The latest tweets from @Cernovich. 1 day ago The Chiefs released veteran left tackle Eric Fisher, the former No. 1 overall pick in the 2013 NFL draft, earlier this offseason. It was part of a cost-cutting move after Fisher suffered a season-ending Achilles tear in the AFC title game against the Buffalo Bills. Fisher was in the final year of his deal and the team needed salary cap relief.
The latest
The former Pro Bowler has been talking to numerous teams and is someone to keep an eye on after the draft, NFL Network Insider Ian Rapoport reported.
Fisher might even end up where he started and recently departed. The Chiefs, which released the eighth-year veteran just before free agency, have explored the possibility of bringing Fisher back, NFL Network’s James Palmer reported. Kansas City cut ties with Patrick Mahomes’ blindside protector in March because of cap issues coupled with his health.
Fisher will be sidelined several months after suffering a torn Achilles in January’s AFC Championship Game. The Chiefs effectively replaced him on Friday by trading for Ravens offensive tackle Orlando Brown, whom Rapoport noted will play left tackle in K.C.
1. Kansas City Chiefs
Biggest addition: Joe Thuney, guard
The Chiefs landed the best guard on the free agent market this offseason in Thuney, a major upgrade to an offensive line that couldn’t protect Mahomes in the Super Bowl. Thuney signed a five-year, $80 million deal to go to Kansas City after anchoring a New England Patriots offensive line to two Super Bowl championships.
Unless Thuney suffers a severe injury, this is the best signing in free agency in the NFC West. Thuney has allowed just three sacks in 1,733 snaps over the last three years and has never missed a game. The Chiefs were serious about beefing up their offensive line and making sure Mahomes gets more than one Super Bowl. Thuney will do.
58 – Kansas City Chiefs
Jalen Mayfield
A typographical error in a betting line on a Cleveland Browns-Kansas City Chiefs game in January led to a $10,500 windfall for nine eagle-eyed bettors.
The error was revealed last week by the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement, which fined BetMGM.com $500 for failing to properly display the odds on a betting market.
It involved the Jan. 17 game, specifically a so-called proposition or “player prop” bet on the game performance of the two quarterbacks, Cleveland’s Baker Mayfield and Kansas City’s Patrick Mahomes.
In such bets, gamblers wager on whether a particular player or group of players will exceed a certain statistical benchmark, or fall short of it.
In documents released by the state, it was revealed that BetMGM intended to offer bets on whether Mayfield and Mahomes would each pass for 300 or more yards in the game.
But due to a manual error in posting the bet, the “3” was dropped, and bettors were given the option of betting on whether the two quarterbacks would pass for “00” yards or more during the game.
Around the NFL
Fully vaccinated NFL players and other staffers will no longer face daily COVID-19 tests, one in a series of modified protocols the league and the NFL Players Association agreed to Friday.
The NFL isn’t requiring vaccination for any employees but has pledged to offer incentives for doing so. In a memo outlining the changes, commissioner Roger Goodell said that testing will be reduced to once per week for those who are 14 days past their final vaccination shot. Players also will avoid lengthy entry testing after traveling to team facilities and won’t be required to quarantine if they are deemed a high-risk close contact to someone with a confirmed COVID-19 infection.
“There is no question that being vaccinated is the single most important step that anyone can take to be protected — and to protect others — from the virus,” wrote Goodell, whom the NFL revealed Friday has been vaccinated himself.
After a 5-11 finish to the 2020 season, in which Detroit ranked last in overall team defense, the Lions have entered a complete rebuild.
Beyond Holmes, the pre-draft process has been a collaborative effort with first-year head coach Dan Campbell and his coaching staff as well as key executives. They’re looking to build depth on both sides of the ball, which is what Holmes considers to be of “utmost importance.”
“At 7, we do have a cluster of players that we’re comfortable with picking, but at the same time we will be very prepared and also willing to move in either direction,” Holmes said. “So, we’re still open in those regards, but there are a cluster of players that we would be comfortable with.”
Either Denver or Chicago will trade up into the top 8 for a QB.
