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Nate Solder: Tremendous amount of pressure to fix Giants OL

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The Giants made left tackle Nate Solder their biggest acquisition in free agency this offseason in a move that didn’t surprise anyone who watched the team play last season.

He was a partner of Goldman, Sachs & Company from 1996-2000 and also previously served as a former co-president of Constellation Energy Group, a Fortune 500 company located in Baltimore, Maryland.

But the Supreme Court sided with the state last month, overturning a 1992 federal ban on sports betting and opening the door for states across the country to allow such wagering. Nevada — home to Las Vegas — was the only place in the U.S. to offer full-scale sports betting before that.

Monmouth Park was hoping to become the first place outside of Nevada to accept bets on games. Drazin said it was possible because of a 2014 law the state enacted to get around the federal ban by allowing sports wagering at casinos and tracks without state regulation.

Mark Geragos and his legal team are expected to subpoena President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence, according to reports from Yahoo and USA TODAY Sports.

The reports state there already have been informal attempts to coordinate depositions with Trump, who repeatedly has blasted NFL players who choose not to stand on the field during the national anthem as a form of protest.

The state Senate voted 37-0 and the state Assembly 73-0 at the Statehouse in Trenton — less than a month after the U.S. Supreme Court handed New Jersey a victory in its seven-year court battle to legalize such wagering.

Now it’s up to Gov. Phil Murphy to decide whether to sign the bill into law and make New Jersey the second state to begin accepting bets since the court’s ruling.

While he publicly supports sports betting and lawmakers are urging him to capitalize on the wagering as soon as possible, Murphy hasn’t said when he’ll take action on the legislation.

He said during a telephone town hall event Thursday night that his administration needs to review the measure.

And that’s gonna happen sooner than later in New Jersey, and that’s a good thing, Murphy added.

LeBron James on White House: No one wants the invite anyway

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President Donald Trump won’t have a chance to rescind the invitation to the White House for the NBA champion, the way he did for the Eagles.

But it’s all not business for O’Brien; Watson’s skills and abilities allow the coach to have plenty of (wait for it) fun at work.

It’s a lot of fun to coach a guy like Deshaun, O’Brien said. It really is. Just him personally, he’s a very smart guy. He loves football, so every day he comes in willing to learn. Just really kind of soaks up the knowledge but then he has his own ideas, his own creativity on what he sees on different packages that we do, which we really enjoy talking about those things. When you have a guy like Deshaun, you can be creative because of his skill set. So, it’s been a good spring.

Regardless of who’s to blame, the relationship between Owens, the Hall of Fame, and the voters already has been permanently damaged. Nothing he says or does from this point forward will change it.

So he should just do whatever he thinks is right for him, and if anyone has a problem with that, it’s their problem.

In addition to the previously announced A-team of Joe Buck and Troy Aikman in the booth, FOX has now announced that two sideline reporters, Erin Andrews and Kristina Pink, will work on Thursday nights. And Mike Pereira, the former NFL head of officiating, will attend each Thursday night game in his role as a rules analyst.

Pink has previously worked some Sunday afternoon games but will now relinquish that role and work only on Thursday nights. Andrews will continue to work as the lone sideline reporter on Sundays with Buck and Aikman.

Tackle Garrett Bolles notices the impact of Keenum, too.

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I’m grateful we have Case here, Bolles recently told reporters. I think he brings a demeanor here. That season he had in Minnesota was not a fluke thing. It was 100 percent who he is. A man that has been benched and moved around multiple times and still fought his way to the top and took his team as far as he did. That’s a big picture in my eyes. When we brought him in I had to do my research and understand what kind of man he is. . . .

But for a few beautiful moments on a cool Wednesday afternoon, we were distracted by a bouncing ball.

That’s Carson Wentz in the video above: ducking, planting, escaping a pair of big rover balls tossed by his teammates and delivering a crisp little pass, six months after suffering an ACL tear and three months to the day before he will be asked to avoid defenders instead of backyard toys and throw passes in an NFL game that matters.

Later in practice, Wentz would go on to take a sparse handful of reps in seven-on-seven drills, completing a pair of soft tosses to tight end Zach Ertz and a short crosser to new receiver Mike Wallace. For a few brief moments, it was easy to forget about the literal and metaphorical clouds hanging over the practice facility and daydream instead of glorious Sundays to come.

