Cam Newton is reportedly returning to the Pats, plus prepare for a wild weekend of college basketball

It’s Friday, let’s party! The weekend is almost here, which is great news … but first, you already know I’ve got a good ol’ newsletter for you this morning. One more for the road? (Well, two considering my pal Tom is gonna hit you up with some primo gambling tips later this afternoon.)

On the slate: We’ll look at every NFL team’s best-ever free agent signing and get a roundup of the massive college hoops slate we had yesterday. We’ll also dive into some new MLB rule changes being tested out in the minors this year and go over the first round of The Players Championship.

But before that, we have some breaking news to get to: Cam Newton is reportedly returning to the Patriots on a one-year deal. It’s the second straight season Newton will be on a one-year deal with New England. The first one ended with the Pats missing the playoffs for the first time since 2008. 

Now back to recapping my Thursday: Yesterday was a great day, considering I finally got to kick off Deck Season. Brought out the deck furniture, cracked a cold beer and watched the sun go down in my back yard … what an incredible treat on a March night in New England. Today should also be a great day because we’ve got lots of sports and I’ll be racing marbles tonight. And this weekend promises to be wonderful as well, especially because Daylight Saving Time is BACK on Sunday (we can all agree that DST should just be year round, right? Why do we continue to punish ourselves every winter?)

Anyway, let’s finish strong and then put on our party pants, shall we?

📰 What you need to know 1. College basketball roundup: Some big blue bloods won’t be dancing this year 🏀

You know conference tournament season is fully upon us when the schedule is jam-packed and the drama is everywhere you look. Thursday was one heck of a day in college hoops and there’s plenty to chew on, so let’s get to some takeaways.

And that’s just scraping that surface! There’s a lot more to take in here.

You know it’s a weird year when both Duke and Kentucky are going to be absent from March Madness. The last time that happened was 1975-1976, which also happens to be the last time there was an undefeated national champion. Perhaps that’s a sign of good news for Gonzaga?

Also, as a good company man, I must remind you that Selection Sunday is this weekend (I think you can figure out which day) and you’ll be able to watch the full bracket reveal on CBS at 6 p.m.

2. Every NFL team’s best free agent signing ever 🏈 Getty Images

We’re less than a week away from the opening of NFL free agency and we’re probably going to have plenty of rumors/action to discuss when we reconvene next week, so you can look forward to that. in the meantime, now’s a good time to revisit some of the most impactful signings that have been made on the open market. 

As we well know by now, Super Bowls aren’t won in free agency … but there’s no question that a great signing can help turn the tide and change the fate of an organization — just look at the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. They won the Tom Brady sweepstakes, which 1) gave them a needed upgrade at QB, and 2) immediately turned them into a premier destination for other key players. A year later and they’re Super Bowl champions. Funny how that works. 

Brady is undoubtedly the Bucs’ greatest free agent signing ever, but what about other NFL teams? Our Bryan DeArdo highlighted the best signing for each NFL franchise.

You can find the full list right here, so see if you concur with your favorite team’s top signing. An interesting note: One quarterback is listed as the best-ever signing for two different teams. Can you guess who it is? 

3. MLB to experiment with rule changes in 2021 minor leagues ⚾ USATSI

There are many great things about minor league baseball … affordable tickets, fun promotional nights, rising prospects, cheap concessions and booze. But minor league baseball is also a great guinea pig for Major League Baseball whenever MLB wants to try out a bold new idea. 

The Show has often used the minor leagues as a testing ground for these new rules, and they plan on doing it again this year. On Thursday, MLB announced a new set of rules that will be implemented and tested at various levels of the minors during the upcoming 2021 season. Here are some of those rules:

Most of these changes seem to be designed to increase baserunners and speed up the pace of play, and that seems like a good thing — at least in theory. I’m not so sure about the defensive shift limitations, though. As long as you have nine players on the field, I think you should be able to place them wherever you damn well please. It emphasizes strategy, and I think baseball is best when it’s a strategic showdown. If batters can’t hit the ball to where the fielders aren’t, that’s the offense’s problem. 

But as long as they don’t change any rules about Dollar Beer Nights, I think I’ll survive.

4. Sergio Garcia at top of Players Championship leaderboard heading into weekend 🏌

Yesterday brought the opening round of The Players Championship, which kicks off a huge six-month run in the sport of golf. It was a pretty special Round 1 yesterday, even if it was suspended due to darkness (21 golfers still need to finish their opening rounds today). 

Here’s a check-in with the leaderboard and some notable names after Thursday’s action:

Our Kyle Porter has plenty more analysis across the field right here, so check that out before yesterday’s round becomes old news. Tough break for McIlroy, especially considering he’s technically still the reigning champ following last year’s cancellation.

On the bright side, we’re not discussing the possibility of the event getting shut down today, which means things are automatically going better than they were a year ago.                                                                                                                                        

📝 Odds & Ends Getty Images 📺 What to watch this weekend

Friday

🏀 No. 12 Oklahoma State vs. No. 2 Baylor, 6:30 p.m. | BAYLOR -9 | TV: ESPN

🏀 UConn vs. No. 17 Creighton, 9 p.m. | PICK | TV: FS1

Saturday

🏒 Jets vs. Maple Leafs, 7 p.m. | TOR -190 | TV: NHL.TV

Sunday

🏌 The Players Championship, 1 p.m. | TV: NBC

🏀 2021 NCAA March Madness Selection Show, 6 p.m. | TV: CBS

🥇 The best thing I saw yesterday

Last night’s Jets-Maple Leafs game was a ton of fun and it ended with a disgusting backhander from Auston Matthews in overtime. Also, Stephen A. Smith listing the top five things he knows about hockey was outstanding.