Chiefs' Drue Tranquill tells critics to 'kick rocks' amid avalanche of complaints over team's AFC title win
Tranquill had nine tackles in the Chiefs' 32-29 win over the Buffalo Bills on Sunday night, but as NFL fans complained about this and that, Tranquil responded.
"Shoutout to the @BuffaloBills .. heck of a battle," he wrote. "The rest of y'all can take all that "ref" talk & kick rocks. We stand on business."
He also had words for former NFL player Will Compton and Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy.
Tranquill is a veteran linebacker who started his career with the Los Angeles Chargers. He joined the Chiefs before the start of the 2023 season and was a part of the defense that guided Kansas City to a Super Bowl title over the San Francisco 49ers last season.
Entering the 2024 season, he became the team's starter. He played in 16 of the team's 17 games. He had 94 tackles, two sacks, two pass break-ups and two fumble recoveries. The Chiefs were fourth in points allowed and ninth in yards allowed this season.
Kansas City allowed at least 30 points twice this season – to the Bills and the Denver Broncos. Both games were in the regular season and both resulted in the team's only two losses.
Additionally, Tranquill has 14 tackles in the two games the Chiefs have played in the postseason so far.
The run defense will be key in Super Bowl LIX. Saquon Barkley has proven to be the Philadelphia Eagles' key X-factor this season and will be putting the pedal to the metal come Feb. 9.
Follow Fox News Digital's sports coverage on X, and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
23 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Breaking down the NFLPA drama, Terry McLaurin holds out & biggest training camp questions
Subscribe to Football 301 Apple Podcasts | Spotify | YouTube What are our biggest questions as training camps begin? Yahoo Sports' Matt Harmon and Charles McDonald drop the burning questions on their minds about J.J. McCarthy and the Vikings, the Browns four-way QB battle and more. But first, they discuss some news around the league, including the latest developments in the NFLPA scandal. Later in the show, the guys take a look at some looming contract disputes. How big of an effect will Terry McLaurin's holdout have on Jayden Daniels? We're tackling that and more on today's show! (1:54) Breaking down the NFLPA scandal (11:20) Latest contract extensions (24:45) Do these contract disputes really matter? (47:48) Biggest training camp questions 🖥️
Yahoo
23 minutes ago
- Yahoo
As Bengals open training camp without Trey Hendrickson and Shemar Stewart, Ja'Marr Chase sees ‘a lot of feelings involved'
CINCINNATI — On the left side of the Cincinnati Bengals' locker room, a backpack with a No. 97 ID tag lay unopened at a locker bearing the same number. Shower towels lay unused and folded in an upper compartment. An unopened package rested on a seat atop rows of cleats. Three cubbies down, a black folding chair obstructed entrance to a locker that didn't need entering. Three sealed boxes piled in front of a No. 91 jersey. Questions loomed about when each locker would again be inhabited. Because as the Bengals kicked off training camp practices Wednesday, two key edge rushers did not report. [Join or create a Yahoo Fantasy Football league for the 2025 NFL season] All-Pro Trey Hendrickson and 2025 first-round pick Shemar Stewart each held out amid contract disputes. 'Obviously disappointing,' quarterback Joe Burrow said. 'You'd like to have all your guys out there Day 1 to try to build that cohesion. 'It can be frustrating. But that's the business of the NFL. That's how things go.' Hendrickson and Stewart's contract disputes stem primarily from different but related disagreements over contract guarantees. Coaches and teammates' outlook on their respective absences also reflect different but related perspectives: Multiple players and coaches reflected more concern about Stewart's absence than Hendrickson's given the rookie's inexperience compared to Hendrickson entering Year 9. And yet: The Bengals replaced defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo with Al Golden this offseason, meaning all of Cincinnati's defense has new principles to learn. Neither edge rusher is where the team wants him to be for Week 1. As a group, the Bengals' defense outplayed its offense even without Hendrickson and Stewart on the first, and unpadded, day of practice. A disguise-heavy system left Burrow frustrated his offense played 'poorly' while the defense looked 'really sharp.' 'They won the day,' Burrow said of his defense, as those around him wondered: Who, if anyone, will win the Bengals' contract negotiations? And when? [Get more Bengals news: Cincinnati team feed] Breaking down Trey Hendrickson and Shemar Stewart's holdouts The Bengals' contract dispute with Hendrickson is within the realm of standard contract disagreements. Hendrickson is coming off consecutive 17.5-sack seasons, leading the league in sacks last year even as he turned 30 in December. Club and player agree that Hendrickson has earned a raise from the $16 million cash payout he's due on the final year of his existing deal. The value of that deal is trickier, particularly for a franchise that has long resisted multi-year guarantees. The Bengals broke that trend with Burrow and again gave multiyear guarantees to receiver Ja'Marr Chase this spring. Quarterbacks tend to encounter different extension parameters, so Chase's deal is more relevant to Hendrickson's case. Hendrickson and his camp will argue: Did you see those league-best 35 sacks in two years? The Bengals, meanwhile, will argue that Chase, 25, is the best at his position in the prime of his career … and even as they value Hendrickson, they don't consider him in his prime age nor the best at his position. Chase diagnosed the acrimony a year after his own training camp hold-in. 'It was a lot of feelings involved, even though it's not supposed to be involved,' Chase told Yahoo Sports on Wednesday. 