Greg Cote’s Hot Button Top 10: NFL Draft, Dolphins, Shedeur’s slide, Heat/Panthers, Messi and more
▪ Personal note: A son of mine is getting married this weekend and I’m playing the family-first card, so Hot Button Top 10 (and Poll Dance) will be taking the Sunday off. Be back with both next week on May 11.
GREG COTE’S HOT BUTTON TOP 10 (APRIL 27): WHAT IN SPORTS HAS GRABBED US THIS WEEK: Our Sunday Hot Button Top 10 notes column brings you what’s on our minds, locally and nationally but from a Miami perspective and accentuating stuff that’s big, weird, damnable, funny or otherwise worth needling, as the sports week just past pivots to the week ahead. Welcome to the 102nd edition of your HB10:
1. DOLPHINS: A 1st-round reach for Grant, but Fins target needs in NFL Draft: Top pick Kenneth Grant, the Michigan DT, wasn’t on most first-round boards (including Mel Kiper’s) and didn’t fill Miami’s two biggest needs (CB, OG), and so I saw it as a weird pick -- which is not to say a bad one. Fins hits needs later with an OG, CB and safety, plus two more DTs. Dolphisn also took a late RB and QB in Texas’ Quinn Ewers, an interesting pick and great late dice-roll. Still wish Fins had gone corner first -- Will Johnson (despite the injury factor) or Jahdae Barron -- but the overall haul seems solid if not exciting. ESPN’s Kiper graded Miami’s draft a C+, which seems about right.
2. HEAT: In deep 3-0 hole to Cavaliers, no answers, no hope for Miami: It isn’t just that it’s 0-3 after Saturday’s home loss. It’s that Cleveland has won the three games by a combined 76 points. It’s that 0-3 teams in NBA playoff history are 0-118 on advancing. That’s 0-118. And there has never before been a disparity like a No. 1 seed facing a losing-record opponent that climbed from No. 10 to escape play-in purgatory Miami quite literally must make history now starting Monday back home. I say zero chance.
3. PANTHERS: Series tightens, gets good as Cats drop Game 3 to Tampa: Florida waltzed to a 6-2 win in the first-round opener vs. rival Tampa Bay and you knew it would tighten. So Game 2 was a 2-0 Panthers win, the last goal an open-netter. Then came Saturday’s 5-1 Lightning strike in Sunrise. And now it’s what you thought it would all along be heading into Monday’s Game 4 back in the Panthers’ den: Tight, and a better bet for 7 games than 5. Still like the defending champs, but this series just got good -- thankfully, relative to the Heat’s nightmare-in-progress.
4. HURRICANES: No. 1 Ward leads seven Canes in NFL Draft, most since ‘17: No. 1 overall pick QB Cam Ward to Titans and second-round TE Elijah Arroyo to Seahawks led a parade of seven UM’ers in NFL Draft, The U’s most since 2017. IN the later rounds went OL Jalen Rivers (5R, Bengals; LB Francisco Mauigoa (5R, Jets); DE Tyler Baron (5R, Jets); PK Andy Borregales (6R, Patriots); and RB Damien Martinez (7R, Seahawks). Ward was Canes’ third No. 1 overall, joining QB Vinny Testaverde (1987) and DT Russell Maryland (1991).
5. INTER MIAMI: Team Messi’s hopes to raise CCC trophy in major peril: The good news: Inter Miami at 5-0-3 and the last unbeaten team in the MLS regular season entering today/Sunday’s home match vs. Dallas. The bad, bigger news: The Herons’ 2-0 leg-1 loss at Vancouver in the CONCACAF Champions Cup semifinals has Team Messi on its heels entering leg-2 this Wednesday in Fort Lauderdale. Miami must win by more than two goals to secure advancement to the final, while a 2-0 win would tie the aggregate score and force overtime. The CCC is a major trophy Miami dearly wants to win, and falling short would be a major disappointment on top of last year’s early MLS playoff flameout after winning the Supporters Shield.
6. NFL: Mystery freefall of QB Shedeur Sanders the big story of Draft: It wasn’t a great draft overall and there were not many notable early surprises -- with one exception: the stunning fall of Colorado QB Shedeur Sanders. The second-rated passer -- pegged to go No. 9 overall by Mel Kiper -- tumbled to the fifth round, where the Browns made him the sixth QB selected (and the second by Cleveland). Speculation is Sanders did not interview well and that teams were wary of the distraction that might come with him, from father Deion to the entourage in his orbit. Will he soar to prove the league wrong? Seeing that play out will be fascinating. In other new the NFL revealed it is sticking with Christmas tripleheaders. (Dear Boss: If Dolphins happen to be scheduled to play on Christmas, I believe I’ll unfortunately have a 24-hour flu that day.)
