The six-team Professional Women's Hockey League is launching its expansion process with plans to add as many as two franchises for the start of the 2025-26 season, a league executive announced Tuesday.

Speaking at the ESPNW Summit in New York, senior vice president of business operations Amy Scheer said the league will begin sending requests for proposals to several markets starting as early as next week, while also accepting applications.

"[We're] looking for the right market size, right fan base, right facilities, right economic opportunity -- so a lot of research to be done over the next couple months," Scheer said, without specifying which markets the league might be targeting. "But yeah, looking to continue to build the league and grow the number of teams."

Among the U.S. expansion candidates are Detroit and Pittsburgh, where the PWHL hosted neutral-site games during its inaugural season last year. Washington, D.C., and Philadelphia would also be regarded as candidates after both were considered before the league established teams in Boston, New York and Minnesota. Denver and Seattle are also considered potential candidates.

In Canada, where the league has teams in Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal, Quebec City has already announced its intention of being a candidate for an expansion franchise. Calgary would be a potential option with the city previously being home to the Inferno from 2011 to 2019, before the Canadian Women's Hockey League folded.

Scheer also announced the league plans to hold neutral site games in nine markets across North America, and is considering holding an outdoor game. Scheer added the league is also working on holding games in Europe, without specifying when that might happen.

The PWHL's second season opens Nov. 30 and features an expanded schedule with each team playing 30 games -- up from 24 last year. The league has yet to announce where it's neutral site games will be played.

Quebec City councilor Jackie Smith announced earlier on Tuesday that the PWHL has agreed to play a neutral site game at the city's Videotron Centre on Jan. 19. The PWHL's schedule has Ottawa playing Montreal on that day, with the site yet to be determined.

Smith called the development the first step in Quebec City landing an expansion team.

Arsenal will remain without captain Martin Ødegaard for Wednesday's Carabao Cup fourth round clash at Preston North End but manager Mikel Arteta said he is hopeful the Norwegian will return to fitness before the start of the November international break.

Arteta has been ruing an ever-growing injury list, with Ødegaard sidelined since September with an ankle injury and defender Riccardo Calafiori suffering a knee injury during their 1-0 Champions League win over Shakhtar Donetsk on Oct. 22.

Calafiori missed Sunday's Premier League clash, a 2-2 draw with Liverpool at the Emirates, where defenders Gabriel Magalhães and Jurriën Timber were both forced off in the second half to leave Arsenal with largely a makeshift backline.

"Ødegaard has been on the grass for a few weeks and hopefully he'll be back before the international break. Calafiori will be out for a few weeks I would say," Arteta told reporters on Tuesday.

Arsenal's last game before the international break is a visit to Chelsea in the Premier League on Nov. 10. During the international break Norway play Slovenia away on Nov. 14 and host Kazakhstan on Nov. 17 in the Nations League B Group 3.

"We're still assessing Gabriel. It doesn't look that bad. He was much better the next day. Too soon to say when he'll be out," Arteta added.

"Jurrien [was] too tired to continue the game but there is no new injury there at all."

After the League Cup match at Preston, Arsenal visit Newcastle United on Saturday in the Premier League.

Information from Reuters contributed to this report.

Cooper Flagg is accustomed to the national spotlight at this point.

The 17-year-old is Duke's next college basketball star and the projected No. 1 pick in the 2025 NBA draft by ESPN. Now, he can add Gatorade sponsorship to his list of accomplishments as the 6-foot-9 phenom became the first men's college basketball player to sign with the brand, the company announced on Tuesday.

Flagg said he's been committed to keeping his circle tight as the buzz -- and opportunities -- around him continues to grow.

"It just comes down to trying to just stay grounded and kind of stay where my feet are and focus on the present and where I am," Flagg told ESPN in a conversation about his Gatorade sponsorship and his first season as a college basketball star. "Whether that's focusing on a day we have practice, class ... Whatever I'm doing, I'm just trying to stay present and really just focus on the moment."

With Gatorade, he'll join Paige Bueckers and JuJu Watkins as the other college basketball stars attached to the brand.

Flagg's popularity grew over the summer after he had an impressive performance in a scrimmage against the men's national team before the Paris Olympics. That performance prompted LeBron James to tell Esquire that the five-star prospect will be one of the next faces of the NBA once he arrives. That experience with the national team, Flagg said, helped him glean wisdom from some of the best players in the world.

"I would say some of the biggest advice was just to stay humble and keep working," Flagg said. "It really is just about staying grounded and not getting too ahead of yourself."

He said he also cherishes his relationship with James.

"It was nothing really specific that [James] said, [but] obviously someone of that success and everything that he's done in his career, it's cool just to talk to him."

Flagg is a rare athlete. He has the size of a power forward but he plays like an explosive guard, slashing to the rim and scoring across the court. He's one of the most versatile freshman college basketball players since Zion Williamson.

Flagg said he doesn't have one player at the next level whom he tries to emulate, but former Duke star Jayson Tatum has made an impact on his game.

