Earlier today I was a guest on NewsTalk with Bruce DePuyt on News Channel 8 to discuss the Washington Capitals, Washington Nationals and the persistent rumors that one or more gay athletes in a major U.S. pro sport will come out of the closet soon. First up, the discussion of gay athletes. After that, the Caps & Nats. Enjoy.
And now, the Caps & Nats.
This is the first in a series of articles analyzing the needs of the Washington Redskins and how they should be addressed in the 2013 NFL Draft, which begins on Thursday. Previously published: Quarterbacks.
Next up: RUNNING BACKS
ON THE ROSTER NOW
Starters: Alfred Morris, Darrel Young
Top reserves: Evan Royster, Roy Helu
Also on the roster: Keiland Williams, Tristan Davis, Dorson Bryce, Eric Kettani
Draft Needs: None. Morris set the franchise record for rushing yards in his rookie season and Young plays close to a Pro Bowl level. Bryce and Kettani will need an injury to make the team, the practice squad seems like the best they could do. Ditto for Davis, but Keiland Williams, who has played with the Redskins before, has a chance to stick. Royster is a capable backup and Helu has shown real potential, particularly as a third down back, but he needs to prove he's fully recovered from the injury that cost him almost all of 2012.
Draft Prospects: This is a great draft to get a solid running back prospect in the middle rounds, but the Redskins have no big needs in the backfield. The Redskins could acquire someone like Marcus Lattimore or Le'Veon Bell in the 4th round, but with the Redskins sporting the top rushing attack in the NFL last season, it's hard to justify a pick at this position before rounds six or seven.
The Wizards missed the postseason for the sixth consecutive season, finishing with a record of 29-53.
The 2012-'13 season will be remembered for "What If", what if star point guard John Wall hadn't been injured out of the gate. When Wall made his first appearance on January 12th against the Atlanta Hawks at the Verizon Center, the Wizards playoff hopes had already been extinguished for all practical purposes. The Wizards were 1-13 heading to December and were 5-28 when Wall finally took the court for the first time.
Looking ahead to next season, Washington has seven players under contract. That number will almost certainly be nine, as Trevor Ariza and Emeka Okafor will likely exercise player options for a final year of their existing contracts. Ariza has $7.7 million dollars on the table, Okafor with nearly $14.5 to play another season with the Wizards. The only other player on the current roster likely to be pursued is free agent to be Martell Webster. Guard Garrett Temple played well filling in for the injured Bradley Beal and may also receive consideration.
The Wizards will again choose in the NBA draft lottery, with the order of selection determined on May 21st. The Wizards have a 2.5% of getting the number one overall pick and will pick eighth if the order holds by percentage. The Wizards also hold a pair of second round selections, their own pick and the New York Knicks selection.
Who will the Wizards target in the NBA draft? Much depends on what happens with free agents Ariza, Okafor and Webster. If Washington does not retain Webster, a small forward may be their first round target. In the back court, much depends on Temple and also last season's second round pick Tomas Satoransky, currently playing in Europe. Regardless of which players are brought back, a solid backup point guard should be on the wish list.
Wizards 2013-'14 Projected Roster
C
Emeka Okafor 6'10" 255
Kevin Seraphin 6'9" 275
F
Nene Hillario 6'10" 250
Jan Vesely 6'11" 240
Trevor Ariza 6'8" 210
Martell Webster* 6'7" 230
Trevor Booker 6'8" 240
Chris Singleton 6'8" 230
G
John Wall 6'4" 195
Bradley Beal 6'3" 210
Garrett Temple* 6'6" 195
Tomas Satoransky# 6'7" 195
* Free Agent
# Europe
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This is the first in a series of articles analyzing the needs of the Washington Redskins and how they should be addressed in the 2013 NFL Draft, which begins on Thursday. First up: QUARTERBACKS.
ON THE ROSTER NOW
Starter: Robert Griffin III
Top reserve: Kirk Cousins
Backups: Rex Grossman, Pat White
Draft needs: None. Griffin is apparently recovering at a remarkable rate, but even if he isn't prepared to start the 2013 season, the Redskins can turn to Cousins, who was very effective last season, and Grossman, who is very experienced and probably the best third-stringer in the league. White is training camp fodder who should be able to run the read-option during practices while RG3 gets back to 100 percent.
Draft prospects: If the Redskins draft any quarterbacks this year it is likely to be very late on the last day and someone capable of running the read-option. There aren't many of those around, but Jeff Tuel would be a nice pickup if he's available. That's not likely, though.
