (Boston College)
96	Jacksonville	Kris Abrams-Draine, CB (Missouri)
97	Cincinnati	Johnny Wilson, WR (Florida State)
98	Pittsburgh	Jonah Ellliss, LB (Utah)
99	LA Rams	Jalyx Hunt, EDGE (Houston Christian)
100	Washington	Jalen McMillan, WR (Washington)

There are some strong opinions out there about this draft (like every draft) so let’s go through a few of them:

• The Vikings are going to trade up. This is a likely option but I don’t put trades in my mock drafts because I think dreaming up the trade packages would be insane. Saying that, I wouldn’t be surprised if they traded up to #4 or #5 to get J.J. McCarthy.
• The Cardinals are fielding a lot of trade offers. The top three picks are mostly set even though Drake Maye and Jayden Daniels seem to flip-flop in the second and third spots. The Cards are probably fielding a few offers but not as many as some might think. It will take a lot for them to trade down as they know they would get, arguably, the best overall player of the draft at a position they need.
• The Giants might be the toughest to figure out in the Top 10. Absolutely. They have all sorts of needs so there are probably 10-12 players on their board that they could conceivably take. I still like Dallas Turner at that spot but Terrion Arnold, Laiatu Latu, Brock Bowers, Quinyon Marshall and, hell, even Bo Nix could be picked at #6 by the Geeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee-Men (done in extreme Chris Berman voice).
• If Brock Bowers isn’t picked Top 10 he will fall…FAR. I don’t think so. The Broncos, Colts, Bengals and Dolphins might all take a gander at the big man if he is still sitting in the back room after the tenth pick (which I think he will be).

Other than that there are questions that mostly don’t have answers at this point. Like will the Bills make a surprising leap up the draft now that Stefon Diggs has been dealt? Is Michael Penix Jr. poised to have the biggest leap up the draft boards in the past couple months? Will there be actual players involved in any of the trades over the next few days? It’s a crapshoot and not my expertise so I will steer clear of most of those questions (possibly, possibly and probably are my answers).

Reminder that the draft starts tonight at 8:00 and is emanating from Detroit. Moving the draft around has been fun so let’s see what it’s like in the Motor City. As per usual, ESPN and NFL Network will be doing the entire draft…all seven rounds. I have the ESPN draft pick is in ringtone on my phone but I am still debating which network to watch, at least for night one. I have leaned NFL Network in the past but I have done both over the past decade. It’s a game-time decision.

Finally, on the Twitter Machine (fuck you, Elon) I will be live-tweeting at least the first round and am hoping to do ALL SEVEN this year. Can I do it? Who the fuck knows. Around halfway through round five is where things usually go off the rails and I might struggle to keep going at that point. I mean I will but who knows if I will be posting tweets at that point or semi-conscious, staring at the bag of pretzels on my desk and wondering about important questions in life like “Would Nathan Peterman be successful in the CFL?”

Anyway, enjoy the draft, however much you watch of it.

Time for Mock Draft 3.A.0-5

The A stands for April. Or Awesome. Or Asshole. Whatever.

Mock draft time! And it’s three glorious rounds of (probably) incorrect picks. Lovin’ it! Let’s go!

First Round

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

Second Round

33	Carolina	Zach Frazier, C (West Virginia)
34	New England	Jordan Morgan, OT (Arizona)
35	Arizona	Darius Robinson, EDGE (Minnesota)
36	Washington	Xavier Legette, WR (South Carolina)
37	LA Chargers	Michael Hall Jr., DT (Ohio State)
38	Tennessee	T.J. Tampa, CB (Iowa State)
39	Carolina	Keon Coleman, WR (Florida State)
40	Washington	Graham Barton, OG (Duke)
41	Green Bay	Tyler Nubin, S (Minnesota)
42	Houston	Chris Braswell, EDGE (Alabama)
43	Atlanta	Michael Penix Jr., QB (Washington)
44	Las Vegas	Kingsley Suamataia, OT (BYU)
45	New Orleans	Ladd McConkey, WR (Georgia)
46	Indianapolis	Kamren Kinchens, S (Miami)
47	NY Giants	Ennis Rakestraw Jr., CB (Missouri)
48	Jacksonville	Patrick Paul, OT (Houston)
49	Cincinnati	Troy Franklin, WR (Oregon)
50	Philadelphia	Edgerrin Cooper, LB (Texas A&M)
51	Pittsburgh	T’Vondre Sweat, DT (Texas)
52	LA Rams	Bralen Trice, EDGE (Washington)
53	Philadelphia	Marshawn Kneeland, EDGE (Western Michigan)
54	Cleveland	Ruke Orhorhoro, DT (Clemson)
55	Miami	Ja’Lynn Polk, WR (Washington)
56	Dallas	Trey Benson, RB (Florida State)
57	Tampa Bay	Adisa Isaac, EDGE (Penn State)
58	Green Bay	Cooper Beebe, OG (Kansas State)
59	Houston	Malachi Corley, WR (WKU)
60	Buffalo	Max Melton, CB (Rutgers)
61	Detroit	Christian Haynes, OG (UConn)
62	Baltimore	Roman Wilson, WR (Michigan)
63	San Francisco	Brandon Dorius, EDGE (Oregon)
64	Kansas City	Jalen McMillan, WR (Washington)

Third Round

65	Carolina	Cedric Gray, LB (North Carolina)
66	Arizona	Sedrick Van Pran, C (Georgia)
67	Washington	Payton Wilson, LB (NC State)
68	New England	Ricky Pearsall, WR (Florida)
69	LA Chargers	Ben Sinnott, TE (Kansas State)
70	NY Giants	Kris Jenkins, DT (Michigan)
71	Arizona	Leonard Taylor III, DT (Miami)
72	NY Jets	Devontez Walker, WR (North Carolina)
73	Detroit	Caelan Carson, CB (Wake Forest)
74	Atlanta	Cam Hart, CB (Notre Dame)
75	Chicago	Ja’Tavion Sanders, TE (Texas)
76	Denver	Javon Bullard, CB (Georgia)
77	Las Vegas	Jonathon Brooks, RB (Texas)
78	Washington	Austin Booker, DE (Kansas)
79	Atlanta	Braden Fiske, DT (Florida State)
80	Cincinnati	Kiran Amedagije, OT (Yale)
81	Seattle	Christian Mahogany, OG (Boston College)
82	Indianapolis	Mike Sainristil, CB (Michigan)
83	LA Rams	D.J. James, CB (Auburn)
84	Pittsburgh	Roger Rosengarten, OT (Washington)
85	Cleveland	Junior Colson, LB (Michigan)
86	Houston	Kris Abrams-Draine, CB (Missouri)
87	Dallas	Renardo Green, CB (Florida State)
88	Green Bay	Khyree Jackson, CB (Oregon)
89	Tampa Bay	Beau Brade, S (Maryland)
90	Arizona	Andru Phillips, CB (Kentucky)
91	Green Bay	Jalyx Hunt, EDGE (Houston Christian)
92	Tampa Bay	Dominick Puni, OG (Kansas)
93	Baltimore	McKinnley Jackson, DT (Texas A&M)
94	Kansas City	Braelon Allen, RB (Wisconsin)
95	San Francisco	Kalen King, CB (Penn State)
96	Jacksonville	Johnny Wilson, WR (Florida State)
97	Cincinnati	Josh Newton, CB (TCU)
98	Pittsburgh	Jeremiah Trotter Jr., LB (Clemson)
99	LA Rams	Calen Bullock, S (USC)
100	Washington	James Williams, S (Miami)

The top few picks seem set in stone. Maybe on in that specific order but those top four will, most likely, be the top four come draft night. As for some of the other picks, man there were some huge drops. Like Kris Jenkins. Only a few weeks ago, a fair amount of mocks had him in the first round. I don’t think he’s even being considered as a first rounder anymore. Almost the same with Byron Murphy II. I had him going fifth to the Chargers which may have been a bit high in retrospect. But for him to drop to almost completely out of the first round is an alarming drop. Sometimes it’s fairly easy to find out what has happened to lower a potential draftee’s stock and sometimes…well, sometimes who the hell knows. It just happens.

Potential Draft Day Trades

OK so these would include trades coming up toward the draft as well, not just the ones on draft opening night. And no, I can’t see the Bears or the Commanders trading their picks so let’s start with the #3 pick.

New England (#3) – Chances of the Patriots trading this pick are slim but considering the haul that some teams have received for a top 3 pick in NFL history, the right package might come along to entice them to trade down. I have a feeling it would take at least two first-rounders, two second-rounders, and at least one other pick.

NY Giants (#6) – Probably the highest pick with true potential to be dealt is the Giants at #6. The Giants desperately need help on both lines but there are a few options available meaning they could trade down a few spots and still get one of the guys they covet. A first-round pick swap would have to happen and the team trading with the G-Men couldn’t be far below the #16 spot for this to work. Other picks would come the Giants way as well.

Tennessee (#7) – This becomes a possibility if the Patriots trade down. The reason is, one of Drake Maye or Jayden Daniels would be available and there are a few teams that would love to trade up to get one of the two. That includes the Falcons, Vikings, Broncos and Raiders. Knowing that, the Titans could get a larger pick haul than the Giants even though the pick would be later.

NY Jets (#10) – The Jets are hoping that Aaron Rodgers will be healthy this year. And to help with that, they want an offensive lineman desperately. The hope is that one of Olu Fashanu or Joe Alt fall to them. If neither of them are available, I would fully expect the Jets to shop the pick and they could drop a fair way if they wanted to.

The Vikings feel like the most likely pick to move up since, for some reason, many are saying they really want J.J. McCarthy. I think it would be crazy to trade up because I think McCarthy, at least at this point, would be available to the Vikings at #11. Maybe I’m wrong with that. They would most likely just trade picks but they have one bargaining chip that some teams might not be able to ignore: Justin Jefferson. If the Vikings can’t extend Double J, then they might include him in a trade to see what they could get. Arizona would be a trading partner if (and only if) this was a possibility.

