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NFL won’t discipline Chiefs DBs coach Dave Merritt after probe finds insufficient evidence | NFL.com
The NFL will not discipline Kansas City Chiefs defensive backs coach Dave Merritt after a league investigation into his April arrest found insufficient evidence of a violation of the personal conduct policy, NFL Network Insider Mike Garafolo reported Friday, per sources.
The decision comes after the misdemeanor domestic battery case against Merritt was dismissed without prejudice in May by a Kansas
court.
Merritt was charged on Apr. 23 with misdemeanor domestic battery after a complaint filed by the district attorney in Johnson County, Kansas, accused him of causing bodily harm to a daughter.
The 54-year-old Merritt spent several years playing linebacker in the NFL before becoming one of the best defensive backs coaches in the league. He has been with the Chiefs since 2019, and including his time with the Giants, has helped teams win five Super Bowls.
He took part in the Chiefs’ rookie minicamp in early May.
“Dave’s been very up-front with everything,” Chiefs coach Andy Reid said at the time. “We’re still going through that whole procedure. In this case, you always let the law enforcement part take care of itself and work its way out.”
Jackson native and Kansas City Chiefs two-time Super Bowl Champion, Trey Smith, has his third Annual Football Camp coming to USJ Friday and Saturday.
“You know, I think about my development and how I was recruited. Football camps were a huge part of that. I looked up to a lot of players from this area like Al Wilson, Artis Hicks, Avery Williamson and obviously Trey Teague who went to USJ as well,” said Smith.
Smith will bring local Tennessee stars as well as collegiate teammates and surprise NFL guests to aid kids from second grade all the way to rising high school seniors in improving their game.
“It’s almost like a reunion of sorts. I invite some of my closest friends, collegiate teammates, but also just seeing old high school coaches, seeing some of my former high school teammates and everyone getting together and being back at USJ is sort of a reminder, a little bit of nostalgia if you will, just being back in the community of Jackson and being positive in the community as well and helping out kids and really just having a good time being back at your stomping grounds,” said Smith.
Former Chiefs WR is off to a hot start with new team | Arrowhead Addict
Marcus Mosher of The Landry Hat wrote about how Cowboys fans need to be taking notice of what Valdes-Scantling is doing in OTAs.
“Despite signing with the team less than two months ago, he is already practicing with the first team. And according to Nick Harris of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, the veteran receiver has made some plays with Dak Prescott, including a heady play where he knocked the ball out of the hands of P.J. Locke on what would have been an interception.”
Now, it’s worth noting that MVS is getting to run with the starters due to George Pickens’ holdout, something that Mosher touched on. With Pickens unavailable, the Cowboys need someone else to step up and that’s what Valdes-Scantling has done. Mosher also pointed out how MVS’ experience in the league could help him stick around in Dallas.
“Valdes-Scantling has plenty of NFL experience and has played in just about every type of offense. So it’s not surprising that the coaching staff and Prescott trust him to run the right routes and be where he is supposed to be,” Mosher wrote.
Chiefs’ recent practice MVP has been Xavier Worthy. Here’s where he’s improved | The Athletic
Though the 5-foot-11, 165-pound wideout typically conducts interviews with long sleeves on, he strode to the front of the interview room Thursday in a red cutoff shirt. That allowed TV cameras to pick up some additional muscle in his arms that wasn’t present in previous years.
Worthy said his focus on strength training was part of the process of rehabbing from January’s surgery to repair his labrum.
“So (it) really was just building on getting stronger,” Worthy said, “getting that back in the flow.”
Worthy certainly had an impressive string of practices the last few weeks, with the no-contact jersey serving as a precautionary measure suggested by his doctor.
One practice, Worthy sprinted deep to haul in a pair of deep throws beyond the team’s final defender. On another day, he stopped and pivoted during a red-zone drill in 7-on-7s, squaring up to secure a back-shoulder throw from quarterback Patrick Mahomes around tight coverage from rookie cornerback Mansoor Delane.
“Jump-ball receiver, man,” Worthy said with a laugh when asked about that particular play. “Let’s do it.”
There seem to be plenty of reasons for optimism for Worthy, even after a down statistical year.
