Arrowheadlines: Joe Thuney ranked amongst league’s best interior linemen

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Ranking the NFL’s top 10 interior offensive linemen for 2022: Execs, coaches, players make their picks for the best guards, centers | ESPN

4. Joe Thuney, G, Kansas City Chiefs

Highest ranking: 2 | Lowest ranking: 7

Age: 29 | Last year’s ranking: 6

When the Chiefs decided to shake the nightmares of Tampa Bay edge rushers chasing Patrick Mahomes all over the field in Super Bowl LV and get serious about rebuilding their offensive line, they started with Thuney as a cornerstone, giving him a five-year, $80 million free-agent contract. The veteran hasn’t disappointed, putting together another steady NFL season in 2021.

Thuney’s 96.6% pass block win rate led all offensive guards, and he offers Kansas City positional flexibility as a guard and center. His 71.3% run block win rate was also 16th among guards, showing his impact in multiple areas.

What makes Thuney great, per an NFC executive: “Great technique, awareness, uses his intelligence to stay in control of the game. He’s just really dependable.”

To cap it all off, Thuney has started all 97 possible regular-season games during his six-year career, and he has been attributed only 10 total sacks against over that time.

Projecting the most explosive NFL offenses in 2022, from first to worst | YardBarker

2. Kansas City Chiefs

Patrick Mahomes’ career numbers are awe-inspiring, though he’s had the assistance of Tyreek Hill for almost every game of his career. There will certainly be an adjustment period without the team’s deep threat, though the wideout room has far more depth now with JuJu Smith-Schuster, Marquez Valdes-Scantling, and rookie Skyy Moore. Travis Kelce remains the best tight end in the world, and the running game could get another jolt as the young, powerful offensive line matures. Even with the changes, it would be an upset if the Chiefs don’t finish in the top five in points and yards again.

Travis Kelce had trash talk for Raiders fans at celebrity golf event | Larry Brown Sports

While competing in the American Century Celebrity Golf Championship this weekend, the Kansas City Chiefs tight end Kelce got heckled by a Las Vegas Raiders fan while on the 18th hole. The event took place at Edgewood Tahoe Golf Course in Nevada.

After the event, Kelce addressed the incident with the heckler.

“I tell Raiders fans all the time, I love them,” said Kelce, per Carter Eckl of Nevada News Group. “I love seeing them because I know I’m getting a dub and 200 yards.”

2023 NFL mock draft: Never-too-early 2-round projections | Draft Wire

30. Kansas City Chiefs | Miami (FL) OT Zion Nelson

The Chiefs rebuilt most of their offensive line last year, but they still haven’t found a long-term solution at right tackle. Nelson could have been a fairly early pick this year, but another year of experience at the college level should make him a more refined blocker.

Around the NFL

Lamar Jackson denies ‘I Need $’ picture is a message to Ravens amid contract negotiations | NFL.com

Jackson changed his Instagram profile photo and Twitter header to a picture of a gold grill engraved with the phrase “I Need $”, which many thought could be a message to the Ravens amid his ongoing contract negotiations with the team. But with the theories of what this might mean running rampant, the 25-year-old spoke to Safid Deen of USA Today to clear the air, claiming that the pictures had nothing to do with his contract discussions.

Jackson explained that the photo was a reference to the movie “How High”, from which a character wears a the grill. He simply watched the movie and though it was funny, so he added it to his social media profiles. There was no ulterior motive to the photos, Jackson said, and he didn’t understand why people read so much into it.

“I don’t know why people are blowing it up,” Jackson told Deen during his fourth annual ‘Funday with LJ’ event. “I just saw Bleacher Report post it. They just take anything that’s posted on social media and just blow it up, and try to think for you. I don’t take it too seriously.

Dolphins’ Tyreek Hill: Critics will be ‘taking their words back’ on Tua Tagovailoa this year | NFL.com

Tyreek Hill has not been shy about talking up quarterback Tua Tagovailoa on his It Needed to be Said podcast, and his confidence continued unwavering in another episode on Friday.

“It’s gonna be a lot of people taking their words back on what they said about [Tua],” Hill said. “I can’t really name point, but I’m saying reporters, analysts, Twitter trolls. All those people are gonna take their words back on what they said about [Tua], and I’m just gonna be sitting there, eating my popcorn.”

Packers can overtake Bears as NFL’s all-time winningest franchise early in 2022 season | CBS Sports

Aaron Rodgers could take his infamous ”I still own you!” heckle towards the Chicago Bears to a historic level in 2022. For the entirety of the Bears moniker and even before the league was called the NFL, the Chicago club has maintained its status as the winningest franchise in league history. Dating back to1920 when the league was called the American Professional Football Association, the Decatur Staleys (eventually the Chicago Bears) won a league-high 10 games. From then on out, they have looked up to no team in the historical win column.

That is expected to change in 2022.

Heading into this season, the Bears have 783 wins in the franchise’s history. Right behind them is Green Bay, which comes into the year with 782 total wins. So, if the Packers can beat the Vikings in Week 1 and the Bears fall to the 49ers, they’ll be knotted at 783 wins apiece and tied for the all-time wins record. As fate would have it, these two NFC North rivals are set to face one another in primetime in Week 2 at Lambeau Field. There, the opportunity for the Packers to ascend to the winningest franchise in league history would reside.

In case you missed it on Arrowhead Pride

Top 20 Chiefs players for the 2022 season: 16-13

15. Safety Juan Thornhill

This fourth-year safety is a tough player to rank. If you base it only on his rookie season, he’s clearly a top-10 player. But after missing time with injury (and struggling upon his return), his career hasn’t gone in a straight line.

In 2022, Thornhill should still get the first chance to start alongside free-agent acquisition Justin Reid — and he has proclaimed that his goal is to play at an All-Pro level. So he’s listed 15th because we hope he can be who we once thought he was. If he struggles again (or the coaching staff decides he’s once again a backup or role player), he’ll drop out of the top 20 rather quickly. But if Thornhill is back to form, snagging interceptions and showing big range as a deep safety, he’ll more than justify his placement at this spot.

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