KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Say this for the Kansas City Chiefs: Once they see a weak spot on their roster, they go all-in on fixing it.
The Chiefs could not afford to miss the mess their offensive line had develop into, not after the way in which quarterback Patrick Mahomes was harassed throughout final season’s Tremendous Bowl loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Based on NFL Subsequent Gen Stats, Mahomes ran for a complete of 497 yards earlier than his passes or sacks in the course of the Tremendous Bowl, essentially the most pre-throw or pre-sack yards by any quarterback in any recreation final season.
Kansas Metropolis hadn’t put many assets — free-agent or premium draft picks — into its offensive line lately, and though the Chiefs patched up issues remarkably effectively final season, that neglect confirmed in opposition to the Bucs on the worst attainable time.
Friday’s trade with the Baltimore Ravens for left sort out Orlando Brown Jr. completes their offseason overhaul of the offensive line. Kansas Metropolis can have 5 new starters from final 12 months’s season opener. The crew not solely traded for Brown and signed free-agent linemen Joe Thuney, Kyle Long and Austin Blythe but in addition is anticipating the return of Laurent Duvernay-Tardif and Lucas Niang.
Each opted out of final season and didn’t play in 2020.
Kansas Metropolis will type positions and starters because the offseason and coaching camp unfold, apart from Brown. A Professional Bowler in every of the previous two seasons, Brown is the left sort out, a place the Chiefs needed to get proper earlier than they may have a look at their efforts to rework their line as successful.
They tried earlier within the offseason to signal veteran sort out Trent Williams, who ultimately re-signed with the San Francisco 49ers as an alternative.
“Trent was a man we thought would actually have helped us on that left aspect, and we weren’t in a position to get that executed,” Kansas Metropolis normal supervisor Brett Veach stated. “Proper after that, it was our duty to be disciplined. A number of the alternate options on the market simply did not make sense for us. We did not need to signal somebody simply to signal somebody.”
The miss with Williams labored out in a way for the crew. Veach stated if the Chiefs had signed Williams, they would not have been in a position to afford to signal defensive sort out Jarran Reed
The trouble with Williams indicated that Kansas Metropolis would not simply be settling for any left sort out. It had free-agent choices and will have used the first-round choose it used within the Brown commerce on a special left sort out.
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The crew favored none of these alternate options as a lot as Brown, who will not flip 25 till subsequent month. For this commerce to work, the Chiefs must signal Brown for the long run — he is headed into the ultimate 12 months of his contract — but when they had been in a position to load a hefty long-term supply for Williams earlier than he declined, they will have the mandatory cash for Brown.
The offensive line renovation is harking back to what Kansas Metropolis was in a position to do with the protection in 2019. The Chiefs introduced in a brand new defensive teaching workers and altered methods. They signed Tyrann Mathieu, traded for Frank Clark and within the season opener had six new starters from the earlier season.
It took just a few video games earlier than the transformation took maintain, however by season’s finish the Chiefs had been enjoying effectively defensively. With an enormous help from their protection, they wound up successful the Tremendous Bowl for the primary time in 50 years.
Kansas Metropolis might or might not win a Tremendous Bowl subsequent season. However one factor appears sure from this very early vantage level: If it would not, the offensive line will not be why not.