The latest
2024 NFL projections, power rankings, Super Bowl predictions | ESPN
Projected highest-scoring teams
1. Kansas City Chiefs, 463 points
The Chiefs top this category for the sixth consecutive season ... and it has worked out pretty well except for last season. In 2019, I had them projected at 469 points, and they finished with 451. In 2020, it was 470 projected, 473 actual. In 2021, 477 and 480, respectively. In 2022, 479 projected and 496 actual. And finally in 2023, I projected Kansas City to score 498 points, and it finished at 371.
The huge dip to 15th in scoring last season was a bit of a shocker, but the Chiefs were more conservative due to an underwhelming wide receiver situation and elite defensive play. With an upgraded WR room that includes Rashee Rice, Marquise Brown and first-round rookie Xavier Worthy, a big rebound is likely in store.
Ravens’ Tucker chooses not to revisit incident with Chiefs | ESPN
On Sunday, Tucker chose not to revisit that pregame incident heading into Thursday night’s rematch with the two-time defending Super Bowl champion Chiefs.
“All I’ll say about it is I’m excited to go into a great environment, play against a great football team, with great players, great coaches, and do everything I can to prepare myself to be ready to contribute to the Ravens winning a football game,” Tucker said after Sunday’s practice. “And that’s all I got to say about it.”
Thursday will mark the first time the teams will meet since the Chiefs’ 17-10 win in the AFC Championship Game, where Mahomes and Kelce took exception to Tucker stretching close to where Mahomes warmed up 90 minutes before the game. Multiple videos showed Mahomes twice tossing Tucker’s kicking tee aside and then Kelce kicking some of Tucker’s footballs off to the side and flinging Tucker’s helmet off the M&T Bank Stadium field.
The Best Fantasy Football Pick in Every Round | The Ringer
Seventh Round (73-84)
See AlsoESPN, ABC and other Disney channels dropped from DirecTV in contract disputeTwitter co-founder Jack Dorsey steps down as chief executiveThe Boring Company CEO who slept at Twitter's headquarters with his newborn baby is rumored to be Twitter's next CEO, report saysThe pick: WR Rashee Rice, Chiefs (WR33, 73rd overall)
Honorable mention: WR Chris Godwin, Buccaneers (WR34, 77th overall)
It’s still unknown if and when Rice will be suspended as a result of the eight charges he’s facing in connection to a multicar crash back in March. Legal proceedings can move at a glacial pace, and the NFL often waits until cases run their course before meting out suspensions, so it’s likely that Rice won’t miss time for that until the 2025 season. If he is eligible to play the full 2024 season, he could challenge for a top-12 finish. The Chiefs brought Rice along slowly last season, and the rookie didn’t crack the starting lineup until Week 7. But from that game on, he averaged 12.6 half-PPR points per game—good for WR16 during that stretch. Rice was especially effective late in the year, and that performance could foreshadow what we’ll see from him in 2024: From Week 12 on, he ranked as the WR9 in points per game (14.9) and emerged as Patrick Mahomes’s most trusted target opposite Travis Kelce.
Ranking the Top 10 2025 NFL Free Agents Ahead of the 2024 Season-Opener | Bleacher Report
5. Trey Smith, G, Kansas City Chiefs
Are fans going to get excited about an interior offensive lineman in free agency? Probably not, but NFL teams are.
Guards became a coveted commodity this spring, with players like Jonah Jackson, Robert Hunt, Chris Lindstrom and Landon Dickerson all receiving massive paydays in free agency or via extension.
Dickerson currently leads the guard market with a contract worth $21 million annually. Trey Smith of the Kansas City Chiefs will have a very good shot at topping that number whenever he signs his next deal.
Smith has started 50 regular-season games and 10 playoff contests for the Chiefs in the three years since they made him a sixth-round pick out of Tennessee. Last season, he was responsible for eight penalties but only two sacks allowed, according to Pro Football Focus—numbers that compare favorably to Dickerson’s—nine penalties and three sacks, per PFF.
