Latest details on Chiefs’ medical emergency, plus three teams that tried to trade for Justin Jefferson

Welcome to the Friday edition of the Pick Six newsletter!

It’s National Donut Day, which I only mention because it’s my favorite day of the year. The New York Jets celebrated the holiday with a donut stacking challenge (you you can see here). I’m celebrating the holiday by eating a donut every hour until the end of the day or until I explode, whichever comes first. Hopefully not the second.

Anyway, let’s get to today’s summary.

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1. Chiefs player hospitalized after suffering medical emergency

The Chiefs were forced to cancel all team activities on Thursday after a player suffered a medical emergency. Here are the details of what happened:

• BJ Thompson goes into cardiac arrest. Thompson, a reserve defensive lineman, suffered a seizure that sent him into cardiac arrest during a special teams meeting, according to NFL Media. According to multiple reports, the Chiefs’ coaches and medical staff responded immediately to the situation, which allowed Thompson to quickly receive the treatment he needed.
• Thompson has not yet regained consciousness. The latest update on the situation comes from Thompson’s agent, Chris Turnage, who had this to say just before midnight on Thursday, “BJ is still unconscious at this time, but he is stable and vital signs are good. His family asks for your continued prayers.”
• Chiefs players were sent home on Thursday. The Chiefs were expected to hold their final OTA session of the offseason on Thursday, but instead, Andy Reid decided to send everyone home. All of yesterday’s activities have been postponed until Friday, so the team will be back on the field today for an OTA session.

While this is a horrible situation, Turnage told ESPN that doctors at the hospital are optimistic about Thompson’s recovery. Thompson is in his second year with the Chiefs after being selected in the fifth round of the 2023 NFL Draft. He played one game during his rookie season.

2. Each team’s most notable offseason loss

During the NFL off-season, every team’s goal is to get better, but let’s ignore that entirely right now and just talk about how each team got worse. Tyler Sullivan has bounced around all 32 NFL teams and has had a notable personnel loss each team has suffered this offseason.

Let’s take a look at 10 of the notable losses that made Sulley’s list:

Crows: LB Patrick Queen
Browns: Bill Callahan (offensive line coach)
Invaders: RB Josh Jacobs
Jaguars: WR Calvin Ridley
Bosses: CB L’Jarius Sneed
Rams: DL Aaron Donald (retired)
Patriots: Bill Belichick (head coach)
Eagles: C Jason Kelce (retired)
Cardinals: WR Marquise Brown
Bears: QB Justin Campos

To check out our full story, Click here.

3. Ranking the NFL’s 12 new QB-WR duos for 2024

With Stefon Diggs being traded to the Houston Texans this year, that means he will now catch passes from CJ Stroud. With Diggs in Houston, it won’t be a surprise if Stroud surpasses his impressive rookie season that saw him lead the Texans to the playoffs.

Stroud and Diggs are just one example of a QB and WR duo that will play together for the first time this year. With so many new pairs playing together for the first time, Jordan Dajani of CBSSports.com decided to rank the best new QB-WR duos in the NFL this year.

Let’s take a look at their main three:

1. CJ Stroud and Stefon Diggs (Texans). “Diggs has crossed 1,000 receiving yards in each of the last six seasons and caught at least 103 passes in all four seasons with Buffalo. I’m not sure Diggs was signed to be the unquestioned No. 1 in Houston, but he’s been one of most notable “No. 1 wideouts” in the NFL for nearly a decade, and now he’s paired with a young talent in Stroud.”

2. Kyler Murray and Marvin Harrison Jr. (Cardinals). “Murray has its new No. 1 wide receiver in Harrison, and he will be bombarded with targets immediately. The two-time Unanimous All-American recorded the most receiving yards (2,474) and receiving touchdowns (28) in a two-year period in history from the state of Ohio.”

3. Kirk Cousins ​​and Drake London (Falcons). “The cousins ​​helped Jefferson and Jordan Addison run prolific campaigns at Minnesota, which is what the Falcons hope will happen with London and Kyle Pitts.”

If you want to check out the full list of 12 Dajani duos, don’t forget to click here.

4. A burning question for every AFC East team

The newsletter has been on fire this week, mainly because we’ve been asking a lot of burning questions (Dude, that was a lame joke. I’m sorry). Over the past few days, we’ve been scouring the NFL to take a look at the biggest question each team needs to answer before the 2024 season begins. We’ve analyzed each team by division, and today we’ll look at the AFC East.

