Plus: Robert Mays and Kevin Clark react to the NFL draft and look at which teams are set up for this season and beyond. View in your browser Share | Subscribe In the May 2 newsletter, Alison Herman debuts with a look at last night’s shocking Game of Thrones episode, Robert Mays considers the strategies of the two teams that traded down (and down) (and also up) at the NFL draft, and Kevin Clark zeroes in on the clubs pushing all their chips in on Super Bowl LI. HBO A Tale of Three Corpses: Game of Thrones Goes for Broke By Alison Herman He’s alive! As we hoped and, deep in our flaming hearts, knew Jon Snow would be. One of Game of Thrones’ few out-and-out heroes is back in the picture, a twist that feels all the more satisfying for being the exact inverse of the show’s previous shockers. There’s even a neat symmetry with the death of his own father, another leader whose moral compass led him straight to his own grave. (Other small joys: Melisandre has her groove back, and Kit Harington the right to roam the streets of Belfast in relative peace.) But while Jon’s resurrection was the biggest thing that happened last night, it’s worth zooming out and taking a look at the world he’s been dragged back into. Though his revival didn’t need any additional hype, it came on the heels of two other changes in life status. And those deaths might be even more shocking, given that they didn’t come on the heels of almost a year of frantic theorizing. Roose Bolton and Balon Greyjoy had plenty in common — besides a shared penchant for emotionally manipulating their children. Both were elder statesmen who’d waited their turns to climb Westeros’s ladder of chaos; both executed their plans with a decade’s worth of grudge-holding and expertly tactical shrewdness (Roose) or ferocity (Balon). And now both men have been murdered, and seem sure to be succeeded, by younger versions of themselves — younger versions who don’t plan to take advantage of chaos so much as revel in it. Ramsay Bolton is a sadist, both sexual and otherwise, who wants power less for political status than for raw, uncut freedom. And while we don’t know who or even what Euron Greyjoy (a.k.a. That Dude on the Bridge) is, he appears to be playing an entirely different game of you-know-whats than everybody else. The arc of Game of Thrones’ particular moral universe has always bent toward anarchy. We started with one king, and then bumped up to five. And now all five of those would-be rulers are out of the picture, with a pack of wild cards in their place. It’s a world now scrubbed of a whole generation of men committed to asserting some kind of order from the top of that ladder. Which also sounds an awful lot like a world in need of a messiah. Anyone know where to find one of those? Getty Images Defining the 2016 NFL Draft: Don’t Trade Down Without a Plan By Robert Mays Billowing smoke emanating from Laremy Tunsil’s gas mask may be the lasting image, but the 2016 NFL draft will be remembered for the top two picks. The narrative of this class hinges on Jared Goff and Carson Wentz, even if it’ll be years before we have any conclusions on that front. For the teams that once owned the first and second picks, though, this weekend provided a measure of clarity. Both Cleveland and Tennessee received smatterings of applause for loading up on 2016 and 2017 picks with the aim of hoarding talent for two depleted rosters. And that’s where the similarities end. In Cleveland, the Sashi Brown–Paul DePodesta brain trust made it clear that finding draft capital is a defining principle. It wasn’t just that the Eagles made a godfather offer; Cleveland made four more trades and drafted 14 players — tied for the most ever in a seven-round draft — including five in the first three rounds. Now, if first-rounder Corey Coleman, second-rounder Emmanuel Ogbah, and Cleveland’s slew of midround picks flame out, no one is going to pat the Browns on the back for finding extra value. But their approach was a clear indication that the group in charge has a plan. With all those picks, they have new pass catchers and pass rushers who fit today’s NFL. Meanwhile, Tennessee decided to toss around its surplus picks like Monopoly money. Handing the Browns a 2016 third-rounder and a 2017 second-rounder to move up for Jack Conklin while Tunsil was still available was a head-scratcher. Except it’s the sort of safe move the Titans are prone to make. Taylor Lewan never wanted to play right tackle, and if GM Jon Robinson had taken Tunsil, there’s a good