Riker’s Block

  • 2023 NFL Mock Draft: QB’s go 1-2-3 in Kansas City

    The 2023 NFL Draft is hours away! Before the proceedings in Kansas City, I teamed up with six NFL experts — John Volk, Patrick Andres, Christian Clark, Davis Johnson, Tristan Tucker and Bradley Locker — to give it a go at drafting for the 31 first-round picks. Each general manager was tasked with improving his…

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  • NFL Combine Photo Gallery: Weekend Highlights

    INDIANAPOLIS — Last week, I published highlights from the first half of my trip to the NFL Scouting Combine. Though defensive lineman Adetomiwa Adebawore’s electric combine performance was my favorite part of the week, plenty of great conversations and moments took place over the weekend. In addition to photo and video content, I freelanced a…

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  • NFL Combine Photo Gallery: Wednesday and Thursday Highlights

    INDIANAPOLIS — The phrase “NFL offseason” isn’t quite a truthful one. Just a couple weeks after the Kansas City Chiefs captured another Super Bowl title in Arizona, the NFL world has converged on Indianapolis as the draft buzz is starting to pick up. Of course, I felt obligated to make the trip and once again…

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  • Mission Impossible: My Super Bowl LVII Week Travel Log

    Covering your first Super Bowl is like a Mission Impossible movie. Picturesque locales. Famous people. Impersonators of those famous people (Andy Reid on radio row especially). Stunts to acquire otherwise unthinkable access. Expensive gear. And for journalists, missions that feel in the moment as if they hold life-or-death implications and require tracking down elusive targets.…

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  • From uniform breakdowns to hot-off-the-press profiles, my 15 favorite articles as a Daily Northwestern reporter

    My time writing at the Daily Northwestern was like the animals on Noah’s Ark — a whole bunch of pairs of two.  Two seasons covering volleyball, my first beat. Two seasons covering men’s basketball, my first multiple-times-a-week and travel beat. Two seasons covering baseball. Two seasons covering my favorite sport, football. And two editorial positions…

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  • 2022 NFL Season Preview: Mahomes, Herbert star in electric football fall

    You asked for it, you get it. A 2022 NFL season preview, complete with tiered team rankings and analysis, an awards ballot and playoff predictions. Below, I’ve predicted each of the 272 regular season games and 13 playoff games and crowned a prospective Super Bowl winner. Whether you agree or disagree with my projections, this…

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  • Yankee shortstops, Alabama running backs among most high-profile positions in sports

    I’ve been watching ESPN’s eight-part documentary on famed Yankee shortstop Derek Jeter. It’s an interesting watch for me, because I certainly remember Jeter’s Yankees in the back-half of his career and, as a fan of the Red Sox, how much I detested those teams.  So far, the documentary is well-paced, has interviews with just about…

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  • In Obi-Wan Kenobi show, Star Wars finds the perfect fulcrum to its prequel and original trilogies

    Note: This will be a spoiler-filled review (watch it if you haven’t!) There’s no feeling like seeing a Star Wars movie in the theater. The months of anticipation, theorizing and deconstructing trailers leading into an immersive and otherworldly experience. The lightsabers clashing, the John Williams score playing, the plot twists and sweeping planetscapes. For a…

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  • Welcome to Atlanta: How my journalism residency at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution sports desk compared to expectations

    ATLANTA — This spring, school looked a lot different.  I can’t remember any other year when my day started at 2 p.m., when my homework was circulated to thousands of people I had never met or when watching sports was a welcome obligation, rather than a midday distraction. So I don’t think it’s hyperbole to…

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  • Short Story: An IKEA Adventure

    The following is a short story I turned in as my final project for Northwestern’s Intro to Fiction Writing class. As a longtime IKEA fan, it brought me great joy to work on this project, from three rounds of revision all the way to the final product. Enjoy! Cliff didn’t think twice about his sister…

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