Why isn’t Kyle Long factoring into the KC Chiefs plans at all?

There was a brief moment on Sunday in which I thought an answer might emerge, a moment in which Kansas City Chiefs fans would finally get the chance to see offensive lineman Kyle Long enter an actual regular-season game.

Instead, I was quickly reminded that he’d been listed as an inactive player in the hours before the team’s loss to the Cincinnati Bengals, a game in which the Chiefs lost two offensive taCX at Paul Brown Stadium due to a leg injury that was later described as a calf strain. From there, just six more snaps into the game, rookie Lucas Niang went down after taking over at left tackle, with a much more serious injury: a torn patellar tendon.

Kyle Long remains a mystery on the Chiefs’ sideline.

Coming into this week, the Chiefs have been forced to play without rookie starter Niang at right tackle for multiple weeks. The same could be said of his own replacement, Mike Remmers, while Long had missed the majority of the season on the Physically Unable to Play list with a leg injury suffered in the preseason.

Against the Bengals, the Chiefs lined up with Thuney at left tackle and Andrew Wylie at right tackle for the vast majority of snaps. Moving forward, it’s impossible to know yet if Brown will be ready to go on Sunday, but Niang is gone for the season and the Chiefs look thin at tackle now heading into the part of the year that matters most. Sound familiar?

The good news is that the Chiefs roll very, very deep along the entire offensive front, and the interior in particular is loaded for the postseason. That said, the loss of Brown really strains the bookends here, which is why we’re scratching our heads about Long’s availability.

As we already noted, for most of the season, Long was unable to play due to injury, and even when he came back to a three-week practice window, it still made sense for the team to keep him on the sidelines since he needed to get back into game shape. However, at this point, Long is a known commodity, a player who is now very familiar with what the Chiefs want him to do given that he’s been here for weekly practices, meetings, and games.

Here’s the thing: if Long somehow did not live up to preseason expectations, if he was termed as some sort of veteran flyer who didn’t work out, then there’s no reason to keep him on the active roster. The Chiefs have other such players who could fill that role or they could at least sign someone in that position. Instead, we continue to see Long listed there week after week.

On the flip side, Long has yet to enter a game when guys like Andrew Wylie are still starting games. Wylie has done an admirable job when tasked with playing OT4 but it also shouldn’t be hard to replace him if you have the quality options. Long came into the season projected to be a potential starter at right guard or right tackle and even after healing for a few weeks after coming off the PUP list. Is he really worse than Wylie at this stage? Is he honestly not a better shift than shifting Thuney out of position?

The Chiefs still have a deep line but OT is a particular point of concern at this stage yet Long remains on the sidelines looking in. Perhaps this week wlill be the one where Long takes the field and we finally get a glimpse of his conditioning and ceiling.