Chiefs OC Matt Nagy on First Impressions of D.J. Humphries, KC's Offensive Frustrations in 2024

Chiefs offensive coordinator Matt Nagy discussed his first impressions of D.J. Humphries and what the veteran left tackle is doing in practice as he attempts to be available on Sunday.

Oct 20, 2022; Glendale, Arizona, USA; Arizona Cardinals offensive tackle D.J. Humphries (74) against the New Orleans Saints at State Farm Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images / Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

In a season marred by issues at left tackle, newly signed (and recently medically cleared) veteran tackle D.J. Humphries projects to be the Kansas City Chiefs' best hope for stability on the left side of the offensive line. With a prime time showdown with the Los Angeles Chargers on Sunday Night Football just days away, will Humphries be ready to play on such a short turnaround?

Speaking to the media on Thursday, Chiefs offensive coordinator Matt Nagy was asked for his first impressions from Humphries's first weeks as a Chief, and KC's OC revealed what Humphries needs to show in practice to earn the starting spot in Week 14.

"As far as the person, like I said a few weeks ago [November 26], love the person, love his energy," Nagy said. "It's a contagious, infectious personality that he has, with a lot of confidence. But he also has to learn the lingo and how we do things, and he's been able to do that the last couple weeks. And he's been doing a really good job in practice of being able to show us with the opportunities he's getting. And I think that's half the battle, is just the experience and the confidence, and now if he gets that opportunity and that's the way we go, then we'll see on game day, if that's the case."

If Humphries does start at left tackle, he'll be lining up alongside veteran left guard (and emergency left tackle) Joe Thuney. With Thuney in his fourth year with the Chiefs, how much would it help for Humphries to join the lineup next to one of the best guards in football?

"Helps a lot," Nagy said. "You look there and you see, the one thing that jumps off to me, in regard to D.J., is [that] he's had a lot of reps, so that confidence is there. And you watch the reps in practice, and you see the mechanics and the techniques that he uses, the basic foundation of fundamentals, and if there is something schematically that there might be a question with, protection or in the run game, etc., Joe's right there. I think it really helps out a lot."

Late in the Chiefs' Black Friday win over the Raiders — on the final play before Morris was benched — quarterback Patrick Mahomes showed visible frustration as the offense stalled out in the red zone, unable to separate from Las Vegas. Nagy was asked if he's seen any frustration affect Mahomes with issues from both tackle positions.

"No, I know there was the question in regard to how he was in the game there in the red zone and on that one play, but that's never been who Patrick is, it's truly not," Nagy said. "The frustration part is the team aspect of us. We were all frustrated, we wanted to be better in that game. You get opportunities to close a game out the last two weeks, as an offense, we've had the opportunity to do that and we haven't done that. And I think, leading up to that point, that's where it kind of got to a point wether there's penalties, wheteher there's missed opportunities, whatever it is, all of us together, I think it's just one of those things that we know we've got to be better, we can be better, we have to be better moving forward here towards the end of the season and into the playoffs."

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