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doing-all-write · 4 years

Text

you’re out

Pairing: Joe Mazzello x Fem!Reader

Summary: Your favorite past time is roasting Joe about how much the Yankees suck. So, when you go to a Yankees game with him and make a bet about whether they’ll win or not, you can’t help but hope that maybe, just maybe, they’ll win so Joe can do whatever he wants to you.

Word Count: 5K

Warnings: SMUT (don’t interact if you’re under 18 please!), swearing, mentions of alcohol, continuous talk of how much the Yankees suck (they do, I’m sorry, I don’t make the rules!!!!).

A/N: Hello, hi, hey, anyone else bummed there isn’t any baseball to watch?? No?? Just me?? Alright, well, have soft, baseball loving Joe to fill the void in your heart. (and once again, thank you to @diasimar, @fairestkillerqueenofall and @mrhoemazzello for their contributions and for being in horny/yearning hell with me all day every day)

💖As always, likes, reblogs and comments are always appreciated! 💖

"NO!"

"HA! See, that's why the Sox are the best team in the league right now and the Yankees, well, the Yankees, they suck." She took a long pull of beer as Joe’s string of curses were muffled by the material of his Yankees cap.

Slapping him on the back, she raised her hand to get the bartenders attention. Her friend, Dylan, nodded back and slid two tequila shots down the bar toward them, not even bothering to hide their laughter at Joe, who had fully slumped over the bar and was letting his forehead bounce lightly against the wood.

Pushing one liquid gold shot toward Joe, she pulled her own closer, watching a droplet of water fall over the edge of the lime's rind into the glass.

"C'mon Mazzello. Buck up. It's just the Yankees fifth loss of the season. Which means they’ve secured their status as the most suck-tastic team in the MLB." Smirking, she threw her shot back, quickly bringing the lime to her mouth and biting down on soft flesh, the sting of acidity biting back as she licked her lips, making sure she got every bit of salt from them.

Watching (Y/N) lick her lips was the only thing that was enough to make Joe stop feeling sorry for himself and start feeling a different emotion.

"Can't you have some sympathy for a mourning man? I'm dying over here. I'm slowly being killed by the thing I love most." He wasn't quite sure if he was referring to the Yankees or the more than friends feelings that he'd had for (Y/N) since the moment he’d met her.

And her boyfriend.

But the boyfriend was out of the picture (She'd swanned into his apartment one day, already monologuing, "So, I dumped Mitch. He told me once we got 'serious', my career would need to take a back seat so I left him, and our relationship, in the back seat of the Uber we were in.") and Joe felt like he needed to take his chance before someone else came into the picture.

Laughing, she reached her hand up to the Sox cap she wore, twisting it around so the brim was facing towards the back.

Joe almost choked at the action.

"Joe, if you don't take that shot right now I'm calling the cops because I'm pretty sure that's alcohol abuse to leave a perfectly good free shot sitting in front of you." Dylan raised an eyebrow as they finished wiping down the last glass they had pulled from the crate they'd brought from the kitchen.

Ripping his gaze from (Y/N)'s form, he hurriedly threw it back, scrunching his face up in an exaggerated fashion as the burn of the alcohol streaked down his throat and warmed his stomach. Popping the whole lime slice in his mouth he heard her laugh,

"Joe! God, how many times do I have to tell you that you don't have to put the whole lime in your mouth?"

"When you stop laughing every time I do it." He admitted as he delicately placed the mangled husk of said lime on his napkin. Dylan shuddered as they touched the very edge of Joe's napkin to let it fall into the trash can behind the bar.

Shaking her head, she swiveled in her chair to face Joe, "So. I have a proposition."

Please let it be that she things we should be together forever and get married. Or that she proposition me for sex. Either one.

"You know how I scored those tickets to the Yankee's/Sox's game for next week?"

Shaking himself from the imagery of shoving a piece of wedding cake in (Y/N)'s face, Joe nodded, taking another gulp of beer.

"Well....since you're my best friend who I love dearly," she placed a hand on his thigh, smiling, and Joe knew he would do whatever she wanted.

"I was thinking we could make it extra interesting." Her heart was racing at just the small action she had accomplished. Feeling Joe's thigh muscle tighten as she laid her hand on it made something deep in the pit of her stomach tighten as well.

Since she'd broken up with Mitch it freed her up to do things she'd always wanted to do. To focus on her career, her friendships, herself and on the fact that she wanted her best friend, Joe Mazzello, to absolutely wreck her in the bedroom.

The first time she'd envisioned it, she'd almost drained the new pair of batteries she'd put in her vibrator and since then she'd been falling without a parachute. The only thing that kept her from ripping the cord was the fact he was her best friend. They spent all their time together, what if it went wrong? It was a silly fear, she knew if anything were to happen they’d work through it like they always did, but it still bugged her that something so trivial was stopping her from potentially jumping into the best relationship she'd ever had.

Besides, she'd do anything for Joe and she knew he’d do anything for her. They'd picked each other up from the airport, taken care of each other when they were sick or hungover and once Joe had plant sitted for her.

(The key word there being once. She'd come back to all of them dead. "Joe...they're succulents. How do you kill those?")

She was nervous the fantasies she'd cooked up in her head would never live up to the reality that was in front of her, but recently she'd noticed little things that were starting to embolden her.

Lingering gazes, holding on for a second too long during hugs. Once, it had been late, and they'd pulled apart from a hug only for their eyes to lock. Her breath caught as the thought oh god it's actually happening flitted through her mind, but Joe just gave her a gentle nudge toward the door urging her to get into bed as soon as possible.

But, she was nervous that she was reading too much into these signs.

If (Y/N) had been able to read minds she would have been very confused to see Gwil in his "I Want To Break Free" get up but it was Joe's surefire way to get rid of an erection and with (Y/N)'s hand so close on his thigh, he knew he needed to do something desperate to settle himself down.

Bringing herself back to the feel of Joe's thigh under her hand, she peered up at him through her eyelashes and shot him a smile, "I think we should place a bet."

"A bet?"

"Yes, Joseph. A wager. On this ball game."

"Alright, what are the terms?" Joe leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms. Her eyes were immediately drawn to the way the sleeves of his t-shirt stretched against his biceps. She swore he bought his shirts a size too small just to fuck with her.

"Well, if the Yankees lose, which they will because they suck," Joe made an indignant noise in the back of his throat, "then you have to do anything I want."

Joe's eyebrows almost shot into his hairline, "And if the Sox’s lose? Which they will," he declared pointing a finger in (Y/N)'s face, causing her to lean back in her chair, batting his finger out of her face, "then you have to do anything I want." Crossing his arms behind his head he settled back into his chair, smug smile firmly planted.

"It's so on, Mazzello." She declared as she stuck her hand out for him to shake. As his hand slid into hers, she could have sworn they both held on for a beat longer than was absolutely necessary.

~~~

In (Y/N)'s opinion it wasn't really summer till she went to a baseball game. The artificial green of the grass, the sun shining down, the crack of a baseball hitting a bat. There wasn't a scent more intoxicating than that of popcorn, hot dogs and cheap beer.

Which was probably why Joe had sent some serious side eye her way as she filled her lungs and drank in the scene before her, settling into their seats, hands clasped around flimsy plastic cups filled with overpriced alcohol.

"What? You don't love the smell of a ball game?" she shot him an incredulous look.

"No, I do. But I don't try to inhale the whole stadium through my nostrils."

Reaching a hand around she knocked his Yankees hat off his head, laughing as he scrambled to pick it up and jam it back on his head. Turning, she saw he had his best scowl prepped as he glared at her,

"How dare you try to knock the best good luck charm the Yankees have off my head?"

"Because I need my bathroom cleaned and I want you to do it." she shrugged as she took a sip of what was mostly foam. Gotta love baseball beer.

"I can't even be that mad at you because you did bring me to a baseball game that my team is going to whoop your teams ass in so, thanks, (Y/N)." He wrapped an arm around her shoulders, bringing her into his side as she leaned a head against him, smiling and wanting to stay in that position for as long as possible.

"Oh, you two are just the cutest couple! Reminds me of myself and Harold at our first baseball game."

Both their heads turned in perfect unison to look at the form of a woman cautiously making her way down the stairs, cane in one hand, her grandson holding her other arm and mouthing I'm sorry at them over her head.

Laughing self-consciously, (Y/N) started to disentangle herself from Joe's embrace, "Oh. Ah. That's really not-"

"Thank you ma'am, that's really sweet of you. Were you and Harold married a long time?" Joe interjected, keeping his arm firmly wrapped around (Y/N)'s shoulders.

Stopping in the middle of the aisle, the woman’s eyes grew soft, "Oh yes. We were friends for the longest time until finally one day he kissed me on the cheek. I remember I turned to him as he turned bright red and looked ready to melt into the floor. But I just told him 'It's about damn time!' And planted one on him myself." She laughed at the memory as her grandson rolled his eyes,

"C'mon Grandma. Let's get to our seats. The first pitch is gonna be thrown soon."

Waving goodbye, they watched the woman toddle down the stairs. Lifting one thigh and then the other, (Y/N) felt her skin unstick and prayed to god she wouldn't have butt sweat once this thing was over.

"That's cute. But also it sounds like she was a huge hussy back in her day."

Snorting, she slapped Joe in the chest, "Really, Joey? You're going to call a sweet old lady a hussy for sharing a cute story about her and her husband?"

"I'm just calling 'em like I see 'em!"

"And that old woman is a hussy?"

"She's the one throwing herself at men!" Joe protested as he tried to hold back his laughter. Soon, they both were laughing so hard no noise was coming out, just their whole bodies shaking with mirth.

"Okay, okay...oh my god. I will give her credit, that's a very sweet story." (Y/N) admitted as she leaned back in her seat, adjusting her own lucky Sox hat.

"It is. I've always liked being friends with someone first before dating them." Joe admitted as he slid his eyes over to meet (Y/N)'s. Staring back at him, she felt her heart stop as his gaze burned into hers. Nodding, she mumbled, "Yeah, me too."

His lips twitched upward as he broke the gaze and leaned back in his seat, throwing one arm over the back of her chair and propping his foot up on the seat in front of him, "I think it's gonna be a great ball game."

She could only nod mutely as she tried to pick up the scattered fragments of her thoughts.

"C'mon. Go. GO. GOGOGO. DROP IT...AHH FUCK." Her head dropped into her hands. She was so sure that the hit the last batter had was going to be the one that got the Sox the win but the Yankees outfielder had just managed to snag it.

Beside her, Joe was on his feet, pumping his fists in the air and cheering along with every other Yankees fan in the stadium causing the floor to rumble underneath her Converse.

"C'mon (Y/N), you're missing the best part!" Joe laughed as he tugged on the back of her shirt. Lifting her head up she was met with confetti raining from the sky and Frank Sinatra crooning "New York, New York" over the stadium speakers as the crowd started to flood out of the ball park.

"You're an insufferable bastard."

"Yeah but I'm your insufferable bastard." Joe cooed as he patted her head, snickering as she rolled her eyes and dodged out from underneath his patronizing hand.

"Whatever, Mazzello. Let's head out." Pulling her phone from her pocket to call a ride, her brain was already going a million miles an hour, thinking about what Joe would possibly make her do. Just the kind of thoughts she was having were causing her to shift in place, trying to find some relief for the ache that was building between her thighs.

Joe was consumed by his own thoughts at the opportunity before him. He didn't want to make (Y/N) do anything she didn't want to do but at the same time...he wanted to kiss her. He'd almost been disappointed that the kiss cam hadn't landed on them.

Both of them were lost in their own world and as such didn't realize that the herd moving to exit the stadium had stopped which caused Joe to run into someone which made (Y/N) bump into Joe with an "Oof"

Reaching an arm back, he wrapped his hand around her arm, steadying her as she tottered on the balls of her feet.

"Without even looking back, that's impressive."

"What can I say? I'm an impressive sort of guy." (Y/N)'s breath caught in her throat considering what else about Joe was impressive but immediately snapped out of it when he turned to face her over his shoulder and waggled his eyebrows up and down.

Rolling her eyes, she shoved him forward, "Let's just get home so I can sooth my wounds with booze and maybe some leftover Chinese."

"Wait, but we had Chinese at my place, none of it is at yours." Joe wrinkled his brow.

"I know, that's why we're going over to your place. You have all the good food and booze." She shrugged as they pushed through the gates and walked to the bus that would take them home.

"You always say that and then I run out of food and have to buy more. Why can't you ever have the good food and booze?" he grumbled.

"Because I can't afford to have you eating and drinking all my stuff."

~~~

Shoving his door open, they fell into Joe's apartment, letting the artificial coolness of air conditioning wrap itself around them. Both of them letting out involuntary sighs at how good it felt after being crammed onto a hot bus with more warm bodies than seats.

"Time to munch..." (Y/N) clapped her hands together before she opened the door of Joe's fridge and pulled out a Chinese takeout container, popping it open, mouth watering instantly at the sight of the golden dumplings waiting for her, like little doughy presents.

Before she could even grab a fork, Joe's hand wrapped around the container, whipping it up and over her head, causing her to turn in place so she was witness to Joe shoving a dumpling in his mouth, "Oh, I'm sorry. Did I not tell you? Dumplings are for winners." He said through a mouthful of her dumplings.

"You're the meanest person in the whole world." She declared as she turned her back on him to rummage around in his fridge, only to emerge with two beers in her fist.

Joe couldn't help but admire how she looked in his kitchen. He couldn't help but think what it would be like to cook with her. Or cook for her. Having her sitting on the counter as he made her a home cooked meal, stealing kisses in between stirring and chopping, making small talk, kidding around with each other, he wanted that so badly he felt his heart seize with longing.

"Well, I guess we can't put it off any longer." She sighed as she slowly placed the beers on the counter. The look on her face was so melancholy, Joe put down the takeout box and felt his heart leap up into his throat, "What do you mean?"

"I mean the bet. I lost. Which, I would like to point out, how brave I am for admitting that without retching," Joe rolled his eyes, "But I get to do anything you want me to do so, hit me Joe. What do you want me to do?"

Peering up at him through her eyelashes she searched his face, hoping against all hope that he would say "get on your knees" or "get into my bedroom". She knew that was wishful thinking on her part but she couldn't help it. Watching his Adam's apple bob up and down as he took a huge swallow, she almost didn't hear what he muttered next,

"Want you to kiss me."

Her eyes shot up to his.

"I mean, only if you want to. I don't want you to do anything you're uncomfortable with but, fuck, (Y/N), I've wanted to kiss you since I first met you and I don't know, it feels like there's been something more between us lately and I didn't want to hate myself forever for not just, going for it, so, if you want, I'd really like it if you kissed me." He ended this speech with a shrug, fiddling with his fingers.

"Joey," she breathed out and Joe's form stiffened as he waited for her rejection,

"I've waited for you to ask me that for so long." she admitted, almost laughing at how wide Joe's eyes became.

Blinking he stepped forward, "Then get over here and kiss me."

Eyes widening, she stepped up to Joe, their arms hanging at their sides as they contemplated each other. Unsure, she tilted her head up. Joe leaned his head down, lips ghosting over hers as he whispered, "Are you sure?"

She just nodded and felt her heart clench as a smirk grew over Joe's face.

Reaching a hand up, he cupped her cheek, letting his thumb stroke over the soft skin. Closing the gap between them, he placed his lips against hers, gently. Not enough to really count as a true kiss, his last ditch attempt to give her an out if she wanted.

The electricity zipping through her body let her know that this was meant to happen.

Letting out a small moan, she reached her arms up to wrap around Joe's neck, dragging him down more fully against her lips. Twining his arms around her waist, he pulled her flush against him. Feeling her soft curves fit up against him in the most delicious way possible.

Deepening the kiss, he nudged her back toward the counter. She made a small noise in the back of her throat as her back hit the edge.

"Jump," Joe breathed and she did what she was told, leaping up onto the counter, spreading her legs as Joe stepped between them, running his hands up and down her thighs, giving them a squeeze when he reached where she wanted him most.

"Such a good girl taking my directions." he breathed into her mouth. Her head dropped back as she let out a groan. Joe smiled at the effect.

"You're gonna ruin me, Joe." she laughed weakly as one of her hands intertwined with one of Joe's.

"That's the plan, darling" he said devilishly, bringing his other hand to the back of her head, pulling her down to reconnect their lips. She cupped Joe's face with both of her hands, giving her all to the kiss. Letting all of her pent up want and need spill through her lips and tumble into Joe's heart.

Letting his tongue slip through her lips, he explored her mouth. She gripped his shoulders as she wrapped her legs around his waist, pulling him flush against the counter. Chuckling, he twined his fingers through her hair, giving it a gentle tug as he felt her body become pliable at the sensation.

"So, you like having your hair pulled, huh?" He murmured as she mewled, scooting her hips closer to the edge of the counter, wanting nothing more than to grind her core against something, anything to relieve the ache that was building in her.

"Mmm and you're a needy little thing too." he cooed as his hands ghosted down her body, outlining her curves. Nodding ferociously, she drapped her arms around his neck, pressing her lips to his again as he gave her hips a squeeze.

"Joe!" the yelp that came from her mouth was louder than she intended but she hadn't been prepared for Joe's arms to lift her from the counter and carry her into the bedroom. Feeling his chest rumble against hers she smiled, "I got you. Don't worry."

"I know. You've always had me." she breathed into his ear and Joe had to bury his head into her hair to keep from letting the enjoyment he felt hearing that shine too strongly through his face.

Lifting his head from her soft waves, he gently laid her on the bed groaning when she stretched her whole body and smiled up at him, "Aren't you going to ravish me now?" she fluttered her eyelashes at him and felt her pulse quicken as Joe started unbuckling his jeans.

"Sweetheart, I'm going to make sure every inch of you is screaming with pleasure." Eyes widening, she started to fumble with the buckle of her belt as Joe chuckled, "I, uh, kind of wanted to be the one who did that." Lifting her eyes she saw the blush in his cheeks and smiled, "Then come here and get into these pants, Mazzello."

