{"id":780026,"date":"2026-02-27T14:25:12","date_gmt":"2026-02-27T14:25:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/780026\/"},"modified":"2026-02-27T14:25:12","modified_gmt":"2026-02-27T14:25:12","slug":"nfl-combine-day-1-standouts-max-scherzer-re-signs-with-blue-jays-nba-concern-meter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/780026\/","title":{"rendered":"NFL combine Day 1 standouts; Max Scherzer re-signs with Blue Jays; NBA Concern Meter"},"content":{"rendered":"

This is an article version of the CBS Sports HQ AM Newsletter, the ultimate guide to every day in sports. You can sign up to get it in your inbox every weekday morning here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Good morning and happy Friday! Just like that, the shortest month of the year is almost done. Carter Bahns with you to close out February and look ahead to the start of March in the world of sports. If one thing comes to mind when I think of March, it’s the NCAA Tournament. We have an absolutely massive weekend of college basketball ahead of us to help set the stage for the Big Dance, which is right around the corner. <\/p>\n

The NFL combine is also highly deserving of our attention over the next few days, and the push to the NBA playoffs is really heating up. <\/p>\n

Let’s talk about it. <\/p>\n

\ud83c\udfcb\ufe0f Five things to know Friday The NFL Scouting Combine is underway in Indianapolis. The first batch of players checked into the combine<\/a> on Thursday with edge rushers, defensive linemen and linebackers taking the stage first. Miami’s Rueben Bain Jr. was the talk of the day as arm length once again became a point of concern. Bain’s sub-31-inch arms are among the shortest for an edge rusher<\/a> in recent combine history. It was a good day to be Sonny Styles, though. The Ohio State product ran the fastest 40-yard dash<\/a> (4.46) of any linebacker and led the position with a 43.50″ vertical jump en route to our only “A+” grade<\/a> of the day. And on the defensive line, we gave Caleb Banks and Lee Hunter “B+” grades as top performers<\/a>.Max Scherzer will spend his 19th MLB season in Toronto. “Mad Max” has at least one more year in him, and he will return to the Blue Jays after agreeing to re-sign with the reigning American League champions. The 41-year-old pitcher\u00a0reportedly agreed to a one-year, $3 million contract<\/a> that is rich with incentives, and Scherzer is likely to climb into the top 10 in career strikeouts this season.The Jets and Titans pulled off a trade. It’s a player-for-player deal as New York will send Jermaine Johnson II to Tennessee in exchange for nose tackle T’Vondre Sweat. The trade will process in March when the new league year begins. We graded the transaction<\/a> and determined that the Jets came out ahead, but only slightly.More moves could be on the horizon as Anthony Richardson and Kayvon Thibodeaux are on the trade block.\u00a0The Colts reportedly gave Richardson permission<\/a> to seek a trade, which opens the door for him to potentially compete for a starting job outside of Indianapolis. The question is which team is willing to take a shot<\/a> on the oft-injured former first-rounder who has yet to latch on as a starter. In New York, the Giants appear ready to move on from Thibodeaux and are reportedly listening to offers<\/a> for the edge rusher. Also a former first-round pick, he has struggled over the last two years to replicate his stellar rookie production.Changes to college football’s targeting rule could take effect in 2026. The NCAA Rules Subcommittee proposed a one-year trial rule<\/a> that would no longer force players flagged for targeting in the second half of one game to miss the first half of the next contest. Instead, if the FBS and FCS Oversight Committees approve, players will only be disqualified through the end of their current game. Once rule changes make it this far in the process, they generally pass, so it is fair to assume that targeting will look different during the 2026 season. Numerous coaches have called for this exact adjustment. \ud83d\ude2c Do not miss this: Clippers break the NBA Concern Meter
\n Getty Images<\/p>\n

The final full month of the NBA season arrives on Sunday, so opportunities to shore up playoff positioning are dwindling. For those in full tank mode, that’s not so much of a problem as it is a relief. But for teams actively trying to win, all have at least some sense of desperation as they seek to attain their respective goals. John Gonzalez placed a handful of teams on the Concern Meter<\/a> and measured the amount of panic warranted for each situation. <\/p>\n

For the 10th-place Clippers in particular, the Concern Meter doesn’t go high enough to measure how dire things are in Los Angeles. <\/p>\n

Gonzalez: “They’re 13-18 away from the Ballmer Bowl\u2122\ufe0f, their point differential is minus-0.5, and they’re 14-22 against teams .500 or better. They’re also 19-29 when opponents score 100 or more. Reader, this is the NBA. Good chance that any given team goes for more than 100 on any given night.”<\/p>\n

