Chiefs TE Travis Kelce restructures contract | KCSN Daily 10.18
Plus Trent McDuffie injury update, podcasts, quotes and more Chiefs news.
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Brett Veach created some much-needed cap space for the team over the weekend. As first reported by ESPN’s Field Yates, the Chiefs and TE Travis Kelce agreed to a restructured contract. The team converted Kelce’s remaining base salary in 2022 to a signing bonus, creating over $3.4 million in cap space.
While the immediate fan reaction was to consider trades with the deadline rapidly approaching, it seems this move occurred with a much more pressing financial need in mind. With less than $500K in cap space prior to Kelce’s restructure, the Chiefs needed a portion of the cap space created to be able to sign CB Dicaprio Bootle from the practice squad on Saturday.
While the remaining funds could be allocated for a trade or signing, it’s important to remember that the team will still need a portion of that space for similar transactions in the remaining 11 weeks of the 2022 NFL season.
KCSN Update:
KCSN’s BJ Kissel catches up with The Athletic's Nate Taylor to ask him his 5 Burning Questions following the Kansas City Chiefs' loss to the Buffalo Bills as they look ahead to next week's game vs. the San Francisco 49ers.
Will Trent McDuffie return in Week 7?
Chiefs HC Andy Reid provided an update on the status of first-round draft pick Trent McDuffie on Monday. McDuffie was placed on injured reserve ahead of Week 2, missing a mandatory four games before the team designated him to return from injured reserve early last week.
McDuffie returned to practice, but the team decided against activating him to the 53-man roster for Week 6. This week, his chances of returning are greater.
“Yeah, if he can go this week (then) we’ll get him in there playing,” Reid said. “(We) just want to see how he does during the week of practice and see how it feels. If he can get back in, we’ll let him play.”
Reid described McDuffie’s first week back to practice as good, but it wasn’t good enough for them to clear him for return. Hamstring injuries run a high risk of reinjury, so the last thing they want to do is have him playing and going at full speed when he’s not quite ready to do so. They’ll test him out again in practice this week and if he’s able to practice the way they hope, he’ll be cleared to make his return to the field against the San Francisco 49ers.
“Yeah, that was kind of the idea last week was to test it out, see where he’s at,” Reid explained. “We’ll do the same thing this week. We’ll see – we’re not going to put him in a bad situation where he’s not comfortable but normally you want to get them back up to speed and you can do a lot in rehab. (Vice President of Sports Medicine and Performance) Rick (Burkholder) does a great job with his people with that but there’s nothing like being on the field. I mean Rick would be the first one to tell you this – there’s nothing like being on the field and practicing and getting the game speed down – you know as close as you can to a game – and see how it feels. As long as he feels good this week coming up then we’ll give him a chance to play. If not, then we’ll back off it.”
Quotable:
“We’ve been fortunate to play some good defensive lines and that helps you get better. The guys are competing and you’re going to – listen, you’re going to lose every once in a while, that happens all throughout the league and you’re striving to win every battle but at the same time we’re playing really good, talented defensive lines. That’s the bottom line and we have another one coming up this week, but we look forward to those challenges because it helps you down the road (and helps you) become better. Andy (Heck) is always looking for things to do up front to work the protections and that’s not going to change. He’s going to keep doing those kinds of things to try and work according to what they present.” - Chiefs HC Andy Reid on offensive line inconsistency
“Yeah, I thought we did a good job. When we didn’t get there, we at least blocked a few throws – and you’re not talking about a shorter quarterback back there (laughs), he’s a big kid. We were able to block a couple of them there. But, we’ll always be growing there with it, but we seem to get decent pressures at times on them and that’s an important thing that we keep getting better at down the road.” - Chiefs HC Andy Reid on performance of the pass rush
Quick Hits:
From the League Meetings: Don’t expect any changes to roughing the passer penalties. While NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero reports there was a “spirited” discussion, there is a lot of pushback toward the idea of making the penalty reviewable. The discussion about it didn’t even last 30 seconds per NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo.
Also from the League Meetings: Drama! Colts owner Jim Irsay has drawn first blood, saying that NFL owners must vote to oust Daniel Snyder as the owner of the Commanders. Things are about to get very spicy especially given the recent report that Snyder has been gathering “dirt” on other NFL owners.
From Jeff Bezos: The NFL announced a new partnership with Amazon to broadcast an NFL game on “Black Friday” in 2023. Get your shopping done in the morning and enjoy a football game in the afternoon . . . or something like that. Next, perhaps Bezos will buy the rights to NFL Sunday Ticket? One can dream.
Important dates ahead:
Sunday, Oct. 23 at 3:25 p.m. CT - Week 7: Chiefs vs. 49ers - Levi's Stadium - Santa Clara, CA
Tuesday, Nov. 1 at 3:00 p.m. CT - NFL Trade Deadline
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How much more room needs to get cleared to acquire Brian Burns and still have flexibility for practice squad transactions?