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Heading into the 2024 college football season, Tennessee Volunteers edge rusher James Pearce Jr. looked like he would be one of the first picks in this year’s NFL Draft. However, after not quite living up to preseason expectations, there is a lot of debate about where he’ll now be selected.
In his Mock Draft 3.0, ESPN’s Field Yates has Pearce going 19th overall to the Tampa Buccaneers. It’s a pick that, as Mel Kiper Jr. explained on First Draft, is difficult to make sense of at this point.
“There’s some players,” Mel Kiper Jr. said. “And I think every evaluator will admit this, there’s some players you just don’t know. You really can’t feel strongly one way or another about a player. You almost have to throw your hands up and say, ‘I don’t get this. I can’t make a strong argument to take him or not take him.’ James Pearce Jr. is one of those guys because I thought going in, based on what we saw last year in 2023 that he would be, along with Mykel Williams, maybe the number one pick in the draft.”
Pearce didn’t have a bad season at Tennessee. He finished the year with 38 total tackles, 13 tackles for a loss, and 7.5 sacks. Those numbers aren’t terrible, but Pearce did see his sacks and tackles for loss totals decrease from the 2023 season.
“At pass rusher, he’s gonna get a ton of sacks, he’s gonna be out the wreaking havoc, and when you turned it on 27 wasn’t always doing that. So, to me, the flashes we saw this year — we did see some production, it wasn’t like he didn’t do anything — and he did get after things, and he was disruptive against the run. He did chase, he did hustle,” Kiper said. “But you didn’t see what you thought we would see. We didn’t get it on a week-to-week basis and when that happens you wonder, ‘Am I too low? To high? Or should I just say I don’t understand this player at all?’ I’m not going to say, ‘Hey, whatever happens in the NFL is gonna surprise me one way or the other.’ James Pearce Jr. I don’t have a good handle on.”
It’s still relatively early in the NFL Draft process. The NFL Combine is coming up at the end of February and leading into March. After that, are events like Pro Days as Pearce will have the chance to move up, or potentially slip further, in the draft?
“He’ll be one of those handful of players I think we can all say, we just don’t get. We just don’t understand, and we can’t really be confident — hey, you can be confident and still be right or wrong. You can be wrong on that too,” Kiper said. “But with James Pearce Jr. I have not really had a good grasp on where he belongs in terms of the first round of this draft.”
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Another program facing NCAA discipline over Connor Stalions scandal
Central Michigan is facing NCAA discipline over their small role in the Connor Stalions sign-stealing scandal. Central Michigan received a formal Notice of Allegations from the NCAA in late June, according to Tony Garcia of the Detroit Free Press. This stems from Stalions’ unexplained appearance on the Chippewa sideline during a Sept. 1, 2023 game against Michigan State. The school has 90 days to formally respond to the NCAA letter. In a statement to John Brice of Football Scoop, the school disputed the receipt of a formal NOI and said it was working toward a negotiated settlement with the NCAA. The Central Michigan portion of the Stalions scandal was a particularly wild one, as the NCAA confirmed that he appeared on the Chippewas’ sideline in disguise during that 2023 game. It remains unclear how Stalions gained access to the sideline, but it was considered part of the in-person sign-stealing ring Stalions is said to have constructed on the Wolverines’ behalf. It is unknown how severe Central Michigan’s punishment might be based on the NCAA’s findings. They will not be nearly as significant as the ones Michigan might face, but the Wolverines have sought to get out ahead of that with some self-imposed punishment.
Maple Leafs Top Prospect Shatters Expectations at World Junior Showcase
The World Junior Summer Showcase is in full swing, and Maple Leafs top prospect Ben Danford is shattering expectations, truly proving how good of a player he can be. The Toronto Maple Leafs' defensive prospect, Ben Danford, is among the 44 players who were invited to Hockey Canada's World Juniors Summer Showcase. Hockey Canada finally unveiled the 44 prospects who will head to Minnesota for the showcase, after they held the roster release back while the organization dealt with several injuries, which begins Sunday and runs through August 2 in Minneapolis. Defensive prospect Ben Danford is the only Maple Leafs player invited to the annual showcase, where Canada's World Junior staff will get their first look at what their team might look like for the 2026 World Juniors, which will also take place in Minnesota in December. Danford is being called the best player at the World Juniors Summer Showcase Danford has been exceeding expectations, and one source revealed that he has been the best player at the World Junior Showcase so far. The source said Danford is steady, smart, and hard to ignore on the ice. 'Ben Danford has been the best player at the World Junior Showcase he's steady, smart, and impossible to ignore. Makes every shift count, whether he's breaking up plays or starting the rush. Canada's blue line is in good hands.' - An unnamed source The Maple Leafs selected Danford with their first pick (31st overall) at the 2024 NHL Draft. During his visit to Toronto's development camp earlier this month, the defender revealed that he's receiving mentorship from current Leafs defensemen as well as some alumni like Mark Giordano. The 6-foot-2 Danford could make for an excellent fit for Canada should he make the team. He is responsible in his own end, and he demonstrated leadership capabilities when he was named captain of the Oshawa Generals ahead of the 2024-25 OHL season.
