Sports Time Radio

I’ve been watching sports for a long time and this is the first time I can remember that everything is completely shutdown. There’s been a few times that a game has been postponed do to a non-weather event, but nothing like this. I guess to be fair not every sport is shutdown. In the warmer weather areas the horse racing season has started and while they’re not allowing spectators in to watch the races you can still bet and watch them online or there’s actually a channel on most cable system that shows horse races from around the United States.

What I found strange was how quickly some of the people who talk about sports on television jumped allover the NCAA. These people believed that the NCAA wouldn’t cancel the men’s basketball tournament. They called them greedy and talked about how they really don’t care about the players. Now as we now know the NCAA not only canceled the men’s basketball tournament, but the woman’s basketball tournament was also canceled. I believe that every conference basketball tournament was canceled as well. So it appears that the NCAA did the right thing in this situation and yet I still haven’t heard the people who just destroyed them on television acknowledge this.

I’m not saying that the NCAA is a great organization, but under these circumstances they seem to have made the correct call and I believe they’re owed an apology. Now I know that’s never going to happen, but it should.

It was odd how quickly these television sports commentators attacked the NCAA for talking about holding games with limited people allowed into the building. At the time the NCAA talked about doing that the PGA and NASCAR where both going to continue their events this week under the same guidelines, but neither of them got a mention from the people who dumped all over the NCAA. I get that it’s very, very clear that these certain sports personalities don’t like the NCAA and I can see that there are reason for this, but they put the cart way before the horse here and they ended up looking incredibly stupid. Of course I may have been the only one paying attention to that.

Luckily we have the NFL still moving along as it’s their off season and they can do business that doesn’t require fans to attend anything or even people to have contact if they choose not to.

Yesterday there where four players give the franchise tag by their teams and there were also a number of bigger names cut to try to make salary cap room for teams.

Let’s start with the franchise tags.

The Baltimore Ravens used a franchise tag on linebacker Matt Judon. He was the Ravens leader in sacks last season with 9 1/2 which was also a career high. Judon is coming off what some people have called his best season.

The Denver Broncos used their franchise tag on free safety Justin Simmons. He led Denver in interceptions with 4 which was also a career high and he was second on the team in tackles with 93.

Now we knew this franchise tag was coming, but the Jacksonville Jaquars made it official and tagged Yannick Ngakoue. He was second on the team in sacks with 8 and he also added an interceptions which he returned for a touchdown.

Ngakoue has made it clear that he doesn’t want to stay with Jacksonville; so will have to see if this could turn into a hold out.

The final franchise tag used yesterday was by the Los Angeles Chargers. The Chargers franchise tagged tight end Hunter Henry. He has always been looked at as someone who would develop into a top receiving tight end, but injuries have limited him.

Henry has never played 16 games in a season and missed all of 2018 with an injury. Last season in 12 games Henry caught 55 passes and scored 5 touchdowns.

With NFL free agency getting ready to start next week teams are looking to make salary cap room; so not only along with tagging players cuts where made to try to get those teams in position to either try to resign their own free agents or to pursue new ones.

You probably have heard of some of the players that have been cut the last couple of days.

The Cincinnati Bengals cut offensive tackle Cordy Glenn. He played in 6 games for the Bengals last season staring 5 of those.

The Chargers not only used their franchise tag, but they also cut linebacker Thomas Davis and defensive tackle Brandon Mebane.

Last season was Davis’ first with the Chargers, but his 14th in the NFL. He started all 16 games for Los Angeles last season. He had 112 tackles and 1 interception last season. Mebane missed three games last season with an injury, but he started the other 13. He had 27 tackles and a sack last season.

The Minnesota Vikings cut defensive back Xavier Rhodes and defensive tackle Linal Joseph.

Rhodes was a 1st round pick of the Vikings on 2013. He made three Pro Bowls while with Mnnesota and played in 104 games starting 97. He has 10 career interceptions, but didn’t record one last season. Rhodes did post a career high 63 tackles last season.

Last season was Joseph’s 10th in the NFL; the last six being with the Vikings. He recorded 3 sacks, 44 tackles and 6 tackles for loss and he also recovered a fumble. Joseph played in and started 13 games for Minnesota last season.

The Tennessee Titans made a four cuts the last two days of players who’s names you should know. Running back Dion Lewis, tight end Delanie Walker, defensive end Cameron Wake and kicker Ryan Succop where all released by the Titans as they try to clear salary cap space.

Lewis spent two seasons with the Titans and played in every game while with them. Last season with the emergence of Derrick Henry Lewis’s touches where way down. He had 54 carries for 209 yards and caught 25 passes for 164 yards and 1 touchdown.

Walker has spent the better part of the last two season injured. In 2018 he played in just 1 game and last season he played in 7 games starting 4 of them. Walker caught 221 passes for 215 yards and 2 touchdowns 14th NFL season.

Wake was signed by the Titans as a free agent last off season after spending 10 years with the Miami Dolphins. It was hoped that Wake would add pass rush to the Tennessee defense, but injuries limited him to 9 games and he recorded just 2 1/2 sacks. He did record a safety last season.

Last season was Succop’s 6th with Tennessee after spending 4 years with the Kansas City Chiefs. Succop missed 10 games with an injury and made only 1 of the 6 field goals he attempted last season.

The Green Bay Packers decided to part ways with tight end Jimmy Graham. He was with Green Bay for two seasons and last season he caught 38 passes for 447 yards and 3 touchdowns. Graham has played 10 seasons in the NFL, but he has yet to find the success he had with the New Orleans Saints at the beginning of his career.

Now these where just the cuts that where made in the last couple of days. I’m sure that there where more cuts made before this, but I didn’t want to search the entire waiver wire; so I went with the most recent ones. I hope that acceptable to you.

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