The latest
Ranking NFL teams’ odds of going first to worst in 2025 season | USA Today
4.Kansas City Chiefs
What’s working for them: History. The last time K.C. failed to win the AFC West was 2015 … when QB Patrick Mahomes was a sophomore at Texas Tech. The Chiefs haven’t missed the AFC championship game in seven years and have only fallen short of the Super Bowl once in the past half dozen. And the offense certainly has the potential to be more explosive with greased lightning WR Xavier Worthy going into Year 2, when he should be flanked by the now-healthy duo of Rashee Rice and Hollywood Brown.
What’s working against them: History? No team has reached the Super Bowl six times in a seven-season stretch – and the Chiefs’ dynastic run has put a lot of extra mileage on this roster over the years. Rice missed most of last season with a knee injury and still has consequences shadowing him after racking up eight felony charges while street racing in Dallas last year – though a suspension could be a year away as his legal proceedings continue to play out. Kansas City’s more immediate problem is reconstructing the left side of the offensive line after Mahomes was sacked a career-high 36 times in 2024 – which didn’t include the six times he was taken down in Super Bowl 59, the most he’d ever absorbed in an NFL game. The Chiefs were also one of three AFC West teams to reach the playoffs last season, and the one that didn’t – the Las Vegas Raiders – appears significantly improved heading into 2025.
Bottom line: Though it wasn’t always pretty – namely the Super Bowl loss to Philadelphia that dashed their historic three-peat dreams – the Chiefs did win a franchise record 15 games in 2024 and still have Mahomes, who’s probably already thrust himself onto the league’s Mount Rushmore of quarterbacks. Given what a murders’ row the AFC West has become, it’s feasible that Kansas City could fall off its throne. But, barring a major injury to Mahomes.
Every NFL Team’s To-Do List for Rest of the 2025 Offseason | Bleacher Report
Kansas City Chiefs
Extend Trey Smith
Pick a Front-Runner at Left Tackle
Assess Rashee Rice’s Recovery
The Kansas City Chiefs have remained in the Super Bowl picture ever since Patrick Mahomes took over as their starting quarterback. However, offensive deficiencies loomed large during Kansas City’s 40-22 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl LIX.
The Chiefs’ offensive line was particularly problematic, as the Eagles defense consistently harassed Mahomes and shut down almost everything Kansas City did offensively. Reloading the line is this year’s top offseason priority.
The remaining work must start with an extension for guard Trey Smith, who is currently set to play on the franchise tag. The Chiefs have until July 15 to negotiate a long-term deal with the 25-year-old, which they have planned to do since giving him the tag.
“Hopefully we get that done. There’s no lack of interest or will or desire on our end,” general manager Brett Veach said in his predraft press conference.
Head coach Andy Reid and offensive line coach Andy Heck must then set the stage for the left tackle competition. Last year’s battle between Wanya Morris and Kingsley Suamataia didn’t deliver a functional starter, and Kansas City ended up moving guard Joe Thuney over to tackle.
Cornell Powell just completed a football trifecta no one else ever has | Arrowhead Addict
With a championship win this weekend in the United Football League, Powell became the first player ever to win a CFB national championship, a Super Bowl, and a UFL title. It’s a unique trifecta that gives Powell bragging rights and a rare perspective on winning cultures on multiple levels.
Powell’s path began at Clemson, where he was a part of a powerhouse program that brought home national titles in both 2016 and 2018. Despite spending most of those early years buried on the depth chart (behind the likes of Tee Higgins, Mike Williams, and Hunter Renfrow), he slowly climbed the ladder and finally broke out in 2020.
2025 NFL receiving corps rankings: Eagles kick things off at No. 1 | PFF
14.KANSAS CITY CHIEFS
Rashee Rice led the NFL in catches and receiving yards before his injury last season, and though 2024 was a small sample size, it marked back-to-back seasons of 85.0-plus PFF receiving grades.Xavier Worthy ended his rookie season with 88.7 and 86.1 PFF receiving grades in his final two games of the postseason. If Hollywood Brown can give the Chiefs a fully healthy season, in addition to whatever Travis Kelce has left in the tank, this could be a difficult group to cover.
Around the NFL
Noah Lyles says his planned race with Tyreek Hill is off | NBC Sports
Lyles said that he and Hill had agreed to race in what they hoped would be a major event this weekend in New York City, but it has been called off for reasons that Lyles did not fully explain.
“We were very deep into creating the event. In fact, it was supposed to happen this weekend,” Lyles said, via the New York Post. “Unfortunately there were some things, complications, personal reasons that it just didn’t come to pass, but we were full on. We were gonna have a big event, we were going to shut down New York Times Square and everything, we were gonna have all the billboards for the event, it was going to be a lot of fun.”
