Might end up being the best LT in the division

Still waiting till the season starts to get hype.

But if this keeps up throughout the season, Veach truly is a Wizard.

Donovan Smith be like, "Aye, 15, this ain't OBJ over here. Stay in your pocket, son."

6'6" 338lbs 30yo monster

OL dominated for 4 quarters.

Ya this o-line is now easily the best in the business. Nice job Bert Veach!

He's making some members here look really stupid so far

If Mahomes has time and some legit receiving threats...the league is ****ED.

It's preseason but Smith looks to be a significant upgrade over OBJ.

I remember OBJ's first year with us, he did NOT look good in preseason, and our cope was that "it's just preseason and it's a new system. he'll get better", but he really never did.

Has this guy looked good or has this guy looked good?

The Oline as a whole looked improved thus far. Smith looks like a better fit than OBJ was. He looks like a young man out there.

Premature preseason says we improved at both tackle spots.

He was very enthusiastic speaking with Kimmi during the game last night. He sounds like a great guy and his play thus far has been really good IMO.

So if he’s playing well in the system do you at some point try to extend him?

I doubt he’d be interested as he’d rather hit fa

Give him more $$ than OBJ for the lulz

Pretty amazing that so many people thought they knew how to judge offensive line talent better than Andy and Veach, and that so many were willing to throw Taylor out there at LT with god only knows what at RT.

Smith is going to give us a terrific season and earn us an extra 3rd round pick while getting himself massively paid again. Hell, I’m still not totally convinced they won’t resign him. He’s really a perfect fit for this offense and you know how much that means to Andy. If he balls out and doesn’t try to break the bank, who knows

Let's let him play before we give him the farm

Yeah, this was a pretty insane pivot by Veach. Lucky for us Brown Jr employed a complete ****up as an agent.

Before the preseason we knew we had improved the RT spot. Wylie last year was just not good. Taylor was a huge upgrade over him. As long as Smith stays decent, he is an upgrade over Brown Jr and a huge win for him.

No. If he proves it on his prove-it deal, he’ll be too expensive. I bet the plan is to move Taylor to LT and then have ideally Morris (or Niang or other?) start at RT.

Smith was a good signing because he was cheap and had significant upside. After paying what we did for Taylor, having Smith under contract at real LT money just doesn’t make sense given overall roster construction.

I suspect that best case scenario is for Morris to put on some weight and take LT next year.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/AzHNwz1AafE" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Brown sucks. We already have better.

And if that happens successfully, Veach will have pulled a rabbit out of his hat once again. Incredible how some of his moves work out.

Ultimate big dick energy. All signs point to that being the hope. Seems like they moved on from the Niang and Kinnard hopes. Morris got plenty of run, he’s still raw but has the measurables and would give them 3 years of budget tackle play.

For me it would depend on what kinda money he’s wanting. If it were like, 3 for 45 30 gtd or something maybe

But you’re right in that it’s probably slide morris in to LT after giving him a year

Lol… if Smith ends up better than OBJ this year for 1/10th the cost, Veach deserves all the escalades

Actually Niang and Prince Tego-Wanogho have looked really good in the preseason. And both have been playing LT and RT.

So you God knows what is on roster

I could see Smith resigning but if not I don’t think any real plan is set just yet. Veach will still go after the tackle in FA/Draft he can get and put Taylor at LT or RT depending on who he gets. Could go with Morris but I think Veach signing Taylor gave him so much flexibility.

If he stays healthy, he will be. There's really no doubt about it.

Smith was playing at a high level just two years ago, higher than Orlando ever did. Last year Smith had an injury riddled season that sent his stock spiraling. But yes, a healthy season like he had two years on top of winning a second SB ring could likely double his value.

Chiefs Sign Former Bucs LT Donovan Smith
 

This seems like a good place for this.

https://x.com/kenziewebbsport/status...lslB7sz492FbAw

I don't like seeing Patrick disappointed. LMAO

Poor Joe Burrow. Pray for him

The dig on him is penalties. He has committed a bunch in the past.

I wanna make love to our GM!

Just like donovan smith, they don't need the help.

He's looked good so far, but I need to see what he does once the reg season starts and he sees more competitive defenses. But so far, so good.

I think everybody understands that all opinions week 2 in the preseason are with the added caveat that we need to see them in the regular season to be sure.

The WR thread alone has so many people reminding us it's preseason. We know.