chance the move would have embittered one of the louder, more influential presences in Tennessee’s locker room. Rather than deal with a surly former first-round pick, the Titans took the less-talented guy they could play on the right. Their fourth pick — Derrick Henry, 45th overall — came from the same overly cautious impulse. This is the team that just dealt for DeMarco Murray and then handed him $12 million guaranteed. If they had a floundering quarterback, building around the running game might make sense. But Tennessee has Marcus Mariota, and it shouldn’t turn him into a $5.5 million handoff machine. This weekend highlighted the Titans’ and Browns’ different approaches. Three months after hiring Mike Mularkey, a retread with 18 career wins as a head coach, Tennessee’s draft confirmed that when given a set of options, it’s inclined to pick the most boring choice possible. And while it remains to be seen whether Cleveland’s value-building strategy will yield any long-term results, the important thing is that it’s finally trying something new. For teams that have been stuck near the bottom for as long as the Titans and Browns have, the worst mistake is repeating the one you already made. Getty Images Four NFL Teams That Are All In for 2016 By Kevin Clark In hindsight, Super Bowl winners usually look pretty obvious. They tend to have peaking rosters filled with guys who shouldn’t have been on cheap contracts, along with a few major but costly short-term mercenaries. Like your classic ’80s teen movie, there’s one last party before everyone goes their separate ways. In short, to win a championship, you have to go all in. Sometimes it isn’t even by choice, but whether it’s because of players on the verge of departing, a pending salary cap crunch, or a star entering his twilight, certain teams are forced to confront the reality that, for better or worse, this is their year. Now that the draft is over and most relevant free agents have been signed, we can start to see which teams are pushing all their chips toward Super Bowl LI. Arizona Cardinals Arizona’s roster could look very different a year from now: Chandler Jones, who came over in a trade with New England, is under contract only for 2016, while Calais Campbell and Tyrann Mathieu are also entering the last years of their deals. On the other side of the ball, wideouts Michael Floyd and Larry Fitzgerald could hit the open market next offseason, and guard Evan Mathis signed a one-year deal. Even Arizona’s draft picks have a win-now flavor: Robert Nkemdiche should help make that front seven unstoppable right away, and center Evan Boehm may be expected to start from day one. Washington Redskins In what looked to be a wide-open NFC East, the Redskins established themselves as division favorites by signing Josh Norman two weeks ago. Thanks to the surprise addition of one of the league’s best defensive backs, no team, according to Spotrac, has spent more cap money for 2016. Going forward, Kirk Cousins’s eventual long-term deal will likely hamper their ability to retain other weapons like DeSean Jackson, who’s in the last year of his contract. Kansas City Chiefs While the Chiefs traded down in both the first and second rounds, there’s still plenty of urgency toward 2016. Stalwarts Dontari Poe and Eric Berry are going to be very expensive next offseason, so this will likely be the last year the defensive unit is together. On offense, the window is “whenever Jamaal Charles is healthy.” Dallas Cowboys With Dez Bryant, Jason Witten, and Tony Romo all under contract, the Cowboys’ core is likely to stay together for a few more years, but selecting Ezekiel Elliott was a splash decision to help with the very near term. Ignoring the pick’s many flaws, most first-round running backs, due to the short shelf life of the position, produce the most value while on their rookie deals. The NBA Show

In Episode 1 of this all-NBA-everything podcast, Bill Simmons is joined by Bleacher Report’s Howard Beck to discuss the ongoing struggles of New York’s two teams, the Clippers, and more. The NFL Show

In this inaugural podcast, Robert Mays and Kevin Clark report live from the NFL draft in Chicago to break down the first-round highlights, lowlights, and biggest moves from day one. Patrick Reed

He joins the podcast to talk about playing in the 2016 Olympic Games, preparing for Oakmont and the U.S. Open, his favorite city to eat in, and his near win at the Valero Texas Open.

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