Chiefs Interior Trenches Get Big Boost in the Draft

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It's the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. Job number one, in this organization is always to protect PM 15.

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The Chiefs did that in this draft, but how does it all fit in the room today on Locked-on Chiefs WORK_OF_ART?

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From the land of the three and the home of the Chiefs ORG, this is the Locked-on Chiefs WORK_OF_ART podcast.

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Welcome back, everybody. We're brought to today by Game Time ORG. You can download that app right now. Create an account and use our code Locked on NFL, and you're going to get $20 off of your first purchase. At Game Time ORG, terms do apply.Great show for you here. We're always talking about building. It's going to get $20 off at your first purchase at game time. Terms do apply. Great show for you here. We're always talking about building. It's going to be about the offensive line group and how they're going to go about protecting one Patrick LeVon Mahomes PERSON. This is Chris Clark from Chief's Corner. I'm Ryan Tracy from RGR Football, NFL 33, and Rogue Analytics ORG.You can find us on all of those platforms. You can get more from us here on the text line at 816, 357, 8781. And you can also get this show everywhere, whether it's here on YouTube ORG, where I would ask you please, like this video, sub to the channel and hit that bell so you get notifications. But jump on the audio podcast platforms as well, including Spotify, Apple ORG Podcasts, and all the free platforms, because we're here five days a week plus for you.And you locals, we love you and we know you guys know that. So that said, how does this O-Line ORG room shake out? What does it look like at the end of the day? Is there enough volume in it right now? That's going to be coming up later in the show. CJ Hanson's role as kind of the interior, Andrew Wiley PERSON, as I'm going to call him. Plus, we're going to start right now with the newest guy that can be in a familiar role. Hunter Norszad is possibly going to be a guy that can play all three interior positions.I think Hansen can as well, but that's all right. I don't think it's as natural for him. Norzat PERSON is a snapper. We looked at that at rookie camp. Can he be the next Nick Allegretti PERSON? I'm betting that he can.Is there something that gives you pause about that?

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No, I think that's exactly what they drafted him for. And I think that's exactly the plan for him is to be Nick Allegretti PERSON. And potentially be a starter in 2025. Maybe be a starter early in 2024, depending on how injuries shake out with Joe Tooney PERSON. So we'll see. But I do think that this was a smart draft pick by Kansas City ORG.I think that they absolutely had to add to the interior of the offensive line. And while I wasn't expecting them to add two players, you know, you look back at the seventh round pick and we'll talk about him in a couple minutes. But, you know, adding that kind of depth is something that they absolutely need to do because they were very barren when you look at their offensive line before the draft.

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Yeah, and honestly, they're not overly stocked at this point as well. We're going to talk about what the room overall looks like coming up here a little bit later, but particularly at the interior. I think Norset PERSON, and I'm not surprised that he snapped all rookie camp. I think you're going to see that in OTAs. And I think they really have to decide and develop who can be that guy, should Creed Humphreyhave to miss a game? Who can snap the ball consistently? I don't think it's Trey PERSON. I think Joe Tuni PERSON could probably pull it off, but I don't know that we're expecting him back. We're going to see when we get an actual timeline on Joe Tune. So you've got to take him out. I think C.J. Hanson could do it, like I said, but I'm not know that we're expecting him back. We're going to see when we get an actual timeline on Joe Tunis PERSON.You've got to take him out. I think C.J. Hanson PERSON could do it, like I said, but I'm not betting on it. So it really comes down to, can Mike Calliando PERSON snap for you, or is this Hunter Norse's PERSON job to be the backup center? I think that's probably where it lands.

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I do think it's his job, and I think it becomes a bigger problem. Obviously, if you get into a game situation and something happens to Humphrey and Norsad PERSON's already playing, then you get in a situation where you're probably having to move multiple guys around and it is what it is at that point. But I do think that, you know, Norsat PERSON can step in and do this job. I think that he's well equipped to be center. The interesting thing is it's going to be coming from a different hand because Norsad PERSON is rightyand Crete Huffrey PERSON is a lefty, which is not very normal at the center position. It's not going to be a big deal. I don't think it's going to make that big of a difference, but it is something that will be different.

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Yeah, and it always takes a little bit of adjustment to the man, whether he's righty or lefty, but you're right. It's almost like a return. I think Patrick PERSON's previous centers have all been righties, so that's a little bit of a change.

