With their passing game struggling in the wake of a season-ending injury to top wide receiver Rashee Rice, the Kansas City Chiefs are finalizing a trade to acquire five-time Pro Bowl receiver DeAndre Hopkins, according to an ESPN report.

League sources tell ESPN the Tennessee Titans would send Hopkins to the Chiefs for a conditional fourth-round draft pick.

Hopkins is in the final year of a two-year deal he signed with the Titans last July. He caught 75 passes for 1,057 yards and seven touchdowns last season, but suffered a torn ligament in his knee over the offseason and has started slowly in 2024.

Through six games, Hopkins, 32, has just 15 catches for 173 yards and one score.

Despite being the NFL’s only remaining undefeated team, the Chiefs have not been the offensive juggernaut from years past. Injuries have played a major role, with offseason acquisition Marquise Brown going on injured reserve with a shoulder injury and Rice suffering a season-ending knee injury in Week 4. In addition, starting running back Isiah Pacheco has been out since Week 3 with a broken fibula.

NFL STATS CENTRAL: The latest NFL scores, schedules, odds, stats and more.

The Chiefs have had a top-6 passing offense every year since Patrick Mahomes took over as the starting quarterback in 2018, but this year the team is averaging just 221.5 passing yards through six games — 12th-best in the league.

Mahomes has been atypically mistake-prone as well, throwing eight interceptions to just six touchdown passes.

Hopkins would give the Chiefs offense a potential big-play threat they don’t currently have.

Drafted by the Houston Texans with the 27th overall pick in 2013, Hopkins quickly emerged as one of the NFL’s best receivers.

He has four seasons of more than 100 receptions and he led the league in 2017 with 13 touchdown catches. Over his 12-year career, Hopkins has 943 receptions for 12,528 yards and 79 TDs.

(This story has been updated with new information.)

Auburn made one especially good decision when it hired Hugh Freeze: It left the escape hatch easy to find.
If Auburn fires Hugh Freeze, it could spread out his buyout payments across more than four years.
Hugh Freeze’s recruiting momentum might buy him a third season, even while Auburn languishes on the field.

Auburn made one especially good decision when it hired Hugh Freeze: It left the escape hatch easy to find.

While Freeze melts on the Plains, his buyout after this season would total $20.3 million. If you think that safeguards Freeze, you don’t know Auburn.

Auburn isn’t known for a level-headed handling of coaches, but it shrewdly structured Freeze’s buyout. How so? Like this: If Auburn fires Freeze, it could spread out its financial obligations to him in monthly payments throughout the remainder of his contract, which runs through the 2028 season.

In other words, don’t think of the cost of firing Freeze as one giant flush of cash.

Instead, think of it as an annual hit of less than $4.9 million for the next four years.

That’s an absorbable expense for a robust SEC athletic department, especially if it means swapping Freeze for a better coach. Cost of doing business.

Athletic departments usually get whipped at the contract negotiating table, but structuring Freeze’s deal with a savvy exit route shows intellectual maturity on Auburn’s part.

Hugh Freeze struggles to match low bar Bryan Harsin set

When Auburn fired Gus Malzahn (buyout: $21.5 million) and Bryan Harsin (buyout: $15.6 million), contracts obligated Auburn to pay the axed coach half of their buyout within 30 days of their firing.

That put Auburn on the hook for a big financial hit upfront, and it nonetheless fired Malzahn and Harsin, two coaches who cutperformed Freeze.

Auburn’s bills to Malzahn are paid. It remains on the hook for about $4 million to Harsin, according to his contract terms.

If Freeze wins his next game – Auburn (2-5) plays Saturday at Kentucky (3-4) – he’ll have the same record as Harsin did when Auburn fired the Idaho interloper on Halloween of his second season.

Freeze is 8-12. His second season looks worse than his first. When Auburn hired Freeze, he’d only ever experienced one losing season. He’s on pace for back-to-back losing seasons at Auburn.

“It’s disappointing for the Auburn family,” Freeze said.

Auburn’s family doesn’t handle disappointment well.

Most disturbingly, this former offensive guru presides over an offense that ranks among the SEC’s worst.

