:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/60775717/usa_today_10571916.0.jpg)
The latest
Chiefs’ top pick Breeland Speaks ready to show his crazy side | Kansas City Star
“I heard you’ve got to be a little crazy to play defense,” Speaks said when asked about a video clip of him in a college game waving to the television camera, wide-eyed with a slightly creepy smile and looking like a villain in a superhero movie.
Kareem Hunt leaves offseason troubles in past, focused on 2018 season | 41 Action News
After making non-football related headlines twice, Hunt says he’s focused on football.
At Saturday’s training camp, Hunt briefly addressed the incidents for the first time. ”You know, I’m learning from it and I’m focused on football,” said Hunt.
Demarcus Robinson shows versatility at training camp | 41 KSHB
“It gave me a momentum boost coming into camp,” Robinson said. “Showing what I can do during game time, playoff-wise and just letting the quarterbacks and the coaches know that I can do the same thing coming into this year.”
Fighting for roster spot, rookie QB Chase Litton leans on defense for pointers | Kansas City Star
Listed as the fourth-string quarterback on the Chiefs unofficial depth chart, Litton likely won’t get in the game until the fourth quarter. But as he fights for a spot on the roster or the practice squad with fifth-year pro McGloin, he’ll use every advantage he can get to show the Chiefs he belongs with their organization.
Ranking the 25 Best NFL Players Who Have Been in the League Since 2008 | The Ringer
11. Alex Smith, QB, Redskins
In 2008: Smith didn’t play in 2008, missing the year with a shoulder injury. After three mediocre seasons, it looked like he was on his way to becoming a bust.
In 2018: A decade later, Smith isn’t just still in the NFL, he’s coming off the best season of his career. With the Chiefs last year, he turned into a deep-ball savant, throwing for more than 4,000 yards and 26 touchdowns (both career highs). He was so good that Kansas City … traded him to Washington. Now Smith will be filling Kirk Cousins’s shoes.
One Random Highlight: It’s easy to forget how mobile Smith can be, as he shows on this 28-yard touchdown run from 2012.
Lions’ Darius Slay challenging Raiders’ Derek Carr with ‘sticky’ coverage | The Detroit News
Carr raved about the value of practicing against Slay and the Lions’ defensive backs. The quarterback plays in a division loaded with talented corners, including Kansas City’s Kendall Fuller and Denver’s Chris Harris and Bradley Roby.
On paper, the Chiefs look better than the Broncos | KFH
The Chiefs have shiny looking pieces, but with Mahomes being untested, it’s a gamble if they’ll even go .500 this season.
One player to watch in every NFL Week 1 preseason game | For The Win
TEXANS AT CHIEFS
Patrick Mahomes, QB Chiefs
With Deshaun Watson out, all eyes are on Mahomes. The first-year starter impressed in his lone start in 2017, but he still has plenty of holes to fill in his game. How much has he evolved since the last season? And will all those picks he’s thrown in camp spill over into games?
Also keep an eye on: Justin Reid, S Texans
Why Alex Smith could be an upgrade at quarterback in Washington | Pro Football Focus
Smith was kept clean on 67.0 percent of his dropbacks, the 11th-highest rate in the league. With the Washington offensive line once again healthy, there’s a good chance this figure actually goes up as we have ranked their offensive line the 12th best going into the season, compared to Kansas City’s unit, which ranked 18th. As a comparison, Cousins ranked ninth in the NFL last season in passer rating when kept clean with a figure of 106.5.
Agent’s Take: The five players still holding out and the dynamics of each situation | CBS Sports
Earl Thomas, S, Seahawks
Thomas has been true to his word after announcing via Twitter a couple of days before the June minicamp he wouldn’t participate in any of Seattle’s team activities until his contract situation was resolved. More recently, Thomas issued a “pay me or trade me” ultimatum to the Seahawks, which he followed up with an article in The Players Tribune where he explained why he is holding out.
The five-time All Pro probably has his sights set on reclaiming his place at the top of the safety pay scale. Eric Berry is the current standard with the six-year, $78 million contract containing $40 million in guarantees he received from the Chiefs in 2017.
This is a good year to actually WANT to watch the NFL preseason | SB Nation
Mahomes only started in a Week 17 game last season, but he showed off all the traits that made him a coveted quarterback prospect and was the reason why the Chiefs felt comfortable trading away Alex Smith. He has the arm talent to make difficult passes look routine.
Fantasy Football 2018: Seven Second-Year Breakout Candidates | NESN
Patrick Mahomes II, QB, Kansas City Chiefs. Trading away Alex Smith was about as clear an indication as could be that the Chiefs are committed to Mahomes as their signal-caller of the future. The 22-year-old has an absolute cannon, but also uses his feet well. He didn’t get much of an opportunity in his rookie season, but that’s all set to change in 2018. There likely will be some growing pains, but that shouldn’t deter anyone from the upside that he’ll bring running the Kansas City offense.