"There is nobody specific that I've mainly focused on modeling my game after," he said. "But I would say [Tatum] would be a good example of [someone]. I've watched him a lot. Not necessarily as a model, modeling my game, but just having watched him a lot, there are definitely things that I can pick up on and take from his game."

Flagg said he's still stunned by some of the accolades and opportunities he's received. He said he would not have believed someone if they would have told him that he would one day become one of the most highly touted players in the game, with a Gatorade sponsorship, when he was a kid in Maine.

"I mean, I probably would've told you that you were lying," he said. "I think for sure, growing up, that's something that I had to deal with. A lot of it was people telling me like, I was just gonna be a kid from Maine. I would just play basketball in Maine. So, I think, going through that, I probably would've just thought you were lying, but I always kind of had my own self-confidence at the same time."

He said he's excited about the upcoming season, which will include a number of nationally televised showcases including Duke's matchup against Kentucky in the Champions Classic and a meeting with No. 1 Kansas in Las Vegas during Thanksgiving week.

He said his family, friends and teammates have all helped him handle everything that has come his way thus far.

"I think my parents for sure played a huge role in that," he said. "My teammates, obviously being around them every single day, they definitely have helped me stay focused. And then my friends. I have [childhood] friends that I talk to almost every day. They help just keep me grounded, keep me in the moment."

Houston Texans wide receiver Stefon Diggs has a torn ACL and will miss the rest of the season, coach DeMeco Ryans said Tuesday.

The injury to Diggs' knee happened on a noncontact play in Houston's 23-20 victory over the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday.

Diggs, acquired in an offseason trade with the Buffalo Bills, ranks seventh in the NFL in catches (47) this season and was second on the Texans in yards (496).

Diggs, 30, is a four-time Pro Bowl selection who has had at least 1,000 yards receiving in each of the past six seasons, highlighted by his 2020 season where he led the NFL with a career-high 1,535 yards.

The injury is another blow to a team that is already without leading receiver Nico Collins, who is out at least one more game after being placed on injured reserve with a hamstring injury.

With Diggs out, the Texans will need Tank Dell to take on a bigger role in the offense Thursday night when they visit the New York Jets. Dell's production has dropped off this season after a standout rookie year where he had 709 yards receiving with seven touchdowns in 11 games before breaking his leg.

He has 229 yards receiving this season and scored his second touchdown in Sunday's win which improved the AFC South-leading Texans to 6-2.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

OWINGS MILLS, Md. -- Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson and the NFL's No. 1 offense have landed an experienced target who can provide another dimension to the passing attack.

The Ravens traded for Carolina Panthers wide receiver Diontae Johnson in a swap of draft picks Tuesday, sources told ESPN's Adam Schefter. The Ravens will send a fifth-round pick to the Panthers for Johnson and Carolina's sixth-round selection, the sources told Schefter.

It's the second time Johnson has been traded this year. The Panthers acquired Johnson from the Pittsburgh Steelers, the Ravens' AFC North rival, before the season. Johnson will become just the third wide receiver since 2000 to catch a pass as a Raven and as a Steeler, according to ESPN Research, joining Mike Wallace and Miles Boykin.

Johnson indicated to ESPN last month that he'd like to re-sign with the Panthers (1-7) after the season. But as the losses mounted and frustration set in it became apparent Johnson was open to moving on.

He didn't play in Carolina's 28-14 loss to the Denver Broncos on Sunday with a rib injury that he played with the previous week, prompting coach Dave Canales to be asked if the decision to sit the receiver had anything to do with keeping him healthy for trade value.

Canales deferred to general manager Dan Morgan and Brandt Tilis, the executive vice president of football operations.

Baltimore can pair Johnson with Zay Flowers and Rashod Bateman to spread out defenses more frequently. The Ravens have used three or more wide receivers on 163 plays, which are the second fewest in the NFL.

Jackson is having his best season as a passer, throwing for 2,099 yards, which ranks No. 5 in the NFL this season. His 9.7 yards per attempt when targeting a wide receiver is third-best behind Sam Darnold (10.7) and Jared Goff (9.7).

Where Johnson can help Jackson the most is throws near the sideline. The Ravens wide receivers have combined for 29 catches on passes thrown outside the numbers this season, which are the third fewest in the NFL, according to ESPN Research. Since entering the NFL in 2019, Johnson has totaled 242 catches on passes outside the numbers, which are the sixth-most in the league over that span.

Ravens general manager Eric DeCosta continues to be very aggressive in upgrading the team during the season. This marks the fourth in-season trade by DeCosta over the past six seasons. His previous acquisitions include cornerback Marcus Peters (2019), defensive end Yannick Ngakoue (2020) and middle linebacker Roquan Smith (2022).

The Panthers in March gave the Steelers cornerback Donte Jackson and a sixth-round pick for Johnson and a seventh-round pick in the 2024 draft.

Johnson was brought in to improve quarterback Bryce Young, but they combined for only five receptions for 34 yards during an 0-2 start that led to the top pick of the 2023 draft being benched in favor of Andy Dalton.

Johnson caught eight passes for 122 yards and a touchdown in Dalton's debut, a win over the Las Vegas Raiders. He had 15 catches for 205 yards in a two-game stretch but caught only 10 passes for 123 yards over the next three games.