In the Eastern Conference, the Knicks are in third place and five games clear of the play-in, but a few eyebrow-raising losses of late are not so easy on the nerves. That’s why John assigned them a 6.5 out of 10 on the Concern Meter. <\/p>\n

\ud83c\udfc0 Buckle up for six top 25 men’s college basketball showdowns
\n Imagn Images<\/p>\n

We’ve reached the penultimate weekend of the men’s college basketball regular season, and it is a doozy. There are a whopping six top 25 battles on the slate, and they begin tonight with a top-10 Big Ten clash between No. 3 Michigan and No. 10 Illinois, wherein the Wolverines can clinch sole possession of the conference title. <\/p>\n

If you only have the bandwidth to watch six games this weekend, these better top your list: <\/p>\n

No. 3 Michigan at No. 10 IllinoisNo. 11 Virginia at No. 1 DukeNo. 14 Kansas at No. 2 ArizonaNo. 16 Texas Tech at No. 4 Iowa StateNo. 17 Alabama at No. 22 TennesseeNo. 20 Arkansas at No. 7 Florida<\/p>\n

Other storylines to note include the fallout of this week’s UConn-over-St. John’s demolition. Are the No. 6 Huskies poised to roll their way to a No. 1 seed<\/a> in the NCAA Tournament? How will The No. 15 Red Storm respond when they host Villanova on Saturday? And in the Big 12, No. 5 Houston has some soul-searching to do amid a three-game losing streak<\/a>. <\/p>\n

\ud83d\udc4d\ud83d\udc4e The best (and not-so-best) of the rest
\n Getty Images
\n \ud83d\udcfa What we’re watching this weekend Friday <\/p>\n

\u26be Spring training: Marlins at Phillies, 1:05 p.m. on MLB Network
\u26f3 Cognizant Classic, second round, 2 p.m. on Golf Channel
\ud83c\udfc8 NFL Scouting Combine (DBs, TEs), 3 p.m. on NFL Network
\u26bd Aston Villa at Wolverhampton Wanderers, 3 p.m. on USA Network
\u26be Spring training: Dodgers at Giants, 3:05 p.m. on MLB Network
\ud83c\udfc0 Cavaliers at Pistons, 7 p.m. on ESPN
\ud83c\udfc0 No. 3 Michigan at No. 10 Illinois (M), 8 p.m. on Fox
\ud83c\udfc0 Nuggets at Thunder, 9:30 p.m. on ESPN <\/p>\n

Saturday <\/p>\n

\u26bd Lecce at Como, 9 a.m. on Paramount+
\u26bd West Ham United at Liverpool, 10 a.m. on USA Network
\ud83c\udfc0 Colorado at No. 5 Houston (M), Noon on ESPN2
\ud83c\udfc0 No. 11 Virginia at No. 1 Duke (M), Noon on ESPN
\ud83c\udfc0 Seton Hall at No. 6 UConn (M), Noon on FS1
\ud83c\udfd2 Penguins at Rangers, 12:30 p.m. on ABC
\u26bd Manchester City at Leeds United, 12:30 p.m. on NBC
\ud83c\udfc8 NFL Scouting Combine (QBs, WRs, RBs), 1 p.m. on NFL Network
\u26be Spring training: Twins at Red Sox, 1:05 p.m. on MLB Network
\ud83c\udfc0 No. 14 Maryland at No. 8 Michigan (W), 2:30 p.m. on Fox
\u26bd Chicago Fire FC at CF Montreal, 2:30 p.m. on Apple TV
\u26bd Genoa at Inter Milan, 2:45 p.m. on CBS Sports Golazo Network\/Paramount+
\ud83c\udfd2 Bruins at Flyers, 3 p.m. on ABC
\u26f3 Cognizant Classic, third round, 3 p.m. on NBC
\ud83c\udfc0 Rockets at Heat, 3:30 p.m. on Prime Video
\ud83c\udfc0 No. 14 Kansas at No. 2 Arizona (M), 4 p.m. on ESPN
\ud83c\udfc0 No. 16 Texas Tech at No. 4 Iowa State (M), 4 p.m. on CBS\/Paramount+
\u26bd Minnesota United FC at FC Cincinnati, 4:30 p.m. on Apple TV
\ud83c\udfc0 No. 17 Alabama at No. 22 Tennessee (M), 6:30 p.m. on ESPN
\ud83c\udfd2 Flames at Kings, 7 p.m. on NHL Network
\u26bd Real Salt Lake at Seattle Sounders FC, 7:30 p.m. on Apple TV
\ud83c\udfc0 Lakers at Warriors, 8:30 p.m. on ABC
\ud83c\udfc0 No. 20 Arkansas at No. 7 Florida (M), 8:30 p.m. on ESPN
\u26bd FC Dallas at Nashville SC, 8:30 p.m. on Apple TV
\ud83c\udfc0 No. 9 Gonzaga at Saint Mary’s (M), 10:30 p.m. on ESPN
\u26bd LA Galaxy at Charlotte FC, 10:30 p.m. on Apple TV <\/p>\n

