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“NFL DRAFT-QB DERBY”

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Quarterbacks have historically dominated the NFL draft, for many years, but not this year.

A strange year, with only one star QB at the top of the draft board, and a draft board dominated by defense…defense…defense.

In fact if you look at the most-trusted NFL mock drafts, there could be 18-defensive players taken in the opening round.  Add in 6-offensive lineman, it means 24-of-32 first round picks, will likely be non-skill players.

It’s not as if teams don’t need QBs.

The Giants are in the vortex of QB issues year after year, and they are renting Russell Wilson and Jameis Winston.

Cleveland has gone thru 40-QBs since 1999 and is searching for anything to replace the oft-injured Deshaun Watson.

Pittsburgh has never replaced Ben Roethlisberger from years ago.

Minnesota does not have a veteran QB on the roster, with rookie JJ McCarthy coming off a year long knee rehab.

Aaron Rodgers, with age and attitude being an issue, is unsigned, or maybe unwanted.

Kirk Cousins has a huge Atlanta contract that nobody wants to inherit, despite a career of big passing statistics.

Here are the top QBs to keep an eye on come Thursday into Friday’s first two rounds:

CAM WARD…Miami Hurricanes-Washington State Cougars..has grown immensely as a QB, thrower, athlete and leader.

SHEDEUR SANDERS..Tremendous stats as a 4-year starter at Colorado and Jackson State, and yet has fallen on draft boards.  Questions about his arm strength, attitude, ability to read defenses are everywhere.

JAXSON DART…A starter for 3-years at Ole Miss, has gotten better and better in his workouts and meetings.  Might be a QB for the future which means he is a late first round pick or into second round, but they think he has upside to be explored.

JALEN MILROE…Has rebuilt his reputation since a poor finish to the Alabama season last year…Tremendous upside to the fact many people think he has the athletic abilities of Lamar Jackson or Anthony Richardson.  Might be the first QB taken at the top of the 2nd round.

TYLER SHOUGH…Carried Louisville and has made alot of visits.  Might be a physical specimen like Roethlisberger.  Alot of people seem to have alot of interest about his growth potential.

KYLE MC CORD…Ex Ohio Stater who lit up scoreboards and stat sheets at Syracuse is his lone year starting for the Orange.  History will write lots of TDs-lots of interceptions.

WILL HOWARD…Saw him play great at Ohio State surrounded by superb talent, but many saw his awful workout at the Combine in Indy.  Manages games and offenses more than wins games on raw skill.  Who knows if he is a 3rd rounder or later.  Who knows if there is a real NFL guy inside that body, or just another guy?

Thursday-Friday-going to be interesting.
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“NFL DRAFT WEEK”
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The NFL Draft is Thursday.

It’s a very different draft…loaded with defense…with huge questions on the QB crop.

Here is my NFL Draft Preview in our Podcast..with Jon Cooper-Draft Editor of Our Lads Draft Guide….enjoy

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Hacksaw’s NFL DRAFT PREVIEW-Monday Bonus Podcast 1-30pm
You Tube Channel-Lee Hacksaw Hamilton
Hot Topics on Table..Stay for Fans Forum
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“A FULL RANGE OF EMOTIONS”
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Saw and experienced alot this weekend, some good, some bad,

PADRES…Team Disabled List.  A very scary sight, the head on collision that knocked out Luis Arraez in the first inning in Houston on Sunday.  He wound up going to Houston Methodist Hospital for further tests.  He stumbled running down the baseline on a bunt.  His jaw hit Mauricio Dubon’s  left shoulder and then as Arraez fell to the ground, the back of his head hit the turf.  He was down 11-minutes in all and carted off with a concussion.  Very scary hit on a baseball play.  This comes on the heels of the losses on Jackson Merrill, Jake Cronenworth, Brandon Lockridge, and Jason Heyward.

DODGERS..They are coming, even with injuries mounting to the pitching staff.  Yosh Yamamoto looks like an ace.  Roki Sasaki has now strung together 3-straight strong starts, and Dustin May has a (1.06-ERA) in three starts.  The lineup isn’t hitting top to bottom, but it’s early.

