Light Whip - Pistons. Whipped - Lakers. HISTORICALLY WHIPPED - Grizzlies. NBA Playoff weekend #1 wraps with relatively few interesting games. Defense is entirely back. My hand checking cup runneth over. Seriously though. I enjoy the physicality.

Justin Thomas wins the RBC Heritage. First victory since 2022 PGA Championship. New Caddie. Putting tips from Xander. PGA Championship (he’s won twice) right around the corner. Get ready to hear “he won a couple weeks ago” from everybody picking JT.

Over his last 162 regular season games (across multiple seasons), Aaron Judge is hitting .343/63hrs/159 RBIs. Titanic. He’s Cardinal Albert Pujols but doing this at an age when Pujols was broken in Anaheim.

American League Division Leaders: Yankees, Tigers, Rangers. Feels very early 90s, or Miguel Cabrera era Tigers seasons.

National League last place teams: Braves, Pirates, Rockies. Skenes is a free agent after 2029.

Welcome to Draft Week. Watched the Combine? decent. Tape ate? Good. Do you know Will Cambell’s arm length? Even better. This draft year is a firm C+. The QBs aren’t half what they were last year. The offensive tackles might all be guards. One sentiment often repeated: the draft grades (i.e. talent level) between guys 3-30 is the smallest its been in years. This draft lacks talent tiers. Both at individual positions and overall, guys struggled to differentiate from their peers. This is a True Scouts draft. Only the tiniest details separate studs and duds.

The Top 3

Cam Ward is supposed to go #1. Had he come out last year, he’d maybe be the 5th QB selected (after Michael Penix, ahead of JJ McCarthy). That reality is a reflection of his talent and it’s the reason the Titans haven’t printed Ward jerseys yet. They’re holding out for an overwhelming trade offer. Since Ward isn’t Caleb Williams, no offers have surfaced and Ward should end up going first.

Travis Hunter is the draft’s best player. Abdul Carter plays a more important position. Since neither are likely to be the first pick, the Browns should pick one of them. Deshaun Watson and Kenny Pickett appear to be the QB room in Cleveland. That’s a recipe for 5 wins, but Shedeur Sanders hasn’t been whispered as a QB answer at #2.

Welcome to the NY Football Giants. 10 years of NFL seasons is roughly equivalent to one MLB season (in volume). In that time, the Giants are 57-106-1. They are sub-A’s. They are the Marlins at their worst. They are a horrendous baseball organization that makes their fans endure the same failure but for a decade straight. Awesome stuff. Good thing they share a stadium with the Jets.

The Giants are the draft’s first inflection point. They certainly could select Shedeur Sanders. They need a QB (currently rostering Jameis Winston and Russell Wilson). It seems like the Giants are trying to pick either Carter or Hunter (whoever’s available) and trade up from their 34th pick to get Shedeur. If the Giants don’t take Shedeur, it could precipitate a slide and an opportunity for the Giants to trade back into the low/mid-teens to take him. It’s a strategy (that somehow everyone already knows?) from a franchise who’s strategies never work. I’m excited to see it play out!

Hogs Up Front

Give me a midwest left tackle, raised on Land O’Lakes, hands like manhole covers. Let me see a mountain of the SEC walk across the stage. I want tackles that can’t physically fly commercial. This draft has candidates, but not quite perfect Hogs. Will Campbell would normally fit the bill but his jacket size is peculiar. I’m a 42L (note the L). He appears to a 46. But no “L”. Will short-arm Will move to guard? Campbell’s arms measured at 32 and 5/8 inches, but standard left tackle arm length is never shorter than 34. Are we all gunna look like idiots for typing this? Behind Campbell is Armand Membou. Productive. Huge. SEC. The Pats want a tackle, have the 4th pick, and would love to forget about Drake May’s blindside for 10 years.

Trade Block

Miss the NBA? A few healthy names are clearly on the block. The first round should produce two trades, maybe more. While these guys aren’t guaranteed to move like an NBA superstar who asks out (KD, always KD strays), they could be flipped for early or mid-round picks:

- Jalen Ramsey - Miami GM Chris Grier came right out and said they’re looking to trade him. Ramsey is still a top 10 CB, but he’s aging and paid like a top 5.

- Trey Hendrickson - led the league in sacks last year and is looking for an extension. Bengals can’t pay everyone, but fellow DE Sam Hubbard just retired and they might be too thin on the line to move Hendrickson.

- Kirk Cousins - Free Kirk. At least Free Kirk to a team that strikes out on all their QB aspirations and needs a veteran for one year before Archie Manning.