The Chiefs needed just five yards on a second-down snap last Sunday in Denver territory, and wouldn\u2019t you know it, Kareem Hunt stood wide open for a pass with some room to run after the catch. Easy enough, right? Well, except quarterback Patrick Mahomes never saw him.<\/p>\n
You can\u2019t blame him for it \u2014 Broncos edge rusher Nik Bonitto turned the corner and swarmed Mahomes\u2019 way in less than 2 1\/2 seconds. Untouched. Rookie left tackle Kingsley Suamataia played the role of an automated gate against the Broncos, routinely opening the lever for whomever, whenever. This became such an issue that the Chiefs asked an injured Wanya Morris, Please, is there any way the bone bruise on your knee feels healthy enough that you can re-enter this game?<\/p>\n
Think about the big picture of that. This is where the Chiefs, the NFL\u2019s lone undefeated team, sit: Morris, an average left tackle on a good day, turned into one of the Chiefs\u2019 most valuable players, all because of the options behind him. (The Chiefs\u2019 Plan B for the future, by the way, ought to be Joe Thuney sliding over from guard.) It\u2019s a situation that can have a lot impact on a game, even for an offense that employs one of the best sack-avoidance quarterbacks in football. Mahomes can escape pressure. But the left tackle situation requires him to do so far too frequently. Morris and Suamataia now comprise the most significant storyline for the back half of the Chiefs\u2019 2024 season.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s no longer about the injuries. It\u2019s whether the left tackle can just not derail the offense. Kansas City Chiefs offensive tackle Kingsley Suamataia (76) blocks for Kansas City Chiefs running back Kareem Hunt (29) in the first half on Sunday, Nov. 10, 2024, at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium. Emily Curiel ecuriel@kcstar.com Here are some pass rushers waiting on the back end of the Chiefs\u2019 schedule: Greg Rousseau this weekend in Buffalo; Khalil Mack and Joey Bosa in the same game; Maxx Crosby, Myles Garrett, T.J. Watt, Will Anderson and Danielle Hunter looming.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s not an easy gauntlet for elite left tackles. And the Chiefs do not have an elite left tackle. But let\u2019s be clear about something: They haven\u2019t had one for quite some time. How quickly we forget that the left tackle position was a storyline in 2021, 2022 and 2023. Oh, and that it\u2019s set to endure in 2025, 2026, and, well, you get the idea. The fact that we\u2019re talking about this position \u2014 wondering out loud about this position, or perhaps even worrying about it \u2014 is not unique to the present.<\/p>\n
With limited cap space and even more scarce early first-round draft capital, the Chiefs are locked in a relationship with such drama at one of the premier and hardest-to-fill positions in the NFL. They are on one of football\u2019s all-time great runs despite the circumstances at left tackle, not because of them.<\/p>\n
THE TURNSTILE AT LEFT TACKLE IN KC<\/p>\n
It was March 2021 when the Chiefs made a push to land star offensive lineman Trent Williams in free agency \u2014 such a strong push that Williams called the head coach of his current team, 49ers boss Kyle Shanahan, and told him, \u201cHey, man, we need to hurry this up, if you get my drift,\u201d as he later recalled to reporters, per ESPN. Here are the ensuing four seasons:<\/p>\n
\u2022 In 2021, a month after losing out on Williams, the Chiefs traded a first-round pick to the Ravens as part of a package to land Orlando Brown, and then asked Brown to move from right tackle to left tackle. Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes (15) is sacked by Denver Broncos defenders in the first half<\/p>\n
\u2022 In 2022, with Brown now a free agent, the Chiefs applied their franchise tag to him, paying him the average of a top-five left tackle on a one-year deal. We spent the summer wondering if he\u2019d hold out. \u2022 In 2023, the Chiefs signed Jawaan Taylor, a right tackle, with the hope that he could move to the left side.<\/p>\n
In May, already prepared for offseason workouts, they signed veteran Donovan Smith to a one-year contract. \u2022 In 2024, they gave the starting spot to Suamataia, a player they\u2019ve benched twice this year, taking him out during the middle of those games like an ineffective starting pitcher. It\u2019s been a carousel of anxiety. And it could be that way for awhile. The output \u2014 that list that recaps the last four seasons \u2014 doesn\u2019t show it, but the Chiefs have prioritized left tackle for some time now.<\/p>\n
