(Image/ © Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images)

By: Lucas Kochevar

1. The Magic Continues

When I say magic, I mean devil magic. The way everything has fallen into place for this midwest market team is insane. It can only be described as magic. What are the odds that the winningest coach in franchise history would walk to them after being fired by the team they’re facing in the Super Bowl? What are the odds that a two-star recruit, who partied all the time, would turn into one of the best tight ends of all-time? What are the odds that a player on the trajectory for the best quarterback of all-time at age 29 would fall to them at the 10th pick? 

Andy Reid, Travis Kelce and Patrick Mahomes are the common denominators for this run and all three easily could’ve been in different places. What if Reid stays one more year in Philly? What if Reid never takes the flier on Travis after his brother went to bat for him? What if the Bills never traded that 10th pick that landed Mahomes?

There are so many scenarios and what-ifs involved with how this dynasty fell into place. It feels like something that can only happen when you make a deal with the devil. No matter what you call it, the Chiefs always win within the margins. Although I joke they play with magic, it truly is the sign of a team that’s been in big moments time after time. They’re always ready for those big moments because of the foundational guys I mentioned earlier. Reid and his staff have them prepared for almost anything and guys step up. Kelce always comes up with the big 3rd down catch. Lastly, Mahomes will scamper for the game-sealing first down. It’s truly maddening for someone playing against them. The devil magic continuing as the ball bounces their way would be a way KC can win this game
 
2. Saquon Barkley Loses his Legs

It’s hard to say whether the Eagles are geniuses or the Giants are complete buffoons. Why can’t it be both? He’s been unbelievable and he’s being paid well below what his value is to Philadelphia. He’s only been held under 100 yards four times this season. The Chiefs cannot let him get loose, especially on the first play of the game like he did in the NFC Championship. 

If Barkley is found by Eagles staffers with his legs broken and a Giants-themed pipe on the ground, I don’t think the Chiefs would cry for him. I’m not saying Giants fans would do that, but hypothetically, if Giants owner John Mara stayed in the same hotel as Barkley and the Eagles, I could see it. A late, sleepless night as the “most popular player” in franchise history is about to be the key to your rival winning the Super Bowl? It would drive me crazy as an owner. I can’t imagine the Giants will do the off-season Hard Knocks anytime soon again. 

3. Patrick Mahomes

Have you guys heard of this Mahomes guy? It could be a hot take, but I think he’s pretty good. I’d love to see Mahomes play with a team of 52 other players that are about to retire. A team that has Mahomes, Adrian Peterson, Julio Jones and more future hall of famers would be very funny to watch as he tries to win them a ring. It would be a great test to see how great this guy is. Seriously, as long as you have Mahomes, the window is open. Super Bowl windows are unbelievably hard to keep open, look at the Bengals. Mahomes is the exception and as long as KC has him, they can win the Super Bowl.

Image/Macomb Daily

By: Lucas Kochevar

The college monster was eating me alive, but like Adrian Peterson after his ACL injury, I rise from the ashes to give my MVP level thoughts on things happening around the league. When I started thinking this blog out, I wondered 'Where would I start with all the news thats happened?' and with a scowl on my face, looking at my Falcons gear, I figured I should start with my team. I touched on the issue with what the Falcons did on the latest episode of Koch's Corner but I should reiterate it here. The issue is the Falcons brass and how they handled the situation. Kirk Cousins made a smart move taking a four year deal that guarantees his money towards the end of his career. Michael Penix Jr. doesn't control where he's drafted and impressed the Falcons like any young quarterback should try to do in the draft process.

The Falcons top resources were essentially all spent on the quarterback position, which makes sense for a team that died last year because of the quarterback. Still, the issue comes with the idea that you're supposed to be in win now mode. The team made the win now move clearly by signing Cousins, but still opted for a long term idea in drafting Penix. It's conflicting ideologies from a front office that doesn't deserve the benefit of the doubt. The Ravens drafted Lamar Jackson while having Joe Flacco. The Chiefs drafted Mahomes while having Alex Smith. The Packers drafted Aaron Rodgers while having Brett Favre. They even doubled down on this philosophy when drafting Jordan Love when they had Rodgers. I bring up all these examples since these are the situations people in media and the front office are comparing with the Falcons.

