Tag: Ronald Jones

Will the Chiefs make another move ahead of the trade deadline?

Breaking down the latest rumors and reports on the #Chiefs ahead of the NFL trade deadline.

The Kansas City Chiefs have already acquired WR Kadarius Toney from the New York Giants, but could they still have a few moves up their sleeve before Tuesday’s trade deadline?

As of Saturday, the team was still doing their diligence on the edge rusher market. According to Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer, the Chiefs were among the teams to reach out to the Jacksonville Jaguars about DE Josh Allen.

“The Chiefs have checked on the availability of Allen, and are similarly looking for another edge rusher, though they may be a little more reluctant to part with their 2023 first-rounder,” Breer wrote.

The Chiefs’ reluctance to move their 2023 first-rounder comes from the NFL draft being hosted in Kansas City in April. That alone may sink their chances of adding another player ahead of the deadline, but it’s reasonable to believe they might budge on that conviction for the right player.

Allen makes a ton of sense in K.C. given that their defensive line coach Joe Cullen was his defensive coordinator a year ago. The familiarity is there and the need is there for the Chiefs, but will Allen be on the move on Tuesday? As of Sunday morning, NFL insiders Ian Rapoport, Tom Pelissero and Mike Garafolo reported that the Jaguars were more inclined to keep Allen rather than replace him. After losing to Denver in London and dropping to a 2-6 record, it feels like anything is on the table for Jacksonville.

Beyond Allen, we know they’ve reached out to the Panthers about Brian Burns. Carolina seems intent on keeping him, given the report that they’d turned down an offer that included two first-round draft picks.

The only other trade candidate routinely mentioned in the edge rusher department is Broncos OLB Bradley Chubb, who will be off the table for Kansas City given that both teams play in the AFC West division.

There has been speculation about other players such as Jaguars DL Arden Key and Commanders DT Daron Payne, but there has been little chatter indicating that either team would be willing to move these players.

As for other potential trades, the Chiefs could end up shipping off a player of their own ahead of the deadline. We wrote over a week ago about Ronald Jones’ likely frustration and to expect a willingness from both parties to find a trade partner. Recent cryptic tweets have many people speculating that Jones has asked for his release.

Expect the team to continue to search for a partner for Jones ahead of the NFL’s trade deadline. If he’s not traded, he could be released following the deadline when all released players become subject to waivers. If a running back-needy team were to claim Jones and his contract, it’d help K.C. save some money.

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Will the Chiefs make another move ahead of the trade deadline?

Breaking down the latest rumors and reports on the #Chiefs ahead of the NFL trade deadline.

The Kansas City Chiefs have already acquired WR Kadarius Toney from the New York Giants, but could they still have a few moves up their sleeve before Tuesday’s trade deadline?

As of Saturday, the team was still doing their diligence on the edge rusher market. According to Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer, the Chiefs were among the teams to reach out to the Jacksonville Jaguars about DE Josh Allen.

“The Chiefs have checked on the availability of Allen, and are similarly looking for another edge rusher, though they may be a little more reluctant to part with their 2023 first-rounder,” Breer wrote.

The Chiefs’ reluctance to move their 2023 first-rounder comes from the NFL draft being hosted in Kansas City in April. That alone may sink their chances of adding another player ahead of the deadline, but it’s reasonable to believe they might budge on that conviction for the right player.

Allen makes a ton of sense in K.C. given that their defensive line coach Joe Cullen was his defensive coordinator a year ago. The familiarity is there and the need is there for the Chiefs, but will Allen be on the move on Tuesday? As of Sunday morning, NFL insiders Ian Rapoport, Tom Pelissero and Mike Garafolo reported that the Jaguars were more inclined to keep Allen rather than replace him. After losing to Denver in London and dropping to a 2-6 record, it feels like anything is on the table for Jacksonville.

Beyond Allen, we know they’ve reached out to the Panthers about Brian Burns. Carolina seems intent on keeping him, given the report that they’d turned down an offer that included two first-round draft picks.

The only other trade candidate routinely mentioned in the edge rusher department is Broncos OLB Bradley Chubb, who will be off the table for Kansas City given that both teams play in the AFC West division.

There has been speculation about other players such as Jaguars DL Arden Key and Commanders DT Daron Payne, but there has been little chatter indicating that either team would be willing to move these players.

As for other potential trades, the Chiefs could end up shipping off a player of their own ahead of the deadline. We wrote over a week ago about Ronald Jones’ likely frustration and to expect a willingness from both parties to find a trade partner. Recent cryptic tweets have many people speculating that Jones has asked for his release.

