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Oakland-based TV show about 13-foot-tall Black man gets standing ovation at SXSW premiere

by www.sfgate.com Leave a Comment

Last week at the South by Southwest film festival in Austin, Texas, Oakland filmmaker Boots Riley rolled up to a theater in a pink lowrider and was greeted with a hero’s chant: “Boots! Boots! Boots!”

Best known for his 2018 debut feature film , “Sorry to Bother You,” which also screened at SXSW, Riley was at the festival in support of his new Amazon Prime show, “I’m a Virgo.” Riley has been a fixture in the Bay Area for decades as a rapper with The Coup and the supergroup Street Sweeper Social Club, which also features Rage Against the Machine’s Tom Morello. Both of those projects are rooted in his history of activism, which began during his teenage years at Oakland High School.

The show is set to make its streaming debut in summer 2023, with no official release date announced, but SXSW attendees were treated to a preview of the first four 30-minute episodes. It is scheduled to screen early in the Bay Area as well, on the closing night of SFFILM in late April.

“I love coming to South By, because out of all the film festivals, it’s the drunkest,” said Riley in an introduction to the film. “And a lot more rowdy and fun, the kind of theaters that I grew up going to where we yell at the screen.”

The premise of the show revolves around a 13-foot-tall Black man named Cootie (played by Jharrel Jerome of “Moonlight”) whose parents have kept him hidden from the world — until he befriends a group of young political organizers who introduce him to activism, fast food and thumping hip-hop subwoofers.

“This was a hard one to pitch,” said Riley. “And I think the result is an ‘I told you so.’”

The show has a surreal feel similar to films by Michel Gondry (“Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind”). There’s an emphasis on practical effects rather than CGI, and Gondry collaborator Maxwell Orgell helmed the production design. Walton Goggins ( “Righteous Gemstones” ) plays an Iron Man-esque vigilante simply known as “The Hero,” but the lines between superhero and supervillain aren’t particularly clear. This is largely inspired by Riley’s childhood obsession with comic books.

“When I look back on it now, it sounds like a psychotic break. I was doing gymnastics, throwing ninja stars… You know, like Daredevil — he doesn’t really have any powers. I could just do that,” he told journalist Hunter Harris in a SXSW panel discussion. “The things that kind of got me off of that at first was [listening to] Prince and then getting involved in political organizations. Because that mindset would have led me to becoming a cop — that’s what superheroes are.”

If the standing ovation after the two hours of television is any indication, Riley’s fans will be thrilled with the mix of fantastic elements and political commentary in “I’m a Virgo.” And although most of the interior filming was done in New Orleans, there are plenty of nods to Bay Area culture, including a sideshow and references to Marshawn Lynch and the Raiders. When asked what it means to set his work in Oakland, Riley responded that it’s important for him to be grounded in the setting to tell an authentic story.

“I want to have enough mastery of my surroundings — what they look like, what they feel like, how they live in these places — to use them as colors in my palette.”

Major ice storm sweeps across U.S., canceling flights and leaving 250,000 without power in Texas

by www.cbsnews.com Leave a Comment

Winter weather brought ice to a wide swath of the United States, leaving more than 250,000 customers without power in Texas on Wednesday morning. Thousands of flights were canceled or delayed Tuesday and Wednesday, while icy conditions on the roads brought traffic to a standstill and caused numerous crashes.

At least eight deaths in Texas are blamed on the storm.

As the ice storm advanced eastward on Tuesday, watches and warnings stretched from the western heel of Texas to West Virginia. Several rounds of mixed precipitation — including freezing rain and sleet — were in store for many areas through Wednesday, meaning some regions could be hit multiple times, the federal Weather Prediction Center warned.

Numerous auto collisions were reported in Austin, Texas, with at least one fatality, according to the Austin Fire Department. In Travis County, Texas, which includes Austin, police and sheriff’s deputies have been responding to new crashes about every three minutes since 8 a.m. Tuesday, according to the Austin-Travis County Traffic Report Page.

