After a long season of uncertainty at left tackle, the Kansas City Chiefs had a decision to make in the divisional round against the Houston Texans.
Left guard Joe Thuney provided stable play at left tackle when moved outside throughout the final meaningful games of the Chiefs’ regular season, forcing backup guard Mike Caliendo into the starting lineup to take Thuney’s usual spot. Veteran tackle D.J. Humphries joined the team late in the year but only appeared in two games, including his reps alongside the Chiefs’ backups in Week 18.
When the playoffs finally arrived, head coach Andy Reid chose to start Thuney at left tackle and Caliendo at left guard, leaving Humphries on the bench. After the victory that sent Kansas City to its seventh-consecutive AFC championship game, Reid was asked why he chose to go with the Thuney and Caliendo duo against Houston.
“Just with the complexity of the playoffs with different looks and the defenses, I think Joe and Caliendo have been here,” Reid said. “That’s not taking anything away from D.J., because he’s done a great job of working himself in. We literally rotate them at practice, so I think everybody’s got confidence in him. It’s just the part that you’ve got to start somebody. You can only have five of them, right?”
While the Chiefs’ best-case scenario was to leave Thuney at his Hall of Fame-caliber position while getting solid tackle play from Humphries, Reid’s logic on Saturday holds water. If Humphries hadn’t suffered a hamstring injury in his Chiefs debut that sidelined him for nearly a month, perhaps his familiarity with the offense would have progressed far enough to earn the start in the playoffs. Now, it’s hard to imagine the Chiefs voluntarily making another change on the offensive line ahead of the AFC championship game or a potential Super Bowl.
To Reid’s final point, the Chiefs do seem to have two competent options at tackle with Thuney and Humphries. If Thuney or Caliendo suffer an injury during the postseason, the Chiefs would have reason to trust Humphries over essentially-redshirting rookie Kingsley Suamataia or second-year tackle Wanya Morris, who was a surprise inactive for Saturday’s game.
