Yahoo Sports AM: Final NFL mock draft

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🚨 Headlines

📈 NBA ratings way up: The NBA’s eight playoff games on opening weekend averaged 4.4 million viewers, the highest number in 25 years and a 17% increase over last year, per the league. ESPN said it was the most-watched opening weekend ever on its platforms.

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🏈 Let’s make a trade? All signs point to the Titans holding onto the No. 1 pick in tomorrow’s NFL draft and selecting Miami QB Cam Ward. But the Browns (No. 2 pick) and Giants (No. 3 pick) are reportedly listening to trade offers.

🏒 Back like he never left: Matthew Tkachuk returned to the ice for the first time in over two months and made an immediate impact, recording two goals and an assist in the Panthers’ 6-2 win over the rival Lightning.

🏀 Sixth Man of the Year: Payton Pritchard ran away with the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year award, receiving 82 of 100 first-place votes. He’s the fourth Celtics player to earn that honor, joining Kevin McHale (1984-85), Bill Walton (1986) and Malcolm Brogdon (2023).

⚾️ Another goose egg: The Padres (17-7) blanked the Tigers, 2-0, to record their seventh shutout of the season, which is three more than anyone else. The last team to have this many shutouts in their first 24 games? The 1992 Braves.

🏈 Our final NFL mock draft

Our ninth and final NFL mock draft has arrived, just in time for the real thing.

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Round 1: Here’s how Yahoo Sports’ Nate Tice and Charles McDonald see things shaking out tomorrow night in Green Bay.

Notes:

• The year of the transfer (again): A year after nine first-round picks played at multiple colleges, we’re projecting 10 transfers in the first round. That includes the top two picks (Ward, Hunter) and four of the top 12 (Dart, Golden).

• Different look at the top: The top 14 picks in last year’s draft included six QBs and zero defensive players. Our projected top 14 this year? Two QBs and 6 defensive players (including Hunter).

• By school/conference: Georgia, Michigan, Ole Miss and Texas each have three players in our mock draft, while Alabama, Ohio State, Oregon and Penn State each have two. Unsurprisingly, the SEC (10) and Big Ten (8) are the best-represented leagues.

Draft Guide: Big Board | Position rankings | Headlines

📸 Photos of the night

Toronto — Max Domi’s overtime game-winner lifted the Maple Leafs to a 3-2 victory over the Senators and a 2-0 series lead in the “Battle of Ontario.” At risk of cursing them: Toronto is 10-0 all-time in playoff series when they win the first two games at home.

Indianapolis — Tyrese Haliburton’s peers voted him the NBA’s most overrated player in an anonymous survey released Tuesday. His response to that slight: 21 points and 12 assists in the Pacers’ 123-115 win over the Bucks.

Chicago — The Cubs have played 25 games so far this season, and they’ve scored 10+ runs in seven of them. Their latest offensive explosion came on Tuesday when they staged a dramatic comeback to beat the Dodgers, 11-10, in extras.

Boston — Sunset at Fenway Park. (And the first of two sunset pics in today’s newsletter, a Yahoo Sports AM record!)

🏀 Portal Palooza

2,499 D-I men’s basketball players entered the 2025 transfer portal, which opened on March 24 and closed on Tuesday, according to Verbal Commits.

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By the numbers: That number represents roughly 45% of the total players on rosters last season (5,607). It’s also a 20% increase over last year’s portal entries (2,083) and a whopping 161% increase over the 957 entries in 2019, the year the portal was introduced.

Portal entries by year:

• 2025: 2,499

• 2024: 2,083

• 2023: 1,724

• 2022: 1,650

• 2021: 1,653

Behind the scenes: Part of the reason more players are entering the portal each year? The price for their services keeps going up. Three years ago, a $400,000 NIL deal got you the No. 1 transfer in the nation. Nowadays, that will get you “a mid-major guy who averaged fewer than 10 points on a non-NCAA Tournament team,” notes CBS Sports’ Matt Norlander.