More than 1,400 flights scheduled for Wednesday nationwide had already been canceled by Wednesday morning, according to the tracking service FlightAware. The list for cancelations included both major airports in Dallas and airports in Austin, Texas, and Nashville, Tennessee.

On Tuesday, more than 900 flights to or from the major U.S. airport hub Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport and more than 250 to or from Dallas Love Field were canceled or delayed, according to FlightAware.

Power outages in Texas grew from about 6,000 customers on Tuesday to 251,000 Wednesday morning, as tracked by the site poweroutage.us . About 125,000 of those affected were customers of Austin Power, CBS Austin reported .

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said Tuesday that the outages were due to factors such as ice on power lines or downed trees, and not the performance of the Texas power grid that buckled for days during a deadly winter storm in 2021 .

“The power grid, itself, is functioning very efficiently as we speak right now, and there is not anticipated to be any challenge to the power grid in the state of Texas,” Abbott said . “It’s important to remember that local outages are not a reason to say there is a problem with the power grid.”

In Texas, a sheriff’s deputy who stopped to help the driver of an 18-wheeler that went off an icy highway on Tuesday was hit by a second truck that pinned him beneath one of its tires, according to the Travis County Sheriff’s Office. About 45 minutes after the crash on State Highway 130, the deputy was freed from the wreckage and taken to a hospital, where he was in surgery Tuesday afternoon, officials said. The deputy is expected to survive, officials said.

In another wreck, a Texas state trooper was hospitalized with serious injuries after being struck by a driver who lost control of their vehicle, said Steve McCraw, director of the Texas Department of Public Safety.

“The roadways are very hazardous right now. We cannot overemphasize that,” Abbott said.

In Arkansas, Republican Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders declared a state of emergency Tuesday because of the ice storm. In her declaration, Sanders cited the “likelihood of numerous downed power lines” and said road conditions have created a backlog of deliveries by commercial drivers.

One of the main thoroughfares through Arkansas — Interstate 40 — was ice-coated and “extremely hazardous” in the Forrest City area on Tuesday, according to the city’s fire department. Pictures posted on social media showed the crumpled cab of a semi-trailer.

The department responded to two bad wrecks and about 15 other crashes Tuesday morning, Division Chief Jeremy Sharp said by telephone. In many of the crashes, the drivers pick up speed on the highway but run into trouble when they reach a bridge, he said.

“They hit the ice and they start wrecking,” he said.

“When I-40 shuts down like that, that can be hours of waiting,” said John Gadberry, who lives in Colt, Arkansas, not far from the highway. “I-40 is usually one of the first things that freezes over due to its slight elevation.”

By late Tuesday morning, I-40 was cleared and traffic had resumed, the Arkansas Department of Transportation announced. The interstate connects Little Rock, Arkansas, to Memphis, Tennessee.

The storm began Monday as part of an expected “several rounds” of wintry precipitation through Wednesday across Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Tennessee, according to National Weather Service meteorologist Marc Chenard.

“Generally light to moderate freezing rain resulting in some pretty significant ice amounts,” Chenard said.

“We’re expecting ice accumulations potentially a quarter inch or higher as far south as Austin, Texas, up to Dallas over to Little Rock, Arkansas, towards Memphis, Tennessee, and even getting close to Nashville, Tennessee,” according to Chenard.

The flight disruptions follow Southwest’s meltdown in December that began with a winter storm but continued after most other airlines had recovered. Southwest canceled about 16,700 flights over the last 10 days of the year, and the U.S. Transportation Department is investigating.

The weather service has issued a winter storm warning for a large swath of Texas and parts of southeastern Oklahoma and an ice storm warning across the midsection of Arkansas into western Tennessee.

A winter weather advisory is in place in much of the remainder of Arkansas and Tennessee and into much of Kentucky, West Virginia and southern parts of Indiana and Ohio.

Baseball’s Most Valuable Teams 2023: Price Tags Are Up 12% Despite Regional TV Woes

by www.forbes.com Leave a Comment

Last season’s record revenue for Major League Baseball translates into all-time-high valuations for its teams.