With Johnson gone, Carolina's receiving corps will feature veteran Adam Thielen, coming off a hamstring injury, first-round pick Xavier Legette, Jonathan Mingo, David Moore and undrafted rookie Jalen Coker.

ESPN's David Newton contributed to this report.

The Indianapolis Colts are benching Anthony Richardson and turning to Joe Flacco as their starting quarterback, sources told ESPN's Jeremy Fowler and Adam Schefter.

Colts coaches met Tuesday morning and ultimately decided to change quarterbacks, sources told Fowler and Schefter, opting for Flacco over the struggling Richardson.

The benching came two days after Richardson asked to come out of Sunday's game against the Houston Texans for one play because, as he later told reporters, he "was tired."

Colts coach Shane Steichen said Monday that he was evaluating the team's quarterback situation, adding that Richardson's request to come out of the game would not be a factor in his decision.

Internally, the Colts maintain that Richardson's time as their franchise quarterback is not over.

One team source characterized the benching as a "growth opportunity" and also insisted that the Colts "are not quitting on Anthony."

"That will be the story, but that is not the case," the source told ESPN.

Richardson, even in Year 2 with the Colts, remained the NFL's youngest starting quarterback at 22. He was drafted before his 21st birthday and after just 13 starts at the University of Florida.

The Colts had been insistent that Richardson needed to play in order to grow as a player, which fueled their decision to start him as a rookie. He was named the starter over Gardner Minshew in training camp in 2023 after just one preseason game.

The move to bench Richardson, therefore, marks a significant departure from the organization's previous thinking.

"Taking a step back can be a good thing," the team source said.

A source close to Richardson described him as being hit hard by the news. But that source also indicated Richardson will handle the demotion professionally and be ready if called upon.

Richardson completed just 10 of 32 passes for 175 yards in Sunday's loss at Houston. He told Steichen he "needed a break right there" as he left the game in the third quarter, tapping on his helmet.

The No. 4 selection in last year's draft, Richardson has a 44.4% completion rate this season, which is the fifth worst in a player's first six games of a season since 2000, according to ESPN Research.

Steichen did not defend Richardson's decision to leave the game, saying Monday that he had a private conversation with the second-year quarterback and adding that "You can't take yourself out, and it's a learned experience for him and he's got to grow from it."

Colts center Ryan Kelly, the longest-tenured player on the current roster, said Richardson "knows it's not the standard that he needs to play up to and the rest of the team holds him to."

The Colts (4-4) now will turn to Flacco, 39, who replaced the injured Richardson earlier this season and passed for 716 yards, 7 touchdowns and 1 interception in parts of three games.

Richardson is the second quarterback taken in the first round of last year's draft to be benched this season. The Carolina Panthers benched No. 1 selection Bryce Young last month for veteran Andy Dalton.

PATRICK MAHOMES SAT across from Tom Brady and stared into the face of his future. Their one-on-one interview for Fox's Sunday NFL show took place within the strange setting of a hotel balcony -- Brady wasn't allowed in the pregame production meeting for Week 7's Chiefs-49ers matchup because he's a minority owner of the Raiders -- but the common ground they shared was undeniable.

Brady sat in the 29-year-old Mahomes' chair (so to speak) 18 years ago, during the 2006 season. Like Mahomes, he had already won three Super Bowls by that stage. The NFL shorthand had established him as an all-timer at a relatively young age. The direction Brady's next decade would take was uncertain, but it would have been fair to say he had little to prove. It also would have been fair to say his New England Patriots had high expectations for what could still be accomplished -- and they met them. Brady would play 14 more seasons in New England, winning three more Super Bowls, going to 11 Pro Bowls and earning first-team All-Pro honors three more times.

Mahomes turned 29 on Sept. 17, seven months after he won his third Super Bowl. His Chiefs are 7-0 in the final season of his 20s. The possibilities for the next decade of his career are enticing if you're the Chiefs, concerning if you're the rest of the league. And while the presence of Mahomes is as galvanizing as Brady's was, continuing to win big is going to require not only a generational quarterback but also the stability of a well-run organization to facilitate his strengths.

Brady needed the ecosystem around him to function at a high level, and it did so for a long period. In interviews with industry sources throughout the NFL, the similarities noted between Brady's Patriots and Mahomes' Chiefs are many. Those sources also noted that the league is different than it was in 2006 and highlighted the many ways the ecosystem that can produce an ultrarare, multidecade NFL dynasty is fragile. Kansas City does not have the league's deepest resources and has a reputation for being cautious in how it uses them. Andy Reid, its 66-year-old head coach and organizational architect, has an uncertain retirement timetable.

But all agree the Chiefs are set up for greatness, perhaps on an unprecedented scale. Mahomes and Brady know it, too.

"It gives me something to chase," Mahomes told Brady on that balcony, referencing the latter's seven Super Bowl rings and numerous accolades. "It's going to be hard to get there, but I'll do my best trying to get there."

THE CHIEFS ARE better positioned for success than any other team in the NFL, and there are three reasons why:

• Mahomes just turned 29.

