Arrowheadlines: Dez Bryant calls Tyreek Hill the best player in the league outside of Mahomes

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Dez Bryant Names The Best Wide Receiver In The NFL | The Spun

Bryant, who last played in the NFL in 2017, is a massive fan of Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver Tyreek Hill. He thinks Hill is basically impossible to cover and went as far to say that he’s the second-best player in the entire league.

“You can’t have these conversation with stat watchers… Tyreek one of my favorite players of all time and I’m not being biased but nobody covering that man one on one…I think he’s the best player in the league outside of Mahomes,” Bryant wrote on Twitter.

TOP FIVE ‘STARTING FIVES’: Which group is No. 1? | NFL.com

4 Kansas City Chiefs

RB: Clyde Edwards-Helaire

WR: Tyreek Hill

WR: Sammy Watkins

WR: Mecole Hardman

TE: Travis Kelce

The Chiefs have surrounded Patrick Mahomes with an Olympic-caliber relay team of sprinters on the perimeter. The 2018 MVP has the fastest collection of pass catchers in the league at his disposal with each playmaker displaying A+ speed, explosiveness and burst. Hill, Hardman and Watkins can fly with exceptional stop-start quickness and acceleration. Hill is the headliner as the team’s No. 1 playmaker, but Hardman and Watkins are capable complements with big-play ability. Kelce is a shake-and-bake wiz as a route runner with soft hands and outstanding ball skills. He consistently wins against linebackers and safeties with his agility, but also flashes impressive post-up skills in the red zone. Edwards-Helaire is somewhat of a mystery at this point, as a 2020 first-round pick still waiting to take part in his first NFL camp, but his pass-catching skills could round out a unit that features dynamic weapons at every spot.

Chiefs doing themselves a disservice by not exploring Colin Kaepernick fit | FanSided

Now, why put so much stock into Mahomes’ backup? That answer is rather obvious to anyone who’s watched the young gunslinger play. As revolutionary and otherworldly as Mahomes looks at times, he puts himself in harm’s way often. Mahomes missed two games last season and was replaced by Matt Moore in those starts. With Moore no longer the steady hand behind Mahomes, Kaepernick could step right in and be a better fit in an offense built for a free-wheeling, mobile quarterback.

For Kaepernick, the benefit is also clear. Such an opportunity would give him a path back to a starter’s role if he signs on a short-term deal with the Super Bowl champions.

The NFL’s 10 Biggest What-Ifs of the Last 10 Years | SI

5. The Bears drafted Patrick Mahomes or Deshaun Watson?

If the Bears had taken Mahomes, and still fired John Fox after his rookie year, and still hired Andy Reid protege Matt Nagy, would the team find the same level of success? If Mahomes was not given the chance to sit his rookie season behind Alex Smith and smooth out the rough patches in his game, would he emerge as the same firebrand? If Watson was a Bear, without the comically high catch radius of DeAndre Hopkins and a foundationally sound offense (Trivia Question: Who led the Bears in receiving yards in 2017? Kendall Wright with 614!), what would’ve become of him?

Tony Romo gushes about Patrick Mahomes and The Run | FanSided

The network plans to air a replay of the 2019 AFC Championship game between the Chiefs and Titans. For those who don’t remember, the game features a scintillating touchdown run by Patrick Mahomes that occurred just before halftime.

Tony Romo certainly hasn’t forgotten about the play. When it happened, he told everyone tuning in that Mahomes had a “knack for making plays.” Furthermore, he exclaimed that he would “never forget” the video game-like run.

NFL Super Bowl odds 2021: Predictions, expert picks, top values from unbiased Vegas insider | CBS Sports

2021 Super Bowl odds to win

Kansas City Chiefs 5-1

Baltimore Ravens 13-2

San Francisco 49ers 7-1

Around the NFL

First-round conundrums linger for Aaron Rodgers, Packers | NFL.com

MVP Starter 1st-Round QB Draft

GB Aaron Rodgers Jordan Love 2020

HOF Brett Favre Aaron Rodgers 2005

HOF Bart Starr Don Horn 1967

While Love was taken in the first round and running back A.J. Dillion was taken in the second despite the presence of Aaron Jones and his career season last year, no help at wide receiver was selected for Rodgers or No. 1 wideout Devante Adams, who’s been a one-man show in the WR corps for multiple seasons now.

