I mean it's kind of a risk having 2 possible sh*t show positions, you can see the logic in just going steady at RT. But as DJ said, the baptism of fire approach was the harder decision to justify. Just give Kingsley some help. I'm not sure ultimately it would've mattered. It might just have been bring in Donovan Smith earlier as a "just below average but sort of passable" guy as insurance and go from there. But still, definitely a high risk approach that didn't work

RT is Wanyas natural side so it might have worked. And the added benefit of Mahomes being able to see if Wanya messes up instead of it being in his blindside. Similar to Wylie.

Taylor has never played LT In his football career. Never in college or the pro's. And imo that's why they never moved him because he has no reps there. Morris played a whole season at LT in college and so did Kingsley so it was a logical thing to play them there. Kingsley still has time to improve but man he better work his ass off in the offseason. He should live with his cousin for a few months if need be. Just do all he can to get better.

Kingsley had a few decent reps in those early games. He certainly passes the eye test. Hope he works out.

Welcome back buddy.

Thank you for articulating this. Humphries and Thuney looked very similar to Morris.

People aren’t giving Thuney enough credit for the job he did playing out of position against an All Pro.

He did a great job, for a guard. No ones discounting that he did the best he could and a job he shouldn't be asked to do. That said, he doesn't need to do it unless its an emergency. He's not an NFL left tackle. He is an all pro guard.

In-season, I get it.

Why it didn't happen over the summer is beyond my understanding.

Because he mostly got beat. A lot.

If you want to say "He did an admirable job for a guy playing out of position who doesn't have the physical tools to handle the job against a monster of an opponent..."

Sure, I'll accept that.

But he didn't do an amazing job. Or a great job. Or even a good job. The performance we got out of our left tackle on Sunday was sub-standard. You can grade him on whatever curve you'd like but that fact will still need to be acknowledged.

It's not an indictment on Thuney at all - it's a word of caution for those that think that situation is in any way tenable long-term.

Is Smith on speed dial.

Probably because he struggled with penalties last year. The NFL further was cracking down on a lot of his little advantages like lining up in the back field, leaving early... I think they were hoping he would still be above average RT.

Donovan Smith?

He's washed.

Only need him for 5 games?

If they were going to call him, they would have. He's probably done.

He was out with a neck issue last year that took longer to get right than expected. I imagine he would have been on a team if that was not an issue.

Well, this dude was clearly a waste of time and hope.

Hope Veach sent Cam Robinson's agent a nice Christmas card this year, because Brett is going to need him to go easy on us when we have no choice other than to offer his client whatever it takes to get him to come here.

Calm your tits Nancy

Tell that to Mahomes next time he's getting his ankle twisted off.

The fact that the Vikings got Cam Robinson for a conditional 2026 5th while we were watching our 2nd round pick and then Wanya get their dicks knocked in the dirt is hilariously sad.

We then sent a conditional 6th to get Uche who doesn't even play smh

Why?

The worst part of it, and why I think the Chiefs are so (rightly) hesitant to make that move with Thuney, is that it also replaced our elite left guard with mediocre guard play on that side of the line. It diminished the play of that entire side of the line for the benefit of upping our left tackle play from a catastrophe to merely “average.”

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Andy Reid said Chamarri Connor (concussion protocol), DJ Humphries (left hamstring) &amp; Chris Jones (calf) will not practice today, the Chiefs&#39; lone practice before Wednesday&#39;s game against the Steelers.</p>&mdash; Nate Taylor (@ByNateTaylor) <a href="https://twitter.com/ByNateTaylor/status/1871251804501250089?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 23, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Lets hope CJ is good but Andy just resting him

Have to believe we’re getting to the point they’ll be sticking with Thuney at LT for the playoffs. You can’t just throw DJ out there rusty as hell for the postseason, that’s asking for disaster. Even if he plays next week, I’d be worried about just throwing him in there when it matters.

If we can clinch on Christmas and he can play every snap week 18 with Wentz starting and show he’s ready, I’d be good with that. However, if we’re playing for the #1 seed there’s no way you switch things up for that game, and at that point you’re not doing for the playoffs, either. Such a bummer, really wanted this guy to pan out. Maybe this helps us keep him cheap for next year, though.

DJ at RT?

What a turd DJ turned out to be.

Pro Bowl LT DJ Humphries [signed by Chiefs]
 

Looks like we just should have re-signed Smith. The injury background was too much of a risk and so it has proved to be.


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Rushing in a guy who had not played in a year… very predictable outcome.

A similar risk for Donovan Smith as well, who hasn’t played in a game since the Super Bowl.

Smith has the same injury risk. In fact, his is probably worse with the neck/back issues.

I'll take average left side over catastrophic LT play every day! I don't like the switch but we have no choice, do we?