The difference in these moves versus what the Falcons did, those franchises are models of stability that have shown they can figure out how to win at the moment and plan for the future. The Ravens, Chiefs and Packers are all top five in games won since 2010 and the Falcons just aren't that franchise at this point in time. It scares me because the noise around the Falcons front office guys being anti-Belichick was for them to save their jobs, since the front office was likely going to be cleared out if the Hall of Fame coach was hired. Is drafting a quarterback just a strategy to keep their jobs for another five years at least? Or was it a legitimate thought to build the best possible team on the field? These are just a few questions that keep me up at night involving the Falcons. 

As you can tell, I have many thoughts on it, but I'll save those until the season when we see how the dynamic plays out. Moving on to more relevant and recent news, the Lions signed Jared Goff to an extension, which is very cool. Goff has quickly become a fan favorite in Detroit since he exemplifies that Detroit tough attitude after he was seemingly thrown away by the Rams. Looking back on that trade, it's easy to say that looks like a win-win trade. The Rams won a Super Bowl and the Lions are in the contender realm of teams. It's rare to have two teams that can sit back and feel good about a deal of this magnitude. The Lions are sitting pretty now but the pressure is on to compete for Super Bowls. They've drafted amazing, they've started to pay those guys and paying Goff seems like the cherry on top for their Super Bowl aspiration sundae.

It'll be intriguing to see how the Lions keep competing in the NFC and their division. Their division should be very interesting. I touched on the Lions recent success, but the Packers could quickly come back to dominate the division with Jordan Love.  The Bears and Vikings have rookie quarterbacks and who knows how that could go. The NFC North will be super intriguing to watch this year and I'll talk about how it stacks up with the other divisions around the league in the coming weeks. 

By Lucas Kochevar

In a draft class as loaded as this one, the wide receiver market has been brutal. Out of 72 active free agents, only 28 guys have signed and four of those contracts have been multi-year deals over $10 million. Similar to the slow moving baseball free agency, these wide receivers will likely have to wait until after the draft. My quick scouting thoughts on this year's wide receiver class: They’re good. 

Marvin Harrison Jr. has been a generational prospect for years and he’s starting to get that prospect fatigue that Caleb Williams is suffering from. Rome Odunze is a star in my eyes that can do it all. Malik Nabers and Brian Thomas Jr. can become a similar NFL duo to Odell Beckham Jr. and Jarvis Landry. Plus there’s many other guys that can slip into that first round like AD Mitchell, Ladd McConkey and Keon Coleman. 

All these names could be key members of winning teams in the future, but what about the present? The four guys that I mentioned earlier with contracts above $10 million include Calvin Ridley, Gabe Davis, Darnell Mooney and Curtis Samuel. I like all of these players, but I’m not a fan of their contracts. I don’t say this as a slight to the players at all. Good for them and good for their agents, but the contracts seem a little rich for my blood, especially when you consider the circumstances around them. This is easy to say in the moment as sticker price will always scare fans at first glance. There's a chance these deals look like steals in three years.

First, the Titans and Ridley. Tennessee wanted to give Will Levis as many weapons as they could as Ridley is a productive receiver. In his first season since his gambling suspension, Ridley put up over 1,000 yards and eight touchdowns. His contract hits for four years and $92 million. It’s a lot of money for a 29-year old receiver but it’s also a lot when you consider they had a similar offer on the table for a younger receiver named A.J. Brown, who is thriving with the Eagles. Once again, Ridley is good and productive, but getting close to his thirties and spending that much money on him scares me to high heavens. 

The next guy on the list is Gabe Davis, who left Buffalo for Jacksonville. Davis is the quintessential home run or strikeout receiver. He’s either going for 150 yards and two touchdowns or he’s getting two catches for 12 yards. Davis is coming off his two best years as a pro, but he still hasn’t eclipsed 900 yards. His contract isn’t a crazy overpay or anything, but with the Jaguars already paying Christian Kirk and Evan Engram, it seems a little much. Darnell Mooney received the same contract from the Falcons and it seems crazy that Mooney got this amount, but when you look at his production it’s not that different from Davis. Davis clears Mooney in touchdowns, but when you remember that Davis had Josh Allen and Mooney was on the Bears, it makes sense. Once again, they’re not bad, but the sticker price looks worse than what it actually is. 

