The latest
2025 NFL free agency class rankings: Most improved rosters | ESPN
21.Kansas City Chiefs
Keyacquisitions and returning players: LB Nick Bolton, WR Hollywood Brown, G Trey Smith, CB Kristian Fulton, OT Jaylon Moore
I loved: The re-signing of Brown. He has often been cast as a WR1 and has struggled to live up to that billing. He’s more impactful as a WR2 or WR3, which is what he’ll be for Kansas City. As Xavier Worthy emerged in Brown’s absence, and Rashee Rice returns from his injury to reestablish himself as the top guy, Brown can be a field-stretcher and get some of the designed touches behind the line of scrimmage that Worthy doesn’t. When Dyami Brown and Tutu Atwell cost $10 million each, Brown’s $7 million deal is good business.
I didn’t love: The big swings. The Chiefs signed four deals of $10 million or greater. In Fulton, they have a much better CB2 option on the outside for only $10 million per season — that’s fine. Moore cost $15 million per year, which will look great if he hits as their franchise left tackle, but the “sign a backup to become a starter” move rarely works in free agency. Bolton also cost $15 million per year, and while he’s a great culture player for this defense, I’ve watched too many offenses pick on him in coverage to feel great about that signing. And I imagine the market-setting extension for Smith will eventually look just fine, but he’s currently sitting on a $23.4 million franchise tag, which is more than any guard is making per year.
Every move is defensible, but I didn’t love a single one.
2025 NFL Free Agency: Which teams got better or worse? | PFF
Kansas City Chiefs: Stayed the same
Signed: TJaylon Moore (two years, $30 million)
Signed: CB Kristian Fulton (two years, $20 million)
Signed: RB Elijah Mitchell (one year, $2.5 million)
Signed: QB Gardner Minshew (one year)
Signed: DI Jerry Tillery (one year)
Signed: TE Robert Tonyan
Re-signed: LB Nick Bolton (three years, $45 million)
Re-signed: WR Marquise Brown (one year, up to $11 million)
Re-signed: LS James Winchester (one year, $1.65 million)
Re-signed: RB Kareem Hunt (one year, $1.5 million)
Re-signed: WR JuJu Smith-Schuster (one year)
Re-signed: QB Bailey Zappe (one year)
Re-signed: CB Nazeeh Johnson
Re-signed: LB Jack Cochrane
Tendered: P Matt Araiza ($960,000)
Franchise-tagged: G Trey Smith ($23.4 million)
Traded: G Joe Thuney
No matter how you slice it, losing Joe Thuney is just too big of a blow for the Chiefs – even if they were able to franchise tag Trey Smith. Thuney has been one of the best guards in the NFL for the last nine seasons and earned two straight first-team All-Pro honors at left guard. Adding Jaylon Moore on a two-year deal to be the starting left tackle is a risky move too. Moore has earned plus-70.0 grades in his last two seasons but has never played more than 275 snaps in a season.
All-32: Each NFL team’s biggest remaining need after 2025 free agency | The Athletic
Kansas City Chiefs
With the addition of left tackle Jaylon Moore in free agency, the Chiefs’ biggest priority should be to continue building their defensive line. One of the most underrated parts of the Chiefs loss to the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl LIX was how little effect their pass rush had against quarterback Jalen Hurts. Adding more youth and talent around pass rusher Chris Jones and defensive ends George Karlaftis and Charles Omenihu would be a shrewd decision for general manager Brett Veach. — Nate Taylor
Five quarterbacks under most pressure to win Super Bowl: Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson need to squash narrative | CBS Sports
1.Josh Allen
How close does Josh Allen have to get to win a Super Bowl? For as good as Allen has been in the playoffs, he still hasn’t been able to defeat Mahomes and the Chiefs. Allen actually has a winning record in the playoffs (7-6) with 33 total touchdowns to just six turnovers. Over his last five playoff games, Allen has 13 total touchdowns to zero turnovers.
