KC won this year with one of the best Offensive Lines in the NFL. They got their asses kicked in the Superbowl against TB because they couldn't protect their QB. So they went out and invested in OLine.
Of course, I would restate that as "they went to the Super Bowl without being to protect their QB." And yes, they brought their spending up to 13th overall in 2022 due to franchising Brown, but they still had a very cheap C/RG/RT.
Budget OL? That was a damn good O Line.
Take a deeper look at it. Thuney was on a heavily backloaded contract, Humphrey was on a late 2nd rookie deal, Smith was on a 6th round rookie deal, and Wylie was a dirt cheap journey vet flyer. Orlando Brown was their only expensive piece at LT, and I fully agree that LT is a key position.
Another way to look at it is that the franchise tag for LT is cheaper than the WR franchise tag this year. Now consider how much less important the other OL positions are than LT, and NFL teams are saying that those positions are also much less important than WR.