The last guy to receive a nice contract is Curtis Samuel with Buffalo. I like Samuel and it’s the reason why he tricks me in fantasy football every year. He dealt with injuries throughout his time in Washington, but he’s a shifty playmaker that might become the dynamic weapon we remember in Buffalo. Hollywood Brown in Kansas City is terrifying. He’s another home run hitter, but that’s all Kansas City needs him for. The Chiefs replacing Kadarius Toney for Hollywood seems like the scariest possible outcome for the league. The three-peat might be on the way for KC. Now it’s time for my new favorite thing to write, the one sentence summary of guys left in free agency. Fun fact, I wrote this earlier before Williams signed with the Jets, so I had to edit the first sentence. 

Mike Williams is a stud receiver and can catch contested balls with the best of them, but his ACL injury lands him a one-year prove it deal in New York. Hunter Renfrow has a big outlier season under his belt, but that seems more like a testament to how dysfunctional the Raiders offense was with Josh McDaniels. Odell Beckham Jr. continues his tour around the NFL as he’ll be on his fourth team in three seasons. Tyler Boyd and Josh Reynolds will be steals for whatever team decides to sign them because they do the little things better than most of the guys left in free agency. I was right about that fraud Michael Thomas as he sits in free agency with little interest. 

Image via Matt Ludtke, AP Photo

By Lucas Kochevar

The Atlanta Falcons made the biggest move of the day as they signed the best quarterback on the market. Kirk Cousins is an Atlanta Falcon. It’s shocking as a fan of the team. The rumors were swirling around the combine, but it still seemed far-fetched. As an Atlanta sports fan, I never celebrate until the clock hits zero. The Falcons haven’t officially announced the signing, so I’ll keep the champagne on ice for a little bit longer. Still, the Falcons have sent the message. They’re in win-now mode. 

The Falcons were, somehow, in position to win the NFC South by the end of the season, but they clearly weren’t going to. The quarterback play was the reason. There were other smaller variables that contributed to losing, but the erratic quarterback play is the biggest reason. Cousins is coming to Atlanta to be a steady player at the most important position. He’s coming off an achilles injury at age 35, but it’s important to remember that it’s not the dark ages and modern medicine does wonders. The Falcons still have some moves to make, but getting the quarterback out of the way is a major step forward. 

The other interesting quarterback domino to fall was Russell Wilson in Pittsburgh. I’m as skeptical as they come with Wilson. People have been asking “Why don’t people like Russ? He had productive stats!” My gut tells me the actions that others have taken with Wilson tell the story. The Seahawks never wanted to give Wilson free reign over the entire offense. They sold him off to Denver and made the playoffs with Wilson’s backup. Denver got him and flamed out horribly, Nathaniel Hackett shares the blame too. Lastly, there was the fiasco to end this last season with Sean Payton. 

Top decision makers in the NFL act on their egos a lot and it wouldn’t shock me if the politics and egos were the reason Wilson had a turbulent couple of years. That doesn’t absolve Wilson of being guilty. I say all that to highlight the downfall of Wilson and why he’s earning the veteran minimum in Pittsburgh. I think he’ll be fine in Pittsburgh, but fine doesn’t add Super Bowls to one of the most historically relevant franchises in history. If Wilson is the reason that Mike Tomlin has his first under-.500 season, I think he’ll be on the fast track to retirement. 

These are only a few of the moves that I found interesting at the beginning of free agency. There’s many more guys to highlight and teams that know a better path heading into the draft. 

Image via Steph Chambers/Getty Images

By Lucas Kochevar

The NFL season came to a conclusion this past week with the Chiefs winning their third Super Bowl in five years. The Chiefs dynasty will be looked back on and recollected as Patrick Mahomes’ dominance. 

Each year isn’t that simple. It took a hell of an effort for the Chiefs to power through this season. The worldwide distraction of Taylor Swift loomed large, but they didn’t let it shine too bright. The questions about the Chiefs receivers were asked every week, but they figured it out. The beginning of the season was even questionable as Chris Jones was a DNP-Contract Disputes in the first week. He came back on a one-year deal and had the biggest play on defense in the Super Bowl. 

The resilience of this Chiefs team should be studied by organizations for years to come, although no organization has number 15 at quarterback. That was an issue that came up week after week in the NFL. It wasn’t just the fact that no one had Mahomes, but even the guys they had at the helm, they lost due to injuries. Aaron Rodgers, Anthony Richardson, Justin Herbert, Joe Burrow, Kirk Cousins all got severely injured. That’s how we got the return of Joe Flacco, Deshaun Watson went down and somehow Flacco had a little bit of juice left in that arm. 