Commanders reportedly hesitant about one issue with Terry McLaurin deal
The 2024 offseason expanded the $30M-per-year wide receiver club to six members. D.K. Metcalf, Ja’Marr Chase and Garrett Wilson have taken it to nine this year. Terry McLaurin is undoubtedly pushing to bump that number to 10, after seeing 2019 Day 2 classmates Metcalf and A.J. Brown land among that contingent. McLaurin reported to training camp Sunday and landed on the active/PUP list. As our Rory Parks explained, skepticism exists about how injured the Commanders’ top wide receiver really is. An ankle injury has keyed the PUP stay, but it can be safely assumed McLaurin would be ready to practice if an extension comes to pass. Nevertheless, the Commanders have been surprised by the difficulty of these talks. Using an injury to avoid practicing while negotiating — developments the Jonathan Taylor and Micah Parsons sagas brought — represents a third tactic, joining the holdout and the increasingly utilized hold-in amid extension talks. McLaurin shifted from a holdout to the injury route; no matter how he is accomplishing not practicing, the seventh-year veteran is aiming to land a lucrative third contract. His age provides a complication for Washington. McLaurin is going into an age-30 season, separating him from Brown and Metcalf. Both Ole Miss products were drafted just before McLaurin, a 2019 third-round pick, but they are each two years younger. This strengthened their cases for big-ticket third contracts. McLaurin went first to ignite the second-tier boom on the receiver market in 2022, agreeing to a three-year, $69.6M extension. That shaped the Metcalf and Deebo Samuel extensions, both of which coming in higher than McLaurin’s despite the latter’s consistency with suboptimal quarterback situations. McLaurin’s AAV has dropped to 17th at wide receiver. The Commanders are prepared to extend their top wideout, but Sportskeeda.com’s Tony Pauline indicates the "holdup" is regarding the $30M-AAV number. Some around the league point to the team not wanting to go into that neighborhood for McLaurin, despite his five 1,000-yard seasons. Courtland Sutton and McLaurin are nearly the same age, and the Broncos’ top target signed a four-year, $92M extension. That matches where the Titans went for Calvin Ridley (now 30) in 2024. McLaurin, though, has a better resume than both and should be aiming higher. The Commanders have a Jayden Daniels rookie contract to structure another McLaurin extension around as well. Adam Peters was around for the 49ers’ 2022 Samuel extension but not Brandon Aiyuk‘s $30M-per-year deal. (The Samuel extension also did not work out for the 49ers, who proceeded with a salary dump of sorts by trading him to the Commanders.) The second-year GM taking a hardline stance with McLaurin would be an interesting route given the WR’s importance to a sudden contender. Peters confirmed talks are ongoing, with that comment coming after McLaurin expressed frustration about the negotiations. A potential gap between the pack of 20-somethings (and Tyreek Hill) north of $30M AAV and the Tee Higgins–Jaylen Waddle–D.J. Moore tier could be relevant here, and it will be interesting to see if McLaurin settles for something just south of that $30MM benchmark. Guarantees and contract structure, of course, will be important to determining the value as well. A short-term extension should be reached soon, per Pauline, but if the Commanders hold the line at or around $30M, the McLaurin matter could drag on for a while longer.
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Lakers coach JJ Redick issues challenge to Bronny James
The Los Angeles Lakers are looking for Bronny James to make some changes ahead of his second year in the NBA. James, the No. 55 pick in the 2024 draft, played in 27 games for the Lakers last season and started in one game. He averaged 2.3 points, .8 assists and .7 rebounds per contest. For James to improve on those numbers this season, head coach JJ Redick thinks the 20-year-old needs to change his physique. "The biggest thing for Bronny is that he has to get in elite shape," Redick said, per Dave McMenamin of ESPN. "That's the barrier of entry for him right now. And if he does that, I think he's got a chance to be a really fantastic player in the NBA." James didn't have much of a chance to get in elite shape before his rookie season. He played a shortened season at USC after suffering cardiac arrest on July 24, 2023. James made his debut for the Trojans on Dec. 10, 2023. Redick compared James' ceiling to Davion Mitchell of the Miami Heat and T.J. McConnell of the Indiana Pacers. For James to get there, he has to push past his fears of the prior cardiac arrest caused by a congenital heart defect. "I think we have all seen these amazing flashes of it from Bronny," Redick said. "And to get to that next level for him, it's cardio fitness. "He's cleared. ... I get that there's a history there of a really scary thing that he had to live through, and I think it's tough to push past certain points for him, but he's going to get there. He's going to get there." Based on Redick's comments, James has more to change than getting his 6-foot-3, 210-pound frame in shape for the upcoming season. He has to work on his mental fear of pushing his body too far. James' mental hurdle might be the biggest obstacle to his improvement as an NBA player.
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