The Chiefs agreed with wide receiver Marquez Valdes-Scantling on a $30 million, three-year contract to help replace the departed Tyreek Hill, a person familiar with the contract told the Associated Press Thursday.
The person spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because the deal was pending a physical.
The move came one day after the Chiefs traded Hill, a three-time All-Pro and one of the league’s most dangerous downfield threats, to the Dolphins for a package of five draft picks. It also comes less than a week after the Chiefs landed JuJu Smith-Schuster with a club-friendly, one-year deal in the hope that he’ll bounce back from a shoulder injury.
Valdes-Scantling was a fifth-round pick of the Packers in the 2018 draft, quickly becoming a useful option for quarterback Aaron Rodgers. He caught 123 passes for 2,153 yards and 13 touchdowns during his first four seasons in the league, appearing in all 16 games the first three before a hamstring injury hampered him last season. He wound up playing 11 games and catching 26 passes for 430 yards and three touchdowns.
Earlier in the day, the Chiefs announced the signing of wide receiver Corey Coleman, the No. 15 overall pick in the 2016 draft, in the hope that he can showcase the dynamic playmaking ability that once made him a star at Baylor.
Watson meets the Browns
Deshaun Watson stepped away from legal depositions and allegations of sexual misconduct to meet his new team.
Wearing an orange throwback Browns jacket, Watson arrived at Cleveland’s headquarters in Berea, Ohio, the first step for him and a franchise investing in a player who has been accused by 22 women of sexual assault and harassment.
TV cameras captured Watson walking into the team’s facility shortly before noon. Watson was scheduled to undergo a physical, and the Browns were still ironing out plans for a possible introductory news conference.
The 26-year-old Watson spent two days this week in Houston giving depositions in civil lawsuits filed by female massage therapists, who allege he harassed and assaulted them during massage appointments.
A grand jury in Harris County, Texas, where Houston is located, recently declined to indict Watson on criminal charges.
Bills may lose OL Bates
The Bills stand to lose Ryan Bates after the offensive lineman agreed to sign an offer sheet to play for the Bears, a person with direct knowledge of the decision confirmed to the Associated Press.
Once the offer sheet is filed with the NFL, the Bills will have five days to match the Bears’ offer or lose Bates without compensation. A restricted free agent, Bates’s rights were retained by the Bills last week when the team tendered him a one-year, $2.433 million contract.