Tag: Joe Thuney

Chiefs restructure contract of G Joe Thuney to create cap space

The #Chiefs created some salary cap space by restructuring the contract of LG Joe Thuney per a new report.

The Kansas City Chiefs created a little cap space to give themselves some breathing room during free agency.

According to ESPN’s Field Yates, the Chiefs have restructured the contract of Joe Thuney. They’ve converted a portion of his $13.9 million base salary for the 2022 NFL season into a signing bonus, which clears over $9.6 million in cap space.

This brings Thuney’s cap number for the 2022 NFL seasons down to about $8 million. The bonus money is now prorated over the life of the contract, meaning that Thuney’s cap number will go up in each of the three years remaining on his contract. In 2023, for instance, Thuney’s cap number will now be around $22 million for Kansas City when it was set to be $19 million prior to the restructure.

Despite this contract restructure being reported today, it’s likely that it already happened and that the Chiefs have already spent the majority of this cap space already. The team did free up some cap space by reworking Frank Clark’s contract previously, but that was only to get them under the cap by the March 16th deadline. It wasn’t exactly enough space to accommodate all of the signings and re-signings they’ve made during the free agency period.

This type of contract restructuring was one of the many ways that the team could create cap space this offseason. The team has a few more contracts (Patrick Mahomes, Chris Jones, Travis Kelce) that they were able to do this type of salary to signing bonus conversion with, but it’s unclear if they made those moves or not.

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Breaking down Chiefs’ options at RT with Lucas Niang, Mike Remmers injured

The #Chiefs have a lot of options to consider at the right tackle position with Lucas Niang and Mike Remmers ruled out with injury

The Kansas City Chiefs received some disappointing news on Friday, learning they’d be without their top-2 options at the right tackle position in Lucas Niang and Mike Remmers.

Niang started the first five games of the season, but he was benched after his Week 5 game against the Buffalo Bills. Mike Remmers filled in for the next two games before suffering the knee injury that currently has him sidelined. Niang replaced Remmers against the New York Giants and the Green Bay Packers. He suffered a rib injury in the first quarter, which has him sidelined for Week 10.

Below you’ll find a quick look at several of the options who can fill in for Niang and Remmers while they’re injured, ranging from most likely to least likely to start against the Las Vegas Raiders on Sunday night:

WATCH: Chiefs LG Joe Thuney catching passes in practice with broken hand

#Chiefs LG Joe Thuney, who broke his hand against the #Bills in Week 5, was spotted catching passes in practice on Friday.

If you ever doubted Kansas City Chiefs LG Joe Thuney’s toughness, he put those doubts to rest over the past week.

Thuney played through the majority of the Week 5 game against the Buffalo Bills with a broken hand. According to NFL Network’s James Palmer, Thuney didn’t even tell his teammates during the game that he was dealing with an injury.

The sixth-year professional missed the first two days of practice this week for Kansas City, but he made his return to practice on Friday. Thuney wore a thick, club-like cast on his hand and it didn’t seem to limit him at all. Thuney got a full day of work at practice, even participating in the pass-catching warmup for the offensive line.

Yes, that’s right. Thuney was spotted catching passes with a broken hand during practice. Fox 4 KC reporter Harold R. Kuntz captured Thuney hauling in the pass with both hands.

One of the biggest draws of signing a player like Thuney in free agency this past offseason was his availability during the course of his career. He has started in 95-of-95 possible combined regular and postseason games between New England and Kansas City.

With a full practice on Friday that included catching passes with a broken hand, it’s safe to assume that Thuney won’t be missing his first start this week despite the injury and questionable game status designation. Who knows, Thuney might even have a chance to catch a pass against Washington in Week 6.

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Chiefs injury notes from assistant coaches ahead of Thursday practice

#Chiefs coordinators and position coaches spoke to the media on Thursday, revealing some information about various injuries their position groups are currently dealing with.

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The Kansas City Chiefs are set for their second day of practice ahead of their Week 6 game against the Washington Football Team.

Both Anthony Hitchens (knee) and Jarran Reed (personal day) are due to practice for Kansas City on Thursday after missing the first practice of the week. Tyreek Hill (quad contusion), Charvarius Ward (quad strain), Blake Bell (back), Joe Thuney (hand) and Chris Jones (wrist) will continue to be absent on  Thursday per team public relations.

