Chiefs' Offensive Line: Below Average, Not Alarming, in 2026
Kansas City's line ranked 20th of 32 in both sack rate and yards per carry last season, with right guard Trey Smith the lone injury concern heading into 2026.
Published: · Figures as of August 31, 2026
Asked: How worried should Kansas City be about its offensive line?
Middling protection, one live injury flag - not a five-alarm concern
Kansas City's line graded out in the bottom half of the league last season on both pass protection and run blocking, and that same group is largely back together for 2026. The one specific thing worth watching right now is starting right guard Trey Smith, who has been on the open injury report with a hip issue since August 11.
What last season's numbers say
The closest measure this data holds for pass protection is sack rate - sacks taken per dropback, which is properly a QB-and-line stat together, not a pure line grade. Kansas City allowed a sack on 7.45% of dropbacks in 2025, the 20th-best (13th-worst) rate among the 32 teams, versus a league-wide average team rate of 6.9%. On the ground, the Chiefs ran for 4.21 yards per carry, also 20th-best of 32, versus a league-average team figure of 4.34. Neither number is alarming on its own - Kansas City wasn't in the league's worst tier on either measure - but both sit modestly below average, consistent with an offense that finished 6-11 overall last season.
| Measure | Chiefs, 2025 | League average (team mean) | Chiefs' rank (best→worst, of 32) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sack rate | 7.45% | 6.9% | 20th |
| Yards per carry | 4.21 | 4.34 | 20th |
Personnel picture
Nothing in the recorded transaction history shows a starting lineman departing this offseason - the only offensive line move on file is backup tackle Matt Waletzko being waived. Interior starters Creed Humphrey, Trey Smith, Kingsley Suamataia, Jaylon Moore and Josh Simmons all remain on the roster; this data doesn't carry individual pass-block or run-block grades for linemen (no pressures-allowed or block-win-rate tracking here), so the read on continuity is limited to who's on the roster and who's shown up in the news feed - not any per-player line stat.
The injury to watch
Trey Smith has been listed as "questionable" with a hip injury since August 11 (26 days on the report), described in the report itself as a short-term issue. No other starting lineman - Humphrey, Suamataia, Moore or Simmons - currently appears on the open injury list, though absence from that list only means they're not currently reported, not that they're confirmed fully healthy.
Preseason so far
Over three preseason games (a 12-20 loss to the Rams, a 15-16 loss to Tampa Bay, and a 9-9 tie with Seattle), Kansas City has taken 4 sacks on 103 pass attempts (about a 3.9% rate) and rushed for 128 yards a game on 29 carries. That reads better than last season's regular-season rates, but preseason snaps go heavily to backups and roster-battle competition - Mahomes himself sat out the opener with a knee issue - so it's a thin, backup-weighted sample and not something to lean on for how the real starting five will hold up.
Confidence: Medium. The rate-stat baseline (sack rate, yards per carry) is solid evidence that the line was ordinary-to-below-average last season, but this data can't isolate pass protection from quarterback play, can't measure pressures or run-blocking grades directly, and can't yet say how the group performs once the regular season starts with its real personnel on the field.