Flacco led one of the biggest losers in NFL history to the playoffs and we don’t have to talk about what followed that playoff berth. Speaking of losers, the Detroit Lions proved they weren’t the Lions that we’ve known for decades. Dan Campbell ended last season strong and the hype was enormous for this sleeping giant. They were even the opening night team that beat the eventual Super Bowl champion Chiefs. 

Their story from plucky underdog to being up 17 points in the NFC championship is a beacon of hope for any team. It’s a beacon that says “If you get the right head coach and build a culture, you can turn it around,” and you can point to Ben Johnson as the reason for their on-the-field success, but a football team spends way more time off the field than on. Speaking of head coaching changes, Bill Belichick and Pete Carroll are no longer leading their Super Bowl winning franchises so that’ll be a big change on the sidelines next season.

That’s just a fraction of what happened during the season, but where do we go from here? We go to the one place that gives us fans all the hope in the world: The NFL draft. The NFL combine starts in late Feb. and the league year officially starts Mar. 13, but many fans have been looking forward to April for months. Mainly, the Chicago Bears, who hold the No. 1 and No. 9 pick. The Bears will likely move on with Caleb Williams, but they have to mull that decision for weeks and weeks. Williams is the most talked about prospect since Trevor Lawrence, but will he even be good? Who knows. It’ll likely be a question we can answer in the next couple “NFL Year In-Review” posts.

By Lucas Kochevar

The San Francisco 49ers and Kansas City Chiefs are back in the big game and people are not happy. There are countless people that have expressed their displeasure with this year's Super Bowl and I have to ask, why? Separate everything off the field with these teams, you know that person I’m talking about, and this is an awesome matchup. You get to watch the best quarterback, best coaches, best tight ends, best defensive lineman and countless other All-Pro caliber players. 

The Chiefs and 49ers have both gone down different roads and they’re sporting very different looking teams, but they remain the same at their cores. The 49ers have been built with talented weapons and a defense that starts in the trenches. The Chiefs are a Mahomes-led machine that also works with a defense that has playmakers.

Still, the teams look very different. The 49ers had Jimmy Garoppolo at quarterback. They also had guys like Emmanuel Sanders, Raheem Mostert and the corpse of Richard Sherman. The Chiefs had a cast of characters too like Tyreek Hill, Tyrann Mathieu and the corpse of Terrell Suggs. Now we get to add in names like Christian McCaffrey, L’Jarius Sneed and Brandon Aiyuk. The 2020 Super Bowl was a fun game, but the 2024 Super Bowl should be even better.

The 49ers are looking at the biggest change since that last Super Bowl by adding in Brock Purdy at quarterback. Although Purdy hasn’t looked the best this postseason, he’s still an upgrade over Garoppolo and Garoppolo was a few inches short on winning that Super Bowl over the Chiefs. Purdy has a big challenge ahead of him with a great Chiefs defense, but in his second year as the starter, Purdy has faced many obstacles and the Chiefs will just be the next speed bump. 

Many people will be very mad if Purdy wins this Super Bowl. People love to have the scalding hot take about a quarterback that’s surrounded by an amazing team. It’s okay to say Purdy is good, while being next to the best players in the league. Purdy can be good and the 49ers can be amazing. They’re not mutually exclusive. Appreciate what this young quarterback is doing because there’s been a ton of super talented teams with young guys that never made the jump. 
I touched on the Chiefs dominance and how it’s been incredible to watch, but it should be reiterated that they’re run is up there amongst the best runs in the past twenty years. If there weren’t so many antics off the field with this team, the public would likely be more open to how amazing this run has been since Mahomes took over. The Chiefs are in a mode right now that’s hard to beat with a defense that’s held their opponents to 13.7 points per game in the playoffs. On top of that, the Chiefs are getting Travis Kelce’s best performance in the postseason. 

The Chiefs and 49ers are two of the league’s best over the past couple seasons and this meeting should be a fun one. Like most games in the NFL, it’ll likely come down to the two guys under center. Mahomes has been strong in these playoffs and it’s hard to see anyone stopping him. Purdy ended his last game on fire as he torched the Lions defense in the second half. I love the story of Purdy, but I have to go with Mahomes and the Chiefs. I’ll touch on this more on Koch’s Corner on Friday. See you guys there!