Expect the team to continue to search for a partner for Jones ahead of the NFL’s trade deadline. If he’s not traded, he could be released following the deadline when all released players become subject to waivers. If a running back-needy team were to claim Jones and his contract, it’d help K.C. save some money.

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Latest on Chiefs RB Ronald Jones’ 53-man roster chances

NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport named #Chiefs RB Ronald Jones as a player to watch in regards to trades at the 53-man roster cut deadline.

With preseason Week 3 officially in the books the Kansas City Chiefs can now turn their attention to assembling their 53-man regular season roster ahead of next Tuesday’s deadline.

One of the biggest storylines for the team this offseason has been the status of free agent RB Ronald Jones. He didn’t receive much work with the first team during the course of training camp.  He also really didn’t see much work in the preseason until the Week 3 game against the Packers last night. It’s caused many to speculate that the former second-round draft pick might not make the team in Kansas City.

Appearing on NFL Network on Friday, Insider Ian Rapoport named Jones as one of three players to watch ahead of the deadline when it comes to trades alongside 49ers QB Jimmy Garoppolo and Steelers QB Mason Rudolph.

“Another player we are keeping our eye on (is) Ronald Jones for the Kansas City Chiefs,” Rapoport said. “(Jones) signed for just $1.5 million, due just $500K guaranteed. When you’ve seen the emergence of players such as Isiah Pacheco and, of course, they have Clyde Edwards-Helaire. (Jones) played pretty well last night, might that be enough to keep him on the roster? (It’s) looking OK so far, but stay tuned at a later date to see which way they end up.”

It sounds like all options are still on the table for Jones and the Chiefs, including a trade. What happens with Jones could ultimately come down to the roster crunch at other positions. Something to watch is whether Kansas City decides to carry three quarterbacks on the 53-man roster.

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Chiefs OC Eric Bieniemy provides update on Ronald Jones’ progress

Eric Bieniemy gave an update on #Chiefs RB Ronald Jones, who he says is doing some things in the offense that he hasn’t done in the past.

Close attention is being paid to the running back rotation at Kansas City Chiefs training camp, especially with the emergence of rookie RB Isiah Pacheco.

Clyde Edwards-Helaire has consistently been the first player in the rotation for the team whether they’re working 1-on-1 drills, 7-on-7 drills, 9-on-7 drills or 11-on-11 drills. Outside of Edwards-Helaire, the team has mixed things up with a combination of Pacheco, Jerick McKinnon, Derrick Gore, Tayon Fleet-Davis and Ronald Jones. McKinnon, Pacheco and Jones have been the primary players to receive opportunities with the first-team offense.

Asked about how Jones is fitting into the rotation, Chiefs offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy praised his ability as a runner.

“RoJo (Ronald Jones) is doing a heck of a job,” Bieniemy told reporters on Sunday. “He’s obviously a big man, he’s done some good things running the football.”

Outside of running the football it sounds as if Jones has some work to do. The coaching staff in Kansas City expects their running backs to sport a certain level of versatility because it brings more value to the position. They want guys who can motion out of the backfield, catch the ball, block in the passing game and contribute on special teams.

“He just needs to continue becoming the football player we expect him to be because we expect our guys to do a lot from that running back position,” Bieniemy explained. “The thing that he’s done is he’s accepted the challenge and he’s doing things he really hasn’t done in the past.”

Jones is clearly still learning what the Chiefs expect of him with two weeks of training camp under his belt. Despite the new challenges, Bieniemy is pleased with the way that Jones has gone about his business.

“The thing that I love about (Ronald Jones) — every single day he comes out here and works his tail off,” Bieniemy concluded.

The work isn’t over for Jones, with another seven days of training camp practices. There is also the upcoming preseason game against the Chicago Bears, which could help propel Jones up the team’s depth chart in the eyes of the coaching staff.

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Ranking the AFC West running back duos

How do the running back duos stack up in the AFC West?

We know the AFC West is stacked from top to bottom at quarterback. But what about those fellas who accompany them in the backfield? How much help will each offense get on the ground and occasionally on a screen or dump-off? Let’s take a look.

1. Denver Broncos

Duo: Melvin Gordon, Javonte Williams

Imagine having two running backs both nearly go over 1000 yards rushing in a season. Well, it doesn’t take any imagination because that’s exactly what Gordon and Williams did last season. Gordon had 918 yards rushing while Williams put up 903 while averaging 4.5 and 4.4 yards per attempt respectively.

