Worrisome things: Offensive Line
 

While we were already one of the youngest offensive lines last year, we got even younger this year:

First our Starters:

Eric Fisher (23)
Jeff Allen (24)
Rod Hudson (24)
Rishaw Johnson (25)
Donald Stephenson (25)

Backups (not all of these guys will make the roster obviously, but these are the main ones including the new picks):

Rokevious Watkins (25)
Jeff Linkenbach (26)
Eric Kush (24)
Laurent Duvernay-Tardiff (23)
Zach FUlton (22)

Holy Shit! I don't think I've ever heard of any team in the league running with an offensive line that is this young and this inexperienced. With the defensive front 7s that we have to face next year (Rams, Seahawks, Niners, Jets, Cardinals, Bills, Steelers, Patriots), how do they expect this offensive line to hold up well against that? I really hope that they are going to sign a veteran or two to help these younger guys develop and also serve as quality depth or even starters at OG or something.

Here is a taste of the pass rushers/DLs we will face next year:

SF:
Aldon Smith - Justin Smith - Ray McDonald - Ahmad Brooks

St. Louis:
Robert Quinn - Michael Brockers - Aaron Donald - Chris Long

Arizona:
Sam Acho - Calais Campbell - Darnell Dockett - Daryl Washington (MLB blitzes) - John Abraham

Buffalo:
Mario Williams - Marcell Dareus - Kyle Williams - Jerry Hughes

Here are two guys that are still out there who can help.

1. Uche Nwaneri, 30 - He's a solid NFL guard who still plays at a sufficiently high level. He shouldn't cost too much at this point and would go a long way towards improving this OL.

2. Daryn Colledge, 32 - At this point of his career, he's good as a back-up with starter ability and the ability to play either guard position. He offers position versatility and a good amount of NFL experience.

I just think that Dorsey and Reid are playing with fire if their goal is to have our OL learn and develop through trial and error without a single solid veteran presence to help guide the younger guys a long the way.

What are your thoughts on this? Do you think that we'll be fine against the schedule that we have?

I expect our line to replace Johnson with Linkenbach for starters. I truly don't know if Rishaw has a place here.

Not too much to worry about imo. Just sit back, relax, and enjoy Alex running around in circles.

I think that Alex Smith led the league last year in avoiding unblocked pressure.

I'd like to see them bring in Nwaneri.

I'm a big believer in continuity on the line and that's what you don't get when you play a bunch of young guys.

Hopefully they can stay healthy and build some rapport.

The first half of the season could be REALLY rough though, especially with some of the defenses we're gonna see.

Yea I am a big believer in a veteran presence on the line as well. Best Chiefs lines had veteran(s) glue guy(s) that brought the young guys along. When Jeff Allen becomes your most tenured starter on the line, there is a huge potential for disaster.

You should have bought a squirrel

While it's good that they all have 1 year in this system now, I don't like the fact that not a single one of them has been in this league for over 3 years as a starter.

We don't need no veterans.

On a side note, we might need more QBs.

:D

And this is what I've been saying all offseason.

That's something even Xavier Suck'a Felatio wouldn't have been able to fix.

The dr is in, he will rape faces, from canadia!

Nwaneri would be a damn good signing.

Yep.

Gotta build continuity.

the doctor practically has to make the team because we have no other ****ing swing tackle on the roster lol

I look at it like this.

Guys who basically have a spot.

Fisher
Allen
Hudson
Stephenson
Linkenbach
Kush

I think Watkins and Johnson are the ones sweating a little right now.

I don't think it's a guarantee Linkenbach has a spot. He's not Geoff Schwartz potential, he's actually bad.

Johnson is going to a starter.

Jeff Allen is the one that will be sweating.

I don't think its a guarantee Johnson or Watkins have that spot, and since we brought in Linkenbach, I feel like he's got the better chance of sticking.

We're going to have to disagree for once today, I feel like Allen's going to be the starter with Johnson sweating the spot.

The subject of this thread is about continuity problems we're facing on the offensive line.

Linkenbach sucks horse cock and signed only a 1-year deal. Why would we look to him as a starter when we can probably get better production from Rishaw Johnson, whose contract runs longer than one year?

Or ****, just go full rookie and start our 6th rounder? If we don't have anybody else, just go with the young guy, make him work through it, and hope he survives.

