Chris Jones continues to hold out, but the Kansas City Chiefs remain hopeful that the defensive star could play in the Sept. 7 season opener against the Detroit Lions at Arrowhead Stadium.

"We're certainly hopeful of that," general manager Brett Veach said. "We're looking forward to next Thursday and hopefully he's in the lineup and he's ready to go."

Jones has one season remaining on the four-year contract he signed with the Chiefs in 2020 but has been absent from all of this season's practices in an effort to get a new deal.

Veach said communication between the Chiefs and Jones has picked up in recent days, though he wouldn't say whether he thought the sides were making progress toward a new contract.

"We're going to continue to press on," Veach said. "We're just going to keep working on this thing."

The Carolina Panthers have acquired wide receiver Ihmir Smith-Marsette in a trade with the Kansas City Chiefs.

The teams exchanged conditional seventh-round picks as part of the deal. 

Smith-Marsette had nine receptions for 195 yards and two touchdowns in three preseason games with the Chiefs.

He was a fifth-round pick of the Chicago Bears in 2021.

A virtual tailgate and concert experience is planned for the NFL's kickoff game between the Detroit Lions and Kansas City Chiefs next month.

The show dubbed as the "World's Largest Tailgate" will celebrate the start of the 2023 season. The event will be held live outside GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium.

"Chiefs Kingdom is wherever you are, and the World's Largest Tailgate is one way we can unite people in Kansas City, around the country and throughout the world around the fact that NFL football is back in a big way," Chiefs president Mark Donovan said in a statement.

Chris Jones seems prepared to hold out for a new contract with the Kansas City Chiefs well into the regular season.

The defensive tackle has been racking up daily fines of $50,000 since the start of training camp.

Jones posted a picture on social media of a sign that reads "If it's out of your hands, it deserves freedom from your mind also" and was asked in reply when he plans to rejoin the team. Jones' reply raised eyebrows in Kansas City.

"Week 8," Jones wrote. 

Another reply noted that would result in "a hefty tab" and Jones would forfeit more than $7.5 million in weekly checks on top of his camp fines if he were to remain out until that point in the season. Jones seemed unbothered by that prospect.

"I can afford it," Jones wrote.

Skyy Moore has been working with the first team in training camp as the Kansas City Chiefs plan to give the second-year wide receiver more looks this season.

Moore didn't play much as a rookie, totaling 22 receptions for 250 yards and three rushes for 24 yards.

"I think growth within the system of being able to play fast because he [Moore] knows where to go," offensive coordinator Matt Nagy said. "He's had the talent, last year just learning the offense and now being able to transition to playing faster. Now he'll get more opportunities and I think he'll do well."

Moore's first career touchdown came in Super Bowl LVII, his lone catch of the game in the fourth quarter of a 38-35 victory over the Philadelphia Eagles. 

The average NFL franchise has increased in value by 24 percent over the past 12 months reaching $5.14 billion.

Collectively, the NFL’s 32 teams are worth $165 billion, including team-related business and real estate held by owners.

The Dallas Cowboys rank first in the NFL and across all sports leagues globally at $9.2 billion. The Cowboys had an operating profit of $460 million in 2022.

The New York Giants and Los Angeles Rams rank second and third at $7.04 billion and $6.98 billion respectively. The New England Patriots and San Francisco 49ers round out the top-5.

Kansas City Chiefs defensive tackle Chris Jones continues to hold out from training camp as the two sides work through a potential contract solution.

Brett Veach told Jesse Newell of the Kansas City Star that there are zero plans to trade with Jones after the Chiefs dealt Tyreek Hill amid a similar situation last offseason.

"I think for all parties, I think the best resolution would be for him to end his career as a Chief -- and get that financial security -- and for us to do what we had set out to do, and that's to work through last offseason with this offseason in mind and get some young guys, which we did that, and then focus on this year and getting Chris done," the general manager said. "Hopefully, we get this resolved, but we have no intentions of making a trade."

Patrick Mahomes unsurprisingly landed No. 1 on "Top 100 Players" list that the NFL compiles by polling players.

After Mahomes, Justin Jefferson, Jalen Hurts, Nick Bosa and Travis Kelce rounded out the top five.