• His contract doesn't expire until after the 2031 season.

• That contract is tied for 12th in per-year money average, thanks in part to a ballooning NFL quarterback market that has increased 33% in four years.

Like Brady's before him, Mahomes' contract can help the team build a supporting cast.

"It's a gift," former Philadelphia Eagles president Joe Banner said. "Having the most important player under contract for the long term and planning around that is a massive advantage."

Mahomes' 10-year, $450 million deal with Kansas City, signed after his third NFL season, is not only central to the franchise's long-term strategy but also is unique in nature due to its length and total value. Most extensions for star quarterbacks are four or five years, with players opting to stay a step closer to free agency and circumvent team control over non-guaranteed years. The last player to sign a 10-year deal before Mahomes was Michael Vick in 2004. The flip side is that Mahomes leads the NFL in total contract value by a large margin. Jacksonville's Trevor Lawrence is the next highest at $275 million.

"None of it works if you don't have a really good QB, which is why teams are willing to pay the premium to secure it," an NFC executive said. "But what shows in what Kansas City is dealing with is that both sides are working with each other to stay together and remain nimble. He's clearly willing to work with them. If you have a top-paid quarterback and they take a big chunk of this cap, you are having to figure out which three or four or five guys are at the top, then a big gap. The Chiefs can work the middle class a little bit more than others."

While Brady opted for shorter-term deals than Mahomes, his pay was consistently below that of his peers, failing to crack the top 10 in per-year contractual average from 2013 to 2019, his final seven years with the Patriots. (He did rank in the top three in 2011-12.) That helped New England put a championship roster around Brady during that stretch, when the Patriots reached four Super Bowls and won three.

The advantage Brady held over the years is that he could leave when his shorter-term contract expired. And he eventually did, winning a Super Bowl with Tampa Bay after playing out a final one-year deal in New England in 2019.

Meanwhile, when Mahomes signed his deal in 2020, some around the league wondered whether the lengthy pact would become obsolete due to mushrooming salaries leaguewide, rising salary caps and the escalating importance of the position.

Four years later, those questions have not entirely disappeared -- nine quarterbacks have surpassed the $50 million-per-year mark since Mahomes reupped.

What the Chiefs do, however, to bring Mahomes closer to the top of the market before his contract is set to expire is crucial. Kansas City reworked his deal in 2023, upping his pay to $59.35 million that year, second in the NFL behind Lamar Jackson. His total payout from 2023 to 2026 will be $211.85 million, tops in the NFL and slightly ahead of Jackson ($207.25 million), who signed an extension in 2023. The scale drops substantially in the final years, which the Chiefs must address, but the sides plan to revisit the deal no later than after the 2026 season.

Chiefs chairman and CEO Clark Hunt remembers a 10-year extension feeling like "a very long time" when general manager Brett Veach first pitched it to him after the 2019 season, but Mahomes' special qualities were obvious, and the quarterback seemed excited about staying in Kansas City for the balance of his career under a deal that gave the team flexibility to address other positional needs annually.

"Patrick is about winning," Hunt said in regard to Mahomes' contract. "That's one of his greatest qualities. It's not about him but about the football team and what he can do to help us win championships. When we went into the contract in 2020, we knew we were going to have to adjust it. And we did that a year ago. We brought up his current compensation so he was in line with the newer quarterback deals. That was certainly part of the deal from the beginning."

It's not as if the Chiefs didn't take on any risk. If Mahomes were to struggle or get hurt, they would be saddled with massive cap issues that would be a hurdle in building a competitive team. Mahomes' dead cap hits over the next two years are $113.6 million and $77.8 million.

But for now, Mahomes is only growing in stature, on a trajectory similar to Brady's. That reality raises the stakes for the brain trust charged with assembling a team around the star.

THIRTEEN YEARS INTO Reid's tenure as coach, Kansas City has a clear operational structure that is the envy of teams marred by dysfunction.

In contrast to the way New England operated during the Bill Belichick era, it's a setup that has seen Reid relinquish some control. Despite any revisionist history that Belichick attempted to spin during his failed search for a coaching job this past offseason, he called all the personnel shots with the Patriots.

Reid and Veach, a former Eagles scout during Reid's tenure who came with him to Kansas City and took over as general manager in 2017, are considered very close. It's not that Reid took over a depleted roster -- the 2012 Chiefs featured six Pro Bowlers. But Reid's ability to identify talent and maximize it paid off quickly. And Veach knows what Reid wants in players thanks to his long history with the coach. It's one reason Veach had full license to pursue last week's DeAndre Hopkins deal. Reid deadpanned "I know nothing" to reporters Wednesday when asked about the Hopkins trade. The deal hadn't been finalized, but the quote helps emphasize the full trust the Chiefs' coach has in his general manager.

Though Reid has final say on the roster, multiple sources say he has given Veach more responsibility in recent years, which Hunt corroborates. Reid is "very comfortable" letting Veach make decisions as he has grown into his role, Hunt said.

The Chiefs have what many teams don't but the Super Bowl-era Patriots also possessed: one agenda.

