Chiefs news: Nick Allegretti relished challenge of filling in for Joe Thuney

Super Bowls can turn even role players into legends given the brightness of the lights and the sheer enormity of the moment(s). Even the Kansas City Chiefs in recent years have watched the likes of Damien Williams turn in an MVP performance, Kadarius Toney set a return record, and Nick Bolton become a defensive scoring machine in recent Super Bowl wins.

This year, a new hero was born in Kansas City named Nick Allegretti. That's not to say that the offensive lineman was unappreciated by the Kingdom; rather, he'd just never had a chance to shine quite as bright as he did in Super Bowl LVIII against the San Francisco 49ers.

The truth is that Allegretti was already becoming a postseason legend with his performance in relief of left guard Joe Thuney, who was forced to leave the game in the Divisional Round against the Buffalo Bills with a chest injury. Further tests confirmed a pectoral muscle injury and Thuney went from the anchor up front as one of the league's best offensive linemen to a significant void that must be filled.

Allegretti deserves considerable praise for the way he stepped right in for Thuney to help the Chiefs offense put up enough points to both secure the win over the Bills in Buffalo and then to also pull off a road win over the Baltimore Ravens was an even bigger victory.

The Kansas City Chiefs lineman recently detailed his Super Bowl experience of playing through a UCL tear.

For Super Bowl LVIII, Allegretti had an even tougher task with Thuney out. Even with two weeks of rest, Thuney was unable to play against the Niners so Allegretti was forced to step in once more, Unfotunately for Allegretti, he was also injured in the second quarter of the game when his UCL decided to detach itself.

Celebrated sports talk Jim Rome recently had Allegretti on the show and the Illinois product spoke about his injury and how he wanted so badly to live up to Thuney's name in such an important game.

"Stepping in for a guy like Joe, first of all, it's a challenge. He's been one of the best guards in the league for the last five years. I took that upon myself tods step in and make sure that there was no drop-off," said Allegretti.

Allegretti's goals were set quite high, but the Chiefs needed that sort of gutsy performance to get past the 49ers for their third title in five seasons.

"I haven't suffered an injury like that until then. I immediately knew. It was something that you heard a pop. You felt it. And knowing minimal [things about] anatomy, I knew that something was wrong in my elbow, because my elbow is not supposed to bend that way," said Allegretti.

"Fortunately we had the two-minute warning," he continued. "and I had a couple of seconds to gather myself, figure out that my arm still bent, and I was able to go. It was a tough situation, but fortunately, I was still able to play."

You can listen to more from Allegretti below.