The Houston Rockets are cleaning house, and one of their final remaining veteran mainstays could be the next one to go.
Kelly Iko and Sam Amick of The Athletic reported on Monday that Rockets forward PJ Tucker is not opposed to a trade should one materialize. Teams have reportedly contacted Houston about potentially acquiring Tucker. The report does add though that Tucker is prepared to play out the season with the Rockets. He also has an extension offer on the table from the team that he has yet to accept.
Tucker, who is still averaging 32.4 minutes per game for the Rockets this season, will be a free agent in the summer. He has been with the team the last four seasons but seems to have little reason to stick around on a non-playoff team at 35 years old. Tucker and guard Eric Gordon are now the only remaining players from Houston’s 2018 Western Conference Finals team.
Some recent comments Tucker made about the Rockets did not sound too encouraging either. Thus, it will not be a surprise if Tucker is dealt before the March 25 trade deadline this year.
Former Alabama defensive star Quinnen Williams offered extremely high praise for Nick Saban.
Williams was a star for the Crimson Tide in 2018 and 2019 before heading to the NFL, where he became the No. 3 overall pick by the Jets. After seeing Saban win his seventh national championship (sixth with Alabama), Williams called Saban the best coach ever.
“I think he’s the greatest coach of all time,” Williams told TMZ Sports. “His resume speaks for itself.”
Saban has earned the title as greatest college football coach ever. And he is in the conversation for greatest coach ever, along with people like John Wooden, Phil Jackson, Bill Belichick, and Geno Auriemma, to name a few.
The most impressive part about Saban is the way he refuses to be satisfied regardless of how much success he has at Alabama. His desire to keep winning is limitless. Saban believes that is the case because he hates losing so much. But as we saw last week in this video, even Saban enjoys winning sometimes.
Mark Ingram on Monday bid farewell to the Baltimore Ravens organization.
Ingram thanked team owner Steve Bisciotti and the Ravens as a whole. He also thanked the team’s fans, as well as his teammates as part of his note.
Ingram joined the Ravens on a 3-year, $15 million deal in the 2019 offseason. He rushed for 1,018 yards and scored 15 touchdowns last season. But this season, his role diminished as J.K. Dobbins and Gus Edwards saw increased carries. Ingram was even a healthy scratch during the playoffs.
Baltimore is expected to release Ingram on Tuesday. Ingram got along very well with his teammates in Baltimore and had a great bond with Lamar Jackson. Even if he wasn’t a big part of their offense this season, he will be missed.
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An unlikely standoff has developed between Tampa Bay Buccaneers coach Bruce Arians and Washington Football Team rookie pass rusher Chase Young.
Arians started the issue by effusively praising rookie safety Antoine Winfield Jr., who starred in the Buccaneers’ 30-20 win over the Saints on Sunday. Arians pushed for Winfield to be named Defensive Rookie of the Year, even contrasting him with Young in the process.
Young was quiet initially, but it was clear he took notice of Arians’ remarks. On Monday afternoon, he retweeted a post arguing that Winfield hadn’t even had a better rookie season than Washington’s Kamren Curl, much less Young.
Who’s right? Curl did have more interceptions than Winfield, but Winfield bested him in tackles and sacks. More relevantly, Young had 7.5 sacks, four forced fumbles, and ten tackles for loss. Those are hard numbers to beat for a rookie.
Arians and Young have actually been prodding at each other for a few weeks now. It’s a weird rivalry, but at this point, it’s sort of a trend.
Paul Finebaum was an early champion of Jeremy Pruitt at Tennessee, but after Monday’s events, the college football commentator simply had to admit how wrong he was.
In 2018, Finebaum ripped former Georgia quarterback Aaron Murray after Murray said he was skeptical that Pruitt had the right temperament to be a head coach. Finebaum called Pruitt a “phenomenal leader” and dismissed Murray’s comments as “not relevant” and made out of loyalty to former Georgia coach Mark Richt.
On Monday, Finebaum was reminded of those comments by a caller on “The Paul Finebaum Show,” and the host admitted that he’d gotten it completely wrong.
“Of course I recall that,” Finebaum said, via Kipp Adams of 247Sports. “It turned out that, Aaron Murray was extremely critical of Jeremy Pruitt, and Aaron Murray was right. A lot of us were wrong. We thought Jeremy Pruitt would be good. Aaron said a lot of it had to do more with his temperament.
“I will tell you, at the beginning, I thought he would be good. Then, the few times I was with him up there, I came away more disappointed every time. He has a block somewhere within his system that he just cannot differentiate. He cannot take advice, number one. I know people tried to help him. Number two, he had a propensity just to be a hothead. We saw evidence of that all of the time. I am glad you brought that up. Aaron was completely correct in his evaluation of the situation.”
