KFIZ Sports Scoreboard : 3/14/18

NFL:

NFL Free Agency officially begins at 3pm central time this afternoon, but the Packers are already set to make some major moves. Multiple sources reported Tuesday that Green Bay will sign tight end Jimmy Graham to a three-year deal. Graham played with Seattle for the last three seasons, catching 57 passes for 520 yards and 10 touchdowns in 2017.

With Graham on the way in, a Packers veteran is on the way out. The team announced Tuesday that they have released receiver Jordy Nelson. Nelson was a second round pick for the Packers in the 2008 NFL Draft. He played in 136 regular season games with 88 starts in his 10 seasons with the team and started eight of 13 postseason contests for Green Bay. Nelson ranks third in franchise history in receptions (550) with 7,848 career receiving yards and 69 touchdowns. He posted 1,250-plus receiving yards and 13-plus touchdown catches in the same season three times in his career. Nelson, however, averaged a career-worst 9.1 yards per catch with just six touchdowns in 2017. He was set to make $9.25 million in base salary and count $12.5 million against the salary cap. By releasing Nelson, the Packers will save $10.2 million against the cap.  

The Packers apparently weren’t done there, as NFL.com reported last night Green Bay will be signing defensive tackle Muhammad Wilkerson to a one-year deal. Wilkerson was drafted by the New York Jets in 2011, where Packers defensive coordinator Mike Pettine was a coach under Rex Ryan. Wilkerson started 101 out of 105 games for the Jets and was named to the Pro Bowl in 2015, before breaking his leg at the end of that year. New York gave him a five-year, $85 million deal in 2016 but his production on the field had sharply declined.

College Basketball:

“First Four” – At Dayton, Ohio:

Radford 71, LIU-Brooklyn 61

–Radford plays top-seed Villanova on Thursday

St. Bonaventure 65, UCLA 58

–The Bonnies will take on #6-seed Florida on Thursday

Tonight, the “First Four” concludes with two more games in Dayton. First, a pair of #16 seeds meet up as Texas Southern takes on North Carolina Central. The winner of that contest advances to face top-seed Xavier on Friday in Nashville. The second game of the night features #11 seeds Arizona State and Syracuse doing battle. The winner will take on #6 seed TCU on Friday in Detroit.

College Baseball:

At Tucson, AZ:

Greenville College 6, Marian 2

–The Sabres drop to 2-5 on the year with the loss. Marian will face Augsburg and Macalester in Tucson this afternoon.

MLB Spring Training:

Milwaukee 4, Texas 3

–Jesus Aguilar’s pinch hit two-run home run in the bottom of the seventh inning was the difference in the win for Milwaukee. The Brewers play the White Sox today.