Zone Coverage

St. Paul – It’s become less common to see major leaguers sliding feet first on the bases in today’s game. Most have switched to sliding head-first to avoid injuries. But not for Minnesota Twins prospect Emmanuel Rodriguez. Rodriguez landed on the IL in early May after sliding head-first into first base on a close play, hurting his thumb in the process with a UCL tear.

Last week, if someone were to ask me why the Minnesota Twins would call up their No. 1 prospect to restore their narrowing playoff hopes, I really wouldn’t know how to reply. Calling up Walker Jenkins feels right — overdue, even — and perhaps that’s enough of a reason. But however exciting the debut of a future star, however compelling those first put-outs and at-bats, the arrival of Walker Jenkins isn’t as simple-seeming as an emergency outfield reinforcement.

With training camp and the preseason winding down, some depth chart battles have gained clarity — but that isn’t the case for the starting gig at right guard. A month ago, if you took a poll as to whom the Green Bay Packers’ starting right guard would be in Week 1, the unanimous answer would’ve been Anthony Belton. Fast forward now, and Belton started at right tackle in Green Bay’s preseason tilt at Mile High when it held Zach Bako-Bewele out.

The Green Bay Packers will have some interesting decisions to make in the narrow gap between the final preseason and roster cut-downs, including whether to keep four running backs or four tight ends, who wins the long snapper battle, and more. Let’s get to it. Quarterbacks (2): Jordan Love, Tyrod Taylor Kyle McCord has done everything he could to make a case for a roster spot, and I badly wanted to keep him on the 53. That said, I have Green Bay going with Tyrod Taylor as the backup.

The inactive list read like a CVS receipt for the Green Bay Packers’ Friday preseason finale against the Arizona Cardinals. However, that opened up opportunities for others. Quarterback Kyle McCord and wide receiver J. Michael Sturdivant made as strong a case as any to make the final 53-man roster. McCord did what he’s done all preseason long: impress anyone watching and give the Packers something to consider.

Locks NCAA Football (1 Unit) 2-Team 6 Point Teaser (-120; Odds via Caesars) It’s here, meaningful football has finally arrived, so let’s dive in with what should be a layup of a bet. Reminder for the season as a whole: these 6 point teasers are getting juiced prohibitively by books who recognize how much of an advantage play they are, so if you’re paying more than 25 cents of juice it’s too much.

As quickly as it arrived, the preseason is over, and now the focus shifts towards finalizing the 53-man active rosters and practice squads. The final roster cutdown deadline is on Sunday, August 30 at 4 p.m. EST this year, so the Minnesota Vikings and other squads will need to make some serious decisions by then. However, this process is a league-wide game of chess. Teams will try to sneak talented young players onto their practice squads to avoid other teams signing them on waivers.

Full article: The Wild Should Offer Quinn Hughes the Max The hockey world has been waiting for the elite defenseman market to be completely reset all summer. We got a hint of what was to come when the Chicago Blackhawks

On Monday, NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport reported that the Pittsburgh Steelers could trade cornerback Joey Porter Jr. before the start of the regular season due to stalled contract negotiations. With that in mind, would it make sense for the Green Bay Packers to trade for the 2023 second-round pick? From The Insiders on @NFLNetwork: The situation with #Steelers star CB Joey Porter Jr could go in a few different directions.

Kyler Murray winning the Minnesota Vikings’ starting quarterback job is a setback for J.J. McCarthy. Still, it does not have to be the end of McCarthy’s opportunity to be the franchise quarterback. Minnesota still has a young, cost-controlled former top-10 pick behind Murray, and the organization has publicly maintained that it believes McCarthy has a future in purple.