# Joe Thuney
**Joe Thuney** (Joseph Michael Thuney, born 1992) is an American professional football offensive lineman who plays guard for the [Chicago Bears](https://www.edgepedia.org/chicago-bears) of the NFL. A third-round draft pick by the [New England Patriots](https://www.edgepedia.org/new-england-patriots) in 2016, he has started every game he has played in a ten-year career spanning the Patriots (2016-20), [Kansas City Chiefs](https://www.edgepedia.org/kansas-city-chiefs) (2021-24), and Bears (2025-present), winning four Super Bowls and earning the NFL's inaugural Protector of the Year award for the 2025 season.[1](https://www.chicagobears.com/team/players-roster/joe-thuney/)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Born | 1992, Centerville, Ohio; 6 feet 5, 308 pounds (listed 301 with the Bears)[2](https://operations.nfl.com/media/3823/2019-nfl-record-and-fact-book.pdf) • [1](https://www.chicagobears.com/team/players-roster/joe-thuney/) |
| Draft | New England Patriots, 3rd round (78th overall), 2016 NFL Draft[3](https://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/T/ThunJo00.htm) |
| Career starts | 163 regular-season starts in 164 games; 23 postseason starts, the second most by an offensive lineman in NFL history[1](https://www.chicagobears.com/team/players-roster/joe-thuney/) |
| Championships | Four Super Bowl wins (LI, LIII, LVII, LVIII); first player in NFL history to start the Super Bowl in each of his first three seasons[1](https://www.chicagobears.com/team/players-roster/joe-thuney/) |
| Honors | Four Pro Bowl selections; AP All-Pro honors five times, including first-team in 2023, 2024, and 2025; inaugural NFL Protector of the Year (2025)[1](https://www.chicagobears.com/team/players-roster/joe-thuney/) |
| Contracts | Five-year, $80 million deal with Kansas City in 2021, then the highest-paid guard in the NFL; traded to Chicago for a 2026 fourth-round pick and extended through 2027[4](https://www.arrowheadpride.com/2021/3/16/22332831/chiefs-joe-thuney-film-review-patient-and-technical-football) • [1](https://www.chicagobears.com/team/players-roster/joe-thuney/) |
| 2025 season | Led all guards in PFF pass-blocking grade; allowed 22 pressures across 19 games and no sack on 788 pass-blocking snaps[5](https://www.pff.com/news/nfl-guard-rankings-2026) |
## College career at NC State
Thuney played 41 games along the offensive line at North Carolina State and started games at four of the five line positions: left tackle, left guard, right guard, and right tackle. [USA Today](https://www.edgepedia.org/usa-today) selected him as a first-team All-American, making him the first Wolfpack offensive lineman to receive [All-America](https://www.edgepedia.org/all-america) recognition since Jim Ritcher, the 1979 Outland Trophy winner, and the media also put him on its first-team All-ACC squad. In 2015 ACC play he did not allow a sack in 589 snaps from his left tackle spot. He earned a bachelor's degree in accounting with a Spanish minor, and was announced as a new member of the NC State Football Ring of Honor in spring 2026.[1](https://www.chicagobears.com/team/players-roster/joe-thuney/)
## New England Patriots (2016-2020)
He started every regular-season and postseason game for five years, reaching three consecutive Super Bowls and winning two (LI and LIII); the Patriots' media guide records that he became the first player in NFL history to start the [Super Bowl](https://www.edgepedia.org/super-bowl) in each of his first three seasons.[1](https://www.chicagobears.com/team/players-roster/joe-thuney/) In 2019 he earned AP Second-Team All-Pro honors and was one of just two offensive guards to play at least 80 percent of his team's snaps without drawing a single penalty.[1](https://www.chicagobears.com/team/players-roster/joe-thuney/) • [6](https://www.chiefs.com/news/five-things-to-know-about-new-chiefs-guard-joe-thuney) In 2020 he added two starts at center to his 14 at left guard, and the Patriots placed the franchise tag on him that March before he left in free agency.[1](https://www.chicagobears.com/team/players-roster/joe-thuney/)
