Arrowheadlines: ESPN analyst states Browns as biggest threat to Chiefs in AFC

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ESPN’s Mike Greenberg Names “Biggest Threat” To Chiefs In AFC | The Spun

On Wednesday’s edition of Get Up, Greeny called the Cleveland Browns “the single biggest threat to Kansas City in the AFC going into this season”. He highlighted some of their recent free agent and draft moves as big reasons that they’ll be so good.

“I believe the Browns are the single biggest threat to Kansas City in the AFC going into this season, and that’s inclusive of Buffalo and absolutely everybody else,” Greeny said.

It’s been an eventful offseason for the Browns to be sure. They augmented their already-stout defensive line with Pro Bowlers Jadeveon Clowney and Malik Jackson. Then in the draft they addressed their other defensive needs with CB Greg Newsome II and linebacker Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah.

With a new line to protect Patrick Mahomes, the Kansas City Chiefs look better than ever | Fox Sports

This new unit will allow Kansas City to get back to basics on offense, meaning more of a run game with physical big boys upfront and more under-center play-action passes. This style will lead to big chunk plays without Mahomes getting hit. It might also lend to a quicker pass game, going back to some three-step drop concepts and spacing designs to get the ball out of Mahomes’ hands more quickly and get the offense into a flow.

The last thing the Chiefs might look to implement is more screens. We saw last season, as the backup offensive line took hold, Andy Reid didn’t trust them to run his detail-oriented screens. That detail figures to make a return this season.

PFF ranks Bengals offensive line among most improved | Cincy Jungle (Cincinnati Bengals SB Nation site)

Playing behind one of the NFL’s worst offensive lines, Burrow suffered a torn ACL late into his rookie season, putting the Bengals offensive line struggles on full display for the football world to see.

Needing to improve, the Bengals have done enough for Pro Football Focus to rank them as the fourth most improved offensive line only behind the Los Angeles Chargers, Kansas City Chiefs and Minnesota Vikings.

Ranking every NFL running back drafted in Round 1 since 2000: LaDainian Tomlinson leads the list | CBS Sports

44. Clyde Edwards-Helaire

32nd overall pick, 2020 draft

Chiefs (2020-Present)

The former LSU Tiger bust out of the gates in rookie debut, rushing for 138 yards and a touchdown in the Chiefs’ opening-season win over the Texans. And while a hip injury slowed his roll at the end of the season, Edwards-Helaire still managed to gain 1,100 all-purpose yards in 13 regular-season games. He also helped the Chiefs return to the Super Bowl for a second straight year.

Clark Hunt wants Chiefs training camp to return to St. Joseph | Chiefs Wire

“Our hope and our mindset is that we will be in St. Joe for camp this year,” Hunt told reporters. “That is something that the NFL has still not made a decision on. I know they’ll have to have some discussions with the union on the protocols that will be surrounding camp, so we probably won’t know here for a month-plus, but we certainly want to be back up in St. Joe. It’s been a great environment for the team. I know Andy (Reid) and his staff really like being up there and think it’s helped us be successful on the field.”

Around the NFL

CB Casey Hayward Jr. signs with Las Vegas Raiders, rejoins DC Gus Bradley | ESPN

Hayward, 31, a second-round pick of the Green Bay Packers in 2012, joins cornerbacks Trayvon Mullen (drafted in the second round in 2019), Damon Arnette (first round in 2020), Amik Robertson (fourth round in 2020) and Nate Hobbs (fifth round in 2021), as well as safeties Johnathan Abram (first round in 2019), Trevon Moehrig (second round in 2021) and Tyree Gillespie (fourth round in 2021).

The move also reunites Hayward, who was released by the Los Angeles Chargers in March, with Raiders defensive coordinator Gus Bradley, who was his defensive coordinator in Los Angeles the past four seasons. The Raiders hired Bradley as their defensive coordinator in January.

