inemen now on the roster — except for Allen — have playing experience at center.At this writing, the Chiefs haven’t yet committe

KANSAS CITY Womens Patrick Mahomes II Jersey , Mo. — Twice in a span of three years the Kansas City Chiefs spent their top draft pick on defense, and the response from their fanbase was a collective shrug followed by some frantic Google searches.Who had heard of Dee Ford outside the SEC? Or Chris Jones, for that matter?Ford was a speedy, athletic but raw pass rusher out of Auburn whom many draft pundits considered a risky reach when the Chiefs chose him 23rd overall in 2014. Jones had a solid if unspectacular career at Mississippi State before the Chiefs took him with the No. 37 overall pick two years later.Yet those two have been the lone bright spots on a blighted Chiefs defense.Ford has piled up 12 sacks and forced six fumbles in a contract year, giving the Chiefs a tough but welcome financial decision to make this offseason. Jones has at least one sack in an NFL-record 11 consecutive games and his 15½ this season is second only to Rams star Aaron Donald.Together, they have more sacks than the Raiders, Giants and playoff-bound Patriots.“I don’t think too much about it,” said Jones, who was among the more noteworthy Pro Bowl snubs this season. “We’re just trying to win games. That’s what is most important right now.”Especially given the stakes this week: The Chiefs must beat Oakland on Sunday to win the AFC West and earn the No. 1 seed in the playoffs, or risk potentially dropping to the No. 5 seed.Yet the Chiefs probably wouldn’t be in such a position without Ford and Jones, and simply making that statement speaks volumes to what they’ve accomplished in their young careers.Ford dealt with a series of injuries that kept him on the sideline about as much as the field, and he struggled to adjust to the NFL game. He was almost exclusively a pass rusher at Auburn, but learning the nuances of pass coverage and stopping the run took a few years.100<button class="view-gallery">View Gallery</button> Gallery:View from the sidelines: NFL cheerleaders 2018Raj Mehta-USA TODAY Sports | Raj MehtaSure, there were bright spots along the way. But nothing resembling his breakthrough this season.“I think Dee, he’s healthy, feels good about the things he is doing,” Chiefs coach Andy Reid said. “He’s doing a good job of setting the edge, which kind of gets overlooked just because of his pass rush. He is playing good football right now.”Ford had three sacks and forced two fumbles in a win over the Broncos earlier this season, and his steady play has allowed him to remain on the field even in obvious running situations.In other words, he’s developed into a well-rounded linebacker.One that’s about to get paid handsomely.The Chiefs can’t afford to let him go in free agency, so Ford is an attractive candidate to get the franchise tag. And with a salary cap expected to be about $190 million next year, that means giving Ford more than $16 million — a substantial bump from the roughly $8.7 million he’s making this year.They could also sign him to a long-term deal, though Khalil Mack just shattered the market with his $141 million, six-year deal with the Bears. Eight figures for Ford is hardly out of the question.Then there is Jones, who lost about 25 pounds since last season and has become one of the top interior pass rushers in the NFL. He started his sack streak in Week 5 against Jacksonville Tyreek Hill Jersey , and not only has Jones had at least one in each game since, but he has five games with more than one.Throw in enough versatility to adequately defend the run, and enough personality to make him a fan favorite, and Jones becomes the kind of cornerstone upon which the Chiefs can build.“His body fat is way down. He works his fundamentals and techniques. That’s what he does,” Reid said. “He still has room to grow, which is great. He isn’t tapped out by any means. I will tell you it all started in the offseason. Now it is paying off for him as the season has gone on.”It’s going to pay off in another ways. Jones still has one year left on his rookie deal, and an extension now would be costly for the Chiefs. But the alternative is to wait until the 2020 season ends, at which point they’ll be up against everybody else in free agency in need of a pass rusher.All that lies in the future, though. Ford and Jones insist they are focused solely on the present, and that means preparing for a game against Oakland with major playoff implications. Since head coach Andy Reid first came to town in 2013, Kansas City Chiefs fans have gone into every season worried about the offensive line.Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty ImagesNot only have there been concerns about the development of offensive linemen the Chiefs have drafted — like left tackle Eric Fisher and right guard Laurent Duvernay-Tardif — there’s also been worry about the parade of veteran players that have been acquired in attempts to solidify the line.Players like Ryan Harris, Ben Grubbs, Mike McGlynn and Jah Reid all came and went.Standouts like Rodney Hudson, Jeff Allen and Geoff Schwartz were lost in free agency.But starting in 2016 — when Fisher and Duvernay-Tardif had finally come into their own, 2015 draft pick Mitch Morse solidified his position as the starting center and veteran Mitchell Schwartz was brought in at right tackle — that Chiefs offensive line began to come into focus.Coming into 2018, the last remaining question was at left guard.Would Witzmann retain the position he played in 2017 or would he be replaced by 2016 draft pick Parker Ehinger?But on August 31, the Chiefs traded Ehinger to the Dallas Cowboys and on September 3, Witzmann was released.The next day, the Chiefs signed former Cleveland Browns offensive lineman Cam Erving — who had been a swing tackle for the Chiefs in 2017 — to a two-year contract extension.Here at Arrowhead Pride, we assumed Erving