## Kansas City Chiefs (2021-2024)
Over four seasons he started 66 regular-season games at left guard, helped the Chiefs to four straight [AFC West](https://www.edgepedia.org/afc-west) titles and three consecutive Super Bowl appearances, and won Super Bowls LVII and LVIII. He earned [Pro Bowl](https://www.edgepedia.org/pro-bowl) and AP Second-Team All-Pro honors in 2022, then first-team All-Pro in 2023 and 2024, and was the Chiefs' 2024 Derrick Thomas Team MVP.[1](https://www.chicagobears.com/team/players-roster/joe-thuney/)
**Move to left tackle.** After a pectoral injury ended his 2023 postseason early, Thuney returned in 2024 and, with Kansas City's left tackle position unsettled, switched mid-season to protect Mahomes' blind side, starting three regular-season games and all three postseason games at left tackle.[1](https://www.chicagobears.com/team/players-roster/joe-thuney/) • [7](https://www.pff.com/news/nfl-joe-thuney-offensive-line-chiefs-super-bowl-59) In the [AFC Championship Game](https://www.edgepedia.org/afc-championship-game) against Buffalo he earned an 89.2 PFF pass-blocking grade without allowing a single pressure.[7](https://www.pff.com/news/nfl-joe-thuney-offensive-line-chiefs-super-bowl-59) In Super Bowl LIX against Philadelphia's interior pass rush, the shifted line struggled, and the Eagles beat Kansas City 40-22.[8](https://apnews.com/article/2b52ec750c4822efa4c6b2dedd5fc7d7)
## Chicago Bears (2025-present)
On March 12, 2025, the Chiefs traded Thuney to the Bears for a 2026 fourth-round pick as Chicago rebuilt its offensive line to protect quarterback [Caleb Williams](https://www.edgepedia.org/caleb-williams); he signed a two-year extension through 2027 that May.[1](https://www.chicagobears.com/team/players-roster/joe-thuney/) • [9](https://apnews.com/article/a662d26b589aee932a547df1ae055d11) In his first Chicago season he started all 17 games at left guard, was part of a line that allowed 24 sacks, the third-lowest total in the NFL, and was named a season-long captain alongside Williams.[1](https://www.chicagobears.com/team/players-roster/joe-thuney/)
**Protector of the Year.** At NFL Honors in February 2026, Thuney received the inaugural Protector of the Year Award, a new honor recognizing the league's most outstanding offensive lineman of the season, chosen by a selection committee of NFL Legends using a peer-to-peer evaluation of on-field performance.[1](https://www.chicagobears.com/team/players-roster/joe-thuney/) • [10](https://www.pff.com/news/joe-thuney-sets-the-bar-breaking-down-the-nfls-first-protector-of-the-year) His 88.6 regular-season PFF pass-blocking grade ranked third among all offensive linemen and led all guards, and he added Pro Bowl and first-team All-Pro selections.[10](https://www.pff.com/news/joe-thuney-sets-the-bar-breaking-down-the-nfls-first-protector-of-the-year) • [1](https://www.chicagobears.com/team/players-roster/joe-thuney/) Entering the 2026 season, [Pro Football Focus](https://www.edgepedia.org/pro-football-focus) ranked him the No. 1 guard in the NFL, noting that he did not surrender a sack on 788 pass-blocking snaps in 2025 and that his 68.6 run-blocking grade ranked among the top 25 qualified guards.[5](https://www.pff.com/news/nfl-guard-rankings-2026) An AP panel of eight Pro Football Writers also voted him the top interior offensive lineman in the NFL entering 2026.[11](https://www.foxsports.com/articles/nfl/joe-thuney-of-the-bears-is-voted-as-the-top-interior-offensive-lineman-in-the-nfl-by-an-ap-panel)
## Playing style
Thuney's defining trait is pass protection. PFF has repeatedly ranked him the top pass-blocking guard: his 83.4 pass-blocking grade led the position in 2023, and he ended three consecutive Kansas City seasons as PFF's top-ranked pass-blocking guard, yielding just four sacks across 2,220 regular-season pass-blocking snaps from 2021 onward.