Chiefs, Bears add receivers; Bubbles bursting all over in conference tournament play

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🏈 Good morning everyone but especially to…

THE CHICAGO BEARS

While everyone was watching conference tournaments across the country Thursday night, the Bears He rudely decided to steal the show and continue renewing his squad. chicago star wide receiver acquired Keenan Allen from the Chargers in exchange for a fourth-round pick.

The Bears have already had a busy offseason and just added another weapon for whoever their next quarterback is. Allen has established himself as one of the most prolific wide receivers in the NFL, putting up big numbers well into his 30s. He has averaged 97.5 receptions and 1,130 receiving yards over the past seven seasons. During that period, only Davante Adams he has more receptions and only five receivers have more yards.

This deal earned the Bears an “A-” from our own Josh Edwardswho likes that the team is loading firepower for a rookie quarterback.

• Edwards: “Allen is not going to be part of the long-term plans, but many times teams do not do enough to support their rookie quarterback. You cannot say that Chicago is not making that effort under the assumption that it is taking to Caleb Williams.” No. 1 overall. The Bears pair DJ Moore with Allen, but the acquisition doesn’t preclude them from taking a top-10 receiver overall.”

Now the Bears just need to make their next quarterback official when they make the No. 1 overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft in just under six weeks.

👍 Honorable mentions

🏀 And not so good days for…

BUBBLE LOSERS

Like any good “Trailer Park Boys” plot, this time of year is all about bubbles, and a pair of NCAA Tournament hopefuls had theirs burst in conference tournament games Thursday. While several bubble teams are still alive in the battle for March Madness spots, some others were less fortunate.

• Coming to Thursday, stele forest was one of Jerry Palm, CBS Sports bracketologist “Next Four Out,” and the Demon Deacons didn’t help their case with a 12-point loss to Pitt.
• villanueva survived what initially seemed like a buzzer-beater at the end of regulation, but suffered a devastating overtime loss to Marquette anyway.
• Seton Hall and de San Juan, two of Palm’s “Last Four In,” went head-to-head in the Big East tournament. Rick Pitino’s Red Storm ended up defeating the Pirates, 91-72.
• Kansas State entered their Big 12 Tournament matchup against Iowa State as a member of Palm’s “First Four Out.” The Wildcats came out with a 19-point loss and ruined their hopes of making it to the dance.
• In a “double bubble” clash involving Ohio State and Iowa In the Big Ten Tournament, the top-ranked Hawkeyes laid an egg in a 90-78 loss.
• In the city of sin, Utah and Colorado He played another “double bubble” game, and the Utes shot 32.8% from three-point range en route to a 14-point loss.

Of course, the news wasn’t bad for all the bubble teams.

• Texas A&M won a much needed victory old miss80-71, in the SEC Tournament.
• After a bad end to the regular season, state of michigan got back on track with a 77-67 win Minnesota in the Big Ten tournament.
• North Carolina State kept his hopes of stealing a bid alive by defeating Duke by a score of 74-69 in the ACC Tournament.
• In the Pac-12 tournament, Oregon he did the same holding on to the rhythm UCLA68-66.

👎 Not so honorable mentions

🏈 Chiefs get a deep ball receiver for Patrick Mahomes

He bosses they haven’t had a major playmaker at wide receiver since they traded Hill Tyreek toward dolphins, but that hasn’t bothered them too much. Kansas City has won back-to-back Super Bowls with some pretty disappointing receiving room. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, right? … Mistaken.

Just minutes after the Bears closed the trade for Allen, the Chiefs signed the former crows and Cardinals the wide receiver Marquise “Hollywood” Brown to a one-year contract worth up to $11 million. Brown, the 25th overall pick in the 2019 NFL Draft, has the potential to be a star in Kansas City’s offense.

