The latest
Report: Panthers sign Chiefs’ DL Wharton to 3-year deal | KCTV5
Wharton’s deal includes $30 million in guarantees according to Garafolo.
The 26-year-old who played collegiately at Missouri S&T signed with the Chiefs as an undrafted free agent in 2020. He lined up primarily at defensive end during his first two seasons in Kansas City before playing the majority of his snaps at defensive tackle over the last three years.
Why Bills QB Josh Allen’s new contract puts pressure on Patrick Mahomes | FOX Sports
Since 2020, Mahomes has appeared in the AFC Championship Game every year. He has been to four Super Bowls and won two. So it’s fair to say the Chiefs are content with what they’ve paid their quarterback.
But is Mahomes?
It’s possible the Chiefs and Mahomes will re-engage in contract negotiations to fairly compensate, arguably, the best football player on the planet.
He is not the uncontested best player on the planet because of NFL MVP Josh Allen, who just signed a new deal with the Buffalo Bills. And that contract could make things fairly complicated for Mahomes and Kansas City.
Allen signed a new contract with his team on Sunday that’s worth six years and $330 million. That sends his cap hit 19.7% to 13th in the NFL. That’s for a guy who is, at worst, the third-best quarterback in the NFL. So it’s a generous number. He could have easily stayed up in the top two, where he was with Joe Burrow in 2024, when Allen’s average annual value of cap was 23.6%.
We don’t have to get too deep into the math.
But here’s what the Bills have been dealing with at a macro level. As Allen’s contract takes up more space in the cap, the Bills have fewer opportunities to fill out the roster. So Buffalo’s team was short on talent this year. Now, that actually helped Allen win the MVP honor. Quarterback Lamar Jackson had the better stats. Allen, however, had more to overcome, with six of his team’s starters departing by trade, cuts or free agency from 2023. The idea — with this new contract — might be that Allen is forgoing his earnings to help his team build a deeper roster.
He doesn’t want another MVP. He wants a Super Bowl.
Allen could have easily reset the quarterback market. He could easily have asked for more money than Dak Prescott, whose deal averages $60 million per year. But that would hold his team back from building out its roster. He instead took a selfless approach.
It’s similar to what Tom Brady did with the Patriots. This is, to some degree, what Mahomes has been doing with the Chiefs.
2025 NFL mock draft: Raiders take Ashton Jeanty in top 10 after Geno Smith trade, Panthers get Bryce Young WR1 | CBS Sports
Josh Simmons OT
Ohio State • Sr • 6’5” / 317 lbs
The Philadelphia Eagles exposed the Kansas City Chiefs’ offensive tackles in Super Bowl LIX. Trading away All-Pro guard Joe Thuney didn’t help the Chiefs’ offensive line, either. Josh Simmons had a torn patellar tendon cut his 2024 season short after starting six games at left tackle for Ohio State last season. If not for the injury, he could have been drafted a lot higher. Simmons allowed just one QB pressure and no sacks on 152 pass-blocking snaps last season, which was good for the lowest pressure rate allowed (0.7%) by any tackle with at least 100 pass block snaps. Kansas City gets a steal here.
Justin Watson, Texans agree on deal | Yahoo Sports
Watson had 289 yards and two touchdowns last season with the Kansas City Chiefs, and he was part of the team’s past three runs to the Super Bowl.
The 28-year-old became a free agent after the team’s loss to the Eagles in Super Bowl LIX last month.
NFL Free Agency 2025: Grades For Every Signing, Trade | The 33rd Team
Elijah Mitchell signs with Chiefs
Grade: C+
The Kansas City Chiefs have a clear need for some running back help, even if Isiah Pacheco can get back to 100 percent in 2025.
Elijah Mitchell makes sense as a depth signing a on a cheap one-year deal. He’s not going to see a ton of carries unless injuries pile up, and the Chiefs will likely bury him on the depth chart if they take an RB in this year’s draft. Still, it’s nice to have a backup plan in place.
Around the NFL
Sam Darnold to Seahawks on 3-year, $100.5M deal, sources say | ESPN
Former Minnesota Vikings quarterback Sam Darnold agreed Monday on a three-year, $100.5 million contract with the Seattle Seahawks, sources told ESPN’s Adam Schefter.
The deal includes $55 million guaranteed for Darnold, who will replace Geno Smith as Seattle’s starter.
The Seahawks added Darnold three days after agreeing to trade Smith, their starting quarterback for the last three seasons, to the Las Vegas Raiders for a third-round draft pick.
Darnold’s deal is the latest move in what has been a busy stretch for the Seahawks, who agreed to trade star receiver DK Metcalf to the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday and also released receiver Tyler Lockett last week.
DK Metcalf trade grades for Steelers-Seahawks surprising WR deal | SB Nation
Seattle Seahawks: A
Look, I’m not grading the Seahawks on their overall process—if I did I would give them an F-. However, I think they got a great deal for Metcalf. Getting the 52nd pick in this draft is a nice haul for Metcalf, who had to get paid somewhere. I still don’t quite get their entire process really; are they trying to be competitive next year or going full tank? I lean towards the former and not the latter, which makes this even more confusing, but this is a good start towards their ... semi rebuild? I’m still not sure what to call it.
Jets reach 2-year, $40M deal with QB Justin Fields, sources say | ESPN
Fields, 26, will sign a two-year, $40 million contract that includes $30 million in guarantees, the sources said. The former Chicago Bears first-round pick is expected to be the Jets’ opening-day starter, ahead of holdover backup Tyrod Taylor, but this isn’t a long-term commitment. The Jets, who also could add a quarterback in the draft, can reevaluate the position after the 2025 season.
Rodgers has emerged as a quarterback option for the Steelers, league sources told Schefter on Monday.
Steelers in talks with Darius Slay | NBC Sports
According to a report from Jordan Schultz of Fox Sports, Pittsburgh has agreed to terms with cornerback Darius Slay. But Tom Pelissero of NFL Network reports that Slay is only talking to the Steelers and hasn’t agreed to anything yet.
Slay was cut by the Eagles in a salary cap move, and he said he was most interested in either re-signing with the Eagles on a new deal, or going back to the Lions to finish his career where it started, in Detroit. But apparently he likes what he’s hearing from the Steelers.
Grading DK Metcalf to Steelers, Davante Adams to Rams, other splashy NFL signings, trades from Sunday | CBS Sports
Bills extendJosh Allen
Allen still had four years left on his lucrative deal, but Buffalo acted quickly, dishing out $330 million to secure the reigning NFL MVP through 2030. Is it a massive chunk of change for a guy who’s never advanced past the AFC title game? Sure. But as the Philadelphia Eagles have shown, it’s usually better to pay up early than pay up too late, and Allen earning $60 million per year isn’t an affront if Dak Prescott also makes the same amount annually.
Grade: A-
In case you missed it on Arrowhead Pride
Chiefs Salary Cap: Trey Smith signs his $23.4 million franchise tag
This means that unless the Chiefs sign Smith to a long-term deal — or trade him to another team, which would likely sign Smith to a new contract — he will play the 2025 season in Kansas City on a fully-guaranteed one-year contract worth $23.4 million.
Rapoport (and dozens of others) reported that Smith and the team are still working on a new deal. Under the Collective Bargaining Agreement between the NFL and its players’ union, the two sides have until July 15 to come to terms. If they miss that deadline, Smith is now contractually obligated to play for the Chiefs this season.
At this writing, however, we estimate that Kansas City is $20.8 million over the salary cap. Since the team must be under the cap before the new league year begins at 3 p.m. Arrowhead Time on Wednesday, it is highly motivated to get a deal done before then.
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