Sad News: Tennis Player’s Anguish Over Conflict in Ukraine Echoes…
Speaking to the Sky Sports Tennis Podcast, Elina Svitolina said that competing in her native Ukraine has been challenging and that hearing about the conflict […]
Speaking to the Sky Sports Tennis Podcast, Elina Svitolina said that competing in her native Ukraine has been challenging and that hearing about the conflict […]
Rafael Nadal has acknowledged that his future in tennis is “unpredictable” and that he has no idea if he will be able to play competitively […]
The Atlanta Falcons made the most peculiar draft selection this past weekend when they chose Washington quarterback Michael Penix Jr. with the eighth overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft. Terry Fontenot, the general manager, then tried to defend his choice. Fans were never going to fully buy into what he was peddling, no matter how he spun it. Everyone on this team is aware that a different course should have been taken. But whatever is done is done, and Phoenix is a Falcon. It was only recently that Fontenot stated he could not envision Penix sitting for four or five years. Thus, what is now the situation with Kirk Cousins, who the Falcons signed to a lucrative four-year contract? The Falcons would never consider moving Cousins in the near future, is there? Following the selection of Michael Penix Jr., may the Falcons trade Kirk Cousins? Is it possible that a Cousins trade will occur? When, if so?At least one Cousins trade could happen this year, according to NBC Sports’ Mike Florio, who cited specifics from his contract: “Cousins might decide he wants to move out,” writes Florio. “After June 1st, he could theoretically be moved for $37.5 million in 2025 and $12.5 million in dead money this year. His cap hit if he stays with the team the next season is expected to be $40 million; if he is traded after the season, the charge in 2025 will be $37.5 million.” Given that Cousins hasn’t yet started playing for the Falcons, a trade sounds ludicrous, but Florio believes Atlanta may have outwitted itself. Penix will not sit for four or five years as G.M. Terry Fontenot has proposed. In the event that Cousins is hurt, it’s one at most and three at most. Two is the most likely number. Even though Cousins has a no-trade clause, if Penix takes over at that point, he would definitely think about waiving it in order to play somewhere else.” It is evident that the cap makes it very tough for the Falcons to complete a trade for Cousins. It would have to be a circumstance that is virtually like Russell Wilson and the Denver Broncos. Could tensions between the two sides really go that bad, though? Wilson’s relationship with the Broncos was entirely unrelated. In Atlanta, cousins appear to be appreciated and desired, but Wilson? That ship has sailed. Even if it appears improbable, Florio’s remark of this is noteworthy. […]
QB Michael Penix Jr. of the Atlanta Falcons has a lengthy history of injuries, and there are concerns over his age. Positive impressions of Michael Penix Jr., the new quarterback for the Atlanta Falcons, are prevalent. Perhaps it was him lifting the Sugar Bowl trophy after guiding Washington to a College Football Playoff semifinal victory over the Texas Longhorns, or perhaps it was him as a finalist for the Heisman Trophy. Others, however, may witness him collapsing to the ground during Indiana’s 2021 defeat to Penn State in the third quarter, sustaining his fourth serious collegiate injury in as many seasons. Penix has literally had some bumps and bruises on his trip to Flowery Branch. Three games into his true freshman season in 2018, the product of Tampa, Florida, tore his left ACL. 2020 saw him re-tear the same ACL. His right (non-throwing) shoulder experienced a dislocated SC joint in the interim. After just five games in 2021, he dislocated a joint in his throwing shoulder. His season ended with each injury. He never played more than seven games in a single year until leaving Indiana following the 2021 campaign. Penix, however, found consistency at Washington, where he started all 28 games over the course of two seasons and demonstrated his durability throughout a lengthy campaign. The Falcons dug deep into Penix’s injury history during the pre-draft phase, with general manager Terry Fontenot and crew spending a lot of time with Atlanta’s trainers and medical staff. With the conviction that Penix’s injury issues are behind him, the Falcons selected him eighth overall after clearing Penix and feeling so confident in his on-field skill set. Fontenot stated, “It does mean a lot that he’s played well these last two years.” “We felt good about it, but obviously we’re always thinking forward and doing everything we can to prevent injuries.” Furthermore, Penix’s injuries provided favourable information to Atlanta’s braintrust. Penix, who finished third in touchdowns with 36 this past season and led the FBS with 4,903 throwing yards, was praised for his resilience by both Falcons head coach Raheem Morris and Fontenot. Morris contrasted Penix’s experience with his own, which included going 4-7 as Atlanta’s interim head coach in 2020 and being sacked by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2011 following a disastrous tenure as a young head coach. Penix and the two veterans who occupy the quarterback’s room in Atlanta right now, Kirk Cousins and Taylor Heinicke, have certain things in common as well. The largest obstacle Cousins had in his early career was getting on the field; in his first three seasons as Robert Gryphon III’s backup with the now-Washington Commanders, he made just nine starts. Heinicke’s journey began on the practice squad of the Minnesota Vikings and included […]
