Posts Tagged ‘Joe Gibbs Racing’

NFL

The 1st round of the NFL draft is 12 days away. This week the Tennessee Titans traded the #1 overall pick in the draft to the Los Angeles Rams. What did the Titans get for that pick? Tennessee got the Rams 1st round pick this season which is the 15th pick. Tennessee also got two 2nd round picks; the 43rd and 45th pick of this draft as well as a 3rd round pick; 76th pick in this draft. Wait there’s more as Tennessee will also receive the Rams 1st round draft pick in the 2017 draft along with a 2nd rd round pick in next years draft. Besides the #1 overall pick the Rams will also receive the Titans 4th round pick; at 113th and Tennessee’s 6th round pick which is 177th pick in this years draft. So Tennessee gave up 3 draft picks and moved back 14 spots in the 1st round while Los Angeles gave up 6 draft picks to move up to the top spot in the draft. Was it too much for Los Angeles to give up?

It appears as though the Rams made the trade so they could select their franchise quarterback be it Jared Goff or Carson Wentz. There was even a report saying the Rams wanted to make this deal as early as they did so they would have the time to decide between the two quarterbacks. It’s doubtful that the Rams could’ve stayed at pick #15 and been able to draft one of these two quarterbacks; so if they wanted one they had to move up. Did they have to move up to #1 is the question. Now all off season long the experts have been saying there not sure if there’s a franchise quarterback in this draft. Do the Rams see something in Goff or Wentz that makes them think that they’ll be that franchise guy or was Tennessee the only team they could work out a trade with pre-draft?

Just a few seasons ago in 2012 the Rams where on the opposite end of a deal similar to this. In 2012 the Rams sent the #2 pick in the draft to the Washington Redskins in return for 4 draft picks. The Rams received Washington’s 1st round pick in 2012 which was 6th overall as well as a 2012 2nd round pick which was the 39th pick. The Rams also received the Redskins 1st round picks in 2013 and 2014. Washington traded up to select a quarterback as well. They took Robert  Griffin III with that 2nd pick. The Rams drafted Morris Claireborne at #6 and Janoris Jenkins at #39 in 2012. The 2013 1st round pick they aqcuired ended up in another trade as it was sent with a 2015 7th round pick to the Atlanta Falcons for 3 draft picks. The Rams picked up the Falcons 2013 1st round pick which was #30 and they selected Alec Ogletree. The other 2 draft picks the Rams got where a 3rd rounder (#92) and a 6th (#198) in the 2013 draft.The other 1st round draft pick the Rams got from the Redskins ended up being the #2 pick in the 2014 draft and the Rams used it to select offensive lineman Greg Robinson. Now that the Rams are the team giving up multiple draft picks it will be interesting to see who Tennessee ends up drafting with them.

The NFL also released it’s schedule for the upcoming 2016 season. As they like to do the opening Thursday night game is a Super Bowl rematch as the Denver Broncos host the Carolina Panthers. If you’re interested in looking at the NFL schedule here’s a link for you to check it out. 

NBS

The first round of the NBA playoffs start today (Saturday) with 4 games. There are two Eastern Conference match ups and two Western Conference match ups on the schedule. The 7th seeded Indiana Pacers  at the 2nd seeded Toronto Raptors  tip-off their Game 1 at 11:30 a.m. Central Standard Time (cst) that’s followed by the 8th seeded Houston Rockets  at the #1 seeded Golden State Warriors are at 2:30 c.s.t. The third game of the day has the 5th seeded Boston Celtics at the 4th seeded Atlanta Hawks and the night wraps up with the 6th seeded Dallas Mavericks at the 3rd seeded Oklahoma City Thunder.  On Sunday the NBA action tips off at 2:00 p.m. cst with the 8th seeded Detroit Pistons taking on the #1 seeded Cleveland Cavaliers. Game two has the 6th seeded Charlotte Hornets facing off against the 3rd seeded Miami Heat. Game 3 has the 7th seeded Memphis Grizzlies at the #2 seeded San Antonio Spurs and the night cap has the 5th seeded Portland Trail Blazers at the 4th seeded Los Angeles Clippers.

On yesterday’s Sports Time Radio podcast Dan the Man made his picks for the series winners in the NBA. Starting in the Eastern Conference he has the #1 Cleveland Cavaliers over the #8 Detroit Pistons. Dan likes the #7 Indiana Paces over the #2 Toronto Raptors. He went with the #3 Miami heat over the Charlotte Hornets and Dan also likes the #5 Boston Celtics over the #4 Atlanta Hawks. Over in the Western Conference Dan has the #1 Golden State Warriors over the #8 Houston Rockets. Dan also mentioned that he thins this series will be a sweep for the Warriors. Dan likes #2 San Antonio Spurs over the #7 Memphis Grizzlies. He also likes #3 Oklahoma City Thunder over the #6 Dallas Mavericks and he also has the #5 Portland Trail Blazers over the #4 Los Angeles Clippers. Feel free to leave your picks here in the comments or reach out to Dan on Twitter @SportsTimeRadio or @DanZeeeMan and let him know what you think about his picks.

NASCAR

The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series is at Bristol Motor Speedway this week for the Food City 500 and Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) started off the weekend about as good as you can. Not only did JGR driver Carl Edwards win the pole with a speed of 127.997 mph but 4 of the Top 5 starting spots in the race went to JGR drivers. Edwards teammate Matt Kenseth will start next to Edwards in 2nd while JGR’s Denny Hamlin starts 4th and final JGR driver in the race Kyle Busch goes off 5th. The only non-JGR driver in the Top is Joey Logano from Penske Motorsports. Will qualifying success lead to victory lane you never know, but it’s better to start up front at Bristol than in the rear. Just a side note Dan the Man’s favorite driver Clint Bowyer will start 36th for Sunday’s race.

