The Giants answered some major questions on the offensive side of the ball Friday night when they drafted center John Michael Schmitz with the 57th overall pick and, later, traded back up to the 73rd overall pick to take receiver Jalin Hyatt, who was a dynamic playmaker at Tennessee.
This coupled with the Giants selection of cornerback Deonte Banks, and Joe Schoen had another stellar draft night for Big Blue.
Read more from my story about these players on FOX SPORTS NEW JERSEY.
As I wrote for Fox Sports New Jersey on Friday evening;
"A wild off-season dedicated toward securing a trade with the Green Bay Packers for quarterback Aaron Rodgers wound up producing a uneven opening two rounds of the NFL Draft for the New York Jets.
This is what happens when a team like Gang Green has to trade a first and second round pick to get a future Hall of Fame quarterback, and as a result, General Manager Joe Douglas was unable to truly match the magic he had a year ago in the draft.
The Jets selected defensive end Will McDonald IV with the 15th overall pick of the first round to mostly negative reaction from Jets fans, who were disappointed a left tackle didn’t fall to them.
The response was much more cordial in the second round as the Jets nabbed center Joe Tippmann from Wisconsin. A 6-foot-6 beast of a man, who fits an huge need in the middle of the Jets beleaguered offensive line."
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The New York Jets and Green Bay Packers have finally agreed to a deal. Aaron Rodgers is coming to the Big Apple.
The Jets agreed to mortgage a big part of their future in draft capital in order to get the four-time League MVP and Super Bowl champion to New Jersey to play for Gang Green. Will it work? That is the million dollar question.
So that's it, the Jets got their man and can now focus on building an offensive line around him in the draft with the picks they do have this coming Thursday.
While the Jets are giving up a lot. Don't tell it to Jets fans, who are of course giddy at the moment.
Mets staff ace Max Scherzer has been hit with a 10-game suspension by Major League Baseball for violating the prohibition of foreign substances, according to Mets beat reporter Anthony DiComo.
This is really no surprise. Once Scherzer was ejected from Wednesday's game against the Dodgers, he was at great risk of getting the automatic suspension for having an illegal substance on his hands.
Umpiring crew cheif Dan Bellio, who was the crew chief at the Mets-Dodgers series called Scherzer's hand the "stickiest" he had ever seen.
Scherzer plead his case that he did everything the umpires asked him to do to clean his hand, and said the stickiness came from rosin (which is legal if applied on the mound).
The Mets will likely appeal one would imagine. A ten game suspension means Scherzer would likely lose two starts at most before being allowed to return to the rotation.
Max Scherzer was ejected for having what Phil Cuzzi's umpiring crew deemed to be a foriegn substance on his pitching hand, yet the former Cy Young Award winner pleaded his case to the media afterwards that he did everything within the legal boundries of the rules.
Scherzer recounted to reporters that he cleansed his hands with alcohol after the second inning, and the only substance on his hands were rosin (which is a legal substance, pitchers can use it) and sweat.
The New York Rangers made a massive statement on Tuesday night in Newark, pounding and pushing around the New Jersey Devils to a tune of 5-1 in Game 1 of the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Veteran Chris Krieder was unstoppable, as he notched a pair of power play goals to set the tone, while the Devils -- despite attempting more shots on goal, 28 to the Rangers 23, couldn't get much done against Igor Shesterkin.
CAVALIERS 107 - KNICKS 90
The Knicks had no answers for the Cleveland Cavaliers Tuesday night, falling 107-90 in Game two, as the series now shifts to Madison Square Garden, even at a game a piece.
New York had no answer for Darius Garland, who put down 32 points on 8-of-17 shooting for Cleveland. Former Net Caris LeVert was also a prickly thorn in the Knicks side, adding 24 points off the bench for the Cavaliers.
New York trailed by only three points, 25-22 after the first quarter, before Cleveland exploded in the second quarter, doubling up the Knicks 34-17 in the frame. They would never look back the rest of the way.
The Knicks had trimmed the deficit to a single point, 25-24, on a pair of R.J. Barrett free throws, before Cleveland went on a 15-4 run to increase their lead to 12-points with 5:07 to go before the half.
