KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Offensive tackle D.J. Humphries figured out quickly how eager the Kansas City Chiefs were to get him into the lineup after he signed with the team last week. Player after player sought him out to welcome Humphries to Kansas City.
"Everybody's excited for me to be here,'' Humphries said. "That's a really good feeling coming from someplace. You've been in one place for so long and you go to a new place and you're getting welcomed with open arms by All-Pro players.
" ... It's like you're getting all [these] guys [with] arms stretched out like, 'Oh my God, we're so happy that you're here.' This is crazy.''
The Chiefs have given similar greetings to other new teammates, but in Humphries' case, there's a good reason they've been so welcoming. Even though he only joined last week and hasn't played yet, Humphries could become a key player in the Chiefs' attempt to win a third straight Super Bowl.
Kansas City has had to bench two of its left tackle starters at different times this season. Rookie Kingsley Suamataia began the season as the starter but was pulled from the lineup during a Week 2 game against the Cincinnati Bengals and hasn't started since. His replacement, Wanya Morris, was removed from the game last week against the Las Vegas Raiders.
"They're going against good players and the good ones have gotten probably the better of us, but it's things that these guys will learn from and they can bank for the future and get themselves better,'' coach Andy Reid said. "I think that'll help us down the road.''
Morris allowed three sacks against the Raiders. He was benched in the fourth quarter after the third.
Mahomes was upset after the play but said he never spoke with Reid about making the switch.
"I was more upset just because I felt like there was people open,'' Mahomes said. "We hadn't scored in the red zone and so I knew that was a big drive and I think I was just more upset about the fact that we didn't execute at a high enough level in the red zone.''
He also said he hasn't been affected by the instability at left tackle.
"I've played with all those guys before and I know those guys are out there battling,'' Mahomes said. "They're out there and they've played winning football before and so I just go about my business, go about my process and try to stay within the scheme of the offense and then when stuff breaks down I try to go out there and make plays.''
Morris has a pass block win rate of 88.2%, which is 38th among 66 tackles with minimum playing time. Suamataia hasn't played enough to qualify and his win rate is 78.0%.
"It's a little bit of everything that gets you,'' Reid said on why he pulled Morris against the Raiders. "He started off pretty good and then it kind of went from there. And that happens with young guys. Nobody wants that to happen that way, but sometimes it happens and then you kind of get frozen in your own feet there.
"It's a great learning experience for him. I would expect him to do that. Whatever direction this thing goes, I would expect him to do that. And he's a good kid and he works hard. So I'd tell you the same thing about Kingsley.''
The struggles of Morris and Suamataia are the reason the Chiefs brought in 30-year-old Humphries. He started for eight seasons for the Arizona Cardinals, making the Pro Bowl in 2021. He tore his ACL late last season and hasn't played in a game since.
Reid held off on naming Humphries the starter for Sunday night's game against the Los Angeles Chargers because he's had limited practice time. But he indicated Humphries would be in the lineup whenever he's ready.
"I don't think that's probably fair to D.J. right now, with him coming off this offseason,'' Reid said about naming Humphries as the starter so early in the practice week. "So I think we just play it by ear as we go and if he feels OK then we'll give him an opportunity. If it's not where it needs to be, then you don't, so we will just see how it goes.
"This week I'll have a better idea as we go and he'll have a better idea.''
Humphries indicated it's nice to be wanted but the Chiefs didn't have to sell him on their opportunity. He wanted to continue his career after it looked to others like it might be finished after his knee injury and subsequent release from the Cardinals.
"(Retirement) wasn't really ever on my mind, but just the response and how people kind of perceive what was going on, it kind of caught me off guard,'' Humphries said. "I think that was the toughest part about the whole thing was kind of like people expect me to just tuck it right now.
"You find out stuff about yourself (when) you go through stuff like that. I knew I was a tough guy already, but having to go through those things and getting those (texts that read), 'You had such a great career, man, what a run.' Those texts were really trying for me, people just assuming it's over because I'm hurt.''
Chiefs wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins, once a teammate of Humphries with the Cardinals, called to urge him to sign with Kansas City. Humphries said that wasn't necessary because his eight-year-old son Dash had already told him he needed to join the Chiefs.
Dash informed Humphries of this shortly after he was let go by the Cardinals.
"He didn't bat an eyelash, didn't care about me getting released,'' Humphries said. "(Dash said) 'I really want you to go to Kansas City so you can play with Patrick Mahomes. You could probably win a Super Bowl.' And I was like, 'Yeah, so thank you.'
"He didn't have a care about what's going on. His automatic mind was like, 'You should go to the Chiefs.' From then on, everybody would say something here and there and I was like, 'My son said that's where I'm going.' Fast forward to now. Here we are. I've been calling him every day like, 'Man, you're a trip. You spoke it.'"