We did it with Eric Fisher. Apparently Andy Reid was okay with Alex Smith getting flattened 3 or 4 extra times per game just so he could save face on his #1 pick. Why not do the same again this year only at RG? It might even work out okay for the team.

if Jeff Allen didn't get beat out by Jon Asamoah or Geoff Schwartz last year, none of these new nobodies are going to just switch to LG and beat him out either.

it's a bunch of RGs competing for the RG spot. Jeff Allen has no competition and he really hasn't since the day he was drafted here.

I don't think you release linkenbach after signing him to that one year deal, or even signed him to it without thinking he'd be safe. Could have just waited for the UDFA's to hit the market if all you wanted was a camp body.

I hope our 6th rounders make it though, and I feel like we'd be able to keep 9 offensive linemen anyways, so I feel like that one's going to come down to Watkins vs. Johnson.

EDIT: But I'm totally behind starting the rookies and future guys now, if you think they can A. Do it and B. Are the guys of the future.

He was called "Bones" on the show, not "The Doctor"

one of the rookie olineman will get the magical IR move so they can have the roster space to keep a Linkenfarts.

I wouldn't be surprised if it's Johnson or Watkins personally. I feel like they'd do well to get the rookies up to speed ASAP, especially when they are both very talented and one is supposed to be as good as anyone else and can play swing tackle.

Allen was one of few picks that Scott Pioli made that I liked, but he has sucked monkey balls.

NNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Please God, help us!!!

http://i.imgur.com/KrZEk.gif

Because he should have been the swing tackle and not the LG

Remember when Seattle got bad grades for taking "reaches" like Bruce Irvin?

Truth.

Truth.

Allen is to the offensive line as Berry is to the safety spot.

LT/RT at LG
LG at C
RG at ?
LT at RT

Chiefs way

Who cares? Its just Smith back there

The organization has neglected Oline in the draft for way too many years. This is the fallout.

Really?

They've drafted 7 linemen in the last 5 years alone, including one 1st, two 2nd, and 2 3rd rounders...

The topic is inexperience/youth. 4 guys in the two previous years. Before that they average about 1 per year.

It's like they banked on every olineman drafted to pan out. Now they are playing catch up.

LARZ

Wut?

I see what you're saying.

Coaching staff change leads to different preferences

It doesn't change team needs. It started all the way back when the Vermeil Oline was all getting old at once. There just hasn't been much effort to keep young guys in the pipeline. Add in some FA misses and losses and you end up with 10 olinemen with a combined 6 years of experience.

It often does change team needs, though. If a different coach was at the helm, Albert may have been kept, or Asomoah.

It's hard to tell. Were those HC or GM decisions? How much say did Reid have in the draft?

Personally I don't think Linkenbach will play RG unless everybody else is truly awful. I think he's mainly here to backup RT, so Stephenson can backup LT.

It is a scary situation. Pretty sad considering how little Schwartz and Asamoah went for. What really makes me feel bad though is a hall of fame caliber running back like Jamaal Charles having to run behind one of the worst (at least on paper) chiefs o lines in the past decade. Hopefully they will surprise me though.

I think based on your previous response, you really mean staggered.

They've brought these guys in in chunks and they all leave in chunks, leaving us with gaping holes.

They haven't successfully been able to stagger or trickle it, which would have avoided us ever being in the situation where 4/5 of our line is brand new at the beginning of a season.

Linkenbach is probably going to be the 2nd RG and RT.

Could have fixed ALL this shit just by drafting Johnny Manziel.

God damn Cleveland

So close, so close

Why give up two seconds for a veteran QB only to go into complete rebuild mode, not protect him and don't give him any weapons?

Asamoah was a liability and I'm glad he's gone.

I hope Heck finds a way to sweat his ass right on over to the bench.

Agreed.

I've been banging that drum for 2 years.

Dorsey and Reid licking their chops over the castoffs come cutting time.

We are not at the top of the food chain this year, so we won't be picking up those gems like we did last year.

Our best hope is that we can sign some veteran preseason cuts that get bounced by younger guys for other teams.

I actually like Watkins winning that last Guard spot, I like the way he looked in that SD game

Not really worried about the OL. You don't need a world beater OL in today's football. Just need something solid.

Fisher - Allen - Hudson - Johnson - Stephenson

Solid enough to me.

