The defining image of the Kansas City Chiefs' 2024 campaign wasn't the 15-2 record in the regular season, or another instantly iconic playoff win over the Buffalo Bills. It was Patrick Mahomes getting picked up off the Superdome turf, unable to get any momentum going in an ugly 40-22 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl LIX.
Kansas City's offensive line got exposed on the game's biggest stage, surrendering six sacks and countless more pressures as Mahomes spent most of the night running for his life. While there were certainly other needs to address this offseason, priority No. 1 for Brett Veach and Co. couldn't have been clearer: Give Mahomes the protection he needs to work his magic.
Yet on the eve of NFL free agency, the Chiefs somehow have even more questions about their front than they did a few weeks ago. Kansas City slapped the franchise tag on guard Trey Smith, but the team is dragging its feet on a contract extension that would keep him around for the long haul. And now the team has made the shocking decision to get rid of arguably its best lineman, in a trade that should have Mahomes asking some tough questions about the future of this offense.
Joe Thuney trade should have Patrick Mahomes asking tough questions about Chiefs offense
Per NFL Network's Ian Rapoport, the Chiefs are in agreement on a trade sending All-Pro guard Joe Thuney to the Chicago Bears.
Sources: The #Bears are expected to trade for #Chiefs All-Pro G Joe Thuney, as the Chicago continues to load up on the offensive line.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) March 5, 2025
KC gets a bit younger, plus frees up some money to use elsewhere. pic.twitter.com/P0GdAd0WtW
Thuney will be 33 in November, and is entering the final year of the five-year, $80 million contract he signed with Kansas City back in 2021. As the Chiefs face a bit of a cap crunch, you can understand why, in a vacuum at least, they might be looking to move on a year early in order to free up money elsewhere and get something in return rather than losing Thuney for only a comp pick next offseason.
But as long as Mahomes is healthy and in his prime, Kansas City should be trying to do whatever it can to put him in the best position to win the Super Bowl each and every year. And it's hard to argue that's the case without Thuney, who excelled at guard before more than holding his own at left tackle down the stretch of the 2024 season. He and Creed Humphrey were just about the only sure things the Chiefs had up front, and now one of those sure things is gone, without any known quantities to replace him: Jawaan Taylor, Kingsley Suamataia and Wanya Morris are the only tackles left on the roster.
All of which has to have Mahomes feeling a little anxious. Sure, Kansas City could use the cash to make a run at another lineman in free agency, but the market this year is shaping up to be pretty barren, while Suamataia is proof of just how volatile trying to fill needs via the back end of the first round can be. It sure seems like the Chiefs are taking Mahomes for granted a bit, counting on him to make lemonade out of whatever lemons they put in front of him. He's good enough to make that work to a point, but unless Veach is able to pull a rabbit out of his hat this spring, Kansas City will enter 2025 with a quarterback feeling justifiably left out to dry.