Each surpassed 1100 yards from scrimmage and they combined for 17 touchdowns. That’s some serious production from your running backs.

2. Las Vegas Raiders

Duo: Josh Jacobs, Kenyan Drake

Drake and Josh could be productive together if utilized properly. Jacobs has established himself as a hard runner who is tough to bring down. That earned him a trip to the Pro Bowl in 2020. That same season Drake was in Arizona where he ran for 955 yards with 10 touchdowns.

But together, they didn’t perform nearly as well. Jacobs because he was banged up much of the season and Drake because he just wasn’t used enough as a runner. He was targeted 40 times out of the backfield while seeing just 63 runs. That ratio should be closer to two-to-one.

3. Los Angeles Chargers

Duo: Austin Ekeler, Isaiah Spiller

Ekeler is one of the league’s better backs. If this ranking were about single backs, he would probably take the top spot. He is a true dual-threat back who can hurt you just as much through the air as on the ground. Thus why he had over 1500 yards from scrimmage in each of his last two full seasons.

Spiller is a rookie fourth-round pick. If he can play well immediately, the Chargers will have something here. But that uncertainty has them landing here for now.

4. Kansas City Chiefs

Duo: Clyde Edwards-Helaire, Ronald Jones

CEH was a bit of a surprise as a first-round pick in 2020 and he hasn’t done much to prove he was worthy of that draft position since then. While he averages a decent 4.4 yards per carry, he has missed ten games in two seasons. His averages went down across the board last season as well.

Jones is a former second-round pick who saw his snaps cut in half in Tampa last season while his resulting stats were even worse. The Chiefs are hoping they can get the guy who averaged 5.1 yards per carry in 2020 as opposed to the guy who averaged 4.2 yards per carry in 2019 and 2021.

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Tampa Bay Buccaneers running backs: What to expect in fantasy football

Here’s how the Tampa backfield should shake out in 2022.

The running back room for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers will have a different look this season after the team allowed Ronald Jones to leave via free agency.

While the exodus of Jones wasn’t unexpected, it does create a void, since he had been the team’s leading rusher in 2019 and 2020 and was No. 2 to Leonard Fournette last season.

New Tampa Bay coach Todd Bowles inherits a veteran, playoff-tested team that won’t have a lot of positional uncertainty. However, the running back battle behind Fournette will have to clear itself out during training camp and the preseason.

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Chiefs RB Ronald Jones reveals similarity between Patrick Mahomes, Tom Brady

#Chiefs RB Ronald Jones shared his thoughts on the similarity that connects quarterbacks Tom Brady and Patrick Mahomes.

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Kansas City Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes and Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ Tom Brady have been compared to each other often since their first meeting on the gridiron back in 2018.

The two quarterbacks share a rare air of excellence that extends farther than their skills on the field while leading their teams. Mahomes spoke candidly in recent weeks of the influence and advice given by Brady that has helped propel him forward in his career. Their teammates recognize the connection between the two NFL signal-callers as well.

Newly acquired Chiefs RB Ronald Jones played two seasons with Brady and now is set to play with Mahomes this upcoming season in Kansas City. Jones shared his take on one similarity between his new quarterback and his former Bucs quarterback during Wednesday’s minicamp press conference.

“Just like the command, you know, that presence in the offense,” said Jones. “Like Coach always says, you know, he’s got the keys. Yeah, I guess (them being) a student of the game was probably the biggest comparison.”

The “student of the game” title is often tossed around in sports, but in this case, it makes a lot of sense. If there’s one quarterback who has the command and presence you want to emulate, it’s probably Tom Brady. He has a reputation for being one of the best at taking cues from defenses and making subtle adjustments at the line of scrimmage. Brady’s mastery of the game is one of the things that has extended his career. If Jones sees that ability in Mahomes, it’s a good sign for things to come.

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Chiefs RB Clyde Edwards-Helaire welcomes addition of Ronald Jones

Clyde Edwards-Helaire welcomes the addition of Ronald Jones and others to the #Chiefs’ running backs room. | from @EdEastonJr

The Kansas City Chiefs have frequently utilized the depth of their running back room over the years. The reliance on the high-powered passing game has often devalued the need for a consistent lead running back in the system.

Clyde Edwards-Helaire was the prized first-round pick in the Chiefs’ 2020 NFL draft. The belief was that he would be the regular, consistent starting running back, but injuries have become his greatest nemesis in two seasons. The Chiefs have in the past acquired veterans L’eVeon Bell and Jerrick McKinnon to help during injuries and have recently signed Ronald Jones for this season.

