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BetOnline has released odds on the NFL Combine, proving that there’s almost nothing football-related you can’t put money on. The most interesting prop they have is whether or not anyone will break Chris Johnson’s record in the 40-yard dash (4.24 seconds). The Combine begins Tuesday, but drills won’t actually get started until Friday. MORE: 10 players who could break 40-yard record | Combine TV schedule Only six players have run faster than a 4....

Here are the most pressing, from the quarterback hoping to prove all his critics wrong to the defensive end just hoping to get his chance: Who will draft Johnny Manziel? It’s looking less like Manziel will be the top pick to Houston, but that hasn’t kept him from being the top topic of conversation. Even in a deep, talented class, no one else has come close to facing the same hype, scrutiny and attention as the Texas A&M Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback....

For more NFL Draft coverage, follow Sporting News and Sporting News NFL on Twitter. Follow @sportingnews | Follow @sn_nfl MORE NFL DRAFT: Top 100 players | Mock draft | Top 10 draft trades | The great QB myth

Not long after the 2014 NFL Draft began, the Bills made the first of many expected moves. In a trade with the Cleveland Browns, Buffalo moved up five spots from No. 9 to No. 4 to select Clemson wide receiver Sammy Watkins. MORE: Watkins’ fantasy impact In return, the Browns received the Bills' first-round and fourth-round picks for the 2015 draft. Watkins is the biggest game-breaker of the receiving class, drawing comparisons to Calvin Johnson, who played in the same conference at Georgia Tech and went second overall to the Lions in 2007....

LIVE: SN’s Draft tracker Mettenberger, the second pick of the sixth round and the 178th pick overall, was one of six players specifically named in a report Monday, three days before the draft, as having failed the drug test at the combine in February. The report said that Mettenberger's sample was "diluted," which counts as a positive test in the NFL program. Before that, Mettenberger had received high grades for his recovery from a torn left ACL in his final regular-season game at LSU....

Even seasoned NFL insiders will tell you that the draft is somewhat of a lottery, you never really know how the player is going to pan out. Sometimes you hit the jackpot with your first-round pick - Aaron Rodgers, Peyton Manning, Emmitt Smith, Jerry Rice. Sometimes you select a bust - Ryan Leaf, JaMarcus Russell, Jake Locker. This year’s draft looks like it is going to be top-heavy with teams selecting quarterbacks, so the pressure to succeed is only heightened....

Following a year at junior college, Sweat took the offer of a different MSU and all he did in Starkville was earn first-team All-SEC honors for leading the conference with 10.5 sacks and recorded 15.5 tackles for loss in his first season. He put up almost identical numbers last year and once again was a first-team all-conference selection as well as a second-team All-American. This is a very long and lanky D-end at 6’6”, 260 pounds with almost 36-inch arms....

Anchor Marcello Cuadra, who presents The Fox 29 Morning Show, let out a juvenile squeal when opening the morning show. Cuadra was presenting the early morning slot with co-host Madison Glaser on KPLC News, based in Lake Charles, Louisiana. Cuadra attempts to move on and continue with the news broadcast, about President Biden’s oil and gas policy, but he seems put off as moments later he stumbles over his words....

Daniels was traded from the Rockets to the Timberwolves and his former local news station didn’t even have a decent picture of him. Embarrassing. Houston television affiliate KRIV decided to do the next best thing, they used his photo from NBA 2k15. MORE: Jeremy Lin wants chance | Wizards on historic run | Damian Lillard propels Trail Blazers in triple OT Since Daniels is headed to Minnesota, there’s probably no need for the Houston news station to get a photo now....

Bush’s approval rating remains below the 50 percent mark, with just 48 percent approving of the president’s overall job performance (45 percent disapprove). In December, shortly after the capture of deposed Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, his approval rating was at 54 percent. These results come at the end of a controversial several weeks for the president, with attention focused on revelations by the chief adviser to the administration on Iraqi weapons, David Kay, that “we were almost all wrong” about Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction....

In awarding the “Ellie” to NEWSWEEK, the judges said that “through its coverage of September 11 and the weeks that followed, NEWSWEEK demonstrated that the weekly news magazine is not only a vital form, but something of a miracle. The magazine offered instant perspective on incomprehensible horror; it broke news, reliably, amid a frenzy of misinformation; and it captured both the tragedy and the renewal of hope, in words and glorious photographs....

Because Iowa has a caucus rather than a primary, the ability to get committed supporters to go out on a particular evening and spend several hours talking and voting is key. It really favors those with strong, devoted advocates. It also favors those who catch a wave at the last minute and surge by attracting all the undecided voters, who are not comfortable with other candidates. I don’t know who will win the Democratic Iowa caucus Monday night....

Tony Hawk’s caterer snapped a photo (seen below) at an event featuring the upcoming game. In the photo, behind a mass of banquet tables on a half-pipe, a large display features a logo for Tony Hawk 5. This title undoubtedly strikes a chord with fans of the series, as it appears that Activision will continue where they left off with 2002’s Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 4, arguably the peak of the franchise....

As reported by VentureBeat’s Jeff Grubb, the next Battlefield title is going to be dubbed “Battlefield V”, and will return the series to World War II in a main entry for the first time since the release of 2009’s Battlefield 1943. Apparently, this information was given to the outlet from sources familiar with Electronic Arts’ plans for the first-person shooter franchise, with the sources having asked to remain anonymous. A purported screenshot of the dev build for Battlefield V can be seen below....

September was a varied month for free game releases, with Epic Games Store providing players with hundreds of hours of entertainment with the action-adventure survival sandbox Ark: Survival Evolved and the dungeon-crawler RPG Gloomhaven. Later in the month Drone Racing League Simulator and Runbow were also added, adding a multiplayer platformer and a simulation drone racer in contrast to September’s earlier releases. Everyone knows October is the month of spookiness, so Epic Games Store’s new additions of Rising Hell and Slain: Back from Hell fit in perfectly as an example of a couple of ghoulish games....

While each game appeals to a very different demographic — Titanfall to the multiplayer-focused gamers and Thief to those gamers who prefer a more story-driven experience — both are presumably betting big on the success of the next-gen consoles. Titanfall, in fact, might be the biggest next-gen title we see released next year — an Xbox exclusive that Respawn Entertainment has tailor made for Microsoft’s Xbox One. Thief, on the other hand, is going for the widest audience possible; even though its ideal platforms are the PS4, Xbox One, and PC....

Tate, the provost of the University of South Carolina, was selected by the school after beating out two other finalists for the job, University of Louisiana System President Dr. James B. Henderson and Dr. Kelvin Droegemeier, a University of Oklahoma professor and meteorologist who served as a science adviser to former President Donald Trump. “What I’m really most excited about is I met students here who really are amazing, and for me, this position is all about what we can do to help students and give people access and opportunity in higher education,” Tate said in a statement obtained by Newsweek....

On Tuesday, Jill Ellis announced she would step down from the role she has held since 2014. Her contract is due to expire on Wednesday and the 52-year-old has declined an option that would have kept her in charge through to next summer’s Olympic Games in Tokyo. Ellis, who was born in England but is an American citizen, is the first coach to win back-to-back World Cup titles in either the male or female for 81 years....

More people are willing to talk to him about the job now. "This time already — and don't ask me any names because I'm not going to tell you — there's already a list of 20-25 people who've reached out to us," Williams said Saturday at a midday news conference. "And at least five of them are people who we asked to talk to us last time and said no....