Arrowheadlines: Chiefs could be shopping for Travis Kelce’s backup

The latest

Kansas City Chiefs free-agency overview: Help needed on the offensive line | ESPN

TIGHT END

Under contract: Travis Kelce, Sean Culkin, Evan Baylis

UFA: Ricky Seals-Jones

Game plan: The Chiefs could be shopping for an inexpensive receiving backup to Kelce because they have no realistic options under contract. Deon Yelder is a restricted free agent and Nick Keizer an exclusive rights free agent and they would help. But if the Chiefs are serious about adding a receiving threat beyond Kelce, they’ll have to acquire him.

NFL Trade Ideas to Prevent a Tom Brady Super Bowl Repeat in 2021 | Bleacher Report

Kansas City Chiefs Bolster Their Offensive Line

Kansas City receives: OT Orlando Brown Jr.

Baltimore receives: Kansas City’s 2021 first-round draft selection (No. 31)

The two-time Pro Bowler started his career on the right side of Baltimore’s offensive line, but he slid to the left to fill in for Ronnie Stanley after the 2019 All-Pro went down with a season-ending ankle injury. Brown played 11 games at left tackle in 2020 and excelled, conceding zero sacks or quarterback hits during his 700 snaps at the position, per Pro Football Focus.

The Chiefs won’t be on the clock until No. 31, but they could include Fisher in a trade package or send him elsewhere to acquire more picks to entice the Ravens. Either way, adding Brown would make them an even bigger favorite to get past the Bucs and lift the Lombardi Trophy again next February.

Chiefs’ Tyreek Hill celebrated his 27th birthday with a windmill basketball dunk | Kansas City Star

Hill, who is 5 feet 10 inches tall, often grabs passes over taller defenders. Here’s a great example from the 2019 season when Hill snagged a ball over a Texans safety, who is 3 inches taller.

At his Pro Day, Hill’s vertical leap was measured at 40.5 inches. And although he’s getting older, Hill can still jump.

2021 NFL offseason: All 32 teams’ RB situations ahead of free agency, draft | NFL.com

Kansas City Chiefs

Top backs: Damien Williams ($2.71 million), Clyde Edwards-Helaire ($2.46 million), Darwin Thompson ($891,960)

2020 was a turbulent year in Kansas City’s RB corps. First, Kansas City used its first-round pick on the top RB in the draft, Edwards-Helaire. Then, Williams, whose fourth-quarter scores single-footedly propelled the Chiefs to their first Super Bowl win in half a century, opted out due to the COVID-19 pandemic. During the season, the Chiefs, a la their eventual Super Bowl opponents in Tampa Bay, sought out a mercurial, recently released veteran back, in their case, signing Le’Veon Bell. K.C.’s on-the-fly RB refurbishment produced mixed results; CEH didn’t prove to be a durable, every-down back down the stretch, and Bell proved his October release by the Jets was right on. With Bell hitting free agency, along with backup Darrel Williams and fullback Anthony Sherman, the Chiefs are left with 1a and 1b in Edwards-Helaire and Damien Williams, assuming the latter returns from his opt-out in 2021. Kansas City is cap-strapped, so a major RB acquisition isn’t expected or deathly necessary. And yet, who of the many veteran free agents-to-be wouldn’t want to play with Patrick Mahomes for the vet minimum?

NFL first-round mock draft: Four QBs in the top 10 | YardBarker

31. Kansas City Chiefs: Joe Tryon, DE, Washington

Frank Clark had a down year for the Chiefs in 2020, and defensive ends Tanoh Kpassagnon and Alex Okafor are free agents. Tryon has the size KC covets at defensive end and recorded eight sacks in 2019 before opting out of the 2020 season.

David Carr compares Zach Wilson to Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen | 247 Sports

During an appearance on NFL Total Access on Monday night, Carr likened Wilson’s ability to a pair of current NFL stars in Patrick Mahomes II and Josh Allen.

“I love Zach Wilson. I know Trevor Lawrence is the top guy, but Zach Wilson is my favorite player in this draft,” Carr said. “I look at his arm; when I watch film on these guys, guys stand out. You go through rolls and rolls of tape and you watch these guys play, but when I watch a guy like Josh Allen or Patrick Mahomes, those guys just jump off the screen. Zach Wilson has that type of ability in his arm and how he sees the field and how he understands his offense and where to go with it.

