Category: Football

Thursday night, my brother Kirby and I went out to Chili’s, where all the TVs were on the NFL Draft. Being a Patriots fan, of course, I was most interested in who New England would draft in the first round, and was very pleased by their moves. They traded down (from 14th overall to 17th overall), picking up an extra fourth-round pick in the process, and chose Oregon cornerback Christian Gonzales — a steal at 17, because many had Gonzales ranked as the top cornerback in the 2023 class. Meanwhile, of course, the University of Alabama was well-represented in the draft, with quarterback Bryce Young going as the No. 1 pick to the Carolina Panthers, linebacker Will Anderson Jr. going at No. 3 to the Houston Texans, and running back Jahmyr Gibbs going to the Detroit Lions at No. 12.

As soon as I woke up, I began searching for inklings of what the Patriots might do in the second round of the draft, and was skimming over Alex Barth’s “big board” choices when I noticed the name Tucker Kraft.

Six-foor-five, 254 pounds, tight end who caught 65 passes for 780 yards and six touchdowns with the South Dakota State Jackrabbits his sophomore season. He suffered an ankle injury that limited his playing time last season, but is still one of the best tight ends in the country.

The guy’s name is Kraft, OK? The owner of the New England Patriots is Robert Kraft, so how in the world could they not draft this guy?

He hails from the tiny town of Timber Lake, South Dakota (population 513), and has a keen sense of what’s at stake in his professional career. His father Doug, a standout college athlete who never made it to the pros, was killed in a small plane crash in 2013. Doug Kraft was a self-described “proud redneck” and, among his several endeavors in a farming region, flew planes as part of his crop dusting business. His father’s death affected Tucker Kraft deeply, and something he has said in interviews illustrates what a thoughtful young man he is:

“I’ve never like really thought about doing football and taking my skills to the next level as doing it for me. I’ve always thought about doing it for other people. Setting my family up for generational wealth.”

The phrase you’re looking for is servant leader or, to use another analogy, he is a work horse who knows why he’s pulling the plow.

The chance to play in the NFL is a rare opportunity. There are 32 teams, each of which has a 53-player active roster, so at any given time there are only 1,696 active players in the league, not counting practice squads, and most players who are drafted don’t last more than five years in the NFL.

However good you were in college, you enter the league as a rookie, and have to earn your roster spot through competition, a competition that never ends. Every player is working to get better all the time — lifting weights and running drills in the off-season, studying game videos to improve their technique, etc. — and ultimately no player is guaranteed a roster spot. To obtain “generational wealth” in an NFL career, a player has to make it past his four- or five-year rookie contract, and do so as a bona fide starter, to get that big free-agent contract worth many millions of dollars. Just this week, Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson signed a five-year, $260 million contract with the Baltimore Ravens, including $185 million guaranteed, and an average annual salary of $52 million. That’s MVP quarterback money, and there’s no way even the best tight end in the league is ever going to get paid that much, but it gives you an idea of what “generational wealth” can mean in the NFL.

On the other hand, things can go badly. Alabama fans were shocked and heartbroken in 2021 when Henry Ruggs, a star wide receiver for the Crimson Tide who was drafted in the first round by the Oakland Las Vegas Raiders in 2020, was arrested in a vehicular manslaughter case, where he was driving his Corvette drunk at more than 120 mph in a wreck that killed a woman. Good-bye, “generational wealth.”

Then there was the case of former Ohio State quarterback Dwayne Haskins, drafted in the first round by the Washington Redskins “Commanders” in 2019. Haskins was later traded to Pittsburgh, but on an April morning in 2022, Haskins was drunk (with a .20 blood alcohol level) in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, when his rental car ran out of gas on I-595, and he tried to cross the expressway on foot. Haskins got run over by a dump truck, then hit by an SUV, and died on the scene. No “generational wealth” for the Haskins family.

Some of the most elite athletes, chosen in the first round of the NFL draft, never succeed as pros for one reason or another, while others who are much less highly touted go onto Hall of Fame careers. Certainly every Patriots fan knows that Tom Brady was a sixth-round pick (199th overall) in the 2000 draft, while Julian Edelman was a seventh-round pick (232nd overall) in the 2009 draft. And you can guarantee that, as a tight end, Tucker Kraft knows that Rob Gronkowski — arguably the best tight end in NFL history — was a second-round pick (42nd overall) in 2010.

