The Kansas City Chiefs drafted Parker Ehinger in the fourth round of the 2016 draft with the 105th overall pick. Kansas City’s offensive line had some issues in 2016, there’s no beating around that. The Chiefs offensive line was 22nd overall according to Pro Football Focus. They did better at run blocking, 14th, than at pass-blocking, 30th, which lead to quarterback Alex Smith feeling rushed in the pocket and usually only looking to the number one receiver before he had to dump it off to the check down option.
Kansas City Chiefs Offensive Line Still Needs a Guard
Kansas City has been very active this off-season working on building their offensive line. They first signed Mitchell Schwartz to a five-year deal worth $33 million. Schwartz will play right tackle for the Chiefs and will be needed in a division that consistently faces some of the top edge rushers like Von Miller, DeMarcus Ware, Khalil Mack and even Melvin Ingram, just to name a few. This might be why Kansas City focused on the former Browns player because he did Schwartz did well against Von Miller when the Browns played the Broncos in the 2015 season, and that might be why Kansas City focused on the former Cleveland Browns player. Kansas City now has former number one overall pick Eric Fisher on one side and Mitchell Schwartz on the other side of their line. Fisher has progressed over the years and is finally starting to show some promise after a rough first couple of seasons.
The Chiefs started rookie Mitch Morse at center throughout the entire 2015 season and he did very well at that position; Morse was arguably the Chiefs best lineman in 2015. Still, Andy Reid’s team is looking for solid guard play after cutting Ben Grubbs who the Chiefs traded for in the 2015 off-season, but missed most of the 2015 season with a neck injury. Jeff Allen, who played also played a little bit at guard for the Chiefs as well in 2015, signed with the Houston Texans this off-season.
Kansas City’s other guard, Laurent Duvernay-Tardiff, showed promise throughout the season but he’s still a work in promise. “LDT,” as he is known to the fan base, is a medical student from Canada that went to McGill University. He’s still getting used to the difference between playing football at a Canadian college and playing in the National Football League, but he’s doing well for the most part and is a smart player that should only improve.
The Chiefs keep looking for possible offensive line combinations and they have signed a couple players recently that they feel like might do the job. Kansas City just recently signed Nebraska offensive lineman Zach Sterup who played tackle for the Huskers. Sterup stands at 6’9” and weighs 315 pounds. The Chiefs could be seeing how well he can play guard or they might just try him out for depth at tackle. The Chiefs also signed Daniel Munyer who was the starting center for the Seattle Seahawks all last season. Munyer played guard for the Colorado Buffaloes in college so it is possible that he might be worked out at guard or he could compete with Zach Fulton for the backup center job. Kansas City also claimed former San Francisco 49er guard Jordan Devey after he was cut by the Niners to see how he might work out for Kansas City.
It is unclear as to who will start for the Chiefs at the guard position in 2016, but they will face some solid defensive teams and Andy Reid’s team had better be prepared to compete. Kansas City is hoping to win the AFC West in 2016 but will need some offensive line play to get them there.
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