The postseason success doesn’t stop there. Allen is the all-time playoff leader in interception rate (0.9%), touchdown-to-interception ratio (25-4), total yards per game (311.0), and total touchdowns per game (2.5). He’s the only player to average 250 passing yards and 50 rushing yards per game in playoff history.
Allen has the most total touchdowns in a player’s first seven seasons (262) in NFL history and has three postseasons with having 6+ total touchdowns and zero interceptions without making the Super Bowl. The Bills have scored the most points per game (29.1) and allowed the fewest points per game (19.6) over the last five years — and haven’t made the Super Bowl.
2025 latest NFL Mock Draft: Who will be No 1 pick? When is NFL Draft? Where will Cam Ward and Travis Hunter end up? | Sky Sports
31. Kansas City Chiefs - Josh Conerly Jr, OT Oregon
The Eagles obliterated KC’s offensive line at the Super Bowl. The Chiefs will look to rebuild Patrick Mahomes’ protection.
Around the NFL
Vikings GM Kwesi Adofo-Mensah discusses talks with Aaron Rodgers, J.J. McCarthy’s path to starting | NFL.com
“Right now given all of our scenario planning, we’re happy with our room and obviously we’re going to talk a lot about J.J. McCarthy,” Adofo-Mensah explained, “but Brett Rypien, who’s someone we brought in last offseason and we thought made a lot of great decisions, quick decision making, processing, and better athlete than people give him credit for, accurate passer, so we’re excited about him. And we’re always going to keep looking to see if we can upgrade that position, just like every other position.”
It’s relatively standard talk from a GM, but Adofo-Mensah was pressed to elaborate on how he viewed Rodgers in relation to McCarthy, last year’s first-round pick who missed his rookie season due to a preseason knee injury.
Would Rodgers be seen as competition, or just a veteran backup?
“You want to solve for a lot of things,” Adofo-Mensah told reporters on Wednesday. “You want competition, you want ability to play if they’re not the starter, all those different things, you’re just trying to solve for a lot of different dynamics. I’m not going to say that specific to Aaron, just generally what you’re trying to accomplish in the decision.”
2025 NFL Draft: Titans GM says all options ‘still on the table’ regarding No. 1 overall pick | CBS Sports
It’s widely assumed that the Tennessee Titans will make former Miami quarterback Cam Ward the first overall selection in the 2025 NFL Draft. And while that assumption will most likely come to fruition shortly after the draft kicks off on April 24, Titans general manager Mike Borgonzi is keeping his options open regarding the first overall pick, at least publicly.
“I would say everything is still on the table,” Borgonzi said earlier this week, via the team’s website. “From the beginning I said I wanted to go through the whole process, and I felt like our priority was to build the offensive line first, and we added (tackle) Dan Moore and (guard) Kevin Zeitler.
“Now we’re going through the process here with the college quarterbacks. But I’d say everything is still on the table right now.”
Ironically, Borgonzi made those comments at the University of Miami after watching Ward’s pro day. The Titans will hold a private workout with Ward on Friday.
In case you missed it on Arrowhead Pride
Chiefs Roster: Players trending as free agency’s first wave ends
Bulls (stock trending up):
Right guard Trey Smith: We don’t yet know how the team’s contract negotiations with Smith will turn out, but we know which way they’re headed. Not only did the Chiefs franchise-tag Smith (and publicly state they are working on a long-term deal with him), they also traded away their other highly-paid interior lineman: left guard Joe Thuney. It should have been obvious that Kansas City wouldn’t pay both guards over $20 million a year, so it wasn’t a big surprise that they chose the younger star to anchor the interior over the long term.
New left guard Kingsley Suamataia: Forget all the “bust” talk after the second-round rookie struggled at left tackle. All soint to Suamataia having a real chance to become a very good left guard. Trust the Chiefs’ actions more than their words. They said they like Suamataia at guard — and then they acted by trading Thuney to clear the path for him. He’s the most likely starter in mini-camps and OTAs — and even if he’s not at left tackle, he could prove to be well worth the draft pick. If he does work out at left guard, the offensive line might be significantly better positioned for 2025 and beyond.
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