Earlier this month, the newspaper in Brookings, S.D. — home of South Dakota State — did a feature story about Tucker Kraft:

Tucker Kraft participated in South Dakota State’s pro day on Friday morning and the tight end who is hoping to get drafted at the end of April improved his numbers in the 40-yard dash and his standing vertical.
At the NFL Combine in the beginning of March, Kraft ran the 40-yard dash in 4.69 seconds. On Friday, he ran it in around 4.5 seconds, which is not official because there was not an official clock. Kraft jumped 34 inches in the vertical jump at the combine and on Friday he measured out at 36.5 inches.
Kraft said he didn’t like the way he performed at the combine, so he wanted to make sure he improved his numbers on Friday.
“I was not happy with my results at the combine. The combine is glamorized, but after doing it and competing, I understand why some people want to do away with it. It’s hard. It’s hard on the athletes. You know, we consider ourselves high performance athletes and the combine makes me feel a little less like that. But no, I had a good time. I was incredibly grateful to be there. But I knew when I got back to Brookings, I had to turn it up a notch. I had to get more into football shape,” Kraft said.
The 40-yard dash and the vertical were the only things that Kraft participated in on Friday. He said he only wanted to do those two things because he knew he could put up better numbers and those two things are what scouts pay attention to the most.
“Well, I wanted to run a faster 40 because that’s where the money is made. I feel like I made myself a little bit of money today. And then I wanted to jump higher because I know I can,” Kraft said.
After the combine, Kraft came back to Brookings and has been working out every day on campus. He said he’s had a number of teams reach out to him in the past month and he said it’s been fun being able to just talk football with coaches.
“It’s really been pretty easy [talking to teams]. I enjoy it. A lot of guys that had [prepared for the draft] in the past said, hey man, this time sucks, you don’t feel like any of your time is yours. But you know, the coaches contact you and they ask what times work for you. So, I do like one or two meetings every single day from 4:30 to dinner. All we do is talk about my life before college, talk about my college career. They install some plays and play some highlight clips of my blocking and passing. … It’s really just talking football,” Kraft said
Although he said the interview process has been pretty easy, Kraft did have one team make it tough on him. The New England Patriots met with Kraft at the combine and all they did was show mistakes that he made.
“I feel like personally I’ve aced every single interview that I’ve been a part of. One that went otherwise was I was at the combine and I had 15 formal interviews, I think that’s the most you can have at the combine. I was with the Patriots and it was pretty chill, we were talking about Pierre [Strong Jr., who was drafted by the Patriots last year], it was laid back, we were just chatting, and then all of the sudden they just put on instead of a highlight tape, it was a lowlight tape. Just clips of me not executing and just asking me what was going on,” Kraft said. . . .

(Wow — testing his mental toughness? Shrewd!)

Kraft, who caught 99 passes for 1,211 yards and nine touchdowns in his four years at SDSU, is projected to go in the second or third round in many mock drafts. He said he will be spending draft weekend, which is April 27-29 in Kansas City, in his hometown of Timber Lake with his family and friends.
“I’ll be back home in Timber Lake, South Dakota. I’ll have a decent gathering of friends and family. Hopefully people don’t feel too bad if they’re not invited. I want the people that have really been a part of my football journey [there]. … Close friends and family [will be there],” Kraft said.
Kraft is looking to become the 24th Jackrabbit to be drafted and the fifth since 2018. Fellow tight end Dallas Goedert 49th pick in the 2018 draft by the Philadelphia Eagles. Kraft said all of the work that he’s put in so far is so that he can provide for his family.
“Come draft day, I want my name to be called early. That’s my priority. That’s why I tried to execute as well as I did during pro day. I’m not really doing any of this for me. I’m doing this to set my family up, my future kids, their kids, generational wealth. I’m trying to create something here and establish a legacy in my name to take care of my friends, my family and my community,” Kraft said.

This guy’s got “Patriot” written all over him. Round Two and Round Three of the NFL draft are tonight. We’ll see if the Patriots give Kraft his chance at “generational wealth.”

A sad day for New England Patriots fans, as the veteran safety and defensive team captain announced he will retire after 13 years.

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A post shared by Devin McCourty (@devinmccourty)

Last month, after special teams captain Matthew Slater announced he would return for his 16th season, fans hoped that this would encourage McCourty — nicknamed “DMac” — to give it another year, but alas, age 35 is ancient by NFL standards, and I guess McCourty felt he needed to hang up the cleats while he was still healthy. Probably this means the Patriots will need to make an offer to cornerback Jonathan Jones, who is a free agent this year and, at age 29, is one of the more senior defensive backs on the New England roster. If DMac had been willing to play another year, perhaps the Patriots could have stood losing Jones, but now? Nah — pay the man, Bill. And, of course, this will affect New England’s priorities in the draft next month. I’d prefer them to take either of Alabama’s safeties — Brian Branch or Jordan Battle — because you can never have too much ’Bama on your roster. At any rate, the secondary will need reinforcements now, although it’s really impossible to replace a veteran leader like McCourty. Best wishes, DMac!

