Su’a Cravens has found happiness
Josh Allen Bills Jersey , harmony and himself just in time for his do-over in Denver.
Elated over John Elway’s call and Von Miller’s text, the former standout safety from Southern Cal celebrated his trade from the Redskins to the Broncos by posting ”A Whole New World” from the Disney movie ”Aladdin” on his Twitter account.
”I felt like it was perfect,” said Cravens, who missed all of last season and even mulled retirement while dealing with the lingering effects of a head injury.
Selected in the second round of the 2016 NFL draft, Cravens played in 11 games his rookie season but he sustained a concussion in Week 4 and later suffered an elbow injury. He said he felt off-kilter heading into training camp last year, and things only got worse after he underwent knee surgery in August to repair a torn meniscus.
Cravens had to be talked out of retiring in early September during a meeting with team President Bruce Allen, and the Redskins placed him on their exempt list, forcing him to miss the entire season. They sent him to see sports concussion expert Micky Collins in Pittsburgh, who had an answer for all of his mood swings, personality changes and feelings that something just wasn’t quite right: post-concussion syndrome.
”I didn’t really know what was going on until I went to see Dr. Collins and he made me fully aware of the situation,” Cravens said. ”At first I just thought that something was wrong with me, something’s not right and I didn’t feel the same. Once he explained, `This is why you feel this way,’ he’d ask me questions
Mike McGlinchey Youth Jersey , I’d tell him, `Yes,’ and he’d say, `Well that’s a correlation to this.’ Everything started making sense and once we started working on it progressively I got better and better.”
Cravens said he never lost his love for the game but did succumb to feelings his football career was finished.
”Certainly. I was going through something that I wasn’t even aware I was going through,” Cravens said. ”The mindset that I had last year was just completely different from how I am now. Once I got cleared, I took a step back and looked at the way I was acting and the way I was treating my loved ones. The way my whole thought process was, it was a stranger.
”It was just crazy that I didn’t realize that I was in a predicament I was completely unaware of. So yeah, there was a point that I thought I was done with football, but that love for it and that need to compete, that need to be on the field and be with your brothers, that never went away.”
Cravens even had to deal with accusations that he’d quit on his teammates.
He was finally cleared in December and the Redskins began shopping him during the NFL combine last month.
The Broncos essentially sent a fifth-round selection in this year’s draft for the safety-linebacker hybrid whose instincts and athleticism wowed scouts two years ago.
Cravens is eager to put his past behind him and start anew in Denver.
”I think there’s a false narrative on what exactly happened,” Cravens said. ”Right now my focus is just on being a Denver Bronco. One day I’ll be able to speak a little further on that, but I’m not a quitter. I’m not a guy who lacks love for the game. I definitely don’t know where the `quitting in college’ came from, but like I said
Josh Allen Jersey , I’m here to play for the Broncos and do whatever I can to help this team win games.”
He sees himself as a strong safety but is willing to play wherever the Broncos feel he fits best in a revamped secondary that lost standout safety T.J. Ward last fall and elite cornerback Aqib Talib this spring.
”I’m just grateful to be on the field,” Cravens said, adding that last season made him appreciate his chance to play pro football and he has no qualms about getting right back into the fray.
”We’re all grown men and I know what I’m signing myself up for. I’m aware of the situation that I was in and I’m aware of the dangers of the game,” he said. ”I’ve experienced it firsthand and I’m still willing to go out there and put everything I have on the line. I wanted a fresh start just because I don’t like the way things happened. It wasn’t a part of my plan. I never thought at 22 years old that I’d be at the house watching football instead of playing football.”
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Kevin Durant, Paul George and Chris Paul all made quick decisions to stay put and remain in the Western Conference.
And now LeBron James is joining them.
Just like that, the West got even wilder.