The 14 NFL Rookies With the Most Fantasy Football Potential in 2021 | The Ringer

Tier 2: Mid-round Picks With Upside

4. WR Jaylen Waddle, Dolphins: I was tempted to put Waddle in Tier 1, but I have concerns about the Dolphins’ offense under Tua Tagovailoa, who graded as PFF’s 33rd-best quarterback in the NFL last season. That said, the same traits that hampered Tua in 2020—a reliance on run-pass options and poor performance under pressure—will lead to short, quick passes, and make the shifty Waddle a prime fantasy candidate in 2021. Some evaluators think Waddle doesn’t have the route-running chops of DeVonta Smith or the all-around game of Chase, but Waddle’s game-breaking speed and stop-and-start ability have been compared favorably to Tyreek Hill. Many assume Waddle will be used to take the tops off defenses next season, and while he’ll see his fair share of 20-plus-yard targets, he’ll likely do most of his damage on short and intermediate routes with space to run. A.J. Brown, DK Metcalf, and Deebo Samuel rode yards after the catch to breakout rookie campaigns in 2019, and it wouldn’t surprise me to see a similar path toward fantasy stardom for Waddle.

Baltimore Ravens CB Marcus Peters calls out ‘disrespectful’ Los Angeles Rams for 2019 trade maneuvers | ESPN

On “Catchin’ Fades with Aqib Talib,” Peters revealed what set him off in November 2019, when he engaged in a heated, postgame verbal altercation with Ramsey. The Rams acquired Ramsey only hours after trading Peters to Baltimore in that 2019 season.

“F--- them,” Peters said in a clip released Tuesday. “I felt disrespected. In the sense of, yeah, you can trade me. That’s part of the business. But two minutes after that, you bring in another guy who do the same s--- I do, maybe a little bit different. If we want to play this compare game, I do a little bit more. That s--- was disrespectful to me.”

5 contenders with lingering flaws after 2021 NFL Draft | SportsNaut

Kansas City Chiefs: Edge defender

Considering that Frank Clark is in the midst of a five-year contract worth over $100 million, he’s been inexcusably bad. Clark ranked 93rd out of 109 qualifying edge defenders last season, per Pro Football Focus, and was 68th the year before that.

That’s an awful return on investment. Beyond Clark, the defensive end spot doesn’t inspire a lot of confidence. The hope seems to be that Chris Jones’ unique interior pass-rushing abilities will keep offsetting deficiencies on the edge, but he can only do so much.

Brett Favre says he’s not optimistic Aaron Rodgers will play for Green Bay Packers again | ESPN

“Boy it’s a good question; that’s the million-dollar question,” Favre said during a 45-minute interview on the show. “I think I know Aaron fairly well, and honestly I just don’t see him coming back and just saying, ‘All right, let’s just bury the hatchet, whatever caused the rift, and I’m just going to come back and play because I love the guys, I love the Green Bay fans’ — I assume he does — but his rift isn’t with the fans or the players. It’s with the front office. Will he just swallow his pride and come in? Maybe. But I don’t see that happening.

“If there’s not a trade, my gut tells me that he’d rather sit out than play. That’s just my gut. There’s no reason for me to say that other than that’s what my gut’s telling me, and I think you guys know Aaron fairly well enough to sort of feel the same way.”

In case you missed it at Arrowhead Pride

Which 3 Chiefs offensive linemen are fighting for a final 53-man roster spot?

Nick Allegretti and Andrew Wylie

These two will likely be fighting for the final spot(s) on the Chiefs’ offensive line. It’s likely that one of them makes the team — and one thing Wylie has on Allegretti is positional versatility: Wylie has starting NFL experience as both a guard and a tackle. On the other hand, Allegretti is solely an interior offensive lineman — and the Chiefs have loaded the guard and center positions this offseason.

Martinas Rankin

If Rankin is the fourth offensive tackle, and they have offensive tackles like Mike Remmers and Lucas Niang who can play guard, that eliminates the value of Rankin’s role. Rankin proved his worth when he started six games in 2019 at left guard but played every snap of Week 17 at left tackle in 2020. If Rankin won’t see the field at tackle and is too buried down the guard depth chart, he may become a cut candidate with only a year remaining on his rookie contract.

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