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That's okay. I think jumbling that particular offensive all been righties. So that's a little bit of a change. That's okay. I think jumbling that particular offensive line group is going to be a challenge.

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You got to see, again, without knowing Tunis PERSON timeline, you got to see, is somebody going to have to be in there? Are they going to have to move guys around to be at left guard to start the season? That's going to be a telltale. Last we heard, it was a July timeline. If that's the case and say C.G.Hanson has to go in there. Say Juan Yeh, Morris has to go into guard. I would think he would be the more likely candidate over Kingsley-Sueh PERSON, we expect to be in a battle for that left tackle spot. That leaves Norzat as the guy that would be maybe right into the Nick PERSON role. And personally, I'm okay with saying that.But let's be real, Nick Allegretti PERSON had to grow into his role. He had a unique talent for it. And it isn't something that you can just walk into and be set to go from day one, especially knowing that there's already an injury possibly ahead of you on the interior three. I think we just have to be cautious about jumping to the conclusion right

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away. Well, that's fair. I think it's a little different just because I don't see them really having somebody else on the roster right now. If it's not going to be nor Zad PERSON, then who's it going to be? Because I don't think you can figure that Caliando PERSON can step into that type of role. And I don't think that you really would feel good about having Hansen be that guy either because he's coming from a completely different level of competition, even taking a step away from, you know, going from just regular college football to NFL ORG football. So I do think that there's going to be, there's probably going to be some learning curves.And I, and I expect that. But I do think that you're in a situation where you at least have to figure that that's going to be the guy. Now the key, and we won't know this for a couple of months, but the bigger key is when we start getting into training camp and seeing what they do when they start mixing the line in training camp, because they do that every year. And it's always something that I find interesting to see when they go in there and they throw a alignment in there that isn't normally part of the starters. And it's becausethey're preparing for situations just like this. So it'll be curious to see who comes on the field, who leaves, and what position it is. And Norzat has played four of the five positions in college. So he technically could be even a right tackle at times. I don't think you'd ever want him to be out there if you could help it, but it gives you extreme depth, especially when you're starting to look at having to limithow many alignment you can have on game day. Yeah, that's for sure.

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And how many are going to make, obviously, the 53-man roster. That's only part of the scenario, though, because we have to look at the guard situation, too. C.J. Hansen PERSON got drafted here, a guy that I was stomping the table for, and I'm going to explain to you guys why. Coming up next, here on the Lockdown Podcast Network ORG. This next segment is brought to us by our sponsor, BetterHelp ORG.

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Sometimes we all need an opportunity to get something off our chest, big or small. Certain things can really start to get to you. It's important to let that out, especially to someone who's unbiased on your life. So today I want to say how I really feel about something.You might even be thinking about the same thing this week. There's lots of different things that you focus on week to week, whether it's your day job, whether it's family time, all these different things can really cause stress and can cause you to need to have somebody to talk to. Better help can really help you with that. Therapy can be different for everyone. Most of us have bigger problems than our favorite sports team, and it's important to get things off your chest every once in a while. If you're thinking of starting therapy, give BetterHelp ORG a try.It's entirely online, designed to be flexible and suited to your schedule. Visit BetterHelp.com slash locked on to get 10% off your first month. That's BetterHelp.com slash locked on. Betterhelp, H-E-L-P.com slash locked on. If you want everything you can get out of it,

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is the Lockdown Sports Today feed here on the YouTube platform as well as Amazon Firing ORG, always available to you no matter what. A lot of football, a lot of baseball and hockey right now as well. So get in there and check it out. What I want to check out is competition. And I'm glad that, yes, you had to get the tackle. Certainly was high, high priority.But I'm glad that they ended up coming back and getting three offensive linemen into this group and kind of refresh the pipeline. With the departure of Nick Gallagherty PERSON, as we talked about before, he's kind of like the last survivor, in my opinion, of what they had in what was a young group that's kind of gone through the progression, through the Super Bowl years here. And you needed to get a fresh influx of talent and youth. And so I love that combination. The only holdover on the interior is Mike Calliando with Norzat PERSON.And my guy, C.J. Hanson, who is probably one of the smoothest drill participants at the combine at any offensive line position this year. And I think that's the thing that he should hang his hat on.