When I heard The Examiner would be dropping most of the paper this summer my first thought was: "What about the sports writers? What about John Keim and Rick Snider and the crew?"
Well, looks like Rick will be moving into a different area, which means DC is losing a terrific sports columnist. Happily, John Keim will be sticking around, not leaving the area and not stopping his Redskins coverage. Keim announced on his Twitter page today that he will be joining the Washington Post on July 1 to help cover the Washington Redskins.
Very pleased 2 announce that I'm sticking around. Will be joining @washingtonpost on July 1 to help w/the #Redskins coverage. Very pumped
— John Keim (@john_keim) April 22, 2013
This is great news, as Keim is one of the best beat reporters I've ever read. I'm relieved those of us who follow the Redskins will be able to continue to enjoy John's first-rate coverage.
Veteran free agent cornerback Quentin Jammer will be visiting the Washington Redskins today, as the team looks to fill out a critical roster need leading up to the 2013 NFL Draft, beginning Thursday.
The Redskins have less than $30,000 in salary cap space right now, so it is not clear how they can fit Jammer or any other NFL player under its cap, unless they choose to restructure some existing contracts, such as the ones belonging to OLB Brian Orakpo and/or LT Trent Williams.
Jammer has spent all 11 of his NFL seasons with the San Diego Chargers and has been a Pro Bowl in the past. However, quarterbacks have had a lot of success against Jammer the past few seasons. Opposing signal-callers had a 94.8 passer rating against Jammer in 2012, but that was superb compared to 2011, when quarterbacks had a 131.8 [yes, really!] passer rating against him. Jammer also gave up 8 TD passes in 2012, second-most among all NFL corners, and giving up touchdown passes -- particularly long ones -- was a major problems for the Redskins' defense last season.
However, Jammer is a veteran, a former first round pick and still knows a lot about how to play the position in the NFL. He's still available for a reason -- he hasn't been terribly good lately. However, the Redskins are not in a position to be too choosy at this point and having a look at Jammer is a very good idea.
no commentsJust four days away from the first round of the 2013 NFL Draft and the mock drafts writers across the Web have built a pretty consistent projection within the Top 6 draft selections. Several mock drafts within our database are also projecting trades, mostly projected at the sixth spot, owned by the Cleveland Browns.
The NFL Mock Draft Database has been updated this evening and our running total for mock drafts listed has hit 495 mock drafts. We can only imagine the amount of updates that will come in over the next four days. I would not be surprised if carpal tunnel syndrome is a listed ailment of mine come Thursday, given all the updates that will occur. So stay tuned here, we will keep the NFL Mock Draft Database updated.
The 495 mock drafts listed in the database are a broad array of writers, including major media sites like ESPN, Fox, Pro Football Talk, and CBS Sports, to newspapers, to official team sites, to the NFL Network, to professional NFL scouting sites, to long running NFL Draft sites, to fan created websites, to sports blogs, and to personal blogs. We utilize several search methods in reaching out and finding all these mocks, perhaps too many methods. Many of these mock draft writers have been listed in our Mock Draft Database for over a decade. Some are new. It's a broad array.
What we did today to give you an indication of what mock draft writers are projecting in totality is to munch together all mock drafts that were updated between 4/18/2013 to 4/21/2013 and then provide the projected leaders. When tallying all mock drafts updated between those dates, that is a mock munch of 88 different mock drafts.
Although we have the teams listed in the chart, remember, some mocks are projecting trade, particularly at the #6 spot. So the leaders are more the projected Top 6. So who are these 88 mock drafts projecting to be the top 6 picks? Well, here you go . . .
| PICK | PROJECTION | % MOCKS | RUNNER UP | |
| Kansas City | OT Luke Joeckel | 86% | Eric Fisher | |
| Jacksonville | LB Dion Jordan | 50% | Geno Smith | |
| Oakland | DT Sharrif Floyd | 69% | Star Lotulelei | |
| Philadelphia | OT Eric Fisher | 34% | Geno Smith | |
| Detroit | OT Eric Fisher | 39% | Ziggy Ansah | |
| Cleveland | CB Dee Milliner | 59% | Lane Johnson |
As you can tell, the mock writers have pretty solid consensus at most picks and seem absolutely convinced that Andy Reid will be taking the best offensive tackle in the draft, Luke Joeckel. Mock Writers are also pretty high on Sharrif Floyd going to the Raiders at the 3rd slot overall. We have not done a mock munch since mid-March, but the reality is, these spot have not really changed much at all, except the projection percentage have solidified at bigger percentiles.
