By James S. McGregor
The 2021 NFL Draft finally happened – and for as long as it seemingly took for us to finally officially hear the words “with the 1st pick … the Jacksonville Jaguars select Trevor Lawrence,” the draft also seemingly ended in about two blinks. Many questions were finally answered, and as with every draft there were surprises. The Kansas City Chiefs and General Manager Brett Veach had their own share of questions to answer and positional needs to address – and perhaps a few surprises for some, but hopefully nothing that was terribly shocking to anyone in Chiefs Kingdom.
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One Chiefs pick that I personally was not a bit surprised by, that I had been in fact calling for leading up to the draft (not by name or the exact timing of selection, but simply the position), and that I am absolutely pleased to review – the selection of Creed Humphrey, center from Oklahoma, with the 63rd overall pick in the 2nd round. To start, I would like to create some foundational context by reviewing what we had at the position with Austin Reiter, and what we had been looking forward to, with Austin Blythe.
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Reiter and Blythe
Austin Reiter was 29 years old when he played his last snap as a Chief a few months ago in Super Bowl LV. The 6’3” and 300-pound veteran of six seasons in the NFL remains an unrestricted free agent, though I imagine he will land on his feet somewhere. Selected by the then Washington Redskins with the 222nd pick (7th round) of the 2015 draft, he never played a regular season snap for the now Washington Football Team. Signed by the Cleveland Browns in September of 2016, he managed only a total of 67 total regular season snaps between then and his release in September of 2018. For context, a starting offensive center normally accumulates around this number in a single game.
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It was in Kansas City where Reiter solidified himself as a starting center in the NFL. For the 2018-2020 regular seasons, he played 266, 1045 and 867 snaps respectively. Take a look below for more numbers on his 2019 and 2020 seasons. Bottom line is that he was overall a good pass blocker, an average and sometimes poor run blocker, a genuine starting-level NFL center, and a great scheme fit for the Reid/Mahomes offensive scheme.
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Austin Blythe — 29 years old next month, 6’3”, 298 pounds — was drafted by the Indianapolis Colts with the 248th pick (7th round) of the 2016 draft. He played limited snaps in his rookie year as a backup, then was waived the following May. He was then immediately picked up by the Los Angeles Rams, where he played limited snaps and had just one start in week 17 at left guard. His snap counts for 2018-2020 respectively are 1101, 996 and 1120.
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Check out his regular season stats for 2019-2020 below. You can see that overall his production was a bit of a roller coaster. I’m only showing the last two seasons, but if you also look at 2018 you will see he had good grades (76.4 overall, 73.9 pass blocking, 71.8 run blocking). If we look solely at 2020 grades, his overall grade is just about the same level with Reiter and his run blocking grade is significantly higher. Additionally, while his pass grade is far lower, we must also consider the quarterback that each player was blocking for. Patrick Mahomes has the ability to escape many sack attempts, while Jared Goff does not – this fact alone certainly helps inflate the pass blocking grade of any Chiefs offensive lineman when compared to those who block for less mobile quarterbacks.
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As much as many in Chiefs Kingdom were ready to move on from Reiter, he actually was generally a good scheme fit for what the Chiefs offense does. This was arguably, especially true when he had quality guards on both sides (which was almost never). And while he has never been particularly good for the run game, we can all unanimously agree that the most important aspect of what every Chiefs offensive lineman does is protect the MVP-winning franchise quarterback. I for one would have been curious to see what his performance and PFF grades would have looked like with Joe Thuney and Kyle Long (or a returning Laurent Duvernay-Tardif) at his sides. The same could probably be said for Blythe, and I am not necessarily saying that he would definitely be a downgrade at the position. Again, we have to consider the situation he was in with the Rams and realize that it was different from Reiter’s situation with the Chiefs.
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However, I definitely had some concerns about the prospect of going into the 2021 season with Blythe as the starting center; and as a result, I was highly interested in the possibility of the Chiefs drafting a center. This interest was intensified after the trade for Orlando Brown completely opened up the Chiefs’ draft options. It became clear that while the team still had some positional needs to address, none were nearly as glaring as what the left tackle position had been. They went into the draft with the freedom to take the best player available at a number of positions who would also be a good scheme fit. With that in mind, I assumed that center had to be on the board, and when Humphrey fell to the 63rd pick, I was ecstatic when the Chiefs snatched him up.