The $10 million club: According to Norlander, the following 10 programs are believed to be spending in the ballpark of $10 million on their rosters next season:

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6. Louisville

8. North Carolina

9. St. John’s

10. Texas Tech

Meanwhile, on the women’s side… 1,468 D-I players entered the portal this cycle, per On3, which represents 29% of the total women’s players on rosters last season (5,048).

🌹 Rose Bowl sunset in jeopardy?

For decades, the iconic Rose Bowl sunset has happened late in the third quarter or early in the fourth. Now, one of the most picturesque scenes in sports will either (a) take place during the game’s final minutes or (b) happen after the game concludes. Let’s hope it’s the first one.

Why the change? The College Football Playoff is moving up New Year’s Day kickoff times next season to accommodate its quarterfinal triple-header. The Rose Bowl will begin an hour earlier at 4pm ET (1pm PT), with the Orange Bowl starting at 12pm ET and the Sugar Bowl at 8pm ET.

📺 Watchlist: 6 playoff games

The NBA and NHL playoffs continue tonight with three games in both leagues.

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• 🏀 NBA: Magic (0-1) at Celtics (7pm ET, TNT); Heat (0-1) at Cavaliers (7:30pm, NBA); Warriors (1-0) at Rockets (9:30pm, TNT)

• 🏒 NHL: Canadiens (0-1) at Capitals (7pm, ESPN); Stars (1-1) at Avalanche (9:30pm, ESPN); Oilers (0-1) at Kings (10pm, TBS)

More to watch:

• ⚽️ Premier League: Arsenal vs. Crystal Palace (3pm, USA) … The Gunners must win to keep their slim title hopes alive.

• ⚽️ Coppa Italia: Inter Milan (1-1) vs. AC Milan* (3pm, Paramount+) … Semifinals, second leg.

Head-to-head: Inter (1st in Serie A) is having a much better campaign than AC Milan (9th), but they have yet to beat their rivals in four tries this season (two losses, two draws).

🏀 NBA trivia

Steve Kerr earned his 100th playoff win as a coach on Sunday, tying Larry Brown for sixth on the all-time list.

Question: Can you name the five coaches with more?

Hint: Two are coaching in this year’s playoffs.

Answer at the bottom.

💨 Windy City blues

You have now reached the part of the newsletter where we dunk on the city of Chicago. It’s nothing personal, Windy City friends. We just stumbled upon a shocking stat and, as professional “sharers of shocking stats,” felt obligated to do our duty.

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12 cities or metro areas have a team in all four major North American sports leagues, and 11 of them have enjoyed quite a bit of success in recent years. Then there’s Chicago.

The drought continues: No “Big Four” team in the Windy City has advanced in the postseason (i.e. won an NBA/MLB/NHL playoff series or an NFL playoff game) since 2017, a stunning drought that was extended last week when the Bulls were eliminated from the play-in tournament.

How long has it been?

• The Cubs tasted postseason success most recently, winning the 2017 NLDS. They’ve made two trips to the playoffs since then, losing in the Wild Card both times.

• The Bulls (2015 First Round) and Blackhawks (2015 Stanley Cup) haven’t advanced in the playoffs in nearly a decade, and it’s been even longer for the Bears (2011 Divisional Round).

• The longest drought belongs to the White Sox, who haven’t won a single playoff series since they were crowned World Series champions in 2005.

How that compares: None of the other 11 cities/metro areas have come close to Chicago’s drought. In fact, in the last two years alone, all 11 had a team either win a championship (Boston, Dallas, Denver, Los Angeles, Miami, Philadelphia) or reach at least their league’s final four (Detroit, Minneapolis-St. Paul, New York, San Francisco, Washington, D.C.).

Trivia answer: Phil Jackson (229 playoff wins), Pat Riley (171), Gregg Popovich (170), Doc Rivers (113), Erik Spoelstra (110)

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