In non-draft news, the UFL has commenced their season. Not exactly a ton of fans for a couple of these games but some wacky shit happened. Jake Bates hit a 64-yard field goal to help his Michigan Stags beat St. Louis. Funny enough, it was on the same uprights that Justin Tucker kicked his NFL-record 67-yarder to beat the Lions a couple years ago. Then you had San Antonio punter Brad Wing throwing a 40-yard touchdown pass on 4th and 11 to the team’s centre Alex Mollette. So at least it’s entertaining, you have to give it that. And it’s football. A tiny appetizer before the CFL, then college football, then NFL season starts. So embrace it. Or don’t. I don’t care. I realize March Madness was on this past weekend so I can see why people might not watch.

OK I will do one more mock draft closer to actual draft day (which starts April 25th). And even then, most of my picks will be wrong. At least I can take solace in the fact that I will have close to the same record as the so-called experts have.

The college schedule is coming into form. It’s kind of tough with the changes coming up this season so for good parts of the schedule I have nothing to compare it to. So we shall see how that goes when I start doing my most important game posts. Anyway, I hope you all had a great Easter long weekend and have a great first week of April.

The ALL-NEW Mock NFL Draft Version 2 Dash 2024 along with a look-back

That intro sounds like when The (Big Money!) Match Game 1976 would air on Game Show Network. Why did they need to put the year in? When people were watching it live, were they so fucking stoned that they had to be reminded what year it was?

Anyway, I am starting this post a couple days after Selection Sunday. Now I am not an avid college basketball watcher but I know they screwed some of these picks up. And remember, when a conference gets a team in, they get more money. That’s important. The ACC got five teams in and Virginia was one of them and they may be one of the worst at-large choices ever. A few teams that were left out, most notably Oklahoma and Indiana State, were, by most metrics, better choices. But the ACC is THE big basketball brand and only having four teams in would look disastrous. Fully deserved, mind you. But still disastrous. Luckily, I don’t care as much as I do with college football but these tournament committees are fucking terrible in every sport.

Let’s get to the root of this post: the next mock draft. I know…two mock drafts before the end of March? Haven’t done that in quite a while. And, of course, quite a bit changed thanks to the Kreepy Kombine and scouts changing their minds as much as they change their underwear (so about once every four days). Here’s the newest mock draft, now expanded to two rounds for your pleasure.

First Round

1	Chicago	Caleb Williams, QB (USC)
2	Washington	Drake Maye, QB (North Carolina)
3	New England	Jayden Daniels, QB (LSU)
4	Arizona	Marvin Harrison Jr., WR (Ohio State)
5	LA Chargers	Byron Murphy II, DT (Texas)
6	NY Giants	Dallas Turner, EDGE (Alabama)
7	Tennessee	Joe Alt, OT (Notre Dame)
8	Atlanta	Malik Nabers, WR (LSU)
9	Chicago	Rome Odunze, WR (Washington)
10	NY Jets	Olu Fashanu, OT (Penn State)
11	Minnesota	Laiatu Latu, DE (UCLA)
12	Denver	Jared Verse, DE (Florida State)
13	Las Vegas	Quinyon Mitchell, CB (Toledo)
14	New Orleans	Brian Thomas Jr., WR (LSU)
15	Indianapolis	Nate Wiggins, CB (Clemson)
16	Seattle	Bo Nix, QB (Oregon)
17	Jacksonville	Terrion Arnold, CB (Alabama)
18	Cincinnati	Brock Bowers, TE (Georgia)
19	LA Rams	Cooper DeJean, S (Iowa)
20	Pittsburgh	Troy Fautanu, OG (Washington)
21	Miami	Kris Jenkins, DT (Michigan)
22	Philadelphia	Xavier Worthy, WR (Texas)
23	Houston	Jer’Zhan Newton, DT (Illinois)
24	Dallas	Jackson Powers-Johnson, OG (Oregon)
25	Green Bay	Graham Barton, OG (Duke)
26	Tampa Bay	J.J. McCarthy, QB (Michigan)
27	Arizona	Zach Frazier, OG (West Virginia)
28	Buffalo	Tyler Nubin, S (Minnesota)
29	Detroit	Darius Robinson, EDGE (Minnesota)
30	Baltimore	Adonai Mitchell, WR (Texas)
31	San Francisco	Taliese Fuaga, OT (Oregon State)
32	Kansas City	J.C. Latham, OT (Alabama)

Second Round

33	Carolina	Chop Robinson, EDGE (Penn State)
34	New England	Tyler Guyton, OT (Oklahoma)
35	Arizona	Kool-Aid McKinstry, CB (Alabama)
36	Washington	Xavier Legette, WR (South Carolina)
37	LA Chargers	Kamari Lassiter, CB (Georgia)
38	Tennessee	Cam Hart, CB (Notre Dame)
39	NY Giants	Michael Hall Jr., DT (Ohio State)
40	Washington	Payton Wilson, LB (NC State)
41	Green Bay	Amarius Mims, OT (Georgia)
42	Minnesota	Michael Penix Jr., QB (Washington)
43	Atlanta	Ennis Rakestraw Jr., CB (Missouri)
44	Las Vegas	Jordan Morgan, OT (Arizona)
45	New Orleans	Kingsley Suamataia, OT (BYU)
46	Indianapolis	Kamren Kinchens, S (Miami)
47	NY Giants	T.J. Tampa, CB (Iowa State)
48	Jacksonville	Ladd McConkey, WR (Georgia)
49	Cincinnati	Keon Coleman, WR (Florida State)
50	Philadelphia	Chris Braswell, EDGE (Alabama)
51	Pittsburgh	Edgerrin Cooper, LB (Texas A&M)
52	LA Rams	Bralen Trice, EDGE (Washington)
53	Philadelphia	Mike Sainristil, CB (Michigan)
54	Cleveland	Braden Fiske, DT (Florida State)
55	Miami	Troy Franklin, WR (Oregon)
56	Dallas	Paul Patrick, OT (Houston)
57	Tampa Bay	Cooper Beebe, OG (Kansas State)
58	Green Bay	Javon Bullard, S (Georgia)
59	Houston	Roman Wilson, WR (Michigan)
60	Buffalo	T’Vondre Sweat, DT (Texas)
61	Detroit	Christian Haynes, OG (UConn)
62	Baltimore	Ruke Orhorhoro, DT (Clemson)
63	San Francisco	Marshawn Kneeland, EDGE (Western Michigan)
64	Kansas City	Ricky Pearsall, WR (Florida)

Are there some changes? Absolutely? Are they Earth-shattering? Not really. Although you can expect at least one of these current second-rounders to rocket up draft boards for reasons that are sometimes, well, unknown or make no sense. By this point teams should know what they see in a player. So unless that player does something negative, they shouldn’t go from a consensus low-second rounder to a mid-first round pick in a matter of a little over a month. But hey, what do I know.

Also, what is with the sudden J.J. McCarthy hype? It has that feel of some people wanting McCarthy to go higher so they are basically willing it to happen. Any team that would consider drafting McCarthy in the Top 10 is obviously fine with extreme risk. Not saying McCarthy won’t end up being good but his college career has shown nothing that says he will be a top-end starter.

OK so years ago (nine to be exact), I used part of a mock draft post to talk about sites I enjoy. And it was definitely also about helping my blog in a way since I was still pretty green at the time (two years in). Let’s look back and see if I still feel the same way about these sites.

Matt’s College Sports Media Blog – Along with Matt’s College Sports on TV is still the premier site for college football and college basketball TV scheduling news and notes. I think he still likes Formula One racing which is great if you like that. He’s also a Bills fan which is pretty damn awesome.

Phil Steele – Still the best college football preview magazine. There are other good ones out there but nothing comes close. And his site fills in the gaps. I am assuming many hardcore college football fans subscribe to his site to get a lot of great stats and gambling info. I tried it for a couple of years and it was almost overwhelming. Still…worth it just to peruse all the free stuff he does put up, which is a lot.

A Rouge Point – This site does not exist anymore. Actually, it ceased to exist not even a year after I published this original post. It’s too bad since it was a great look at sports media coverage in Canada and posted NFL and NHL schedules for Canadian viewers.

Deadspin – Speaking of sites that are no longer around, this site might as well be. At one point it was one of the great sports sites on the net. It wasn’t long after I made the original post that things started to go downhill. A site that used to be brash and willing to take on all comers became a bunch of writers who thought they were the moral compass of a good portion of the Internet (especially sports fans). Even their best writers became insufferable. Then they all got fired/walked out in late 2019 when a company told them to stick to sports which made the site even worse. Now, it looks like they have been bought out, the staff was fired (again) and they look to be getting into the sports gambling industry. Ugh.

Awful Announcing – A site that used to absolutely skewer announcers (and sometimes athletes and sports organizations in general) has gone away from their bread and butter. They still throw up the occasional great article but aren’t as good as they were in their heyday.

LSUfootball.net – The first site I came upon when figuring out the sheer amount of games available for college football viewing…in the United States. Still a very informative site.

Alright another mock draft and post in the books. I assume most of you have March Madness brackets going. Chances of me going perfect ended at the end of the first game and I’ve already lost one of my Final Four picks. Good times. Have a great rest of the weekend everyone!

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!

Sure, let’s do a bit of a draft recap

I will get to this man a bit later since he went through quite the night.

As usual, the draft was a fun time…well, the first night was fun then it got steadily less fun until the final rounds when other than NFL Network’s Stump The Truck, almost nothing was really all that fun. But I watched most of it. What can I say, I am way into football. Probably too much but soon enough I will be on my own a lot more so football may be the only thing that keeps me company. God, that’s sad. Let’s move on.

First of all, I will take a look at my mock draft and compare it to the actual draft results and…yep, I got basically nothing right. I couldn’t even get the first two picks right. I had C.J. Stroud going first followed by Bryce Young. I think Carolina made the right pick out of the two but I was sure they had their sights set on Stroud. Funny enough, though, I got two picks exactly right: Zay Flowers to the Ravens at #22 and Wanya Morris to the Chiefs at #92. That really doesn’t make any sense but it’s the truth. Other than that, everything else wrong and some were REALLY wrong.