Julius Randel led the way for the Knicks with 22 points, while Jalen Brunson contributed 20 points and six assists.
Expect a wild, and raucous crowd at the Garden for Game 3.
METS 4 - ATHLETICS 3 - 10 Innings
Talk about a hard earned victory. That is exactly what the Mets did on Sunday afternoon by the Bay in Oakland, California, holding off a the A's in a 4-3 extra inning thriller to complete a weekend series sweep.
The Mets head to Los Angeles riding a four-game winning streak and a record of 10-6.
New York led 2-1 going into the bottom of the eighth inning when things got real interesting. John Curtiss couldn't get out of the inning as he labored against the A's, eventually serving up a two-run double to Shea Langeliers to put Oakland in front for the first time all day 3-2.
The Mets would load the bases, but Eduardo Escobar grounded out, ending the inning.
Later, Jimmy Yacabonis worked in and out of trouble in the bottom half of the ninth thanks in major part to a spectacular grab by Brandon Nimmo in left-center robbing Jace Peterson of a certain RBI base hit.
In extra's the Mets scratched out a run on a wild pitch that went to the backstop, scoring Escobar to put the Mets back in front 4-3.
In the bottom half of the 10th, David Robertson had to work out of trouble. He fielded a bunt down the third base line, double-clutched his attempt and still threw Tyler Wade out at third for the first out.
After a passed ball moved the runners to second and third, Robertson got Connor Capel to ground out hard to Alonso covering first; the runner on third didn't break for the plate.
Finally, Esteury Ruiz grounded to Escobar at third, who tossed a beauty to Alonso at first for the final out.
Brett Baty is on his way back to the Major's, at long last.
The Mets recalled Brett Baty on Sunday morning before the team's series finale in Oakland, and will rejoin the Mets when they hit LA on Monday to open up a three-game series against the Dodgers.
Manager Buck Showalter would not comment on Baty's promotion before the game, but it is pretty obvious why this move has to be made.
Baty has been tearing the cover off the ball this season down in Triple-A, hitting .400 with five homers and 15 RBI.
Eduardo Escobar has struggled at third for the Mets, hitting only .114 through 15 games.
It's time for a change.
As I wrote for Fox Sports New Jersey
It had been 17 days since Julius Randle last played in a game for the New York Knicks this season. After nursing an ankle injury down the stretch, Randle returned to contribute 19 points, while Jalen Brunson — also back to full strength after a hand injury, dropped down 27 points, and the Knicks held off a late Cleveland charge 101-97.
New York leads the best-of-seven 1-0.
Give credit to the Knicks, they battled back. Josh Harris drained a three, and Brunson hit an 18-foot jumper to put the Knicks back up by four points, 97-93 with 1:15 to go. Brunson would hit one more shot, an eight-footer to give New York a 99-95 lead.
Allen would respond for Cleveland with a bucket of his own to cut the Knicks lead down to two points with 31.1 seconds to go.
Finally Quentin Grimes nailed a pair of free throws with 4.1 seconds to go to ice it for New York after a personal foul on Darius Garland.
Donovan Mitchell also missed a big three-pointer for Cleveland as time expired.
New York and Cleveland duke it out again in Game 2 in Ohio on Tuesday.
76ERS 121 - NETS 101
Despite their best efforts, the Brooklyn Nets didn’t have enough punch to make up for an early deficit, falling to the Philadelphia 76ers 121-101 in the opener of the first round of the Eastern Conference Playoffs.
The Nets trailed predominately throughout the game, never enjoying a lead once, and after cutting the Sixers lead to three-points on a Mikal Bridges three-pointer with 5:14 to go before halftime, the Nets never got close again.
As for Bridges, it was the same story as it has been all year, especially in the second half of the year when he became the face of the team since the Kyrie and KD trades; he was impressive. Bridges was 12-of-18 from the field for 30 points. The Nets even out-shot the Sixers, connecting on 55 percent of their shots, but Philly made theirs count when it mattered.
It didn’t help matters the Nets turned it over 19 times to just eight for Philly.
Five players were in double-figures for the Sixers, with Joel Embiid leading the way with 26 points, and ex-Net James Harden dropping in 23 points on the afternoon.
