In just over three months, Kingsley Suamataia could make his first start with the Kansas City Chiefs when the defending Super Bowl champions open their 2024 season against the Baltimore Ravens on Thursday, September 5.
Will Suamataia be ready to take over the starting role at left tackle?
That’s one of the biggest offseason questions left for Kansas City as it searches for a replacement for last year’s starter, whom it didn’t re-sign.
NFL.com’s Kevin Patra recently said that finding a new blindside protector for Super Bowl MVP quarterback Patrick Mahomes is the Chiefs’ top priority.
“Remember last offseason, when the Chiefs signed Jawaan Taylor to a big-money contract with the plan to move him to left tackle, then changed their mind less than two months later, signed Donovan Smith and returned Taylor to the side? right? I wonder if Brett Veach and Andy Reid are equally in a mode of playing by ear at left tackle this year,” Patra wrote.
He continued: “Suamataia and second-year tackle Wanya Morris will compete for LT duties. Do the Chiefs love the young guys protecting Patrick Mahomes’ blind side and trusting the MVP quarterback to make it work? Or could they bring in a veteran, perhaps Smith, closer to training camp? It could depend on how Suamataia and Morris look in the coming months.”
There are only a finite number of days for the Chiefs to find a solution at left tackle, whether it’s Suamataia, the former BYU and Orem High offensive tackle who was selected late in the second round of the Draft in April, or Morris, a second year player. who was a third-rounder out of Oklahoma.
Kansas City has already completed rookie minicamp and two OTA (organized team activity) sessions. The team has a third session scheduled for this week (Tuesday through Friday).
After that, the Chiefs will hold a mandatory minicamp June 11-13, then there will be some downtime before training camp in late July.
Suamataia is coming off a two-year starter at BYU, where he started at right tackle in 2022 and left tackle in 2023.
Meanwhile, Morris played in 14 games and started four at left tackle in his rookie season for an injured Smith. Pro Football Focus gave Morris a 55.6 overall grade last season, including a 47.1 run blocking and 63.4 pass blocking grade.
In April, before Kansas City used the No. 63 overall draft pick on Suamataia, Chiefs coach Andy Reid expressed confidence in Morris after what he showed as a rookie, while acknowledging that the competition (and expectations) must increase.
“I thought it was a good introduction for him,” Reid said, according to the Arrowhead Report. “Arrive and have that experience and play four games. Now he has an even better feeling for this offseason and what will be expected of him when he returns and is put in that spot. “There has to be an improvement, there has to be an urgency, and I know he feels it.”
The Chiefs did not re-sign 30-year-old veteran Smith this offseason, opening the way for Suamataia or Morris to take over at left tackle. Meanwhile, veteran Jawaan Taylor will return as the team’s starting right tackle.
Zoltan Buday of Pro Football Focus questioned whether the Chiefs have done enough to strengthen their offensive tackle situation, and that includes bringing in Suamataia.
“The Chiefs making moves at offensive tackle is almost an offseason tradition. However, the additions of Donovan Smith and Jawaan Taylor in 2023 have not yielded the expected results,” Buday wrote. “While Jawaan Taylor remains on the roster, with the Chiefs expecting him to hit his price tag in 2024, Smith was not re-signed, so 2023 third-round pick Wanya Morris is expected to start at left tackle.
“However, Kansas City selected BYU offensive tackle Kingsley Suamataia with the 63rd overall pick, providing some competition for the left tackle position.”
Suamataia, for his part, has expressed excitement about fighting for a starting spot early in his career, a process that will intensify as the team begins training camp.
“Obviously I have to come and learn the playbook, but I’m ready to go,” Suamataia told KeynoteUSA. “Healthy. Strong. … I have to do my best and beat the guy in front of me.”
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