Reaches

It’s always too soon to look at this but there seem to be picks that were universally thought of as reaches: as in a team picked a player way earlier than they probably would have gone. I know some teams absolutely want a specific player and worry about not getting them that much that they either take them too soon or trade up to get them when they didn’t need to. Still doesn’t mean it wasn’t a stretch for that player. Let’s look at a few that felt obvious.

Darnell Wright (#10 overall to Chicago) – I, along with most others, had Wright pegged as a late-1st round/early-2nd round pick at best. The fact that the Bears also passed on Peter Skoronski, from Northwestern (supposedly Chicago’s Big Ten school) is the real headscratcher here.

Jahmyr Gibbs (#12 to Detroit) – Speaking of headscratchers, it’s like Detroit brought back Matt Millen and his new focus wasn’t wide receivers but running backs. Detroit did not need help at running back but took Gibbs at this point anyway. I had figured he’d end up on the Bills which didn’t thrill me but Gibbs is better than what they have at this point. Anyway, Detroit ended up trading D’Andre Swift to the Eagles because of this pick. I don’t get it.

Deonte Banks (#24 to NY Giants) – Did the Giants need a cornerback? Absolutely. Was Joey Porter Jr. still on the board? Absolutely. Was Kelee Ringo still on the board? Absolutely. Was Cam Smith still on the board? Absolutely. I could go on and on but Banks wasn’t a first rounder and I’d be shocked if he plays like one.

Derick Hall (#37 to Seattle) – The Seahawks didn’t exactly need a defensive end but they decided to pick one anyway. OK, that’s fine. To pick Hall when there were a few other guys on the board who were rated way higher made no sense. Hall was barely a second rounder in most mock drafts.

Steals

On the other hand, we have our draft steals. Every draft has their steals and yes I know Tom Brady was a “steal.” Actually, no, at the time, no one thought he was a steal of a pick. No one. At all. If you say you did, you’re a dirty fucking liar. Again, this is way too early so by the time the next draft occurred, yes, Brady was considered a massive steal. Hell, he would have been a steal as a late second rounder.

Christian Gonzalez (#17 to New England) – The biggest steal of the draft in my opinion. I had him going third overall and many mock drafts had him in the top seven picks. Did the Pats need any help in the secondary? No, but how do you pass on a guy that has dropped approximately 10 spots or so in the first round when you don’t have a huge need? Once again, Bill Belichick is playing 4-D Parcheesi while everyone else is playing Snakes and Ladders.

Dalton Kincaid (#25 to Buffalo) – I was not happy when Bijan Robinson was off the board super early. Man did he go from not even a first rounder like a month ago to Top 10 pick. Anyway, the Bills did the next best thing (that they needed) by getting the best tight end in the draft in Kincaid. Josh Allen could make the guy…well, not a star but a very dependable receiver.

Joey Porter Jr. (#32 to Pittsburgh) – How did the last into the second round? There were easily six different teams that should have taken him and passed. Yeah I’m looking at you New York Football Giants (or GEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE-Men in honour of Chris Berman). He may make a couple of teams pay for passing on him this coming season.

Jalin Hyatt (#73 to NY Giants) – So the Giants make one of the worst picks of the early part of the draft and then somehow snag Hyatt in the third round. Hey, whatever works. I could have also put Hyatt’s Tennessee Volunteer teammate Cedric Tillman here as he went one spot later to the Browns.

Alright let’s get down to the Will Levis situation. ESPN did this man (and his family) dirty. Well, most of them. I think the girlfriend loved the attention. Still though, to spend four-plus hours in that room and not get your name called has to suck. And ESPN loved it. You know they did. Most people had him going in the #7-#13 range. I had him going to Washington at #16. Then someone on Reddit (I think) tweeted that the Panthers were considering him for the top pick. All of a sudden, people became a lot more interested in him. It also meant that every draft pick that wasn’t him would make him look worse. And yes I know there are others that suffer the same plight but he is, by far, the most hyped of anyone who has had that happen. Also, why didn’t Tennessee move up into the first round to get him? Now they lose a potential option year if he ends up being good. Poor management by the Titans there.

Best Draft

Again, this is way too early but you can kind of tell when a team probably had a good draft (unless one of their top picks is a flop). Here is my list of the top three teams from draft day.

Philadelphia – It feels almost unanimous among experts (which I am not one of) that the Eagles had the best draft. Not only did they continue their Georgia Bulldog-riffic defense picking Jalen Carter and Nolan Smith, but they also drafted Bama’s Tyler Steen who could potentially anchor the offensive line soon enough and somehow had Kelee Ringo (another Bulldog) fall into their lap in the fourth round. Finally, Detroit’s stupidity made it so the Eagles got D’Andre Swift in a trade with the Lions. An all-around great few days for possibly the NFC favourites.

Indianapolis – No, this isn’t all about the Anthony Richardson pick although that is what much of the Colts’ draft will hinge on. They had a great draft otherwise, though, with a huge value pick in the fourth round, nabbing Adetomiwa Adeboware. Really, it’s Richardson and Adeboware for the Colts. If they both hit then this will end up being the number one draft crop in hindsight. Otherwise….yikes. Huge risk-reward for a team that feels the time is right to make huge moves.

Pittsburgh – The Eagles’ cross-state rival also had quite the good, if not underrated, draft, looking like the smartest team coming out of the draft. They filled pretty much all their needs in the first three rounds and then got some great value late. Porter is a steal and teams may regret not picking him.

Worst Draft

Very rarely does a team get selected having the worst draft and then it ends up that everyone was wrong in hindsight. So yeah, this is not a good group to be in.

Jacksonville – Third worst on our list is the Jags with a bit of a perplexing draft. Things were looking great for a team that looked like it may run away with the AFC South over the next few years. That may not be the case anymore, and this draft didn’t help matters any. Unfortunately, the Cam Robinson situation forced them to pick O-line early but Anton Harrison may not have been the guy. Tank Bigsby was a pretty bad pick and could have been got two rounds later. And for a team that needed a tight end as another weapon for Trevor Lawrence, getting Brenton Strange isn’t it with other guys on the board. Just weird all around.

Minnesota – Look, they did pretty well with the Jordan Addison pick. Beyond that? Woof. Every other pick was a reach and they really didn’t do anything to help Kirk Cousins beyond getting Addison to hopefully pair with Justin Jefferson. Cousins is in the last year of his contract and this felt like the year the Vikings really had to try and go for it or start building for the future and they did neither.

San Francisco – Just like Philly, it’s a pretty unanimous vote on the other end of the draft grades. The ass end, if you will. The 49ers did a deplorable job this time around. Lucky for them, as long as Brock Purdy and/or Trey Lance are ready to go, this team is ready to battle for the NFC title at the very least. But holy shit, you’d think you would draft one guy that would help the team this coming season. Especially on the offensive line, where they needed help and drafted nobody. But hey, they drafted a kicker. Before the 100th pick. For fuck’s sakes what a joke.

Finally, a quick look at the two networks showing the draft. Most people seemed to be watching ESPN, as per usual. The NFL Network picked up the rest of the viewers. Problem was, the amount of complaints I heard about ESPN were staggering. Yet, these same people obviously outright refused to just, oh I don’t know, turn to the other network with draft coverage. I get that hearing the old NFL Primetime music is great (it really is) but if the coverage sucks then change the channel. My opinion, as you may know, is that the NFL Network has always had better coverage since they started showing the draft. I mean, that’s their whole thing: the NFL. ESPN suffers from trying to put in as many horrific stories about the draftees and too many people involved in the production. At least a quarter of the people involved could have been axed because they sucked at their job on this night.

I think that’s the first draft recap I have done in a long time. I don’t feel like looking. I’m not really a recap kind of guy but I figured what the hell. We are now 107 days away from the college football season and the posts will start coming along more frequently once again. We are getting close to true football season, folks! Not that I’m minding the XFL since it has been pretty good. The USFL, on the other hand, ugh. Have a great rest of the week everyone.

Mock Draft? Yeah, why the fuck not.

Fuck off Captain Ginger.

I haven’t done a mock draft at all until now. Not one. Then I decided “Hey, why not do three rounds’ worth?” I had no answer for myself because I’m an idiot. So yeah, three rounds. Now there are no trades here and I don’t project trades because that is a fool’s game. Although, I guess mock drafts are also a fool’s game. Ugh. Let’s just get started before I regret doing this.

Round 1

1	Carolina	C.J. Stroud, QB (Ohio State)
2	Houston	Bryce Young, QB (Alabama)
3	Arizona	Christian Gonzalez, CB (Oregon)
4	Indianapolis	Tyree Wilson, EDGE (Texas Tech)
5	Seattle	Will Anderson Jr., LB (Alabama)
6	Detroit	Jalen Carter, DT (Georgia)
7	Las Vegas	Paris Johnson Jr., OT (Ohio State)
8	Atlanta	Anthony Richardson, QB (Florida)
9	Chicago	Lukas Van Ness, DE (Iowa)
10	Philadelphia	Jaxon Smith-Njigba, WR (Ohio State)
11	Tennessee	Quentin Johnson, WR (TCU)
12	Houston	Devon Witherspoon, CB (Illinois)
13	NY Jets Green Bay	Dalton Kincaid, TE (Utah)
14	New England	Peter Skoronski, OT (Northwestern)
15	Green Bay NY Jets	Broderick Jones, OT (Georgia)
16	Washington	Will Levis, QB (Kentucky)
17	Pittsburgh	Joey Porter Jr., CB (Penn State)
18	Detroit	Bijan Robinson, RB (Texas)
19	Tampa Bay	Brian Branch, S (Alabama)
20	Seattle	Jordan Addison, WR (USC)
21	LA Chargers	Myles Murphy, DE (Clemson)
22	Baltimore	Zay Flowers, WR (Boston College)
23	Minnesota	Nolan Smith, LB (Georgia)
24	Jacksonville	Kelee Ringo, CB (Georgia)
25	NY Giants	Jalin Hyatt, WR (Tennessee)
26	Dallas	O’Cyrus Torrance, G (Florida)
27	Buffalo	Jahmyr Gibbs, RB (Alabama)
28	Cincinnati	Michael Mayer, TE (Notre Dame)
29	New Orleans	Ryan Hayes, G (Michigan)
30	Philadelphia	Jack Campbell, LB (Iowa)
31	Kansas City	Darnell Wright, OT (Tennessee)

