AFC West – K.C. Chiefs Head-to-Head: The Offensive Line – PART I

AFC West – K.C. Chiefs Head-to-Head:

The Offensive Line – PART I · by David Bell

Editor’s Note: the “AFC West – K.C. Chiefs Head-to-Head” series will be an on-going set of articles to be offered by different ArrowheadOne writers evaluating the Chiefs position groups vs. their AFC West adversaries. For instance, one writer may cover the Chiefs wide receivers vs. the AFC West’s different defensive backfields while another writer will focus on the Chiefs OLBs vs the AFC West’s Offensive Tackles. Today, David Bell offers his analysis of the Chiefs Offensive Line vs. the AFC West’s Defensive Lines. In “Part I” David will examine the Chiefs 2017 OL and in “Part II” he’ll project how they’ll fare against the other AFC West teams. Enjoy! ~Laddie Morse

The Kansas City Chiefs had an offense in 2017 that appeared to have polar moments. Unfortunately, when the scoring went south, the Chiefs skid was a costly one, although they still came out on top of the AFC West division. However, the downs are what we recall. Waxing and waning like a candle in the wind, the Chiefs had an awful slide, recovered and won out the season, arriving at their playoff berth with a division title (2nd sequential, never before achieved) only to fail in losing out by one point in the playoffs, their season ended abruptly — one and done again!

Part I: 2017 Chiefs OL in Review

Taking a look at the offensive line of 2017 and what appears to be the same players is not the situation that most fans are going to be comfortable with.  There is some hue-and-cry regarding LT Eric Fisher and the Left Guard starter. In 2017, according to Pro Football Focus (PFF), the Chiefs unit ranked 16th in the NFL smack in the middle of the league ranking. True, the squad suffered injuries and had key players out for periods of time, including LDT and Mitch Morse.

Taking Over at Left Guard

The left guard position though resolved for the season was a weak point at times but for the most part, Bryan Witzmann fulfilled the task and this was his first season as a starter–his performance was  below average but showed significant promise. See more on Witzmann below. For 2018? Here is my view of things: They have Witzmann, Ehinger and Erving. It appears let the best man win and earn the position in camp and pre-season will be the status for the role. Parker Ehinger, the starter as a rookie in 2016 was injured and could not regain his starting role in 2017. For 2018 the Left Guard position is wide open for a player to earn the starting role.

Brett Veach used his view of players to bring in Cam Erving (a 1 pick by Cleveland) in exchange for a draft pick but it appears that Reid set the starting five based on in-house players, familiarity with the offense and playbook hence Witzmann became the starter. it should be noted that this is Reid’s methodology — set the players in place in training camp as much as possible and formalize it in the early pre-season (Continuity and Cohesiveness). During the season Erving played both left and right guard swinging in and substituted  in when Laurent Duvernay-Tardif,(henceforth LD-T)  was injured, Erving did well(eye test).

Having Erving compete and play a single position, Left Guard, should be a boon to his ability to compete for a starting role. He was a first round pick but never advanced at Cleveland, who moved him around and apparently, due more to the weakness of the coaching staff, failed to earn a starting role. I don’t think that the Chiefs will fail in aiding Erving in polishing his play and giving him the opportunity to earn a starting job at Left Guard. It is my view that there is a very high possibility that Erving will earn the starting role for Left Guard in 2018. I expect this to occur for the former collegiate first round pick. Brett Veach has used  the method of finding high rated talent elsewhere and bring them to KC to give them the opportunity to fulfill expectations. This worked extremely well with Reggie Ragland. My hope is that in 2018, Cam Erving will follow suit and excel.

In regard to Bryan Witzmann, Seth Keyser had an in-depth analysis article on his play for 2017. The article is backed up by film study and Seth came away with a different view of things than that with which he began his research. Indeed Keyser’s methodology is solid and he observed that the ‘eye test’ was an invalid means of making a determination about the quality of play. His evaluation rated Witzmann below average but certainly not as bad as the ‘eye test’, which, by the way, I am using for Cam Erving in my view of what I saw in 2017.

Keyser’s ultimate evaluation led to the following observations:

1. The weaknesses were coach-able and resolvable
2. Witzmann’s strengths are innate and can’t be taught which bodes well for his development
3. His footwork and ability to move in space was good
4. His power blocking straight up was a weakness
5. His run blocking was above average overall
6. His pass Protection blocking was below average
7. When compared to the first year of LDT’s play, Keyser indicates Witzmann is ahead of the curve
8. Witzmann is intelligent, hardworking and plays tough, all factors which breed success

Given Items 1-8 above, though Keyser’s evaluation had Witzmann below average, was the result. His view is that he will continue to develop and improve in 2018, following the development history of LDT. Keyser indicated that if Witzmann’s play in 2018 were the floor, then in 2018 his play likely would not be a severe drag on the front five should he win the starting role in 2018.

Staying the Course With the Right Guard

There is not much to debate about right guard. Laurent Duvernay-Tardif  (LDT) has continued to improve each season of play and 2017 was no different. Laurent is a very good player so expect him to return and continue to be a steady hand. My view of LDT is based on multiple evaluation methods including that of Seth Keyser and PFF. I have no difficulty in stating that LDT has become a well above average NFL Guard.