Sunday <\/p>\n

\u26bd AC Milan at Cremonese, 6:30 a.m. on Paramount+
\u26bd Crystal Palace at Manchester United, 9 a.m. on NBC Sports Network
\u26bd Chelsea at Arsenal, 11:30 a.m. on NBC Sports Network
\ud83c\udfc0 No. 12 Duke at No. 21 North Carolina (W), Noon on ESPN
\ud83c\udfc0 No. 13 Ohio State at No. 15 Michigan State (W), Noon on Big Ten Network
\ud83c\udfc0 No. 4 Texas at No. 24 Alabama (W), Noon on SEC Network
\ud83c\udfc0 Spurs at Knicks, 1 p.m. on ABC
\ud83c\udfd2 Golden Knights at Penguins, 1 p.m. on TNT
\ud83c\udfc8 NFL Scouting Combine (OL), 1 p.m. on NFL Network
\u26be Spring training: Braves at Twins, 1:05 p.m. on MLB Network
\ud83c\udfc0 No. 8 Purdue at Ohio State (M), 1:30 p.m. on CBS\/Paramount+
\ud83c\udfc0 No. 3 South Carolina at No. 16 Kentucky (W), 2 p.m. on SEC Network+
\ud83c\udfc0 No. 5 Vanderbilt at Tennessee (W), 2 p.m. on ESPN
\u26bd Austin FC at D.C. United, 2:30 p.m. on Apple TV
\u26bd Juventus at Roma, 2:45 p.m. on Paramount+
\ud83c\udfc0 No. 9 Iowa at Wisconsin (W), 3 p.m. on B1G+
\ud83c\udfc0 No. 7 Oklahoma at Missouri (W), 3 p.m. on SEC Network+
\u26f3 Cognizant Classic, final round, 3 p.m. on NBC
\ud83c\udfc0 Timberwolves at Nuggets, 3:30 p.m. on ABC
\ud83c\udfc1 NASCAR: Texas Grand Prix, 3:30 p.m. on Fox
\ud83c\udfc0 No. 13 Michigan State at Indiana (M), 3:45 p.m. on CBS\/Paramount+
\ud83c\udfc0 No. 18 Baylor at No. 11 TCU (W), 4 p.m. on ESPN
\ud83c\udfc0 No. 6 LSU at Mississippi State (W), 4 p.m. on SEC Network
\ud83c\udfc0 Notre Dame at No. 10 Louisville (W), 4 p.m. on ESPN2
\u26bd Philadelphia Union at New York City FC, 4:30 p.m. on Apple TV
\u26bd SheBelieves Cup: United States vs. Argentina, 5 p.m. on TNT\/truTV
\ud83c\udfd2 Panthers at Islanders, 6:30 p.m. on ESPN
\u26bd Orlando City at Inter Miami CF, 7 p.m. on Apple TV
\ud83c\udfc0 No. 1 UConn at St. John’s (W), 7:30 p.m. on TNT\/truTV
\ud83c\udfc0 76ers at Celtics, 8 p.m. on NBC
\u26f3\u00a0 Jupiter Links Golf Club vs. Boston Common Golf, 9 p.m. on ESPN
\u26bd San Diego FC at St. Louis City SC, 9:15 p.m. on FS1\/Apple TV <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This is an article version of the CBS Sports HQ AM Newsletter, the ultimate guide to every day…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":780027,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[18234,80681,110476,7,110474,6060,155,110475,6,927,110473,110272],"class_list":{"0":"post-780026","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nfl","8":"tag-college-basketball","9":"tag-college-basketball-picks","10":"tag-college-basketball-predictions","11":"tag-football","12":"tag-max-scherzer-contract","13":"tag-mlb","14":"tag-nba","15":"tag-nba-power-rankings","16":"tag-nfl","17":"tag-nfl-combine","18":"tag-nfl-combine-results","19":"tag-nfl-combine-winners-and-losers"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116143059244920994","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/780026","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=780026"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/780026\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/780027"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=780026"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=780026"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=780026"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}