They put a rookie Center next to a rookie Right Guard.

Yea and those guys were high level prospects that won those jobs, they had signed a vet guard that ended up as a backup. This is not the same.

Andy has had 12 drafts with KC. In 10 of the 12 drafts, Andy drafted a lineman on either offense or defense with a 1st or 2nd rd pick. The 2 years he didn’t, he drafted them with a 3rd rd pick.

History says Andy will take a lineman early. Seeing as how this OT class sucks, they just drafted Kingsley and are paying Trey…they’re probably gonna draft a DL in the first rd unless some outlier unexpected Trent McDuffie like fall happens.

DT is very likely at 31

The YAC yards between him and Rice combined would be ****ing sick.

Good player but change has to happen. A bit surprised but this makes sense

The 2nd tier guys are also more likely to sign shorter deals, which is what the team may be looking for here.

Yea and lets do this a little deeper...since the Chiefs hired Steve Spagnuolo how many DT's have the Chiefs drafted at all?

Spags is hired in 2019

Khalen Saunders 3
Keondre Coburn 6

Those are literally their only draft picks at DT, they have thrown more picks at every other position. They seem perfectly content to just keep filling with cheap vets. Wouldn't at all be surprised if they think Fabian Lovett can fill a spot after being a UDFA that sat on the PS all year.

Stanley signing incoming.

Wow....the Raiders wanted to make sure that Crosby didn't go anywhere anytime soon.

IMHO, I can see them going with LG Kingsley and moving up for a top OT in the draft, resign Humphries LT. Draft another LT later on.

Hicks can work but damn we will lose that Swriss Knife ability Reid brings. I'm all for keeping Reid since the draft is heavy for LB's.

Too old, too much $$$

But he was supposed to be a Bill!

Is he not as good as we think he is, or is there some red flag around him?

I hate this, but seems obvious in retrospect. Feels like we should of at least got a 2025 4th for Thuney, hoping we use that pick to move around in the draft this year.

All that I've heard on the subject is he was a bit diva-ish at the combine. He's a receiver, they're all divas.

Apparently he has some character concerns and Matt Lane doesn't think he fits the Chiefs offense so they'd pass pissing off the fan base.

Chiefs get much needed cap space in 2025, and a mid round pick in 2026.

For a 33-yr old guard to boot. One would think after 5 SB appearances in 6 years, folks would just sit back, relax and let Veach cook but nope. lol!

Indeed. But people want an extra pick so to change up how they draft in the simulators!

I don’t think Veach would trade Thuney for a 4th (not even in this draft) while in win now mode without another player coming in. With Jackson gone, Stanley is what makes sense. Unless there is a team willing to trade a LT.

Burden Pros: Great weapon, elite YAC potential, underwhelming production in final year may drop him to 31

Cons: underwhelming production in final year may signal other issues, came out of games WAY too often (mostly dings) for a player of his size. Tempting, but I think a DT is the winning choice this year in the 1st.

He was a 1st team all-pro at 32 lol. Veach has a plan but let’s not cope and pretend he was old and washed now.

He also has tiny hands, some teams won't like that.

Yeah, I don't get why people think Spags wants a traditional DT. He would be fine playing 4 DE's on passing downs.

We couldn’t have gotten a mid round 2025 pick?

Bears don't have a 4th rounder. I agree it would have been ideal.

Probably not there's a very select few teams that are going to be willing to give up a pick to take on 16 million dollars.

didn't expect this

It was either a trade or a new contract and I doubt they wanted to go new deal to a 33 year old guard.

Only thuney and Spags have more superbowls so people weren’t sure what the balance was here.

Nate Taylor says they're targeting Stanley

Nate is like the most outside "insider" of all time.

Production was significantly depressed by his QB being injured and not very good in 2024. QB play was a signficant step down from his sophomore year.

Beat me to it. Has like an 11% hit rate. Always close but never on target.

Here is the Nate Taylor article. If it's true that he knows and is reporting the Chiefs are targeting Stanley, wouldn't that qualify as tampering?