The New England Patriots declared themselves “open for business” with regards to dealing the third overall pick before the NFL draft. New England is said to have had bids for the pick, and the Patriots trading the pick would have upset the first round. However, the Patriots just paid attention to them. The quarterback Drake Maye of North Carolina was chosen by the Patriots instead of making any deals. According to NFL Media’s Daniel Jeremiah, New England’s standing pat caused things to remain unchanged early in the first round—aside from the Atlanta Falcons selecting Michael Penix Jr.—and caused one team in particular to alter its strategy. “From what I’ve heard, as we neared the finish line, there were offers, and they were really, really strong offers. They remained still. On “The Pat McAfee Show” on Monday, Jeremiah mentioned that there were sticking and plucking. We were all sort of keeping our eyes on Minnesota until they started staying and choosing. If they were prepared to deal with assets and put everything on the line to acquire Drake Maye, but if they were unable to do so, they planned to wait out and watch what transpired with the Giants, and I believed that the top pick in the draft would become quite stagnant. And that’s essentially how things worked out in the end. With Kirk Cousins leaving this offseason, the Giants selected LSU wide receiver Malik Nabers at sixth overall, while the Vikings, needing a quarterback, traded with the New York Jets to move up one spot and choose Michigan quarterback J.J. McCarthy with the 10th pick. There were supposedly trade discussions between the Vikings and the Patriots for the third pick, but nothing came of it. It was said that Minnesota was prepared to forfeit several picks in order to move up into the top three.However, it’s clear that the Patriots were not enticed to give up their position by the trade offers. McCarthy is now receiving the keys to the Vikings franchise instead of the other way around.
Jerod Mayo has been talking about his buddy from the Patriots. Tom Brady’s coaching career at the New England Patriots is “always open,” according to head coach Jerod Mayo. After 20 years and six Super Bowls with the Pats, Brady announced his retirement from the game in 2022. However, he did acknowledge this month that he would “not be opposed” to a playing return if the right situation presented itself. While he was cool to see Brady back in pads, Mayo—who succeeded the legendary Bill Belichick as New England’s head coach at the end of the previous season—discussed his old teammate on “The Greg Hill Show” on WEEI. He also said he wouldn’t think twice about giving Brady his first coaching position. The inexperienced head coach declared, “The door is always open if he wants to come in here and coach.” “But I’m not sure about going on the pitch.” August will mark Brady’s 47th birthday, and Mayo doesn’t think he’ll be playing football anytime soon. He said, “I don’t think he’s going to be coming through these doors anytime soon.” Brady inked a ten-year contract worth up to $375 million, and he will start as an analyst for Fox for the upcoming season. But it hasn’t eliminated speculation about whether he would want to play again. When asked if he would contemplate a return if a playoff-bound team lost its starting quarterback to injury late in the season last month, Brady responded, “I’m not opposed to it.” “I have no idea whether they’ll let me; I have no idea if I end up owning an NFL franchise. I promise to never go out of shape and to always be able to toss the ball. I wouldn’t be against it, but I’m not sure whether they would let me. The Patriots seem to have their quarterback situation locked up after selecting Drake Maye with their third overall draft choice last week. Veteran quarterback Jacoby Brissett was also added to the squad after being signed as a free agent.
One of the most significant tennis players in history is Novak Djokovic. Everyone can see that Novak is a winner; he has triumphed everywhere, and […]
Former Dallas Cowboys wide receiver Michael Gallup, 28, is joining the Las Vegas Raiders in an attempt to recover from a dismal 2023 season. Last season, Gallup’s six-year tenure in Dallas came to an end as he recorded career lows of 418 receiving yards and only two touchdown catches. Shortly before the start of free agency, the Cowboys released Gallup, a former third-round selection pick, and he now resides in Vegas following six weeks on the open market. According to the NFL Network, the receiver was signed by the AFC West team to a one-year contract worth up to $3 million. The Raiders are expecting Gallup to return to the type of play that earned him a $62.5 million, five-year contract deal from the Cowboys in 2022 after he caught 66 catches for 1,107 yards and six touchdowns in 2019. His 2021 season was cut short by an ACL tear, and he never recovered to reach those levels before the team decided to cut him this offseason. While the Raiders did add a pass-catching threat when they selected tight end Brock Bowers with the 13th overall pick in last week’s NFL Draft, Gallup will be joining a group of wide receivers that also includes Tre Tucker, Jakobi Meyers, and Davante Adams. After watching six quarterbacks pass on them before they had the opportunity to select with the 13th choice, the Raiders decided not to take a quarterback, therefore Gardner Minshew and Aidan O’Connell will compete for the starting quarterback position in Vegas.
