Joe Thuney loves chess.
And for the Kansas City Chiefs, he’s becoming the king of the offensive line and the queen of the chess board.
Thuney, 32, is the quiet superstar in Kansas City. He’s never in the commercials or out front at the parades. He’s not a great quote and doesn’t want to be. He’s in the trenches, moving large men against their will time and again.
In each of the past three seasons, that’s been as an All-Pro left guard (first team in 2023 and ’24). Lately, he’s been doing his thing at tackle, a position he hadn’t played consistently since his college days at North Carolina State. This year, he moved out of necessity when injuries to Wanya Morris and D.J. Humphries threatened to derail the Chiefs’ three-peat hopes.
“I’m sure he’s a very team-first guy,” says Hall of Fame offensive lineman Bruce Matthews, who played center, guard and tackle for the Houston/Tennessee Oilers and Tennessee Titans. “Why I say that is [because] if the coach thinks me playing at left tackle is going to help the team win, then I’m all in. I can’t very well be selfish about it and hurt the team. I know the O-line coach and the coordinator and the head coach, thought long and hard about this. You’re taking an excellent left guard and he’s going to be out of his comfort zone. But he’s got the wherewithal to deal with it.
“There are some guys, you’d ruin them by moving them out a spot. But he’s got the makeup and a certain amount of competitiveness where you’re saying to yourself, ‘All right, this is going to be uncomfortable, but I’m looking at this as a challenge. And then when you throw in the piece about this is what’s best for the team, then I’m all in.’ You put it to bed right there. To him, there’s no looking back.”
In Week 15, his first game on the edge, he faced reigning Defensive Player of the Year Myles Garrett. The following two weeks saw matchups with T.J. Watt and Alex Highsmith of the Pittsburgh Steelers, and Will Anderson Jr. and Danielle Hunter in a game against the Houston Texans. He allowed zero sacks.
“It’s incredibly hard [to make that move],” says Geoff Schwartz, who played both guard and tackle across seven NFL seasons, including 2013 with the Chiefs under coach Andy Reid. “He’s an All-Pro guard; he’s one of the best in the game. First of all, the sacrifice of moving to left tackle, at a time when you were playing three good pass rushes in a row to end the season, and not complaining about it. … It really has stabilized the offense, at least the passing offense.”
Come the postseason, Houston got after Thuney in the divisional round, a 23–14 triumph for Kansas City. Thuney was scrutinized after the game in which the Chiefs allowed three sacks and eight quarterback hits, with most of the duress coming off the left side. The following week, Thuney didn’t allow a single pressure against the Buffalo Bills, as Kansas City won 32–29 to advance to its fifth Super Bowl in six years.
For Thuney, the Super Bowl is becoming old hat. Having started his career with the New England Patriots, Thuney is now about to play on his sixth Super Sunday. Only Tom Brady will have played in more. With a victory, Thuney will have five rings, a feat matched only by Brady and Hall of Fame defensive end Charles Haley, who won two titles with the San Francisco 49ers and another three with the Dallas Cowboys.
Thuney will also make history the second he sets foot on the turf of the Caesars Superdome on Sunday night, becoming the first player in NFL history to play in three consecutive Super Bowls … twice, having already done so in the 2016 to ’18 seasons.
And in this game, there has been some talk about whether Thuney should move back inside considering the Eagles have an All-Pro defensive tackle in Jalen Carter, but only a decent edge rush with Nolan Smith Jr. and Josh Sweat.
Having played under Reid, Schwartz isn’t surprised the Chiefs aren’t making a move to insert Humphries in at left tackle, explaining that Reid usually rides the hot hand.
“It’s working right now,” Schwartz says. “They played well to end the season. The Houston [playoff] game was a little sluggish, but it wasn’t like they were bad, they just didn’t have a lot of plays in the Houston game. And then they played well last weekend. Why would you change it? Yeah, the run game is going to suffer, but to be fair it hasn’t been great since Thuney moved outside anyway. They’ve scored a bunch of points. They’re going to find ways to quote-unquote run the football, whether it’s the [Xavier] Worthy jet sweeps, little screens, and dinks and dunks. They’ll find a way to do it. Keep it the way it is.”
For such a public, front-facing team, Thuney has managed to avoid the spotlight despite his ample accolades. We’ve seen All-Pro center Creed Humphrey in a Doritos commercial and film a scene for Saturday Night Live (though it got cut). We know all about Chris Jones, who is well on his way to Canton as one of the league’s most dominant defensive linemen of his era. Jones shared the recent Doritos spot with Humphrey and had a DirecTV ad come his way earlier in the year.
The big guys in Kansas City have gotten ample shine. Thuney hasn’t, at least on a national level, even if those who understand the game marvel at what he’s done, being able to handle multiple types of pass rushers.
“The big things are the angles and the type of player you’re playing,” Matthews says. “On the inside, you’re going to get a bigger, heavier, stouter [guy] in a lot of cases. But on the inside, you can also get an Aaron Donald type. On the edge, the trend is more of an elite athlete. Both require sound technique and footwork. Those are the things that win for you both on the inside and outside.”
Historically speaking, there are few true comparisons for what Thuney is doing in such a critical moment. A four-time All-Pro at left guard who signed with the Chiefs in 2021 for market-setting money on the interior, Thuney was asked to relocate. The move has paid off, as the Chiefs have gone 5–0 with him protecting Patrick Mahomes’s blindside.
Looking back over the decades, we’ve seen corners move to safety as part of a career transition such as Hall of Famers Ronnie Lott, Charles Woodson and Rod Woodson. That’s a metamorphosis that is more common. This is more akin to having a tight end play the X receiver, hoping he could learn a new skill set in a week.
If Kansas City wins Sunday, it’ll almost certainly require the offensive line playing an excellent game against one of the league’s best defensive fronts. Should that happen, the afterglow for the big uglies will immediately turn to whether (or really, by how much) Pro Bowl right guard Trey Smith resets the market in free agency, and if it’s with the Chiefs. Thuney will once again quietly sit in his stall, unwrap his tape and shed his soggy jersey before grabbing a deserved shower.
The Chiefs have myriad greats on the roster. In a few decades, the Pro Football Hall of Fame will need a new wing for all of the men who wore red and gold in this era, including coaches, executives, players and the owner. They will get their glory and rightfully so. Don’t be surprised if Thuney eventually makes it in alongside them.
For now, Thuney is looking to win another championship. Looking to keep Mahomes clean. Looking to be a key piece on the field, trying to put the Eagles’ pass rush in checkmate.
This article was originally published on www.si.com as Joe Thuney’s Position Change Is an Underrated Key for the Chiefs.
