Pro Bowl LT DJ Humphries Medically Cleared [signed by Chiefs]

[SHOWTIME]

Does Veach give him a call?

I predict @Chiefs. Makes too much sense https://t.co/hu5xdI5KF2

— Justin Pugh (@JustinPugh) November 22, 2024

[RunKC]

From reading Jags fans responses on Twitter and Reddit, they knew Walker Little was taking over and Cam was a FA after this year. They wanted the kid to play.

From what I’m reading Cam Robinson was very average and better in pass protection than run blocking.

I mean…we wouldn’t take that? I guess price factors in here but the player? Absolutely

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by RunKC

From reading Jags fans responses on Twitter and Reddit, they knew Walker Little was taking over and Cam was a FA after this year. They wanted the kid to play.

From what I’m reading Cam Robinson was very average and better in pass protection than run blocking.

I mean…we wouldn’t take that? I guess price factors in here but the player? Absolutely

Yes, that's exactly what Cam Robinson is.

He's a below average run blocker, an above average pass blocker and on balance, probably around the 30th best overall OT in the league and probably gets a boost in terms of value for our specific team/system.

Strictly among LTs, he's probably among the 15 best options in the league for us. Now that's not to say he's anywhere near the top guys -- folks like Wirfs, Tunsil, Slater, Williams, Miller and probably Stanley -- those guys are a clear tier better than him at LT.

But when you start to talk about Moton, Dawkins, Decker, Cross, Jones -- he's in that tier as a pass blocker, IMO.

You pair him and Taylor and you have two very similar players who, IMO, fit what we do pretty well. They'll cost too damn much -- I hate the idea of $40-45 million/season to get two guys at OT who aren't guys who move the needle much, but for stability at a difficult position to fill, that's just what it costs.

And should Kingsley develop into a genuine option as a starter, you have an escape hatch with Taylor in 2026 so you can backload Robinson's deal a bit if you need to keep the cap sheet a little cleaner going forward (Kinglsey steps in for Taylor as Robinson's deal gets spendy).

At that point, you'd have a handful of teams with a better set of bookends than we have, at least as pass protectors.

TB: Wirfs/Goedeke
LAC: Slater/Alt
Denver: Bolles/McGlinchey
Houston: Tunsil/Howard
Philly: Johnson/Mailata
Min: Darrisaw/O'Neill
GB: Walker/Tom
CH: Jones/Wright
Bal: Stanley/Rosengarten

Who we'd compare VERY similarly to is Buffalo with Dawkins and Spencer Brown.

I can live with that. Wouldn't love spending that kind of money on OTs to have probably the 10-12th best set of OTs in the league, but it's just the cost of doing business when you strike out two years in a row trying to draft them.

You have the damn Packers out there with two OTs they got on the 3rd friggen day giving them a really strong effort for peanuts and thus creating about a $40 million cap advantage, but it just is what it is. You can bitch about it or you can fix it.

I suppose at this point I'd have to vote for fixin' it...

And of course this presumes Humphries doesn't come in, look really solid for us and sign a long-term deal. Which could very easily happen as well and really wouldn't move that needle a ton from my analysis above. If he works out, he'll be Cam Robinson-esque.

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by Sassy Squatch

Yeah, the fact they actually ate 7 million and only got a conditional 5th/4th back gives me serious pause. Shit had to go really sideways for that to make any sense.

When you can't draft 'em, you can only work with what you've got.

And no matter who we draft or how high we move up, we CANNOT expect a rookie to be a viable starter next season. I don't know how many of these guys we have to see struggle in year 1 at OT before we come to grips with that. Even the blue-chippers need time more often than not.

The odds of there being anyone better than Robinson or potentially Humphries on the market are just really remote. Terron Armstead could be a cap casualty, I guess, but they don't clear much space by cutting him. I believe Bolles is a FA but he'll get tagged if not extended. Maybe Ronnie Stanley? Tyron Smith has the same age/injury concerns he had last season, I don't want to give him a long-term deal.

Robinson (or Humphries) will be the best of the lot in FA unless the Ravens let Stanley walk and I just don't see that as terribly likely.

That's your market and scarcity is gonna make 'em expensive. So I guess you draft in the areas you draft well and pay for the expensive veteran where you haven't.

[Sassy Squatch]

If Robinson is the move, so be it, but really don't like the idea of signing Humphries to anything other than a one year deal to be a stopgap, and that's if he performs exceptionally to close out the season. That injury history just makes it untenable.

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by Sassy Squatch

If Robinson is the move, so be it, but really don't like the idea of signing Humphries to anything other than a one year deal to be a stopgap, and that's if he performs exceptionally to close out the season. That injury history just makes it untenable.

Yeah - and the knee isn't even my biggest worry with Humphries.

It's his back.

He hurt his back in 2022. And by most accounts, his performance in 2023 didn't recover to the level he was in 2019 and 2020 (or where he was prior to his injury in 2022).

Back injuries for big guys linger for quite awhile and in many cases never really go away. A lot of them have to drop a little weight or train less strenuously to avoid aggravation and it just creates less effectiveness. And it's hard to trust that not popping back up at some point.

[Easy 6]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

When you can't draft 'em, you can only work with what you've got.

And no matter who we draft or how high we move up, we CANNOT expect a rookie to be a viable starter next season. I don't know how many of these guys we have to see struggle in year 1 at OT before we come to grips with that. Even the blue-chippers need time more often than not.