Round 2

32	Pittsburgh	Calijah Kancey, DT (Pittsburgh)
33	Houston	Darnell Washington, TE (Georgia)
34	Arizona	John Michael Schmitz, C (Minnesota)
35	Indianapolis	Cam Smith, CB (South Carolina)
36	LA Rams	Mazi Smith, DT (Michigan)
37	Seattle	Bryan Bresee, DT (Clemson)
38	Las Vegas	Quan Martin, S (Illinois)
39	Carolina	Will McDonald IV, DE (Iowa State)
40	New Orleans	Hendon Hooker, QB (Tennessee)
41	Tennessee	Daiyan Henley, LB (Washington State)
42	NY Jets Green Bay	Antonio Johnson, S (Texas A&M)
43	NY Jets	Drew Sanders, LB (Arkansas)
44	Atlanta	Emmanuel Forbes, CB (Mississippi State)
45	Green Bay	Isaiah Foskey, DE (Notre Dame)
46	New England	B.J. Ojulari, DE (LSU)
47	Washington	Luke Wypler, C (Ohio State)
48	Detroit	Luke Musgrave, TE (Oregon State)
49	Pittsburgh	Noah Sewell, LB (Oregon)
50	Tampa Bay	Anton Harrison, OT (Oklahoma)
51	Miami	Steve Avila, G (TCU)
52	Seattle	J.L. Skinner, S (Boise State)
53	Chicago	Cedric Tillman, WR (Tennessee)
54	LA Chargers	Siaki Ika, DT (Baylor)
55	Detroit	Deonte Banks, CB (Maryland)
56	Jacksonville	Cody Mauch, OT (North Dakota State)
57	NY Giants	Tyrique Stevenson, CB (Miami)
58	Dallas	Josh Downs, WR (North Carolina)
59	Buffalo	Gervon Dexter, DT (Florida)
60	Cincinnati	Adetomiwa Adebawore, DT (Northwestern)
61	Chicago	Henry To’o’To’o, LB (Alabama)
62	Philadelphia	Chris Rodriguez, RB (Kentucky)
63	Kansas City	Felix Anudike-Uzomah, EDGE (Kansas State)

Round 3

64	Chicago	Jaelyn Duncan, OT (Maryland)
65	Houston	Trenton Simpson, LB (Clemson)
66	Arizona	Tuli Tuipulotu, DE (USC)
67	Denver	Clark Phillips, CB (Utah)
68	Denver	Dawand Jones, OT (Ohio State)
69	LA Rams	Sam LaPorta, TE (Iowa)
70	Las Vegas	Keion White, DE (Georgia Tech)
71	New Orleans	Zach Charbonnet, RB (UCLA)
72	Tennessee	Tucker Kraft, TE (South Dakota State)
73	Houston	Anthony Bradford, G (LSU)
74	Cleveland	Zacch Pickens, DT (South Carolina)
75	Atlanta	Sydney Brown, S (Illinois)
76	New England	Rashee Rice, WR (SMU)
77	LA Rams	Nick Broeker, G (Ole Miss)
78	Green Bay	Tyler Scott, WR (Cincinnati)
79	Indianapolis	Tanner McKee, QB (Stanford)
80	Pittsburgh	Tyler Steen, OT (Alabama)
81	Detroit	McClendon Curtis, G (Chattanooga)
82	Tampa Bay	Jonathan Mingo, WR (Ole Miss)
83	Seattle	Joe Tippman, C (Wisconsin)
84	Miami	Zach Evans, RB (Ole Miss)
85	LA Chargers	Blake Freeland, OT (BYU)
86	Baltimore	Julius Brents, CB (Kansas State)
87	Minnesota	Mekhi Garner, CB (LSU)
88	Jacksonville	Daniel Scott, S (California)
89	NY Giants	Jarrett Patterson, G (Notre Dame)
90	Dallas	Kendre Miller, RB (TCU)
91	Buffalo	Cameron Latu, TE (Alabama)
92	Cincinnati	Wanya Morris, OT (Oklahoma)
93	Carolina	Jaylon Jones, CB (Texas A&M)
94	Philadelphia	Mekhi Blackmon, CB (USC)
95	Kansas City	Kayshon Boutte, WR (LSU)
96	Arizona	DeMarvion Overshown, LB (Texas)
97	Washington	Cam Mitchell, CB (Northwestern)
98	Cleveland	Mike Morris, DE (Michigan)
99	San Francisco	Jaxon Kirkland, G (Washington)
100	Las Vegas	Emil Ekiyor, C (Alabama)
101	San Francisco	Brandon Joseph, S (Notre Dame)
102	San Francisco	Xavier Hutchinson, WR (Iowa State)

Notes and Crap and Stuff and Things and Shit and Garbage

• Yes I know I usually have logos as well. I decided to go no frills with this one. No, that doesn’t mean I have aisleways that are so cramped that two people with shopping carts can’t go through at the same time. Just means I was short on time and didn’t feel like doing all the work to put the fancy logos in.
• You will notice that the third round has more picks than the other two rounds. Well, the first round only has 31 because Miami forfeited its pick and the third round includes all the compensatory picks.
• I am feeling pretty good with my first few picks. Stroud should go #1 and Young #2. I think at least seven out of my top ten will be in the top ten come draft night. Beyond that, who knows.
• I hope that somehow Bijan Robinson can fall all the way to the Bills’ pick at #27. He won’t as he seems to be rocketing up many draft boards. As long as the Bills figure out their running back issue I will be somewhat happy.
• Take a look at your favourite team and see if you like the way I drafted for them. If so, I feel bad for you since they will most likely not draft as well. I don’t make the rules.

Look if there are trades between now and the draft I will update my picks because otherwise it wouldn’t make sense. You know, say if Aaron Rodgers gets traded to a certain team in the AFC East with a plane-based logo, I assume there will be picks involved as well so I would adjust my mock draft accordingly.

OK that was a lot. Especially for my first post in a while. If work wasn’t so busy I’d do more. I’m just kidding, I wouldn’t have. Not a whole lot to post about to be honest. Things will start ramping up soon after the draft I’m sure. Have a great draft night(s) everybody!

Most Important Games of the 2021 College Football Season – Part I (plus a blurb about the NFL Draft)

It’s been too damn long since I’ve written a post directed solely to college football.  Annnnnnnnnnnnnnnnd….this won’t be one either.  I did not do a full NFL draft review post because, honestly, I didn’t feel like it.  There are enough reviews of the draft so I can put a paragraph or two at the end of this post and that should suffice.  I will say it was nice to watch that.  And then to watch some actual college football?  An absolute delight.  The FCS, as a whole, has got a lot of publicity with this Spring season.  To play games on ESPN and even ABC is huge for some of those teams.  Don’t be surprised when realignment talk starts again (and oh it will), that some of these teams that got big national audiences in April and May surface as possible FBS teams.

Anyway, now to the task at hand: the upcoming 2021 college football schedules.  At least this year I am almost 100% positive that games won’t be cancelled except for reasons that aren’t COVID-related but those rarely happen.  I’m doing this a tiny bit later than I normally do so if for some reason you were waiting for these posts, I apologize.  As the saying goes, life sometimes gets in the way.  I will say the same thing I have said every year I have done this.  Very few of the games are confirmed.  I will try and note if they are in these important game posts.  A lot more should be set by the time I get to network-specific schedule posts but even then, it’s really a crapshoot once October comes around.

Saying that, there are a few probables.  Like let’s be honest here: the Iron Bowl will be on CBS.  The only way this doesn’t happen is if both teams are somehow under .500.  I’d bet everything I have (which isn’t much) on that not being the case.  So you can be rest assured some things will be the same as they’ve always been.

For the fourth year in a row, the Important Games list will be broken down week-by-week and then as per the following:

• Game of the Week – This is my opinion of the game of the week.  It may differ from your opinion.  That is OK.  Because the next part is…
• Other Really Important Games – See?  One of these games might be your game of the week choice.
• Sneaky-Good Underrated Game – Some games are underrated.  I will try to find one each week that could fulfill that criterion.
• Best Group of Five Game – Pretty self-explanatory but has to have TWO G5 teams involved.
• Worst Power Five Game – Just like above, except the opposite (with two P5 teams involved).

The “Other Really Important Games” section is the one section where the number of games I include may vary.  In some weeks you will only see one or two.  Others there may be like seven.  We pretty much know which weeks will have better games and which ones won’t so it shouldn’t be much of a surprise.

SOUND THE TRUMPETS!  Hear ye, hear ye!  It’s time for the commencement of the Bossman’s Blog college football blog posting season: the ranking of the weeks.  If you were looking for something similar to every other year then ho boy are you in for a shock…again.  For all that stays the same with college football, these weekly rankings have been changing a fair bit lately.  Just a reminder that I list the week and the date that corresponds to the Saturday of that week so you can follow along at home:

1. Week 10 (November 6)
2. Week 13 (November 27 – American Thanksgiving)
3. Week 5 (October 2)
4. Week 9 (October 30)
5. Week 1 (September 4)
6. Week 7 (October 16)
7. Week 12 (November 20)
8. Week 11 (November 13)
9. Week 8 (October 23)
10. Week 6 (October 9)
11. Week 3 (September 18)
12. Week 4 (September 25)
13. Week 2 (September 11)

First off, same as last year there are thirteen weeks to the regular season.  Do I like this?  I have not changed my stance from last year that no I do not like this.  Honestly I would prefer 14 if not 15 weeks in a season.  I understand there are issues there when it comes to the schools and players’ courses but for the health and safety of the players, this is a no-brainer.  Which means the NCAA will take another decade to figure this out.  For the first time since they did that Sunday night Notre Dame-Texas thriller years ago, Week 1 is really good.  Top 5 even!  There are some great games to start the season and that is what college football needs this season: a strong start.  American Thanksgiving moves up to second but still hasn’t regained its crown.  Weeks 10 looks ridiculously good.  Honestly, all of November is great, even the former SEC Sleepwalk Saturday which I really can’t call it that anymore because it’s a good week now.  October is a big drop from last year as it feels like we are really easing into the end of the season and then building to the November crescendo, if you will.  Then there’s September.  Ouch.  After Week 1 it’s a bit of a shitshow.  As per usual, there are a couple of potential games of the year in there with a lot of crap surrounding it.  Meaning at least one of those weeks will end up being the most exciting week of the year.  Why?  It’s what the college football universe has decided.  I don’t make the rules.

