The Kansas City Chiefs lost Super Bowl LV, now what?

What’s Next for KC Chiefs at Offensive Line

Behind all of the officiating complaints in the first half, the Chiefs offensive line was really the true story of the game. The o-line was depleted and was tasked with trying to block the best front seven in football. They were outmatched and, frankly, looked atrocious.

The worst part about this is that things don’t really have a rosier outlook at all next season for the Chiefs offensive line. Sure, they will presumably get a former starting guard and a third-round rookie tackle back from COVID opt-outs, but Laurent Duvernay-Tardif is a minuscule upgrade at best and Lucas Niang, again, is a third-round rookie.

Maybe that’s a slightly negative outlook on the returning players but, even if their return is a good boost to the offensive line, it will be more than offset by Mitchell Schwartz and Eric Fisher’s injuries. Fisher could be out for all of 2021 and the nagging back problems for Schwartz could also mean that he is done playing at his former level and be in and out of the lineup with back problems for the foreseeable future.

All in all, this means that the Chiefs HAVE to address the o-line in round one and might even need to double up in the top 100. But the more pressing question (the answer to which will be saved for a different article) — Can the Chiefs afford to keep both Fisher and Schwartz next season at a combined cap hit of around $25.2 million knowing that one probably won’t play and the other is a giant question mark?