The Kansas City Chiefs' offensive line has been inconsistent through the first five weeks of the NFL season. What's the unit's outlook for the rest of the year?
The Kansas City Chiefs are undefeated, but the story of the offense's season so far has largely been determined by injuries and inconsistencies. From a resurgent running back stabilizing the rushing game to a battered wide receiver room still looking for answers, the so-called "skill position" players have led most of KC's conversations. However, as is often the case, the team's offensive line has been too frequently overlooked. While KC's interior trio is frequently regarded among the league's best, the Chiefs have seen that group slip up at times, while the bookends have given Patrick Mahomes cause for distrust too often.
How has the offensive line performed so far, and is there room for stabilization throughout the rest of the season? Jordan Foote of Kansas City Chiefs On SI and I discuss as we continue to take a closer look at the Chiefs' position groups while the team enjoys a week off.
Joshua Brisco: This hasn't been a great start for the Chiefs' offensive line, but it hasn't been disastrous. Starting with the interior, center Creed Humphrey is performing at an elite level, which now feels more like a given than a noteworthy achievement, even at just 25 years old. Guards Joe Thuney and Trey Smith have been less-than-elite in my eyes, though Thuney gets the benefit of the doubt as he had his best game of the season in Week 5, according to Pro Football Focus. Thuney also spent his offseason and preseason recovering from a pectoral injury, so he could certainly be getting back to 100% through the first half of the season, and this bye week ought to be well-timed for the veteran. Smith, in a contract year, continues to be a mauler on the ground and good-but-not-Thuney in pass protection. There appears to be some correlation between the guards' worst days (particularly Week 4 against the Los Angeles Chargers) and Mahomes's happy feet and general distrust in the pocket.
We can spill more digital ink on the tackles next, but how have you viewed the interior so far this year? (And, fun fact, did you know that Humphrey's lowest overall PFF grade of the year is a 79.2 against the Atlanta Falcons? That was still the third-best grade on the team that week.)
Jordan Foote: Humphrey being the best player on the offensive line and, really, the best center in the sport for my money, is perhaps the least surprising thing of the season so far. With his snap issues seemingly fixed, the ink being dry on his new deal, and the Chiefs continuing to rely on him, he's done nothing but answer the call. On his left side, Thuney got off to a bit of a slow start, but I think we can attribute a good chunk of that to rust after the torn pectoral muscle you mentioned, suffered earlier this calendar year. He's starting to look like himself again. So is Smith, who is a downright elite guard when it comes to run blocking but occasionally questionable in pass protection. Smith is going to absolutely cash out on the open market, and probably at a rate I don't believe Kansas City should pony up for. He's a very imperfect fit with Jawaan Taylor and isn't quite great enough for top-of-market money.
Speaking of Taylor, which side of the line do you fall on regarding him? It appears that one camp is fed up with his penalties but allows that to cloud his overall value, whereas others praise his pass protection but ignore run blocking and brush the penalties under the rug. Isn't the real answer in the middle? He's been a good right tackle this season and is getting great right tackle money. He needs to improve, sure, but he isn't committing highway robbery in Kansas City.
Brisco: Your sane Taylor take is much-appreciated. When he starts the play at the exact moment he's supposed to, he's played pretty good football! On some level, that makes him all the more frustrating, as apparent mental mistakes have tanked what could have been a redemptive start to the season. If he was committing penalties at even a league-average rate, I think he'd be viewed as narrowly earning his contract. (By the way, Taylor's cap hit next season is $24.725 million, but if they cut him, it jumps to more than $29 million. He's going to be here next year, too.)
Left tackle has brought the biggest surprise and the biggest struggles. I assumed that rookie second-round pick Kingsley Suamataia would get another chance to hold the starting job after being benched late in Week 2, when he was baptized by Cincinnati Bengals defensive end Trey Hendrickson. Instead, second-year third-round pick Wanya Morris has kept the job. Morris has now started just seven games in his NFL career, so I do think it's worth noting that he, like Suamataia, does have a chance to continue growing as a player. However, the Chiefs traded up and drafted Suamataia with the hopes of him developing into a long-term answer on the left side. At this point, barring injuries, I'm inclined to guess that Morris will keep the job unless he actively loses it, leaving the two to compete again in next year's training camp. I'd say Morris has been passable in his time as the starter, though not consistent enough to fully earn Mahomes's trust.
Foote: I was borderline floored when the Chiefs went away from Suamataia. He was horrendous against Hendrickson, but it was also his second NFL game and an outing against one of the best pass-rush specialists in the entire league. Suamataia deserves a shot once he's deemed ready – we'll see if he gets it. Some of that has to do with the play of Morris, who folks forget was generally passable in relief of Donovan Smith last year! It's interesting to see Kansas City fall into a somewhat similar path again. To Morris's credit, his pressure rate is down year-over-year, and he doesn't lose quite as quickly as Suamataia. There seems to be equal parts of a bad floor between them, but Morris plays somewhere in the middle of his floor and ceiling more often than the rookie. That's probably worth the trade-off right now in the Chiefs' eyes, even with Suamataia having the upside of a decade-long starter.