Just how bad could this get? Well, Auburn’s five remaining opponents all have better a better record than the Tigers. Auburn last won fewer than five games in 2012. It fired Gene Chizik that year, two years after Chizik won a national championship.

Auburn keeps finding new ways to lose. Freeze’s Tigers led Missouri throughout most of the second half Saturday in Columbia, before MU marched 95 yards for a game-winning score.

“It makes you sick, physically ill, when you don’t get across the finish line,” Freeze said.

This coaching carousel projects to be relatively quiet. Auburn, if it opened, would become the best job on the market. If Auburn waits and fires Freeze next year, it likely would enter into a more crowded carousel.

Best argument for Auburn football to retain Hugh Freeze: Recruiting

When Auburn hired Freeze, I thought he’d be an upgrade over Harsin for three reasons: He’d improve an offense mired in a yearslong stall; he’d elevate recruiting; and he’d better mesh with Auburn’s culture.

The first point proved incorrect. Freeze didn’t fix Auburn’s quarterback woes, and its offense remains as poor as it performed with Harsin and as bad it as it was in Malzahn’s final season.

To the final point, Freeze meshes fine with Auburn – if he starts winning. But, all the handshakes and Southern catchphrases in the world won’t save him if he keeps losing.

What could save Freeze, at least for another year? His recruiting class. On this point, he’s been a major upgrade on Harsin, an ineffective recruiter unsuited to the NIL era.

Auburn’s class ranks fifth nationally in the 247Sports Composite. Keep an eye on that ranking. If the losses mount, and a few recruits decommit, the argument to retain Freeze becomes nonexistent.

Anyway, the strength of a school’s NIL collective influences recruiting as much as any coach, and a coaching change wouldn’t necessarily wreck a class at a school where a strong collective is in place. Consider, Texas A&M signed a top-20 class last year, a month after firing Jimbo Fisher.

If Freeze continues to lose and Auburn boosters think they can hold most of the class together without him, then what’s to stop a firing? Don’t think the answer is Freeze’s buyout.

Auburn paid more – and paid it faster – to fire a better coach than Freeze.

Blake Toppmeyer is the USA TODAY Network’s national college football columnist. Email him at BToppmeyer@gannett.com and follow him on Twitter @btoppmeyer.

Subscribe to read all of his columns.

It was an impressive week for NFL quarterback performances as the players on our MVP rankings played a bit of hot potato for the top 5 spots, but our No. 1 remained clear of the fray.

Patrick Mahomes called his own number to score a rushing touchdown to put the undefeated Kansas City Chiefs ahead of the San Francisco 49ers in a Super Bowl rematch last week.

Jared Goff threw two touchdowns and led four touchdown drives in a 31-29 win over the Minnesota Vikings to take the lead in the NFC.

Josh Allen also led four touchdown drives, with two touchdown passes, in a decisive win for the Buffalo Bills over the Tennessee Titans.

Here are the USA TODAY Sports’ MVP rankings after Week 7:

NFL STATS CENTRAL: The latest NFL scores, schedules, odds, stats and more.

7. Texans QB C.J. Stroud, stock down

Sorry, C.J. Sure, the Texans are second in the AFC. But you’re out of our Top 5 this week afterlast week’s loss at Green Bay. Stroud was 10 of 21 for 86 yards in the 24-22 loss to the Packers. So far, the Texans’ only losses have come against NFC North teams where Stroud has underperformed. These games, against the best division in football, will help Houston later in the season.

6. Vikings QB Sam Darnold, stock down

It was a valiant effort from Darnold in Minnesota’s 31-29 loss to the Detroit Lions, where he completed 22 of 27 passes for 259 yards, a touchdown and an interception, but he and the Vikings were unable to get the job done. Darnold still ranks high on our MVP rankings due to Minnesota’s 5-1 start, but his stock is down this week.

5. Bills QB Josh Allen, stock even

Allen rebounded from a slow start to throw two touchdowns and lead four touchdown drives in Buffalo’s 34-10 win over Tennessee last week. It was enough for a stock even rating in our MVP rankings this week, especially with Buffalo sitting at 5-2 atop the AFC East and fourth in the AFC playoff race.

4. Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes, stock down

Mahomes’ stats don’t scream MVP. He’s tied for the league-lead with eight interceptions, while Baker Mayfield has thrown 12 more touchdowns this season. But the Chiefs are the only remaining undefeated team in the NFL at 6-0. The best quarterback of our time gets the benefit of the stats in this argument, but his stock is still down a spot after Week 7.

3. Commanders QB Jayden Daniels, stock down

Daniels was unable to finish last week’s big win over the Carolina Panthers due to a rib injury, the only negative in his MVP case this week. Still, the rookie has led Washington on 19 of their 23 touchdown drives, which rank fourth highest in the NFL. He should continue contending for a Top 3 when he returns to the lineup.

2.Lions QB Jared Goff, stock up

Goff soars up our MVP rankings up to the No. 2 spot after Detroit’s 31-29 win over Minnesota last week. The Lions have scored more touchdowns (18) than Goff has had incompletions (15) in the last four weeks. He’s also the only player since the 1970 AFL/NFL merger to complete at least 80% of his passes and have a passer rating over 140 in a four-game stretch. He was under pressure on a season-high 51.7% of his dropbacks against the Vikings, and shined with 10-of-11 passing for 164 yards and two touchdowns. The Lions are the best team in the NFC thanks to Goff’s brilliance.

1. Ravens QB Lamar Jackson, stock even

Jackson retains in the top spot in our MVP rankings for the second consecutive week, and it’s easy to see why. Jackson threw five touchdowns in his best performance of the season in a 41-31 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers last week. The Ravens are clicking on all cylinders after their 0-2 start, winning five in a row and trailing only the Chiefs in the AFC playoff picture. It took a couple weeks to figure out Derrick Henry’s place in the offense, but the Ravens are a bona fide Super Bowl contender this season. The MV3 chants, in hopes of Jackson’s third NFL MVP, will start soon if they haven’t already in Baltimore.

The USA TODAY app gets you to the heart of the news — fast.Download for award-winning coverage, crosswords, audio storytelling, the eNewspaper and more.

The Los Angeles Lakers had their moments in their season-opener.

New Lakers coach JJ Redick coached his first game. Not just his first NBA game. His first game period.

The Lakers defeated the Timberwolves 110-103.

But the biggest moment, the historic moment – for the Lakers, for the NBA, for LeBron James and his family and friends – came with 4:00 left in the second quarter when James, the NBA’s all-time leading scorer, and his son Bronny, a 20-year-old rookie, checked into the game together, becoming the first father-son duo to play in an NBA regular-season game.

It will be difficult for another father-son combo to accomplish that in the NBA because of the unusual longevity it requires of the father and the talent it requires of the son.

And that’s why TNT’s Stan Van Gundy, who was calling Tuesday’s Lakers-Timberwolves game, said last week that, “This is something that should be celebrated.”

Now, given the way of the world, especially today, not everyone is celebrating it. Some hearts have shriveled a tad too much.

“Personally, I’m tired of all of the criticism of Bronny and should’ve he had been picked. That’ll play out in his career,” Van Gundy said. “Everything I’ve observed and listened to the kid say, he seems like a great young man who just wants to work and be a good player.”

The Lakers did this the right way and got it out of the way early in the first game. “Whenever that does happen, we’re all going to be thrilled to be a part of it,” Redick told reporters before the game.

Bronny played just three minutes, missed his two field goal attempts, didn’t score and had one rebound. That’s not a surprise for the second-round pick who likely will spend significant time with the Lakers’ G League squad.

Now, Bronny can get to the business of becoming a better basketball player with this behind him. He was the 55th pick in the June draft almost one year after sustaining sudden cardiac arrest before he began his freshman season at Southern California.

Before that, Bronny had moved up draft boards, showing improvement. But the cardiac arrest slowed his development and impacted his draft position. Still, he worked to make himself a potential draft pick, and the Lakers weren’t the only team who considered drafting him.

