Chris Hogan is Bill Belichick's Latest Under-The-Radar Free Agent Find

            Add Chris Hogan to the long list of players whose careers have been revitalized by Bill Belichick and the New England Patriots.

            The star of the 2016 AFC Championship, Hogan spent the first two years of his career in-and-out of three practice squads. He had short stints with the San Francisco 49ers (2011), New York Giants (2011) and Miami Dolphins (2012). Cut three times in two years, he latched onto the Buffalo Bills' active roster in 2013. Hogan was merely a complimentary receiver for Buffalo, catching 87 passes and just six touchdowns over three seasons.

            With a historic outing in the AFC Title Game, Hogan stamped his place in New England’s successful lineage of castoffs—Dion Lewis and Wes Welker to name a few—to thrive in the team’s lethal offense. After a solid regular season in which he posted four TDs and led all NFL receivers with 17.9 yards per catch, Hogan had his coming out party against the Pittsburgh Steelers, hauling in nine passes for 180 yards—a Patriots postseason record—with two touchdowns as New England cruised to a 36-17 victory.

Chris Hogan celebrates his first touchdown of the AFC Title Game. (Matt Freed/Post Gazette)

            The 28-year-old receiver played just one year of collegiate football for Monmouth College, where he recorded only 12 receptions. And yet, here was Hogan playing the leading role for the annual powerhouse Patriots with a Super Bowl berth on the line. Easily eluding the Steelers’ secondary all night long, Hogan helped propel the Patriots to an NFL-record ninth Super Bowl appearance. The Patriots are set to battle the NFC Champion Atlanta Falcons in what should be a shootout between two high-powered offenses.

            Hogan excels in creating separation and finding open space. But Pittsburgh’s defense made the wideout look like a superstar, often forgetting to cover the guy who was torching their secondary all game long. Their zone defense was pathetic and quarterback Tom Brady and Hogan took advantage, cashing in on chunk gains of 26, 22, 34, 24, 16 and 39 yards.

            Putting on a clinic in front of a rowdy Gillette Stadium crowd, Hogan will forever cherish this performance.

            “It’ll be something that definitely I’ll remember for the rest of my career and probably for the rest of my life,” Hogan said after the game. “Someone told me that this was going to be a game that you’ll look back on 30 years from now and you’ll remember exactly what happened, and I’m just happy for our group. Everyone. All these guys in the locker room, coaches. We’ve worked so hard to get here and I’m just so happy I was able to help this team.”

            A week after corralling four receptions for 95 yards against the No. 1 ranked Houston Texans defense, Hogan is now averaging 137.5 receiving yards per contest in the postseason. Not bad for a lacrosse-turned-football player who played the majority of his snaps of his lone season at Monmouth at cornerback, did not get an invite to the NFL combine, failed to record a single snap with the 49ers, Giants and Dolphins, and was gladly let go by the Bills in the offseason.  

Celtics Should Offer Pelicans The Motherload To Acquire Davis

                Is it even possible to land New Orleans Pelicans forward/center Anthony Davis in a trade? After all, the budding superstar is arguably the best big man in basketball. The 6'10'' Davis leads the league in blocks per game (2.5) and ranks second in points (29.1) and sixth in rebounds (12.3) per contest. His player efficiency rating (PER) of 28.3 trails only leading-MVP candidate Russell Westbrook of the Oklahoma City Thunder.

            Problem is, the Pelicans (15-24) aren’t winning and are well on their way to a second consecutive dismal season. Davis shouldn’t be held entirely at fault, though, for New Orleans’s struggles as the talent surrounding him sucks. The second-best player on the roster, Jrue Holiday, is far from a star and in the modern-day NBA, teams need at least three upper-echelon players to seriously contend. Not only does New Orleans lack a co-star for Davis, the franchise is devoid of young talent with high upside, outside of perhaps rookie guard Buddy Hield.

            Signing a five-year, $127 million extension in June 2015—then the richest contract in league history—Davis won’t be a free agent until 2021. Even with Davis under team control for another four years after this season ends, New Orleans should at least entertain offers for its superstar. The Pelicans finished with the sixth-worst record a season ago and will likely find themselves in the lottery again this spring, so the best long-term option for New Orleans may be to blow up its mess of a roster and start fresh by accumulating assets for the future. 

            With that in mind, the Boston Celtics—who always come up in trade discussions because of their treasure cove of draft picks and young talent—may be the most worthwhile trade partner for New Orleans to engage with if Davis is, by any means, on the market.

            Now one of the best teams in the Eastern Conference, the Celtics believe they aren't far from a championship-level squad—provided they add a premiere star to their roster. And that, of course, is easier said than done. Without grabbing another star to compliment All-Stars Isaiah Thomas and Al Horford, the Celtics will be a (significant) step behind the NBA champion Cleveland Cavaliers for the foreseeable future. Boston is good—just not nearly good enough to win a title.

            Acquiring Davis gives the Celtics at least a puncher's chance at upsetting the LeBron James-led Cavaliers in the East. For Celtics President of Basketball Operations Danny Ainge, it makes sense to pull the trigger on a blockbuster deal by (finally) making use of the Nets’ first-round draft picks he obtained in the trade that sent Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett to Brooklyn.

            To acquire an elite caliber player like Davis, the Celtics need to throw everything they have to offer at New Orleans. This includes parting ways with the Nets’ first-round picks in 2017 (the Celtics own the right to swap their own first-round selection with the Nets) and 2018.