Hill entered a track meet on Friday and won the 100-meter dash in 10.15 seconds. That’s an outstanding time for someone like Hill, who hasn’t run track competitively since he was in college a decade ago. But it’s a far cry from what Lyles is capable of doing: Lyles won the gold medal in Paris last summer by running the 100 meters in 9.79 seconds.
Source - Steelers extend safety DeShon Elliott on 2-year deal | ESPN
The Pittsburgh Steelers and safety DeShon Elliott have agreed to a two-year, $12.5 million extension with $9.21 million guaranteed, a source confirmed to ESPN.
Elliott, 28, was one of the Steelers’ best run defenders last year with 2 forced fumbles, 3 fumble recoveries, 4 tackles for loss and 108 combined tackles.
NFL Network first reported the deal.
A former sixth-round pick, Elliott spent his first four seasons in the league with the Baltimore Ravens and Detroit Lions before joining the Miami Dolphins for one year.
Ravens’ Lamar Jackson still haunted by ‘deep-felt loss’ to Bills | ESPN
“We’re going to bounce back,” Jackson said after Tuesday’s minicamp practice. “And when we come back, I feel like we’re going to have vengeance on our mind.”
Entering his eighth NFL season, Jackson has the second-best record of any quarterback since 2018 with a 70-24 mark (.745) and has led the Ravens to three AFC North titles, including the past two. But Jackson is the only multiple NFL MVP to not reach a Super Bowl.
In his latest playoff defeat — a 27-25 divisional loss against the Bills — Jackson committed two turnovers in the first half. He was intercepted around midfield in the first quarter, and he fumbled at the Bills’ 34-yard line in the second quarter.
Apologetic Henry Ruggs III speaks at Hope for Prisoners event | ESPN
Former Raiders wide receiver Henry Ruggs III, on special release from prison Tuesday night, spoke at a Hope for Prisoners event in Las Vegas and apologized to the family of a woman he killed in a car crash nearly four years ago.
Ruggs drove his sports car at speeds up to 156 mph in the city on Nov. 2, 2021, slamming into a vehicle that killed driver Tina Tintor and her dog, Max. Tintor was 23.
Ruggs was asked at the event what he would say to Tintor’s family.
“One, I wish I could turn back the hands of time,” he said in a video taken by the Las Vegas Review-Journal. “I would love for them to meet the real Henry Ruggs and not the one that was escaping from something. I sincerely apologize for not only being a part of that situation, but the fact my face is always in the news, it’s always in the newspaper. So they have to constantly be reminded of the situation, be reminded of me.”
Brock Purdy contract: George Kittle defends 49ers QB after critics question five-year, $265 million deal | CBS Sports
Tight end George Kittle said he heard the noise around his quarterback after Purdy locked up his lucrative deal. He was quick to dismiss the questions as to whether Purdy is worth the hefty investment and cited his winning résumé.
“I don’t know what his winning percentage is, but when you win a lot of games and you only need two years to go to the NFC championship or better, I think that’s decent,” Kittle said on “The Rich Eisen Show.” ”One of my favorite things that I’ve heard is everyone calls him a checkdown merchant. And then, the last two years, he’s had the least amount of checkdowns as a starting quarterback. So I think he’s doing pretty well.”
In case you missed it on Arrowhead Pride
Chiefs News: Dan Meers retiring as team mascot “KC Wolf”
Meers took on the role in 1990, completing 35 years as the team’s mascot in 2024.
A native of St. Charles, Missouri, Meers was a 1990 graduate of the University of Missouri, where he performed as “Truman the Tiger” for four seasons. He began his professional career with a short stint as “Fredbird” for the St. Louis Cardinals before joining the Chiefs, who had introduced their new mascot in 1989.
“For the past 35 years I’ve had my dream job,” said Meers in an official statement. “I’ve worked for the team I love, in the city I love, with the people I love. After all these years I certainly hope Chiefs Kingdom knows just how much I love and appreciate them. I have memories and stories that will last me a lifetime.
“I especially want to thank my family, the Hunt family, the Chiefs organization and the greatest fans in the world for all the love, support, and laughs we’ve shared over the past 35 years. I’m truly a blessed, blessed man!”
Meers portrayed “KC Wolf” in over 10,000 appearances in 38 states and 12 countries around the world — including U.S. military installations at home and overseas — becoming the league’s longest-tenured mascot by more than a dozen years.
“KC Wolf” was the first NFL mascot inducted into the Mascot Hall of Fame in 2006. In 2020, Meers became the first (and only) mascot inducted into the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame. He earned the team’s Presidential Award in 1993 and the Chiefs Service Award in 2016.
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