Now it’s time for the weekly breakdowns.  Many of the TSN times will be wrong but hey, it’s May.  If the game time has been confirmed it will be in bold.  Let’s GO!

Week 1

Game of the Week: Georgia vs. Clemson (in Charlotte) (7:30, ABC) – Wow this is quite the game of the week to start the season.  College football is seriously not fucking around.  I mean don’t get me wrong, it’s a neutral-site game which I am not the fondest of but I understand the reasoning behind them (spoiler: it’s money).  You can honestly say this game is a Game of the Year candidate right off the hop.  Let’s also be honest here: when the College Football Playoff expands to 8 teams, you could make the argument that this game isn’t nearly as big since a loss doesn’t even close to eliminate either of these teams from contention.  It will be interesting to see who gets the bigger start on the road to topple Bama from their throne.  Clemson is the favourite here but there will be a lot of questions after losing Trevor Lawrence and Travis Etienne in the NFL Draft.  Both teams are at least New Year’s Six or bust but the winner takes a step up in their bid for the College Football Playoff which is still four teams.

Other Really Important Games: Alabama vs. Miami (in Atlanta) (3:30, ABC) – Maybe the ACC and SEC should do an opening week ACC-SEC Challenge from now on.  Who the hell says no to this?  I mean yes it means that you will get a Duke-Vanderbilt game possibly somewhere but if you don’t want to head to the ACC or SEC Network then don’t.  No one is forcing you to.  But with the annual Labour Day game that seems to always end up being the SEC and ACC to opening up the day before Labour Day for college football and neutral-site games all over the place, this might be a good idea.  I’m sure there’s a party pooper out there that would say it’s a dumb idea but that might also be the same person who thinks scheduling games two decades out makes sense.  Anyway, Bama will probably win by three touchdowns.  NEXT!

Penn State at Wisconsin (4:00, FOX) – At least FOX has realized that opening weekend is a good weekend to at least try and get a good slate of games on.  Now if they can just realize that for the rest of the weeks during the regular season that only getting one good game to show with two mediocre ones after is not the greatest approach to grow a fanbase.  It looks like the Big Ten will be a huge part of FOX’s opening week which is no surprise since the B1G is to FOX like the SEC is to CBS (almost).  Both of these teams looking to rebound from bad years (at least for each of these programs).  The Big Ten West is always wide open so the Badgers have as good a chance as any team not named Illinois.  The Nittany Lions will be looking up once again at Ohio State so every game is huge and these are the games they have to win to have a shot at a division title.  I wish they would just do away with division titles but let’s not start that talk again.  Speaking of the Buckeyes…

Ohio State at Minnesota (Thursday, 8:00, FOX) – Will this be close?  Probably not but it’s an early Big Ten game on a night that Ohio State is not used to playing.  And now with no Justin Fields, we shall see if it’s steady as she goes for Ryan Day or a bit of stress and a higher blood pressure for Ryan Day.  See what I mean about FOX really stepping up this opening weekend?  This is the first Thursday night FOX college football regular season game ever if I’m not mistaken.

Indiana at Iowa (Noon, FOX) – The third straight FOX game and the third straight Big Ten game.  The Big Ten may have a good idea here with putting a few big conference games during Week One when pretty much no other conference is doing so.  I guess that’s the advantage of having nine conference games instead of eight.  Both of these teams have to be considered dark-horse contenders this season.  No one will put them in their College Football Playoff predictions.  Hell, I’m sure most won’t put either team in their New Year’s Six predictions.  I haven’t done my predictions yet but I have a feeling that will be the case with me.  And that’s fine since I wouldn’t mind either of these teams surprising a lot of people and being in contention late into November.

LSU at UCLA (8:00, FOX) – Four of the most important games of the week are on FOX (from what I believe).  That’s FOX’s entire weekend schedule.  Seriously impressive.  And something ABC does rarely and ESPN does never.  Here’s to hoping LSU is at least not worse than last year’s team (which they have the reasons why so I can give them that) and that UCLA is better than what they’ve been the past few years.  Many believe both those things will be true so we could be in for a great end to at least the Saturday portion of the 5-day Labour Day College Football Fiesta.

Sneaky-Good Underrated Game: Ole Miss at Louisville (Monday, 8:00, TSN1/TSN4/TSN5) – Maybe some will consider this not so underrated.  Louisville was much better under Scott Satterfield this past season and, well, Lane Kiffin is Lane Kiffin.  But until either or both of these teams shows some serious Top 25 consistency, I can’t buy that we would be looking at one of the best games of the week.  Both teams have almost no chance to win their conference considering the teams on top but they could certainly put a scare in those same top teams if they are better than advertised.  We may look back at this game and realize this was, in actuality, a huge game in the battle for a New Year’s Six spot.

Best Group of Five Game: Boise State at UCF (Thursday, 7:30, TSN2) – Interesting that I have the chance to watch games on all sorts of different networks now and the best games of Week One will all be available quite easily in Canada.  C’est la vie.  Boise State has a very interesting part of the Mountain West’s new television deals (which started last year but really do come into play starting this season).  FOX gets ALL of Boise State’s home games on the season so there’s a good chance at least one time that the Broncos will get to the main network which would be huge for the conference.  CBS gets all of Boise State’s conference road games.  I don’t know if any of those will be shown late night on CBS (which is the plan at least once this season) but if I were them I would try and do so.  As for the other couple games that Boise State has, they can be shown anywhere.  Like this one, which will probably be on ESPN.  Bizarre?  Not really for a team that should have been picked up by the Big XII by now and is somewhat stuck in a Group of Five conference.  A good Group of Five conference but a G-5 conference nonetheless.

Worst Power Five Game: Oregon State at Purdue (3:30, Big Ten Network) – I had to go through a lot of games to find this one.  The next worst game?  Stanford and Kansas State in Arlington.  And this isn’t a part of Week One having a much better schedule than normal.  Week One is not really known for too many P5 vs. P5 games so it’s slim pickings trying to find a really bad one.  We will really see if either of these teams are worse than what they were last year: probably near the bottom of their conferences but honestly not that bad and a couple of breaks away from a bowl game.

Week 2

Game of the Week: Oregon at Ohio State (Noon, FOX) – Hey, how about that?  Same two teams occupy the Game of the Week spot for Week 2 and have to be considered a Game of the Year candidate.  I will not refer to the Oregon Ducks as the defending Pac-12 North champions.  They didn’t fucking win the division.  They only went to the Pac-12 Championship because Washington couldn’t due to COVID.  See this would have been a great year for USC to have been Top 5 and looking at a College Football Playoff spot and it’s ruined by a 4-3 team.  Considering what some people want, Oregon would have to also be put in the CFP.  How stupid is that?  It’s really fucking stupid.

Other Really Important Games: Washington at Michigan (7:30, ABC/TSN2) – Not fully confirmed for TSN2 but it will be on at least one TSN channel.  This could be a lot better than the two teams have been as of late.  Washington hasn’t hit the heights from early on in the Chris Petersen era.  And, Michigan is Michigan under Jim Harbaugh.  Usually good for at least 8 wins and a loss to Ohio State.  Big Blue can’t be as bad as they were last year can they?  No one thinks that but you never know.  This shows how bad Week 2 is since this may not even be an important game in the New Year’s Six story of the season.

Iowa at Iowa State (3:30, FOX) – Iowa State should be back in the Big XII title mix this season.  And Iowa has one of the longest tenured head coaches, Kirk Ferentz, who is good for at least one Ferentzing every season.  It’s why he gets these crazy contracts and great bonuses for a team that is almost never a Top 10 team.  Saying that, I would love to see one of these two teams on the precipice of the CFP because it needs some new blood, especially from non-blue blood programs.

Texas at Arkansas (7:00, specialty pack) – The first appearance of the specialty pack in this year’s important games series.  Not quite the Game of the Century of 1969…ok not even close to that.  But Arkansas is somehow trending in the right direction with one of the more popular coaches in college football nowadays and we get to see what Steve Sarkisian is really all about.  I sincerely hope he does well and doesn’t fall off the wagon again.  Now that doesn’t mean I want Texas to win the national championship.  I just mean I want Sark to have a good time in Austin and for people in Austin to give him a chance.  OK, I’m now officially worried for his well-being.

Sneaky-Good Underrated Game: Missouri at Kentucky (7:30, specialty pack) – This will be buried in the schedule but could end up being a gem for the SEC Network.  We have two teams that really are on the rise (and in the Cats’ case, again).  It’s never the case that the SEC East is wide open but you need to win games like this to have a shot at the division title.  Kentucky knows that from a few years back when they still had a shot in November to clinch a spot in the SEC Championship.  I kind of wish this somehow gets to ESPN or ESPN2 but I doubt it.  And no, it won’t go to CBS, I’m almost certain of it.

Best Group of Five Game: Liberty at Troy (2:00, ESPN+) – Yes…ESPN+.  It was either this or UTEP-Boise State which I have going to FOX Sports One which, yes, is a better network.  But the Broncos should win that one by about 50 whereas this game should be fairly competitive.  It will be very interesting to see if the Flames are as good as they were last season.  It was funny watching the begrudging respect from so-called open minded college football media members last year so I hope they do well again this season.  Maybe, Conference USA finally gets their act together and invites them (unless the Sun Belt or even, dare I say, the American gets to them first).

