The impact of KC Chiefs’ new offensive line: ‘It could change how we play the game’
The story of the Chiefs’ offseason and newest Super Bowl push is about the offensive line, and that’s what this column is about. But before we get to the meat of this, let us be clear:
Some of the conversation around the new line has created a sort of drive-by verbal shrapnel that trashes the old offensive line, and that’s unfair to all who are no longer here.
It’s unfair to the tackles, because Eric Fisher was a foundational part of the Chiefs’ buildup from the Scott Pioli years and Mitchell Schwartz was one of the game’s best right tackles until his back injury. The guys in the middle weren’t great, but that was a deliberate choice by the team to spend draft and cap resources elsewhere.
OK. Let’s move on.
The Chiefs are now in Year Five of running every organizational decision through a simple filter: Is it good for Patrick Mahomes? If yes, do it. If no, don’t.
In 2017 that meant pairing him with Alex Smith, to learn how to be a pro. That offseason it meant trading cornerback Marcus Peters in part to give Mahomes the strongest voice in the locker room and paying airport prices for Sammy Watkins to be the team’s No. 2 receiver.
In 2019 it meant using their top pick on another speedy receiver and a complete overhaul to make sure the Chiefs no longer had the only defense capable of beating Mahomes in the playoffs. Then, before the 2020 season, they used their first first-round pick in three years — since the one they used on Mahomes, actually — on a running back.
This is the first offseason since Mahomes was in college that the Chiefs did not spend significant resources on a skill-position player. The Chiefs believe they did something more substantial by providing Mahomes with what should be the best offensive line he’s ever had.
The theory works on at least two levels.
First, and perhaps most obviously: Mahomes should have better protection when he drops back to pass. A year ago, Pro Football Focus graded the Chiefs 12th in pass-blocking and tracked pressures on 34.7% of his drop-backs. Just for a comparison, Tom Brady was pressured on just 23.7% of drop-backs.
Mahomes is relentlessly self-critical, and his most common critique is that he breaks clean pockets too often and occasionally drifts too far back, which can create pressures on the edge.
Those “problems” — any problem with the Chiefs’ offense is by definition a champagne problem — had a way of building on each other. The more pressure Mahomes faced, the less he trusted the protection around him, and the more he drifted.
So what happens in a world in which Mahomes no longer has to ask if they have time to run wasp?
The answer is more stuff like this, from last year’s regular-season game against the Bucs:
About 3.5 seconds lapsed between that snap and Mahomes’ throw, which came from a clean pocket. There is not a group of defensive backs on the planet who should be expected to cover Tyreek Hill, Travis Kelce and others for that long against a unicorn quarterback who isn’t worried about a pass rush.
“You want the flexibility to do anything and everything,” Chiefs coach Andy Reid said. “Not that we didn’t do it before, but maybe with a little bit more time or drive or whatever on it.”
The idea is that if the protection is better, then Mahomes will trust it more, and that process that has been working against the Chiefs will be reversed.
Mahomes is a freak show but he’s not immune to the most basic tenet of quarterback play: he’s much better when kept clean than against pressure. According to PFF, last season in clean pockets he completed 74.8% of his passes with 33 touchdowns, four interceptions, and 8.6 yards per attempt — a passer rating of 119.4, which is essentially unbeatable.
Against pressure, those numbers change to 46.8%, nine touchdowns, four interceptions and 6.5 yards per attempt — a passer rating of 74.2, which is essentially Dwayne Haskins.
The other hoped-for advantage is a sort of follow-up on selecting Clyde Edwards-Helaire last season. The Chiefs love his ball skills and route running in the passing game but also want to create a more consistent and efficient run threat — Edwards-Helaire averaged 4.4 yards per carry last season, and 3.03 of that was after contact, per PFF.
The Chiefs were more successful running the ball than you might think — ninth in success rate and 10th in EPA per rush, according to Ben Baldwin — but much of that can be attributed to opposing defenses putting so much attention on Mahomes and the passing game.
Mahomes had more drop-backs against light boxes — six or fewer defenders — than any other quarterback last year, according to PFF TruMedia. That’s especially noteworthy as the Chiefs went 14-1 in his regular-season starts, which means the Chiefs often had the lead and were calling plays in situations that would favor running the ball. No. 2 on that list is Matt Ryan, quarterback of the 4-12 Falcons.
Mahomes’ EPA against light boxes was fourth-best in the league, so it’s not like this was a major hindrance, but establishing better control of the line of scrimmage and giving defenses a credible threat in the run game could unlock another level for this offense.
Let’s be real: The Chiefs could trade for Derrick Henry and defenses would still probably focus on the pass, but if they can do enough to pull safeties a little closer to the line of scrimmage, or even get an extra linebacker on the field, it could mean the world.
“It could change how we play the game,” Mahomes said. “You look at the great offenses of all-time, there’s a balance of run and pass. And if we’re able to run the ball like I think we’ll be able to do, it will make defenses have to adjust and come up and play coverages they don’t want to play against our speed and our talent on the outside.
“I think that can open up the deep ball back again. I know we hit that a little bit last year, but if you look at us from my first year starting to now, it’s just defenses and safeties have gotten deeper. Coverages have gotten deeper and they’re allowing the underneath stuff. And so if we’re able to run the ball like I think we’re able to, I think that will open up the play-action where we can get Tyreek over the top of people and Mecole and hit on some deep touchdown throws.”
The numbers back that up. In his first year as a starter, Mahomes threw 16.3% of his passes 20 or more yards downfield. Those attempts went for an average of 15.6 yards. Last year, he threw deep on just 11.5% of throws for an average of 10.7 yards.
Now, none of this is simple. The center, right guard and right tackle will all be playing their first real NFL game on Sunday against Cleveland. The left tackle has just 11 starts — all of them in a very different offense, with a very different quarterback — at the position.
This is all new for them. And not just knowing how Mahomes likes the protection or where he’ll go, but also the system. Reid is famously creative with his play-calling, and much of that is asking the linemen to stretch themselves in the screen game and on other calls.
“The key to this is how the guys gel, or continue to grow together, and how willing are you to go in directions you haven’t gone before?” Reid said. “That’s what’s made this offense exciting. Everybody’s had input and everybody’s willing to say, ‘Who says we can’t do this? We’ll determine that ourselves.’ But you’ve got to be willing to get out of the box. As long as these guys are willing to fight that fight you have to do every day to play that position then we’ll be OK there.
“And I’m excited about that.”