Sunday, 4 a.m.
Things we can infer despite the NFL's gag order in its settlement with Colin Kaepernick. 1) The NFL must have feared there was something that could be interpreted as collusion, whether it was with all 32 owners or not. There were no dollar figures mentioned, but do you think Kaepernick would have gone away cheaply?
-- If I owned the Steelers, I would give Antonio Brown a bonus to just shut up. Every time he opens his mouth, what the Steelers can get for him reduces in value. He's now worth three practice balls and a half-empty bottle of Gatorade.
-- Brown now says that Ben Roethlisberger has an "owner" mentality. But isn't a quarterback supposed to have the mentality of the guy in charge?
-- The five players that we are most interested to see if they're very good or very bad on the Rays: 1. Blake Snell, 2. Charlie Morton, 3. Avasail Garcia, 4. Mike Zunino, 5. Yandy Diaz.
-- John Elway's trade for Joe Flacco leads one to wonder: Wasn't Blake Bortles available?
-- I don't know about you, but I look at the AAF as Division III football. So much so that I think they should play their title game in the Amos Alonzo Stagg Bowl.
-- ESPN picked a player from each NFL team that needs a change of scenery. For the Bucs, they picked DeSean Jackson. I have an idea for a change of scenery for Jackson: How about the end zone?
-- Things we can infer despite the NFL's gag order in its settlement with Colin Kaepernick. 1) The collusion allegations were the best thing that ever happened to Kaepernick as a quarterback. People are actually talking about whether he could have won a Super Bowl in the future, which is insane. The guy has three wins in the last four years. Near as I can find out, none of them have been in a Super Bowl.
-- Five players the Lightning needs to be most ready for the playoffs: 1. Andrei Vasilevskiy, 2. Nikita Kucherov, 3. Steven Stamkos, 4. Victor Hedman, 5. Brayden Point.
-- Things we can infer despite the NFL's gag order in its settlement with Colin Keapernick. If Keapernick wanted $20 million from a minor football league to play, he must have wanted the really big money for his round with the NFL.
-- Five positions of need for the Bucs. 1. Left offensive tackle, 2. Left cornerback. 3. running back, 4. right defensive end; 5. right cornerback.
-- After whiffing on Vinny Curry last year, and on Michael Johnson before that, the Bucs might not want to spend on a free agent defensive end to play opposite Jason Pierre-Paul. But CBSsports.com lists its top 30 free agents, and six of the top seven are defensive lineman. Might be worth another shot.
-- The NFL has no interest in proving it was right. A settlement with a gag order means it's trying to make the whole issue go away. It wants Kaepernick's name off of the internet more than it wants to demonstrate it acted properly.
-- Things we can infer despite the NFL's gag order in its settlement with Colin Kaepernick. Today, lot of other quarterbacks wish they had picked a fight with the NFL. In their last two seasons as a starter, Vince Young won five games, Akili Smith won three, Robert Griffin III won three, Johnny Manziel won two and (in five starts) Josh Freeman won one. Kaepernick won three.
-- Remember that chemistry class you bombed in college? If you had any luck, it would have been graded by NFL.com. They gave last year's rookie class of the Bucs a grade of C. It wasn't because of No. 1 Vita Vea, although he finished okay. It wasn't because of running back Ronald Jones, who was a waste of Gatorade. Near as I could tell, they were very impressed with the way the secondary chased receivers across the goal line. What does a team have to do to get an F? Have players who get lost on the way to the stadium?
-- Games like Saturday night, when Andrei Vasilevskiy beat Carey Price in a duel, is why Vasilevskiy should be considered for the Vezina Trophy. Don't you have to keep reminding yourself that just he's 24 years old?
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