By Mike Ozanian and Justin Teitelbaum

T he eroding economics of regional sports networks made little difference: Major League Baseball teams are still hot assets. Before Arte Moreno pulled the plug on selling his Los Angeles Angels in January, he would have gotten at least $2.7 billion, or $280 million more than the MLB record $2.42 billion that Steve Cohen paid for the New York Mets in 2020, according to people familiar with the sale process.

The average MLB team value is up 12% this year, to $2.32 billion. During the 2022 season, revenue (net of stadium debt service) increased 7.8%, to an all-time high of $10.3 billion. The top-line gain was driven by a 64% increase in ticket revenue (including postseason and spring training), to $2.4 billion (the 2021 season started with nearly all ballparks under capacity restrictions) and a 35% increase in premium seating (suites and club seating) revenue, to $$1.16 billion. But operating income (in the sense of earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) came in at an average of $17.7 million per team, down 20% from the previous season as player costs (salaries, bonuses and benefits) rose 13%, to $5.2 billion, and an increase in SG&A expenses.

Among the league’s 30 teams, geography and regional sports network economics played pivotal roles in our valuations, especially with the recent bankruptcy filing of Diamond Sports Group, which has the local media rights to 14 of MLB’s 30 teams. The Angels benefit from being in Southern California — where, like in New York, Chicago and Boston, buyers are willing to play a premium price —and are televised on Diamond Sports Group’s Bally Sports West, a profitable RSN that’s unlikely to cut its $112 million rights fee to the team when it emerges from bankruptcy. (For the annual rights fee for all 30 teams last season, see the table below.)

MLB RSN Rights Fees and Viewership

The New York Yankees, baseball’s most valuable team, are worth $7.1 billion, 18% more than a year ago. The Bronx Bombers, who collected $143 million in cable money in 2022, are televised on the YES Network, the most-profitable and most-watched RSN in the country. YES throws off about $400 million in operating income (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) and averaged 227,000 households for Yankee games in 2022. (Full disclosure: I’m co-host of the Forbes SportsMoney show, which airs on YES.) The Yankees have been MLB’s top-valued team every year since the list was first published in December 1998.

Alas, not all teams are as fortunate as the Angels or Yankees to play in big markets and have deals with profitable RSNs. The Lerner family has been trying to sell the Washington Nationals for over a year. Despite the Nationals’ revenue ($356 million in 2022) falling in the top half of MLB, the team has not been able to attract a serious offer above $2 billion. One reason: the Nationals and Baltimore Orioles, co-owners of MASN, the RSN that televises their games, have been entangled in an ugly legal dispute for many years regarding how much money the Nationals should get in rights fees.

All told, baseball’s 30 teams took in $2.3 billion in local television revenue in 2022, or 22% of their $10.44 billion in total revenue (before debt service). By contrast, during their most recently completed seasons, NHL teams got $838 million, or 14% of their revenue from local television, while the NBA took in $1.31 billion, or 13% of their overall revenue from local television rights. (In the NFL, except for the $107 million that teams got for selling their home preseason games last season, all media revenue is split evenly among the 32 teams.)

Media experts say the teams most at risk of having their local television fees cut are the Arizona Diamondbacks, Cincinnati Reds, Cleveland Guardians, Colorado Rockies, Minnesota Twins, Pittsburgh Pirates, Oakland Athletics and San Diego Padres because the deals the RSNs have with the teams are no longer economical for the sports networks. We kept the values of all these teams, save the Rockies and Padres, the same as they were a year ago. We nudged up the Rockies 6%, to $1.475 billion, and the Padres 11%, to $1.75 billion, because their stadium revenue (tickets, suites, advertising) should compensate for any decline in local TV revenue.

Methodology: Forbes’ team values are enterprise values (equity plus net debt) based on historical transactions and the future economics of the sport and each team. Revenue and operating income (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) are for the 2022 season and are net of revenue sharing, competitive balance taxes and stadium revenue used for debt service. Our figures also include revenue and expenses from non-MLB events at the stadium that go to team owners, include spring training games and the revenue and expenses for team-owned minor league teams. Ownership stakes in regional sports networks, as well as related profits or losses, are excluded from our valuations and operating results, as are investments in real estate and other businesses. (For our all-inclusive sports ownership valuations, see our annual Sports Empires ranking.) Sources include sports bankers, team and league executives, public documents like leases and filings related to public bonds, and media rights experts. Click here for the full list of values and additional information on every team.