Chiefs coordinators and position coaches spoke with media members on Thursday and provided some insight into the recent injuries that the team has dealt with. Defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo got things started by speaking on how defensive line injuries have played a part in the Chiefs’ struggles.

“The one thing I would say about that — and this happens to everyone in this league — when you can’t get a number of games back-to-back-to-back where you’ve got units intact, the continuity is hard,” Spagnuolo said. “There is a lot of that. Units function, in this game that we’re in, units have to function as a unit. There are all kinds of feels and natural feels. When you play with somebody for a period of snaps, that happens. It has been a little tough on that side.”

Chiefs DL coach Brendan Daly backed up Spags’ comments, emphasizing that he’s proud of the way his guys have stepped up in the face of injury adversity.

“We’ve had some fluctuations in terms of who has been available,” Daly told reporters. “But, I have been proud of the guys who have been out there that have adjusted to different roles. Guys have stepped up. That’s kind of part of the NFL season. Unfortunately, that’s something that you’ve got to navigate every year and probably won’t be the last time that we’ve got to deal with some element of that. It’s just part of life, 17 weeks and the postseason of the NFL.”

As for Chiefs CB coach Sam Madison, he has been pleased with the repetitions that some of his younger guys have been getting in the absence of Charvarius Ward. He explained that always wasn’t the case due to the timing of Ward’s injury.

“A couple of weeks ago, (Charvarius Ward) gets hurt on a Friday and then you’ve got to put a guy in there that doesn’t really have those reps that somebody else had. Then you’ve just got to go out there and play. It’s the National Football League, whenever it’s time for you to go, you just have to go out there and play and make it happen.”

Finally, Chiefs OL coach Andy Heck explained the timing of Joe Thuney’s fractured hand and how they managed that injury during the Week 5 game.

“There wasn’t a lot of conversation about it,” Heck told reporters. “I was made aware about it and that he’d be getting X-rays at halftime and we’d see if he could go. I’d ask him, ‘How are you doing?’ and he said, ‘I’ll be good, I’ll give it a go.’ and I said, ‘Great we’ll keep an eye on you.’ and that was that. He did a nice job pushing through that, I’m sure it was very painful, and he played well.”

As for whether Thuney would have a chance to play on Sunday in Week 6, Heck wasn’t yet privy to that information.

“Right, and I haven’t talked with Rick (Burkholder) today,” Heck said. “But it’s something that will need to be managed.”

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Chiefs LG Joe Thuney played Week 5 game with a fractured hand

#Chiefs LG Joe Thuney played through the majority of the Week 5 game against the #Bills with a fractured hand per a new report.

The Kansas City Chiefs’ 38-20 loss to the Buffalo Bills left the team battered and bruised with a number of injuries to key players.

Typically, when you hear that a player has broken something, you expect that it’ll keep them out for some time. That wasn’t the case for Chiefs LG Joe Thuney. After the game, we learned that Thuney had suffered a fractured hand during the course of the game.

On Monday morning, we learned that he played nearly the entire game against the Bills with his injury. According to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, Thuney broke his hand on the first series of the game. He put a cast on the injured hand on the sidelines and went back out there to play the entire game, not missing a single snap in the process.

That’s an incredible display of toughness from the Chiefs’ high-priced free agent left guard, but it shouldn’t come as a big surprise. Thuney played 975 NFL snaps before he missed his first snap. During his five-year career with the New England Patriots, he never missed a game.

Another remarkable part about this? Thuney was basically perfect during the game protecting Patrick Mahomes during the game. He was allowed just one pressure on 37 pass-blocking snaps according to Pro Football Focus. He had a harder time in the ground game, but that’s to be expected given the injury.

Even though Thuney is due for more tests on his fractured hand today, I’d be shocked if he didn’t try to play through the injury. I’d expect him out there with some sort of cast or club on his hand moving forward.

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Chiefs HC Andy Reid provides injury updates after loss to Bills

The bad news gets worse for the #Chiefs with Andy Reid’s postgame injury update.

The Kansas City Chiefs loss to the Buffalo Bills has gone from bad to worse with some postgame injury news delivered by Andy Reid.