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The Numbers on Humphrey
Bottom line up front – this kid is good at playing football. Measuring in at 6’5” and 320 pounds (and turning 22 next month), he played his college football at Oklahoma and was named the Big 12 offensive lineman of the year for both 2019 and 2020. Let’s emphasize that real quick. I used the word “the” and “lineman” with an “a” – not “one of many,” he was THE offensive lineMAN of the year for both of the last two seasons in one of the Power 5 conferences. Shall I continue? Okay fine, I will.
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Before college, Humphrey was touted as a serious prospect, was listed as the 3rd best center in the country, and he received scholarship offers from 19 different schools, including many other Power 5 programs. Then in three seasons with the Sooners he played in 39 games and started 37, accumulating 2488 snaps, zero sacks allowed, only two quarterback hits (none in 2020), and 26 hurries. Zero, two and 26 – and this is over the course of three full seasons and 2488 snaps (1230 career pass blocking snaps)! Big 12 lineman of the year for two straight seasons? Sure, why not?!
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Team Fit
The immediate exciting news for Humphrey coming to Kansas City is that he will be reunited with former teammate Orlando Brown, whose senior year at Oklahoma was also Humphrey’s redshirt freshman year there (and who was also a 2-time Big 12 offensive lineman of the year). This means that the two did not actually play together on the line in a game, but it was reported by the Chiefs own Matt McMullen that “Humphrey clearly left an impact on Brown, nonetheless. As it turns out, Brown advocated for the Chiefs to reunite the two players in Kansas City.” We also already know that he is a great fit for Kansas City because he has already asked the most important question on Twitter for any player (and especially for lineman) transitioning here –-> “what are the best BBQ spots in KC?”
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Okay that’s all in good fun, but seriously, this kid should prove to be a fantastic fit for the Chiefs and for keeping our franchise QB clean, healthy and happy. He has the size, length, strength and athleticism to be a solid anchor in the middle of the Chiefs offensive line and to anchor the wall of protection around Mahomes. He also has the ability (and experience), even at his size, to execute pulls on run plays and certain protection schemes. During a press conference, Reid even mentioned his athleticism and specifically his unique ability to snap the ball with either hand.
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“Creed Humphrey from Oklahoma, a big kid that again is extremely smart. The thing you’ll notice with him is he can snap with either hand – naturally a left-handed snapper but he can do either one, it doesn’t really matter. He’s best probably with his left hand, that’s his natural hand, but he’s taught himself how to do it also right-handed. Great feet and work ethic, and then a big man. So, Creed will be a nice addition to the offensive line.”
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The Bottom Line
I fully expect to see Humphrey compete for the starting center position from day 1 in training camp in a few months – even with Reid’s history of not starting rookies. The kid is just that good, and Blythe can be a solid back-up. Honestly, I’m not fully certain Blythe will make the 53-man (or 55 if the league maintains that change) roster. There have been so many offensive line additions over the past two months, and the Chiefs will only keep nine or 10 on the 53. However, he also has played both guard spots and accumulated over 1700 NFL regular season snaps at either LG or RG, so he could theoretically be a swing IOL who could come in as a backup at three different positions. The Chiefs also have a long list of guards right now, so we’ll just have to wait and see how it ultimately plays out for Blythe.
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Either way, look for Humphrey to start at Center on Week 1 and make an immediate impact. Also, going back to a previous point when discussing Blythe and Reiter, he will likely have Thuney and Long/LDT at his sides – this should remove some of the burden of being a rookie and making rookie mistakes or not yet being fully caught up to NFL speed. I’ll wrap this up with a bold prediction – Humphrey is going to be the anchor of the Chiefs offensive line not only for years to come, but in 2021 for what will be suddenly the best offensive line in the game; and Patrick will win another MVP award, and the Chiefs will return once again to the Super Bowl in nine months.
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James S. McGregor — ArrowheadOne
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