You think they have any interest in this year-to-year speculation about whether they can adequately protect Patrick Mahomes\u2019 blind side? For a half-decade, before assessing the Chiefs\u2019 needs heading into any offseason, we\u2019ve started the conversation in the same spot: What can they afford? That\u2019s the question asked inside their facility, as general manager Brett Veach explained this week: \u201c(Left tackle) is something you\u2019re always thinking about. It\u2019s always a priority,\u201d he said. \u201cBut I think when you go into the offseason, you have to be disciplined.<\/p>\n
Offensive line is a priority. Defensive line is a priority. But if you allocate either draft picks or funds just to the priority and not to the player, I think that\u2019s when you get into trouble.\u201d Kansas City Chiefs tackle Wanya Morris (No. 64) blocks a Denver Broncos defender on Sunday, Nov. 10, 2024, at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium.<\/p>\n
Chris Ochsner cochsner@kcstar.com This is a perfect explanation for one position, but it\u2019s also applicable as one of the reasons why the Chiefs are where they find themselves now: perennial Super Bowl contenders during an era in which paying a quarterback has historically hamstrung his peers.<\/p>\n
The Chiefs haven\u2019t batted 1.000 in free agency or the draft. Heck, absent Taylor\u2019s contract, they might\u2019ve had a little more of those funds left over for a left tackle. But that operates under the assumption of availability. Just look at this past offseason. The top two tackles on most experts\u2019 boards were in their 30s and they each signed one-year contracts \u2014 33-year-old Tyron Smith with the Jets and 31-year-old Trent Brown with the Bengals.<\/p>\n
The solution to the Chiefs\u2019 left tackle carousel is almost certainly going to have to come through the draft, and this is a franchise that\u2019s typically picking late in the first round. They appear to have whiffed on Suamataia being the answer, and that\u2019s on them, but keep in mind that he was the 12th \u2014 yes, 12th \u2014 left tackle selected in last year\u2019s draft. There are only 32 starting left tackles in the entire NFL, yet 13 teams (including the Chiefs) used a first- or second-round pick on one. Seven rookies were off the board by the time the Chiefs moved up to select Texas wide receiver Xavier Worthy at No. 28. They had internal talks about moving up further for a tackle, but it was expensive enough to climb to 28th.<\/p>\n
The odds suggest Suamataia should be much more productive than he has been, but they do not suggest that you can find a top-of-market starter in the draft position from which the Chiefs will almost certainly be picking, yet again, next spring. It\u2019s going to require something of a steal, in other words, to rip off the yearly Band-Aid in favor of permanent resolution at left tackle.<\/p>\n
WHAT IS THE CHIEFS\u2019 SOLUTION AT LEFT TACKLE?<\/p>\n
The questions could be here awhile. But there\u2019s also some good news tucked into this topic: The answer\u2019s here, too. It\u2019s not a 350-pound lineman. It\u2019s the 222-pound quarterback. In every year of his career, Mahomes has ranked as one of the three best quarterbacks in terms of sack avoidance \u2014 his ability to prevent pressure from turning into a sack. That\u2019s changed this year, which is why he remarked after last week\u2019s game against Denver that he can find better ways to get rid of the football. He has a long track record of doing so.<\/p>\n
Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes (15) runs the ball in the first half against the Denver Broncos on Sunday, Nov. 10, 2024, at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium. Emily Curiel ecuriel@kcstar.com Mahomes is on pace to be pressured 177 times this year, per data available through PFF.<\/p>\n
A whopping 34% of those pressures can be blamed on the Chiefs\u2019 left tackles, the highest of any quarterback in the league. It\u2019s a lot. But the total \u2014 that 177 pace \u2014 would actually be fewer pressures than Mahomes has faced in any season since 2019. In other words, he\u2019s overcome worse statistically to win back-to-back Super Bowls, and that\u2019s when he goes from elite to otherworldly. In the Chiefs\u2019 last two postseason runs, only 8.1% (2023) and 6.7% (2022) of the opposition\u2019s pressures turned into sacks. Those are ridiculously low numbers. That\u2019s not shared to downplay the issue \u2014 the Chiefs\u2019 left tackle struggles have undoubtedly had a real effect on the KC offense. It\u2019s shared to underscore the Chiefs\u2019 ability to respond to the problem this season, even if the response is going to have to be a familiar one.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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