Stone Cold Eric Fisher Twitter
As discussed at prediction #4, the most likely scenario appears to be that San Francisco takes Mac Jones at #7, creating a feeding frenzy of teams trying to trade with Atlanta to pick Justin Fields 4th overall. San Francisco agave away the 12th overall pick and a third rounder in 2021, plus first-round picks in 2022 and 2023 to trade up to #3. It is likely that Atlanta will want just as much, if not more, from a trade partner with Fields available at #4.
Alternatively, it is possible that the 49ers front office is just blowing smoke, and they will take Fields at #3, leaving questionable first-round prospects Trey Lance and Mac Jones as the best available QBs at #4 to feed a pack of QB-hungry teams that could include Carolina, Denver, New England, Washington and Chicago. That makes up to five teams that might feel the need to make a move before the next two QBs hit the gauntlet starting when Carolina picks at #8. Which teams are most likely to mortgage their futures to move up to pick #’s 4-7?
Denver has a recent history of poor trade decisions targeting quarterbacks in the first round, having traded up from the second round to select Tim Tebow at #25 in 2010, and again from #31 to #26 in 2016 for Paxton Lynch. Second-round pick Drew Lock hasn’t convinced anyone that he’s the long-term starter after two years in the league, and John Elway doesn’t strike me as the kind of guy who learns from his team’s mistakes.
Chicago GM Ryan Pace has been running his team into the ground with poor draft decisions, including trading up one spot in 2017 for Mitch Trubisky, rather staying put and picking Deshaun Watson or Patrick Mahomes. The Bears need a QB again, after letting Trubisky walk in free agency, and Pace is just the kind of decision maker who would trade into the top eight to select Trey Lance or Mac Jones. The hype around Lance, who only started 16 games in college, reminds me of the hype that Trubisky generated in 2017 after only starting 13 games.
“I’m here to tell everybody that I’ve been diagnosed with ALS: Lou Gehrig’s Disease,” McMichael told WGN’s Jarrett Payton. “I’m glad, in my life, I never held back anything. I went at it full bore and did a lot of things in my life.”
Eric Fisher Twitter
One of best players on the Bears’ vaunted “46” defense, McMichael earned his first of three consecutive Pro Bowl honors in 1985 while helping Chicago capture its only Lombardi Trophy. A two-time All-Pro, McMichael had 92.5 career sacks for Chicago, second in franchise history. McMichael and Dan Hampton (a 2002 Hall of Fame inductee) formed one of the greatest defensive duos in NFL history, a duo that totaled 88.5 sacks from 1984-88.
“Those two guys at the point of attack were as good as anything I’ve ever been around coaching or playing,” former teammate and current Washington coach Ron Rivera recently told The Athletic.
In case you missed it at Arrowhead Pride
The player
Brown, 24, first entered the league as a third-round selection made by the Ravens in the 2018 NFL Draft. Due to already having former first-team All-Pro left tackle Ronnie Stanley on the roster prior to drafting him, the Ravens moved Brown to right tackle, where he accumulated 10 starts in 2018 and 16 starts in 2019. Brown began the season at right tackle in 2020 but was moved to left tackle when Stanley suffered a severe ankle injury in Week 8.
Knowing that upon Stanley’s return for 2021, the Ravens would move him back to right tackle, Brown and his agents approached Baltimore asking permission to see a trade this offseason.
Now, having that trade been completed to Kansas City, Brown is expected to play out the final year of his rookie contract with the Chiefs before potential negotiations next offseason, according to ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler. At that point, the Chiefs will have the option of franchise tagging Brown, if they deem it necessary.
Kansas City is prepared to franchise tag Orlando Brown, knowing he’ll likely play out the final year of his rookie deal, per source. No way they give up this much capital for a one-and-done. Tag allows time for negotiation.
— Jeremy Fowler (@JFowlerESPN) April 23, 2021
A tweet to make you think
If you boil that all down to pick value, the Chiefs gave up the equivalent of the 38th overall pick in the draft to trade for Orlando Brown.
They’ve got two second round picks and a comp fourth in the first four rounds of the draft. https://t.co/Dff9QKheSs
— Craig Stout (@barleyhop) April 23, 2021
Follow Arrowhead Pride on Social Media
Facebook Page: Click here to like our page
AP Instagram: Follow @ArrowheadPride
AP Twitter: Follow @ArrowheadPride
AP Editor-in-Chief: Pete Sweeney: Follow @pgsween
610 Sports Twitter: Follow @610SportsKC