Lions agree to trade David Montgomery to Texans — and more

In a pre-combine interview, USC's Makai Lemon was asked what three NFL quarterbacks he would love to catch passes from.

Here is my ranking of the three quarterbacks he listed, my favorite pick for a quarterback he would dominate with, and my actual prediction for which quarterback he will catch passes from:

1. Caleb Williams

In 2023, Caleb Williams and Makai Lemon were both at USC, but it was not the special connection it would be if the 2 were on the same team again in the NFL. Having that connection prior to teaming up does create an advantage and a better sense of trust. Caleb Williams is a big anticipation thrower, and if he trusts you, that ball is going to come out before you even finish the route. I think that with Lemon's ability to get open and what he can do after the catch, he would be a dangerous weapon with Caleb Williams. Everybody in Chicago would be mad if the Bears took another offensive player, but if Lemon ended up in Chicago, I think he would be their best receiver.

2. Jayden Daniels

Jayden Daniels has so far had a great connection with Terry McLaurin, a smaller but effective receiver. Lemon fits that bill, and he is cut with the same cloth. I think Lemon could be just like scary Terry with an even higher ceiling. The Commanders' offense is at its best with guys that can make things happen after the catch, and guys that can take the top off of a defense. Makai Lemon would be an 1000 yard reciver year in and year out with Jayden Daniels.

3. Aaron Rodgers

Aaron Rodgers would be even more fun if he wasn't currently 42 years old. Lemon has those traits of the former great Packers receivers. Rodgers is accurate as it gets from the quarterback position, and he puts his receivers in great position to succeed. I think had he been in his prime in Green Bay, Lemon would have lit it up with Aaron Rodgers.

My favorite pick - Matthew Stafford

The two best receiver seasons in NFL history have been achieved with Matthew Stafford at quarterback. Matthew Stafford, still at the back end of his career, has helped receivers put up career years. Even if it is for his first 2 seasons in his career, I think Makai Lemon would be the most productive with Matthew Stafford. Mix in the fact that Sean McVay would also be putting him in a great position to be successful. Yeh Makai Lemon would have his best shot at rookie of the year with the Rams.

My actual prediction - Lamar Jackson

The Ravens just hired offensive coordinator Declan Doyle, and he is cut from the same cloth as Ben Johnson. It would make sense that he wants to take the Ravens offense to new heights. Why not bring in a guy who is an Amon-Ra St. Brown clone? Makai Lemon and Lamar Jackson would be must see tv. Lamar has yet to have that super reliable and always open weapon at the receiver position. Zay Flowers is a great recover but he comes with some major flaws. I think Lemon would be just what the doctor ordered for Lamar Jackson, and both guys would dominate this upcoming season in Baltimore.

This article originally appeared on Trojans Wire: Makai Lemon names 3 preferred NFL QBs he would want to play with

My dad turned 64 this weekend, and so far things are looking good. I still need him, and he’s been well-plied with an assortment of Thai food, homemade brioche and apple cobbler. He taught me about rhythm and keeping time one afternoon while we sat on the floor in his office, my clumsy five-year-old hands working hard to hit the one, TWO, three, FOUR of “Love Me Do” before giving up in the chaos of “Yesterday,” so there were lots of these jokes leading up to Saturday. 

Baseball isn’t really his thing. He’s more driven by nitrate-rich hot dogs than discourse around the hot corner, but we turned the radio on yesterday and midway through the seventh inning, as he sliced salami and cheese (are you sending a theme?), he looked up and asked, “Is this Shannon Drayer?” I was flabbergasted. 

“Wow. Um, yeah, it is.” And then, because meat isn’t the only thing this man thrives on, “Great job, Dad! I’m shocked – and so impressed!”

He smiled, pleased to still be surprising me. “Of course I know her. She was so nice to my girl, I’ll always remember that.”

Almost a decade ago, I was granted Mariners media credentials for a freelance piece I’d pitched without considering the consequences of my actions. Namely, that in order to write said piece, I’d have to actually conduct interviews with the players. I was so petrified of appearing as young, foolish and inexperienced as I was, I did something absurd. I asked for help. Specifically, I sent a message to Shannon Drayer on Twitter (rip), asking for any tips about how to navigate the clubhouse. Rather than send me some vague info, or leave me on read, or any of the other things she would have been well within her rights to do, she replied and said I could meet her in the press box and shadow her as needed that day. Sure enough, I arrived hours before first pitch, heart pounding, and there she was. I followed her everywhere, as she introduced me to folks, kindly explained the unwritten rules of the clubhouse, helped me navigate the elevators and did her best to get me in front of the players I needed to talk to. I’d never felt like a more grateful duckling, and it solidified me as a Shannon fan for life.

