NFL Network analyst explains why Chiefs can successfully rebuild offensive line
Uncertainty is never a good feeling for a sports fan, because that can be filled by dread of the unknown.
Right now, more than a few Chiefs fans are unsure what the team will do to replace the two tackles who were cut last week: Eric Fisher and Mitchell Schwartz.
And another player who may not be back with the Chiefs is center Austin Reiter. He is likely to leave as a free agent, according to Tom Pelissero, a reporter for the NFL Network.
So the offensive line will be rebuilt, but NFL Network analyst Brian Baldinger believes the Chiefs can get it done. Two big reasons why Baldinger is confident in the Chiefs: Laurent Duvernay-Tardif and Lucas Niang will be back for the Chiefs.
Both opted out of last season because of the COVID-19 pandemic, but will return this fall.
And Baldinger also has confidence in Chiefs general manager Brett Veach.
“They have a lot of players already in-house,” Baldinger said this past weekend on the NFL Network. “Remember they drafted Lucas Niang in the third round from TCU a year ago, a massive right tackle at TCU, but he opted out because of the COVID crisis. And then they’re gonna get Dr. Laurent Duvernay-Tardif, who spent his COVID period this (past) year working in McGill University in Montreal. He’ll be back, so you might get two starters back.
“And then, Brett Veach has already said, we might have to dip our toe into free agency, that’s where they found Mitchell Schwartz, five years ago, or we might have to go to the draft, where they went and found Eric Fisher with the first pick in 2013.
“Either way I think Kansas City has got two players already in-house that can help with the offensive line, and I think that there will be players in both free agency and through the draft.”
Here is the clip with Baldinger:
This story was originally published March 15, 2021 at 8:34 AM.
