On The Ball

The last pick of the first round of the NFL draft in 2018 was a surprising one. The Baltimore Ravens already selected a first round pick with the tight end Hayden Hurst, but they weren't finished. The Ravens then shocked the world by moving up to the 32nd pick with the Eagles to select quarterback Lamar Jackson from Lousiville. Jackson had a lot of critism coming out of college with his accuracy throwing the football, he was also told that he cannot be a quarterback in this league because he is more of a running back then he is a quarterback with his freak athletic ability to run the ball in college. How did Jackson answer? After Joe Flacco was injured in the ninth game of the season against the Steelers, Jackson was asked to do the impossible... lead the Ravens to the playoffs for the first time in three years after a 4 win 5 loss start to the season with Flacco. Jackson answered, in a big way. He led the Ravens to a 6-1 record over the last 7 games, and the Ravens were AFC Nort...

The NFL's best career field goal percentage of all time has been extended by the Baltimore Ravens. Justin Tucker gets the deal he deserves, the biggest kicker deal in the history of the NFL. Tucker gets a four-year, $23.05 million extension, including $12.5 million fully guaranteed in the first two years and an $8 million signing bonus. NFL teams are starting to realize how important the kicker position is. The kicker can decide a game, just ask the Chicago Bears who lost in the first round of the playoffs with a missed field goal to send the Philadelphia Eagles to the second round. The NFL changed the extra point rule two years ago, from a 20-yard chip shot, to now a 33-yard kick. This has made extra points more intriguing. We saw the most extra point misses in the NFL in the past ten years, and it cost teams games. Tucker, who is arguably the best in the game missed an extra point that would have sent the Ravens to overtime against the Saints, even the best have felt the ...

The Steelers were one game away from winning the AFC North last year and punch their ticket to the playoffs. But the Ravens won their last two games and the Steelers lost a crucial game in New Orleans in week 16 that put the Ravens ahead of the Steelers in the divison. The Steelers have had a crazy offseason. They traded their best wide reciever in future hall of famer Antonio Brown, and a top 3 running back in the game in Leveon Bell. With the Steelers not having Bell or Brown this upcoming season they have a lot of holes to fill. A big hole is their defense, as the Steelers had a bottom tier defense in 2018 and they have done nothing to fix it. They do have James Connor to fill in for Bell who had a great year for his first full year as a starter, but he was also something other teams haven't seen on film yet which will change this upcoming season. They also have JuJu Smith Schuster to fill in for Antonio Brown which he posted big numbers and looked to be a number one reciever,...

The Arizona Cardinals have the number one pick in the draft, this could be the most interesting number one pick we have seen in a long time. Usually teams have the number one pick decided weeks before the draft, but the Cardinals have a unique situation. Josh Rosen was selected 10th overall by the Cardinals last year, should they consider taking another quarterback after only one year of Rosen? Rosen was far from good last year, he had arguably the worst year from the first round rookie quarterbacks last year which include Sam Darnold, Lamar Jackson, Baker Mayfield, and Josh Allen. Rosen posted 2,278 yards, 11 touchdowns, 14 interceptions, with a 55% completion percentage. This could be a reason that the Cardinals move on from Rosen, but he was also a rookie who was thrown into the fire early in the season. The Cardinals were also the worst team in the league last year, being bottom tier in defense which caused Rosen to not be on the field as much to make plays, also he had a very be...

There is so much talent this year in the NFL draft, especially at the wide receiver position. Names such as D.K Metcalf, Hakeem Butler, Marquise Brown, and Parris Campbell. N'Keal Harry has been a name thrown around in that conversation as well, especially with the draft just a couple days away. Could he potentially be the best wideout in this stand out class? Let us take a look into some eye-popping features to his game. Harry has a huge frame, posted as 6'4 height, and 213 pounds makes him a freak with that size and one that teams love. With that size he is also very fast, he ran a 4.59 40 yard dash, that is incredible for how big this kid is.  He also has shown over and over again that he is the best hands in this draft, while Hakeem Butler and D.K Metcalf both have a 15% drop rate, Harry only has a 7% drop rate which is very low considering the quarterbacks he played with at Arizona State. Harry is also dynamic, he can play on both sides of the ball playing from the...