KC Chiefs could have three first-time Pro Bowlers along offensive line
By Matt Conner
Ten games into the rebuild, Kansas City Chiefs general manager Brett Veach deserves a standing ovation.
This past offseason, the Chiefs GM was tasked with making numerous changes to a roster that had already been to two Super Bowls. While there were numerous positions of need, none was greater than those positions along the offensive line. While Veach could have decided to tinker at a few of those slots along the offensive front, he instead decided for a complete overhaul—for better or worse.
To be clear, it would have been difficult to look much worse than the Chiefs did in the postseason in terms of protection up front. However, there were numerous injuries that factored in, from Eric Fisher’s Achilles to Mitchell Schwartz’s ongoing back pain, along with player opt outs that kept Lucas Niang and Laurent Duvernay-Tardif off the field as well. In many ways, the Chiefs could have at least retained some familiar faces and moved forward with a couple positions. Instead, Chiefs Kingdom went forward with a brand new starting five.
At left tackle, Veach chased Trent Williams before trading for Orlando Brown Jr. At left guard, he landed free agency’s biggest fish in Joe Thuney. He drafted Creed Humphrey on day two at center and Trey Smith on day three at right guard. He signed Kyle Long for the right side—to fit in somewhere, He went on to sign Austin Blythe and re-sign Mike Remmers and welcomed back Niang and LDT. Given that holdovers Nick Allegretti and Andrew Wylie were also in place, the Chiefs suddenly looked like they were loaded for a new era.
How are things going so far? While several players vying for time at right tackle have suffered injuries, Niang and Remmers have both looked solid when out there (and Wylie deserves a hat tip after his performance on Sunday). Orlando Brown Jr. is looking better each week in a new system. Meanwhile the interior three, well, we will let former Chiefs lineman Jeff Allen do the talking:
I’m young enough to remember when people were saying that the Chiefs Oline was the problem for the offense this season. There’s 3 potential pro bowlers playing in the interior of the Oline another at LT https://t.co/rKFUXarvlc
— The Cookie Expert (@JeffAllen71) November 16, 2021
Those three new players are all potential Pro Bowlers. Not only that, all three are potential first-time Pro Bowl players. That’s an amazing achievement for Veach in terms of personnel decisions and certainly a testimony to the tremendous job done up front by the coaches and players themselves. Let’s take a look at each player and their real Pro Bowl chances.