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Well, and he's going to be going up against an interesting level of competition. And I cannot wait until we get to training camp to find out how he's dealing with that level of competition. Because even in OTAs, it doesn't matter if he's running second string going up against whoever he goes up against the defensive tackle. It's not really hitting until you get into the one-on-ones and you get into live drills seven-on-seven or the passing drills or the 10-10 scenarios, all those different types of things.You can get into those and then you really find out what you have with your offensive linemen and your defensive linemen. And that's going to be a lot of fun to watch this year. Yeah, I agree. He's,

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like you mentioned earlier, going to be going through quite a jump in competition. This is a guy that played the likes of Dartmouth and Yale ORG and those kind of programs. That's not the easiest transition to make. But as I hit to that, he's got a couple of things going for him. He's got a great thick build, as does Norzad PERSON. Norzad PERSON's lower half is really bit to be a, built to be a people mover. Hanson's built well, but reminds me of Andrew Wiley PERSON because he's thick through the chestand torso, but his feet are really quick. He's a little bit skinnier in terms of like the calf structure, but has good bubble and hamstrings that can get the job done. But he's a guy that I think is more of a throwback towards what the chiefs had done before the shift to power with, in particular, Trace Smith PERSON. So I think he's more of a tuny type and could do better at left than he could at right.And I think that's most likely where he lands. Interesting.

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So do you think he's more like LDT and the fact that he's going to need a year or two to acclimate to the game?

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I think that's more than likely. But I will say this too. I think that's more than likely. But I will say this too. Comments that I got from the Combine EVENT were that he was more than comfortable and more than competent in position drills and everything else that he could be doing to measure up to guys from D1, you know, national champion programs.So I won't put it past him if Joe Tuny's not ready to go in camp or has to be on a restricted snap count for practice or whatever, that he doesn't get probably first and probably lasting snaps with the ones in at guard. Again, the only scenario that I would think might thwart that is if you feel like one of the left tackle prospects, either one in or Kingsesuamati PERSON can go inside and play guard for you. That might be better. I like the concept of CJ PRODUCT because I do think it keeps your screen game, I think at its optimal.And I do think that it helps you get out in space a little bit better because he is as nimble, in my opinion, especially in full drills and in the near area, eight yards and in, as Joe Tooney PERSON is. So I like the fit there. It'll be interesting to see what they're able to do with Hansen

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and how they decide that they want to implement him into this passing team or this passing offensive line. I do think it's intriguing to know he, I mean, it's obvious he's already going to probably be playing, playing guard. He's going to be probably not the interior guy they can play all three of thosepositions i don't see him snapping i agree with you there uh especially your one if they can help it obviously emergencies or emergencies that's a whole different scenario but you look at what this means for the offensive line as a whole and as we got into going into this draft we talked about them getting interior guys and that was very important that they find somebody in the interior. Obviously, we talked about Norzat PERSON already. Getting a second one gives you the ability to maybe have Hansing sit the entire season.Kansas City has had multiple times where they've gone eight offensive linemen, nine offensive linemen, and had a guy that didn't play pretty much the entire season. May not have even really dressed the entire season. And LDT did that for several years. I'm not saying that he's going to be the same type of scenario, but it wouldn't shock me if that's the kind of direction that they go with it.Because when you start looking at the offensive line in general, you're only going to be able to keep maybe nine. And that's going to be determined how many tackles are you going to keep? How many interior offensive line players are you going to keep? All of that becomes a big deal when you start getting down to September. And is it possible that maybe they look at this and they say,okay, well, we don't feel like we're where we want to be on the interior and they bring in somebody else that's, you know, is on another team right now. They're going to have depth at other positions that they could possibly look at trading for somebody to step in if they don't feel like either of these guys is going to be ready to actually give them the production that they feel like they might need the season. Yeah. And we're going to take a look at the entire O feel like they might need the season. Yeah.

