One of the least respected and talked-about positions in sports is the offensive line. The big guys up front never seem to get the love they deserve, despite the grueling work they do, often without complaint. As far as offensive tackles go, the Chiefs have featured some good ones in their history, and one tragic loss.
Let's get into the sixth edition of KC Kingdom's ongoing offseason series, "Chiefs All-Time Mount Rushmore," finally giving some props to the big fellas who made the whole thing go.
Jim Tyrer (1961-73)
Jim Tyrer's post-football life is about as tragic as it gets. To read more on how his life and his family's lives were affected by CTE, go to this link for the story by The Journal. But as far as football goes, Tyrer was simply one of the best offensive tackles of all time and firmly deserves a spot on the Chiefs Mount Rushmore. Tyrer was another early football era player, drafted by the Dallas Texans 22nd overall in the 1961 AFL Draft. At 6'6", 280 lbs, Tyrer was a towering presence on the field and played with such force and tenacity.
Over his 13-year career with the then Dallas Texans, and now Chiefs, Tyrer made nine Pro-Bowls, and six straight first-team All-Pros from 1965-70. He protected the blindside of Hall of Fame quarterback Len Dawson about as well as anybody ever could and won both the AFL Championship in '62 and the Chiefs' first ever Super Bowl in '69.
Tyrer failed to miss a single game over the course of his first 12 years with the Chiefs and was an absolute ironman over his career. He holds the franchise record for most games played by an offensive tackle at 180. While Tyrer's life ended shortly after retiring from the game of football, his legacy lives on in Chiefs Kingdom.
John Alt (1984-96)
Another longtime Chiefs left tackle to make this list is the great John Alt. Selected in the first round of the 1984 draft by Kansas City, Alt dealt with a multitude of nagging injuries early in his career, finally being able to stay on the field consistently during the early '90s, where he began getting the recognition he deserved. He was one of the Chiefs players that head coach Marty Schottenheimer respected the most for his consistency and drive toward fueling a heavy-running attack.
Alt made second-team All-Pro in 1990 and back-to-back Pro-Bowls in 1992-93. While he certainly wasn't an elite athlete, Alt was strong as an ox at 6'8" and 300 lbs, and could drive back just about any defensive linemen across from him. He remains well remembered and highly endeared by Chief fans even today.
Willie Roaf (2002-05)
Roaf spent most of his career putting together a Hall of Fame resume with the New Orleans Saints, accruing seven straight Pro-Bowl selections and two first-team All-Pros. It's a shame he played in all but three playoff games in his career, as his talent and technical skills rivaled anybody in the NFL at the time. After nine years as a Saint, he was traded to the Kansas City Chiefs in exchange for the eighth overall pick in the 2002 draft.
His impact on the Chiefs was immediate and elite as he, along with the rest of a strong KC o-line, fueled one of the best run games in NFL history, as both Priest Holmes and Larry Johnson had multiple seasons of 2,000-plus yards from scrimmage. Kansas City's best season with Roaf came in 2003 when they went 13-3 under head coach Dick Vermeil and made the first playoff berth since 1997.
He played just four years as a Chiefs before retiring, but made two first-team All-Pros and a pair of second-teams as well. Not to mention four Pro-Bowls capping a Hall of Fame career, elected in 2012. In his short time with the Chiefs, Roaf was great enough to comfortably make this list.
Mitchell Schwartz (2016-20)
To cap off this list is another player whose original squad was not in Kansas City, but rather the Cleveland Browns for four years. Mitchell Schwartz was by no means a top-end talent, but his durability and robotic consistency made it so he grew to a very good right tackle. He blocked for Alex Smith in his first couple of seasons with KC, and then had the tall task of protecting the great Patrick Mahomes from 2018-2020, before his retirement.
His last year was cut short due to a back injury, which spurred the end of his football career. But not before four straight seasons of making an All-Pro team (one first team and three seconds). Perhaps he gets a bump due to the time the Chiefs spent in the playoffs, ultimately winning the team's first Super Bowl in 50 years in 2019.
But it's well-deserved, as he, in my opinion, might have played on the right side during his time in KC, but was a better player than Eric Fisher at left tackle, who just missed this list, and played a big part in vaulting the Chiefs to rarely-seen success early in the Mahomes era.
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