You can listen to the Sports Time Radio podcast on BlogTalkRadio.com and you can find me on Twitter @Burketime

 

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It’s starting to look like shortstop will be the big injury position this season. The St. Louis Cardinals lost their shortstop Jhonny Peralta to a wrist injury last week. Peralta did end up having surgery on his injured wrist and is expected to be out until about mid-season. Then yesterday the New York Mets announced that shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera has been diagnosed with a strained patellar tendon in his left knee and appears likely to open the season on the disabled list. Cabrera will be inactive for at least two weeks. He;ll be allowed to resume some baseball activities if he is comfortable. The Mets Cabrera flew to New York on Friday to undergo platelet-rich plasma therapy at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York City. With only 23 days until the Mets open the season against the defending World Series champion Kansas City Royals on ESPN’s Sunday night baseball; it would be difficult for Cabrera to be ready for that game. Cabrera was part of the Mets off season reworking of their middle infield. He was signed to a two year $18.5 million dollar deal to play shortstop alongside new second baseman Neil Walker who the Mets acquired by sending left handed pitcher Jon Niese to the Pittsburgh Pirates this off season. With Cabrera and Walker brought in former starters Wilmer Flores and Ruben Tejada moved to backup infield roles. Now Flores and Tejada should go back to handling the shortstop duties until Cabrera is returns. There was some talk that the Mets might be looking to deal Tejada and with a salary of just $3 million for this season there where some teams interested. One of the teams that where interested in Tejada was the Cardinals who looked at him as a fill in for the inured Peralta. Of course with the injury to Cabrera it seems that Tejada is far more likely to stick with the Mets for Opening Day.

Tomorrow (Sunday) the NCAA will announce the tournament field for the men’s basketball championship. With the play in games and everything there is 68 teams; I think that have a chance to win the championship. I don’t watch college basketball and we don’t spend much time of any talking about it on Sports Time Radio. At least I do catch the highlights on whatever sports recap show I happen to be watching at that time. Of course with all this being said I still plan on entering a bracket into whatever championship pool I can find. Sometimes it seems as knowing less can actually be helpful, but I’m wondering how I should pick my bracket.I know there have been multiple teams that have held the #1 ranking in the polls only to be knocked off the top. That should mean the tournament is wide open, but could a mid-major team actually go all the way? I’ve heard over and over that you need good guard play to advance in the tournament. So who’s the best guard in college basketball? or do you need a pair of gourds in your back court to have tournament success. I’ve heard that Ben Simmons of Louisiana State University (LSU) is the best player in college basketball, but there’s a chance that his team might not even make the tournament. Of course then the question becomes; how far can the best player take a team? As you can tell I really have no clue who’s going to win this thing; so I’m asking for your help. Let me know who you think will win the title or even get to the Final Four. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

The NASCAR series is staying out west as they’re at the Phoenix International Speedway for the Good Sam 500. Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) showed it’s muscle in qualifying as Kyle Busch took the pole position with a speed of 138.387. Busch’s teammate Carl Edwards took the 2nd spot with a speed of 137.515 and another JGR and this seasons Daytona 500 winner Denny Hamlin will start 3rd and had a qualifying speed of 137.426. Rounding out the Top 5 is Kurt Busch; Kyle’s brother starting 4th and Jimmie Johnson starting 5th. The only JGR driver not in the Top 5 is Matt Kenseth who will be starting 6th on Sunday. Chris Olmstead from Beyond the Flag will join us Sunday morning to preview the race. Not only will Chris preview the race with us, but he’ll let us know which three drivers he thinks has the best chance to wind up in victory lane. Last week Chris had Joey Logano; who finished 2nd and Jimmie Johnson who finished 3rd. His third choice was Kenseth who got caught up in an accident and ended up finishing 37th. Chris should join the Sports Time Radio podcast a little after 10:00 a.m.

The NBA has another one of there marquee match up Saturday night games as the Oklahoma City Thunder are at the San Antonio Spurs. Oklahoma City is in 3rd place in the Western Conference with a record of 44-21. San Antonio is the team ahead of the Thunder in the Western Conference standings as they are 55-10 in 2nd place. Now it’s difficult to go into San Antonio and win as the Spurs are 31-0 at home this season. Oklahoma City is 6 games over .500 on the road this season at 18-12, but can they go into San Antonio and beat a team like the Spurs? If Oklahoma City could find a way to win this game it could be a statement that they’re a team to watch in the playoffs. If the Western Conference plays out like it should Oklahoma City would have to play San Antonio in a playoff series and they’d need to be able to win a game on the Spurs home court to advance. It looks like Oklahoma City will be playing without Dion Waiters who is away from the team because of a death in his family. Andre Roberson is battling a left ankle injury and it hasn’t been announced yet if he will play tonight. Of course with San Antonio you never know who is going to be getting a night off. Tony Parker does have a toe injury, but should be go to go for tonight’s game. Parker along with Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili all sat out Tuesday nights game against the Minnesota Timberwolves. You would think these three players where rested so they’d be ready to play tonight against Oklahoma City, but you never know with the Spurs. On Friday’s podcast Dan the Man took San Antonio to stay undefeated at home. Do you agree with Dan or do you have Oklahoma City winning tonight?

You can listen to Sports Time Radio on BlogTalkRadio.com

You can find me on Twitter @Burketime