*some of you guys are sleeping on my dude Rishaw.

and this is the true fans nightmare I guess, we didnt take a o linemen until the 6th round

I'm kind of excited about the Chiefs OLine. I'm glad its young. I'm glad we don't have a bunch of guys on their way out of the league starting.

Our LT was the first pick int he draft. I think having a year under his belt will make a big difference. Our RT was a project, and there is no reason to think he can't get it done.

The only reason we have a hole at guard is because Jon Aasomoah didn't really develop into the player we thought he would be. That said, he still got a hell of a pay day. I'm glad we didn't step up and play big money to he or Schwarz. When you look at who this team needs to pay, those two guards were not a priority.

Of all the bitching about Pioli, the one thing I really liked about his is that he always used a 2nd or 3rd round pick on a lineman. I think that's a smart strategy.

I don't think that's that solid enough for me. But agree 100% that we don't need world-beaters. At least we know we're getting away from a world where we are going to reach and overpay for offensive linemen. That's uncomfortable right now, but over time will be a good thing.

Big money to Schwartz? 4 years - $16mil. How on earth would they have been able to swing such a gigantic contract?!

4 million a year

You know how many players on Denver's roster were paid $4M or more going into this year? 4.

These small contracts add up.

Exactly. You start throwing around 4 million here and 4 million a year here and the next thing you know signing guys like Houston, Poe, and Berry become difficult.

This isn't baseball.

Teams have to be creative where they spend money. Look at the Seahawks and 49ers, they are able to build impressive teams because they don't have pay big money to their QB's YET. This is why building an offensive live through the draft is smart. Teams need rookie contracts to be able to pay their star players.

Schwartz would have been the straw that broke the camels back, yet Joe Mays...

He didn't sign a 4 year deal worth 16 million.

Mays signed 2 years for 6 million.

We can get out of the Mays deal without much pain, Schwartz not so much.

Mays' cap # is a whopping 400k less than Schwartz this year and has a whopping $2mil less in guaranteed money. The savings are just insane!!!! Especially considering you get a guy as good as Joe Mays. He's sure to finish the year and not cause 50 penalties a game.

I might be in the minority when I say this, but I expect the line to be just as good as it was last season. Maybe better.

Young guys have to step up, that is what happens with good teams.

yeah, because he has a two year deal and Schwartz has a 4 year deal. You can't just look at the 2014 cap hit, you have to look at the entirety of the contract.

You sound like the dumb ass that goes into a car dealership and negotiates a deal based entirely on the monthly payment and not the total price of the car.

That's the way I see it. If you look at the Chiefs' free agency strategy, they seem to be looking for a lot of stopgaps. Fasano, Avery, DeVito, Daniel, Mays, Sean Smith... he seems to want free agents who can fill in for a year or two, but who can ultimately be replaced when the draft or bargain bin finds a replacement. That means he doesn't really care if they're great, just solid enough to not be a complete liability. Over time, I'd expect to see a lot less Joe Mays type contracts.

You're absolutely right. Joe Mays was brought in purely as a stopgap. It wouldn't surprise me if we canned him next year. If we signed Schwartz, it would be intended to be a long-term contract.

Eric Fisher HAS to be better.

If he plays better, they'll be ok.

If he plays anywhere near his potential, they could get VERY good.

Joe Mays' cap hit next year will only be 900k less. Keep trying to act like Schwartz got a monster deal and we couldn't have possibly fit him in the budget.

Cut Mays next year, save $3mil. Cut Schwartz next year, save $2.5mil.

Just STFU already.

Everyone concerned about the KC O-Line is justified in their thinking. Far too many questions to expect all to work out. It did not have to be that way. Its going to be the biggest reason for the step backwards this season.

:clap: Yep! I did the math also back when Schwartz signed with NYG and KC signed Mays and just shook my head in disbelief. The Schwartz contract is not out of line and had KC retained him, they would be much better off. Choosing not to sign Schwartz was the wrong decision for many reasons. Had they kept him and not lost out on the Sanders deal, KC would be in business.

Good to see we already have the scapegoat determined in the event this team only wins 6-7 games.

Shit, we identified that scapegoat in late February of LAST offseason. ;)

I'm waiting for week 5 when all of you tools flip flop and fall in love with our o line.