Justin Fields doesn’t know whether he’ll get a chance to start games for the Chiefs or not this season, but the quarterback sees upside to being in Kansas City either way.
Fields was acquired in a trade with the Jets last month to give the Chiefs an experienced option as Patrick Mahomes makes his way back from a torn ACL. It’s unclear if Mahomes will be ready for Week 1, but Fields said on Tuesday that he is excited about “a new start, the tradition here, the culture here” as well as the chance to learn from his new teammate and head coach Andy Reid while filling any role on the roster.
“Just the winning, to be honest,” Fields said, via Nate Taylor of ESPN.com. “We of course knew of each other, but we really didn’t communicate before coming here. I’m excited to learn from [Mahomes]. I’m already kind of picking his brain a little bit and just observing how he goes about things in the meeting rooms, field and stuff like that. I’m excited, of course, to work with Coach Reid and [offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy] and all the guys on offense.”
Fields hasn’t done much winning over the course of his NFL career, so that would be a different experience even if it comes on the bench rather than the field. It would also mark a quick turnaround for a Chiefs team that finds itself in the unusual position of coming off of a losing season.
Chiefs wide receiver Nikko Remigio signed his exclusive rights tender on Monday, according to the NFL’s transactions report.
Remigio, 26, signed with the Chiefs as an undrafted free agent in 2023, and he played games for the team the past two seasons. He has seen action on 70 offensive snaps and 147 on special teams in 19 games, with one start.
He has totaled four touches for 80 yards and 40 kickoff returns for a 25.9-yard average.
Remigio played 14 games last season.
As the Chiefs get their offseason program started, quarterback Patrick Mahomes remains on the mend from his torn ACL.
Head coach Andy Reid said on Monday that Mahomes continues to make progress in his recovery, but the team is going to be cautious.
“He goes to meetings, he can lift, do all of that, rehab,” Reid said, via transcript from the team. “That’s the phase he is in right now, so we will just see — play it by ear and see where he is at.
“He’s doing great, but we just have to be smart with this thing.”
At the league meeting, Reid noted that the Chiefs will defer to the medical experts when it comes to Mahomes’ timeline after he suffered the season-ending knee injury in December. There’s a chance Mahomes could be ready for the start of the season — or even training camp — but Kansas City has been careful not to put out a public timeline.
The Chiefs are bringing back their punter for 2026.
Via Ian Rapoport of NFL Network, the club is re-signing Matt Araiza to a one-year deal.
Araiza, 25, has been Kansas City’s punter for the last two seasons. He averaged 47.6 yards per punt last season, maintaining the role for all 17 games.
In 2024, Araiza averaged 48.8 yards per punt with 25 of his 62 punts downed inside the 20-yard line.
The World Cup is coming soon. And it’s quickly becoming a pain in the posterior for the 13 teams playing in stadiums that will be commandeered for intercontinental soccer.
Ben Fischer of Sports Business Journal recently reviewed some of the practical impacts of FIFA bigfooting the various venues where fútbol will be played. This week, for example, the Jets and Giants will move their annual draft parties away from MetLife Stadium to Manhattan.
In all, 13 teams are impacted by the World Cup: the Cowboys, Jets, Giants, Falcons, Chiefs, Texans, 49ers, Chargers, Rams, Eagles, Seahawks, Patriots, and Dolphins.
For the teams that have employees at the stadiums hosting World Cup games, many will be moved. Those who are staying put will be subject to FIFA credentialing to get into their workplaces. And the Giants will start training camp in West Virginia, since MetLife Stadium will be hosting the final match on July 19 on a grass field that will need to be removed and replaced with one of the worst artificial surfaces in the entire league.
That last part still has to be the most galling for NFL players. Owners with stadiums that don’t have grass have bent over backwards to do whatever had to be done to placate FIFA. Their regular employees, however, will still be stuck with a lesser (and far cheaper) playing surface.
The various sacrifices involuntarily made by the players and other team employees should prompt FIFA to give them all a phony, made-up award. Especially since FIFA has already done that, for far less.