He pounced on top of her so quickly she wasn't even sure how it happened. His fingers making quick work of her belt and shimmying her shorts down her legs.

"God, you're gorgeous." Joe's eyes shone as he drank her form in. When he got to her head his lips quirked up, "You're gonna have to lose the hat, babe. Besides, if anything you should be wearing the hat of winners." he joked as she rolled her eyes. Then, a wicked idea overcame her.

Rising up on her knees, she placed her hands on Joe's shoulders to breath into his ear, "You mean like this hat?" Grabbing the hat Joe was still wearing, she flung her Sox hat to the floor and replaced it with his well-work Yankees hat.

Seeing (Y/N) wearing that hat caused Joe's cock to twitch in his boxers and he let out a soft whine as she placed a hand on his thigh, "Do you want to fuck me in your Yankees hat, Joey?"

"God, yes. I don't care how stereotypically male that makes me but, fuck, (Y/N), yes." his hands came up to her face, pulling her into a deep kiss that was interrupted by his moan as her hand started palming him through his boxers.

"Fuuuck (Y/N)" he breathed out as his head fell against her shoulder. Smiling she kissed his neck as she tugged at the band of his briefs, "I want these off"

Again, it seemed like Joe moved so fast she wasn't sure how it happened. In the blink of an eye he was laying on her bed, briefs off, shirt off and beckoning her closer with one finger, his eyes never leaving hers.

Smirking, she crawled over to Joe. Straddling him, she reached for the hem of her shirt and pulled it over her head, being careful not to mess up the hat that was positioned on her head. Joe smirked at the action but his jaw quickly dropped when he saw her. Her pink bra and floral panties somehow making the hat on her head even filthier.

She felt his cock twitch underneath her heat and groaned at the contact. Leaning forward she pressed a kiss to Joe's lips then slowly started kissing his neck, down his chest and finally to his thighs where she most wanted to be.

Biting his hips, Joe finally hissed "(Y/N), please, wanted this for so long..." Taking pity on him, she wrapped her lips around the tip of his cock and started working him over. The way Joe threw his head back and groaned was all the praise she needed.

Even though, as she bobbed her head up and down, Joe was heavy on the praise, "Such a good girl, making me feel so good, babe. God, don't stop..." when she took his entire length in her mouth, she felt Joe tug on her arm, bringing her back up to his lips, he kissed her deeply.

"My turn," he murmured as he pressed her down into the bed. Smiling, she snuggled down into the pillows behind her and sighed as Joe pressed kisses all over her tits, reaching his hands behind her and making quick work of her bra.

She ripped it from her body and threw it to the floor as Joe danced his hands down to her cunt.

Stroking the inside of her thigh softly, dragging his fingers closer and closer to her entrance she whined, "Joe..." lifting his head from her chest, he smiled,

"What? Not moving fast enough for you?" She nodded frantically and Joe's eyes never left hers as he moved a finger to run up and down her folds.

With a gasp she threw her head back and Joe growled, "Shit baby, you're soaked. Who did this to you?"

"You...you did Joey. You always make me this wet."

"Always, huh? I think I'd remember if we hooked up before this." he smirked.

"Every time I touch myself I imagine you doing it..." she murmured as she bucked her hips up to get his fingers closer to her entrance which meant she missed how comically wide Joe's eyes got and was caught off guard when he planted another kiss on her lips.

"Those are the hottest words I could ever hear come from your mouth." she breathed out a laugh and then she felt her eyes rolling into the back of her head as Joe slowly inserted two fingers into her cunt.

"F-fuck Joe, that feels so good..." Her voice trailed off as Joe started pumping his fingers into her slowly, relishing in the feel of the walls of her pussy tightening as he sought out the one spot that would make her lose her mind. After a particularly deep thrust that had her eyes rolling into the back of her head Joe leaned down to kiss her neck.

Speeding up his fingers she felt her cunt clench, between his fingers and the way he was kissing on her neck, she knew was going to cum soon.

"Joe...I-I'm gonna cum"

"Good, want you to. Want you to cum around my fingers and then around my cock. Think you can do that for me, sweetheart? Want to feel how good I make you.”

Making a whining noise in her throat she reached a hand up to the back of Joe's neck to reconnect her lips with his.

Pumping his fingers in and out of her he started to swirl his thumb over her clit and she moaned into his mouth, "Fuuuuck, Joe, don't stop"

"Wasn't planning on it" he chuckled into her mouth as he felt how close she was. Pressing more firmly on her clit, (Y/N) saw stars and she didn't even have time to warn Joe before the waves of her orgasm crashed over her.

As she came down, she was aware of tightly she was gripping onto Joe's hair and let go with an apology.

"Never apologize for pulling my hair when I make you cum like that. Truly, it's a small price to pay to see someone as beautiful as you cum because of me." Blushing, she reached her hands down to shimmy her panties down her legs and throw them into her room.

Grabbing her hand, he gave it a kiss and they stared deep into each others eyes, she reached a hand down, brought his fingers up to her mouth and licked them clean of her juices, keeping direct eye contact the whole time.

Joe's eyes darkened, "I need to fuck you. Now."

"What are you waiting for then? Please fuck me, Joe." she cooed as she brought his fingers out of her mouth with a pop. Reaching her hand down, she pumped his cock a few times as Joe growled.

Batting her hand away, he guided his cock to the entrance of her cunt, swiping it up and down her folds, "God, there's nothing hotter than getting my cock wet with your own juices, baby girl."

"Fuuuuuck, Joe" she whined as she brought her hands up to rest on his biceps, squeezing them and laughing when she felt him flex, "Did you just purposefully flex?"

Winking at her he pushed himself fully inside. Giving them both a minute to adjust, he brought his forehead down to rest on hers. Both of them closing their eyes and breathing each other in, it was the most vulnerable moment they'd shared with each other.

This one moment, where they were closer than they had ever been, it felt so right they couldn't quite believe that in a city of thousands, they fit perfectly together.

"Joe?"

"Yeah, sweetheart?"

"If you don't move soon I'm gonna be pissed."

Laughing, he kissed her nose and started to thrust. Throwing her head back, she let out a string of curses as her hands clutched the sheets, feeling the walls of her cunt clench around Joe's length.

"Fucking hell, feel better than I ever imagined."

"You feel a hell of a lot better than my vibrator" she choked out as Joe let out a single bark of laughter, thrusting harder. He lifted her legs so they were over his shoulders, enjoying how the new angle let him get deeper inside her, and by the way (Y/N) had started babbling about how close she was, he had a pretty good idea it felt amazing for her as well.

"Fuck, Joe. Rub my clit. I'm so close. Again..." a moan swallowing the rest of her sentence as Joe started rubbing her clit.

Seeing her writhe underneath him, knowing he was the cause of her pleasure and the fact that this was all happening while she was wearing his Yankees cap was almost too much for Joe.

"Sweetheart, I'm close.." he choked out as (Y/N) nodded, "Me too, want to cum with you..." she murmured and Joe nodded, thrusting harder as she brought a hand up to tweak her nipples.

Pressing more firmly into her clit, (Y/N) felt her pleasure overtaking her body and succumbed to the orgasm that swept over her. Feeling her walls clench around his cock was the final push Joe needed. With a final groan, he filled her with his love, taking a minute to catch his breath.

When they finally both opened their eyes they burst into giggles,

"Hey."

"Hi" Joe breathed out as he tweaked her nose

Scrunching her nose, she reached her head up to press a gentle kiss to Joe's lips. Pulling himself from her, they both moaned at the loss of contact and after cleaning them up, he crawled into bed next to her, pulling her into his arms.

"God, that was...amazing"

"And long overdue in my personal opinion."

"Yeah, ya think?" he pressed a kiss to the top of her head then pulled back with a disgusted noise.

"What? Does my hair smell bad? Do I have lice or something?" pulling back she looked up into Joe's eyes.

"No, this hat smells nasty. I can't believe you wore it when we had sex, who would do that?"

"Don't lie, it was the one final push you needed to cum, yeah?"

"I don't have to admit anything to you" he sniffed as she curled up into his arms.

Nuzzling into his chest, she placed a soft kiss right on top of his heart. Humming, he drew her in closer, closing his eyes and locking into his memory how it felt to hold her in his arms.

His eyes snapped open, “Wait, hold on,” he jumped up, ignoring her protests as he rummaged around on the floor.

“Joe, c’mon, come back and snuggle.” Pouting she turned only to be met with the lens of Joe’s camera focused on her.

“JOE! I’m NAKED! What is your PROBLEM?” Scrambling, she threw the sheet over her form, peeking over the edge so only the hat and her eyes could be seen. They narrowed as Joe laughed, taking picture after picture of her.

“Holy shit, there’s a really great one here. I think I managed to capture the exact moment your soul left your body when you realized I was taking pictures...” his voice trailed off as he swiped through the photos he’d taken, smile growing bigger with each one.

“Glad you’re enjoying those horrible pictures. You better burn those Joe, I’m serious.” Pulling the sheet down to her neck, she fixed him with her best glare. It didn’t last long.

How could it when he looked up at her with adoration radiating from his eyes?

“You’re so beautiful.”

Her indignation drained and she sat up, patting the bed, “Come back to me. Please?”

Joe climbed into the bed, kneeling in front of (Y/N) to kiss her softly, “I’ll always come back to you.”

Hiding her head in his shoulder, she pressed a kiss to the soft skin there, fighting back the tears she felt welling up suddenly. Pulling back she heard the click of the camera one more time.

Joe lowered the phone, “So beautiful.”

Taking the phone from him she turned around, her back against his chest as she held it aloft, “C’mon, first picture as a couple.”

Smiling, they took one good one and the rest were a mess. One or both of them pulling ridiculous faces. A series of pictures where Joe was obviously playing with her boobs. Their favorite one was where (Y/N) was mid-laugh and Joe was looking at her, the love between them written so clearly in their eyes that they felt like they were infringing on a private moment.

Looking at it, (Y/N) turned to Joe, “You think we’ll look at each other like that, even when we’re old?”

Chuckling, he pressed a kiss to the top of her head, “Absolutely. You and I are gonna be like that old lady at the baseball game and her husband.”

“Are you calling me a hussy?”

“Again, I’m just calling them like I see them.”

“I feel like you shouldn’t call your own girlfriend a hussy.”

“Oh so you’re my girlfriend now?” Joe rolled on top of her, peppering her face with kisses as she laughed.

“Well I won’t be if you keep calling me a hussy!”

“What if I only called you a hussy when we’re getting sexy?”

Pausing, she reflected on Joe’s proposition, “Hmm, I guess that could be okay. But can you not call it Getting Sexy? That makes it decidedly not sexy.”

“Alright, we’ll come up with something good. Though you should definitely always wear The Sex Hat whenever we fuck.”

Sighing, she flicked the brim of the hat she was still wearing, “I set a dangerous precedent by wearing this, huh?”

“Darling, you have no idea how dangerous you in that hat is.” Joe growled as he nipped her neck.

“Mmm, I think I have a pretty good idea.” She smirked as she tilted her head to the side, “It’s just enough to distract you so I can do this.”

“Wha-” Joe hit the bed with an grunt as she slide out from underneath him and raced out of the room.

“I’M GOING TO EAT THE LAST DUMPLING AND YOU CAN’T STOP ME.”

Pushing himself up, Joe raced after her into the kitchen, knowing he’d be too late to stop her but he wanted to be around to imprint the image of (Y/N) naked in his kitchen into his brain for forever.

#joe mazzello #joe mazzello one shot #joe mazzello smut #baseball!joe #i miss baseball so much gang #might have to watch undrafted just to feel something

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breanime · 3 years

Note

Hey it’s California anon:)

My dream career is anything to do with animals! I’m currently studying to be a zoologist and work part time as an exotic animal trainer (tbh it’s mainly learning to take care of the animals but it’s still cool). I’m thinking of going into a career of training animals for movies and stuff, so if you end up coming to LA to write/act lmk:) well lmk if you come to LA in general but you get my drift

I have 2 siblings, both older (26M and 24F). I have pets: Bailey the dog (looks like a dingo), Joe and Kelly the fish (we’re big on baseball in my family. I literally just got back from a Dodgers game lol), and squirt the baby tortoise.

It’s great that your family is open with one another; that’s the total opposite of my family. Recently I realized I don’t even know my dad’s mom’s name because she died before I was born and we NEVER talk about her so like...

Do you like the hood or the suburbs better?

I also like Broadway- Hamilton is good, I also like newsies and DEH (from a music perspective, I still don’t know how I feel about the plot). I’ve also been getting into Les Mis just because I love period pieces and being dramatic so the songs all feel perfect for me.

Tbh growing up most of the music I was exposed to was Christian stuff so if you have any recommendations for artists to check out or songs you like, I’m always open to listening to new stuff.

Where do you watch the boys and bobs burgers? I’ll have to check them both out. I should also watch undrafted, esp since I’m big on baseball, but for some reason I’ve never checked it out. Where can I find it?

Okay here are some more questions:

What’s something you love to talk about but rarely get asked about?

What’s one of your favorite memories?

If you were to design a good day for yourself (doesn’t have to be perfect), what would be a part of it?

Who is your favorite peaky blinder?

Do you have someone you look up to?

Oh duh! I knew that about you! So what animals do you work with? Have you worked with any particularly cool animals? What's your dream animal to train/take care of?

Do you think if you ASKED, your parents might talk more about your grandma or like other family stories? Or is your family more likely to not want to talk about that kind of stuff regardless if you asked or not?

I haven't heard Newsies, but I've read good things about it. I have no interest in DEH, but again, heard good things about the songs. I could recommend some music for you! Have you heard "First Burn"? It's like 7 of the women who've played Eliza Hamilton singing the original version of Burn and its AMAZING. It's on YouTube and Spotify!

You can watch Bob's on Hulu or Fox, The Boys is Amazon Prime, and Undrafted USED to be on Hulu, but they took it off last I checked. I bought it on Prime and then bought it again on DVD lol.

I actually like being asked about my family. My brothers and cousins and sisters are all so funny and messed up and interesting (or at least I think they are). I love talking about them!

One of my favorite memories is going to New York City for the first time when I was 16 and getting to see my all time favorite musical In The Heights on Broadway. But Corbin Bleu was playing Usnavi and I wasn't too fond of his portrayal, but I still enjoyed the hell out of it.

Hm... a good day for me would either be a lazy day with no responsibilities or guilt OR a really fun active day out and about with my best friend.

My favorite Peaky Blinder... Isiah Jesus. I want more of him, I always headcanon him as my younger brother in my self-insert me and Tommy fantasies haha!

I look up to my Mom, she's a strong woman. Raised my brother and I to be the best people we can be and is raising my little sister all by herself. She's a genuinely good and kind person, like a true Christian, and she's just the best. 💗

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coffeebeannate · 4 years

Text

Possibly Nonsensical ToG Representation: Personal Perspective

Nate nobody wants to read six thousand paragraphs of your inane ramblings okay?

Well maybe that IS the case, maybe SO but maybe I’m going to ramble anyway. And maybe I’ll never ever undraft this post because well who knows.

I ended up not drafting it, I just posted. Because why not. Pls don’t regret this, future me.

BUT.

I will say that, one thing that The Old Guard did that really stuck out to me, and has only continued to do so since reading others posts about it was, ironically, send my dysphoria sky-fucking-high.

(Not in a wholly bad way, that is!)

(For the record, I’m 29, and an AFAB pre-T trans guy, pre-T in like pre ANYTHING, I’m barely out publicly to anyone that isn’t a personal or really close friend, or like, my therapist, anywho)

In most cases, my dysphoria is on a very low simmer, there, but something I try to ignore because of circumstances, etc. It’s always a bother, sure, but well, I live, I guess.

So, I’m a Marvel fan, and in most cases..people I see on TV have been, well, lets be real-Chris Evans. Standard Hollywood types. I do have other examples of less ‘classically’ attractive actors on my list of things I like to watch, and absorb, and I’m a basic person who has basic ass thoughts sometimes. Those people are hot, those people appeal to the most innate feelings of people who feel things from attractive looking people.

But in my head, it’s ALWAYS been through the lens of ‘This is nice to look at. Utterly unrealistic, but nice.”

(I actually only recently learned about using dehydration to get those looks, and it further cements Hollywood shadiness, but anyway)

So for me, AMAB and men on TV have never really done much to my dysphoria. It’s not a look I’d ever have..so it never set off those bells in my head. I dislike having an AFAB body, sure, but it’s not like looking at the equivalent of a modified human art project on TV really did anything to it.

And then..the Old Guard

Fuck this is long, more under the cut.

So I want to point out that I LIKE action movies. I like things that blow up and gun fights on TV. I get a kick out of the dramatics and I’ve been in the Bond fandom since Craig Bond became a thing. I have some familiarity with the genre in general, on a low scale. And again, the Marvel fandom ofc. I also like comic books, and have for years.

None of these things are new to me.

But what is new, I think, is seeing it done differently.

I’ve noticed a HUGE difference in reviews of the Old Guard. On sites like IMDB.com. YouTube, etc, it’s..not getting the best reviews. And I know now why that is-it wasn’t MADE for the audience action movies are usually made for. And if you compare the comic for the Old Guard to the movie, it’s VERY obvious where Gina Prince-Bythewood made changes with Greg Rucka (And possibly Leandro Fernandez) to give it a better appeal over all. (Especially with giving the characters more layers, even in two hours, and making the story have more of a family and emotional value, which is a great choice and I wholly applaud her and her team. The team feels so much more lived-in in the film than in the comics, though I’ve not read through Vol 2 yet)

Compared to Tumblr, where people are raving about the movie *myself included*, and people who NEVER see themselves in a movie, let alone in a movie done WELL are flipping over themselves over it. And I am in that group entirely.