7. AUTO RACING: Co-favorites as Formula One returns to Miami: The stars, celebs and wanna-be posers will be out this week as F1’s Miami Grand Prix is back at Hard Rock Stadium next Sunday. Put it this way: If Pitbull is in town and isn’t there, somebody check to make sure he’s OK. Unless you’re a big fan of the sport, you can pretend you’ve heard of race co-favorites Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri. The two drivers you likely have heard of are the third betting pick (Max Verstappen) and a long-shot sixth (Lewis Hamilton).
8. HORSE RACING: With Kentucky Derby on deck, who says Journalism is dead?: Thoroughbred racing’s Triple Crown season begins next Saturday with the Kentucky Derby, and a horse named Journalism hopes to write its own history. The bay colt is the clear early betting pick at 3-1 in a bunched, big field, named by Aron Wellman, founder and president of Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners. He said the name was inspired by his having been the sports editor for ‘Highlights,’ the school newspaper at Beverly Hills High. Journalism is alive and well ... on four legs, at least.
9. MARLINS: Hey, the Fish don’t quite stink (yet)!: A low-payroll, no-star-but-Sandy team expected to be abysmal is hanging around mediocre instead. Yay? Marlins, though they lost 14-0 at Seattle Saturday, are 12-14 and thus far clearing their very low bar of expectations. Fish are back in Seattle today and then head to L..A. to face champ Dodgers.
10. LEGAL SILLINESS: Lamar Jackson, Dale Jr., fighting over number 8: The Baltimore Ravens QB and NASCAR icon Earnhardt Jr. are jousting over trademark rights to the number 8, some of it over stylized versions of it. Now the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office -- at least until it is disbanded by President Musk -- will attempt to determine what’s right. Here’s what right: No athlete or anybody else should get to “own” a number. As for either of these guys being the most famous 8, Carl Yastrzemski, Cal Ripken Jr. and Alex Ovechkin would like a word, as might fans of the late Yogi Berra and Kobe Bryant.
THE LIST: Michigan to Miami in NFL Draft: The Dolphins in 60 all-time drafts have selected only nine Michigan Wolverines through three rounds. The five highest Michigan selections by Miami:
Year Player, Pos. Round-overall selection
2008 Jake Long, OT 1-1st
2025 Kenneth Grant, DT 1-13th
1979 Jon Giesler, OT 1-24th
1970 Jim Mandich, TE 2-29th
2008 Chad Henne, QB 2-57th
Note: Next-highest Wolverine to Fins was WR Bo Rather in 4th round in 1973. Other three were 7th round or lower.
Other most recent stuff from me: As Heat and Panthers both lose big in home Game 3s, one series is done, one just got good // NFL Draft Live! Pick-by-pick analysis, Cote vs. Kiper mock results // Game 2 proved Heat won’t be easy out -- but didn’t show they can beat Cleveland // Matthew Tkachuk! Nate Schmidt? Panthers delight in 6-2 playoff-opening win at Tampa // Our 34th annual Official Herald NFL Mock Draft // After Heat Game 1, it’s on Tyler Herro to prove he’s the star Miami needs // Previous HB10 // Poll Dance: What position should Dolphins target in first round? // Resurgent Heat win again, make NBA playoffs. Wait, do you believe in miracles? // Miami Dolphins should be fed up with Tyreek Hill, but team is too desperate to trade him // LeBron vs. Michael, now Ovechkin-Gretzky. Our obsession with ranking greatness // Cam Ward, Shedeur Sanders will own NFL Draft. But are they franchise QBs? There are doubts // NCAAs crescendo with exciting Final Fours, but college basketball is broken. Let’s fix it // To owner Bruce Sherman of low-hope Marlins: Spend more on payroll, or sell team // Dolphins’ 18-month decline, quiet offseason heap pressure on Tua, coach, GM in ‘25 // New Hurricanes coach Jai Lucas’ job: Make Miami college hoops matter like never before // A tribute to Miami sports legend Jimmy Johnson as he retires from Fox TV // Must-win MLS season for Messi, Inter Miami a tough climb, as opening 2-2 home draw shows // 15 years later, Dolphins Cancer Challenge is the life-saving legacy of Jim Mandich // Unprofessional Jimmy Butler quit on Heat, ruined his legacy in Miami // Our Top 10 biggest Miami/South Florida sports stories of 2024 // And my latest podcast:
This story was originally published April 27, 2025 at 10:59 AM.
