Nate Taylor: Chiefs targeting OT Ronnie Stanley in free agency

[wazu]

New story. Joe Thuney did everything the Chiefs asked of him — & more.

What’s next for the Chiefs?

They plan to sign Trey Smith to an extension & acquire a new left tackle, targeting Ronnie Stanley.https://t.co/1cKzfqMDbu

— Nate Taylor (@ByNateTaylor) March 5, 2025

When free agency begins, the Chiefs will target Ronnie Stanley, the nine-year veteran who is the best left tackle available on the market, according to sources. Stanley, who will turn 31 this month, started all 17 season games last season for the Baltimore Ravens. He earned a 70.7 overall grade from Pro Football Focus and allowed just three sacks.

[Chris Meck]

Originally Posted by Hoover

I just don't think the Chiefs are going to be in a position to punt on the tackle position even if they sign a free agent in the offseason. And with how the draft board appears to be falling, its not the worst thing in the world grab a tackle int he 1st round.

No matter what happens, Taylor is in his lat year at RT. Morris is a bigger question mark than Kingley IMO because the Chiefs didn't even make him active during the playoffs. Yikes.

Even if you sign a guy like Stanley or Robinson, both have injury issues, and while they are going to cost a lot of money, the Chiefs are still going to be having on eye out for a future LT.

If we are going to keep Karlaftis and McDuffy then we are not going to be able to devote huge portions of the cap to every position on the line. Veach is setting this up to pay 2-3 guys on the line big money, they rest will have to be balanced with young players on rookie contracts.

I don't disagree with any of this, really.

I thought Morris looked better than Kingsley until the injury. I'm not sure he was 100% the rest of the way. So I'm not sure they've given up on him so much as he wasn't healthy. Either way, there are questions.

I don't know that trying to develop 3 OT's simultaneously is the best usage of draft capital, but maybe I'm incorrect.

I see several different paths here and am not qualified to make declarations other than Stanley makes me very nervous. Dude is always hurt.

[FloridaMan88]

Originally Posted by Chris Meck

Just fix the LT situation and get a RB upgrade in this draft and the offense will be fine.

The WR position will be interesting since everyone besides Worthy and Rice are free agents (not counting Skyy Less).

[Chris Meck]

Originally Posted by FloridaMan88

The WR position will be interesting since everyone besides Worthy and Rice are free agents (not counting Skyy Less).

It IS interesting, but I don't think it requires a high volume, big money answer.

We're talking about WR3 here.

as much as I hate the WR1 etc. terminology. Skillset and usage within an offense is much more important. So what is the 'TYPE' that they'll be looking for?

[BigRedChief]

Originally Posted by wazu

The offense was still great the year after Hill left. The dropoff happened the following year when Nagy took over

We know for a fact that Reid is calling the plays. The sluggish offense is not Nagy's fault.

Originally Posted by philfree

Sign Stanley and draft Conerly and plug him in at LG.

I thought they are planning at putting Kingsley at LG? Thats why they traded away our all pro guard.

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by staylor26

You're not sure what's true? That Simmons, Conerly Jr., and Ersery aren't better than what's usually avaialble to us (at LT) this late in the 1st?

I mean, I don't even think it's arguable. Conerly alone is a better prospect than guys like Guyton, Kingsley, etc. Just go look at his tape against some of the better pass rushers in the draft.

Simmons is a top 15-20 talent that would only be available due to injury. He's by far the best T we could even dream of being available.

Ersery is more in line with what's usually available, and he'd still arguably be the best, and he's probably 3rd in that range this year.

It's a weird year. There aren't a lot of LTs at the top of the draft, but there should at least be more legitimate options than usual at the end of the 1st. That doesn't mean any of these guys are sure fire day 1 starters at LT, except for Simmons if he's healthy, but they're just better prospects in general.

I'm not saying that makes the draft the best option, I'm not even saying it's ideal, but its definitely a better option than it is most years.

Yeah - I don't buy this even a little bit.

Ersery is a standard mid-late 2nd prospect. Conerly is marginally better than Kingsley.

Simmons is a COMPLETE unknown because his damn knee exploded. If his medicals check out he'll be gone well before we draft.

No, I don't think that's the case at all. Someone like Harrison was a far better prospect than Conerly and didn't make it to us. The fact that he isn't good now demonstrates how bad a gamble back of the 1st round OTs are.

There's zero reason to be targeting OT in this draft. It's a horrible play.

[TEX]

Originally Posted by Chris Meck

Man, I think 97 catches is no slouch for any TE.

I don't think you can look at any of these things separately. It's everything.

Kelce's days of operating as a high end #1 WR may be over, but he's still a top 3 or so TE in football. He just can't do it alone anymore. And lucky us! Rice and Worthy appear to be two big hits in the draft.

Just fix the LT situation and get a RB upgrade in this draft and the offense will be fine.

Nailed it! Its not rocket science. It's simply fixing glaring weaknesses.

[staylor26]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

Yeah - I don't buy this even a little bit.

Ersery is a standard mid-late 2nd prospect. Conerly is marginally better than Kingsley.

Simmons is a COMPLETE unknown because his damn knee exploded.

No, I don't think that's the case at all.

Conerly is a significantly better prospect than Kingsley and I'll die on that hill. Kingsley's tape at LT is not nearly as good, he just showed flashes and has that great combo of size and athleticism.

Simmons I'm giving the benefit of the doubt for now based on positive reports and him supposedly having a personal combine. The combine came and went and there were no negative reports about the injury, only positive. Great sign.

