KC Chiefs offensive line rebuild took time to come together

In the early days of free agency, it can be easy for a fan base to get frustrated when their favorite franchise isn’t all that involved—especially while rivals and other contenders are making moves. For fans of the Kansas City Chiefs, that’s definitely been the case in the early going of a new league year.

To be clear: the Chiefs were already a loaded team who required a full second-half meltdown in order to avoid going to their third consecutive Super Bowl. Other teams should be catching up with the Chiefs given the way the NFL structures its draft and utilizes a salary cap. That said, this offseason has been tough to watch.

In just the last week alone, the Denver Broncos have signed Randy Gregory and traded for Russell Wilson. The Las Vegas Raiders have added Davante Adams on offense and Chandler Jones on defense. The already-loaded Los Angeles Chargers joined the mix by bringing on two defensive stars in both J.C. Jackson and Khalil Mack.

It’s important to remember that good things, like the Chiefs offensive line, requires time to build it properly.

Yet that’s not all. The reigning AFC champs, the Cincinnati Bengals, are fortifying the trenches with Alex Cappa and potentially La’el Collins. The Buffalo Bills have brought Von Miller on board along with a host of new defensive tackles in a complete reinvention up front.

If this all sounds like a lot, it is. The AFC now likely has 7 of the best 10 teams in the NFL.

All the while, the Chiefs have replaced Tyrann Mathieu with Justin Reid in free agency and then… not a lot else. They’ve re-signed a backup quarterback, a fullback, and a versatile lineman. They’ve also tried to sign a few extensions, but nothing has materialized. All the while, other teams are stacking up the talent.

But in the midst of the frenzy, it’s important to note the long nature of an offseason. A new roster doesn’t come together during the first few days of free agency. While some impressive parts will climb on board at first, the truth is that there are several stages of roster-building that will happen and that includes the draft, early summer trades, and even preseason roster cuts. There’s also a trade deadline coming next November.

This is all important to remember because it’s easy to panic or get frustrated at the Chiefs’ level of inactivity at this point. But that’s what makes last year’s offensive line rebuild so important to recall as an example.

The Chiefs completely remade their offensive front in a single offseason left to right with new starters. The end result was as impressive as anything else coordinated by Brett Veach during his time as the team’s general manager. But left guard Joe Thuney was the only addition early in free agency that was a part of it at all. In fact, the Chiefs lost out on left tackle Trent Williams as well in their attempts to make a big FA splash.

At this point last year, the left tackle was a point of major concern because it looked as if Russell Okung or Alejandro Villanueva might be the best the Chiefs could do. At center, Austin Blythe replaced Austin Reiter in a swap that really didn’t elevate the position at all. At right guard, Andrew Wylie was in place to compete with Laurent Duvernay-Tardif, who was returning from a year away. Right tackle was between a rookie making his debut a year late in Lucas Niang against Mike Remmers for the role. Or maybe Kyle Long would prove to be valuable.

If that sounds like a lot of backups competing for a starting role, you’d be right. Some of those guys are valuable role players, but that cannot be the substance of a reinvention. Fortunately, it wasn’t. it wasn’t until shortly before the draft that the Chiefs pulled the trigger on a deal for Orlando Brown Jr. It wasn’t until the actual draft that Creed Humphrey and Trey Smith came on board.  In other words, several vital components of the offseason plan weren’t around or available until well into the offseason for the Chiefs last year.

What makes this round of waiting tougher for Chiefs Kingdom is seeing just how many contenders are loading up in ways that will obviously work well—at least on paper—against K.C. But patience is required of all of us in a long offseason and last year’s rebuild can give us perspective for it all.