Coming into the National Football League, Kingsley Suamataia was a known project.
As a very young and fairly raw offensive line prospect out of Brigham Young, Suamataia was mostly projection, a player likely to face a low floor or high ceiling at the next level for whatever team drafted him. But given his youth, experience, stature, strength, intelligence, and work ethic, it made plenty of sense for the Kansas City Chiefs to roll the dice.
After a minor trade up in the second round to secure the right draft slot, the Chiefs submitted a card i the second round with Suamataia's name on it. And they went right to work on finding out just how much Suamataia can handle.
The Chiefs are using this game as a chance to evaluate some different options.
From the moment Suamataia stepped foot in Arrowhead, he was tasked with starter's reps and responsibilities outside at left tackle—the blindside protector for Patrick Mahomes. Despite the presence of second-year tackle Wanya Morris and others, the Chiefs leaned almost exclusively on Suamataia as the first-string tackle in OTAs, rookie minicamp, mandatory camp and into training camp.
Even when it was time to play games that matter, Suamataia got the start right next to a Pro Bowl trio of Joe Thuney, Creed Humphrey, and Trey Smith. From the outside looking in, the confidence the Chiefs expressed in Suamataia early on was heartening—it seemed like Andy Reid believed he was ready. Alas, he was not.
Suamataia, as we all know by now, was replaced by Morris after just two starts. He looked overmatched from the word "go" and seemed to put Mahomes at risk for potential injury if he remained outside on his own.
That said, Suamataia also deserved some credit. Not only did he hold his head high no matter what coaches asked of him, but some fans might not realize just how isolated Reid left the BYU product. Even as it was clear that Suamataia was struggling, the Chiefs refused to help him as much as they could (or should) with blocking help, chip blocks from delayed pass catchers, et al.
From there, even when benched, the Chiefs even left him completely inactive in order to go with Ethan Driskell, in Week 11. It's almost as if the Chiefs' goal was to challenge Suamataia both mentally and physically to see his limits and the learning curve ahead.
Only time will tell whether the way Suamataia was handled this year will play out as hoped or not, but there's one more wrinkle in his rookie campaign. With a meaningless Week 18 game scheduled against Denver, the Chiefs decided to see what their first-year tackle would look like if given the chance to slide inside—something they toyed with in practice earlier this season.
The Chiefs went with D.J. Humphries at left tackle and Wanya Morris at right tackle at Mile High on Sunday afternoon and instead slid Suamataia inside at left tackle in Thuney's normal spot. Rookies Hunter Nourzad and C.J. Hanson completed the Chiefs' offensive front at center and right guard, respectively for most of the game.
The Chiefs have remained positive about Suamataia's potential all season long, and the praise has kept coming from Andy Reid as well as Matt Nagy and others. They've preached patience all along even as they've pressed him at times—an interesting combination, Now comes another curveball with a look at him along the ofensive interior.
All of this makes for a very interesting offseason subplot to watch when the Chiefs are ready to reconstruct the roster following this year. Suamataia will hopefully turn into a big part of the team's future, but right now, it's hard to tell even where the Chiefs might be picturing him.