Orlando Brown and Trey Smith vs San Francisco: Reviewing every snap

How did the Chiefs new LT and RG fare upon a review of every snap in their first action?

Football is back!

The Chiefs first preseason game is in the books. While there are a million storylines that one can take away from their matchup against the 49ers (and as I wrote about Friday, even meaningless preseason action can have meaning), the most important storyline for preseason (and maybe even the entire season) is how the Chiefs’ revamped offensive line looks.

The group that started against the 49ers represented an across-the-board change from this time last year, with Reid starting (from left to right) Orlando Brown, Joe Thuney, Creed Humphrey, Trey Smith, and Lucas Niang in the Chiefs’ first action of the season. And while the Chiefs’ Super Bowl hopes rise and fall on Patrick Mahomes and Andy Reid, how this group does will go a long ways towards determining how easy or hard that path will be.

With that in mind, I’m going to be taking a look at every single starting offensive lineman this week. I polled Twitter as to whether you’d want to wait for me to be able to chart the whole group (and thus wait longer) or do it piecemeal, with one player at a time, and piecemeal won! We’re starting with Orlando Brown, who will be protecting Mahomes’ blind side, and Trey Smith, the rookie right guard battling for the starting spot.

But first, a word on methodology when I look at offensive line. It’s an easy position to miss, and the only way to really know how a player did is to look at each snap and figure out how they performed regardless of how the play turned out.

I chart every pass blocking and run blocking down for wins, losses, and neutral snaps (“PBW” = pass block win, “PBL” = pass block loss, and the same with run blocking), as well as for pressures/hits/sacks allowed on the quarterback. A win is a snap in which the lineman executes an excellent 1x1 block or a great combo block (starting with a double team then getting into space alone). A loss is when a blocker gets beaten or misses a block. A neutral snap is when the blocker might give ground but fights the defender to a draw, or has little to do on the snap.

It’s worth noting that losses are far, far more important than wins for offensive linemen, as in general a dominant block doesn’t guarantee that a play succeeds but losing on a snap can doom a play to failure. So a player having a high win percentage matters a lot less than a low loss percentage, and “neutral” snaps are still a victory of sorts (especially against elite competition).

Let’s start with Brown’s numbers, keeping in mind that taking too much away from a single quarter of one game would be a mistake (but that’s what preseason is for people!).

Orland Brown vs the 49ers

It’s worth noting, before we even start, that this is an incredibly small sample size AND the 49ers were sitting multiple defensive players.

Matt Barrows @mattbarrows

#49ers who are not "anticipated" to play, per pre-game report (takes a deep breath): Arik Armstead, Nick Bosa, Dee Ford, DJ Jones, Javon Kinlaw, Samson Ebukam, Fred Warner, Jason Verrett, K'Waun Williams and Emmanuel Moseley. (That's just defense).

So what should be expected, given that situation, is that the starting OL should be good to dominant. This is particularly true of a player like Brown, a 2-time Pro Bowler whose snaps with Baltimore last year were impressive.

Brown didn’t disappointing, managing to avoid notching a single true “loss” (though he had a pair of neutrals that came relatively close) on the day and allowing no pressures/hits/sacks on Mahomes or Henne during his brief stint.

Brown was what I expected as he got his feet wet in the Chiefs’ system, showing that his length, width, and absurd strength makes him a tough out for defenders to try and get past. This is true even if his feet aren’t as quick as the now-departed Eric Fisher, his predecessor at left tackle.

(NOTE- my ability to highlight players is more limited right now as I learn the ins and outs of the “new,” and definitely not improved, Gamepass. Obviously all Brown snaps we’re looking the left tackle, though we may utilize these same plays to talk about Smith as well)

Brown’s slide is a work in progress right now, and when working against speed rushes he often ends up having to chase rather than slide at this point (that’s something that could be subject to change, but may not need to be, which we’ll get to). Here, Brown is playing a more vertical set than he usually did in Baltimore, letting the rusher come to him. He’s already shoved this defender aside with ease once, so the rusher knows he’s not going to win a straight on struggle and attempts to go wide. Once he commits to that, Brown, chases him down and shoves him well around the pocket.

Brown’s ability to dominate when defenders come straight at him or try to move inside allows him to generally anticipate what rushers will attempt to do; Beat him around the edge. Knowing this lets him cheat a bit and over-commit to chasing them down even if they get a step on him. This allows him to win ugly while directing defenders around the pocket, even if he’s initially in a bad spot.

Here, Brown attempts a more aggressive set into the rusher, in part to sell the play action, and the defender ignores even the possibility of a run in favor of trying to gain the edge. This puts Brown at a disadvantage and the defender is able to turn the corner. However, Brown is flexible enough at the hips to turn and chase the defender, and wide/long enough to deliver a shove to send the rusher by the pocket harmlessly.

Those wins don’t look great, but they do the job and maintain the area Mahomes is going to need to operate this year. It will also (on snaps that play out this way) give Mahomes a place to bail out to his left as defenders go around the pocket.