All the while, a now-infamous statistic emerged as Rodgers has thrown just one career touchdown pass to a first-round draft pick, the fewest by a country mile among the eight quarterbacks in NFL history to have won multiple most valuable player accolades. Rodgers — whose single score to a first-rounder didn’t come until last season to Lewis, who was drafted in the opening round of the 2006 draft by the Jaguars — is 60 touchdown passes behind Johnny Unitas, whose 61 to first-round picks are second-least among multi-time MVPs, per NFL Research.

David Njoku requests trade: Ranking best landing spot fits for Browns’ former first-round pick at tight end | CBS Sports

5. Patriots

We all know how much Bill Belichick and Josh McDaniels like to utilize tight ends. And the more athletic the tight end, the more effective they have tended to be in this offense. Njoku is a ridiculous athlete; he ranks in the 97th percentile for athleticism among NFL tight ends. New England has also never been afraid to target players with elite pedigrees (Njoku was a first-round pick just a few years ago) who have nevertheless fallen out of favor with their current organization. And while the Patriots invested two draft picks in tight ends just a few short months ago, neither player has the upside of Njoku, who could provide their offense an element it currently lacks.

Cam Newton joining Patriots has similarities to Randy Moss in ‘07 | ESPN

4. Newton’s jersey number: If the Patriots issue Newton jersey No. 1 and he plays for the team in 2020, it will mark the first time that the number has been in circulation since kicker Tony Franklin donned it from 1984 to 1987. Franklin, of course, was remembered for his unique barefoot kicking style. Only Franklin, John Smith and Eric Schubert (a replacement player in ‘87) — all kickers — have donned No. 1 in New England.

5. Keeping tabs on salary cap: The Patriots have about $250,000 in cap space when accounting for Newton’s deal, which won’t be enough to make it through the season when factoring in the need for in-season signings. Still, there doesn’t seem to be an immediate urgency from the club to create space. Perhaps that will change as training camp approaches, when on-the-fringe veterans such as offensive lineman Jermaine Eluemunor ($2.1 million) could bear watching as the type of move the club considers to provide itself some relief.

Dolphins continue to chase down Dan Marino | NFL.com

During that time, Ryan Tannehill was the only quarterback other than Tagovailoa drafted in the first round by the Fins. Tannehill made his first Pro Bowl as a member of the Tennessee Titans last season. Matt Moore never made a Pro Bowl as a Dolphin, but he did win a Super Bowl last season with the Chiefs. Chad Pennington, Jay Fiedler, Joey Harrington, Jay Cutler, Josh Rosen and on and on. No Pro Bowls and in reality no true franchise quarterback since Marino left the mantle vacant.

Ranking NFL’s top rivalries of the 2000s: Epic QB clash tops list of historic matchups | CBS Sports

3. Vikings vs. Packers

Overall head-to-head record during the decade: Packers, 12-9

Playoff record during the decade: Vikings, 1-0

Longest winning streak: 5 (Packers)

Best games: November 6, 2000: Packers 26, Vikings 20; November 9, 2009: Vikings 38, Packers 26

This longtime rivalry had a slew of memorable moments during the decade. In 2004, the two teams faced each other for the first time in the playoffs, as Randy Moss’ two touchdown receptions (that included “controversial” touchdown celebration) spearheaded the Vikings to a win at Lambeau Field.

Four years earlier, the two teams faced off in a memorable game that was witnessed by a national TV audience. Less than four minutes into overtime, Brett Favre’s deep pass for Antonio Freeman appeared to fall incomplete. Freeman, however, was able to corral Favre’s pass before getting up and racing into the end zone for the game-winning score.

In case you missed it at Arrowhead Pride

Chiefs preseason in limbo as NFL and NFLPA grapple over the number of games

As we’ve previously reported, if the entire NFL season were to be played without fans in the stands, it could represent a loss of $100 million in game-day revenue for each franchise. But the actual cancellation of games — even in preseason — also creates a loss of lucrative television revenue. For regular-season games, television money goes to the league, where it is the primary driver of the NFL’s salary cap. Preseason broadcast revenue, however, goes directly to individual teams from contracts they negotiate with local media outlets.

In addition, franchises depend on exhibition games to evaluate newly-signed players — both rookies and veterans — “under the lights” of actual competition. Without them, it stands to reason that very few of the rookies that have been signed in the offseason — especially those who were not selected in the draft — will not have much chance to proves themselves as NFL-ready.

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