Day 1 of NBA free agency was not lacking for fireworks or firepower, led by James’ decision to leave Cleveland for a second time and join the Los Angeles Lakers. James agreed to a four-year deal worth $154 million, meaning his streak of eight consecutive Eastern Conference championships – four with Miami, four with the Cavs – will end next year.
He could still go to the NBA Finals, of course. He’s just going to have a much tougher time getting there out of the West.
Compared to his past free-agent decisions, James moved super swiftly – it took him eight days to reveal in 2010 that he was going to Miami, 11 days in 2014 to say he was going back to Cleveland. This time, it took about 20 hours.
Durant, George and Paul were way faster than that.
The bonanza started Saturday night when Durant decided to sign a two-year
Cheap Kolton Miller Jersey , $61.5 million deal with the two-time defending champion Golden State Warriors, one where he’ll make $30.5 million this season. The terms were confirmed by a person familiar with the situation who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the deal cannot become official until the league’s offseason moratorium ends this week.
The deal comes with a player option for 2019-20, so Durant can – and likely will – become a free agent again next summer.
George and Paul made their announcements known not long afterward. George told a party in Oklahoma City that he’s staying with the Thunder, after agreeing to terms on what is a $137 million, four-year deal that comes with an option for the final season. Paul made his intentions known on Twitter at exactly midnight EDT Sunday, saying he’s staying with the Houston Rockets after agreeing to a four-year contract worth $160 million.
All three of those players will have designs on a title next season.
As if getting through one another won’t be tough enough, James is now coming to join the party. By the time he announced, just over $900 million worth of new deals had been agreed upon, based on figures confirmed to the AP by people involved in the various decisions – almost all of that money getting committed by teams in the West.
And all those clubs – Golden State, Oklahoma City, Houston, the Lakers, even Denver by locking up Nikola Jokic for $150 million and Will Barton for $54 million – could definitively say they were thrilled. More big moves in the West are possible, especially with DeMarcus Cousins still available in free agency and a candidate to return to New Orleans.
Durant’s move means the Warriors not only got to keep the 2017 and 2018 NBA Finals MVP
Terrell Edmunds Jersey , but they also get some financial flexibility in the deal since he could have gotten more money had the deal been structured differently.
For the Thunder, the win was that their risk paid off. Trading for George a year ago was panned by some critics, presumably because of the belief that he was already focused on joining his hometown Los Angeles Lakers in free agency.
That move isn’t happening.
Not now, anyway, and barring a trade not for at least three years in what will be considered a massive victory for the Thunder and general manager Sam Presti.
”I’m here to stay,” George told the crowd at the party.
In Houston, Paul has told Rockets fans the same thing.
”UNFINISHED BUSINESS,” Paul wrote on Twitter at the exact moment that the calendar flipped to July 1 in the East, meaning the NBA’s free agency frenzy was officially open for the summer.
Houston took Golden State to seven games in the Western Conference finals back in May. Paul missed the last two games of that series with an injury, and the Rockets wasted big leads in both of those games – then had to watch the Warriors sweep Cleveland for the NBA title.
Paul averaged 18.6 points and 7.9 assists last season with the Rockets, who went 65-17 led by Paul and newly minted NBA MVP James Harden. ESPN reported he is signing a four-year deal that will be worth $160 million.
They were the initial wave. Sunday evening, James made his move.
He flew to Los Angeles on Saturday, creating a frenzy without saying a word.
Turns out, James was flying to his new home James spent the week vacationing in Anguilla. He’s the next superstar to follow in the legacy that Wilt Chamberlain
Mark Walton Jersey , Jerry West, Shaquille O’Neal, Kobe Bryant and Magic Johnson built for the Lakers.
Philadelphia star Joel Embiid weighed in on Twitter saying, ”The Lakers are FOREVER gonna be Kobe’s and Magic’s team…. Process that.”
The 76ers met with James’ representatives Sunday, obviously to no avail. Embiid’s opinion notwithstanding, the Lakers are James’ team now.
And the East, for the first time in nearly a decade, will have a new king next spring.
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