Here's some of the top moments in Pittsburgh sports this week, with some of my thoughts as well.
5. Myles Garrett Reflects On Mason Rudolph Incident
STORY: Fresh off a suspension to end the season, the Browns rewarded defensive end Myle Garrett with a 5-year, $125 million contract extension. On Thursday, when Garrett was asked about the incident in which he swung his helmet at Steelers QB Mason Rudolph, Myles Garrett said, "my life's much bigger than one moment," and "that will just be a small bump in the road."
#Browns Myles Garrett on putting the Mason Rudolph incident behind him pic.twitter.com/iQTZVNRAFx
— Mary Kay Cabot (@MaryKayCabot) July 16, 2020SPIN: In a business sense, I understand why the Browns made the move. If they truly believe that this is just a one-time losing of his cool, and they've supported him and have had his back through the entire fallout of the helmet swinging incident, then they just locked up their best defensive player. Period. The guy that makes their defense better for years to come. How many wins does this translate to? Who knows. It's the Browns. They haven't done much winning with him to this point. Two other points from this news, though...
a. What he said about a "bump in the road" is telling. Yes, he should be able to move past this in his life but the fact that he made the claims about Mason Rudolph calling him a racial slur and never had anyone who was on the field back him up on it...and to have no resolution on whether or not that was true...bothers me. That's a heavy claim. It will forever stain Mason Rudolph whether he said it or not because there will be some who take Garrett at his word. Oh, and he legitimately could have split Rudolph's head open if he landed that swing. He was reinstated after only 6 games from that?
b. You see 5-years,$125 million. You look at TJ Watt, who's the same age and has slightly better numbers as a pass rusher and think...well what's he going to get when his rookie deal is up in 2021? And can the Steelers afford it? There may be a flat or lower cap in the NFL over the next couple years due to the money lost during this COVID-19 period. How hard does that make keeping someone like Watt?
4. First Look At Penguins Lines
STORY: The Penguins opened training camp at the UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex in Cranberry this week. Nine players were held out of day one of camp because of secondary contact with someone who tested positive for COVID-19. But it represented the first time the team was all back together at one time on the same ice.
SPIN: The return of Jake Guentzel had him right back on the first line, and rightfully so, with Sidney Crosby and for now, Conor Sheary. The second line featured the staple in Evgeni Malkin, alongside Bryan Rust and Jason Zucker. Those first two lines have a ton of speed and skill that should be so much fun to watch. I would think Zucker and Sheary might flip flop depending on production.
The third line had veterans Patrick Marleau and Patric Hornqvist with Jared McCann in the middle. The fourth, the shutdown group of Zach Aston-Reese, Teddy Blueger and Brandon Tanev.
Defensively, you'd think Kris Letang would match up with Brian Dumoulin again and Marcus Petterrsson has been skating alongside John Marino, which is a very interesting, young duo. Justin Schultz-Jack Johnson would likely follow.
In net, it figures to be Matt Murray at least to start, with Tristan Jarry waiting in the wings. How quick that hook be? This teams feels deep. Feels healthy. Feels focused. Feels like they know a great opportunity lies ahead.
3. No Long-Term Deal For Bud Dupree
STORY: The deadline to sign Dupree to a long-term contract was Wednesday at 4 pm. It came, went, and no agreement was made between him and the team. He filed a grievance late last week wanting to be on the defensive end franchise tag instead of the outside linebacker one, which he already agreed to for 2020.
SPIN: No surprise here. I didn't think there was much chance of Dupree getting a long-term deal, nor should he have in my mind. Dupree was great last year. Along with Watt, they were a nasty 1-2 punch on the ends getting after the quarterback. But, let's not forget Bud Dupree was the butt of many jokes in seasons previously and really showed the first signs of real promise last year. You don't give a guy a long term deal after just one year of great production. But with Cam Heyward, TJ Watt and Minkah Fitzpatrick all due to get paid in the next couple years, I doubt Bud Dupree stays beyond 2020.
The writing is on the wall for this to be his swan song. Let's see how much they can get out of him because who replaces him? Ola Adeniyi? Tuzar Skipper? This year's third round pick, Alex Highsmith? They'll need to spend this season figuring that out as well.
2. Polanco Now A No-Show
STORY: Polanco had been impressing new manager Derek Shelton in camp, until he was no longer on the field for workouts and scrimmages. Shelton would not comment on the situation when asked, probably because he was told not to divulge any information.
SPIN: Talk about "new normal." This is it. A guys disappears from team activities, and we're left to speculate what is going on. All dots would connect to it being COVID-19 related, but without a hard distinction and announcement that that's the case, who knows. Especially with Polanco, who's no stranger to the injured list. Are they just managing his body for the season? Has his shoulder fallen apart again? Is it a positive test?
All of the sudden, with an exhibition game against Cleveland Saturday then the season beginning on Friday of next week...is Polanco going to be out of the lineup for meaningful games? It looks like that might mean Guillermo Heredia out in RF. Yikes.
1. NCAA Guidelines Set
STORY: While not directly Pittsburgh-related, this news hits the college football world hard. The NCAA says college football players should be tested for COVID-19 at least 72 hours before a game, players with high-risk exposures to the coronavirus should be quarantined for 14 days and everybody on the sideline should wear a mask.
SPIN: The CAA canceled all fall sports, including Pitt football's game against Richmond. The fallout from this will continue to get worse I believe. There just aren't many schools, other than ones within the Power 5 conferences, that will be able to handle the scale and amount of resources needed to pull off a fall season. The college football season has never been in more peril than right now I would think, as conferences are trying to evaluate what it would take to meet the standards set by the NCAA.
There's a lot of money at stake, that's obvious to say. The protocols are being established, they've already put in the work on that. Now it's just a matter of....are we bold enough to try it?
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