Chargers
Chargers GM Tom Telesco praised impending free agent LB Drue Tranquill for his performance this season but wouldn’t elaborate on whether they plan to re-sign him.
“Drue had a tremendous year, as a player, as a leader for us. I know when we drafted him we felt like he had the ability to be a captain for us in time. And that’s kind of what he is. He’s just a great leader, great feel, represents our team really, really well. But plays well, as well. So we have a lot of puzzle pieces to kind of work in this year to try and figure out what’s the best makeup of our team going into next year,” said Daniel Popper of The Athletic.
Telesco said that they would like to add “some speed” to their receivers group.
“I like our group of receivers. I would love to have some speed there. We’ll see how that kind of works out,” Telesco said. “There’s different ways to be able to improve there. Some of it is by just pure speed talent. But I think we have some guys that can do that in different roles. And then schematically, as well. But it’s definitely something that we need to add to our repertoire as far being able to get down the field just a little bit more.”
When asked if it is “tempting” to cut WR Keenan Allen in order to create cap space, Telesco responded that he’s not tempted to make any moves with Allen and would rather have “good players” than a lot of salary cap room.
“It’s not tempting to me,” Telesco said. “Good players make money. I’d rather have a lot of good players on a roster than a lot of cap space.”
Patrick Mahomes
Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes was visibly upset on the sidelines after suffering what appeared to be a serious ankle injury. Though he finished out the series, the Chiefs wouldn’t let him back in the game until he’d had an X-ray to confirm nothing was broken. He got that confirmation and returned in the second half to help the Chiefs put away the Jaguars to advance to the AFC title game.
“I’m not coming out of a playoff game unless they take me out,” Mahomes said via the Athletic’s Nate Taylor. “I love this sport too much. I’m glad that I was able to get back in the game. I just love competing in this sport.”
- Mahomes said they haven’t diagnosed anything specific for his ankle injury “but I’ll be good to go” for next week’s AFC championship game. (Jonathan Jones)
Chiefs
Chiefs backup QB Chad Henne was thrust into the game when QB Patrick Mahomes suffered an ankle injury in their win over the Jaguars on Saturday, drawing praise from HC Andy Reid.
“I don’t know if it’s just like riding a bike, but you’re always prepared,” Henne said, via Jared Sapp of ArrowheadPride.com. “I think with this offense — obviously [with] all the weapons that we have — and just staying prepared each and every moment, I think you stay ready. When your number is called, you just go in there and do what you did in practice [and] in the meeting rooms and just take it to the game.”
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