MLB’S MOST VALUABLE TEAMS 2023

1. New York Yankees

Value: $7,100 M

One-Year Change: 18%

Owner: Steinbrenner family

Operating Income: $16.3 M

2. Los Angeles Dodgers

Value: $4,800 M

One-Year Change: 18%

Owner: Guggenheim Baseball Management

Operating Income: $14.3 M

3. Boston Red Sox

Value: $4,500 M

One-Year Change: 15%

Owner: John Henry, Tom Werner

Operating Income: $71.6 M

4. Chicago Cubs

Value: $4,100 M

One-Year Change: 8%

Owner: Ricketts Family

Operating Income: $57.2 M

5. San Francisco Giants

Value: $3,700 M

One-Year Change: 6%

Owner: Greg Johnson

Operating Income: $74.9 M

6. New York Mets

Value: $2,900 M

One-Year Change: 9%

Owner: Steve and Alexandra Cohen

Operating Loss: -$138.5 M

7. Los Angeles Angels

Value: $2,700 M

One-Year Change: 23%

Owner: Arturo Moreno

Operating Income: $35.8 M

8. Atlanta Braves

Value: $2,600 M

One-Year Change: 24%

Owner: Liberty Media

Operating Income: $51.2 M

9. Philadelphia Phillies

Value: $2,575 M

One-Year Change: 12%

Owner: Middleton family, Buck family

Operating Loss: -$3.7 M

10. St Louis Cardinals

Value: $2,550 M

One-Year Change: 4%

Owner: William DeWitt Jr

Operating Income: $43.1 M

11. Houston Astros

Value: $2,250 M

One-Year Change: 14%

Owner: Jim Crane

Operating Income: $44.3 M

12. Texas Rangers

Value: $2,225 M

One-Year Change: 9%

Owner: Ray Davis

Operating Income: $58.1 M

13. Seattle Mariners

Value: $2,200 M

One-Year Change: 29%

Owner: John Stanton, Chris Larson

Operating Income: $83.8 M

14. Toronto Blue Jays

Value: $2,100 M

One-Year Change: 18%

Owner: Rogers Communications

Operating Loss: -$33.7 M

15. Chicago White Sox

Value: $2,050 M

One-Year Change: 16%

Owner: Jerry Reinsdorf

Operating Loss: -$53.4 M

16. Washington Nationals

Value: $2,000 M

One-Year Change: 0%

Owner: Lerner Family

Operating Income: $45.1 M

17. San Diego Padres

Value: $1,750 M

One-Year Change: 11%

Owner: Peter Seidler

Operating Loss: -$55.2 M

18. Baltimore Orioles

Value: $1,700 M

One-Year Change: 24%

Owner: Peter Angelos

Operating Income: $64.7 M

19. Milwaukee Brewers

Value: $1,600 M

One-Year Change: 25%

Owner: Mark Attanasio

Operating Income: $22.1 M

20. Colorado Rockies

Value: $1,475 M

One-Year Change: 6%

Owner: Charles Monfort, Richard Monfort

Operating Loss: -$13.1 M

21. Detroit Tigers

Value: $1,450 M

One-Year Change: 4%

Owner: Ilitch family

Operating Loss: -$29.5 M

22. Minnesota Twins

Value: $1,390 M

One-Year Change: 0%

Owner: Pohlad family

Operating Loss: -$30.3 M

23. Arizona Diamondbacks

Value: $1,380 M

One-Year Change: 0%

Owner: Ken Kendrick

Operating Income: $28.3 M

24. Pittsburgh Pirates

Value: $1,320 M

One-Year Change: 0%

Owner: Nutting family

Operating Income: $51.5 M

25. Cleveland Guardians

Value: $1,300 M

One-Year Change: 0%

Owner: Paul Dolan, David Blitzer

Operating Income: $38.3 M

26. Tampa Bay Rays

Value: $1,250 M

One-Year Change: 14%

Owner: Stuart Sternberg

Operating Income: $9.5 M

27. Kansas City Royals

Value: $1,200 M

One-Year Change: 8%

Owner: John Sherman

Operating Income: $27.8 M

28. Cincinnati Reds

Value: $1,190 M

One-Year Change: 0%

Owner: Robert Castellini

Operating Loss: -$12.6 M

29. Oakland Athletics

Value: $1,180 M

One-Year Change: 0%

Owner: John Fisher

Operating Income: $62.2 M

30. Miami Marlins

Value: $1,000 M

One-Year Change: 1%

Owner: Bruce Sherman

Operating Loss: -$0.5 M

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Ranking all 32 NFL teams based on their free agency moves, plus top five bargain signings so far

