Why the Rams don’t need draft picks, plus the Chiefs won, but it sure wasn’t pretty

Greetings sports fans, it’s Chris Bengel back with you on this Tuesday morning. 

I can honestly say that I am completely devastated by the Derrick Henry injury news. I have Henry on my fantasy team and I don’t think I will recover from this. Henry has been an absolute stud so far this season and easily my fantasy MVP. Henry and Tom Brady were singlehandedly carrying my team and now I’m terrified at what the future holds. It appears that Henry will miss the majority of the remainder of the regular season. That means that the best case scenario is having Henry back for the fantasy playoffs.

I’m seriously distraught. Anyway, enough about my moaning. Let’s dive into the news BUT FIRST, I need to let you all know that the NFL trade deadline is later today — at 4 p.m. ET to be exact. Follow our live updates of everything NFL trade deadline related right here to stay in the know for the next few hours.

OK, on to the news!

📰 What you need to know

1. Rams empty draft capital to acquire Von Miller from Broncos in blockbuster deal 🏈

The Los Angeles Rams are going all in and trying to win a Super Bowl this season. It became even clearer on Monday when the Rams acquired star pass rusher Von Miller from the Denver Broncos in exchange for a second and third round pick in the 2022 NFL Draft.

Miller joins a stingy Rams defense that already includes the likes of Aaron Donald, Leonard Floyd, and Jalen Ramsey — and already leads the NFL in sacks. While Miller has had injury concerns in recent seasons, he’s still one of the better pass rushers around when he’s healthy. Seeing the combination of Donald and Miller rushing opposing quarterbacks is downright frightening.

With the move, the Rams have also decided to give their scouting department for the next several months off. The Rams don’t have any picks in the first four rounds of the 2022 NFL Draft. Not counting compensatory picks, the Rams own just a fifth round pick and two seventh round picks in the upcoming draft. 

Now, let’s analyze the deal. Our NFL expert Jeff Kerr gave the Rams an A- grade for the move.

• Kerr: “Rams GM Les Snead deserves a lot of credit for not even worrying about the draft. Why pick a bunch of unproven commodities when an organization can trade for a proven asset that can help a franchise win now? Snead doesn’t know how that 2022 second-round and third-round pick will pan out, but he knows what the Rams are getting with Miller.”

You can read more about the grades for this trade here, and it’s also worth checking out this article we have on how the Rams were in the position to trade so much draft capital.

2. Chiefs edge Giants with late field goal on MNF 🏈

The Kansas City Chiefs have been the class of the NFL over the past couple of seasons. However, they entered Monday’s game coming off of losses to the Buffalo Bills and Tennessee Titans in two of their last three games. The Chiefs were able to rebound with a 20-17 win over the New York Giants on Monday.

Kicker Harrison Butker connected on a 34-yard field goal with 1:07 left to propel the Chiefs to victory. Here’s how the Chiefs set up Butker for the game-winning field goal:

• On 2nd-and-15 at their own 24-yard line, Patrick Mahomes hit tight end Travis Kelce for 14 yards. In addition, there was a 15-yard face mask penalty on the Giants at the end of the play
• On 1st-and-10 at the Giants 47-yard line, Darryl Williams ran for an eight-yard gain
• On 1st-and-10 at the Giants 33-yard line, Mahomes found Mecole Hardman for 24 yards

The Chiefs did come away with the win, but still weren’t all that impressive against the lowly Giants. It was a very ugly game.

Mahomes threw an interception and tight end Travis Kelce fumbled the ball in the second half. Kansas City just doesn’t look like the juggernaut that they have looked like in years past. On top of that, their defense has left a lot to be desired. The proof is that the now 2-6 Giants had some successes on offense throughout Monday’s game.

For more analysis, check out what our CBS Sports NFL scribes had to say about the action.

3. What will the Titans do without Derrick Henry? 🏈

The Tennessee Titans were dealt a brutal blow on Monday when they learned that running back Derrick Henry is seriously injured. According to CBS Sports NFL Insider Jason La Canfora, Henry suffered a potentially season-ending broken foot on Sunday. The Titans haven’t given a timetable for Henry’s return, but it’s believed that he’ll miss the majority of the remainder of the regular season.

Titans head coach Mike Vrabel revealed that Henry would have surgery to repair the injury on Tuesday morning.

