5-at-10: Derby shake-up and free contest, Draft reviews (again), Rushmore of 'Rocks'

Exercise rider Taylor Cambra rides Omaha Beach during a workout Wednesday at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky. Although it is not expected to be life-threatening or career-ending, a breathing problem that will require surgery has forced the Kentucky Derby favorite off the Triple Crown trail.
Exercise rider Taylor Cambra rides Omaha Beach during a workout Wednesday at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky. Although it is not expected to be life-threatening or career-ending, a breathing problem that will require surgery has forced the Kentucky Derby favorite off the Triple Crown trail.

Derby

OK, well, we got some news on the Derby.

Omaha Beach, my pick and the pick of horse racing guru Barry Abrams, who was on Press Row on Tuesday, has WDed.

(If you had submitted Omaha Beach, you get a redo. Send it along.)

So that changes the board and a whole lot about the race.

Here are the odds as of now:

Game Winner - 9-2

Roadster - 5-1

Improbable - 5-1

Maximum Security - 8-1

Tacitus - 8-1

Code of Honor - 12-1

Win Win Win - 12-1

War of Will - 15-1

By My Standards - 15-1

Tax - 20-1

Vekoma - 15-1

Plus Que Parfait - 30-1

Cutting Humor - 30-1

Haikal - 30-1

Long Range Toddy - 30-1

Spinoff - 30-1

Country House - 30-1

Bodexpress - 30-1

Gray Magician - 50-1

Master Fencer - 50-1

I will pick Code of Honor as the winner and Master Fencer as the loser.

Send your picks in by the end of BID-ness on Friday.

photo AP photo by Al Wagner / Tennessee Titans fans crowd around former running back Eddie George as they celebrate the selection of Ole Miss wide receiver A.J. Brown during the second round of the NFL draft on April 26, 2019, in downtown Nashville. Burke Nihill, a team executive who led the effort to bring the draft to town, has been promoted to Titans president and CEO, the team announced Friday.

Draft follow-up, part 319

We love the draft. You know this.

This is not about grades of last week's draft. That's simply not possible, no matter how much people are dissecting the Daniel Jones pick. (Because in truth, here's betting there was some hand-wringing and consternation for the Chiefs trading two 1s and a 3 to move up and taking a Big 12 QB when everyone knew that Big 12 QBs busted in the NFL. Well, think the Bills would rather have those three picks or Patrick Mahomes?)

We can go back and grade the 2016 draft as teams start to make decisions about signing their first-round picks to that fifth-year extension for the 2020 season.

Here's a review of each of those first round picks and whether teams will pick up the options. And man, the first five picks of that draft are on a trajectory for Hall of Fame showing not unlike that Aikman-DThomas-Sanders-Sanders draft in 1989.

Side note: Looking back on the 2016 draft, and yes, six of the top seven selections have made a Pro Bowl. The teams that have been consistently good since the 2016 draft added real difference-makers after round one.

Check out the teams that have the best record since 2016, and some key reasoning from non-first-round picks in '16 and '17:

Patriots - 46-11 (80.7 percent); Duh, Brady, Round 6 in 1267 or whenever it was.

Steelers - 35-16-1 (68.6) TJ Watt (pick 30) and JuJu Smith Schuster (round 2), James Conner (round 3) in '17.

Chiefs - 35-17 (67.3); Tyreek Hill in Round 5 in 16; Kareem Hunt in round 3 in '17,

Cowboys - 33-18 (64.7); Dak Presto in Round 4 in 16;

Saints - 33-19 (63.5); Michael Thomas in Round 2 in 16; Alvin Kamara in round 3 in '17.

Eagles - 33-20 (62.3), No rookie presence but the flexibility of adding free agents with Carson Wentz' rookie quarterback deal.

Vikings - 30-19-1 (61.2), Dalvin Cook Round 2 in '17.

Seahawks - 30-20-1 (60.0), the most consistent strong drafting team in the league because it seems almost every pick delivers a starter.

Falcons - 31-22 (58.5); Pro Bowl LB Deion Jones (round 2) and TE Austin Hooper (round 3) in '16;

Rams - 30-22 (57.7); Pro Bowl KR Pharaoh Cooper in Round 4 and Pro Bowl LB Cory Littleton (undrafted) in '16; Cooper Kupp in round 3 in '17.

Coincidence? I think not.

Difference makers after day 1

So when we grade this draft in three or four years, the differences between As and Cs and Bs and Fs likely happened on Day 2 or Round 5 as much as the first 5 picks.

