The latest
12 – Chris Jones
Kansas City Chiefs · DE
2024 stats: 15 games | 37 tackles | 9 tfl | 5 sacks | 1 FF
Chris Jones has been a defensive stalwart and star for the Chiefs for the last nine years, playing a significant role in the team’s continued playoff success and multiple Super Bowl rings. With an active streak of six consecutive Pro Bowls and three straight first-team All-Pro nods, he’s widely
regarded as one of, if not the best interior defensive lineman in the game, and the Chiefs paid him commensurately ahead of last season with a $158.75 million extension that’s almost $6 million more lucrative per year than the next highest player, per Over the Cap. At 31 years old and entering Year 10, Jones hasn’t appeared to miss a step, and should remain a fixture in the K.C. scene into his mid-30s.
NFL Pro Insight for Jones: Chris Jones recorded the second-most pressures (61) among defensive tackles this season, with 26 (most) coming in under 2.5 seconds. Jones averaged the quickest get off at his position (0.85 seconds) resulting in the fourth-quickest time to pressure (2.67 seconds) among defensive tackles with at least 15 pressures this season.
Jawaan Taylor, OT, Chiefs
Taylor was surprisingly given a four-year, $80 million contract with $60 million in guarantees, of which $40 million was fully guaranteed at signing, in 2023 free agency. He hasn’t come close to living up to his contract. The Chiefs signed Jaylon Moore, who was a swing tackle for the 49ers for the last four years while on his rookie contract, to a two-year, $30 million contract, averaging $15 million per year as an unrestricted free agent in March. That’s Moore’s likely role again because 2025 first-round pick Josh Simmons appears to be Kansas City’s long-term solution at left tackle. Taylor’s days in Kansas City will surely be numbered with another disappointing season since his replacement, Moore, is already on the roster.
Bleacher Report’s NFL All-Quarter-Century Team | Bleacher Report
1st Team: Tom Brady
2nd Team: Peyton Manning
3rd Team: Patrick Mahomes
Eli Manning and Aaron Rodgers also received votes at quarterback, but the top three were totally unsurprising.
Perhaps the most shocking aspect of the QB voting was the fact that Tom Brady didn’t receive 100 percent of the first-team votes. After winning six Super Bowls with the New England Patriots and another one with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Brady is unquestionably the most decorated quarterback in NFL history.
Of course, an argument could be made that Peyton Manning was the best quarterback of his era; he just wasn’t fortunate enough to be on teams as good as Brady’s. The five-time MVP and two-time champ trails only Brady and Drew Brees in all-time passing yards and still holds single-season records for yards (5,477) and touchdowns (55).
Patrick Mahomes is still playing and has a long way to go to catch Brady and Manning in career statistics. However, he has become the face of the modern NFL era. With three Super Bowl wins and five appearances in seven seasons as a full-time starter, Mahomes could retire tomorrow and be a Hall of Famer.
Kansas City Chiefs: Defense is top three in sacks in 2025
K.C. finished tied for 18th with 39 sacks last season. So why might there be hope for a huge jump this season? For one, the underlying stats are on the Chiefs’ side; pressures are more reliable year to year than sacks, and teammates Chris Jones and George Karlaftis remained elite in that category a season ago. Add in a more healthy Charles Omenihu — he’s now 1 1/2 years removed from knee surgery — and an emerging defensive end rookie in Ashton Gillotte, and the Chiefs could easily end up with one of the NFL’s top pass rushes. — Jesse Newell
Debunking your favorite NFL officiating conspiracy theories | ESPN
The fix is not in.
While some teams were penalized more than others during a single season, the number of penalties called against individual teams evened out over multiple seasons, according to ESPN’s analysis. Being penalized more — in individual penalties or yards — did not mean more wins or losses.
“It tells us that we do not have evidence of any systematic bias in penalties called in the NFL over the past several years,” Cochran wrote in an email. “I am sorry for the fans who believe the NFL referees are biased against their favorite team, but it isn’t so.”
Fox rules analyst Dean Blandino, who was the NFL’s vice president of officiating from 2013 to 2017, said the league’s own analyses over time also found that penalties were not a “major factor” in wins and losses. Actions such as turnovers had a greater impact.
“I always said that to coaches. I was like, ‘Listen, you can have a year where you were on the wrong end of a bunch of calls,'” he said. “Over time, it tends to even out. It just does.”
Around the NFL
Parsons expresses relief, excitement for fresh start with Packers | ESPN
Micah Parsons was beginning to worry that his situation with the Dallas Cowboys might not get settled by the start of the regular season, which is why Thursday, as he was leaving the team facility after getting treatment on his back, he placed another phone call to his agent, David Mulugheta.
Mulugheta was putting together the final details on Parsons’ blockbuster trade and massive contract extension with the Green Bay Packers, but Parsons was getting impatient.
“I told him that day, I was like, ‘Man, I don’t know what’s going to happen, but I need you to get something done soon,'” Parsons said. “I haven’t not played football this long since I was in seventh grade.”
Within a few hours, the Packers sent two first-round picks plus Pro Bowl defensive tackle Kenny Clark to the Cowboys. Green Bay also finalized a four-year, $188 million contract extension with Parsons that, sources told ESPN’s Adam Schefter, included $120 million fully guaranteed at signing and $136 million in total guarantees, making him the highest-paid non-quarterback in NFL history.
In case you missed it on Arrowhead Pride
Chiefs Roster: The 10 most intriguing players in 2025
2. Wide receiver Rashee Rice
Even without his six-game suspension to begin the season, there are a lot of angles about Rice that will make him intriguing in 2025. Coming off his injury, what kind of player will he be? After all, we don’t even know the level from which he is starting. Rice’s stats to begin 2024 were definitely on an All-Pro trajectory, but it was also just a three-game sample. Is that the caliber of player he will be over a longer stretch? There’s little doubt that Rice’s return will be helpful to the offense, but it’ll be interesting to see whether he’s truly an elite player.
3. Safety Jaden Hicks
It’s possible that safety Justin Reid’s importance to the Kansas City defense wasn’t fully understood. He wasn’t a superstar, but he did fill a valuable role in coordinator Steve Spagnuolo’s scheme. One of the league’s better tacklers, he was very good in run support — and could help defend tight ends in man coverage. He was a great blitzer, too. Reid could do many things in a defense that requires versatility from its safeties.
After his departure, the Chiefs don’t have a lot of talent at safety. While Bryan Cook and Chamarri Conner are fine, neither are as physically talented as Reid. But before he was drafted in 2024, I comped Hicks to Reid — and I think he’s the man to take Reid’s place. He has the length and closing speed to be good in run support. To get Hicks to work, I don’t think the team needs to tweak its scheme, but he does have to prove he can fill that valuable safety spot.
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