The Kansas City Chiefs have made their decision: Wanya Morris will be starting at left tackle for the team's first road trip in Week 3.
The Chiefs are scheduled to visit Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta for a primetime matchup with the Falcons on Sunday Night Football. Coming into the game, the Chiefs had a couple of positions in a bit of disarray with personnel moves to make at running back and a major decision looming at left tackle.
The left tackle role had been locked down since the spring by rookie Kingsley Suamataia, who was the team's second-round pick out of Brigham Young University in the 2024 NFL Draft. The Chiefs traded up in a minor deal to secure Suamataia's services, and he rewarded them with a solid enough floor to play him with the first-team unit from the moment he put on a uniform.
The Chifes' decision to change their starting left tackle at this stage might signal a change in their priorities in the short term.
Suamataia held down the starting role throughout the entirety of the preseason and earned positive marks from the coaching staff and his linemates. In the team's opening week win over the Baltimore Ravens, he held his own on an island against a stout defense. However, in Week 2, the team's confidence wavered enough to make a change as pass rusher Trey Hendrickson of the Cincinnati Bengals single-handedly stalled multiple drives.
The Chiefs turned to Morris late in the win over the Bengals in Week 2 and that coaching decision set up the dominoes for a confusing week—one in which head coach Andy Reid stated that both players were going to get first-team reps. Suddenly the team was back to the start of when they first drafted Suamataia.
Shortly after the draft, it was assumed that Suamataia would compete with Morris for the role all along. Morris is still young himself as a former third-round pick out of Oklahoma from the previous year's draft. Morris only started a handful of games during his rookie campaign, so it made sense for the Chiefs to have the two young day-two picks battle it out after letting Donovan Smith leave after his single-season deal was up.
What's most interesting about this shift is that the Chiefs have never seemed all that afraid to roll with the punches of a rookie's growth curve along the front lines. Eric Fisher was plunged into a starting role immediately up front and it led to some early frustrations that some fans never seemed to forget. Creed Humphrey and Trey Smith were first-week starters as second- and sixth-round picks in 2021.
Going back further, Parker Ehinger started his first game and five of his first seven before an injury ruined his season (and career). Mitch Morse made the transition from guard to center and did so immediately. Even Laurent Duvernay-Tardif locked down a starting interior role as a day-three pick out of McGill in Montreal—a serious longshot to be ready to play in Week 1.
Only Morris, from a year ago, and Lucas Niang, are day 1-2 picks in a draft who failed to lock down starting roles for the Chiefs since Andy Reid arrived. Niang seems reasonable since he had missed time with an injury before being drafted and then he deferred his rookie season for another full year (due to COVID).
While it's obviously important to keep Mahomes upright, it's not as if the Chiefs were helping Suamataia all that much on the left side, at least in Week 1. And now the change to Morris before Week 3 means they know Suamataia has a bit more growth ahead of him before he's ready for the mantle of being Mahomes's blindside protector.
It leads to a couple of key questions for the Chiefs:
1. Does this emphasize a greater pursuit of a historic three-peat than some might have believed?
Obviously, the Chiefs want to win and they're all-in every year, but the Chiefs have always been a mix of short- and long-term goals at work here. They traded Tyreek for long-term financial flexibility. They have one of the youngest rosters to remain deep with a cost-controlled roster. Pulling Suamataia might emphasize a more short-term vision at work in 2024 knowing the historic nature of this opportunity (and that every win is important to gain that top seed).
2. Was Suamataia exposed too much by Hendrickson?
It's also possible that Suamataia was beyond being able to turn the page on this past week. Maybe Hendrickson exposed him in ways that he wasn't able to rebound from in practice and that future teams looming on the schedule could follow suit in making the left tackle position into a problem area going forward until Suamataia demonstrated otherwise.
This is all conjecture, but it's interesting to see the Chiefs go with Morris at this point without also making a move for a veteran. The Chiefs were quick to sign a running back when they had a need. They flipped a pick for a blocking tight end when they wanted one, and they found some edge depth before the roster deadline when that was termed an issue as well. In other words, Brett Veach will get his man if he needs one.
But that's not what's happening here. The team has confidence in Suamataia and one game doesn't make or break things for anyone. Morris was also someone they liked with high potential and now he's floating in. That in itself isn't a big deal except the Chiefs closed the competition from the start, and it's unlike them to not ride the learning curve in the hopes of long-term payoff.
It's clear that Morris had the better week of practice and perhaps the "contest" part just took a few months to open. It will be interesting to see how Morris fares against the Falcons and how Suamataia responds going forward.