by www.cbssports.com Leave a Comment

USATSI

Welcome to the Thursday edition of the Pick Six newsletter!

If you’re like me and you’ve been scoring at home, then you know that we are now in Day 117 of the Aaron Rodgers trade watch.

At some point, the Jets are likely going to trade for Rodgers, but until then, it seems they’re keeping themselves busy by pulling off other trades.That’s right, the Jets pulled off a trade on Wednesday and we’ll be covering all the details in today’s newsletter. We’ll also be ranking the teams that have done the best in free agency so far.

As always, here’s your weekly reminder to tell all your friends to sign up for the Pick Six newsletter. To get your friends to sign up, all you have to do is click here and then share this link with them. All right, let’s get to the rundown.

1. Today’s show: Breaking down C.J. Stroud’s Ohio State Pro Day

With NFL Draft season now in full swing, you’ll be hearing a lot about our “With the First Pick” podcast over the next month. That’s our draft podcast that’s hosted by Ryan Wilson and former Vikings general manager Rick Spielman.

For today’s episode the two recorded the show from Columbus, Ohio. They don’t usually record from Columbus, but they were there on Wednesday to watch C.J. Stroud at Ohio State’s Pro Day.

Wilson came away impressed with Stroud’s performance, “I thought he had a really good day, I thought he made a lot of great throws.”

As for Spielman, he was watching with the eye of a former GM and he offered plenty of insight.

  • Stroud did a little bit of everything. “I think what he did at the combine — and what I thought was one of the best quarterback workouts I’ve ever seen at the combine — I thought that just carried over into today’s pro day,” Spielman said. “You saw him throw short, intermediate and the deep ball. He moved around in the pocket. He got an opportunity to throw to his receivers today on his own home turf and he took advantage of that opportunity.
  • What Spielman was looking for. “The one thing I wanted to see was his feet and how coordinated he is when he’s setting up in the pocket, how the ball’s coming off his hand,” Spielman said. “I mean it’s ridiculous how smooth and easy that throwing motion is, and the velocity he’s putting on the ball, you’re seeing balls that are thrown 60 to 70 yards down the field when he’s moving around in the pocket. There’s no question about his arm talent.”

After watching Stroud’s workout, Spielman thinks Stroud might have taken a small step closer to being the No. 1 overall pick.

“I think he keeps getting closer and closer to being that QB1 for Carolina,” Spielman said.

Speaking of Carolina, the Panthers were WELL-REPRESENTED at the pro day with nearly a dozen people from the organization in attendance, including : Owners David and Nicole Tepper, general manager Scott Fitterer, head coach Frank Reich, assistant general manager Dan Morgan, VP Samir Suleiman, offensive coordinator Thomas Brown , quarterbacks coach Josh McCown , senior assistant Jim Caldwell, scouting director Cole Spencer and scout Joel Patten.

That contingent, along with Spielman and Wilson, will all be making their way down to Tuscaloosa today so they can watch Bryce Young at Alabama’s Pro Day.

If you want to hear Wilson and Spielman break down Stroud’s pro day, you can do that by clicking here . You can also watch today’s show on YouTube by clicking here .

