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The latest
Kansas City Chiefs are over 95% vaccinated, up from 90% at the start of training camp | KSHB
At the start of training camp in St. Joseph, Missouri, the team was about 90% vaccinated, according to head coach Andy Reid.
Now, as training camp comes to a close, the team is over 95% vaccinated, according to a team spokesperson. The spokesperson said that makes them one of seven NFL teams to hit the 95% mark.
However, the Chiefs won’t take first place. The Atlanta Falcons announced Monday that they were the first team to hit a 100% vaccination rate.
Louis Riddick: Chiefs ‘Thought About’ Starting Patrick Mahomes as a Rookie | Arrowhead Report
“[Nagy]’s been through this before, although the situation was different in Kansas City with Patrick and Alex Smith, and I’m telling you this: when he watches Justin, do you think for a minute he’s not sitting there going, ‘Damn, I just wanna put him in there and let him—’ of course he is,” Riddick said. “He wants to see him as much as all of us do!”
“But he knows he’s got a bigger responsibility than that,” Riddick continued. “But I’ll just say this too: there was a point in time, early in Patrick’s rookie year — they thought about putting him in there. ‘Should we just go ahead and put him in there?’”
“Just bench Alex Smith because Mahomes is just this sort of dual-threat good,” Torre interjected.
“Exactly,” Riddick said. “Because he was doing stuff from out the gate that they were looking at each other like, ‘Oh my god.’ I know that for a fact. I know! I know, and they had to sit on their hands because they were still winning, Alex was having a career year, but they also knew, ‘Man, this 15, boy, woo, my god!’ And they had to forcibly keep themselves from putting him in the game.”
NFL’s 30 best players over 30 entering 2021 season | NFL.com
5 - Travis Kelce
Kansas City Chiefs · TE · Age: 31
TB: Per conventional wisdom, pass-catchers are not supposed to age gracefully. While the calculus might be a little different for tight ends than it is for receivers, Kelce is coming off the best season of his pro career, and one of the best campaigns ever by any pass-catcher of his age. Kelce (who turned 31 last October) finished with the fifth-most catches (105) and seventh-most receiving yards (1,416) in NFL history by any player who was 30 as of Sept. 1 in a given year. It’s impossible to separate his success from Patrick Mahomes, but it’s not like Kelce is just some schlub sleepwalking his way to glory as a cog in the machine. Since Kelce and Mahomes joined forces in 2018, only one other player in the league has logged more receiving yards than Kelce’s 3,981 (DeAndre Hopkins, 4,144).
Every NFL Team’s Biggest X-Factor Heading into 2021 Season | Bleacher Report
Kansas City Chiefs: Edge Mike Danna
The Kansas City Chiefs don’t know if they’ll be able to generate any consistent pressure off the edge this season.
Frank Clark’s arrest in June on a concealed firearm charge and uncertain future left the Chiefs in a bind, as Kansas City doesn’t have another proven edge-rusher on the roster.
Chris Jones as a full-time edge defender isn’t the answer, either, since he’s far more effective working along the interior.
This vacancy provides an opportunity for defensive end Mike Danna to step up. Last year’s fifth-round draft pick managed 2.5 sacks as a rookie, is quick off the edge and has the minimum capability of being a pass-rush specialist this fall. In a best-case scenario, though, he develops into a full-time starter.
“Mike Danna is one of my favorite guys and was from the beginning; because of the way I look at it, he’s a young guy who came in his rookie season, and after a month, you’d have thought he was a 10-year veteran,” defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo told reporters.
Don’t expect Hardman to line up to field punts or kickoffs in Friday’s night’s road game against the Arizona Cardinals, either.
Hardman hasn’t lost the starting role of return man. Instead, special teams coordinator Dave Toub wants to get a better look at players behind Hardman as options before the Chiefs’ regular-season opener against the Cleveland Browns on Sept. 12 at Arrowhead Stadium.
“The thought process is I know what Mecole can do,” Toub said after Tuesday’s practice. “We’ve got to evaluate the guys that are down (on the depth chart).
“You can never tell how many kick returners you’re going to get, so if you want to see a guy, you better put him in there. You’ll see other guys start, even this week. You’ll see different people in there.”
Chiefs host former Mizzou LB Cale Garrett on a visit | Chiefs Wire
According to the NFL’s official transaction report, the Chiefs hosted former University of Missouri LB Cale Garrett for a visit. The 6-3 230-pound linebacker went undrafted following the 2020 NFL draft, signing initially with the Tennessee Titans. He spent the offseason playing in Nashville but didn’t make 53-man roster cuts.
By September, Garrett had found a new home, signing with the Minnesota Vikings’ practice squad. He spent just under a month on the practice squad with the Vikings before he was released. Garrett then signed a reserve/future contract with the New York Giants. He spent the 2021 offseason with Big Blue before he was waived on August 11.
2021 Fantasy Football: Players Flying Up Boards This Preseason | Bleacher Report
WR Mecole Hardman, Kansas City Chiefs
July 16 ADP: Round 12, Pick 6
August 16 ADP: Round 9, Pick 11
The Kansas City Chiefs are ready to deploy one of the league’s most explosive aerial attacks again this year. Despite this, Tyreek Hill was the team’s only wideout being drafted prior to the 10th round until this week.