$2.76 million cap hit. There's a not a bigger steal than this guy. He's been rock solid and better than Orlando LMAO

Truly incredible.

Well it'll probably sneak up to $7-9 million when it's all said and done but that's still a bargain for a damn steady starting LT.

Yeah. Crow for me on this one. Especially considering the guy I wanted them to draft looked pretty ****ing rough yesterday from what I watched.

Agree with all points. He's been the free agent steal of the offseason.

I presume you were also on the Anton Harrison train?

Because man - Harrison has looked like boiled ass pretty much every time I've watched them. And I've seen 3 Jags games (and then I guess parts of that stupid Toy Story game but it doesn't count).

He just doesn't look ready. When he's not getting beat, he's committing a penalty. And that really does tell me that I need to get right the hell out of the 'looking at OT draft picks' game because I just never EVER get it right on these guys.

I clearly have no earthly idea what it is I should be looking for with rookie OTs.

Yeah, I thought he'd be alot better.

Granted, the Jags aren't exactly known for their developmental skills.

Dude came in on a run play after the ball carrier was stood up early in the game, I think it was Pacheco, and laid out like 2 or 3 Viking players

Would love to see that video

Lol yeah, I thought they might flag that. It looked crazy violent.

Why do they sometimes flag that and other times they don’t, by the way? What’s the official rule book say on that situation?

I believe the rule book says it's a penalty if Jawaan Taylor does it and it's pretty much fine when anyone else does.

LMAO You mother****er

Yep. Worst I saw was him just getting blown back into the lap of Lawrence by AJ Epenesa of all players.

It was hard to keep track of which OT was getting face-raped against Buffalo. Robinson wasn't faring any better.

Oops. That was Robinson, not Harrison that gave the strip sack by Epenesa up

I wonder if they will try to work an extension for him.

I bet they do like this year and have initial conversations at the combine and then get a deal done after the draft…but if the $ is reasonable Veach would be smart to extend him early.

I'm not sure either side can/should be eager to extend.

1) The Chiefs still have several months of development with Morris to see if they think he can step in at either OT spot (or Taylor can slide over to LT). If they believe that, Smith is an expensive luxury item.

2) Smith, if he makes it through all/most of the season healthy, has little reason NOT to test the market. If he reestablishes himself as a starting caliber LT, he may end up the best LT on the FA market and put himself in a position for one of those 'last bag' paydays.

Both sides are likely well served to play this one out as written. And if it should happen at the end of the year that there is mutual interest in a reunion, so be it. Explore it then.

But this was designed as a trial period by both sides.

I'm inclined to accept it as it is.

Mahomes will get him paid, just like OBJr and Wylie.

Well unlike them Smith is actually, you know, good. :)

He’s earning his payday.

He really is, and I didn't see that coming at all.

It was never a given to me, but I definitely saw it as a possibility because he had a very long track record of being exactly that:

Smith was a good player. He was a good player with Brady, sure, but before that he was a good player with a complete IDIOT to protect in Jameis Winston.

The guy was essentially Taylor Decker prior to last season and he's not 34. There was plenty of reason to believe he could be a good player again.

It's pretty clear that NONE of us do. OT is so difficult to project for a variety of reasons, including the absolute freaks of nature they're tasked with blocking on the regular. They have to be able to pass AND run block against super fast guys, super big/heavy guys, blitzing DBs, OLBs, etc. It's hard. And it's why I'm super good with the Chiefs spending a 3rd on an athletic guy they'd like to develop.

Honestly, it's the first time in the Mahomes era we have a LT who doesn't look overmatched. Even Fisher at times just looked like he was in over his head, although he still did a damn good job most of the time. Smith just always looks like he's ready for whatever is coming at him, and he's got the size of OBJ with the athleticism of Fisher. That's exactly what we need for this offense.

I'm trying not to get too excited, because he's probably a goner after this season. I just hope Morris is taking notes and watching everything he does and can step right in next year.

Ever see me discussing OT's?

Exactly. Because i don't.

I go, "He's big, long and he's either fleet footed or has anchors for feet".

That's all i got. Beyond that, who ****in' knows, man.

All i know is, D. Smith looks great out there for the most part.

Though he did allow a sack yesterday. Bastard.

Oh c'mon.

Fisher was fantastic. Fisher was better than Smith has been.