ESPN’s Chris Mortensen indicated earlier in the week that the Eagles’ starting quarterback was well ahead of schedule in his rehab. But seeing is believing. There’s a real chance that Wentz will be back, and operating at full capacity, for the Eagles-Falcons season opener Sept. 6.

Indians call up top C/OF prospect Francisco Mejia

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The Cleveland Indians called up top prospect Francisco Mejia on Monday.

OT’s lead designer is eagles_029, who’s been with the company for 11 years and estimates that he designs about 800 jerseys per season. There’s a lot of reinventing the wheel, he says. I’ve done so many USA nights, patriotic nights, military nights every team does those just about every year, and they all want a different flag jersey than what the other teams are wearing.

A flag-based jersey is one thing. But for some of the wackier requests, how does McCauley draw the line between a design that’s fun and a design that’s just ridiculous? That line doesn’t really exist, he says. I do feel bad for the players sometimes. I know they’re grown men, and here they are wearing Yoda’s head full-blown on a jersey. I’m working on something right now where the jersey will make the players look like they’re wearing a bikini. I hope it doesn’t screw up their batting average or anything.

The most challenging designs are when a team wants a jersey to include dozens or even hundreds of snapshots, an approach sometimes used for Selfie Night or Veterans Night. Every snapshot has to be resized to fit onto the jersey a painstaking process and even then, people are sometimes unhappy with the results.

Each team’s media guide provides a large swath of info on each player, and that was used as the basis of this research, along with salary-cap info from overthecap.com. Utilizing these pieces of information helped us discover the players’ backgrounds: where they’re from, how long they’ve played in the NFL, when they were drafted, what college they went to and more.

Before we fully turn the page to the 2018 season, here’s a look at what we learned from last year’s group.

How a team builds its roster is often a defining characteristic of the club. Remember the famous Bill Parcells quote that highlighted the struggle with owner Robert Kraft before the coach departed the Patriots? If they want you to cook the dinner, at least they ought to let you shop for some of the groceries, Parcells said.

Well, the groceries are all somewhat similar in the NFL, where players match cookie-cutter molds from a physical standpoint. Tall quarterbacks, slender receivers, beefy linemen and so on. Team evaluators often consider these metrics when setting a draft board and analyzing prospects. For example, the Seahawks placed an emphasis on tall cornerbacks, as all five of them on the roster last season stood 6-foot-1 or taller.

Mark Herzlich plans to attend chemo session with Dave Gettleman

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eagles_031Giants General Manager Dave Gettleman announced last week that he has been diagnosed with lymphoma and is determining a course of treatment to deal with the disease.

OBJ will attend mandatory minicamp, but will he practice?

I agree with the Eagles, totally, 100 percent, Bradshaw said. Trump just needs to . . . go somewhere and enjoy the money he’s got.

Bradshaw then specifically complained about the tactic deployed by FOX News, which used images of Eagles kneeling in pregame prayer to suggest that they were kneeling during the anthem.

You know what’s so bad about that whole event was how they were portrayed as protesting, kneeling during the national anthem? They were praying. That is just wrong. . . . Listen, First Amendment rights, I totally believe in them. (FOX News previously apologized for creating the impression that Eagles players were kneeling during the anthem.)

At a time when the NFL has been running scared regarding this issue, avoiding anything and everything that may spark a negative comment or nasty tweet from the Commander-in-Chief, Bradshaw isn’t bashful about speaking his mind.

Like most of our guys, and in this case Shaq, this is a time for us to grow, to learn, and this case for Shaq, it’s time that he steps up, McDermott said, via the Buffalo News. He’s adopting the habits of what it takes to be successful in this league on and off the field and he’s consistent both on his approach off the field as he is on the field. That’s what we’re really looking for out of Shaq just like the rest of our players, really, with adjusting to the NFL, adjusting to what’s expected from them and so he continues to grow and improve in those areas.

Fifteen minutes! he laughs. Just enough time for a beer!

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It’s game day, so Lewis is not complaining about those polyps. He’s not scheduling any extra meetings. No, he’s downright giddy. First, he bumps into an old friend in the parking lot who’s a Steelers fan. (My timing is just off today!) He pokes fun at the bartender who’s ticked the Falcons just handed Matt Ryan the richest deal in NFL history. (You’ve got to hold on to a good quarterback!)