            In addition to two first-round picks—with both likely to be top-10 selections at the very least—the Pelicans will also want some young talent. Shooting guard Avery Bradley, a member of the NBA All-Defensive First Team in 2016 and a candidate for 2017 All-Star Game, will be sought after by New Orleans if it ultimately decides to make a deal with Boston. Jaylen Brown—the No. 3 overall selection by Boston in the 2016 Draft—and Jae Crowder are forwards who New Orleans would love to acquire as they plan for the future.  
            Using ESPN's trade machine, a deal is constructed below between Boston and New Orleans. In addition to the aforementioned bigger-name players, the trade also jettisons Hield to Boston—as the Celtics will need to fill the void at shooting guard with Bradley’s departure—and sends Kelly Olynyk to New Orleans—which makes the trade contractually possible and gives the Pelicans a young big man who plays the same position as Davis.

The players set to be traded in the proposal deal between Boston and New Orleans are posted above. Additionally, the New Orleans Pelicans will receive the right to swap their first-round pick with the Brooklyn Nets in the 2017 NBA Draft and obtain the Nets' 2018 first-round pick.

        

            In making this deal, Boston becomes a legitimate contender for the Larry O’Brien trophy. Meanwhile, the Pelicans stockpile assets for the future, in addition to netting young talent in Brown and quality starters with Bradley and Crowder. The trade worsens the Pelicans in the short-term, a positive for a franchise (that should be) looking to completely overhaul its roster and hit rock-bottom in hopes of getting as many high-end selections in the NBA Draft as possible.

            Time for Ainge to pick up the phone and call Pelicans General Manager Dell Demps.

*Player/Team Stats accurate as of 1/12/17

Trade Review

Boston acquires: Anthony Davis and Buddy Hield

New Orleans acquires: Avery Bradley, Jae Crowder, Jaylen Brown, Kelly Olynyk, the right to swap its first-round pick with the Nets in the 2017 NBA Draft and the Nets' 2018 first-round pick

New England Patriots' Road Dominance Defines Triumphant 2016 Regular Season

            In another season in which New England (14-2) captured the AFC’s No. 1 seed and dominated its conference—posting an 11-1 mark versus AFC opponents—the most impressive part of the Patriots’ 2016 campaign was their road perfection.

            Finishing the season with an impeccable 8-0 mark away from Gillette Stadium, the New England Patriots are just the seventh team in NFL history to win all eight road contests. Tom Brady and Bill Belichick accomplished this feat in 2007 in the Patriots’ flawless 16-0 regular season. The San Francisco 49ers went undefeated on the road in 1984, 1989 and 1990, dido for the St. Louis Rams in 1999 and the Dallas Cowboys in 2014.

            Of the aforementioned teams (not including New England's current team) to go 8-0 in away contests in the regular season, only the 2014 Cowboys failed to reach the Super Bowl. The Rams won it all in 1999, while the 49ers captured Lombardi trophies in 1984 and 1989—but came up short in the Super Bowl following the 1990 season, just as the 2007 Patriots did.

            Much of the talk surrounding the Patriots in recent weeks has been about capturing home-field advantage throughout the AFC playoffs. Last season, the Patriots lost in Week 16 (at New York Jets) and 17 (at Miami Dolphins) and, as a result, surrendered the conference’s top seed to the eventual Super Bowl Champion Denver Broncos.

            In the eyes of many Patriots fans, Brady and Co. would have defeated the Broncos had the AFC title game been played in Foxborough. The notion of New England beating Denver if the AFC Championship was played in a different venue is, of course, nothing more than (pointless) speculation. But there is no denying the Patriots made their path to the Super Bowl a lot harder by botching the chance to grab the conference's top seed a year ago—in part due to their decision to rest some of their starters in the season-finale.

            The Patriots' quest for their fifth championship should (theoretically) be less challenging this postseason, given that the AFC's path to Super Bowl LI runs through New England. The Patriots secured home-field advantage throughout the AFC playoffs with their 35-14 victory over the Dolphins on Sunday, spearheaded by a three-touchdown performance from Brady.

            New England jumped out to a 20-0 lead, and at that point had advantages of 238-to-30 in yards, and 17-to-zero in first downs. Miami scored consecutive touchdowns to cut the deficit to 20-14, before Patriots wide receiver Julian Edelman caught a short pass and broke free for a 77-yard TD. Wideout Michael Floyd, playing in his second game for the Patriots, had a crumpling block on the play that paved a clear road for Edelman to the end zone.

Julian Edelman's 77-yard TD catch-and-run helped New England defeat Miami for the second time this season, completing its first season-sweep of its division rivals since 2012. (AP Image)

            Floyd had added a 14-yard score of his own earlier in the contest, which then gave the Patriots a 14-0 lead. Floyd finished with three receptions on four targets for 36 yards and a TD, second in the team in receiving to Edelman, who caught eight passes for 151 yards and a score.

            Brady lauded Floyd’s effort in his postgame interview, noting the challenge it takes to join a team this late in the season.

            “To come in at this point is very tough,” Brady said. “There’s not really the time to make the mistakes any more. But he’s a veteran, he has played for a long time.”

            On a day in which Brady completed 25 of his 33 passes for 276 yards without a single turnover, he savored winning the regular-season finale against a Dolphins team that he is just 7-8 against in contests played in Miami.

            “This has always been a challenging place for us, for one reason or another,” Brady said. “But we just found a way to beat a good football team.”

            Brady—who went 11-1 as a starter this season following his four-game suspension resulting from the DeflateGate saga and set a new record for touchdown-to-interception ratio by throwing 28 TDs with just two picks—said he is “most proud” of his team’s road supremacy.

            Visiting teams went just 107-147 (.405) this season, adding credence to Brady’s gratification of his team’s unblemished road mark.