If the Thuney at OT line holds up against the Steelers count me in as a believer.

Yes, fingers crossed!

I think he'll be fine against Pitt.

Steelers have Watt obviously, but I'm not too worried about their other rushers.

Hewyard is essentially a DT playing DE in that 3-4; that's the kind of guy Thuney has gone against his entire career.

Alex Highsmith is good, but he's more like Karlaftis in that I think he's a guy who makes a little chaos but isn't out there destroying guys. He's not someone that I think has the physical tools to dominate Thuney.

I worry more about the RT situation with Watt than I do LT. And we need Caliendo to be the guy he was against Cleveland and not the guy he was against Houston because Heyward COULD beat Caliendo up pretty good if he's at LG as seems most likely.

But I wouldn't waste any worry on Thuney.

Is Watt playing Wednesday? I know he plays on the other side, but he can wreck games like no pass rusher I've seen since the 90s.

I'm not ready to say he sucks at all, in fact I don't really blame him for how things played out... he was nowhere near being in football shape

Throwing him into live game action so quickly was a desperate, and ill conceived move... it was almost guaranteed to get him injured

Yeah, good point. Makes you wonder why they didn't move Thuney to LT earlier and ease Humphries in? Maybe in physicals he showed them he was ready to play a full game but that was overoptimistic in hindsight based on how long he was away from football.

Yeah man I was all about rushing him in there too

WE NEED HELP NOW!!1

But in hindsight it was almost always going to end badly in the short term, I mean OF COURSE he caught a bad hammy after having done jack shit for a year while rehabbing a serious injury... no camp, no preseason, and just a small handful of practices?

You're right they should've went to Thuney earlier, DJ didn't really have a chance... but I damn sure wanna see him out there in week 17

He played this weekend, so I'd assume so

No need to rush DJ now. He can rest up until the Denver game, and get a ton of reps between now and then in practice. Then hopefully he'll get that game to get some game time. Thuney is a great option to fall back on at least which is comforting to know going into the playoffs

Rather than go to thuney earlier they should have given Kingsley and Morris the help and game plan they’ve given thuney. We were still trying to develop deep non stop until thuney moved to lt. Now we’ve been an insanely effective quick pass offense. Thuneys getting all the help Morris and Kingsley never dreamed of. We could be in a very different situation had they helped Kingsley instead of letting him get raped over and over on an island.

Dude you can't be serious.

Please show the highlights of Thuney getting all this help.

Seriously? Look them up for yourself. Its easy. Most every pass play someone is helping out. They're giving Thuney a lot of help, like they should.

Now there is a plan and a fall back option should we need one.

We didn't have that before...

Humphries confirmed out tomorrow. I knew there was no way he would play especially if he didn't participate in the one walk through the had. Last time I listen to Staylor. He knows nothing about football.

Are you serious? There’s a tight end helping, or a back chipping or a receiver on a jet coming almost every pass play. I don’t remember who it was but one of the jet motions smacked will anderson back inside to Thuney get hands back on him. One of perines catches was a chip and release. They’re protecting thuneys outside.

https://x.com/BaldyNFL/status/1870800694892249108

I’ll trust Baldinger.

The Cleveland game they did a lot but he had Myles accross from him, last week I did not see it a ton or any more then they normally do for the other LT. Guess will see with Pitt. With TJ on the right they will need focus help towards Taylor/Morris.. Thuney is going to be alone alot tomorrow.

Anyone who thinks they helped Kingsley the first two weeks as much as they’ve helped Thuney needs to go rewatch. They’ve also adjusted how they approach the game. The last two weeks play callings been more focused on getting the ball out. Thuneys been good for a guard. As long as he can square up he should be ok. The problem is come the playoffs he’s going to look some what like Orlando brown Jr without the length to push guys up the arc. They left Kingsley on an island against Baltimore and cincy. He actually faired pretty well against good to average rushers against the ravens. When he had to line up against Hendrickson they gave him very little help. They were asking a raw rookie for 4-5 seconds often with no help. Since Thuneys entered the line up Mahomes has had his fastest time to throw since the 21 season iirc. This isn’t a knock on thuney it’s a knock on the coaching staff. Hollywood went down and they just tried to forge on with the plan to let brown and worthy threaten deep. They should have gone more traditional wco earlier, got the ball out, stayed in a rhythm and protected green tackles.

Lotta folks talking about loading up on draft picks in a Mahomes like trade for a tackle.

Steelers drafted Broderick Jones and he was good at Georgia. Dude got baptized by Karlaftis and Omenihu.

Would much rather go this route than put all our eggs in one basket

What route? Putting guards at tackle?

We put Wylie at tackle.

