With five runs to the Super Bowl in six seasons, a high selection in the NFL Draft is not a luxury Andy Reid gets to enjoy.
That is the price of success and few would have much sympathy with the coach who has Patrick Mahomes under center and Chris Jones on defense.
Unfortunately for Reid, his team has a glaring need after being ruthlessly exposed by the Philadelphia Eagles.
Mahomes spent much of the game scrambling as his offensive line couldn’t handle a four-man rush
Eagles defensive coordinator Vic Fangio didn’t dial up a single blitz — it just wasn’t necessary as their opponents crumbled.
NFL Draft expert Daniel Jeremiah thinks the Kansas City Chiefs will be selecting a left tackle in the first round after Reid was forced to shift guard Joe Thunney outside.
He has recently mocked Oregon star Josh Conerly Jr. to Kansas City.
“I mentioned it, teased it. Josh Conerly, the tackle, goes to the Kansas City Chiefs,” Jeremiah said on the Move the Sticks podcast.
“Everybody is going to focus on the one bad rep against Mike Green at the Senior Bowl where he got flat-backed. It wasn’t that bad the whole week.
“I’m not quite as high on him as some other people are. But if you’re desperate, and watching that Super Bowl would lead you to believe they’re pretty desperate to upgrade the left tackle position, Josh Conerly, to me, is a much better player than Kingsley Suamataia coming out of BYU, who they took last year. You’ve got to upgrade.”
As usual, teams will be scrambling to protect their quarterback’s blindside in free agency and the draft.
Jeremiah thinks Kansas City (No. 31) and the Baltimore Ravens (No. 27) are contenders to move up and ensure they get the right man.
“The one thing I would keep an eye on is if you have some teams with tackle needs, depending on what happens with the Ravens with Ronnie Stanley, they could be one that could potentially move up,” he said.
“The Chiefs, depending on where their comfort level is with their roster, left tackle could be an area they could address.
“So I try and look at maybe shallow pools and where there would be a need to move up. I would say keep an eye on the offensive tackle market and maybe that could drive some movement.”
Reid has traded up with great success while leading the Chiefs.
He did a deal with the Buffalo Bills to go and get Mahomes in 2017.
The move was slammed at the time but former Chiefs general manager John Dorsey stood firm and hit a home run.
Kansas City also traded with Buffalo to jump up and select Xavier Worthy in 2024.
The speedster ran the fastest-ever 40 at last year’s Combine and added a much-needed deep threat for Mahomes.
Unfortunately, it is hard to throw down the field with a 300lb-plus lineman in your face, hence Jeremiah’s prediction.
Suamataia was drafted in the second round but struggled to deal with pressure and was benched for Wanya Morris — a third-round pick in 2023 — in September.
After failing to address the problem in back-to-back Drafts, free agency is another possible avenue for the Chiefs.
But there is not much cap space to go around in Kansas City and filling a premium position does not come cheap.
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