Chiefs News: Kelechi Osemele joins offensive guard competition
Chiefs news revolves around how the team brought in Kelechi Osemele to battle for a spot along their offensive line in 2020.
The Kansas City Chiefs obviously made this move due to right guard Laurent Duvernay-Tardif announcing on Friday evening that he would not be playing in 2020 due to COVID-19.
LDT was going to be the starter at right guard in 2020 – barring injury – and while it appeared the Chiefs had more than enough talent to fill the gap, they wanted to be safe.
On Saturday it was announced that the team had come to an agreement on a one-year deal with former 2012 second round pick Kelechi Osemele, who most Chiefs fans probably recognize because he spent 2016-2018 with the Raiders.
The #Chiefs are giving OL Kelechi Osemele a 1-year deal worth $2M max, source said. After a truncated year with the #Jets, he’s healthy and fills the void left by Laurent Duvernay-Tardif, who opted out.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) July 26, 2020
The Chiefs now have to fill both of their offensive guard positions and Osemele will provide competition for those spots. He’ll have Lucas Niang, Martinas Rankin, Mike Remmers, and Andrew Wylie as competition, but given his experience, he most definitely has a shot to start for the defending Super Bowl champs along the offensive line.
Here’s what’s trending in Chiefs news from around FanSided
- Laurent Duvernay-Tardif opting out of 2020 season [KC Kingdom]
- Kelechi Osemele signs one-year contract with Chiefs [Matt Conner, Arrowhead Addict]
- What Laurent Duvernay-Tardif’s decision means for right guard [KC Kingdom]
"While losing Duvernay-Tardif is big, it’s not the end of the world for this Chiefs team. They played without him for most of the 2018 season and made it all the way to the AFC title game. He missed two games in the 2019 regular season as well."
Check out what’s trending in Chiefs news from around the rest of the web
- Chiefs sign former All-Pro guard after LDT opts out [Jeff Kerr, CBS Sports]
- LDT, a doctor, becomes 1st NFL player to opt out [Terez Paylor, Yahoo Sports]
Osemele is a former All-Pro at left guard, so in all likelihood, if he wins one of the starting jobs, it’ll be at his preferred position of left guard. He adds a lot of potential to this offensive line, one that was starting to look really solid down the stretch, but got rocked in the Super Bowl by an incredibly tough 49ers defensive line.
The questions surrounding Osemele will be if he is healthy or not to be a mainstay on this offensive line. He had a pretty rough 2019 season, starting just three games with the Jets before he was released due to seeking out a shoulder surgery that was not approved by the team (see Paylor’s post above for more information on this).
Next. Refuting why Cowherd is wrong about the Chiefs. dark
If Kelechi Osemele is healthy, he could be a wonderful late offseason addition to the Kansas City Chiefs’ offensive line. If he’s not, then this move could become forgettable pretty quickly.
Here’s to hoping it’s the former.