"The Stack" 2-28-17
Antonio Brown is the highest paid wide receiver in the NFL now after the PIttsburgh Steelers signed him to a four-year $68 million extension.
Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports
The Stack is back on this Tuesday and there are a couple of things to talk about before we get into some more college basketball conference tournament previews. Can you believe it is the last day of February? Where has 2017 gone so far? So let’s get right to it and see what’s in “the stack” for today, Tuesday, February 28th:
Antonio Brown gets paid big
After the Pittsburgh Steelers lost to the New England Patriots in the AFC Championship game, there were some media members in the Pittsburgh area and even some nationally that thought the Steelers would and should cut ties with wide receiver Antonio Brown. Well that didn’t exactly happen. Instead the Steelers made Brown the highest paid wide receiver in the NFL with a four-year $68 million deal that includes a $19 million signing bonus, and $18.5 million in the first three years. It was announced as a five year deal, but for all intense and purposes the real money in the deal is in the first three years. We’ll see in another three years if the Steelers renegotiate the deal. Brown is one of the best wide receivers in the NFL. He routinely is near the top of the league in catches and he is so fast and shifty. He scores a lot of touchdowns and gets a ton of yards. Hopefully he can cool it with some of his antics like the Facebook Live video after the Steelers win over the Kansas City Chiefs in the playoffs. Hopefully he will. The Steelers also applied the exclusive franchise tag to running back Le’Veon Bell meaning their two biggest weapons apart from quarterback Ben Roethlisberger are in Pittsburgh hopefully for the foreseeable future for Steelers fans.
NHL trades as deadline approaches
We’ve seen a few big trades in the NHL as their trade deadline draws closer. A fairly significant trade occurred late Monday night when the St. Louis Blues sent the best defenseman on the trade market in Kevin Shattenkirk to the Washington Capitals for a first and second round pick and forward Zach Sanford. Shattenkirk will reunite with former teammate T.J. Oshie in Washington and if the Capitals weren’t already the favorites to win the Stanley Cup or at the very least get there out of the eastern conference, they are now.
Also on Monday, forward Alex Burrows was traded by the Vancouver Canucks, but stayed in Canada heading to the Ottawa Senators. On Sunday there were a couple of notable trades on Sunday with the Tampa Bay Lightning sending goalie Ben Bishop to the Los Angeles Kings for goalie Peter Budaj. The two teams also swapped draft picks. This means now that Andrei Vasilevskiy is the main man now in Tampa. He played great last year in the playoffs. He’ll continue to play well.
The Minnesota Wild also made a trade on Sunday, a pretty significant one at that. They traded their 2017 first-round draft pick, their second round pick in 2018 and a conditional fourth round pick in 2019 along with Grayson Downing from the minors to the Arizona Coyotes for Martin Hanzal and forward Ryan White. They also received a 2017 fourth round pick. Hanzal is an unrestricted free agent and Wild fans have to hope that if the price is right that they can re-sign Hanzal assuming he contributes to the team the rest of the season. The Wild were looking for depth at the trade deadline. They got it and then some. That’s a good thing too since the Wild are dealing with mumps currently. There are bound to be more trades made before Wednesday’s deadline.
Big South tournament preview
The Big South tournament begins today on the campus sites. Winthrop is the top seed and UNC-Asheville is right on their heels. They played an epic game a few weeks back, one that Asheville won. That makes me cautious in picking Winthrop, because I think Asheville has more than what it takes to win, but I will take Winthrop to make it to the Big Dance.
Prediction: Winthrop
Patriot League tournament preview
Like the Big South, the Patriot League is beginning their tournament today on the campus sites. Only two games today and the rest will follow. Bucknell is the top seed in the tournament and they appear to be the head and shoulders favorite to win. Boston University, the two seed, may have something to say about that, but I’ll take Bucknell to win it all when it’s all said and done.
Prediction: Bucknell
Coming up Wednesday: Conference tournament previews and more.