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And we're going to take a look at the entire O-Line group, how it could shake out. What's most likely coming up next here on the Lockdown Podcast Network ORG. If there's one game that I'm excited about right now, it is the Avalanche versus the Dallas stars. I'm into the hockey playoffs, and I know that a lot of you are too. And it doesn't matter whether it's hockeyor you're thinking major league baseball now that it's up and running. There's the NBA ORG playoffs. You can get the experience that you're looking for, whether you want to be like me and sit behind the goal or you want to be court side and see all the action from the three point line. You can get it all at game time, and they make it super easy, especiallyright now for sports, concerts, theater, comedy, anything you're looking for, you can get up to 60% off on last minute deals. They're flash deals that have exclusive in-app bonuses there that get you the seats ahead of the game or the event. Plus, you can get special pricing specific to where in the arena you are. All in pricing is what it's about. And it gives you everything up front. No hidden fees, no nothing.You get a panoramic view of the seat you're going to be in. And that's my favorite feature about it. It also has the lowest price guarantee where game time will credit you 110% of the difference should you find it better somewhere else. So get in the action, take the guesswork out of getting hockey tickets, basketball tickets, whatever you're looking for. Download the game time app right now.Use the code locked on NFL and you're going to get $20 off of your first purchase of those last minute tickets. Terms do apply, but create the account. Get in there. Use the code L-O-C-E-D-O-N-F-L, and you're going to get that 20 bucks off. It's easy and super, super simple.Last-minute deals lowest prices, and it's guaranteed. The other thing that's guaranteed is 24-7 coverage of everything that you want to know about in the sports world over on Locked On Sports Today here on the YouTube platform as well as Amazon Fire TV. Go search it up and get subscribed. I am subscribed to enjoying O-Line play. That is a bottom line for me. And this is obviously a big transition year. The safety blankets. Andy PERSON and Andy, Reed and Heck PERSON, are a lot about trust. We see that kind of all over the place. And I think having so much turnover right now, when you take a look at, say, the top 10, the guys that are in the battles for the position groups, the three rookies that we already talked about arein there. Obviously, left tackle. There's a backup role at center and a backup role at guard. The only two guys that are coming back are Mike Calliando PERSON, who played more left than he did right, but I think position change, a flip to right is probably what I would like to see more. And Lucas Nying PERSON, who we don't talk about enough. There are some interesting prospects, again, younger ones behind him. You have Godric.Chew is like, was this year two or three from the international program? Two. Where he's going to have a chance. Okay, so up and coming. Two players on this roster now that are out of the international designation program. You have Nick Torres PERSON, another guard.Medeier PERSON, interesting guy. I'm not sure that he can beat out Hanson and clearly Calyendo PERSON. But for me, of that offensive line group, the guy that really intrigues me is Ethan Driscoll PERSON, that I think has some upside to him. But that's a position group at tackle that is pretty well stacked at this point. If you include Driscoll PERSON, he would be the fifthguy. He's six foot eight. I mean, he's enormous, over 320 pounds. There's a lot that would go into him making this roster. I don't expect that. I do expect him to be a practice squad player, but one with upside. But that still leaves four viable tackles. And I think when we start about setting the room, we got to look at the tackles first because a lot of the inside is kind of squared away, at least for the most part. What do you see happening this year at the tackle spot in terms of not only the battles, but what is the total camp?

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Well, and I actually just wrote an article about this on Chief's Corner on offense today. And well, for Wednesday, and then on Friday I'll have the defense and I'll talk about special teams on Sunday. But looking at the offensive line, I think that they keep nine. I think that's generally where they end up is nine or ten. I don't know that they are going to be able to get to ten this year. It's going to be a question of how many of they want to keep on defense.It's always one of those things where you've got to figure out who you're going to keep and where. And your special teams guys become very important when you start getting down to the lower end. To me, it's a matter of, you know, who your top three guys are in Taylor and Kingsley and Juan Nguer Morris PERSON. Is the A guarantee on the roster? I would think so at this point. But without seeing him in training camp, it's a question of, does he get beat out by a guy like Chu, or does he get beat out by a guy like Driscoll PERSON? I wouldn't imagine that's going to be the case, but I still think they end up keeping fourtackles. And if they do that, then you're keeping four or five guards and centers. And, you know, obviously you got three with Humphrey, Tuny, and Smith PERSON. The question is, who are going to be the other two? And another question that you could even pause it into that same thought process is Tuny is supposed to be available by July.What happens if it's not July and it's September or October or November? Yeah. because it's possible they could end up putting them on the pup. And then you're talking about one of these guys that they just drafted probably starting if they don't make a trade to go get somebody else to step in. The nice thing is they have the options right now because they have the cap space to be able to do some things. And when we talk about and I'll just throw this out there because we already know what we're talking about for tomorrow's show, we're going to talk about Haddon ORG and then we're going to talk about the corners.That's a position where they have a lot of talent and you have to start wondering how many are they going to keep for one and two, is it enough talent to maybe consider trading one of those corners to get another position if you need depth. Yeah, that could very well be it.

