The center of the Chiefs is still a Sooner

If you want to find Oklahoma in the NFL, start at the ball. Creed Humphrey has been the best center in the league for several seasons. James Winchester has been snapping it to him, or to someone like him, since 2012. R Mason Thomas, the highest Oklahoma defensive pick since Kenneth Murray, arrived in the second round this spring. Ethan Downs is on injured reserve. Jaydn Ott is on the practice squad. That is five Sooners in one building, which is how Kansas City keeps winning the unofficial census.

Monday night against Denver will make it eight, because the Broncos bring Nik Bonitto, Marvin Mims Jr., and Ben Powers. Powers was a Sooner guard. Bonitto was a Sooner edge. Mims was a Sooner deep ball. The AFC West is a family reunion with tackling.

Humphrey’s case is the simplest. He was a two-year starter in Norman, a first-round pick, and then immediately one of the two or three centers you would start a franchise with. The rest of the Chiefs’ Sooner collection is what a healthy pipeline looks like when it compounds: a specialist who never leaves, a rookie rusher with a first-round grade, a developmental back, an injured end waiting to get healthy.

Watch the first snap on Monday. The man putting the ball down went to Oklahoma. The man receiving it did too.