Chiefs add beef with stellar draft haul
Skye Pournazari
Jon Dykstra Managing Editor The Maryville Forum
Andy Reid is known for being one of the most innovative coaches in the NFL, but this offseason, he and the Chiefs front office went with a very old-school approach and leaned on one of football’s most basic rules: the game is won in the trenches.
In Week One of the season, Clyde Edwards-Helaire ran for 138 yards on 25 carries against Houston. Many of those yards came behind guard Kelechi Osemele.
Osemele is a monster of a guard at 6-foot-5, 330 pounds. Osemele was injured five snaps into the fifth game of the season and the Chiefs running game never really recovered.
The Chiefs clearly entered this offseason with the goal of making their first-round running back look more like a first-round value. They did that by completely revamping their offensive line with what could be five new starters.
The first move was to give the best guard on the market, Joe Thuney, a 5-year, $80 million deal. The Chiefs added 3-time Pro Bowler Kyle Long a couple days later — bringing the 32-year old out of a 1-year retirement. They also added center Austin Blythe, a 3-year starter for the Rams.
With Laurent Duvernay-Tardif and last year’s third-round pick Lucas Niang coming back after opting out last season, the depth of the Chiefs line was already among the best in the league.
But six days before the draft, the Chiefs traded for 2-time Pro Bowl left tackle Orlando Brown Jr., a 6-foot-8, 345-pound monster of a lineman.
Brown is in his third season after being a third-round pick out of Oklahoma. In his first season, he started 10 of 16 regular-season games. He became a full-time starter at right tackle the next season and made his first Pro Bowl. Last season with left tackle Ronnie Staley out, Brown shifted to the left side and made another Pro Bowl.
With Brown wanting to stay at left tackle and Staley returning, he became expendable to the Ravens. The Chiefs made a deal for Brown which shipped out their first-round pick among others, but brought back a second rounder.
The Chiefs continued the offensive line upgrades by using one of their second round picks on the consensus No. 2 center in the draft with Oklahoma’s Creed Humphrey.
With the potential starting line of Brown, Thuney, Humphrey, Long and Niang, Kansas City would have offensive line which has zero career snaps as Chiefs, but it is the most talented group since Dick Vermail’s loaded line of Willie Roaf, Brian Waters, Casey Wiegmann, Will Shields and John Tait.
That group led the way for Priest Holmes and Larry Johnson. The Chiefs hope that this group of linemen will create the same type of lanes that that one did.
Humphrey’s addition was just one of six draft picks the Chiefs made this weekend. Here are my thoughts on each selection:
Round 2, Pick 26
The Chiefs added a hometown kid of sorts with Missouri linebacker Nick Bolton. While the line additions hope to aid the rushing offense, Bolton’s addition along with free agent defensive tackle Jarran Reed should do the same thing for the rushing defense.
I preferred either a center (we will get to that in a second) or a receiver, Bolton will be a good player and should allow the Chiefs to move on from Anthony Hitchens after this season and save them cap space with Bolton and Willie Gay on rookie contracts.
Round 2, Pick 31
My favorite option with the Bolton pick was Creed Humphrey, but the Chiefs were able to wait five spots and get their guy. While Mahomes makes the calls for the offense at the line of scrimmage, great quarterbacks also need to be able to trust someone to make the line calls. Peyton Manning and Jeff Saturday is a famous example and the Chiefs hope that Mahomes and Humphrey can have the same level of trust.
Round 4, Pick 39
The Chiefs had a long wait until their next pick, but went back to the defensive side with Florida State defensive end Joshua Kaindoh. Kaindoh is one of my favorite selections of the draft.
He was a top-10 5-star recruit to Florida State. The 6-foot-6, 260 pounder certainly looks the part. That was a theme with the Florida State roster in recent years with a steady stream of top recruits, who have failed to live up to their potential.
With the coaching chaos at Florida State in recent years, taking chances on the ultra-talented Seminoles and giving them real coaching seems like a good bet.
Round 5, Pick 18
Behind Travis Kelce, the Chiefs second-leading receiver at tight end was Nick Keizer with 63 yards. Kelce had 1,416. With Mahomes excelling at working the ball over the middle, adding another receiving tight end seemed like a way they could go in the draft.
The team pulled the trigger in the fifth round with Duke’s Noah Gray. Gray is a pass-catching option who isn’t seen as much of a blocker, but scouts say is a very good route runner.
Round 5, Pick 37
Doubling down on fifth-round pass catchers, the Chiefs took one of Trevor Lawrence’s favorite targets with Clemson receiver Cornell Powell. Powell had just 152 yards through six games last year, but in the final six games of Clemson’s season, he had 730 yards.
Powell gets put into the perfect situation with the X-receiver being Kansas CIty’s closest thing to a hole on offense, replacing Sammy Watkins. Demarcus Robinson figures to start there, but if Powell can develop chemistry with Mahomes, he could become a great option working off of Hill and Kelce.
Round 6, Pick 42
Trey Smith was another top recruit in the country coming out of high school, but unlike Kaindoh he lived up to the hype in college. Smith was an All-American at left tackle for Tennessee and played all over the line for the Volunteers.
So why was Smith available so late? Medical concerns with blood clots in his lungs had his football future in doubt in 2018. He missed the last five games of 2018.
Over the last two seasons, Smith has not missed a game. He was limited in practices as a junior, but a full participant as a senior. The Chiefs say they feel ‘completely comfortable’ with him medically.
If that is the case, Smith might be the steal of the draft. Kyle Long and Laurent Duvernay-Tardif are free agents after this season. With Orlando Brown, Joe Thuney, Creed Humphrey and Lucas Niang representing the young core of the offensive line, Smith could be the Chiefs long-term right guard.
