Lothrop Sports

The NFL offseason has been a has been a wild hurricane of activity. High level free agents and Super Bowl winners are swirling around to new teams, audacious trades have flung great players to new and exotic places, and the path to the draft is being cleared like trees on a country road after a windstorm. In the eye of this hurricane stand the (formerly hapless) Cleveland Browns. Throughout the first days of free agent negotiation, General manager John Dorsey has used the team’s ample cap space and alluring young talent to pick up contributors like defensive lineman Sheldon Richardson, linebacker Olivier Vernon, and offensive lineman Greg Robinson on good value deals. Dorsey also signed the explosive-but-troubled running back Kareem Hunt from the Commissioner's Exempt List to share backfield touches with star rookie rusher Nick Chubb once Hunt serves his 8 game suspension for violating the NFL’s domestic abuse policy. Aging linebacker and leading tackler Jamie Collins was cut befo...

Whenever individual awards, such as the Heisman Trophy or MVP awards, are handed out, there is always talk of whether a candidate has a signature play or not. Think Desmond Howard’s punt return and subsequent striking of the Heisman pose in 1991, Jameis Winston’s halftime Hail Mary against Boston College in 2013, or Lebron’s chasedown block against Golden State in the 2016 NBA Finals. However, rule changes in major sports, especially the American ones, are also subject to signature plays. Take this winter’s NFC Championship between New Orleans and LA. With the Saints driving and looking to seal up the game with a touchdown, Drew Brees took a 3rd-and-10 Shotgun snap from the LA 13 yard line. Brees threw a wheel route towards Tommylee Lewis for a first down, but before the ball could get there, Rams’ defensive back Nickell Robey-Coleman obliterated him with a nasty drop of the shoulder. It was clearly pass interference. Everyone and their grandmother knew it. Everyone, that is, except t...