New England Patriots cornerback J.C. Jackson was initially left off of the Pro Bowl voting list despite having a fantastic season, but the issue has been remedied.
It originally looked like Jackson would not be eligible for Pro Bowl votes, as teams decide which players to nominate and the New England Patriots left Jackson off their list. According to ESPN’s Mike Reiss, Jackson was added to the ballot on Wednesday morning following a mixup.
Jackson leads all NFL players with six interceptions this season and has an interception in five straight games. He certainly deserves Pro Bowl consideration. There was speculation that the Patriots may have left him off their list to avoid paying a Pro Bowl bonus, but that never seemed realistic.
We see some pretty surprising Pro Bowl snubs every year, but those are typically the result of voting. It seemed extremely bizarre that the Patriots didn’t nominate Jackson, so the explanation makes a lot of sense.
It has been more than two years since Kevin Love first opened up about his struggles with anxiety and depression, and the Cleveland Cavaliers star continues to raise awareness about mental health issues by sharing his own experiences. In a recent interview, Love revealed that he still experiences suicidal thoughts.
Love discussed a wide range of topics during an appearance on “In Depth with Graham Bensinger,” including the depression and anxiety he experienced after suffering a serious hand injury when he was with the Minnesota Timberwolves in 2012. Love told Bensinger he researched a number of ways to take his own life around that time, and he was asked if he still thinks about suicide. He admitted that he does.
“If whoever’s gonna watch this who has had those thoughts before, I think it does cross your mind and I’ve just learned to speak my truth, honestly,” Love said. “I’ve learned that, you know, nothing haunts us like the things we don’t say. So me keeping that in is actually more harmful.”
Love said there were points in his life where basketball was his only escape, which is why he went to a very dark place after injuring his hand in 2012. He said therapy and opening up about his issues has helped tremendously, but he still has days that are “super brutal.”
“I’ve obviously had days that I really do struggle, I suffer a lot from imposter theory as well,” Love explained. “Like I sometimes don’t feel deserving. I don’t feel like I’m worthy of what I’ve accomplished, or the success I’ve had, and a lot of times I feel like a fraud, because I don’t feel like I’ve achieved enough.”
Love’s focus has been on defeating the stigma associated with mental health issues, and that was his primary motivation behind starting the Kevin Love Fund roughly two years ago. He has received plenty of support since sharing his story, and he is not the only star athlete who has gone public about struggling with similar issues.
Love, 32, averaged 17.6 points and 9.8 rebounds per game with the Cavs last season. Next season will be his 13th in the NBA.
Yannick Ngakoue no longer plays for the Jaguars, but he is still receiving a tremendous amount of fan support from Jacksonville. Though, that support probably isn’t making him feel warm and fuzzy.
A Jaguars fan on Reddit is trying to rally fans of the Jags, Green Bay Packers, Chicago Bears and Detroit Lions to vote Ngakoue into the Pro Bowl. The reason for that is simple — fans of all of those teams should want the Minnesota Vikings to have to pay a higher price for Ngakoue, whom they acquired in a trade with the Jags back in August.
The Vikings traded a second-round draft pick in 2021 and a conditional fifth-round pick in 2022 to Jacksonville for Ngakoue. The conditional pick would become a fourth-round pick if Ngakoue makes the Pro Bowl this season. The Baltimore Ravens then acquired Ngakoue in a trade with Minnesota last month, but the language of the original Vikings-Jaguars trade still applies. If Ngakoue makes the Pro Bowl, Minnesota still owes Jacksonville a fourth-round pick instead of a fifth. That is why Jaguars fans are campaigning for the people of Jacksonville and fans of all the Vikings’ rivals to vote for Ngakoue.
Time will tell if it works, but Ngakoue isn’t exactly having a Pro Bowl-caliber season. He got off to a good start with five sacks in six games in Minnesota but has not recorded one in three games with the Ravens.
Ngakoue forced his way out of Jacksonville and even had a public spat with a team executive on social media. It may pain some Jaguars fans to give him a Pro Bowl vote, but it’s for a good cause.
New England Patriots cornerback J.C. Jackson has made great strides through his first three NFL seasons, and you could make the argument that he has been one of the best defensive backs in the league this year. Apparently his own team doesn’t think so.
Jackson, who has an interception in five straight games and leads the NFL with six total, will not be eligible for Pro Bowl voting. A league spokesman told Jason Cole that teams determine which players are eligible for the Pro Bowl, and the Patriots left Jackson off the list.
Players get a Pro Bowl bonus if they make the team, so some have speculated that the Patriots may not want to pay Jackson — who is set to become a restricted free agent after the season — a Pro Bowl bonus. Patriots coach Bill Belichick has not addressed the decision.
Jackson signed with the Patriots as an undrafted free agent in 2018. While reigning Defensive Player of the Year Stephon Gilmore gets most of the attention and deservedly so, Jackson has 14 interceptions in three seasons. He has a knack for making big plays and, at the very least, deserves Pro Bowl consideration.
We see some pretty surprising Pro Bowl snubs every year, but those are typically the result of voting. The Patriots not even nominating Jackson is bizarre.
There have been numerous reports this week that James Harden is focused on trying to force his way to the Brooklyn Nets, but the Philadelphia 76ers may actually be the more likely landing spot.
Harden supposedly wants to play with Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving, but ex-NBA player and current analyst Brian Scalabrine said Tuesday that the talk of Harden going to the Nets is “smoke and mirrors.” Scalabrine, and many others, believe the 76ers are the team to watch.
