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Sergio Estrada-USA TODAY Sports
Tracking every move made as NFL free agency opens
NFL free agency has begun.
Kind of.
The league’s legal tampering window is open, which means starting at noon on Monday teams can begin negotiating with free agents. Technological advances have apparently made those negotiations rather expedient, as every year there is a flurry of activity right as the window opens.
Certainly it is technology, and not the fact that the entire NFL world was in Indianapolis just a week ago.
But we digress.

There’s a strange trend going on in media these days. Many media members have simply become cheerleaders. Apparently, ESPN Radio Syracuse doesn’t even hide their intentions.
According to Syracuse.com, radio host Brent Axe got the axe (see what I did there?) because the company president “believes the content of Axe’s show had become too negative toward Syracuse University sports.”
The station is owned by Galaxy Media Partners and the company’s CEO is Ed Levine.

The former 49ers quarterback is expected to have a market at the start of Monday’s negotiating period.
Free agent quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo is expected to be pursued by the Raiders and Texans when the negotiating window for free agency begins on Monday, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter. Schefter also notes that the Jets could get involved as well, but they’re in wait-and-see mode with Aaron Rodgers.

He’d never agree with this characterization, in part because Aaron Rodgers likely would never agree with anything I’d ever have to say. But with the NFL’s annual free-agency negotiating window open, this is not a subject for fair debate. Rodgers officially is holding the Packers and Jets hostage.

One of the best things about the magic of the NCAA Tournament is it usually delivers the greatest Thursday in all of sports.
From late morning on an otherwise routine day of the week until late night spins the first round of March Madness on day one. This Thursday could continue to be like no other.

There’s nothing like watching March Madness in person. OutKick will be in Birmingham and Greensboro for the first two rounds. Join us by getting your own seats through StubHub, the easiest place to buy/sell tickets to all the biggest games.

NCAA Tournament Top 5 First-Round Matchups
No.

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy was just as upset as every other Rutgers fan on Monday as the Scarlet Knights were left out of the field of 68 for the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament.
Despite being ranked 35th in college basketball analyst Ken Pom’s rankings, having a NET ranking of 40 and picking up victories over Purdue, Northwestern and Penn State, Rutgers was out of the tournament even as teams with lower NET rankings made it into the Big Dance.
Murphy tweeted his displeasure with the NCAA Selection Committee.

The reported move frees up cap space for New England ahead of free agency.
The Patriots are trading tight end Jonnu Smith to the Falcons, according to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport. New England gets a seventh-round pick in return and the team clears some cap space ahead of free agency.  
Smith was the No. 2 tight end for the Patriots behind Hunter Henry and he appeared in 14 games this past season, starting in eight of them. He caught 27 passes for 245 yards but failed to score a touchdown. Now with the Falcons, he’ll likely be behind former first-round pick Kyle Pitts.

The reigning champion, South Carolina, takes the No. 1 seed in this region.
Selection Sunday took place on March 12, meaning the women’s NCAA tournament is on the cusp of beginning.
The reigning champions and the now No. 1 seed in the Greenville 1 region South Carolina will take on No. 16 Norfolk State in the first round. South Carolina went 32–0 this season, becoming the only undefeated team during the year. 
The Greenville 1 region begins Wednesday, though, as Illinois and Mississippi State face each other to earn the No. 11 spot and matchup vs. No. 6 Creighton.

The flagship radio station of Syracuse University athletics parted ways with a host for being too negative on the air.
Brent Axe, a radio personality for ESPN Radio in Syracuse was fired over the weekend by Galaxy Media Partners, the local radio affiliate that hosted his show “On the Block with Brent Axe.”
The reason given for his firing? He was being too negative on his radio show with his commentary about Syracuse athletics.
But there’s a twist.

Seattle knew what it had in its quarterback before much of the public did.
More from Albert Breer: How the Daniel Jones Contract Negotiation Came Down to a Pinkie Swear Four Minutes Before the Deadline | Inside the Bears–Panthers Trade: Deal Was All About QBs for Both Teams | NFL Free Agency 2023: Who’s Going to Land the Big-Money Deals
John Schneider likes to look at the success of Geno Smith, and the Seahawks, in their first year post–Russell Wilson as a triumph of the culture that’s been built in the Pacific Northwest over the past 13 years.