DJ Humphries snaps vs the Broncos: Some good, some awful, and a tough decision
The Chiefs got their first extensive action out of Humphries. Let's talk about snap charting, offensive scheme and OL play, and a what I'd do if I were Reid.
Sometimes I wish the answers were simple in football. Especially when it comes to wildly important decisions, like “who should the Chiefs start at LT in the playoffs.”
DJ Humphries, whom the Chiefs signed to try and shore up the LT spot before moving their All Pro guard there out of desperation, saw his first extensive action as a Chief Sunday against the Broncos. It just so happened to be that his first extensive action came in what was basically a preseason game for Andy Reid and company, with the majority of the starters (including the rest of the OL after a few snaps) sitting and vanilla play calling leading to a blowout loss to a Denver squad fighting for its playoff life.
When the Chiefs signed Humphries I was cautiously optimistic after reviewing his obvious passing down snaps from 2023 (where he played quite well, if you’re interested in taking a look). But of course, that was last year. He’s had a major injury since then (the torn ACL that he suffered that ended his 2023 season), and he’s now trying to play his way into “game shape” after suffering a hamstring injury in his first action with the Chiefs weeks ago.
In other words, things change. Players change. And in the meantime, the Chiefs have found a bit of stability (with a lot of context, which we’ll get to) playing Thuney at LT and Mike Caliendo at LG, with the offense performing as well as it has all season over the last several weeks.
And so Week 18 contained at least one interesting storyline in a game where the Chiefs were clearly trying to just get out healthy. How would Humphries perform in his first extended action back? And did he look healthy enough (as well as competent enough) to justify moving Thuney back to LG? As I wrote when I reviewed Thuney and Caliendo’s snaps following the Houston game, Thuney has been decent but not high-level at LT, while Caliendo has been below average at LG overall. So the basic thought process is that if Humphries can be “decent” or even “average” at LT, the overall OL would be better by putting him in at LT and sliding Thuney back to LG, thus massively upgrading that spot without too much of a downgrade at LT.
Again, that’s the basic thought process. But knowing what Humphries showed against an excellent Denver pass rush is the first step. He faced off against high level rushers much of the day, particularly Nik Bonitto, who gave the Chiefs fits in their first matchup.
(obviously Humphries will be at LT in each video clip)
Humphries had some obviously poor snaps on the broadcast (and we’ll talk about those), but of course what matters most is what an OL does on a snap by snap basis, not just a couple of highlights (or I suppose lowlights). And so to the film I went, charting each snap.
In case you’ve forgotten or are new to this site, the way I review/chart OL play is for wins, losses, and neutral plays, while also looking at pressures/hits/sacks allowed. It’s a way to isolate how the lineman performed from the rest of the offense while avoiding some of the pitfalls of gauging offensive line play.
As a refresher, keep in mind that a 10% loss percentage is my line for what I’m comfortable with from a starter. There’s some variation game-by-game depending on quality of competition and amount of “help” a tackle gets (in the form of chips, moving pockets, rollouts, play action, slides, etc), but that 10% has served me well over the years. And losses are definitely the stat to watch the closest. The problem with a loss from an offensive lineman is that it can torpedo a play or, at the very least, make it much more difficult for the play to succeed. In other words, a win by a lineman doesn’t guarantee success, but a loss goes a long way towards guaranteeing failure.
All right, let’s talk Humphries’ film, what the context of that film is, and what a reasonable plan is moving forward for Reid.