Ten Things I Think
1. I think Christian McCaffrey will win the NFL’s Offensive Rookie of the Year award. The Panthers do-it-all tailback gives Cam Newton a weapon out of the backfield that he has not had at his disposal since entering the league back in 2011. McCaffrey’s versatility is his greatest asset. At 5’11” 205 pounds, the Stanford product possesses the ability to either run wide or between the tackles, be a legitimate threat in the passing game, and can also wreak havoc fielding punts and returning kick-offs. I expect the Panthers to compare more favorably to the team that was in the Super Bowl two seasons ago as opposed to the team that went 6-10 last season, and the resurgence of their offense led by Christian McCaffrey will be a major reason why.
2. I think that there is a double-standard, and a great deal of hypocrisy, when it comes to tampering in the NBA. Reportedly, the Lakers are under investigation for potentially tampering with Paul George when he was a member of the Indiana Pacers. That’s funny because isn’t Paul George the one who made it well-known that he desired to play in LA when his contract expired with the Pacers? I am not saying that Magic Johnson or Rob Pelinka did or didn’t communicate with George and his representatives, but I find it funny that the Lakers could get penalized for tampering, yet PG can come out and explicitly say that he wants to play for the Lakers when he is under contract for one of the other 29 NBA franchises and there are no repercussions. If the NBA wants to make an example out of the Lakers so be it, but to think that tampering doesn’t exist in the NBA would be foolish. Free agents sign a half-hour after the start of free agency on July 1 each year. Do you really think that they came to terms and weighed all of their options in just thirty minutes? Not a chance. If the NBA wants to crack down on tampering, they’re going to be quite busy because stuff like this happens all the time throughout the league.
3. I think Cody Bellinger will win NL Rookie of the Year and NL MVP. The 21-year old has been that good. Since being called up in the lefty slugger is hitting .274 with 34 homers and 79 runs batted in. And if you think he’s just piling up numbers, think again. When Cody was called up the Dodgers sat with a record of 9-11. Since his arrival, they have gone 80-25. That is not a typo! They are currently 89-36, chasing the mark of 116 wins set by the 2001 Seattle Mariners. A kid who started the year in Triple-A should win two of baseball most prestigious individual honors.
4. I think the hit that left Odell Beckham Jr. with a sprained ankle was clean. Not many have taken this stance, but I believe it. Yes, the Browns defender went low, but what else was he supposed to do? The NFL has been so adamantly opposed to head-shots, so if they want to outlaw that, this is the alternative. At the end of the day, football is a violent game. It involves tackling another man to the ground on each and every play. If the general consensus is that this was a dirty hit on Odell, then, well, maybe we should eliminate tackling all together.
5. I think it’s time for the Yankees to move Aaron Judge down in their lineup. The rookie, who was other worldly prior to the All-Star break, has been in a major slump ever since. Yes, his overall numbers are still solid, but that is because his first-half was that spectacular. The Yankees find themselves in the midst of a pennant race and having a player, who hits in the three-hole, batting well under .200 with an infamous streak of strikeouts is far from ideal. Judge’s psyche will be okay if Girardi decides to move him down in the lineup; this is a business, and quite frankly, the twenty-five-year-old isn’t performing. While the Yankees right-fielder has a bright future, at the moment he is not delivering and the Yankees, who are in the midst of a pennant race, have no time to stroke egos.
6. I think McGregor puts up a good fight, but Floyd ultimately wins by decision. Mayweather is 49-0, playing his sport. He should win, but to think McGregor has no shot would be vacuous. In a sport where one power-punch could put the opposition to sleep, nobody is infallible, and that includes the undefeated Mayweather. If the Irishman thinks he can knock Floyd out, he better make his move early because as the fight progresses Mayweather only gets better. Floyd’s defensive style is predicated on capitalizing on his opponent’s mistakes, and mistakes occur more readily when fatigue sets in. Connor will go down swinging, but he will go down. Floyd will stand with a career record of 50-0 when he wakes up on Sunday.
7. I think that after quarterback, safety is the most important position on a football team. Why? Because safeties set the tenor for the entire defense. Look at Earl Thomas in Seattle. Do you think it is just a coincidence that since he was drafted in 2010 the Seahawks have been perennially a top-five defense in the league? No, it’s not. The 4 time All-Pro helped transform the Seahawks defensive identity in the very same way that Devin McCourty has done in New England and Landon Collins has done with the Giants.
8. I think Lamar Jackson will be a potent NFL quarterback. The reigning Heisman Trophy winner is just entering his junior year, but it’s never too early to speculate on a collegiate superstars pro potential. Jackson is as dynamic as Michael Vick was in his prime. He can throw all sorts of passes with precision and can outrun just about everybody on the field. Often times when a quarterback is perceived to be uber-athletic, their arm talent gets overlooked. I feel Jackson is talented enough that if he were just an average athlete he would still thrive in the NFL; his athleticism is just gravy.
9. I think I would take the Patriots over the field this year to win the Super Bowl. Tom Brady and company won the Super Bowl last year and somehow managed to drastically improve this offseason. Adding Bradin Cooks gives Brady a receiving threat that he hasn’t had at his disposal since Randy Moss back in 2007, when the Patriots finished the regular season undefeated. Cooks wasn’t the only addition to the Pats offense. They also acquired Mike Gillislee and Rex Burkhead to round out a backfield that already has a dual-threat in Dion Lewis, and traded for tight-end Dwayne Allen to complement Gronk. Then on defense, the Patriots added Stephon Gillmore, a Pro Bowl cornerback, and defensive lineman Kony Ealy, who takes naps in the opponent’s backfield. For a team that is coming off of a Super Bowl and has the best coach in the history of the game on their sidelines, the Patriots could have just kept the status quo and they likely would have been favorites in the AFC, but by adding so many impact free-agents and making a couple of trades, I can’t imagine a scenario in which New England doesn’t repeat as Super Bowl champions.
10. I think Anquan Boldin should have played one more season. Doing so would have drastically improved his chances of making the Hall-of-Fame. Boldin currently has 1,076 receptions, which places him ninth all-time. Good? Sure, but had he played one more season and had he caught 27 passes - which is less than two per game I might add - he would have catapulted himself to fourth all-time on that list, making himself a near lock for Canton. I went back and looked at Boldin’s career and found something else that I hadn’t realized prior. Over the course of his 14-year NFL career, I think he was objectively the best receiver on his team in only three seasons. In Arizona, there was Larry Fitzgerald, in Baltimore there was Derrick Mason and then Torrey Smith, and in Detroit there was Golden Tate. His three-year stint with the 49ers was the only team he was on in which he was the clear-cut number one option, and Michael Crabtree was a close second. This is not to diminish Boldin, but to further emphasize why he should have stuck around for one more season and padded his stats.
