Chiefs WR Marquise Brown injured a shoulder on the first play of Saturday night’s preseason game vs. the Jaguars. Brown made an 11-yard reception before landing awkwardly on the shoulder.
The Patriots are releasing WR JuJu Smith-Schuster, according to NFL Network. He was entering the second season of a three-year, $25.5 million deal signed last offseason.
49ers RB Elijah Mitchell has a hamstring strain and will miss about a week, per beat reporter David Lombardi. He’s already missed a couple of practices with the ailment. In a related move, San Francisco signed veteran RB Matt Breida on Tuesday. Breida managed just 2.7 yards per carry on 55 attempts for the Giants in 2023.
Chiefs HC Andy Reid was asked Friday about how he'll fill RB Jerick McKinnon's vacated passing-down role and proceeded to talk up RB Isiah Pacheco. “He’s ready to be able to do all that," Reid said of Pacheco. "He’s good with the protections, he’s good with the technique and fundamentals, he can run all the routes, he’s got great hands.”
Chiefs LB Nick Bolton left Wednesday's practice after injuring his left elbow. He reportedly spent a while in the medical tent by the field before riding a cart to the locker room. It's tough to know yet whether that represented urgency or convenience. We'll watch for more from the team on how long Bolton might be out.
Chiefs WR Xavier Worthy took the field with teammates for the first practice of training camp Wednesday. That was in question after the first-round pick missed some spring workouts because of a hamstring injury.
Nate Taylor of The Athletic believes Chiefs RB Isiah Pacheco is in for a "huge role" in 2024. “Pacheco should eclipse his career high of 205 rushing attempts, which he set last season,” Taylor predicted. The rationale? Kansas City’s current lack of RB depth, which includes Clyde Edwards-Helaire, Deneric Prince, and rookie Louis Rees-Zammit. That matches our current sentiment. Head to the fantasy RB rankings, and you’ll find Pacheco projected for a career-high in carries (in fewer than 17 games).
Charles Goldman of A to Z Sports says Chiefs rookie TE Jared Wiley is "already getting a lot of play with the starters" in team workouts -- including red-zone opportunities. Wiley's obviously not going to challenge TE Travis Kelce's standing anytime soon. But there's room for him to compete with Noah Gray for the No. 2 spot. Gray played 52.4% of K.C.'s offensive snaps last season, thanks in part to Kelce missing two games. Gray also finished sixth on the team in targets and fourth in receptions.
Chiefs WR Rashee Rice is under investigation for allegedly hitting a photographer at a Dallas club early Monday, police sources tell WFAA. We don't have any other details at this point. This, of course, comes just about one month after Rice was involved in a street-racing accident in Dallas. He's facing eight charges for that incident.
Update: NFL Network's Tom Pelissero reports that the accuser has asked that charges be dropped and called the incident a "misunderstanding."
The Chiefs and TE Travis Kelce agreed to a two-year, $34.25 million contract extension, according to NFL Network's Ian Rapoport. It makes Kelce the league's highest-paid TE and keeps him with Kansas City through the 2027 season. He'll be 38 by that point. We'll see whether Kelce plays through the life of this contract, but it looks like he'll retire as a Chief. His 14.8 PPR points per game last year were his fewest since 2016 -- but were still enough to lead all TEs. Kelce sits atop our 2024 fantasy football TE rankings.
The Chiefs spent a late fourth-round pick on TE Jared Wiley from TCU. Wiley played mostly QB in high school and caught just 19 passes across three college seasons at Texas. He transferred to TCU in 2022 and won a starting job, finishing with 24 grabs for 245 yards, and 4 TDs. Wiley notched career highs across the board in 2023: a team-high 47 catches, 520 yards, and a team-high 8 TDs. The 6’6, 249-pounder impressed with a 9.30 Relative Athletic Score at the Combine, although he doesn’t look that athletic on tape. Wiley tends to win with physicality and ball skills. He had just one drop on 120 career targets. If Wiley is going to be a fantasy asset, it’ll likely come through TD production. Going to Kansas City certainly helps that chance, though he'll need to wait for Travis Kelce and Noah Gray to get out of the way.
The Chiefs selected Texas WR Xavier Worthy in Round 1 of the NFL Draft. Worthy set the Combine record with a 4.21-second 40 time and plays to that speed on the field. He averaged 14.0 yards per reception for his college career, making big plays both downfield and after the catch (7.3 career YAC/reception). He’s also an impressive route runner. Worthy broke out as an 18-year-old true freshman, easily leading the Longhorns with 62 catches, 981 yards, and 12 TDs. A QB change and a fractured finger led to a dip in raw production in 2022, although Worthy still led Texas in all major receiving categories. He made it three straight seasons as Texas’ top receiver last year, despite the arrival of WR Adonai Mitchell. Not only did Worthy easily beat Mitchell in catches (75 to 55) and yards (1,014 to 845), but he also dusted him in advanced metrics like targets per route (0.25 to 0.17) and yards per route (2.14 to 1.72). The glaring concern with Worthy: He’s just 165 pounds. Only two WRs at 170 pounds or lighter – DeVonta Smith and Tank Dell – have reached 10 PPR points per game since 2000. Worthy, though, is just the third sub-170-pound WR since 2000 to be a top-50 pick in the draft (joining Smith and Dexter McCluster). His chances of success increase in Kansas City. The Chiefs are simply thin at WR, especially with Rashee Rice facing a multi-game suspension. Note that free-agent addition Marquise Brown signed a one-year deal. Worthy ultimately projects in WR5 range for early best ball drafters.
