In the NFL there’s always work and planning to be done for the future. Even with the two big contracts out of the way, the Chiefs still have some important contracts to prepare for. Some of those contracts are coming soon, others are on the horizon, and there are also some in the distant future they’ll need to address. Here’s a look at which players could be next to sign a new deal with the Kansas City:
Photo by Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images
Coming soon:
2020 rookie draft class
As early as this weekend, the Chiefs could begin to sign members from their 2020 rookie draft class. They’ve yet to sign any of the six players from the draft class. This is in part due to the big contracts they just handed out, but it’s mainly because none of the players have been in the building due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Rookies are scheduled to report to training camp this weekend for the Chiefs, but as we recently learned, teams haven’t been cleared to give players the go-ahead to return. It looks like a delay is inevitable and that could potentially hold things up when it comes to getting the rookies under contract. Nonetheless, with the season and preseason rapidly approaching, these players should be under contract sooner than later.
Lonzo Ball revealed his musical inspirations to be a mix of artists in DMX, Lil Wayne and Future as well as his father LaVar.
Lonzo Ball has rather quickly established himself as one of the better rappers in the NBA. His second album was released on Friday with Bounce Back Album having features from Lance Stephenson, Enzo McFly and LiAngelo Ball.
Ball joined an Instagram Live with NBA 2K’s Ronnie Singh on Friday and talked about his musical inspirations. Surprisingly, his first inspiration was not an artist but his outspoken father LaVar.
“It definitely came from my pops. As long as I can remember, I was rapping in the back of the car. He used to rap on the way to school to drop me off. I just always had music around. Especially when working out, I always have music around.”
He also talked about his musical inspirations as well, saying his first was DMX. He also mentioned the likes of Lil Wayne and Future as inspirations.
Ball has been a big-time supporter of Future but never more so than when he helped him release his latest album during the lockdown. Ball shared Future’s tracklist on his Instagram Story in the week leading up to the release.
Lonzo Ball helped Future release his new album ‘High Off Life’ on Friday by debuting the track list earlier this week.
Lonzo Ball has long proclaimed himself a devout fan of Future. He’s created a stir in the past by including Future among his best rappers, but his love of Future hasn’t gone unnoticed. In his previous album, “The WIZRD,” Future name-dropped Ball in one of his songs.
With Future set to release his new album “High Off Life” this week, the love was further returned by Future as Ball played a big role in unveiling the album. On Tuesday, Ball posted the tracklist to his Instagram story, revealing features from Travis Scott, Drake, Lil Uzi Vert and others on the album.
The album was released at midnight on Friday and, not surprisingly, Ball was one of the first listeners as he shared on his Instagram story.
Future showed some love for Ball in helping him release the album on his own Instagram story as well.
Ball himself hinted at some new music being in the works during the quarantine, though he hasn’t shared any more details from that. With Ball and Future having worked together on this, could a feature from Future be in the works on one of Ball’s newest hits?
On the surface, this is a signing that takes care of the backup QB position, but there’s an uneasy feeling it could end up being more.
In a shocking move to some, but predicted in certain realms of the internet, the Dallas Cowboys have made a major move at the quarterback position. Unable to yet come to a long-term agreement with franchised quarterback Dak Prescott, the club has found a veteran presence to back him up and give them a starting quality option should an injury occur.
The Cowboys are set to sign recently released Andy Dalton to a deal.
#Cowboys are signing QB Andy Dalton, as @AdamSchefter said. Gets $3 million guaranteed and can earn up to $7 million. Mentioned the other day he’d sign quickly but this was extremely quick.
In a sport where the most popular player in town is the backup quarterback, the move is going to send shockwaves through Cowboys Nation. Prescott has a legion of supporters in the fan base, but also enough highly vocal detractors that things are going to be very loud at the earliest lack of success.
The Cowboys have had enough of the unproven backup quarterback scene, or it should be said new head coach Mike McCarthy won’t be having any of it. The Cowboys tendered restricted free agent Cooper Rush to an original round tender, showing they were more than comfortable letting him walk if another team had come calling.