This is a long-winded series of anecdotes to get to the real question, but it’s an off-day during Spring Training and we are a community, not (just) a soulless pit of letters and numbers. Sometimes it’s nice to channel the beloved old-school blogger vibes. Anyway, what’s one of your favorite baseball celeb memories? Did you almost step on Mike Leake while he was lying on the floor? Did you lose by a country mile to Jonatan Clase in a foot race? Did you have to chase after a perhaps-not-sober Wade Boggs on a golf course? Did you flag a random guy over during BP to ask for an autograph without knowing who he was, only to show the accompanying picture to your family and learn it was mid-Cy Young Award-winning season Blake Snell? Did you have a near-death experience after choking on your coffee when Félix Hernández walked into Chace’s Pancake Corral while you were enjoying your Tuesday morning ritual? Lay it all on me (or try to guess which of these examples is made up)

The day has finally arrived – one that will decide Barcelona’s fate in the Copa del Reyif it has not already been decided.

Hansi Flick’s side faced hell at the Riyadh Air Metropolitano not too long ago, and the result on the night saw them eat four goals in a game that was marred by controversy.

Regardless of the refereeing situation and everything made of it in that game, the fact remains that Barcelona were outclassed and that the 4-0 loss was a kind result for them.

Tomorrow, they take to the field at the Spotify Camp Nou, striving to do the unthinkable – overturn that deficit. It will not be easy, nor is it widely considered possible. Making the impossible possible and the improbable probable, however, is what makes sport great.

Barça Universal brings you three talking points ahead of Barcelona vs Atletico Madrid.

1% chance, 99% faith

At 4-0 down, not many will back Hansi Flick’s Barcelona to come back against Atletico Madrid, irrespective of the attacking firepower they have in their ranks, simply because it is a task too difficult to accomplish.

Heading into 90 minutes, four goals down and needing at least five to take a clean win is easier said than done, especially when the opposition knows that all they have to do is sit tight and defend deep.

Barcelona are no strangers to scoring four goals in a game, and their average number of goals per game last season was close to that number. However, doing so on demand is very different from pulling it off organically.

Despite knowing well how there is a very low chance of a comeback, however, the team have made it clear that they retain complete faith in their abilities. Remontada’s cannot be forced, but if any team can do it, it is Barcelona.

The clash against Atletico Madrid tomorrow is perhaps the single-most demanding game that Barcelona have played under Flick, and the team are capable of creating more than enough chances to win.

Everything that it will boil down to, however, is their efficiency in front of goal and their defensive solidity at the back. Improbable, but not impossible.

Need for a surprise element

Aiming to mastermind a historic comeback. (Photo by Angel Martinez/Getty Images)

Having a clear-cut lead ahead of the second leg, it is likely that Atletico Madrid will not come to attack but to defend their advantage and get through the storm at the Spotify Camp Nou tomorrow.

Los Rojiblancos, thus, may well line up in a hyper-defensive setup to block Barcelona’s passing channels, crowd the area, and lower the chances of the Catalans getting shots away at goal.

Considering the situation, it is essential that Hansi Flick comes up with a novelty up his sleeve to force open channels in attack and catch the visitors off guard. After all, they will arrive having studied the team’s dynamics in recent games.

There are several variations Flick can opt for to catch Simeone by surprise, especially in attack, and how well that dynamic works out will account for the result massively.

Shifting Lamine Yamal to a central role and deploying Roony Bardgji for width on the right flank is one approach that could yield positive results. Raphinha and Ferran Torres will continue to start in attack alongside them in such an approach.

Another manoeuvre is starting Marcus Rashford on the left and shifting Raphinha to a central role – an idea that has worked on occasion this season but has also failed equally on other days.

A third interesting idea would be to start Dani Olmo as a false nine in place of Ferran Torres with Lamine and Raphinha flanking him. Fermin Lopez would start as the attacking midfielder in such a setup, with Pedri and Marc Bernal taking the reins in midfield.

No room for defensive lapses

As important as it is for Barcelona to score goals at the Spotify Camp Nou, keeping a clean sheet at the other end counts for as much. And while scoring four goals may not be impossible, not conceding seems to be a far bigger challenge.

