"The Stack" 4-28-17
The Stack is back on this Friday and I still can’t believe what happened in the first round of the 2017 NFL Draft last night. Plenty of reaction to that plus some playoff reaction so let’s get right to it and see what’s in “the stack” for today, Friday, April 28th:
NFL Draft first round reaction
There were several absolute bombshells that dropped in the first twelve picks of the NFL Draft Thursday night. The Cleveland Browns to no one’s surprise (despite reporting earlier in the day by ESPN’s Adam Schefter that suggested that the Browns may indeed go with Trubisky number one overall) went with Myles Garrett. Then the Chicago Bears traded up one spot from three to two. Who would they take? Solomon Thomas, the defensive end out of Stanford? Maybe everyone’s favorite safety in Jamal Adams? Both would be great fits. Nope, how about going with Trubisky, the quarterback from North Carolina. What?! Stunning. Absolutely stunning. Everyone thought the Browns would try to trade back and get him. Nope! As it turns out, the Browns would not end up drafting a quarterback at all in round one despite having three first round draft picks. More on that later.
Picks three and four weren’t all that surprising. The San Francisco 49ers went with Thomas and the Jacksonville Jaguars went with Leonard Fournette. Pick five saw the Tennessee Titans take wide receiver Corey Davis. Kind of surprising, but it was really between him and Mike Williams from Clemson as to who would be the first wide receiver taken. Williams went seven to the Los Angeles Chargers. Adams was picked up by the New York Jets at six. That’s a great pick for them. Christian McCaffrey went eight to Carolina, but it was picks nine and ten that were two of the most stunning of the night. I thought for sure Alabama defensive end Jonathan Allen’s floor was nine to Cincinnati. Nope! The Bengals surprised just about everyone by going with the speedster John Ross out of Washington. Pair him up with A.J. Green and the Bengals have another big weapon for Andy Dalton. Allen by the way would end up going seventeen to Washington which is a great addition for them and it sucks for people like me who don’t like Washington. Then the Kansas City Chiefs traded all the way up from pick 27 to pick ten to take Texas Tech quarterback Pat Mahomes. What better coach to learn behind for a quarterback than Andy Reid. Clearly they look at Mahomes as the heir apparent to Alex Smith.
The Browns came up again at pick number twelve and surely they would take Deshaun Watson. Nope. The Houston Texans were so desperate for a quarterback at that point that they traded their number twenty-five pick and a first rounder next year to draft Watson. They have said that Tom Savage will be their starter, but I’d be willing to bet that Watson will be starting by season’s end. There were reports that the Browns were talking with Washington to try and land Kirk Cousins, but both teams have said that the reports are for all intents and purposes not true.
Other picks of note include tight end O.J. Howard sliding all the way down to pick nineteen where the Tampa Bay Buccaneers happily took him, defensive end/linebacker T.J. Watt going thirtieth overall to Pittsburgh and San Francisco trading back into the first round to take Alabama linebacker Reuben Foster. Without question though, the Bears, Bengals, Chiefs, Browns and Texans made the biggest headlines of the night.
Speaking of the Browns they were involved in two trades that helped land them three first round draft picks becoming the first team since the 2013 Minnesota Vikings to do that. They took safety Jabrill Peppers with the former Texans pick and then traded back into the first round with the Green Bay Packers and picked tight end David Njoku. Maybe they did that to prevent the Steelers from drafting him. Who knows, but three first round picks and not one quarterback taken by the Browns? Surprising. Very surprising.
There were more trades than I expected last night that is for sure. By trading back one spot, the 49ers received a third and fourth rounder this year from the Bears plus a third round pick in next year’s draft. The Chiefs gave up the 27th pick, a third round pick this year and a first round pick next year to the Bills to draft Mahomes. The Browns picked up another first round pick next year trading down from the 12th pick to the 25th pick so the Texans could take Watson. The Falcons traded from 31 to 26 with the Seattle Seahawks to take Takkarist McKinley from UCLA. It cost them a third round pick and a seventh round pick in this year’s draft. By trading back into the first round, the Browns had to give up the 33rd pick to the Packers as well as a fourth round pick (117) in this year’s draft. And the 49ers traded pick 34 and a fourth round pick (111) in this year’s draft with the Seahawks to take Foster.
