At one point this past season, the Kansas City Chiefs saw starting offensive lineman Joe Thuney make the switch from guard to tackle based purely on team need.
For a little while, Thuney seemed to be excelling and handling the switch well.
However, come postseason time, there were signs of the switch potentially catching up to the veteran.
In Super Bowl 59, Thuney struggled along with the entire offensive line as a whole. Giving up six sacks on quarterback Patrick Mahomes along with a pressure rate over 38 percent for the game, the line had a tough day at the office.
Just before the big game, though, former NFL offensive lineman and Super Bowl winner Andrew Whitworth sat down with FanSided's own Sterling Holmes and Patrick Allen on behalf of Mr. Clean. Whitworth provided some insight as to why Thuney would ultimately go on to struggle.
Andrew Whitworth explains why Joe Thuney's position switch could have impacted Super Bowl 59
Asked about Thuney's position switch, Whitworth dove in and offered an illustration.
"To me it's a lot like playing defense in the paint in basketball and then all the sudden saying 'OK you're going to go to the top and you're going to play out on the perimeter with guys,'" Whitworth explained.
He went on to note how, when you're a guard, the play happens right away after the snap. If you're a guard, you're moving right away and, for the most part, you're playing within a set of walls. You know your limitations.
But, when you move out to tackle, it's a completely different ball game. There's a lot of extra space to account for.
"Now, I'm moving out to this massive space ... that's what moving to tackle is," he went on. "All the sudden you're on that island ... you have to have a totally different feel for the down ... your timing, your rhythm, when you're used to making contact ... totally different," he said.
This could explain why Thuney would give up seven pressures and a sack to the Eagles' defensive line. If anything, it reveals arguably the Chiefs' biggest offseason need going into the coming months.
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