The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Injury sidelines Chiefs’ All-Pro left guard
U.S. trade rule — known as de minimis — further erodes U.S. companies.
LAS VEGAS — The Kansas City Chiefs ruled out All-Pro left
ard Joe Thuney for the Super Bowl because of a pectoral injury.
Wide receiver Rashee Rice and running back Clyde Edwards-Helaire, though, appear ready to go.
Rice was a full participant in practice Friday after he was stepped on near the end of the previous day’s workout, while Edwards-Helaire also put in a full practice after dealing with an illness earlier in the week.
The only player that the Chiefs listed as questionable on the final injury report was running back Jerick McKinnon, who remains on injured reserve after surgery in January for a core muscle injury. The Chiefs had until Saturday to add him onto the active roster for the Super Bowl though Reid described his chances of playing as “slim” earlier in the week.
The 49ers are healthy headed into the game with no one on the active roster listed with an injury designation.
“Guys have worked hard these two weeks,” 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan said. “The guys who have been banged up, they’ve done everything possible to be healthy for this game. It’s our first time everyone is full and healthy. It’s the right game to have it that way.”
Backup defensive tackle Kalia Davis, who is currently on injured reserve but practiced last week, was listed as questionable for San Francisco with an ankle injury. Davis is not expected to be activated to play in the game.
Chiefs coach Andy Reid insisted all week he wasn’t counting Thuney out, right through the end of a 66-minute workout Friday at the practice facility of the AFC West-rival Raiders. But given Thuney had not practiced since before he was hurt in the divisional round in Buffalo, it had become increasingly clear that Nick Allegretti would get the start in his place.
The longtime backup has done this before. Allegretti also started the Super Bowl against Tampa Bay in 2021 because of injuries.
“Next-man-up mentality,” Chiefs right guard Trey Smith said. “Nick is a consummate professional. He’ll be ready to go. He’s done a great job these past couple of weeks of preparation. Our coaches will have us prepared and Nick will do great.”
Speaking role: Nick Bosa has been making a high-profile impact for the San Francisco 49ers on Sundays ever since entering the league as the No. 2 overall pick in 2019.
Bosa also has been making more hidden — but important — contributions every Saturday the past two seasons by breaking down the team with a speech at the end of the final wa kthrough before each game.
“I hear every one of them,” general manager John Lynch said. “You don’t miss those because they’re special. They really are. The kid, he doesn’t say a lot, but when he does, it’s very prophetic.”
The soft-spoken Bosa was given the assignment for the first time during the 2022 season as coach Kyle Shanahan liked to randomly call on players to keep them all on their toes.
Bosa’s first was followed by a win so Shanahan called on him again the following week. The Niners won again and it hasn’t stopped as he grows more comfortable each week.
“It’s become our tradition,” Shanahan said. “Nick’s gotten really good at it. I remember he has always been good at it. But it’s funny how guys who are so confident in everything they do, they’re just not used to always speaking in front of groups. He used to tell me that was the most nervous he’d be throughout the whole week. ... I think earlier this year he thanked me. He was like, ‘Hey, thanks for doing that by the way. I’ve gotten better at it. I’m not as nervous anymore.’
“He is really good at it. Everything he says he thinks through. Nick doesn’t waste words because he doesn’t use many of them.”
The speeches aren’t long, lasting just a few minutes. Bosa said he’s surprised he doesn’t remember what he said the first time because he usually remembers “traumatic experiences.”
But he’s gotten better at it — and more comfortable — each week.
“It’s been good for me,” he said. “I’ve kind of enjoyed dealing with the stress and facing something I’m not used to.”
Eli on Purdy: Two-time Super Bowl winner Eli Manning had some choice words for anyone who thinks Brock Purdy’s system in San Francisco diminishes his accomplishments.
“The ‘system quarterback’ thing, I’d take that as a compliment. I think you want to be a system quarterback. That means you know your system. The system’s there and you’ve mastered it,” Manning said. “You’re going to the right place. You’re looking at the defenses, you’re analyzing that and you’re saying, ‘All right, this is where the ball should go.’ And then I’m throwing it accurately to my receivers. I don’t know why that’s like an insult.”
A big reason for optimism for Georgia baseball in 2024 is Charlie Condon, and that sentiment was validated this week when the big first baseman/outfielder was named a preseason All-American.
Condon, a 6-foot-6, 216-pound sophomore from Marietta, is included on the first team of the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association’s (NCBWA) preseason All-American squad. That should come as no surprise after Condon captured the Bulldogs’ triple crown last season by hitting .386 with 25 home runs and 67 RBIs. That performance earned Condon national freshman-of-the-year honors.
As a redshirt freshman last season, Condon started all 56 games and led all freshmen nationally in OPS (1.284) and slugging (.800) and tied for the most home runs among freshmen. As a third-year sophomore this season, Condon is projected as a premium pick in the 2024 MLB draft.
Georgia is preparing for its first season under coach Wes Johnson. The season starts Friday with the first of three games against North Carolina-Asheville at Foley Field. The Bulldogs look to improve on last year’s 29-27 (11-19 SEC) record.
MIDDLESEX, N.C. — In his 40-year career, William Lucas has seen nearly every step in the erosion of the American garment industry. As general manager of Eagle Sportswear, a company here that cuts, sews and assembles apparel, he hopes to keep what’s left of that industry intact.
Lucas, 59, has invested hundreds of thousands of dollars training his workers to use more efficient techniques that come with financial bonuses to get employees to work faster.
But he fears that his investments may be undermined by a U.S. trade rule.
The rule, known as de minimis, allows foreign companies to ship goods worth less than $800 directly to U.S. customers while avoiding tariffs. Lucas and other textile-makers in the Carolinas, once a textile hub, contend that the provision — nearly a century old, but exploding in
Cloth cutting work is being done at garment manufacturer Eagle Sportswear in Middlesex, N.C. Apparel makers in the Carolinas say that for them to survive, U.S. policy that gives unfair advantage to tariff-free shipments from foreign manufacturers to U.S. consumers must change.
Dalton Duriez
Ben Krawiecki
Brian Andrew
Kaunteya Chitnis