If Barcelona are to complete the dreamy Remontada, the defence will have to play the game of their lives, and Flick will have to line up a setup that does not hand Atletico Madrid as much space as they did in the first leg.

The defence will have to play deeper, likely with an aerially dominating presence in Ronald Araujo. With Eric Garcia ruled out of the game through suspension, the captain has good chances of starting alongside Cubarsi and will be critical on the night.

Jules Kounde will have to replicate the good showing from the weekend and must be defensively solid down the right. 

Given how Atletico Madrid capitalised on the left flank in the first leg, it will be interesting to see if Flick opts for Joao Cancelo or Alejandro Balde at left-back.

Every goal that Diego Simeone’s side scores will demand an additional goal from the hosts, and chasing four goals already, there is no scope to be chasing any more. All eyes, needless to say, will be on Flick’s defensive plan.

For the first time since the spring training Grapefruit League slate began on February 20th, the New York Yankees will not play a baseball game today. Since we don’t have new Statcast data and game film to analyze, that makes today the perfect opportunity to kickstart what is, in my opinion, the best preseason series we do here at Pinstripe Alley: the annual Making the Team Meter.

For those new to Pinstripe Alley or who need a refresher: every year, we track the roster throughout the spring through this weekly series, helping fans keep pace with which players are most likely to break camp with the team. Here’s the key that we use:

As one can see, it’s fairly straightforward: red means that a player is almost certainly not going to make the roster, yellow tells us that a player has a shot if things break right, and green says, “We’ll see you in San Francisco for Opening Day on March 25th.”

Every spring, the pitching staff always generates the most discussion, and this year is no different. Heading into camp, the Yankees had a trio of starters already guaranteed to miss Opening Day — Gerrit Cole, Clarke Schmidt, and Carlos Rodón — while the bullpen has seen almost a complete makeover since last spring and will have several spots up for grabs. Since the start of camp, though, minor injuries may have put more spots in play, while multiple top prospects have captured a lot of attention with their performance on the mound.

Note that, within this list, I use the FanGraphs Depth Chart to decide whether to mark a pitcher as either a starter or a reliever. Because of this, several pitchers on the roster bubble — particularly prospects and non-roster invites — will be listed as starters to represent the fact that they will fill out the Scranton rotation; if they make the major league club, however, there’s a good chance they’ll work out of the bullpen. We’re also a little more lenient with the yellow ratings this early in camp because some names can truly come out of nowhere to make an impression. Call it the 2021 Lucas Luetge Principle.

The Yankees’ plan for the starting rotation has been clear for months. Max Fried will almost certainly get the ball on Opening Day, 2025 playoff phenom Cam Schlittler will get the ball behind him, and some combination of 2024 Rookie of the Year, new trade acquisition Ryan Weathers, and the second-year Will Warren will fill out the rotation behind them.

Although at the moment, I still expect that to be the case, two major wrenches have been thrown into the conversation. One, Schlittler was sidelined early in the spring due to back inflammation, and although manager Aaron Boone says that he will be ready to go Opening Day even if he’s only built up to 70-80 pitches instead of the normal 90-100 you’re looking for, until we see him pitch in a spring training game, we can’t mark him down as a certainty. And two, Elmer Rodriguez has looked electric in his two spring training starts, striking out five and walking just one in six innings of work; sure, he has a long way to go towards seizing a starting job out of camp, but as Joe Girardi said on the YES broadcast, Jordan Montgomery was able to do exactly that in 2017. How quickly Schlittler returns to the mound, and how Rodriguez looks in the World Baseball Classic, could upend our calculus on the Yankees’ rotation, and bears watching.

The bullpen, on the other hand, is much more unsettled. David Bednar will be the closer. Camilo Doval and Fernando Cruz will work the late innings in front of him. Tim Hill, Ryan Yarbrough, and Paul Blackburn will be there too (although it must be noted that any of the latter two could wind up in the rotation depending on injuries). That leaves two spots up for grabs. The early favorites are probably Jake Bird, who the Yankees acquired at last year’s Trade Deadline, Angel Chivilli (a more recent Rockies trade acquistion), and Cade Winquest, who they acquired in the Rule 5 Draft and thus must stay on the active roster all year. But at this point, it’s far too early to truly rule anybody out.

