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Lunchbreak: Kendricks Brothers Could Be NFL's 'Most Talked About' Siblings for 2018

There's been a lot of talk recently about twin brothers being reunited on the Seahawks roster, when Seattle drafted Shaquem Griffen after drafting Shaquill in 2017.

According to NFL.com, the league currently has 29 sets of siblings, including Vikings LB Eric Kendricks and Eagles LB Mychal Kendricks, who faced each other in the NFC Championship game. The article asked six NFL.com contributors, "Which NFL siblings will we be talking about at the end of the 2018 season?"

Bucky Brooks and Marcas Grant each predicted that the **Kendricks brothers will be the most talked about**. Brooks wrote:

We will still be talking about the Kendricks brothers at the end of the 2018 season. The younger brother, Eric, is emerging as one of the top, young linebackers in the league and enters this season with a big contract extension. I expect him to finally earn recognition as a Pro Bowler. His brother, Mychal, has been a centerpiece of the Eagles defense for a long time. I expect that unit to continue to be a top-five defense in the league, with Mychal playing a huge role as a run-stopper and pass defender. When you think of having a pair of dynamic, second-level defenders in the same family, it is unique and one of those things we'll be talking about for a long time.

Grant said that Eric and Mychal are "two major pieces of two of the league's top defenses and two teams that are expected to again compete for an NFC title." He wrote:

Mychal and Eric Kendricks should get plenty of attention from fans and media alike once we get through this year.

Of the other four NFL.com personalities, each chose a different sibling group.

Adam Rank pointed to Maurkice (Steelers) and Mike (Chargers) Pouncey; Gregg Rosenthal highlighted Devin and Jason McCourty, who are both part of the Patriots secondary; David Carr picked Travis (Chiefs) and Jason (Eagles) Kelce; and Alex Gelhar pointed to a trio of brothers: J.J. (Texans), T.J. (Steelers) and Derek (Chargers) Watt.

C.J. Ham spends time at community breakfast back home in Duluth

Vikings fullback C.J. Ham was invited to the Duluth Lions Club Pancake Day in 2017, but he couldn't make of the overlap with rookie minicamp.

This year, however, Ham made it a priority to attend the event in his hometown.

The Duluth News Tribune's Jon Nowacki* ***covered Ham’s attendance at the event**, which took place Thursday at the DECC in Duluth.

"I'm glad to be back," Ham told Nowacki. "It's a lot of fun. Obviously I love being back in Duluth, just hanging out."

Nowacki wrote:

C.J. has been busy the past two weeks with OTAs — organized team activities — and planned on heading back to the Twin Cities today. It's quite the luxury playing professional football just over two hours from where you grew up.

*Ham graduated from Denfeld [High School] in 2011 and was picked up by the Vikings as a free agent in 2016 after a stellar four-year career at Augustana in Sioux Falls, [South Dakota]. *

Nowacki spoke to C.J.'s father, Cortez, who also was at the pancake event.

"I knew the Vikings would invite him to camp," Cortez said. "That would be hard on me [if C.J. was playing somewhere else]."

Well-wishes for Witten

Veteran tight end Jason Witten announced his retirement Thursday after 15 seasons with the Cowboys.

Trae Waynes, who his pro journey in Dallas alongside Witten in 2003, recently re-signed with the Vikings for a 16th season. He posted well-wishes for his former teammate via Twitter:

Kyle Rudolph also posted a message to his fellow tight end.

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