Chiefs Mandatory Minicamp Winners and Losers | Heavy Sports
Losers From Kansas City Chiefs 2026 Mandatory Minicamp
OT Jaylon Moore
Moore hasn’t necessarily done anything wrong, but the emergence of Benson and second-year player Esa Pole doesn’t bode well for him. Both are significantly younger and cheaper. Moore will have to lean on his veteran experience and have a good camp to earn the starting RT job, but Pole and Benson will be breathing down his neck.
CB Kaiir Elam
The Chiefs signed Elam during free agency. He was a first-round draft pick in 2022, and the team will try to get him to live up to that potential. However, the return of L’Jarius Sneed won’t do Elam any favors. With guys like Sneed, Williams, Kristian Fulton, and Mansoor Delane firmly ahead of him, Elam faces an uphill battle to make the roster.
Around the NFL
NFL closes personal conduct review into WR Stefon Diggs | ESPN
The NFL has closed its review of wide receiver Stefon Diggs after determining there was insufficient evidence of a personal conduct policy violation, a league official told ESPN’s Adam Schefter on Friday.
The decision comes after the former New England Patriots wideout was found not guilty in May of assaulting his private chef in a pay dispute. Diggs had pleaded not guilty in February to a felony strangulation charge and a misdemeanor assault and battery charge stemming from the alleged dispute, leading to the two-day trial.
The NFL’s ruling marks another step toward the free agent wide receiver landing with a team. Diggs was released by the Patriots in March.
The case had centered on a Dec. 2 encounter at Diggs’ home in Dedham, Massachusetts, where Jamila Adams, a former live-in personal chef who is known as Mila, testified that he slapped and choked her during an argument.
The state of the NFL’s star QB market after Patrick Mahomes’ record deal | The Athletic
The significance of Mahomes’ deal
Mahomes’ signing of his new extension is a big step toward the recorrection of the top of the quarterbacks market.
Prescott has sat atop this market — by a considerable margin — since he signed a four-year, $240 million extension with the Cowboys in September 2024. That $60 million in average annual value has been the highest for any player in the league since that point, even as other star quarterbacks such as the Buffalo Bills’ Josh Allen signed extensions.
Prescott and the Cowboys were in a unique situation. Prescott was entering the final year of his previous extension. That contract stated the Cowboys could not place the franchise tag on Prescott. So he was heading for free agency after the 2024 season if the Cowboys did not extend him. Their only other option was to trade him. Prescott had mountains of leverage. As a result, the Cowboys were effectively forced to pay Prescott way above market rate.
Prescott was making 9 percent more than the next highest-paid quarterback in AAV. Prescott is a very good quarterback. He is not the best at his position by a 9 percent margin. Even after his best NFL season, when he finished second in MVP voting in 2023, Prescott ranked ninth in Sando’s QB Tiers.
Now, the best quarterback in the league is being paid as such. According to contract details from ESPN, Mahomes will slot in at $64 million in average annual value, surpassing Prescott.
In case you missed it on Arrowhead Pride
Andy Reid feels good about the Chiefs’ right tackle ‘competition’
Across the four spots alongside right tackle, the team employs a two-time All-Pro, a perennial Pro Bowler and two promising players who were highly-touted draft prospects. On the right edge, the Week 1 starter is yet to be written in ink by the Chiefs’ coaching staff.
Head coach Andy Reid assured veteran Jaylon Moore is the current leader for that role during a press conference on Thursday morning, but the team is experimenting with the only undecided spot among the 11 starters for the Kansas City offense.
“Moore has been kind of the mainstay in there, and then we’ve moved guys in there,” Reid said. “We’ll just see, we’ll see what happens. Those other four spots are really pretty solid, and I feel good about whichever one of these guys wins the competition there. I think we got guys that will be okay in that position, it’s just a matter of who ends up being that guy.”
After four years as the understudy to 12-time Pro Bowl left tackle Trent Williams with the San Francisco 49ers, Moore started on the left side for the Chiefs in his first season with the team, filling in for the four-game stretch when rookie left tackle Josh Simmons was unavailable.
When Simmons came back only to suffer a season-ending injury, the team was already without starting right tackle Jawaan Taylor, so Moore filled in at right tackle for two more starts.
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