What will the Chiefs do without Orlando Brown.

If the Chiefs are not able to get Brown to resign in Kansas City they are going to spend another offseason working to get a player to be their left tackle of the future. There are three areas the Chiefs can look towards to get their left tackle.

The first area is the draft. Kansas City is drafting at number 31 overall in the first round. Kansas City will only find a starting-caliber left tackle in the first round. The Chiefs will not likely be able to get the two top left tackles in this draft class. Peter Skoronski from Northwestern is going to go top ten. 

Paris Johnson JR, from Ohio State, is also likely going to be a top-12 pick. That is also going to be too far for Kansas City to move up. If a player like Broderick Jones, Georgia, or Anton Harrison from Oklahoma falls to the early twenties then the Chiefs have the realistic opportunity to move up and grab them. 

After that, it becomes more of a risk to pick players later in the draft players like Blake Freeland of BYU or Darnell Wright of Tennessee. 

One realistic option the Chiefs have is drafting a player very similar to Brown in the first round. Dawand Jones is a right tackle from Ohio State. He is similar in Brown’s size and history. He is a viable option for Kansas City.

Like the start of every offseason, there are going to be veteran players cut to become cap solvent. There are going to be some teams cutting expensive players at the tackles position. Some of the players that may end up going to be cut are Trent Brown of the New England Patriots. He has played both left and right tackle.  

Tyron Smith from the Dallas Cowboys is also likely to be a salary cap cut. He has missed 17 games over the last four seasons. When healthy he is a top-tier left tackle of the game. He has been part of one of the best offensive lines in the NFL at a time when the Cowboys had their best offenses since Dak Prescott became their starting quarterback. 

David Bakhtiari is another tackle that may be cut. When healthy he is one of the best tackles in the NFL. He has protected Arron Rodgers for all of his career, a guy that does spend more time in the pocket. All of these players have their issues. Most of them stem from recent injury history that has kept them out of games. If the Chiefs feel comfortable with a play that has missed significant playing time these players can fill that role. There is a reason the cliche of  One of the best abilities is availability exists. All of these are risky options if they decide to move forward with one of these other players.   

If Kansas City does not find their guy in the draft or free agency there may be options in the trade market. The best tackle the Chiefs could go after is Houston’s Laremy Tunsil. He has been one of the best tackles in the NFL. he would be expensive both in a cap hit and draft asset to acquire him.   

All of these options have their pros and cons. While it’s not clear what direction the Chiefs will go to fill their starting left tackle position they do have options. With all of these options, the Chiefs should not get pigeonholed into making a decision with long-term negative impacts on the team.