It has been an absolute delight to see people raving about this. Maybe it’s not perfect, but it’s so incredibly important to people who don’t ever get any GOOD representation that isn’t terribly forced, overdone, stereotyped, etc.

Is Old Guard perfect? No, is it really nice to see yourself in a movie outside of your ‘assigned genre’ (alternative films, etc)

Have I watched it six goddamned times since it came out? Yes, I have. I’m down this rabbit hole, I am living here.

Which brings me back to the original point I was making before this spawned into something entirely different.

“How did that make you dysphoric, then, Nate?”

Because, to be perfectly blunt, I want to link this post here, by @lindstrom2020 which hammered home why, and that point is that, there is virtually 0 sexualization of the characters. There is nothing gratuitous about bodies on screen here, nothing. And we never.ever.see.that.

And no, I’m not going to pretend like I don’t eyeball people on screen. I’m not devoid of sexuality, I am entirely pansexual. But that’s not what I’m trying to say here. I think that, well..seeing bodies that are still entirely masculine, and yet not..what’s the word I want..’done up’? Made all the difference in the world. For the first time, I saw, on TV, an average body, presented in a way that makes it look good, strong and almost achievable. Almost completely NORMAL in that way.

And no, none of the actors in the movie are unattractive. Not even a little bit. They’re still really goddamned pretty. But it was JARRING to see them as pretty but fairly average appearing.

And my brain..synapsed.

As a trans dude, I’m going to straight up say it’s VERY hard to envision what your post-transition body might appear as. It will never be entirely cis-looking (if you will) the way a body that’s biologically created will be, if you will. So you’re stuck working with so much imagination, so much of it relies on looking at post-transition bodies, those done after surgery and YEARS of hormones and even then not knowing.

And for me, well I’m tall, bulky and overweight. I’m also curved, and have a massive back, broad shoulders and long tree trunk like legs. (None of this is said to be a put down on my end, btw, I’m not fishing for compliments, this is the best way I can describe it)

(None of the characters are overweight, so obviously there’s still something there too that’s left to my own imagination, but I digress)

But! There is still something REALLY fucking validating about seeing men on screen who are still attractive without dehydrated abs and veined out skin because the flesh is crying out for sustenance.

I dunno..for me, it was just..strange to see. And there’s also something really really fucking NICE about queer people in the action genre that haven’t been shoved to the back of the movie, appear for five seconds and leave so the movie can scratch of ‘representation’ on it’s proverbial audience appealing points card.

And I’m sure if I watched more movies on my watch list, and stuff that’s been recommended to me I will find more! I know they’re out there, but for the Old Guard, it’s a genre I’d actually watch, something that APPEALED to me and was easy to get into because with my ADHD-Autism, it’s hard to get invested at times. So 2 hours was a good starting point.

Especially if I had to take breaks *but I didn’t need to, it was engaging enough for my wandering head*.

Wow this is messy, I stg I meant for this to be cleaner, but, anyway.

The overall thing is that the Old Guard makes me feel things I really do not usually feel watching movies. Sure it’s still a fantasy, sure it’s still got flaws, but wow if it isn’t just..really goddamned nice to connect to something outside of the box.

It’s not perfect, nothing is.

But Old Guard has done various forms of representation RIGHT, it has done extremely valid and important things. And since I’m old enough to remember the NONSENSE when Brokeback Mountain came out and it was called ‘career ending’ for it’s actors..to see this is just..

It’s nice.

And I KNOW that this movie and series is always going to hold a special place in my heart as a result.

A lot of others have made excellent representation posts, and I wasn’t going to publish my jumbled up nonsense thoughts, but feck it.

It’s not coherent really-my thoughts never are, and it’s long and rambling, but hell, so is my brain.

#the old guard #wow this is a messy ass long ass post #half of it probably doesn't even make sense #and i want to point out that this is only one form of rep #and the one that's got a really bonkers personal appeal #i have seen so many EXCELLENT rep posts already #but this is one of my view points #anyway here it be #nate rambles and rambles

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p4nkow · 5 years

Text

You take my breath away - part III

I had so much fun writing this part! Enjoy and please let me know what you think

Part I, Part II

As usual while reading this fic you need to pretend that Dominique was given much more space on the storyline, just like to the other love interests of the boys. Of course it is just fiction, even though I tried to make it as realistic as possible. I know it might seem a bit confusing so if you have any questions or if you’d like to let me know what you think of it just know that my DMs and Inbox are always open :)

Summary: reader has always dreamt of being an actress and she gets the chance of a lifetime when she’s cast as Dominique Beyrand in the infamous biopic about the legend himself, Freddie Mercury. But what will happen when she gets to know better the man who plays his love interest in the movie, Roger Taylor? Will Ben and Y/N’s story be as lucky as the one of characters they portray or will they be starcrossed lovers? Because it happens that things might get complicated because of Ellie, Ben’s long-term girlfriend.

there are a few visual evidence ;)

South London - December 21st, 2017

Being busy helped you not to think about Ben. You’d been foolish to think that he might actually be interested in you, his co-star. Because that’s all you were — his fictional love interest. And you had to get over it.

You tried to fully enjoy your free time with your family and friends after wrapping on BoRhap. “Did you already write your letter to Santa?” Your six-years-old nephew was sitting on your lap, his head resting on your chest as you gently rubbed his back.

“Yes, mommy helped me out with it.” You smiled by hearing his soft, sleepy voice.

“And what did you ask Santa for?”

His answer made your heart sank and melt at the same time. “A drum set, just like the one that’s in your movie, auntie.”

You remembered facetiming your sister while being on set. That day Ben had tweaked his drums – why didn’t it sound like a news to you? – and Gwil was mocking him for that. Your nephew had popped up on the camera just when you were filming Ben, who was trying to fix the mess he made.

He had given Francis the biggest of the smiles, but the kid’s eyes were all for the magnificent drum set. And that’s the reason why his request to Santa didn’t surprise you at all.

While Francis was falling asleep on your lap, you managed to get your phone, opening the Whatsapp group you had with the rest of the cast and which you hoped no one ever sees.

You: How to react when your nephew asks you Roger’s drum set as a Christmas present? Asking for a friend.

You bit your lip as you waited for them to read, but you didn’t have to wait long — Joe was already typing.

Joe: Just buy him a bass, woman

You tried not to chuckle at his answer in order not to wake the baby up. The rest of the boys joined the conversation.

Lucy: You’re doomed

You: I guess I am

Gwil: Try on Wikihow

You: 🤦‍♀️

Rami: I’ll pretend I didn’t read that

And your heart speeded up when you noticed Ben was typing, too.

Ben: they boy has good tastes 😉

Your smile grew wider by reading his reply and just for a moment everything seemed normal between the two of you. No Ellie, no kissing, no feelings. Just you and Ben. Your phone buzzed again as you got other messages.

Joe: don’t act like it isn’t your fault, man

Lucy: lol just don’t tell Roger

You: no way

Gwil: Alexa play Money, money, money by ABBA

Aaaand Ben was typing again – which was pretty normal, given that you were in a group chat. But that didn’t stop your heart from racing in your chest.

Ben: I’m afraid I can’t take credits for that

Actually it was because of him but there was no need for him to know that.

Allen: what’s going on??

Rami: just Y/N’s nephew asking for Roger’s drums

Allen: I thought kids still played with Lego’s?

Oh and before I forget

I’ll see y’all in a couple of days, right?

Crap. You’d forgotten that Allen was getting married and you were all invited to the ceremony, which happened to be in California. The bop of the phone brought you back from your thoughts.

Lucy: sure thing

And shortly after she sent a picture of her and Rami with their thumbs up. Theirs were the biggest smiles you’d ever seen. Gwil did the same, sending a picture of him with his fist raised and a warm smile on his face. You couldn’t help but notice he was wearing a Wales shirt, his favourite one. “I’ll be there!”, he texted right after sending the picture.

You decided to send one too right after seeing Joe’s one. He was clearly jogging, given his messy hair and the fact that he had his headphones on. He was wearing a shirt of a bright pink and he was standing right next to a flower of the same colour. “Count on me”, He texted, adding shortly after “I’ll match with the flower.”

You took a picture of you and Francis – who was still asleep – but it took you a few moments to decide whether to send it or not. There was a tight smile in your face as your cheek rested on Francis’ head, his angelic features relaxed while sleeping. You were looking straight at the camera and after giving it a better look, it became your favourite picture.

But you tended to overthink on everything, even on pictures you were supposed to send to your friends. At the end you sent it anyways, adding a text. “Ofc! Hopefully he’ll wake up by then.”

Lucy replied to your message with the heart eyes emoji and you were about to put the phone away when you got another message.

It was Ben’s pic; the first thing you noticed – aside that he was handsome as hell – was that he looked tired. You didn’t see the typical sparkle that usually lit up his eyes. If you had to be completely honest with yourself you missed seeing his beautiful face in the morning or spending whole nights in his company.

Santa Ynez Valley (CA) – January 5th, 2018

“This damn thing”, You heard Joe say under his breath in front of the mirror. You turned towards him with your brows narrowed just to see him struggle with his tie.

“Maz, wait.” You sighed deeply and walked towards him. You’d given him that nickname after watching Undrafted together, the movie he’d directed and produced, and somehow it just stuck to him.

You moved away his hands from the tie, stopping him from trying – and fail again – to do a decent knot. You gave him an amused look right when he looked at you with gratitude, starting to do it for him just like your mom had taught you to do.

“Ties are the devil’s tools.”

You chuckled at his words, moving your gaze to him just for an instant before turning your attention back to the tie. “Don’t be overdramatic.”

“Oh, you know I am.” You grinned at him and just when you finished your job someone knocked at the door.

“Mate, are you ready?” Ben’s deep voice came crystal clear to your ears. Your heart started racing in your chest and by the look Joe gave you, you knew he suspected something.

“Yeah, coming!”, He replied and while he walked towards the door you adjusted the folds of your dress, giving a quick look at your hair through the mirror just to make sure it was fine.

You were so bloody nervous that your hands began to get sweaty. Joe gave you a quick look from above his shoulder before opening the door. Ben didn’t notice you at first so you had the chance to give him a better look.

You weren’t surprised to see him in a black suit, but that didn’t mean he didn’t leave you speechless. He had his hair back and it was oddly in order but it highlighted the shining of his green eyes, which seemed even more clear than you remembered.

“I was sure to see you with your tie undone, buddy”, He said in an amused tone, nodding towards the know you’d made. He peeked out his tongue as he used to do and in that moment you wish you could kill the butterflies in your stomach.

He’s not your man, you kept saying to yourself.

Joe softly laughed at his words, pointing at you with a thumb. “Y/N was here to save the day.”

And that’s when Ben’s gaze moved to the back of the room, looking straight at you. You felt his gaze raking your body before meeting your eyes. His lips were a bit parted in surprise and he slowly raised a corner of his lips in a tight smile. “Y/N.”

He pronounced your name like if it was a praise and you shyly smiled at him. “Hey, Ben.”

You heard Joe sigh and you were pretty sure he rolled his eyes at the two of you. He murmured something under his breath before saying out loud “I’ll see you downstairs.”

Ben didn’t seem to pay him attention when he walked past him and shortly after you heard his footsteps walking down the stairs. You forced yourself to move your gaze away from him, grabbing your purse and giving a last look at the room to make sure you weren’t forgetting anything.

When you joined Ben in the hallway, closing the door behind you, his gaze was still on you. “You still blush?”, He murmured in an amused tone and you wondered if he’d ever stop asking you that.

“Oh, shut up, Jones.” He giggled at your words and the two of you, one right next to the other, started to walk towards the stairs. In the hallway you crossed two or three people and given that they were all dressed elegant you were pretty sure they were heading to the wedding, too.

“You look gorgeous.” You bit the interior of your cheeks at his words, giving him a look with the corner of your eyes.

“You look good, too. But you know that exist other colours beside black, right?”

“Don’t sass me, wifey.” You grinned at him and you gave yourself a second to appreciate his presence next to you. You had bloody missed him and now that you were together again, that night at the pub seemed to be forgotten. Seemed, because you couldn’t forget how humiliated you felt when he left you.

Ben was looking at you with a grin, his gaze raking your body once again. You felt flattered by the fact that he couldn’t stop looking at you and you couldn’t help but smile in victory. He even tried to place a hand in your back while walking through the hallway and if at first you couldn’t bring yourself to move his hand away because of the shivers his touch sent down your spine, subsequently you pulled your arm back and gently moved it away.

“Hands off, Jones”, You said with a half-smile, meeting his gaze. “I don’t want to be chased by any angry girlfriend.”

He let out a small laughter and even if by now you were in a dangerous ground, you felt pretty confident. “At least take my arm, I don’t wanna see you roll down the stairs.” And by saying so he offered you his arm, which you gratefully accepted.

As you focused not to stumble over the stairs with your heels, Ben’s tone suddenly changed. “There isn’t any angry girlfriend.”

You suddenly felt a knot in your throat and you didn’t look at him, afraid that if you did you’d loose your balance. “Yeah, like for the last time.” You didn’t mean to say these words but now the damage was done.

He turned his head towards you and you could feel him staring at you; thankfully you were at the last step of the stairs. “For real this time.” You were about to let go of his arm but you couldn’t bring yourself to do so when meeting his eyes, looking at you like you were the only woman in the room. And maybe that’s how he saw you.

You looked away from him when you heard Allen drawing the attention of those presents from the garden where the ceremony would take place, so you murmured “We’ll talk later.” And he just nodded at you.

The whole ceremony was touching and you had to admit you even teared up a little, gaining some amused looks by Joe and Gwil. It was an emotional moment to see a person you cared about making a move that important – and besides, Lucy had teary eyes, too.

The whole crowd cheered up by hearing their “I do” and right after the ceremony you and the boys went to congratulate with them. Their smiles were unbelievably contagious and they just couldn’t stop looking at each other.

The alfresco ceremony started shortly after ad it took place in the amazing garden of the resort. Among the rest of the guests you spotted a few popular faces such as ‪Lea Michele‬ and ‪Darren Criss‬, who started to sing shortly after.‬‬‬‬‬‬

You were taking a sip of your champagne when you suddenly realised you were alone. Rami and Lucy were already on the dance floor, her arms around his neck as the slowly followed the rhythm of the music. Gwil was dancing with his girlfriend, too, and Joe and Ben were having a chat near the buffet table.

You were about to take a seat in one of the closest tables when you noticed someone approaching you. “Hey.”

You raised your gaze just to meet a handsome ginger. “Hi”, You replied hesitantly.

“I’m Seth”, The man said, extending you a hand. “I’m the brother of the bride.” He could’ve been two or three years older than you and you couldn’t help but notice that he looked good. “Oh, right. I’m Y/N.” You shook his hand, giving him a big smile.

“Are you Allen’s friend?”, He politely asked and you nodded your head ‘yes’ at his question.

“Yeah, we met on set.”

“Of Bohemian Rhapsody?” He seemed amazed and surprised by the fact that you were an actress. Well, who wouldn’t? Your face wasn’t exactly well known.

“Yeah”, You said once again and you felt your cheeks turning rose. He noticed your reaction and his smile grew wider.

“I’m sorry, I’m just trying not to freak out. I’m surrounded by actors.” You let out a small laugh and you nodded in comprehension, giving a look at the rest of the guests. You noticed Ben looking at you, probably even not paying attention to what Joe was telling him. You quickly looked away, focusing again on Seth.

“We’re not aliens, y’know”, You replied in an amused tone and he gave you an apologetic look.

“Oh no, no. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to sound rude. It’s just… never mind. What d’ya think if to make up for it—”

But Seth never finished his sentence because the two of you were interrupted by a new voice. “Hey, babe.”

You looked above your shoulder just to see Ben standing behind you, an arm surrounding your waist as he looked at you with a smile. You narrowed your brows, looking at Seth first — who was staring at Ben with a confused look — and then at him. “Hey”, You simply replied, not knowing what game he was playing.

He nodded towards the dance floor, saying without paying the smallest attention to Seth “Shall we dance?” And you gave an apologetic look at the ginger before following Ben at the centre of the floor.

“What was that?”, You asked him in an amused but confused look. He placed both his hands on your hips, pulling your body closer to his. You hesitantly surrounded his neck with an arm, placing the other hand on his chest. You could easily feel his heart beating as fast as yours.

Lea Michele and Darren Criss — who had kindly offered to sing when the band that Allen hired couldn’t play because of the weather — were still playing in the background one of your favourites song: My Eyes by ‪The Lumineers‬.‬‬‬

“What?”, Ben asked with a brow raised. You raised your chin to meet his eyes – the last time you’d been this close you ended up kissing. And for as much as you liked it, you weren’t going to do it again. Not when he was still thinking about someone else.

“You literally dragged me away”, You managed to say as he lowered his gaze to your lips. Your breath become heavier under his staring gaze and the way he was gently caressing your hip with his thumb didn’t help at all. “Ben”, You whispered, almost begging him to stop. But you didn’t want him to.

His eyes were again fixed on yours when he spoke again. “I’ve broken up with Ellie. For real this time.”

You sighed deeply, looking at his green eyes while thinking at his words. “Sometimes breaking up doesn’t mean not to be still in love with someone.”

“She’ll always be important to me. I mean, we’ve been together since we were like nineteen, but it’s over now.” And he seemed sure of his words. You bit your lower lip, looking away from him in order to think clearly. And you couldn’t do that with his eyes fixed on yours.

You placed your forehead on his chest, taking deep breaths as you could feel your head fighting with your heart. He took a deep breath, his chest rising and lowering under your forehead. Ben surrounded your back with one arm, placing his cheek on your head. It took him a few moments to speak again. “I’ve missed this.”

“I missed it, too.”

London - February 7th, 2018

Plenty of big, rectangular screens had been placed in every wall of the room, in which were projected old pictures of the band and new stills of the movie. There was also a small stage in where a band was playing Queen songs.