If he does wind up in Brooklyn, Harden would not be the first NBA superstar to force a trade to the team of his choice. However, he has less leverage than some star players before him. Harden has two years remaining on his contract, which means he would not necessarily be a one-year rental for the team that acquired him. The Rockets can, and should, send Harden to the highest bidder if they decide to move on from him.
Though he is said to be focused on the Nets, Harden is also reportedly open to a trade to Philly. That makes sense now that former Rockets GM Daryl Morey has taken over basketball operations for the 76ers. Morey took out a full-page ad thanking the Rockets after he parted ways with them, and the ad focused a lot on Harden.
One potential roadblock for a Rockets-76ers trade could be that Philadelphia is reportedly unwilling to part with a star player that Houston would likely want.
Mike Tomlin’s Pittsburgh Steelers are 9-0 and remain the only undefeated team in the league. They appear to have an easy game on paper against the 1-8 Jacksonville Jaguars on Sunday, but Tomlin knows better than to overlook the AFC South squad.
Tomlin was asked Tuesday about the possibility of the Jags being a “trap game” and scoffed at that notion.
“We are not a Big Ten team playing a MAC opponent this week,” Tomlin said. The Steelers coach noted that the Jags are trying to kick their behinds.
His point about not underestimating an opponent is well taken, especially in the NFL, which is full of talented players. But it is human nature to get more pumped up for some opponents rather than others. The Steelers very easily could lack the same motivation they had against a divisional opponent like Cincinnati at home last week.
The Steelers host the Ravens and Washington in consecutive weeks after the Jaguars game before visiting Buffalo in Week 14. They could be 12-0 entering that game, but Tomlin would probably tell you they’re just taking things one game at a time.
Rajon Rondo is expected to decline his $2.6 million player option with the Los Angeles Lakers to become a free agent, and the Atlanta Hawks could be waiting with a huge offer.
ESPN’s Frank Isola said that Rondo is expected to receive a “significant” offer from the Hawks for around $15 million over two years. The Hawks have plenty of cap space and are looking to improve.
Rondo is also reportedly being pursued by the Clippers and prefers to sign with them if possible.
Rondo’s interest in these other teams likely explains why the Lakers agreed to acquire Dennis Schroder from the Thunder.
Rondo averaged 7.1 points, 3.0 rebounds and 5.0 assists per game for the Lakers last season and helped them win the championship. The 34-year-old has played 14 seasons in the NBA.
Giannis Antetokounmpo has won back-to-back NBA MVP awards, but it was a long road to get there.
Antetokounmpo is Nigerian but was born and raised in Greece. The 25-year-old Milwaukee Bucks star was the No. 15 overall pick by the team in 2013 and was not well known back then.
Giannis was the subject of an in-depth podcast exploration on “The Woj Pod.” During the podcast, Giannis talked about how malnourished he and his brothers were before the NBA.
“I did not eat … looking back with the way we eat now, and what you have to do to take care of your body, we didn’t eat enough,” Antetokounmpo recalled. “Sometimes I used to go to school, no breakfast. Not sometimes, every time. Come back, there was sometimes food, sometimes no food. So now you have to go to practice. I used to come back from practice at 11 and have my first meal then.
“We definitely didn’t eat right.”
Antetokounmpo’s agent set him up with a nutritionist, who put the young player on an eating program. Giannis says that he got so much food through that program but he split it with his four brothers.
“He thought I was eating the food,” Antetokounmpo said of his adviser. “I was not eating the food. I was eating 1/4 of the food. I was raised that if my brothers don’t eat, I don’t eat.”
When you think about the kind of beginnings Antetokounmpo came from, his ability to develop into an MVP is one heck of an accomplishment. It also signals that he might be more appreciative of the monster contract he is poised to sign.
Three of Giannis’ brothers play basketball, including one who just won the championship.
LaVar Ball gave some harsh advice to his sons when it comes to dating girls in the NBA.
LaVar was a guest on Bro Bible’s “Endless Hustle” podcast and talked about what he told his sons. Ball has three sons — Lonzo, LiAngelo, and LaMelo. Lonzo is already in the NBA, and LaMelo is set to become a high pick this week.
LaVar says he warned his sons that they’re not going to find a good girlfriend while playing in the NBA.
“You’re never going to meet a nice woman, especially in basketball. If you’re in this profession, when you have all this fame and notoriety, how are you going to meet a good girl? You’re not because, what, you’re going to meet are in that restaurant where you eat, or are you going to go to a club where you dance or you’re going to meet her at the arena? So, I hate to tell you, you’re going to meet a h-e,” he said.
Ball says the women can look the players up online before meeting them at games and know everything about them. LaVar told the hosts that his sons have already brought such women around, and he questioned the motives of the women.
Lonzo is not married, but he and his girlfriend had a child in 2018. They knew each other from high school, making the situation different from what LaVar described. As for LaMelo, well, he’s about to become a famous multimillionaire at 19. That will probably make him very attractive to many women.
H/T Egotastic Sports
Tom Brady had a great response to a DeAndre Hopkins tweet sent on Tuesday.
The Arizona Cardinals wide receiver tweeted a photo of his incredible catch to win last weekend’s game against the Buffalo Bills. Hopkins caught the ball in between three Bills defenders with two seconds left to win the game (watch here).
Hopkins told his Twitter followers that the best meme in response to the tweet would receive a signed jersey.
Brady, who is often regarded as the “greatest of all time” (aka “GOAT), sent a picture of a goat in response.
That’s a lot of respect, sent from one goat to another aspiring one. Hopkins only needs six Super Bowls to catch up to Tom.
Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski have teamed up yet again! Treat yourself or a friend with this great Tampa Fiesta shirt. You can buy it here.