Madden 19: NFL Player Ratings and Final Preview Before Release Date | Bleacher Report
Top Rated Player at Each Position
Strong Safety: Eric Berry, Kansas City Chiefs—96
Patriots don’t have any Defensive Player of the Year candidates | Pats Pulpit
I don’t think the Patriots have anyone that could compete with Kansas City Chiefs SS Eric Berry (75/1) or Los Angeles Rams CB Marcus Peters (75/1).
Why you should draft Leonard Fournette over Kareem Hunt in your fantasy league | Yahoo! Sports
Kareem Hunt, Kansas City Chiefs
A third-round pick in 2017, Kareem Hunt wasn’t an athletic marvel coming out of Toledo. He profiles as a back who is more reliant on his offensive line than some. Hunt is a reliable, no-nonsense runner, but he’s not a creator with the ball in his hands who needs only a sliver of daylight to explode for big gainers. Assuming the Chiefs’ depth isn’t tested by injury this year, their blocking should be fine most weeks. That said, a lot can go wrong here.
Around the league
“If you’re going to take the focus off of what the protest was really about—it was never about the anthem, it was never about the troops, it was about social equality and racial injustice—then make it all about the anthem,” Rodgers explained. ”Everybody in the stadium stands and does the exact same thing. You have people in the concession, people in the bathroom; you’ve got cameramen on their knee watching. You can’t have it one way or another.”
Curran: The fumbles never stop in the NFL | NBC Sports Boston
Deflategate is the perfect example. The league allowed itself to be hijacked by some penny-ante, vigilante bull that wound up lasting almost two years, costing about $25 million and still resulted in Tom Brady holding the Lombardi Trophy at the end of the season.
Helmet rule isn’t cause for NFL players to panic just yet | USA Today
Shazier, the inactive Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker, suffered a severe spinal injury last December that has left his football future unclear. Like a rising concussion rate, Shazier’s injury was a key impetus to the league’s fast push during the offseason for the rule change.
The city that hated its NFL team | Yahoo! Sports
But only once in the NFL’s history have a team and a city actively hated each other right from the jump, only once has the relationship turned so ugly that the plug got pulled after just a few months. Like all bad relationships, it faltered on the rocks of jealousy and pain, and also like all bad relationships, both parties would just as soon forget it ever happened.
Three years later, the number of players with a Parkinson’s or ALS diagnosis who have applied for and received payments under the NFL’s concussion settlement is significantly larger than projected, raising the possibility that professional football players may be at greater risk of developing the neurodegenerative diseases than previously believed.
‘Hard Knocks,’ Ep. 1: Can Hue survive the Hardland? | NFL
But that doesn’t mean “Hardland” doesn’t work. Because nobody knows “hard” like the Cleveland Browns. Winning games is hard. Being a fan is hard. Drafting the right players is hard. Trusting a GM is hard. Keeping a head coach is hard. Reversing a chronic culture of losing is -- well, you get it.
Earl Thomas visits Texas practice during holdout | NFL
Thomas showed up at the University of Texas’ fifth practice of fall camp in Austin on Wednesday, per multiple reports, and was seen with fellow former Longhorn and NFL safety Michael Huff.
Chasing Alvin Kamara: The NFL’s Reluctant Star | Bleacher Report
Everything is a test with Kamara. Guided by his intuition, a gift he inherited from his mother of Liberian descent, he will watch how you respond and react in certain situations that will reveal your true character. He seeks to find an authentic person, and these tests determine how many layers he will peel back.
Terrell Owens’ non-televised Hall of Fame speech appears to have set a record | CBS
After being introduced to the crowd in Chattanooga, Owens went on to to give a speech that ran for more than 39 minutes, which is believed to be the longest speech by any inductee in the history of the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
In case you missed it at Arrowhead Pride
No, the Chiefs don’t need to go out and sign a safety
After catching wind of the bad news about Daniel Sorensen’s injury late Tuesday evening, most Kansas City Chiefs fan were hustling and bustling around checking out the free agent safety market due the relatively strong unsigned class.
Andy Reid views wide receivers as a position of luxury
Reid’s modus operandi towards wide receivers appears to be the following: Let’s draft guys in the mid-rounds, and keep an eye open in free agency. In fact, the signing of Sammy Watkins was a total Reid move given Reid’s past, and more of us should have seen it coming.
Pro Football Focus ranks Patrick Mahomes 25th-best quarterback in the league
Pro Football Focus’ Steve Palazzolo released the 2018 edition of the quarterback rankingsearlier this week, and Kansas City Chiefs first-year starter Patrick Mahomes checked in at No. 25.
...
Social Media Information:
AP Facebook Page: Click here to like our page
AP Instagram: Follow @ArrowheadPride
AP Twitter: Follow @ArrowheadPride
AP Editor-in-Chief: Pete Sweeney: Follow @pgsween
610 Sports Twitter: Follow @610SportsKC