"They know who they are, probably more than any other team," a veteran NFL agent said. "With most teams, what people don't realize is the disconnect between GM, personnel, scouts, coaching staff. Even good teams don't always have connection there. The Chiefs do."

Banner echoes what observers have said about Reid: He values the quarterback and offensive line, despite his love for offensive playmakers. Kansas City's spending affirms that, with $66 million of its 2024 cap attributed to the offensive line. It has six players making at least $15 million per year, and three of them -- Joe Thuney, Jawaan Taylor and Creed Humphrey -- are along the line, which also features guard Trey Smith, who will thrive in 2025 free agency unless the Chiefs use the franchise tag on him. All of these players were signed after a Kansas City offensive line, featuring several late-round or undrafted linemen, was exposed in a Super Bowl LV loss to Tampa Bay.

Hunt employs Veach to consider the Chiefs' two- to three-year roster future, while the owner's job is to look five years out and beyond. That has led to low-cost rentals or draft picks at key positions. Journeymen such as Darrel Williams and Damian Williams have led the team in rushing during the Mahomes era. Save for defensive tackle Chris Jones (who signed a record-breaking deal in March) and safety Justin Reid, no Chiefs defender ranks inside the top 25 of his position in per-year earnings. And when injuries mount, the Chiefs often turn to retreads. Kareem Hunt, JuJu Smith-Schuster and Mecole Hardman are thriving in their second chances with Kansas City.

This was a blueprint partially drawn by New England, which used a variety of low-cost running backs over the years and, save for Randy Moss and Rob Gronkowski, rarely relied on big-money names at skill positions. As one NFC executive pointed out, Patriots owner Robert Kraft was willing to spend but often didn't need to because Belichick could maximize young and cheap talent. That worked for a long time ... until the Patriots missed on too many draft picks, namely wide receivers. That hasn't happened to the Chiefs. Not many teams draft better than Kansas City, which has 2021-23 classes that have produced 11 starters and other key contributors out of 23 total picks despite established talent already entrenched throughout the roster.

"You're just not going to be able to sign everybody," Clark Hunt said. "I wish it wasn't that way, but it is. Each year you're going to have to make the tough decisions to let some of those players go so you can keep the rest. Therefore, it becomes very important to draft well. There's no way to stay anywhere near the top unless you're drafting really well."

THE CHIEFS' DECISION to trade Tyreek Hill to Miami in March 2022 sent shock waves through the NFL. Banner was not surprised.

The longtime Eagles president, working in lockstep with Reid over more than a decade, drew from what he considers Reid's biggest strength as a coach: foresight.

"Andy has always approached everything with a long-term perspective," Banner said. "He's always making decisions that support two to three years down the road. It's hard to get coaches to think about anything other than the immediate future, but Andy has the ability to do both, prioritizing the decisions that matter most."

That leads to a hallmark under the current Chiefs' regime, the willingness to move on from marquee players before their contracts restrict the salary cap. As one team source put it, the ability to "eliminate emotional ties" and make sound decisions has been a critical component of Kansas City's success.

Hill and current Titans cornerback L'Jarius Sneed are among the stars who helped the Chiefs win a championship before they were unceremoniously traded.

"You can't keep everyone," Hunt said. "I think that's true of any NFL team, but particularly one that's having a lot of success."

A certain ruthlessness in personnel decisions was also a trademark of the Belichick-era Patriots.

Belichick cut popular safety Lawyer Milloy when he wouldn't take a pay reduction, traded future Hall of Fame defensive end Richard Seymour on the eve of the 2009 season, dealt Super Bowl MVP wide receiver Deion Branch and cornerback Stephon Gilmore during the season when they couldn't come to contract terms with the team, and allowed All-Pro guard Logan Mankins to hold out into November without giving him a new deal (years later, the Pats would trade him in a late August move). Perhaps most famously, Belichick was reportedly ready to move on from Brady in favor of younger Jimmy Garoppolo, which was a source of his ultimately untenable friction with Kraft.

New England's moves sometimes shocked those inside the building. One source with direct knowledge of the Patriots' and Chiefs' runs said trades or releases out of New England would sometimes hit the media before the team knew. The 2014 Mankins trade, in particular, rocked the entire team. The Chiefs' moves are often less surprising, the source said, because of the team's belief in clear internal communication.

As a former league executive, Michael Huyghue has seen the Chiefs follow the blueprint of the great Patriots and Pittsburgh Steelers teams before them: walking away from beloved players when they can be replaced in the draft.

Huyghue represented Sneed, whom the Chiefs franchise-tagged, then traded to the Titans this offseason. The Chiefs didn't want to pay him top-of-market money, despite the universal respect he had won in the locker room, and Sneed had no interest in playing on the tag. So, the Chiefs said goodbye in exchange for a third-round pick.

"The mistake most of the teams make is they cling to their stars, and they do it at the expense of developing young players," Huyghue said. "When you have effective drafts, you're not beholden to your best players and the financial demands."

When you go this route, however, it can play into a reputation that has plagued the Chiefs in league circles, even as they've built a dynasty with no foreseeable endpoint: They're cheap.

