Protecting Mahomes: Kansas City Chiefs quarterback likes the look of his new O-line
Chiefs general manager Brett Veach watched as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers applied relentless pressure on quarterback Patrick Mahomes in Super Bowl LV.
And even before the game concluded, Veach knew there was a problem on the offensive line that needed to be addressed.
“Maybe like halftime,” Veach told The Star during the Chiefs recently concluded training camp. “I mean, it didn’t take long to see that.”
The Chiefs entered the game without starting veteran tackles Mitchell Schwartz, who was on injured reserve with a back injury, and Eric Fisher, who ruptured an Achilles tendon in the AFC Championship Game.
Their absences required a reshuffling of the offensive line: Mike Remmers moved from right tackle to left tackle and right guard Andrew Wylie kicked outside to right tackle. Veteran Stefen Wisniewski started at right guard.
The results were less than ideal. The Chiefs’ offense found no rhythm against the stout Buccaneers pass rush, which flushed Mahomes out of the pocket on multiple occasions via an incredible 29 quarterback pressures.
With Mahomes consistently under siege behind an overwhelmed offensive line that also included center Austin Reiter and left guard Nick Allegretti, the Chiefs were a paltry 3 of 13 on third-down attempts. Mahomes was sacked three times, hit nine times and picked off twice as the Chiefs lost the big game 31-9 one year after winning it all.
That disastrous result prompted the Chiefs’ GM to go on a mission at the outset of the offseason.
“We were certainly going to attack the offensive line,” Veach said. “I would say the aggressiveness got certainly raised up a notch when you have Mitch, who had the back (injury), and then Fish unfortunately got hurt right before the Super Bowl. So we probably doubled down on an effort that was going to be there anyway.
“Instead of having the luxury of maybe bringing in a young tackle, grooming him behind Mitch and Eric, we needed to find solutions right now. That’s part of the job sometimes.”
ASSEMBLING THE PIECES
The Chiefs showed their resolve to bolster the offensive line by releasing Schwartz and Fisher in early March to free up cap space. They also elected to not bring back Reiter and Wisniewski.
Then, Veach signed free-agent guard Joe Thuney to a five-year, $80 million deal, and three-time Pro Bowl guard Kyle Long, retired from the Chicago Bears at the time, to a one-year contract.
Kansas City lost out on eight-time Pro Bowl left tackle Trent Williams, who elected to re-sign with the San Francisco 49ers. But the Chiefs found a more than adequate consolation prize by landing two-time Pro Bowl tackle Orlando Brown Jr. via a trade with the Baltimore Ravens a week before the 2021 NFL Draft.
“When you have a commodity like Pat Mahomes, you’re always going to throw resources at the offensive line to protect him,” Veach said.
The draft set the stage for arguably the Chiefs’ biggest O-line moves. Veach used a second-round pick on center Creed Humphrey and a sixth-round pick on guard Trey Smith, who slid down draft boards because of past medical issues in college.
Knowing the Chiefs targeted them as part of their solution to what happened in the Super Bowl imbues those two rookies with a sense of pride.
“I was very excited,” Humphrey said. “Really, just now, I’m here to prove them right that I really was a piece that they were looking for. That’s what I’ve been thinking about so far.”
Smith agreed.
“It’s a big honor,” he said. “With my talent and my abilities, I can get the job done. It means the most to me. It means the world to me.”
ROOKIE RISING
It didn’t take long for Humphrey and Smith to show what they could do this offseason.
During the early days of organized team activities (OTAs), Humphrey rolled out with the first-team unit alongside Brown, Thuney, Long and Remmers, who was brought back on a one-year deal.
Long’s leg injury, though, opened the door for Smith, who started off with the third team behind Laurent Duvernay-Tardif, who returned after opting out of the 2020 season, before moving in with the first team.
“Just athletically across the board, Trey Smith is our most talented, athletic prospect,” Veach said.
A Super Bowl-caliber team going with two rookie starters on the offensive line might have seemed like a far-fetched idea in May. But it quickly became clear that this was the direction the team was going during the first day of practice at training camp.
Chiefs coach Andy Reid didn’t hesitate to roll out a starting front five consisting of, from left to right: Brown, Thuney, Humphrey, Brown and Remmers.
“These guys are coming out here on day one of training camp and starting,” Veach said. “They’re not just given a job just because Coach wants to change things up. I mean, he’s been doing this a long time.”
The reshuffling wasn’t done, though. The final piece to the puzzle came at Remmers’ expense after he suffered a back injury early in camp and missed multiple days of practice.
Lucas Niang, who like Duvernay-Tardif had opted out of the 2020 season after being selected in the third round of the 2020 draft, took over at right tackle and hasn’t left.
With Niang, Humphrey and Smith having started all three preseason games, the Chiefs are on track to open the season with three rookies on their offensive line alongside established veterans Brown and Thuney.
COMING TOGETHER
The thought of a team starting three rookies on the offensive line might raise some eyebrows.
But this isn’t the case with the Chiefs’ youthful trio, each of whom approach their responsibility with a veteran’s mentality.
“I think for us as rookies, we don’t really think about that whole story line of we’re going to be rookies starting and things like that,” Humphrey said. “We’re just more focused on coming in every day and improving, and really just attacking each day. That’s really our mindset right now.”
“We don’t really talk about it,” Smith said. “I mean, it is kind of crazy to think about, but honestly, we just come to work every day and try to do our assignments the best that we can. We understand how important that it is and that standard it takes to be there.”
The jobs weren’t handed to the trio. They earned every repetition with consistent performances in training camp and the Chiefs’ preseason games.
Over the summer, practice after practice, it didn’t take long for the new-look unit to gel against a formidable Chiefs defensive front anchored by Chris Jones, Frank Clark and Jarran Reed.
“That’s one of the great things about practicing against our defense,” Chiefs offensive line coach Andy Heck said. “We really get presented a lot of different things, which helps the learning curve. It amps that thing up, speeds it up for these guys.”
Jones, a two-time Pro Bowler and one of the NFL’s elite pass rushers, appreciates what he saw from the rebuilt offensive line during training camp, especially during padded one-on-one drills.
“There’s a lot of new faces on the offensive line, and I think they’ve been meshing well so far at this camp,” Jones said. “They’ll continue to build off of that. We’ve got a lot of competition among the O-line and D-line. I think competing every day and challenging each other, so it’s making us better as a team.”
Niang, who had his share of battles against Jones in training camp, agreed.
“We’ve come together fast,” Niang said. “We’ve got a ways to go, but we’re doing a good job. Everybody’s communicating, getting on the same page. You know, we’re gelling as a group, so it’s something to look forward to.”
While the first test arrives in the Chiefs season opener on Sunday against the Cleveland Browns — their defensive line consists of tough customers Myles Garrett and Jadeveon Clowney — the previous month of practices and preseason games underscored Veach’s commitment to improve the team’s front five.
There are new faces across the board, but members of the overhauled offensive line have impressed the player they are responsible for protecting.
Those five men are committed to ensuring that what happened in Super Bowl LV doesn’t repeat itself.
“I think they’ve had an amazing preseason,” Mahomes said. “I haven’t got hit a lot; I don’t really think I got touched (in the third preseason game against the Vikings).
“I think that just speaks to them and how they’ve been playing. They’ve done a great job and gotten better each and every week, so I’m excited for the season.”
With that, Veach’s early offseason mission appears accomplished.