Edwards-Helaire spoke about his new teammate Jones and the rest of the running backs on the roster during Thursday’s OTAs press conference. He’s not feeling threatened by Jones’ presence and actually is quite familiar with him.

“He was somebody that I’d talked to beforehand,” said Edwards-Helaire. “I mean, you got Leonard (Fournette) who was in his room. Then you have Ron, (he) was also in Tampa, so it wasn’t just like, ‘Oh, this is just some random dude coming in.’ We had a conversation with each other, being on FaceTime with each other. I’m close friends with Leonard. Everybody knows that he’s a clown, so it’s like, we kind of talk and do those things. But I was it was like, you know a running back kind of like mingle thing like we don’t see him like ‘Oh man, (he) plays for this team. I’m not going to talk to him.’ Like we’re all people. So it’s just one of those things I talked to him like any normal person, and when he came in, it was just it is what it is. Talk to you as a person. You have a question? I have a question! We learned from each other. And we go out here and try to improve. That’s about it.”

Edwards-Helaire missed seven regular-season games in 2021, finishing with 517 yards rushing and four touchdowns. He struggled with a knee injury most of the season, but the emergence of former Chiefs running back Darrel Williams helped keep the offense moving in Edwards-Helaire’s absence. The same depth is expected with the team’s current running backs room.

One thing that makes the situation less contentious for Edwards-Helaire, he’s comfortable learning and working alongside anybody.

“I can go to anybody,” said Edwards-Helaire. “It’s funny that you say that because I remember telling Greg Lewis, ‘Man, I can have a baby in here teaching me, but if they are telling me something I don’t know, it’s something that I can learn from.’ I could care less who is actually teaching me. (Isiah) Pacheco, (Tayon) Fleet-Davis, or (Jerrion) Ealy might see something that I didn’t see. And that’s just what it is. You can train everything what you want to do, but what you can’t train is professionals’ eyes, and that’s the thing that separates everybody apart.”

The Chiefs are hoping for an injury-free season from Edwards-Helaire, who hasn’t played an entire season in his professional career. The addition of Jones and draft pick Pacheco will help keep the offense going in the event of another injury.

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8 fantasy football takeaways from busy NFL offseason

Taking a look at how the big offseason moves impact the fantasy football world.

The month of April is just getting underway and the fantasy football world has already been shaken up by what might be the busiest offseason in recent memory.

The entire landscape of fantasy football has changed since the end of the 2021 season. Quarterbacks are being traded left and right while we have new homes for some very relevant running backs and wide receivers.

The majority of big moves have already taken place (probably) and while the 2022 NFL draft will continue to shake things up, we have a pretty clear picture of what the fantasy football world now looks like as we begin projecting the 2022 season.

We won’t be including the Russell Wilson trade in this post as we’ve already covered that.From signings in free agency to blockbuster trades taking place, here are eight takeaways for fantasy football from the busy offseason thus far:

Contract details for new Chiefs RB Ronald Jones

The contract for new #Chiefs RB Ronald Jones doesn’t necessarily guarantee he’ll make the 53-man roster in Kansas City.

There’s more than meets the eye with a number of contracts the Kansas City Chiefs have handed out this offseason. That remains the case with the deal signed by new Chiefs RB Ronald Jones.

It was originally reported as a one-year contract worth up to $5 million. According to the folks at Over The Cap, Jones’ contract includes a $1.25 million base salary. He also gets a $250K signing bonus, bringing his one-year cap hit up to $1.5 million for the 2022 NFL season. Only $750K of the contract is fully guaranteed and the Chiefs could save that amount if they released or traded him at any point. They’d also eat another $750K in dead money if that were the case.

If Jones’ contract is in fact worth up to $5 million, the remaining amount ($3.5 million) will be earned or unearned in various contract incentives that Over The Cap isn’t necessarily privy to.

While Andy Reid seemed to suggest that Jones will be given a chance to be a major part of the offense, his contract hardly suggests he’s a lock to make the 53-man roster. If the Chiefs find that Derrick Gore takes a step forward for instance or they’re able to grab a player they really like in the draft, they’re not in a situation where they couldn’t turn around and trade or release Jones. We’ve seen the team do that in the past with players like Carlos Hyde and DeAndre Washington.

On the other hand, if Jones makes the 53-man roster and contributes in a big way, it’s a great contract for the team. It also could set him up nicely for a payday in 2023 when he hits free agency again.

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