Month: December 2023

The Philadelphia Eagles announced on Monday that three-time All-Pro linebacker Shaquille Leonard has signed a one-year deal with the organization.

The former Indianapolis Colts LB was deciding between the Eagles and the Dallas Cowboys, making visits to both teams over the last week, but he ultimately decided on Philadelphia.

Leonard has played his entire six-year NFL career with the Colts, who released him on November 21 after his playing time and production has diminished. Leonard, a three-time Pro Bowler, had two back surgeries in 2022, and has been struggling to recapture his old form. The 28-year-old has just 65 tackles, but also hasn’t recorded a sack or forced fumble in his nine games of play this season.

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Pittsburgh Steelers coach Mike Tomlin said Monday that quarterback Kenny Pickett underwent surgery for a high ankle sprain to “accelerate the healing process” to his right ankle. Pickett will be out for Thursday’s game against the New England Patriots.

Pickett injured his ankle with just over five minutes left in the second quarter, when he pulled down to the ground while running under pressure. He had reportedly been dealing with a right ankle issue coming into Week 13, and while he walked off the field, he was noticeably in pain. Backup QB Mitch Trubisky replaced Pickett and stayed in for the rest of the game. with the Steelers losing 24-10.

Tomlin declined to give a specific timetable for the quarterback’s return, but said that is it not expected to be season-ending: “They’ll always come out of the O.R. with some information in that regard, but I’m just not privy to it as I sit here today. That’s why I framed it the way that I framed it. Rest assured, he won’t be available this week.” Quarterback Mitch Trubisky took over for Pickett in Sunday’s loss to the Arizona Cardinals and will start against the Patriots, with Mason Rudolph serving as back-up.

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Despite an undefeated 13-0 record and winning the ACC Championship, all while playing with their third-string quarterback, the Florida State Seminoles will not be competing for a national championship. Hours after winning the ACC title with a 16-6 victory over Louisville, the ‘Noles were not selected as one of four teams to compete in this year’s College Football Playoff on Sunday. The four teams selected are: No. 1 Michigan, No. 2 Washington, No. 3 Texas and No. 4 Alabama.

Before this year, the CFP Selection Committee had never kept an unbeaten Power 5 conference winner of the playoffs; however, the ‘Noles were left out due to the season-ending injury to QB Jordan Travis.  Backup quarterback Tate Rodemaker took Travis’ place, before he also was sidelined with a concussion and freshman Brock Glenn had to play quarterback in the ACC Championship Game.

After Sunday’s announcement was made, Florida State athletics director Michael Alford released the following statement: “The consequences of giving in to a narrative of the moment are destructive, far reaching, and permanent. Not just for Florida State, but college football as a whole. The argument of whether a team is the ‘most deserving OR best’ is a false equivalence. It renders the season up to yesterday irrelevant and significantly damages the legitimacy of the College Football Playoff. The 2023 Florida State Seminoles are the epitome of a total TEAM. To eliminate them from a chance to compete for a national championship is an unwarranted injustice that shows complete disregard and disrespect for their performance and accomplishments. It is unforgiveable. The fact that this team has continued to close out victories in dominant fashion facing our current quarterback situation should have ENHANCED our case to get a playoff berth EARNED on the field. Instead, the committee decided to elevate themselves and ‘make history’ today by departing from what makes this sport great by excluding an undefeated Power 5 conference champion for the first time since the advent of the BCS/CFP era that began 25 years ago. This ridiculous decision is a departure from the competitive expectations that have stood the test of time in college football … Wins matter. Losses matter. Those that compete in the arena know this. Those on the committee who also competed in the sport and should have known this have forgotten it. Today, they changed the way success is assessed in college football, from a tangible metric – winning on the field – to an intangible, subjective one. Evidently, predicting the future matters more. For many of us, today’s decision by the committee has forever damaged the credibility of the institution that is the College Football Playoff. And, saddest of all, it was self-inflicted. They chose predictive competitiveness over proven performance; subjectivity over fact. They have become a committee of prognosticators. They have abandoned their responsibility by discarding their purpose – to evaluate performance on the field. Our players, coaches, and fans – as well as all those who love this sport – deserve better. The committee failed college football today.”

‘Noles coach Mike Norvell said in a statement: “I am disgusted and infuriated with the committee’s decision today to have what was earned on the field taken away because a small group of people decided they knew better than the results of the games,” Norvell said in a statement. “What is the point of playing games? Do you tell players it is OK to quit if someone goes down? Do you not play a senior on Senior Day for fear of injury? Where is the motivation to schedule challenging nonconference games? We are not only an undefeated P5 conference champion, but we also played two P5 non-conference games away from home and won both of them. I don’t understand how we are supposed to think this is an acceptable way to evaluate a team. … What happened today goes against everything that is true and right in college football.”

The No. 5 ranked Florida State will face the two-time defending national champion Georgia Bulldogs (No. 6) in the Capital One Orange Bowl on Dec. 30.

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The Milwaukee Brewers have agreed to a landmark deal with their No. 1 prospect, outfielder Jackson Chourio, worth $82 million over eight years, with two additional club options that could bring the full deal to 10 years. The 19-year-old has yet to make his MLB debut, making this the richest contract ever given to a player who has yet to play an MLB game.

Chourio has been in professional baseball for nearly three years, playing just six games with the Triple-A Nashville Sounds after having spent the first five-and-a-half months of the 2023 season with the Double-A Biloxi Shuckers.  The Brewers signed the Venezuelan native as an international free agent in January 2021 and gave him a signing bonus of nearly $2 million.  He hit nearly .300 in the Dominican Summer League in 2021 and in 2022, rising through three minor-league levels to finish with a .288/.342/.538 batting line. He hit .283/.338/.467 in 2023 and added both power and speed to his game, hitting 22 home runs and stealing 44 bases, both career highs by far.

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