2023 NFL Draft: Ranking the top offensive tackles for Kansas City Chiefs

The Kansas City Chiefs lost both of their starting offensive tackles in free agency this offseason. Orlando Brown Jr. is now a Cincinnati Bengal and Andrew Wylie is now a Washington Commander. The Chiefs signed Jawaan Taylor to fill one of those starting jobs. The other starting spot would currently go to Lucas Niang, but injuries have limited him to just 9 starts in his first two seasons. So even if they want to give Niang a real chance to start, they still need to add another offensive tackle capable of starting as insurance.

That brings us to the fast-approaching 2023 NFL Draft. The Chiefs have ten total picks, starting with pick number 31 in the first round. If you had experts and fans alike make a short list of what positions the Chiefs may target early in the draft, offensive tackle would definitely make the cut. So this week I’ve got my third positional profile, this time featuring 20 offensive tackle prospects and how they would fit with the Kansas City Chiefs.

So what do the Chiefs look for in an offensive tackle? If you look at the size profile of the six tackles that the Chiefs have invested a decent draft pick, contract, or starting job in during the Andy Reid era (Jawaan Taylor, Orlando Brown Jr., Andrew Wylie, Lucas Niang, Mitchell Schwartz, and Eric Fisher) you get a pretty good idea. The average height of those tackles is 6’6″ with none of them shorter than 6’5″. The average weight is 316.7 lbs, with the lowest weight coming out of college being 304 lbs. The average arm length is about 34 1/3 inches, with all of them having over 33-inch arms.

So basically the Chiefs like bigger/longer tackles. There is also a common claim that they like highly athletic tackles, but I don’t know that we can actually claim that based on history. Of those six main tackles of the Andy Reid era, only two of them have a top athletic profile if we use the popular Raw Athletic Score (RAS) made popular by Kent Lee Platte on Twitter. Eric Fisher scored a 9.82/10 and Andrew Wylie a 9.04/10. Orlando Brown had one of the lowest scores in the history of RAS and Mitchell Schwartz scored poorly as well with a 2.3/10. Neither Lucas Niang nor Jawaan Taylor received a score because of a lack of testing before the draft. Taylor has developed a reputation for being a good mover in the NFL, but his scouting report out of college wasn’t one of a top athlete. Niang was more of a big mauler type that moved okay for his size but likely wouldn’t have had a high RAS score.

I think any smart coaching staff would prefer prospects with great size and great athleticism. However, given the choice between tackles that meet their size standards, but have questionable athleticism and tackles that are highly athletic but don’t meet their size profile, the Chiefs have consistently preferred size. So keep that in mind as we work through these 20 offensive tackle prospects.

Let’s start things off with the tackles that are likely to go in the first round.