The Kansas City Chiefs have agreed to deals with wide receiver Sammy Watkins and middle linebacker Anthony Hitchens Jamaal Williams Jersey , filling two of their most glaring needs on the eve of free agency.
The 24-year-old Watkins intends to sign a $48 million, three-year contract with $30 million in guarantees, while the 25-year-old Hitchens agreed to a five-year deal, two people familiar with their decisions told The Associated Press on Tuesday.
The people spoke on condition of anonymity because the contracts, along with several other moves made by Kansas City, cannot become official until the start of the free agency Wednesday afternoon.
The Chiefs have been looking for a playmaking wide receiver to pair with speedster Tyreek Hill since last offseason, but resorted to using Chris Conley in the role. Then Conley went down with a season-ending injury, robbing the Chiefs of their No. 2 wide receiver and forcing journeyman Albert Wilson into a more substantial role in their West Coast offense.
But questions persist about Conley's health and long-term upside, and Wilson has agreed to a free-agent deal with the Miami Dolphins, leaving the Chiefs in the market for a wide receiver.
Watkins was considered one of the premier talents on the market.
The 2014 fourth overall pick of the Buffalo Bills spent last season with the Los Angeles Rams, where he caught 39 passes for 593 yards and eight touchdowns. And while he seems far removed from his best season in 2015, when he caught 60 passes for 1,047 yards and nine scores in a season shorted by injury, the Chiefs undoubtedly believe Watkins has yet to reach his ceiling.
It would help matters if he stayed healthy. Along with a calf strain and ankle sprain that season Oren Burks Jersey , he's had hip issues in the past, and missed eight games in 2016 with a fractured left foot.
Buffalo decided to decline its fifth-year option on Watkins after all the injuries, and wound up sending him to the Rams last August for cornerback E.J. Gaines and a draft pick.
On defense, the Chiefs have been trying to get younger across the board, releasing cornerstone linebackers Derrick Johnson and Tamba Hali and shuffling their defensive backfield.
Hitchens, who The Kansas City Star reported will make about $9 million per season, would fill Johnson's spot alongside Reggie Ragland in the middle of the defense. The 2014 fourth-round pick had 84 tackles in only 12 starts last season, when a knee injury sidelined him the first four games.
Hitchens also had a couple of pass deflections and nine tackles for a loss, and showed flashes of the same kind of instincts that made Johnson the Chiefs' career tackles leader.
Watkins and Hitchens are expected to sign their contracts Wednesday, when the new league year means the Chiefs can finally consummate their agreed-upon trades sending quarterback Alex Smith to the Washington Redskins and cornerback Marcus Peters to the Rams.
The Chiefs will get cornerback Kendall Fuller and a draft pick back from Washington and two picks back from Los Angeles, allowing them to restock with younger players through the draft.
Kansas City intends to turn its starting quarterback job over to Patrick Mahomes II, whom former general manager John Dorsey traded up to select 10th overall last year. Mahomes dazzled during training camp and was dynamic in a Week 17 start against Denver, when the Chiefs were already assured of the AFC West title and their playoff positioning, allowing Smith to take the week off.
That performance against the Broncos is what made the Chiefs comfortable moving on from Smith Josh Doctson Jersey , who had a career season that made him coveted by several other teams in the trade market.
Portland’s Damian Lillard says he likes the first-round matchup against the Pelicans, but in almost the same breath he lists the reasons why New Orleans is dangerous.
After splitting their four regular-season meetings, the third-seeded Blazers and sixth-seeded Pelicans open the playoffs Saturday night at the Moda Center.
”They stole one from us here, and we felt like that was a game that we should have had. We had a bad third quarter,” Lillard said. ”But they have Anthony Davis, Jrue Holiday, Rondo, E’Twaun Moore, they’ve got a lot of guys that make them a dangerous team.”
The Blazers won the season’s first meeting with New Orleans, 103-93, back in October. But two months later the Pelicans beat the Blazers 123-116 in Portland without Davis. DeMarcus Cousins had 38 points and New Orleans extended its lead to as many as 18 points in the third quarter.
The Pelicans lost Cousins for the season because of an Achilles injury in January, and many thought the team’s playoff hopes were over. Instead, New Orleans rallied, going 21-13 the rest of the way and ending the season on a five-game winning streak.
”We were just starting to find our groove before he went out and when he got hurt it kind of pushed us back Le'Raven Clark Jersey ,” Davis said. ”We were trying to figure out how we wanted to play, and then we figured it out and were able to push through it.”
Davis stepped up in Cousins’ absence, averaging 30.4 points and 11.8 rebounds.
”When Cousins went down, everybody kind of wrote them off and they’ve done a great job of really competing since then,” Blazers coach Terry Stotts said. ”Anthony Davis has been an outstanding player. It’s been a tough matchup for us, games are close.”
Lillard, who goes into the game averaging 26.9 points, had 41 points in the final meeting of the season with the Pelicans, a 107-103 Blazers win in New Orleans.
”Dame had a hell of a game, but it’s playoffs and you can put everything behind what happened before,” Stotts said. ”The playoffs is a different animal.”
Other things to watch as the Blazers and Pelicans begin their playoff series:
GUESSING THE BEARD ISN’T COMING BACK: The Pelicans acquired Nikola Mirotic in a trade after Cousins went out. He initially joined the squad as a sixth man and was inconsistent. But late this season, he shaved his beard, joined the starting lineup and he’s been thriving ever since, scoring no fewer than 21 points in a game during the Pelicans’ season-ending five-game winning streak.
LUCKY THIRTEEN: The Blazers went on a 13-game winning streak Mitch Unrein Jersey , starting with a victory over Golden State just before the All-Star break that boosted their playoff position. And despite their late four-game losing streak, the Blazers still finished 49-33 and clinched the Northwest Division title. ”We would have liked to have a 50-win season but you can’t complain about a division championship or 49 wins,” Lillard said.
ROAD COURT ADVANTAGE: The Pelicans were just as good on the road (24-17) as they were at home (24-17). ”On the road we’ve been really, really good at just locking in and giving ourselves an opportunity to come up with wins … That’s what you have to do in order to be a playoff team,” coach Alvin Gentry said.
HIGH MILEAGE: CJ McCollum topped the NBA for the most miles on the court this season with 218. It was the third straight season he’s led the league in the stat. Jrue Holiday is No. 2 overall with 211.40 miles.
GOING FORWARD: Game 2 is set for Tuesday before swinging to New Orleans for games on Thursday and the following Saturday. The ”if necessary” games go like this: Tuesday, April 24, in Portland; Thursday, April 26, in New Orleans; and Saturday, April 28, back in Portland.
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