Will the Kansas City Chiefs’ offensive line be their downfall?
Nov 30, 2014; Kansas City, MO, USA; Kansas City Chiefs center Rodney Hudson (61) prepares to snap the football in the third quarter against the Denver Broncos at Arrowhead Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports
So let’s recap….
The Chiefs have a great overall roster. A roster that on paper looks like it can be the best of the Reid/Dorsey era. However, the one area that looks like it could still be a concern is the offensive line. The Chiefs quarterback Alex Smith has proven in the past that he is a much better player when his offensive line plays well. Last season the line didn’t play well and the Chiefs offense fell short and KC just missed making the playoffs. The Chiefs desperately need the offensive line to play better in 2015.
Going into training camp there is a safe assumption that the Chiefs are going to be much improved at left guard with the addition of Ben Grubbs but will likely see a drop off at center with Rodney Hudson being replaced by a player with little to no NFL experience. The other three spots on the Chiefs line are relying on players improving and playing at a higher level than they ever have before.
The Chiefs are relying on Eric Fisher the former first overall pick to make another step forward to secure the left tackle position and the center, right guard, and right tackle spots are all up for grabs. So basically the Chiefs need some combination of Eric Fisher, Eric Kush, Mitch Morse, Zach Fulton, Paul Fanaika, Jeff Allen, Laurent Duvernay-Tardif, Donald Stephenson, and Derek Sherrod to step up and fill four starting positions. That means in order for the Chiefs to have a good offensive line they need four of those nine players to step up and play better than they ever have before. That’s a pretty high percentage rate to hit on, but there is at least reason to hope. It seems reasonable to think that Fisher and Fulton could improve their play from last season and combined with adding Grubbs at left guard that would be three positions with improved play. Then it would come down to the center and right guard positions.
If I was predicting what the starting offensive line for week one would look like right now I would have to go with:
Eric Fisher, Ben Grubbs, Eric Kush, Zach Fulton, Donald Stephenson
The point of this piece isn’t to say that I think the Chiefs offensive line will be bad in 2015. My point is that I think there are major questions on the offensive line. The answers to those questions may be good or they may be bad. I don’t know that there is any more reason to be pessimistic than there is to be optimistic, I just believe that as we enter the offseason program there is no other position group that KC fans should be keeping a closer eye on than the offensive line. The Chiefs offense relies on a good line in order to be successful and they appear to have all the rest of the pieces they need in place. If the Chiefs gamble on in-house improvement on the line pays off this team could be one of the best teams in the AFC.
So what do you think, Addicts? Am I right in believing that the offensive line is the area of most concern entering the 2015 season? Do you agree that there are a lot more questions than answers with this unit at this point? Who do you think will end up starting this season? How confident are you that the line as a whole will be improved this season? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below.
As always, thanks for reading and GO CHIEFS!!!!!