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Chiefs favored to sign Mike Evans in free agency | Clutch Points
Bet Online has Kansas City as the favorites to land Evans, assuming he doesn’t return to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers next season. The Chiefs are currently +200 to sign Evans. The New York Jets follow closely behind at +300, while the Chicago Bears sit in third place at +500.
The Chiefs may have the inside track as, while the door to an extension deal between the Buccaneers and star wide receiver Mike Evans isn’t yet entirely closed, the chances of such an agreement aren’t looking high at the moment. Tampa Bay had a soft deadline earlier this week to get an extension done with the Pro Bowl wide receiver, but both sides reportedly remain far apart.
Kansas City Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker sent one of his jerseys to the family of Lisa Lopez-Galvan, the woman shot and killed during the team’s Super Bowl parade.
“I am honored to provide a jersey to the family for her to wear,” he said Tuesday in a statement. “While the family is mourning their loss and grappling with their numerous injuries, I will continue to pray for their healing and the repose of Lisa’s soul.”
According to the Kansas City Star’s Pete Grathoff and Joseph Hernandez, Lopez-Galvan was wearing a Butker jersey during the parade. The three-time Super Bowl champion was her favorite Chiefs player, and her family had expressed the hope of getting a replacement so she could be laid to rest in one of his jerseys.
Cut candidates for all 32 NFL teams: Jamal Adams, Mike Williams and more | PFF
KANSAS CITY CHIEFS: WR MARQUEZ VALDES-SCANTLING
Salary Cap Details: $2,000,000 dead money, $12,000,000 cap savings
Valdes-Scantling had his fair share of clutch moments in both Super Bowl runs with the Kansas City Chiefs, but there were stretches of games where Patrick Mahomes was gun-shy in targeting the field-stretcher. Even with a need for pass-catching talent, the savings here may be too big to pass up.
Round 1 – Pick 32
Ladd McConkey WR
GEORGIA • JR • 6’0” / 185 LBS
McConkey can be a 100-catch guy in Kansas City with Patrick Mahomes throwing him the football.
ESPN Analyst Picks KC Chiefs as Best Fit for Former Chargers RB Austin Ekeler | Arrowhead Report
Ekeler, who turns 29 in May, has spent the entirety of his seven-year career in Los Angeles. In 103 regular-season games with the Chargers, the former undrafted free agent has carried the ball 990 times for 4,355 yards and 39 touchdowns. He also has 3,884 yards and another 30 scores out of the backfield as a pass catcher.
There aren’t many more suitable complementary producers and game-altering receiving threats than Ekeler. In each of the 2021 and 2022 seasons, he rushed for over 900 yards with at least 12 touchdowns while also topping 600 receiving yards and at least five scores in that regard. (For reference, McKinnon logged 512 receiving yards during his standout 2022 effort.) Those 33 games saw Ekeler account for 38 all-purpose touchdowns and one top-10 finish in Offensive Player of the Year voting. All of this came with him sitting right around 65% of snaps played on offense.
Travis Kelce arrives in Australia for Taylor Swift concerts | ESPN
Swift and Kelce have quickly become the most talked about couple of the past year, with the pop sensation watching a number of the tight end’s NFL games.
Most recently, Swift was on hand for Super Bowl LVIII, the 34-year-old cheering on her partner as Kansas City outlasted San Francisco in overtime in a thrilling finale to the NFL season.
During a recent episode of his New Heights podcast, Kelce had hinted that a visit to Australia was likely, saying he might “venture to an island real soon”, fueling rumours he would join Swift Down Under.
It is expected Kelce will attend at least one of Swift’s four Sydney shows, which are being held at Olympic Park’s Accor Stadium over four straight nights.
Around the NFL
Bears QB Justin Fields amid trade rumors: ‘I want to stay’ in Chicago | NFL.com
Justin Fields has been the subject of trade rumors since the Bears secured the No. 1 overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft — they also hold the No. 9 overall selection — but Fields recently said that he wants to stay in Chicago.
“Yeah. Of course. Of course I want to stay,” Fields said during an appearance on the *St. Brown Bros Podcast *posted on Wednesday, the quarterback’s first public statements since the end of the regular season. “I can’t see myself playing in another place, but I know how the league is.
“… If it was up to me I would stay in Chicago. I love the city. The city’s lit. The fans there, they’re great. But it’s a business. I ain’t got no control over it, so whatever happens happens.”
6. Gabe Davis, Buffalo Bills
The 2023 Gabe Davis breakout many projected entering 2023 didn’t quite happen, and now he hits free agency with a high probability of playing somewhere else besides Buffalo given cap situation as the Bills currently are projected to have the second-fewest cap space in the league.
If he wants to take the JuJu Smith-Schuster route (take a one-year prove-it deal to play with Patrick Mahomes in Kansas City and then get paid the following offseason), the defending champion Chiefs would welcome him with open arms. The Washington Commanders are set to have the most cap space in the entire NFL ($73.6M), per OverTheCap.com, and they could use more size at receiver alongside Terry McLaurin and Jahan Dotson.
The Bengals will also likely have an opening with Tyler Boyd and Tee Higgins currently set to become free agents. Cincy also has nearly $60 million in cap space ($59.4 million) plus the ability to get open looks running alongside Ja’Marr Chase and catching passes from Joe Burrow.
Best team fits: Chiefs, Commanders, Bengals
6 NFL Free Agents Who Carry the Most Risk and Reward in 2024 Offseason | Bleacher Report
Arizona Cardinals WR Marquise Brown
Five years into Marquise Brown’s career, plenty of questions still surround the talented but often unreliable 2019 first-round pick.
There’s a reason the Baltimore Ravens gave up on the undersized wide receiver just three years into his tenure there, and injuries as well as a lack of support and stability within the Arizona Cardinals offense have conspired to limit the 26-year-old to just 1,283 yards over the course of the last two seasons.
A new setting didn’t fix Brown in 2022 and 2023, but that wasn’t exactly a talent-drenched environment. He could take off in 2024 and beyond, and he’ll likely be paid according to that expectation, but it’s just as likely his career will continue to sputter.
In case you missed it on Arrowhead Pride
Chiefs Offseason: 3 reasons why Kansas City should be aggressive
1. The ages of Andy Reid, Steve Spagnuolo and Travis Kelce
And speaking of aging out, I think that’s a massive factor when looking at three Chiefs core members this offseason: Andy Reid, Steve Spagnuolo, and Travis Kelce.
To start with the coaches, the Chiefs we don’t know how much longer they will coach. By the playoffs next season, Reid will be 66 and Spagnuolo 65. They’ve both accomplished enough in their careers that retirement is now a yearly conversation. Reid and Spagnuolo are some of the best coaches of all time at their respective positions. Once both retire, the chances the Chiefs get better coaches than those two are incredibly slim. You have to take advantage of having their abilities for the team right now.
With Kelce, the end is almost more near than it is for the coaches. Like Spagnuolo and Reid, once Kelce is gone, the Chiefs are never replacing his talent. He’s arguably the best tight end to ever play. It’s going to be incredibly difficult to replace him, so as long as they have that talent on the roster that fits so perfectly with Mahomes, they have to maximize the window they have that player.
Social media to make you think
This is cool. The Chiefs and New Era loaded 1,000 hats from last year’s Super Bowl championship aboard the USS Eisenhower when it was in port last year. The hats came in handy for Super Bowl LVIII! pic.twitter.com/LLv6KKsCAX
— Matt McMullen (@KCChiefs_Matt) February 21, 2024