Arrowheadlines: Chiefs to be ‘most-watchable’ NFL team in 2022

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Chiefs to be ‘most-watchable’ NFL team during 2022 season | KSHB.com

Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs remain the darlings of the NFL.

According to a report from Bookies.com, the Chiefs are involved in nine of the 25 most-watchable NFL games for the 2022 season.

Kansas City has the most top-25 games of any team in the league.

That includes a rematch of the AFC Divisional win against Buffalo, which is pegged as the most tantalizing matchup next season.

Malik Herring Should Be Getting More Attention | SI.com

Because the Chiefs have yet to invest heavily at defensive end, the opportunity for Herring to make the team is there. Behind Clark, Karlaftis and Mike Danna, only 2021 fourth-round pick Joshua Kaindoh projects to rank ahead of Herring on the depth chart. If the club doesn’t go after an Ingram replacement and is comfortable carrying five pass-rushers, it makes a great deal of sense for Herring to be that last guy. A rotational split would be tricky (he wouldn’t be guaranteed any snaps) but making the cutoff is the primary objective.

Overrated and underrated NFL offseason storylines | NFL.com

UNDERRATED
1. Orlando Brown’s contract

Remember, Brown wanted out of Baltimore — where he’d been a two-time Pro Bowl right tackle — because he wanted to fulfill a vow he’d made to his father to someday become a starting left tackle in the NFL. The position is not only tougher, but more lucrative. So while Brown relished the opportunity to showcase himself in an offense led by Patrick Mahomes, he also saw the potential value to be had once negotiations on a new deal began. Brown — who is currently carrying the franchise tag — proved he could help the Chiefs last season. The question is whether he deserves to be one of the highest-paid offensive linemen in football, which would put him in the $20 million per year category. The Chiefs have to be extremely prudent about how they spend their money now that Mahomes is off his rookie deal. They’ve already shown as much by parting ways with stars like Tyreek Hill and Tyrann Mathieu earlier this offseason. If they overspend on Brown, they might be limited in how aggressively they can make other moves to improve their team in the future. It’s a tough position to be in. It’s also one the Chiefs should’ve anticipated when they sorely needed a starting left tackle last season and gave Brown the opportunity he’d long coveted.

Mahomes will own dozens of Whataburgers. His first in Kansas City area opens next week | Kansas City Star

KMO Burger, the Whataburger franchise that includes Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes, will open its first restaurant next week.

It plans to open at 11 a.m. Tuesday at 10780 Parallel Parkway, Kansas City, Kansas, just north of the Legends Outlets Kansas City.

Mahomes grew up with Whataburger in Texas, where the company is based. In a statement, he said: “As part of KMO Burger, I am excited our team is opening our first location in Kansas City. It’s great to bring a gift from my first home to my second home.”

It will be the fifth area Whataburger. Corporate-owned restaurants have opened in Blue Springs, Independence, Lee’s Summit and Overland Park.

Tua Tagovailoa offers harsh rebuke of ‘Twitter warriors’ | The Comeback

This coming NFL season is a huge one for the Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa. The third-year starter may finally have the right coach and the right weapons surrounding him to take his team to the playoffs.

One of those new additions is former Kansas City Chiefs wideout Tyreek Hill who signed with the Dolphins this offseason and apparently, the pair are starting to make some noise at OTAs this week with Tua throwing two long passes to Hill Thursday, catching the eye of those in attendance.

Afterward, Tua took the opportunity to push back on his critics who have said that he’s not cut out to be the Dolphins’ starter.

“Twitter warriors, keyboard warriors, whatever you want to call them, they’re not out here practicing with us working hard,” said Tua to reporters. “I don’t know if you guys recorded that last one to Tyreek but that looked like money.”

State representative: Kansas sports betting bill not only about luring Chiefs | Hays Post

While the Missouri Legislature was unable to legalize sports betting during this past session, Kansas has signed a sports betting bill into law.

SB 84 received bipartisan support in Kansas’ house and senate, and the bill was signed into law by governor Laura Kelly earlier in May.

State representative John Eplee, who represents Doniphan and Atchison County, Kansas says this bill cracks down on any illegal betting going on in the state.

“It does allow people to do this in a legal fashion through our casinos and Kansas Lottery,” Eplee told St. Joseph Post. “It will be starting up here soon, because it was signed by the governor.”