The team suffered one apparent injury during the game when Clyde Edwards-Helaire went down and was ruled out with a left knee injury. Reid’s update on Edwards-Helaire was very wait-and-see.

“As far as injuries go, Clyde (Edwards-Helaire) hurt his left knee,” Reid said. “We’ll just see how it goes overnight here and into tomorrow.”

You get the impression that the Chiefs aren’t expecting to receive good news on this injury and that Edwards-Helaire could be out for a while. There were also four injuries that we hadn’t heard about during the game, including three injuries to some big-time starters.

“Tyreek (Hill) also hurt his knee a little bit,” Reid continued. “(Joe) Thuney fractured a hand… and then (Travis) Kelce had a little bit of a stinger.”

The severity of each of these injuries is currently unknown, but they all appeared to have finished the game on Sunday night. Kelce was seen on the sideline after taking a big hit trying to haul in a pass.

One of the Chiefs’ top special teams players also suffered an injury against Buffalo.

“Chris Lammons, he’s OK,” Reid said. “He had a skin laceration. He’ll be fine.”

Little has gone right for the Chiefs in the earlier goings of the season, but things will really start to get worse if the injury bug starts to hit. Kansas City simply can’t afford to see players like Edwards-Helaire, Hill, Kelce and Thuney getting dinged up at this point of the season.

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Chiefs OL Joe Thuney sees growth from new-look offensive line during preseason

Joe Thuney is seeing progress along the #Chiefs’ new-look offensive line because of the reps they’re getting together during the preseason. | from @EdEastonJr

The Kansas City Chiefs’ new-look offensive line has been the talk of the offseason. The signing of top-tier veteran talent like Joe Thuney helped change the complexion of the often criticized group.

Thuney is only two preseason games into his tenure as a member of the Chiefs, and he’s already made a significant impact. He brings his lessons learned from the success in New England to a group that features established veterans and high potential rookies. The former NC State standout is seeing progress in the offensive line’s chemistry during the preseason and the benefits of getting more time together, as he explained at Monday’s press conference.

”Anytime you get a bunch of reps together, it helps with communication and playing together,” said Thuney. “You know what the other guy is seeing and it helps to have those reps together. All five working together. It definitely has a ton of benefits. Like I said, you’re getting the reps together and playing together and trying to see the game the same way. Just getting our communication down so there’s definitely tons we can learn from still and still keep getting better.”

Two 2021 NFL draft picks and a 2020 opt-out join Thuney on the starting offensive line for Kansas City. The young players in the unit have garnered plenty of attention in training camp. Creed Humphrey, Trey Smith and Lucas Niang along with Thuney and Orlando Brown Jr. are set to get their first taste of what it’s like to play in front of the home crowd at Arrowhead Stadium.

”I don’t think it’s the most common thing to have, you know, three, rookies starting or anything, but I think they’ve done a great job,” said Thuney. “You know, I think we’re all just trying to continue to get better, and just everyone lean on each other, and you just keep working to be the best we can be. I can’t wait for it (stadium) to be filled up, and you know, it’s such a loud stadium. I’m excited to, you know, be on the home sideline and feel the Chiefs kingdom, and I can’t wait. Yeah, I’m excited.”

The veteran offensive guard is well aware that he will be looked upon as a leader on the line regardless of his first season with the club. Thuney is very optimistic about what the group can accomplish this season and is excited about the already established chemistry.

“Overall, as an offensive line, I think there’s some great plays out there, but there’s always room to improve,” said Thuney. “It’s early still, it’s still in the preseason, but we just want to keep working together and keep grinding. I mean the young guys have done a great job getting in the playbook and working together. Like I said, I think no one is satisfied, and everyone wants to keep getting better and keep working to improve.”

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WATCH: Chiefs LG Joe Thuney mic’d up at training camp

#Chiefs LG Joe Thuney’s mic’d up appearance shows he’s not the most talkative guy, but he sure knows how to turn on the nasty when he gets into the trenches.

Off the field, Kansas City Chiefs’ LG Joe Thuney is just an ordinary mild-mannered guy. In the trenches, he turns on the nasty. There’s no better way to get a look at transformation than watching him mic’d up at practice. He might as well be Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

He starts off, quietly asking Laurent Duvernay-Tardif to tuck his sleeves over his pads ahead of practice. Moments later he’s pummeling his teammates in warm-ups. He did reveal that he isn’t too fond of Andy Reid’s favorite drill, the seven-man sled.

