Author: nfltalk

The Kansas City Chiefs are the NFL’s current dynasty, rivaling the Tom Brady-era New England Patriots as football royalty. And they have no plans to slow down, with reigning Super Bowl MVP Patrick Mahomes declaring immediately following 2023’s title that he has eyes on a potential three-peat. Could the Chiefs truly capture a third straight Lombardi Trophy? Mahomes’ track record suggests as much. In the meantime, we’re taking an early look at candidates to spoil such a run.

A lot can change between now and the start of the 2024 season. But here are 11 different clubs who have at least some reason to believe they can dethrone Mahomes and Co. next February:

Deep sleepers

Aaron Rodgers
USATSI
The Atlanta Falcons now have a sturdy quarterback in Kirk Cousins to go along with ascending skill pieces and an underrated defense in a wide-open division. But Cousins’ history suggests they’ll be more steady than special.The Dallas Cowboys still have some of the game’s top playmakers on both sides of the ball, but Dak Prescott’s offensive line has more questions than at any point in recent memory. And this franchise has long succumbed to big-game hurdles.The New York Jets have an improved line for returning quarterback Aaron Rodgers, as well as a proven defense. But Rodgers is a big question mark at age 40, despite his Hall of Fame resume from Green Bay.

Honorable mentions

Lamar Jackson
USATSI
The Baltimore Ravens could once again use more receiving help for reigning MVP Lamar Jackson. But Derrick Henry’s bruising style should help the run game, and Justin Madubuike’s return should help anchor the tough defense.The Buffalo Bills turned over a big chunk of…..

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NFL owners approve three rule changes, including hip-drop tackle ban originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

The NFL is eliminating the hip-drop tackle.

NFL team owners on Monday unanimously approved a rule that bans players from using a swivel technique to tackle an opponent.

A violation will result in a 15-yard penalty and could ultimately result in fines for players.

NFL executive Jeff Miller said the hip-drop tackle was used 230 times last season and resulted in 15 players missing time with injuries.

The NFL Players Association has adamantly opposed the rule.

“It doesn’t get used very often, but when it is used, it’s incredibly injurious to the runner,” NFL Competition Committee chairman Rich McKay said. “The runner is purely defenseless. And I have heard defenders say it before, and I hear them, ‘Hey, you’re putting me in a really tough spot. You’re saying I can’t hit here. What do I do?’ And my response has always been, ‘Well, you can’t do that, and that’s just because the guy you’re hitting is defenseless and has no way to protect himself.’ So we’ve got to protect him and you’ve got to come up with other ways, and you know what, they do.”

The league played a video during a news conference to show six specific plays in which the hip-drop tackle was used in games, with Bengals tight end Drew Sample, Cowboys running back Tony Pollard, Bengals receiver Tyler Boyd, Seahawks quarterback Geno Smith and Titans quarterback Ryan Tannehill all being on the receiving end of the now-illegal hit.

NFL teams will continue to receive videos showing illegal hits and ways to make tackles within the rules.

“It’s a new rule, so they’ll not have seen it,” McKay said about officiating the penalty. “This is never practiced; nobody does this in practice. There’s never a player that’s going to use this tactic on a player on his own team in a practice so they’re never going to see it. They’re only going to see it in the game. We will…

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We’ve examined the cost of the Giants and Vikings trading up to nab a quarterback in the top-five picks, and now our attention turns to the Broncos. Fortunately for Denver, a trade up to No. 3 from No. 12 is less theoretical than most of the trade scenarios we’ve covered, as the 49ers did exactly that three years ago when they sent the 12th overall pick, their first-round pick in each of the following two drafts and a third-round pick in the next year’s draft to get the No. 3 pick and ultimately draft Trey Lance. That deal was about 46 points above our baseline value for the No. 3 pick, which is what we’ve been calling medium value in our look across the three types of potential trade scenarios (also including competitive-market value) for each prospective trade-up team for each pick.

Considering the Broncos don’t have a second-round pick this year, even the baseline value of trading up from 3 to 12 should cost an additional two future first-round picks. That would be 670.77 points of value, just over the package the Texans put together to move up from No. 12 to No. 3 last year that included one future first-round pick but also the No. 33 pick in the 2023 draft, which is just about the same value for us as a future first-rounder.

In a competitive-market scenario where multiple teams are jockeying to move up to No. 3? The Broncos are probably stuck giving up a fifth pick in addition to the three firsts and one third from the 49ers trade, likely in the second round of a future draft. It seems unlikely they’d be willing to meet that cost and figure in any competitive market to be outbid by a team like the Vikings with an additional first-round pick this year.

But what if the quarterback the Broncos want is available after the top-three picks? There hasn’t been a straight pick trade up to No. 4 or No. 5 since at least 2016, which is the first year I began compiling and adjusting pick values for my…

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ORLANDO, Fla. — Jerry Jones began painting himself into this corner in January.

The always interview-friendly Dallas Cowboys team owner used two words that began to ring across league halls.

He doesn’t regret them, per se. But he’s aware of them. He knows how they’ve been interpreted and he knows that interpretation has veered from his own.

So after a quiet free agency in which the Cowboys have lost far more talented players than they gained, and thus far have not issued any major extensions to their existing stars, allow Jones to further explain what he meant when he said he was “all-in.”

“We get to be the world champion of how it works when you don’t have as much money, but make no mistake about it, with every tool we got, we’re all-in,” Jones said Sunday from the hallways of the NFL’s annual league meetings. “We’re all-in. As a matter of fact, this is rolling the sleeves up and more all-in here than we were last year or the year before.

“It can impact us for, in some cases, five years down the road.”

Jones’ salary cap concerns are far from new. He and his son, executive vice president Stephen Jones, have long bemoaned the limited “pie” they have to allocate among players, speaking of it with a frequency and tenor that seems beyond their 31 counterparts.

Sure, salary cap hits come: The Kansas City Chiefs trading star receiver Tyreek Hill is the best example in recent memory, though the trade helped Kansas City keep quarterback Patrick Mahomes, tight end Travis Kelce and defensive tackle Chris Jones as its trifecta of leaders on and off the field.

The Cowboys face a similar situation. Their challenge: Can they rely on their core trifecta to go all the way, when in recent postseasons they’ve struggled to go any of the way?

Dak Prescott and CeeDee Lamb are among the best at their position. Are they good enough to get the Cowboys over the Super Bowl hump while taking up a big chunk of the team’s salary cap? (Photo by Cooper Neill/Getty…..

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