Worst Power Five Game: Rutgers at Syracuse (Noon, ACC Network) – Funny I had these same two teams in this exact same spot last season before shit went sideways.  At least this season it would go to the proper network, unlike last year where the rumour was it would be on FOX because FOX just doesn’t care about their primetime window nearly as much as they should.  Again, I had other options here.  The one that stood out most was Illinois-Virginia but I think that might end up being good.  Just the Bronco Mendenhall-Bret Bielema coaching matchup is intriguing in itself.  RU-SU has none of that intrigue.  Zero.

Week 3

Game of the Week: Alabama at Florida (3:30, CBS) – This will have serious national championship implications but I don’t need to tell you that.  Now could this end up as a primetime game for CBS?  Possibly and it wouldn’t surprise me if they do it just for the fact that it would then be on at night and not in the afternoon where the players (and fans) would bake in the Gainesville sun.  This is a rematch of the SEC Championship where the Gators honestly looked like they could beat the Tide which is surprising considering how good Bama was last year.  It was the only time where the Tide looked like they were in trouble.  I wouldn’t even mind seeing a Bama loss here as it would make the SEC season, if not the entire college football season, a lot more interesting.

Other Really Important Games: Auburn at Penn State (7:30, ABC) – OK we’re still doing good with the high-profile games.  A definite step down from the Game of the Week but still a great game.  It was also really the only choice for ABC in primetime, especially since Boise State can’t be on the network for any of their home games and I can’t see them putting Cincinnati-Indiana on in that spot (although that would be a great idea in my opinion).  Two teams who have definitely taken a step, or two, back from previous seasons.  This should be a highly heated matchup as a loss could be devastating and portend not-so-good things to come on their season.

Nebraska at Oklahoma (Noon, FOX) – The story of this game was almost too good to be true.  Nebraska was trying desperately to get out of this game.  Social media found out and, predictably, took a huge creamy dump all over the Huskers organization.  In the end, they relented and kept this game on the schedule.  This is Scott Frost’s biggest chance since coming to Lincoln to put a huge stamp on the program and show that they are turning the corner.  A win here, as unlikely as it seems, would be the jolt the program needs to get back to prominence.  Now watch the Sooners win by 60.

Cincinnati at Indiana (4:00, FOX) – I would say FOX is kicking ABC/ESPN’s ass early on.  I mean they are but when it’s a week like this it doesn’t exactly mean a whole lot.  It’s a pretty good drop from the second best game of the week which was already a drop from the Game of the Week.  Much like last year’s Week 3 (or what it was supposed to be) this week is such a shit sandwich.  Meaning there is a very good opportunity for it to be an exciting and crazy week of college football, something that happens at least once a season.

Sneaky-Good Underrated Game: Oklahoma State at Boise State (3:30, FOX Sports One) – Could this end up on the main FOX network?  If they take all of their broadcast windows seriously, then yes.  Which is why I have this game on FS1.  At least it’s not like last season when the Broncos were slated to host Florida State on FOX at Noon Eastern, 10:00 in the morning local.  Not saying they won’t have to do that in the future to get that big national audience but it’s a tough introduction to Big Noon Saturday (if it had ended up happening).  Hey, maybe this game will end up at Noon.  May be a better option than Nebraska-Oklahoma even if it’s just to promote the Mountain West.

Best Group of Five Game: Coastal Carolina at Buffalo (3:30, ESPN+) – Look I’m going to be honest again here.  I go through the season, setting up these schedules based on what I believe will happen by using current TV contract info and what has happened over the past year or two.  This does not mean that all the “choices” I make are good ones or ones that I agree with.  I may change my mind even before I start doing these posts.  This feels like a game, if it were in October, would easily be on ESPNU if not ESPN2.  So between now and the network-specific posts, I may change my mind.  This will be the first test to see if the Chants are as good as advertised and potentially a Group of Five favourite for the NY6 spot.

Worst Power Five Game: Baylor at Kansas (Thursday, 8:00, specialty pack) – This is more for Kansas than it is for Baylor.  Not saying the Bears are great because it was a struggle last year in Dave Aranda’s first season in Waco.  But until the Jayhawks show they can contend for a bowl game on a consistent basis, they will be treated like the Big XII’s ugly redheaded stepchild.  The hope is that the hire of Lance Leipold to coach the team will be a good one.  It should be but we won’t see any of that good stuff this season.  They should feel lucky that they get to be on ESPN, even if it is on a Thursday night up against the NFL.

There you go.  The first three weeks are complete.  And it’s the first official blog post for what should be a much more normal college football season.  96 days to the start of a regular regular season.  With fans in the stands.  Maybe not full stadiums but man, hearing fans is so much better than the empty arenas.

Now, let’s have that quick talk about the draft.  It was nice to see fans there in Cleveland despite the chilly weather.  It was nice to see Roger Goodell there even though him in his barcalounger was pretty damn funny.  I wonder how many fans just farted their brains out on that chair on stage.  I followed along with my mock draft and saw it was crap after the first few picks, as per usual.  I got a couple right later on but was way off on some.  It is what it is.  I won’t do a recap.  There are too many out there and I might be repeating what they say.  The Jags got Lawrence.  The Jets got Wilson.  The 49ers reached for Lance (in my opinion) but it was a better choice than Mac Jones who ended up a Patriot.  The Bears may have made the smartest move in the draft.  Yes the same Bears who traded up to get Mitchell Trubisky traded up this time to get Justin Fields in a trade that most everyone thought was brilliant.  The team I cheer for, the Buffalo Bills, did alright.  Not great but then again, they didn’t have serious needs.  They just needed to shore up some areas.  All in all, it was a good watch and I enjoyed it, even watching Mel Kiper try valiantly to keep his blood pressure from going through the roof with some of the picks.

Alright this felt good.  It’s a bit cathartic to do this post.  I’ve been through a pretty crazy last 15 months and now that my life (and hopefully, soon, life in this province) is getting back to normal, this is one of the final parts that need to return, so to speak.  Make my life as whole as it was before my life turned upside-down (not that it’s an amazing life but it wasn’t bad at the time).  Anyway, have a great Victoria Day, whatever you decide to do and have a great (and short!) work week as well…unless you don’t work Monday to Friday.  In that case, still have a good week even if you aren’t working all those days.

So I’m back to doing mock drafts…

You know what sucks about being unemployed (other than financial ruin)?  The feeling of being so completely unproductive.  No matter what I do around the house or in my job hunt, it feels like I accomplish nothing.  So part of me needs to do stuff like this.  Mock drafts.  It feels almost disgusting to say that phrase.  Oh well.  I am doing a mock draft to basically keep myself busy.  And to feel like I have accomplished something with my blog.  So yeah, let’s see how this goes.  I’m sure after the first pick of this mock, I will be totally wrong with every other pick.  And I honestly don’t care.  Let’s get started.

FIRST ROUND

1		Trevor Lawrence, QB (Clemson)
2		Zach Wilson, QB (BYU)
3		Ja’Marr Chase, WR (LSU)
4		Trey Lance, QB (North Dakota State)
5		Penei Sewell, OL (Oregon)
6		Kyle Pitts, TE (Florida)
7		Jaylen Waddle, WR (Alabama)
8		Justin Fields, QB (Ohio State)
9		Micah Parsons, LB (Penn State)
10		Patrick Surtain II, CB (Florida)
11		DeVonta Smith, WR (Alabama)
12		Caleb Farley, CB (Virginia Tech)
13		Rashawn Slater, OL (Northwestern)
14		Christian Darrisaw, OL (Virginia Tech)
15		Azeez Ojulari, LB (Georgia)
16		Jaycee Horn, CB (South Carolina)
17		Christian Barmore, DL (Alabama)
18		Zaven Collins, LB (Tulsa)
19		Mac Jones, QB (Alabama)
20		Jalen Mayfield, OL (Michigan)
21		Alijah Vera-Tucker, OL (USC)
22		Jaysen Oweh, EDGE (Penn State)
23		Rondale Moore, WR (Purdue)
24		Teven Jenkins, OL (Oklahoma State)
25		Ifeatu Melifonwu, CB (Syracuse)
26		Carlos Basham Jr., EDGE (Wake Forest)
27		Joe Tryon, EDGE (Washington)
28		Kadarius Toney, WR (Florida)
29		Jaelan Phillips, DL (Miami)
30		Jamin Davis, LB (Kentucky)
31		Jackson Carman, OL (Clemson)
32		Levi Onwuzurike, DL (Washington)

Random Info

• At this point I really only have enough patience to do one round of the mock draft.  Maybe one day I will just say “fuck it” and do three rounds.  Or the whole damn draft!  Actually, no, I don’t think so.
• Trevor Lawrence is almost definitely going to Jacksonville.  I would be shocked if it worked out any other way.
• That puts the Jets in a position to either replace Sam Darnold at QB (which is what I think they will do), draft at another position (which is a possibility) or trade out of the spot if they get a sweetheart deal (which I can’t see happening but you never know).
• As for trades, I don’t include them in my mock drafts.  I’ve said it before but it seems ridiculous to try and predict a trade happening between now and draft day and what picks would be involved.
• What will be the order of quarterbacks taken?  I believe Zach Wilson will end up being the second quarterback taken.  I have the order Lawrence, Wilson, Lance, Fields, Jones all going in the first round.  I am still a bit hesitant about Lance but the Falcons seem keen on him at this point and they need a quarterback.  Without the Kreepy Kombine, I believe players will move much less on teams’ draft boards than they did in the past when one less rep on the benchpress could rocket a guy down three rounds.
• Other than Lawrence there are no locks.  None.  And probably won’t be until at least the day before draft day.
• The other team to watch here is the Dolphins.  They would love another weapon for Tua but could look at some linebacking or O-line help.  My guess is they pick a WR but again, it’s a crapshoot as to who they pick.