That was the clearest signal they were going to look on the market for help, but it didn’t come in the early phase of free agency. The solution also didn’t come in the draft, where they waited until the seventh round to select James Madison’s Ben DiNucci, who is a third quarterback with intriguing upside but clearly not ready to be a backup for a team with playoff aspirations.
What Dalton brings, gets
Enter Dalton, a nine-year veteran of the Cincinnati Bengals who had success early in his career but fell on hard times after leading his club to the playoffs in his first four seasons. Dalton has a career 70-61-2 record, but that comes after a 50-26-1 start to things, falling on hard times in his last four under-.500 campaigns.
It’s ironic he was 40-23-1 in his first four seasons, a half a game better than Prescott’s start of 40-26. Dalton has just had horrible performances in playoff games, throwing six interceptions against just one score and passing for under 56% completions. His teams are 0-4 after Week 17. During the regular season, when given healthy weapons, he’s been a more-than-solid QB though, and he’s never had a supporting cast like what is assembled in Dallas.
Amari Cooper is AJ Green’s equal, but Michael Gallup is better than any No. 2 WR they’ve paired with Green, CeeDee Lamb is seen as a future alpha, Ezekiel Elliott is a two-time rushing champion and even without Travis Frederick the offensive line is a formidable unit.
The possibility Dalton is seen as a bridge quarterback to a Cowboys future without Prescott has to be considered.
What it means for the Dak situation
On multiple radio appearances I’ve mentioned not having Prescott signed by now is troubling for the long-term agreement, as there isn’t going to be much that changes either side’s opinion on his value.
Granted, Prescott just lost his brother and is in mourning so it’s no surprise nothing has happened on the contract front since the draft’s conclusion. An agreement could be right around the corner, but it hasn’t been to this point, and there’s been 17 months to make that happen.
Prescott ascended last season. The market is only going to grow with the pending new deals of other young quarterbacks and Dallas has already seen they missed the chance to sign him for cheap heading into 2019.
If Prescott falters in 2020 under the franchise tag, he’s still going to want to be paid at the top of the league because he’s been ridiculously underpaid for four seasons and earned his payday. His opinion on that, or knowledge of what he’d fetch on the open market isn’t likely to be altered.
The two sides are reportedly not far apart on price, but on years; but the two go hand in hand. Prescott likely wants a higher annual value if he’s going to sign for the number of years Dallas wants to lock him in, as he’s banking on the new television contracts to flood salary cap with ridiculous money in a couple seasons, similar to the impact seen in the NBA.
Signing Dalton doesn’t mean the door closes on the possibility, but Prescott made the decision to skip the club’s voluntary virtual offseason and learn McCarthy’s system. That’s an impediment to a successful season and the club is completely in their right to protect themselves in this regard.
The team will almost certainly come out and vocalize their support of Prescott as the long-term answer in Dallas and speak to this simply being a move to improve the chances for a Super Bowl in 2020. Yet still…
ARLINGTON, TX – SEPTEMBER 04: Quarterback Andy Dalton #14 of the TCU Horned Frogs is shown on the video screen during play against the Oregon State Beavers at Cowboys Stadium on September 4, 2010 in Arlington, Texas. (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)
Career, Part Deux
Dalton also opens up the possibility to be a reclamation project like the quarterback he succeeded in Cincinnati, Carson Palmer.
Palmer remained a projected starter after leaving, but the two had extremely similar stats over their first nine seasons.
When Palmer got with QB guru Bruce Arians in Arizona, had a resurgence that saw the best years of his career.
Even without a starting gig guaranteed, one has to imagine Dalton likes his chances given the environment. One can see the innovative offense Kellen Moore ran last season for Dallas, at least at the beginning of the year, and combined with McCarthy’s West Coast Offense which Dalton is familiar with, it would seem one of the better landing spots. With Cincinnati waiting so long to release him, his likelihood of finding a starting job for 2020 were very low, and Dallas provides the most vast array of weaponry of any of the other backup landing spots with an inkling of long-term opportunity.
