From Elf on a Shelf
I vote for Mark May to go. You need to make a twitter vote for this subject. Who should go??
ES -
For background, this was a Twitter question during a Press Row discussion about the rumored lay-offs at ESPN.
The numbers and losses for the WWL of Sports that have been reported are staggering. SI sports media columnist Richard Deitsch has said tens of millions of dollars in salary will be cut, and the salary cuts will come from on-air talent, which is different than the previous cuts.
Let's look at what has already happened.
ESPN did not match offers for Colin Cowherd or Skip Bayless, allowing popular, attention-getting and viewer-drawing voices to go to Fox. (And to be fair, Fox is losing viewers too. All cable outlets are as more and more people break-up with cable. But ESPN is the one with billions on the hook for broadcast rights to the pro leagues and major college sports, and each dropped cable plan costs Fox less than a dollar while it costs ESPN almost $7.)
ESPN also walked high-profile and longtime NFL Countdown stalwarts Chris Berman and Tom Jackson to the door. Berman likely had one of the three or five highest salaries in Bristol, considering his profile and his lengthy career. Remember he and Bob Ley were the last parts of the original crew.
That original premise turned out to be much bigger than anyone ever gave it credit for, considering the thought of a 24-hour sports network was laughed at in the beginning. Sure, the Aussie Rules football and the World's Strongest Man competitions did not make for gripping TV, but the connection of SportsCenter - a full 30-minute news show only about sports caught on and when the network started acquiring rights packages that people actually wanted to watch, well, the sky was the limit.
But not unlike Frankenstein, the people loved the monster, and the monster got out of control, and, well, you know how that ended. Other than the exorbitant rights fees, ESPN's other fiscal failing was like the monster - it became too big - and trying to feed all of those platforms with original programing is difficult. And expensive.
Some of that is not ESPN's fault. It's part of the times. Remember in the 1990s, it was not uncommon for us to miss the 11 p.m. SportsCenter and rewatch it some time in the morning. Heck, we can remember rewatching it several times. But now, in an instant online world, the scores and the highlights have been played and eventually played out in 12 hours.
It's caused ESPN a ton of headaches in its morning TV programming. And the ripples of these cost-cutting measures are going to eventually reach the pro leagues and the major college sports. It has to.
The next round of rights bidding for everything other than the NFL, there's no way ESPN will be able to even match its previous offer, and who else is going to bid? Fox? NBC Sports?
Doubtful. (To be fair, regulars around these parts have read this discussion before, and Jomo has been discussing this for a few a years.) That's a long way to get to the answer of the question. If ESPN is going to be smart, it would start cutting in the genres it has a pretty good idea it potentially could lose in the next bidding rounds.
OK, college football provides a pretty sound return, and while there is potential to trim some of the studio analysts, College GameDay may be the network's most popular non-NFL, non-live game show. We concur that Mark May, and Desmond Howard, while we're here, are not the most entertaining, but it's hard to see too many cut from here, especially with the reports that Sam Ponder will move to more of an NFL role to fill Berman's shoes.
ESPN spends the most money on NFL games and programming, and there will be some of the army of former players and coaches likely to say good night. But again, football is king and pays a lot of bills over there. That leaves the NBA. Now, there is some ABC overlap with the NBA, so that helps spread the cost. Some of the big money NBA voices - Bill Simmons and Magic Johnson - are already doing other things.
That leaves a lot of cuts coming in our guess for college hoops and MLB, especially if ESPN believes it can get into soccer for a relatively low cost.
We also believe there has to be some nervous folks in the E:60 department up to and even including someone like a Tom Rinaldi, who does excellent work, but quick name the last piece he did you remembered or the last time you clicked on ESPN and said, "Man, wonder what time that Rinaldi is coming back on.'
As for who should go, well, having been in places that have had lay-offs, I do not want to participate in that to be honest.
But we think the folks in college hoops - Seth Greenberg and a lot of those studio folks, and let's be honest, Dickie V has to be making a huge amount of coin, right? - could be in for a rough couple of months and think the long roster of baseball people may also be looking over their shoulders for the next quarter.
ESPN draft analyst Mel KiperFrom Phillip
I have heard you like the draft. After the combine, who is your top QB, RB, WR, DE, DT, LB, DB?
And can you do your best Kiper as you reveal your lists.