TO BE SURE, the Chiefs are not known as major spenders within player, coaching and scouting circles.

"They are a bit of a penny-pincher organization," a veteran NFL agent said.

While Huyghue wouldn't go that far, he recognizes that the Chiefs drive value as hard as anyone, a luxury that championships afford.

"When you win Super Bowls, you feel like you have more leverage than teams that are constantly trying to woo people to their organization," Huyghue said. "That's a strategy of theirs that they've used to leverage players."

Multiple agents noted friction from players over the franchise's haggling over small details in a contract, hanging Mahomes' 10-year, $450 million deal over negotiations with other players, the relatively bare-bones training camp setup at Missouri Western State University, and the franchise's poor grades in the annual NFLPA report card on team facilities, training rooms and ownership, among other areas. Players gave Chiefs ownership an F-minus this year, due in part to a lack of investment in facilities and the player experience.

Hunt has stressed publicly that the Chiefs are making significant upgrades to facilities. An NFLPA source said the Chiefs have acknowledged they need improvements, without stating that the NFLPA survey might have influenced change.

The penny-pinching label reaches different levels of the organization, similar to the Patriots' situation. Multiple coaching sources with knowledge of the Chiefs' and Patriots' hiring practices say they would not rank highly among 32 teams in coaching and executive pay. Under Belichick, New England was known to hire coaches recently fired by other teams, pro or college, who tend to be cheaper as their former employer still pays them.

On coaching pay, one of the sources said the Chiefs "are improving in that area but are not at an elite level." Another coaching source considers Kansas City's pay below average but said the allure of rings, playoff bonuses and a positive work environment helps offset the scale.

This became a tension point the same week the Chiefs defeated the Baltimore Ravens in the AFC Championship Game to secure a berth in Super Bowl LVIII earlier this year. Questions about the future of the Chiefs' decision-making battery had "reached a crescendo," as one league source said.

Reid, who had two years left on his contract, ranked toward the bottom of the top 10 in coaching pay, according to an NFL coaching industry source, while Veach was considered underpaid based on his market value as a key decision-maker for a perennial contender. Both were headed to their fourth Super Bowl in five years.

And then the kicker: Two of the highest-paid coaches at that time, the Denver Broncos' Sean Payton and Los Angeles Chargers' Jim Harbaugh, who was hired four days before that title game, earned massive deals within the same AFC West division Reid has dominated. The rest of the division has cycled through 15 permanent coaches since Reid got the Chiefs job in 2013, as organizations have been forced to spend to compete.

"That's why I call him pink-slip Andy," a league source said. "He fires [opposing] coaches. So it reached a point where something had to get done."

The Chiefs delivered with a contract that made Reid the highest-paid head coach at around $20 million per year, with Veach and team president Mark Donovan reaching new deals in a joint announcement in April.

Hunt said he "absolutely" feels the pressure of rising expectations that come with championships as it pertains to ancillary items off the field such as adequate pay and facility upgrades.

Several other family-run organizations -- the Arizona Cardinals, the Pittsburgh Steelers, the Cincinnati Bengals -- also earned low marks in similar areas of the NFLPA survey, perhaps reflecting the increasing divergence in resources between the old guard and the private-equity-blessed franchises of the 2024 NFL. The Washington Commanders, Denver Broncos and Carolina Panthers are among the newer, bigger-money ownership groups the old guard must compete against.

"When you're winning, going to a Super Bowl, nobody really picks you apart for those little details," the veteran agent said. "I think agents and people in the league see it, but the general public wouldn't see that. They [the Chiefs] don't get put in that Cincinnati and Arizona group of being cheap. But they are."

THE KRAFTS AND the Hunts, two venerable football families that have mainly allowed their coaches to run the organization without major interference, have a combined nine championships to show for that strategy this millennium.

Good owners toe the line between participating in big decisions but not meddling, which Kraft and Hunt balance well, according to multiple industry sources.

"To me, they both ask questions, which at times felt like they were pushing back, but actually it gave us more confidence in the decisions we wanted to make," said Scott Pioli, who has intimate knowledge of both operations as Patriots director of player personnel from 2000 to 2008 and Chiefs general manager from 2009 to 2012. "They didn't stop us from doing it. It became part of the process."

Clark Hunt and Robert Kraft took different paths to the top. Hunt was 4 years old when the Chiefs won Super Bowl IV in 1970 under the leadership of his father, Lamar. He became an SMU soccer captain and investment banker, worked his way up the family business hierarchy and navigated lean years as CEO and chairman only to orchestrate a reemergence thanks in part to the best coaching hire of the past two decades. Kraft was the self-made newspaper salesman who made billions in business and bought the Patriots outright in 1994.

Despite any tensions around coaching salaries or other financial aspects of the team's stewardship, the Chiefs' rise to the top of the league has played out amid a climate of collegiality.

Hunt acts as overseer but implicitly trusts his tandem of Reid and Veach, getting involved on "very expensive contracts" but giving Veach the green light on day-to-day personnel matters, he says.