Here is #Patriots HC Bill Belichick's statement on Devin McCourty's retirement:

"It is a rare group of players who win games at a historic rate, exude team culture, lead, win awards, and win championships, and then there is Devin McCourty. Devin did all of those things…" pic.twitter.com/0fZhizvRKD

— Evan Lazar (@ezlazar) March 10, 2023

Many people have commented on Philadelphia Eagles Coach Nick Sirianni, who broke down in tears during the playing of “The Star-Spangled Banner” before Sunday’s Super Bowl. Some interpreted Sirianni’s tears as evidence of his heartfelt patriotism, whereas I know what he was really crying about:

NO MORE FOOTBALL UNTIL SEPTEMBER!

Once the Super Bowl is over, we have to wait nearly seven months before there’s another football game, and even then, the early games are usually lame, especially in college football. Alabama kicks off its season Sept. 2 against Middle Tennessee State University, which isn’t a real team.

They don’t finalize the NFL schedule until spring, but in the meantime, pro football fans will have to endure weeks of blah blah blah from the pundits and commentators, with their “mock draft” scenarios and their wild speculations about possible trades and free agent signings, which is just annoying. Fans don’t want to hear a bunch of talk about football, we want to watch actual football. From September through January, there’s football every weekend — basically 20 weeks of it, including the college bowl games and the NFL playoffs. Fans develop a habit, a circadian rhythm of weekly football-watching — college games Saturday, pro games Sunday, then “Monday Night Football” and “Thursday Night Football” — and let me tell you, life is tough on Tuesday and Wednesday nights with no football to watch. You basically organize your life around watching football during the season, until January arrives and you become conscious that you’re slowly running out of games. The first week of the playoffs is all right — six wild-card games to watch — but then you get to the divisional round and there are only four games. The week after that, the conference championships — only two games! And then, finally, the Super Bowl, which is like Christmas, the Fourth of July, Mardi Gras and Halloween all rolled into one giant football holiday, as far as fans are concerned. And then, after that . . . NO MORE FOOTBALL!

So, yeah, we know why Nick Sirianni was crying. Also, perhaps, he had a premonition that Jalen Hurts would fumble for no reason at all, and give the Chiefs a free touchdown that, when all was said and done, would prove to be the decisive play of the game. Now the Eagles have to spend the next six months thinking about how close they came to getting that Super Bowl championship ring, a special kind of agony and, as Leslie Gore once sang, you’d cry, too, if it happened to you.

UPDATE: Welcome, Instapundit readers!

Gambling is a bad habit, and I hate to see TV advertisements for gambling apps like Draft Kings, which portray this habit as harmless. And frankly, I’ve started to suspect that pro football is as rigged as pro wrestling. If you don’t believe me, ask any fan of the Cincinnati Bengals about the AFC championship game. The Kansas City Chiefs “won” that game about as convincingly as Joe Biden “won” the 2020 election, and Bengals fans are convinced the refs were in the tank for the Chiefs.

On paper, the Chiefs and the Philadelphia Eagles are almost exactly even. Both of them finished the regular season 14-3, both were No. 1 seeds in the playoffs, and their team statistics on offense and defense are so close to being identical that it’s difficult to say that either team has an advantage. Probably the only reason the Eagles are 1.5-point favorites is because Kansas City quarterback Patrick Mahomes is still recovering from an ankle injury, and may be less mobile than usual.

My brother Kirby thinks the Chiefs are going to win the Super Bowl, probably because Kirby is a big Joe Burrow fan, and figures that if Mahomes and the Chiefs could beat Burrow and the Bengals, then they’re good enough to beat anybody. And you’ve got to admit, Mahomes is a wizard. There is no such thing as a “broken play” so broken that Mahomes can’t find a way to rescue it with a mad scramble and an off-balance sidearm pass with two tacklers hanging off him. Also, the Chiefs have a fearsome defense that sacked Burrow five times.

However, Philadelphia is not a bad team, and if Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts doesn’t perform the kind of wizardry that has made Mahomes famous, he’s still pretty doggone spectacular. Hurts completed nearly 67% of his passes for 3,701 yards and 22 touchdowns this season, and added 760 yards rushing on 165 carries with 13 TDs. If there’s any knock on Hurts, it’s that perhaps he’s a bit of a ball-hog, so that on run-pass option (RPO) plays, he runs the ball himself too often. But this is nitpicking, really — how can you criticize the way he plays, when the results are so successful? And the Eagles also have a very tough defense that shut down the New York Giants in the divisional playoffs, then in the NFC championship knocked both San Francisco QBs out of the game.

