Creed Humphrey came in second. In the Associated Press’s preseason ranking of the NFL’s interior offensive linemen for 2026, the Kansas City Chiefs center placed No. 2, edged by Chicago’s Joe Thuney — his former teammate on the Kansas City line.
The vote was close. AP’s Josh Dubow reported that Thuney collected four first-place votes and 42 points to Humphrey’s two first-place votes and 40 points, a two-point margin at the top of the position. Dubow wrote that Humphrey “has been a Pro Bowler the last four seasons and an All-Pro the past two as the anchor of the line for the Chiefs.”
The underlying numbers carry the argument. Humphrey allowed one sack and eight total pressures across the 2025 season and earned an 88.8 grade from Pro Football Focus, the best mark of any interior lineman in the league. He has made the Pro Bowl in each of his four seasons since Kansas City drafted him in the second round in 2022 out of Oklahoma, and earned All-Pro honors in the last two.
The Thuney connection adds a wrinkle. The two anchored the Chiefs’ interior together before Thuney was traded to Chicago, and now they sit one and two at the same position on the same panel’s ballot. Kansas City let Thuney go and kept Humphrey as the younger, longer-term piece at the center of the line.
For Kansas City, the ranking confirms what has held for four years: center is among the least of the team’s concerns. Humphrey has anchored the line since 2022, and grading first at his position in 2025 puts a third straight All-Pro season within reach.