Now I have a feeling my next mock draft will be my final one and done just before the draft.  We shall see how things work out.

I have got the entire college football schedule.  Now it’s just a matter of piecing together what it might look like.  This might be a bit tougher than normal since I don’t really have last year to look at and a few things have changed in terms of conference television contracts.  So there could be a lot of guesswork.  But that’s part of the fun.  For me.  I need help.

Anyway, have a great rest of the week!

UPDATE: I have a job!

2021 NCAA Basketball Conference Tournament TV Schedule

Please, please, please, please, PLEASE let it be different than last year’s conference tournaments.  Remember what happened?  Of course you do.  But if you want a refresher, check last year’s post on this and see what happened in a short time.  We really had no idea what we were all up against when the Coronavirus reared its ugly head for the first time in the sporting world.  Last year the second week of the conference tournament schedule was decimated and March Madness was cancelled.  This year, the NCAA Tournament will be entirely in the state of Indiana.  Good call.  Now let’s see if the conferences can get their tournaments completed without any COVID-related mess.  I am not holding my breath on this.

Sixth year of doing this and honestly it has become a lot easier with the SEC, Big Ten and ACC all having conference networks.  Oh and t​​he Pac-12 as well I guess (although we don’t get it in this area anymore as far as I know…oh wait we do…kind of….on DAZN….if you get it).  Maybe the Big XII will come to their senses and AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA yeah there was no way I was finishing that sentence.  Let us begin.​

March 5	Ohio Valley Semi-Final #1	8:00 PM
March 5	Ohio Valley Semi-Final #2	10:30 PM
March 6	Atlantic-10 Semi-Final #1	11:00 AM
March 6	Atlantic-10 Semi-Final #2	2:00 PM
March 6	Missouri Valley Semi-Final #1	5:00 PM
March 6	Missouri Valley Semi-Final #2	8:00 PM
March 6	Ohio Valley Championship	8:00 PM
March 6	WCC Quarter-Final #1	10:00 PM
March 7	WCC Quarter-Final #2	12:30 AM
March 7	Big South Championship	Noon
March 7	Missouri Valley Championship	2:00 PM
March 7	Atlantic Sun Championship	2:00 PM
March 7	SoCon Championship	5:00 PM
March 7	SoCon Championship	7:30 PM
March 8	CAA Semi-Final #1	6:00 PM
March 8	Horizon League Semi-Final #1	6:30 PM
March 8	SoCon Championship	7:00 PM
March 8	Sun Belt Championship	7:00 PM
March 8	WCC Semi-Final #1	9:00 PM
March 8	CAA Semi-Final #2	9:30 PM
March 8	Horizon League Semi-Final #2	9:30 PM
March 8	WCC Semi-Final #2	11:30 PM
March 9	ACC First Round Game #1	2:00 PM
March 9	ACC First Round Game #2	4:30 PM
March 9	Horizon League Championship	7:00 PM
March 9	NEC Championship	7:00 PM
March 9	ACC First Round Game #3	7:00 PM
March 9	CAA Championship	7:00 PM
March 9	WCC Championship	9:00 PM
March 9	Summit League Championship	9:00 PM
March 10	ACC Second Round Game #1	Noon
March 10	ACC Second Round Game #2	2:30 PM
March 10	Pac-12 First Round Game #1	4:00 PM
March 10	Patriot League Semi-Final #1	6:00 PM
March 10	Big Ten First Round Game #1	6:00 PM
March 10	ACC Second Round Game #3	6:30 PM
March 10	Pac-12 First Round Game #2	7:00 PM
March 10	Big XII First Round Game #1	7:00 PM
March 10	SEC First Round Game	7:00 PM
March 10	Patriot League Semi-Final #2	8:30 PM
March 10	Big Ten First Round Game #2	8:30 PM
March 10	ACC Second Round Game #4	9:00 PM
March 10	Big XII First Round Game #2	9:30 PM
March 10	Pac-12 First Round Game #3	10:00 PM
March 11	Big Ten Second Round Game #1	Noon
March 11	ACC Quarter-Final #1	Noon
March 11	AAC First Round Game #1	Noon
March 11	SEC Second Round Game #1	Noon
March 11	Big XII Quarter-Final #1	12:30 PM
March 11	Mountain West Quarter-Final #1	2:30 PM
March 11	ACC Quarter-Final #2	2:30 PM
March 11	Big Ten Second Round Game #2	2:30 PM
March 11	AAC First Round Game #2	2:30 PM
March 11	Pac-12 Quarter-Final #1	2:30 PM
March 11	SEC Second Round Game #2	2:30 PM
March 11	Big XII Quarter-Final #2	3:00 PM
March 11	Mountain West Quarter-Final #2	5:00 PM
March 11	Pac-12 Quarter-Final #2	5:30 PM
March 11	Big Ten Second Round Game #3	6:30 PM
March 11	ACC Quarter-Final #3	6:30 PM
March 11	AAC First Round Game #3	6:30 PM
March 11	Big XII Quarter-Final #3	7:00 PM
March 11	SEC Second Round Game #3	7:00 PM
March 11	Pac-12 Quarter-Final #3	8:30 PM
March 11	Mountain West Quarter-Final #3	9:00 PM
March 11	ACC Quarter-Final #4	9:00 PM
March 11	Big Ten Second Round Game #4	9:00 PM
March 11	Big XII Quarter-Final #4	9:30 PM
March 11	SEC Second Round Game #4	9:30 PM
March 11	AAC First Round Game #4	10:00 PM
March 11	Mountain West Quarter-Final #4	11:30 PM
March 11	Pac-12 Quarter-Final #4	11:30 PM
March 12	Big Ten Quarter-Final #1	Noon
March 12	SEC Quarter-Final #1	Noon
March 12	AAC Quarter-Final #1	1:00 PM
March 12	Conference USA Semi-Final #1	1:00 PM
March 12	Big Ten Quarter-Final #2	2:30 PM
March 12	SEC Quarter-Final #2	2:30 PM
March 12	AAC Quarter-Final #2	3:30 PM
March 12	Conference USA Semi-Final #2	3:30 PM
March 12	MAC Semi-Final #1	5:30 PM
March 12	Big Ten Quarter-Final #3	6:30 PM
March 12	ACC Semi-Final #1	6:30 PM
March 12	Big XII Semi-Final #1	7:00 PM
March 12	SEC Quarter-Final #3	7:00 PM
March 12	AAC Quarter-Final #3	7:30 PM
March 12	MAC Semi-Final #2	8:00 PM
March 12	Pac-12 Semi-Final #1	8:30 PM
March 12	ACC Semi-Final #2	9:00 PM
March 12	Big Ten Quarter-Final #4	9:00 PM
March 12	SEC Quarter-Final #4	9:30 PM
March 12	Big XII Semi-Final #2	9:30 PM
March 12	Mountain West Semi-Final #1	10:00 PM
March 12	AAC Quarter-Final #4	10:00 PM
March 12	Pac-12 Semi-Final #2	11:30 PM
March 13	Big West Semi-Final #2	Midnight
March 13	Mountain West Semi-Final #2	12:30 AM
March 13	America East Championship	11:00 AM
March 13	Big Ten Semi-Final #1	1:00 PM
March 13	SEC Semi-Final #1	1:00 PM
March 13	MEAC Championship	1:00 PM
March 13	Atlantic-10 Semi-Final #1	1:00 PM
March 13	AAC Semi-Final #1	3:00 PM
March 13	SEC Semi-Final #2	3:00 PM
March 13	Big-Ten Semi-Final #2	3:30 PM
March 13	Atlantic-10 Semi-Final #2	3:30 PM
March 13	MAAC Championship	4:00 PM
March 13	AAC Semi-Final #2	5:30 PM
March 13	Mountain West Championship	5:30 PM
March 13	SWAC Championship	6:00 PM
March 13	Big XII Championship	6:00 PM
March 13	Big East Championship	6:30 PM
March 13	MAC Championship	7:30 PM
March 13	Big Sky Championship	8:00 PM
March 13	ACC Championship	8:30 PM
March 13	Conference USA Championship	8:30 PM
March 13	Southland Championship	9:30 PM
March 13	WAC Championship	10:00 PM
March 13	Pac-12 Championship	10:30 PM
March 13	Big West Championship	11:30 PM
March 14	Patriot League Championship	12:30 PM
March 14	Atlantic-10 Championship	1:00 PM
March 14	SEC Championship	1:00 PM
March 14	AAC Championship	3:15 PM
March 14	Big Ten Championship	3:30 PM
March 14	Selection Sunday	6:00 PM

A few notes:

• I see there are a few conferences who are doing more tournament games at school sites or having schools host pods of more than two teams.  Not a bad idea.
• At this point, none of the TSN conference tournament schedule is out.  I have made educated guesses based on previous schedules but who knows what it will look like.  So if you see Fishing with Italo Labignan instead of your favourite college basketball team in their conference tournament, don’t blame me. Saying that, I will update this schedule as fast as I can.  UPDATE: The entire TSN tournament schedule is now out and is reflected above.
• CBS, I believe, gets the Greg Gumbel Show this year.  At least I think they do.  I want to say this may be more interesting than the usual Selection Show but it won’t be.  At least it’s better than the College Football Playoff Selection Show.
• Yes, if you have DAZN (or IPTV) you can get the Pac-12 Network.  Otherwise you are out of luck.  As for the Big East Tournament, most of the games will be on FOX Sports One so if you don’t have IPTV then you won’t be able to watch them.
  

Now this year the First Four is not on Wednesday after Selection Sunday.  It’s on the Thursday.  The First Round will start Friday just after Noon (March 19th).  That means the Round of 32 will go Sunday-Monday.  This also shifts the Sweet 16 and Elite 8 by not one, but two days.  I assume this is to allow for any issues to be solved, although if there is a huge Covid-related issue, it could cause massive problems to the schedule no matter what the planning committee does.

As I have said before, stay tuned for updates since there will be some.  For sure.  No questions asked.  So check in relatively often.

