Andy Reid Gives Early Review of Kingsley Suamataia's Debut at Left Guard

Kingsley Suamataia moved from tackle to guard for the Chiefs' regular-season finale, and Andy Reid is far from discouraged by what he saw.

Jul 26, 2024; Kansas City, MO, USA; Kansas City Chiefs offensive tackle Kingsley Suamataia (76) walks from the locker room to the fields prior to training camp at Missouri Western State University. Mandatory Credit: Denny Medley-Imagn Images / Denny Medley-Imagn Images

With various starters resting or on abbreviated workloads over the weekend, the Kansas City Chiefs got an expanded look at some of their unproven players in Week 18. Sunday's regular-season finale against the Denver Broncos was a perfect opportunity for the coaching staff to learn more about potential building blocks for the future.

For instance, many eyes were on second-round rookie Kingsley Suamataia. The left tackle prospect has had a whirlwind of a debut campaign, to say the least. After having a good preseason showing and earning the outright starting job, he was yanked from the lineup quickly and kept on a short leash for weeks on end. Things even got as bad as the BYU product being a healthy scratch in Week 11.

Sunday saw Suamataia play almost every offensive snap for Kansas City. With that said, those reps were at a new position: left guard. Given the return of D.J. Humphries at left tackle, the reigning champs wanted to see how he looked while also prioritizing getting their rookie some exposure.

How did Suamataia fare? Head coach Andy Reid didn't take a firm stance, but he also acknowledged a positive process.

"We'll see," Reid said. "I'll look at it and see how he did. Nothing jumped out at me that said negative on it, but I've got to look at the tape and I'll get with Coach (Andy) Heck on that. Good to get him in there, though. He's one of the guys that it was good to get the experience, for sure."

Of Suamataia's 31 snaps played, all of them were at that left guard spot. According to Pro Football Focus, he posted the best offense (63.3) and run blocking (75.2) grades of his season. Despite earning a 30.8 pass blocking mark, he was charged with just one pressure and no sacks on the afternoon. After a bumpy start that included a flat-out whiff on the club's second possession, Suamataia improved and grew more comfortable as time passed.

All things considered, this was a solid showing for the rookie. The Broncos played their starters and had a playoff berth on the line, so it wasn't a low difficulty of matchup. It was also Suamataia's first experience at guard; BYU played him exclusively at right tackle in 2022 and left tackle in 2023. It's oftentimes considered easier to make the switch from tackle to guard, and Week 18 added fuel to that fire.

Even if that never opens the door for a full-time move down the road, closing the regular season with any sort of positive was much-needed for Suamataia.

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