Who will start on the Chiefs’ Week 1 offensive line?

On Tuesday’s edition of the Arrowhead Pride Editors Show podcast, we discussed five of the greatest questions surrounding the Kansas City Chiefs entering 2021, including the greatest of them all:

Who will be the Week 1 starters on the Chiefs offensive line?

John Dixon: LT Orlando Brown Jr., LG Joe Thuney, C Creed Humphrey, RG Laurent Duvernay-Tardif and RT Mike Remmers

Now that I have written two different articles projecting the offensive line’s starters for 2021, my opinions on this subject are hardly unknown. But it’s also true that as time passes, my thoughts evolve.

I remain convinced that it’s Brown and Thuney on the left side; there’s hardly room for doubt about this. I think the rookie Humphrey will easily surpass Austin Blythe at center, who will then be able to back up every interior position. I still think Remmers will start the season on the right edge, but he’ll probably miss a few games with back issues — just as he did last season. That will be Lucas Niang’s chance to show us what he can do.

To me, the real wild card is sixth-round guard Trey Smith. I think he’ll be the starter in 2022, but will the Chiefs want to put him in front of Duvernay-Tardif (or Kyle Long) this year? It’s hard for me to imagine the Chiefs will want to start two rookies alongside each other on the line — but you never know. So for now, I’ll stick with Duvernay-Tardif as the starter at right guard; I like his chances to be ready more than I like Long’s.

Pete Sweeney: LT Orlando Brown Jr., LG Joe Thuney, C Creed Humphrey, RG Nick Allegretti and RT Mike Remmers

I agree with John on every position except right guard.

Brown and Joe Thuney are locked in on the left side, and I think the Chiefs already believe that Humphrey will be good enough to be the day-one starter at center. The right side gets a little trickier.

If there were live Las Vegas odds for the right guard position, I think Duvernay-Tardif and Long would be the co-favorites, with Allegretti and Wylie as underdogs and Trey Smith as a long-shot underdog. Despite that fact, I am admittedly going with a riskier pick in Allegretti here. The Chiefs liked Allegretti enough at left guard to stick with him from the second Mitch Schwartz went down in Week 5 to the conclusion of the season in the Super Bowl — and I think through those efforts, he earned a right to keep a starting position. This can go a lot of ways, I realize, but give me Allegretti for now.

At right tackle, like John, I think Remmers begins the year there. But I believe Lucas Niang will overtake that position by the season’s halfway point.

The other four questions discussed on the podcast: 1) Will Chris Jones spend a significant time on the outside? 2) Which skill-position player is next in production after Tyreek Hill, Travis Kelce and Clyde Edwards-Helaire? 3) Will Willie Gay Jr. push for time in 2021? 4) Will the Chiefs add Bashaud Breeland — or another veteran cornerback?

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