[12](https://www.pff.com/news/nfl-guard-rankings-top-32-2024-nfl-season) • [13](https://www.chiefs.com/news/pre-camp-breakdown-looking-at-the-chiefs-offensive-line-x4720) He pairs this with durability and discipline: he has never missed a start in his career, and he drew just three total penalties over the 2019 and 2020 seasons combined.[6](https://www.chiefs.com/news/five-things-to-know-about-new-chiefs-guard-joe-thuney) • [1](https://www.chicagobears.com/team/players-roster/joe-thuney/)
**Versatility** is the second hallmark. Beyond left guard, he has started NFL games at center and at left tackle, and at NC State he logged appearances at every offensive line position; film analysis of his 2021 play described a range of pass sets, including quick-set, jump-set, and vertical sets, and use as a puller in pass protection.[6](https://www.chiefs.com/news/five-things-to-know-about-new-chiefs-guard-joe-thuney) • [4](https://www.arrowheadpride.com/2021/3/16/22332831/chiefs-joe-thuney-film-review-patient-and-technical-football) Off the field, he completed a [Master of Business Administration](https://www.edgepedia.org/master-of-business-administration) from [Indiana University](https://www.edgepedia.org/indiana-university) in 2020 through the NFL's tuition reimbursement program while playing full time.[6](https://www.chiefs.com/news/five-things-to-know-about-new-chiefs-guard-joe-thuney)
## References
1. [Joe Thuney player page, ChicagoBears.com](https://www.chicagobears.com/team/players-roster/joe-thuney/)
2. [2019 NFL Record and Fact Book, New England Patriots](https://operations.nfl.com/media/3823/2019-nfl-record-and-fact-book.pdf)
3. [Joe Thuney Stats, Pro-Football-Reference.com](https://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/T/ThunJo00.htm)
4. [Chiefs' Joe Thuney film review, Arrowhead Pride (March 16, 2021)](https://www.arrowheadpride.com/2021/3/16/22332831/chiefs-joe-thuney-film-review-patient-and-technical-football)
5. [PFF Offensive Guard Rankings: The top 32 players ahead of the 2026 NFL season](https://www.pff.com/news/nfl-guard-rankings-2026)
6. [Five Things to Know About New Chiefs' Guard Joe Thuney, Chiefs.com (March 18, 2021)](https://www.chiefs.com/news/five-things-to-know-about-new-chiefs-guard-joe-thuney)
7. [Joe Thuney answered the call to play left tackle, PFF](https://www.pff.com/news/nfl-joe-thuney-offensive-line-chiefs-super-bowl-59)
8. [The Latest: Eagles spoil Chiefs' three-peat bid, win Super Bowl 40-22, AP News](https://apnews.com/article/2b52ec750c4822efa4c6b2dedd5fc7d7)
9. [Familiar faces in new places this NFL season, AP News](https://apnews.com/article/a662d26b589aee932a547df1ae055d11)
10. [Joe Thuney Sets the Bar: Breaking down the NFL's first Protector of the Year, PFF](https://www.pff.com/news/joe-thuney-sets-the-bar-breaking-down-the-nfls-first-protector-of-the-year)
11. [Joe Thuney of the Bears is voted as the top interior offensive lineman in the NFL by an AP panel, FOX Sports](https://www.foxsports.com/articles/nfl/joe-thuney-of-the-bears-is-voted-as-the-top-interior-offensive-lineman-in-the-nfl-by-an-ap-panel)
12. [PFF Guard Rankings: Top 32 ahead of the 2024 NFL season](https://www.pff.com/news/nfl-guard-rankings-top-32-2024-nfl-season)
13. [Pre-Camp Breakdown: Looking at the Chiefs Offensive Line, Chiefs.com (July 9, 2024)](https://www.chiefs.com/news/pre-camp-breakdown-looking-at-the-chiefs-offensive-line-x4720)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Sports, games, and recreation › Other team and ball sports › Rugby and other football codes › American football players, coaches, and executives › Centers and guards › Guards*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 21, 2026 · Edited: Oct 12, 2026; Oct 15, 2026; Oct 21, 2026 · Last review: Oct 21, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license