ESPN's Adam Schefter writes that Chiefs WR Rashee Rice "is expected to be disciplined by the NFL, resulting in at least a multi-game suspension.” The line came in a much larger piece about NFL Draft rumors, with Schefter pegging the Chiefs as a candidate to add a WR in Round 1. But he wouldn't write that about Rice if he didn't have good intel. Rice is facing eight charges after his involvement in a street-racing crash in Dallas in late March. The league tends to wait for the legal process to play out, so it's unclear exactly when any potential Rice suspension would come. We'll continue to keep a close eye on the situation but are docking two games from Rice's 2024 projections for now. That has him falling in the 2024 WR Rankings.
Chiefs WR Rashee Rice allegedly fled the scene of a serious accident in Dallas on Saturday night. He's believed to have been driving a Corvette that was racing a Lamborghini. The Lamborghini lost control, hit a median wall, and caused "a chain reaction collision involving four other vehicles," according to the Dallas police. Four people suffered minor injuries, including two who were taken to the hospital. We'll keep you updated on the situation, but Rice comes with at least some suspension risk if you're drafting right now.
The Chiefs are signing WR Marquise Brown to a one-year deal worth "up to" $11 million, according to NFL Network's Ian Rapoport. If you have to settle for a "prove it" deal, it's tough to imagine a much better place to do it. The Chiefs return TE Travis Kelce as the most likely top target. WR Rashee Rice seized a large role late in the season and appears likely to hit 2024 as at least the lead wideout -- maybe a challenger to Kelce. But last year's No. 3 in targets was WR Justin Watson, whose 53 checked in 49 behind Rice. Brown obviously gets a boost to his weekly upside by joining QB Patrick Mahomes. He might have a tough time finding consistent targets. But he should easily emerge as at least the clear No. 3 target. We'll see where Brown lands in ADP before judging how good a draft value he is. "Mahomes WRs" often get pushed up the board a little too much. If Brown can stay outside the top 36 in ADP, he'll be fine to target. Climbing high into WR3 range would start to add more risk. Check our best ball rankings to see where Brown lands post-signing.
The Raiders are signing QB Gardner Minshew to a 2-year, $25 million deal with $15 million guaranteed, according to NFL Network's Tom Pelissero. That contract doesn't guarantee that Minshew will be the team's 2024 starter, but it at least makes him the favorite. With QB Jimmy Garoppolo set to be released, QB Aidan O'Connell currently stands as Minshew's competition. We'll see if the Raiders add anything else significant this offseason. They currently hold the 13th overall pick of April's draft. Minshew is good enough to keep an NFL offense on track but will not be an exciting fantasy option in Vegas. He averaged 229 passing yards and 1.1 TDs in 13 full games for the Colts last season. The Minshew addition does bring some stability to the fantasy outlooks of Davante Adams, Jakobi Meyers, and Michael Mayer.
Texas WR Xavier Worthy ran an official 4.21-second 40-yard dash at the Combine on Saturday, breaking WR John Ross' old record by one one-hundredth of a second. That followed a three-year college career that saw Worthy average a big 14.0 yards per catch, including 7.3 yards after the catch. He also impressed in Indianapolis with a 41-inch vertical and 131-inch broad jump. But the most important measurable might have been when Worthy weighed in at just 165 pounds. That was seven pounds lighter than his college listing and lands him in a bucket of players that rarely make significant fantasy impacts. In fact, Tank Dell and DeVonta Smith are the only sub-170-pound WRs since 2000 to reach 11 PPR points per game in a season. Of course, none of those light WRs were as fast as Worthy. And most didn't get first-round draft capital, as Worthy likely will after running the 4.21-second 40. His fantasy stock certainly gets a bump post-Combine. Just don't forget to factor his size into the evaluation.
Chiefs TE Travis Kelce said after Sunday's Super Bowl win that he'll be back for the 2024 season. There had been some whispers that he'd retire, especially if the Chiefs won another title. But Kelce will help Kansas City gun for a three-peat. The 34-year-old averaged 14.8 PPR points per game this past year -- his fewest since 2016 but still enough to lead all TEs. Kelce then racked up 32 catches, 355 yards, and three TDs across four playoff games. He sits atop our 2024 fantasy football TE rankings.
Chiefs WR Skyy Moore (knee) was a full participant in Wednesday's practice. WR Kadarius Toney was not listed on the injury report. So it looks like both guys will be available for Sunday's Super Bowl, although it remains unclear if either or both will be active. Neither guy has played since mid-December. Rashee Rice, Marquez Valdes-Scantling, and Justin Watson will likely to continue operating as Kansas City's top three WRs regardless.
RB Kareem Hunt recently underwent sports hernia surgery to repair a ruptured adductor, according to ESPN's Jeremy Fowler. Hunt was on the injury report with a groin for much of the season, which might have played a part in his career-low 3.0 yards per carry. Hunt is set to hit free agency in March. He's unlikely to capture a significant backfield role or be a major fantasy factor in 2024.
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