Credit to Finebaum for admitting when he was wrong and giving credit to Murray for being right when a lot of people were hailing Pruitt as a good hire. Three years later, Pruitt has been fired for cause, and the Volunteers are essentially back at square one.
The Washington Nationals are adding another veteran to their starting rotation.
Jon Lester and the Nats have agreed to a 1-year deal worth around a reported $5 million.
Lester has fallen off in the past two years after remarkable consistency throughout his career. In 12 starts with the Chicago Cubs in 2020, the 37-year-old posted a 5.16 ERA. His strikeouts per nine dropped to a career-worst 6.2 as well, so the Nationals may be targeting him as depth and veteran experience more than anything else.
The Nationals are not Lester’s preferred destination, but now he has a new team.
Former Jacksonville Jaguars coach Doug Marrone is poised to land on his feet in the college game.
According to SEC Network analyst Cole Cubelic, Marrone has emerged as a candidate to become offensive line coach at Alabama after being fired by the Jaguars at the end of the NFL season.
Marrone has been an offensive line coach at various levels of football. He got his start in college, and has served in that role at both Georgia and Tennessee two decades ago. If he were to land this job, he would replace Kyle Flood, who left Alabama to become offensive coordinator under Steve Sarkisian at Texas.
Alabama has turned into a safe landing spot for a lot of high profile coaches who lose their previous job. The program is prestigious, always in contention for a championship, and pays well enough to bring in big names for lesser roles. Sarkisian and Lane Kiffin have both parlayed spots on Alabama’s staff into second chances as college head coaches. Another former college and NFL head coach appears poised to do the same. Marrone may be able to follow in those footsteps, even in a less visible role.
Andy Reid made a gutsy call to go for it on 4th-and-inches to seal the Kansas City Chiefs’ win over the Cleveland Browns on Sunday. Many feel he took an even bigger risk by calling a pass play, but Reid says that is basically like second nature to him at this point.
With Patrick Mahomes in the locker room after exiting the game with an injury, Reid called a pass play for veteran Chad Henne. The result was a completion to Tyreek Hill for a first down. Reid was asked about the play again on Monday, and the coach alluded to his BYU days.
Reid was an offensive lineman at BYU from 1978-1980. He says he learned from former BYU coach LaVell Edwards that you can throw the ball “anytime, anyplace.” Reid also got his start in coaching as a graduate assistant under Edwards in 1982.
You can understand wanting to pass the ball “anytime, anyplace” when Mahomes is your quarterback, but Reid stuck to the approach even with a backup in. That’s probably one of the main reasons he fooled the Browns, and he even caught Tony Romo by surprise. Chiefs fans can thank Reid’s BYU background for that, apparently.
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The Ohio State Buckeyes got a surprising but welcome bit of news on Monday from one of their star players.
Wide receiver Chris Olave announced that he would be returning for his senior season at Ohio State, confounding many who believed he would turn pro.
Olave has a first-round grade from most pundits and had a real shot to go in the back half of the opening round. However, he clearly sees himself as having unfinished business at Ohio State. Plus, he could bolster his draft stock with an outstanding senior season, which is precisely what Alabama’s DeVonta Smith ended up doing in 2020.
Olave was one of the Big Ten’s standout receivers for the second year running in 2020. In seven games, he racked up 729 receiving yards and seven touchdowns.
Though Olave will be back, a number of Buckeyes will not. Quarterback Justin Fields announced he would turn pro on Monday, meaning Olave will have a new quarterback throwing to him in 2021.
A rough end to the 2020 season is jumpstarting another round of Michael Thomas trade rumors.
An ankle injury and some issues with the New Orleans Saints led to Thomas having his worst season in the NFL, making just 40 catches and being held to 438 yards. That, combined with off-field issues, led to some speculation that the Saints could look to cut bait.
NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport told The Pat McAfee Show on Monday that he did not see a Thomas trade as likely, but would not rule it out.
“I would not rule anything out. I don’t think anything is imminent. It was a tough year for all parties. They came to a point where they were fine by the end. He is an awesome player, but he is a different dude. He is intense, he is competitive, he is a perfectionist. … I don’t know. I would say they probably will not trade him, but similar to Deshaun (Watson), I would imagine teams will go ‘okay, maybe they weren’t all that happy, let me call and see what’s going on.'”
The Saints are also facing a salary cap crunch for 2021, and are projected to be nearly $100 million over the cap as it stands. Thomas accounts for nearly $19 million of that figure.
Thomas trade rumors have been shot down all season. However, things didn’t get any better for the receiver, and he was completely erased during the team’s playoff loss. The Saints would be selling low on Thomas, but they have to fix their cap crunch somehow.