LAKERS…Hard to believe they seemed so unprepared for their first playoff game, a bad battering at the hands of Minnesota.  How bad?  Down by 27-points in the 2nd half.  Got mugged at home.  Minnesota beat their brains out on the perimeter, taking LeBron James and Austin James out of their shooting zone.  Minnesota used 21-fouls, held LA to 1-basket in 7-minutes, had 44-boards, ran them off the floor with a (63-37) spurt in the middle of the game.  They hit 21-3’s.  How could the Lakers not know what Minnesota was all about?  How could they not answer the physical challenge?  Luka scored (37)..no one did anything else.  Got the number of the trucks Jaden McDaniels and Julius Randle were driving?

CLIPPERS..So hot to finish the season.  So much for that streak.  You don’t get many chances to win a road game in Denver.  Up by 15, the Clippers looked like that was the night to win on the road.  They gave it all back.  Too many turnovers in the second half.  Lost the momentum.  Saw the Nuggets ratchet up some mean street defense, and take the lead.  Not sure why Kawhi Leonard sat out so much of the 3rd quarter.  Why James Harden was bouncing the ball so much on possessions in the second half.  Invited Denver to take the momentum, and they did.  Opportunity lost-game lost.

DUCKS..The NHL playoffs began this weekend, but not for the Ducks.  They missed the playoffs and fired their 2nd year coach Greg Cronin, despite much improved play the second half of the season with a young lineup.  Hard to buy the theory from GM-Pat Verbeek as to why they needed a change after more wins and points than a year ago.  Verbeek gave Cronin a roster that was not ready to play in the NHL, and he nearly coached them into the playoffs.  This was Verbeek’s roster, so Verbeek bares responsibility for hiring the wrong coach.  But it is the 2nd younger coach the GM has fired in a 2-year span after creating the rebuild environment, first with Dallas Eakins, then with Greg Cronin.

KINGS..Bring on the enemy, Edmonton Oilers, with the Monday night playoff game.  Not the same Oilers team, because so many guys banged up.  This series begins in LA, not in Alberta, so the Kings have the chance to cash in home ice chips.  Bet they have some receipts to cash in too.  Call it the Payback series.  The Kings have lost three straight opening round series in the postseason to the Oilers, so time to pay the Oilers back.  LA went (31-6-4) at home this year, and were (10-2-1) down the stretch.

AZTECS…Fans are upset, and they are showing it at the ticket booth.  SDSU finished spring football without a spring Red-Black scrimmage.  They ran what looked like a Fraternity-Beer Blast Olympics for the players.  Fun and games, not football.  Less than 1,000-showed up…for spring football.  This 24-hours after it was revealed season ticket sales have plunged to an all time low at Snapdragon Stadium.  2-years ago they sold (15,973) season passes to open the season.  As of Saturday, only (5,426) tickets for next fall.  Down 33% from last year.  Ticket-Parking prices too high.  The schedule is weak.  Sean Lewis’ first team went (3-9) and they lost their top QBs.  Hard to believe where Aztecs football rates in the community.  And with fans clamoring to see what the new QBs would look like, we get the Frat Beer Blast Olympics instead.  The Athletic Department seems ‘tone deaf’ in the community.  They are cash poor in terms of NIL money for football.  And now devoid of football fans in a city that lost it’s NFL franchise seven years ago.  Only thing I can say, ‘plenty of good tickets still available for next fall.

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Hacksaw’s Great Sports Weekend Podcast
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“NBA PLAYOFFS-BRING IT ON”
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We’ve been waiting all winter to see what these teams would look like, come playoff time.

No, not the 64-win Cleveland Cavaliers, or the defending NBA champion Boston Celtics, or even the arrival of the brilliant young and explosive Oklahoma City Thunder.

Talking about the rebuilt Lakers and the finally healthy LA Clippers.

The Lakers explosive firepower roster led by Luka Doncic, LeBron James and Austin Reaves, between them averaging (62P-20R) a game from just those three, are scary.