'I feel like feelings are definitely involved when they're giving away their money.' He told Hendrickson to remember each player's words and actions represent themselves first while also representing the team. 'You know you are the best in the league,' Chase said recently to Hendrickson, with whom he spoke to as recently as this week. 'You don't have to make it [known] globally at the end of the day. I mean, we both know what kind of situation we're in and who we're dealing with.' Rookie holdouts, on the other hand, are not what the NFL is used to dealing with as the rookie wage scale dictates the value of players' first contracts based on factors including their draft slot. Value debates arise much more often on extensions. Stewart and his agent, Zac Hiller, are disputing contract language the Bengals changed. In rookie contracts this year, the Bengals strengthened their language on the ability to void future guarantees if players engage in conduct detrimental to the team, a source with knowledge of the contract told Yahoo Sports. Cincinnati already had a clause referencing that void ability, which it has not used. But the Bengals added the three words 'at any time' to the clause, per source, as they desired to 'clarify the meaning of the words.' The Bengals insist the language is more in line with the league standard, a claim sources from multiple clubs confirmed to Yahoo Sports. The sources said their own clubs, as well as previous clubs they worked for, used that or similar language as a method of protection. The Bengals were advised that the omission of 'at any time' could hurt them in mediation given its prevalence in club contracts, a source said. So far, it's hurt their ability to sign their top draft pick. 'From what I heard and what I've seen, he wants to be here, he wants to play — so I feel bad for him that it's not working out,' fellow edge rusher Joseph Ossai told Yahoo Sports. 'That rookie training camp is important. It helps you grow. It helps you knock out a lot of the rookie mistakes, so to speak. 'I pray they can get it figured out.' For Bengals, football and business intersect As Golden took the field for a sunny practice Wednesday morning, the defensive coordinator was itching to coach his players — including Stewart. 'We had so many drills set up for him,' Golden told Yahoo Sports. 'I can't wait until he gets here — just to teach him how to finish, and, when he does win early, how to come under control a little bit.' Golden, who coordinated Notre Dame's fourth-ranked defense last season before returning to the NFL, valued Stewart's ability to collapse the pocket and to rush outside and inside. He was eager to run Stewart through core fundamental drills to sharpen tackling and ball disruption, as well as how to 'escape' or get off a block. 'We've identified a couple of things and we have a couple of drills lined up for him when he does come, that can, if you will, negate any negatives and accentuate the positives,' Golden said. 'The reality of that is there's certain things that he did exceedingly well, so well, that he got drafted really high. 'And then there's certain things that I just don't believe in ignoring.' Cincinnati selected Stewart with the 17th overall pick after talent evaluators across the league were split on his value. Were Stewart's 39 pressures last season a sign of a player just cracking his potential? Or were his mere two sacks off those 39 pressures a sign something was missing on the road to dominance? 'Everybody deserves an opportunity to get better,' Golden said, 'and we just can't wait to get him out here just to go through some of the things that we think can help him increase his sack total.' Hendrickson, meanwhile, impresses Golden as 'a guy who can win a one-on-one at any point in the game' and finish in high-pressure situations. For now, neither Hendrickson nor Stewart are finishing plays — or even starting them. And after Chase's contract dispute lasted all of 2024 training camp and regular season until the 2025 offseason, uncertainty looms about when resolutions will come for the edge rushers and on what terms. Uncertainty lingers about how long their lockers will remain vacant and how long their packages will rest unopened. 'Hopeful that whatever's going on there can get resolved,' offensive coordinator Dan Pitcher told Yahoo Sports. 'We need all of our good players here to help us get where we need to go.'
Yahoo
23 minutes ago
- Yahoo
ESPN: Russell Wilson starting QB for Giants this season
Training camp has started for several NFL teams, and a former Seahawk is primed to be the starting quarterback on the east coast. Jaxon Dart may have been a first-round draft pick for the New York Giants, but it's looking like Russell Wilson be the clear-cut starting QB for the Big Blue. 'These guys will be out here competing, but Russ is our starter,' coach Brian Daboll said of the veteran quarterback. There's little direction to go but up for the Giants, who tied for the worst record in the NFL last season at 3-14. That is one reason fourth-year general manager Joe Schoen turned over the quarterback part of the roster almost completely — with local cult hero Tommy DeVito the lone holdover, according to the Associated Press. If and when Dart takes the field in the regular-season game will depend on his progress and Wilson's performance. 'I'm always just focused on being the best version of me every day,' Wilson said, according to ESPN. 'For me, my mentality is always to be the best in the world. I don't know anything else other than that. Just having that mentality and helping our football team win, I think that's the big thing that I'm really highly focused on is elevating our practice, elevating our play, elevating our mentality and having a championship mentality daily." The Seattle Seahawks traded Wilson and a fourth-round pick to the Denver Broncos in exchange for QB Drew Lock, defensive end Shelby Harris, TE Noah Fant and two first-round picks, two second-round picks, and a fifth-round pick. Wilson was released by the Broncos in 2024 and signed a one-year deal with the Pittsburgh Steelers after. In March 2025, he signed a one-year, $10.5 million contract with the Giants.
