Chiefs position spotlight: Top offensive line questions, concerns & battles
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Chiefs schedule first full-team training camp practice for Wednesday, July 29.
- Right tackle competition features Jaylon Moore, Esa Pole, Chu Godrick and Kahlil Benson.
- Creed Humphrey, Kingsley Suamataia, Trey Smith and Josh Simmons are surefire starters.
The Kansas City Chiefs are looking ahead to training camp next month, with their first full-team practice set for Wednesday, July 29. In the meantime, we’ll take a closer look at each position group over the next few weeks.
Everyone knows the No. 1 storyline of training camp, and that’s quarterback Patrick Mahomes’ availability as he returns from the torn ACL and LCL he suffered in mid-December.
In my mind, the next biggest point to watch is the position battle at right tackle, which we’ll get to as we dive into this year’s outlook for the offensive line.
What we know: Four starters locked in
From left tackle to right guard, the Chiefs already have four surefire starters, which became clear during the offseason program and was confirmed by head coach Andy Reid in his closing remarks earlier this month.
At left tackle, Josh Simmons is entering his second season after a rookie year marked by a four-game leave of absence from the team due to a personal family matter and a campaign that ended early because of the wrist fracture he suffered on Thanksgiving Day.
Simmons came into the league weighing 317 pounds but has considerably slimmed down, telling reporters during the offseason program that he was between 285 and 290 pounds. He added that he hopes to start the 2026 NFL season at 300 flat.
If Simmons were to start the season around 290, he would be among the lightest starting left tackles over the last five years, per tracking via Pro Football Reference.
To Simmons’ right, Kansas City is excited about its interior, which was solidified last year by Kingsley Suamataia’s move inside to left guard. Next to Suamataia, the Chiefs have a three-time All-Pro in center Creed Humphrey and a two-time Pro Bowler in right guard Trey Smith.
With the splash signing of running back Kenneth Walker, the Chiefs do not have to come out and say it directly. They appear intent on shifting toward a more under-center, interior, downhill rushing attack to take some of the burden off Mahomes — especially as he returns from a significant injury.
What needs to be figured out: Right tackle
Who will start Week 1 for the Chiefs at right tackle? Reid commented on the position before the summer break.
“(Jaylon) Moore has been kind of the mainstay in there, and then we’ve moved guys in there, and we’ll just see. We’ll see what happens,” Reid said. “I feel good whichever one of these guys wins the competition there. I think we’ve got guys that will be OK in that position. It’s just a matter of who ends up being that guy.”
Kansas City signed Moore to a two-year contract at the start of last year’s free agency. After working behind five-time All-Pro left tackle Trent Williams in San Francisco, the thought was Moore would finally get his opportunity to start by moving to Kansas City.
Then Simmons fell to the Chiefs in the draft, and Moore’s role shifted to a familiar one — serving as a swing tackle to provide protection against injury. Moore started four games at left tackle during Simmons’ absence from the club, then two games at right tackle later in the season when Jawaan Taylor suffered elbow and triceps injuries.
According to Pro Football Focus, in 243 opportunities in 2025, Moore allowed 27 quarterback pressures, including 3.0 sacks. Moore has proven to be a valuable asset to the Chiefs in the backup, swing-tackle role, but the lineup decisions during his Kansas City tenure so far suggest that could be how the coaching staff views his ceiling.
Other candidates for the position include Esa Pole and Chu Godrick.
The Chiefs thought they could sneak Pole onto their practice squad last August, but he was claimed by the New York Jets. Pole returned to Kansas City after New York waived him in mid-October.
Godrick is a product of the International Player Pathway program and has been with the Chiefs since 2023. A native of Nigeria, he carries an international roster exemption that allows the team to roster 91 players.
In Week 14, Wanya Morris suffered a season-ending knee injury on the opening play of the game. Rather than shifting Moore from right tackle to left tackle, Pole entered the game, then started the final four games of the season at left tackle.
A week later, Moore — playing right tackle — had to exit the game due to his own knee injury, and Godrick entered before starting the final three games of the season at right tackle. Per PFF, Pole allowed 15 pressures, including 1.0 sack, over 177 pass-blocking opportunities. Godrick allowed seven pressures, including 1.0 sack, over 122 pass-blocking opportunities.
And then there’s the dark-horse contender: undrafted rookie free agent Kahlil Benson, out of Indiana. Reid and the Chiefs seem bullish on giving Benson a genuine look to win the starting role.
“He’s big and strong and looks like he has some good athletic ability — good feet for a big fella like that,” Reid said of Benson. “Extremely strong hands. Look forward to seeing him in pads. It’s hard to evaluate some of these guys if you haven’t seen them in pads before. In these type of practices there’s not a whole lot of contact going on there, but he’s been able to handle everything, and we’ll see where it goes.”
The Chiefs felt comfortable enough in their tackle depth to recently trade Morris to the Atlanta Falcons, where he joins Taylor.
Rounding out the room: Backup center and interior
In my way-too-early 53-man roster projection, I included Moore, Pole and Benson but not Godrick.
Beyond those linemen, I kept backup center Hunter Nourzad, whom the Chiefs selected out of Penn State in the fifth round of the 2024 NFL Draft.
Behind Humphrey, Nourzad has mostly worked on special teams but did draw a start at right guard in Week 18 last season. In that lone start of his career, Nourzad allowed just two quarterback pressures over 40 opportunities.
Rounding out the room is interior backup Mike Caliendo, whom Reid has often said the Chiefs view as a starter. Since joining Kansas City’s practice squad as an undrafted free agent in 2022, Caliendo has started seven regular-season games and all three 2024 playoff games.
When Reid benched Morris late in the 2024 season, Joe Thuney shifted to left tackle, opening the door for Caliendo to start at left guard. Caliendo also had four spot starts in 2025 with Trey Smith dealing with injuries.
