Chiefs: Kansas City signs star guard Joe Thuney to five-year deal
By Mark Powell
The Kansas City Chiefs have addressed some of their offensive line needs by adding Joe Thuney.
The interior of the Kansas City Chiefs offensive line just got a major addition in the form of former New England Patriots guard Joe Thuney.
Chiefs are giving former Pats’ OL Joe Thuney a five-year, $80 million deal, per source. https://t.co/C3avhTePBj
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) March 15, 2021
More on Thuney’s deal: The first 2 years are fully guaranteed at $32.5M. Year 3 is injury only but converts to full guarantee in year 2. So $48M practically guaranteed. https://t.co/1n1rDZk3on
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) March 15, 2021
Kansas City reportedly freed up over $20 million in cap space by restructuring the contracts of Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce and Frank Clark in the past few days.
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Thuney is as reliable as they come, as he hasn’t missed a game since the beginning of his pro career in 2016. Nonetheless, trade rumors surfaced around the star guard near the end of his time in New England.
The Chiefs’ Super Bowl hopes were dashed in part due to injuries upon their o-line, with the likes of Eric Fisher and Mitchell Schwartz out for the big game. Both were cut just last week, signaling a changing of the guard up front.
Thuney will immediately slide into the Chiefs starting offensive line. He had interest from within the Patriots own division, including the New York Jets. Whatever bidding war ensued, the Chiefs clearly won it. The first two years of the deal being fully guaranteed surely didn’t hurt matters.
Per Albert Breer, the deal is the largest long-term contract given to a guard in NFL history.
The Chiefs top priority has to be protecting Patrick Mahomes from this point forward. Brett Veach has done that, and then some.
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