Happy Tuesday, it's Chris Bengel back once again to bring you all the latest news that the sports world has to offer. The dust has barely settled from the NFL Draft and I'm already taking part in one of my dynasty fantasy league rookie drafts.
It appears that I'm not the only one that has caught draft fever from this past weekend' festivities. As my colleague Shanna said on Monday, it was pretty awesome to see fans cheering and booing their favorite team's selection and brings a little bit of normalcy to this crazy world of ours.
Without further ado, let's get into some more NFL Draft analysis along with a Champions League preview and how the NBA playoff picture is coming into focus.
📰 What you need to know
1. The best players who didn't get drafted 🏈
The NFL Draft is wrapped up and teams are hoping that some of the players that they selected will blossom into superstars. While some players weren't fortunate enough to be selected in the seven rounds of the draft, many were able to sign with teams as undrafted free agents.
CBS Sports' Chris Trapasso took a closer look at which undrafted free agents have the best chance to make an impact with their new teams. Trapasso tabbed the 10 best undrafted free agents by their overall potential and the situation at their landing spot.
Here are some of the biggest names:
- Tamorrion Terry (WR, Seahawks)
- Ar'Darius Washington (CB, Ravens)
- Jonathan Adams (WR, Lions)
- Feleipe Franks (QB, Falcons)
- Quintin Morris (TE, Bills)
You can check out the rest of of the names here, and if you really can't get enough of our draft content, take a look at our very early 2022 mock draft.
2. Champions League preview: Manchester City in control ahead of Leg 2 vs. PSG ⚽
Champions League action returns today when Manchester City hosts Paris Saint-Germain at Etihad Stadium at 3 p.m (on Paramount+/CBS Sports Network). In Tuesday's semifinal matchup, Manchester City has the firm upper hand after recording a come-from-behind 2-1 victory over PSG in the first leg last week.
With that in mind, PSG needs to win by at least two goals if they want to advance to the Champions League final in Istanbul on May 29. Our soccer scribe Jonathan Johnson says that it's going to be a very "tall order" for PSG.
While chasing a two-goal advantage against Manchester City is difficult enough, PSG may have to do it without star forward Kylian Mbappe. He is currently dealing with a calf injury and missed the French squad's 2-1 win over RC Lens in Ligue 1 action over the weekend.
Johnson noted that PSG has been shorthanded before of late:
- PSG was without Brazilian star forward Neymar for both legs of its Round of 16 matchup against Barcelona
- The team was also without Marco Verratti against Bayern Munich in the Champions League quarterfinals
Mbappe is traveling with the team, but at the very least, it appears that the 23-year old won't be in a starting role against Manchester City. Seeing as the club has faced adversity before, they'll be looking to defy odds once more in order to make the final.
3. NBA playoff picture: The Lakers need to wake up 🏀
The Los Angeles Lakers are the defending NBA champions, but what a difference a year makes. Los Angeles currently sits in fifth place -- only one game ahead of the Mavs and Trail Blazers-- in the Western Conference standings. Beginning this season, teams that finish from No. 7-10 in each conference will be forced to participate in the play-in round.
The round will consist of the No. 7 playing the No. 8 seed with the winner getting the No. 7 seed. The loser will then play the winner of the No. 9 vs. 10 to determine which team will be the No. 8 seed. CBS Sports' NBA expert Brad Botkin detailed the Lakers' recent struggles and how they're dangerously close to having to participate in the play-in tournament.
- Botkin: "The Lakers have lost five of their last six and haven't won two straight games in over a month, and the result of that stretch is falling into the aforementioned three-way tie with No. 5 Dallas and No. 7 Portland. The Lakers play Portland on Friday with the season series tied 1-1. That game will decide the head-to-head tiebreaker and could very well determine which team has to go through the play-in tournament"
The Lakers recently got LeBron James back in the lineup, but the Lakers star forward re-aggravated his ankle injury over the weekend and sat out of Monday's game against the Nuggets as a precaution. He also is aggravated over the entire idea of a play-in series for the playoffs.
4. Dodgers dethroned in latest MLB Power Rankings ⚾
We're about a month into the Major League Baseball season and some teams are already starting to separate themselves. The defending champion Dodgers entered the 2021 season as one of the top teams yet again, thanks to the addition of star pitcher Trevor Bauer and keeping their core group together.
In this week's addition of MLB Power Rankings, CBS Sports' Matt Snyder made a fairly significant change at the top. He slid the Brewers into the top spot -- and rightfully so. After all, the Brewers are tied for the best record in baseball at 17-11 and took three of the four games in their series with the Dodgers over the weekend. It also doesn't help the Dodgers' case that they haven't won a series since April 18.
Here's how the top 10 shook out in this week's Power Rankings:
- No. 1 Milwaukee Brewers
- No. 2 Los Angeles Dodgers
- No. 3 San Diego Padres
- No. 4 Boston Red Sox
- No. 5 Chicago White Sox
- No. 6 Oakland Athletics
- No. 7 Houston Astros
- No. 8 Toronto Blue Jays
- No. 9 San Francisco Giants
- No. 10 Kansas City Royals
📝 Odds & Ends
- Legendary Steelers quarterback Terry Bradshaw weighed in on the Aaron Rodgers situation and believes the Packers QB is showing how "weak" he is
- The Little League World Series will return in August after being canceled in 2020 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic
- Tom Brady helped vault the Tampa Bay Buccaneers from nearly worst in the NFL in 2019 to the top spot in terms of jersey sales in 2020
📺 What to watch tonight
- Paris Saint-Germain vs. Manchester City, 3 p.m. | MC -145 | TV: Paramount+/CBS Sports Network
- Astros vs. Yankees, 7:05 p.m. | NYY -115 | TV: ESPN
- Nets vs. Bucks, 7:30 p.m. | MIL -2 | TV: TNT
Best thing I saw on the internet 🏅
Prior to the Warriors-Pelicans game, Golden State forward Draymond Green honored the late actor Chadwick Boseman's iconic character T'Challa from "Black Panther" by wearing black and sporting a Black Panther watch.
