Arrowhead Pride
Here is a full preview of our newsletter, Arrowhead Pride Premier.
The following is a free preview of our newsletter, Arrowhead Pride Premier. A subscription includes a weekly column from our Brandon Kiley, who consistently provides unique Chiefs’ insight you simply can’t find anywhere else. Your membership also comes with a link to the full-length, hour-long “Editors Show” podcast. In this week’s edition, Pete Sweeney and John Dixon break down the full draft class, with notes on exactly how each player will fit into the lineup.
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This time last week, I wondered aloud if the Chiefs would take a player off the board with their first selection. Conventional wisdom suggested offensive tackle was the play. It made sense. The Chiefs need a long-term answer at the position. But there was a real chance the top tackles were off the board when the Chiefs were on the clock. What would the team do in such a scenario?
We’ll never know. Because sometimes the obvious pick is also the correct pick.
“It feels like it could be the makings of a complete steal (if Josh Simmons goes in the back half of round one),” Dane Brugler said on The Athletic’s NFL Show prior to the draft. “If he fell to the Chiefs at 31, that would be ridiculous. He fits exactly what they’re looking for.”
He does, indeed.
The Chiefs need a long-term answer at left tackle. That’s not due to a lack of trying. Brett Veach attempted to court future Hall of Famer Trent Williams. He traded a first-round pick for Orlando Brown Jr. and attempted to sign Brown to a long-term extension. He used top 100 picks on Lucas Niang, Wanya Morris and Kingsley Suamataia. He even signed former Pro Bowl left tackle DJ Humphries last season in an attempt to patch over the position.
None of it stuck. So, this offseason, the plan required even more aggressiveness. The first step in the Chiefs’ plan was the signing of former 49ers offensive tackle Jaylon Moore to a two-year, $30 million contract. Such a deal helped the Chiefs enter the season with a capable option at left tackle, regardless of how the draft unfolded. Still, the short-term deal also kept the door open for the Chiefs to take their long-term answer at the position if such a player became available late in the first round.
It was a smart plan, and it worked to perfection.
“If Simmons played the full season, I don’t think there is any question he would have been the top offensive lineman in the class,” renowned offensive line analyst Brandon Thorn said on The Athletic’s NFL Show. “I’m a huge Josh Simmons fan… Purely looking at the film this year, he had the best tackle film in the class.”
Simmons, of course, didn’t play the full 2024 season at Ohio State. He tore his patellar tendon midway through the...