The quarterback position is the most important one in all of sports. On the surface, the Cowboys have just locked in a player with starting experience, regular-season winning pedigree and a hometown feel, as Dalton is from Katy, Texas and attended TCU. Underneath, they’ve given themselves a look at what life could be like if they aren’t able to agree with Prescott.
That’s worth the price tag of admission on what is about to be a roller coaster season to be remembered.
Minnesota Gophers Unanimous All-American safety and 2020 NFL Draft prospect Antoine Winfield Jr. shares some of the things he loves, including his favorite steakhouse, what’s on his game day playlist, the video games he’s playing and where he likes to travel.
Minnesota Gophers Unanimous All-American safety and 2020 NFL Draft prospect Antoine Winfield Jr. shares some of the things he loves, including his favorite steakhouse, what’s on his game day playlist, the video games he’s playing and where he likes to travel.
Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson is going to father his first son after he and his wife posted a gender reveal video on Twitter.
Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson and his wife, R&B star Ciara, who are always trying to bring a smile to people’s faces in these tough times, brightened things up on Tuesday morning by revealing the gender of their baby in a viral tweet.
ESPN, FOX, and NBC are each offering New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees broadcasting opportunities once he’s retired from the NFL.
NBC & Fox are also pursuing Drew Brees for post-retirement NFL TV deals, but ESPN is current highest bidder in the $6.5M per year neighborhood, according to sources. https://t.co/sNdxfDKWy9
A $50 million contract extension hasn’t taken New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees off of the radar for the NFL’s broadcast partners. The New York Post’s Andrew Marchand reports that multiple television networks are working to recruit Brees as a game broadcaster once he’s retired from the NFL.
Per Marchand’s report, ESPN is offering the highest bid for Brees’ services — averaging nearly $6.5 million per year, which is what Jon Gruden earned as color analyst for ESPN’s “Monday Night Football” program before his return to the NFL. It’s also slightly less than the $7 million FOX pays Troy Aikman each year.
Where Brees would fit into the FOX lineup is unclear; while the report says that he would prefer to call games rather than sit on an in-studio panel for pregame and postgame shows, that’s an option along with their “Thursday Night Football” broadcast team, as well as the second-ranked Sunday crew (behind Aikman and Joe Buck).
NBC is also in the mix, possibly envisioning Brees as a replacement for Cris Collinsworth on “Sunday Night Football” in the future; right around the time in which Mike Tirico is expected to succeed Al Michaels. A Brees-Tirico pairing could be fascinating.
However, ESPN is in the lead even if the flagship network is in a strange position. They have not yet officially ruled out their Monday night matchup of Joe Tessitore and Booger McFarland (whose on-air gaffes wore thin on fans watching at home in 2019), and could very well promote their No. 2 team of Steve Levy, Louis Riddick, and Al Michaels to the top spot. It’s very much a fluid situation.
That instability isn’t helped by Brees returning for at least one more season. While he did sign a two-year deal, it’s structured so that he can retire after the 2020 season, leaving the Saints with just over $22 million in dead money counting against the salary cap. If Brees does choose to play again in 2021, that year’s accounting figure jumps to more than $36 million, meaning they would probably need to kick the can down the road a bit further with another contract extension. So don’t assume that he’ll play out both years of this two-year contract.
Whatever happens next, it’s clear that Brees will have plenty of options once he’s hung up his cleats. The question seems to be which television network he’ll sign with, and who will join him in the booth.
The New Orleans Saints and Hall of Fame-bound quarterback Drew Brees agreed on a contract extension that will run through the 2021 season.
The biggest domino of the New Orleans Saints offseason has fallen. Drew Brees and the Saints have agreed on a two-year, $50 million contract extension that will ensure the Hall of Fame-bound quarterback finishes his career in the Crescent City. NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport first reported the blockbuster deal’s completion.