Phil, Phil, PHIL -
Our top QB has not changed, Deshaun Watson is a guy who has seen it all, played a lot of football and can understand the moment. He's a winner, and that can not be measured at the combine on inside the RCA Dome. Does Trubisky have a bigger arm? Sure. Can Mahomes, the kid of Texas Tech make every throw? Yes, yes he can. But Watson is a winner.
Running back is a different animal. There are five guys that jump out at you, and each has some sort of question.
I have Leonard Fournette at the top, but you'd have to notice his lack of elite athleticism at the combine. A poor vertical does not translate to running between the tackles, of course, and his 40 time in the 4.5s at 240 pounds is not a concern. But he said he put on 'water weight' before the camp, which probably surprised some teams who wished he had taken more care to show up in peak physical condition. After that, everyone comes with some issue. I thought Dalvin Cook would be faster. Christian McCaffrey was fine but there are some questions whether he and Alvin Kamara are big enough to be every-down guys, and spending a first-round pick on a situational back is quite frivolous unless you are the Patriots. And then there's Joe Mixon, and well, we all know his situation.
At wide receiver, everyone expected Mike Williams to run a 4.6, so that's not a big surprise. Corey Davis is a guy that turned a lot of heads at the Senior Bowl. The combine story here of course was Fast John Ross, the blazing speedster out of Washington who clocked a 4.22 40. Somewhere Al Davis just jumped out of his sweatsuit. We all remember how Al loved speed guys. Will that be enough to make Ross the top wide out off the board. We say no, because Williams is a guy who is great with the ball in the air and running routes.
Our top tight is easy, and it's Alabama freakish athlete O.J. Howard. Sure, there will be folks asking, "Where was the production" but that's more about the play-calling for the Tide than Howard. There is great value and upside at this position too with guys like Miami's David Njoku, who may sneak into the late part of round one. I thought he may fit with the Patriots, but after they traded for former Clemson star and Indy Colts big-body Dewayne Allen, they have what they are looking for opposite The Gronk. Another guy I love is Evan Engram, the Ole Miss product who turned some heads at the combine and made play after play after play in Oxford.
This is an extremely weak offensive line class, at least at the top, and there may be a couple of first-round picks, but that will be more out necessity than preference. This defensive line class is one of the better ones we've seen in several years. There are elite prospects in guys like a Myles Garrett, who comes off the edge with power and explosion, and Solomon Thomas, the high-energy, high-production Stanford Cardinal D-End who moved up a lot of draft boards with his work in Indy. Then you take a guy like Jonathan Allen on the inside, and he's a bigger version of Aaron Donald with quickness and power who could even play a 3-4 end in passing situations.
Plus, this D-line class is loaded with depth and potential stars with guys like a Caleb Brantley from Florida or a Carl Lawson from Auburn who is stronger than anyone expected at the combine or a high-motor guy like a Derek Barnett from Rocky Top.
At linebacker there are two guys that stand out above the rest of the position groups. Reuben Foster is a tackling machine. Yes, he had the incident at the combine and that may raise some issues, but he's a future Pro Bowler who will be gone in the top half of the first round. On the outside is Temple athletic freak Hasaan Reddick. There are others on the perimeter - guys like a McKinley from UCLA or a TJ Watt from Wisconsin or a consummate play-maker like Zach Cunningham - that could hear their name in round one, but the gap between Foster and the rest of the inside linebackers in this draft is the biggest among any position group in this draft.
As for the secondary case, well, this is the deepest collection of secondary talent in at least a decade. From cover corners to athletic safeties to tackling machines to hybrids, there is a defensive back to fit every scheme. Ohio State corner Marshon Lattimore came into the combine as the top-ranked coverage guy and he did nothing to hurt his stock at Indy.
Two safeties stand above everyone else. Malik Hooker, Lattimore's Buckeye teammate, has elite, Earl Thomas-like speed and plays centerfield with more range than just about anyone. Jamal Adams is that every-down safety teams covet because he can support the run on early downs and cover slot receivers on passing downs. All three of those defensive backs will be top-10 guys.
But the depth here is staggering, and Jabrill Peppers may be the most intriguing prospect on the board.
He may not sneak into the top 10 but his name will be an interesting one come draft day because of the range of teams that could use his hybrid skills.
Texas A&M defensive lineman Myles Garrett (15) reacts after knocking down a pass against UTSA during the third quarter of an NCAA college football game Saturday, Nov. 19, 2016, in College Station, Texas. (AP Photo/Sam Craft) From Fat Vader
Does Myles Garrett's performance at the combine ease your qualms about him? I know you had some issues with his season stats considering half of his sacks came from 1 game against UTSA (iirc)
FV -
Several folks have asked me about this, and what Garrett did at the combine was staggering.
