Morning briefing: Who’s the most ‘Tom Brady-ish’ player in the NFL draft?
Dwayne Haskins recently was paid what has got to be the biggest compliment a young quarterback can receive.
He was described as “Tom Brady-ish.â€
“He’s the most like Tom Brady of anyone we’ve had,†former NFL quarterback Trent Dilfer told Sports Illustrated earlier this month, comparing the potential 2019 first-round draft pick out of Ohio State to the six-time Super Bowl champion quarterback of the New England Patriots.
“He sees it like Tom, he works at it, he plays that way. He plays on time, with his intellectual process. I don’t want to compare anyone to Brady, but he’s ‘Tom Brady-ish.’â€
Haskins likes the sound of that.
“That’s just a great comparison for me because I want to be like Tom Brady,†the former Ohio State quarterback told SI this week. “He’s one of the best quarterbacks of all time, if not the best. Just to be able to be in the same sentence as him as ‘Tom Brady-ish’ is pretty cool to me.â€
But if there’s any time Haskins might not want to be “Brady-ish†it’s today, as the NFL draft gets underway in Nashville. The man now considered by many as football’s GOAT wasn’t selected until the sixth round in 2000.
Incidentally, Haskins will not attend the draft. Instead, he and his family will be hosting a party at a bowling alley near their home in Gaithersburg, Md., with some 300 people expected to attend.
“You only get 10 or 15 people to go with you to the draft,†Haskins said Wednesday on “The Dan Patrick Show,†“so it wasn’t enough tickets for me.â€
Mad props
Here’s some prop bets for the first round of the draft:
— Will the top overall pick cry after his name is announced? Yes, 6-1; no, 1-15 (SportsBetting.ag);
— Will his mother be the first person he hugs? Yes, 1-1.8; no, 1.4-1 (SportsBetting.ag);
— What color suit will Heisman Trophy winner Kyler Murray wear? Black, 1-3.5; blue, 2-1; gray, 2.5-1; white or red, 3-1; no suit, 10-1 (MyBookie);
— Will a top-10 pick be traded today? Yes, 1-8; no, 4-1 (MyBookie);
— Over/under on the number of quarterbacks chosen, 3.5 (Sports Betting Dime);
— Over/under on how many Alabama players will be picked, 2.5 (Sports Betting Dime);
— Over/under on number of times TV analysts use the phrase “tremendous upside,†29.5 (not a real prop bet, but that sounds about right, doesn’t it?).
Enough said
Portland’s Damian Lillard had a simple, but fitting, response to some criticism from Oklahoma’s Paul George.
Lillard clinched the Trail Blazer’s first-round series win over the Thunder on Tuesday night with a ridiculous 37-foot jump shot at the buzzer. George, who happened to be defending Lillard on the play, described it as a “bad shot.â€
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Lillard retweeted George’s full quote, along with a three-letter comment: “LOL.†He still had 277 characters left before reaching the limit for a tweet, but Lillard clearly didn’t have any use for those.
Look it up
The Merriam-Webster Dictionary is looking extra swole these days, after bulking up with more than 640 new words this month.
Not familiar with the word “swole?†Well, now you can look up its definition — which is, “extremely muscular; having a physique enhanced by bodybuilding.â€
Its one of several new entries that, as CBS Sports’ Will Brinson pointed out, have connections to sports. Others include garbage time (“the final moments or minutes of a game in which one side has an insurmountable lead … and scoring is :typically easier because of looser defensive playâ€), heart-stopper ( “a shocking or thrilling occurrence or event, such as an excitingly suspenseful competition) and Tommy John surgery.
Twitter: @chewkiii
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