It was the pre-draft narrative that drew the ire of Chiefs Kingdom: the idea that the Kansas City Chiefs need serious help along the offensive line heading into this season.
The hot take from national media personalities at the time was that Kansas City’s need at OL was so great that general manager Brett Veach needed to take a tackle with the team's first pick in the draft.
I hated the idea. I thought the perception of Kansas City’s offensive line was too low, and the idea that the o-line was the team’s biggest weakness was misguided. I thought people were sleeping on Josh Simmons and Jaylon Moore, and that the Chiefs had a competent backup in Esa Pole in case of emergency.
Now, I’m not so sure. Fast forward four months, and I’m starting to think that maybe those in the national media were right—at least a little bit.
We know that Veach didn’t take an offensive lineman with Kansas City’s first pick, in the first round or at any stage in the draft. Nor did the team sign any during free agency. Are those decisions ready to backfire in Week 1?
The situation a week out from the Chiefs' season opener against the Denver Broncos is far from ideal. Trey Smith has been dealing with a hip issue, and Josh Simmons's status is shrouded in secrecy due to a back injury that has seen him miss significant practice time during training camp and doubtful to start in Week 1.
You can’t blame a front office for players getting injured, but you can blame them for not having a plan in place in case they occur. It’s becoming clear that the Chiefs don’t have a good answer for what happens if either or both Smith and Simmons can’t go against the Broncos.
The Chiefs have already told us through their actions that two of last year’s answers won’t cut it this season. Wanya Morris and Esa Pole, who both started meaningful games in 2025, are now off the team. Morris was traded to the Atlanta Falcons in June only to be released in August. The Chiefs opted to let Pole go on roster cutdown day.
Kansas City brought in reinforcements by trading for Diego Pounds and Joshua Ezeudu, but both are modest additions rather than reliable plug-and-play options. Mike Caliendo and Hunter Nourzad are on the roster, but we’ve already seen the ceiling for both of them, and it isn’t high.
The Chiefs’ best option might well be Kahlil Benson, an undrafted free agent who impressed with a stellar training camp. But even then, the hype around him has died down recently. Benson at one point seemed poised to be the starting right tackle, but it seems like Moore will get the nod there in Week 1 instead.
Having to rely on three undrafted players (Pounds, Benson, and Caliendo); a former third-round pick in Ezeudu, who was traded for next to nothing by the team that drafted him; and Nourzad, who has one career start, does not fill me with confidence. Given how banged up the Chiefs are on the offensive line already without even playing a game, it feels like they might regret not doing more or investing more into the position group.
The Chiefs made seven picks in this year’s draft. Should one of them have been used on an offensive lineman after all? Could K.C. have used its fourth-rounder to take a tackle instead of drafting Jadon Canady and then kept Kader Kohou, whom they had already signed during free agency, instead?
Should Veach have signed someone like free agent Rasheed Walker, a league-average tackle, but one who would be Kansas City’s best backup right now, to a similar deal to the one-year, $10 million contract he inked with the Carolina Panthers? Could the Chiefs have brought back Jawaan Taylor for the same $5 million price tag the Atlanta Falcons got him for? With Trey Smith’s contract reworked, either option would have fit under the salary cap.
These seem like doable, floor-raising moves, and I’m sure there are other even better options the Chiefs could have landed on as well.
We’ve seen what happens when the Chiefs have too many holes to plug on the offensive line. Who can forget Super Bowls LV against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and LVII against the Philadelphia Eagles? Will Kansas City regret not making a move to sure up the offensive line? We haven’t even reached Week 1 yet and the decision not to might have already backfired.
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