In fact, his physical improvement from being a coveted high school recruit to being the sure-fire top-overall pick is staggering. We saw a graphic last weekend that coming out of high school Garrett was 6-4, 250ish and ran a 5-flat 40. Now, he's 6-4, 270ish and just dropped a time in the low 4.6s. Amazing.
That said, we'd still take Jonathan Allen if we were in the Cleveland war room. Dude made more plays despite getting doubled-team on almost every play.
Yes, Garrett is a freak, and it's hard to ignore that type of athleticism - especially mixed with that strength after doing 33 reps of 225 on the bench. He's almost assuredly going to be the No. 1 overall pick.
But a lot of times you have to wonder if teams are making that pick because everyone says they should, and the second-guessing of missing on a can't-miss prospect like Garrett would be minimal because so many said he should go No. 1, if that makes sense.
Without the Kiper hyperbole and over-writing/talking, here are the 10 best players in our view coming out in this draft class. This is not prospects, and certainly when it comes to quarterback, we're not sure if that translates, but we'd love to have any of these dudes in just about any part of round one.
1. Jonathan Allen, Alabama
2. Reuben Foster, Alabama
3. Jamal Adams, LSU
4. Deshaun Watson, Clemson
5. Jabrill Peppers, Michigan
6. Dalvin Cook, FSU
7. Derek Barnett, Tennessee
8. Adoree' Jackson, USC
9. Mike Williams, Clemson
10. Leonard Fournette, LSU.
The last two are especially intriguing since Williams was the difference-maker more than Watson in our view in the win over Auburn and in a lot of ways in the title game. Fournette could be the next Adrian Peterson or if he continues to swallow a lot aggression - along with a lot of crawfish - he may get too big for his britches literally.
We love the draft. You know this.
FILE - In this Oct. 16, 2016, file photo, Houston Texans' Brock Osweiler (17) throws against the Indianapolis Colts during the first half of an NFL football game, Sunday, Oct. 16, 2016, in Houston. The Texans traded Osweiler to the Cleveland Browns on Thursday, March 9, 2017. (AP Photo/Eric Christian Smith, File) From Titans Mike
Thoughts on Free Agency? Thanks, love listening to you guys on Press Row.
Titans Mike -
Here are five quick takeaways on the roughly 18 hours of free agency that has officially happened.
1. We like the wide receiver moves for the Bucs and the Giants, each of whom added complementary pieces in DeSean Jackson and Brandon Marshall.
2. Stunned that the Browns were so the Browns and took on Brock Osweiler's $16 million contract for a 2018 second-rounder. (Side note: We did have a big-brained Twitter user accurately say that Osweiler has to get "I'm going to take the Browns to the Super Bowl" into the press conference, and by that of course, it's the polite translation of going to the restroom, No. 2 style.) The deal was amazingly creative and the Browns dealt salary cap flexibility for a second-round pick. Interesting.
3. It was borderline hilarious and terrifying that someone can create the mass hysteria by hacking Jimmy Garoppolo's InstaGram account that happened Friday morning. Someone posted "So grateful for time in New England. Peace out Boston." at 4 a.m. this morning. And then the sports world stopped spinning.
4. We believe the upside of Mike Glennon's eye-popping deal is high for both the Bears and their new quarterback. He got a three-year, $43.5-million deal but a large chunk of that change is set for this year. If he plays well, it's a steal; if he doesn't, the Bears can get out of it relatively easily. This deal was certainly crafted with the Osweiler debacle of a year ago in mind.
5. Are the Jacksonville Jaguars even trying? Jacksonville has been the worst franchise in the league not named Cleveland for a while now. And as bad as the Jags are at the draft, they are worse at free agency. Over the last three free-agent-signing cycles, the Jags have signed 28 free agents for a league-high $488-million. Almost all of them have been busts, so what do they do this time around with a very deep defensive line class and secondary class? They give elite money to a 31-year-old defensive and journeyman corner. Jags being Jags.
There are more of course, but we are in a big rush this morning.
From Bill
Who you got as your 1 seeds?
Bill -
We'll take Nova, UNC, Kansas and Gonzaga.
The next line may be the most interesting on where the 2s go, and who knows, UNC may fall off if they lose tonight against Duke. Enjoy the weekend friends.
See you Monday with our "Last-In, First-Out" NCAA hoops contest.