Fantasy owners are finally warming up to the idea of Kansas City’s offense supporting a second productive receiver. Mecole Hardman was coming off the board in the 12th round in mid-July, but most recent drafts have seen the emerging wideout get selected before the 10th round begins
While Hardman probably won’t see nearly the same usage rate as Kansas City’s Big Three of Travis Kelce, Clyde Edwards-Helaire and Hill, he has a tremendous amount of upside as a fantasy WR2. Sammy Watkins’ exit in free agency makes Hardman the squad’s best option for a No. 2 wideout, a situation Hardman is primed to take advantage of.
This will be his third season with the Chiefs after the organization drafted him No. 56 overall in 2019. He should ultimately emerge as a reliable big-play threat who can burn slower defenders, excel against single coverage and exploit other weaknesses in the defense created by head coach Andy Reid’s scheming.
Madden 22 ratings: Which NFL teams have the best offenses to use? | Sporting News
Best offenses to use in Madden 22
The Chiefs (96), Bucs (92) and Packers (91) are the only teams at Madden 22’s launch with offenses above 90 overall. The Chiefs have two of the five total players rated 99 overall or higher, and have another offense star at 98, which heavily influences that overall score. The Bucs aren’t as top heavy, but still have plenty of stars that drive them over 90 overall.
Around the NFL
Seattle Seahawks sign Jamal Adams to 4-year extension with maximum value of $72 million | ESPN
Michelle Adams helped push the deal through when she sent her son a text message Monday night from back home in Dallas.
“She said my full name, and when my mother says my full name, I think I need to pay attention,” Adams said. “She gave me a nice little paragraph and basically just told me that you don’t have to prove anything else to anybody. You did enough. We’re happy. As long as my family’s happy and I’m happy, I can come and do what I love to do, that’s all that matters to me.”
The Seahawks are just as happy to have the 25-year-old Adams locked up for the long term and back on the field after a contract dispute that dragged out three weeks into training camp. It ended Tuesday morning, when they signed him to a four-year, $70 million extension that makes him the NFL’s highest-paid safety.
49ers waiving quarterback Josh Rosen, the No. 10 pick of 2018 draft | NFL.com
The club has waived Josh Rosen, according to NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo. The team later announced the move and the corresponding addition of defensive back Davontae Harris, via waiver claim from the Baltimore Ravens.
Although injuries at the position can quickly renew opportunities for quarterbacks on the scrap heap, this could spell the end of a career for Rosen, who was selected No. 10 overall by the Arizona Cardinals just three years ago.
He got his most extensive opportunity as a rookie there, but struggled mightily in 13 starts under a coaching staff that was fired after just one season. The writing on the wall for Rosen’s departure came just a year after his own draft selection when new coach Kliff Kingsbury welcomed Kyler Murray with the No. 1 overall pick in 2019.
Packers trading CB Josh Jackson to Giants for CB Isaac Yiadom | NFL.com
Green Bay spent a second-round pick on Jackson. He started 10 games as a rookie, but fell out of the rotation, struggling mightily the past two seasons, starting just five games in that span — all in 2020. The 25-year-old had a rough outing in the preseason opener, allowing seven catches on 10 targets for 91 yards against Houston, per Pro Football Focus.
A fresh start in New York could be beneficial for the former second-rounder.
It’s the second time in Yiadom’s young career he’s been traded. A third-round pick in 2018 by the Denver Broncos, Yiadom was shipped to New York last offseason for a seventh-rounder.
4. LaDainian Tomlinson (2010)
While it wasn’t a big surprise, emotions still ran high in San Diego when the Chargers released the former league MVP and one of the most popular players in franchise history. The Chargers believed that Tomlinson’s better days were behind him after he rushed for a then career-low 730 yards in 2009. Tomlinson, who said at the time that he was hoping to sign with a contender, got his wish when he inked a two-year deal with the Jets, who were coming off an AFC Championship Game appearance.
Tomlinson enjoyed one last hurrah with the Jets, amassing 1,300 total yards in 15 regular-season games. He scored a touchdown in the Jets’ shocking win over the Patriots in the divisional round of the playoffs. The Chargers, meanwhile, enjoyed several solid seasons from Tomlinson’s successor, Ryan Mathews, before the two sides parted ways after the 2014 season.
In case you missed it on Arrowhead Pride
Chiefs GM Brett Veach: we’ll ‘work our tail off’ to extend Tyrann Mathieu
“As we discuss with Tyrann and his crew, it’s one of those situations — that where we are now will certainly not be where we are once the season ends. Once we correct some of these things — when you have extensions, conversions, trades, moves on — every team is certainly in a different position now (what their books say) as they will be in the [next] offseason.”
But Veach made it clear that like Mathieu and his representatives, the Chiefs want to find a way to make a new deal.
“We like to think we’re going to find a way to get this done. He knows we love him — and we know he wants to be here. Right now — for us and for him — I think it’s just a timing thing.
“But there’s not a guy in this league that I respect as much as him for the way he goes about his business. Listen, [for] a lot of these guys — a lot of these teams — we saw the franchise tag period come and go... and no [one’s new contract] got done. There have been a couple of deals, but a lot of these bigger deals haven’t been done for the same reason. Different players handle it in a different way — and just like you’d expect from Tyrann, [there’s been] just complete class.”
A tweet to make you think
Smith vs Wharton - 2nd rep pic.twitter.com/bdtl8CFysg
— Eddie High (@EddieHigh) August 17, 2021
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