I don't think you guys realize how heavily Reid leaned on Fisher and Schwartz. Those guys were on an island every single play. And without anywhere near the quality of interior OL play that the current bookends are getting.

Those guys were the anchor of the OL. Humphrey and Thuney are the anchor of this one.

No, Smith doesn't look better than Fisher unless you were one of the guys who just never gave Fisher full credit for being a genuinely excellent LT at his apex because he didn't hit the ground running as a first overall pick.

In the 2019 and 2020 seasons, Eric Fisher started 28 games including the playoffs.

The Chiefs went 27-1 in those games, fellas.

They went 4-5 in the 9 games he missed.

That's absolutely insane.

Eric Fisher was REALLY good.

Fisher only got shit on because on the rare L he took he got his ass shoved back into the QB because he was always on the lighter side.

But DJLN nailed it.

Hey, you're talking to to one of the biggest Fisher fans there is, I loved the guy. I just meant he never had the dominant physical presence that Smith does. It feels like forever since he's been on the team, so I'm probably forgetting just how good he really was. Those W-L numbers with and without him are amazing.

I'm just happy to be seeing decent LT play again, so I'm probably overselling Smith a bit. That is not meant to be a shot at Fisher, who is a legend in my book.

This should scare all of y'all that are on the Joe Alt bandwagon because that guy looks like he was created in a lab to be a day 1 starter at LT for an Andy Reid offense to me.

Which means he'll suuuuuuuuuck.

Fair.

I just get my hackles up a bit with Big Fish because he got written off by so many people so quickly.

When most folks really needed to understand that this was a small-school kid who was ALL projection and it wasn't his fault the draft was historically ass that season.

Sure, that's a guy you'd like to get at 6-8 most years but there was no top of that draft class. So he was the guy we got. And people hated it so he just took heat for years that was usually not terribly fair.

So I may have come over the top on you a bit...

It would be hard not to try to trade up for him though if he fell to like 15-20 though. This draft has several 1st round prospects rated at OT and it would make sense to get one on a rookie deal that could possibly replace Smith, while we are paying Thuney and need to pay Creed soon.

Same here. I'm good with skill positions, LBs, and DBs, but I suck at evaluating OL and to a lesser extent, DL.

If he’s related to John Alt in any way, he might be worth a damn.

By golly I think you’re onto something!!!

I still think he’s likely to **** us at an inopportune moment but I’d be lying if I said he hasn’t exceeded my very low expectations to this point.

Veach nailed it. And they are trying to bring back more of the old offensive concepts with these tackles. It's gonna work if one of the other receivers can un**** himself beyond Watson.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Both Chiefs tackles are getting less chip help than last year when pass blocking and also are outperforming both tackles from last year while doing so.<br><br>Not bad. <a href="https://t.co/9ffmZrUzFd">https://t.co/9ffmZrUzFd</a></p>&mdash; Conner Christopherson (@Conner_DKC) <a href="https://twitter.com/Conner_DKC/status/1712254633555472435?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 11, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Hi Mr Fisher, enjoying retirement after playing for the Chiefs?

Looking at that graph, doesn't it say that Jawaan Taylor and Donovan Smith are gettting more help than Wylie and OBJ? Their success rate is higher, but the double team rate is higher as well. Am I reading that wrong? Seems that the top left quadrant would be the upper echelon.

It’s a weird chart.

The numbers on the bottom descend from left to right. So top right is the best.

Took me a second to see that.

Oh, thank you. Okay that's pretty awesome.

Ah, thanks. I'd missed that important detail.

Christian Darrisaw getting the most help in the league and being firmly average, eh?

That impossible - i was told he was just the bees knees...

EDIT: And Andrew Wylie just being dead ass average across the board is almost as Andrew Wylie a thing as has ever been...

Our offense is going to explode at some point. It really feels like we're just missing that rhythm and timing element, but we have the pieces.

Just compared to last year's offense:
Running game: better
Pass blocking: better
Run blocking: better
QB: same (you could argue he's not playing quite as sharp to start the season)
TE: same
WR: lower floor, higher ceiling

Speaking of tackles being hard to evaluate: Trevor Penning was a top 20 pick in 2022.

Pretty sure I saw him mocked a lot higher than that too.

This chart…uh…doesn’t look good for him.

The entire next month, INCLUDING the game against Miami is us tuning up against bad defenses before we play Philly.

This schedule has really worked out well for us.