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The latest
2020 NFL rookies I can’t wait to see: CeeDee Lamb, CEH will thrive | NFL.com
3) Clyde Edwards-Helaire, RB, Kansas City Chiefs
Drafted: Round 1, No. 32 overall
College: LSU
I think Brian Westbrook is one of the most underrated NFL players in the last quarter-century. He was an excellent all-around RB for Andy Reid’s Eagles. And now the Chiefs have a back Reid said is ”better than Brian”? Hoo boy, it’s almost unfair, giving Patrick Mahomes another playmaker to go along with Tyreek Hill, Travis Kelce, Sammy Watkins, Mecole Hardman and Demarcus Robinson. And yes, fantasy fiends, with Damien Williams opting out of the season, CEH’s going to be a stat-stuffing monster. This guy can do it all. Want proof? Check out the Alabama tape, when he shredded Nick Saban’s defense with 103 yards rushing, 77 yards receiving and four total touchdowns.
This offense is going to be absolutely unstoppable. Like I said last month, see you at the parade in February.
The Chiefs moved up a few spots in Forbes’ list of world’s richest sports teams | Kansas City Star
In its annual valuations of the world’s sports team, Forbes had the Chiefs at No. 45 ($2.3 billion), just behind the Jacksonville Jaguars ($2.33 billion) and slightly ahead of the New Orleans Saints ($2.28 billion).
A year ago, the Chiefs were tied for 47th with the St. Louis Cardinals with a value of $2.1 billion.
Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson and partners buy XFL for $15 million | LA Times
Johnson played defensive tackle at Miami and was a member of the Hurricanes’ 1991 national championship team. He also played a retired NFL player who eventually buys the Kansas City Chiefs on the HBO series “Ballers.”
“The acquisition of the XFL with my talented partners, Dany Garcia and Gerry Cardinale, is an investment for me that’s rooted deeply in two things — my passion for the game and my desire to always take care of the fans,” Johnson said in a statement. “With pride and gratitude for all that I’ve built with my own two hands, I plan to apply these callouses to the XFL, and look forward to creating something special for the players, fans, and everyone involved for the love of football.”
The Kansas City Chiefs and Baltimore Ravens are the top two favorites to win the Super Bowl in 2020, and they’d probably be favored to win the next couple, as well, just based off the promise of their youth, particularly at quarterback. Beyond those two AFC heavyweights, however, which teams are most poised to dominate in the long term? The NFL could see a big contingent of future Hall of Fame QBs — from Aaron Rodgers to Ben Roethlisberger to Tom Brady to Drew Brees — hang up the cleats in the next few years, so which franchises are best positioned to take up their mantles and reign supreme over the next decade or so?
Cardboard cheering sections for 2020 top athletes | ESPN
These days, the only fans allowed in the building at pro sporting events are virtual or cardboard.
If the 2020 newsmakers listed below could pick the cardboard cutouts in their personal cheering sections, some famous faces would probably be among them.
Patrick Mahomes
The Kansas City Chiefs have more famous fans than you might think, and, of course, those fans love their Super Bowl-winning quarterback.
Eric Stonestreet: The “Modern Family” actor and Kansas City, Kansas, native is a huge Chiefs fan. He celebrated with the team in Miami after Mahomes led the Chiefs to a Super Bowl victory earlier this year.
LaTroy Hawkins: The former MLB relief pitcher is Mahomes’ godfather.
Kliff Kingsbury: He’s the Arizona Cardinals head coach now, but from 2014 to 2016, he was Mahomes’ head coach at Texas Tech, where the QB set the FBS passing yards record in 2016.
Rob Riggle: Mahomes and Riggle, another native of the Kansas City area, played golf together at the American Century Championship earlier this summer. Mahomes bet Riggle $2,500 for charity that he’d have the better score, and he did.
Melissa Etheridge: Prior to the Super Bowl, Etheridge wrote a song for the Chiefs that contained the lyric, “I’ve seen the closest thing to Superman this girl has ever known. We traded up in ‘17 for the greatest, Pat Mahomes.”
Paul Rudd: Mahomes won the MVP award in his second season in the league, and die-hard Chiefs fan Rudd announced it at the NFL Honors by revealing Mahomes’ name and number on the back of his suit jacket.
Prominent NFL players who could be cut after training camp | YardBarker
Chad Henne, QB, Chiefs
Henne missed much of last year due to an ankle injury. While he’s sticking around Kansas City, Henne’s roster spot looks to be in jeopardy after the Chiefs also brought back veteran backup Matt Moore. Moore demonstrated last year in two games that he could run the Chiefs offense, but Henne has barely seen the field since joining the team in 2018.
Around the NFL
Cleveland Browns wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. was in the headlines Monday morning for an article that came out on the Wall Street Journal in which he said the following:
“We’re not ready for football season. So why are we trying to push forward? It’s obviously for their money. And that bothers me because there’s always been this—and I hate saying it like that—but the owners’ [attitude is], ‘Oh we own you guys,’ and just kind of that unfairness going on that they don’t see us as human. I just feel like the season shouldn’t happen and I’m prepared for it to not happen and I wouldn’t mind not having it.”
NFL opt-out deadline set for Thursday, source says | ESPN
The NFL Players Association agreed to shorten the window between the finalizing of the agreement and the opt-out deadline (which was originally supposed to be seven days) in exchange for some concessions on the final language, sources said on Monday.
The league’s COVID-19 protocols, officially an amendment to the new collective bargaining agreement signed in March, were agreed to by players and team owners July 24, but it took until Monday night for attorneys for the two sides to finalize the formal language of the deal. The original agreement stipulated that the opt-out deadline for players would be seven days after the attorneys finished that work, but as the process dragged on, owners wanted the deadline to be set sooner than that.
MAQB: Alex Smith’s Offseason, Fake Crowd Noise, Watt vs. Bosa Brothers and More | SI
The Niners’ dice roll on tight end Jordan Reed—who played for Kyle Shanahan in Washington, and has had his career thrown off track since by serious concussion issues—really does illustrate the stock the team’s brass puts in the position. Shanahan and GM John Lynch have drafted one in three of their four years in San Francisco, while cycling through vets like Garrett Celek and Levine Toilolo there. Which is to say that if Reed can still play, Shanahan gives him a really good shot to do it at a high level, even with the league’s best at the position, George Kittle, already on hand.
In case you missed it at Arrowhead Pride
Raiders’ stadium to be closed to fans for 2020 season
The Las Vegas Raiders sent an email to their fans on Monday explaining that Allegiant Stadium’s inaugural season would be conducted without fans.
“There is nothing more important to the Raider Organization than the health and safety of our players, coaches, staff, stadium workers and fans,” the club said in a statement. “After intensive consultation with healthcare officials and state and community leaders, we have made the difficult decision to play the Las Vegas Raiders 2020 inaugural season at Allegiant Stadium without fans in attendance. This decision is based on our commitment to protect the health of our fans and the entire community in response to the coronavirus pandemic affecting us all.
“This decision also ensures fairness to you, our PSL holders, given the challenges and potential inequities associated with determining who can and cannot attend specific games if the stadium were to operate at a reduced capacity. While the current situation is not how any of us envisioned celebrating the opening of Allegiant Stadium, when circumstances permit we look forward to sharing an unparalleled game day experience in the magnificent stadium you helped build.”
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