You never thought you’d spend the BoRhap wrap party — also called BoWrap — singing Queen songs at the top of your lungs between a drink and the other. But thanks exactly what you were doing.

“Y/N, come on up here!” You bursted into laughter by hearing Lucy calling you through the mic. You raised your arm in the air, letting out a little scream of excitement before finishing your drink in one gulp and starting to walk towards the stage.

You grinned at Clara and Rachael while walking past them on your way to the stage and you grabbed the hand Rami was extending you to join them. Somehow you ended up holding a microphone and singing — or better, shouting — the words of Radio Ga-Ga alongside with Lucy and Rami.

From the stage you could easily see the rest of the room, which was illuminated with a pink light. Everyone was there — every member of the cast and crew, even Roger, Sarina, Brian and Anita.

But you were looking for one person in particular — Ben was standing in the front row, a drink in his hand and a grin in his face. He was already looking at you and probably for the first time ever you didn’t blush. Ah, the power of alcohol.

“All we hear is radio gaga, radio goo goo”, You sang to the mic, trying to clap with your free hand. Lucy moved closer to you and started to sing, too before the two of you bursted into laughter. Joe and Gwil were also singing, clapping their hands by following the rhythm of the song.

“He can’t take his eyes off you”, Lucy murmured in your ear, pushing away the mic from you. You quickly turned towards her with a surprised look, your lips parted as you met her amused gaze. “Lucy!”

“What? It’s true!” She couldn’t have been more obvious by the way she nodded towards him. And the thing was, she was right. The way Ben was looking at you sent shivers all over your body.

When he noticed you were staring at him he raised a corner of his lips in an amused grin to which you replied with a big smile. The song wasn’t even over yet when somehow you managed to get off the stage without stumbling. He was standing there, not so far away from you, in his dark jeans and grey sweater.

“Hey, stranger”, You said when you moved closer to him, giving him a tight smile.

“Didn’t know that hidden talent of yours”, He replied, nodding towards the stage. You let out a soft laughter, shaking your head.

“That’s nothing.” His green eyes were fixed on yours and he gave you a look you couldn’t read. You didn’t like the things his stare made you feel and you looked away from him, when you spotted something at the corner of the room. “Is that...” You started to say in excitement, gaining a confused look by Ben. “A photo booth?”

“What?”, He asked with a small laugh, following your gaze to that spot. You grabbed him by his hand, his gentle touch once again on you. “Please, please come with me.”

Maybe it was the look on your face, maybe it was your excitement, but somehow he agree on coming with you.

“‘right, fine”, He said with a big smile and you were about to clap your hands when you noticed he was still holding your hand. “C’mon”, He added, and you followed him through the crowd.

You waited for him to insert the coins and while doing so he gave you an amused look by noticing your excitement. “You’re cute.”

You narrowed your eyes at his words and it might’ve been silly or you, but you just couldn’t stop smiling. “Thanks?”

I want to break free was playing in the background as the two of you entered the booth. It was small, though, and one could barely move in there.

“Uhm.” Ben was giving a look around him and you could easily see the inner workings in his brain try to find a solution, but you both had too many drinks to think clearly.

“‘kay, how about you sit in my lap? I’ll behave, I promise.” You narrowed your brows at his proposal, looking at him while he took his seat. You nodded in agreement — probably because of the alcohol — and you took a deep breath before doing so. You noticed the bin of his Adam apple and by the look in his eyes you could tell he wanted you just as much as you wanted him.

“It’s gonna be so much fun!” He smiled at your words, his arm surrounding your waist and yours was around his shoulders. Your cheek was right next to his and that’s when the first photo was taken.

“I wasn’t ready!”, He complained and you looked at him with a big smile.

“C’mon, Ben. Don’t be so serious.” You turned again towards the camera and you pulled out your tongue for the next picture.

Ben in the meantime was mouthing ‘God knows!’ as the song played in the background and that’s why he was all so pouty in the next picture.

For the third one you parted your lips and it captured Ben’s hand on his way to your face. And for the next one Ben placed a kiss on your cheek, your smile bigger than ever. You’d been taken aback and that’s why you turned towards him with a surprised look “Ben!”

Man, if you thought you’d been taken aback a few moments before, thanks because you didn’t know what was waiting. Ben’s hand was still on your cheek when he crushed your lips into yours. You immediately kissed him back, placing a hand on his chest. You both forgot about the pictures the moment you felt his tongue asking for permission to deepen the kiss, and you let him. His hand moved to your hip and he gently caressed your bare skin given that your shirt had lifted up a bit.

The little, hot moan that escaped his mouth made you crave for more, if it wasn’t for the curtain of the booth that swung open.

“Shit!”, Joe said, immediately closing in again. You backed away from Ben’s lips and you giggled.

“Go away, Maz!”, You shouted and you didn’t have to wait for long for him to shout back “Go get a room!”

And that’s when Ben said in an amused tone “Shall we follow his advice?” Just the idea left you speechless and that’s why it took you a few moments to answer. “Oh, shut up.”

Ben giggled but despite your words, you were considering his proposal for real and Ben noticed it by the look in your eyes. Oh man, you were doomed.

Taglist: @caborhapch @ohtheseboysilove @classy-fangirl @royalblueviper @rogers-weirdo @geek-and-proud @mrsbenhardyx @julessbrown @the-little-warbler @bouncingjoe @benders-diamond-earring @radiob-l-a-hblah @luvborhap @mrsmazzello @orchideax @gardengirl-18 @dearestdeaky @brianandthemays @ixchel-9275

If you wanna be added in the taglist just tell me!

#ben hardy #ben hardy x reader #ben hardy fic #bohemian rhapsody #Bo Rhap #borhap imagine #borhap fic #borhap #roger taylor #roger taylor fic #roger taylor x reader #Queen #queen band #queen fic

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deacied · 5 years

Text

evening sun . // one .

summary: messaging stupid things to your celebrity crush on instagram has no repercussions because it’s not like they’re going to read it anyway! obviously this doesn’t entail sexual harassment or general creepiness, but sending a meme they’d like or a picture or maybe something actually stupid like your phone number seems irrelevant in the grand scheme of things.

or the one where you dm joe on instagram and your life actually changes

warnings: none other than like fluff

word count: 1.7k

she sends the stupidest message she has possibly ever typed in her entire life (eighth grade, angsty teen posts on myspace included) to him in the second week of march. the chances were low that he would open her dm, but he had been known to ever so often answer a handful at a time, and what did she have to lose if he did answer the message? she had sent him other things before as if he were her best friend, memes that reminded her of him or funny t-shirt ads, whatever it had been that she thought might have him grinning to himself--- however, clearly the response never-received wasn’t with this particular “friend”. she didn’t really know him, and he, blissfully unaware of her existence, yet she tried weakly to get the attention of him while he received thousands of others flooding his messages doing just the same. it was just a bit of fun really. a shirt that showed a t-rex wearing mickey ears, “wrong park!“ written across it had her laughing manically to herself before sending the post over to joe. she hoped she would see him in that shirt soon.

it was a hopeless cause that, well, wouldn’t crush her if the odds weren’t in her favor. nearly a month after she had sent the stupidest message, a notification of a new text pings through her phone. a glance over to it only to be met with an unknown number loses her attention as quick as it held it. she yawns. the action comes of mainly boredom though sleepiness threatens to claw its way into dominance as the summer rain continues to pummel unto the roof, warm florida air shifting through the porch, and the novel in her hand losing focus. a nap would be good-- perfect actually.

the crackle of lightning followed by a gargle of thunder shook her out of her sleep only an hour later and back into reality. every afternoon without fail, the casual shower of rain would pass over her family home just after three as if mother nature were taking her time with her garden. florida often promised hurricanes so the thunderstorms weren’t uncommon, but this particular one wasn’t supposed to hit until thursday, and with it being only tuesday, she knew this storm would last forever now: the earlier they came, the longer and harder they reined apparently. notifications sound off at a quick rate, though she easily dismisses it as something extraordinary going on in the group chat. trekking back into the house with book and phone in hand, her free fingers pass over her dogs’ heads as she passes them to head to her room. the thought of a shower to wash away the dampness from outside was the most ideal option she possessed, however, the implied doom her mother promised of a shower during a thunderstorm was the least. more notifications go off in time before she turns off the ringer entirely and plugs it into the charger. sixty-four (jesus) messages in the group chat on discord, another twenty-one from the same group on instagram, and god knows how many more on snapchat, but the one, singular cluster of notifications tucked at the bottom that held her interest had her pausing with head tipping in interest: another message from the unknown number.

lower lip curls between teeth as brows furrow an inch together. finally clicking on the messages, she feels like she might throw up as her eyes follow the pixels. holy. fucking. shit.

FROM unknown 11:18 am: It’s super dangerous giving your phone number to strangers on the internet you know? FROM unknown 11:20 am: I tried to call and kind of chickened out. I got nervous and I’m sorry. FROM unknown 11:43 am: Oh my god, did you really shoot your shot and just leave the court?

she has to read the messages at least eight times, take a screenshot, send it to her brother, and have him confirm she’s not having a stroke before she can go back to the originals with an intent to reply. thumbs hover over keys making absentminded shapes as she breathes deeply, loudly, anxiously trying not to have a whole mental breakdown. the message directly referenced her messages to none other than the boy from jurassic park, the bassist of bohemian rhapsody, the very angry baseball player of undrafted. there was absolutely no way that this was actually, truly, literally joseph francis mazzello iii. couldn’t be. nope. not happening. she doesn’t know what to reply back with for a good long moment, taking a second to collect herself and open up instagram to confirm for the hundredth time now that this is who she thinks it is.

the dm’s screen welcomes her, exhale escaping lowly as she clicks on joe_mazzello’s chat. he hadn’t replied -clearly, she most definitely would have received a notification for that or else instagram would have a very angry woman on their hands- but he had opened it. the time read 3:56am two weeks ago when he read them. her head falls backwards as the mental math floods hurriedly through her brain, trying to understand: so he had called a week after reading them apparently, and then waited another week before engaging contact again. he... he had been thinking about this for a while; it wasn’t just a spur-of-the-moment ploy to entertain a fan. god, she might throw up actually this time. thumbs navigate to open the texts from the unknown number again just to make sure they hadn’t magically dissolved into thin air. a slow exhale. one more final time she moves over the keys.

TO unknown 12:56 pm: who is this? TO unknown 12:57 pm: if this is who i think it is i’m gonna Lose My McFreakin Mind

she nods to herself as they send--- vague enough that whomever was on the other side wouldn’t think something strange was going on no matter what the outcome turned out to be. it had happened once where a friend texted the wrong number instead of her, asking if “mc fuckhead” was there. (that was an incredibly fun inside joke to explain.) head tips to the side slightly, hopping her train of thought from joe mazzello and him genuinely thinking of you to how strange every inside joke must sound to people outside of the inside. another vibration of the device jerks her back to the matter at hand, unable to help her heart thumping uneasily.

FROM unknown 1:26 pm: Hi, I’m Joe Mazzello from Jurassic- I mean, Bohemian Rhapsody and you’re watching Disney Channel! FROM unknown 1:26 pm: Thank God you’re a multiple text person too FROM unknown 1:27 pm: Please don’t Lose Your McFreakin Mind! FROM unknown 1:27 pm: Wait. FROM unknown 1:27 pm: .....Is this (@ y/ig)? Did I just fuck everything up with an actual wrong number?

suspicions couldn’t get more confirmed than that. her next set of texts goes out rapidly and without much second thought, a stupidly huge smile graced on her face that probably made her look like a maniac--- but really, if any person’s celebrity crush had texted them wouldn’t they have the exact same reaction? actually, now that y/n thinks about it, she’s being really, really calm. the internal screaming stays internal -thank the lord- though her cheeks already ache from the face-splitting grin she currently wears.

TO unknown 1:33pm: if i’m (@ y/ig) then wouldn’t you be @joe_mazzello? no? just me? ok TO unknown 1:33 pm: but hi yes i’m y/n ??? holy shit ??? what the fuck ??? TO unknown 1:34 pm: definitely losing my mind rn TO unknown 1:34 pm: but also 👀 real talk i was 👀 actually asking you 👀 out TO unknown 1:34 pm: like if you wanted to hang out 👀 haha

as soon as the last one sends, her heart drops with fear. fuck, what if the actor just wanted to do a fan a favor and answer her dm just for shits and giggles, or, best (worst?) case scenario he wanted to online-befriend her. she can very easily lose the one single chance she’s gotten and--- god, yes, definitely going to throw up. she sends another message in a haste, praying to whomever was up above that her last text actually saved her ass. he responds in actual record time, the girl tucked up on her bed unable to help the excited and very, very, very ugly squeal she let out as she starts reading the messages.

FROM joe omg 1:36 pm: Interesting.... I’ll have to accept your proposal. We meet at dawn! FROM joe omg 1:36 pm: But you’re in Florida right? I think I read that on your account, I hope I didn’t just pull that out of my ass. FROM joe omg 1:36 pm: I haven’t been to Universal down there in God knows how long and I was planning to go at the end of the month funnily enough FROM joe omg 1:36 pm: If dinosaurs and King Kong and Harry Potter and whateva are your thaaaang

an anxious groan soon follows-- of course this was the alternating year she had gotten a disney annual pass instead of a universal one like last year, and upon further inspection of prices, her bills due, and her bank account, it was a couple hundred dollars she definitely didn’t have to spend. she sets her phone down to calm her now raging anxiety, skin heating up and palms sweating profusely until she fists her comforter in hopes to dry them. asking an actual rich and famous person for financial help just to hang out with them was forcing her eyes to prick with tears-- she had to find something else, right? they could work something else out and she was just overreacting. it takes her verbally saying “you’re crying over universal, chill the heck out” before she comprehends and truly relaxes, tension melting out of her back as a slow breath falls from anxiety ridden lungs.

TO joe omg 1:42 pm: i actually love universal but i have a disney pass right now if maybe that was something you wanted to do TO joe omg 1:43 pm: idk if you’ve ever been to disney world but its so much better than disneyland if i’m honest lmao i’ve gone to california once and i went and i wasn’t super impressed TO joe omg 1:43 pm: i mean it was really cool cause it was the original disney but rides and attractions wise you know what i mean??? anyway im rambling wtf

the conversation rolls with no further lulls in topics to talk about, one in the afternoon soon turning to one in the morning and her eyes threatening to droop closed. with a final goodnight text the pair decide to resume conversation in the morning, and lord, did she have something to excitedly scream about then.

#okay uhhhh heres the actual first chapter #joe mazzello x reader #joe mazzello #joe mazzello fanfic #john deacon x reader

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deakydeaky · 5 years

Note

Dating Joe but being younger than him(like 10+) and maybe he gets self conscious at times. Thank you!!

How it started/how you met;

You were on the set of undrafted as just someone in the background

Joe never paid a lot of attention to you because he was so busy with the movie but you would hang out with the other guys a lot

He formed a small crush on you after being around the guys when you were so much even though he didn’t talk to you very much

He thought about you from time to time and kind of was upset he didn’t take his chance but as fate would have it you ended up on the set of Bohemian Rhapsody

You were just a P.A that everyone loved. You would help with lights and sound and even would give a few tips to the director

You even managed to get what everyone likes for coffee and would get them some every morning. You went up to everyone and handed it out

“I was told that you were a tea fan.” You said and handed him the tea you had got him. He thanked you as you just smiled. “You were on the set of undrafted right?” “Yes, I was.” You nodded before handing your favorite makeup artist their cup.” I swear I’m not following you.” You joked to him. “I believe it.” You just flashed a smile before walking away

The guys always talked to you for them to try and get Joe too but he was too nervous. You were so sweet with that smile and getting him tea all the time and always talking to everyone and being super nice

It wasn’t until your sixth time bringing him tea that he actually talked to you. “We should go get tea sometime.” You stoooed in your tracks.” I take the others out sometimes and it only seems fair after how much you’ve gotten me.” You started to blush.” I would love that.” You then went to one of the others to freak out about it. It happen been building up for a month and it was about time

After that date there were more. Plus looks on set, getting kind of touchy in the dressing room, and always having a proud look for when he is shooting

It wasn’t until your birthday, which only one person knew about but made a big deal, he found out your age

“Twenty three isn’t a big deal.” Joe’s eyes went wide as he heard you talking to your friend. “Yes it is! You’re out of that sorry stage and more into work but then you start going through a crisis and get super drunk and cry all night.” You had rolled your eyes in time to see Joe grabbed his friends. You were a little curious about what had happened. He looked kind of freaked out. You walked to find him when you heard him yelling. “That’s not the point! I’m ten years older than her!” You knocked on the door. “Babe?” You called out for him. Ben opened the door with a smile. “Y/N!” He kissed your cheek.” Birthday dinner tonight, yeah?” “Sure.” You agreed. They all left and you shut the door

“Is something wrong?” “You could have told me that I was ten years older than me.” You folded your arms. “I thought you knew.” “How would I have known?” “You hired me during- okay no. Why is this a big deal? Does it bother you that much.” “Not know it doesn’t but what about the future? What if I wanted you apart of that?” “And this makes a difference because?..” “Because there are things to consider! Marriage, babies, getting old together me before you apparently.” You stopped him before he could go on. “We can still do that. My age shouldn’t effect how you feel about me, or how I feel about you!”