“I mean, not only does he have the big, live arm that can release it at any angle, but he could play safety in the league. I mean, he’s a physically strong kid that runs a lot better than I think people give him credit for just because his arm is so live.

Lawyer seeking ‘most serious charges’ against ex-Chiefs assistant coach Britt Reid | ESPN

Ariel Young likely has permanent brain damage “that she will endure for the rest of her life,” attorney Tom Porto said in an interview broadcast Tuesday with ABC’s “Good Morning America.”

“We’re going to be advocating for the most serious charges and the most serious sentence that Britt could ever receive,” Porto said.

The girl has been hospitalized since the Feb. 4 crash, when police say Reid’s truck slammed into two vehicles on the side of a highway entrance ramp near Kansas City’s NFL training complex next to Arrowhead Stadium, injuring Ariel and another child inside one of the cars.

Around the NFL

Detroit Lions GM Brad Holmes intrigued by ‘different flavors’ of QBs in 2021 NFL draft | ESPN

General manager Brad Holmes, who is not allowed to discuss the Stafford-Goff trade until it can become official when the new league year begins March 17, said Tuesday that he likes what he sees from this quarterback draft class.

“The quarterback position in general, what’s cool about this year is that they’re in all different flavors,” Holmes said. “You have a guy that can actually do it all, do it from the pocket, do it with his legs. You have another guy that probably a little bit more does it with his legs, a little bit more of being creative. There’s another guy probably does it more from the pocket.

“So all the different flavors makes it very, very intriguing in terms of when you’re looking across the whole scope of the class of these quarterbacks.”

NFL free agency 2021: Nine stars who could be traded this offseason and teams that fit their style of play | CBS Sports

Sam Darnold

NYJ • QB • 14

Top potential destinations: Bears, Texans, Patriots

Wilson and Watson are far from the only quarterbacks still in play for a potential trade this offseason, as the Jets try to figure out what they’ll do next with Sam Darnold. Robert Saleh was allegedly brought in with the expectation of helping to repair Darnold but since the hiring, recent rumors indicate New York will launch a full evaluation of the incoming class of quarterbacks before making the final call on Darnold — who has some in the Jets locker room lobbying for him to stick around. There’s also the matter of Watson, who’s future is now tethered in a way to that of Darnold, considering the Jets are reportedly one of Watson’s potential interests. If general manager Joe Douglas can pull off a blockbuster trade to land Watson, Darnold is toast in New York, but he might be even if Watson doesn’t land with Gang Green — considering the Jets have the No. 2 overall pick in the 2021 NFL Draft.

Tight end Kyle Rudolph released by Vikings after 10 seasons | NFL.com

“Kyle has been a leader and mentor for us on and off the field from the first day I arrived in Minnesota,” Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer said in a statement. “He has been such an important part of this team and community throughout his career and it has been an honor to coach him the last seven seasons. He will be missed, and we wish him and his family nothing but the best.”

In case you missed it at Arrowhead Pride

Chiefs confirm 2021 returns of Laurent Duvernay-Tardif, Lucas Niang and Damien Williams

With 2020 in the books, it sounds like all three are poised for a 2021 return.

“We’ve had conversations with all of their agents,” Veach said, via 610 Sports Radio. “Lucas was a guy — because he was a draft pick — that I had texted periodically throughout the season. I’d say once every two or three weeks we were touching base with him. I know Lucas, LDT and Damien — they all plan to be back, and I think they’re all excited to get back to what they do and get into the routine and be back in the locker room with the guys and have fun playing football... We’ve been in communication with their agents and based on some conversations that I had with Niang personally and the conversations I’ve had with LDT’s agents and Damien’s agents, I know all three guys are looking forward to coming back and getting the 2021 season started on time.”

Duvernay-Tardif was the first player in the league to opt out of the season, deciding to use his medical degree to help fight coronavirus on the front lines in his native Canada. Williams opted out to be there for his mother, who had been diagnosed with stage IV cancer.

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