2. Patrick Mahomes, QB, Kansas City Chiefs
The NFL’s best player enters the 2024 season on a historic mission. Mahomes, 28, already belongs to an elite fraternity of quarterbacks with at least three Lombardi Trophies, joining Tom Brady, Joe Montana, Terry Bradshaw and Troy Aikman. Mahomes, Brady, Bradshaw, Aikman, Montana, John Elway, Bob Griese and Bart Starr are the only quarterbacks to win back-to-back Super Bowls. But three straight? No one has pulled off that feat, but nothing feels impossible for Mahomes.
According to FanDuel, Micah Parsons is the favorite to win Defensive Player of the Year honors, holding +500 odds. Myles Garrett, last year’s winner of the award, sits narrowly behind him at +600 odds. TJ Watt (+750 odds), Maxx Crosby (+1000 odds), and the aforementioned Bosa (+1000 odds) round out the top five. Sitting just beyond the top five is Aidan Hutchinson at +1400 odds.
Chris Jones currently sits seventh in Defensive Player of the Year odds at FanDuel. Sitting at +2500, it was somewhat jarring to see that much of a gap between those pass rushers and him. He is the first defensive tackle to be listed on the odds leaderboard. However, that number indicates that it may take a near 20-sack season for Jones to win the award.
Five Things to Know About New Chiefs RB Samaje Perine | The Mothership
3. He originally entered the NFL as a fourth-round pick in 2017.
Washington selected Perine with the No. 114 overall pick of the 2017 NFL Draft, making him the ninth running back taken that year.
Here’s what NFL.com draft analyst Lance Zierlein wrote about Perine in his pre-draft breakdown, which made the comparison to former Falcons and Chargers running back Michael Turner:
“Perine is a physical runner who can create additional yardage through power and can be a complimentary “banger” for a team who already has a slasher…He delivers a message when he finishes runs…Not a typical third down option, but has the soft hands out of backfield to be a solid screen and check-down option.”
Considering what Perine has done in the years since, it appears that Zierlein was spot on.
Around the NFL
Ricky Pearsall shooting: Injuries, condition, suspect, charges, more | USA Today
Both Pearsall and the 17-year-old suspect were injured in a struggle following the attempted robbery Saturday afternoon in the city’s Union Square area. Both were transported to a Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital, according to San Francisco Police.
A decision on charges for the suspect – which would be filed in juvenile court – is expected to come Tuesday or Wednesday, San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins told reporters on Saturday night. San Francisco Police chief William Scott said there was no reason to believe Pearsall was targeted because he is a professional football player.
In case you missed it on Arrowhead Pride
Chiefs News: Confidence in supporting cast without Hollywood Brown
As is well known now, the Chiefs won’t have Brown in their season-opener on Thursday night after he suffered a sternoclavicular injury in Preseason Week 1. His timeline dictates a return in Week 2 or Week 3.
For the first few weeks of training camp, the Chiefs built their offense believing Brown would be available from the beginning of the season forward. But in the last month, the team has had to pivot.
“You have to adjust a little bit,” quarterback Patrick Mahomes told reporters on Sunday, “just because he’s such a vital part of our offense. He’s someone that can do a lot of different stuff; he could play a lot of different positions. But I think what coach [Andy] Reid and [Brett] Veach did this year was they brought in a lot of competition in that room. Guys have stepped up and taken over some of his role.
“It’s not going to be just one guy. It’s going to be multiple guys that get in there and do the things that he does this week, and then the hope is that you have him back the next week.”
Early on in training camp, it became clear that the starting receivers in 11-personnel (three wideouts) would be Brown, Worthy and Rashee Rice — and when Brown went down, the first name mentioned by offensive coordinator Matt Nagy was veteran Justin Watson.
Social media to make you think
— NFL Rookie Watch (@NFLRookieWatxh) September 2, 2024This THROW by Dylan Raiola
Multiple NFL scouts reportedly believe Raiola could be “Patrick Mahomes 2.0” at the next level.
The Cornhuskers have a TOP-10 QB in college football for the first time in forever. pic.twitter.com/P3puZADhc8
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