Now with the other potential posts I usually do around this time of year: mock drafts.  I will probably do one soon.  More to keep my sanity and keep me doing something that makes me feel that I am productive.  But that will probably be it until closer to the draft in April.

I have actually started piecing together the 2021 schedule.  I enjoy doing it and, again, it’s something that keeps me going these days.  I know it’s a few months until my posts on the most important games of the season but it’s something to look forward to.

Finally, this has been a very rough time for me.  Still unemployed.  At the 12 month mark.  It’s draining financially and mentally.  Physically it doesn’t do me any favours either.  I am trying my best to keep my mind at ease but if you noticed my Twitter posts, it has not been easy.  Hopefully things change for me soon.  I don’t want to stop doing this blog but it may come to a point where I have to.  It’s a day I never wanted to come.  I sincerely hope it doesn’t.  Thank you for reading.  Have a good weekend.  And take care of yourself.

How my predictions did, short Super Bowl preview, and a few other things

College football is pretty much done for the season (kind of…I will explain this towards the end of the post).  The NFL is almost done for the season.  I have made the decision to not do as many mock drafts this year.  I will do at least one, just before the draft but that may end up being all.  I have no idea when the CFL will begin.  If they are planning a 2021 season then it will begin in late May.  It would be nice to have a season after not having one in 2020.

But let’s get to the main crux of this post: how good or bad my predictions were.  I always assume I did bad so when I do good, I feel good.  Set the bar low and you will always leap over it.  I should be a motivational speaker (a la Matt Foley).  Alright let’s get on with this:

College Football Playoff and New Year’s Six

• I don’t even know if I need to go through this since I did it before the Big Ten and Pac-12 even decided to play:
  • Clemson – Picked them #1 and they ended up #2 and avenged a regular season Trevor Lawrence-less loss against Notre Dame in the ACC Championship.  One for one.
  • Alabama – I figured this was a no-brainer.  I will say I was a bit surprised at how dominant they were though as they rolled to #1 and the national championship.
  • Oklahoma – I had them #3.  Unfortunately the Big XII was trash so the Sooners fell just outside of the Top 4.  And by just outside, I mean WAY outside (even though they were still Top 10).
  • Texas A&M – If the Irish hadn’t beat Clemson earlier in the year, Jimbo would finally get his chance to win the big one in College Station.  #5 ain’t bad, right?
• How about my New Year’s Six picks? Not as good.  But I am taking a pass here.  Having two conferences not in my predictions made it near impossible to match what actually happened.  Saying that, I REALLY whiffed on LSU.  I figured they wouldn’t be as good as last season but that was quite the drop.
• Let’s see, I had Cincinnati ranked….#25.  Damn.  I thought App State would run the table and finally get to a New Year’s Six bowl.  Instead, Coastal Carolina took the conference, and the college football viewing public, on a ride that few will forget.
• I had BYU, Georgia and Virginia Tech being just on the outside of the NY6 looking in but playing in good bowls. BYU was awesome all season, Georgia was also really good despite not winning the SEC East and VaTech wasn’t that bad (but not nearly as good as I thought they would be).  So I did well with these three picks.

Heisman Trophy

• I had Trevor Lawrence and Justin Fields as my #1 and #2.  Hey at least they were in the Top 10 at the end.
• I didn’t have DeVonta Smith on my list.  I had put his teammate, Najee Harris on the list, and he ended up as a finalist.  I have a feeling a lot of experts didn’t have Smith on their list so this non-expert feels just fine.
• My picks were mostly OK but I missed BADLY on some.  I mean Bo Nix at #8?  Myles Brennan and Adrian Martinez in the Honourable Mention section?  Sweet Jesus.  Brutal.  Nothing more to say here.

Just A Bunch of Predictions

Normally I would split the good and the bad and the hot seat stuff into separate sections.  I’m not going to bother here

• So many in the media said the Ivy League cancelling Fall sports would be the catalyst for FBS being entirely cancelled.  Guys like Dan Wolken.  It’s amazing who keeps employed in this day and age but we have all seen sports media go to shit so it’s not surprising.
• I couldn’t figure out which conferences were starting their schedules or when and at one point I had the MAC and Mountain West completely opting out and playing in the Spring.  What a gongshow.
• I have said a few times that the Spring season will not happen.  And now it is starting to look more and more like I will be correct.  As of this point, I believe about 15% of the FCS schools have opted out with a few weeks still to before the season begins.
• I figured Texas A&M would lose two games and they would be close and I was bang on.
• Normally the guys in the Doubtful Shitcanning section of my Coaching Hot Seat list do well.  Let’s see how that went this season.  Dino Babers and Syracuse were awful.  Matt Viator was fired and then Tom Herman was also fired at Texas.  So yeah, not a good time for that list.
• I should apologize to Philip Montgomery though.  Man was Tulsa fun to watch this season and came very close to upsetting Cincinnati in the AAC Championship and putting Coastal Carolina in the New Year’s Six.  I thought Tulsa would win one game.  Yikes.
• I said you would see a lot more Sun Belt football on television this year.  I was right.  Which is good because you got to see a lot of Coastal Carolina.  That’s a good thing.
• One more Coastal Carolina point.  I don’t know if there has been a bigger surprise in college football in a long time.  Jamey Chadwell deserved every accolade he got (and some he didn’t get).  If they repeat this next year, look for another conference to take a closer look at the team from Myrtle Beach (OK they are in Conway, but close enough).
• Somehow, no one picked up Billy Napier to coach at a bigger school.  I am a bit surprised.  But Louisiana is very happy he is staying for at least one more season since the Ragin’ Cajuns have become one of the new standards of the Sun Belt (and the Group of Five to a lesser extent).
• Marshall.  An amazingly hot start that went to shit during their last three games.  And it cost Doc Holliday his job.  They are now hoping another coach from the Nick Saban coaching tree can put this program over the hump.
• I should have gone all-in with Oklahoma in the Big XII.  Yes, Sooner fans.  At least plan out your trip to JerryWorld in December every year for the next few.  Nothing is going to change.
• Can anyone win at Kansas?  I am hoping that I am right that next year is the year that Les Miles can pull them out of the basement but I’m not so sure.
• Notre Dame almost won a conference in their first try!  Good for them.   I guess the ACC doesn’t like that so Notre Dame will not be in a conference again starting in 2021.  Poor Irish.
• I had the top 4 in the ACC correct.  NC State did well as the fifth best team in the conference so I missed on them.  But beyond that?  Ugh.  Again, I fell for the Florida State Koolaid.  Damn it.
• Nice to see BYU do so well.  That game against Coastal Carolina was a fun contest that was set up TWO DAYS IN ADVANCE.  See college football?  It can be done.
• Full disclosure: Liberty did WAY better than I ever thought they could have.  But I think that happened to most people, including Liberty fans.
• I almost nailed the American conference except for Tulsa, which I mentioned above.  Had Navy improving, Tulane getting a bit better, Temple struggling, and USF not being good.  I’ll give myself a pat on the bat and a wee bit of scotch.

I had no predictions for the Big Ten and the Pac-12 because they are stupid and started late and thought everyone would follow them.  Same with the MAC and Mountain West.  God, I hope we don’t have to deal with this again.  So yeah, the amount of predictions that I am looking at is a rather short list but there’s not a whole lot I can do.  Also, I am not even going to bother doing a Stassen score since I didn’t have a full set of predictions.

Am I going to even gauge how well I did?  No.  No point.  It was a mess this season.  Let’s forget about 2020.  I know I am trying to.  Now, we are 211 days away from the 2021 FBS season beginning.  Maybe I should try and improve my life in that time.  We’ll see.

The Pro Bowl would have been this Sunday but somehow we have received some luck and it won’t happen.  The Pro Bowl fucking blows.  I don’t understand why it continues like it does now.  Make it completely different or just abolish it already.  Anyway, there will be some weird Pro Bowl Celebration show airing on ABC, TSN1 and TSN5.  It starts at 3.  Who knows what it is.  I doubt I will watch it.

As for the Super Bowl itself, we have Tampa Bay and Kansas City.  I was hoping for Buffalo but they had a great season nonetheless.  The game will air on CBS, CTV, and TSN 1, 4, and 5 on February 7th.  Right now, KC is the 3 point favourites.  That could (and probably will) change between now and game time).  I am not going into a huge preview.  Instead I will just give my prediction.

Chiefs 35 Bucs 23.

I believe Mahomes and the Chiefs’ offensive weapons will be too much for Tampa’s defense.  The game should be close into the second half but I see KC pulling away, giving the Chiefs their second straight Super Bowl win.  So even though the Buccaneers are the first team ever to play the Super Bowl at their home stadium, I think we will have to wait at least another season before a team wins a Super Bowl at their home stadium.

Alright what do we have to look forward to:

• How my NFL predictions panned out.  I already took a look.  Not good.
• Spring football schedAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.   No.  I can’t see us getting any of those spring games up here and really, I don’t care.  And I don’t mean the normal Spring Games that most of the programs have.  I’m talking about quite a bit of the FCS (and New Mexico State) playing Spring football.  I wouldn’t be surprised if most of it got shut down to be honest with you.
• Conference tournament schedule leading up to March Madness.  This could be very interesting because we know March Madness is different this year.  Will the conference tournaments be different?  I’d be surprised if they weren’t.
• Then a pretty big break until the NFL Draft.  I will have a mock draft close to draft time.  I may have one earlier than that but at this point I haven’t determined if I will do that or not.  If you want mock drafts, there are plenty out there.  My favourite is from the site WalterFootball.com.  A lot of great analysis there.

So not much coming up over the next three months.  As per usual.  Remember, the Senior Bowl and Polynesian Bowl college all-star games are still scheduled for this Saturday.  UPDATE: The Polynesian Bowl will not be shown on Saturday on CBS Sports Network.  However, the Hula Bowl, another college all-star game, will be shown on CBS Sports Network.  This game will be at 9:30 on Sunday.  Then that’s it, that’s all for college football for the 2020 season (kind of…I don’t really count the spring schedule as the 2020 season).  Have a great weekend everyone!