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It’s 2019 NFL mock draft time! The order is based on how teams have performed up until this point in this season, and what is expected of them the rest of the campaign. For more on the race to the bottom, for the #1 overall pick, go to this link.
Team needs were sometimes, but mostly, not taken into account, as it’s still early for a 2019 mock draft in the purest sense. Have issues with the mock draft picks? Of course you do!
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Say what you want about Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich and New England Patriots Owner Robert Kraft, as they are two extremely rich, prodigiously powerful and extremely polarizing men, but they are on the right side of history with this initiative.
As part of Chelsea’s aggressive antisemitism initiative, the west London club is in talks with Major League Soccer club New England Revolution, another team owned by Robert Kraft, to stage a friendly where the proceeds raised will go towards fighting antisemitism.
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In the first college football game I attended as a student, the visiting team scored an 80-yard touchdown pass on the very first play from scrimmage. The visitors, Washington State, would go on to win and play in the Rose Bowl against that year’s eventual national champions, Michigan. The home team, my alma mater of Illinois, wouldn’t even win a single game that year.
More than 20 years later, I’m sitting in a Cadillac Escalade, rolling down Chicago’s Michigan Avenue and the quarterback who threw that 80-yard TD pass, Ryan Leaf, is now granting me an exclusive interview; and the topic of football is ancillary to the purpose of our discourse.
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Ryan Leaf is known by many football fans as perhaps the greatest bust in NFL Draft history. His career began with an endless debate about who should be taken first in the 1998 draft- himself, or the man who did get selected first overall, Peyton Manning. While Leaf only saw 25 games of action over the course of three seasons, Manning went on to win five MVP awards, two Super Bowls and get selected to 14 Pro Bowls.
Given the elite level of Manning’s many prodigious accomplishments, Leaf’s washing out of the league by age 26 seems even more disappointing by comparison. That’s extremely unfair on many levels to Ryan Leaf, but unfortunately that is how this chapter in the book of sports history has been written.
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The NFL is continuing to ramp up their presence in London by announcing today that four regular season games will be played in the British capital next year. Two will be in Wembley Stadium and two in Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. The National Football League announcement comes just two days after the Jacksonville Jaguars and Philadelphia Eagles completed the third NFL contest in London in three straight weeks.
The NFL has been staging games in London for 11 seasons now and the increasing momentum points to the possibility of a London Super Bowl and/or London NFL franchise in the near future. The three games this season, all at Wembley Stadium, had an average crowd of 85,031.
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Last Friday, the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement released its September sports betting numbers, and the results were astounding. Sports bettors wagered a whopping $184 million, good for a 96 percent increase from August’s total of $95.6 million. Considering that sports gambling has only been legal in the state since June 14th, these numbers beat even the most optimistic of expectations.
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With the Cleveland Browns markedly improved in 2018, and thus likely to vacate their traditional spot in the National Football League’s overall basement, who will supplant them as being first overall on the clock come NFL Draft night? There’s a reason that the one movie that was ever made about the NFL Draft centered around the Brownies, but in 2019, they will almost certainly not be picking first.
There are four early contenders to take the top pick, and all of them are franchises that have endured a lot of losing lately. Yes, the NFL is a league where revenue sharing and overall infrastructure invites parity and quick mobility up the standings, but the league has seen remarkable consistency at both ends of the spectrum.
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It’s NFL kickoff weekend, and thus a new chance for more of America to finally “get it” regarding Colin Kaepernick. Because, right now, a lot of this country just does not understand what this struggle is really about, and what the actual issues being brought to the market place of ideas truly are.
Nike’s selection of Kaepernick as the face of the 30th anniversary “Just do it” campaign is a step in the right direction, but it the advertisement falls well short of addressing the issues. At Lineups.com we penned a piece that highlights the facts surrounding Colin Kaepernick and eradicates the misnomers.
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Senior cornerback Montre Hartage could have the highest NFL draft stock of anyone on this 2018 Northwestern football team, but even his skill set couldn’t save the Cats at home versus Duke today. On a day with autumn like conditions, winter has come to the Wildcats’ nine game winning streak (which had been the longest among all FBS teams), as they fell 21-7 at Ryan Field.
Hartage is a stud, but the NU pass defense, as a whole, stumbled today. You can’t really single anyone on the Cats out specifically, as it was a total team let down. The story of the game was the Duke passing attack, as quarterback Daniel Jones was clinical, efficient and precise.
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By Joseph Plunkett
The Green Bay Packers will host the Minnesota Vikings on September 16 aiming to prove that they are genuine contenders for an NFL play-off berth this season.
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By Joseph Connolly
Earlier this week, the L.A. Rams announced that the team had reached a record breaking agreement with defensive tackle Aaron Donald. The deal means $137 million for Donald over the next six years and carries a minimum guarantee of no less than $87 million according to sources.
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By Joe Connolly
Yes, NFL rosters can change from one year to the next. Injuries and trades can change a roster from one week to the next. Still, there’s value in respecting historical betting trends when betting on NFL games. It’s not really clear why one team always seems to struggle against one specific rival or opponent. As a sports handicapper, you are always looking for an advantage. Sometimes, the advantage could come from respecting a betting trend even in the face of all logic.
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