Brett Veach: Joe Thuney gives Chiefs a Pro Bowl caliber player at multiple positions

If you ask Kansas City Chiefs general manager Brett Veach, Joe Thuney is going to be a godsend for the interior of the team’s offensive front. That’s because the free agent signing allows the team to utilize him as a “Pro Bowl caliber player” at any one of three positions.

On Friday, Veach spoke with Chiefs reporters in his annual pre-draft press conference, with the 2021 NFL Draft in view beginning next Thursday. The majority of questions were centered on the upcoming three-day first-year player draft, but Veach was also asked about the team’s direction and decisions made in free agency. After all, Veach hadn’t met with the media since before the team had made multiple signings.

Veach sounded most enthused about the offseason’s big ticket item, as he should have been. The Chiefs signed Joe Thuney away from the New England Patriots at a hefty cost: a five-year contract worth up to $80 million. The goal was to improve the offensive protection of Patrick Mahomes after losing in the Super Bowl in such a miserable fashion to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, whose pass rushers feasted on the Chiefs’ weakened line.

Veach said that the Chiefs wanted to chase both left tackle Trent Williams and Thuney “right off the bat” in free agency given their talent level and the team’s need. The San Francisco 49ers were able to convince Williams to re-sign with them but the Chiefs won out on Thuney pretty quickly.

Joe Thuney gives the Chiefs a Pro Bowl caliber player at three spots on the offensive line.

“Speaking about Joe, he’s one of the better interior offensive linemen in the National Football League,” he said. “I think his ability to play either guard position and center position at a Pro Bowl level was something that was really enticing for us. The quality person he is, his work ethic, his durability… any box that you have for an offensive lineman, you talk about intelligence, flexibility, production, he checks all those boxes off, so he was a no-brainer for us. We were certainly excited to add him and know that we have depth at any three of those positions and know we’ll get a Pro Bowl caliber player at those positions.

That last bit is the most interesting of Veach’s statements, specifically because it was something Veach mentioned a few more times in his presser—namely that Thuney is versatile enough to play left guard, center, and right guard. Even when he’d moved on to discussing the addition of new center Austin Blythe, Veach brought up Thuney’s ability to start there if that produced the best starting five heading into the season.

Right now, the idea of Thuney at center might make even more sense given that Blythe’s ceiling is much lower than Thuney’s established presence along the interior. In addition, if the Chiefs are happy with how some players look after returning from a year away—specifically Kyle Long and Laurent Duvernay-Tardif—then it might make more sense to play them at guard and let Thuney upgrade the middle.

Either way, it’s clear that Thuney was the prize of the offseason and gives the Chiefs their best interior protector in years—perhaps since Rodney Hudson occupied the starting center role. Whether or not he plays that same spot is up to Chiefs coaches, but they have flexibility with a player whose ceiling is sky high.