All things considered, Super Bowl LVII should be a close game, and relatively high-scoring. The over/under is 50 and, if there were such a thing as a safe bet, I’d put my money on over, because I could see this game turning into a back-and-forth shootout, with a final score somewhere around 31-28 — a real down-to-the-wire thriller, decided by a last-minute field goal. But let me quote Sky Masterson:

“One of these days in your travels, a guy is going to show you a brand-new deck of cards on which the seal is not yet broken. Then this guy is going to offer to bet you that he can make the jack of spades jump out of this brand-new deck of cards and squirt cider in your ear. But, son, do not accept this bet, because as sure as you stand there, you’re going to wind up with an ear full of cider.”

Indeed, and as sure as you bet the “over” in the Super Bowl, I guarantee you it will be a defensive struggle, with both teams fumbling away scoring chances and getting flagged for false-start penalties. There is no such thing as a safe bet, and if you bet on the Super Bowl, chances are you’ll regret your wager. I’ve just got a hunch about this game.

Once upon a time, in the Kingdom of Duval, there was a quarterback known as Goldilocks, because of his beautiful blonde hair. Everything was fine for Goldilocks until the mean old Chargers came to town for a playoff game, and Goldilocks threw an interception. And then he threw another interception. And then another and another, and after four interceptions, Goldilocks and his Jaguars were losing 27-0. At this point, most of the little boys and girls got bored with the story and, because it was after bedtime, they went to sleep, figuring it was a blowout like the 49ers beating the Seahawks. But while the little boys and girls were sleeping, the story changed and Goldilocks had a fairy-tale ending:

Trevor Lawrence’s confidence somehow never wavered. Not after the first interception. Or the second. Or the third. Or even the fourth.
The generational quarterback simply delivered a generational comeback.
The No. 1 overall pick in the 2021 draft followed four interceptions with four touchdown passes — one of the most improbable turnarounds in NFL postseason history — and rallied the Jacksonville Jaguars to a 31-30 victory over the Los Angeles Chargers on Saturday night.
Lawrence engineered the winning drive, highlighted by Travis Etienne’s 25-yard run on a fourth-and-1 play, and put the Jaguars in position for Riley Patterson’s 36-yard field goal on the final play. It capped a 27-point comeback, the largest in franchise history and the third largest in playoff history.
“You couldn’t write a crazier script,” Lawrence said. “We said in the locker room that’s kind of how our season’s going. We’re never out of the fight. … I’m kind of speechless, honestly, just to see what belief can do and to see when a team believes in each other what you can accomplish.”

And the moral of the story is, even when they give up four interceptions, the Jaguars can beat the Chargers, but they’ll probably have to beat Kansas City next week before they can live happily ever after.

The good news is, Damar Hamlin is alive and improving:

Bills safety Damar Hamlin continues to make progress in his recovery as he remains breathing on his own and his “neurological function is excellent,” according to physicians at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center via a statement from the team Saturday.
Hamlin remains in critical condition, the statement said, but is progressing after having his breathing tube removed overnight Thursday to Friday.
The 24-year-old still has a long road to recovery, with doctors from the UC Medical Center saying Thursday that there were many steps ahead for Hamlin, although he accomplished the first by having the breathing tube taken out. . . .
Hamlin was able to speak with teammates on a Zoom call Friday during the Bills’ team meeting. He told his teammates, “Love ya boys,” made a heart with his hands, gave them a thumbs-up and even flexed on them. Bills players reacted to seeing Hamlin by standing up, clapping and yelling in excitement.
“We got our boy, man, you know what I’m saying,” left tackle Dion Dawkins said. “It’s all that matters. We got our boy. The excitement was beautiful. It was amazing. It has given us so much energy, so much bright, high spirits, whatever you want to call it. It is giving it to us. To see that boy’s face, to see him smile, see him [flex his muscles] in the camera, it was everything. And then to hear him talk to us. It was literally everything. And that’s what we needed. Literally, that’s all we needed.”
CPR was administered to Hamlin on the field at Paycor Stadium in Cincinnati on Monday night for multiple minutes after he suffered a cardiac arrest and collapsed following his tackle of Bengals wide receiver Tee Higgins.