And it’s not like the Lakers used a first-round pick or even an early second-round pick on Bronny. The 55th pick in any NBA draft is a player a team wants to develop over several seasons. The 55th pick in the 2023 draft, Isaiah Wong, has played in just one NBA game. The No. 55 pick in 2022, Gui Santos, didn’t play in one NBA game in 2022-23, spending that season in the G League.

Bronny’s basketball career won’t be measured by Summer League, G League games or three minutes of the Lakers’ season opener. This is a multi-year process.

Before Bronny checked in, dad had a few words. “See the intensity, right? Just play carefree though. Don’t worry about mistakes. Go out and play hard.”

After the game, Bronny told TNT checking into the game with his dad was “a crazy moment I’ll never forget.”

Said LeBron: “To be able to have this moment where I’m working still, and I can work alongside my son is one of the greatest gifts I’ve ever gotten from the man above and I’m going to take full advantage of it.”

What a cool, wonderful moment. For sports. For the NBA. For LeBron James and Bronny James.

For the third consecutive season, the Kansas City Chiefs are trading for a receiver ahead of the NFL’s trade deadline.

The Chiefs agreed to acquire veteran wide-out DeAndre Hopkins from the Tennessee Titans on Tuesday, Oct. 23, ESPN first reported. Kansas City will send Tennessee a fifth-round pick that can conditionally become a fourth-rounder if Hopkins reaches certain benchmarks.

Hopkins, 32, was a first-round pick in the 2013 NFL draft out of Clemson and has produced seven 1,000-yard seasons while playing with the Houston Texans, Arizona Cardinals and Titans. He racked up 75 catches for 1,057 yards and seven touchdowns in 2023, his first year with the Titans, but has seen his numbers tail off in 2024 (15 catches, 173 yards, one touchdown in six games).

Hopkins is the latest big-name receiver to be traded before the 2024 NFL trade deadline on Nov. 5. The New York Jets acquired Davante Adams from the Las Vegas Raiders ahead of Week 7 just hours before the Buffalo Bills traded for Cleveland Browns receiver Amari Cooper.

Why did the Chiefs ultimately set their sights on Hopkins? Here’s what to know about Kansas City’s marquee addition.

All things Chiefs: Latest Kansas City Chiefs news, schedule, roster, stats, injury updates and more.

Why did the Chiefs trade for DeAndre Hopkins?

The Chiefs traded for Hopkins amid a swath of injuries to their wide receiver room. They lost No. 1 target Rashee Rice for the season in Week 4 to a torn ACL while free-agent signee Hollywood Brown, who was expected to be the team’s No. 2 receiver, suffered a sternoclavicular injury in the preseason. Brown has just a ‘slim’ chance of returning from that malady in the postseason, per The MMQB’s Albert Breer.

Add in that JuJu Smith-Schuster, who took over Rice’s role as the top slot-man after his injury, is dealing with a hamstring injury and Kansas City was thin at receiver outside of rookie first-round pick Xavier Worthy.

The Chiefs also had a goal not to surrender a top-100 draft pick as they attempted to acquire receiver help, Breer reports. That made Hopkins a better fit for the team than a player like Adams, especially since the Chiefs were already familiar with Hopkins after courting him as a free agent in 2023.

It also helped Kansas City’s cause that Hopkins is playing on a relatively cheap expiring deal. He will carry a cap-hit of just over $8 million for the rest of the season, per Spotrac.com. The Chiefs have just $4.15 million in cap space, per OverTheCap.com, but it shouldn’t be too difficult for them to restructure a contract or two to create the space necessary to afford Hopkins.

And Hopkins’ contract will come off the books ahead of the 2025 season, when the Chiefs project to have $27.2 million in cap space. That will give them the flexibility to either re-sign Hopkins if things work out or target another high-end receiver if they so desire.

Either way, acquiring a proven, productive receiver like Hopkins looks like a low-risk move for the Chiefs. They have bolstered their receiver depth chart and should now have a solid three-man group of Hopkins, Worthy and Smith-Schuster once the latter returns from his hamstring injury.

As for Hopkins, he gets to play for a playoff contender and challenge for a Super Bowl ring for the first time in his career. That makes this an appealing landing spot for him.