PITTSBURGH, PA – SEPTEMBER 16: Mitchell Schwartz #71 of the Kansas City Chiefs (Photo by Joe Sargent/Getty Images)
Mitchell Schwartz is one of the best linemen in football, and it’s high time we put some respect on his name.
Playing right tackle in the NFL, as Kansas City Chiefs star Mitchell Schwartz knows first hand, is a rough and tumble life. You rarely get the recognition you deserve, even if your play warrants it. When Patrick Mahomes’ best offensive lineman was once again disrespected in an ESPN ranking, Mitchell’s older brother, former NFL lineman Geoff Schwartz, went scorched earth on the worldwide leader.
The elder Schwartz unloaded on ESPN after his little brother was ranked outside of the top 10 offensive tackles in the league. Dallas’ Tyron Smith and Houston’s Laremy Tunsil led off the list, with San Francisco’s Trent Williams, who didn’t play a game last year, ranked No. 3.
Mitchell Schwartz is the most disrespected elite player in the NFL.
One NFL defensive coach said that it’s “hard to put him in the elite category” because the former Cal star “doesn’t pass any eyeball test, measurables, numbers.” Has this guy even watched Schwartz play?
Schwartz has been an All-Pro the last four years making first-team in 2019 after not giving up a sack during the entire season. Despite all these accolades and his role on a team that won a championship, he was only given an honorable mention in ESPN’s rankings. The fact that a four-time All-Pro who is one of the best players on a loaded Chiefs team hasn’t even made a Pro Bowl shows that fans are just as unaware of his true greatness.
It’s harder to find elite offensive lineman than it is to find elite players at any other position, quarterback excluded. You’d think that a player who has been ranked as one of the four best tackles in football every year for the last four seasons and played an integral role on a Super Bowl champion would get what he deserved when it comes time to place him among the NFL’s elite, but fans, players, and the media are somehow still not giving Schwartz the respect he deserves.