KC Chiefs’ Super Bowl era marked by turnover on O-line, especially at this position
No Chiefs assistant coach has worked harder to prepare his position group during this Super Bowl run than Andy Heck.
As the offensive line coach, Heck has prepared his players for the biggest game of the season five times in the past six seasons.
But Sunday’s game against the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl LIX will be the first time he’s coached at least three players who started the previous Super Bowl — center Creed Humphrey, right guard Trey Smith and right tackle Jawaan Taylor.
The Chiefs’ Super Bowl era has been marked by many characteristics: dramatic comebacks, individual excellence, remarkable success in close games. Add to that, adjusting to major makeovers on the offensive line.
One position has experienced the greatest turnover: left tackle. Sunday, the Chiefs will start their fifth different player at that position — Joe Thuney — in five Super Bowls.
“Obviously, the most ideal situation is to have continuity, have one guy,” Heck said. “But it’s the nature of the game. It happens at every position eventually.”
Not at quarterback, tight end or defensive tackle where Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce and Chris Jones will become the first Chiefs to take the field as Super Bowl starters for the fifth time since 2019. Kicker Harrison Butker and holder James Winchester also are set to play in their fifth Super Bowl.
The offensive line? Left guard Nick Caliendo is expected to start on Sunday, which would make him the 15th different starting offensive lineman in the Super Bowl run that started during the 2019 season.
The starters at left tackle over the years: 2019 Eric Fisher, 2020 Mike Remmers, 2022 Orlando Brown Jr., 2023 Donovan Smith, 2024 Thuney (projected).
Each Super Bowl starting left tackle brings a different story. Fisher, the 2013 top draft choice, suffered a torn Achilles in the 2020 AFC Championship Game, preventing a second Super Bowl start. Remmers got the call.
Brown was acquired by the Chiefs in a trade with the Baltimore Ravens. He won Super Bowl LVII over the Eagles, then signed with the Cincinnati Bengals after the 2022 season.
Smith then signed a one-year deal with the Chiefs, who defeated the 49ers in Super Bowl LVIII, and wasn’t retained.
This season, Thuney was moved from left guard to tackle on a full-time basis in Week 15. He’s the fourth player to start there this season for the Chiefs, and he’s bidding to become a Super Bowl champion at two positions, winning the title with the Chiefs at left guard in 2022 and with the New England Patriots twice.
Mitchell Schwartz, the Chiefs All-Pro right tackle for the Super Bowl LIV championship, knows something about the position and is impressed.
“I’m a little bit of a tackle elitist,” Schwartz said. “I don’t have any problem saying that or being that way. But you see failed tackles move to guard and have good careers. You don’t see guards or failed guards move to tackle and have a career.
“Tackle is theoretically the harder position. So the fact he can play at a high level at guard and then after (eight years) of his career move out (to tackle), having not really had the reps or not really had the practice and just be good there, it’s incredibly impressive.”
The job looked to be filled by younger talent. Rookie Kingsley Suamataia started the first two games but was replaced by second-year Wanya Morris. The position produced a Pro Football Focus ranking of No. 31 through the season’s first 14 weeks.
Thuney, who did not allow a pressure in the victory over the Buffalo Bills in the AFC Championship Game, provided an immediate upgrade.
It means the Chiefs will be starting a new left tackle in a Super Bowl.
Again.