The Kansas Lottery has until January 1st of 2023 to create a regulatory environment for sports betting, and wagering is expected to start in spring of next year as well.

Around 80 percent of all funds from sports betting in Kansas would be funneled into the “Attracting Professional Sports to Kansas Fund” as an attempt to lure any sports team into the state.

Around the NFL

Tampa Bay Buccaneers QB Tom Brady says he felt pressure to end retirement because of NFL free agency | ESPN.com

Speaking publicly for the first time since ending his NFL retirement after 40 days, Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady said Wednesday that he felt pressure to end his retirement because of free agency, and that his key reasons for his indecision stemmed from commitments to his family.

“At this stage, it’s like 55% yes and 45% no,” Brady said in a roundtable that aired on TNT following Capital One’s The Match golf outing with Aaron Rodgers, Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allen. “It’s not 100-0. That’s just the reality. It’s not that I’m not 100% committed, it’s just as soon as I make the commitment to do it, it’s like, ‘Ugh. All right, here we go.’ It’s like running a marathon. You can’t decide two weeks before the marathon, ‘Hey, I’m going to start running.’ We got right to free agency and I felt some pressure to do it and talked to the team and organization, and it all worked out.”

After 17 seasons of ‘FitzMagic,’ Ryan Fitzpatrick retires from the NFL | The Washington Post

Quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick is retiring, ending a 17-year NFL career that spanned nine teams and included a brief stint in Washington, a person with knowledge of the situation confirmed Thursday.

The decision was made public when former Buffalo Bills teammate Fred Jackson tweeted a screenshot of a text message from Fitzpatrick.

“Forever grateful for the magical ride,” the message read.

Fitzpatrick, 39, who became a fan favorite for his distinctive beard and trademark antics, is in talks to join Amazon’s NFL coverage as he enters retirement, the person confirmed, although his exact role is unclear.

Frank Gore retiring on one-day contract with 49ers after 16-season career | NFL.com

In the spring of 2005, the San Francisco 49ers used a third-round pick on a running back with a history of knee injuries who they hoped would hold up and fulfill his promise.

Sixteen NFL seasons and 16,000 rushing yards later, Frank Gore most surely held up in one of the most productive careers for a running back in league history.

After all those yards and all those autumns, Gore is signing a one-day contract with the 49ers to officially retire as the NFL’s third all-time leading rusher, NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero reported.

The Niners later announced Gore’s signing, subsequent retirement and that he would be inducted to the 49ers Hall of Fame.

Saints secondary is as versatile as they come | Canal Street Chronicles

With the recent signings and draft picks Saints head coach Dennis has signed off on, I bet he’s licking his chops to deploy as unpredictable a coverage scheme as he’ll be able to with this group of defensive backs.

Newly signed safeties Tyrann Mathieu and Marcus Maye come from very different schemes in Kansas City and New York, but both possess positional versatility in the back end of the defense.

Mathieu, otherwise known as the “Honey Badger,” started his professional career off primarily as a slot corner but has transitioned into a hybrid safety through the years. Last year, the majority of his snaps (504) came in the box as a strong safety, but he also spent a lot of time in the slot (241 snaps) and at free safety (308 snaps).

The year before that, he played 15 more slot snaps than strong safety snaps, with a little free safety mixed in there as well. He’s basically the Taysom Hill of the defensive side of the ball, when it comes to versatility.

In case you missed it on Arrowhead Pride

Orlando Brown Jr. finally has an agent, according to a report

The next chip has fallen in the Kansas City Chiefs’ offseason, with left tackle Orlando Brown Jr. hiring an agent on Thursday. The news was broken by NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo.

Garafolo added that another key factor in Brown signing with Portner is that he is new at this.

“He wanted an agent who didn’t have prior relationships or friendships with any general managers,” Garafolo said in another tweet. “Portner will be negotiating his first NFL contract, and Brown looked at that as a positive.”

The Chiefs franchise-tagged Brown back in early March, but talks on a long-term contract extension stalled ahead of the NFL Combine, as the 26-year-old had opted to fire his agent.

During a media session last week, Chiefs head coach Andy Reid confirmed Brown still did not have an agent. With that now changed, talks with Chiefs general manager Brett Veach may resume.

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