Ben Stockwell of Pro Football Focus noticed in his game tape notes of the Chicago Bears vs. Kansas City Chiefs game that the Chiefs’ weakest link along the offensive line was at right tackle. Barry Richardson earned the worst grade for the team, and yet that’s not surprising for anyone who’s been familiar with the club for some time. That’s because the same thing was being said about Richardson last year at this time and the Chiefs still failed to address it.
Stockwell writes, "After the Chiefs cut their ties with Jared Gaither this week they were left with no backup plan to the persistently disappointing Barry Richardson (-6.1) at right tackle. He didn’t exactly vindicate his coaches and front office with his display and was the lowest-graded player for the entire Chiefs’ offense this week. Whether Gaither was made a scapegoat for his false start in last week’s game or there were off-the-field issues that hastened his departure, there is little doubt that the Chiefs will need to act fast to get another contingency in for Richardson in the offseason.
“Once again, Richardson was beaten badly in both run and pass games, yielding two hits and a sack in pass protection along with a tackle for loss in the running game. Richardson was completely undone by Israel Idonije on that run play (Q2 2:20) and with Richardson now protecting the blindside of the Chiefs’ incumbent quarterback the rest of 2011, his poor play will come into sharper focus.”
The belief was that the Chiefs might get a right tackle in the draft in Gabe Carimi from Wisconsin, for instance, or another tackle later in the draft. They chose instead to give Jared Gaither a whirl as a free agent who slipped through his physical with the Oakland Raiders and that didn’t work out. Now they’re stuck with Richardson for at least the next four games.