Patrick Mahomes explains how he got Chiefs to trade up for him in 2017 NFL Draft

Good morning to everyone but especially to... PATRICK MAHOMES AND THE KANSAS CITY CHIEFS... When Patrick Mahomes suffered a high-ankle sprain against the Jaguars, it didn't look good. Not for the rest of that game, and not for any potential games going forward. Yet, as he so often does while...

Despite his impressive work as the Panthers' interim head coach, Steve Wilks was not chosen to be Carolina's permanent coach. The job instead went to Frank Reich, who was fired by the Colts nine games into the 2022 season. Wilks expressed his gratitude for the opportunity to be the Panthers head coach for their final 12 games of the season, saying he will always be a fan of the team in a statement he tweeted on Friday morning.

Welcome to the Thursday edition of the Pick Six newsletter!. The NFL regular season ended on Jan. 8, which means we've now gone 18 days without a coach being hired. There are five open coaching jobs and not one has been filled yet. It's been so long that I'm starting to think that some of these teams are planning to go into 2023 without a coach, which might actually be better than what they had last year.

We're down to just three games left in the NFL season and Sunday's matchups in the conference title games are as good as it gets. We've got a rematch on the AFC side as the Kansas City Chiefs host the Cincinnati Bengals. On the NFC side, the Philadelphia Eagles host the San Francisco 49ers.

For the second year in a row, the 49ers are knocking on the door of the Super Bowl. Last season, their dreams of a title slipped through their fingers as they couldn't hang on to their fourth-quarter lead over the eventual-champion Rams. Fast forward to this year's campaign, and you'll...

Hurst (calf) was limited at practice Thursday, Paul Dehner Jr. of The Athletic reports. Hurst practiced fully Wednesday, so the tight end's addition to the Bengals' injury report makes his status worth tracking as Sunday's AFC Championship Game against the Chiefs approaches. He dealt with a calf issue back in December, but it's unclear if his listed limitations Thursday are indicative of a setback in practice or a case of workload management.

The San Francisco 49ers will try to reach the Super Bowl for the eighth time in franchise history when they visit the Philadelphia Eagles in the 2023 NFC Championship Game on Sunday. San Francisco (15-4) is appearing in the conference championship game for the second straight year and third time in four seasons. It suffered a 20-17 loss to the Los Angeles Rams in 2021 after defeating Green Bay two years earlier. Philadelphia (15-3) is playing for the NFC title for the first time since 2017, when it routed Minnesota 38-7 and went on to win its first Super Bowl championship. Eagles vs. 49ers is the first of two games in the 2023 NFL playoffs on Sunday.

For anyone who likes David vs. Goliath stories, Super Bowl XXX is right down your alley. The Cowboys, winners of two of the previous three Super Bowls, were massive favorites over the Steelers, who were hoping to snap the NFC's run of 11 consecutive wins in the big game. Heavy...

The NFC Championship is here as the San Francisco 49ers will face the Eagles in Philadelphia on Sunday. This is the first meeting between these two teams since Week 2 in 2021. The 49ers won, 17-11, but much has changed since then. Jalen Hurts has evolved into one of the...

Due to NFL rules, the Houston Texans must wait until after Sunday's NFC Championship Game to interview DeMeco Ryans a second time for their vacant head coaching position. In the meantime, the Texans had to figure out whether Ryans would actually want the job. According to a league source, Houston and team owner Cal McNair weren't sure whether Ryans, who once sued the Texans for negligence, would ultimately want to be the head coach for the team.

Art Rooney II discussed a variety of topics with Steelers beat writers on Thursday, ranging from the decision to retain offensive coordinator Matt Canada (largely because of Kenny Pickett and the growth that occurred late in the season) and his thoughts on future conference title games being played on neutral sites (he's against it).

Castano (shoulder) cleared waivers and was sent outright to Triple-A Jacksonville by the Marlins on Thursday, per Jordan McPherson of the Miami Herald. Miami designated Castano for assignment last week as the corresponding 40-man roster move for its completion of a free-agent agreement with veteran starter Johnny Cueto. The 28-year-old left-hander holds a 3.89 ERA, 1.43 WHIP and 45:28 K:BB ratio in 85.2 career innings at the MLB level.

The Jets were one of the best storylines in the NFL for a sizable portion of the 2022 season, but woeful quarterback play morphed a 7-4 start into a 7-10 finish. With Garrett Wilson and Sauce Gardner having Rookie of The Year-type debut campaigns in the NFL and head coach Robert Saleh leading a super-stingy defense, the Jets are close to being real contenders.

Mike Tomlin is one of the most underappreciated coaches in the NFL. The accomplishment of finishing with a .500 record or better each of his 16 seasons with the Pittsburgh Steelers is remarkable, especially considering the quarterback struggles over the past half-decade. Pittsburgh may have finally found an answer to its quarterback situation moving forward but other questions on the roster persist.

Sills signed a reserve/future contract with the Giants on Thursday. Sills opened the 2022 season as a member of the Giants' starting wide-receiver corps, playing at least 63 percent of offensive snaps in all but one of the first four games. However, the 26-year-old logged more than two receptions just once, and he saw a significant drop in playing time before being ruled a healthy scratch six times between Weeks 10 to 16. Sills was then waived Dec. 31 and finished the season on the practice squad. He'll now work to earn his way back onto the Giants' 53-man roster ahead of the 2023 campaign.

Another day, another set of trade rumors as the NBA's deadline approaches. We are now less than two weeks away from the final buzzer, and we're still waiting on the sort of moves that tend to define a deadline. That hasn't been for lack of trying. There has been plenty of news surrounding what teams are trying to accomplish over the past several days, and on Friday, we have a whole new batch to sift through.

We're now into the NFL final four, and by the end of this weekend we'll know what the Super Bowl LVII matchup in Arizona will be. As usual, we expect some crazy stuff to happen when these conference championship games kick off. So, here we are once again with our bold predictions: three for both the NFC and AFC title games.