Your Mixed Bag Thursday Night Open Thread

How ’bout them Olympics! As always, hockey delivered, bringing you four OT games over two days. Were I a betting monkey I’d put a couple of bananas on the Finns tomorrow. They’re very solid defensively, are fantastic on the counterattack and have great depth. I was hoping they’d play the U.S. in the semi-final but I can’t read a medal bracket apparently.

I’d just like to point out that as pro sports go this is the NBA’s time to shine and all they’ve produced is countless stories about the problem of “tanking”. I’d say that the commish Adam Silver has lost control of the narrative but I’m not sure he even read the plot.

There’s limited football goings-on so let’s put an eyeball on PFF’s listicle of the top 100 free agents available during this cycle and then say things about those dudes.

#2 George Pickens:

He proved he was quite the difference-maker when he had a competent ball-thrower under center. Jerry will franchise him and that will improve his attitude. [rolls eyes]

#6 Kenneth Walker:

You can’t do much better with respect to gussying up your CV than winning SB MVP. And that’s on top of a career regular season. I’m very curious as to what his next contract looks like. PFF is saying 3 years with 20 mil guaranteed-seems low but the RB market is a bit weird.

#10 Alec Pierce:

He’s become a downfield weapon despite the dreadful QB play he’s had to deal with. Somehow he led the league in aDOT and YPR.

#13 Mike Evans:

Want a future HOF member on your team? This is your guy. Injuries finally caught up to him at age 32 but this strikes me as a wear and tear circumstance. He’s going to murderize smaller CB’s to the tune of another 1,000 yard season but will it happen in ’26?

#16 Rico Dowdle:

Kudos to the fella that said he was going to kick the Cowboys’ asses and then went ahead and did it. He faded down the stretch badly but could be part of a great one-two punch backfield.

#18 Malik Willis:

He needs to be higher-what with free agent QB’s being so scarce there’s going to be an over-bidding war for the services of this dude that can run and likes to throw long.

#22 Edge Boye Mafe

He’s not a star but what he is, is a guy that can pressure the QB and be effective vs the run game. Not sexy but essential to a defense.

#25 Jauan Jennings:

This guy is 28 and just coming into his own. I very much admire dudes that are buried on depth charts and don’t stop honing their craft and eventually get to shine. Pay this man his money.

#30 Tyler Allgeier:

No matter what he signs for, this guy is going to out-perform his contract. I hope he goes the “1 year Prove-It” route and cashes in next year. He can lead a backfield, don’t be mistaken.

#38 Edge Jadeveon Clowney:

This is how how you master/own the free agency environment. His next team will be his eighth in nine years. He’s done a sequence of one-year deals with bitchin’ incentives to the highest bidder/place he wanted to play.

#39 J.K. Dobbins:

He’ll rarely get you a 30 yarder but if you want consistent, effective running for 8 weeks of the season J.K. is your guy. And he doesn’t  have an agenda with respect to trans folk despite his initials. If you’re looking for fumblers, look askance-he hasn’t put the ball on the turf since 2020, which defies belief.

#53 LB Alex Anzalone:

Some sports yakker said this guy is incredibly fast sideline-to-sideline and I disagreed. I’d go so far as to say that his significant athletic decline was a part of the Lions freefall defensively. At 31, he’s a rotational piece now.

#81 Isaiah Likely:

I predict that he’s the next tight end to go to another team and bust wide open. Every time he’s been given the ball on a regular basis he’s delivered.

#93 Interior Lineman Sebastian Joseph-Day:

As a follower of a team that upset the Pats twice in 4 years using immense pressure from a very deep defensive line, signing a guy like Joseph-Day is no-brainer territory. Depth at the position is paramount and they come at a very fair price because most GM’s under-value them.

#96 David Njoku:

This former 1st-rounder has always been about potential. Here and there he’s done well but this past season (at age 28) he was supposed to be in his prime. He was supplanted by Harold Fannin Jr. Sorry RTD, this reeks of a Raiders signing.

There’s other stuff on-please let us know. This post is way late.