His problem with players future is having no clue the majority of his workforce hails from neighborhoods like Adamsville. Lewis sees such ignorance bleed through the commissioner’s actions. As fewer kids from America’s suburbs play football—because they have options, because they don’t need to risk head trauma—these are the kids who’ll drive the NFL. Shape the NFL.

And does he know that environment? Lewis says. Probably not.

Then it’s off to pick up Jazz. Then it’s off to dinner at The Big Ketch Saltwater Grill, where Lewis always tries cooking up billion-dollar ideas with his kindred spirit, Taylor aka Cornbread.Their most recent idea? ATV-style tires for wheelchairs, so the disabled can enjoy the beach. Every single week,Cornbread says, he comes up with a different idea.

Here’s what the jersey would look like, courtesy of our friends at Arrowhead Pride :

The league did change the rules in 2012 to allow players to add generational titles — like Sr., Jr., or in the case of Robert Griffin III, a Roman numeral — to the back of their jerseys. But eagles_032 had to legally change his name to Ochocinco to get that moniker on his jersey. So it will be interesting to see what they decide on Duvernay-Tardif.

Duvernay-Tardif has spent the last seven years in medical school at Montreal’s McGill University. He’s poised to take his medical exam and graduate in May.

I need to make sure I pass it because it’s the last year I’m allowed to pass that exam,he said. After that, I’d have to start over the whole thing.

He’s using his medical experience as well as his athletic background to connect with Olympic athletes while he covers the games for Radio-Canada. But Duvernay-Tardif said trying to get time with the athletes has also taught him a lesson that will impact the way he interacts with media covering the Chiefs.

It makes you realize that once the journalists get to you, you need to be kind because they work hard in order to get there,Duvernay-Tardif said.

After he graduates from med school, the next goal on his list is a Pro Bowl nod.

the Browns will depend on Denzel Ward to start as a boundary defender hence the decision to keep him out during rookie minicamp with a minor hip injury.

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“He strained his hip flexor on the first day of rookie camp, and sat out the final two days, but only as a precaution. He would’ve practiced — and wanted to — if the Browns allowed. But Ward is slated to be the shutdown corner this season, and Jackson isn’t taking any chances.”

As mentioned, Gaines already has a history with soft-tissue ailments keeping him on the sidelines. Cleveland can’t rely solely on the veteran to elevate the pass defense. Expect Ward to have every opportunity to start over Jamar Taylor, who has become trade bait, per NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport.

Denver Broncos head coach Vance Joseph has a good problem on his hands. How will he play all of his pass-rushers?

It’s difficult to find any negatives on Nelson. As the first offensive lineman taken in April’s draft, he fills a need and answers ongoing criticism about Andrew Luck’s pass protection—assuming the QB returns to the field for the upcoming season.

Here was the reasoning behind the pick:

The Knicks’ front office has already highlighted small forward as a position of need for the roster, so Mikal and Miles Bridges seem to make sense. Either selection would work, but the upside of Miles due to his youth may be slightly more attractive.

The New York Giants struggled mightily in 2017, but they spent the majority without Odell Beckham Jr. (who missed all but four games due to an ankle injury) and all of it without Saquon Barkley (who was starting his junior year at Penn State).

Beckham—who caught 90-plus passes for 1,300-plus yards and 10-plus touchdowns in each of his first three seasons—has been participating in individual drills at OTAs, according to ESPN.com’s Jordan Raanan.  bucks_239

New Jersey Devils goaltender Cory Schneider’s Short Hills home went on the market Wednesday for nearly $3 million

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According to property records, the home was last assessed at $2.98 million. Property taxes for the home were $47,560 in 2017.

After making the All-Star game in 2016, Schneider had an up-and-down, injury-plagued 2017-18 season in which a groin injury suffered in January sidelined him after a solid start to the season.

How can the Seahawks fix Russell Wilson? 3. Adrian Peterson returning to the Saints ? 4. Re-grading the 2015 NFL Draft “I liked the Philip Dorsett move by the Colts, what an idiot I was,” Prisco said. “I didn’t like the Todd Gurley move by the Rams, what an idiot I was.” Hard to argue, Pete!

The other two teams participating are Acadie-Bathurst Titan from the QMJHL, plus the Regina Pats, which will play as the host team.

Sissons helped the Broncos finish second overall in the WHL in the regular season before making a run to the final, where they beat the Everett Silvertips in six games.

Sissons, who signed with the Devils as an undrafted free agent prior to the 2016-17 season, had a breakout campaign for the Broncos in 2017-18.