Like I said, Ersery is more of the usual (Kingsley, Guyton, etc.), but I also think he's a better prospect than those guys albeit not by a lot.

And again, I'm not advocating for it, but it's certainly an option. I'm just saying it's looking like a better option than it has been the last couple of years IMO.

[Iconic]

Originally Posted by staylor26

We might not like it, but Conerly Jr. and Simmons are better prospects than Kingsley. Simmons is by far.

Ersery might be better too.

As far as most drafts go, they're better than what's usually available in that range.

yep, good teams take advantage of rare inefficiencies. it's what we did with trey smith, it's what we did with justin houston, and simmons is looking like the next catch. if the med evals clear, dunno how you don't reel in the line at #31 because you just caught a ****ing lunker imo.

[kccrow]

Originally Posted by staylor26

Conerly is a significantly better prospect than Kingsley and I'll die on that hill. Kingsley's tape at LT is not nearly as good, he just showed flashes and has that great combo of size and athleticism.

Simmons I'm giving the benefit of the doubt for now based on positive reports and him supposedly having a personal combine. The combine came and went and there was no negative reports about the injury, only positive. Great sign.

Like I said, Ersery is more of the usual (Kingsley, Guyton, etc.), but I also think he's a better prospect than those guys albeit not by a lot.

And again, I'm not advocating for it, but it's certainly an option. I'm just saying it's looking like a better option than it has been the last couple of years IMO.

I'm dying on the same hill. Conerly is also a significantly better prospect than Anton Harrison, in my eyes, and it all comes down to footwork. Harrison was an athlete, but his movement as a pass blocker looked clunky and disjointed. Conerly is an athlete, and his movements look athletic and smooth. Conerly is more explosive. I just don't think they are the same other than having a similar body type and 40 time.

[RunKC]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

Yeah - I don't buy this even a little bit.

Ersery is a standard mid-late 2nd prospect. Conerly is marginally better than Kingsley.

Simmons is a COMPLETE unknown because his damn knee exploded. If his medicals check out he'll be gone well before we draft.

No, I don't think that's the case at all. Someone like Harrison was a far better prospect than Conerly and didn't make it to us. The fact that he isn't good now demonstrates how bad a gamble back of the 1st round OTs are.

There's zero reason to be targeting OT in this draft. It's a horrible play.

I will die on the hill that Veach wanted to trade up for Anton Harrison a few years ago. It was reported that we called the Cowboys for a trade up and they said no bc we wanted Mazi Smith but so did they…but I do not for a second believe that.

Albert Breer said on his MMQB pod that Josh Simmons will be the busiest prospect bc teams want him in for visits to get a closer look at his injury with their own medical team.

I just can’t buy into selecting another project tackle at 31 and the fact that people have to sell me on it makes this even worse.

There’s just no way anyone can tell me any of these tackles are better prospects than Walter Nolen, Luther Burden, Nic Scourton, Darius Alexander or Derrick Harmon or even Shavon Revel.

Those guys have high potential. Some could be blue chip players. Don’t reach

[philfree]

Originally Posted by BigRedChief

We know for a fact that Reid is calling the plays. The sluggish offense is not Nagy's fault.

I thought they are planning at putting Kingsley at LG? Thats why they traded away our all pro guard.

That's some of the talk but nothing is written is stone. Get the starting LT and make those guys win the job at LG. Maybe Conerly moves out to LT in a couple of years or Kingsley develops. Maybe Moore develops.

[MahomesMagic]

Originally Posted by BigRedChief

We know for a fact that Reid is calling the plays. The sluggish offense is not Nagy's fault.

I thought they are planning at putting Kingsley at LG? Thats why they traded away our all pro guard.

We do?

[RunKC]

Originally Posted by wazu

The offense was still great the year after Hill left. The dropoff happened the following year when Nagy took over. Fischer and Schwartz had both been long gone.

Another year of this https://t.co/O4fBAtpmUg pic.twitter.com/ng9jw2bziM

— Julio (@RasheeTouchdown) January 24, 2025

Look at what changed from the 2022 team to the 2023 team?

-Orlando was a decent playable LT who left for the Bengals. Smith was solid but missed over a month and Wanya got Mahomes killed
-Kelce left his prime after 2022 and has not been the same since
-Juju was WR1 and had about 1,000+ yards and left for the Patriots
-McKinnon had 9 (!!!) receiving TD’s and then left his prime and became injury prone

Those alone were the pillars of success in 2022. Since then we’ve had 26 drops in a season, then injuries to WR1/WR2/RB1
, 5 LT’s and the least explosive RB room in football.

It’s personnel

[ThrobProng]

**** it, let's use 6 OL on every snap. Quantity over quality.

[wazu]

Originally Posted by RunKC

Look at what changed from the 2022 team to the 2023 team?

-Orlando was a decent playable LT who left for the Bengals. Smith was solid but missed over a month and Wanya got Mahomes killed
-Kelce left his prime after 2022 and has not been the same since
-Juju was WR1 and had about 1,000+ yards and left for the Patriots
-McKinnon had 9 (!!!) receiving TD’s and then left his prime and became injury prone

Those alone were the pillars of success in 2022. Since then we’ve had 26 drops in a season, then injuries to WR1/WR2/RB1
, 5 LT’s and the least explosive RB room in football.

It’s personnel

This is the best defense of Nagy I have seen anywhere, by a lot. I hope you are right because this stuff is all fixable. Reid is too successful at this point for me to have any hope he'll fire a crony.