Stroud wasn’t the only player at Ohio State’s Pro Day and if you want to know how everyone else did, then you’ll want to check out our full breakdown of the event by clicking here .

2. Jets have a busy day: New York signs Mecole Hardman after trading away Elijah Moore

The Jets pulled off a trade on Wednesday, but it didn’t involve Aaron Rodgers, and at this point, I’m pretty sure they’re just messing with everyone.

In yesterday’s trade, the Jets shipped Elijah Moore off to Cleveland in exchange for a draft pick.

Here’s a look at the trade details :

  • Browns receive: Elijah Moore and 2023 third-round pick (74th overall)
  • Jets receive: 2023 second-round pick (42nd overall)

Thanks to the trade, the Jets now have two consecutive picks in the second round (42 and 43), and because of that, it wouldn’t be completely surprising to see at least one of those two picks included in a package for Rodgers.

As everyone knows, if there’s a trade in the NFL , we almost always hand out grades, so obviously we had to do that for this deal.

The man in charge of handing grades today was Tyler Sullivan and here’s what he came up with:

  • Browns grade: A-. “This was a savvy move for a Browns team that needed a secondary receiver opposite of Amari Cooper . Instead of shipping away a first-round pick to acquire Denver’s Jerry Jeudy (a player Cleveland had reportedly been linked to), they buy low on a former second-round pick in Moore, who has shown flashes in his career.”
  • Jets grade: B+. “The Jets’ wide receiver room was getting way too crowded and Moore was clearly the odd man out. So, New York ended up moving up a round in the draft by attaching a third-round pick to a player who likely wasn’t in its plans to begin with, which is not too shabby.”

You can check out Tyler’s full explanation for each grade by clicking here .

Although the Jets traded away a receiver, they also added one in the form of Mecole Hardman. The former Chiefs receiver agreed to terms on a one-year deal that’s worth up to $6.5 million . With Garrett Wilson , Allen Lazard and Hardman, the Jets have a pretty solid receiving group, they now just need someone who can throw them the ball.

In other Jets news, the team is believed to be interested in adding Odell Beckham Jr . and you can check out all the details on that story by clicking here .

3. Ranking all 32 teams based on the moves they’ve made so far

With most of the biggest names on the free agent market now signed, we thought that now would be a good time to go through and rank how EVERY single team did during free agency this year. Since Cody Benjamin is the most trustworthy person I know, we decided to let him handle the rankings.

Cody looked at every move that’s been made this offseason, including trades, and ranked each team based on how they did. With that in mind, let’s check out his top five and bottom five.

1. Lions . “They addressed glaring secondary holes both aggressively and frugally, adding a trio of physical starters in CB Cameron Sutton , CB Emmanuel Moseley and S C.J. Gardner-Johnson for less than $50M combined.” 2. Jets. “In a league full of teams starving for difference-making QBs, they’re primed to get a near-Tom Brady-level rental in Aaron Rodgers . Unless the eventual price tag is inexplicably massive, it’s a big win for a playoff-caliber roster.” 3. Bears . “QB Justin Fields finally has a legit No. 1 WR in D.J. Moore thanks to their trade down from the No. 1 pick. OG Nate Davis should help up front. And both RB D’Onta Foreman and TE Robert Tonyan should be rugged red-zone options.” 4. Broncos . “Did they outbid themselves for OT Mike McGlinchey and OG Ben Powers ? Perhaps. But Sean Payton is right to reinvest in the trenches, seemingly shifting the offensive approach around the ground game that helped QB Russell Wilson stay comfortable for so long in Seattle.” 5. Giants . “Your view of Big Blue’s offseason depends almost entirely on what you make of QB Daniel Jones . He may not yet be a sure thing as a downfield passer, but New York isn’t ridiculously overpaying for an efficient, athletic, 25-year-old playoff winner under center…His new weapons, TE Darren Waller and WR Parris Campbell , are big injury risks but clear upgrades. And LB Bobby Okereke should help the middle of the defense.”

