BREAKING: Chiefs Deal Star OL to NFC in Massive Trade

The Kansas City Chiefs managed to hold onto one star offensive lineman this week by franchise tagging Trey Smith, but they are now seeing one other make his exit.

According to multiple reports, the Chiefs are trading star offensive lineman Joe Thuney to the Chicago Bears for a 2026 fourth-round selection.

Thuney has played several key roles for the Chiefs in their Super Bowl three-peat quest, but he will now head to Chicago to be a key piece of Ben Johnson's rebuild of the Bears' offensive line.

Thuney, 32, gained a lot of notoriety last year for switching to left tackle for the tackle-needy Chiefs after spending his entire career as a guard.

"Yeah, Joe's a natural guard/center. I mean, that's really what his position was. By the graciousness of his heart, he stepped out and played tackle for us, and what a job he did. But I think you move him back inside, and he goes back to what he does best," Chiefs head coach Andy Reid said at the NFL Scouting Combine.

The Chiefs had big questions facing their offensive line even before the Thuney trade. Now, those are about to ramp up even more.

"Yeah, we're keeping everything, everything wide open there as we do this thing, and really digging in on what's available, potentially in free agent, what's available in the draft. And it's probably too early to really go there, but that's a position that we're looking at for sure," Reid said.

"I think, like every offseason, I don't want to speak for all the teams but I think every offseason it's offensive line and defensive line. I mean, you got to get a quarterback, right, and so we have one, and we're blessed to have one," Jaguars general manager Brett Veach said last week.

"But I think if you look at how we've handled the offseasons, whether it was a Joe Thuney or trading for a (Orlando) Brown or a (Jawaan) Taylor or Frank Clark or Chris Jones, it's Mike Danna last year. We're always investing in the offensive and defensive lines. It's just some years you have more numbers to work with than others. That would probably be a similar challenge this year, and it's just coming up with some different, unique plans. But I think our priority is always on the fronts first, and this will be no different."

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