“I’m so bad at that,” Thuney revealed.

The video quickly moved on to team drills and Thuney did look good working with LT Orlando Brown Jr. on combo blocks. They got after it and manhandled some of those big defensive linemen in the trenches. He even got some feedback from Brown after the repetitions.

“How was that,” he asked.

“It was all good,” Brown replied.

Thuney was on the sideline when teammate Andrew Wylie scored a touchdown during practice. He celebrated and cheered him on from the sidelines and gave him a hard time when he came off the field.

“He’s with the tight ends now,” Thuney joked as Wylie approached the sideline.

That’s about as animated as you’ll Thuney get on any given snap. He’s a lunch-pail kind of guy at practice, you hear the pads thumping more than you hear him talking in the mic’d up video. You can tell that he’s all about getting 1% better each and every day and that attitude will go a long way in Kansas City.

Be sure to watch the full video at the top of the page or over on the Chiefs’ official YouTube channel.

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Joe Thuney praises new Chiefs teammates Trey Smith, Creed Humphrey, Orlando Brown Jr.

#Chiefs LG Joe Thuney spoke about the offensive line’s chemistry, an impressive pair of rookies and his new running mate at left tackle | from @EdEastonJr

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The top priority during the offseason for Kansas City Chiefs general manager Brett Veach was to revamp the offensive line. After a well-known collapse during the Super Bowl defeat to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, it was evident that a good line can determine this team’s fate regardless of the weapons and play of former MVP QB Patrick Mahomes.

An essential addition to the line was former New England Patriots All-Pro left guard Joe Thuney. Thuney enters his first season in Kansas City to anchor a rebuilt unit featuring high-value veterans and promising rookies. The former NC State standout spoke about the offensive line’s chemistry and impressive pair of rookies during Wednesday’s press conference.

“The O-Line is a great group,” said Thuney. “We hang out a lot off the field, in the locker room, always talking, laughing, joking, so they’re a great group. A lot of great guys. Being out here in kind of an isolated bubble. it’s great to spend a lot of time with the guys and just keep building every day.”

Thuney has quickly taken to the mentorship role with the Chiefs two rookie offensive line additions from this past April’s NFL Draft. Trey Smith and Creed Humphrey are expected to see plenty of action this season, and Thuney had plenty to say about the duo.

”He’s really strong (Trey Smith), he’s physical, he’s smart, he studies his playbook really hard,” said Thuney. “Everyone is communicating up there on the O-Line, but he’s doing a great job, and yeah, it’s just great to be part of this group.”

Thuney also reflected on Humphrey’s communication under center with Mahomes developing from OTAs to training camp.

”OTA’s were great to get a lot of reps in and a lot of time in with the offense as a whole,” said Thuney. “Day one out here went well, and I think we’re just going to keep building. They’re doing a great job, Creed (Humphrey) is also is in his playbook a lot, and Patrick (Mahomes) knows so much, so it’s just been great.”

The veteran guard also had to take some time to acknowledge Orlando Brown Jr., his new running mate at left tackle in Kansas City.

“He’s great — he’s a great player,” said Thuney. “Being on the left side, playing next to him, we’re always talking about what we’re seeing out there. How we’re approaching things. Coach Heck has done a great job of giving us great coaching points and pointing us in the right direction. It’s been great playing with him.”

The Chiefs look to keep developing the young talent and building chemistry on the offensive line as training camp progresses.

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7 Chiefs who could make their first Pro Bowl in 2021

A look at 7 #Chiefs players with the best chance of making their first Pro Bowl in 2021.

The Kansas City Chiefs have their eyes on a bigger prize, but the Pro Bowl is always a nice consolation, with a lasting impact on player’s individual legacies. The Chiefs had two players earn first-time Pro Bowl selections in 2020, with DT Chris Jones and DE Frank Clark being selected for the game. Of course, they both appeared in Super Bowl LV instead and didn’t play in the annual all-star game.

If the Chiefs want to get to Super Bowl LVI, they’ll need some Pro Bowl-caliber performances out of their players during the upcoming season. Here are the seven Chiefs with the best chance at making their first Pro Bowl in 2021: