Chiefs guard tore UCL during Super Bowl

The only offensive lineman in place for each of the Chiefs’ three Patrick Mahomes-era Super Bowl championships, Nick Allegretti received a start Sunday night due to Joe Thuney‘s pectoral injury. Kansas City’s left guard sub did not make it out of Super Bowl LVIII unscathed.

Allegretti finished out his fifth season with the Chiefs with a torn UCL in his elbow. The team’s top backup O-lineman suffered the tear in the second quarter against the 49ers, according to NFL.com’s Tom Pelissero, but played all 79 Chiefs offensive snaps during the team’s overtime win.

An MRI Tuesday revealed Allegretti sustained a full tear, Pelissero adds. It is not known if Thuney will need surgery to repair his pec injury, but Allegretti is undoubtedly set to go under the knife due to this elbow malady. Allegretti played out a one-year, $2.58M deal this season. The UCL tear will deal a blow to the veteran spot starter’s hopes of parlaying this season into a more lucrative contract in free agency.

A 2019 seventh-round pick, Allegretti worked as a backup behind Laurent Duvernay-Tardif and Andrew Wylie as a rookie before being called upon to start 12 games (counting three playoff tilts) in 2020. Duvernay-Tardif opted out due to COVID-19 concerns that year, with the doctor returning to his native Canada to help out amid the pandemic, and the Chiefs entered Super Bowl LV without both tackles (Eric Fisher, Mitchell Schwartz). The Buccaneers’ onslaught on Mahomes that night prompted the Chiefs to overhaul their O-line, but they kept Allegretti — a guard starter against Tampa Bay during a blowout loss — on his rookie deal through 2022. They then re-signed him in March.

The Chiefs have Thuney and right guard Trey Smith under contract for 2024; the latter is extension-eligible now. It would make sense for the two-time reigning champions to keep Allegretti in place as a swingman, but it will be interesting to see if the 27-year-old blocker commands a notable market despite this injury. Wylie used Super Bowl LVII as a springboard to a three-year, $24M Commanders deal, though he has more starting experience than his former teammate. Allegretti, an Illinois alum, will enter free agency with 18 career starts — including two in this year’s postseason.