So that’s the good news. Honestly, I thought he was dead after he collapsed on the field Monday. It’s certainly encouraging to hear that he’s getting better, even though that means the Bills are likely to be fired up for Sunday’s game against my New England Patriots who, depending on the outcome of other games, are likely to be facing a must-win situation, if they want to make it into the playoffs on the final wild-card spot. So we’ll be hoping that (a) the Jacksonsville Jaguars win tonight, eliminating the Tennessee Titans, (b) the New York Jets win Sunday, eliminating the Miami Dolphins, and (c) the Cleveland Browns win Sunday, eliminating the Pittsburgh Steelers. Only if all three of those things happen can the Patriots make the playoffs without beating Buffalo and, to be honest, the odds are at least 5-to-1 against them beating the Bills. Meanwhile . . .

The author of that article, Tracie Canada, “is an assistant professor of cultural anthropology at Duke University. Her research uses sport to theorize race, kinship, care, gender and the performing body, and she is currently working on a book project about the experiences of Black college football players. She holds a Ph.D. from the University of Virginia.” And after publishing the Dumbest Article Ever Written About Football, she has locked her Twitter account. Far be it from me to “participate in targeted abuse” on Twitter, but that doesn’t mean you can’t participate by saying rude things to Professor Canada.

That @tracie_canada wrote this is one thing. That @sciam editors approved it for serious release is an entirely other thing. What a sign of intellectual compromise to the woke mind virus. What utter horseshit and the ratio proves it.

— ?? Guillermo (Memo) O’Reilly?? (@7charlief0xtr0t) January 7, 2023

Race grifters like @tracie_canada are always cowards because their arguments do not stand up to scrutiny. pic.twitter.com/MtfltdT2ow

— Deplorable Nicholas (@ex0rientelux) January 7, 2023

Damar Hamlin, a second-year safety for the Buffalo Bills, was rushed to a hospital where he is reported in critical condition after paramedics spent 10 minutes on the field administering CPR.

UPDATE: I was texting with Instapundit right after this happened and he asked, “What kind of hit was it?” And I said, just a bang-bang play, and he got up right after it, but then . . . Boom. He fell over. It reminds me, in a way, of Dale Earnhardt’s fatal crash. When you saw it happen, it didn’t look any worse than a lot of other NASCAR crashes, but it just happened to kill him. And if, as now seems likely, Damar Hamlin doesn’t make it, people will be watching video of this play over and over wondering how or why this particular hit proved to be fatal.

Prayers Up for Damar Hamlin ? pic.twitter.com/JwxiBIWmZA

— Geeks + Gamers (@GeeksGamersCom) January 3, 2023

UPDATE II: The report is that Hamlin had a heartbeat, but wasn’t breathing on his on, and has been “intubated,” as they say. Trying to figure out why this happened is going to be a long process, and some people on Twitter are asking, “Vaccine?” But no, there’s no reason to suspect it’s one of those cases. Something about the hit itself — cerebral hemorrhage? I don’t know. It’s a mystery at this point.

Selfishly, all I can think about is how it’s ruined my usual Monday night routine of falling asleep during the game, not to mention how it might impact the Patriots, who are scheduled to play Buffalo next Sunday with their playoff hopes on the line. On the one hand, Buffalo’s loss of their starting safety would improve the chances of a New England win, but on the other hand, you don’t want it to happen this way, and it’s in poor taste even to mention it. Injuries are just part of the NFL and, of the eight games the Patriots have won this season, seven of them were against teams forced to play backup quarterbacks because of injuries to the starter. Sunday, for example, Miami started the game with Teddy Bridgewater at quarterback because the Dolphins starter, Tua Tagovailoa, was in concussion protocols. Then, in the third quarter, Bridgewater suffered a broken finger, and the Dolphins had to use third-stringer Skylar Thompson, a rookie picked in the seventh round. New England managed to win that game 23-21 and, so what? Injuries happen.

But to have a player killed in a game? As far as I know, it’s never happened in the NFL, and why did it have to happen on Monday night in a key AFC matchup with playoff consequences? My purely selfish attitude toward this situation may be a defense mechanism, a way to cope by avoiding emotional pain. Or maybe I’m just an asshole.

Anyway, let’s pray Damar Hamlin survives and makes a full recovery.

We are all #billsmafia tonight. Prayers for Damar Hamlin? pic.twitter.com/6QwwGnbZZF

— FPLCareless (@fplcareless) January 3, 2023

UPDATE III: Good news?

UPDATE: Damar Hamlin’s vitals are back to normal and they have put him to sleep with a breathing tube in his throat. Doctors will continue to run tests and we will keep you updated ? pic.twitter.com/HuZNF9ucBa

— Daily Loud (@DailyLoud) January 3, 2023

So he’s still alive, and by the way, Damar Hamlin had a GoFundMe to raise money to buy toys for children. It’s raised over $700,000 since he got injured. I donated. You should, too.