Anybody except the Yankees’ top pitching prospects, that is. Is the idea of putting Carlos Lagrange and his 103-mph fastball in the bullpen to start the year enticing? For sure. Would the Yankees much prefer to keep him working as a starter and possibly bring him up in, say, July or August, and unleash that 103-mph fastball in the starting rotation? Absolutely.

Next, let’s take a look at the catchers.

Last year was the first time in literal years that the Yankees had a true battle for the backup catcher job in spring training. This year, we once again now from the beginning of the spring who the Yankees’ main catchers are …albeit with a catch (rimshot). Austin Wells is the starter, certainly, and should he get hurt, J.C. Escarra will probably slide into the starting job. But will he be continuously rostered, or will the Yankees opt to use Ben Rice as the backup catcher to keep his bat in the lineup when they want to play Paul Goldschmidt against a tough lefty? It’s unlikely, as the Yankees have yet to give Rice any time behind the plate this spring, but it’s still early.

That being said, if Rice exclusively plays first base this week, then we can safely assume it’ll be Wells and Escarra. One can’t fully rule out a last-second trade acquisition either, like when the Yankees brought Jose Trevino aboard days before Opening Day 2022 to join Kyle Higashioka in a better tandem behind the plate than the in-house options of the moment.

Last, and certainly not least, we have the rest of the position players:

Let’s get one thing out of the way from the beginning. Yes, I love Spencer Jones’ moonshot home runs. Yes, the idea of him hitting behind/in front of Aaron Judge and giving opposing pitchers something truly scary to think about is really, really enticing. The truth is, though, he’s not making the Opening Day roster, and he may not even get the call-up to the Show this season. Jones has regularly performed well in spring training, only to strike out a ton in the minor leagues, and while there’s hope that his new Ohtani-esque batting stance may help him cut down on the K’s, we need to see it in action over a long period of time in Triple-A before we’ll even have a chance to see it in the Bronx. The contact issues simply need to improve in games that matter.

Moving on, let’s turn to the real drama: the bench. Once the Yankees re-signed Paul Goldschmidt, the bench immediately got crowded, as Amed Rosario, Oswaldo Cabrera, and Jasson Domínguez appeared to have the three non-catcher bench spots locked up; in fact, it was this jam that led to the speculation that the team could use Rice as the backup catcher, freeing up another spot. The last two weeks, however, have significantly changed this calculus.

For starters, barring an injury to Giancarlo Stanton or one of the outfielders, it seems likely that the Yankees will start the Martian in Triple-A Scranton so he can get everyday at bats against left-handed pitchers and regular reps in left field; reinforcing this inclination is the team’s recent decision to sign Randal Grichuk, a corner outfielder who has historically crushed southpaws, to a minor-league deal worth $2.5 million if he makes the team. Then, it was reported that Oswaldo Cabrera’s ankle hasn’t quite recovered to the point where they’re comfortable having him practice sliding, and he seems to be on track to start the season on the IL. And lastly, the organization has given Paul DeJong the number 18 — and while vets on minor-league deals don’t typically receive high numbers like prospects generally do, such a low number suggests the Yankees may be inclined to have him start the season as the starting shortstop. With Anthony Volpe out, the team doesn’t have a true backup shortstop to Caballero, as Rosario doesn’t seem like a viable option there anymore and the only other remote alternative with Cabrera injured is the standard third baseman Ryan McMahon.

Right now, FanGraphs lists the Yankees’ bench as Escarra, Goldschmidt, Rosario, and Grichuk, with the latter three serving as platoon partners of sorts with Rice, McMahon, and Trent Grisham, respectively. Brendan Kuty and Chris Kirschner of The Athletic have Escarra, Goldschmidt, Rosario, and Cabrera, seemingly believing that the utilityman will get up to speed in time — although it must be noted that their projection came before Grichuk’s addition. Both projections ignore Max Schuemann and Jorbit Vivas, a pair of infielders who may have a leg up in the roster battle because they’re already on the 40-man roster.

Personally, I think FanGraphs is likely right on the nose here; the Yankees can cover all infield positions besides shortstop with Rosario, and if McMahon takes reps at shortstop as reported, they won’t need to worry about carrying a dedicated backup to Caballero to start the season. This flexibility allows them to focus on their main need, a right-handed bat to balance out their very left-handed lineup. But it’s March 3rd, and Opening Day is March 25th — a lot always changes between now and then.

And that is where the Yankees roster stands coming into today. Do you agree with our assessments? Tune in again next week to see how things change after another week of game action.