"I feel my role is to hire the best people that I can for the Kansas City Chiefs, give them the resources that they need, set the vision and then let them do their jobs," Hunt said. "Having said that, I talk to Andy and Brett and our president every week about subjects related to the business, the football team. I'm involved, I know what's going on, but I really want to let the experts in their respective fields do their best. They have that opportunity if I'm not meddling."

Hunt said he hasn't thought to compare notes with Kraft about the challenges that come with a dynasty but acknowledges that both "understand why it's so hard" due to mounting issues that "make it hard to keep everyone together." For players, that means increased off-field opportunities or pressure to outperform the previous year. For Hunt, those issues include a stadium dispute with the city that he says he's trying to shield the football operation from to ensure the focus remains on the field.

This is where Hunt clings to the family-run blueprint that has served the Chiefs, Steelers and others well. As team valuations have grown by billions and private equity firms have entered the fray, Hunt does not see those trends as a disruption to the Chiefs' process.

"The great thing is my three siblings and their families are really committed to the business," Hunt said. "Will things ever change at some point down the road? Who knows. But in the short term, and probably for the next several decades, our family is all-in on the Chiefs."

Hunt's demeanor should help. As multiple league executives pointed out, Hunt is understated and doesn't seek credit, which only strengthens the Chiefs' operation. While Kraft was known to trust Belichick with nearly all personnel matters, it's widely believed that the fractured Belichick-Kraft dynamic, despite unparalleled success, played a pivotal role in the demise. Kraft's alleged interference in the Brady-Garoppolo matter was considered a boiling point.

"Bill never gave Robert enough credit, and Robert wanted too much credit," a league source said. "Andy and Clark give each other credit."

Mahomes' age means Hunt appears to be years from confronting any such drama at quarterback. What might happen if he's forced to consider a succession plan at head coach is another matter altogether.

WHISPERS FROM CERTAIN league circles persisted in September 2021, when Reid felt ill at the conclusion of a loss to the Chargers and was hospitalized for dehydration. Will Andy be forced to retire?

There was no evidence such a move was being considered by Reid, but the question was being asked. His name sometimes comes up in discussions about the coaching carousel as agents and media try to forecast upcoming openings.

It has become something of a futile exercise. Here Reid sits in 2024, at age 66, with zero signs of slowing. Hunt told ESPN that Reid, who by all accounts is in good health, could "absolutely" be the Chiefs' coach for another five years.

Reid doesn't drink or smoke and works on football nearly year-round.

"He certainly seems rejuvenated, I would say, by the success of the team in the last few years and having one of the most special quarterbacks of all time," Hunt said. "I have no sense that he has any interest in retiring any time soon, which is fantastic.

"But I think any leader needs to be thinking about succession. ... Eventually that day will come."

How the Chiefs -- and Reid himself -- plan for that moment will send a ripple effect through the NFL.

Such a process is rarely clean. The Patriots attempted to be proactive, promoting Jerod Mayo to coach-in-waiting before the 2023 season, though the move was believed by many around the league to be driven by Kraft, not Belichick.

Reid has qualified candidates on his own staff. Defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo has more than 40 years of coaching experience, resetting his career after a failed stint as Rams head coach (2009-11) to become one of the game's premier defensive minds, a catalyst for Reid's Chiefs run.

Offensive coordinator Matt Nagy's 34-31 head-coaching record in Chicago has aged reasonably well, and he has helped the Chiefs' offense thrive since rejoining Reid's staff in 2022.

Working closely with a championship coach doesn't guarantee much, though. Just look at the Steelers, who, when replacing Bill Cowher in 2007, eschewed perceived front-runners and in-house candidates Russ Grimm and Ken Whisenhunt for a bright upstart from the Vikings staff named Mike Tomlin.

Reid also has a successful coaching tree, featuring Super Bowl winners such as Baltimore's John Harbaugh and Jacksonville's Doug Pederson, and others who have enjoyed a lesser degree of success, including Buffalo's Sean McDermott.

The challenge will be replacing not only a legendary coach but also the synergy that comes with Mahomes having operated Reid's system for his entire career. Reid has had minimal turnover on his staff while giving Spagnuolo autonomy over the defense.

While Hunt has final say on the next Chiefs coach, Reid will care about shepherding any coaching transition, Banner says. In Philly, Banner said Reid spoke often behind the scenes about "leaving the organization in good hands" when he was done, and Banner believes Reid has given thought to who he would prefer to succeed him.

"He will have an answer to that question," Banner said. "Who that is, he might be the only one who knows."

Luckily for Reid, he won't have to plan for that just yet. The Chiefs are busy building a dynasty.

Not that everyone is embracing the term.

"I'm staying away from it," Hunt said of the word. "I think that's for other people to say. It's one of those things that are probably best said after the fact. When you can look back and sort of see the totality of what the organization has achieved."

CAMDEN, N.J. -- The season debuts for Joel Embiid and Paul George remain on hold for the Philadelphia 76ers as both players will miss Wednesday's game against the Detroit Pistons with knee injuries.

Embiid and George participated in portions of Tuesday's practice and their playing status will be reassessed later in the week.

