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Arrowheadlines: Travis Kelce won’t admit that he is the best tight end in the NFL

Chiefs headlines for Thursday, March 16

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NFL: FEB 12 Super Bowl LVII - Eagles vs Chiefs Photo by Nick Tre. Smith/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

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2023 NFL free agency Day 3 winners and losers: Jets find new QB in Aaron Rodgers, Bengals steal LT from rival | CBS Sports

Winner: Bengals

Not only did the Kansas City Chiefs not want to pay their perennial Pro Bowl left tackle, they insulted him by paying a RIGHT tackle to take his place. That clearly upset Brown, who agreed to a four-year, $64.09 million deal with the Chiefs’ biggest postseason rival in the Bengals. The deal reportedly includes over $31 million as a signing bonus, which is the largest ever given to an offensive lineman. NFL Media also reports 67.87% of the $64.09M comes fully guaranteed.

Did Kansas City not know how important playing left tackle was to Brown? His father literally taught him as a child that the right tackle was the inferior player. Well, now he’s going to be blocking Chiefs for Joe Burrow.

Chiefs’ Travis Kelce: ‘I Can’t Just Say I’m the Best’ NFL TE Ever amid Debate | News, Scores, Highlights, Stats, and Rumors | Bleacher Report

Kansas City Chiefs star Travis Kelce denied he’s the greatest tight end of all time during a recent interview with TMZ Sports.

“Nah, there’s a lot of great tight ends out there,” Kelce said. “I can’t just say I’m the best.”

Kelce has certainly put himself in the conversation after totaling 110 catches for 1,338 yards and 12 touchdowns last season. His numbers for receptions and touchdowns were career highs, while it was his seventh straight season with at least 1,000 receiving yards.

After he helped the Chiefs win the Super Bowl for the second time in four years, many were calling him the GOAT at the position.

Tracking WAR lost, gained by each NFL team in 2023 free agency | NFL News, Rankings and Statistics | PFF

KANSAS CITY CHIEFS SIGN EDGE CHARLES OMENIHU

Omenihu generated 0.09 WAR in 2022.

He ranked fourth on the 49ers in pass-rush grade (75.6) in 2022.

Kansas City Chiefs don’t tender restricted free agent LB Darius Harris | Chiefs Wire

The team tendered restricted free agent P Tommy Townsend and re-signed restricted free agent DT Tershawn Wharton, but LB Darius Harris wasn’t tendered or re-signed. He has become an unrestricted free agent at the start of the league’s 2023 free agency period on Wednesday afternoon as a result.

A former undrafted free agent signing out of Middle Tennessee in 2019, Harris has become one of the team’s oft-relied-upon backup linebackers and special teamers. He sat out his first season in Kansas City due to an injury, but contributed in each of the past three seasons. During that span, he appeared in 28 games with six starts, recording 58 total tackles, three tackles for loss, 1.5 sacks, two fumbled recoveries and two passes defended.

Around the NFL

Packers QB Aaron Rodgers says intention is to play for New York Jets in 2023 | NFL.com

Rodgers made an extended appearance on The Pat McAfee Show on Wednesday and explained his desired location for his 19th season in the NFL and where he currently stands at this point in his career.

“At this point as I sit here, I think since Friday I’ve made it clear that my intention was to play and my intention was to play for the New York Jets,” Rodgers said.

Report: Baker Mayfield Lands Bucs Contract, Will Battle with Trask to Replace Brady | News, Scores, Highlights, Stats, and Rumors | Bleacher Report

According to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, Mayfield and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are finalizing a one-year contract worth $8.5 million that will give him “the opportunity to battle for the starting spot with Kyle Trask.”

After enduring the worst year of his NFL career in 2021, Mayfield’s stock tumbled even further in 2022.

The 2018 No. 1 overall pick threw for 1,313 yards, six touchdowns and six interceptions in seven appearances with the Carolina Panthers. The Panthers cut him in early December, which reflected how poorly his stint in Charlotte went.

The Los Angeles Rams claimed Mayfield off waivers. Pairing up with Rams head coach Sean McVay didn’t trigger a renaissance for the 27-year-old. He had 850 passing yards, four touchdowns and two interceptions across five games.

Cowboys officially release RB Ezekiel Elliott after 7 seasons | ESPN

The Dallas Cowboys released Ezekiel Elliott, making the running back a free agent, the team announced Wednesday.

Elliott was set to count $16.7 million against the salary cap with a $10.9 million non-guaranteed base salary. Elliott will be designated a post-June 1 cut, sources told ESPN’s Adam Schefter, which means the club will save nearly $11 million against the 2023 cap but he will count a little more than $6 million against the 2024 cap. The Cowboys will not get the cap credit until June 1.

In case you missed it on Arrowhead Pride

Chiefs Free Agency 2023: Bonus conversion on Patrick Mahomes’ contract creates $9.6 million in cap space

When the NFL league year began at 3 p.m. Arrowhead Time on Wednesday, we estimated that the Kansas City Chiefs had around $2.9 million of cap space.

But general manager Brett Veach has now taken advantage of one of the features of quarterback Patrick Mahomes’ contract: that some (or all) of the roster bonus he is paid right after the beginning of each league year can be converted into a signing bonus, allowing the team to spread some of the contract’s current-year cap impact over five seasons.

So as ESPN’s Field Yates reported on Wednesday evening, Veach has created cap space by converting part of Mahomes’ $34.4 million roster bonus for 2023 into a signing bonus whose cap hit is spread from 2023 through 2027.

While this raises Mahomes’ cap hit by $2.4 million from 2024 through 2027, it opens up $9.6 million in cap space for 2023. Including all of the known transactions, we now estimate that with 54 players on its roster, Kansas City has around $12.5 million in cap space.

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