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">New story. Joe Thuney did everything the Chiefs asked of him — &amp; more.<br><br>What’s next for the Chiefs?<br><br>They plan to sign Trey Smith to an extension &amp; acquire a new left tackle, targeting Ronnie Stanley.<a href="https://t.co/1cKzfqMDbu">https://t.co/1cKzfqMDbu</a></p>&mdash; Nate Taylor (@ByNateTaylor) <a href="https://twitter.com/ByNateTaylor/status/1897371653988048999?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 5, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Considering that when Cook was healthy his first and many times only read was to Wease....that was one of my complaints during the season.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">One thing I was just reminded of. <br><br>If Thuney had played out his contract at a below market salary and hit free agency in 2026, he’d have a decade of service time and qualify for no higher than a fifth round 2027 comp pick.</p>&mdash; Jared Sapp (@TrumanChief) <a href="https://twitter.com/TrumanChief/status/1897383982960173397?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 5, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Kinda bummed about this tbh but I beleach in Veach

Feel like it’s going to be a trade now.

LMAO

No.

Luther is a really good player but as someone who watched every game he played in college, I’m not really sure he’s a guy I would be targeting if I were the Chiefs.

He’s got great quickness, but just ok speed at the NFL level. Really not that much of a contested catch guy. Truth be told he wasn’t even our best receiver last year. Theo Wease was.

I just think he’s a little redundant as his role in Andy’s offense would likely be very similar to Rashee’s.

If we can’t get Stanley, which I’m sure is their top target…I bet they try to swing a trade with Seattle for Cross.

I’d be ok with going crazy and sending our first 2 picks this year for him…or a first this year and a 1or 2 next for a young stud OT that excels in pass pro and run blocking.

Again because Cook focused on throwing to Wease more than Burden.

From Nate Taylor’s story.

Again this was Kingsley’s first game at G. He never played that in college or high school. Allowing 1 QB hit to this guy with zero experience is pretty damn impressive.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Zach Allen among IDL this season:<br><br>🔷 8.5 sacks (T-3rd)<br>🔷 73 pressures (2nd)<br>🔷 27 QB hits (1st)<br>🔷 16 TFLs (1st)<br><br>Pro Bowl snub? <a href="https://t.co/lC0dkdGtr0">pic.twitter.com/lC0dkdGtr0</a></p>&mdash; PFF DEN Broncos (@PFF_Broncos) <a href="https://twitter.com/PFF_Broncos/status/1874926363557142593?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 2, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Brady sucked last year, and didn't do Luther any favors. Any logical Mizzou fan would acknowledge that.

Luther still had a poor year at catching the ball in traffic to my eye. He was a little better at it in 23 but he isn't someone who's going to consistently go up and Moss dudes.

His game is all about YAC.

Theo has a bigger catch radius and stronger hands which made him a little more immune to Cook's inconsistency with accuracy.

I miss Nick Athan!!!

It could be as simple as we can not afford both Thuney and Smith. He decided Smith and a 4th is worth more long term than a year of Thuney. Kingsley was being moved to guard to replace one of them.

Definitely likely. He probably weighed the trade compensation for either and decided to keep youth and a round lower pick or so than the other way around.

Wanya could be the fix at right tackle after they let Jawaan go.

Nothing but respect for Joe Thuney- that dude was a great player- terrific signing- good luck with the Bears

This.

Sucks to lose a great guy and great player. You want this guy on your team.

I get it. This is the business. He's old - Kingsly is young. I get it. It happens.

He's that girl that you lie to yourself about though. You tell yourself it'll work out somehow. We'll make it work....

I think this is a big mistake for the Chiefs. We are already very weak on the offensive line, and the players who need to step up proved themselves incapable of doing so.

A 2026 4th round pick for Thuney?! Really?

This move tells me that the Chiefs are writing off going to the playoffs and Super Bowl in the coming season. The line is a shambles, and Mahomes is going to be taking a beating physically every game.

Gee, I wonder if the OC guy (Veach's friend) is still getting a pass?

Lol

Playoffs won’t sniff the….

Thuney was a Ginger Viking Jesus but c'mon guys, he's a guard.

I'm not saying it's the easiest position to replace outside of punter, but it is.

The simplest explanation is normally right and this is it.

Having 3 expensive IOL isn’t a great option. 2 is even pushing it a bit.

Smith is younger. He makes more sense to pay.

We should all be a bit relieved. What would it say about Kingsley if Veach felt it was necessary to pay big money to all 3 IOL spots?

LOL, whatever.

