Eric Fisher struggling at LT for Kansas City Chiefs
By Cory Buck
Eric Fisher may already be at the point in his career where he’s living off past accolades. After a brutal 2013 season spent at right tackle, Fisher earned the left tackle spot through sheer deduction after the Kansas City Chiefs parted ways with incumbent left tackle Branden Albert. Now it appears the team (and QB Alex Smith) will have to live or die with the results of Fisher protecting the line’s blind side.
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Adam Teicher at ESPN.com writes, “The Kansas City Chiefs continue to look for encouraging signs from their left tackle, Eric Fisher, and they continue to be disappointed. Fisher had another difficult game in Sunday night’s preseason loss to the Carolina Panthers.”
Fisher was torched by Greg Hardy and Wes Horton for big losses, per NFL.com, and he has looked more like a liability than a first overall pick.
Such is the risk for a team that pins such a huge, valuable draft pick on an offensive lineman. While plenty of tackles can provide proper value for a top ten pick (3 of the top 4 picks in 2013 were tackles, after all), many more are available later in the draft with way less risk.
Instead of fortifying their investment in the tackle position with more depth drafted in subsequent rounds, the Chiefs chose to roll the dice with Eric Fisher alone at left tackle. Now they’re hoping it’s a decision that won’t cost them their playoff aspirations in 2014.