The Kansas City Chiefs had one goal this offseason: repair the offensive line in order to return to the Super Bowl for the third consecutive season. Patrick Mahomes was pressured 29 times in last season's loss, a Super Bowl record. Kansas City's starting offensive line that day was Mike Remmers, Nick Allegretti, Austin Reiter, Stefen Wisniewski, and Andrew Wylie.
Kansas City made sure its franchise quarterback was protected this offseason, completely revamping the offensive line -- making the Chiefs favorites to repeat as AFC champions yet again. Kansas City added Joe Thuney to play guard and Austin Blythe at center in free agency -- along with getting Kyle Long out of retirement -- but struck out on Trent Williams. That didn't matter for the Chiefs, as they were able to find a starting left tackle heading into the draft, landing Orlando Brown from the Baltimore Ravens.
Brown, a two-time Pro Bowler, played on the right side in Baltimore but wanted to switch to left tackle and get paid like one. The Chiefs will try to work out a long-term extension with Brown after trading their 2021 first-round pick (31st overall), third-round pick (94th overall) and a fourth-round pick (136th overall), along with a 2022 fifth-round pick. Kansas City received Brown, a second-round pick in 2021 (58th overall) and a sixth-round pick in 2022. Laurent Duvernay-Tardif is also expected back after sitting out last season to use his medical degree to fight COVID-19 in his native Canada.
The Chiefs were far from finished on the offensive line, selecting Oklahoma center Creed Humphrey in the second round (No. 63 overall) and Tennessee guard Trey Smith in the sixth round (No. 226 overall). Two of Kansas City's six draft picks were used on offensive linemen. Humphrey didn't allow a sack in his 39 career games at Oklahoma -- a total of 1,230 snaps -- while Smith allowed just one sack on 711 pass-blocking snaps over the past two seasons.
The Chiefs have completed their mission of fixing the offensive line. Here's the projected lineup heading into training camp:
| Position | Starter | Backup |
|---|---|---|
LT | Orlando Brown | Martinas Rankin/Lucas Niang |
LG | Joe Thuney | Trey Smith |
C | Austin Blythe | Creed Humphrey |
RG | Laurent Duvernay-Tardif | Andrew Wylie |
RT | Kyle Long | Mike Remmers/Lucas Niang |
The Chiefs also didn't rule out bringing Eric Fisher and Mitchell Schwartz back, the bookends on their offensive line for the past five years. Fisher is rehabbing from a torn Achilles and Schwartz from a back injury that cost him his season in October. Kansas City may not be fully done completing its offensive line overhaul.
Either way, Mahomes will be protected in 2021.