AFC Notes: Ashton Jeanty, Travis Kelce, Broncos, Chiefs, Raiders

Broncos

Broncos GM George Paton is looking forward to seeing what CB Kris Abrams-Draine can do in his second season with the team.

“He was probably the rookie that we felt was furthest behind after OTAs and the summer,” Paton said, via BroncosWire.com. “Then we got into training camp, and he kept making plays, and it just wasn’t too big for him. You saw that when we played the Chargers on Thursday night, and it wasn’t too big for him. He started making plays. He has unique cover skills, really good instincts, and he doesn’t get fazed. We’re really encouraged with him.”

Chiefs

Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes was asked about TE Travis Kelce potentially retiring at the end of the 2025 season and said that the future Hall of Famer is currently as excited as ever to be back on the field.

“If it’s the last ride, you would never know,” Mahomes said, via Pro Football Talk. “The way he’s talking about football, the way he’s talking about working and trying to be even better this year than he was last year, he doesn’t seem like a guy that it’s his last ride, like he’s tired of the job. He’s in here, he’s working. I know his body feels good. I think he feels better than last year before going into last season. I think he’s motivated to go out there and have an even better year than he had this last.”

Raiders

Raiders OC Chip Kelly clarified when asked about his adjustment of RB Ashton Jeanty‘s stance during his press conference on Thursday.

“Let’s get that clarified,” Kelly said, via Pro Football Talk. “Deland McCullough, our running back coach, is in charge of stances, steps, alignments, assignments, and techniques. So he talked to him about that. I gave him an analogy of an athlete being in a bent-knee position to make a play, and that kind of got blown into. I haven’t told anybody on this team to be in any stances because I don’t coach a position. But it’s a bent-knee game. [I]f you look at the batter before the ball snapped in baseball, or the pitcher throwing the baseball, everybody’s got their knees bent. In any athletic sport you’re playing, you’ve got to bend your knees. And if you’ve got to run a flat route on Fred Warner, you’d better be in a position to run, because that dude can fly. So, all we’re trying to do is put guys in positions to make plays.”

Kelly noted that he doesn’t feel like the three inches of adjustment to the stance are a big deal for such a talented running back.

“So, I don’t think it’s that big a deal,” Kelly continued. “But he’s awesome, and he’s such a coachable guy that you can do a lot of things with him. I think he can play in the slot, he can play in the backfield, he can do a lot of different things. So, he’s special. His ability to sustain runs after contact, his contact balance is kind of a really rare quality. He’s got a low center of gravity, and I think it’s tough to get him down, and normally the first guy doesn’t. I think sometimes you get caught up in just looking at the numbers, but I think it was like 35 missed tackles he created in the Penn State game. Now, Penn State’s defense, we played against them [at Ohio State], they’re outstanding. That was a little bit different league for Boise at that time, but not for Ashton in terms of what he did. So, excited to see him.”