One year after signing Joe Thuney to a five-year, $80-million-dollar contract, the Kansas City Chiefs’ left guard is still regarded as one of the best interior offensive linemen in the league.
In two recent rankings — Touchdown Wire’s top-11 offensive guards and ESPN’s top-10 interior offensive linemen — Thuney was ranked as the fourth-best in the league. Touchdown Wire’s Doug Farrar’s method involves a blend of film study and statistical analysis. He found that Thuney made a near-flawless adjustment to Kansas City’s offense compared to the system he came from in New England.
“In 2021, Thuney allowed one sack, two quarterback hits, and 14 quarterback hurries on 956 pass-blocking snaps. Going from the Patriots’ quick game to Kansas City’s theater of randomness might give ordinary guards a problem, but Thuney has proven to be anything but.
Thuney isn’t a pure power blocker at 6-foot-5 and 308 pounds, but he’s always been a sound technician, and that’s how he deals with bigger, more aggressive disruptors.”
A number of film examples prove Thuney’s technical excellence throughout a variety of different circumstances, from pass-blocking to working as a cutback blocker in the run game.
ESPN’s methodology is a bit different. In addition to film and statistical analysis, it surveys 50 NFL executives, coaches, scouts and players asking them to reveal a top-10 list of players at a particular position. An anonymous NFC executive told ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler what they believe makes Thuney great.
“Great technique, awareness, uses his intelligence to stay in control of the game,” They said of Thuney. “He’s just really dependable.”
Dependability was certainly the name of Thuney’s game in 2021. In Week 5 against the Buffalo Bills, Thuney played through the entire game with a broken hand without even telling his teammates. He’d play with that hand injury the rest of the season and start all 17 regular season games. He also started a game at left tackle when a pregame calf injury forced Orlando Brown Jr. out of the game. He allowed no sacks and just two pressures during that game.
Two different methods and they both came to the same conclusion — Thuney is one of the best of the best at his position in the NFL.