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I would posit a slightly different theory that if Driscoll PERSON or or somebody else that you feel

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you can get to the practice squad is going to be your insurance,

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and you feel comfortable with that as a call-up later in the season, should you need it, I wonder if they can't go into the season with only three tackles on the 53, the three young guys, including Taylor PERSON. It is possible, but that brings me to the next question, too. If there's one position you would add in free agency, it might be an experienced veteran tackle. I don't think you need it on the inside, but to me, it might be the tackle. Do you still think that's a need?

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I don't right now, but you're not really going to know until you actually get the pads on and see what these guys can do because that's really where you're going to find out, are they going to be capable this year? Are you feeling like they can be capable? Don't get me wrong. Andy Reed and Andy Heck PERSON are going to be able to see what they're seeing in OTAs and they're going to get an idea of what they need to work on with these guys and their technique over the next couple of months to try to see if they can get them into startingand being ready to be Patrick PERSON's blindside guy. But right now, I mean, they still have the ability to go out and sign a guy like Donald and Smith PERSON. So maybe you do that and he's your fourth tackle. And I'm just throwing Smith PERSON out there as an example. And you end up keeping four tackles and Nying's gone and you have a Driscoll as your fifth tackle that's on the practice squad. You're going to have a tackle on the practice squad.Who it's going to be is going to be a question.

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But you're going to have somebody on the practice squad.

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And when it comes to the interior, I don't know. I almost argue that maybe they need somebody on the interior more than they need somebody on the exterior. Because I feel like you know who your right tackle is going to be you know I feel like they at least have a good idea that one of those two guys is going to be your left tackle I don't know that they feel comfortable about tuning being able to go and one of those guys be able to step in and start yeah and that's a fair point.

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And if they don't, then yes, they have to shore that up. I'm going to do a quick search here about free agents that might be available because off the top of my head, I can't name a single interior guide that I'd go out and sign today. And I think that is probably going to be what the crux of the problem is. Yeah, no, and I get that.

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And that's definitely possible that there's nobody out there. But I think that maybe you have to look at the trade. Yeah, maybe that's what you have to look at.

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Is that viable?

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It's going to come down to what you see in OTAs EVENT to give you an idea of what you're going to see in camp.

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They are going to put the best five on the field.

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I know that for a certainty.

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But it brings me to the point that I feel like the most likely scenario is the best five play,

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and that includes both of Kingsley-Lu-Montziia and Juania Morris PERSON.

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We're going to find out what they get to as we get ready to see them coming up.

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This hasn't been announced yet. It's not updated on the list I'm looking at anyway. Andrews Pete, I think, is going to the Raiders ORG. But I believe Dalton Reisner PERSON is still out there. Connor Williams PERSON is still out there. Mark Glowenkowski PERSON is still out therePhil Haynes PERSON, Lucas Patrick those are some of the guards, Scott Cuisenberry those are a couple of the guards that are still out there. I'm not saying that that's necessarily the direction you want to go, but there are some players out there that you could potentially consider Gabe Jackson PERSON's still out there.I know he's older. But can he get you by for a couple of games? That's really what you're looking for. And I feel like he would be stepping into a pretty good position. Although you'd probably want, it'd be better if it was right guard than it would be left guard because I think you'd really rather have somebody between Humphrey PERSON and Taylor versus having to get a new guy in between either a rookieor your second year left tackle in Humphrey PERSON.

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Yeah, but it's going to be about the availability, right?

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We'll see what they can get done. It's not over yet, folks.

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We will be getting more information on as we get to OTAs. But before that, the biggest loss of this offseason has been Ligerius Sneed PERSON. What do they do in the cornerback room in particular? And the defensive backfield as a whole, that's coming up tomorrow. So don't miss it. Make sure you like sub and hit the bell here on YouTube and you subscribe on the audio platforms, Spotify, Apple ORG Podcasts, wherever you like to get your shows. And hit that text line 816, 357, 8781. We'll be back with you tomorrow.We're going to go over what that DB room looks like in its entirety and what we can expect in OTAs EVENT. Thanks for listening to us today. We'll talk to you tomorrow.

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