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2025 NFL free agency: Judging overreactions to deals, trades | ESPN
The Chiefs’ nine-year AFC West division title streak will end this season
And once Ronnie Stanley re-signed with Baltimore, the top left tackle option was off the market, leaving the Chiefs to address their biggest weakness by signing Jaylon Moore. He has been a backup for most of his career in San Francisco (five starts last season) but currently projects at the Chiefs’ starting left tackle spot. It could work out, but it comes with a fair bit of risk. Moore had an 81.1% pass block win rate in 2024, which would have ranked 65th among tackles had he qualified.
Meanwhile, the Raiders hired new coach Pete Carroll and upgraded at quarterback with Geno Smith, the Broncos’ already excellent defense looks even better thanks to their additions (Dre Greenlaw and Talanoa Hufanga) and the Chargers brought in Mekhi Becton to beef up the trenches (just the way you’d expect from a Jim Harbaugh team). The rest of the division sure looks like it got better — but the Chiefs don’t appear like they did at all.
Verdict: OVERREACTION
Five Things to Know About New Chiefs QB Gardner Minshew | The Mothership
4. He isn’t short on personality.
Minshew has developed a reputation for his outsized personality, as evidenced by his propensity to rock a long mustache and (for a time) a mullet. He traveled cross-country in an RV in 2019, he’s flown in an F-16 Falcon fighter jet, and he lived in a renovated bus outside of a gym during the 2022 offseason.
In short, Minshew certainly lives life to its fullest.
2025 NFL free agency: Biggest need remaining for every team after first wave of free-agent signings | CBS Sports
Chiefs: Defensive tackle
Kansas City had solid play to pair with Chris Jones for years and that group rarely turned over, but now Khalen Saunders, Derrick Nnadi and Tershawn Wharton have been extracted over the past few years. The leftovers are uninspiring and it is time for the franchise to build that room back up in a deep draft for the position.
Running back would be another consideration if the Chiefs had not shown a willingness to invest little in the position since Clyde Edwards-Helaire did not pan out.
2025 NFL mock draft: Giants stick at No. 3 and take a QB; Packers break a drought of more than two decades | CBS Sports
Round 1 - Pick 31
Grey Zabel IOL
North Dakota State • Sr • 6’6” / 312 lbs
Grey Zabel looked like a Day 1 starter on the interior at the Senior Bowl, and that’s just what the now Joe Thuney-less Chiefs need. His background at tackle for North Dakota State could help in a pinch as well.
2025 NFL Mock Draft: Jaxson Dart makes his way into top 3, Abdul Carter falls to Jets | PFF
31.Kansas City Chiefs: DIDerrick Harmon,Oregon
The Chiefs would love to find an offensive lineman here, but with the best available ranking in the late 40s on PFF’s big board, they select the next best available pass rusher in Harmon. His 55 quarterback pressures in 2024 led the FBS. The potential to learn from Chris Jones makes the Chiefs an ideal landing spot.
Around the NFL
Grading 2025 NFL Free Agency Contracts You Might Have Missed Over The Weekend | Bleacher Report
Cincinnati Bengals Break The Bank for WRs Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins4 of 7
Dylan Buell/Getty Images
Chase contract: Four years, $161 million
Higgins contract: Four years, $115 million (per FOX Sports’ Jordan Schultz)
The Cincinnati Bengals are now set for the foreseeable future at wide receiver.
The organization not only put an end to the longstanding contractual drama with Tee Higgins—who had been franchise-tagged in each of the last two offseasons—but also managed to avoid a similar situation with superstar Ja’Marr Chase.
Chase unsurprisingly inked the larger contract, agreeing to a four-year, $161 million deal that sets a new record for annual salary at a non-quarterback position. Higgins wasn’t too far behind, as he inked a four-year, $115 million deal to remain in Cincinnati alongside Chase through the 2028 campaign.
Cincinnati is positioned to build on an incredible offensive performance last season. Chase was downright dominant in 2024, becoming just the fifth player since the NFL-AFL merger to win a receiving Triple Crown. Higgins’ numbers weren’t as impressive, but he was a critical piece for a passing attack that led the league with an eye-popping 272.9 yards per game and racked up 43 touchdowns through the air.
With quarterback Joe Burrow putting up career-best numbers as well and gaining the stability within the receiving corps he was pushing for, there’s no ceiling on Cincinnati’s passing attack over the next few years.
Grade: A+
Eagles reach deal with ex-Giants pass rusher Azeez Ojulari | ESPN
Terms were not disclosed, but a source told ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler that the deal is worth $4 million.
Ojulari had six sacks last season for the New York Giants in 11 games. He joins Joshua Uche as free agent pass rushers to head to the Super Bowl champion Eagles, who lost defensive end Josh Sweat last week to the Arizona Cardinals.
Ojulari was a second-round pick of the Giants out of the University of Georgia in the 2021 NFL draft. He had eight sacks in 17 games during a promising rookie year but has struggled to stay healthy ever since.
Texans, Derek Stingley Jr. agree on three-year, $90 million deal to make him league’s highest-paid DB | NFL.com
The Texans have agreed to terms with cornerback Derek Stingley Jr. on a three-year, $90 million extension that includes $89 million guaranteed, NFL Network Insider Ian Rapoport reported Monday.
Stingley’s $30 million-per-year salary is the new high-water mark for defensive backs, easily toppling a record set by the Carolina Panthers’ Jaycee Horn ($25 million per year) only a week ago. David Mulugheta of Athletes First, who did the deal on behalf of Stingley, now reps the three highest-paid CBs and two highest-paid safeties.
Rather than picking up the fifth-year option on Stingley’s rookie deal by the May 1 deadline, which would have certainly been a no-brainer, the Texans instead rewarded one of their finest homegrown defenders long before free agency would ever come knocking.
In case you missed it on Arrowhead Pride
Chiefs Draft 2025: Will Darius Alexander’s physical profile be enough?
Background
In the classic film “Tommy Boy,” Chris Farley famously says, “Hey man... a lot of people go to college for seven years.”
Darius Alexander, in team interviews, is talking about why he is going to be a rookie with an AARP membership. pic.twitter.com/5cfTirB6Z7
— Rocky Magaña (a pleasant son of a buck) (@RockyMagana) March 16, 2025
While Alexander isn’t quite Tommy Boy, he’s not far off. He will be 25 in his rookie season, which means if that if he is a first-round pick, he might not hit free agency until he’s 30.
This is mostly because it took time for him to develop. Coming out of high school in 2019, he was a two-star, 216-pound defensive end prospect who was ranked 126th nationwide among weak-side defensive ends. Toledo was the only school to make him an offer.
Since then, Alexander has gained 90 pounds and grown into his frame. For a player like him, the main concern is how much further he can go until reaching his ceiling.
Social media to make you think
One of the best defensive coordinators in the NFL (KC Chiefs Steve Spagnuolo) can give Jalen Hurts the credit he earns, yet so many fans around the league still can't come to terms.
He also admits the BTA took him weeks to recover from pic.twitter.com/9ZrFqRJ9tD
— David (@PHLEagleNews) March 16, 2025
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