And he started as a backup guard

Maybe it was playing hot potato with the LT job before settling on an All Pro LG providing baseline competence at the position and our offense subsequently improving immensely. Yeah, not sure how you take anything away from this other than the fact that LT is and will be a massive issue until it's permanently addressed.

Humphries needs to be blocking for Wentz against the donx, just so we can see what we have.

On an unrelated note, Thuney is a clear HOFer, no?

We even sure Humphries will make it through the game without getting hurt?

He's going into the HOF. He's won 4 Superbowls on two different dynasties, the only real knock is that he doesn't have more all-pros, but he'll get in.

What is the downside with permanently moving Thuney to LT next season?

I don’t see one.

Much easier to find a capable LG than a LT.

I want to say he played tackle in college?

He hasn't been as good as you think. We're giving him and Caliendo a lot of help with the play calling and protections that we weren't for Morris and Humphries. Can it work for a 3-game Super Bowl run? Possibly, yeah. But it'd be nice to get all pro guard play again instead of average to below average play at guard and tackle.

I still expect Humphries to play against the Broncos, and if he's decent, in the playoffs. It's good to know that this alignment can work if not, though.

I want to see Morris get a full game at RT as well.

Will he see the field at alll?

I really do wonder what their plan is. If Humphries looks good against Denver, do they roll with him in the playoffs with literally no time for him and Mahomes to gel? He is clearly the best LT on the roster when he’s at his peak, but is one game really enough to get him back to form?

I really think at this point he’s nothing more than depth for this season, and they’ll try to bring him back on another 1-year deal this offseason. I just can’t see how you throw him out there for a 3-peat run at this juncture. I’ll trust whatever they decide, but I think the decision has probably already been made for us due to the nature of the situation.

I listened to Keysor's take - he's probably right - the idea being, let DJ play the whole game Sunday against DEN, if it does look as good or better than Thuney, sure make the switch knowing that you will upgrade huge at LG moving Thuney back there.

I mean the LT doesn’t have to gel like a wr, just hit the right depths and learn the cadence. I guess we will see.

The Chiefs shouldn’t look past the Divisional Round, but if Humphries looks like shit for a quarter then just make the switch back to Thuney.

That alone shouldn’t be enough to torpedo the Chiefs chances against like Houston or Pittsburgh.

Good point as well.

Honestly, it may be as simple as asking Patrick what he feels best about. He is the one who has to deal with the consequences, for better or worse.

Where Keysor opened my eyes a little is pointing out that if they'll just call and execute the offense like they have the past two weeks -- Mahomes getting it out of his hands faster than ever before -- then it really shouldn't matter if Humphries steps back in or not.

Agree but also add this.

Caliendo has performed admirably, but he did allow the one sack vs Houston. He was late on that delayed blitz.

I don’t think Thuney makes that mistake.

So where Humphries may be helped by the play calling, Thuney helps stop the pressure up the middle.

No noticeable difference on the outside, but he’ll inside.

Its all up to Patrick Mahomes. My guess is Thuney is here to stay this year. They don't have another game for Patrick to get used to Humphries. Patrick has not been hit the last 3 games like he was before so Im sure he's lobbying for Thuney to stay. And Mahomes usually gets what he wants.

It helps that Humphries is a veteran, but time with your battery mate helps on things like stunts and blitzes. The Chiefs had been really struggling with those types of defense, but the quick passing game has largely nullified them. If Andy wants to work in more downfield passing, Humphries and Thuney will need to be on the same page. They’re vets and will have had over a month of practice by the time they next play together. - hopefully that’s enough.

Our run game seemed worse wth thuney/caliendo which I think we will need in the playoffs/weather

If DJ can look solid against Denver, and that's a huge if, then it's probably fair to say we could at least replicate last year's playoff OL with him in there and that is plenty good enough.

But with Thuney right now at LT, it seems we may be able to do it as well. Hell Thuney didn't even play against BAL or SF last season.

We are passing team anyway.....we run to keep teams honest up front.

They're not practicing till next Tuesday right?

If not Wednesday. On a normal Sunday game, first practice is Wed.

Our run game as a YPC has been bad all year.

Who cares.

Because our short yardage running game has been better than ever. And this is really the only time I care about running the football.

Agreed. RT might be Morris’ more natural position.

1. I agree that Mahomes probably has a lot of say in this matter.
2. Fans continue to project greatness on DJ, when in reality he couldn't hold up for an entire game.
3. Offense with Thuney at LT is finally locked in, there is no way Andy is going to tinker with it now barring injury.

Well the Broncos game is exactly the time to 'tinker'.

Why wouldn't you send Humphries out there and see how it goes? Makes all the sense in the world.

Are we sure he will be ready for the Bronco game?

I think he means don't change it when the playoff games start. Stick with what's been working.