The NFL is about the salary cap and how well you manage it. It is even more important when you have the responsibility to pay the best QB is the league. Veach has decided to use cap space to secure 2/5s of the offensive line with keep two home grown players who are top players at their positions. It comes at the cost of a 34 year old iron man, but the key is the team actually got something for him in a 4th round pick next year. Yeah it sucks that we have to wait to cash in that chip, but just like the 3rd rounder for Sneed, it's nice when you get to collect.

Veach and the Chiefs have also invested high picks in Morris and Suamataia. Keeping Thuney and paying Smith mean neither has a sure pathway to the playing field which is not ideal. Suamataia now gets the opportunity at LG. Keeping Smith AND Thuney meant your LG is probably Suamataia or DJ Humphries at best, maybe a 1st round draft pick. Trading him, means that they can now sign a FA LT like Stanley or Tyron Smith at LT, meaning that the biggest weakness on the team has vastly been improved.

Suamataia can still develop into a LT while logging time at LG. He lacks confidence more than anything, and this is the best solution for that. While the subtraction of Thuney today makes things look worse, you have to wait and see what the entire picture looks like after free agency and the draft. Today's move shows that Veach is in the midst of a rebuild not a plug and play.

Username checks out....

Knew I could always count on a homer to keep his blinders on...

Your mother thought so... LMAO

The Homer is the guy bitching about a team moving on from a 34 year old guard who was going to count 27M towards the cap.

The people complaining about landing a 4th round pick for a 34 year old guard after we just tagged our other guard are the same ones complaining that we franchised a guard. It’s funny.

They are obviously smarter than our current 3-time World Champion leadership group.

What kind of draft pick did you think we would get for a 30 something year old guard? I think a 4th is a pretty goddam good trade.

And the Bears eating a chunk of the salary, too. That's the payoff for THIS year.

Some hated it when Veach signed him and some hate it that he was traded.

Too old? He’s not a RB here.

FWIW Thuney is 32 not 34

Hypothetical: if there were some evidence that we could win an AFCCG or a Super Bowl without Thuney, would you feel better? I understand your frustration but want to drill down on the exact source of it.

Their salaries disagree with this.

Do you believe there's an easier position to replace?

Salaries are a product of timing and the market at the moment a deal is reached.

I'm serious - what position is easier to find an adequate replacement at than guard?

Long snapper? I don't know if there is one to be honest.

We won a SB without Thuney last year...

It would have been salary cap suicide to pay both starting guards $20+ million AAV.

The Chiefs are keeping the younger guy, Trey Smith.

100% respect for Thuney, absolute CLASS athlete and he helped us and him get some more rings while here, very sad to see but this is a business $$

I’m not seeing how one year with an all-pro guard wouldn’t be more valuable. With the contracts coming up in 2026 & 2027, 2025 can’t just be conceded as a soft rebuild year.

I believe there has to be a 2nd part to this move and someone else is being signed or traded for but we will see.

Which gets back to my previous point - I wouldn't extend Smith either.

I'm out of the market for expensive IOL at this point. They really just don't move the needle for me. I've seen this team accomplish too much with rags there or get genuinely good players for minimal investment.

IOL is a sum of its parts - it's not about individual greatness.

Doesn’t it get complicated though when you can’t just get fix tackles easily in an offseason? We were so spoiled to get Schwartz on the contract he had. Fish was above average but even that as we know is so hard to find when you’re picking 31-32 every year.

It’d be different if we could sit here and say, “if you let Trey and Thuney both go, you can use the resources to get a great left tackle instead”

And that’s just not all reality. Even with the best talent, Stanley, there’s a chance it backfires in a way that’s at least similar to what we’ve seen with Jawaan. Then you could be looking at an OL that’s vulnerable across the board in some form or fashion.

Just not sure you can over invest in OL and DL, my personal philosophy.

Unless the thought is Kingsley could play LG but not RG, Smith right now is a bigger cap hit. Long term have to believe Smith is reaching his prime while the Thuney play is going to drop slightly every year. Seems like they know they could keep 1 but not 2 and choose Smith.

But long-term could’ve been achieved this year even if they kept Thuney for 2025. Mahomes is likely going to restructure as his contract is designed, so we weren’t that desperate for short-term cap. One year of an all-pro guard is worth way more than a 4th, unless the trade-off is an immediate solution at LT.

Entire offseason’s success or failure hinges on figuring out the LT situation. Will this help with that? Guess we’ll find out soon enough.