Brown hasn’t always played under the best of circumstances in his NFL career, but he still had 313 receptions for 3,644 yards and 28 touchdowns in 72 games. These circumstances will improve greatly with Patrick Mahomes throwing him the ball, and CBS Sports’ own Garrett Podell says that you have the opportunity to generate a connection in the field.

• Podell: “Along with the emerging Rashee Rice and Travis KelceMahomes now has three even stronger top options to choose from in 2024 as Márquez Valdés-Scantling, Skyy Moore and Justin Watson Everyone took turns contributing with varying degrees of success throughout the season. Now, the deep ball can return to Mahomes and the Chiefs’ arsenal for the first time since they traded Tyreek Hill to the Miami Dolphins in 2022.”

At this point, the rest of the NFL teams have to be shaking their heads. A three-peat for the Chiefs is now a little more likely.

⛳️ Three-way tie at the top of the leaderboard at TPC Sawgrass

After the first day of action in The Players Championshipthe top of the classification seems tremendously comfortable. Rory McIlroy, Xander Schäuffele and Wyndham Clark (-7) They were co-leaders when the first round was suspended due to darkness Thursday night.

McIlroy, who hasn’t been himself lately, was able to shake off his struggles and made a record of 10 birdies in the first round. Schauffele, on the other hand, has been cooking so far in 2024, and it doesn’t look like he’s going to slow down this weekend.

It must be recognized that Clark closed the first round very well with three consecutive birdies to tie McIlroy and Schauffele. Clark already has one win under his belt this year, at Pebble Beach, and now he’s looking for another. To make the next few days even more intriguing, two more golfers are right behind that leading trio at 6 under par through Round 1.

With Round 2 underway on Friday, the top of The Players Championship standings is as follows:

T-1. Xander Schäuffele (-7)
T-1. Rory McIlroy (-7)
T-1. Wyndham Clark (-7)
T-4. Nick Taylor (-6)
T-4. Matt Fitzpatrick (-6)

🏀 Celtics go crazy from 3 to secure a playoff spot

Did someone accidentally turn on the NBA Jam setting at TD Garden last night? Once the celts He lit up from beyond the arc, never let up and his three-point shooting propelled them to an impressive 127-112 victory over the Suns. Boston became the first NBA team to earn a playoff berth and Joe Mazzulla –Yes, the coach! — He even tried to block an opposing player’s practice shot. heading into a timeout.

Boston let him fly from three-point range, attempting 50 shots from downtown throughout the game. They ended up making a whopping 25 (!) of them, and for those like me who didn’t get straight A’s in high school math, that’s 50.0%. It was a ridiculous night for the Celtics with the entire team making shots from deep.

• Al Horford He was simply unconscious and made six of his 10 three-point attempts.
• Every Celtics starter took at least three shots from beyond the arc.
• This is now the third time this season that the Celtics have made 25 three-pointers.

According to SportsLine, the Celtics have the second-best odds to win the NBA title at +500. It’s not hard to see why when they make three-point shots look like a game of Pop-A-Shot at the local bar.

📺 What we will see on Friday

⛳️ The Players Championship: Round 27:30 a.m. on Golf Channel
🏀 Big Ten Tournament: Michigan State vs. No. 3 Purdue (M), 12 p.m. on Big Ten Network
🏀 SEC Tournament: Mississippi State vs. No. 5 Tennessee (M)1:00 p.m. on ESPN
🏀 SEC Tournament: No. 15 South Carolina vs. No. 12 Auburn (M)3:30 pm on ESPN
🏀 Big East Tournament: St. John’s vs. No. 2 UConn (W)5:30 pm on FOX
🏀 Big Ten Tournament: Ohio State vs. No. 13 Illinois (M)6:30 p.m. on Big Ten Network
🏀 Big 12 Tournament: No. 25 Texas Tech vs. No. 1 Houston (W)7 pm on ESPN+
🏒 Kings on Blackhawks8:30 p.m. on NHL Network
🏀 Falcons in Jazz9:30 pm on NBA TV