Chiefs headlines for Saturday, December 28
The latest
Assessing Super Bowl Windows for Every 2024 NFL Contender | Bleacher Report
Denver Broncos: 1-12 more years — Bo Nix looks to be the real deal and should have at least a decade in him as he is still 24. That said, we have to stick with the same floor as Houston using the logic from that breakdown, even if Sean Payton is more accomplished than Ryans on the sideline.
Prediction: 10 years
Kansas City Chiefs: 2-6 more years — Patrick Mahomes’ play has quite simply dropped off the last couple years, as has His support. He’s 29 and may have peaked. Could Andy Reid retire soon? He turns 67 this offseason. I could see this blowing up in as few as two years, but you have to keep the ceiling relatively high for Mahomes and Reid.
Prediction: 4 years
Contract-year winners! Seven ascending players poised to break the bank in free agency | NFL.com
Trey Smith
Kansas City Chiefs · OG · Age 25The two-time Super Bowl champion is a rugged interior blocker with the size, strength, power and skill to transform an offense at the point of attack. Smith’s toughness and physicality set the tone for the Chiefs, while his skill enables Patrick Mahomes to throw comfortably from the pocket. As teams look to rebuild or retool their offensive lines in order to protect the most important piece of the puzzle, this 6-6, 321-pounder will command significant attention on the free-agent market if Kansas City lets him walk.
Xavier Worthy Finally Found His Place in Kansas City Chiefs’ Offense | The 33rd Team
Chiefs offensive coordinator Matt Nagy talked about Worthy’s ascension in recent weeks following the team’s Christmas win, even comparing him to Rashee Rice and how he experienced a late-year breakout as a rookie in 2023.
“It was a little slow for the first four or five, six weeks, and then weeks 7, 8, 9, 10, you could sense it,’’ Nagy told reporters. “You might not see it in the stat book, but you could sense it as a coach. You could sense it from watching tape, and now, all of a sudden, you naturally see more targets, you see more touches, you see more production.
“It’s exactly what happened with Rashee, and I’m telling you, it’s crazy how similar it is, and it’s exciting because you see how Rashee came into this year, what he did early on, and I think that’s the path for [Worthy].’’
One of the more interesting developments in Worthy’s game was his utilization in the win against the Texans in Week 16. According to Pro Football Focus, he saw a season-high rate of slot usage, playing 61.9 percent of his snaps in the slot.
The return of Hollywood Brown, along with the acquisition of DeAndre Hopkins, means that Worthy doesn’t have to be relied on as much by splitting out wide. Instead, Nagy can start to move his first-round rookie speedster around the offense.
6. Tailback Kareem Hunt recorded his seventh rushing touchdown of the year.
Hunt, who didn’t join the Chiefs until Week 4, found the end zone for the seventh time this season on Wednesday. It marked his second-straight week with a score.
Hunt, who is just two scores shy of matching his total from last season, ranks 13th among all players in rushing touchdowns since Week 4. His seven rushing scores match his production from his 2018 campaign, which was his last with the Chiefs until this year.
Round 1 – Pick 32
Emeka Egbuka WR
Ohio State • Sr • 6’1” / 205 lbsEmeka Egbuka is a big-bodied, fluid mover with natural hands, good contact balance and the ability to run through arm tackles. He gets in and out of breaks with urgency and has yards-after-catch ability. He’s not a finesse player but more of a bruiser. When you talk about “big slots,” this is what you mean. I think he has some Amon-Ra St. Brown in his game.
Around the NFL
Eric Dickerson not rooting for Saquon Barkley in record chase | ESPN
Philadelphia Eagles running back Saquon Barkley needs 268 yards over the next two games to set the NFL single-season rushing yardage record.
One person not pulling for Barkley to set the mark: current record holder Eric Dickerson.
“I don’t think he’ll break it. But if he breaks it, he breaks it,” Dickerson told the Los Angeles Times this week. “Do I want him to break it? Absolutely not. I don’t pull no punches on that.
“But I’m not whining about it. He had 17 games to do it? Hey, football is football. That’s the way I look at it. If he’s fortunate to get over 2,000 yards and get the record, it’s a great record to have.”
Former Pro Bowl LB Shaq Barrett to sign with Buccaneers, per report | CBS Sports
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are bringing back a familiar face for their stretch run. Tampa Bay is re-signing former Pro Bowl outside linebacker Shaquil Barrett, according to multiple outlets. Barrett cleared waivers on Friday after he was recently released by the Miami Dolphins.
It’s been a whirlwind of a year for Barrett, who was released by the Buccaneers in March in a cost-cutting move. Barrett announced his retirement four months later, but came out of retirement to play for the Dolphins, who released him less than a month after signing him. Barrett never saw the field for the Dolphins.
A former undrafted rookie, the 32-year-old Barrett won a Super Bowl with the Broncos as a rookie back in 2015. He recorded 5.5 sacks and four forced fumbles that year as a part-time starter.
In case you missed it on Arrowhead Pride
Chiefs-Steelers: 9 things overheard in Week 17 victory
“Anybody hear back from Brett Veach about whether we’re getting time-and-a-half for today?”
“In honor of the new season of ‘Squid Game,’ Netflix will be giving the winning team $38 million — and the losing team will face death on a Korean island.”
“I hope the ‘Ghost of Christmas Past’ doesn’t show up with film from last year’s Las Vegas Raiders game.”
“Hmmmmm… I just saw Roger Goddell wearing a $150 million fur coat.”
“So it was okay for Russell Wilson to have a 12th man in Seattle, but we can’t have 12 men for one lousy punt?”
Social media to make you think
Best in the business. pic.twitter.com/dlZ4OCJfzh
— Kansas City Chiefs (@Chiefs) December 27, 2024
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