Atlanta grabbed a quarterback to help ease the loss of Michael Vick and Oakland snagged star rusher Darren McFadden with some of the top selections in Saturday’s National Football League draft.
Boston College quarterback Matt Ryan went third overall to the Falcons, who lost Michael Vick to prison when the star signal caller was convicted of financing a dogfight scheme.
The Raiders chose McFadden next, ignoring off-field incidents to pick perhaps the top offensive player available in the field. McFadden ran for 1,830 yards last season for the University of Arkansas.
The collegiate star scoring threats were taken after linemen went with the top two choices, although the usual suspense was swiped from the No. 1 selection thanks to offensive tackle Jake Long signing on Tuesday with Miami.
The University of Michigan standout will be the key blocker protecting the blind side of the Dolphins quarterback after agreeing to a five-year deal worth US$57.5 million that includes US$30 million in guaranteed money.
Long became only the third offensive tackle selected with the top pick, following Ron Yary in 1968 and Orlando Pace in 1997.
The St. Louis Rams made Chris Long, a defensive end from the University of Virginia, the second selection. The son of NFL Hall of Fame defensive end Howie Long made 14 sacks and 79 tackles last season.
Other top selections saw defensive tackle Glenn Dorsey go fifth to Kansas City, defensive end Vernon Gholston chosen sixth by the New York Jets and defensive tackle Sedrick Ellis selected seventh by New Orleans after a trade with New England.
Jacksonville made a deal with Baltimore for the eighth pick, taking defensive end Derrick Harvey, while linebacker Keith Rivers went ninth to Cincinnati and New England tabbed linebacker Jerod Mayo 10th.
Shohei Ohtani and Clayton Kershaw on Friday joined their Los Angeles Dodgers teammates in sticking their fists out to show off their glittering World Series rings at a ceremony. “There’s just a lot of excitement, probably more than I can ever recall with the Dodger fan base and our players,” manager Dave Roberts said before Los Angeles rallied to beat the Detroit Tigers 8-5 in 10 innings. “What a way to cap off the first two days of celebrations,” Roberts said afterward. “By far the best opening week I’ve ever experienced. I just couldn’t have scripted it any better.” A choir in the
The famously raucous Hong Kong Sevens are to start today in a big test for a shiny new stadium at the heart of a major US$3.85 billion sports park in the territory. Officials are keeping their fingers crossed that the premier event in Hong Kong’s sporting and social calendar goes off without a hitch at the 50,000-seat Kai Tak Stadium. They hope to entice major European soccer teams to visit in the next few months, with reports in December last year saying that Liverpool were in talks about a pre-season tour. Coldplay are to perform there next month, all part of Hong Kong’s
Shohei Ohtani, Teoscar Hernandez and Tommy Edman on Thursday smashed home runs to give the reigning World Series champions the Los Angeles Dodgers a 5-4 victory over Detroit on the MLB’s opening day in the US. The Dodgers, who won two season-opening games in Tokyo last week, raised their championship banner on a day when 28 clubs launched the season in the US. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts shuffled his batting lineup with all four leadoff hitters finally healthy as Ohtani was followed by Mookie Betts, then Hernandez and Freddie Freeman in the cleanup spot, switching places with Hernandez. “There’s a Teoscar tax to
Matvei Michkov did not score on Monday, but the Philadelphia rookie had a hand in both goals as hosts the Flyers earned a 2-1 victory over the Nashville Predators. Ryan Poehling and Jamie Drysdale got the goals for the Flyers (31-36-9, 71 points), who won their third straight. Michkov and Travis Konecny assisted on both. Ivan Fedotov stopped 28 shots to earn his first win since March 1, ending a personal six-game losing streak. Zachary L’Heureux got the lone goal for Nashville. Michael McCarron and Brady Skjei got the assists for the Predators (27-39-8, 62 points), who have just four goals in their
RSS