It is still too early to know if Patrick Mahomes will be able to face the Buffalo Bills in the American Conference final on Sunday night (6:40 p.m.), but the Kansas City Chiefs quarterback’s condition has deteriorated. is improved. That’s what ESPN’s Adam Shefter reported on Tuesday afternoon.
Mahomes left the Chiefs’ game against the Cleveland Browns with a concussion and neck injury last Sunday. He is currently following concussion protocol and could be back in training as early as Wednesday.
Chiefs head coach Andy Reid said Mahomes was feeling good and might have returned to the game in Sunday’s game had it not been for the protocol the NFL put in place. However, if the rules of the NFL are well respected, it is neither the Chiefs nor Mahomes who will make the decision, but rather the doctors. Most of the time, players who have a concussion must be absent for their next game.
In an interview with TMZ, which was discussed on profootballtalk.com, former quarterback Brett Favre seemed to believe Mahomes would likely miss the game if protocol was followed to the letter.
“It’s a test for the NFL right now. He is a star player in a crucial game, we will see the decision that will be taken. The protocol is in place. We’ll see if they (the league and the Chiefs) follow him, ”Favre commented.
If he misses the game, Mahomes will be replaced by Chad Henne.
Watson traded shortly?
PHOTO TROY TAORMINA, USA TODAY SPORTS
Deshaun Watson
What’s been going on with the Houston Texans since the end of the season is getting stranger and stranger. And Deshaun Watson’s future with this team seems more and more uncertain.
According to information reported by several US media, the Texans have ignored the recommendations of the firm they themselves had hired to help them find their next CEO. Hired on January 7, Nick Caserio was not one of the five candidates selected by the firm in question.
Caserio had been with the New England Patriots since 2001 and had been their director of player personnel since 2008. He has long been considered Bill Belichick’s right-hand man when it comes to player personnel.
It is rumored that it was Jack Easterby who convinced Texans owner Cal McNair to offer Caserio the GM position. Easterby and Caserio have known each other in the Patriots. In all likelihood, Caserio’s coming to Texas actually allowed Easterby to keep his job with the organization.
Easterby is a former chaplain who had become the Texans’ interim general manager when Bill O’Brien was fired this fall. Caserio has indicated that Easterby will have a role with the team, but that he will not be involved in decisions affecting football.
Easterby would not be unanimous, and it is certainly questionable whether he is not part of the problem in Deshaun Watson’s eyes. The 25-year-old quarterback has yet to ask to be formally traded, but if we are to believe the many rumors that have been circulating over the past two weeks, that would be his preference.
On Monday, Texans supporters voiced their discontent as they walked the streets of Houston. They thus expressed their wish to see Watson remain with the team.
The Texans still haven’t hired their new head coach. They took too long to ask permission from the Chiefs to interview their offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy, which they could have done during the Chiefs’ break week before the first playoff round. They will now have to wait until the Chiefs have finished their season before they can do so.
They say Watson would love to see Bieniemy come with the Texans… if he stays with the team. Watson is under contract for the next five seasons and can refuse any deal. But there is usually no smoke without fire, and rumors of a trade persist.
The Miami Dolphins and New York Jets are two of the teams that come up most often in rumors. Presumably a trade with the Dolphins would involve Tua Tagovailoa.
The Jets have two first-round picks in April, including the second in total, and two more in 2022. They recently hired Robert Saleh, the former 49 defensive coordinator.ers of San Francisco, as head coach. They are also the favorites to get Watson in a possible exchange according to the different online betting sites.
When he was hired two weeks ago, Caserio said Watson was the Texans quarterback, but that statement didn’t change the speculation. In a Twitter post on Tuesday, Watson essentially said he needed to be patient, without specifying whether he was talking about the Texans, Bieniemy, or a possible deal.
If the Texans agreed to part with Watson, the list of interested teams would be long. Patriots, Pittsburgh Steelers, Denver Broncos, Las Vegas Raiders, Team Washington, Philadelphia Eagles, New Orleans Saints, 49ers San Francisco, Los Angeles Rams and Chicago Bears are other clubs who might at the very least be intrigued by the possibility of getting their hands on the former Heisman Trophy winner.
New general managers
Four teams have hired new head coaches since the end of the regular season while three others are still looking for the right candidate. In addition to the Texans, the Philadelphia Eagles and Detroit Lions have yet to fill their head coaching positions.
As was the case with the Jacksonville Jaguars and New York Jets with Urban Meyer and Robert Saleh, the Los Angeles Chargers and the Atlanta Falcons opted for candidates who had never been drivers in the NFL.
The Chargers reached an agreement with Brandon Staley on Sunday as the Falcons bet on Arthur Smith, a nomination that was made public on Saturday.
Staley’s rise has been meteoric, he who will have served as the Rams ‘defensive coordinator for only one season, in 2020. If he is able to improve the Chargers’ defense as he managed to do. Among the Rams, Staley could find success quickly. Justin Herbert quickly established himself as one of the good young quarterbacks in the NFL so the Chargers’ offense should be a force next season.
PHOTO DOUG MURRAY, ARCHIVES ASSOCIATED PRESS
New Los Angeles Chargers head coach Brandon Staley.
Smith was the offensive coordinator for the Tennessee Titans since 2019. The 38-year-old son of billionaire Fred Smith, the founder of the FedEx company.
The Falcons also announced that they had hired Terry Fontenot as GM on Tuesday. Fontenot, 40, had been employed by the Saints of New Orleans for 18 years. He worked in the marketing department upon joining the team and had been assistant general manager Mickey Loomis for a year.
In Washington, the new GM will be Marty Hurney, who hired Ron Rivera as the Carolina Panthers head coach 10 years ago. Rivera has led the Washington team for a year.
A former sports reporter, Hurney had covered the Washington team for the Washington Times for a few seasons before being hired by it. He was the Panthers GM on two occasions and was dismissed by that team in December.
Thomas under the knife
PHOTO BRETT DUKE, ASSOCIATED PRESS
Michael thomas
Michael Thomas did not catch a pass during the elimination of the New Orleans Saints on Sunday, and we understand a little better why. With an ankle injury early in the season, Thomas was playing despite torn ligaments. The wide-area winger will have to undergo surgery soon.
The news is better in the case of Antonio Brown, who injured a knee in the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ win over the Saints. According to Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network, the injury would be minor and Brown should be able to make the National Conference final. The Packers will host the Buccaneers on Sunday (3 p.m.) in Green Bay.
