Tennessee football: Chiefs’ Super Bowl struggles help one Vol’s draft stock

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers defeated the Kansas City Chiefs 31-9 at Super Bowl LV on Sunday night, marking the end of the 2020 NFL season and the beginning of what’s always an exciting lead up to the NFL Draft. For three former Tennessee football players, the wait to hopefully hear their names called on draft night will be grueling.

On the other hand, one former UT standout can sleep a little easier after watching Sunday night’s contest. If you watched any of the big game, you saw that Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs offense that has dominated the league over the last two seasons looked absolutely lost.

So uncharacteristic was the performance, in fact, that the unit responsible for almost 30 points a game during the regular season didn’t find the end zone once. The majority of their problems were caused by the Buccaneer’s pass rush and KC’s offensive line’s inability to stop it.

Kansas City’s offensive line trouble stems from an injury suffered in the AFC Championship game. Starting left tackle Eric Fisher was injured against the Buffalo Bills, forcing Andy Reid to reshuffle the rotation for the Super Bowl.

Reid elected to move starting right tackle Mike Remmers to the left side and pull right guard Eric Wylie out to the right tackle spot. His maneuvers proved to be insufficient though, as Mahomes was sacked three times and hurried on 29 of 56 drop backs, or 52 percent of the time, in the final game of the season.

So, how does one Tennessee football player benefit from the Chiefs’ lackluster performance in Super Bowl LV? Well, senior guard Trey Smith was already a name rumored to be on Kansas City’s draft radar, and with a performance like what we all just saw, it wouldn’t come as a surprise if KC used its first-round pick on an offensive lineman.

Although the Chiefs have some returning pieces to their O-line in 2021, it’s still quite clearly the team’s worst position group. They clearly need to upgrade the depth there given what one injury was able to do to them in the Super Bowl.

Nobody has to tell Tennessee football fans just how incredible Smith was for the Vols over the four years he spent in Knoxville. The 6’6″ 330-pound versatile lineman is a three-time first-team All-SEC talent and earned FWAA All-American honors in 2020. He had first-round buzz last season before deciding to return to Rocky Top for his senior year.

It’s worth noting that Kansas City also has a history of taking beloved former Vols. They took Eric Berry with the third pick in the 2010 NFL Draft, and while he didn’t win a Super Bowl with KC, he became one of the most beloved stars in the NFL.

With the 2021 NFL Draft slated to begin April 29, the Chiefs’ decision is still months away. After almost reaching the pinnacle of the sport, they need to regroup more than any other team before falling in love with a draft prospect.

However, Smith, if selected in the first round would be the first Tennessee football player taken within the first 32 picks since Derek Barnett was drafted by the Philadelphia Eagles in 2017. That’s a feat the Jackson, Tenn. native is certainly looking to accomplish.