Team news: Kansas City Chiefs | Page 56

The Texans traded for Brandin Cooks after trading DeAndre Hopkins. While Hopkins received a mega contract extension from the Cardinals on Tuesday, the Texans learned they made need a backup plan for Cooks for their season opener.

Two days before their game against the Chiefs, the Texans report Cooks did not practice. It raises a question about Cooks’ availability for Thursday.

The Texans will have Will Fuller, Randall Cobb and Kenny Stills as their top three receivers if Cooks can’t go. Cooks was limited on Monday with the quad injury.

The Browns are giving RB Kareem Hunt a 2-year, $13.25M extension, source said. Cleveland keeps him for 3 years, Hunt gets paid.

Related players: Nick Chubb

From Week 10 to Week 17, Hunt was the No. 19 running back with a 10.4 per game average (half-PPR) over the final eight weeks. He scored 1.9 fewer points per game than backfield mate Nick Chubb, and Chubb is going three rounds earlier. Hunt has top five upside if anything were to happen to Chubb, but he also comes with a fifth-round price tag. The Browns should be run-heavy under new HC Kevin Stefanski, and the team invested in the offensive line, which has the potential to become an elite unit in 2020. The one worry is that Hunt’s role will change for the worse under the new regime. Hunt has weekly value and high upside, so he’s a good target for those wanting to wait on the running back position, but aren’t willing to go full Zero RB.

The Cardinals are making star WR DeAndre Hopkins the highest paid non-QB ever, giving him a 2-year contract extension worth $54.5M in new money -- $27.25M per year. Hopkins, who did the deal himself, gets $42.75M guaranteed at signing.

With the move to Arizona, Hopkins' value stays relatively unchanged, possibly taking a small hit due to changing teams and a small downgrade at quarterback. On the bright side, the Cardinals try to play at a fast pace and as the offense improves, they should increase the total number of plays (22nd last year with 1,000), assuming the offense is able to stay on the field more often in 2020.

Eagles quarterback Carson Wentz was held out of practice last week because of what the team called a lower body injury, but head coach Doug Pederson suggested Wentz wouldn’t be doing much work anyway in what would typically be the week of the final preseason game.

“Yeah, I feel great now,” Wentz said, via PennLive.com. “I had a little groin tightness, and it was just a really good week to kind of just let it rest and take care of myself off the field, so I was out there today practicing, feeling great. So yeah, that’ll be behind me for sure.”

More importantly for the Eagles, Wentz also said that the issue was not going to affect him against Washington in Week 1.

The Athletic projects that Chiefs rookie RB Clyde Edwards-Helaire will split carries with teammate Darrel Williams early in the season.

The fantasy community has bought into the idea of Edwards-Helaire as an every-down back in Kansas City but this latest roster projection from The Athletic throws a bit of cold water on that idea, at least to start the year. It includes comments suggesting Darrel Williams is the team's best running back in pass protection, a crucial role in Andy Reid's offense. Edwards-Helaire is a dynamic talent and should command the majority of touches in the Kansas City backfield, but a substantial role for Williams would make it very difficult for the rookie to live up to his first-round ADP.

The Philadelphia Eagles had a surprise absence from practice starting on Monday: Quarterback Carson Wentz. A day after the team announced Wentz was sitting out for precautionary reasons amid a soft-tissue lower-body injury, coach Doug Pederson has attempted to quell concerns about the QB's status for the start of the 2020 season. Asked Tuesday about the severity of Wentz's injury, Pederson said the issue is "nothing major" and declared that Wentz will be "ready to go" for the Eagles' Sept. 13 opener against Washington.

Wentz does have some other issues, like injuries to WRs and offensive linemen in front of him. Wentz is still considered day-to-day but Peterson said the QB was in line for time off this week anyway.

JuJu Smith-Schuster looked the best among the group. He was targeted plenty by Ben Roethlisberger during Monday’s one-hour, 47-minute practice, which was heavy on situational periods, including two-minute, red-zone and goal-line drills. It wasn’t perfect, that’s for sure, but it did give a glimpse into a potential return to the form Smith-Schuster showed in his first two years with Roethlisberger.

Related players: Chase Claypool, Diontae Johnson

The Steelers were missing some key pieces on defense, the story said in fairness. But, it shouldn't go without noting it was another nice day for both Claypool and Johnson and the author thinks it's going to be a dangerous group to deal with this season.