One of the more interesting developments heading into the NFL Draft never actually developed, as the Kansas City Chiefs flirted with the Miami Dolphins but failed to pull the trigger on a trade that would have rid them of left tackle Branden Albert. The belief was that the Chiefs were going to draft a left tackle first overall, a move that would render Albert useless since he is unwilling to move to right tackle in 2013.
Kansas City did that very thing and drafted Eric Fisher first overall. But Albert wasn’t dealt, which provides the Chiefs with a little dilemma when it comes to what to do with Albert and the offensive line.
Unwilling to move to right tackle, Andy Reid said that if Albert isn’t traded and is on roster at the start of the season, he’ll be playing left tackle and it will be Fisher moving to the right side of the line.
"I’m gonna play the five best guys. You saw me do that with Shawn Andrews in Philadelphia. Shawn Andrews was as good an offensive lineman as I’ve ever seen at the college level and then he came to the pros and he was the same thing. He was one of the best I’ve ever coached, now, as far as being athletic and being a football player. Well, we had two veteran tackles who were two pretty stinking good players and so we put Shawn at guard and he ended up being a Pro Bowler there.”"
This is a pretty expected move, as Reid isn’t going to just bench Albert and make him even more unhappy than he already is. Putting both Albert and Fisher on the same offensive line only makes the Chiefs better than they were last season.
And speaking of needing to make sure the offensive line is in tip-top shape, let’s not forget that Andy Reid lost his job in Philly thanks to poor offensive line play, so it’s not something he’s going to tread lightly on.