KC Chiefs: Way too early list of offensive linemen to target in 2021
The KC Chiefs need to upgrade their offensive line and should target these players in free agency.
We all saw what happened to the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl LV and a big reason as to why that game was so ugly was because the offensive line was atrocious. To be fair, the line was banged up, so backups were starting in the biggest game of the season. And well — It showed.
Brett Veach needs to make the offensive line a top priority this offseason. The performance in the Super Bowl hopefully helped him realize that, but the Chiefs haven’t really been aggressive in improving the line in recent years, as they haven’t taken an o-lineman in the first round since 2013 when they grabbed Eric Fisher No. 1 overall.
Speaking of Fisher, his future with the team who drafted him with the first pick eight years is up in the air and Mitchell Schwartz’s future in KC is also in jeopardy. That could force the Chiefs to find two new starting tackles and that’s not a situation a team wants to be in when they’re paying their quarterback $500 million over the next decade.
Austin Reiter is a free agent and while he’s not a top-tier center, he’s arguably the best center on the free-agent market, making him worthy of re-signing. Unlike my previous lists of players to target at certain positions, free agents who played for KC in 2020 will be included here. Since we just discussed Reiter, why don’t we start with him?
Offensive Linemen for KC Chiefs to Target: Austin Reiter
As I mentioned above, Austin Reiter isn’t going to wow anyone at the center position, but he’s the best there is in a thin market, so unless the Chiefs decide to address the position in the draft (which is a strong possibility), bringing Reiter back makes the most sense.
Nate Taylor of The Athletic wrote an article predicting which Chiefs free agents would return to KC in 2021 (must have a subscription to read the entire article) and had Reiter re-signing. This wouldn’t be a move that would make the fans jump up and down, but for the most part, Reiter has been decent at center.
The Chiefs tried things out with Reiter in 2019 when he was virtually unknown and they ended up getting two years of him as their starting center. Maybe he’s not the center of the future, but the Chiefs could at least have him for one more year while they try to find that guy.