• Vrabel: “Derrick’s going to have surgery in the morning and we’re not going to put a timeline on when he may return. I know that he will do everything he can to work himself back to be able to help this football team and whenever that is, that’s when it will be.” 

Following Week 8 action, Henry leads the NFL with 937 rushing yards and 10 rushing touchdowns. The Titans star had one of the his more pedestrian games of the season as he carried the ball 28 times for just 68 yards against the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday. Henry was talking with team trainers in the first half and wasn’t wearing one of his cleats. However, Henry returned and finished the game, which is not surprising since he’s missed just one game in his career as a result of injury.

Now the biggest question is: who will carry the football for the Titans in Henry’s absence?

Tennessee certainly didn’t waste any time adding depth at the position as they signed veteran tailback Adrian Peterson. Peterson spent the 2020 season with the Detroit Lions and rushed for 604 yards and seven touchdowns. Now, this isn’t the electric Peterson of old, but I expect Peterson to be a solid contributor for the Titans. However, Peterson may not be the last acquisition that the Titans make at the running back position. CBS Sports NFL scribe Jordan Dajani wrote that D’Onta Foreman and Todd Gurley could be potential options for the Titans to sign if they want to add more backs.

Regardless of who gets the carries, it will be someone who is not as impactful as Henry.

4. Hurricanes rise to top of latest NHL Power Rankings 🏒

The NHL season continues to chug along and we’ve seen so many teams show their dominance thus far. Two of the teams that have particularly caught my eye are the Edmonton Oilers and Calgary Flames. 

Now, obviously the Oilers are a team that many are watching considering that Connor McDavid is an absolute magician. However, what impresses me is the insane amount of scoring depth that Edmonton possesses. As spectacular as McDavid has been, it’s been so much fun to watch winger Zach Hyman excel on the Oilers’ top line. I’ve been saying it since the offseason, but Hyman may be one of the most underrated signings in free agency — I won’t be shocked if he scores 30 goals this season.

Meanwhile, the Flames have also been a ton of fun to watch. After dropping the first two games of the season, Calgary has won six consecutive games, including going 5-0 on a recent road trip. Over the past two games, the Flames have outscored the Philadelphia Flyers and Pittsburgh Penguins 8-0 in very dominant victories. I didn’t see this coming, considering that the Flames missed the playoffs last year and didn’t make any big moves in the offseason.

With another week of NHL action in the books, our own Austin Nivison revealed his latest set of NHL Power Rankings. Here’s a peek at the top 10.

• No. 1: Carolina Hurricanes
• No. 2: Florida Panthers
• No. 3: Edmonton Oilers
• No. 4: St. Louis Blues
• No. 5: Calgary Flames
• No. 6: New York Rangers
• No. 7: Washington Capitals
• No. 8: Colorado Avalanche
• No. 9: Boston Bruins
• No. 10: Minnesota Wild

📝 Odds & Ends

• New York Rangers defenseman Adam Fox has agreed to a historic seven-year contract extension with the team. The new deal will reportedly pay Fox $9.5 million per season
• With the World Series resuming tonight after two days off, here’s a history of November baseball
• The New Orleans Pelicans announced that star forward Zion Williamson is progressing from foot surgery and will have imaging done in two-to-three weeks
  
  

📺 What to watch tonight

🏒 Golden Knights vs. Maple Leafs, 7 p.m. | TOR -180 | TV: NHL.TV

🏀 Heat vs. Mavericks, 7:30 p.m. | DAL -2 | TV: TNT

⚾ World Series Game 6: Braves vs. Astros, 8:09 p.m. | HOU -125 | TV: FOX

🏅 Best thing I saw on the internet

As we mentioned earlier, the Rams acquired pass rusher Von Miller from the Denver Broncos. The Rams are clearly comfortable trading the majority of their draft capital for star players that can help them now. Shortly after the acquisition of Miller became official, the Rams official Twitter account tweeted out a GIF of John Malkovich’s character, Teddy KGB, from the movie “Rounders” splashing his chips in the middle of a poker table. 

While I understand the theme that the Rams social media team was going for here, it’s not exactly the right message to your fanbase. For those that haven’t seen the film (which if you haven’t, I highly recommend it), Teddy KGB sprinkles all his chips in the middle of the table and goes all in. However, Matt Damon’s character, Mike McDermott, ends up winning the hand. I don’t think the Rams quite understood the significance of the GIF that they were using.