The Bookends at Right and Left Tackle

At this point, the Chiefs have two solid players at the tackle positions so analysis isn’t overly necessary. If there is a question it’s who will be the swing tackle? Eric Fisher’s play and performance dipped a bit according to PFF in 2017. He was less effective than the prior year. I am not going to argue the point about his failure to live up to his round 1, first overall, pick status. He is still an above average Left Tackle. Opposite Fisher, the Chiefs had brought in Mitchell Schwartz in 2016, one of the best offensive tackles in the game. His play was not at a Pro Bowl selection level but still very good. Injuries to LDT and Center Mitch Morse, plus having another new starter at left guard next to Fisher affected the overall level of play for the 2017 Front Five.

Securing Offensive Center and a Back-up

Mitch Morse has shown signs of progressing to even higher achievement levels each season. He is gifted. 2017 would prove to be a stumbling block year — he suffered a severe concussion and was out multiple games. Morse returned to the lineup but then received a foot injury that eventually ended his season early and he landed on the IR. Zach Fulton stepped in during the absences of Morse. When you examine four of the five starters they are all playing at an above average level or better. If I use 1) Below Average, 2) Middle of road and 3) Solid, the Chiefs have four starters in the “Solid” category. If I add in Zach Fulton, also a former starter at Left Guard, who became a substitute and back-up center to Mitch Morse, you can see how the offense was affected by injury. Fulton did well in substitution for Morse but his inability to block in space and get to the second level is a reduction in effectiveness for the offense.  It did not result in Fulton’s departure in Free Agency in 2018. This exposes a problem area for Brett Veach to resolve — who will be the backup center? Otherwise it appears that the depth players are at least experienced and familiar with the KC playbook.

Among the offensive linemen, Zach Fulton was not tendered a contract and departed for Texas in Free Agency. The same players are expected to be on the roster in 2018 otherwise but, there could be surprises here. I wonder as well whether Veach and the scouting crew have their eye on an offensive guard. For the back up center? The Chiefs may be looking at Jordan Devey to assume the role. There are other players on the roster that I don’t know enough about to make a projection.

Surprise: An In-Season Offensive Line Adjustment

Before the start of the 2017 season, it was expected that the Front Five OL for the Chiefs would play well enough to move up in appraisals of their performance but, the weak link at left guard and injuries prohibited such success. This does not mean that the Chief’s Front Five did not succeed in 2017 and we can use the success of both the passing game and running game from the year as evidence that this is true — both high success in terms of result.

As you can may well have observed, there should be anticipation that the offensive line play will improve in 2018 but I want to observe something that happened in 2017: the playbook blocking scheme was simplified by Matt Nagy (Former Offensive Coordinator and now Chicago Bear’s Head Coach) and Andy Heck (Offensive Line Coach). I have long been critical of the complications of Andy Reid’s playbook. His highly complex plans lead to the Chiefs being one of the highest, if not the highest, penalized offensive outfits it the NFL. The execution of the plays ebbs and rises to high tide but the latter relies on perfect execution of all the moving parts and when that does not occur, the game-flow of the offense becomes difficult to achieve or maintain. As you know, I am also not an advocate of Andy Reid being the play-caller in the first place.

When Matt Nagy took over play calling he made the alteration to which I refer, the Chiefs offense took off in the next-to-last game of their losing skid and it improved the play of all five men on the offensive line. What was this change? It was a change to the blocking scheme. Suddenly, the run game with Kareem Hunt re-emerged and the aerial game adjusted and was successful again as well. There was a key player in this mix to which this was most beneficial, Zach Fulton, with Mitch Morse out with injury only blocked straight up or was not asked to block more than one position to his left or right. The guards still pulled but their blocks otherwise required less movement as well since Fulton was handling the positions 1-0-2 blocking, most of the time.

Eric Bieniemy is now the Offensive Coordinator. Let’s hope the lesson was learned by Reid from what occurred when this simplification occurred and it carries forward to 2018. I fear with Nagy’s departure and Bieniemy assuming the role of Offensive Coordinator, we will see Reid taking over the play-calling again.

What Are the 2018 OL Caveats?

Brett Veach may well have “found” some Free Agents that he was looking at to get under contract but, we don’t know what the Veach and Company’s draft board looks like now or will look like as the draft begins. Another thought is that Veach may fill one of the primary needs such as FS, NT or CB before the draft begins which would shift the players on the draft board or possibly re-align the need ranking. It’s all a crap-shoot anyway. Also, there are roster players who may or may not fit. I mentioned Devey for backup center. Andrew Wylie is on the roster, a UDFA with no experience from Eastern Michigan, which is familiar ground for Chiefs recruiting. Kaleb Johnson, a player out of Rutgers and Dillon Gordon, from LSU, with 2 years experience, are both on the roster.

Look for Part II: “K.C. Chiefs Head-to-Head: The Offensive Line vs. AFC West Defensive Fronts” in the future here on ArrowheadOne.

– David Bell

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