28. Packers . “Green Bay’s done very little to upgrade Joradn Love’s supporting cast, retaining only special teams standouts Keisean Nixon and Rudy Ford while holes at WR, TE and DL remain.” 29. Chargers . “A mega extension for QB Justin Herbert might salvage an otherwise ho-hum offseason, which was destined following their spending spree in 2022.” 30. Cardinals . “They must be saving their money for something. It’s understandable they didn’t wanna pay massive bucks to keep DL Zach Allen , or bid for CB Byron Murphy coming off injury, but that means Jonathan Gannon’s inherited defense is still devoid of many building blocks.” 31. Rams . “Their biggest additions are merely offensive starters coming back from injury: QB Matthew Stafford , WR Cooper Kupp , etc. Otherwise they’ve been content to sell, parting ways with Pro Bowl-caliber starters like CB Jalen Ramsey , OLB Leonard Floyd and LB Bobby Wagner .” 32. Ravens . “There’s really no other place to put the Ravens until they resolve their QB situation.”

If you want to check out Cody’s full list, and trust me, you do, then you’re going to want to be sure to click here .

4. Power ranking the NFC teams after nearly two weeks of free agency

Now that we just got done ranking each team by how well they did in free agency, we’re going to rank each team by how good they actually are. On Tuesday, we unveiled our AFC Power Rankings, and today, we’ve got our NFC Power Rankings.

This ranking is basically taking a look at who we think the best teams in the NFC are now that free agency is mostly done. With that mind, here’s our post-free agency rankings of each NFC team, courtesy of Jeff Kerr.

1. Eagles Cowboys 49ers Saints Seahawks Commanders Buccaneers

One thing that stands out to me here is that the LIONS are ranked fourth overall and the ranking actually makes some sense. Also, you’ll notice that the Packers are nowhere to be found in Kerr’s top 10.

We only listed the top 10 NFC teams here, but if you want to know where the Packers and the five other NFC teams ended up, you’ll have to click here to see Kerr’s full ranking .

5. Top five bargain signings in free agency

The teams that tend to do the best in free agency are the ones that get the biggest bang for their buck and no one understands that more than CBSSports.com’s Jared Dubin, who loves a good bargain more than anyone, which is why he only shops at the Dollar Store. Because of that, we had Dubin come up with a list of the best bargains in free agency so far.

Here are his top five bargains:

  • Chauncey Gardner-Johnson signs with Lions (1 year, $8 million). “Last season’s Lions secondary left a lot to be desired. Detroit finished the year ranked 23rd in Football Outsiders’ pass defense DVOA. The Lions went out and got three new starters for the defensive backfield, each of whom has the versatility to play multiple spots. And they did it at a fairly low cost. Cameron Sutton’s contract pays him a max of around $11 million per year (and his 2023 cap number is just north of $3 million); Emmanuel Moseley got just $6 million in total; and Gardner-Johnson signed a one-year, $8 million pact.”
  • Rashaad Penny signs with Eagles (1 year, $1.35 million). “Penny has averaged north of 6 yards per carry twice in four years, and he’ll be playing behind the NFL’s best offensive line and alongside a quarterback whose skill set should help make him an even more efficient ball-carrier. This is a low-risk, very-high-upside move, even when you factor in his injury history.”
  • Vonn Bell signs with Panthers (3 years, $22.5 million). “Bell is a perfect fit for new defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero’s defense… A versatile player who can fill almost any role you ask a safety to play and who has experience working in a variety of coverage schemes, Bell should help the Panthers leverage the narrower skill sets of Jeremy Chinn and Xavier Woods , because he can work alongside either or both of them at the same time.”
  • D’Onta Foreman signs with Bears (1 year, $2 million). “Now six years removed from the torn Achilles that threatened to ruin his career, Foreman carries 203 times for 914 yards and five scores last season, finishing 10th in the NFL in yards after contact per rush and averaging 5.0 yards per carry on shotgun runs, which is key on a team featuring Justin Fields.”
  • Charles Omenihu signs with Chiefs (2 years, $16 million). “Among the 214 defensive linemen who rushed the passer at least 100 times last season, according to TruMedia, Omenihu generated pressure (a sack, hit, or hurry) on the 15th-largest share of those pass-rush snaps, with his 13.7% rate ranking on par with players like Demarcus Lawrence and Brian Burns .”

