Where the Kansas City Chiefs fall in PFF's Offensive Line Rankings

In their latest collection of positional unit grades, Pro Football Focus has ranked all 32 NFL teams' offensive lines. Where did the Kansas City Chiefs fall?

In their latest collection of positional unit grades, Pro Football Focus has ranked all 32 NFL teams' offensive lines. Where did the Kansas City Chiefs fall?

Coming in at No. 12 in the NFL, PFF's Steve Palazzolo explains why the Chiefs fit right around the top-third of the league's OLs:

Kansas City's offensive line was fairly average last season before going on an outstanding three-game run in the playoffs. Left tackle Eric Fisher got off to a slow start early in his career, but he’s settled in as an above-average tackle, posting a 74.8 grade that ranks 28th among 81 qualifiers over the last three years. Right tackle Mitchell Schwartz is annually one of the league’s best, as he ranks fifth with an 87.5 overall grade during that same time frame. Schwartz had one of the best playoff runs in history, leading the Chiefs with a 92.8 overall grade while allowing just one pressure on 142 pass-blocking attempts.

The interior is an athletic group that is generally better in pass protection than in the run game. Left guard Andrew Wylie finished with the 12th-best pass-blocking grade among guards, while center Austin Reiter finished ninth at 79.2. However, Wylie was closer to the middle of the pack in the run game, and Reiter ranked in the bottom third among centers. Right guard Laurent Duvernay-Tardif is coming off the lowest grade of his career at 59.7, but he’s been a reasonable starter, ranking 37th with a 65.1 grade over the last three years.

Palazzolo goes on to discuss the Chiefs' depth at tackle with swing-tackle Mike Remmers and rookie Lucas Niang, and describes the Chiefs' starters as "four mid-level starters and a star," with the latter being Schwartz.

I have recently argued that Fisher is one of the Chiefs' most-underrated players, due to the ever-present "former number one overall pick" qualifier. Solidly entrenching himself as a top-30 tackle over the last three years feels about right.

The interior OL grading caught me a bit by surprise. While I do believe that trio was assembled for their pass-blocking capabilities, a 12th-best, ninth-best and reasonable-starter grade seems like a better-than-advertised grading from last season. Regardless, giving Patrick Mahomes average pass-blocking should allow a quarterback of his talent plenty of time to make magic happen from the pocket.

The Chiefs' 12th-overall ranking leaves them one spot behind an AFC West rival and ahead of the other half of the division. Click here for PFF's full ranking of all 32 teams' offensive lines.