The odds of there being anyone better than Robinson or potentially Humphries on the market are just really remote. Terron Armstead could be a cap casualty, I guess, but they don't clear much space by cutting him. I believe Bolles is a FA but he'll get tagged if not extended. Maybe Ronnie Stanley? Tyron Smith has the same age/injury concerns he had last season, I don't want to give him a long-term deal.

Robinson (or Humphries) will be the best of the lot in FA unless the Ravens let Stanley walk and I just don't see that as terribly likely.

That's your market and scarcity is gonna make 'em expensive. So I guess you draft in the areas you draft well and pay for the expensive veteran where you haven't.

This, all day

We don't have time to develop an in game, plug and play young tackle and go through his growing pains with him

We're in the middle of an historic window, we need basic competency at LT immediately and thats what an expensive but proven vet provides... meanwhile keep coaching up Suamataia hoping to break that vicious circle

[FloridaMan88]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

When you can't draft 'em, you can only work with what you've got.

And no matter who we draft or how high we move up, we CANNOT expect a rookie to be a viable starter next season. I don't know how many of these guys we have to see struggle in year 1 at OT before we come to grips with that. Even the blue-chippers need time more often than not.

The odds of there being anyone better than Robinson or potentially Humphries on the market are just really remote. Terron Armstead could be a cap casualty, I guess, but they don't clear much space by cutting him. I believe Bolles is a FA but he'll get tagged if not extended. Maybe Ronnie Stanley? Tyron Smith has the same age/injury concerns he had last season, I don't want to give him a long-term deal.

Robinson (or Humphries) will be the best of the lot in FA unless the Ravens let Stanley walk and I just don't see that as terribly likely.

That's your market and scarcity is gonna make 'em expensive. So I guess you draft in the areas you draft well and pay for the expensive veteran where you haven't.

And we’ve seen the caliber… or floor… for an LT that the Chiefs can effectively work with to run a highly productive offense.

Eric Fisher.

OBJ.

Donovan Smith.

Seems like Cam Robinson or Terron Armetead is at the level of those players.

[RunKC]

Walker Little replaced Cam Robinson. Another LT that took years to develop.

Are we seeing a pattern here?

[Wisconsin_Chief]

So we’ve settled on Cam Robinson?

Has anyone reached out to Brett to let him know?

[HemiEd]

Originally Posted by Mahomes007

How to not hold it against BV? He constantly overpays the wrong players that end up underperforming substantially relative to their contracts. Or just flat out overpays relative to market, like Creed Humphrey. Creed and his agent damn near raped BV.

The worst part is the average fan would recognize this before the fact. Before they even played a down as a Chief. That it was not good value for contract and/or picks traded. Frank Clark, Jawaan, MVS, etc. Even the likes of Justin Reid and Joe Thuney were overpays. And I'm sure Noah Gray could have been had for less.

**** off, drink some antifreeze

[Sassy Squatch]

Originally Posted by RunKC

Walker Little replaced Cam Robinson. Another LT that took years to develop.

Are we seeing a pattern here?

There have been plenty of OTs taken recently outside the top 10 that stepped in and immediately provided competent or better play.

2021: Rashawn Slater and Christian Darrisaw
2022: Tyler Smith
2023: Broderick Jones
2024: Amarius Mims

Acting like any OT we draft would need years of development to even be playable is a bit weird.

[Hammock Parties]

Originally Posted by Mahomes007

How to not hold it against BV? He constantly overpays the wrong players that end up underperforming substantially relative to their contracts. Or just flat out overpays relative to market, like Creed Humphrey. Creed and his agent damn near raped BV.

The worst part is the average fan would recognize this before the fact. Before they even played a down as a Chief. That it was not good value for contract and/or picks traded. Frank Clark, Jawaan, MVS, etc. Even the likes of Justin Reid and Joe Thuney were overpays. And I'm sure Noah Gray could have been had for less.

WORST DYNASTY EVER

[HemiEd]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

I hate that I keep coming back to this conclusion, but I really think Kingsley looked good because the guys he went against every day just...suck.

I mean we have ZERO speed to test him against (and those are the guys that really give him fits). And even someone like Danna doesn't have advanced technique - he's a motor guy. Hell, what little bit of bend/explosion we had at DE almost died on the field. He looked credible against Malik Herring and Mike Danna.

The staff's confidence in him was almost certainly misplaced due to really poor competition opposite of him. I just can't see any other viable explanation.

Makes a lot of sense.

[Kman34]

Originally Posted by Mahomes007

How to not hold it against BV? He constantly overpays the wrong players that end up underperforming substantially relative to their contracts. Or just flat out overpays relative to market, like Creed Humphrey. Creed and his agent damn near raped BV.

The worst part is the average fan would recognize this before the fact. Before they even played a down as a Chief. That it was not good value for contract and/or picks traded. Frank Clark, Jawaan, MVS, etc. Even the likes of Justin Reid and Joe Thuney were overpays. And I'm sure Noah Gray could have been had for less.

Can you walk and chew gum at the same time??

[Dunerdr]

Originally Posted by Sassy Squatch

There have been plenty of OTs taken recently outside the top 10 that stepped in and immediately provided competent or better play.

2021: Rashawn Slater and Christian Darrisaw
2022: Tyler Smith
2023: Broderick Jones
2024: Amarius Mims

Acting like any OT we draft would need years of development to even be playable is a bit weird.

I guess I’m remembering Tyler smith differently. Wasn’t he good at guard and like 28-30 ranked Lt? And mims has definitely had his struggles albeit not Kingsley bad.