Sixers coach Nick Nurse declined to elaborate on their health and potential timeline to return to the lineup.

"We want these guys to play and we want them to be healthy and we want them to play great and we want them to play great all season," Nurse said Tuesday. "Then my main focus is, I've got to do the job that I've got to do. I've got to try to get this team to play as good as it can tomorrow night. That takes a big chunk of my focus."

George has yet to make his Sixers debut after he signed a four-year, $212 million contract as a free agent this summer. The 34-year-old has a bone bruise but did not suffer any structural damage when he hyperextended his left knee during a preseason game.

A nine-time All-Star, George was injured when his knee buckled on a defensive play.

Embiid, 30, who won an Olympic gold medal in Paris with Team USA, has been out with what the team calls left knee management. He did not play in the preseason.

The NBA is investigating why Embiid did not play in the team's nationally televised season opener against Milwaukee.

The league confirmed the investigation was opened as part of the NBA's player participation policy that went into effect last season.

Embiid and George missed both games of a road trip against Toronto and Indiana. Without them, the 76ers are 1-2 headed into Wednesday's home game against the Pistons. Tyrese Maxey scored 10 of Philadelphia's 13 overtime points and finished with a season-high 45 to help the 76ers beat the Pacers on Sunday for their first win of the season.

The 76ers also host Memphis on Saturday night.

Embiid was limited to 39 games last season, mostly because of knee surgery after tearing the meniscus in his left knee on Jan. 30 against Golden State. He returned for the playoffs and was diagnosed with Bell's palsy during a first-round loss to the Knicks.

Embiid signed a $193 million contract before training camp. The 76ers have failed to advance beyond the second round of the playoffs since 2001 -- in large part because Embiid has failed to stay healthy.

The Sixers finished 31-8 last season with Embiid and 16-27 without him.

Embiid revealed ahead of training camp that he dropped about 25 to 30 pounds to stay in better condition for the season's grind. That includes not rushing back from any further issues with the knee.

Embiid was the No. 3 pick in the 2014 draft but missed his first two full seasons with injuries. Since his first full season in 2016, Embiid has played in 433 of a possible 804 regular-season games and only 59 of 67 possible playoff games.

Embiid sprained his right knee in the 2023 playoffs, which cost him games against Brooklyn and Boston. He missed two games in the second round in 2022 and another in the first round in 2021 with various injuries, on top of the two he missed to begin the 2018 playoffs with an orbital fracture and another in 2019, also with a knee problem.

Buffalo Sabres defenseman Rasmus Dahlin was fined $5,000 by the NHL on Tuesday for high sticking Florida Panthers forward Anton Lundell.

The fine is the maximum allowable under the league's collective bargaining agreement.

The incident occurred with 7:02 remaining in the third period of the Panthers' 5-2 victory on Monday in Buffalo. Dahlin was assessed a minor penalty for slashing two seconds later.

Dahlin scored his first goal of the season in the second period on Monday. The 24-year-old Swede also has five assists and eight penalty minutes in 10 games this season.

Dahlin has totaled 298 points (67 goals, 231 assists) in 446 career games since being selected by the Sabres with the first overall pick of the 2018 NHL draft.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. -- UFC heavyweight champion Jon Jones has agreed to attend four hours of anger management classes to resolve a pair of misdemeanor charges stemming from a drug test at his New Mexico home in which he was accused of being hostile.

A bench trial was set to begin Tuesday before a New Mexico judge, but a prosecutor and Jones' defense attorney announced at the start of the virtual proceeding that an agreement had been reached.

The charges of assault, a petty misdemeanor, and interference with communication, a misdemeanor, will be dismissed as along as Jones completes the anger management classes and follows all laws over the next 90 days.

Jones had pleaded not guilty in July, and when the allegations first became public earlier this year, he called them baseless. He posted on social media that he had been taken off guard by what he called the unprofessionalism of one of the testers and acknowledged cursing after getting frustrated.

Considered one of the top MMA fighters, Jones took the heavyweight title with a first-round submission over Ciryl Gane in March 2023. It was Jones' first fight in three years and his first in the heavyweight division. He already was the best light heavyweight by winning a record 14 title fights.

Jones will face Stipe Miocic in UFC 309 on Nov. 16 at New York's Madison Square Garden. He and Miocic were scheduled to fight last year, but a pectoral injury forced Jones to postpone.

In 2016, Jones was suspended for a year for a failed drug test and had his 2017 victory over Daniel Cormier turned into a no-contest after another drug test came up positive. Jones argued later that he would have passed under standards that were revised in 2019 by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, which changed the criteria for what constituted a positive test.

A woman who worked for Drug Free Sport International, which conducts tests for professional athletes, initially filed a report with Albuquerque police in April. She accused Jones of threatening her while she and a colleague were at Jones' home for a drug test.

A criminal complaint stated that the woman described Jones as cooperative at first but that he became agitated.

Jones told police that he apologized for swearing at the woman and her co-worker at the end of the test. He provided video from what appeared to be a home camera system showing the woman giving him a high-five before leaving. He said neither appeared scared during the interaction.