There are a lot of good players that weren’t drafted in round one, most notably Florida State running back Dalvin Cook. He’ll go early in the second round. There are some offensive lineman and defensive players that teams will snatch in a hurry. The first few picks of the second round are going to be very interesting. Make sure to tune in either to ESPN (for a couple of hours until the NBA comes on) or the NFL Network at 7 PM ET to catch all of the draft action.
Raptors, Spurs advance
The Toronto Raptors survived the ultimate scare against the young and rising Milwaukee Bucks to advance to the second round where they will take on the Cleveland Cavaliers. The Raptors were in complete control of game six against the Bucks up 71-46 in the third quarter. They had no concerns that the Bucks would come back. Oh wait, this is the Raptors we are talking about. The Bucks would go on a run to the tune of 34-7 to grab an 80-78 lead. The arena was going nuts. Seriously, the Raptors didn’t score for almost six minutes. But DeMar DeRozan responded, because Kyle Lowry can’t and wouldn’t, and the Raptors fought back and went on a 9-0 run to take an 89-82 lead and hold off the Bucks to win 92-89. DeRozan finished with 32 points. The Greek Freak led the Bucks with 34. They will be a great team next year. The Raptors though survived.
As for the San Antonio Spurs, they were looking good for most of the first quarter against the Memphis Grizzlies, but the Grizzlies responded to take a halftime lead. The Spurs would get the lead back though after the third quarter and it would be a tight finish, but Tony Parker came up with some absolutely huge buckets for the Spurs. Though Mike Conley did his best to help lift the Grizzlies to the win and force a game seven, it was ultimately not enough and the Spurs won 103-96 to take the series 4-2. The Houston Rockets await. That should be a fun series.
Senators, Penguins take game one
On the ice the eastern conference get their second round series started. In Ottawa, the Senators scored late in the third period with four minute and change left to take a 2-1 lead and then held on for that 2-1 victory, but they didn’t make it easy for themselves. A penalty committed with 39 seconds left gave the New York Rangers a power play, but they couldn’t get the equalizer and the Senators won 2-1. I think New York will win this series, but they need to find a way to generate more offense. They did have 35 shots, but they need to figure out a way to score a few more goals. It’s something they have struggled with.
In our nation’s capital it was much the same that we’ve seen from the Washington Capitals in playoffs past. They struggle with the Pittsburgh Penguins and fell behind 2-0 thanks to two Sidney Crosby goals within a minute into the second period. The Capitals responded late in the period when Alex Ovechkin lit the lamp to cut the Penguins lead to 2-1. They would tie the game almost midway through the third when Evgeny Kuztnetsov scored, but the Penguins responded four minutes later on a goal by Nick Bonino to regain the lead at 3-2. They would win by that score to take a 1-0 series lead. The Capitals must win game two and now will have to win at least one game in Pittsburgh. It may be de ja vu all over again for the Capitals and their fans if they don’t figure something out.
Friday’s playoff schedule
NBA
Washington Wizards @ Atlanta Hawks 7:30 PM ET NBA TV & ESPNU (Wizards lead series 3-2)
Boston Celtics @ Chicago Bulls 8 PM ET ESPN (Celtics lead series 3-2)
Los Angeles Clippers @ Utah Jazz 10:30 PM ET ESPN (Jazz lead series 3-2)
NHL
Nashville Predators @ St. Louis Blues 8 PM ET NBCSN (Predators lead series 1-0)
Edmonton Oilers @ Anaheim Ducks 10:30 PM ET NBCSN (Oilers lead series 1-0)
Coming up Monday: NFL Draft reaction and NBA and NHL Playoffs reaction