When the Falcons selected Michael Penix as their first pick, it stunned the whole NFL community. The decision hasn’t won over many fans, but it’s more about Atlanta’s process—Kirk Cousins was given a $180 million free agent contract less than two months before Penix was selected—than it is about Michael Penix. If I told you that things might have been worse, would you believe me? There was a lot of conjecture at the start of the offseason regarding the Falcons’ plans for the quarterback position. Would they employ a combination of choices, go up the draft board, or utilise free agency? As reported by Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated, the Falcons did, in fact, phone the top four clubs to move up. “In Indiana, the Falcons looked into trading up. The Chicago Bears and the Washington Commanders flatly rejected them,” Breer said.“The Arizona Cardinals informed Fontenot that they would not move the fourth pick until they were on the clock two months later, which only emboldened Atlanta in its plan to pursue Cousins,” and the New England Patriots responded similarly with their third pick. The fact that it never materialised led Atlanta’s brass to take aim at Cousins. But it might have made the Falcons appear even more silly than they already do if they had been able to persuade one of the best teams to agree to a deal. Allow me to describe the situation. The Falcons do not draft Jayden Daniels, Drake Maye, or even Marvin Harrison Jr. Instead, they send the Commanders, Patriots, or Cardinals numerous first-round selections and perhaps even more draft money. No, after putting together a number of reports, it appears that the Falcons ranked Michael Penix as their top prospect, just ahead of Caleb Williams, according to Charles Robinson of Yahoo! Sports. Had a deal been worked out to move Penix up the draft board, the Falcons would have selected Penix. “Caleb Williams of USC is ranked first among quarterbacks, followed by Penix and Jayden Daniels of LSU,” says Robinson.“In general, Penix was considered one of the Falcons’ top four prospects; Marvin Harrison Jr., an Ohio State wide receiver, completed the group.” Penix was selected by the Falcons with the eighth overall pick, but it’s obvious that there was a scenario in which Atlanta would have traded up to choose Penix since he would have been the best prospect available. Yes, if a trade had been arranged before the NFL Draft, then hopefully Atlanta would not have signed Kirk Cousins. The important thing to remember is that the Falcons inquired about trading up, and according to Robinson, Penix was rated as their second-best prospect. In an alternate reality, the Falcons might have mortgaged several first-round picks but not Daniels or Maye. From where I sit, that would have been a nightmare come true. Penix was rated significantly lower by the most reputable draft analysts than Daniels and Maye. While we shouldn’t accept their judgement as scripture, I usually agree with the Atlanta Falcons opponent.
What the Falcons told me is that they value not being awful more than they value a chance at being great.” Regarding the Atlanta Falcons’ handling of the 2024 NFL Draft and their choice to select Michael Penix Jr. over Kirk Cousins, there have been a lot of opinions expressed. A lot of those sports media headlines have included celebrities criticising the organization’s decision-making, but very few, if any, have examined the Falcons’ reasoning for their actions. Additionally, Nick Wright of FS1 provided an intriguing analysis of Atlanta’s QB dilemma on Friday’s First Things First.One of Wright’s favourite NFL truisms, according to Kevin Clark, “who I think is one of the best people covering the league,” has been that not every club genuinely wants to win the Super Bowl for years. And that’s what I learned from this. The goal of the Falcons is not to win the Super Bowl. They’re making an effort not to be terrible. The best defence against bottoming out is this. Path one is available to Atlanta if you’re hoping to win the Super Bowl heading into the offseason: Sign Kirk Cousins, take a few aces from the future, and spend your top 10 draft pick on a player you believe will make an immediate impact. Many of us predicted that you could choose any defensive player at number eight. I had it that way in all of my mock drafts. That was also how it felt. That’s a route. Another route is—wait for it—what? Although Michael Penix Jr. is still a rookie, we still adore him and appreciate his expertise. Fortunately, he is younger than most people who are in their second contract. We’re going to follow the path taken by many other clubs, which is to acquire a young quarterback, save the $100 million, and use it to strengthen the squad. Rather, they chose option number three, which had the best safety net against either choice turning out badly. It is the best protection against encountering a Desmond Ridder scenario ever again. Which is acceptable if your objective is to stay relevant, win a playoff game, and win a weak division? Wright said to his FS1 colleagues that they could discuss the advantages and disadvantages of both Cousins and Penix as quarterback possibilities. On the other hand, there’s an important thing to think about. A well-defined plan ought to have been developed by now, with plenty of time to evaluate the salary cap, the free agency environment, and the positions of all quarterbacks in the draft. […]
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