We will make an all out attempt to do one more final mock munch before Thursday, but given the amount of updates that will roll in this week, we make no promises.
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With the Washington Wizards season over, having secured their fifth consecutive season under 30 wins, and the Washington Redskins looking ahead to the NFL Draft, we have just the Washington Nationals and Washington Capitals involved in the current DC Pro Sports Stock Report. So, let's take a look at who we have on the UP report and who we have ont he DOWN report.
So who gets a THUMBS UP?
Alexander Ovechkin. He is one of the hottest players in the National Hockey League. Ovi has clearly embraced and has grow fond and comfortable in the new system of bench boss Adam Oates. In fact, you can say that Ovi has returned to old form under Oates. That is a good thing considering both will be in Washington for years to come. Ovechkin is clearly the main reason the Capitals went from last in the Eastern Conference to the lead in the Southeast Division and own the NHL's longest winning streak, now at 8 straight games. In the 8 games in April, in which the Caps are 8-0, Ovi has scored 9 goals and added 4 helpers. He now leads the NHL in goals (28), is fourth overall in points (48) and leads the NHL in shots (198). He also become the most powerful force on the power play, just like years past, leading the NHL with 15 power play tallies, 6 ahead of the nearest skater.
Nicklas Backstrom. Another big part of Ovechkin's surge has been the synergy with Nicklas Backstrom. Backstrom has rejoined Ovi on the top line and has had a terrific April, notching 13 assists in 8 games, most of those to Ovechkin. He has regained the mantle as one of the NHL's most prolific passers. He is 11th overall in the NHL in points (44) and third overall in assists (38). Backstrom has also posted a .513 faceoff percentage.
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Ross Detwiler dominates the Miami Marlins in a 6-1 Nats win
Ross Detwiler threw 107 pitches in Miami last night -- almost all of them fastballs -- and it was enough to dominate once again, only this time his relief pitching didn't screw him over and the Washington Nationals walked away with a 6-1 win. The victory improves the Nationals to 9-6, good for second place in the NL East with a big divisional series against the Mets coming up this weekend in Queens.
In a rotation with Stephen Strasburg, Gio Gonzalez, Jordan Zimmerman and Dan Haren, Detwiler is often forgotten and he's certainly not the name people remember. He's been the best pitcher on the staff through three starts this season, but only got his first win last night because the bullpen has not been able to hold the leads he's handed them. That wasn't a problem last night, though, as Tyler Clippard and Rafael Soriano shut the door for once, combining for two hitless, scoreless innings with three strikeouts between them.
Detwiler was fantastic again, pitching 7 innings and giving up only 7 hits and one run while striking out five and walking none. The performance lowers his ERA to 0.90, sixth-lowest in the Majors. That number would be even lower if not for a blown call at home plate by umpire Greg Gibson, who started to call Chris Valaika out after he was clearly tagged by catcher Kurt Suzuki, but Gibson changed the call at the last second.
Manager Davey Johnson came out to argue, to no avail. "I said, `You had it right, and then you changed it," Johnson said. "We survived it."
It wasn't all good pitching, though. The Nats got some good hitting from Bryce Harper, Steve Lombardozzi, Kurt Suzuki and Adam LaRoche. Harper, his head and stomach reeling from the flu, broke out of his recent slump and went 4-5, with a double, a run and an RBI to raise his batting average to .364. Lombardozzi, batting second, went 2-5 with a run, boosting his batting average to .381. LaRoche went 2-4 with a run and RBI, while Suzuki swung the big wood, going 2-3 with a double,a 5th-inning home run, 2 runs and 2 RBI. Suzuki is now hitting .360 and leading the team with .800 slugging percentage.
The Nationals began to take control of the game in the second inning when LaRoche and Ian Desmond both singled and were driven in by a Roger Bernandina groundout RBI and a Suzuki sacrifice fly. That 2-0 lead held until the top of the 5th, when Suzuki led off the inning by swattiing a 3-2 pitch 377 feet over the left field wall for a 3-0 lead. The Marlins cut the lead back to two when the scored their phoney-baloney run thanks to a missed call by the home plate umpire.
The Nats got it back in the 6th when Bryce Harper scored after Adam LaRoche singled to left. They were not done. In the seventh, Lombardozzi singled to center, getting Suzuki across the plate to increase the lead to 5-1. In the 9th, Jayson Werth walked and eventually scored when Harper scratched out an infield single to shortstop. That put the lead ta 6-1, the final score.
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