Of course any Lakers discussion has to involve which Luka shows up, the guy worthy of superstar status when he scores (38) in a game, or the one that has shown some horror filled shooting nights (6-19).

It may rain inside Crypto.com Arena on Saturday, rain three point shots, because that is what they do.

Can the Lakers get some firepower support from the other starters, and the bench, is the question we wait to see?

Minnesota has explosive and mouthy G-Anthony Edwards.  They have shot blocker and defender Rudy Gobert, and they have Julius Randle, plagued by shoulder issues.

The T-Wolves play lots of defense, on the perimeter, and in the paint.  The big question is do they have enough firepower to keep up with the Lakers big three?

The Clippers play at Denver, in game one on Saturday too, a game with alot of firsts.

The Clippers are finally healthy, and they are hot, having won 18-of-21 heading into the game.  Big time balance on offense with James Harden (22P)..Kawhi Leonard (21P) and Ivika Zubac (16P).

Great add-on scoring from Nick Powell and the off the bench efforts from Bog Bogdanovic and Kris Dunne.

And they play big boy defense, holding people to (109P) per game.

A bunch of firsts too for Denver, two years removed from the championship, and stained by the firing last week of coach Mike Malone.

The ‘Joker’ is having a great year, Nikola Jokic (28P-12R-10A), a triple double of a season.  They finally have the injured Jamal Murray back and of course there is F-Michael Porter.

But there is little depth, not much defense, and the up and down play of Russell Westbrook.

And the reputation of the players quitting on Malone and forcing the front office house-cleaning too.

The Lakers should run Minnesota off the court.

Waiting to see if the Clippers ‘complete team’ style can put away the ‘one dimension’ game plan Denver presents.

We’ve been waiting.  It all starts on Saturday.

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Hacksaw’s Thursday Podcast..1-30pm
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“NFL DRAFT NOTES-A WEEK EARLY
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NFL items from my notebook.

1-week from today, the much awaited NFL Draft arrives.

For the first time in years, it is not a draft revolving around all the quarterbacks coming out.

For the first time too, all 32-teams have retained their #1 picks, thus, no trades have been made involving teams number 1-picks, at least not yet.

Here are storylines worth following:

QB DERBY…It sure looks as if CAM WARD  of Miami has played himself into the number one pick with impressive workouts and meetings.

It also looks as if SHEDEUR SANDERS  attitude has hurt him to the point he is dropping on draft boards.  Scouts say he does not check all the boxes they want from someone who is supposed to save a franchise.

An older QB, TYLER SHOUGH, who was at Oregon and Louisville has jumped up the board with his willingness to throw at the Combine in Indianapolis and in private workouts.

Ole Miss’ JAXSON DART is going up and down on boards.  Some think he gets taken midway thru the first round because there is no one else among the throwers.  But that is open for debate.

Boise State’s  ASHTON JEANTY could go as high as 4th or maybe back a few slots.  He is far and away the best of a limited group at that position.  If anyone else goes, it would be at the end of the opening round.

It doesn’t happen often, a tight end gets taken in the first round.  TY WARREN of Penn State breaks that mold.  Oddly, there could be 3-tight ends taken in the first round, a first in modern day NFL draft history.

Defense and the offensive line could dominate much of the opening round.

Do you like ABDUL CARTER, Penn State’s one year wonder pass rusher?  Or do you consider must takes offensive lineman like WILL CAMPBELL of Louisiana State or ARMAND MEMBOU of Missouri as being in the top five?

There are a load of edge rushers and a bucket full of cover corners and safeties who are going to fill out the first round too.

The most unique player has to be TRAVIS HUNTER and his Heisman Trophy.  Could be the 2nd player or the 3rd player taken, maybe as a cover corner, with an option to get some snaps at wide receiver.  He talks a great game, he has played great games too.  Now we see who takes him and how they utilize maybe the most unique ‘unicorn’ player we have seen on a draft board in awhile.

A week out, rumors are flying, trades, who is hot, who is not.  Next week’s draft will be fun.
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