It was about a week of awkward silence or weird conversations. You both finally sat down and talked because you wanted the same thing. You didn’t care if he was older than he didn’t care that you were younger, so much now. The guys talked to him about it too because it wasn’t a big deal

It took a minute to go public. You didn’t want to know what others would say about the age difference and then you just didn’t care what people had to say. You two liked each other and wanted to go out. Hold hands, go drink some coffee, whatever

Much wasn’t said by anyone, at first. Then the news places found out your age difference and wrote all about it, but you didn’t care

Dating;

Going out all of the time

Drive arounds

Your guys friends make jokes about the age difference

“When is your birthday day again? I’m trying to see if we can get a deal at chucky cheese.” You smiled at Ben before your hand went to his chest, pushing him off of the couch

Randomly making silly faces at each other

“That’s really good.” You crosses your eyes and stuck out your tongue. He had a little smile before he continued his acting

Him getting very jealous when he has no need too

“Maybe I could get your number?” A guy asked you. Joe watched as you smiled before he walked away. “Maybe if I was single. I’ll see you around Jer, stay off of the whiskey.” You squeezes his hand before waking to find your boyfriend. Later on he didn’t say anything to you, not until you guys got home. “Who was that guy.” “Who? Jer? Just a guy I use to work with, he likes his whiskey and coke.” You smiled, not seeing how jealous Joe was. “You sleep with him?” You stopped getting changed out of the dress you were wearing.” Would make since for is close you guys seem to be, not just in age either.”

You were so mad at what he was saying. You had finished getting dressed before you walked out. “Are you ready for this relationship or are you just gonna keep getting mad at me because you’re insecure about the age difference? I told you what I wanted, we want each other but if it’s hard for you not to be jealous at very make my age that looks at me then this will never work out! And I done trying to tell you how much I care about you every time a guy looks at me. Get over it!” You grabbed your bag before walking out of the house. You had never yelled like that before, ever. Not at Joe but this was the fifth time he has been petty at you for something you never did

You called one of your friends that night to take your mind off of it but ended up going to bed sad. You thought it was over but maybe it was for the best. How could something like that work? You woke up the next morning to knocking on your front door. You opened it to see Joe standing there

“Can we talk?” You nodded your head and let him in. You were ready to be broken up with. Ready for Joe to tell you he wasn’t ready as he thought and it was too weird for him and you should be with someone your age.” I’m sorry, for all of it. I know I get jealous over it and I get mad at you when guys flirt with you but I get scared. It’s dumb and I shouldn’t get mad because of that but I do. I just keep thinking that because they’re your age you’ll go for them over me. I just keep thinking that they have something that I don’t when it comes to you. I don’t want you to leave me and it scares me when someone who I know could be better for you is trying for you.” You were surprised at his words. You thought he would break it off, not tell you he was scared to lose you. “Jesus Joe.” You pulled him in and hugged him tightly.” I’m not going anywhere.”

Your family not being a big fan of the age difference at first but they saw he made you happy, and that’s what mattered

No one catching the age difference until they go digging

After the first few months it’s not a problem

Sometimes when you two go to shows people think you’re his niece or maybe even his daughter

Giving each other gifts, all of the time, like always. It’s not even a special occasion just because really

“Joey you have to stop this, people might think you’re my sugar daddy.” You said with the box in your hand. You were just chilling on the couch before he came over and gave you the box. You opened and the box and gasped. It was a neckless with a J on it(yes this has been used before, yes I love it bc yes I can see it.) You hugged him tightly telling him how much you loved it and ended up giving him on with the letter of your first name

Very good sex(it had to be said)

Cheek kisses

Pictures of said kisses

Being kind of a partier but Joe just jokes he’s too old

Loving his scruff

And his perm

ROAD TRIPS ALWAYS

Helping him when it comes to acting

Being at premiers with him whenever you can

Him bragging about you when you hit your first lead role

It was hard because it came out around the time bohemian rhapsody did and you two had different things to go to so time toegther was always perfect

Award shows together are a favorite for everyone because when one of you wins the other one jumps up and cheers and claps and you mention each other

You seem to fall more in love with each other everyday

Having the same type of always happy energy

The silliest couple, without a doubt

Having get togethers whenever possible

Cute comments on Instagram

Posting each other all of the time

Getting him tea

Taking each other out for tea

Going to bed and you hear him whisper about how much he loves you

By the end of the day the age difference doesn’t matter and you two are more in love than anyone else

Bonus; Winning first award!

Your table was close to the BoRhaps table but you and Joe still got to sit by each other

As you were feeling a little tispy they started listing off nominations to your category

It was your first time for an award and you were up for two

You stayed calm thinking it was just a big deal to be nominated but when they called your name you could have cried and you did

You kissed Joe quickly before you hugged a few more people and went up. Joe giving a standing ovation. You smiled as you went up on stage and saw him

“Wow, this is incredible! I mean just- wow. Okay hang out I just made a list in my head of who to thank.” You started off one by one thinking whoever you could in the what seemed to be short time you had.” And to my incredible boyfriend. You have made my life s journey and your support during all of this made this what it is.”

Later on, when you were back at the table your movie went up and that also won. Everyone said something before they went off

It was one of the last awards of the night when everyone was basically piss drunk. You did have a few more drinks but the adrenaline blocked everything for a while

“Y/N L/N!” Your face showed nothing but happiness and excitement as you went up. Joe, now for the third time, clapping and standing up cheering you on.

“Man! This is so much! Thank you!” You went on talking about how great it was to win twice now and how happy you were. You were kind of seeing stars.” But you.” You pointed to Joe.” Are gonna make this night better.” You stuck out your tongue as everyone laughed.” Thank you all!” You kissed out

Now when BoRhap won you acted like a damn fool. You were so happy and cried and just pure happiness that was running through your body

You were more happy that that won than you

Later, when you were all together and everything was more calm it was the perfect moment

“I can’t believe you won twice and your movie won.” You kissed him as the others were off in their own world

“You best believe whats gonna happen tonight.”

This was great, thanks for this. Ben one coming up soon!!

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ventrue-rosary · 5 years

Note

33. This is gonna hurt. (bonus points if you make the two ppl partners :3 helping one another)

Thanks nonny! Autumn is my own, Kevir belongs to @theasexualityfandomI

This one’s been sitting in my inbox for a while so have it in all it’s undrafted mediocrity

Ko-Fi

Since that damn fireball Autumn had felt everything far too much. The pain, the loneliness, the guilt–it all piled up until it suffocated her, stealing her breath yet not having the mercy to kill her. She remained in the land of the living, dragging herself from day to day as the agony only worsened with each new morning without Winter, and with the words of her mother’s cruelty driving a dagger closer to her heart, inch by inch. Autumn wanted to feel something, anything else.

Waterdeep fell victim to a hard winter, driving most people to seek the comfort of crackling hearths and bellyfulls of cheap ale, particularly at evening when even the water froze over.

It is still a foolish thing to wander through the most dangerous areas of Waterdeep at this time of night, when only the vilest scums braved the cold winds in hopes of finding easy prey. Autumn normally is a far cry from easy prey. But without her weapons or a general regard for her safety, tonight’s a different story.

Autumn walks without an exact destination in mind, winding through the streets and alleys, letting the cold night air burn her lungs and clear her mind, as much as possible as the sound of drunken voices and music stream from the various taverns and inns. She finds herself drawn to the a particularly raucous one, named The Weighed Anchor. From the open door pours out the orange light from the hearth and the many, many torches and candles lighting the interior. People laugh, talk and cheer, washing away the days worries with celebration. She wonders how many tankards it takes to reach such levels of elation.

She steps inside, enjoying the rush of warm air, which caves to a small knot of anxiety as many eyes fix on her. Though small in stature, her wings and horns always draw attention. People part for her with nudges, whispers and more than a few snickers. She feels the swell of anger that simmers beneath her skin as she makes her way to the bar.

The barkeeper, a stout hardy human wearing a sleeveless shirt to reveal his heavily scarred, muscled arms to the world takes one look at her and snorts.

‘Think you’re in the wrong place, sweetheart. Castle district is that way.’ He points with the filthy rag he is using to attempt to clean the glasses.

‘I didn’t come here expecting honeyed wine and polite company,’ she responds, hopping onto a bar stool.

‘What are you here for?’

‘Looking to forget my troubles.’

He grins, revealing several missing and chipped teeth. ‘You’ve come to the right place.’

Autumn hardly every touches mugs of cheap ale. But tonight she chases them down one after the other, bearing with the grim taste as she looks to the bottom of her tankards for even just a shred of happiness that continues to elude her, but the more the collection of mugs grow, the less cohesive her mind is, and that helps. She finds her mind unable to really focus on anything other than how her vision has doubled and everything around her seems a might shinier. It hits her that now is the time to return home.

Autumn slips off the bar-stool–quite literally, falling face-first into the back of a burly human nearly twice her height and girth, spilling his mug of ale all over his and his friends’ front.

‘Oi, watch it,’ he growls.

Autumn mumbles a slurred apology as she sets out for the door when a meaty hand clamps over her shoulder.

‘What did you just say to me, freak?’

Autumn shakes his hand off. ‘That I was sorry, but I take it back because you’re, quite frankly, a jack-ass.’

His snickering drinking buddies quiet with one withering glare before he sets his sights back on Autumn, rolling up his sleeves to reveal impossibly large forearms bursting with veins and muscles.

‘Someone needs to teach you some manners, little bitch.’

Her irritation grows. ‘Look, I’ve had an unfortunate few days. Do yourself the favour of removing yourself from my company before you regret it.’

He breaks out in guffaws of laughter, clearly unimpressed.

‘You’re cute, I’ll give you that. I’m still gonna smash in that pretty face of yours.’

Autumn swings first, before he even finishes his sentence. Her alcohol-addled mind misjudges the distance and her first comes up a few inches short. He grabs her wrist, pulling her forward into the knee waiting to slam into her abdomen. It forces a cough from her lips as the air is forcibly knocked out of her. An elbow right in the centre of her spine drives her to the ground, dizzy and nauseated.

‘Hey, no rough-housing in my bar! Take it outside.’

‘If you insist.’ His expression sounds rather smug as she physically lists her from the ground, carrying her through the parting crowd of spectators. Through pain-squinted eyes Autumn sees them cheer, pump their fists in the air or raise their flagons, yet none step in to help, or look even a fraction concerned.

His boot kicks open the door, and with a roar he hoists Autumn above his head before hurling her forward. She raises her wings to try and catch herself midair and swing herself back to attack–big mistake. The momentum of the throw right in the direction of the blowing wind sends her careening into the side of a building rather than a harmless slide down the alleyway, her wings still outstretched. They strike against hard brick and mortar first with a series of sickening cracks that prelude the burst f agony spiderwebbing across her wings and spine. She can’t even scream through the pain, just breathless gasps as the pain continues its merciless onslaught. She crumples onto the ground, rolling on her front to take the weight from her broken wings.

A series of feet and fists strike her like hammers, but she barely feels the initial impacts over the throbbing back pain, but it is enough for her mind to mercifully shut down.

‘…jy? Dajy!’ A voice calls her to consciousness, but with the spreading soreness across her entire form, she wishes they wouldn’t.

She groans, and tries to roll onto her back from habit–then quickly returns to her side with a cry. Her eyes flutter open, feeling the sting of the cold morning air. Kevir hovers over her, his face managing a weak smile when their eyes meet.

‘Dajy..I was so worried. You were missing all night.’ His fingers trail lightly over her arm, her shoulder, just stopping shy of her wing joint, where her wings both lay pathetic and broken. His expression forms into a snarl. ‘Who did this to you?’

Autumn tries to recall faces, but she can;t. Just muscled arms and mocking laughter. She swallows thickly, her mouth tasting thoroughly awful and dry as carpet. ‘I–I don’t know. Dock ward scum.’

‘If I ever find out who, so help me god…’ Kevir gently encourages her in a sitting position. ‘Can you stand? We should get you home.’

She meekly nods, and with Kevir’s help finds her feet. Her head swims and spins, pounding like a blacksmith’s hammer on an anvil. She lulls against him for support with a dazed moan. She half expects a witty joke accompanied by an easy grin, but he merely winds an arm around her waist and helps her on the long walk back to their manor.

Due to the early hour, they are the only two awake–a small mercy she is thankful for. Kevir sets her down on a chair close to the dying embers of the fire.

‘I need to set the bones before I heal you. I won’t lie, dajy, this is gonna hurt.’

He steps behind her. Autumn’s hands grip the sides of the chairs tightly in preparation.The wood nearly buckles under her grip as he forces the bones of her ings into their proper position. She hears him whisper words of encouragement and affection, yet they are lost behind her howl.

A warm sensation eases the pain as he uses healing magic to mend her injuries, and she softly sighs in utter relief.

‘Thank you, dajy,’ she whispers softly, nearly collapsing back into the chair, her head lolling to rest on the back of it. Kevir comes to stand in front of her, placing a soft kiss on her brow.

‘Of course.’

Footsteps announce the arrival of a sleep-dishevelled Gar as he fixes them both with a half-amused, half-exasperated look. ‘Guys, I’m thrilled for you and all but if you could practice you’re kinky, noisy sex out of ear-shot of the rest of us, that would be great.’

#Anonymous #autumn darcelle #kevir pride #the lavendar scare #my writing #dnd #ly rambles

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junker-town · 4 years

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4 trends that were in, 3 that were out during the NFL Draft

Handout Photo-USA TODAY Sports

Over draft weekend, retired NFL lineman Geoff Schwartz noticed a priority on speed, rumors that never panned out, and Roger Goodell being ... human?

I loved the NFL Draft this past weekend. It was so fun, and so needed while we’re all stuck at home without live sports.

After three days, what lessons did we learn? Which trends were in or out? Here are seven that stood out to me.

In: Speed, speed, speed

The Chiefs won the Super Bowl this past season with speed on offense. They were fast at every wide receiver position, plus tight end Travis Kelce. So what do their division opponents and teams with high aspirations do? They drafted and traded for speed.

The Raiders took Henry Ruggs III, Lynn Bowden, and Bryan Edwards. The Broncos added Jerry Jeudy and KJ Hamler. The Ravens landed J.K Dobbins, who’s a fit for the offense but also can blaze. The Eagles drafted Jalen Reagor and traded for Marquise Goodwin. The 49ers got Brandon Aiyuk with their second first-round pick.

It’s clear that getting faster was a big priority this year.

Out: The Packers’ plan

It is reported the Packers drafted with the intention of moving to more of a ground-and-pound offense, with the goal of winning close, low-scoring games. This is backward thinking in 2020, when the value of the pass game far outweighs rushing the ball.

I understand the 49ers just made the Super Bowl after focusing on the run game, but they had the eighth-ranked passing attack and the 12th-ranked rushing attack, according to DVOA. So even for a team that dominated on the ground, their passing game was more important.

The Packers drafted quarterback Jordan Love with their first-round pick, which I talked more about here. They spent their next pick on a downhill running back. Yikes. And their third pick on an H-back. Oh man. In a draft with an exceptional class of wide receivers, the Packers didn’t draft one. How do you miss on that? It makes no sense.

In: Rich get richer

I want to focus on three teams in particular that helped themselves most this weekend.

San Francisco 49ers: They drafted defensive tackle Javon Kinlaw, who I didn’t necessarily love but does fit a spot of need. Then they took Aiyuk, a speedster from Arizona State.

And not related to the draft, but possibly the best move of the weekend was the 49ers trading for Washington left tackle Trent Williams. With Joe Staley’s surprise retirement announcement, the 49ers got the best tackle in the market, including any draft picks. This trade was so impressive that rival Rams head coach Sean McVay commented he needed a few more beers after hearing about the trade.

Baltimore Ravens: Everyone mocked Patrick Queen to the Ravens. Guess who the Ravens drafted? Patrick Queen. In the second round, they added Dobbins, who excelled in gun/pistol runs at Ohio State.

But I want to highlight two undrafted free agents they managed to sign. The first is tight end Jacob Breeland from Oregon. Breeland was on the way to first-team All-American honors this season before tearing his ACL. If he’s healthy, he’s going to be extreme value. The Ravens also signed Tyler Huntley, the quarterback out of Utah. Huntley can move, is accurate, and would be a good fit in their offense.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers: The Bucs signed Tom Brady. Big win. They just signed Rob Gronkowski. Another win. And then the draft occurred and they landed my favorite pick of the first round, Tristan Wirfs. Wirfs is a right tackle and will be an elite right tackle. Position of need, boom, yet another win — and also at pick No. 13, and I doubt the Bucs thought he’d be available there.

Then, in the second round they got Antoine Winfield Jr., a versatile safety who projects perfectly into their system.

Out: The Eagles’ strategy

Here’s the deal. I understand the Eagles’ desire to have a backup quarterback who can play if Carson Wentz gets hurt. But, Wentz has missed eight games during the regular season in 64 total opportunities. It feels like an overreaction to draft a backup for a young quarterback like Wentz. If the Eagles hope to win another Super Bowl, it will be because Wentz is playing.

What Nick Foles did in 2017 was remarkable and in my opinion, not something you can hope for again if Jalen Hurts had to play for Wentz. In the best-case scenario, after four years Hurts has started minimal games and Wentz has continued to improve and become elite. If the Eagles drafted Hurts with the idea that he’s a gadget player until needing to play QB, that seems short-sighted as well. You use a two-round pick on a gadget player? I don’t see it.

In: Smokescreens

For weeks, maybe even longer, we heard the Dolphins liked Justin Herbert. As we approached the draft, the Dolphins told media members they were considering him, and mock drafts were adjusted with Herbert being their first pick. Then, about 48 hours before the draft, it was reported the Dolphins were looking to trade up to No. 3 for an offensive tackle. No one believed the offensive tackle rumor, but it appeared the Dolphins were sincere in trading up for a quarterback, which again, was assumed to be Herbert.

I spoke with someone in the organization and he sold their love for Herbert, which might have been accurate. But then the Dolphins drafted Tua Tagovailoa. The goal of the smokescreen was clearly trying to get the Chargers to trade up for Herbert. In the end, the top of the draft went chalk.

Out: Bill Belichick

Belichick isn’t out per se, but on draft weekend, he was literally out of the picture when the Patriots drafted in the second round:

Bill Belichick looks different pic.twitter.com/iOqFkyAcsz

— SB Nation (@SBNation) April 24, 2020

He wanted NO part of being on the camera this weekend. He couldn’t even be bothered to sit quietly at his Nantucket breakfast table for three minutes while the Patriots drafted.

On a more serious note, the Patriots coming away with no quarterback wasn’t ideal, but they can turn to Andy Dalton or Cam Newton this season if they are looking for a veteran. I do believe, and they admitted it afterward, this wasn’t by design. I do wonder who they hoped to get and how they were going to make it happen.

In: Roger Goodell

Goodell is a human who drinks and gets bored and tired while watching the draft. Goodell might also be jacked, which I didn’t expect. He’s even auctioning off his basement chair so people can watch Monday Night Football with him for a night:

Want to join @nflcommish in his Fan Cave? Bid now to watch a Monday Night Football game with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell — and win two tickets to a regular season game of your choice! Proceeds will benefit COVID-19 relief: https://t.co/TI8yd88lNt @ESPNNFL pic.twitter.com/764cYMMnEZ

— NFL (@NFL) April 25, 2020

Goodell came away from the draft looking like a normal human and not just a corporate leader. Who knew?

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latexgeese66-blog · 5 years

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Howie Roseman discusses Eagles’ plan to sign Carson Wentz to an extension, impact of offseason additions, and much more

Howie Roseman appeared on SportsRadio 94WIP’s Morning Show with Angelo Cataldi on Tuesday morning. The Eagles’ EVP of football operations touched on a number of topics, including some guy named Carson Wentz. Here’s a look at everything he had to say, along with some very important thoughts of my own.

CARSON WENTZ’S FUTURE

CATALDI: How concerned are you that Carson Wentz has had so many injuries so far in his pro career?

ROSEMAN: I’ve got to be honest: I have so much faith in Carson Wentz. Obviously, we put a lot on the line to draft him. He’s someone that we have total confidence in. You see him around the building every day and he’s out on the field. This guy is going to be a great player for the Philadelphia Eagles for a long time.

Sometimes, you get biased. I’m sure you do it. I see my kids on the baseball field and sometimes I think they’re the best player, so you’re a little biased. You look at it through rose colored glasses. But that’s how we roll here and we couldn’t be more excited about him and his future in Philadelphia. And he looks great. Continues to work hard. We’re excited about this season with him leading our team.

CATALDI: Are you confident enough that you’re ready to do a long-term major deal with Carson as he enters the final year of his contract? I know you picked up his 5th-year option, but I’m just wondering where you mindset is right now making the big contractual commitment.

ROSEMAN: Yeah, for us, this is something that we’re planning to do. And if the deal is right for us and the deal is right for Carson, we wouldn’t hesitate to pull the trigger on that. That’s just the amount of confidence that we have. And we want to build this team knowing kind of what that piece is in place and go forward.

I think it’s kind of funny because we have all these meetings around here with our personnel staff and our coaches and our front office, and we talk about ‘hey, we have to at some point maybe go and get more draft picks and get more volume.’ And then we get these [trade] opportunities and I kind of get into a moment where I can’t deny the opportunity because we just want to win. But we’re all balancing what we’re doing this year with also the opportunity of continuing to compete for the foreseeable future. We always want to be in the race but maybe I’ve got to stop with all my aggressiveness at some point. What do you think?

Nothing ground-breaking here. Roseman, Jeffrey Lurie, and Doug Pederson have all publicly stated the plan is to sign Wentz to a long-term contract extension. It’s a matter of “when” and not “if” for this team. The Eagles would probably love to get it done sooner than later. Wentz might be the one who is hesitant since his value isn’t at his highest after two straight injured seasons.

I still feel like we could see a deal done before the season starts.

SIGNING MALIK JACKSON

CATADLI: Let’s start with some of the free agents that you signed up, you can tell us a little bit about what you liked. I’ll start with Malik Jackson, to support your defensive line. What do you like about him?

ROSEMAN: Yeah, Malik is a quick-twitch, explosive pass rusher. He fits our scheme. He can get off the ball. You’re talking about a guy who two years ago was the highest paid defensive tackle in the National Football League. He’s won a world championship. He fits really well next to [Fletcher Cox] and with [Tim] Jernigan and some of our younger defensive tackles. And I think when we look at it, the past couple years, we’ve had to reduce [Brandon Graham] and Michael Bennett inside in pass rush situations and now we’ve got a true defensive tackle next to Fletcher Cox. So, that was really the start of our defensive offseason for us. Getting a guy like that who can really balance and complement Fletch. And bringing Timmy back, obviously, as well.

The Eagles were trotting out the likes of Haloti Ngata, Bruce Hector, and “T.Y. McGill” next to Fletcher Cox at times last season. Adding Jackson, who can rush the passer, is a significant upgrade.

CHRIS LONG AND MORE DEFENSIVE LINE TALK

CATALDI: You brought Jernigan back as well inside. Outside, you brought Vinny Curry back. Which, one of the things we’re hearing is that that might have convinced Chris Long that he’s not going to come back because he wouldn’t get as much playing time. Tell us why you wanted to bring Vinny back and if that’ll impact Chris’s final decision.

ROSEMAN: Well, let’s start with Timmy. Timmy is a guy who can really play. He’s an A gap player so he’s someone who’s kind of got a different skill set than the other guys. And we’re excited about some of our younger guys that we have as well. Our scouting staff did good jobs, a great job bringing Treyvon Hester [in]. We traded for Hassan Ridgeway during the draft day. So we’re really excited about that group.

Then when you move to defensive end, you know, Vinny is a guy that we drafted. Vinny is a player that we know his skill set in this system, in this scheme. And we’re always going to be looking to add defensive ends, defensive linemen to our football team.

In terms of Chris, he’s been such a great Eagle. A guy who’s been an integral part of us winning a world championship and a great leader, great player. For us, we’ll just kind of keep those conversations between us and him. But obviously someone who is at the stage of his career where he wants to know exactly what we have and what’s going on and you can appreciate that. But an all-time great Eagle in Chris.

You look at the rest of our defensive ends, Angelo, and we need these young guys to step up. We drafted Josh Sweat in the fourth round last year. He’s an incredibly talented guy who’s here every day working on getting better. We picked up Daeshon Hall, another guy our scouting staff did a great job [getting], a former third round pick, he’s had a great offseason here, he looks really good. We drafted Shareef Miller in the fourth round. And then we got this guy. This guy, Joe Ostman. He is, like, the quintessential Philadelphia player. He works so hard. He’s got athletic tools in his body.

So, we want those young guys, we need those young guys to step up as well. But it’s also a position where we’re going to continue to look and continue to strengthen.

Adding Jackson alone was a big deal. Getting Jernigan back — assuming he’s healthy — is even better. Is there a team with a better trio of defensive tackles than Cox, Jackson, and Jernigan?

It feels like Long isn’t going to be back. Hopefully he is. I’m not optimistic.

Ostman is definitely a guy to watch this summer. He drew a ton of praise from the coaching staff last year for his efforts on the practice squad. Ostman filled the old Steven Means role of preparing the offensive line for games each week by going all out in practice. Ostman actually led the NCAA in sacks prior to the Eagles signing him as an undrafted free agent last year. It’d be great if he can prove to be more than a long shot.

It sounds like Roseman isn’t done adding at defensive end with that “it’s a position where we’re going to continue to look and continue to strengthen” line. Go get Ezekiel Ansah, Howard.

DOES HOWIE HAVE A BIAS?

CATALDI: Now there’s something I’ve been saying, Howie, about your philosophy that I want to run by you to make sure I’m being accurate. I’ve said that: all things being equal, because you love drafting so much, guys you draft, usually get the benefit of the doubt as to whether they stay or go. We saw it with Brandon Graham, we saw that you brought back Vinny Curry, and we saw that you brought back DeSean Jackson. Do you have an affection for the guys you draft? And kind of give them a little more leeway than other guys?

ROSEMAN: I have an affection for winning. That’s the only thing I have an affection for. I don’t have a bias towards anything that’s not going to make us better. In my one year sabbatical, what do we call it? Sabbatical?

CATADLI: Yeah, that’s good. Or hiatus.

ROSEMAN: Can you give me a good word for it?

CATALDI: Hiatus! Hiatus.

ROSEMAN: Hiatus, right. I went down and I spent time with [former Packers general manager] Ron Wolf and he gave me this example of how he drafted a defensive lineman named Jamal Reynolds. And he traded up for this player. And after two years, he realized it was a sunk cost. He had to move on. And so for us, we’re not going to bring back anyone who can’t help us, [that] we feel that doesn’t really help our football team. I promise you, Angelo, that’s all we’re trying to do here, is help our football team, and bringing in players who can help our team.

For better or worse, this Eagles regime is very big on familiarity. They’ve talked about their “cohabitation matrix” before.

I don’t think the Eagles retained BLG and brought Jackson and Curry back just because Roseman had a role in drafting them. These players weren’t luxury additions; they filled significant needs.

DESEAN JACKSON’S RETURN

CATALDI: What do you like about bringing DeSean back?

ROSEMAN: Have you seen him run? Have you seen the games he’s played against us the last few years? Did everyone in Philadelphia not know where that ball was going on the first play of the game when we played in Tampa last year? And he ran right by us. And I think the think about DeSean is that, all of us, need time sometimes to mature. And DeSean’s got a family. He’s got two kids. He has been here every day in the offseason program. He looks great, he’s excited about the opportunity. And he knows is legacy is going to be defined in Philadelphia. And our conversations with him about what he wants his career to be remembered as, it’s as an Eagle. He embraces this city. He’s got an unbelievable skill set. He’s got chemistry in this building. And we couldn’t be more excited to have him back.

The Eagles will hope Jackson can be just as productive against other teams as he was against them in recent years. It’ll be great to see this offense have an elite deep threat once again.

WHY THE EAGLES DRAFTED ANDRE DILLARD

CATALDI: I was reading NFL.com and they were assessing all the drafts. And they said ‘Howie Roseman handed Houston its’ lunch in the first round by jumping up to No. 22 and getting Andre Dillard.’ Were you under the impression that Houston was going to take this young tackle and get up there ahead of them? Was that the plan? Is that how it worked out?

ROSEMAN: I think they’re giving us too much credit. When you have a player like Dillard, who we had in the top 10 in our draft room, you think everyone’s going to take him. So we kept trying to trade up and get him. We were fortunate to make a trade with the Ravens to get in front of a team that we knew were looking at offensive linemen through the draft process. We were concerned that if we didn’t get in front of a bunch of these teams, we’d lose the player. But it wasn’t just one team. It’s not common to get a guy that we think is the best left tackle in the draft and to have him fall into the late teens and early twenties. So we were trying to be aggressive. I look at it like it’s the Packers. They went from Brett Favre to Aaron Rodgers. You can do that at a position and have that continuity and just go from great player to great player. And really, for us in Philly, we’ve been spoiled. Because we went from Tra Thomas to Jason Peters. And now we have a chance to go from Jason Peters to our first-round pick. And obviously he’s got to get here, he’s got to work hard, he’s got to do all the right things to become the kind of player he can be. But that’s a position — that’s a special position, protecting the blindside of your quarterback.

CATALDI: What did you like about him? What made you want to get him so badly?

ROSEMAN: Well, first, for us, we’re always trying to figure out the guy. And we’re trying to make sure their passion for the game, their love of the game, their chemistry with our team is right. And he’s a great kid. He wants to work hard. He wants to be coached. He has a desire to be great, as a player. And he’s an exceptional athlete. Quick-twitched, explosive left tackle. Obviously he comes from a system that he’s going to have to adjusted a little bit to the things that we do because we do like to run the ball as well as throw the ball here in Philadelphia. But he’s got so much talent in his body. It’s hard to find those guys. God didn’t make a lot of 305 pounders who can move like he can move.

Dillard has the potential to be an amazing pick for Philly. If he can be as great as advertised, the Eagles can “set it and forget it” at one of their most important positions for the next decade or so.

SIGNING ZACH BROWN

CATALDI: It’s getting harder and harder to rip you, Howie. But the one thing I could get Howie for is he hates the linebacker position. He didn’t have any linebackers. And then last Friday you sign Zach Brown, who is rated number two by Pro Football Focus. Tell me what you like about Zach Brown and how the heck did you get him?

ROSEMAN: Rhea [Hughes], when did Angelo turn into this analytics guy? […] Well, again, when you play a guy twice a year, you’ve got a pretty good scouting report on him. You’ve got a good scouting report from obviously your personnel department but also your coaches. And we’ve played against him. We know that when we were playing the Redskins, he was one of those guys that was making plays. And our fans know that when we played that team that this was a good player and we brought him in. We had a chance to visit with him.

When you get guys who haven’t had an opportunity to win a lot, and he’s been in a couple places, and he played college football at North Carolina, he wants to win. And his desire to have an opportunity to win is something you can feel. And when you get guys like that who have hunger, who have this kind of fire in their belly to try to win, those are guys that we love bringing in here. We love having those guys who have a burning desire to compete and win. And we just keep trying to bring in any many of those guys as we can to compete and build a fire within us. I don’t know, Angelo, we want to win so bad. We want to win so bad and to have guys that we feel that from, it’s exciting.

Brown has never been on an NFL team that’s finished with a winning record. Take a look:

2012: 6-10 2013: 7-9 2014: 2-14 2015: 3-13 2016: 7-9 2017: 7-9 2018: 7-9

I’m sure he wouldn’t mind breaking that trend this season.

EAGLES AUTISM CHALLENGE

ANGELO: Howie, the Eagles Autism Challenge, I know you’re involved too in it, right? Are you involved in the walk or the run? What’re you going to be doing?

ROSEMAN: I’d love to do the bike race but I’ve got four little kids and they want to be part of it too. This is one of the great events on our calendar throughout the course of the year for the whole organization, all of our players, all of our employees, we invite everyone in Philadelphia to take part in this great event. It’s really a cool event to do and be part of. We’re excited about that. And we’ll have all our players there, all our staff there, and we’ll be walking, and we’ll be running, and we’ll be biking.

The Eagles raised more than $2.5 million for autism research last year. You can CLICK HERE to help support the cause this year.

Source: https://www.bleedinggreennation.com/2019/5/7/18535511/howie-roseman-discusses-eagles-plan-sign-carson-wentz-contract-extension-impact-offseason-additions

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flauntpage · 5 years

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Hot Garbage – Ten Takeaways from Saints 48, Eagles 7

There was a moment during yesterday’s game where I came to the realization that the Dallas Cowboys are going to win the NFC East.

It went like this:

“Huh.. the Eagles look like shit.. Alex Smith is done for the year… and the Giants are 3-7.”

That leaves Dallas as the only team with any sort of positive outlook. The Cowboys are gonna slide in at 8-8 and lose to the Panthers or Vikings in the Wild Card Round.

Later, in the third quarter, after the Saints scored to make it 38-7, my wife turned to me and said, “we could watch Real Housewives instead,” which got me thinking. At that point, I absolutely would have preferred to watch The Real Housewives vs. the rest of the Eagles game. I would have preferred to watch Teresa Giudice flip over a table and call someone a bitch. I would have preferred to watch disgustingly rich women discuss their latest plastic surgery or talk about how much of a struggle it is to find the right housekeeper to clean their 40,000 square foot Orange County mansion.

I would have preferred anything, really, because that was the most pathetic Eagles performance I’ve seen in at least seven days.

Which begs the question –

Did this team quit?

I don’t know if they necessarily quit, because I feel like they didn’t even really start the season. Did anybody on this team really give a shit at all? Or was this just a throwaway season because they won the Super Bowl and just decided to take a year off instead?

It feels like that. It really does, and I know you just can’t do anything about the myriad injuries on both sides of the ball, but everybody who is healthy regressed at the same time. Has Nigel Bradham or Jordan Hicks made a play all year long? How is Carson Wentz getting worse? Did Doug Pederson forget how to call plays? I feel like I’m in some sort of bizarro world here because this looks nothing like the team that won it all just nine months ago.

And it’s disappointing, because this was the year that you were supposed to prove to everybody that the Super Bowl run was not a fluke. You were supposed to prove that you could play as the alpha dog and not just the underdog. This was the season to transcend all of that rudimentary stuff and say, “we’re a damn good football team, and we know it.”

Instead you’ve put in one of the worst title defenses that I can ever remember seeing.

1) Let’s flip the script

The Eagles mustered six offensive plays for 15 yards and zero first downs on the opening two drives yesterday.

The scripting has been really bad. Reporters asked Doug Pederson and Mike Groh about it last week and they didn’t really have much of an explanation other than, “we’ve gotta do a better job.”

You would have to go back to the Giants game something like five weeks ago to find the last time the Eagles scored on their opening possession, and that was on a short field after the defense intercepted Eli Manning.

Since then:

Dallas: three and out

Jacksonville: seven plays for 38 yards, then a fumble

Carolina: three plays, -10 yards, punt

If you go back the last four games, these opening drives have gone 16 plays for less than 50 yards with three punts and a fumble.

That is some ghastly stuff.

2) Begging to lose

No defensive coordinator at any level of football should ever rush three linemen and drop eight players into coverage. The only reason you should ever do this is if you’re up by 20 points and playing prevent out of respect to your opponent, or your three linemen are Fletcher Cox, Lawrence Taylor and Reggie White.

I watch this drop-eight horse shit every week in the Big 12 and the defenses still give up 40+ points per game. It should never be done in the NFL, especially on an Eagles team where the strength is your defensive line and the weakness is your banged-up secondary.

There’s just no reason this defensive scheme should ever be used:

Somebody as good as Drew Brees is going to pick that apart every single time. It might confuse some freshman quarterback at Kansas State, but no NFL quarterback is going to struggle when you’re rushing three linemen against five and asking him to find a soft spot in the coverage.

Maybe there was a mistake here or something, because when I watch the play again, I see that both Bradham and Hicks are picking up the same guy:

Rasul Douglas gets lost in a natural screen and New Orleans picks up 15+ yards on the play. Were they even lined up properly to begin with? Did they have the right personnel on the field?

3) Josh Adams

I said last week that I thought he was just a guy.

I still think he’s just a guy, and that’s not even necessarily a derogatory term, I think it’s more about the idea that you can find a Josh Adams anywhere. There’s a reason he was an undrafted free agent and peripheral piece during training camp. He was the 5th guy on the list behind Darren Sproles, Jay Ajayi, Corey Clement, and Wendell Smallwood.

That said, it was really nice to see them run Adams between the tackles in the first half, and he ripped off a quality touchdown to give the team some life before the inevitable beatdown resumed.

Really nice blocking here by both Eagles guards. Brandon Brooks moved immediately to the second level and took A.J. Klein so far out of the play that Adams was actually able to cut back to Brooks’ right and then burn the defensive back:

That’s what we were used to seeing last year.

Adams finished with seven carries for 53 yards and a score. I didn’t see a sweep or a pitch or any of that horizontal stuff, not unless they did it later when I was half asleep and ordering Pizza Hut on the computer. This season is pretty much done, so at least you can give Adams the workload moving forward and see if he’s got a future on this squad.

4) Golden Tate

He actually led the team with 48 receiving yards, if you can believe it, but it still didn’t feel like he was that involved, did it? He also led the team with eight targets.

One thing I don’t understand is why they just don’t go five wide and get Tate on the field with Alshon Jeffery, Nelson Agholor, Zach Ertz, and Jordan Matthews at the same time. You know your running backs can’t pass block and aren’t great catching the ball out of the backfield. You know your offensive line hasn’t been very good this year. Your strength really is in the receiving corps, so just go empty set, spread ’em out, and dink and dunk your way down the field with some quick release stuff. Tempo, rhythm, early release – try to get Carson in a groove here, no?

Beyond those eight targets, they tried to get Tate on an end-around that was blown up for a huge loss. Nice play by the defensive end, if we’re being honest.

5) Carson Wentz

19-33 for 156 yards, 0 touchdowns, and 3 interceptions.

A quarterback rating of 31.9 was the worst of his career, about 20 points lower than what he put up in the two-interception performance against Minnesota back in 2016.

Wentz threw his helmet on the sideline and showed visible signs of frustration, which usually isn’t the case with him. The interceptions felt forced, like he was annoyed and just trying too hard to make a play and get his team moving down the field.

I certainly don’t think the team’s struggles are solely on him. He was very good after returning from the injury and on pace to put up career numbers, he just needed to cut down on the fumbling issue. But it’s strange to watch him slowly regress, which I think is just a product of the general malaise hanging over this entire squad.

He was pretty bad specifically on those deep shots yesterday, going 0-4 on attempts of 20+ yards:

Pretty rough.

Also, no, it’s not time to put Nick Foles back in the game. Carson Wentz is the franchise quarterback.

6) Yes, more injuries

They lost six guys yesterday:

Jason Kelce (elbow)

Rasul Douglas (knee)

Sidney Jones (hamstring)

Avonte Maddox (knee)

Jordan Hicks (calf)

Rick Lovato (think it’s a concussion)

Even the long snapper got hurt. It was that bad:

Long snapper Rick Lovato was running to the Saints sideline as if it were the #Eagles. A Saints player had to turn him around.

— Jeff McLane (@Jeff_McLane) November 18, 2018

Lemme think about who the starting secondary is next week…

I think it’s gonna be Malcolm Jenkins, Corey Graham, Chandon Sullivan, Cre’Von LeBlanc, and De’Vante Bausby in nickel. I don’t even know what they do if they go dime.

So take those six guys above and add it to Jay Ajayi and Darren Sproles and Mike Wallace and Mack Hollins and Richard Rodgers and Tim Jernigan and even more injured people that I can’t think of. Then take into account that Brandon Graham, Carson Wentz, and Alshon Jeffery were not 100% healthy to begin the season. It’s just been a nightmare of injuries all season long.

7) Losing your auxiliary battles

Ugly stuff here:

lost time of possession, 37.5 minutes to 22.5 minutes

-3 turnover margin

3-10 on third down (30%)

0-2 on fourth down (0%)

allowed Saints to go 6-11 on third down (54.5%) and 1-1 on fourth down (100%)

lost 18 yards on 3 sacks

0-1 success rate in the red zone

6 penalties for 49 yards

They made one red zone trip yesterday.

Also, it’s almost impossible for an NFL team to lose the TOP battle by that wide of a margin. The Saints had the ball for almost 38 minutes yesterday. They ran 69 plays and piled up 546 yards. That’s 7.9 yards per play..

8) Doug’s best call?

I guess it was the decision to run Adams between the tackles.

Shrug.

9) Doug’s worst call

Keeping Wentz in the game in the fourth quarter was ridiculous. Imagine if he had also gone down injured in a blowout loss.

The only bad call that even really mattered was in the second quarter, that 3rd and 3. It was slow developing play with Wentz starting from under center. You just can’t call a deep drop in that situation, especially not coming out of a timeout. I know Stefen Wisniewski got beat on the play and allowed the sack, but you gotta know you’ve got a backup center in the game. Situation-wise, you only need three yards, so why are you dropping back five yards in the first place? Just run that out of the shotgun.

That really was the point where this game was lost. They had a bit of momentum going for them, then crapped it away.

10) Miscellaneous stuff

I usually use this space to write about things I notice during the broadcast, but the Eagles were getting their ass beat so badly that I didn’t really pay too much attention to Joe Buck and Troy Aikman. I did hear Buck shout out Zach Berman for the second time this season, which was cool. Zach does a nice job for the Inquirer. I wonder if Joe Buck reads Crossing Broad? Probably not.

Anyway, the Eagles deserved to lose after John Clark shared whatever the fuck this was before the game:

New Orleans is known for their music

Eagles fans brought their own

#BirdsintheBayou #FlyEaglesFly pic.twitter.com/dG3ZDpmnXN

— John Clark (@JClarkNBCS) November 18, 2018

You want Delco Delco?

Yeah! Let’s do it!

The post Hot Garbage – Ten Takeaways from Saints 48, Eagles 7 appeared first on Crossing Broad.

Hot Garbage – Ten Takeaways from Saints 48, Eagles 7 published first on https://footballhighlightseurope.tumblr.com/

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tkmedia · 3 years

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Ranking the Rooms: AFC North TEs

While the AFC North is currently known for its star power at quarterback top-to-bottom and its physical, fast defenses, one area that is getting overlooked when it comes to overall depth and talent might be the tight end rooms. Last season, the Cleveland Browns signed standout free agent Austin Hooper and drafted Mackey Award winner Harrison Bryant, while the Ravens rolled with one of the best tight ends in football in Mark Andrews and arguably the best blocking tight end in football in Nick Boyle. Pittsburgh and Cincinnati seemed to be trending in the wrong direction in the area ahead of the 2020 season, but now, after addressing the position in the offseason through the draft and free agency, both teams are on an upward trajectory at the position, making it a very deep overall group within the division. You might be surprised at some of the changes in this group compared to last season. Let’s get to it. 1. Baltimore Ravens Any time you can start your positional depth chart with a true talent like Mark Andrews, you’re doing something right. Andrews is a terrific receiving option at tight end for the Ravens, having hauled in 58 passes for 702 yards and seven scores in 14 games last season. Andrews can carve up defenses over the middle of the field and is a tough cover when the Ravens use play action. Add in the blocking abilities of Nick Boyle and it’s clear the Ravens have a terrific pairing that works well together, allowing them to be a bit creative with Andrews as a receiver. Last season though, the Ravens struggled with injuries at the position as Boyle played just nine games. What came out of that adversity though was overall improved depth as the Ravens brought in Eric Tomlinson to play the Boyle role, which he did well in, and also saw the Ravens address tight end heavily via the draft, grabbing Michigan FB/TE Ben Mason and Virginia’s Tony Poljan. Mason should slot in comfortably as TE3 on the Ravens, giving them a terrific blocking option that could line up on the line or in the backfield, helping the run game continue to roll downhill. Behind those five names, guys like Eli Wolf, Jacob Breeland and Josh Oliver are all battling for an opportunity on the practice squad or are auditioning for other teams that need TE depth in camp. This is a deep group overall. Don’t be surprised if one or two teams pluck some of these guys at the end of camp cuts. 2. Cleveland Browns Last year the Browns were No. 1 and looked ridiculously loaded at tight end with Hooper, Bryant and David Njoku. All three return this year in their roles, but it’s clear that not all three are right for the Browns’s style of play. Hooper was the big get in free agency for the Browns, but he’s not the best blocker overall and really struggled to find his footing in the play-action heavy system in Cleveland, which really took away his ability to stretch the field like he did in Atlanta, hauling in 46 passes last season — the lowest total he’s put up dating back to the 19 passes he caught as a rookie in 2016. He’s still a supreme talent at the position, but it just feels like he’s hindered quite a bit in Cleveland’s system. Behind Hooper, Bryant really emerged last season as a possible No. 1 TE in the future, catching 23 passes for 238 yards and three touchdowns in limited action. He was the Mackey Award winner for a reason, much more of a move TE that can play in the slot than in-line. That could be a guy Kevin Stefanski and the Browns try to exploit this season with mismatches in the secondary. Njoku, a former first round pick, seems to have fallen out of favor, but he’s stuck around and pushed through the adversity, so credit to him. He’s embraced his role as TE3 in Cleveland and has really committed to improving as a blocking option. The stats simply aren’t there to match the talent (19 catches, 213 yards, two touchdowns), but he provides experienced depth at the position in case of injuries. Behind that trio, names like Stephen Carlson, Jordan Franks and Connor Davis will battle it out for a practice squad spot in Cleveland with very little chance of cracking the top 3, barring a trade of Njoku in training camp. 3. Pittsburgh Steelers No change here in the ranking for the Steelers compared to last season, though some names have changed. Eric Ebron returns after an up-and-down season and enters a contract year. Ebron flashed a bunch last season, grabbing 56 passes for 558 yards and five scores in his first year as a Steeler, but he was a liability as a blocker in-line, and really went through a rough stretch late in the season with drops. He’s TE1 though and gives the Steelers a chess piece offensively to move around and take advantage of mismatches. The retirement of Vance McDonald hurt from a blocking standpoint, but in steps rookie Pat Freiermuth, drafted in the second round 55th overall out of Penn State. Freiermuth is a great athlete overall but wasn’t utilized downfield at Penn State, serving as more of the check down tight end in the middle of the field. That might stay the same in Pittsburgh, at least for this season. He’ll take over the TE2 role and handle a large portion of the blocking duties as well. Behind those two, TE3 is up for grabs between Zach Gentry, Kevin Rader, and Dax Raymond. I would not be surprised if Kevin Colbert pulled off a trade to grab a more experienced tight end to fill the depth role on the roster, but I have to give Rader the edge right now. I know it’s such a small sample size, but I really liked what I saw from him late last season as a blocker and on special teams. 4. Cincinnati Bengals If you’ve read me on Steelers Depot at any point in the last six years, you know how much I love me some CJ Uzomah. Uzomah played just two games last year, but quickly established rapport with Joe Burrow last season, averaging four catches for 43.5 yards per game in those two appearances. He returns healthy for 2021 and has more playmakers around him, which should open things up for him in the middle of the field. Behind Uzomah though, there’s little depth. Drew Sample flashed at times last season, but he’s more of that throwback tight end for the Bengals, one that can handle himself on the line of scrimmage but might not provide much as a receiver consistently. Behind those two, who are locks to make the 53-man roster in Cincinnati, names like Thaddeus Moss, Mason Schreck, Pro Wells, Mitchell Wilcox and Cheyenne O’Grady will battle for the third tight end spot and a practice squad job. Moss and Wells are probably the most notable names there for those reading this. Moss reunites with Burrow, his college QB, while Wells has the basketball background and excels downfield but needs a lot of work as a blocker. The name to truly watch though as a deep sleeper is O’Grady, a true move tight end that went undrafted strictly for character concerns coming out of Arkansas. He’s good after the catch, can line up all over the field and has the ability to hold up as a blocker. 2020 AFC North TE rankings: No. 1 – Cleveland Browns No. 2 – Baltimore Ravens No. 3 – Pittsburgh Steelers No. 4 – Cincinnati Bengals

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junker-town · 4 years

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How lesser-known NFL prospects are hurt by this year’s draft changes

Brian Spurlock-USA TODAY Sports

After talking to agents, scouts, and coaches, Geoff Schwartz outlines how the lack of pro days and pre-draft visits will affect some players more than others.

The NFL, like most of the country, is on lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic. No business is allowed at a team’s facility, except for medical rehab. Players, coaches, front offices, and owners are tasked with conducting their various roles off campus. This includes preparation for the 2020 NFL Draft.

The draft remains on schedule for April 23-25. It will not be held in Las Vegas, but the picks will still be announced on television, even though no one will be there in person. It’s mostly business as usual for the teams, other than most of their personnel not being able to meet in the same room to review their draft board. It’s not business as usual for a wide range of players entering this draft, though. The cancellation of pro days, medical rechecks, and top 30 visits is going to alter where players get drafted.

I spoke with agents, scouts, and coaches, and all agreed this draft will be different than any other since the combine era.

The 4 parts of the pre-draft process that have changed this year

Here are the areas that will be impacted the most leading up to the draft.

1. Measurable questions

There are those prospects without confirmed measurables, either because they skipped all-star games and/or the combine, or they were injured and didn’t participate. Without pro days and medical rechecks, these measurements will never be complete and could be the missing piece for a player being drafted.

It might seem petty to lower someone’s draft grade because you don’t have a good weight on them, but there are teams that look for players who fit a physical mold before they can be drafted.

2. Medical rechecks

This could be a concern for players who were injured at the combine, or weren’t able to perform at the combine but could have at their pro day. Unlike on-field activities, which scouts often want to see with their own eyes to believe, NFL team doctors would trust a phone conversation with the doctor who’s caring for the player, as those doctors have nothing to gain from being dishonest.

So, if the Dolphins call Tua Tagovailoa’s doctor for an update, and he gives them the all clear, they are likely to believe that, rather than his trainer telling a scout Tagovailoa is healthy. But, Tagovailoa is a top quarterback prospect with multiple years of film at Alabama and with highly projectable talent. This shouldn’t hurt him.

However, it will hurt a player like South Carolina receiver Bryan Edwards, who couldn’t work out at the combine due to a foot injury and can’t get a medical recheck. Teams won’t have any new data on his foot. He’s a player with Day 2 potential who’s likely going to drop to the bottom of Day 3.

3. Pro days

The fabulous HBO documentary Belichick & Saban: The Art of Coaching focuses on the relationship between Alabama head coach Nick Saban and New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick. In the documentary, which everyone should watch, the coaches are caught discussing the importance of pro days. Belichick explains that a draft profile on a player is 100 puzzle pieces, with his pro day being one or two of those pieces. Those can be more like 10-20 pieces if a player is a relatively unknown.

A pro day is a training event set at college campuses, where players from the Division I host school AND players from nearby FCS (1-AA) and Divisions II and III schools can work out in front of scouts and front office personnel. The combine tests, including a 40-yard dash, are conducted, as well as position-specific drills.

For many players who didn’t attend the combine, and especially those players at the lower-level schools, this is the first time they’ve worked out in front of NFL teams. Also, NFL personnel can speak with and interview said players who didn’t get combine or all-star game invites.

To get around the lack of pro days, we’ve seen players post videos of their own workouts, but according to the scouts, that’s not ideal. Yes, they can get a feeling for how it went and watch the workout, but it’s not the same. Scouts want to see how the body moves with their own eyes, as they’ve always done. They are able to use their recollection of previous body types and movements to categorize each player, and if they can’t see them in person, it’s hard to make those comparisons.

4. Top 30 visits

Besides the pro day, the other activity that was canceled was the top 30 visits. Most years, teams can bring up to 30 players to their facilities for pre-draft visits. Teams can still conduct these interviews over phone or video chat this year, but they’re limited to only one hour apiece and it’s just not the same as meeting in person to get a feel for someone.

Normally, there’s almost unlimited time to meet with coaches during these visits. Draft prospects can impress the coaching staff with their ability to understand plays and can answer any lingering questions the front office has about character and fit in their franchise. There are players who rely on these meetings to help improve their standing with teams. These visits are a small piece of the puzzle, but without them, you’ve lost five pieces in the puzzle. The picture becomes less clear.

5 ripple effects for lower-round prospects in this draft class

Now that we have a better idea of how the pre-draft process has changed this year, I can list out the actual effects these will have on players in Rounds 5-7 and beyond. Highly rated prospects aren’t affected much at all. Their draft stock is mostly set in stone, unless there’s a possible medical concern that would drop them a round.

1. There will be fewer “steals” in the draft

Without the proper background on some players at smaller schools, teams will likely opt to draft players from an FBS school, or even a Power 5 school, because they have more information on them. They have more film against top players, have all the measurables, and have been able to see them in person to interview and take images of their body types. If you’re an FCS player who can’t impress via a pro day, you’re being hampered by that lost opportunity.

It’s important to note, this isn’t always a bad thing. Agents for these players would argue being an “eighth-round pick” (undrafted free agent) is better for your contract situation, which is true. There’s less money on the front end, but UDFAs are only locked into a three-year deal instead of the standard four years for drafted players. That means they’re quicker to free agency.

2. No eyes = no draft

I’m a fabulous example of this. I was a late seventh-round pick — No. 241 out of 252 players. I was drafted by the one team, the Panthers, that worked me out at our pro day. Dave Magazu was the only OL coach at my pro day, and he worked me out for 45 minutes.

Near the end of the draft, when scouts are asking coaches for input into a possible draft pick, that personal connection won’t be there this year. I feel strongly I would not have been drafted if this relationship with Magazu hadn’t existed, however small it was.

3. Film, film, film will rule

You know the average player with an excellent combine or pro day who gets drafted in the fifth round? He’s now going undrafted.

These are the players who didn’t shine on film like they should have but convinced scouts, and more likely coaches, that they’re studs because of their physical attributes and interviews. This year they won’t get drafted as high because scouts will have to rely more on film. Instead of being stuck in the draft war room for weeks, scouts are now at home like the rest of us studying the film.

4. No medical rechecks hurts the lesser-known players

For the top picks, and I keep using Tagovailoa as an example, this is not an issue. His talent outweighs his injury concerns. But those with lower name recognition, who aren’t able to get a medical recheck in Indianapolis, will be negatively impacted. When you’re a later-round pick, medical concerns become huge red flags.

Players who are now healthy, but might have missed an all-star game or combine, can’t get their chance at the pro day. Usually, that’s where they prove to scouts, in person, that they’re healthy. But no physical testing and no complete medical history means they might not get drafted at all.

5. Pre-draft visits are supposed to help UDFAs too

I found this interesting during my discussions and it’s something I didn’t know. Those top 30 visits aren’t always just reserved for the players a team might want to draft. Two or three of those players are actually undrafted free agent targets, and the visits are used to recruit them in case they aren’t drafted.

Going back to my draft, I got calls during the sixth and seventh rounds from offensive line coaches. They tried to use the “relationship” we formed at the combine or the all-star game to get me to sign with them if I didn’t get drafted.

This year, that can’t happen. It could be more of a wild west for UDFAs.

As you can see, this year’s draft will be different. Teams that have done the background in the fall, have made connections with college coaches, and are more prepared will do fine in this draft. But what seems like a minor inconvenience for some could be a huge inconvenience for others — specifically, the fringe draft picks who are hurt the most by the cancellation of events.

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heartvalue2-blog · 5 years

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The Linc - Jalen Mills says “I think we finna go win the Super Bowl. It’s time again.”

Let’s get to the Philadelphia Eagles links ...

JALEN MILLS: “Just got a big pickup in DeSean Jackson, for the offense. We’ve got a big, big defensive tackle in Malik [Jackson.] I think we finna go win the Super Bowl, man. It’s time again. It’s time. We healthy, we going to do it again. [...] [Carson] Wentz is looking good. He’s back healthy, moving around good, Wentz is going to air that ball up. He’s the leader of our team and everybody know that it’s time to win.”

Eagles cap space update heading into the second week of NFL free agency - BGN Now that 2019 NFL free agency is unofficially one week old, let’s take a look at how much cap space the Philadelphia Eagles have left after making some moves last week. A lot of people saw the following tweet on Sunday night and asked: “How do the Eagles possibly have this much cap space left?”

The Kist & Solak Show #86: The Electric Kool-Aid Running Back Test - BGN Radio Michael Kist and Benjamin Solak assess the current state of the running back room for the Eagles, discuss the value of the position, and what the plan could be to bolster the group. PLUS potential targets in the 1st round AND an update on all the draft prospects being brought in for official visits! Powered by SB Nation and Bleeding Green Nation.

Eagles Add a Safety - Iggles Blitz This move makes a lot of sense, in some respects. Sendejo is a natural FS. When McLeod got hurt last year, the Eagles didn’t have anyone who was an ideal fit for that role. Sendejo could step in and start if needed. He has started 58 games in his career and has been part of some great defenses. You can see Sendejo’s ability in these clips. He has good range and ball skills. He can be a big hitter.

Andrew Sendejo adds experience, confidence at safety - PE.com It didn’t look like much at the time, when safety Rodney McLeod went down with an injury in a Week 3 win over the Indianapolis Colts last season. He came off the field, the game continued, all eyes focused on the 2018 debut of quarterback Carson Wentz. Turns out, McLeod’s injury was serious enough to sideline him for the remainder of the year and force the Eagles into a week-to-week exercise of mixing and matching and coming up with answers to replace McLeod. The injury to McLeod, the first of many suffered in the secondary, stretched the defensive backfield to its limit throughout the remainder of the year. So, it’s no surprise that finding depth for the safety position was one of the team’s early priorities in free agency, and the Eagles solved that need by agreeing to terms on Monday with veteran Andrew Sendejo, entering his 10th NFL season, eight of them with the Minnesota Vikings.

Eagles, Patriots poised to lead the way in 2020 compensatory picks - PFT The Eagles are likely to get a third-round compensatory pick for losing Nick Foles, and two fourth-rounders for losing Golden Tate and Jordan Hicks. The Patriots are expected to get third-round picks for Trey Flowers and Trent Brown, plus a sixth-round pick for Malcom Brown.

State of every NFL team after free agency - PFF Key Players Added: WR DeSean Jackson (79.4), EDGE Brandon Graham (88.7), T Jason Peters (69.6), CB Ronald Darby (70.6), DI Malik Jackson (64.4), LB L.J. Fort (74.2) — Key Players Lost: EDGE Michael Bennett (75.1), G Steven Wisniewski (54.6), LB Jordan Hicks (76.1), WR Golden Tate (71.1), WR Jordan Matthews (65.4), QB Nick Foles (76.6), DI Timmy Jernigan (49.8).

With few options at RB, Eagles might have to get creative - NBCSP There are some borderline lead backs on the market, granted in short supply. Were the Eagles to pair the likes of Isaiah Crowell, C.J. Anderson or Spencer Ware with a promising rookie, such a tandem might not electrify the fan base, but it would create some semblance of stability at the position. The Eagles could even re-sign Jay Ajayi, provided he’ll be healthy. Were it not for a torn ACL, Ajayi probably would’ve been one of the top runners on the market, even with a chronic knee issue. Free agent T.J. Yeldon and Browns running back Duke Johnson have also been mentioned as possibilities, but more as potential replacements for Darren Sproles.

For Temple’s Ryquell Armstead, ‘the small details are what really matters’ with Eagles’ Duce Staley watching - PennLive Assistant head coach and running backs coach Duce Staley paced Armstead and teammates Rob Ritrovato and Nick Sharga through their individual workouts. “It was great,” Armstead said afterward at Temple’s STAR Complex. “He’s a great coach. I love what he was saying to me. The small details are what really matters, and I try to focus on that. All in all, I believe I had a good day. I feel like he liked me. It was great working out with the Eagles.” Armstead knows the team’s recent history with young running backs. Two years ago, the Eagles signed Corey Clement as an undrafted free agent out of Wisconsin. Clement grew up in Glassboro, N.J., and he went on to catch four passes for 100 yards and a touchdown in the Super Bowl LII win. Armstead said his Millville High team scrimmaged against Clement’s Glassboro High squad before the two found success in college.

NFL Free Agency: Andrew Sendejo (and his arms) to sign with Philadelphia Eagles - Daily Norseman Sendejo was a solid safety for most of his time with the Vikings after picking up the starting spot. He’s, essentially, getting a “prove it” deal to see if he can pick up where he left off after missing most of this year. This is another loss for the Vikings, but it’s one that appears that they’ll be able to absorb with little to no problem.

2019 NFL Draft: The Jaguars need to go overboard to fix the quarterback position - Big Cat Country Could Nick Foles be the guy? Sure. Heck, you can even argue that he already holds that mantle in Philadelphia. The Jaguars certainly think so by making him the most handsomely paid free agent quarterback this cycle, and his experience in high-pressure situations and influence in the locker room makes the move an extremely logical one for a regime under duress to provide immediate results in 2019. I do not fault the Jaguars for bringing Foles in. I will fault them, however, if they don’t hedge their bets and put all their eggs in a quarterback basket that doesn’t have more than 11 starts in a season as a starter.

How does the Nick Foles signing affect the division? - Stampede Blue Overall, I think this is a terrible move for the Jaguars. They could have easily drafted up to get one of the 2 stud QBs in this class or gone for next years loaded one (like the Dolphins). However, they paid the 7th highest annual salary for an average to below-average quarterback who plays well in the playoffs. Bad move for Jaguars fans, a good move for Colts fans.

Dave Gettleman: Giants got “legitimate value” in return for Odell Beckham Jr. - Big Blue View At the Combine a few weeks ago, Gettleman took issue with the negative narrative about quarterback Eli Manning. He did so again on Monday. This narrative that Eli is overpaid and can’t play is a crock. I’m telling you!,” Gettleman said. The GM says he is “OK” if you disagree with him about Manning, and added that with the way the Giants played at the end of last season and the salary Manning currently makes “there really wasn’t a decision to make.” Gettleman also said the Giants had considered extending or restructuring the veteran quarterback’s deal, but that they will just “keep moving.”

Free agent defensive lineman Vinny Curry visiting Bengals on Monday - Cincy Jungle The Bengals have awoken from their early free agency slumber. Aside from re-signing their fourth internal free agent in Tyler Eifert this weekend, they are also hosting a veteran edge defender. Per Geoff Mosher of 973 ESPN Radio, Vinny Curry is set to visit Cincinnati at the onset of next week. Curry was most recently with the Buccaneers and was released in February.

Los Angeles Rams to sign QB Blake Bortles to one-year deal - Turf Show Times Per the official team site, the Los Angeles Rams are signing former Jacksonville Jaguars QB Blake Bortles to a one-year deal to back up starting QB Jared Goff. Terms of the deal have not been disclosed.

A complete history of Vontaze Burfict being the most reckless football player - SB Nation Linebacker Vontaze Burfict is exactly what every NFL team wanted from a middle linebacker about 40 or 50 years ago. Players like Dick Butkus and Jack Lambert had reputations as mean and scary enforcers who didn’t just make tackles, but attempted to set the tone for anybody who dared to go to the middle of the field. Highlight reels showed clothesline tackles, helmet-to-helmet hits, and boasted about the rough and tough linebackers of lore. But the best linebackers of football today are those who can channel the aggression and violence of the game without crossing the line. That’s something that Burfict has struggled with.

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Source: https://www.bleedinggreennation.com/2019/3/19/18272393/eagles-news-jalen-mills-says-think-we-finna-go-win-super-bowl-its-time-again-philadelphia-cornerback

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thrashermaxey · 5 years

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The Journey: Prospects For Different Fantasy Leagues

Cam Metz wrote an article for Dobber Hockey earlier in the week where he covered some different fantasy playoff options for leagues both deep and shallow in terms of player pool. I thought the idea was great, and would be something that I could apply to The Journey this week. While Cam focused on players to consider plucking from the waiver pool in the first week of fantasy hockey playoffs, today, you’ll hear about a few up-and-coming prospects who are working their way into the realm of fantasy relevance at different stages of your league’s depth. Now the important thing to remember obviously when we’re talking in terms of prospects is that anything that follows is strictly related to keeper/dynasty leagues – these aren’t guys you should be considering in your one-year leagues.

Before we get going, I want do define a few terms that will be key for following along today… so for today’s purposes only, these terms will be defined as follows:

Shallow Leagues: Shallow prospect leagues will be leagues where a typical team would own 2-3 players who are currently on the brink of playing in the NHL, or already making their way in the league.

Medium Depth Leagues: Medium depth leagues will be defined as leagues where a typical team would own 3-5 players who are true prospects in the sense that they, at most would have had a taste of the NHL, but more likely are still playing overseas, in junior or in the AHL.

Deep Leagues: Deep leagues will be defined as leagues where a typical team would own 5-10 prospects who vary from fresh second-round draft picks to fringe prospects.

Ultra Deep Leagues: Ultra deep leagues will be defined as leagues where a typical team would own in excess of 10 prospects that could include fresh third-round or later draft picks, and recent free agent signings.

So whether it’s for an upcoming prospect draft, or simply your waiver wire watch list, here are some names to consider grabbing in the next few months, regardless of your leagues setup!

Points-only keeper leagues

Shallow leagues – Alex Barre-Boulet, Jason Robertson

In shallow points-only leagues, opportunity is important, but it’s definitely easier to feel good about swinging for the fences. If your waiver pool is open and either of these guys are available in any sort of a keeper league, grab them… NOW. If, however, your pool is locked up, they should be at the top of your list for next year’s prospect draft.

Barre-Boulet is an undrafted Lightning prospect who’s had an immediate impact in his first AHL campaign. The fact that he somehow slipped through the cracks of subsequent eligible NHL drafts is astounding at this point, even though he’s scoring at a point-per-game clip in the AHL as a rookie. His future in the NHL is bright, and while there is some risk associated with a player who has no NHL experience, ABB is looking extremely confident.

Robertson, on the other hand, hasn't exactly flown under the radar. The Stars’ prospect has eclipsed the 100-point mark in the OHL as a 19 year old, and will likely dip his toes in a Dallas uniform next fall. In all likelihood, he’ll spend some time in the AHL getting accustomed to the pro game, but the Niagara forward is built for the modern NHL and should have a good opportunity to impact an NHL roster within two years.

Medium Depth Leagues – Jeremy Bracco, Emil Bemstrom

Two prospects who have really come on to the fantasy scene in 2019 are Leafs’ prospect Jeremy Bracco and Blue Jackets’ prospect Emil Bemstrom. Listed at 5-9 and 5-10 respectively, both are undersized by NHL standards. However, have both proven to be impactful forwards in their pro leagues – Bracco in the AHL, and Bemstrom in the SHL. It’s not out of the realm of possibilities to see both in the NHL at some point next season with a full-time entry to the league in 2020-2021. Despite their size, both have elevated their ceiling to the point of being highly relevant options in most keeper fantasy leagues.

Deep Leagues – Tyler Benson, Otto Koivula

As we go deeper, the name recognition will begin to drop off slightly. If you’re in a league where Daniel Sprong and Evgeny Svechnikov have apparent value, do yourself a favor and track these two guys down. Benson and Koivula have both had impressive stints in the AHL this year, and while under the radar they might be, value they do have. It’s anyone’s guess what happens next in Edmonton, but with Benson’s positive trajectory, expect him to get as good of an opportunity with the team next fall as any prospect. Koivula’s future with the Islanders will depend largely on what the team does in free agency, but another year of proving himself in the AHL is likely.

Ultra Deep Leagues – Philipp Kurashev, Aarne Talvitie

If you find yourself navigating the dark cavernous depths of a league such as the DPFHL, these two fellas are names you might want to have a good look at. Kurashev is a Swiss forward who is currently competing in the QMJHL with the Quebec Remparts. Despite his relatively cavalier progression in the Q, the Blackhawks’ prospect had an impressive showing with Switzerland at the World Junior Championship. With Chicago’s relatively shallow pipeline, Kurashev’s opportunity might be a little more favorable compared to prospects in other systems. Talvitie is a Finnish prospect who also had a great showing at the WJC in January. He’s had no problem adjusting to the NCAA from the junior league in Finland and makes an excellent case to be a project to stash away for a couple of years of development.

Multi-category keeper leagues

Shallow leagues – Conor Garland, Calle Rosen

When it comes to shallow multi-category leagues, opportunity is everything. Now if your waiver pool is wide open during the season, there’s a very good chance that one, if not both of these players have already been picked up – if not, take note. In some leagues, however, where the waiver pool is locked during the regular season, these guys are more than likely still available. Both have had windows of relevance in their past, but experienced dips in their transition to the AHL. Now with some serious experience under both of their belts, an opportunity has emerged that should allow them to become full-time NHL players in the next year.

Garland just signed a two-year, one-way contract with the ‘Yotes, indicating their intention to keep him in the league. Rosen is the very likely replacement for departing blueliners on Toronto’s NHL roster. Both will see deployment in the middle to bottom of their lineups for their first year or two in the NHL, but their certainty of sticking in with the NHL club in the short term is more favorable than many of their peers.

Medium Depth Leagues – Josh Mahura, CJ Smith

Again, getting into the medium depth leagues, opportunity remains important. When you’re only expecting to hold a small amount of prospects in your roster, it’s important to get base hits, as opposed to swinging for the fences. Both Mahura and Smith have served time in the AHL, with a splash of opportunity in the NHL. In the case of Mahura, there will be an opportunity for him to play higher in the lineup than previously expected, especially with the departure of Brandon Montour – If time on ice is a factor in your league, he could be a sneaky pickup. Smith has a slightly less favorable opportunity with the Sabres, but has proven that he isn’t afraid to muck out the corners when necessary, a trait that will prove valuable in multi-category leagues.

Deep Leagues – Libor Hajek, Francis Perron

Working our way into the deeper fantasy pools, opportunity remains a factor, but the ceiling of our players of interest becomes more valuable than in shallow pools. While Hajek has experienced a struggling season in Hartford, Perron has put his offensive skill on display with the Barracuda. Despite Hajek’s offensive struggles, he’s remained a steadfast two-way defender. His consistency earned him a recent call-up with the Rangers, a positive sign that the team is eager to see him in the NHL. In addition to Perron’s flashes offensive success, his physical game has flourished in San Jose. While his scoring pace has tapered off in the second half, the Sharks are surely happy with what they’ve seen in the 22-year-old, a window of opportunity is the only thing holding him back from a potential NHL impact.

Ultra Deep Leagues – Evan Barratt, Mason Shaw

A couple of mid-round NHL draft selections are the names I’d suggest keeping an eye on in the Mariana Trench of fantasy hockey leagues. Barratt could become relevant in shallower points-only leagues if his production continues to climb, but for now he’s a good option to gamble on in multi-category keeper leagues. Shaw on the other hand, is crafted almost exclusively for multi-category relevance. His grinder style of play has been successful to the point of earning him a middle-of-the-lineup role in Iowa as an AHL rookie. Overthrowing Jordan Greenway for the rights to be Minnesota's go-to, rough around the edges prospect, though, could prove to be a challenge for Shaw. If his growth continues at the AHL level, his progress could create an opportunity at the next level.

*** Very important note: If you haven't already noticed, Dobber Prospects has begun to integrate a PNHLe graph on each prospect page. This is an extremely valuable tool for keeper league fantasy hockey that has been made easily accessible – make sure you check it out on any pages of your players of interest!

Until next week… follow me on Twitter @olaf1393

from All About Sports https://dobberhockey.com/hockey-home/the-journey/the-journey-prospects-for-different-fantasy-leagues/

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