Hunter Nourzad brings physicality and athleticism to the Chiefs’ offensive line

Kansas City may have drafted its interior swing lineman of the future.

In the fifth round of the 2024 NFL Draft, the Kansas City Chiefs drafted Penn State offensive lineman Hunter Nourzad. At 6 feet 4 and 317 pounds, Nourzad finished his collegiate career with two seasons as an interior offensive lineman at Penn State after four years as a tackle for Cornell.

The Chiefs probably intend to make Nourzad their interior “swing” lineman — and his film suggests he could do it.

Let’s take a look.

Pass Protection

Nourzad moves well laterally, so it’s easy to see how he was able to play tackle at Cornell.

On this snap, Nourzad begins by setting to his right against the 1-technique facing him — but he must quickly re-direct his movement. The defensive tackle tries to cross his face and rush the opposite A-gap, but Nourzad fires his hands simultaneously with his first pass set, which helps make the re-direct easier. The defensive tackle fights to free himself, but Nourzad mirrors him to win the play.

While Nourzad’s upper body strength leaves something to be desired, he does have quick feet, good natural leverage and a strong anchor that he uses to his advantage.

In this play, Nourzad has a head-up nose tackle facing him. On the snap, the tackle begins with a serious bull rush — long-arming Nourzad and taking advantage of his length by pressing one arm into Nourzad’s chest. While the length disadvantage keeps Nourzad from grasping the defender cleanly, he can use his leverage. So as the defender keeps pushing, Nourzad sinks his hips and anchors himself. This allows him to trap the long arm — stopping the defensive tackle in his tracks.

Nourzad isn’t perfect, but with his limited experience on the interior, he demonstrated a natural feel for pass blocking from the center — and the athletic ability to recover when he is beaten off the snap.

Run blocking

Lacking overpowering strength for the running game, Nourzad can still succeed in combination to the second level and on outside running plays.

Here, we see the Nittany Lions running an outside zone play. Nourzad has a nose tackle head-up against him. On the snap, the nose tries to fire into the play-side A-gap. Nourzad executes a perfect bucket step, putting himself in a position to win the play.

By getting his head across the defender’s body, Nourzad creates a lane for the running back, who turns back inside. Now out of position, the nose tackle tries to fight through the block, but Nourzad controls him.

The play ends with a positive gain — and a pancake for Nourzad.

On this rep, Penn State is running zone to the left. Nourzad has a nose tackle playing a shade to his right — and must assist the right guard before he can move to the second level.

On the snap, Nourzad picks up his left foot before going to the right, giving the nose tackle a solid shot. This allows the right guard enough time to overtake the play. Then Nourzad works upfield, exploding into the play-side linebacker from a perfect angle. Nourzad locks on and drives the linebacker down the field.

For a center and back-side guard combo block on a zone run, this is as good as it gets.

Movement skills

Throughout head coach Andy Reid’s tenure, Chiefs have valued mobile offensive linemen — and one of Nourzad’s biggest positives is his movement ability.

On this snap, Penn State starts by selling a passing play up front — but then the quarterback takes off. Nourzad begins by selling slide-left protection. After giving the defensive tackle a shove, he takes off downfield — where he latches onto a safety, displaying good body control and core strength as he takes the defender for a ride.

The safety makes no impact on the play, which ends with Nourzad helping the quarterback power over the goal line.

Nourzad’s movement ability also allows him to do one of the hardest things a center can do at any level: snap and pull. The technique required to snap the ball, open your hips, turn and run down the line at full speed — all in one smooth motion — is something very few can master. The Nittany Lions regularly depended on Nourzad to get it done.

Here, Nourzad fires the snap back to the quarterback — and in some smooth motion, he opens up and pulls toward the defensive end. The defender is screaming upfield, but Nourzad sells out to give him a shove. The running back follows his blockers for a nice gain.

The bottom line

Right away, Nourzad will have a chance to become Kansas City’s immediate backup for center Creed Humphrey. He’ll also compete to be the interior swing player behind starting guards Joe Thuney and Trey Smith.

In 2024, Nourzad is likely to play only if other players are injured — but in 2025 (and beyond) he’ll probably have a chance to compete for starting jobs.

For now, Nourzad profiles as a solid interior depth player — but with more experience (and his tools), he could become a starter.