This move is important for several reasons; first and foremost, the Saints finally have a quarterback under contract for the 2020 season, allowing them to field an offense at complete strength. Besides that obvious bonus, the structure in Brees’ new deal changes his salary cap hit, giving the Saints a better idea of the resources they can spend in free agency.
Like his previous contract, Brees is taking this one year-to-year to with the Saints, meaning that the team will not be shackled to an aging quarterback who will leave a mountain of dead money on the books once he’s retired. Even though the Saints will have to work around the cap space still committed to Brees when his playing days are over, the continued rise in the salary cap (set at $198.2 million for 2020) means it won’t be as serious a hurdle as it could have been.
And this deal is even more team-friendly than the structure suggests. Brees could have easily earned $30 million or more per year on the open market, but his decision to settle for just $25 million in annual salary presents something of a discount for the Saints. That valuable capital will do a lot to help them retain their own pending free agents as well as sign veteran additions.
All told: it’s as great a deal as Brees and the Saints could hope to agree on at this stage in his career. Brees gives New Orleans its best chance at winning another Super Bowl, and the unique structure and finances of his contract presents much-needed flexibility against a tight salary cap. Here’s hoping the Saints can send Brees out with another championship celebration parade.
Texas completed its 2025 non-conference schedule, adding San Jose State on September 5. It now completes the schedule for that season.
Texas completed its 2025 non-conference schedule today, announcing that they will be hosting San Jose State on September 5. Adding that game, it now completes the schedule for that season, as the Longhorns will also face UTEP at home while traveling to Ohio State to begin the season.
The Spartans have only played Texas once in their history and it came in Tom Herman’s first season as a head coach. The Longhorns shut San Jose State out 56-0, securing the first win in the Herman era.
Texas has added San Jose State to the 2025 schedule. That non-conference slate now complete: at Ohio State, San Jose State, UTEP.
With the game nearly five years out, nobody knows what these two programs will look like when they face. Currently for the Spartans, they have not had a winning season since 2012 and have lost at least seven games six years in a row. If San Jose State continues on the same path, it should be an easy victory for Texas in the non-conference.
New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees isn’t ready to commit to a return in 2020, choosing to enjoy the Pro Bowl festivities and wait.
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It’ll be the New Orleans Saints or retirement for Drew Brees, the Hall of Fame-bound quarterback who’s played 19 seasons in the NFL. Brees has broken every record in the book during his 14 years with the Saints, and seen each of his four children grow up in New Orleans. With his contract set to expire in March, he knows that a lot of people are waiting for him to decide whether he’ll play one more year — including the Saints themselves, who must also work out new contracts with backups Teddy Bridgewater and Taysom Hill. For his part, Brees is just sorry that he can’t give any better soundbites at this time.
Brees apologized for responding with “the same boring answers each year” during a Saturday media availability session ahead of the 2020 Pro Bowl game. He’s a backup for the NFC team this year, meaning he’ll have to wait for Seattle Seahawks star Russell Wilson to run the first-string offense in the all-star game before Brees gets his own spot in the limelight. But he’s just content in getting to share the time with his peers and family.
“Obviously being here, I’m just very much focused on my family and this opportunity to be be around the guys, playing the game,” Brees told Nola.com’s Amie Just. “Then, I’ll kind of lay low for a little bit, get away and then assess. I kind of have a process in mind. And I’ll give it a month or so.”
Brees typically spends the offseason in San Diego, taking his children to the beach during the summer while training with former teammates like Darren Sproles and Brandin Cooks, as well as his favorite target, Michael Thomas. Respected opponents like NFC South-rival defensive lineman Gerald McCoy have also joined him for workouts during his West Coast sabbaticals.
So he’ll take some time to decompress from a tough 2019 season, which saw the 41-year-old quarterback set back by a thumb injury to his throwing hand, as well as another crushing postseason exit. There’s no questioning whether Brees played well enough last year to warrant one more run at another Super Bowl title — but it would be easy to square with his thinking if it’s time for him to step away from the game.