Overall, as a pass blocker Brown plays like a work in progress, but his massive wingspan, strength, and intelligence were on display and allowed him to keep his quarterbacks clean. He wasn’t asked to do a great deal as a run blocker, but did wall off his defenders (or redirect them simply with his size even when they avoided contact), and also showed some push on 3rd and short in the red zone.

This is a power run play (as opposed to the zone scheme they favored so often last season, which is a subject we touched on when discussing G/T counter recently), with Brown’s job to help build a wall by shoving the defensive tackle inside and then moving to the second level to the linebacker. He does his job nearly perfectly (though the linebacker manages to shed him after being driven backwards initially), and with the rest of the OL’s help they convert.

This particular play is interesting to note simply because it’s a very specific situation (short yardage, red zone) the Chiefs struggled to convert last year. With teams firing off at the line of scrimmage their inside zone runs just weren’t generally effective, and their run blocking left a lot to be desired. Here, they were able to essentially bully their way to a first down.

Overall, Brown wasn’t perfect. His footwork when setting up vertically isn’t pretty, with more backpedal than slide at times. And his lack of later agility is noticeable in a way that could haunt him against quicker pass rushers. But he played well and showed all the same traits he showed off in Baltimore, creating a comfortable pocket for his quarterbacks and giving KC extra oomph in the run game.

If you’re enjoying this and haven’t become a full-fledged subscriber yet, know that we’re going to be looking at the rest of the OL, as well as multiple other facts of Saturday’s game, as the week goes along, and this is the sort of thing you’ll be seeing here all year. You can subscribe now for 60% off, a mere 12 bucks a year (the price of a footlong sub), and lock that price in FOREVER (as in, the price never, ever goes up) by clicking this link. Do it. Do it for the OL.

All right, we’ve looked at Brown. Now what about Trey Smith, the rookie right guard who has been the buzz of training camp?

Trey Smith vs the 49ers

Like Brown, Smith didn’t give up a pressure, hit or sack. Unlike Brown, Smith didn’t pitch a shutout in terms of losses, with one as a run blocker and one in pass protection. His lone loss as a pass protector came when he fell victim to a nice push/pull (we used this play above, but this time watch the RG).

Because the Chiefs are running play action, Smith is firing off the ball here as though he’s run blocking. The defender does a nice job getting inside Smith’s pads and standing him up, then tosses him aside. To his credit, Smith doesn’t lose his balance completely and he keeps fighting on the play. To his blame, the way he does it is by fairly blatantly holding. The refs swallow the flags, though, so while it’s a technical loss it doesn’t hurt the play.

Smith’s other loss came on a running down in which he was unable to prevent his defender from squeezing the gap on what was an admittedly difficult reach block.

This play feels like it’s a learning moment for Smith, who is seeing ALL of this for the first time. He doesn’t get low enough on initial contact and doesn’t quite get his hips turned to wall off the play. He’s also a little late to recognize that they’re going to end up in the gap and shift to trying to drive the defender down the field when it’s clear he can’t keep him out of the lane. Smith’s loss here is part of why this run is stuffed for little gain.

Both of Smith’s losses scream lack of experience and a blocker who is going to have a few tough moments as he adjusts to life in the NFL. But it’s worth noting that neither of them are terrible losses, and both show some correctable mistakes.

It’s also worth noting that for a rookie seeing his very first NFL action, Smith overall acquitted himself quite well. He showed excellent movement in space when asked, both pulling down the line and climbing to the next level. But more importantly, he showed recognition and savvy as a pass blocker.

The 49ers run a stunt against Smith and Niang here to see if they can take advantage of a pair of rookies on the right side. Smith handles it perfectly, helping send the driving tackle towards Niang and then passing him off when the edge starts to loop around. He delivers a big shot to the edge to boot. It’s a very encouraging snap for a young player, as Smith recognizes the games quickly and adjusts.

Speaking of adjustments, Smith demonstrated some savvy in pass pro with his technique as well as recognizing defensive line games.

Here, Smith is battling with the tackle, who is unable to shove him aside initially. The tackle adjusts his rush well, shifting to a move the other direction and trying to shove Smith aside that way (and take advantage of Smith’s momentum). Smith gets momentarily detached, but recovers utilizing his shoulder to drive into the defender and direct him around the pocket. Henne never gets remotely pressured and it’s an easy completion.

Smith has some work to do on his technique (which is true of every rookie offensive lineman in history), but he demonstrated throughout his time on the field that his power, athleticism and mean streak translated to the NFL level, and he showed that he can mentally process what is coming at him as well. While he wasn’t as consistent as Brown, it was an impressive first start for the young player and something to build on.

Obviously, as you look at these snaps you can watch the other players along the line. But we’re going to discuss them all in more detail as the week moves along, and there was some really encouraging stuff there as well (especially with Humphrey and Thuney). But for now, it’s good to see Brown play well in the new system and Smith show he’s not in over his head. There are many more steps to be taken, but the first one was a very positive one for 2 of the Chiefs’ new additions.