Here’s a burning question that Tyler Sullivan presented to each team:

• Bills: Is Keon Coleman ready for a heavy workload? “The club let Gabe Davis walk as a free agent and then they pulled off a stunning trade that sent Stefon Diggs out of town to Houston. That leaves the cupboard pretty bare with Buffalo’s receiver depth chart. With Diggs and Davis gone, That puts 241 targets up for grabs from last season. Of course, those veterans along with tight end Dalton Kincaid (91 targets last season) will likely take a chunk out of that target, but Coleman will have the opportunity to take the lion’s share.
• Dolphins: When will Tua Tagovailoa’s contract extension come? “The 26-year-old is coming off the best season of his career in 2023, where he set records in passing touchdowns (29) and completion percentage (69.3), while also leading the league in passing yards (4,624) . Are the Dolphins willing to back up the Brink truck after that season and be the last team to hand a quarterback a monster extension or do they want to see Tagovailoa replicate what they saw in 2023 before tagging him and extending him next spring ?
• Jets: Will Aaron Rodgers bounce back in Year 2 with the Jets? “Yes, he’s an all-time great quarterback, a first-ballot Hall of Fame inductee, but he’s also a 40-year-old man coming off a torn Achilles tendon. He said at Jets OTAs that he feels “90% myself and 10% are not sure what is happening to various parts of my body. “If that’s the case, a 90% version of Aaron Rodgers is better than any quarterback the Jets have had under center in decades and should contend for the playoffs.”
• Patriots: Who will be the starting left tackle? “The team signed former Steeler Chukwuma Okorafor as a free agent and drafted Caedan Wallace in the third round of the NFL Draft out of Penn State. Okorafor was primarily a right tackle throughout his time in the NFL and Wallace was also predominantly on the right side at the collegiate level, then either of them will go through a major transition, reversing positions. This will be a central storyline during training camp and could be directly tied to when we see Maye on the field.

To read Sullivan’s full response to each question, don’t forget to click here.

5. Three teams called the Vikings about a possible Justin Jefferson trade

The Vikings insisted all offseason that they would not trade Justin Jefferson, but that didn’t stop other teams from trying to make a deal. During the most recent episode of “The Adam Schefter Podcast,” the ESPN reporter revealed that three different teams called the Vikings about the possibility of making a deal.

So who were these teams? I’m glad you asked. Let’s check the list.

• 49ers. This one is wild. On the one hand, they already have a reception room full of Brandon Aiyuk and Deebo Samuel, but let’s not forget that there were plenty of speculation before the project that the 49ers could try to trade one or both of their wideouts. This speculation would make even more sense if the 49ers were trying to clear cap space to add Jefferson.
• Jets. The Jets are bulking up their roster to make a possible Super Bowl run with Aaron Rodgers, so it’s not a total shock to learn that they called the Vikings to see if Jefferson was available.
• Colts. After giving Michael Pittman Jr. a long-term deal, adding that Jefferson would have given the Colts one of the best 1-2 punches in the NFL and that would instantly make them a contender in the AFC South.

Although each team came up empty in Jefferson trades, all three ended up adding a receiver in the 2024 NFL Draft. The 49ers picked Ricky Pearsall in the first round, the Colts took Adonai Mitchell in the second round and the Jets traded up to take Malachi Corley in the third round. Clearly, all three teams were in search of a playmaker and proved it in the draft.

You can read our full story on the Jefferson trade rumors here.

6. Bonus points: part of the Eagles could be for sale soon

It’s been a busy 24 hours in the NFL, and since it’s nearly impossible to keep up with everything that happened, I went ahead and put together a recap for you.

• Jeffrey Lurie may sell minority stake in Eagles. The Eagles’ owner is exploring the possibility of selling a minority stake in the team, and one interested buyer could be Philadelphia’s Rob McElhenney. You can get the Full details on the situation here.
• Randy Gregory suing NFL and Broncos. The Buccaneers defensive end is fighting back after receiving more than $500,000 in fines during his career. Most of the fines were marijuana-related and Gregory claims he needed THC to treat social anxiety disorder and PTSD. Gregory is essentially arguing that he has a disability and that the NFL and the Broncos should not have punished him for trying to treat his disability. You You can check out the full story here.
• Seahawks add a quarterback. The Seahawks QB room got a little more crowded after the team decided to sign PJ Walker on Thursday. The 29-year-old, who spent time with the Browns and Panthers, is now the third QB on Seattle’s roster, along with Sam Howell and Geno Smith.
• Anthony Richardson dealing with shoulder pain. The Colts’ starting QB, who missed nearly his entire rookie season with a shoulder injury, is now dealing with a problem in the same shoulder. Colts coach Shane Steichen confirmed on Thursday that Richardson is still dealing with shoulder pain. That may not be an issue now, but if Richardson still has shoulder issues when training camp begins, it will put the Colts in an unenviable situation.
• Wes Welker explains why he didn’t attend Tom Brady’s roast. The Dolphins assistant coach was invited to the roast but declined. “I wasn’t asked to emcee. I was asked to sit off to the side and get roasted, which I’m glad I wasn’t there. To each their own, I guess,” Welker said. The five-time Pro Bowler, who spent six seasons with Brady in New England, also said he was “disappointed” with what the roast turned into. You You can read more about Welker’s comments here.