The first 2024 NFL mock draft, plus Bobby Petrino’s Arkansas reunion
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New Seasons: Forget the games, it’s time for mocks
Those playoff-contending teams can have the rest of the week. Today is for the NFL’s losers, and nothing can be more important to those teams right now than draft position. Two facets to consider here:
Here, Chicago gets the Nos. 1 and 4 picks. Dane predicts the Bears moving on from Justin Fields to grab USC’s Caleb Williams, which makes sense, but feels monumental nonetheless. Other QBs in the top 10: UNC’s Drake Maye to New England at No. 3 and LSU’s Jayden Daniels (!) to Tampa Bay at No. 7. Wild.
Another QB note to consider:In the mock, WR Marvin Harrison Jr. goes No. 2 to Arizona ... which means Kyler Murray is safe? For now.
Read the full mock here
, which varies a bit from Dane’s mock. The Bears get Nos. 1 and
here, which would surely alter their plans a bit. Other notables that jumped out to me: Cincinnati adding a top-10 pick to a playoff roster and the Jets getting another crack at giving Aaron Rodgers help for a possible final season.
Let’s head back to the now ...
Season Within a Season: The fake tournament is progressing
We are ready for even bigger, more inexplicable drama after last night’s NBA In-Season Tournament games cemented our upcoming quarterfinal matchups. How it shook out:
Bucks, Pacers, Celtics
Lakers, Kings, Pelicans
The teams now head into a traditional bracket structure for the knockout rounds, with the quarterfinals starting next week — and remember, all of those also count as regular-season games. John Hollinger, quickly becoming our In-Season Tournament Guy, broke down all the angles here .
News to Know
Cuban’s unique sell
Mavericks owner Mark Cuban is selling a majority stake in the franchise to casino magnate Miriam Adelson and her family, sources told , a bombshell transaction few saw coming. Cuban will retain shares and, crucially, stay in charge of basketball operations. The read: Cuban wants to partner with Adelson (and her affiliated casino company, the Las Vegas Sands) to build a new arena with gambling operations attached. The full report is worth reading .
Rodgers’ return iffy
We all knew this, right? Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers said yesterday he is “not at an ability to play at this point” and, despite earlier reports about a superhuman recovery from his Achilles tendon tear in Week 1, he may not return at all this season. He also admitted the Jets’ playoff positioning — 4-7 New York is currently far outside the picture — will factor into his decision. Read all the details here .
More news
Scenarios: An SEC-less CFP?
The penultimate College Football Playoff rankings came out last night and contained little surprise. Our top four teams are our final remaining major undefeateds: Michigan, Georgia, Washington and Florida State. After that, though, lies the fun.
We have three one-loss teams ready for chaos:
, who plays No. 3 Washington Friday in the Pac-12 title game.
, who plays Oklahoma State in the Big 12 title game.
, who could give everyone headaches by beating No. 1 Georgia in the SEC title game.
Jeff Schultz wrote about the SEC’s disaster scenario , which would see Alabama beat Georgia and watch the committee banish the Bulldogs (thin resume) and then pick Texas over Alabama for a top-four slot due to the Longhorns’ win in Tuscaloosa. Hoo buddy.
This weekend has real stakes. That’s fun.
Explainers: We need to talk more about Bobby Petrino’s return
I thought this week’s Grumors would be enough to satiate my internal urge to return to 2011 headlines. The college football offseason decided to be more generous yesterday, as Arkansas is hiring Bobby Petrino to be its offensive coordinator .
Yes, Bobby Petrino. Some facts about one of college football’s most ... unique characters:
The Razorbacks went 21-5 in 2010-11, and if not for peak Alabama and LSU teams in 2011 (unsure who won that national title, please don’t write), Arkansas might’ve been a real-deal contender.
as 2007 Atlanta Falcons head coach.
How he then left Arkansas: firedafter getting in a motorcycle crash, then lying about being alone on the motorcycle, then having the media figure out he’d been riding with a 25-year-old hire with whom he’d been having an affair. The story shook the sport (and spawned countless memes of the above image).
The full dossier
, gathered by David Ubben last year, is worth a read today.
All those words that describe a great football coach who happens to do shady things outside of calling plays.
In the years since, Petrino has wandered. Head coaching jobs at Western Kentucky, Louisville (for a second stint after making his name there in 2003 to 2006) and Missouri State before joining Texas A&M as OC this year.
By all accounts, Petrino was agreeable at A&M this year and, as Sam Khan Jr. reports, many inside the building wondered how a middling offense would’ve looked running Petrino’s system, instead of just having the coach call Jimbo Fisher’s plays.
Maybe current Razorbacks head coach Sam Pittman will let him do that. Pittman’s job might rest on it, and even on a future in which “Arkansas interim head coach Bobby Petrino” becomes distinctly possible.
Watch This Game
NCAAM: No. 10 Tennessee at No. 17 North Carolina
The Tar Heels are trying to shake a disastrous 2022, while Tennessee might be the most deceiving 4-2 team in the country, with losses coming against teams ranked 1 and 2 at the time.
Pulse Picks
Deion Sanders will get better next year. Others aren’t so sure, as one opposing coach predicted: “It’s gonna get dark.” David Ubben, Bruce Feldman and Justin Williams published a fantastic read on the situation in Boulder today .
Ken Rosenthal emptied his notebook before MLB’s winter meetings with plenty of juicy trade nuggets, including a certain prediction that Juan Soto gets dealt this winter. Also, Alex Bregman on the block? Maybe.
More from Ken: The are working on a new contract for top prospect Jackson Chourio that could upend the mold for big-money deals given to players before their major-league debuts. It’s an interesting twist in MLB’s recent trend of paying players earlier.
We have fresh college football bowl projections here . Notre Dame vs. Brian Kelly? Fun for y’all, yucky for me.
Also relevant with the new College Football Playoff rankings: This week’s projection of a 12-team CFP , the format we’ll have next year.
Jason Jones has a fun breakdown of the NFL’s most memorable touchdown celebrations . Never forget when Joe Horn hid a flip phone in the goalpost cushion.
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The Bounce The Windup Full Time Prime Tire Until Saturday
(Photo: Sean M. Haffey/)