Frazier hit.362 with three homers and four RBI for Scranton/Wilkes-Barre with a 1.125 OPS in 12 games.

It was a welcomed sight for the Yankees after Frazier dealt with the most serious injury of his career.

During spring training in late February, he crashed into a left-field wall making a catch. His head slammed against a scoreboard behind a chain-link fence. Frazier missed the rest of spring training and all of April recovering from brutal concussion symptoms, such as headaches and light sensitivity and he even forgot the names of his cats.

Since returning, though, he’s been hot enough at the plate that the Yankees called him up as an extra bench bat without the designated hitter in play at a National League park. They will keep his right-handed bat, manager Aaron Boone said, at least through the weekend series with the Royals because the team expects Kansas City to use two lefty starting pitchers. cowboys_053

Ravens will lower concession prices at M&T Bank Stadium

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When the Falcons opened their new stadium in 2017, they set concession prices lower than they had been at the Georgia Dome and saw good results on a couple of fronts.

They got good PR out of the move because food and drinks would cost less on games and then saw their fans spend enough on the cheaper eats that, per Darren Rovell of ESPN, they wound up seeing a 16 percent rise in revenues on concession items. Those results made it inevitable that other teams would think about following suit and one of them will announce plans to do that this week.

“At 4 a.m., they intubated him. At 10 o’clock, he coded for the first time. About 11, 11:30, he coded the second time. And we pulled all the machines off at 1 o’clock,” Kevin said. “So we went from ‘He’s going to get a liver. He was the No. 1 option’ to ‘Your son is dead.’ And that was in 15 hours. I mean, you talk about roller coaster. … That is as intimate and raw as you can be as a family.”

Ajayi denied the accusations through a representative, saying Ajayi and his group actually left the house earlier than the planned five days, but still paid the full price for the rental.

He also said Ajayi didn’t push or shove the owner at all and the owner was trying to get Ajayi to pay him cashbypassing Airbnb’s site.

Which decisions on key players, draft picks, trades and new contracts will be priorities for every franchise?

The Celtics have now had a game and an off day to digest this. They will be ready. The Cavs know Boston will be ready. Some adjustments have a one-game shelf life.

Still: I suspect we will see something like this anti-Horford scheme Monday night. Boston has some obvious counters. Sticking to Horford opens up driving lanes for Terry Rozier, Marcus Smart (assuming the Cavs don’t just go under screens against Smart), and other ball handlers. Rozier read this in Game 3, and zoomed untouched into the lane on a few possessions. He just failed to make plays.ravens_011

Charles Woodson to Reggie McKenzie: Your son can’t put that red helmet on

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The son of Raiders General Manager Reggie McKenzie is about to become a Chief, and one Raiders great isn’t happy about it.

Former Raiders cornerback Charles Woodson told McKenzie after the Chiefs drafted Kahlil McKenzie that it just isn’t right for a young man with the Silver and Black in his blood to put on red and gold.

It sounds like Ballard didn’t even let the conversations progress far enough to find out what kind of offer the Colts could receive.

“Look, we had some calls last year at the trade deadline,” Ballard said. “And I just — c’mon man. I’m not taking those seriously.”

There’s no word on which teams were interested in Luck, but it would be fascinating to find out the identity of those teams and just how much they were willing to offer. Even if the Colts say the answer to any offer will be a firm no.

I don’t think he overhauled things, Beachum said Tuesday. “There are some things that are still the same. This is a quasi-West Coast type of offense. He takes it back to those Broncos days, where it’s outside zone [runs], which we ran last year and ran effectively at times.

It’s not this big overhaul of a completely different offensive system. There are some things that we’re taking [from last year]. And things that we did well, we’re utilizing those things. We ran outside zone well to an extent in certain formations, and we’ll be able to use those this year.

Bates, who will double as the Jets’ quarterbacks coach, gets a chance to reunite this season with Rick Dennison, the Jets’ new offensive line coach and running game coordinator. They worked together at formulating the Broncos’ offense from 2007-08. Dennison was the Broncos’ coordinator, Bates their quarterbacks coach.

So it makes sense that the Jets this season will have some of those Broncos-derived outside zone running plays — and other related Denver tendencies. In terms of the West Coast approach Beachum mentioned, expect Bates to ask his quarterback (whether it’s Josh McCown or Sam Darnold ) to master short and mid-range timing passes. broncos_049_28f4f53a99d08143-180x180