With that in mind, here are my favorite 10 non-round 1 picks (non-Patriots version, because I like almost all of their picks after round one):

> Greedy Williams, Cleveland, Round 2: Best corner in the draft who dropped out of the top 10 because of an indifference to tackling. Gang, that was a business decision in college. Now it will be a BID-ness decision to tackle.

> David Montgomery, Chicago, Round 3: Another great fit after the Bears parted ways with Jordan Howard. This dude lifted Iowa State - yes Iowa State - to a place of respectability.

> Deshaun Davis, Cincinnati, Round 6: A tackling machine who did not test overly well but fits perfectly as a middle linebacker who goes numbers to numbers well.

> Drew Lock, Denver, Round 2: Best fit for player-team after round one in the whole draft.

> Parris Campbell, Indianapolis, Round 2: Maybe my favorite pick of the entire draft. I thought Campbell was the best receiver in this class, and the Colts have made some real hay in round 2. He has Michael Thomas-type of potential friends and he will line up opposite TY Hilton and get to catch passes from Andrew Luck. I will be drafting him in my fantasy league.

> Mecole Hardman, Kansas City, Round 2: A similar skill set to Tyreek Hill without being the worthless pile of human waste that is Tyreek Hill.

> Irv Smith, Minnesota, Round 2: Has breakaway speed and with Theilen and Diggs around him, Smith vs. single coverage LBs or safeties is not fair.

> Chauncey Gardner-Johnson, New Orleans, Round 4: A safety with first-round skills on Day 3? Yes, please.

> Deebo Samuel, San Francisco, Round 2: The difference in the South Carolina offense with and without Deebo screams about how much he brings to a team.

> AJ Brown, Tennessee, Round 2: The Titans got a potential No. 1 on the second day. That's value.

This and that

- While we are wrapping up draft laces, I thought this was very interesting. It's a state-by-state breakdown of where the NFL draft picks played their high school football. The most interesting thing to me was that Arkansas had one - yes one - NFL draft pick. That's the same number as Delaware and New Mexico. Wow, and yes, the Petrino debacle hurt Arkansas' trajectory, but a complete lack of in-state draft picks certainly does not help.

- Boston has banned Fortnite in the clubhouse. Hmmmmmm.

- We're here for this. There have been some famous sports personalities-sports stars feuds through the years. Cosell-Ali, which became a springboard for each. Popovich vs. sideline reporters, which led to the most human moment of Pop's professional career. Could Draymon Green and Mike Greenberg be next. After Get Up! host Greenie took to Twitter to say, "There isn't a player in the NBA past or present who complains more about calls so this is a strange position to take," after Draymond discussed how the players didn't complain to the refs in Game 2. Draymond's answer: "You are entitled to your opinion. However, this was less about players complaining on the floor and more about your boring a-- show has spent the last two days speaking about fouls and not 1 X or O. But that doesn't seem to be your strong suit, so proceed." Game on.

- Speaking of ESPN morning folks, thought this was a great exchange on Golic or Wingo on Thursday morning. Jason Fitz was sitting in for Trey Wingo - it's Golic or Wingo remember - and the Golics heckled him about not watching Game of Thrones. Mike Jr. even called him a "nerd" to which Fitz said fairly "Wait, you're calling me the nerd for not watching the televised version of Dungeons and Dragons?" Which is accurate and appropriate, and that's from someone who has seen every episode of GoT. (Side note: That Golic or Wingo is way, Way, WAY better when it's Fitz running point rather than Wingo in my view.)

- According to reports, Tiger Woods will visit the White House on Monday. This will please some and irritate others. Welcome to 2019.

- Kudos Max Fried (still not sure why it's pronounced 'Freed' rather than 'fried' as in chicken), the young Braves lefty who delivered a gem last night. Braves took Game 3 of a four-game series against the Padres, a team that contenders should never lose to in a home series. Fried pitched seven strong and allowed one earned while striking out seven. He's too young to be called an ace right now, but what he's doing right now - and especially last night - was very ace-ish.

Today's questions

On this Thursday, are you in the Doing the Derby contest yet? If not, why not?

Can you explain the Fortnite craze? Never really got it.

Max Fried - ace or really good middle-of-the-rotation guy? Discuss.

On this day 11 years ago, the first Marvel movie - Iron Man - was released. For fans of the series, best Marvel movie?

In other news for today, it's May 2. Let's review.

Today is the national day of prayer. Amen.

Osama bin Laden was killed on this day in 2011. U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A!

More than 1,000,000 German troops surrendered on this day in 1945. U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A!

The Rock is 47 today. Dude is a bona fide A-lister (who has some legit awful movies on his resume).

Rushmore of 'Rock' and be creative and remember the mailbag and out contest.

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