Dubin actually listed a total of 10 bargain players and you can see his full list by clicking here .

6. Rapid-fire roundup: Raiders tight end diagnosed with cancer

It’s been a busy 24 hours in the NFL, and since it’s nearly impossible to keep track of everything that happened, I went ahead and put together a roundup for you.

  • Foster Moreau diagnosed with Hodgkin lymphoma. The former Raiders tight end, who became a free agent last week, announced on Twitter yesterday that he’ll be taking some time away from football after being diagnosed with Hodgkin lymphoma. The cancer was discovered while he was going through a physical with the Saints’ medical staff. For more details on Moreau’s diagnosis, be sure to go here .
  • Russell Wilson underwent knee surgery. Earlier this offseason, the Broncos quarterback had arthroscopic surgery on his left knee . The good news for Denver is that not only is Wilson expected to be fully healthy for the 2023 season, but the team thinks he’ll be ready to roll when OTAs kick off next month.
  • Mystery bidder emerges for Commanders . The bidding process for the Commanders has been pretty secretive, but it seems that the identity of another bidder has emerged. According to ESPN.com , Canadian billionaire Steve Apostolopoulos is one of three known bidders looking to buy the team. To check out a full list of bidders, be sure to go here .
  • Raiders sign Austin Hooper . With Darren Waller and Moreau both not returning to Las Vegas this year, the Raiders were in serious need of some tight end depth and they added some on Wednesday by signing Hooper . The 28-year-old caught 41 passes for 444 yards and two touchdowns last season for Tennessee. In his seven-year career, Hooper has two different seasons where he caught at least 70 passes, so don’t be surprised if he easily tops last year’s numbers while playing for the Raiders in 2023.
  • Tony Pollard signs his franchise tag. The Cowboys running back is now officially under contract after signing his tag on Thursday, according to ESPN.com . The two sides now have until July 17 to work out a long-term deal. If that doesn’t happen, then Pollard will play the 2023 season on a one-year deal worth $10.09 million.

Windows break at multiple San Francisco high-rises during storm

by www.sfgate.com Leave a Comment

Windows from multiple high-rises in San Francisco broke as an “ explosive ” cyclone swept through the region Tuesday.

While unusually powerful winds knocked down power lines, trees and even semitrailers , windows broke at four separate high-rise structures: 50 California St., Salesforce East, the notorious Millennium Tower and 1400 Mission St., a mixed-use residential building in the Mid-Market area, Patrick Hannan, a spokesperson for the San Francisco Department of Building Inspection, told SFGATE.

“All four have received notices of violation requiring that the windows be secured, that the glass be replaced as soon as possible, and that the building management provide an evaluation by a licensed engineer architect of all the buildings’ windows to confirm they are safe, stable and secure within 14 days,” Hannan said.

On Tuesday afternoon, a glass window shattered between the 13th and 14th floors at 50 California, he said. Meanwhile, about a block away, a window broke on the 49th floor of the Millennium Tower, the infamous luxury skyscraper that grabbed headlines when it tilted and sank about 18 inches , sparking a yearslong saga. About a mile and a half away, one window broke on the fifth floor at 1400 Mission St., a 15-story residential building near Civic Center. However, Salesforce East appears to have sustained the most damage: “There was one window broken on every floor between the 11th and 30th floors,” Hannan said.

Jonathan Baxter, a spokesperson for the San Francisco Fire Department, told SFGATE that he believes these incidents are related to the severe March 21 storm. National Weather Service meteorologists were so stunned, they wrote that Tuesday’s storm marked an extreme in what is already one of the most “ extraordinary ” winters to date.

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This is hardly an isolated event.

Just one week earlier, window panes flew out of the former Bank of America building during a similar storm with winds so powerful, it left hundreds of thousands of PG&E customers in the dark.