New York Jets Woody Johnson might be the one who has poured cold water on the Aaron Rodgers trade -- at least in the interim -- according to Yahoo Sports' Charles Robinson.
Appearing as a guest on ESPN Milwaukee's Wilde and Taucsch, the Jets and Packers had the framework of a deal in place that included a 2023 2nd round pick, a 2024 first round pick, guaranteed, and the Packers willingness to send the JEts back a 2025 pick should Rodgers retire after one season.
And the Jets reneged.
Why? Because the Jets didn't like it when Rodgers announced on the Pat McAfee show that Rodgers was "90 percent" certain about retirement before going into his darkness retreat. As a result, Johnson, thinking about the situation the Denver Broncos find themselves in with Russell Wilson, and the Rams find themselves in with an injured Matthew Stafford and no draft picks in the first round, put the kebash on the deal.
As Robinson described, and I paraphrase -- the Jets and Woody Johnson didn't feel comfortable about giving up a guaranteed first round pick to Green Bay when there is no guarantee Rodgers might play, even a whole year with Gang Green. The Jets would like to have Rodgers for two years at the very least.
In a way you can't blame Johnson for feeling this way. There is a lot of uncertainty in the future, and the Jets would been tethering themselves to a quarterback who doesn't necessarily want to play for more than a year.
At the same time, the Jets had every opportunity to avoid this mess. They had Derek Carr in the building, liked him, but decided to go the Rodgers route.
They could have pivoted and kicked the tires on Lamar Jackson -- none doing. They could have tried to make a play for any of the other free agent quarterbacks, but they all went off the board quickly.
So the Jets are stuck. It's Rodgers or bust at this point.
Off-season programs begin on Monday and the Jets do not have a settled quarterback situation, and there is no telling when this will get settled.
Draft Day? That is a critical juncture at this point. A deal could still happen and be in place by then, but if it goes beyond that, what happens next? Do the Jets and Packers try it again for a deal? Do the Jets wash their hands of it and try to make a deal with someone like Tennessee for Ryan Tannehill -- if they want to move from him? Carson Wentz is a free agent still, do the Jets go there?
The questions are manifold, and the confusion is incredible.
So Odell Beckham will not be joining the New York Jets after all.
With reports late last week that Gang Green would host Beckham in Florham Park, with the hopes of wooing him once more to sign with them in order to satisfy Aaron Rodgers' wish list, Beckham called an audible after the Ravens ponied up $18 million, with $15 million guaranteed for the 2023 season.
The choice at that point was easy for Beckham who went for the money.
For the Jets, they dodged another bullet.
Ever since Gang Green became the focus of the football world with speculation and assumptions that Rodgers would be joining the Jets via trade with the Green Bay Packers, they have been linked to top free agents.
Zeke Elliot floated the idea he would consider the Jets, Gang Green never had any desire to sign the former Cowboys running back. And the idea didn't sit well with the likes of Breece Hall and Michael Carter who slammed the rumor on social media.
Then there was Calais Campbell, whom the Jets showed some interest in, but ultimately he took more money down in Atlanta. They were better for it. Campbell is good, but he is 36 going on 37. The Jets instead signed Quinton Jefferson who is only 30.
Beckham would have been a colossal mistake for the Jets to sign.
One, they didn't have the money to pay him what he wanted. Two, as talented as Beckham is, he built a reputation as a malcontent and trouble-maker. Remember his pouting on the sideline with the Giants? Remember kicker net-gate? Remember the peeing-like-a-dog incident? Remember his post-game tirade in Green Bay in the playoffs?
The last thing this Jets team needs with all of the young pieces they have is to have Beckham and all of his idiosyncrasies in the clubhouse.
Consider this a bullet dodged by the Gang Green.
They already have a good wide receiver room with Garrett Wilson, Allen Lazard, and Corey Davis. They didn't need Beckham.
The focus should be on the offensive line, which still needs a lot of fine tuning, and getting the Rodgers deal done.
Sure this might irk the 39-year old Packers legend, but that is not Joe Douglas' problem. He has bigger fish to fry.
Move on Jets, you won by losing out on this deal.
You can cross the Yankees off the list for former Mets first baseman Pete Alonso. The Bronx Bombers came to terms on a one-year, $12.5 mil...
