The Kansas City Chiefs are walking into the 2025 season as the hunter instead of the hunted for the first time in at least three seasons. After winning back-to-back Super Bowls, the Chiefs had a chance to make history in Super Bowl 59. However, the Philadelphia Eagles bulldozed their way to victory to the tune of 40-22.
Over the offseason, Kansas City had a couple of areas to address, with the offensive line perhaps their biggest question mark. However, their moves to improve Patrick Mahomes’ protection aren’t sitting well with everyone.
Did the Kansas City Chiefs Do Enough to Protect QB Patrick Mahomes?
For the season as a whole, the Chiefs’ offensive line ranked 12th on PFSN’s OL+ metric. However, their performance in the second half of the year was markedly worse, as it was one of the worst marks in the league.
Ranking 30th over the last four weeks of the year, their offensive line issues became crystal clear in the Super Bowl against the Eagles, as Kansas City failed to score a single point in the first half of that game.
However, in his breakdown of each team’s moves in the offseason, ESPN’s Seth Walder made it clear that he wasn’t a huge fan of the Chiefs’ moves to improve QB Patrick Mahomes’ protection.
Their biggest loss was trading Joe Thuney to the Chicago Bears. In his place, they gave Trey Smith, who is six years younger, the franchise tag. He added that Ronnie Stanley not hitting the free agent market cost Kansas City severely.
Instead, they went ahead and added Jaylon Moore on a two-year deal worth $30 million. Walder wasn’t a fan of the move for two main reasons. The first was his role as a backup on the San Francisco 49ers roster, albeit to Trent Williams.
But secondly, “Moore has a career 83% pass block win rate at tackle and was at 81% last season, which would have ranked third worst at the position had he qualified.” However, he has some optimism that their first-round pick, Josh Simmons, could be the deciding factor in their summer.
The Josh Simmons hype continues. This season can’t come soon enough!#ChiefsKingdom via @newheightshow pic.twitter.com/8XGoYssulD
— SleeperChiefs (@SleeperChiefsKC) July 9, 2025
Although he isn’t willing to bet on the group’s success, “It’s more likely that tackle will be a weakness again, as most first-year tackles struggle.” For a team that wants to compete once again and make it back to the Super Bowl with different results, that is a big bet to make.
However, it’s going to be their performance on the field that ultimately decides how the Kansas City Chiefs are going to fare this season.