would continue to be a swing tackle.But as we would soon learn, Erving would be the starter at left guard.While Erving had never been a fan favorite, the Chiefs entered 2018 with a more stable offensive line than at any time since Reid’s arrival, and the unit played well in the opening weeks of the season — which pleasantly surprised more than a few Chiefs who had been concerned about Erving’s ability to hold down the left guard position.Unfortunately, it wouldn’t last.Photo by Peter Aiken/Getty ImagesIn the Week 5 game against the Jacksonville Jaguars, Laurent Duvernay-Tardif suffered a leg fracture that will — at best — keep him on injured reserve until late in the season.The following week against the New England Patriots http://www.chiefslockerroom.com/authentic-demetrius-harris-jersey , Mitch Morse suffered a concussion and remains in concussion protocol.Fifth-year player Jordan Devey — who came to the Chiefs in 2016 after stints with the Patriots and San Francisco 49ers — filled in admirably when Duvernay-Tardif was first injured and shifted to center the following week when Morse suffered his concussion.Andrew Wylie — an unheralded UDFA rookie — took over at right guard.Both started in those positions Sunday against the Cincinnati Bengals.Then on Tuesday, Devey was unexpectedly placed on injured reserve and is likely out for the season.Although few fans noticed it on Sunday night, Devey was injured in the first quarter — as explained by Chiefs VP of sports medicine Rick Burkholder on Wednesday.“Jordan came to me in the first quarter of the game and had a right arm, shoulder problem,” explained Burkholder. “He had a big laceration and pretty significant cleat mark on his right arm. He felt like he could play, we felt like he could play. He came in after the game, we tested him again and then decided to get an MRI because things didn’t add up. It looked like he got stepped on. Turned out, with the MRI, he had a right pectoralis major tear.”Devey deserves a lot of credit for finishing the game — as noted by quarterback Patrick Mahomes on Wednesday. “It’s unreal. I actually saw when he did it and I looked at him and I said, ‘Are you good?’ He said, ‘I’m good to go.’ And I was, ‘Alright, let’s go.’ He played the whole game and fought through — and they had some dudes in the middle, too. He fought his tail off, played a really good game with basically one arm.”Oct 2, 2017; Kansas City, MO, USA; Kansas City Chiefs center Zach Fulton (73) prepares to snap the ball as offensive tackle Jordan Devey (65) and running back Charcandrick West (35) prepare to block during the game against the Washington Redskins at Arrowhead Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Denny Medley-USA TODAY SportsDenny Medley-USA TODAY SportsEven with Devey playing injured, the Chiefs offensive line allowed just one sack on 13 pressures against the Bengals, and Mahomes was able to throw for 358 yards and four touchdowns on the day.According to Chiefs head coach Andy Reid, that’s a credit to both general manager Brett Veach and offensive line coach Andy Heck.“Things happen. That’s the National Football League,” said Reid on Wednesday. “Brett has done a good job of bringing guys in. Reiter is here and he has experience, so he can step in if needed, and Allen can play if needed. Andy does a great job of rotating those guys during practice, now Womens Armani Watts Jersey , [during] OTAs, and [during] training camp. Everyone can kind of work into all the positions. We don’t get concerned about that, we just try to move forward. If you can go then you can go, if you can’t you can’t, and we move on.”Reid was referring to Austin Reiter — a third-year player who spent two years with the Browns before being picked up by the Chiefs on waivers in September — and former Chief Jeff Allen, who was re-signed by the Chiefs on October 16.Allen was a a second-round draft pick for the Chiefs in 2012, went to the Houston Texans in free agency in 2016, and was placed on Houston’s PUP list last spring.This week, the Chiefs also promoted center James Murray from the practice squad and filled that vacancy by signing offensive tackle Pace Murphy.All of the backup offensive linemen now on the roster — except for Allen — have playing experience at center.At this writing, the Chiefs haven’t yet committed themselves to a starting center for the game against the Broncos on Sunday — but as our own Pete Sweeney noted on Thursday, a starting lineup of Fisher, Wylie, Erving, Allen and Schwartz would be a good bet.(Note: the Chiefs announced on Friday afternoon that Austin Reiter will replace Jordan Devey at center against Denver)It’s been a long road to where we are with the Chiefs offensive line under Andy Reid.But their success in 2018 — even with all the chaos from injuries in recent weeks — can be attributed in part to Reid’s continued insistence on versatility in his offensive linemen.As we clearly see this week, versatility gives the Chiefs a lot of options when players are injured — and explains why the Chiefs were willing to give a contract extension to Erving at the beginning of the season.Like Zach Fulton before him, Erving can play just about anywhere on the line, which makes him very valuable to the Chiefs.But the two biggest parts of this puzzle remain Eric Fisher and Mitchell Schwartz.When he was drafted, Fisher was considered to be a player that would require some development to reach his potential, and that evaluation was correct.But he’s now a solid left tackle.Schwartz’s acquisition two years ago solidified the right side of the line and opened the way for the Chiefs’ versatile offensive linemen to fight their way through adversity.While Fisher and Schwartz will never go down in the history as bookend tackles, they’ve been more than enough to make the Chiefs offense productive — particularly in front of a passer like Mahomes, who is equally effective both inside and outside of the pocket.